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Joe Matthew
Small businesses are the pulse of every community.
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Dan Criswell
They bring people together, create opportunities and drive growth. Chase for Business helps business owners like.
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Joe Matthew
You with personalized guidance and convenient digital.
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Dan Criswell
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Joe Matthew
Build a brighter future for your community. Learn more@chase.com business chase for business Make More of what's yours the Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply.
- [00:30]
Dan Criswell
JPMorgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright.
- [00:34]
Joe Matthew
2026 JPMorgan Chase Co. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android.
- [00:54]
Jeannie Shanzano
Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
- [00:56]
Joe Matthew
Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube watching shares of Depot rising up about $2. Not so great for Lowe's. It's down a fraction as both have trouble keeping the shovels and the salt in stock. Everyone's making a big run on stores like these. I haven't even mentioned the grocery stores. At least here in Washington, D.C. we're seeing empty shelves in a lot of locations. So there's a big economic impact here when it comes to this storm. Companies are moving things around the country and of course preparations are being made on the federal and state and local levels here to deal with whatever Mother Nature throws at us. Lot of this could include ice, and in a place like Texas, that's a big problem. This is a problem anywhere in the states that are most well equipped for storms, but in Texas it's a big challenge and knowing that the state's history is a difficult one. Here, with an independent grid that failed severely in the last ice storm, there are big concerns about whether the enhancements that have been made will be enough. This is why we wanted to spend some time with Bloomberg Energy reporter Josh Saul with the Prospect. As you can see on the screen on TV or YouTube, now that we're looking at the potential for massive blackouts across the Southern states, Josh Saul covers energy for us and is with us now from New York. It's great to see you, Josh. How difficult is this storm going to be, for instance, in the state of Texas?
- [02:25]
Josh Saul
A couple of things that are unusual about this storm, just how big it is, it stretches across the entire country and Texas specifically going to see real challenges Monday morning. The amount of demand that the cold is going to place on the grid as people try to keep their houses warm makes it really difficult for the state's power system to keep up with that, we could see a record in energy demand. And that's going to be tough for the grid, just like we saw back in winter storm Uri.
- [02:54]
Joe Matthew
Really interesting. It's 47 degrees right now in Dallas. It's going to be 27 degrees by the beginning of the day tomorrow. It looks like, if I'm reading this correctly, when we consider temps like these, the impact of ice and so forth, should we be concerned about more than Texas? This is going to be wreaking havoc across a lot of Southern states.
- [03:17]
Josh Saul
Up up to 170 million Americans affected by this storm. It's going to stretch all the way from Texas up to New York City, where we're expecting a huge amount of snow on Monday. And that cold weather, which is pushing down a polar vortex, kind of pushing down from the Arctic, pushing cold temperatures down to places like Texas and even New York that don't normally experience temperatures that cold. That has the potential to freeze power lines, damage trees that drop into power lines, could shut off power in many places across the US So utilities have thousands of workers standing by ready to deal with those. I was happy to hear you mention shovels and salts flying out of stores as people prepare, because we really would urge people across the United States to take this seriously and prepare for both bad weather when the storm hits and because of the continuing cold weather, snow that will stick around, stick around for days, snarling traffic and flights and all kinds of travel for days after the storm hits.
- [04:22]
Joe Matthew
How much ice does it take to tear down power lines?
- [04:26]
Josh Saul
You know, it depends. You have different kinds of power lines, from local distribution lines to the big transmission lines. But when ice builds up, it's really heavy and that can damage, take out, take out or even tear down, even drag to the ground power lines. And what we're seeing is we're getting a lot of moisture coming up from the Gulf. And that combined with the cold air coming down from above, moisture plus cold air. That's how you make, that's how you make snow, that's how you make freezing rain. That's how you make ice. And all of that together has the potential to snarl travel and make things really difficult and even potentially deadly for just a historically large amount of the.
- [05:08]
Joe Matthew
US When a, when a power grid goes down like we saw in Texas during that last massive ice storm, what happens to the infrastructure and how difficult is it to bring it back up?
- [05:22]
Josh Saul
Well, utilities do a lot of work to make sure that they're keeping lights on, keeping power flowing to Critical infrastructure that would be hospitals, places like emergency response response centers. But homes are going to be left out. A lot of those equations if the light, if the power goes off. So people are going to be on their own dealing with anything from during that winter storm. Winter storm Uri, we were talking to people who were using generators, people who are sleeping with their dogs, people doing kind of whatever they could to keep warm, especially in places like Texas where the houses and the people and the infrastructure isn't set up, set up for that extreme cold that can be really, really difficult and even dangerous. So people should start thinking about those preparations now. As far as turning back, turning the grid back on, you're right, it's very complicated, sending electrons flowing back onto systems that have been de energized. Very complicated. Grid operators take a lot of time to make sure that they're doing that right. And it's not as simple as turning the lights back on in a room that's gone dark.
