Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound on
Speaker 1: the amount of water that's been rising is basically a
Speaker 1: five hundred year flood of that complimented me. He thanked
Speaker 1: me for the immediate response we had. He told me
Speaker 1: how much he appreciated the offered support. I told him,
Speaker 1: thanks for the Bloomberg sound on politics, policy and perspective
Speaker 1: from DC's top name Superman. Funding is set to run
Speaker 1: out Friday at midnight, roughly forty hours from now. On
Speaker 1: the very first day our very first bill Bluie Peel
Speaker 1: the eighties seven thousand I R. S. H. Schloomberg Sound
Speaker 1: On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Dean heads back
Speaker 1: to hurricane strength after leaving a hundred fifty mile path
Speaker 1: of destruction in Florida and forcing two political rivals to
Speaker 1: work together. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics. Has
Speaker 1: rescue efforts begin and focus now returns to weakness in
Speaker 1: our infrastructure. We'll get an update shortly from out Florida
Speaker 1: and talk about the job ahead with former FEMA administrator
Speaker 1: at Craig Fugate. Later, the Senate passes legislation to fund
Speaker 1: the government's actually got it done sending it to the
Speaker 1: House ahead of a Friday deadline. We'll talk about what's
Speaker 1: next with Bloomberg Congress reporter Laura Davison. Analysis from our
Speaker 1: panel today Bloomberg Politics contributor and Democratic analyst Ginnie Schanzano,
Speaker 1: along with Republican strategist Adam Goodman from Tough Fletcher School,
Speaker 1: catastrophic damage in Florida as hurricane and carves a hundred
Speaker 1: fifty mile path of destruction through the state. Governor Rhonda
Speaker 1: Santa says it's historic. The amount of water that's been
Speaker 1: rising and will likely continue to rise today even as
Speaker 1: the storm is passing. Uh is basically a five hundred
Speaker 1: year flood of ap The Santis staying in close contact
Speaker 1: with President Biden. As we told you yesterday, that continues
Speaker 1: both today. We're speaking fairly well of each other. I
Speaker 1: just spoke with the President this morning. He offered support.
Speaker 1: I told him the thanks for this, but because the
Speaker 1: storm has moved inland and caused a lot of potential
Speaker 1: damage in the center part of our state, that we
Speaker 1: were going to be asking for those counties to be expanded.
Speaker 1: And of course President Biden was asked about the same thing.
Speaker 1: Their relationship their conversations. What did you guys say he
Speaker 1: made a visit to FEMA headquarters in Washington. It's totally irrelevant,
Speaker 1: but I'll answer it. Okay. In fact, very fine. He
Speaker 1: complimented me, He thanked me for the immediate response we had.
Speaker 1: He told me how much he appreciated it, said he
Speaker 1: was extremely happy with what was going on. This is
Speaker 1: not about whether or anything having to do with our
Speaker 1: disagreements politically. This is about saving people's lives, homes, and businesses.
Speaker 1: That's what this is about. And so I've been I've
Speaker 1: talked to him four or five times already, and it's
Speaker 1: not a matter of my disagreements with them on other
Speaker 1: items that's steering around politics today as they deal with
Speaker 1: the matter at hand. Clearly, we begin our coverage on
Speaker 1: the ground in Florida. Bloomberg's Will Wade specializes in power
Speaker 1: and renewable energy, has been traveling through the state. He's
Speaker 1: now in Tampa, which mercifully dodged a bit of a bullet.
Speaker 1: Will thank you for being with A. Is there any
Speaker 1: power there? Yeah, Tampa mostly has power, although I can
Speaker 1: tell you there's a gasolene shortage. I just had to
Speaker 1: fill my tank after looking at eleven gas stations, and
Speaker 1: Tampa is lucky that it has power to pump the
Speaker 1: gasoline pumps. I was down in Port Charlotte most of
Speaker 1: the day. There's no power there. The whole area has
Speaker 1: no power and it's going to be several days a
Speaker 1: week before they can get the power back up. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of damage to all the power lines. What's
Speaker 1: the situation statewide in terms of the power grid? Is
Speaker 1: that typical of what you're seeing across the state? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is typical. I think I heard that there's at
Speaker 1: least two million homes and businesses that don't have electricity.
Speaker 1: The storm came ashore in southwest Florida, basically went to
Speaker 1: the middle of the state, turned north, went all the
Speaker 1: way up through the center of the state, across all
Speaker 1: the Orange Groves, pasted over Orlando. Disney World has been
Speaker 1: shut down, so I guess that's a lot of power
Speaker 1: demand that they don't need. Headed out near Jacksonville towards
Speaker 1: the Alantic. So there's people without power all across Florida.
Speaker 1: This is what happens when a huge hurricane passes by, well,
Speaker 1: certainly like this one. What kind of flooding if any
Speaker 1: are you seeing at this point in Tampa And how
Speaker 1: does that compare to where you were earlier? Oh? Nothing
Speaker 1: in Tampa. Tampa got a lot of wind, a lot
Speaker 1: of rain last night. It was definitely serious. I was
Speaker 1: glad to be indoors. But when I was down in
Speaker 1: Port Charlotte there were flooded roads, lots and lots of
Speaker 1: huge trees had blown over, some on tops of houses. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know what was interesting is that a lot of
Speaker 1: intersections the street lights had blown down. They were literally,
Speaker 1: you know, big red, yellow, green traffic signals hanging down
Speaker 1: from their wires in the wood of the intersection. Some
Speaker 1: of them they were gone. It's like blown them completely away.
