hear from the freedom caucus. keep watching cnbc because when they walk out of the meeting we're hoping they're going to come to the camera. >> i think the vote happens. i think it passes. i think michigan upsets oregon. >> lots of predictions. >> i agree on all but the last. >> thanks for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" starts right now. welcome to the "closing bell", everybody. i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffeth. investors waiting for that vote on health care in the house tonight. aren't we all? at this hour we're waiting for speaker paul ryan, he's expected to deliver his weekly news conference. usually it's in the morning on thursdays. now it will be scheduled for about a half an hour from now. the president is meeting with trucking industry ceos at the white house. we're expecting to hear from them coming up in a little bit. we will speak to the ceo of

molina health who is against the changes that are being talked about in this house bill. dr. mario molina will join us. >> trump's vote could put the trump trades in jeopardy. we have a look at whether they should be looking for safe haven plays. >> after the bell we have congressman dave brat of the freedom caucus. we're waiting to hear what they have to say. he's saying he will vote no on this bill but anything is possible. see if anything can change his mind for the vote which is scheduled. let's go to the latest on the bill. kayla tausche back from washington with details. kayla? >> reporter: bill, that vote is scheduled but there has not been a decision made whether that appointment will be kept or whether it will be moved to tomorrow or perhaps later although the press secretary earlier today did seem optimistic that the president had been able to turn some votes. >> keeping that vote total rather tight right now, but i

feel very buoyed by the direction we're headed in. >> that was slightly different than what we heard from the chairman of the freedom house caucus which met with the president and vice president trying to broker a deal. here's what he said on capitol hill just moments ago. >> we have a whole lot of other issues to discuss and at this point i don't know that any decisions have been made on what will or will not -- >> what's your guess at this point? >> we have discussed some options. we're trying to get creative and make sure that those options are something that is acceptable to the administration because it's ultimately the president that's going to decide yes or no on what happens. >> ultimately the president that will decide yes or no, not the other way around. and, in fact, an aide to congressman warren davidson told cnbc that they are waiting for text on what the groups had

agreed to. speaker paul ryan waiting to have a briefing at 3:30. we'll keep you posted on whether that is happening. kelly and bill. >> a lot coming up. kayla, thank you. joining us on a cnbc exclusive is dr. mario molina. he's one of the few insurance executives that has openly criticized this bill. welcome, doctor. >> thank you for having me. >> i imagine this is because you do a big medicaid business. how would that be affected if the bill passes? >> the part that will affect us most immediately will be the roll back of the expansion. eventually what i'm concerned about is deeper cuts to medicaid that will be coming in 2020. >> the cuts you're talking about would be changing the program from the open ended way in which the money is given out now to block grants to the states to bring everybody on more even footing. why is that a bad thing long term? >> well, the block grant funding right now is projected to begin using 2016 rates in 2020 so we calculate that that's anywhere from an 18 to 19% cut and i saw

a report from a consultant by the name of menat that said it's more like 25 or 26%. so the states are really going to feel a lot of financial pressure under the perfect capita block grants. >> there are many moving parts and pieces beyond the medicaid part to all of this. mainly it has to do with trying to bring premiums down but it also then means less coverage. what do you think of the quit prokw proquo that's going on to try to find a balance of those who will lose coverage to those who are concerned about forcing people to take insurance? >> well, a lot of what this bill will do is roll things back to the preaca days, and if you recall back to the 2008, 2009, people couldn't afford insurance then and many, many people were uninsured. so we're going to take a big step backward and we're going to

call it progress. and i'm having a hard time understanding how this is going to make insurance more affordable for people that have had difficulty affording it. in fact, i'm really worried that people that have insurance who think this doesn't affect them are going to be surprised because i think their premiums will go up as well. >> doctor, would you acknowledge that medicaid -- again, make sure everybody's on the same page here. medicare takes care of older people, medicaid takes care of people who are low income who don't have the means to provide for health insurance in some other way. it's been massively expanded under obamacare and that's the center of this fight over whether the bill passes. there are conservatives who want to rein it in immediately. it sounds like it might be reined in resulting in the cuts that you spoke about anywhere from 18 to 25%. is medicaid today a perfectly functioning system or does it need to have work requirements, things like that going forward? >> well, yeah, the medicaid system has its problems as well.

you have to remember that right now medicaid pays for half the births. 1/3 of all the pediatric care and most of the long-term care in this country so it is a big program. it also cares for many people that are disabled. so it's a big program that covers a lot of people and we need to be very careful about the changes that we make. >> i mean, that portion of the bill has -- hasn't been perfect for you. there's a revenue sharing portion in there where you've had to give money back to subsidize some of your competitors who have not been as fortunate in finding patients that you're able to serve in a profitable manner. that's been a big problem for you, hasn't it? >> well, the marketplace risk transfer has been a problem, but that problem was addressed by cms. the changes to the formula will go into effect in 2018. that's not my big concern. you also mention about the work requirement. most people don't realize that 2/3 of medicaid

beneficiaries are currently working and 80% of households on medicaid have someone that works. the work requirement is a minor change but we need to be careful that we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. medicaid is the most cost effective way of providing insurance to low income individuals. >> we should point out, we're looking at your stock. you have a fiduciary responsibility at the same time to your shareholders. the stock has been down appreciably. with this -- with the new bill presumably make you a more profitable company because you don't have to have the revenue sharing and some of the other things that have been encroaching on you as an ongoing publicly traded company? >> well, we've said before that we're going to wait and see if we're going to stay in the marketplace or not. the bill has a part of that decision, but it's not the only thing that's going to weigh into that decision. you know, the other thing that's ironic about this is i've been talking to governors and state medicaid directors.

if the bill passes they're talking about moving more medicaid beneficiaries and services into managed care which could help our business grow. i'm still concerned about the long-term effects. i think that 24 million people losing their insurance coverage is not a good thing whether you're in the insurance business, the hospital business, the doctor business or even seniors. seniors are concerned about this bill. so aarp is against it. not many people in the health care field -- i'm sorry. >> i was going to say, if this passes tomorrow is molina going to have to make some strategic changes then? >> if this bill passes tomorrow it will have to go over to the senate. we'll have to see what the senate does. the senate is more moderate and there will be more changes. >> spoken just like a white house press secretary, that's for sure. dr. molina, thank you for joining us. coming up, we're also going to have freedom caucus dave brat here.

also former health and human services secretary under george w. bush, michael leavitt. let's get to the market day here. the dow is up 41 points. this has been very much a wait and see kind of a day. nothing is moving all that much right now. mark travis from intrepid funds is with us. he's at post 9 and sitting next to joe korpina and rick santelli. jonathan, it would be too simplified to say the market is going to move one way or the other based on how the health care bill goes because there are many crosscurrents, too many motivations in different sectors based on the impact health care has on their business, right? >> absolutely. i think you said it right on the lead in. everyone's waiting. wait and see mode. we had the same mentality last week. the fed was speaking. everyone waited and look at the calendar this week. this has been clearly a hot item that we've been looking at.