- [06:24]
Joe Matthew
Boy, this is going to be something Quite a weekend ahead. Josh, thank you. I'm sure you're going to be working overtime. This is winter storm Fern. As I mentioned, I was looking at the storm. I don't know how. We're already on F. Gianna comes next, followed by Hernando. You start looking down the line. We've. Some of these are interesting we could have, if we have a tough enough winter, be looking at winter storm Wolfgang. As we make our way through the Alphabet. It's not just Texas, as we mentioned, it's a big swath of the country and it's going to go as far north as New York and even creep into New England here. And some of the forecasts that we've been seeing from New York are severe, up to 16 inches. One of the most read stories on the terminal in just the last 24 hours. And of course, this is a big test for New York City and for its new mayor, Zoran Mamdani, who held a news briefing earlier today to talk about preparations. Here he is.
- [07:13]
Mayor Zoran Mamdani
This weekend is going to be cold, it is going to be windy, and above all else, it is going to be a weekend where your city is prepared across every single level of government. We are working together to ensure that our streets are being kept clear, that New Yorkers are safeguarded, and that the most vulnerable among us are being connected with shelter. While we are still waiting to make a final decision on whether school will be in person or virtual, we will communicate that decision to families by noon on Sunday. That is going to be a decision between in person learning and remote learning. I have to apologize to the students that we're hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day. That will not be the case.
- [07:53]
Joe Matthew
Wow. Snow days are canceled. That might be the biggest headline we have so far out of New York. As we add the voice of Dan Criswell, the former administrator of FEMA. The U.S. federal Emergency Management Agency. Probably has a jacket like the one that the mayor was just wearing there. Dan, it's great to have you back on Bloomberg TV and radio. Just give us a sense. The scale of this storm is incredible. When FEMA is facing something that's impacting this many states, how much of a challenge is it to get material and equipment in place before it arrives?
- [08:26]
Dan Criswell
Joe, you're right. This is a gigantic storm. And when I look at the maps, it covers seven of FEMA's 10 regions. Right. That's 2/3 of all of the FEMA regions are going to be impacted by this close to 200 million people, you know, and that's where FEMA has the ability to have these centralized stockpiles of equipment ready to move out to states as they identify any needs. And so the goal here is to pre position where you can, especially areas that are going to get a lot of snow because once the snow comes in, it's going to be harder to move those in. But they only do that at the request of the state. And as the states are putting their plans in place, they can request these resources from fema. They can move those in. These are things like generation generators because it is going to be a prolonged power outage, but things like blankets or food and water to help stock some of the shelters. All of that activity is happening right now and they'll continue to work through the weekend with each of the states that are impacted to get them what they need.
- [09:26]
Joe Matthew
Yeah, we're watching shares of Generac and CAT both head lower today. Interestingly, knowing that there's going to be massive demand for generators, we've been having a specific conversation about Texas, of course, D and for good reason. And you know a lot about what happened in Texas in 2001, as we remind everybody that took place shortly before you were sworn in as FEMA administrator in April of 2021. So you essentially had to help clean all of this up. I'm wondering what recommendations you made to Texas and if they were received, knowing that Texas has an independent grid.
- [10:01]
Jeannie Shanzano
Yeah.
- [10:01]
Dan Criswell
One of the biggest things is first helping to educate the public. Right. And I think you heard a lot of that already. With your last speaker, right. How do you get people to understand what is going to happen to them and that this is going to be a prolonged power outage so they can take the steps right now to make sure that they can keep themselves and their families safe. But then the second part of that is how do you harden that grid? How do you put mitigation measures in place to reduce the impact? You're not going to get rid of the impact completely. And I know that we worked with Texas and we worked with the power companies to, you know, work through the different programs that the Department of Energy has or that FEMA has, and which ones are eligible to create systems that can protect those exposed power lines during a storm like this. But you're never going to stop it completely. And so they have to work hand in hand, those private utilities, with the local emergency management, the state emergency management, so they can do everything they can to get the power restored to those critical infrastructure facilities first and then get everything else back online. But it does take time. And that's why people need to act today and they need to act now to make sure they have what they need.
- [11:13]
Joe Matthew
Have to ask you about manpower at fema, and I don't want to get too political with you here, dm but the fact of the matter is the Federal Emergency Management Agency had to halt planned terminations of some temporary disaster relief workers because of the storm. I don't know if these people will be let go after the storm. But following the changes that we've seen at FEMA since the Trump administration came back into Washington and knowing that there's been a lot of push and pull over the role that FEMA should be playing versus the states. Does the agency have the people it needs?