Speaker 1: So even when the power gets back gets gets turned
Speaker 1: back on, it's gonna be a while before they can
Speaker 1: get the signals going and traffic moving. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: so much and appreciate all the reporting that you've done today.
Speaker 1: Will Wade Bloomberg Energy reporter with us to start things
Speaker 1: off on sound on, and we had a voice of
Speaker 1: experience now in Craig Fugate, who famously oversaw the Big
Speaker 1: Four of OH four if you remember the four major
Speaker 1: hurricanes of that year when he was administrator of the
Speaker 1: Federal Emergency Management Agency now Chief Emergency Resilience officer at
Speaker 1: one Concern Craig thanks for joining us today. I know
Speaker 1: how busy you are. How much trouble is Florida in
Speaker 1: right now? Well, this is gonna be a long recovery. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the power outages across the areas to the
Speaker 1: north and northeast, those are gonna come back quick. Those
Speaker 1: were trees on parallels, busted transformers. Uh, the utilities will
Speaker 1: get that back up relatively quick. Down where your reporters at,
Speaker 1: the systems destroyed, so they're not just gonna be fixing it,
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to rebuild it. And the storm serves
Speaker 1: damage down there. I mean, people through the turnaround catastrophic
Speaker 1: a lot, but this area, this is the worst hurricane
Speaker 1: impact they've ever had in their history. It is their
Speaker 1: version of Hurricane Andrew on that southwest coast. Yes, well
Speaker 1: that's saying something them Governor to Santis earlier today, essentially
Speaker 1: saying that Santa Belt Island, large portions of Santa Belt
Speaker 1: Island are just wiped out. The road getting out there, Uh,
Speaker 1: is is underwater or destroyed. How long is it going
Speaker 1: to take Craig before we actually have have a real
Speaker 1: sense of the level of destruction that's been done. I
Speaker 1: would say over the next couple of days. Again, the
Speaker 1: big focus is just getting back in these areas to
Speaker 1: do search and rescue. You get the people that have
Speaker 1: been cut off and trapped. But as you're doing that,
Speaker 1: you'll get a better sense. But this is why, you know,
Speaker 1: we've always talked about this. You've heard the hurricanes that
Speaker 1: are talking about they were really emphasizing storm surge and water.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of times people focus on with
Speaker 1: but a lot of this you're seeing where these bridges
Speaker 1: were taken out, the overtopping and cutting some of these
Speaker 1: islands in the destruction. This is mainly the water storm surge.
Speaker 1: The federal government is going to play a huge role here,
Speaker 1: obviously President Biden today pledging you know, whatever Florida needs
Speaker 1: and states of emergency are already in place. Is this
Speaker 1: going to be a record center? I mean the amount
Speaker 1: of money and the amount of funding and manpower that
Speaker 1: will be needed to to fix this into your point,
Speaker 1: to rebuild it. It's gonna be up in the top ten.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it gets up to the top five.
Speaker 1: We'll find that out. But let's remind everybody we talked
Speaker 1: to federal government, we're talking about you and me as taxpayers,
Speaker 1: and this is one of the things that we do
Speaker 1: as a nation. We come together for states that are
Speaker 1: hit and both ours and D's. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: on both sides of this. But this is our tax
Speaker 1: dollars at work, and this is going to be an
Speaker 1: expensive recovery. Well, it sure is. And there's a big
Speaker 1: conversation going on right now about our infrastructure and whether
Speaker 1: we have the funding necessary to to not just rebuild
Speaker 1: in places like Florida hit by storms, but to upgrade
Speaker 1: around the country so they are more resilient. Does that
Speaker 1: create an opportunity to to do something that might help
Speaker 1: Florida in the future. Craig absolutely. I mean, if we
Speaker 1: build it back the way it was, were fools, because
Speaker 1: it's gonna get hit again. I mean, this is where
Speaker 1: we need to really think seriously about it's better to
Speaker 1: spend a little bit more money on the front end
Speaker 1: and build residency into our communities and infrastructure so when
Speaker 1: storms happen in the future, you have will be damaging,
Speaker 1: but they won't be catastrophic and will recover faster. And
Speaker 1: that's something that we need to think about across the nation.
Speaker 1: Just going by our past history is not preparing us
Speaker 1: for what is happening with these extreme weather events, and
Speaker 1: we cannot continue it forward to go back and rebuild
Speaker 1: and rebuild and rebuild after these disasters few gate. When
Speaker 1: you look across the state, how does the how does
Speaker 1: the the inland area compared to the coast. I mean
Speaker 1: when you when you watch this storm go right up
Speaker 1: over Orlando, how severe will the damage be away from
Speaker 1: the water. You know, it's gonna be kind of spotty.
Speaker 1: One good thing is because Florida has been strengthening the
Speaker 1: building code since Hurricane Andrew and after two thousand four
Speaker 1: hurricane seasons, a lot of newer construction will do pretty good.
Speaker 1: We did have some pockets of flooding. You saw nursing homes.
Speaker 1: Another place is that had to be evacuated where we
Speaker 1: get ponding. You know, Florida is not a very high elevation.
Speaker 1: Where we get water, it's gonna go to the low
Speaker 1: spots and pond up, So it's gonna be pockets of damage.
Speaker 1: Like right now in uh St Augustine, they're getting flooding downtown,
Speaker 1: So there'll be pockets of it, but it won't be
Speaker 1: the catastrophic damage that's very concentrated on that part of
Speaker 1: the southwest coast. You know, we heard Governor de Santis
Speaker 1: repeat words from the sheriff of Lee County earlier today
Speaker 1: that there could be reports at least there could be
Speaker 1: fatalities in the hundreds. Craig, what did you make of that?
Speaker 1: And and how does that uh square with with the
Speaker 1: level of storm that we're talking about. You know what
Speaker 1: I found a long time ago, and this goes all
Speaker 1: the way back to Hurricane Andrew. But if you remember her,
Speaker 1: the tornadoes that hit Joplin, the early estimates, it's very
Speaker 1: hard to get good numbers, and so you know, when
Speaker 1: I was at Florida, we had a pretty ironclad rolled
Speaker 1: that until uh, the medical examiners able to certify the death,
Speaker 1: we didn't give out official numbers because it's just such
Speaker 1: such a range. And you gotta remember, we got loved
Speaker 1: ones here that don't know, and you want to make
Speaker 1: sure you're able to notify next akin before you know
Speaker 1: that starts coming out. So uh, and if you remember Joplin,
Speaker 1: we had up to three thousand people reported missing that
Speaker 1: we're possibly concerned that they may be fatalities. Turned out
Speaker 1: was duplicate list, and though the loss of life was horrific,
Speaker 1: it wasn't three thousand. It was in the hundreds, which
Speaker 1: was you know, that was tragic enough. But again, I
Speaker 1: think been doing this long enough, uh is we really
Speaker 1: need to have a process to make sure that uh
Speaker 1: we have accurate counts, that we don't dismiss this that
Speaker 1: we probably have had fatalities, But we also have to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're getting the right information because families
Speaker 1: are evacuated, are worried, sick, and these numbers, unless we
Speaker 1: can verify them, are causing a lot of stress. I think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's potential there, but let's let's be very specific and
Speaker 1: make sure that we're getting the right information, that we're
Speaker 1: getting Mexican identifications, and that we're you know, keeping this
Speaker 1: as we identify it, are able to confirs and then
Speaker 1: add that to the numbers. Well, that's good perspective, Craig,
Speaker 1: thank you, And in our in our remaining moment, I
Speaker 1: would ask you what you consider the most dangerous thing
Speaker 1: right now for the people to Florida, those who are
Speaker 1: particularly in the flooded areas. Is it? Is it? Is it?
Speaker 1: Power lines? Is it? People just being away from their homes?
Speaker 1: What what concerns you tonight? People getting out and about.
Speaker 1: It's a very hazard situation. We got paral lines down,
Speaker 1: We've got flooded roads, You've got all kinds of debris,
Speaker 1: you have all kinds of things, sewage, gas and whatever
Speaker 1: in the floodwaters um in Florida. We know people are
Speaker 1: more likely to lose their lives even in the days
Speaker 1: after a hurricane because of the hazards. So it's like
Speaker 1: the hardest thing is getting people just that they're safe,
Speaker 1: stay where they're at, and not trying to get out.
Speaker 1: You just heard it from the former administrator of FEMA
Speaker 1: now chief Emergency Resilience officer at one concerned, Craig Fewgate.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the insights the expertise. Were
Speaker 1: going to assemble the panel next and explore the politics
Speaker 1: surrounding this rescue and relief effort on the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics. This is Bloomberg. I see pure devastation, pure devastation. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I pray that the majority of people listen and
Speaker 1: left before this storm. I pray the amount of water
Speaker 1: that's been rising and will likely continue to rise today
Speaker 1: even as the storm is passing. UH is basically a
Speaker 1: five year flood of that this could be the deadliest
Speaker 1: hurricane in Florida's history. The numbers of still are still unclear,
Speaker 1: but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial
Speaker 1: loss of life. I don't know in that debris, I
Speaker 1: don't know. There's there's no more buildings in some places,
Speaker 1: no more homes. Homes are washed away. So do we
Speaker 1: know there's gonna be a death hold? We believe there
Speaker 1: will be, and I know there will be. I just
Speaker 1: don't know. The numbers is coming up my way in
Speaker 1: South Carolina, so we'll we'll all be ready. So we
Speaker 1: want to let everybody know we're thinking about Landslides are
Speaker 1: threatened our mountains, and there's a chance of cornadoes statewide.
Speaker 1: This storm can still be dangerous and even deadly. My
Speaker 1: message the people of Florida the country is at times
Speaker 1: like this, America comes together. We're gonna pull together as
Speaker 1: one team, as one America sounds from a tough day
Speaker 1: in Florida and soon to be in the Carolinas as
Speaker 1: Hurricane Ian set to regain hurricane strength. The headlines scary too.
Speaker 1: On the terminal, Biden says, reports suggests substantial storm deaths.
Speaker 1: As we were just discussing with Craig few gave here
Speaker 1: on sound On, I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. As we
Speaker 1: assemble the panel today, Genie Schanzano is with US Democratic
Speaker 1: analyst in Bloomberg Politics contributor, joined today by Adam Goodman,
Speaker 1: partner at Ballard Partners, Edward Armorrow, Senior Fellow at tuss University.
