[Cuomo:] All right, two quick things. First, please keep hitting me on Twitter and on Instagram and on Facebook. Give us the information of people who you know who need help down in these affected areas and if you are someone who's waiting for rescue, that's how we're meeting the people that you're meeting on this show at night. So please, put it on our social media. It's being monitored by first responders and this Concerned Citizen Corps that is expanding all the time down there so we can get you, at least help you, get the help that you need, all right? Now, another thing is that we're staying away from numbers on this show. Why? Why aren't we giving more details about the specifics of who has been affected by Harvey and how? Because there are two main reasons. One, first responders and what we're calling this Concerned Citizen Corps, they haven't been able to get even close to everywhere, nor really coordinate information from their different grids, grids or areas of individual search responsibility. So it's hard to know, it's hard to know if the numbers are real. Then there's the bigger reason. This is not over. Harvey is re- energizing. You heard the meteorologist. That's what happens when these storm systems go over the gulf. They draw on that warm air and moisture and they get stronger. It's coming back late tonight or into the morning hours. Hopefully, hopefully east of where it's already saturated in Houston and outer communities because they simply can't take much more. So, we're going to see what happens then we'll give numbers when we know that they are real and that the worst is over. So what do we know about today? President Trump promised Texans that they're going to have the money they need to rebuild.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] We're going to be working with Congress on helping out the state of Texas. It's going to be a costly proposition. Probably there's never been anything so expensive in our country's history.
[Cuomo:] We'll have to wait and see on that, right? Katrina was far more expensive than the estimates now. But again, we don't know what end tally is going to be here. And it is an important message to hear from the president of the United States that the help will be there. And again, the president does ask for relief money but it's Congress that will authorize it. And hopefully we're going to see proof of a lesson learned after Harvey. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, or Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Congress spent over three months debating a $50.5 billion package for federal aid. Conservative lawmakers, both Texas senators and every Texas Republican but one, ultimately voted against the bill. Why? Well, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas said there was too much pork in the bill. Money unrelated to Sandy. Paul Ryan and others insisted the emergency spending be offset by budget cuts elsewhere. Now, Ryan's office has been shy about asking for offsets this time around, but Cruz doubled down on his claim this week saying two-thirds of the money in that bill was unrelated to Sandy. Take a listen.
[Sen. Ted Cruz , Texas:] The problem with that particular bill is that it became a $50 billion bill that was filled with unrelated pork. Two-thirds of the bill had nothing to do with Sandy.
[Cuomo:] The problem. That's not true. The "Washington Post" gave Cruz three pinocchios. You want a second source? Go to the report by the Congressional Research Service, OK? You will see it all laid out there, virtually all of the money was earmarked for Sandy-related damage, up and down the coast. Some of the controversial things were repairs to the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Space Center that then-Budget Committee Chairman Ryan, now Speaker of the House, insisted were non-Sandy expenses, but the runways at the Kennedy Center were damaged and the roof of the museum was also damaged, both by Sandy. You have to remember the storm ravaged the east coast. There were major disaster declarations in a dozen states. Now, the bill did wrap in funding for other 2012 disasters including those declared at a number of fisheries across the country as well as $16 billion that could be used for other disasters over three years, as well as a small amount of money for prevention. But regardless, if you take all of this funding, one, it was related to disaster relief, and even if you want to say, yes, but it wasn't related to Sandy, it's still nowhere close to two-thirds of the money that was in that bill. And you know who knows that's true? Ted Cruz. Because despite what he said and all the support he's getting from the right, he changed his statement. His office said it wasn't two-thirds of pork he was talking about. Two-thirds of the money would be spent to slowly qualify as emergency relief. That's the new position. It's a better position, but you know what? It's not good enough. Why? Because according to the Congressional Budget Office, the timing of how the money would be spent, they based that on the projection of how it has been spent in the past. There's a government reason for this and a practical one. Government does work slowly when you compare it to the private sector in certain regards. It's true. But it also takes many years to rebuild especially infrastructure. So that's what the CBO said about it. What do we see as political proof? New York Republican Peter King insists that he, "Won't abandon Texas in the aftermath of Harvey the way he felt was done to his state of New York." So the facts are clear. The question is, will the politics be different this time? Let's bring in one of the Texas congressman who voted against the Sandy bill, Republican Roger Williams. Williams represents the 25th Congressional District of Texas that includes Austin where President Trump visited today. Let's deal with the present, sir, thank you for being on the show. How are people doing, not just in your district, but beyond? What have you learned about the needs for Harvey right now?