- [11:48]
Dan Criswell
Well, they certainly are downstaffed. Right. They've already lost several thousand people, and that creates a strain on the existing personnel that are still there. You have people that are stationed at headquarters that are working in the National Response Coordination center right now preparing for this storm, working with our federal partners like the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and others. But you also have personnel in the regions, and these folks in the regions are the ones that are connecting directly with the state directors. But with the loss of staff, it just makes it harder. It makes it harder to keep up with the demand, with the requests and helping to support those communities. And I think as we continue to see potential changes in the emergency management enterprise and more financial responsibility going to state and locals, then I can see you could start scaling back some of the staff at fema. But I'm hopeful that what they saw with the onset of this storm is not going to be any different than maybe an onset during hurricane season. Is that until all of those changes are made and more responsibility, financial responsibility is assumed at the state and local level, you still need those federal people to help implement those programs. And so it just takes time to make those kind of changes. And when you indiscriminately don't renew some of these contracts without understanding the role that they play, it just makes longer recoveries, longer support for the American people that need help when they need it most.
- [13:15]
Joe Matthew
Well, certainly makes sense. FEMA lost more than 3,700 employees, about 14% of the agency last year thanks to the federal workforce cuts. The ones we're talking about here, on call response, recovery employees, core, the cadre of on call response recovery employees, some have multi year contracts. Will we see more contractors as full timers are showing the door?
- [13:46]
Dan Criswell
Well, I think it's kind of a misnomer and I just want to clarify there. So this country of on call response employees, they are on two year or four year appointments. These are federal employees just through a different hiring authority. They're not contractors in the sense where you see private sector firms coming in. And so typically they're on for two years or four years and every two years or four years then that appointment gets renewed. If you continue to not renew those appointments, you're losing critical staff. These are the people that make up the core, the heartbeat of the disaster partners directly in the field with a state or a local jurisdiction or in a regional office. When you lose those personnel, you lose not just numbers, but you lose knowledge, you lose institutional knowledge, you lose expertise. And all of that takes time to rebuild. And so as they continue to lose those, you can't replace them with just hiring new, new cadre of on call core employees. Right. Because it'll still take time to get them up to speed. And you certainly can't replace them with private sector contractors to come in. But there's a different difference there and I just wanted to make sure that was clear. And this is, it's really going to impact FEMA's ability to support communities before, during and after disasters if they continue to lose those, those disaster employees.
- [15:16]
Joe Matthew
I really appreciate you clearing that up, Dan. It's great to see you. Dan Criswell, former FEMA administrator with us ahead of the big storm Winter Storm Fern live on Bloomberg, take a quick swing with our political panel. We'll have more time with them later in the hour. But Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeannie Shannon Zaino and Rick Davis are with us right now. Rick, there's been a lot of question about the cuts that have taken place at agencies like FEMA, 14% of the workforce. We're talking about the test that Mayor Mamdani will face, that Governor Abbott will face up with the tests that the federal government is about to face.
- [15:47]
Rick Davis
I think it's a really good point. You know, we tend to focus on local mayors and governors and what their reaction is. But a lot of the resources they have are federal. You know, big warehouses with equipment, generators, as you heard earlier. You know, snow, moving equipment, you know, even aid packages, things that people may need, medical supplies, food, water. All that happens in the, in the case of a big winter storm, just like it does, you know, in hurricanes. And so I think, I think it will be a test. Maybe that's why Donald Trump is sticking around the White House this weekend to oversee the federal response. Wouldn't surprise me because FEMA is a shadow of its previous self. You could argue that it's had a lot of inefficiency in the past, but that has been fired out and now we're going to see whether or not they can perform on really an epic storm that's, that's occurring this weekend.
- [16:45]
Joe Matthew
Only got 30 seconds, Jeannie. I apologize in advance. Will the feds regret these job cuts?
- [16:51]
Jeannie Shanzano
They could. I mean, I thought Ms. Criswell made a great point. You know, institutional knowledge of this kind matters. These federal employees matter and we as citizens count on them during times of crisis and weather related issues like this today.
- [17:06]
Joe Matthew
Well, we'll be tracking the brain drain along with the storm. Jeannie and Rick are back with us straight ahead here on Balance of Power only on Bloomberg TV and radio. Stay with us on Balance of Power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
- [17:22]
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- [18:12]
Joe Matthew
Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc.
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Joe Matthew
Output is for informational purposes only and.
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- [18:27]
Joe Matthew
Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures you're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android.
- [18:39]
Jeannie Shanzano
Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
- [18:41]
Joe Matthew
You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg 11:30. Good luck finding a shovel. I'm guessing it's the deal in New York, just like here in dc. Just had a little birdie tell me they're all sold out at Lowe's. Watching the tip sheets this morning. You can't get groceries either, depending on where you are. The Capitol Hill, Trader Joe's and the one over on 14th Street. Empty shelves reminded me of the old Soviet Safeway. On 17th street they call it. They still call it that. And probably not. We're in an age of abundance after all. But look, this is for real and we're watching the social media account here. The Washington D.C. snowball Fight Association. If you're not following them, you're missing an missing out a lot. The the D.C. sFA's war council. I'm reading right from the the Post on X is getting closer to a call on a season kickoff battle this Sunday. If you want to be there for the fight, likely in the late morning before the sleep begins. Keep you posted. Where do you want a big snowball fight to be in D.C. they're asking. Let us know here. Capitol Weather Gang is apparently involved in this as well. We're gonna dispatch producer James to head on down to that snowball fight to get some scoop for us on Monday. All the while, natural gas prices are up more than 60% this week. Or if you're cool like they say in the financial news, it's NAT Gas. You have to call it NAT because it takes too long to say natural gas. And I'll note as well as we all wait for this storm to come crashing through Dallas to D.C. ice snow, frigid, cold temps. It is currently 80 degrees in Miami, feels like 90, reminding us that Mike McGlone is smarter than most of us. The commodities analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence is with us right now and it's great to see you, Mike. Happy Friday, Nat. Gas I'm going to say it like the cool guys is surging right now and I'm just curious why exactly. Because we're supposed to be swimming in natural gas. We're exporting it around the world. Is this because we need more pipe or we need more supply? What's happening?
- [20:58]
Mike McGlone
Well, the main issue right now is the weather and the real cool guys just say natty, but I'm not real cool. So we'll say natural gas. The key thing is we had a sick. There you go, Natty. That's natural gas. And for crude they say wti, which is. Or they just say yes, which is really cool. So what's a major cold spell? So obviously you're talking about major cold spell. The markets front run that. But here's the key thing about natural gas that was a bit of a surprise. So much for global warming with these winters getting very much colder. But the bottom line is natural gas on the screen right now is right around $5 per mmbtu. This time next week it'll be 360 because we're going to switch to that March contract. March starts thinking about tulips popping up pretty soon. And you know what happens that demand cools down. The key thing to think about natural gas is we have to ask ourselves the question is that elasticity of supply every time it gets to near $5 per mmbtu for almost 20 years going to go away? I think it's going to be stronger than ever and push it back lower later in the year. So we get to this point, next year will be price will be working. Worried about a colder than normal winter. The market will price for it, inventories will build up for it and supply should come on to plan for it. And then the problem will be we better get that colder than normal winter or prices will go back down to two.
- [22:14]
Joe Matthew
Fascinating. Producer James thinks you're drinking natty ice down there, Mike. So we want to be careful. The president sounds like you. He just put on social media record cold wave expected to hit 40 states. Really seen anything like it before. Could the environmental insurrectionists please explain whatever happened to global warming? I do not have an answer on that. But what could this look like post storm? Will we see a little relaxation here or are the shorts going to take over?
- [22:46]
Mike McGlone
Well, that's the key thing. The front contract, that February contract got overcome with some short covering. We squeezed them all out. It expires next week and it's gone. The rest of the futures, yeah, there's so much short, but they're still hanging in those lower levels. The bottom line is the weather has to stay. That demand pull of cold and normal weather's heating degree days has to stay there and the supply has not. Come on. You have to mention President Trump because his bias is lower energy prices. We've seen what he did in Venezuela and we've seen his methods. And by the way, we can bring in more natural gas rather quickly. We do every time it goes up. So I'm not worried about. The key thing to remember, though, is if I'm wrong and it stays above 5, that has implications for bond yields. One thing that also happened this year, that bond yield bumped up to around 5%. $4.94 if natural gas stays higher. Remember, it's the number one measure of heat, electricity and fertilizer in this country. That's going to be inflationary. And what I think Mr. Trump's not going to like that. So I think there'll be ways for it to do what it normally does, revert lower.
- [23:41]
Joe Matthew
Okay, great. It's great to see you, Mike. 80 degrees. You take a little walk after this and feel bad for us?
- [23:46]
Mike McGlone
Oh, yeah. Well, I'm lucky. Allow me to come here.
- [23:50]
Joe Matthew
So, still the smartest guys in the room. Bloomberg Intelligence, Miami. Mike McGlone. We do appreciate it. Drinking the Natty light with producer James Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodities strategist. And so, you know, we get down to the big test, the snow test for politicians. This is real. Whether you're Governor Greg Abbott in Texas or you're Mayor Zoran Mamdani in New York, you might have seen the headline this morning in the New York Post. Kind of says it all. Mamdani says New York kids can forget snow days. I'm not sure this is a good start. He did have a briefing earlier on preparations in the city. Here's Mayor Mamdani.