the ripple effects do go across many different sectors. i think that's what's causing the apprehension whether it's main street or wall street as to how this market is going to react to the news that hopefully is going to come out today or tomorrow. from there investors are going to have to decide which way the whole political scheme is going to play out. there's clearly other large programs that president trump wants to put in place and if we're seeing these types of head winds now what's going to happen down the road. >> amid all of this, mark, where do you see the best opportunity in the market today? >> well, kelly, i think we've been through an eight year bull market and it's very difficult to find discounted securities in my view, whether it's high yield debtor russell 2000 equity. you know, so we found a few, not a lot. i'm like jonathan, i'll be curious to see what happened with this bill. health care is 70% of the economy. does it slow down some kind of tax reform that helps drive up

companies ebida. we found names around the globe. corus entertainment out of toronto. interesting business. has a 9% dividend. trades at $13, worth about 20 in our view. we're kind of, i like to say, paid to wait. and, you know, there are others. >> we see syntel and why leucadia. the vix has been so low. >> well, there's no question in a firm like intrepid capital funds thrives on volatility. we haven't seen many missed prices. leucadia is something we bought in the mid to high teens. jeffries is certainly a big part of that book and national beef is doing better now as their margins have improved. it's still trading below its tangible book in the high 20s. >> rick, your markets that you watched still hovering here. the dollar index just below 100 still. the ten year yield below 240. nothing is moving all that much

right now. what's the read? what's the message from the market for you right now if there is one? >> yeah, i'll tell you, you're spot on, bill. as a matter of fact if you look at 2s at 125. 302 for 30. everything is highly unchanged and i underscore highly. you know, right now we're a couple of three basis points below where you settled 2016 for 10. that was around 2.44. dollar index is 2% below. you look at the dow, the s&p, they're roughly 5% higher for '17. the nasdaq is up closer to 8.5%. as much as i hate the whole binary argument, it will apply at least to some extent tomorrow regarding the outlook for future legislation as other guests have talked about and that will be the equity markets. i think the fixed income markets are a bit of a different animal. i think that they could see a bit of a selloff tomorrow and see rates move higher if we see this pass at some point this

evening because the toll gate for the agenda for this president and it's the agenda i think that's more interesting to the fixed income market because it hooks into growth. growth is a big issue. rates have moved down not necessarily because of this president or his agenda, but i think what's going on overseas, other central banks, what's going on in japan in the eurozone. >> right. >> so i do think tomorrow will have some binary issues to it even for the fixed income market though they may be short lived. >> all right. and we are just -- well, thank you guys for joining us. appreciate your thoughts on today's market action. do we have a time yet? okay. so we are just getting word now that this news conference, the weekly news conference that speaker ryan holds every week on thursday usually at 11:30 a.m. eastern time, this morning it was postponed until 3:30 this afternoon. >> which is why we have this shot of the podium where it's supposed to happen. >> we're just now getting word

it's been postponed a second time and they haven't set a new time yet. isn't that telling? interesting. >> yeah, i'm looking at the market. sure enough we are dropping. the dow is up 25 points. we were up much more than that at the highs. even now you have to wonder if this is a sign they don't have the votes to pass. now it's down 22. we'll keep an eye on it. >> the question becomes are the people who are against this legislation, you know, eric cantor, the former majority leader in the house was on "power lunch" last hour, he was saying as rick was eluding to, this is gateway bill right now. once you get past this you've got to have the momentum. will the members of the freedom caucus who would like to see these tax cuts and some of the other pieces of legislation that have been promised, if they can hold their nose on the health care bill, can they get passed through the other legislation. >> the man makes a lot of sense but he was voted out from the freedom caucus. >> i'm aware. >> it's interesting to see the

tension take place this is the path towards getting all of our objectives done and others are saying, no, it's not. you're dragging us into a losing bid. dow hanging on to a gain of 25 points. we'll see if congressman dave brat can join us. >> wasn't it interesting the comments that mark meadows made. he said, it comes down to the president. he will be the decider. we all know donald trump is the ultimate deal maker so this is going to really test that ability of his, that legendary ability of his to get a deal done. >> he owns this. he has owned this. he backed it. this is not paul ryan's legislation, this is the president's. >> kayla tausche is back in washington. can you tell us about the delay of the ryan news conference and maybe the significance of it? >> reporter: cutting it close to when the press conference was supposed to start, bill, 15 minutes before 3:30 p.m. i just got word that that has been postponed until further notice. normally you would get a time that it would be postponed.

until this morning it was 11:30. we got very clear word it was postponed until 3:30 p.m. this is all coming as the freedom caucus and others are meeting with mark meadows on capitol hill. they're giving him feedback from the meeting with the president this morning. i caught up with congressman ted yoho this morning. he said he suggested to the chairman that they delay the vote by at least 24 hours to, in his words, get it right and that there had reportedly been others who made the same suggestion to the congressman, to the chairman of the freedom caucus to delay this vote. we don't have an official word from the house majority leader's office. he's in charge of setting the schedule. we'll make a final word. some attendees at the meeting have thrown cold water on this idea that the president made a so-called final offer. i heard it described by one attendee as a dialogue where the freedom caucus threw out some ideas and the president and his staff threw out some ideas. they went back and forth. so it does seem like there is

some optimism that a deal can be reached but not optimism that a deal can be reached necessarily in a time frame that had been previously hoped for. >> the other interesting thing about this, too, kayla, is it better for them to delay it 24 hours or however long of a time to have better odds than forcing it through tonight? i'm looking at the market as it's trying to come to the same kind of conclusion? >> yeah, you wonder, kelly. of course, all of these lawmakers are hearing from their constituents and earlier on cnbc we played you a clip of the president making a public appeal via the white house's instagram feed. call your lawmaker, call your representative, call your senator and tell them this is the bill for you. law makeers have said the lion's share of the calls they've been receiving have still been negative and have still said this is not the deal that they want. this is not the bill that they want. of course, they're fighting fires on both sides, both at the white house and at home. >> i was going to say earlier that this is how it used to feel

when we were getting ready for a fed meeting, right? this is even beyond that. >> now that's a snoozer. >> we'll be judging the size of the briefcase in no time that some of these leaders are walking into the meetings with. >> thanks, kayla. checking back no doubt. so, again, the news conference scheduled for 3:30 with house speaker paul ryan has now been delayed indefinitely as they get ready perhaps to vote on the health care bill or not. coming up here. he just showed up, walked past here. aaron levie, box ceo. he says they need to be more vocal politically. senator elizabeth warren is calling out president trump's nominee for the securities and exchange commission. you're watching cnbc pirs in business worldwide. seeing is believing, and that's why

we're opening more xfinity stores closer to you. visit us today and learn how to get the most out of all your services, like xfinity x1. we'll put the power in your hands, so you can see how x1 is changing the way you experience tv with features like voice remote, making it easier and more fun than ever. there's more in store than you imagine. visit an xfinity store today and see for yourself. xfinity, the future of awesome. welcome back. shares of disney trading higher today. they've extended the contract of chairman and ceo of bob iger by

one year until july of 2019. he will serve as a consultant for three years after that. this is his third extension. he became ceo back in 2005. the company says the board is still searching for mr. iger's successor. >> i don't know whether he's pulling a jim boeheim or boeheim is pulling an iger. >> threalet's all review. there's talk that he's considering a run for the presidency. if you stay on the job until july of '19 -- in fact, his last day will be july 2nd. what do you think he might think about doing on july 4th of 2019? >> having a hot dog and -- >> wouldn't that be perfect. >> perfect day to make the announcement. >> it was after tom staggs left. that's why i make the syracuse analogy. if the number two leaves, if it wasn't obvious to the public already, that the number one guy was staying on. in this case bob iger two more

years and he has led disney to much success. it's good to go back and be reminded. it's not like he was chosen. he's very much made his reputation through the results he's shown over this period of time. >> inbe deed. if you're just joining us, we've been waiting for a news conference by house speaker paul rina head of the vote on health care which was scheduled for later this evening. now the news conference has been postponed until later, but in the meantime a group of industry executives from the trucking industry are meeting at the white house with president trump. let's listen in here.

>> they're making more money. >> so the point of these -- this is on tape. this happened a few minutes ago. the way this usually works is we are given guidance that there will be a press availability as they greet these executives coming to the white house and we may get a few comments from the president. clearly that's not going to happen. what they're there for is to highlight the impact obamacare has had on the trucking industry on this very important day. who scheduled that? shouldn't the president be out drumming up votes? >> this is what it must be like to be president.

>> pulled left and right. >> we saw vice president mike pence, trucking company executives and the truckers themselves. >> yes. >> we did get some headlines a moment ago trump saying the health care vote is going to be, quote, very close saying, quote, we have a chance making this as part of this tape or some other piece of tape coming in just like yesterday when he would make five or six second remarks as part of the regular course of business that was happening. >> you saw vice president pence there both of them active in the initiations with both of them trying to persuade them. >> this is not an image you see often. a semiin the white house driveway. >> there's a photo op for the president driving a semi truck here. the point is you have both the president and the vice president doing this. they're not lobbying for the bill right now, which is a very critical time right here. >> and, by the way, we'll keep you posted on any further headlines as we get them.

wall street lawyer jay clayton facing off. that's for him to become the head of the securities and exchange commission. ylan mui joins us from the highlights of that today. >> reporter: kelly, one of the most pointed exchanges was with senator elizabeth warren. she grilled him who in addition to being a billionaire investor is also president trump's special adviser for deregulation. here's what she said. >> i do not understand how we can have someone who continues to trade in a market and is influencing regulatory policy simultaneously. i want to hear the chair of the sec say he's going to look into this and i hope put a stop to it. >> clayton did acknowledge that he spoke with icahn after his nomination to lead the sec. he defended that nomination saying he believes talking to market participants, he promised to recuse himself when necessary. democrats say that's going to have to happen a whole lot.

clayton is a long-time wall street attorney. he cannot be involved in decisions regarding any of his clients or the clients of his law firm for two years. those included companies in crisis such as bear stearns, volkswagen, valeant's questions over high drug pricing on policy clayton is expected to play a critical role in this administration's effort to roll back regulations. back to you. >> ylan, thank you. we must interrupt. there is breaking news we need to get to right now. kayla tausche, give us the story. >> reporter: well, bill, we're trying to hunt down some details on exactly when this vote is scheduled to take place. we know when we just reported to you that some members of the freedom caucus have suggested to their chair that the vote be delayed at least 24 hours, perhaps until monday so that they can work through the weekend. nbc news is reporting now that per a top republican leadership source that there will be no vote today. we are still trying to confirm that with our sources, but that is what nbc news is reporting.

of course, there has been a lot of moving around of the scheduling here on capitol hill. the republican conference meeting, the meeting of all of the republicans in the house that was scheduled for this morning has not yet been rescheduled. there is no word on whether or when that will be happening. then we have the presser for speaker ryan. that was delayed until further notice or postponed until further 2349s. it seems like there's back room dealing going on trying to reach a compromise. until then, we don't have a firm word on when that vote will take place. we have nbc news reporting with their sources that it will not happen today. guys? >> one more little strand of this politico reporting that house republicans will meet with 7:00 p.m. is that the meeting you were referring to possibly? >> possibly. i had been speaking to a couple of people in the hallway and they had said they had not been heard or been told that that meeting had been rescheduled. it could be a different meeting. there are all sorts of clusters huddling up here on the hill, kelly, trying to reach an agreement.

>> it's all very dramatic. the markets are reflecting this. we're up significantly much earlier in the session today. we've since now lost almost all of that. the dow is hanging on to an 11 point gain. the health care sector has turned negative. >> you know, you wonder where's the middle ground? what exactly can they do to appease both sides? the moderates are worried about the number of people who will lose their coverage per the cbo scoring of this bill as it existed earlier. of course, as we know, the conservatives, freedom caucus would love to tear this whole thing up and start over again because they feel this is too close to what obamacare was all about. >> go back to the version passed by the house and senate two years ago. that was to repeal. we don't want to start a new entitlement program. any concessions made to move closer to allow the freedom caucus to get on board will move it away from a plan that could pass the senate. that's the tricky thing here. >> reporter: that is the tricky thing but i think they want to reach a deal that will work with

the senate as well. i mean, if you had been on the grounds here for the last couple of days, you would have seen mark meadows running back and forth between the two chambers. likewise you would have seen the same thing happening for senator ted cruz. they've been in each other's meetings. they were trying to make sure something would pass senate rules, something would pass senate muster. we'll see exactly what they get up with. >> market is not liking this. the dow is now negative 4 points. s&p down 1/10 of a percent. what had been a quiet session and still is, for them it's binary. either the trump agenda is proceeding or not. it's not so much about the health care agenda. it's much more about is the whole thing going to happen. russell is hanging on to positive territory. >> so far. let's not make too much of a 10 point, 30 point swing when the dow is at 20,000 but the point is well taken that the sentiment is changing. you have a market that has -- we've had one 1% move by the dow

this year, otherwise, it's pretty much been a sideways kind of a market. these kinds of moves can be rather telling as this market waits to get some sense of which way this health care bill is going to go. really, it could go either way right now. >> we're looking at it bounce around there between positive and negative territory. >> kayla, what do you think next? i mean, right now we just wait for those closed door meetings to continue into the night and i can imagine that we're not going to hear much else for the rest of this day. what do you think? >> well, bill, i apologize for looking down at my phone but i'm getting text from sources coming in left and right and i did just get a text from a source that's familiar with tonight's vote saying it will not happen tonight so we can report we heard from a senior gop source that the vote tonight will not be happening. there will be meetings to try to figure out where to go from here. congress was supposed to adjourn tonight, go back to their districts, back to their home

towns but now people are preparing to hunker down and figure out how they can get this done. >> and this will be a complication for the president. quite clearly today he wanted this to happen. he was pushing for it to happen. the vote will not be happening tonight and the market has turned negative on that. kayla, thank you. the dow is down about 20 points. the s&p is down 5. transports down 52. russell is down 12 -- i'm sorry, the nasdaq is down 12 and russell trying to hang on to a small gain. >> i'd be curious to see what the hospital stocks have been doing. we know they have suffered as they've talked about the changes to be made. we know that the ama has come out against the changes they were talking about. so if they're talking about now making some more compromises to try to reach a compromise that will get this bill passed, look at that. it's mixed. you're not getting any definitive message from the hospital stocks. how about the insurance companies and what they have done? all right. there you are.

minus signs there as well. that's where we're seeing some of the selling. >> united health down 1.25. let's take a quick break. we'll come back. coming up we believe, we hope, maybe freedom caucus congressman david brat will talk with us about whether he still plans to vote no on the health care bill and former health and human services secretary michael leavitt will be weighing in as welcoming up.

with e*trade's powerful trading tools, right at your fingertips, you have access to in-depth analysis, level 2 data,

and a team of experienced traders ready to help you if you need it. ♪ ♪ it's like having the power of a trading floor, wherever you are. it's your trade. ♪ ♪ e*trade. ♪ ♪ start trading today at etrade.com

25 minutes left of the trading session. in what we knew would be a momentous day. as the hours go on to set the stage what we're hearing is the vote in the house has now been delayed perhaps by as much as 24 hours. speaker paul ryan was to hold a news conference. his usual weekly news conference was delayed from 11:30 this morning to 3:30 this afternoon eastern time. that has been delayed. we are hearing that there is a possibility that house republicans will now convene behind closed doors at 7:00 eastern time tonight all to try and come up with something that all constituents, both moderates and conservative republicans, can accept as far as this health care reform bill goes and maybe get that vote as early as tomorrow. in the meantime, the markets generally slow drift south not by a whole lot. we don't want to make a whole

lot of that. the dow is down 14 points. we showed you some of the insurance stocks have gone down. the hospital stocks have been mixed at this point. and i've got steve grasso from stewart frankel here to explain it all to us right now. >> i think you did a great job already. >> i said earlier this is how it used to feel as we were waiting to are a fed meeting, when those mattered. >> right. >> now this is even stronger than that. >> you nailed it. that's exactly what it is. you have d.c. really dictating direction on wall street, and when you said before you don't see a catastrophic selloff, we're basically on -- but the feel is that we were rallying into that agreement or even a soft agreement or something was going to get done. once you get that pulled out from under you, then the market starts to say, wait a minute. we want to know details. >> bearing in mind what happened with brexit or the market's got it wrong -- >> right. >> -- the election, the markets initially got it wrong and took off. we all figured out what was

going to happen. how do we handicap the market this time? i mean, the early thought was that if they get it passed, the market rallies, with the expectation we can get some tax reform. >> deregulation. >> and everything else. >> is it that simple though? >> i think it is that simple as far as the overall macro market is concerned. obviously granularity at this, some sectors will out perform other sectors. you've seen the rate sensitive trades where you thought they were going to be impacted by a rising rate environment. those have rallied. it's confused the overall market but the overall market has continued its grind sideways or higher. the problem now though is that if you don't get this deal done or you get a light deal, to your point, what does it mean for taxs? do you not get a huge cut in corporate taxes? do you not get deregulation to the extent we thought we were going to get? >> right. >> the other big thing to remember for investors is there was a reason why everyone said

we don't need an infrastructure plan, we don't need that type of stimulus. there might be a bidikuindila i market. someone will come in and say we need some more stim for the overall market. this is definitely headwind. this is not what people were banking on. people thought a deal was going to get done and now as we start to butt up against it it's very negative for the overall market. >> thank you. >> kelly? >> guys, thank you. 20 minutes to go. the transports down 44. the vix is up just a little bit. the russell is actually hanging on to a small gain. up next box ceo aaron levie said they should take a more active role in letting washington now what they think. we will speak to him about that right after this. ♪

can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together.

welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you.

all right. so if you're just joining us, stocks have turned slightly negative here after the house delayed the vote on the health care bill. let's get the latest from john harwood. john? >> reporter: bill, i think we have to conclude from this that it is now extremely unlikely that we're going to have a

wholesale revamp of obamacare. the house leadership strategy was to put this bill on the floor and dare conservatives to vote against it. remember, conservatives said it was too liberal. it was too much like obamacare. they want something more conservative that gets rid of more regulations. the house decided, the leadership decided they couldn't get the votes for what they had put on the table. they have delayed the votes, but it's very unlikely that anything that they would do to move this bill to the right could get -- even if it got enough moderate support to pass the house could pass the senate. i think people should start to recognize that this was a peak moment for the house on health care. it's not going to get any easier from here. >> john, here is a tape of the president talking, and this was before we knew that the house vote was delayed. let's listen to what the president said about all of this a few minutes ago. >> and everybody does so welcome to the crowd. but i very much appreciate you

being here and i very much appreciate your support. i'm honored to welcome all of the many truck eers, leaders. it's a good day. really, you are the leaders. you are the big ones. i'm very impressed i was able to get you. i think it was the white house that was able to. no one knows america like truckers know america. you see it every day. you see every hill and you see every valley and you see every pothole in our roads that have to be redone, right? every town, every forest from border to border, ocean to ocean. it's true. it's true. and you love america and you love the spirit and we love your spirit and we want to thank you very much. very special people. through day and night and all kinds of weather truckers coarse the arteries of our nation's highways. you carry anything and everything, the food that stocks our shelves, the fuel that runs our cars, and the steel that builds our cities. do you think i wrote that?

>> not bad. >> save that. i want to save that paragraph. but america depends on you and you work very hard for america. many of you spend weeks away from your families doing what can sometimes be a very difficult and dangerous job to put it mildly, but you take care of yourselves, you look after your friends and you don't stop until the job is done. that's true. obamacare has inflicted great pain on american truckers. many of you were forced to buy health insurance on the obamacare exchanges. you experienced a crippling rise in premiums and a dramatic loss in options and you just take a look at what's happened to the costs and it's incredible. you look at what's going on with the deductibles, they're through the roof. hopefully you never have to use

it. you know the problems and it's put a lot of the trucking businesses out of business, which is pretty bad. in addition, many union drivers are slated to have their plans taxed to pay obamacare. they've been against it for a long period of time. and trucking companies that are considered large employers have to offer government mandated health insurance. you have the mandate that just doesn't work for them. you're forced to do things you don't want to do. today the house is voting to repeal and replace the disaster known as obamacare. we'll see what happens. going to be a very close vote. after we repeal and we replace -- it's close. they know it's no good. it's only politics because we have a great bill and i think we have a very good chance, but it's only politics. after we repeal and we replace obamacare, we're going to do

everything we can to make sure truckers stay busy moving american goods made by american companies. big difference out there now, don't you think? big difference. we will rewrite our broken tax code and fix our terrible trade deals. we will also eliminate job deregulations. we're going to free it up. it's going to be back to business an we'll make sure america's infrastructure is the best in the world. right now it's probably the worst it's been in 40 years. i have friends in your business, they say trucking from los angeles to new york and back, it's very tough on the trucks. never used to be that way with the condition of the roads and the highways. so i look forward to hearing from you. we're going to have a long talk, although i'm not going to make it too long. i don't want to spend too long with you and i'll lose my vote.

we're going to talk for a while and go back to business and i appreciate you being here. maybe we'll go around the table and introduce yourself and the company real fast. >> all right. so that was the president as he prepared to spend some time with those truckers and really to talk about the impact that obamacare has had on them which you mentioned there. again, this was moments before we had learned that the house vote had been delayed. >> hopefully he won't blame them for that. >> exactly. eamon javers, boy, what a day it's been there. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, bill. i just talked to sarah huckabee sanders along with a few other reporters and they're saying this is going to be delayed tonight. they're going to start the debate in the house of representatives and they're going to cast their votes tomorrow morning. they're portraying it as a scheduling matter. i asked her if this was being done because they didn't feel they didn't have the votes. she said, no, this is being done for you guys so you don't have to do this at 3:00 in the morning tonight. they're saying for scheduling

reasons only the debate will begin tonight. it will continue late into the night but the votes will happen tomorrow. she wouldn't give us a time frame for the votes and she said that the white house is confident that they still have the votes tomorrow morning. so that's the line from here at the white house, bill. >> darn nice of them to consider that the presides doesn't want be up at 3:00 a.m. for this one. thank you very much. art cashin just pointed out that the market on close orders as we head to the close with ten minutes to go show an imbalance to the sell side of $700 million. >> joining us now as an outspoken exec, aaron levie, the ceo of box is here in an exclusive interview. even before this was all coming down you were saying in light of some of the comments from howard schultz and others about not looking to washington for solutions your take is people shouldn't be afraid to speak up, throw their weight around politically.

>> yeah. >> you feel like they should be doing that more? i feel that we have a lot of that already. >> there's no question there's a lot of noise. it's reaching fever pitch. there are so many issues today where policy intersects with business and intersects with our ability to be competitive. both an individual company level as well as on a global basis and for our country. while we'd love to be able to separate policy and politics, there are so many things that impact our way of life and our competitiveness as a company. so when we think about immigration reform, when we think about encryption policy and privacy, when we think about global trade. >> what about health care? >> health care. >> oh, by the way. >> will impact markets. >> the problem is at some point you are choosing sides. isn't an issue like health care, do you have a side? do you want this bill to pass? do you not want it to pass? >> for us, we're a little bit removed from this specific issue. we want transformation in health care broadly. we think it needs to be more

patient centric. there's a lot of innovation in health care. i don't have all of the thoughts on ahca and what we should do about that. we are at a point where business and politics are inseparable if we're going to be able to stay competitive and innovate for future. >> bearing in mind the ceos that have been part of the president's various committees on growing the economy and so forth, some of them have taken heat for seemingly taking a stand. you want ceos to be a little more outspoken politically, but at the same time you have to realize almost automatically you alienate half of your audience. >> if you focus on the policy and the issue and how that's going to impact the products that we build, our ability to innovate, i think you can get away from thinking about it as sides as much as focusing on the issue. it's unfortunate that our bipartisan system equates a side. as opposed to discussing each issue on its own merit and focus on how do we have an economy and

country and let companies stay innovative. >> i think it's kind of healthy. >> which part? >> two people feel very strongly. >> yeah, but as long as they're talking and listening to each other. we don't listen to each other anymore. >> correct. >> no. >> we need to be able to have more conversations on the new york stock exchange where we can work out issues. >> aaron, we have to go at this point. >> great to see you. >> aaron levie, the ceo of box joining us at the new york stock exchange. we'll have much more as we follow the markets. the dow down 19 points. we're back right after this.