[Rep. Roger Williams , Texas:] Well, I tell you, Chris, we've seen unbelievable things. You've touched on them a little in your show today, friends helping friends, family members, strangers helping everybody. This is a horrible situation we have down here, but, you know, we're getting it done. I mean, the president was in Austin today along with Corpus Christi along with Governor Abbott. I think they both are showing great leadership right now and the fact of beginning to talk about government resources to help. But, look, we like to think this is the Texas spirit. It's the American spirit of everybody joining together in a time of need to make something happen and make it better. So, you know, the storm is still out there. We're still seeing bad weather, but at the same time, so many volunteers, so many people have stepped up and helped many, many people, tremendous amount of rescues and so forth. So, it's a time to be thankful for the energy that we got among friends, among strangers, that have reached out to help everybody.
[Cuomo:] Well, there are no strangers in this type of struggle. Everybody gets real familiar
[Williams:] That's right.
[Cuomo:] real fast. And we said it last night, we'll say it again, we're seeing the worst of Mother Nature but the best of human nature and that is great for dealing with the present. Let me ask you, though, what are you hearing in terms of concerns about this next wave of energy from this storm? How concerned are people that even though it's going to be east of Houston, those communities are going to get clipped again and we're going to see a real increase in need?
[Williams:] Well, look, this storm is like no other storm. I know you guys have been following it where it comes to land and goes back and comes back again. So, you know, whoever is in line for this, we're going to be all of us are going to be stepping up to do what we can to help. You know, but the rain is a tremendous amount of rain. You've seen over 50 inches in Houston. Just practically unbelievable. So, look, if this storm we're going to fight it every which way we can and then when it gets out of here, then a whole new level of volunteering and concern develops in rebuilding these communities that can take actually probably several years.
[Cuomo:] Absolutely. On the inside, we've seen it with Katrina, you know that. That city of New Orleans has recovered and just about every measurable way, but the population is about 50,000 less than it was. A much, much smaller metropolitan area obviously than we're dealing with Houston. We're dealing with about 455,000 before Katrina, about 400,000 after. Here we have 6-plus million in the entire surrounding area not to mention the bedroom communities. So the need is going to be great, the money and effort has to be great as well. Let's look at the political picture here because it's easy for people to make promises right now. It will be delivering on them in months from now that will matter. You voted against the Sandy relief bill. Why?
[Williams:] Well, I voted against it for much of the reasons that you talked about. It was not totally a Sandy bill. There was funding that was going elsewhere and I voted against it because of that. At the time, we frankly didn't necessarily have the money to do it, but it wasn't a full Sandy bill. I'm hoping that when we begin to get back to Washington and talk about getting involved with Texas. That we talk about a clean bill that doesn't have things attached to it, like doesn't have a debt ceiling attached to it. We need to vote
[Cuomo:] I hear you.
[Williams:] a clean bill, get politics out of it.
[Cuomo:] I hear you.
[Williams:] begin to help these folks that need to be rebuilt.
[Cuomo:] I hear you. But, asking for a clean bill is a little bit like asking for all the water from Harvey to disappear tomorrow. It doesn't happen. Not even in energy situations. You know that. I knew you were a freshman during this first vote but you're not anymore and you know that a clean bill is unlikely. The reason I'm pushing you on this is if you don't change, you are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. The money in that bill, you can't go through it and say, well, I'm going to vote no because most of this is unrelated to Sandy. It's just not the case. I mean, if you look at the Congressional Research Service report, it's clear it was overwhelmingly Sandy- related money. There was some that was other disaster related, fine, you could have excised that, you could have cut it out. But to say the bill was wasteful and all about pork and not about Sandy, it's just not true Congressman.