- [24:28]
Mayor Zoran Mamdani
This weekend is going to be cold. It is going to be windy, and above all else, it is going to be a weekend where your city is prepared across every single level of government. We are working together to ensure that our streets are being kept clear, that New Yorkers are safeguarded, and that the most vulnerable among us are being connected with shelter. While we are still waiting to make a final decision on whether school will be in person or virtual, we will communicate that decision to families by noon on Sunday. That is going to be a decision between in person learning and remote learning. I have to apologize to the students that were hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day. That will not be the case.
- [25:08]
Joe Matthew
Whoa. What's going on around here. There's no more snow days. Is this just New York? Remember, they said this would happen during COVID since we can all clearly get on Zoom and do remote learning or whatever.
- [25:21]
Rick Davis
But.
- [25:23]
Joe Matthew
I feel for the kids in New York. We assemble our political panel for their thoughts on all of this. Rick and Jeannie are both here. They're bracing for the storm, too. Bloomberg Politics Contributors Jeannie Shanzano, Demonstration Democracy visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ashe Center Rick Davis, partner, Stone Court Capital, a Republican strategist it's great to see both of you. Jeannie, you're an educator. I mean, we'll remind everybody you're a professor at Iona College. What is the mayor thinking?
- [25:50]
Jeannie Shanzano
He's disappointing those young people. But I'll tell you, Joe, he learned the first lesson about governing New York City, which is do not go on vacation when there is a pending storm. So he's starting off right. Yeah, the kids may be disappointed with this new technology that allows remote learning, but the most important thing is that he cleans up those streets. And we've seen politicians of all stripes go down, you know, Mayor Lindsey famously, in New York City, but we've also seen it benefit people don't remember, like Mike Dukakis. You're from Massachusetts, Mike Dukakis. He made his national name on the 78 storm. So there's good and bad here, Joe, a lot of politics. And your future when you're a politician, depends on your ability to manage the response to the weather.
- [26:43]
Joe Matthew
Well, that's absolutely right. Rick, weigh in. By the way, I don't know what you think of the mayor with the sharp emergency management jacket, but he seems like he's in action here. How carefully, how brutally might he be graded on the response?
- [26:57]
Rick Davis
Well, he certainly looks like an establishment figure, so I don't know if that's what he was working for, but I think it's great. He is teaching every young child in New York City to hate socialists.
- [27:09]
Joe Matthew
I think it's a good start.
- [27:12]
Rick Davis
So, you know, from my perspective, ideologically, he's, he's, he's right, Right, right there where you want it. Look, it is going to determine his, his, his administration's first year as to how they respond to this snow. Certainly, he's hoping for the lightest weather he can get, but it happens to everybody. There's not a New York mayor who can escape it. There's always going to be in your term of office some kind of winter storm where people who don't get their garbage picked up, people who don't get their streets plowed, people who have no shops to shop in are going to blame the mayor. Most important job in America. We'll see how he does.
- [27:54]
Joe Matthew
Well, that's right. We're getting the. We got the storm footage out now. Cece has got the salt trucks getting loaded up here. It's getting pretty exciting. Jeannie, it's not just the mayor of New York. As I mentioned, this storm could have a very different impact for the governor of Texas. Remembering what happened to the grid in Texas last time there was a major ice storm. They're not really built for this, of course, in the Lone Star State, although big enhancements have reportedly been made. Well, not reportedly. They have been made and invested in the grid. The question is, what will it be able to withstand? Texas is about to find out. Jeannie, how big of a deal is this for Greg Abbott?
- [28:29]
Jeannie Shanzano
It's enormously important. And of course, to my vacation point, Joe, that was one of the times when Ted Cruz got hit for not being in Texas. So politicians, storm coming, you're away. Don't be Marion Barry or Chris Christie. Go home or stay home. That's the rule. And then, of course, the infrastructure, you got to keep that grid up and running. That's going to be a challenge. They have made improvements in Texas, but it is enormously important for Governor Abbott. But also, let's not forget, for Donald Trump, for Kristi Noem, whose department is now heading fema. And we understand that amongst the many people they fired this year, the notices that went out were halted in the last few days because they saw this storm coming and they realized, heck, we need these people on the ground. You know, Rick is, you know, sort of messing with our mayor here, Mom Donnie, saying the kids aren't going to like the socialists. But I'll tell you, the parents will like it because the kids will be occupied. But you know what people really aren't going to like is if Donald Trump and Kristi Noem don't have people in FEMA on the ground to address the situation. Government matters. You can't just fire public workers willy nilly.