at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

five minutes to go. the dow is down nine. we have the closing countdown. let's see if we finish positive. mike leavitt will join us this afternoon. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. actually, stay with us. we're just getting some sound from mark meadows, chair of the house freedom caucus. >> this will be interesting. >> under what we're currently considering, however, i would say progress is being made and that progress that is being made

is really should be applauded with the efforts of the white house to try to not only deliver on a campaign promise but to deliver lower premiums for every american from coast to coast and in between. >> how would you describe the president -- >> i would say at this point the president's engagement is unparallel i believe in the history of our country to actually engage a number of members whether they be moderates or conservatives. i think it's indicative of just a president that wants to solve problems. even meeting with somebody like elija cummings on drug -- prescription drug actual cost and price. what he said today in the meeting, he singled out elija cummings and said he wants to work on an issue for a democrat. this is a president that wants

to get things done and so i can tell you, the freedom caucus is committed to working with the president to get this done. this artificial deadline that we have at this particular point of a vote tonight actually is something that we imposed on our self and so i'm very encouraged and optimistic that if we continue to work together, and by that we plan to reach out to some of the members of the tuesday group to have some real discussions on how we can come together and have consensus realizing there's different motivations for different members of our conference. >> aren't you handing the president a loss? >> i think -- i think -- i think the procedures for going forward are still fundamental and they have not changed for the last couple of weeks. if we can make sure that there is an adequate safety net, that

pre-existing conditions are taken care of, that premiums start to go down for moms and dads, that's what it's all about. that's what i heard over and over again was does this bill actually lower premiums significantly enough to make a real difference for people that are struggling to pay for health care. i think we have that at the very core of where we are. >> are you delivering a blow to the president and the speaker? >> i've been having a number of discussions with my senate colleagues, both some that are considered to be very conservative and some that are considered to be not quite as conservative. i'm optimistic that we can find common ground with at least 51, 52 senators in that way. i will be hopeful -- well, i won't go there. we'll just say 51, 52 senators. >> isn't this a loss? >> on the table -- >> you know, really right now in terms of talking about specifics of negotiations, i'm not going to do that.

i can't tell you that. i know that's what everybody wants to hear is what would get you here. we've communicated that very effectively with the president and his staff but it's really not about what i want, it's about what those constituents want back home. so in doing that we started reviewing some of the texts that the administration and our leadership has put forth. there were a number of questions in terms of what it did, what it didn't do. we had a question in here just now is does this unfairly penalize veterans? we're not sure of that answer. if we're not sure of those answers, we need to read the bill and understand the bill fully before we take a vote on it. so do i think it gives the president a loss? absolutely not. i mean, when you look at this, we are going to get to the finish line because the president's committed to get to the finish line, moderates and conservatives are committed to get to the finish line and when we get there we will be able to

applaud a process that is the very fabric of who we are as the american people. its tee debate real ideas that affect people day in and day out. >> do you think you can have a vote on this tomorrow? >> i can tell you as soon as i get done here i'm making a call to tom mcarthur and try to reach out to some of the tuesday group. i think it's important for me to understand where they're coming from. i would love to see 237 votes on the house side and certainly would welcome any democrats that would come across as well, but in this we are not there at this particular point. >> is the speaker being unhelpful? sounds like you're going around him. >> no. i talked to the speaker this morning. i think the speaker has a very difficult task of trying to assemble 215 or 16 votes. when you look at that, they are working very hard to try to get this done. and so that being said, there

are a number of negotiations that are going on, not only at 1600 pennsylvania avenue but on capitol hill as we speak and so hopefully we will be able to find some consensus. >> you're a modest man. you basically have veto power over this, don't you? >> no, i don't have any veto power. my voting card has my picture on it but it doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the people of western california. >> can the president pass this without your support? >> you know, again, i'm one vote. i can tell you at this point we are trying to get another 30 to 40 votes that are currently in the no category to yes. once we do that, i think we can move forward with passing it on the house floor. >> congressman, do you agree with some of your colleagues that voting for the bill in the current form would be worse than doing nothing about obamacare? >> i think at this point some of the provisions in here do not lower health care costs enough,

certainly for my constituents, so as we look at that i think we've got to make sure that it lowers health care costs. >> what is worse than doing nothing? >> even with the cbo -- here's the problem with doing nothing. i don't believe that's an option because i have -- also have talked to people, business people that have had the tough opportunity of seeing their health care premiums go up 30, 35%. another 30% in north carolina this year. and when you look at that, obamacare is not sustainable. and so to suggest that it can be around, i don't see that happening. >> you were speaking there yesterd yesterday. >> well, mike cannon is certainly a very learned individual when it comes to health care. >> congressman, are you still a no? >> i am still a no at this time. i'm desperately trying to get to yes and i think the president knows that. i told him that personally, and

i can say with all the freedom caucus, they are really trying to get to yes. that's why we met for such a long time. it was at times not contentious, i would say very rigorous deb e debate. >> difference between last night and right now, your support and the freedom caucus? >> i think what changed between last night and today was the fact that the president has made some very good faith and goodwill gestures to try to move the bar along. >> congressman, the president said if you don't get on board he's going to come after you. are you afraid of what happens if you don't -- >> you guys, the president is not only someone i support, he's someone that i really look at from a very -- not only friendly way but certainly take some of the things he says in the jovial manner -- >> you're not afraid this may come back to haunt you? >> well, i think anybody that's

in politics always worries about consequences. >> and that is the house freedom caucus chair, congressman mark meadows there responding to questions live from the press. let's just quickly go over the time line of what's happened here. at 3:30 p.m. today we thought that paul ryan, the speaker of the house, would be carrying his already delayed news briefing to give us an update about the schedule of the vote tonight, the support for it and so forth. that was postponed 15 minutes ago. there is word the vote will not be held tonight. chair mark meadows, those are the no votes in the house. they need all the yes votes, basically, that they can get from republicans. they have very little wiggle room on this thing if they want to get this done. it sounds like tomorrow will be the vote on the ahca, the repeal

and replace of obamacare. dramatic afternoon. as word of this trickled out you can see what happened in the markets. dow dropped, s&p down 2.5. united health a biggie down about 1%. i'm joined on the panel and welcome to the second hour of "closing bell" with cnbc pro columnist mike santoli, daniel hughes is here as well. co-founder paul hickey is with us. mike, real quickly, talk us through what happens now, the significance of all of this. >> there's no denying minute to minute the market was following the head leans on exactly whether there was going to be a vote, how it might go. whether that's corrected or not, you can't really argue. clearly there's a number of people who feel as if there are broader policy implications to having some forward motion on this bill. this market has kind of waited and sat there when it had these big known events, inauguration, trump speech, fed hike and just

waited. get it out of the way and then it was going to resume whatever it was going to do before. i don't know what it is going to resume doing. we're in the middle of this little wobbly period. >> let's get all of the details and the house canceling the vote. kayla tausche has the latest from the house of representatives. eamon javers is at the white house. john harwood has the outlook for this bill's passage. kayla, let's begin with you. >> reporter: kelly, it was just about an hour that the majority whip's office sent out an alert saying the house currently stands in recess. procedural votes will take place at 8:00 p.m. votes are expected tomorrow and to stay tuned for further information. some further information? 7:00 p.m. is the time tonight, meeting together will convene arguably to discuss everything that happened today. paul ryan, his office is behind me, and going in and out of that all day have been the leaders of the republican conference.

deputy whips, supporters of this bill. people trying to drum up support watching sean spicer doing his press briefing trying to glean any details working the phones trying to figure out exactly the state of play for this bill that was announced just about two weeks ago. we still haven't gotten new score from the congressional budget office. and what changes are being made in real time. that likely won't come in before a vote goes to the full house floor. we'll see exactly what substantive changes are made, whether the freedom caucus gets their way, whether the white house gets its way and exactly whether the common ground is found. this is not how house leadership expected today to play out. they expected that they had been able to coalesce support over the many months they had been discussing and running on the repeal and replace of the affordable care act. this has taken quite a dramatic turn of events . we'll see if they can rectify it. >> eamon, the white house was saying the vote could or would

happen tomorrow. what is the latest there. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, kelly. it is a dramatic moment. here at the white house they're trying to tamp down that drama. they're saying this is a scheduling issue. they realized the debate would go into the wee hours of the morning. the vote would happen at like 3:00 in the morning. because of the scheduling issue they'd like to have the debate in the house of representatives tonight and have a vote tomorrow. they insist this is not due to the fact they don't have the votes, this is to do with scheduling. they say when they do vote tomorrow they will have the votes to pass the bill. some of the members who met with the president were nos but now have changed their view to be a yes for the bill. i asked sean spicer how many of them there were and what were their names. he declined to give me what they call the whip count, their tally of where the votes are. simply those members did say that but he wasn't going to say how many.

they're putting an optimistic face saying this is scheduling. the old truism is if you don't have the votes you pull the bill. >> eamon, kayla was standing by speaker ryan's office. we can show you imagery there. the crowd of reporters gathered out there looking for the speaker who notably we have not heard from today, john. what's the significance of all of this? >> reporter: as eamon just concluded his report, we don't have information. cbo score said it would leave 24 million people without health insurance and the premiums for low income seniors would go up. it might increase those numbers and make them more daunting. that he said -- if you can get

it out of the house, it's very, very difficult moment for this portion of donald trump's agenda but may not mean all that much for when we get to tax reform as one house member told me today. god created republicans to cut taxes and you can bet that that will be a lot easier to coalesce on. for now we turn to the panel. we're joined by bob pasani fresh off the floor. we watched some of the health care space turn negative. there are a lot of idiosyncrasies. >> what i thought was interesting about today, it turns out there is a plan b.

sean spicer said there was no plan b. the plan b was they postponed it. all of us are market watchers. the market is saying either that the bill will go through eventually or that it's not going to dramatically impact what everyone's really worried about, which is the tax bill. the tax bill is what's looming out there. tax cut proposals. if that doesn't go through, now we really have a lot of problems. the market is saying either we're going to make it or the tax bill is still going to be very much on the table. i am not so sure about this. you watch what was going on there with the freedom caucus, they are very much emboldened. they have thrown sand into the whole process. i can't imagine they're necessarily going to be as agreeable on the tax bill going forward. i think there's going to be trouble in those negotiations. i'm not as sanguine as the market. >> how do i protect against

unnecessary trading risk and look towards the positives and coming down the road while 17% of the economy is in flux with this health care thing. >> right. we haven't had a chance to digest anything because we don't know what's going to happen. the truth is, this is a big splash of cold water on trump and the republican congress and everybody who decided that everything is going to come through lichty split, we're just going to get every bill passed as quickly as possible. i saw a lot of bullying going on. i heard congressman after congressman after congresswoman coming up saying, trump said, we have to do this. there was background noise to say do this because your constituents said this is the ticket you ran on to go against obamacare so you better vote this in. what we're seeing is that not coming to fruition. so what's going to happen tomorrow, i don't know. it may take a few more days to come through, but the fact is a lot of these insurances still trading at almost all time highs. we have not seen any chopoff in any of this stuff yet.

>> paula hickey, you're evaluating this as well. there's the hospitals, the health insurance, there are some medicaid names. how are you thinking the market is digesting all of this? >> i think there's a period where there's not a lot of economic news and this is what we're looking at, the health care bill. to think it was going to go through like ice cream and sundaes is an under estimate. they're not going to roll over. they'll get primaried in the mid terms. they can't sit there and roll over. they have to put up a fight. i think you're going to see some give and take and eventually something will come through. what the ultimate turnout is, what sectors are impacted more. this is being a smooth process

was wishful thinking. >> the tone from the freedom congress chair mark meadow was not combative. it was somewhat unifying. he said, i'm trying to get to yes. he said he'd welcome any democrats who wanted to vote for this bill. he said they're trying to get to 237. trying to get 30 or 40 votes from no to yes. it doesn't sound to me like this is a standoff. obviously he's holding a lot of cards. >> exactly. he sounds like somebody who has the leverage in this moment and who also by kind of standing his ground is staying true to his brand and his caucus's brand, right? they're the ones. it's on principle. we want to do less in terms of government intervention instead of more. it doesn't mean he's going to go out there and say, i'm going to really rally the troops and nudge him in this direction. it's about, look, we're trying to get other people to come our way and we're happy to go along.

for me, i don't know if i want to read too much into the tone except to say he is the one who basically is needed. >> that's the point. these guys going to corporate, tax cuts would dramatically decrease the deficit. they don't like it either. >> it's a very important point and one of the things that have happened is corporate tax has gotten put on the table. freedom caucus voters, president trump was not running on a platform of corporate tax cuts and so if that becomes a questionable item for the freedom caucus members as well, that's why you look at this and you start to wonder. this is about more than a health care bill. how many of the items maybe aren't going to happen. >> yeah. i still believe that i don't think that the freedom caucus are opposed to price cuts -- tax

cuts. i think they're probably fine with that. they don't want anything that's going to dramatically increase the deficit. they don't want offsets. they don't want the border adjustment tax either. there is no way this is going to weigh heavily on the deficit side. now you're at 35 to maybe 30%. you have a little bit. >> the tax rate after being at 27. if you don't get below 25, it's kind of meaningless in terms of earnings impact. i wonder if people are trying to go a couple of steps down the line beyond that, bob, and say if this is a white house that needs a win, let's rattle some cages on trade. let's do some stuff within control that is not right along the wall street -- >> just in general, we're looking again trying to figure out, okay, stocks are at all-time highs.

we're a little bit off of those levels. do you avoid health care? >> yes, you can't. it's everywhere. it's that everybody wants a tax cut, from the bottom to the top. we're all cheering that on but like you all said, it feels like it's priced into the market. what happens if that doesn't come through. what happens if that takes two years? what happens if everything gums up the machine and it slows everything down? >> let me just ask paul real quickly while you're still with us. what is that tax rate on the s&p 500? what is the level of corporate tax cuts that would make a really substantive difference? is it 25%, 20%? >> you know, like mike was saying, the effective rate is 27 1/2 percent. if you got below that, that's a positive. i think we can all agree that health care is -- that's why they're trying to tackle it first. i think, again, don't forget we

have less regulation and that's something that everybody on the republican side agrees on and that isn't going to take a whole lot of legislation to do. that's a big factor of what the market rallied on last fall as well because we saw a change in tone for more regulation to less regulation. >> got to go. bob, real quickly. >> first quarter earnings looking up 9%. there's an independent movement. we've got to keep an eye on the overall ball. it's not just the trump agenda. >> we came in this afternoon. good reminder. >> bob, appreciate it. danny and paul as well. we'll have much more on the looming health care vote. former health and human services secretary michael leavitt joins us. first, a leading policy watcher tells us how the health care policy. the ceo of the american trucking

association who was in that meeting is going to give us the inside scoop on what was said. you're watching cnbc first in business worldwide. ( ♪ ) at corning, i test smart glass that goes all over the world. but there's no place like home. there's always something different to do like skiing in the winter, jet skiing in the summer. we can do everything. new york state is filled with bright minds like samantha's. to find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin. search for our page, hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. we only do it for everyone gary. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. well, don't worry, i won't let this accomplishment go to my head. i'm still the same old gary. wait, you forgot your french dictionary. oh, mucho gracias. get help on options trading with thinkorswim,

only at td ameritrade.

i am still on no at this time. i'm desperately trying to get to yes. i think the president knows that. i told him that personally. and i can say with all the freedom caucus, they are really trying to get to yes. that's why we met for such a long time. it was at times a not contentious but i would say very rigorous debate. >> that was the freedom caucus chair mark meadows saying he still plans to vote no on the health care bill. the vote was supposed to happen tonight but we received word last hour it won't be. stocks did turn lower on that news. for more let's bring in dan clifton with strategis. ramifications for you, dan? >> well, a lot of them. first, kelly, i would just say that, you know, the negotiations are most intense at the end of the process. so historically you usually see this break down before everything comes back together. clearly the freedom caucus are asking for something larger than the white house can give.

