dismantle the environment that's been entitlement to growth. maria: in a few short years. >> get the democrats in on this, and it's got to be a part of it and newt gingrich said you've got to do that. >> good luck with that. maria: here is "varney & company" and stuart. stuart: thanks, maria. he's not slowing down, oh, no. defeated on obamacare, yes, but on day 67 the live action presidency is rolling along. a sweeping order on climate reversing obama's policies. it rewrites the rules on emissions and energy as much as possible, it's energy independence, it's a radical shift. action on sanctuary system. 4 billion a year to local authorities, they will not get the money if they don't cooperate with the feds on illegals. how about this for speeding up the action.

a report this morning that tax reform and an infrastructure plan could be considered together. the media desperatery wants to slow down the president's objectives, voters want the cuts and the media hates them. you're waking up to undermining the growth agenda. you might think the investors are scared stiff. hold on, we'll tell you what exactly is happening to your money. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ >> okay. we will be down a little at the opening bell this morning. the dow is around the 20,400 level. please consider this for a moment. the dow is indeed down for eight sessions in a row. it's not, however, a huge drop. it's more of a small slide.

the dow is down less than 2%, down about 400 points, since the close on march the 15th. you see people calling the trump slump this minor, minor step down. they do that because they want the market to go down, they cannot stand this presidency. it is not a trump slump at all. okay, next case, attorney general jeff sessions takes aim at sanctuary cities. >> i'd strongly urge our nation's states, cities and counties to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and to rethink these policies. such policies make their cities and states less safe. public safety as well as national security are at stake and put them at risk of losing federal dollars. the american people want and deserve a lawful system of immigration that keeps us safe

and one that serves the national interest. stuart: okay. that's attorney general jeff sessions and here is how new york city's mayor, bill deblasio responded to that, quote, we will remain a city welcoming of immigrants who have helped make our city the safest big city in the nation, we won't back down from protecting new yorkers from terror or an administration fixated on xenophobia. katie, good morning to you. i want to deal first with mayor deblasio, it seems he's deliberate confusing all immigration with criminal illegals. >> that's what i wanted to point out. he uses the term immigrants, not illegal immigrants. or criminal illegal aliens.

he wants turned over those with charges of rape, murder and violent assault. not what bill deblasio would call the immigrant community here. the thing, bill deblasio claims he's protecting the immigrants in the community, when he doesn't cooperate with ice and allows them to gain sanctuary in cities across the country they're putting the population and immigrant population at risk. stuart: is this something that jeff sessions can win? >> i think they can so long as they follow the threats. they can threaten to withhold the grants, but are they actually going to do it? there has to be accountability for the local jurisdictions not cooperating with the federal government. if they don't want to cooperate, fine, nothing that forces them to, but that means that americans taxpayers who are funding block grants that go to the justice department

don't have to be funding sanctuary cities that put their communities at risk. stuart: i think it's more proactive than that. i think that jeff sessions is telling local authorities you have to commit to exchanging information with the feds. you've got to commit publicly to working with the feds. that's much more proactive than just sitting back and waiting for something to happen. >> because they know who the people are, stuart. if you listen to what sessions said yesterday, he talked about 200 ice detainers not fulfilled this year so far. they know who the criminal aliens are, deported, four, five, six times. multiple convictions of violent crimes. it's not like they don't know who the people are and it blows the mind to hear these local jurisdictions, these mayors saying they'll protect the illegal criminal alien portion of the population and lumping all immigrants in together

which by the way is an affront to legal immigrants like you, who went through the process making it legally into the country and not committing crimes along the way. stuart: thank you for the shoutout for the lack of a criminal background. [laughter] >> president trump is going to roll down obama era climate. and all about jobs. >> the president promised a regulatory rollback and it's going to create jobs. the clean power plan was not about clean power, it was about picking winners and losers and the previous administration had an anti-fossil fuel idea and it's all about energy independence. stuart: he can do this with his pen and doesn't need legislation so i suspect it's real change coming down the pike quickly. >> and a very opposite

narrative under the obama administration. don't forget that president obama's clean coal regulations or coal plants across the country a result you can build a new coal plant, but we're going to put you out of business and your electricity rates are going to skyrocket. the obama administration's goal wasn't to regulate greenhouse gases, it was to put these companies out of business. hillary clinton said it herself when she was on the campaign trail in 2016. and so, it's refreshing to see the administration coming back and saying, no, you know, mick mulvaney was talking, the budget director at the white house last week, or the week before, they're not going to spend any more money on global warming because, quote, it's a waste of money. so it's very clear where this administration is going and i'm sure the environmentalists will be up and arm, but we've seen enough fraud in the environmental movement, i think it's time to roll back some ridiculous regulations. stuart: katie, i'm laughing

because to some people environmentalism is a religion and what you said was sacra ledge. >> blasphemy. come back again. and your amazon stories, plural, of the day. they're buying on-line middle eastern retailer, suke. liz: that was a shopping operator, buying, they could have access to 50 million consumers, only 2% of whom shop on-line. stuart: that can grow. liz: that can grow. this is a buy based amazon company. stuart: next on am some, delaying the opening of the cashierless stores, you walk in and out. ashley: you have cameras and algorithms to track you. stuart: what's wrong. ashley: they have glitches in

the system. it was supposed to be the end of this month. no word when it will open, but they have to get it right. reail ice age, when it comes to grocery items. stuart: we're not used to a glitch. back to politics, the tax cut getting done, from washington post, trump, ryan, differ how much relief to offer middle class in tax code overhaul. stuart: an opinion piece, think tax reform will be easy for trump, ha, ha, you usually see that in text. and jack, i'm not coming to you for politics, a tax cut or not. what happens to the stock market if we don't get a tax cut this year, soon. >> it goes down. stuart: big time? >> not big time, but a significant drop that people will feel in their pockets. the stocks are 19 to 20 times

earnings. that's high, it's normally 15 or 16. we need a significant corporate tax rate cut to get earnings and bring valuations down to normal. the personal income tax is a very big job. corporate tax is low hanging fruit. we need to cut those quickly. stuart: everybody follows the market. our viewers follow the market. i guess they're hanging on every single word that comes down from d.c. from any official, any politician about tax reform. >> i think so, look, with the corporate taxes, there's an agreement on the right and left, our system doesn't work, it doesn't bring in revenue and promote growth. corporate taxes, bring down the rates and extra profits for companies become wages, dividends, and tax down the road. stuart: i think that's the one area where you will see action for sure. >> i believe so. stuart: taxes come down. jack, stay there, a lot more for you. check it out. when everybody, every single

person on the planet has a camera, you get great weather video. look at that. that's a funnel cloud forming in the skies in oklahoma. more severe weather expect today hit at that state today. that's a funnel cloud and a half. liz: sure is. stuart: that scares you, see one of those things? the head of the catholic church in mexico blasting companies which want to work on president trump's border wall. they say any mexican company which puts in a bid to build that wall are quote, traitors to the homeland. we'll cover it for you. texas congressman ted poe resigning from the freedom caucus after the failure of president trump's health care bill. we're on it in a second.

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>> a slightly lower open for the overall markets. it would continue the gradual slide that we've seen over the last eight sessions. down 15, 20 points at the open. olive garden is making money.

that's the dramatic headline. and that's darden restaurants, the parent company. they own capital grill, long horn steakhouse. a nice pop for garden. back to congress, ted poe, republican from texas. congressman poe, you resigned from the freedom caucus after the health care bill failed. i want to welcome you to the program. good to see you. >> good to see you. stuart: will the freedom caucus stand in the way of tax reform, hold it up or stop it? what do you say? >> i'm not sure where they'll be on that because the obamacare repeal, the repeal bill had massive tax cuts to repeal the obama tax cuts, now we're stuck with the obama taxes. when we get to tax cuts in general in the republican caucus it will be interesting to see where the freedom caucus stands. of course, i want tax cuts, i'm not sure that we will get there because the tax system is so

complicated that it may be very difficult to repeal, even the simple parts of the tax code. stuart: have you had private conversations with other members of the freedom caucus and are they responding to-- i'm going to say the hostility towards them after the failure of the health care reform bill? >> i have talked to members of the caucus. i was one of the original members of the freedom caucus, but the freedom caucus wanted a seat at the table. it's a conservative group and we got that seat at the table on the health care bill. president trump met with us for over an hour and a half, and changes kept being made that the freedom caucus proposed, five changes. and finally it got to the point where it was pretty clear that the freedom caucus as a group would never vote for the health care repeal bill. and they had enough members that would refuse to vote to repeal it, repeal the obamacare and have the new bill, that it would keep legislation from being passed. so, i have talked to them about

that because we've got to get to the point where we're going to say yes. we're in the leadership and that's our job. stuart: you've got to be a governing party. i mean, it's well and good to be the party of opposition, but when you hold the house, the senate and the white house, you've got to govern. what would be the sticking point in tax reform for the freedom caucus? >> the sticking point may be that the tax cuts aren't enough and so i haven't-- they haven't come up with a plan on the tax cuts because the tax cuts, or the tax bill has not been formulated yet, but there's some discussion whether or not the tax cuts will go far enough. so, it will be interesting to see where the freedom caucus stands on that, eventually we have got to lead and we have to lead in tax cuts as well. stuart: well, it's the centerpiece of the growth agenda. if you don't get a tax cut this year, if you don't go through with it, i mean, then the

growth agenda is in shreds. let me ask you this question, do you, sir, expect the end of the day at some point this year, we will get meaningful cuts in individual tax rates, corporate tax rates? will we get that? >> i believe that we will. we will be able to reduce the corporate tax rate first, and then the individual tax rate second, and make the taxes overall simpler. i hope we can do that and get a concensus in the republican party to do that, to lead to reduce the massive taxes on the american public. stuart: one last one if i may, attorney general jeff sessions is going after sanctuary cities trying to take funds away from sanctuary cities. i take it that you agree with that and the freedom caucus would agree with that. no problems with republicans in congress with this? >> certainly, cities must follow the law just like individuals and when cities refuse to cooperate to deport

criminals, people who committed crimes in this country, there should be consequences and those consequences you don't get federal grants for that city, especially in law enforcement. so, i agree with that. i think that we will be able to get that legislation through the house of representatives, and get it over to the senate. stuart: real fast, if i may. have you heard anything from your constituents about leaving the freedom caucus? >> most of my constituents are very supporting. i am an individual, a conservative, and they support the idea that the freedom caucus, a good bunch of folks, should have been supportive of repealing obamacare and replacing it. so, i have gotten more favorable than unfavorable. stuart: good. congressman ted poe, thank you very much for being with us this morning. much appreciated, sir. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: elon musk, what do you think his latest big idea is? i will tell you, he wants to implant devices in your brain so you can interact with your

computers using just your mind. [laughter] >> don't inbound in-- don't anybody try to read my mind. we'll be back. [pony neighing] what? hey gary. oh. what's with the dog-sized horse? i'm crazy stressed trying to figure out this complex trade so i brought in my comfort pony, warren, to help me deal. isn't that right warren? well, you could get support from thinkorswim's in-app chat. it lets you chat and share your screen directly with a live person right from the app, so you don't need a comfort pony. oh, so what about my motivational meerkat? in-app chat on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade.