- [29:43]
Joe Matthew
Yeah, that's right. I did. By the way, we were just looking at the plows in that footage there. We had this on the Late Edition because they're going to get hit in Tennessee as well. A lot of Southern states are trying to sort of figure out how to manage this. The Dolly Plowton Plow. They all have cute names on them. Stuck out. Stuck out. There it is.
- [30:01]
Josh Saul
If you're with us.
- [30:01]
Joe Matthew
On YouTube. Rick, Texas is one thing. Then there's the White House, of course. President Trump not in Palm beach this weekend. Do you think it's because of the storm? Would he get some blowback for playing golf this weekend?
- [30:15]
Rick Davis
Well, just a note on Texas. I think I read this morning that Ted Cruz has taken a trip. So, I mean, like some people just don't learn the. Yeah, you know, like there's got to be something keeping the President in the White House. I mean, you know, he's normally down in the winter White House in Mar a Lago on the weekends. I can't imagine that he can't monitor the storms and in 40 states from there. Maybe it's because Florida is going to be cold too and you know, nobody. If the greens are frozen, you can't tee off, so why not stay at home? Or I mean, maybe he's doing something related to the new ballroom. I mean, maybe he's got to get in there and make sure that the basement's dug right? I don't know. I mean he's a developer in his heart, but Laguna beach.
- [31:07]
Joe Matthew
That'S where Ted Cruz is going. Rick, you know Southern California pretty well. Does that matter? Jeannie, we're just about out of time. If you stay in the US Is it still a problem?
- [31:16]
Jeannie Shanzano
It's a problem because he's out of his own state. Joe, Ted, message. Get back to Texas. He's gotta go.
- [31:22]
Joe Matthew
Okay, we'll meet you, we'll meet you at Laguna beach for the weekend. It sounds pretty nice to me as a matter of fact. I guess that's better than the Dominican Republic. I'm Joe Matthew, this is Bloomberg. Stay with us on Balance of Power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
- [31:40]
Public Ad Representative
Support for the show comes from public on public. You can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market paid for by public.
- [32:30]
Joe Matthew
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Public Ad Representative
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Joe Matthew
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Public Ad Representative
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Joe Matthew
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- [32:58]
Jeannie Shanzano
Aut with the Bloomberg Business app.
- [33:00]
Joe Matthew
You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg 11:30. We're talking about an epic storm winter storm firm that's bearing down on a good chunk of the country here. And we've been spending a lot of time talking about the challenges facing Texas. New York is going to have its own, never mind DC for a moment. The terminals telling us we've got 16 inches potentially coming to Manhattan with a newly minted mayor and a big test when it comes to handling the storm in the biggest city in the world. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis knows all about it. The Republican from New York joins us right now to talk about this, the future of her district and politics here in Washington. Congresswoman, it's great to have you back. Is New York ready for this?
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Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
I hope so, and I believe we will be. New York's the type of city that in many ways can run on autopilot. But I do believe that you have enough individuals, particularly the rank and file men and women who go out there every day to keep our city safe and clean. They're going to be the ones really running the show on the ground. And I have full faith that they'll be able to do it.
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Joe Matthew
Saw the briefing earlier from Mayor Mamdani. He says school days are canceled. This could be fraught politically, Congresswoman, but I'm just wondering if you buy into this media narrative that this is the big test, that this is do or die for New York's new mayor.
- [34:29]
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
Look, I think nothing upsets people more than if they come out of their house and their streets are not plowed properly. We saw this before with definitely de Blasio. A lot of people were very upset about the way they mishandled snowstorms. So I think, you know, there's no Republican or Democrat way to take out the garbage, they say. And I, and I believe that the same, same thing when it comes to shovel in the snow. So and plowing the snow. So I think, I think it is a test. It is. He'll definitely get the heat if it's not cleaned properly and he certainly probably won't get the credit. If it is done well, it'll go to the men and women on the ground. See, it's like a no win situation for politicians.
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Joe Matthew
Wow. Well, that's even handed analysis, I guess, whether you're Zoran Mamdani or Greg Abbott, this is a very real test. As a lot of people are hunkering down here, I've got to ask you, Congresswoman, what it's like to wake up in the morning and hear from a judge that your workplace should no longer exist. I'm referring to the ruling that we discussed on Bloomberg, and I know that you have some, I'm sure, pretty strong thoughts about this. This is your first national interview since a judge ruled that your district should be redrawn. You're no stranger to redistricting in New York and I'm wondering what will be your recourse?
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Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
Look, we fought this battle in 2022 and 2024 successfully. Here we are again, third time running for reelection and it's the third time we're having a fight over the district map. And this is because the Democrats simply can't beat me on merit, on policy, on debate. In 2020, the seat was represented by a Democrat. And the people of Staten island, southern Brooklyn, fired that individual because he was doing a bad job. They hired me a Republican. I am the only Republican who represents our city in Washington. But the bottom line here is that it was the people's choice. Now you have a Washington law firm who's basically saying, we don't care what the people of Staten island say, how they vote. We want to be able to fix this map so they can never elect a Republican ever again. They're going to get stuck with the Democrat that we say is going to be the one to run, run there. And that is very unfortunate. That is certainly not what you expect from the people who call themselves the defenders of democracy. And we're going to fight it tooth and nail. And if we have to take it all the way, the US Supreme Supreme Court, we will, because we need to fight to protect the voices of this group of constituents that I represent who have spoken very loud and clearly in the last few elections.
- [36:56]
Joe Matthew
Well, this, if I understand the case, the court ruled the boundaries of your district, the 11th year unfairly dilutes black and Latino voters. What would be your message to those voters?
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Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
Well, I'm the first Hispanic, half Cuban to represent this district, the first minority. So that's kind of interesting that they would claim that. But what's even more ludicrous is their solution. The proposed solution of the plaintiffs is to put Staten island with lower Manhattan, which would add more white voters to the district. So it really, absolutely makes no sense. It is completely meritless. The only reason it got anywhere, quite frankly, is because the judge was the chief of staff and counsel to Governor Kathy Hochul. You can't just go to your friends on the bench and expect whatever political outcome you want because you can't win at the, at the, at the ballot box. That's not the way democracy works. And I think it's wrong when Republicans do it as well. I've been very critical, right. I've been very consistent on this issue. Politically political gerrymandering is wrong because it should be the people who elect their representatives, not the other way around.
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Joe Matthew
Yeah, your consistency is noted. Congresswoman, you were the first, I think, Republican on our air to oppose the Texas redistricting. That, of course, created a national movement on both sides of the aisle. But this idea of putting Lower Manhattan into your districts, could a Republican win in Manhattan?
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Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
Look, I think the idea here, their idea is to make it so difficult where a Republican can never win. And it's not just a Republican winning. You know, my district. This would mean that New York City would no longer have any competitive districts, Right? Not one competitive seat. And New York City will never have another Republican representing our city in Washington. I believe bipartisan representation of our city is incredibly important, particularly now where you have a Democrat mayor, you have a Republican president. I think I've done a good job of protecting our city. I went to President Trump when DHS was going to cut Homeland Security counterterrorism funding to our nypd. We worked to get that money back when they were going to cut World Trade center health care program employees that serve our first responders who are still battling illnesses from 9 11. I fought Doge and I got those employees hired back with my colleagues. And so what I would say is it is incredibly important that we have bipartisan representation in Washington. And what the Democrats are trying to do here is ensure that there will never be another Republican representing our city on the federal level.
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Josh Saul
Hmm.
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Joe Matthew
I'm glad you mentioned Doge. The story today on the Bloomberg terminal that FEMA has halted planned terminations of some temporary disaster relief workers in advance of the storm that we started our conversation on here knowing that over the last year, some 3,700 FEMA employees have been cut, which is 14% of the agency. Do you worry about the impact on the federal level here that worker cuts have had when it comes to storm preparedness.
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Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
Well, look, I think that a lot of these agencies do have bloat. There is bureaucracy. There is some savings to be had. I also think that we need to be targeted and use precision when doing this. Like, you know, we can't just fire employees that are, that are needed. So I haven't been able to look at exactly what, what FEMA has announced here. But certainly I will be very vocal if it's going to be something that would impact my district as I have when it came to the World Trade center employees or other, other areas of our federal government. But certainly everybody knows there's a lot of bloat and bureaucracy in Washington where we can find efficiencies to not only bring our debt down but to also protect the taxpayers, which we have a fiscal response, fiduciary responsibility to do. Then we need to take that action.
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Joe Matthew
Well, I appreciate your joining us today, Congresswoman. We'd like to stay in touch as you bring your case to the courts. And we wish you luck with the big storm this weekend. We'll see you on the other side, Nicole. Malia Takis, Republican. Absolutely. From New York with us live on Bloomberg. So let's get down to business here. We've been looking forward to talking to Julie Fine because been mentioning Texas just about every time we have a conversation about the storm. And you know that there's a disaster declaration in Julie Fines state, of course, our Texas bureau chief, we heard from Governor Greg Abbott about this a short time ago. Listen, because of the severity of this storm, right now I am making a disaster declaration covering 134 counties across the state of Texas. Texas to make sure that every possible resource can be made available to them so they can respond quicker, faster and better. Don't begin getting prepared late tomorrow or think you can get around doing it on Saturday. It's going to be too late. It's going to be too late, he says. Taking a look at the weather right now in Dallas, 47 degrees. Looks like it started raining and that rain is going to turn to ice soon. Julie finds right in the middle of it. Our Texas bureau chief is with us live on Bloomberg. Julie, we can let everybody know we were actually planning to do some shows together in Dallas next week. We had talked about that right here on the air last time you were with us on balance of power. That's clearly not going to happen. How ready though is Texas for winter storm? Firm.
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Julie Fine
I think Texas has learned some lessons. As you heard, the governor Say there are already disaster declarations. So that will mean that resources are available if people need them as soon as possible. The governor has said that the grid is ready and the grid can handle this. I mean, that is a big statement. You have to feel pretty comfortable saying that after what happened here in 2021. I lived here in 2021. Anyone that was here remembers what that was like. So right now, like you said, it's 47 degrees. I mean, you're just getting the rain. It's when it starts to be freezing rain. You know, what we count on here to clean things up is the sun. And it's not going to be over freezing probably until Monday. So, you know, we obviously they can pre streets, but we don't have plows like you do. You know, we're not nearly. We don't have the equipment that you do. So really, you have to wait. But when you talk about the power grid, Joe, there's also power lines. The grid can be prepared to handle everything. But if you've got ice on the lines, I mean, that's a whole different. That's a whole different animal. And those could be local outages. So the bottom line here is you definitely have to be prepared.
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Joe Matthew
Boy, there's a lot that you just said there, of course, and you're right. When it comes to making a statement like that, you will be judged if things don't work out so well. But are other states surging equipment into Texas to your point? I know you don't have a fleet of plow trucks waiting around all year. So when something like this happens, are neighboring states able to help?
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Julie Fine
I think that our state has requested the resources that it believes that it needs. Neighboring states. I mean, we're. We're right by Oklahoma, but Oklahoma could be in worse trouble than we are. Neighboring states have all their own problems to deal with.
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Dan Criswell
With.
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Julie Fine
I am. I would imagine what they have been doing, and the governor talked about this yesterday, is readying absolutely everything that we have to go. And then I think. I think they will try to pull from neighboring states if need be. If neighboring states have anything to offer us.
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Joe Matthew
Mm. Where's the governor going to be for the storm? How does he normally operate through times like these? I know it doesn't happen too often.
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Julie Fine
It doesn't happen often. Generally, he's right by the emergency operations center and he is in office. So generally that's where you will see him. And I guess it will depend on where the major problems are, where he will go eventually. As you know, with these storms, things can change ever so slightly and that can change the area where there are the most problems. I mean, Dallas is really supposed to get it bad. So if people are smart, you can't be on the roads. It's just because you have a big car does not mean it will do well on the ice. It's not like, like snow. So, you know, people have to also, you know, heed the warnings and get ready as well. But the governor will be in Austin, I would imagine, as he generally is in the emergency operations center.
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Joe Matthew
Interesting. I'm sure you've been outside and it probably doesn't feel great right now. By the way, it's 80 degrees in Miami. You still have time to get there. Julia, I guess in Florida is going to start getting pretty cold as well. Is the biggest concern power outages at this point?
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Julie Fine
Yeah, I think the biggest concern is power outages because if you have been there and you remember what it was like years ago when people didn't have as many generators as they have now, hotels were booked. And even if you were in a hotel, I was in a hotel because I was working at local news at the time and they had us strategically placed around the city. My hotel lost power. So that doesn't even help either. So that is the major. Yeah, I said I'm going home. If I'm going to have to be close hold, it's going to be in my own bed. But it's a good idea. You really. Yeah, you really. You really. That is the biggest concern here is if people lose power. And again, the grid, even if the grid holds, the real concern is the localized power outages with ice.
- [46:19]
Joe Matthew
Never snows on Landman. Julie maybe they'll have to work.
- [46:23]
Julie Fine
Never snows on Landman. I know.
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Joe Matthew
Join us on the Late Edition so we can keep tabs on what's happening. Julie Fine, our Texas Bureau chief hunkering down for Fern. Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can find us live every weekday from Washington, D.C. at Noontime Eastern@Bloomberg.com these days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere. You turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise with Okta, you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent. Secure any agent. Okta secures AI. Every Lenovo is built to Let them go.
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Public Ad Representative
Let them work and rework.
- [47:26]
Joe Matthew
Let them animate.
- [47:27]
Public Ad Representative
A dinosaur.
- [47:28]
Joe Matthew
No. A toaster.
- [47:29]
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis
No. A hand in a jetpack. Fun.
- [47:31]
Joe Matthew
Let them put golden wings on a dog. Good boy. Let them color correct anywhere and everywhere.
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Public Ad Representative
Let them make Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, Lenovo gives creatives everything they need. Lenovo.com let creatives create.