something has to be resolved. if they cannot resolve that at the 7:00 house caucus meeting and into the night and into tomorrow, there are larger macro concerns. this is a $900 billion tax cut. it buys policy makers time before they get to tax reform so you're going to be losing those tax cuts if this deal does not go through. second, it begins to question how much leverage freedom caucus is going to have when they hit the debt ceiling. are we going to have another 2011 issue. but alternatively, if the republicans fail, i think we start thinking about moving not to tax reform, which lowers rates and broadens the base, but moving towards tax cuts and the market wouldn't mind having a lower corporate tax rate and lower individual tax rate. clearly it would be a risk off if in the next day or two, they cannot come up with a solution. most of the proposals are on the table. it's about trying to get the yes. >> dan, on that point,

potentially moving towards tax cuts if this does not go through. >> yes. >> we were just talking about on the desk what does it mean for the freedom caucus if they, in fact, exert this influence on the health care bill and then it moves on to tax cuts and you have something that's going to be did he go sit negative, is that where they're going to look to make a stand as well? >> i would parse that. i will say that the freedom caucus i'm worried about deficits and half of them don't want to increase the deficit in any way, but i think they make a distinction between savings and tax cuts. that seems to be hard. what we're saying here is we want to take health caraway from people and they don't want to vote for that just generally as a caucus. taking away tax deductions and credits are going to be very hard as well. tax cuts are the path to least resistance. might be able to get some democratic votes in the senate, maybe even in the house, for something as simple as a rate

reduction. you probably wouldn't get those democrats on tax reform. i think they may get some flexibility there. can you imagine if it's december 31st and there's no health care, there's no tax reform. i mean, they would be viewed as a failure. and the president is not somebody who likes to fail so i tend to think this is the first of a longer process. and they're just trying to find their sea legs at this point. >> dan, we're showing the s&p health care sector down 1/3 of a percent. there were a lot of different movers under the hood there. >> yes. >> talk about the market impact more specifically if you could. >> yes. so if you look at health care, kelly, we put the affordable care act spending in place really starting in 2014 and you saw a major outperformance of the s&p 500 health care sector that correlated almost perfectly with the increase in federal spending that was happening. and as that federal spending has started to slow, we have been seeing an under performance of health care stocks.

so if this bill passes, you are going to get a trillion dollars less of health care spending. that's not good for the sector overall. if this -- if it fails, that keeps the status quo in place, that's why meadows is saying today the status quo is unacceptable. that's actually a positive catalyst for a lot of these health care stocks keeping the affordable care act in place. >> we saw tenent hospital up. and beyond that, you mentioned the health care bill itself is actually a tax cut. so would you say that we should be looking beyond the hospital sector, too, for some mofrvers, you know, as we continue to work through the process? >> exactly right. if you think about this, medicaid, hmos are impacted by the subsidies. this bill cuts $150 billion of taxes for the managed care industry. the pharma tax gets cut. the medical tax device gets cut. they were repealing the taxes

placed on the industries. there's going to be winners and losers within the sector overall, but at the same time if you are spending less federal money, you have less money going through the system and i think why the sector as an overall basis has really responded to the pace of federal spending over the last few years. >> dan, thank you for joining us on short notice this afternoon. >> thank you. >> that's dan clifton of stratigis. the dow down 1.3% over health care jitters. is now the time to get into safe haven stocks? that debate is coming up. bob iger will be sticking around as disney's ceo. that conversation ought to be fun. stick around.

welcome back. here are some other stories we're watching today along with the health care drama playing out. morgan stanley says amazon's new chase credit card could force retailers to increase special promotions on their own credit cards. perhaps another blow to that sector. bank says retailers could be the most impacted including target, macy's, walmart and best buy from that new card. the nfl announcing it will take steps to improve the flow and pace of the game. an order including making adjustments to commercial breaks and adding play clock after touchdowns. the league hoping those moves can reverse this year's rating's decline. >> going to be sticking around

for a while longer, bob iger, giving the company more time to find his successor. it's the third time disney has extended iger's contract, mike. >> interesting. i do think it's a small net positive for disney as a stock just because he's not going to be a lame duck in a few months. it would have given the impression that it was necessary positive. >> any thoughts on football? >> it's a needed thing. 12 minutes of actual football play in a broadcast that lasts over 3 zblouhour? >> we have an earnings alert. josh lipton has the report. >> micron reporting eps of 90 cents versus expectations of 86 cents. 4.65 billion on the top line.

companies saying that 17% jump in revenues due mostly to a 21% increase in d ram average selling prices. 18% in trade. volumes. after that guide kelly, micron, 143 to 157. the striem weam was at 90 cents. that's also a beat. the street was modeling 4.7 billion. on a call in the year, any color and commentary about d ram pricing in the months ahead, ac to pc market holding up. remember, before this print that stock was already up 20% year to date. up about 50% over the past six months but surging now in the after hours. kelly, back to you. >> josh, thank you. the space has been on fire. even when apple lowered the price of the ipad and raised the

storage. >> micron up 120%. when the momentum is there. >> it's up another 9% after hours. that's for micron. lots of volatility tied to health care reform. we'll discuss whether it's time to buy safe haven stocks next and if so, what to buy. also coming up, the head of the american trucking association. he'll tell us what was said in the meeting with president trump a short time ago and whether his organization is backing the new health care bill. we're back in a moment.

introducing conduent. one of the largest business process companies in the world. whether it's in health care, customer care, technology, transportation or government. we touch millions of lives every day. conduent. advancing the everyday.

welcome back. it's time now for a cnbc news update with sue herera. hi, sue. >> hi, kelly. they say they will oppose kneel gorsuch's nomination. they're urging them to block it with a filibuster. >> i've thought long and hard about this nomination and what it means for the future of the supreme court and the future of our country. what is at stake is considerable. >> belgium police thwarting a car attack in antwerp.

the man attempted to drive a car through a crowd containing -- the cars contained weapons as well. he was identified only as mohamed r. he was living in france. a robotic device inspecting his vehicle. >> georgetown university firing coach john thompson iii. in 13 seasons he led them to the ncaa championship 8 times. that's the news update at this hour. kelly, back to you. >> sue, thank you. sue herera. stocks ending the day lower as the news broke on the house that the vote on the health care bill would be delayed. with the bill's passing uncertain is it time to get defensive with safe haven stocks. we'll bring in gabriella. is it the first thing to do, quote, unquote, get defensive

with uncertainty? >> we should remember there have been two main driving forces with the market, right? one is uncertainty and expectation around policy. that's what's being questioned. the other force is underlying economic force. that looks solid. where we want to be positioned going forward really are in the cyclical sectors. that has not changed. >> you're saying don't change the strategy, don't get defensi defensive. chad, what about you? what's your defense in times like this? >> similar to gabriela, we would advise not to overreact one way or another. the reality is we had this tremendous move within the financial market and we would at this point in time potentially shift to more defensive companies. we believe valuations at this point don't really make all that much sense. long-term forecastor returns are roughly between 4 and 6%. we would look at potentially consumer staples at this

juncture and we would also look at health care. >> gabriela, i guess the question when you're talking about focusing on earnings and economic piece, do you have faith in how it's coming in this year. first quarter gdp getting revised lower? >> we never subscribe to the camp that we're going to break away from the 2% growth that we have been stuck in for the past eight years. that will depend on policy. however, the 2% that we have done so far, we expect that to be sustained. that's enough at this point in the cycle to sustain the mid single digits earnings growth especially for the cyclical companies. >> chad, just because you brought up health care, we had a guest saying we could see $1 trillion less of health care spending. is that a defensive place to be right now? >> i think over the next three to five years that that actually is going to increase. i know that you had a previous guest on that was somewhat more

bearish and pessimistic about it, but i think as the aging population continues, that gdp, the percentage of gdp to health care will continue to increase. so we would like -- we would prefer companies in that sector. you can look at united health as well as aetna, abbott, amgen. the valuations make sense in a market that's somewhat over valued at this point. >> thank you for joining us. chad and gabriela. as we follow the vote on the american health care act vote that has been postponed. michael leavitt joins us in an exclusive conversation about the legislation right after this. ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. it's been over 100 years since

the first stock index was created, as a benchmark for average. yet a lot of people still build portfolios with strategies that just track the benchmarks. but investing isn't about achieving average. it's about achieving goals. and invesco believes doing that today requires the art and expertise of high-conviction investing. translation? why invest in average? is happening before our eyes. shift in human history sixty to seventy million people are moving to cities every year. at pgim we help investors see the implications of long term megatrends like the prime time of urban expansion, pinpointing opportunities to capture alpha in real estate, infrastructure and emerging markets. partner with pgim the global investment management businesses of prudential.

may not always be clear.