[Williams:] Well, I didn't say it was wasteful. I said it had some things in there that did not pertain
[Cuomo:] Some things but you voted no for the whole thing.
[Williams:] Right. I did. And that's why I hope when we begin to talk about this next bill, with Texas, that it is a clean bill. You say you don't think we'll have a clean bill. I don't necessarily agree with you. I think that we can and we can get the politics out of it and begin to get the money flowing and to get these people back to where they can get in their homes, they can get their jobs, they can bring their lives back together. That's my goal and that's where I am.
[Cuomo:] I hear you, but that's what happened in Sandy as well. You had the first bill which was about $9 billion or so, right, which was the first wave of the emergency relief. It was voted on up and down. They got the money. But then, comes the real money where infrastructure comes into play and how you make repairs and how you prevent for the future. And that money winds up being just as important and certainly feels like an emergency to those who need it. And you have people like Peter King in your party, in New York State, saying you guys did him wrong. He won't do the same to you. What does that mean? Do you believe that you need better out of Peter King than we got out of Williams the last time around?
[Williams:] Well, look it, I don't think you can compare the two. In fact, Peter King is one of my best friends in Congress and I think a lot of him. The bottom line is this. We can talk about the past. Right now in Texas, we're looking at a serious tragedy. We want to get these people back their lives in order. I'm just saying that I think we need to focus on a clean bill. Who knows what this number is going to be. I mean, we don't have any idea. It could be double Katrina. Nobody has a true.
[Cuomo:] It's true.
[Williams:] We need to decide what we're going to do. Let's see what it begins to look like. I think we need to immediately get up there and have begin to put a down payment down so we can start seeing some clearing up of this mess.
[Cuomo:] Right.
[Williams:] And then begin to see what we're going to do and there does need to be a clean bill, in my mind, and that's where I stand.
[Cuomo:] Well, even, you know, clean bill is going to become defined. One more quick point on this, and I'm pushing because it matters because I covered what happened with Sandy and saw what happened when they get that money and the politics were ugly and they created division. Nobody wants to see that again. Offsets, it sounds reasonable to somebody who's not feeling the pain of the emergency situation the way it was with Ryan and Mulvaney last time around when they said, we need offsetting cuts elsewhere to justify this money we're paying. Sometimes you need to pay and figure it out later. Are you going to fight against offsets in this bill the way they were in the Sandy bill?
[Williams:] Well, I think when we spend any more with the $20 trillion debt. We do need to have offsets. But I will say this, right now we need to out you heard me say, we need a down payment. Let's go ahead and come up with a figure and get this system going and I think this is a tragedy like we've never seen before. I do believe in offsets but there's a time for that now and a time for it later. I want to put a down payment on Harvey and I want to begin to begin the rebuild.
[Cuomo:] I hear you, congressman. And I'm just bringing it up because if you don't correct the mistakes of the past, as you know the saying, we're doomed to repeat them and this Harvey is going be the real deal for many years to come. Sir, thank you for joining us. I hope that you and yours are safe
[Williams:] Thank you, Chris.
[Cuomo:] with the next wave of the storm. You're always here to talk about what matters.
[Williams:] God bless your listeners. Thanks for having us.
[Cuomo:] Thank you, sir. All right, so, look, that's the hard reality of the politics here. Go back and look what happened during Superstorm Sandy and the funding of that. That's one part of the story. Just as important of the story are these incredible rescues that we're seeing because they're so nee need. It's a struggle l for survival. We have one woman who stood on the back of a pickup truck and waved down a helicopter to get to safety. She did it while carrying her three-year-old son. How's she doing? How is he? Find out next.