We'll start with Criswell, who talked with Jon Karl in the This Week classroom. She described the situation in Florida using terms like "a lot of devastation," "significant damage," still homes under water," "active rescues," and "a long road to recovery." She spent a day with Gov. Ron DeSantis, to hear his concerns, and the concerns of folks impacted by Hurricane Ian. And,
I committed to him that we would continue to bring in resources to meet the needs, not just for this response and the stabilization, but as we go into the recovery efforts... it was good to be able to see some of the damage and talk to the people directly while we were together so then he could let me know what kind of resources and assistance he might need.
Karl asked her about the death toll (NBC reported 87 deaths) and wondered if it had to do with the forecast being off, or because of delays in ordering evacuations. Criswell said the storm was "fairly unpredictable" in the days before landfall, adding
Just 72 hours before landfall, the Fort Myers and Lee County area were not even in the cone of the hurricane. And as it continued to move south, the local officials immediately -- as soon as they knew that they were in that threat zone, made the decisions to evacuate and get people to safety.
There's some disagreement on that, as we learned from yesterday's conversations. She also said that FEMA had "pre-staged... search and rescue resources across the federal family" with state resources to mobilize immediately after the storm passed, and they're still working to account for everyone.
Efforts continue in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona. Criswell noted that 90% of customers now have power, and other agencies are also going in to the island to "make sure that we continue to move forward in supporting all of those people that have been impacted by that, to include individuals that have had a lot of damage to their homes -- a lot of water damage this time as compared to previous hurricanes."
Rubio was next. He described Hurricane Ian as without comparison in Florida storms, noting Fort Myers Beach "no longer exists" and Sanibel Island is "basically flattened." Even the buildings still standing
have been damaged by water, probably uninhabitable and have to be razed. So, this is a character-altering event. It will change the character and the nature of these communities. They’ll be rebuilt, but you can’t rebuild something that is slice of old Florida and bring it back.
Regarding Sanibel, he said the priority now is to identify the people who stayed but will have to leave eventually,
because there's no way to continue their life there. There’s no way to restore the power. There’s no economy there. At some point, they'll have to be moved. And, you know, as I said, that bridge will be rebuilt. That will take a very long time, a couple of years at least. And, obviously, you know, life in Sanibel is going to change in the interim.
He praised the federal response, saying it's been very positive from day one. It's not just FEMA; it's the Army Corps, the Coast Guard, the SBA, and other agencies that will be helping individuals who need assistance. And, speaking of assistance, Karl asked about his history of voting against Superstorm Sandy relief, which Rubio said included pork and other non-disaster related funding. He asked if Rubio would insist on a clean emergency funding bill for his own state.
Rubio said he's supported other emergency relief bills for folks all over the country, and he's supported them without pay-fors.
What I won't support is things that are not emergency relief. What we're going to ask for Florida is what we supported for every other state in the country that’s been affected by -- by natural disasters, and that is emergency relief designed to be spent immediately to help the people affected now...
That wasn't the case with the Sandy aid bill, he said; it included things that may weren't directly related to urgent disaster relief. And when Karl asked if he'd take the same stand on aid for Florida if Congress did their thing and added a bunch of unrelated stuff. Rubio said "it won't come to that," because he and Rick Scott won't ask for anything unrelated.
I mean, why would somebody add something from another state that’s not impacted by the storm? So, it shouldn’t come to that and I’m not -- you know, it shouldn’t come to that pork in the road because it’s unnecessary thing. It's our request.
Remind me, how long has he been in the Senate? Honestly, it'll be fun to watch this play out if push comes to shove.
Karl's last question was on Ukraine, and whether i's application for NATO membership should be expedited. Rubio's a no on that, and says the bigger issue is what Vladimir Putin will do next.
Putin...could very well attack some NATO distribution point, because that's who he's blaming. He’s blaming NATO, the U.S., our allies for supplying Ukraine with weaponry that’s allowed Ukraine to be so effective. So, I think we need to start thinking through, what’s the response going to be...
The concern is if NATO forces are hurt or killed in such an attack; Rubio said it's a decision for the alliance that could come sooner rather than later.
The senator also spoke with Dana Bash in the CNN State of the Union classroom. Switching from Hurricane Ian to Hurricane Fiona, she asked if thought Puerto Rico should become a state, "so that it can be more resilient in having infrastructure" for disasters.
He said he has "long believed" that Puerto Ricans should be able to vote on statehood - they "certainly have a right to have that vote." He also said he thinks Puerto Ricans serve in the military more, on a per capita basis, than "just about any community in the country."
Turning to Ukraine, Bash said the administration doesn't think there's any imminent threat of Putin using nuclear weapons, and she wondered if he sees things the same way. Rubio said he couldn't comment on what the administration folks are seeing, but
...I'm not saying the risk of him detonating a nuclear device as a demonstration is zero. I think, certainly, the risk is probably higher today than it was a month ago.
And, did he think the Nord Stream pipeline leaks were sabotage?
I think logic and common sense will tell you that these things don't blow up on their own, especially in strategic and key points. Someone has to know where the vulnerabilities are. And someone has to have the capability to go down there and do it.
He doesn't think we have to look very far to find the likely suspects.
And the only people in that region who have both the motive and the capability to have done it are Russian or Russian forces. So, I think, for me, it's not an intelligence matter at this point. It's a common sense matter.
And, finally, he thinks the recent deal with Venezuela to get seven Americans home was a bad deal. Rather, he said it encourages bad actors to "trump up some charges and arrest Americans..."
I think seven innocent American hostages in exchange for two convicted drug dealers who happen to be the nephews of Maduro is a huge win for Maduro and, unfortunately, puts Americans all over the world now in danger.
Feel free to chime in on any of this - you'll get extra Extra Credit for that!
See you around campus.
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