Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Governor, I do want to hear about your trip in
Speaker 2: just a moment, but I do need to start with
Speaker 2: Barrel here and the news that broke last night, President
Speaker 2: Joe Biden telling the Houston Chronicle they had to delay
Speaker 2: distributing supplies because they weren't able to reach state leaders
Speaker 2: for the needed disaster declaration request.
Speaker 1: What's your response to that? Is that true?
Speaker 3: Oh? First, it is false, completely false, and it's bizarre.
Speaker 3: You would think that if a president were to make
Speaker 3: an attack like that on a governor, he would have
Speaker 3: the receipts to prove it. To the contrary, Julie, I
Speaker 3: have the receipts to prove he just flat outlight Because Julie,
Speaker 3: I received multiple phone calls from President Biden in the
Speaker 3: aftermath of prior disasters when he called me, and he
Speaker 3: called directly in the very same number. Every single time,
Speaker 3: that number has not been called by either the President
Speaker 3: or he buying the White House at all during this episode,
Speaker 3: with one exception, and that is on July the fifth,
Speaker 3: I did receive the phone call on that very same
Speaker 3: phone number that President Biden has used in the past
Speaker 3: from one of his cabinet members are a FEMA director.
Speaker 3: So here's the point. People who work for Joe Biden
Speaker 3: used the same number that Joe Biden had used in
Speaker 3: the past to give me a phone call. When Joe
Speaker 3: Biden said this time he called me, he just flat
Speaker 3: up and made it up.
Speaker 2: Now did anybody from Texas reach out to the White
Speaker 2: House to say, hey, we need this disaster declaration? Did
Speaker 2: anybody request that?
Speaker 3: Of course, and Julie, this works the same way that
Speaker 3: it has in every disaster that we have, and that
Speaker 3: is what happens is you make an assessment of the
Speaker 3: damages that occurred. Mathematically it has to add up to
Speaker 3: a certain dollar amount to get a FEMA award. And
Speaker 3: we waited until the dollar amount was met and then
Speaker 3: sought the grant from FEMA, and it was actually awarded
Speaker 3: by Joe Biden. So Joe Biden stepped upon his own
Speaker 3: success by trying to help out Texas by making up
Speaker 3: a fabrication that has no tether to truth whatsoever.
Speaker 2: I do want to talk a little bit about out
Speaker 2: barrel as you know, more than two million people without power.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of frustration right now with Center Point.
Speaker 2: You know, that's handling seventy five percent of it. What
Speaker 2: should be done to handle this? And are you concerned
Speaker 2: about how this was handled from a city, state and
Speaker 2: center point level.
Speaker 3: Well, so, when you look at the fact that a
Speaker 3: Category one hurricane has come through Texas, the sole remaining
Speaker 3: issue is a horrible issue for a fellow Texans and
Speaker 3: that is more than two million Texans out of power. Julie,
Speaker 3: This this should not be happening whatsoever period. And what
Speaker 3: I'm going to be doing immediately is instructing the Public
Speaker 3: Utilities Commission to undertake an immediate study to find out
Speaker 3: why this is repeatedly happening in Houston, Texas. They should
Speaker 3: not be losing power. I want to find out was
Speaker 3: there a structural flaw with regard to the electrical delivery system?
Speaker 3: Was that the cause of it? If so, what needs
Speaker 3: to be done to short up? Or was this a
Speaker 3: personnel issue of not having enough power personnel and all
Speaker 3: the right locations to get power back up and going again.
Speaker 3: All I can tell you is this, I want the
Speaker 3: PUC to provide information to both me and to the
Speaker 3: Texas legislature so that we will be able to act
Speaker 3: on it next year to make sure that events like
Speaker 3: this never happen again.
Speaker 2: You know you are away right now talking about trade,
Speaker 2: but when you look at our own state, do you
Speaker 2: think because of all these problems happening in Houston right now,
Speaker 2: some businesses are going to say, hey, this is not
Speaker 2: a good place to go because there have been so
Speaker 2: many issues there.
Speaker 3: So the opposite is true. The fact of the matter
Speaker 3: is that some of the businesses that I've been working
Speaker 3: with have locations in Texas that were in the pathway
Speaker 3: of the hurricane itself. For most is an easy example.
Speaker 3: There's others also, And listen, everybody who locates in Texas
Speaker 3: knows the hurricanes happen. I will tell you to the
Speaker 3: contrary of what you suggested, CEO after CEO after CEO
Speaker 3: has expressed their sympathy and their support, but also their
Speaker 3: pride about doing business in the state of Texas.
Speaker 2: Let's talk a little bit about your trip right now.
Speaker 2: I know you toured a Samsung facility, obviously a very
Speaker 2: big deal for us here in Texas. Do you expect
Speaker 2: more business from Samsung? And what are you gathering on
Speaker 2: this trip?
Speaker 3: So, I mean, we're gathering different things in the different
Speaker 3: countries that we've been in You mentioned Korea. I'm in
Speaker 3: Japan right now. But when I was in Korea, yes,
Speaker 3: we did visit Samsung as well as other companies, But
Speaker 3: for one, Samsung has more than doubled their initial investment
Speaker 3: in the Austin facility itself. Now, what we are doing
Speaker 3: is we're working to attract all of what we'll call
Speaker 3: the satellite companies that will be providers of supplies and
Speaker 3: services to Samsung. If we're able to land those, this
Speaker 3: is going to be game changing for the entire economy
Speaker 3: of the state of Texas. Thousands upon thousands of jobs
Speaker 3: will be added, with tens of billions of dollars of
Speaker 3: investment made in Texas.
Speaker 2: Biggest highlights so far and the biggest avenue you think
Speaker 2: to increase business.
Speaker 3: Well, there's a game. Listen. We all know that there
Speaker 3: are two or three factors that will determine the future.
Speaker 3: One is microchips, another is space and with regard to
Speaker 3: both of those, being able to set up a state
Speaker 3: office by the Texas Economic Development Team in Taiwan the
Speaker 3: first time we've ever done that, and recognize Taiwan for
Speaker 3: the important partner that it is, and then have an
Speaker 3: agreement with the country of Taiwan and to meet the
Speaker 3: president and talk about not just economic issues but also
Speaker 3: geopolitical based issues. It was both fascinating but also strategically
Speaker 3: important to the future of Texas. That said, I mean,
Speaker 3: what we're doing today in Japan, what we did yesterday
Speaker 3: in Korea, all are very valuable as it concerns the
Speaker 3: bottom line to growing businesses in the fastest growing business
Speaker 3: state in America.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, because I know I'm short
Speaker 2: on time, you know your message to Houstonians right now
Speaker 2: and to Texans that are really frustrated and angry.
Speaker 3: So Ever since I left the state, my mind has
Speaker 3: never left this state of Texas. All I can think
Speaker 3: about while i'm here is what's going on in Houston
Speaker 3: en elsewhere. And Julie, what I do is, after working
Speaker 3: all day long in whatever country I'm in, I'm telephoning
Speaker 3: late at night, early in the morning back in Texas,
Speaker 3: local officials, stateward officials working with Acting Governor Dan Patrick,
Speaker 3: as well as members of the Leistery Shire as well
Speaker 3: as these local officials to make sure all of their
Speaker 3: needs are met.
Speaker 2: You comfortable with how they're handling it, or was there
Speaker 2: a point where you're like I should go back and
Speaker 2: run this show here.
Speaker 3: So, Julie, the way a hurricane response works is that
Speaker 3: we prepare all year long for hurricanes, and then a
Speaker 3: week in advanced before a hurricane reaches our shore, we
Speaker 3: deploy Texas Division of Emergency Management personnel across all of
Speaker 3: the entire affected area. We had personnel from TM from
Speaker 3: Brownsville over close to Louisiana, all the way up to
Speaker 3: near Shreveport or Texas Kenta to make sure that anybody
Speaker 3: in harm's way was going to have their needs addressed.
Speaker 3: The big problem that we're facing, however, is a power
Speaker 3: problem and delivering that power to customers, and we will
Speaker 3: not rest until we get that fixed.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, I do have to ask you,
Speaker 2: because we will both be in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: I assume next week.
Speaker 2: Former President Trump you've talked about before, and I've heard
Speaker 2: you say many times, I'm not interested in being vice president.
Speaker 1: I like being the governor of Texas.
Speaker 2: However, you have been very active with him when it
Speaker 2: comes to the border.
Speaker 1: Any interest in DHS or being in the cabinet.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you this, Jillie. The most important political job
Speaker 3: in the United States, as president of the United States,
Speaker 3: the second most important political job in America, as Governor
Speaker 3: of Texas. And I'm running for reelection as governor of
Speaker 3: the great State of Texas.