Speaker 1: It's great to have you both back here, Genie. This
Speaker 1: is a big test politics never removed from an event
Speaker 1: like this, and what a what a contrast to see
Speaker 1: President Biden working with Governor Rhnda Santis for the better
Speaker 1: of the people. I guess it's a reminder of what
Speaker 1: they're their jobs really are for both of them, but
Speaker 1: also something that's good to see here. And what's a
Speaker 1: very challenging situation it is. And you know, I thought
Speaker 1: Craig Fuiate in your conversation made a really important point.
Speaker 1: This is the job of all the state and federal
Speaker 1: governments together to work together to do this, and it
Speaker 1: does require a substantial amount of investment, and it's important
Speaker 1: that we are there to help rebuild this community in
Speaker 1: the best way possible. As you know me personally, is
Speaker 1: a year ago got hit very very hard in pursion
Speaker 1: by by storm Ida, not nearly as much damage as
Speaker 1: they're experiencing down in Florida, So certainly thinking about everybody there,
Speaker 1: it we still have not recovered here and it wasn't
Speaker 1: even you know, nearly as big of a storm. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And of course this is uh still a very dangerous
Speaker 1: situation and there is a potential, Adam Goodman, for a
Speaker 1: lot more damage and a lot more people to be
Speaker 1: in harm's way here over the next hours as this
Speaker 1: thing moves up the eastern seaboard. Here. The argument though
Speaker 1: for investing in a more resilient infrastructure, could never be louder. Couldn't. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things that Craig Foodgate actually talked
Speaker 1: about was were the new building codes that went into
Speaker 1: play after the last major hurricane. Uh. That's gonna end
Speaker 1: up saving a lot of buildings and maybe saving lives. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think we're gonna need to do even more
Speaker 1: of that. But what also is going to is em
Speaker 1: play here that was happy name long before Ian was named.
Speaker 1: UH is a property insurance crisis of sorts in Florida
Speaker 1: where property homeowners were really getting squeezed Joe by rapidly
Speaker 1: rising premiums um. I could only imagine what it may
Speaker 1: be moving forward. But to the one point that was
Speaker 1: made up front here about the nonpartisan nature of the response,
Speaker 1: Holly right that instead of a retreat the partisan corners, uh,
Speaker 1: the President and the governor of Florida had a reunion
Speaker 1: in the middle of the ring. And that's something I
Speaker 1: think everyone can feel good about. Well, I sure hope. So.
Speaker 1: I remember Chris Christy being you know, just criticized heavily
Speaker 1: for for for hosting Barack Obama following Superstorm Sandy. Granted,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna see run to Santi's hugging Joe Biden, Genie,
Speaker 1: at least, I'm assuming that's not going to happen here.
Speaker 1: But but but Genie, of course, these these moments can
Speaker 1: frequently be followed by the blame game. It's it's probably
Speaker 1: in both of their interests to keep this going as
Speaker 1: long as they can. That's right. And Charlie Kristen Florida
Speaker 1: and Obama they had as he had a similar situation
Speaker 1: as Chris Christie that we remember, well the embrace on
Speaker 1: the tarmac that you know, really you know, went viral
Speaker 1: your career, killing hug and and you know, we've seen
Speaker 1: politicians who have been undermined by storm response. This is
Speaker 1: when you know whether you've got somebody who can truly govern,
Speaker 1: who is truly capable and competent as they see you
Speaker 1: through a crisis and it's aftermath. The reality is the
Speaker 1: media will leave in a few days a week. These
Speaker 1: people will be dealing with a devastating impact of this
Speaker 1: for a lifetime. And this is the job of the governor,
Speaker 1: of the president, and quite frankly, of our entire political class.
Speaker 1: And so they do deserve credit for working together and
Speaker 1: they should be working together. Important news. By the way,
Speaker 1: for those even who watched this might not have heard
Speaker 1: of the president was off Mike. Somebody shout at a question.
Speaker 1: He is not only planning to go to Florida, and boy,
Speaker 1: that's going to be a pectical because he will be
Speaker 1: I assume, greeted by Governor de Santis when he shows up,
Speaker 1: or maybe he loves something busy, would be busy with
Speaker 1: something else to do. But he also said he planned
Speaker 1: to go to Puerto Rico, Adam, how difficult a trip
Speaker 1: is that going to be to pull off? Uh, It's
Speaker 1: it's a good trip. It's a very trip. It's an
Speaker 1: important trip. It's important to show up, you know. And
Speaker 1: as with everything in life, Uh, it's showing up that
Speaker 1: really counts. Uh. When every all the chips are on
Speaker 1: the table. I applaud the President for for that intention
Speaker 1: and for going to Florida. But I think what we saw,
Speaker 1: what I don't want us to lose in all this
Speaker 1: is in the state of Florida. You know, I'm a Floridian.
Speaker 1: I have just a couple of seconds left at him. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1: All I can tell you is that it's a test
Speaker 1: of fier for Florida governors when you have to face
Speaker 1: a hurricane. And I think the governor of Florida last
Speaker 1: night came up big Adam Goodman with us and more
Speaker 1: to follow. This is Bloomberg broadcasting live from our nation's capital.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg to New York, Bloomberg eleven Frio to Boston, Bloomberg
Speaker 1: one oh six one to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty
Speaker 1: to the Country Serious x M General one nineteen and
Speaker 1: around the globe. The Bloomberg business app and Bloomberg Radio
Speaker 1: dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew.
