Transcript of Kamala Harris was riding ‘shotgun’ with Biden leading us into ‘crisis: GOP rep

Now, for more on this, we're joined now by Florida Republican congressman Byron Donalds. His district hit hard by both storms. Congressman, let's jump right in. What is the situation in your district, which includes areas like Fort Myers and others? How bad is the damage and what resources do you need now?

Well, first of all, the big thing in my district is we're restoring power. I was actually out this morning in a part of a district with Florida Power and Light, actually watching restore power to a community. So the power restoration is really job one here at this point. We have residents who have taken in flooding into their homes and they're having to go through the real painful process of really getting a lot of their belongings out of the house and really having to cut out drywall, pull up floors to try to rebuild. For some residents, this is the third time they're having to rebuild. They rebuilt after Hurricane Ian. Some of them took some flooding with Hurricane Debbie. Some of them took flooding last week with Haleen and now with Milton. And so some of our residents are just feeling really beaten down by the storm, but they're going to recover very strongly. In terms of the overall Southwest Florida area, we're going to be back We're back after Hurricane Ian. This is going to be a temporary setback, but we're going to recover stronger.

And the people in your district, strong, determined, a lot of grit there, but they're going to need resources to pick up because of the multitude of storms that are being hit. Congressman, are you satisfied with the federal government's response, FEMA and otherwise?

So far, so good. I will tell you, even after Hurricane Ian, which was two years ago, you do run into these issues with FEMA around getting reimbursements for projects that local governments are trying to do to finish the recovery. And so I would tell the people in Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Sarasota County, and Manatee, there's going going to be a long term process. The initial, obviously, is power restoration, water restoration, and trying to make sure your infrastructure is sound. But there's going to be a long road ahead. But communities typically stay together. When it comes to FEMA and other resources, all we want FEMA to do is just be responsive to what's happening on the ground, not just in the immediate aftermath of a storm, but in that continued process of rebuilding. It does take sometimes a year, unfortunately, depending on how devastatingly they've been hit more than a year, sometimes two years or even three.

Congressmen, when you hear calls for members like yourself to come back to Washington to pass more money for FEMA in disaster response, what are your thoughts?

Twofold. One, FEMA, as I understand it, in the disaster relief fund, still has $20 billion in that fund. That's going to be more than enough to be able to get through the next couple of weeks by the time we get back to Washington. Number two, the House, in particular, we passed a Homeland Security Appropriations Bill back in July. That bill would have actually taken care of the funding for FEMA. What happened with that bill, and frankly, all of the funding of the federal government, the Senate did nothing. The White House didn't really push hard for us to figure this out before September. They largely sat back. And the reason why that is is because what Washington loves to do are these year-end omnibus bills that nobody reads that happen right before Christmas. That's the type of stuff that many Republicans, myself included, are just sick and tired of. Let's actually do our job in a constructive manner. The House passed appropriations. Like I said, Back in July, to deal with the funding of FEMA, the Senate, which is run by Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, they did nothing with any of this. The White House did nothing with any of this.

They just want to do a lame duck deal or a bunch of spending that really doesn't matter to the lives of the American people, get shoved down the throat of members of Congress before they head home for the holidays. That's what's wrong in Washington, DC. Fema can be funded, but we got to do it responsibly. We can't just keep spending money we do not have. And so the most tragic thing is that this administration, they have funding for illegal aliens whenever they need to pull it together. They have funding for other countries, but now they want to cry and say they need Congress to act about FEMA. Congress has been acting about FEMA, but the Senate and the White House has been nowhere to be seen.

And when you mention the spending for other things, I must confess, congressman, everyone that I talk to, viewers and people out, I was in North Carolina talking to hurricane victims in the mountainous areas. They're very confused about these streams of funds from FEMA to go to one thing or another. Your colleague, Congresswoman Luna, is suggesting maybe redirect some Ukraine aid to perhaps to disaster relief. What's your reaction? Is that a good idea?

Look, I agree with Congresswoman Luna, and here's why. The Biden-Harris administration had no problem putting forward a student debt relief package cage, which was unconstitutional, by the way. They did not go through Congress. They did it on their own, and then they just waited for the courts to catch up with them. So they're quick to move to do stuff like that. They're quick to move to move as many resources into the war zone dealing with Ukraine and Russia. But then when it comes to American citizens, they want to sit back and say, Oh, my gosh, we need Congress. We need Congress. Our view is, look, just do what needs to be done right now. When we get back to Washington, we will figure it out and make it all work. That really needs to be the modus operandi of the federal government. I know in Florida, we're just happy that you have a governor like Ron DeSantis, who is proactive, who is not going to wait around for the bureaucrats to tell it, give him the all clear, he's going to take action and make sure that citizens get what they need, the resources they need.

And that's the type of leadership you need out of the White House. We simply don't have it right now.

Well, we appreciate your input and insight into what's happening in your area. One of the hardest hit. I want to just, while I have a moment before we run out of time here, I want to just shift to the campaign trail because we had former President Obama speaking about what the New York Times now shows, which is a drift of Black voters from Democrats from Harris. Here is what the former President I want to get your reaction.

We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.

Congressmen, your thoughts?

Like I said earlier on this, I don't care what Barack Obama says, to be honest with you. The Kamala Harris problem is very simple. She was riding shotgun with Joe Biden, leading America into crisis after crisis. Terrible policy, massive inflation, wide open borders in a foreign policy that's been a disaster. And now you got Barack Obama and the other Democrats, surrogates out here saying that black men in particular need to just show up and vote for her just because she's a black woman. No. Details matter. Policy It matters. Vision matters. And what we've seen from Kamala Harris is that she's been a part of a very destructive administration to the lives of the American people, and she's not demonstrated any ability to be a leader on the world stage that people will choose to follow. So the fact that she's losing this campaign is because she's a bad candidate, and she has no vision for the future of the country. She's got a billion dollars that she's raised. She has all of media, all of Hollywood behind her. They've scripted everything for her. It's almost like she's a Hollywood Hollywood actress, and she's losing. That tells me everything I need to know.

Just saying that, oh, black men need to show up, give me a break. I actually have an agenda that works for people, then maybe black men will show up.

All right, congressman, thank you for your insight. We've got to leave it there. We're up against a heartbreak. We'll be praying for your district residents after the storm. We'll be right back. More Fox News Live ahead.

I'm Steve Ducey.

I'm Brian Kilmeade.

I'm Ainsley Earhart. Click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis.