The president also visited Lake Charles, Louisiana,

Saturday, where he met with state

and congressional leaders, including Republican

Congressman Clay Higgins.

And he joins us now by phone.

Representative Higgins, thanks for joining us.

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): Good morning,

sir, and praise God for the efforts of the American people

and our president and his beautiful wife,

who has blessed us with their prayer and their very

genuine and sincere effort to convey

to us their love and their compassion during this--

this was a devastating storm for so many scores

of thousands of Americans.

And churches across the land have joined together

to help us recover quickly, especially our brothers

and sisters in Texas.

HOST: Representative Higgins--

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): It's been--

yes.

Yes.

HOST: Representative Higgins, so much of the focus

has been on Texas.

What's the situation in Louisiana?

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): Louisiana

was very prepared to take a direct hit from the storm.

Thus, all of our assets were organized and ready to respond.

However, the storm shifted just a little bit to the west

and ended up landing again.

You know, it hit Texas, and then back up into the Gulf,

and then hit Texas again right on the border with Louisiana.

So Louisiana was so prepared and much more

rural in that area that we weathered

that storm, that impact, with much less loss of life

and property.

On the Texas side of the border, the population

is much more dense, sir.

As soon as Louisiana was squared away,

I myself went to Texas on Thursday morning and Friday

and participated in rescue operations

and witnessed just the tragedy and the pain and the loss.

But I also witnessed the uplifting Christian spirit

of all the people of Texas and from across the country that

had come together there to help their fellow American

of every creed and color--

HOST: Representative Higgins--

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): --to stand back up.

Yes.

HOST: The nation has seen that Cajun Navy from Louisiana

rush to Texas to help those trapped in the flooding.

Who are those folks, and what motivates them?

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): Well, what

motivates them is love for their fellow man--

that those were some of the guys that I was with.

I was with a civilian group of rescuers.

And I was with the Cajun Navy, essentially.

The civilian rescue operations were massive, rather well

organized, and we had good communication systems,

dispatching, et cetera.

And the Cajun Navy is essentially

every American man and woman that

responded with a high water vehicle, you know,

a lifted four wheel drive vehicle--

like I was in a five-ton army truck with the tires themselves

four feet tall.

And they could go through heavy water and make rescues quickly.

HOST: Representative Higgins--

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): [INAUDIBLE] deploy a boat.

HOST: We're running a little short on time.

But you sit on the House Committee

for Homeland Security.

What is your reaction to the news that North Korea claims

it has a hydrogen bomb?

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): Well, apparently, it does.

And I don't think that the status quo

should be allowed to continue.

I don't think we should be--

I don't think we should be reactive.

I think we should be proactive.

The executive branch and the State Department,

in cooperation with nation states in the area have--

you know, we put heavy sanctions on them.

But I think we should be prepared

for a massive and overwhelming conventional strike

to stop them from moving further.

I'm completely in support of a preemptive first strike

against North Korea.

HOST: All right.

Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana,

thanks for joining us, sir.

We appreciate your time.

CLAY HIGGINS (ON PHONE): Yes, sir.

God bless you, and thank you for the work that you do.

Thank you.

You too as well.