Speaker 1: And so now it's up to the House. With a
Speaker 1: little more than twenty four hours to the deadline, the
Speaker 1: Senate passed legislation to fund the government. It happened today,
Speaker 1: of course, without Joe Manchin's permitting bill, which by the way,
Speaker 1: included upgrades to the power grid with an eye on
Speaker 1: Hurricane Ian. We'll talk next to Bloomberg Congress reporter Laura
Speaker 1: Davison on this vote. The yas are seventy two, the
Speaker 1: nays are twenty five. The sixty vote threshold having been achieved,
Speaker 1: the bill as amended is passed. There it is seventy
Speaker 1: two twenty five on the House. Senator Tina Smith there
Speaker 1: presiding over the chain as the Senate pass legislation to
Speaker 1: fund the government through the middle of December. Right, December sixteen,
Speaker 1: I think is the magic date here, and boy, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. But no one is popping corks yet.
Speaker 1: As Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy urges all of his
Speaker 1: members to vote no on the bill feasibly tomorrow. Laura
Speaker 1: Davis and Bloomberg's Congress reporter is watching all of this
Speaker 1: and always great to have you with us, Laura. Is
Speaker 1: that going to make a difference? I mean, can Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy really get the entire caucus to vote no on
Speaker 1: avoiding a shutdown? You know it's possible, But even still,
Speaker 1: if Democrats stick together, this will still pass. So you know,
Speaker 1: I expect that the vote will be close here. You
Speaker 1: might see a couple of Republicans break with McCarthy and
Speaker 1: vote with Democrats, but it's going to be largely lopsided
Speaker 1: of Democrats voting yes and Republicans voting no. But really
Speaker 1: it'll pass without a lot of drama. The real question
Speaker 1: is sort of what happened post mid terms and both
Speaker 1: the control for both chambers very close. We don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. Lawmakers will come back in December
Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of things they need to do
Speaker 1: and sort of who it come at came out on
Speaker 1: top in the midterms. Is good to determine who has
Speaker 1: leveraged in those year negotiations, you know, and we'll be
Speaker 1: talking about another possible shutdown just in time for Christmas, right.
Speaker 1: We we love doing it like this every year. Yes,
Speaker 1: schoolmakers like to give themselves these little deadlines, usually right
Speaker 1: before a holiday or a break. You know, they're itching
Speaker 1: to get home to go campaign for the mid terms.
Speaker 1: December sixteenth, right before the holidays. Uh so you know
Speaker 1: they usually can you know, give themselves an extra week.
Speaker 1: You'll see, you know, there's kind of a week in there.
Speaker 1: If they can't get a deal by the sixteenth, they
Speaker 1: can still stay in for a couple more days and
Speaker 1: still be home by Christmas Eve. But that's really the
Speaker 1: goal here. And and there's there's a lot that they
Speaker 1: need to get done. There's some stuff that we're left
Speaker 1: off this bill permitting reform for energy projects. Mansion had
Speaker 1: a proposal that got dropped. That's one of the things
Speaker 1: that they're going to have to come back and the
Speaker 1: dress Well want to ask you about that because you know,
Speaker 1: with the with the hurricane just ravaging the state of Florida,
Speaker 1: it's not lost on us that that legislation. Of course,
Speaker 1: it did a lot more than reform permitting itself, but
Speaker 1: it would actually it would boost the fed Will government's
Speaker 1: authority to approve electricity transmission lines. This had a there
Speaker 1: was a large component that was focused on the electric grid,
Speaker 1: not just you know, drilling for oil here high capacity wires,
Speaker 1: uh that that send electricity to cities and towns that
Speaker 1: would be more resilient in times like these. Republicans knew
Speaker 1: this though, right they wanted to have their own bill
Speaker 1: without Joe Manson's name on it. That might be a
Speaker 1: bit wider. Is that what you expect? Yeah? So, really,
Speaker 1: you know the issue years, Republicans and Democrats aren't that
Speaker 1: far apart on what they want. But remember, this is
Speaker 1: a deal that Mansion and Schumer struck way to facilitate
Speaker 1: the passage of the inflation reduction at So put anybody
Speaker 1: else's name on it and Republicans will vote yes. Right, really,
Speaker 1: and and Senator selling more capital you know, Mansions colleague
Speaker 1: from West Virginia has another bill. I suspect we'll see,
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit of horse trading when they
Speaker 1: come back in November December, have a bill that is
Speaker 1: substantially similar, but that will have the votes to pass
Speaker 1: on the floor. You've mentioned post midterms a couple of times, Laura,
Speaker 1: and you were probably there today. Kevin McCarthy, who I
Speaker 1: already mentioned, was on the steps of the House with
Speaker 1: the Republican leadership. If not the entire caucus. Well it
Speaker 1: couldn't be the entire but there was quite a crowd
Speaker 1: on the steps there as he talked about their vision
Speaker 1: going into the midterm elections and their plans to come
Speaker 1: out of this as the as of course, the the
Speaker 1: party in control of the House. Here's what he said,
Speaker 1: on the very first day, our very first bill really
Speaker 1: peel the eighties seven thousand I R S. Agents got
Speaker 1: a big round of applause for that. And we've heard
Speaker 1: this before because your government should be here to help you,
Speaker 1: not to go after you. But considering all of the
Speaker 1: challenges in the world right now, Uh, Laura, you know,
Speaker 1: it's an interesting tax for the party to take. I
Speaker 1: know that the Republican Party of CHRISTI it's easy to
Speaker 1: bash the I R S. But would wouldn't that imply
Speaker 1: that the party was somehow endorsing tax fraud? What's the
Speaker 1: problem with enforcing the law? Yeah, this is really an
Speaker 1: a key line that Republicans are going to have to
Speaker 1: balance here. The other thing too, that they're also going
Speaker 1: to have to, uh, you know, deal with is that
Speaker 1: they you know, really don't support more money for the
Speaker 1: I R S, but they say they want better customer
Speaker 1: service and better technology systems from the i r S.