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to assist you 24/7. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance >> well, will you look at this? the yield on the 10-year treasury and it's way down, we were at 2.6 a week ago and now at 2.3. that suggests the growth in the

economy might not be as strong as we would all like. next case, a little gee-whiz for you. why not? tesla's chief elon musk in a venture to merge the human brain with artificial technology. ashley: it's spooky, what does it mean, they plant tiny electrodes in the brain. you will have uploading and downloading of thoughts. stuart: uploading and downloading thoughts from my head to a computer. liz: it's down the road. ashley: that's the theory. stuart: glad to hear it. maria bartiromo is here passing judgment and by the way, maria, it's down the road. maria: gee-whiz, i think it's really bad for u of ms hoo-- humans, it's going to make computers smarter. why do i want a machine or anyone to know exactly what i'm

thinking. liz: i think amazon knows enough already. maria: why do we want this, liz. stuart: can you think of a good reason to do it. liz: they're doing it for brain disorders. maria: that's different. liz: it's for cognitive, for cognitive function so you can remember things. ashley: and look at the computer, google, look up the information, you're not saying it out loud, you're thinking it. stuart: wait a second. [laughter] don't do it! . stuart: wait a second. maria: i'm thinking of something. stuart: as my age advances i forget names. in the future it's possible that the computer linked up to my brain, it's president trump, president trump, that's his name. can you imagine that. ashley: yes. liz: how could you forget that name though. maria: how about coming up with a cure for alzheimer's and then a cure for autism and then talk about, you know, inserting my thoughts into a computer. i mean, alzheimer's, i think, if that's going toward that road then i'm okay with it. ashley: let me just apologize

for my thoughts ahead of time. stuart: i'm reading my mind and you're staying with us for the next block and the market will open a fraction down. we've been down for eight days in a row and we'll open a tad lower this morning. back with the opening bell in a second. 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.

>> tuesday morning, and we've got about 15 seconds before we start trading. a reminder, in trading sessions. the dow has come down. not much, about 400 points since march the 15th and that's not exactly a huge trump dump by any means. i call it a small slide. it's 9:30, we're off and running and down 8 points and we're probably going to be down 20 by the time we're off and running thoroughly. yeah, we're down 20 right now. plenty of red on the left side of the screen. this is a down market almost all of the dow 30 stocks in the red on the down side. i see visa chevron and one other that's actually up. can't read it, my eyes are not at that good. joining us now, let's see who do we have with us. >> caterpillar. stuart: we have maria bartiromo with us. she is my eye. if you're not careful we'll read your brain waves. [laughter].

stuart: who else is here, ashley webster, elizabeth macdonald and jack hough. and eight days straight, is this a buying opportunity? >> people might be desperate to find bargains and it's nothing, it's a smidgen. stocks are broadly pricey, but-- >> is it a selling opportunity? >> a selling opportunity. i thought you said buying opportunity. stuart: i did ask you about a buying opportunity. maria: looking for an answer. >> the problem is stocks are not crazy expensive. if we can get some better earnings growth going forward we can justify the valuations, but they definitely ain't cheap. stuart: okay. maria: the quarter ends this week, stu, right? we're up 10% on earnings per share for the first quarter. good stuff. i would stick my neck out and say, yes, it's a buying opportunity calm down down the road and i spoke to some who

say they want more money to work. stuart: maria bartiromo says. liz: and i think the safe haven signal, dollar, weakness, gold action in bond yields. i think that the democrats and conservatives are going to give them a hard time and there's going to be delay in tax reform and that's why trump is saying, i'm going to take control and have my own blueprint for tax reform. that's what we're hearing, the canary is in the coal mine. stuart: she's so fast and gets a lot in. maria: i'm on the side of that trade. ashley: and and keenan says the canary and the coal mine, he doesn't like what he sees, there's more pain to go in washington d.c. and more on health care, not a buying opportunity right now. liz: the odds of rate hikes are down 50-50 because of the weakness. stuart: where the russell 2000 there is down just a fraction this morning, i don't know what it's been doing over the past. maria: that's a big mover since

election day, year to date, russell is a loser. stuart: year to date it's a loser. after the election day up and then down again. are you buying this? >> one that's come down a bit that's notable, merrill lynch's basket of stocks subject to high tax rates in the u.s. we thought those would do well because of tax cuts, they've been coming back. it's hard to differentiate between the retail because retail is in a death spiral and those are high tax companies. you might get some buying opportunities if you believe the tax cut, you might get buys there. stuart: president trump is going to rollback obama era climate regulations. roll back the rules on co 2 emissions. the aim is to boost domestic energy production. will today's executive order have a serious impact on any group of stocks?

i'm looking, but they're not up much. >> those rules haven't taken effect. they're in court. there are talking points for jobs. the jobs that we've lost, losing for decades, lost to gas, natural gas, and lost to factory automation that made its way into mines. not getting them back because of rolling back environmental regulation. stuart: didn't you talk to ryan hi hinky. maria: he told us there are federal lands we will tap into as far as the energy revolution. we're focused on the environment and clean water and air, but at the end of the day there's way too much regulation. i have to take the other side of this, jack, businesses have been handcuffed and they ramped up in the last two years and they need a break in terms of the regulatory environment, that includes energy, coal,

financials. >> who is going to look at clean burning gas which is practically free right now and say what we need is more smoggy coal. maria: what they need is rollback in regulation so they can start making a profit. stuart: this is an action of intent, a success for the trump agenda. liz: yes. stuart: and it's going to happen. it's not like a deal in congress. liz: the new energy secretary says he's anti-pollution, it depend how they roll it out. stuart: it's a plus in my mind. maria: and some business people think the rollback in regulation will have a bigger impact on their earnings and economy than tax reform. stuart: i heard that and it may well be. the big board shows a fractional loss, down 3 points, 2 points. 20,500. if anybody talks about a slump,

it's at 20-5. liz: some are talking about a trump slump, cnn. stuart: you mean the clinton news network. what are you going to do throw cold water on that. >> i don't have any cold water for that, it's up significantly since election day. this is still a trump rally. stuart: quit while you're ahead. show you tesla, chief elon musk wants to link your brain to a computer yours and mine. they're taking orders for solar roof tiles. points one and two, and tesla says the new roadster will be the fastest car they've made, out in 2019. the market likes all of this. thre three-points of news there, 3 1/2 up for tesla this morning. how about carnival cruise lines, they reported before the bell, apparently did well.

they're up 2% the dollar gain at carnival. and mccormick spices, i know them in the supermarket, the racks up there with cute little labels. they're below $100 a share. check the drug maker tesoro, up big after fda approved an ovarian cancer drug. yes, up for tesoro. olive garden, i want to talk-- darden is the parent of olive garden. garden making money, olive garden making money, shares hit an all-time high. it says in the prompt ter that owe live garden is a saun assau. stuart: what do you think. maria: i don't think i'm supposed it eat olive garden

pasta and sauce. it might be an assault. i will say this, nothing beats grandma's tomato sauce and mom's gravy. how do i answer that. stuart: have you ever been to olive garden. maria: you're the worst. i think i may have been there in college. and there was an olive garden-- >> just yesterday. liz: have you eaten there. stuart: no. maria: is it real italian food. liz: i love it. >> the chairs have wheels so after you fill up, you wheel away. olive garden is wonderful. stuart: moving on. [laughter] >> two, i repeat two amazon stories, buying a mid eastern on-line marketplace called suke.com and they're delaying the opening of the cashierless

stores, where you go in, you look at stuff, you bang on the app and delivered to you later and walk out. you can see how this goes. they've got glitches with that so they're delaying that. ashley: technology. stuart: let's go with the suke.com purchase. what do you make of that. maria: i don't know that i would go to amazon to walk in stores. the reason i go to amazon is because it's cheaper on-line and i don't want to deal with the clouds. so i don't know if this does it for me for amazon. how about the purchase of souq.com? don: i don't know enough about souq, i've never been there, i'm not sure. stuart: i've spent a good portion of my life in middle east souq's, bazaars and-- >> it is bizarre. stuart: i was in tehran when there was landing on the moon.

maria: what were you doing there. ashley: hitching a ride. stuart: and they were saying apollo, apollo. i looked american, wearing a white t-shirt. maria: i never knew you hitchhiked across the world. stuart: it took four years. you learn a lot on this program. maria: yeah. stuart: and moving on one more time. facebook hires a former apple employee for oculus, and i say that virtual reality is stumbling. ashley: a slow rollout. i want it now, but it seems to never really quite gain traction, i'm not sure why. i don't think the developers are actually building the product that works on virtual reality systems. i think it's the next big thing. >> i'm told there were functioning or augmented reality and they pop up. virtual reality where it's stuck in your world of your own, not a lot of uses for it,

not as big of a deal as-- >> maria, didn't you once strap on the goggles. maria: i did. it was cool, actually. the in syria, you really feel like, wow, there was all of this activity around there, felt like you were on the ground. i think you hit on it. it's like video games. what else are you going to do with it except for escapism put the goggles on. what is the usage. stuart: it could be the pornography. liz: which is an argument against neural link, i don't want to know your thoughts or your thoughts. ashley: that went south. stuart: maria, come on the program, go to olive garden. jack. the big boards, not a loss, 8 points higher for the dow industrials, 20,559.

don't tell me it's a trump slump. the catholic archdiocese in mexico city says companies that support building a border wall, they're traitorous that they would be supporting xenophobic hatred. mike rowe, defender of the blue collar worker, why he says not everyone should go to college, become a plumber or electrician instead. that man is next. ♪

>> go nowhere market, no, sorry, look at this. this is fresno, california as of right now. that is a hay fire. hay, 100 tons of hay. ashley: that goes up quickly. stuart: going up in brilliant flames there. that's fresno, california, what's happening as of right

now. okay. there's the video. next, we show you the big board. again, go no-where market. it's kind of a show-me market. investors are waiting for a sign that we're going to get tax cuts, tax reform, and until they see it, the market doesn't go that far. down 9 at the moment. 20,500. president trump campaigned on bringing jobs back to america. manufacturing jobs in particular. our next guest has a foundation which encourages vocational schools rather than college. mike rowe, you know him from all kinds of shows on television. >> all kinds. stuart: a really talented guy, he's back on the show today. welcome back. >> thanks. stuart: i thoroughly approve of what we said in the tease for you. that not everyone should go to college. that's breaking the rule of america, we say, everybody's got to go to college. explain yourself. >> if you go to college, you've got a house, you're going to live happily ever after, that's

part of the promise. there's no hope without education, got to be clear. you have to have some competency, but the idea that the best path for the most people happens to be the most expensive path, there's just something fundamentally corrupt. never in the history of western civilization has anything so important become so expensive so quickly more than real estate, more than food, more than energy, more than health care, the cost of college has just gone through the roof and yet, we still talk about it, as if it is truly the best way for the most people. 1.3 trillion dollar in student loans, it's not a mystery. stuart: it's a disaster. now, you've got a foundation called microworks. i think you encourage for more vocational training. >> i'm fascinated by the skills gap. the existence of opportunity shouldn't be polemic or political, 5.6 million jobs

that exist as we speak, 75% of which do not require a four-year degree, are sitting there. rerequire training, right? so we have this subordinate view of all kinds of different forms of education that lead to these opportunities, therefore, we have the same subordinate view of all of these jobs that go begging. the key, in my view, is to start a conversation with parents and guidance counsellors and start rewarding the behavior we want to encourage, which is a better work ethic and higher level of enthusiasm for opportunities that exist. my foundation focuses on that. stuart: president trump is very much on your side, i think he wants those jobs back in america and he didn't he talk about vocational training during the campaign? >> he does. he did. stuart: you're on his side on this? >> look, i think of all the divides in the country right now, the biggest one is the group of people who are convinced opportunity is dead, and those who are not.

i think the opportunities are still there and i think many of them have-- they just need better pr. they just need a makeover. so i suspect on that. stuart: i think there's an element of snobbery in america, reminds me very much of europe. if you work with your hands, re if you work with your brain, oh, you are up there and i bitterly recent that. >> there's a thing in our species among parents which is perfectly understandable, i believe, which says, i want sog f something for my kids better than i had. we don't know what better is and mathematically you end out of runway, how much better does it get? in terms of a guarantee, right? so i just think that having the conversation about opportunity in the country needs to include all of the opportunity in the country. we don't do that. we've arbitraged a big chunk of

it out. stuart: your foundation offers scholarships for work ethic. >> that's right. well, every foundation i know and every scholarship i know focuses either on academic achievement, athletic achievement, you know, need-based things, talent. work ethic by itself is a thing that nobody really seems to focus on. so i'm more interested in attendance records than i am in sat scores. ashley: yeah. >> so we look for kids who can make a case for themself, show up early, stay late and learn a skill that's in demand. find me that person, we'll pay for your training. stuart: we found them. the production team at "varney & company" is about nine or ten strong, and we hold a meeting, they're all youngsters in their 20's and 30's, these youngsters, we hold our production meeting at about 6:15 a.m. eastern time every day. >> great.

stuart: not one of them is late. everybody's there period. you have a podcast, tell me. >> the way i heard it, it's a shameless homage to the late paul harvey. i write short mysteries of famous people and places and put you up one a week and 50 million people have been reached you should keep doing them, i said okay. that's what i do. on planes, i'm on a plane, i'm trapped i write a mystery. i put it through the ether and pipes. stuart: how how do i get them? >> mikerowe.com/podcast. the man with the voice. imagine. >> i'm envious of a man who can project with such bass. >> thank you. stuart: can i get your accent. >> and get yours three easy

payments. stuart: mike rowe, thank you. >> i'm never leaving. stuart: thank you, mike. appreciate it. check the market scan, this is a sense of the market, a lot of red up there and the dow industrials are down indeed, 18 points. coming up, yes, the catholic church in mexico says, if you support building the border wall you're a xenophobe, that would be a hatred of foreigners, i guess, and back after this. >> we're going to build the wall, believe me. we have a trade deficit with mexico, they will he a pay for the wall, be very happy about it. by the way, who is going to pay for the wall? >> mexico. >> who is going to pay for the wall? >> mexico. yes? please repeat the objective.

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>> the parent of olive garden is making money and that stock is hitting an all-time high. darden is the parent, look at that, up 7%. olive garden doing well. a catholic archdiocese of mexico city taking a swipe at president trump, labeling mexicans who work on the wall as traitors. give me the story. ashley: this is a withering editorial put out by the archdiocese of mexico this past

sunday. you mentioned they called anyone involved in this on the mexican said as traitors to the homeland. it's four or five companies expressed interest in this and the ends justify the mean. the church calls that wrong and an open threat that violates peace. this wall is a monument, says the church, of intimidation of fooen xenophobic. stuart: it's the coyotes who use the young women. liz: there's hundreds of miles of wall in europe, too. no comment. stuart: mayors who protect illegals with your taxpayer dollars, they're doing it. the second hour of "varney & company" is three minutes away. ? so let's start talking about your long-term goals.

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stuart: consider there from the mayor of new york city. this is his response to the trump team's threat to with hold funds from sanctuary cities. here is the quote. we will remain a city welcoming of immigrants. we won't back down from protecting new yorkers from terror or from an overzealous of administration fixated on xenophobia and needless division. that is bill de blasio. new york city is a sanctuary city. what the mayor is confusing legal immigrants with criminal illegals. it is deliberate confusion. he is suggesting president trump he opposes all immigration. you does not. he opposes criminal illegals being protected in sanctuary cities. the mayor is trying to hold on to the votes of ethnic minorities where illegals are prevalent. the mayor of lawless chicago is saying the same thing. los angeles too. they paint our country as anti-immigrant, and therefore, anti-hispanic or anti-muslim. wrong.

i don't believe america is xenophobic. travel a little. come on. i will show you xenophobia. what americans object to is big city mayors who protect criminal illegals with taxpayer money and americans vigorously object to being called racist simply because they want something done about mass illegal immigration. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: no significant movement on this market thus far this tuesday morning. we're down four points. look at it. we're holding on to 20,500. look at this, the latest on consumer confidence. what have we got? liz: markets tracing on big news, consumer confidence sizable beat. this is the mood of main street. still sticking at a 15-year

high. gallup says 18 straight weeks of positive feelings on main street. that is the longest streak since 2008. this is an indication that consumers feel that the president will move forward with his agenda and possibly three to 4% growth. stuart: confidence still very, very high. liz: 15-year high. stuart: thank you, liz. liz: sure. stuart: breaking news from ford, big announcement of three michigan facilities? >> $1.2 billion. one at a michigan assembly plant to work on the new ford ranger or ford bronco. one for an engine-making facility. that is another 150 million. another data center, 200 million investment. go back to what they announced in february, grand totals would be 1.9 billion in new investments in michigan this year and creating nearly, well, let's see, it says ford invested in 12 billion in u.s. plants. created a total of 28,000 u.s.

jobs. ford has more manufacturing and jobs in the u.s. than any other automaker. they continue to add. quickly, donald trump, tweeting out, did we put that up already. big announcement by ford. major investment in three michigan plants. car companies come back to the u.s. he finishes off with jobs, jobs, jobs. stuart: got it. ashley: good news for ford. stuart: president trump says he did it. we'll joined by joe heinrichs ford president of the americas. he joins us next hour about that he development. it is on a huge turn around but the market was down. now it is up 17 point. lizzie i think it has a lot to do with 15-year high for confidence in the future. liz: surprising. media is out there saying trump rally is stalling out. even though on smaller percentage basis. trump administration he will

take control of tax reform. he will not outsource. stuart: market likes that. we're up 23 points, 24 points, not bad. 26 points. that was a turnaround rather quickly. look at amazon. buying suit.com, online seller in the middle east. they're buying them. tesla, 10-cent taken a 5% stake in tesla. that stock is up 2%. speaking of america, american airlines investing in china southern airlines. american airlines vert allly flat. software-maker red hat, remember them, something of a rival to microsoft? i don't think so. making money. that stock is hitting a 17-year high. maybe i'm investing in the wrong one. i put my money in microsoft. look at head rat go. we're you will 34 points. this is technical stuff.

a week ago 2.6. now we're at 2.3. please remember that yield is the basis for america's mortgage rates. ashley: that's right. stuart: which may come down from 4.3% this week. got it. let's get back to my take at the top of the hour. attorney general jeff sessions orders a crackdown on sanctuary cities. debbie bossie, former deputy director of the trump campaign and citizens united president. david, can jeff sessions win with this threat to withdraw funds from sanctuary cities? is that a winning strategy? >> oh, that certainly is. this puts the issue right before the american people and it allows the american people to understand what president trump is doing. first he made a promise during his campaign. now he is keeping it. he is going to deport, he is going to make criminal illegals leave this country in droves. it requires law enforcement to be able to coordinate with

i.c.e., with those people that will he deport these criminals. it is vital for our public safety to be able to do it. just look at the tragic case in montgomery county, maryland, with this young girl being raped in the high school there. it's a tragedy beyond belief for those, for that young girl, for that family, for that school. and you know, we can't have that. we can't have these criminals staying here in this country preying on our young people. stuart: you know what? i'm bent out of shape with the mayor of new york city who is immigrants and immigration, confusing that with illegal, criminal, aliens. i think it is a deliberate confusion. it really drives me nuts. >> stuart, you are very astute. they have been doing that for years. they continuously talk about the immigration issue has though republicans, as though president trump wants to stop all immigration. it is far from the truth.

so i think we really need to look at policies specific that president trump is trying to bring forward here. but jeff sessions is doing a great job as attorney general here. stuart: now, we have the live action presidency in full swing today. the president will sign this executive order which i think will he reverse a lot of rules, climate rules enacted during the obama administration. i say he can do this with the stroke of a pen. he doesn't have to go to a fractured congress for this. this is something he can win on very, very quickly. now, am i right in saying that? >> oh, i think so. i what he is doing here with roll back of regulations what president obama did, the reason we had 1% growth really for the last many, many years, in having a stagnant economy we have overburdensome regulatory regime

over american corporate and business folks across the country. they have not been able to hire. they have not been able to build the plants that they want. as far as energy is concerned, we haven't been able to have a do it all, do it now approach. so i think what the president is doing is an amazing thing here all in one day where he he is unleashing america's opportunities going forward. stuart: that is not what you will read in the mass media. that is a fact david bossie. thanks for pointing it out to us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: next case, the dow posted a longest decline since 2011. eight straight losing sessions up until today. robert wolf is with us, robert wolf 32 advisors ceo. have i got the name right there. >> you do. there you go. stuart: we're down about, just under 2%, 400 points since march the 15. do you think this is a time to sell, get out now? >> i was listening to you earlier, i have to change my

view listening to you. i was saying a trump rally which we agreed. i was calling it a trump slump which i don't want to get yelled at. one of your viewers tweeted it is just a pullback. i agree. we've had a 2% pullback, but today i would say downside is greater than the upside. stuart: really? why? >> yes, because i think the whole focus went from health care to tax reform, we're missing stuart, what's in between. that is the debt ceiling debate at the end of april. if we have a fractured gop on the debt ceiling debate, they don't give trump an easy smooth, debt ceiling increase, then we're going to have a real struggle for the next 30 days. if you think the rhetoric was bad for health care, wait until you see about a federal shutdown. stuart: you're a democrat. i don't hold it against you. >> that's right all right. stuart: you're a democrat. come on anytime you like. >> i'm a fox contributor though. stuart: there you go. >> i'm one for two with you.

stuart: [laughter]. so democrats oppose everything. they're going to stall everything. so, are you kind of playing your book here, i mean playing your political book? >> no. stuart: you want to stop everything. you don't want tax cuts, this, that other. >> totally disagree with that. i'm not supportive of democrats stopping everything. as you know, i was for free trade. that was not a democratic perspective. stuart: for tax cuts. >> i'm absolutely for tax reform. stuart: tax cuts for individuals and corporations? >> i'm for both and i'm for repatriation but for more revenue neutral. i'm actually where republicans were. stuart: go with the border tax? >> i would not go with a border tax. stuart: really? >> i think that will hammer, in that my opinion that will hammer the consumer. stuart: how do we get lower individual tax rates, lower corporate tax rates, and at the same time we're revenue neutral? where do you tax, where do you bring in more money to make up for this.

>> we'll have to look at loopholes which no one will want a real discussion. stuart: talking he deductions, aren't you? >> correct. stuart: mortgage interest? >> you know he, we'll have -- we'll have to put everything on the table. i'm not looking at mortgage interest and deductions a tax cut has to be paid for somewhere. stuart: tax cut for individuals and corporations but do away with great many deductions currently aavailable, am i right? >> i would not give a tax cut for high-end earners at this point. i would focus on the middle class. but i would not actually do individual taxes now. i think you have to stay with business tax reform. you will not get passed in 2017 both business and individual tax reform. it can't happen. stuart: robert, we hear you. i want to repeat you believe the next big stumbling point is the debt ceiling coming up in a few weeks. >> i hope not. stuart: that could mean more selling on wall street? >> i think so. stuart: got it. robert wolf, thank you very much.

next case -- we have some video for you. i keep saying when everybody has a camera you get great weather video. this is from sunday in oklahoma. you catch some extraordinary stuff on video when everybody has a video camera. that is a funnel cloud 1/2. watch it. we'll be back in a moment.

stuart: look at the big board. we are up now 30 odd points for the dow jones industrial average. 20 points i tell a lie. 20,500. a lot of green now on the dow 30. by the way, the market went up right at then okay when we learn -- 10:00 when we learned that consumer confidence was at a 16-year high. ashley: that helps. stuart: look at this. higher profit at carnal cruise lines. higher ticket prices, more on board spending.

moments ago, are carnival the cruise line hit an all-time high. money in cruising. last week the president trump met with truckers and industry chiefs. the meeting occurred when the president was trying to negotiate obamacare reform. hear the horn? that is the president right there with the big truck. our next guest was in the meeting. he has a trucking company with 90 trucks, 100 people on board. james berg from the company that bears his name. james, welcome to the program. >> good morning, stuart. happy to be here. proud to be representing 7.3 million americans working in the trucking industry, working hard to bring america forward. stuart: good stuff, james. i warrant you to all our viewers how bad is obamacare for a company like yours? i imagine you have taken quite a hit with obama care still being there. tell us? >> we did. last year we had a terrible quote for renewal of 44.7% increase. we were forced to cut plan

choices to our employees. we needed them to contribute more. we had to cut bonuses just so that we could remain profitable with those increases. stuart: you were in the meeting when president trump i believe was talking, it was the day of, when they were trying to get some kind of a reform of obamacare, repeal and replace, you were in that meeting. how do you feel now that we didn't get a replacement for obamacare? we've still got it? >> well i don't think obamacare is here to stay. i am disappointed that the republicans didn't vet out all the plan before they -- stuart: who do you blame, james? who do you blame? >> i don't know if there is anyone -- i guess i would blame the whole process. there wasn't enough communication in my opinion. stuart: do you blame the freedom caucus, the guys who stood out said no, we're not having this? >> i understand that we support the president. i support the president not just for affordable care as we expect it to be but also for everything that he is trying to bring, stuart. tax reform, infrastructure funding, all things that are important to trucking. stuart: does the trucking

industry have a problem with regulations, specifically from the epa about the kind of engines you have got to run, the kind of rigs you have got to run? do you have a problem from the epa? >> certainly stuart. what if i told you the epa forced us to run older trucks that do not have the most advanced safety technologies available today? stuart: why? why do they do that? >> well the price of new trucks are so expensive that we can not afford them. the most advanced safety components are only available on new equipment. we can not retrofit that to the equipment that we run in our fleets today. stuart: anything else that is a problem for you regulatorywise? >> the fnc has been out of control over the past administration. we're looking forward to work with secretary chao to make sure we focus on safe regulation, efficiency-based regulations and get away from challenges that we had in the past. stuart: jim burg trump guy then

and i take it a trump guy now for rest of the administration. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: after the health care he debacle, that is my word, one member of the freedom caucus is hailed as hometown mero. "fox & friends" co-host brian kilmeade is here to discuss ted poe in a moment. attorney general jeff session is warning sanctuary cities, get in line or risk losing federal funds. texas attorney ken paxton joins us what will he do about austin, where they released a lot of criminal aliens? ♪ careful joe, they've got you outnumbered.

the dinosaurs' extinction... don't listen to them. not appropriate. now i'm mashing these potatoes with my stick of butter... why don't you sit over here. something for everyone is awesome. find your awesome with the xfinity stream app. more to stream to every screen. thank you so much for that down home welcome. show me female vocalist of the year. thank you so much. thank you so much acm's, i appreciate it. show me acm best moments. i could never have wished for, asked for and dreamt of anything more than this. catch your favorite moments from the acm awards and an exclusive encore performance by kelsea ballerini following the show on xfinity x1. the acm awards. live on sunday, april 2nd 8/7 central on cbs.

♪ [laughter] stuart: to cover up my disappointment sugary pop, our producer described the beach boys as the american beatles. liz: first boy band. stuart: i like their harmonizing. oil producers may extend production limit by six months that is sending oil modestly higher. $48 a barrel. president trump is rolling out a new executive order, hoping to revive the coal industry in part. a lot of other things as well. rolling back all kinds of regulations. fox business's jeff flock, live from a coal plant in illinois. jeff, can i say this, the

problem for coal is not regulation. it is cheap natural gas, isn't it? reporter: coal has a lot of problems, stuart, i think you're probably right. that is the bottom line. this is edwards station near peoria, illinois. you see a big pile of coal that burns. this is one of the hundreds of plants imperiled by the obama regulations on emissions, but i'll tell you, the other problem as you point out, it is not just those regulations the president says he will roll back. take a look what natural gas did to colas year in terms of generation. natural gas is already outdoing coal, it is cheaper. who wants to have, pardon me, i hope the miners don't take offense at this, who wants to dig coal out of the ground and have it belch out of the big smokestacks when you could have cleaner, burning national gas that are cheaper? these guys are up against it.

one thing to leave you with. this plant was so undervalued a few years ago, that the company that owned it, paid another company $200 million to take this and four other plant off its hands. that is how undervalued coal-fired generation is in the country right now. stuart: it is fascinating. jeff flock in the middle of it. thank you very much much, jeff. i have this for you, still on energy. the oil exploration company hurricane energy has made a huge discovery in british waters with details. ashley: love the shetland islands, way above the mainland. this is a big find. estimated to be about a kilometer deep which is .6 of a mile deep. it could produce up to one million barrels of oil. stuart: a day? ashley: no, yes. i think overall. i think that. stuart: just one million. ashley: a billion. sorry. if i said million i meant billion. this has a big implication for scottish independence. they voted it down.

now that this has been found that effort could be speeded up because there were concerns first time around that north sea oil and gas is running out. apparently not. stuart: good story. implications. ashley: yeah. stuart: we'll show you some video. this is a giant gold coin, 20 inches in diameter. 220 pounds. that is what it weighs. stolen from a museum in berlin. it is nicknamed big maple leave. estimated to be four million dollars. authorities say the coin was too heavy for one thief to carry off. multiple suspects are suspectedded. up next, "bar rescue" host, jon taffer how would he whip republicans into shape and get tax cuts passed before august? he is next. ♪

stuart: now we're up to a modest gain, 11, 12 points. look at that 20,500. very important. this week at&t and verizon customers who up grade their iphone, if they do it at target, they get $300 gift card from target. no change in target stock. look at sears, the stock is up this morning. look at that, a couple days it plunged down to seven. now it is at 10. a lot of investors are buying that dip. up 13% today. tesla lots of news from all kinds of sources on tesla.

it is up six bucks. they're taking orders for solar roof tiles amongst other things. let's get back to the republican party's failure to repeal and replace obamacare. jon taffer, host of "bar rescue." jon, before we get to the other material, if you're dealing with bars and restaurants, the continuation of obamacare is a disaster for you, isn't it? >> it is. stuart, there was a restaurant recession forecasted for '17. with the election results and possible turn of obamacare and tax he deductions all the forecasts for industry are changing. fail in the immigration act. fail in obamacare and we're terrified of a tail in taxes that could slip my entire industry back into negative numbers. stuart: well-said. you want to get back on track with a growth agenda. i can see it. you made a he deal with a touch-screen company, harbor

touch, i believe it is called. they make the flat screen that you tap to make an order on in a bar and in a restaurant. you have made a deal with them. are you going to introduce touch-screen ordering for drinks at the bar? >> no. he actually, what we're doing stuart is revolutionary. they are pos systems, point of sale systems. typically they're transactional, count your money. we're putting in revenue systems, new customer, frequency programs, spend building program. a first time ever a pos system will actually build revenue. stuart we both know revenue cures everything in the business world. so in my small business life, if i raise revenue of small businesses 10 to 15% we can solve problems of growing revenue. that is a cure for all expense issues. stuart: if i'm sitting at a bar, ordering a beer, whatever it is, touching the touch-screen, how

does that increase revenue for the bar? >> ah-ha. within the systems there are promotions, marketing plans, new customer programs, frequent to drive revenue. the operator uses those tools to get you in, so there are more people ordering beer. stuart: does it reduce number of staffing people you need? >> it is not a staff reduction tool. it's a revenue building tool but it is revolutionary, stuart, never before systems like this provided revenue growth. that is what i'm excited about. stuart: you're just not a normal, everyday ordinary tv guy, are you? you are an entrepreneur, aren't you? that is what you do, isn't night i am. it is. my other businesses provide me a lot more income than television does. stuart: really? that's interesting. i would have thought you made a fortune from "bar rescue." i see it on all these channels all the time. you must be close to a billionaire, you're telling me that you make more money with capitalist ventures than you do

with television? >> that's correct. stuart: so you're telling me i'm in the wrong job? is that it? >> you know, stuart, we should talk. maybe there is a couple of off-camera ventures we can do together. stuart: i think we better talk to fox before we go any further with that one. let me, you bought into this harbor touch, right? is it your company or have you just bought into it? >> no, no. it is another company. it is owned by a bank and it is a very, very large company. they impact tens of thousands of small businesses. so being able to put my systems to build revenue within all of these thousands of businesses. stuart: right, right. >> stuart, i love that. it is a way i can help people and help small businesses. i'm really excited about it. harbor touch's commitment to it is great. stuart: when i walk into a bar or restaurant, newark airport, i use it frequently, they look different. it is all screens all over the place. people tapping into screens. you see what you have done, jon?

>> it is good for us in the end. beer will be colder and more people sitting next to you. stuart: not sure i like that. jon, thank you very much indeed. jon tapper, entrepreneur extraordinaire. close to being a billionaire. maybe next time around. jon, thank you very much indeed, young man. >> you too, stu. stuart: breaking news for you. david einhorn, big investor, pressuring general motors. ashley: green light capital has been building up stock, bulking up, basically what he is pressuring gm to do, he wants it to boost its stock price. he wants to create two classes of stock apparently. one would separate dividends from other earnings. so far we understand gm is privately pushed back on einhorn's stock plan but he is continuing to add to his position in gm. the activist investor wanting changes. stuart: reminds me of the 1980s.

liz: this stock has stuck around this level for 10 years. stuck around where it was before it collapsed. stuart: general motors. you're right, it has been in the mid 30s or upper 20s. liz: got a bailout it didn't have to pay for. stuart: the leader of the freedom caucus, that would be congressman mark meadows, some blame him for the denies of the obamacare replacement bill. in mark meadows hometown he is being hailed as a hero. brian kilmeade joins us now from his radio show. brian, i'm surprised to hear this because people like me actually blamed the freedom caucus for keeping obama care in place. what say you on this? >> i spoke to rand paul ten minutes ago on the show. he thinks essentially the freedom caucus stood strong and did the right thing. people all across the aisle. ted poe, former member of the freedom caucus. he came out yesterday, said i'm leaving the freedom caucus.

no matter what we got from donald trump they kept moving the goalpost. however, if you look at this deal it is not at all what donald trump had promised. it didn't have anything that he really had into phase three. but we would have two days to celebrate and democrats had two days to mourn and would have started pounding, look at all these people are out, cbo was right. stuart: we've got nothing, absolutely nothing. we've got worse than nothing. what we've got for the obamacare as far as eye can see. i can't handle that. that hurt the growth rate into next year. >> fascinating to donald trump's tweets. tweets get pickup velocity. i will reach across the aisle, to see if i talk to democrats. reince priebus said same thing. freedom caucus, i hope you're happy. we have obamacare and no longer is planned parenthood defunded because of you guys. so things are starting to get a

little bit tense. the interesting thing is, stuart, is that no one really taking shots outside of the democrats daily at donald trump. anyone that saw him he actually negotiating, having 130 meetings, including governor kasich, one of his biggest critics outside of jeb bush, the president should know every detail of any plan. it is up to him to have the overarching mandate and let everybody else work out the he details. not many people are critical of donald trump. detractors are saying you promised. you didn't get it done. stuart: here is my problem. you want to reach out to democrats, i understand that politically and strategically, i understand that, what tax cuts would you ever get from any democrat? modern day democrat out there on the left. they love taxation. i can't see them cutting it. >> i don't see it. reaching out might get one or two. for most part you need to get

republicans to agree to see if democrats get on board. tom delay said yesterday. you start on the right. work your way to the middle. can you grab some democrats. seems as though that paul ryan didn't do that that was fundamentally the problem. i would love to see a piece of legislation will not get undone as far as the other party gets into power. ultimately the way it will stop, stuart, somehow there is buy-in from both sides, dare i say no one is completely happy. just like our life. like stuart varney often has to give in, you rule your show, you sometimes give in and let other people buy the pizza, let other people do the format of the show, let other panelists get best of you in an argument. sometimes you have to give in a little. i hope we can learn that again. stuart: that is brilliant. you knows perfectly well we have three seconds left. i haven't got any chance to respond, but i will young man. >> you can text me. stuart: i will text you. if you take the text.

brian kilmeade. you're all right. see you real soon. attorney jeff sessions going after sanctuary cities. deport criminal illegal immigrants. threatening to take away federal funding from those cities. happening next hour, president trump meeting with law enforcement officers. when it happens will show it to you live. more "varney" after this. ♪

♪ ashley: and now this, congressional republicans facing tax reform after pulling the health care bill. listen to what congressman ted poe had to say where the freedom caucus stands on all of this. roll tape. >> well it is not sure, i'm not sure where they will be on that. the obamacare repeal, the repeal bill had massive tax cuts, repealed the obama tax cuts. now we're stuck with the obama taxes. when we get to tax cuts in general in the republican caucus, it will be interesting to see where the freedom caucus stands. of course i want tax cuts. i'm not sure that we will get there because the tax system is so complicated, that it may be very difficult to repeal, even the simple parts of the tax code

♪ 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. stuart: we have a 30-point gain for the dow industrials. most of that came when we heard consumer confidence had now reach ad 16-year high. check this out too. the department of homeland security said 142

criminally-charged illegals were released into the public by travis county, that is around austin, texas, during one week in february. ken paxton joins us now. the attorney general of the great state of texas. mr. attorney general what are you going to do about those criminal aliens released? >> well you know right now in texas we're trying to pass sanctuary city bill that would basically defund state money from cities and municipalities that do things exactly like what is happening in travis county. i don't see any up side to citizens of that county. i love in that county most of the time. it's a travesty. it is not good for our state. stuart: it was all done in one week, i understand it. was it done deliberately to preempt any changes in sanctuary cities coming down? >> sure looks like that. the given the senate already passed the bill and texas house. very top of the governor's list of priorities. so obviously it is on its way. likely to pass. i would not be surprised if that was done.

stuart: can you get them back, 142 criminally-charged illegal aliens, can you get them back? >> some of that will depend on the federal government. some of that may depend on us. that is one of our challenges. a lot of the jurisdiction is federal. once you let them go, sometimes it is hard to get them back. stuart: now attorney general jeff sessions announced a crackdown on sanctuary cities. i believe he is proactive in this. he is he actually saying, you, local authorities, you must certify that you are in compliance with the law that says liaise with the federal authorities that is proactive stance. fight be form of action that might he actually work. >> that would work with what we're doing as well. we're threatening to defund. there is the potential that many solve these elected officials don't follow the law may suffer penalty, criminally or civilly, depending what the legislature passes. this works hand-in-glove what

the federal government tries to do. we're supportive of it. stuart: so there is real teeth in this? >> yes. after years of struggling in texas with border security, spending a lot of money, dealing with this issue -- i don't know if you saw the department of public safety came out with statistics in texas recently over last five years, 200,000 crimes have been committed during that time period by illegals, including 1000 homicides. stuart: how can anyone on earth defend the current situation when you have this kind of thing going on? i don't believe the public actually supports sanctuary cities. >> i can not think of a single upside to the taxpayers of travis county for the sheriff to let go criminal illegals. i don't see the benefit to anybody. she is he elected obviously by the county but what is our upside? stuart: i don't have an answer for you, mr. attorney general. >> i don't either. stuart: i do want to mention this you are one of the states that's backing president trump's revised order on travel

restrictions. so, what chance of success there? >> you know what? i'm optimistic. we're right on the law. the president has absolute authority. this was not mentioned in the previous travel ban litigation. he has absolute authority to he restrict entry of any class of aliens he views as detrimental for as long as he wants. we want to do with the amicus brief, lay that out to the court, hopefully get a resolution favorable based on the law. stuart: as i follow politics and government in america over the very long term, seems to me texas has become the cutting-edge in many respects. it used to be california. then for a while it was maybe florida. i suspect it is texas now. i'm sure you're going to agree with that? >> you know what? absolutely agree with that. we have a lot of people that care about the constitution, care about safety, border security. care about opportunity we have

in texas because we are a low tax, pro-business state. we want to continue to be that. stuart: but you have all those freedom caucus guys in texas. they are the ones that landed us with more obamacare. >> they will work it out. i am optimistic with the future of leadership we have, with the house, senate and president, i think we'll do just fine. stuart: ken paxton, attorney general of the great state of texas. always a pleasure. >> thank you. stuart: next story. here is a look at facebook. the company is hering a former apple executive. has to do with virtual reality? i thought that was a problem? liz: 15-year apple exec. he ran desktop. virtual reality, headaches, blurred vision. oculus headset has all the disclosures physical problems you endure and if you put on headset. pricing. 1500 to get the whole system,

not just the headset, if you buy it at best buy. stuart: i did think it was next big thing. ashley: yes. stuart: developers are not putting stuff out you can use. we always raise that issue. seasick. liz: blurred vision. more than a dozen things that can happen. stuart: i don't see how you fix the problem. it is wraparound and moving and losing your equalibrium. i don't know how you combat that problem. ashley: yeah. stuart: anyway, you, the varney viewer still upset with me, moi, my insistence passing tax cuts. hold on a second. paul ryan we're going to him. his press conference is ready to begin. we're going to listen in to see if he says anything about tax cuts. here here we go. >> we had a very, very good meeting with our members. as i said on friday we reflect what we could have done better this discussion was honest and constructive step forward. we're united around a common set of principles.

we're united around our agenda. we all want to advance the cause of freedom and limited government. we all want to make it easier for families to pay the bills, take care of their loved once. we want a system of health care where everybody has affordable coverage. we don't want a government-run health care system. we agree on these things. we'll not retrench in our corns and put up dividing lines. today we broke down many dividing lines within our conference. there is too much at stake to get bogged down in all of that. we'll move forward on the things that the american people sent us here to do. the house will act on another measure to reverse bad regulations. congress has sent 10 measures to the president's desk. in the 20 years before, congress did one of these. we're committed to securing border, fixing the military and building our infrastructure. we want this to be the last tax season americans have to put up with this broken tax code.

since i became speaker, i have talked about the need to go from being opposition party to being a proposition party and governing party. it may take a little bit more time but we're certainly listening and we're going to get there. the way i will describe the meeting we just had with our members, we're going to work together and listen together until we get this right. it is too important. obamacare is a collapsing law. obamacare is doing too much damage to families. so we're going to get this right. in the meantime, we're going to do all of our other work we came here to do. >> i want to convey exactly what the speaker just said. we had a very good conference, conference from a micro costism, people on all sides. the discussion was exactly what the american people are talking about. we promised to repeal and replace obamacare. that is exactly what we're going to do. friday, timeline wasn't there. the votes were not there yet. doesn't mean we're not going to

get there. that is what this conference was about and what we're actually working towards. meantime we will go back on on o the floor as speaker talked about from regulatory reform. as you watched prior to this congress. only one was signed into law. we will have the 15th one that passed the house. president signed four others into law yesterday, again surpassing the total. this is a part of the plan putting america back to work. bringing common sense regulation back, continuing on our path to repeal and replace obamacare. coming out of that conference i have more confidence we'll get it done. >> after this morning the he resolve of our conference to repeal obamacare and replace it has never been stronger. i think it was he really positive. the openness that members have to working to get to yes that weren't there. it was important again to point

out, the vast majority of our conference was already there in support of the bill we want to put on president's desk. to our democrat colleagues who were celebrating friday's i think their celebration was premature. we're closer to repealing obamacare than we were before, closer than we were friday. we'll keep working. obamacare continues to fail the american people. you will continue to see double-digit increases in premiums because obamacare doesn't work. so the fact that our conference is more resolved than ever to repeal this this law is very encouraging. we're not going to stop until we get it done. >> coming out of the conference i remain very optimistic from our agenda. from the beginning we've known -- stuart: what i'm hearing here so far, ashley you're listening very, very closely,. ashley: yeah. stuart: what i'm listening is they want to get back to

obamacare? ashley: house gop had a meeting. they said we're closer today than last friday on agreeing to repeal obamacare. we'll continue to work toward that meantime we'll get on with other key elements of agenda which we agree on. tax reform, rebuilding the military, infrastructure. the regulatory reform measures that they have talked about. all of those things we are on the same page. but, yes, there is still talking about obamacare, getting on the same page, how to repeal it. what to put in its place. stuart: they're all saying same thing. ashley: yeah. stuart: i thought obamacare was done. failed vote. bill withdrawn, obamacare as far as eye can see. ashley: we move closer to getting consensus on obamacare we'll move forward with other issues. stuart: paul ryan about to take questions. let's listen to this. >> [inaudible] >> no and no.

>> [inaudible] >> right. probably before then. >> i won't tell you timeline we want to get it right. we have an aggressive agenda. we've been moving aggressively on the agenda. we want to get it right. we had a very constructive meeting with some of our members. some in the no camp express willingness to get to yes and making this work. we want to get it right. we'll keep talking to each other until we get it right. i'm not going to put a timeline on it because this is too not to get it right and put a timeline it. why i'm worried about the issue. the law is collapsing. if obamacare stays where it is that is not acceptable for the american people. that is not what we said we

would do. we'll figure out how it will get this thing done. we have to use senate rules. called reconciliation. you can't pass bill really want to pass in the house because it gets filibustered in the senate. tough pass a bill in the house that can get through to prevent a filibuster that frustration our members grappling with. the lady behind you. who are you with? >> we. >> [inaudible] >> go ahead. give you one more. >> [inaudible] >> any compromise? >> we have our members, i don't want to become a faction alizeed majority. i want to become a unified majority. we'll sit down and talk things

out to get there. we'll sit down with our partners to figure out to get it done. stuart: that was important statement. he held there was very, very important meeting of the republican party. some of those who voted or would have voted no on the original obama care repeal of last friday will now put into the yes column. speaker ryan would not give any kind of time frame when they may resubmit an obama care bill. did not go there. he said he want to get the legislative agenda back on track. liz: the key is who was with him. house majority leader kevin mccarthy. the whip. kathy mcmorris running house republican conference. this is a turnaround a new development.

are they growing to return to fixing obamacare. ashley: the word he used very constructive meeting. we're closer today than last friday when it comes to agreeing on obamacare. that has got to be a positive. stuart: i would say that is positive. ashley: they haven't given up on it. they're still working on it. stuart: they have got some no people to convert into the yes column. liz: they came close. 15 votes. stuart: got this expression, keep on talking, keep on talking. get the legislative agenda back on track. liz: he they have 12 working days before the government shutdown talks begin, right? that april 28th, deadline. they have to work fast. the president needs fast victories right now. stuart: he wouldn't give a time frame. that was fairly positive conference from speaker paul ryan. there you go. we do spend a lot of time on this program, don't we, pushing for tax reform. we take the position our country needs vigorous economic growth.

the kind we have not seen in years. to do that, we believe tax cuts are necessary. some viewers think we spend too much time on this issue, for example. dave writes this. stop with the tax reduction ad nauseum. i wish emac would be a permanent replacement in your time slot. we'll get to that in a minute. ashley: oh. stuart: james writes, i'm stunned you are so upset about this. we're just two months into this administration and president trump has gotten a ton of other things done. ted, you're beginning to sound like a broken record. allen says, you will get your tax and budget changes. rushing this will kill what the people want, not stocks. let's start there. nobody wants to rush this. but surely tax reform is now an immediate priority. it is the core of this presidency. after the obamacare defeat the

president needs a win. and allen, by the way, if there is no tax cut deal, say good-bye to all the wealth creation from the stock market. as for sounding like a broken record, i think it's a very of us personally. but for getting the country back to prosperity. we will keep pounding this issue. there is so much at stake. one last one. will emac's relatives please stop jamming our facebook page. we need the space to talk about tax cuts. no, seriously, seriously, isn't this country all about individual liberty and freedom to choose where to spend and invest you work for. isn't that what we're all about? the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin ♪ ♪

stuart: oh, that is my generation. jimi hendrix, purple haze, remember it well. [laughter] we've got a jam-packed hour for you. steve forbes and ford's president of the americas, all on the show. first up, breaking news. president trump meeting with the fraternal order of police. the administration announced a crackdown on sanctuary cities, all of that, we'll bring you news from that meeting as it comes to us. let's get to your money, check that big board. we're up, look at that. will you look at this? now we're up 90 points. -- 60 points. i do believe part of this gain is a result of paul ryan's press conference where they said they're not done with obamacare. they're talking about it still. some of the no voters have been ye. they're still talking. i see that as a positive for the market. we also have a 16-year high for consumer confidence, that came out at 10:00, and now we're up

55 points, 20,600 is where we are. oil producers may extend a production limit by six months. that's sending the price of oil back to $48 a barrel. no impact on stocks. look at the banks. down yesterday,, here's where they are today. up almost all across the board. look at those energy stocks. president trump rolling back president obama-era climate regulations today. not much impact on energy stocks thus far. how about the health insurers? they're all about obamacare, and now we've got mixed views on obamacare, and we've got a mixed bag for the health insurers. some down, some up. as for the dow industrials, for eight sessions they have been down. i'm not saying that this is the trump slump, i will not use those words. i say this is a small slide. look at it. the dow is down less than 2% since march the 15th, down less than 400 points.

a lot of people call it the trump slump. that's -- it is not the trump slump. they're saying that because they really don't like president trump. that's a fact. that's my opinion, okay? got it. joining us now is steve forbes, "forbes" media editor-in-chief. now, i don't -- i think you heard what paul ryan had to say just moments ago. >> yes. stuart: i see this as a positive for the market, for the economy, for the trump legislative agenda. they're still going to talk about obamacare. what do you say? >> well, i think he's finally doing what should have been done in the weeks before, and that is talking to various members of the caucus, talking to the -- starting with the freedom caucus. you start with the ones you know you have a problem with -- stuart: come on, steve, the freedom caucus was not left out of the discussion. they held an hour-and-a-half meeting with the president himself one-on-one. >> no, this should have been done months ago. he knew in november they had a problem. now they realize they've got to get together and hammer this thing out.

remember, they came out with this thing, they went into hiding on capitol hill, that's when rand paul did his stunt of saying let usin. hammered out this bill, said, if effect -- in effect, take it or leave it. it was halting. they should have done that from the beginning. now they realize they made a mistake. okay, how do you correct it? the freedom caucus and others realize they better get something through -- stuart: the freedom caucus should have noticed they made a mistake. they've landed us with obamacare, for heaven sake. >> everyone made a mistake -- stuart: you're not critical of the freedom caucus, are you? are you on their side? >> in the sense of principle but not on what they did on this health care bill. there's plenty of blame to go around, but it starts with leadership. you knew you had a problem, how were you going to deal with it. now they're finally dealing with something they should have done three or four months ago. stuart: i see it as a positive for tax cuts. >> absolutely. it gets back to what we talked about a few weeks ago.

samuel johnson, the process of a political hanging focuses the mind. they better get something done, or they're going to hang. stuart: i think the market is saying this is a positive. we're now up 65, 67 points. we're going up. i think this is viewed as a positive, the idea that they might do something still on obamacare. >> yeah. it's the morning after. sobering up. we've got -- we better get this thing together. stuart: now we're up 70 points. >> it's a good thing. stuart: absolutely, it's a very good thing. do you think we're going to get tax reform? >> yes. and what they must do, though, is if they have to do it in the late summer, early fall, make it retroactive to january 1st. while they talk about all these wonderful executive orders, great stuff, obamacare, there's still going to be a lot of dissatisfaction, they've got to do something where everyone sees in their next paycheck, by golly, this presidency is working. stuart: i keep looking over my shoulder, looking at the dow industrials gaining ground. now we're up over 70 points.

i can't help but think what paul ryan just said, what you've just said, that this is a positive, we're sobering up the morning after looking at things more positively. you go back to obamacare, and you bring in the caucus, you bring all the republicans together, and you've got a shot at fixing obamacare and doing a tax cut -- >> yes. stuart: -- and that's what the market's reacting to. my opinion. >> one of the lessons they hope they learn from this debacle last week, drop this crazy border tax. it's hard enough to get these cats, herding these cats. bring in that 20% national sales tack, that'll kill -- tax. that'll kill the tax bill. stuart: just get a tax cut. can we just do that. one other thing -- >> which means a cut, not an increase. stuart: yes, thank you very much. [laughter] president trump is expected the sign a big executive order today which would eliminate some obama-era climate change

regulations including the rules governing co2 emissions. i see that as a wildly positive thing because he can do it with the the stroke of a pen. he doesn't need republican agreement or democrat agreement. >> that's right. and one of the things that sent the stock market up was precisely the fact that their regulatory burden was going to be eased on those who could afford it least. they weren't going to have to worry about getting pounded on the head fromç another idiot regulation from washington. stuart: pounded on the head, that will live forever -- [laughter] very good. dow's up 75 points now. one more for you, steve. ford motor company announcing significant investments in three more michigan plants. and president trump's going to take the credit. what do you say? >> why not? [laughter] why not? and if he follows through in terms of his deregulation drive, seriously amending or getting rid of these mileage standards which have been, you know, a disaster, killing people with junkie cars, you get rid of

that, that'll get more investment in this country, save lives. great thing. stuart: all right. stay with us please, steve. i know you're with us for the hour, we appreciate that. in the next hour, we're going to be joined by the president of ford americas, okay? he's going to be on the show very shortly. check those border wall stocks. the trump administration crackdown on -- there's the, there's the border wall stocks, okay? they're up. next case, they've got to crack down on sanctuary cities. peter morici's next. he says immigration reform could be the win that trump and the economy need. really? we'll be back. ♪ ♪

stuart: moments ago paul ryan, speaker of the house, actually moved the market. he came out front, gave a press conference x he says -- and he

says the health care issue is not going away. they're still talking about it. roll tape. >> i have talked about the need to go from being an opposition party to being a proposition party and a governing party. it may take a little bit more time, but we are certainly listening, and we're going to get there. the way i would just describe the meeting we just had with our members is we are all going to work together and listen together until we get this right. it is just too important. obamacare is a collapsing law. obamacare is doing too much damage to families. and so we're going to get this right. and in the meantime, we're going to do all of our other work that we came here to do. stuart: okay. so is they've not abandoned reforming and replacing obamacare. the market really liked that. it went up right after he'd said those words, and we've repeated them here on "varney & company" x right now the dow industrials, look at that, we're up 85 points. back at 20,635.

peter morici joins us, business professor at the university of maryland. i see this as as positive for tax reform. if they can get the legislative agenda back on track, things look good for tax reform. what say you? >> well, they're got to move the needle. we have to start to see the freedom caucus compromise, we have the start to see the moderate republicans recognize that they can't keep indolent men on medicaid. both sides have to give. if he moves the needle then, hey, guess what? speaker ryan's starting to sound like a prime minister, not a speaker. that's good news. [laughter] stuart: he did say the whole party had been meeting and some of those who were trending towards no are now in the yes column. again, i see that as a positive. >> absolutely. and if they can get something on the floor to vote on that makes sense, the market will zoom because that means that then tax reform will come next. the go beyond that, chuck schumer and company have decided that donald trump is not legitimate.

and, therefore, will to oppose everything he proposes. you know, even his transportation secretary. that's absurd. the republicans have to show the democrats that if they don't want to participate and be part of a constitutional government, a legitimate government, that they are prepared to make the sacrifices to make this country run and run well. stuart: the republicans have the power if they are unified to get what they want through congress. they can do it. >> absolutely. stuart: if they are unified. and ryan is talking about unity at the moment. >> you know, the democrats don't seem to recognize that although trump lost the popular vote, they only have about, what is it, 17 governorships? they don't have the senate, they don't have the house. you know, the easiest way to make money is to bet against democrats in las vegas at election time. they need to shape up! the reality is chuck schumer is leading a party full of ancient ideas with lots of excuses for failed policy.

eight years, 2% growth. that's good enough, good enough for milk, it's not good enough for the economy. stuart: how's your blood pressure these days, morici? [laughter] >> that's my lecture mode. stuart: serious question. what's your outlook for growth in 2018? what rate of growth do you think we're going to get? >> 2.3 because we haven't seen these guys turn it into legislation. once they start getting legislation passed, then i jump my forecast especially for 2018. not so much '17, but '18. i know that, you know, they talk about making all this stuff retroactive. the reality is that's a good thing, it gives people a jolt. but if the tax cuts pass in september, you know, the year has gone by on us. people can't go back in time and respend what they spent in february. right now the economy is not showing signs of growing appreciably more than it did during the obama years.

stuart: consumer confidence is now at a 16-year high. that sounds like a confident economy, a confident group of consumers. that speaks to me of growth in the future. let's just suppose you get some kind of tax cut deal. not everything that everybody wants, but a cut in corporate rates and a cut in individual rates. if you get that, then what's your growth rate for next year? >> 3%. and it's going to -- by the way, it takes time to work through the system. this isn't magic. the other thing is that although consumer confidence is really high, look at auto steals, retail sales in february, they were not super great. they just weren't. my feeling is that people are saying positive things but not doing positive things. it's kind of like the reverse of the polls. who are you voting for? i'm not voting for trump. go in there, they pull the t lever. i feel great, but they still have questions about spending their money. stuart: okay. the market is now up 90 points,

and we've got a gain in the s&p, and we've got a gain in the nasdaq as well. this occurred in the last half hour since paul ryan spoke. now, am i right in linking the two, paul ryan being positive on getting something done on obamacare, and the market going up? >> oh, absolutely. we had nine days in a row or eight days in a row of the dow down, now it's up. people were looking for another down day. no, this is that herding effect. but to make it work, ryan's got to show he really has something besides coming out and giving a press conference. i'll find it more believable when the freedom caucus comes out and says, you know, we realize we have to work ryan and compromise. when i hear the freedom caucus actually behave like americans and say they would do what american legislators have done throughout history and that is recognize that they can't get everything they want, remember, they have 30 votes out of 435 in the house of representatives. these guys behave like they are a majority government, and they're in a minority inside a

majority government. they have to show us they're willing to compromise. if they do that, i look for the s&p to accomplish a price earnings ratio of about 35 easy. stuart: whoa. >> yeah, right. it's about 25 now. stuart: professor, i would put you right now at about 140 over 110. not healthy. [laughter] >> no, this is the way i am. you don't seem to understand that if i hadn't been ar, i wour public office, but the trouble is we have microphones now which takes away my compare ty advantage. stuart: whatever you say. by the way, we do have a freedom caucus member on this program tomorrow, and we'll put it right to that congressman. >> yeah. let's see what he's got to say. stuart: okay, morici, professor, see you later. >> take care. stuart: thank you very much. i've got a headline from mr. steve forbes who happens to be with us right now. he says we have a record number of global billionaires. he says the real question is why don't we have more? i like that, and we'll be back. ♪

