former naval air station at roosevelt roads and international airport on southern coast. every one of those airports is within 25 to 30 miles you draw from them can cover the entire country 100 miles along and 35,000 miles wide so you can put helicopters there, uss kearsarge and her group are down there and army helicopters that have been brought in. marine corps. helicopters off kearsarge and her ships so staging things both from a shore and offshore to get these supplies out there. if you look at the population, it s 3.5 million people but the vast majority eric, live along the coastline. the middle of the country is mountainous and rain forests so most of the people are very close to the shoreline which make it is very useful for helicopter airlift support up in the mountains yes only way in there is to go into probably the soccer fields and things like that to use those as
the uss kearsarge is assisting puerto rico on land, sea, and air, not only with these vertical ospreys, but also with trucks and boats and bulldozers on the ground. we continue to do search and rescue on an alert posture so we re able to respond if we get a call. the kearsarge shipped out last month to help with the back-to-back hurricanes, harvey, irma, and now maria. we re doing a lot of work to move logistics, those critical life-sustaining supplies, water, food, medical supplies, to different parts of the island, where they may not necessarily be accessible by ground. reporter: among the men and women helping with this effort, puerto rico an sailors with famy on the island. have you been able to speak with your families since the hurricane? none of you? to be this close and see what the island is going through right now and the condition and not have that liberty to just go there and help out, put hands on
but quite frankly, for an island of some 3.4 million people stricken by this hurricane, that may just not be enough. citizens of colombia escaping the u.s. island of puerto rico. evacuated by their government to board a colombian air force plane. and it s hard to blame them. aboard a u.s. navy helicopter, you get a sense of the scale of the damage here. a week after hurricane maria barreled across puerto rico, transport, electricity, drinking water, and telecommunications are seriously, if not completely, disrupted. this devastated island still needs so much help. and the u.s. military is uniquely positioned to assist. the uss kearsarge is an assault ship, but here it s a floating assistance hub.
bill: out of puerto rico the u.s. navy releasing this video of sailors and marines bringing equipment and supplies into puerto rico. they are on board the u.s.s. kearsarge. geraldo was with them as well. the supplies are needed and the help on behalf of the u.s. military is going to go a long way infrastructure, electricity, water, supplies, cell phone service. so here we go. puerto rico more to come on all that here on america s newsroom. too many people are struggling in america today. they pay too much in taxes, they feel stuck and anxious. they are living paycheck to paycheck. we need faster economic growth and a tax code built for growth that helps struggling family. people need relief and we know this. shannon: republican leaders in the house and senate getting ready to release what is being described as a unified framework for historic tax reform. talk about it with tennessee
capabilities requested by fema and, sir, of course, you. i want to tell you, i had a conversation yesterday with secretary mattis, and he made the comment to me, laurie, texas gets everything they need. and we ll get it there as fast as we can. i have to say, i m so proud of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that have deployed in the effective area and that will continue to deploy as long as requested and needed. you know, the army has provided 200 high water vehicles to support red cross in the movement of personnel and the patients. army helicopters with hoisting capability are providing to help rescue and transport the survivors and the army is also receiving the receipt of life support items. the air force is providing strategic air lift, medical evacuation, airborne command and control and helicopters to transport people and supplies. the navy amphibious shows, uss