but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence. welcome back. the news this afternoon, the house vote on the obamacare replacement bill will not be happening today or tonight really as scheduled. as republicans hunker down to reach a compromise. bertha coombs joins us on companies that are poised to win or lose if it does passion. >> reporter: if it does pass, health care employers would gain. health insurers, device makers would get an earns boost this year quite likely from that. hospitals would ben fill the from some obamacare funding cuts being revealed. all large firms, most every

business would get regulatory relief from the employer mandate. longer term there are few winners. the diversified insurers like united and aetna would have more flexibility. brokers like ehealth would win. with no tax credits tied to the exchanges they could see more business as well. but the medicaid program cuts set in 2020 would help the medicaid insurers. hospital and device makers would see lower volumes, fewer people insured. there are an awful lot of losers than potential winners. >> bertha, stay with us. let's talk about this with michael leavitt. founder and chairman of leavitt partners. thank you for being here. any thoughts, first of all, on

how this has played out tonight and what does it mean for the prospects of this legislation to pass? >> i think very simply they didn't have the votes. that doesn't mean they won't have the votes, it just means there's more sausage making taking place behind the scenes. there's a very traditional pattern being followed here. the house, which is more conservative and more rule bound, will pull this as far to the right as they can. it will then go to the senate where they will try to pull it back a bit towards the middle and then there will be a conference where they'll try to work it out. i think there's one thing that's certain and that is a billing will pass and that it will be named repeal and replace. what we don't know is what the definition of repeal will be and what the definition of replace will be. there's a lot of ground to be covered before we know that? >> you're one of those that thinks it still will pass. what about the poll numbers. americans disapprove of the

bill, 56 to 17%. why should this legislation pass? >> well, the republicans have dined out on the phrase of repeal and replace for three elections in a row and they've been rewarded. there is now a political imperative for them to fulfill their commitment. again, the words repeal and replace is basically a slogan that points a direction and i feel confident that they'll pass a bill and that in the end it will basically be known as the repeal and the replace bill and they'll check it off their list. it may not be as much change as some people have contemplated, but there will be, in fact, legislation at some point that passes. >> reporter: secretary leavitt, you have talked about the fact that it really should be more of a bipartisan legislation. one of the things i wonder about, if i'm an insurer and these rules change every time there's a change in the party. it feels like i'm charlie brown

and lucy takes away the football every time i come to kick. i can't get into a groove knowing what the rules will be for my business. isn't that a danger here? >> it is. it's not a positive thing. the republicans have indicated that they don't intend to have 20,000 -- 20 million people, rather, caught without insurance losing their insurance. they have committed this will be a bipartisan effort in the end. i don't think anyone should count on the repeal being a bipartisan event. it's going to be a partisan event. the big question is when they begin to add all of the dimensions of the plan, they'll meet in the senate. they're going to have to have some bipartisanship in my view. they only have a two vote margin and in the end i think they'll have to become a bit more inclusive in the way they're approaching it. this is pretty traditional legislative strategy. the house is much more ideological and they just need to get something passed so they can get onto the senate and have

that discussion. >> what do you think is the middle ground given the fact that there's a promise that people will not be left in the cold, we won't get huge numbers of people uninsured yet at the same time everyone wants to bring down costs? >> well, i think they've made clear that they intend to bridge to whatever their new system is a payment, for example, that are going from the subsidies to a credit. one of the things we know is that it will take a couple of years for that new system to be established and into place. so in the meantime they're going to have to find a way to play with that. that plays into the larger budget question. the issues around the $1 trillion infrastructure that the president has asked to be put in place, the idea of rebuilding the military. none of that has fully played into this. this is a very early take take

call period. i do think we'll see a bill pass the house, but this is obviously not a debate between republicans and democrats. this is a debate among republicans. and it's among the three groups of republicans with the right, the senator or the left or the more moderate republicans. and it's -- it's a difficult game that paul ryan's playing. he's skillful at it. it may take a little more time, but he'll get it done. >> can't imagine many republicans want to be called the left. >> don't scare away anymore votes. >> i caught myself on that one quickly. at least i don't have any friends that would like -- >> michael leavitt, thank you for joining us. bert th bertha, thank you so much. up next the ceo of the me american trucking association tells us what happened this afternoon and whether they're backing the republican health

care bill. and coming up on "fast money" we'll see why this is still intact with or without health care. that's at 5:00. yes? please repeat the objective. ♪ thrivent mutual funds. managed by humans, not robots. before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds.com. hello, my name is watson. i am helping 8 million taxpayers get the largest refund they deserve. one million people can benefit from precision cancer care. 197 million passengers can fly with less turbulence.

i am on my way to working with one billion people. i look forward to working with you.

welcome back. we've learned the vote on the republican health care bill will not be happening tonight, but president trump met with trucking ceos today to hear their opinions on health care. it's a $25 billion industry and employs 7.3 million americans and it's a small business economy with 97% of businesses operating six trucks or few uer. joining us now, ceo of the

american trucking association who was in the meeting with the president today. it was poetic t the way he described trucking. i want to be a trucker now, chris. >> thanks, i do, too. glad to represent them. we also had 12 drivers there, too. with 24 million accident free miles. not just ceos, but the people who move the freight day-to-day were in the room and it was an outstanding conversation. >> we could get in a whole argument about interstate 881. i wanted to talk to you about health care. the president in the meeting today said and i believe it is the case, that you guys support the repeal and replace bill. what has the impact of obamacare been on trucking business? zwl. >> oh, gosh, rising insurance costs, but mandates, liable theties, administrative burdens, the lack of patient choice and access to quality care. the list goes on and on. the status quo is not acceptable to our industry. we employ 7.3 million people.

we move 70% of the freight and 56% o f the gdp in the united states. for us, it's a jobs issue, too. 1 in 16 jobs in the united states are trucking. in 29 states, the to p job is a truck driver, so we're moving the american economy and taking care of our employee, their families and our customers. having a good, strong care platform is really important to us. >> chris, i know you've cited sort of the health care mandate and another regulatory burden as some things that exacerbate, a shortage of truckers. is there other things though that are behind that? why is there this seeming chronic shortage of people wanting to do to go into this business and why don't kind of the pay scales adjust to draw more people in? >> well, a lot of factors. the cost of the current health care system are astronomical.

90% as you said earlier are small businesses and we have mounting costs and not the people in these companies that can manage that for employees and their families, so just understanding the current system has to be farmed out to third party, consultants, just to explain and comply. if you're an owner operator, you're getting taxed on the front end. trying to get the costs down are key, but also having a bill to understand makes common sense to us. we're the moves out there moving the economy. just want a sound system in place that we can understand and afford. >> well, come back and we'll talk about auto. whether they're going to put the whole industry out of business, chris, and what uber might be up to there. so much to discuss and as you mentioned, these are a huge part of jobs in our economy. thank you for being here. >> absolutely. thank you. >> chris spear from the white house. what happens when an activist investor, the president and treasure bry secretary get

together for lunch? that story right after this. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95.

we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly.

we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley. welcome back. nelson pelt having lunch with president trump and treasury secretary. today, pelt telling scott walker

they discussed the economy and he considers the president a close, personal friend. sources saying they did have the meat loaf. >> somebody has to have this recipe out there somewhere. i'm hoping there's no secret ingredient. >> i don't think i've had meat loaf. i had meat cake when i was living abroad in spain. >> is that not just a semantic? >> i've seen it. i might have had it, but this was not. >> probably hold out for the white house meat loaf. if it's going to be your first. >> i'm not going to hold my breat breath. >> another good friend is jeffrey immelt of ge. they both said that, i believe. he's in that little circle of business leaders and of course, you know, nelson wants a you know -- >> what do you think, now that they're incentivising for more of the performance on the industrial side. >> great, let's do it. for many years after he got the job, he really had to cut him a lot of slack.

it was a tough entry point. some of the capital allocations didn't seem right at the time. >> ge remains this bellwether for the whole market. >> that's right. especially when it's doing something different from the dough. >> one of many thipgs to keep an eye on. that does it for "closing bell." "fast money" begins now. >> "fast money" starts now and you are looking at a shot of capitol hill. the vote for health care reform did not happen today. it is the only thing that wall street is watching right now and stocks stumble after it became clear the vote was off. will it happen tomorrow? we go straight to kayla for the details on this story. >> well, melissa, a couple of rooms behind me, there's a large crowd of yob onlookers and reporters forming outside the office for paul ryan. he's been holed up in there for most of the day with members of the house and leadership coming in and out throughout the day to discuss the state of play and