Breaking news, Hurricane Helene speeds toward the gulf of mexico. Right now, helene is an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. So far, more than 545,000 households in florida are reportedly without power with thousands ordered to evacuate. Helene is huge. And is expect today affect nearly the entire state of florida with damaging winds and heavy rain. Still, what may bring the most danger are the Storm Surges. Earlier today, residents experienced flooding in places like Pine Island which is just outside of fort myers. But flooding will likely get much worse across the state as the night continues. A Storm Surge Warning is in place for almost the entirety of floridas West Coast this video is a simulation of what could happen if it rises to 10 feet. Hurricane helene could cause Storm Surges of up to 20 feet around double the amount shown in this simulation. And those officials are calling that level of Storm Surge potentially unsurv
Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. President biden has picked Denis Mcdonough to head the Veterans Affairs department. He previously served as white house chief of staff during the last four years of the obama presidency. His confirmation hearing he was asked about veterans access to healthcare, modernization efforts in the das responds to covid19. This is just over two hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i i want to call this evening to order. I want to welcome everybody. I appreciate all that are here, all those that are online. The purpose of this hearing is due from the i president s nominate to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis Mcdonough. Before i talk about him i just want to say i appreciate this committee all the reasons we sat on this committee thats been bipartisan and its been nonpolitical, and we tried to do the best by our veterans whether you are the republican side for the democratic side of the aisle. I particularly appreciate the re
Perilous time for the 2020 census. Troubling, there were reports indicating career officials at the Census Bureau warned the trump about significant problems that will delay the delivery of census data to late january or early february. After these reports became public, the director of the census, dr. Steven billingham, issued a Public Statement confirming problems were found, but provided no details. These developments were particularly troubling because they were not reported to our committee before we write about them in the press or before the census director made his Public Statement. Committee has jurisdiction, but nobody from the Trump Administration informed us about these problems or delays. For these reasons, the committee wrote a letter to the Census Bureau november 19. We asked for documents career officials prepared describing these data problems and the resulting delays. We also requested documents repaired for the department of commerce, including the commerce secretary
Hearing. Shana broussard, sean cooksey and Alan Dickerson are the presidts nominees to be members of the federal electio commission, as our witnesses are joining us remotely, i also understand that their families and friends are watching today and so i welcome them as well. This is a big responsibility, is significant president ial nomination and significant to the work of this committee and i know youre proud, your Family Member as they have moved forward to this opportunity. Let me say a little bit aut the nominees and then ill turn to another Committee Member senator cruz to talk about the thd nominee, Alan Dickerson is not th nomin to be a member of the federal Election Commission for a term expiring on april the 30th 2025 and he has been practicing law for 20 years primarily in the areas of First Amendment and campaignfinance sin 2011 mr. Dickerson has been the lal director of the institute for free speech, a nonprofit organizati that litigates First Amendment and campaignfinance