Speaker 1: And those don't come free. So they're going to have
Speaker 1: to try to figure out what level of funding they
Speaker 1: are comfortable with, what level of increased enforcement. You know,
Speaker 1: there's the current i RS Commissioner estimates that there's a
Speaker 1: trillion dollars in tax fraud that it basically taxes that
Speaker 1: aren't being collected each year. And remember this is a
Speaker 1: Trump appointee, this is a this is a Republican. So
Speaker 1: this is a problem they're going to have to deal with.
Speaker 1: Democrats are a little bit more comfortable saying yes, go
Speaker 1: after the tax sheets. That's a you know, a little
Speaker 1: bit less comfortable for Republicans. Yeah, well, I mean look
Speaker 1: eighty seven thousand. Of course, there was a there was
Speaker 1: a line out there that was not true, that they
Speaker 1: would be armed and banging on people's doors and so forth.
Speaker 1: It's really become uh, kind of a political football in
Speaker 1: In the meantime, they do we know the status of
Speaker 1: those agents are they actually have they been hired? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So the I R S is giving eighty billion dollars
Speaker 1: to spend over the next decade. They got this money,
Speaker 1: you know, last month they don't even have the plan yet.
Speaker 1: They're working on that of how to deploy all that money.
Speaker 1: But it's not one It's not gonna be eight seven agents.
Speaker 1: That was sort of a number that was extrapolated from
Speaker 1: a report, So that's a little bit of a fact
Speaker 1: check false on that. But they will be hiring a
Speaker 1: lot of staff, both for auditors as well as for
Speaker 1: customer service agents, people to answer the phone, customer service
Speaker 1: reps um. So these are these are things that they're
Speaker 1: working on and will be doled out over the next decade.
Speaker 1: Fascinating stuff here. There's twelve billion dollars by the way,
Speaker 1: in this continuing resolution for Ukraine. Uh, it was even
Speaker 1: more than the administration asked for. When we see numbers
Speaker 1: like that, will that be debated in the House sent
Speaker 1: back to the Senate or do they have not enough
Speaker 1: time and simping? You have to approve what the Senate
Speaker 1: sends over the Senate is really jamming the House here.
Speaker 1: You know they are voting on this, you know, the
Speaker 1: day before the deadline giving it to the House. The
Speaker 1: day of the deadline, the senators are are on their
Speaker 1: flights headed home. So that's not something they'll be able
Speaker 1: to negotiate, we'll fee from the fall, so you gotta
Speaker 1: go with what you got. That's the deal for the House.
Speaker 1: And welcome to Washington everyone. Laura's great to talk to.
Speaker 1: You really knows her stuff. Laura Davidson, great conversation. Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Congress reporter looked for her byline on the terminal as
Speaker 1: our Washington and specifically Capitol Hill team cover this thing
Speaker 1: right up to the line. Yet again, I mean, it
Speaker 1: really does sound familiar, and at least lawmakers were not threatening. Well,
Speaker 1: actually that's not true. There was a group of Democrats
Speaker 1: threatening to shut down the government weeks ago, but nobody
Speaker 1: was talking about it like that right up to the line.
Speaker 1: Wall Street has enough to worry about. Then have to
Speaker 1: deal with the government shut down in the middle of
Speaker 1: this weeks before, of course, a midterm election cycle. We're
Speaker 1: gonna reassemble the panel next. Adam Goodamen and Jeannie Chanzano
Speaker 1: are with us here on the Thursday edition Little Friday
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Sound on the Fastest Hour in Politics. Marjorie
Speaker 1: Tayler Green wants to go hog hunting and is inviting
Speaker 1: you and the January six Committee sits down with Jenny
Speaker 1: Thomas today, just some of the topics that will touch
Speaker 1: with our panel. Next that we'll check traffic and markets
Speaker 1: for you on the way. Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. This is Bloomberg. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: I suppose it's easy to tell your members to vote
Speaker 1: no on something if you know it's going to pass anyway.
Speaker 1: But what if it didn't. Wouldn't Kevin McCarthy then carry
Speaker 1: the blame as the party that forced the government shut
Speaker 1: down here in the middle of political games. There is
Speaker 1: a risk, of course, As we reassemble the panel, Genie Chanzano,
Speaker 1: Democratic analyst and Bloomberg Politics contributor joining us today with
Speaker 1: Adam Goodman, Republican strategist, partner at Ballard Partners. Edward R. Murrow,
Speaker 1: Senior Fellow at Tufts University. It's great to have both
Speaker 1: of you here. What do you make of that, uh, Genie,
Speaker 1: When you consider the possibility of this going down with
Speaker 1: mid term elections looming, the blame game would be fierce.
Speaker 1: It could be fierce. I think they'd be pointing fingers
Speaker 1: at both sides. But it's you just discussed. The Democrats
Speaker 1: have the vote to get votes to get this through,
Speaker 1: and I think that's part of the reason that McCarthy
Speaker 1: can make this. There probably won't be an even defections.
Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't want to say no
Speaker 1: because if I show up here tomorrow and we're in
Speaker 1: a shut down, then I'll feel very badly. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think you know Kevin McCarthy. You know his point
Speaker 1: is he doesn't want his members to have to go
Speaker 1: back home to their districts and defend this vote a
Speaker 1: vote of yes and going along with the Democrats. Nor
Speaker 1: does he want them to have to defend it if
Speaker 1: they win the House and and they're battling over what
Speaker 1: the budget is going to be, because of course this
Speaker 1: is just another stop gap measure. We're going to do
Speaker 1: this all over again after the mid terms. Adam, I
Speaker 1: want to ask you what I asked Laura a couple
Speaker 1: of moments ago. This this line from Kevin McCarthy today
Speaker 1: on the first thing that Republican kins would do if
Speaker 1: they won the House on the very first day, our
Speaker 1: very first bill really peel the eighties seven thousand I
Speaker 1: R S Agents I'm wondering your thought on that and
Speaker 1: the rational behind it. I realized it's easy to hate
Speaker 1: the I R S. And maybe it's just as simple
Speaker 1: as that. You know, get people wound up about the
Speaker 1: I R S. But isn't that saying that we prefer
Speaker 1: not to enforce the tax code? Well, I hate to
Speaker 1: say it's as simple as that. If you were to
Speaker 1: see a focus group, Joe, uh and that question we're asked,
Speaker 1: and not just among Republicans, say even independence and the
Speaker 1: question is should we hire eighty seven thousand more I
Speaker 1: R S agents at a time when there's economic pressure
Speaker 1: from inflation that's out of control, from government spending the
Speaker 1: historic levels? Is this the time to hire eighties seven
Speaker 1: thousand new agents? You'd have people breaking that two way glass.
Speaker 1: So it's just good politics. Just throw it out there, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's politics. Um, and I think you know the
Speaker 1: point that was made in your in your previous segment
Speaker 1: is it's over ten years, so it's not like seven
Speaker 1: thousand people a doorsteps tomorrow. U big news today in Washington.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you both about what you're supposed
Speaker 1: to have a January six hearing. Yesterday we don't know
Speaker 1: when it's going to happen. It was postponed out of
Speaker 1: deference to those in in the storm track in Florida
Speaker 1: in the path of the storm. But we we saw
Speaker 1: today that Jenny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice
Speaker 1: Clarence Thomas, actually sat for a deposition, actually testified before
Speaker 1: the committee today. Reporter from CNN captured her walking by
Speaker 1: It's really it was kind of odd. She's walking with
Speaker 1: the legal team, probably a security guard, and was just smiling.
Speaker 1: She was all smiles. Clearly you know, knew how to
Speaker 1: do this and would only say thank you to every question. Thomas,
Speaker 1: why do you feel like you need to speak to
Speaker 1: the committee to clear your name? Can keep from being here?
Speaker 1: Did you speak with your husband and your beliefs to
Speaker 1: the election being stolen? Thank you for your question. Forward
Speaker 1: to answering member, and in they went, and now I
Speaker 1: see on the terminal here. The conservative activist wife of
Speaker 1: Justice Thomas, reiterated to the House panel the last year's
Speaker 1: storming of the Capitol on that day. Her belief was
Speaker 1: that there was something wrong with the election results. She
Speaker 1: told the panel that the election was flawed. Genie, there
Speaker 1: were questions today about whether the committee postponed this hearing
Speaker 1: so they could include her testimony that was shot down.
Speaker 1: But there's something to that, isn't there? Yeah? I think
Speaker 1: there is. And you know, they'd have to have a
Speaker 1: whole other hearing with this if they didn't get it in. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they would have to. But you know, I think that
Speaker 1: what startling here is we're coming close to the first
Speaker 1: Monday in October when the Supreme Court's new term comes
Speaker 1: into play. Gallup has a all out which shows Americans
Speaker 1: trust in the Court has declined dramatically, a twenty point
Speaker 1: dropped from two years ago. You have Jenny Thomas testifying
Speaker 1: today saying she didn't discuss these issues with her husband.
Speaker 1: Many people, whether they find it hard to believe or not,
Speaker 1: that's what she's saying. But she also apparently reiterated her
Speaker 1: belief that the election was stolen. So we are talking
Speaker 1: about the legitimacy of and trust in a very important
Speaker 1: branch of government. And you know, the politicization of the
Speaker 1: Court is real and it is very problematic, regardless of
Speaker 1: which party you are in. Benny Thompson, the chair of
Speaker 1: the committee, was asked if he believes that Justice Thomas
Speaker 1: should recuse himself. This has been a question in Washington
Speaker 1: since this whole Jennie Thomas thing emerged. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: I think members of the Supreme Court ought to be
Speaker 1: held to the same ethical standards that other judges are
Speaker 1: held to unquote. Should Justice Thomas refuse himself? I think
Speaker 1: I don't believe so. I think to Jennie's point out
Speaker 1: the declining reputation of the Court, which, by the way
Speaker 1: Joe put it in the context of the declining faith
Speaker 1: Americans have in almost every institution there is. In fact,
Speaker 1: the only things that are still relatively popular are the
Speaker 1: military Small Business, Court of Pew Research, the military small business,
Speaker 1: and at times the police. Everything else is below the
Speaker 1: cut line of confidence. Uh, Jenny really believes that the
Speaker 1: there was a problem with the election. She believed that
Speaker 1: back when she believes that now she's not alone, and
Speaker 1: which raises the bigger question, which is when are we
Speaker 1: going to do something to restore faith in the in
Speaker 1: the integrity of the ballot where people believe that a
Speaker 1: winner is actually a winner as opposed to just an
Speaker 1: excuse to say that one was stolen. And suddenly the
Speaker 1: legitimacy of everyone who stands for election is being questioned.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I don't know where this is going here, uh, Gennie,
Speaker 1: but the calendar is sensitive. We've also got the midfterm
Speaker 1: elections that could be coming, you know, depending on where
Speaker 1: this lands two weeks later. Yeah, that's right, and you
Speaker 1: know we are staring down at the mid term election. Um.
Speaker 1: You know it's accused of thumbing the scale exactly. And
Speaker 1: you know, just to follow up, I was just looking
Speaker 1: at the data that Adams talking about in the early
Speaker 1: ninete of Americans had trust in the government. That is
Speaker 1: down close to one out of five, you know, depending
Speaker 1: on what you're you're looking now, it's a dramatic decrease
Speaker 1: in a really frightening, you know, picture of where we
Speaker 1: are today in American government. But have you heard about
Speaker 1: the hog hunting? This is stopped me dead in my
Speaker 1: tracks today, Marjorie Taylor Green. I suppose it's not the
Speaker 1: first time Adam saw it. I can already tell out
Speaker 1: with a new ad inviting people to enter a contest
Speaker 1: to not only go hog hunting, but go hog hunting
Speaker 1: from helicopter, complete with the rock sound track rocketing inflation,
Speaker 1: high discol fuel, and the perhaps America last policies. Democrats
Speaker 1: aren't the only one destroying farmer's ability to the table.
Speaker 1: We've got wild hogs destroying farmer's field. So we decided
Speaker 1: to go hog honey. Did you see her actually with
Speaker 1: an a R fifteen or whatever the heck style of
Speaker 1: assault weapon. She's hanging out of the door of a
Speaker 1: helicopter shooting hogs from the air and then is posing
Speaker 1: with the dead hog on the ground. Sign up, blow
Speaker 1: and let's go in the helicopter and gog honey. I
Speaker 1: feel like we should maybe just enter. I mean, it
Speaker 1: would be good for the program. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: interesting as it turns out, Genie, as I read uh
Speaker 1: on the internets. While hunting may seem like the answer,
Speaker 1: Newsweek reports the U. S d A says it actually
Speaker 1: makes things worse. The pigs become nocturnal and we'll travel
Speaker 1: more than a hundred miles to avoid hunters. So she
Speaker 1: seems to be sending the hogs to someone else's farm.
Speaker 1: A you're gonna sign up for this, Genie? I did.
Speaker 1: I too, watched the video or the the ad, and
Speaker 1: you know, these these hogs are under attack. We had
Speaker 1: Bill Cassidy talking about Farrell hogs. Now she's talking about hogs,
Speaker 1: you know, likening them to Democrats, and you know, poor hoggs,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, they're gonna run away. They're gonna all
Speaker 1: run to d C to see you, Joe, and you
Speaker 1: know they're gonna be multiplying nocturnally. Um. You know, listen,
Speaker 1: she's talking about, you know, the harm that Biden did
Speaker 1: to farmers, hence this need to uh, I guess, destroy
Speaker 1: the Farrell hogs. She never mentions the harm that Trump
Speaker 1: did to two farmers in the trade war with China
Speaker 1: and the you know, the amount of stimulus that followed that.
Speaker 1: So the little bit of problem I had with the
Speaker 1: logic and you know, just putting aside the great music
Speaker 1: and the unfortunate chasing of these hogs. Adamu. This ad
Speaker 1: has been watched more than three hundred and seventy thousand
Speaker 1: times on Twitter since it went up two days ago
Speaker 1: or something. What what is this? What is her brand?
Speaker 1: What would her brand be in a new Republican House majority?
Speaker 1: And I asked you that, remembering that she was sitting
Speaker 1: right behind Kevin McCarthy at his Commitment to America speech
Speaker 1: on Friday. I think that you if you put a
Speaker 1: caption underneath her right now, uh for and give it
Speaker 1: a name. It would be hog wild. Right, she's gone
Speaker 1: hog wild, she has She's going from the atlantist to
Speaker 1: the outrageous. She's never had a problem with that. She
Speaker 1: likes getting action. Clearly, this is what this is. I
Speaker 1: feel sorry for the hogs by the way, for the record,
Speaker 1: but you know, sometimes the rush to go viral is
Speaker 1: not always good for your political health. I think at
Speaker 1: some point, yeah, this the price will be paid for this.
Speaker 1: It's for effect, it's a it's a it's a compelling
Speaker 1: that if you if you're if you're talking about recall,
Speaker 1: but it's a kind of a repulse that when you
Speaker 1: talk about what was really going on here shooting from helicopters.
Speaker 1: Genie Well, although, Gennie, she'll be back on committees though, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think she will. Yeah. And Kevin McCarthy is going
Speaker 1: to rue the day she was right behind him because
Speaker 1: she's going to be pushing him, right if he's speaker.
Speaker 1: That's the truth suit. Jeanne Chanzano, thank you, Adam Goodman,
Speaker 1: thank you a great panel and a great conversation today
Speaker 1: on the fastest hour in politics. I'll meet you back
Speaker 1: here tomorrow. They say it's gonna be Friday. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg