Labor Department Releases August Job Report.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The Labor Department just released the August jobs report. And a strong summer of hiring has slowed down. The economy added about 156,000 jobs in August. A decent number by historical standards, but down from the previous month. The jobless rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent, but that's still near a 16-year low. Wages grew about 2.5 percent, roughly where they're hovered for the last two years. Remember, that's the big problem, good paying jobs. Important note, today's report does not include any possible job losses due to Hurricane Harvey. The survey was compiled before the storm hit. We're going to probably see Harvey's impact on the job market next month and beyond. So what does this report mean for President Trump's promise of 25 million jobs? Well, the U.S. has created about 1.2 million jobs during his first seven months. It's a strong number, but not quite enough to reach his sustained goal of 25 million in 10 years, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Thank you for all of that. So we've just heard from the mayor of Houston about what he says he needs from the federal government. Joining us again is CNN contributor General Russel Honore, commander of the joint task force for Hurricane Katrina. General, thanks so much for standing by with us. So we just talked to the mayor of Houston, Mayor Turner, and he is really making a treaty (ph) to the feds. He says we need more help. We need an army of FEMA responders down here and we need a lot of federal dollars. That basically, I think, dovetails with your assessment of what they need here.</s>LT. GEN. RUSSEL L. HONORE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. This is -- the scale of this -- you know, for a week now we've been communicating here on air that I thought the response scale needed to be bigger. When you get through the search and rescue phase, the hard work getting into helping people get in and out of their homes, which means that takes personal interface. You can come online and you can apply, you can get a check in the mail, but the party don't start for you in recovery until somebody come to your house. And the mayor has put his finger on it. Obviously they've had floods here before. And sometimes that can take weeks for a person to come and do the proper inspection. So he's setting the priority to work and that's what needs to happen. And this is going to be bigger than what FEMA has probably had done in the past anywhere. So they're going to have to up the game. At the same time look to the east because there's another hurricane coming.</s>CAMEROTA: But it's your assessment that they have not sort of pulled out all the stop the yet. And who -- who would be responsible for that? Is it the governor who you're saying needs to call in more of the cavalry from the federal government?</s>HONORE: The way this White House is working, they are working on a bottom up. I mean you asked us, and we will deliver. And that's been the mode of operation so far. My personal opinion is that they needed to lean further forward and push stuff as opposed to -- because the local people are busy saving lives. At the time you're saving lives, you're getting ready for the next phase of the operation. And the federal government has to be good enough. That's why we established these commands after 9/11, Northern Command and Fifth Army and all those so they could come in to</s>CAMEROTA: I see. So you think the White House should have been telling the locals what they need and coming in and offering it up?</s>HONORE: That would be the opinion I would have that -- because the local guys are trying to save lives. What he needs next week needs to be pushed to him.</s>CAMEROTA: Got it.</s>HONORE: And that's real logistics.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, the president is coming tomorrow. So we will see what the president has to offer what he comes here and what he can offer from the federal government. General, thank you very much. So we've watched a lot of dramatic rescues obviously here this week in Texas. Ant it's not just people who are being saved. It's thousands of pets as well. The Coast Guard says it has rescued more than 1,000 of them over just the last week. CNN's Rosa Flores tagged along with a woman who went home for the first time since her house flooded and you're about to see what made her break down in tears. Rosa is live for us in Houston with more. Rosa, tell us this story.</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is the home of Willie Marie Burton. She says that the water started rising very quickly at about 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. And you can see this morning the water level both here on this wall and also on this garage door. Now, while people rushed to safety, in many cases their pets were left behind. That was the case for her pet Lassy (ph). Now, she inherited this dog from her father. We were here when she returned to her home and also when she reunited with Lassy.</s>WILLIE MARIE BURTON, HARVEY EVACUEE: I feel like crying, but then I'm joyful because I could have been in the water and it could have got. So I'm just grateful. I'm just getting back to see what's left. Water is a powerful thing. It toppled over the sofa. And that love -- that loveseat. And it just moved all of this stuff. When you see it, the wall, the sink came up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the refrigerator fell.</s>BURTON: And the refrigerator's over. Lord, Lord. Whoa. Let's see what this is. I put this up here. Thank you, Lord. These are pictures from a long time ago.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And they're dry?</s>BURTON: And they -- yes, this thing kept that dry. It didn't get wet. That's good. Hi, Lassy. Hi. I know that storm scared you. But I'm glad you made it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK. It's OK. It's OK.</s>BURTON: I know. This too shall pass.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pass. Yes, ma'am.</s>BURTON: It will. I know that it will. Today is my 66th birthday. What I'm going to do after we go through some of this is I just want to eat seafood. I love seafood. So if I can get some seafood, I'll be happy. And if I get a martini, I'll be happy. But if not, I'm just glad to be here. I'm glad to be here, so --</s>FLORES: Now, as we take another live look here, you can see that Willie has started moving a lot of the wet and soaked items out of her house, just like a lot of her neighbors are. You can see that this neighbor over here has couches and other things. Now, Chris, about that seafood and martini. Now Miss Willie was a little too tired yesterday to go have that martini and that seafood. But, from her family, we're hearing that she might be able to celebrate her birthday today and cheers with that little martini. So we'll keep you posted.</s>CUOMO: Do so. Rosa, get involved. Make that happen because the simple pleasures can make such a difference in these hard times, especially on a birthday. And we wish her all the best. Rosa, thank you for bringing us that story. Just a little bit of a slice of the experience that's being lived out down there in so many different ways. All right, up next, we have a big name doing some really good stuff for those affected by Harvey.