that he takes issue with it, even after it s law. at last, jonathan, the president has work to do. he has a harvey aid bill that has to get passed. we re seeing reporting tonight that the initial effort is going to be about $5.5 billion but could be in the tens of billions of dollars. there is a budget or continuing resolution to get done by the end of september, or else there is a government shutdown and then the tax cuts. he has work to do with congress and that s not been successful so far. not at all. he himself has suggested he might be in favor of a government shutdown if it means freeing up funding for the border wall which is the single most signature campaign promise from his run for presidency. but this is a president repeatedly has had a hard time marshaling his own party. which includes both houses of congress to enact his legislation. his leadership during the health care bill was spotty at best. at times it seemed he was
clean debt limit or it s combined with something else, i just want it to pass. i worry about its effect on the economy by rolling financial capital marktsd if in fact it does not pass. you d be in favor of lump it all together in some must pass legislation like harvey aid. politically it s must pass legislation, that s for sure. absolutely. all right. let s move on because it is one of the reasons you wanted to come on is you wanted to talk about a bill you plan on introducing that actually has a concludes to the gulf coast. and it s this idea of increasing the sanctions on venezuela to include essentially an oil kbarg oh. and it is the gulf coast states, representatives, texas, louisiana, among them, that have been pushing back against this idea. and pleaded with the white house not to include oil in the sanctions of venezuela, so they didn t. the respond to that argument from the gulf coast, your gulf coast colleagues who are saying don t do this.
colorado. happy near end of the break to you, sir. thanks. good to be with you, chuck. that s okay. it happens to me a lot. when you have two first names, you re used to it, kaufman. let s start with the speculation of what the harvey aid issue does to congress. sure. i think there was reports today, a lot of chattier, between aid that s necessary to texas, that that is used as the ability to keep the lights on temporarily in the government, that a deal is struck quickly, debt ceiling is raised, and it s all done in one great package, bow tied on it. everybody lives happy every after. what s the likelihood of that something like in september. both things have to get done. my heart is out to the people of texas and i think the response has been great so far from the federal government. but certainly emergency funding for them. but a debt limit by any means has to be passed, whether it s a
a disaster and people are hurting to pay for their own political pish list. this started saturday when a new york congressman pete king tweeted he will vote for harvey aid, adding one bad turn doesn t deserve another. a lot of politics involved there. what s ahead for the next couple of days and when is it going to end? bill karins is standing by for us. there s a couple stories developing since overnight. one of them we started following yesterday with the reservoirs. this is downtown, houston. this is the buffalo bayou. this water has to head through the bayou. they re releasing the water. they didn t want them to over top. the addicks reservoir, the gates has been open for 24 hours, but the water is still rising. at 108 feet, it over tops the spillway on the north end. that would be this side of the reservoir. right now it s at 107 6
but i ll vote four harvey aid. senator cruz s said, quote, unreal, two-thirds of sandy bill wasn t emergency spending. it was chocked full of pork. senator cornyn s communications director says he supported sandy relief, just not the package that contained law, again, because it contained spending unrelated to the storm. a lot of people saw this picture over the weekend, 15 senior citizens were successfully evacuated so good news there, from a nursing home in dickinson, texas. water up to their waist, not knowing when help would arrive. the galveston oem and coast guard were eventually able to rescue the residents thankfully by helicopter. if you have loved ones in