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our claims centers are available to assist you 24/7. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance stuart: i can report this, the white house is on lockdown. there are reports of a suspicious package. we'll update when we get new information. more breaking news, this is

confirmation of earlier news. president trump will compete with china's president xi jinping in early april in florida. it'll be their first face to face meeting wince president trump took office -- since president trump took office. now let's go to the trump tape out of the white house with the fraternal order of police. here we go. >> the press must like you people. look at all the press. well, you're the greatest people. you keep us safe, right? [laughter] >> yes, sir. >> you keep us safe. it's a tremendous honor to welcome the fraternal order of police to the white house. so many of you i know for so long, and you've been friends of mine, and you do a great job. nobody braver. i want to thank your entire leadership team including your national president, chuck canterbury. i also want to thank you for your support during the election. i guess you probably know the numbers were extremely lopsided, right? i'm just trying to figure out who were the few people that voted the other way. who are they? [laughter] would you find out who they are

and let us know? as i traveled the country during my campaign, i had the great privilege to spend time with our amazing police officers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe, and i made a crucial pledge. we will always support -- ask you people know that better than anybody, you know me -- the incredible men and women of law enforcement. i will always have your back 100% like you've always had mine, and you showed that on november 8th. i'm also pleased to have with us our great attorney general, jeff sessions. thank you, jeff, for being here. it was a big day you had yesterday too on sanctuary cities. >> thank you. >> that was a very, very important thing you did. and, frankly, a very popular thing, so congratulations. jeff is with us, his strong support of law enforcement, you know that. he was, in alabama he was the attorney general, he was a u.s. attorney, and a lot of people don't know that. they know him as the senator, but the law enforcement people

knew him more even as the other. so he's going to do a great job. great to have you with us. sadly, our police are often prevented from doing their jobs. when policing is reduced, the main victims are the most vulnerable citizens of our society, and you see that all over. in too many of our communities, violent crime is on the rise, and in too many places our citizens have not been safe for a very, very long time. these are the painful realities many in washington do not want to talk about. they just don't want to hear about it. and we have seen that. we've seen it all over. by the way, who is from the standpoint of new york, where are my new york guys here? huh? that's terrible. [laughter] i have one sitting in my office. he's the greatest. he's coming right in. last year in chicago 4,368 people were shot. nearly 700 more have already

been shot since january of this year alone. i asked what's going on in chicago, right? what is going on? there's no excuse for it. there's no excuse for it. i'm sure you're asking the same question, what's going on in chicago. i also want to thank our vice president for being with us, mike pence has been amazing, an amazing vice president and very much a believer in law enforcement and the job you people do. all of our citizens have the right to live in safety and peace. we will work every day to remove the gang members, drug dealers and violent criminals from your communities, and we already are. they're being moved very quickly. in fact, general kelly, as you know, has done a fantastic job on the border. down 63% since -- 61% since inauguration, people coming in, down 61% which is a tremendous number. my highest duty as president is the security of our people, the security of our nation.

that is why i've already taken numerous actions to enhance domestic security including the creation of task force on reducing violent crime, an interagency task force to dismantle criminal cartels along with historic actions to secure our borders and remove criminals from our country. we're removing ms-13, we're removing criminals all over the country. they're getting out. we're taking them out, and for that i thank you folks. i know you're in coordination with general kelly and the border patrol and i.c.e., and you've been doing a fantastic job. as president, i will work night and day to make america safe again. and we've already done a big part of it. you'll see the numbers come out very soon. i just want to thank all of you for your leadership. i want to thank all of you for your expertise, the job you've done. and it's a great honor to be with you today, and we'll now go

around and just introduce yourselves. finish -- stuart: okay, that's the live action presidency in action. the president holds meetings just about every day with various industry groups and leaders of industry groups. we get tape afterwards. sometimes he makes mention of policy, sometimes he does not. today he was basically introducing police people to the media and making his comments right there. did not affect the market. the dow industrial average still nicely ahead, a 75-point gain as we speak. most of that the result of much stronger consumer confidence and some positive statements about getting back to obamacare reform from speaker ryan. and now this, ah, this is a story i like. there are more than 2,000 billionaires worldwide. steve forbes, who's with us, says there should be ten times that many. why do we have -- let's turn this around -- [laughter]

why don't we have more billionaires the way you think we should? >> one, fox doesn't pay you enough, so you should be on the list. stuart: how do you know that? [laughter] go ahead. >> uh-oh. stuart: no, go ahead. >> going to sic our people on you. no, you go around the world and see all the obstructions that are in place for people getting ahead. we saw in the '80s and '90s when you start to move back some of these barriers how much wealth and prosperity and opportunity's created. so you look at europe, self-inflicted wounds, massive taxes, labor laws that make it impossible to hire and fire people so you don't get the start-ups. even britain which has done better than some of the continental company, 28% capital gains tax. you look around the world everywhere, structural barriers. this gets back to why it's so important trump get things right this year. if we lead the way like we did in the '80s, they will follow suit. stuart: the left would go berserk. creating billionaires? concentrating the wealth in an

ever-smaller group of people? >> it's called a better quality of life for everybody. stuart: okay. [laughter] >> if you got sick today, would you want to be in health care today or health care 20 or 30 years ago? case closed. stuart: um -- >> in terms of care? stuart: you think i'd rather have care from 20 or 30 years ago? >> no, no, i'm saying -- the quality of life for all these junkie things politics have done, everyone takes it for granted. we have the would world at our -- whole world at our fingertips. it's a miracle. [laughter] stuart: that's pretty good actually. you got me there. please, don't sic your accountants on me to find out how much money i've got. >> i want to come back. [laughter] stuart: don't do that. >> sanctuary commentator here. [laughter] stuart: look who's with us now, our friend chris stirewalt, fox news politics editor. i've got to get your comment on

what we just heard from paul ryan. i'm sure you were listening. for the benefit of our viewers who didn't hear, he came right out and said we're still talking about reforming and replacing obamacare. we've had a big meeting, and some of those who were going to vote no are now voting yes. i see that, and so does the stock market, as a pretty positive thing. does chris stirewalt? >> well, so when becomes the operant question. at what point do they do this. remember also the president very much wants to turn to tax reform. he also wants to turn to infrastructure spending. he wants to do a lot of other things. let's remember that people say congress can't walk and chew gum at the same time. they can barely walk, let alone walk and chew gum. they've got neil gorsuch's nomination which is currently imperil ld of the filibuster, and they're going to have to talk about the nuclear option. that's becoming closer to a reality.

they've got a government shutdown looming next month. they need a spending package now, right away. there's a lot of work for congress to do over the next month to take care of those two issues. yes, they'll do health, yes, they'll do tax, all those thing, but it's not going to be before easter. stuart: i'm reading between the lines, chris stirewalt, and you seem to be throwing cold water on all the positive energy that's coming out of washington this morning. >> well, people, politicians have to say things, that's their job. and paul ryan can't walk out and say, we're defeated, i guess i give up, we're going to take the rest of the year off. i do believe very much that -- i think it was steve scalise, the majority whip, who said they're closer to repealing and replacing obamacare today than they were on friday. i think that's true because they were way far away on friday. i think their going to go back to the drawing board. but, again, we're talking about a process of a month here. the real deadline -- stuart: why? hold on a second, why? why can't you tweak the bill

that they didn't put forward on friday, tweak it, and if you knew you were going to get the conservatives on your side, that the party would come together, why can't you just resubmit the bill? does it take months to do that? >> the disagreement is too fundamental for tweakage. it's what is the government's role vis-a-vis the -- stuart: oh, but wait a second. the outrage that poured forth against the freedom caucus for holding everything up, saying no and giving us months more of obamacare, the recriminations were so strong, you could say that some of them are going to turn around on this. >> i, i doubt that having one -- they're used to recriminations. that's kind of their bag. they're used to being the most hated people, and they kind of savor the role was they see their -- because they see their job as being the blockers. they're the ones who swat the shot away from the hoop. they will feel empowered, and

they're going to say don't come back with anything that says the federal government is the primary regulator of insurance in the united states and the insurance industry has to cover everybody and do all these things. they want to deal with article i stuff, they don't want to deal with the downstream considerations. stuart: you thought that i didn't know who hakim e ladies and gentlemen won was. the houston rockets. i know that. >> i know you're a hoops man. stuart: they just told me in my ear. [laughter] you're done, stirewalt. don't you throw cold water on the stock market rally. [laughter] thank you, chris, much obliged. >> you bet. stuart: the white house is still on lockdown, reports of a suspicious package. what do we have, e. mac? >> essentially, a man outside the fence said he had a bomb in his bag, and they have confiscated the bag and are looking into whether that is true. this is the second time in one month there's been alarms raised at the white house. you had that intruder who was on the property for 15 minutes, a

security perimeter in effect, north lawn evacuated, they cleared all media and visitors. we'll stay on the story for us. stuart: appreciate that. we're talking obamacare this morning, strangly enough. i know the bill was pulled on friday to great dismay all around. today we've had speaker ryan come out and say they're still talking about it, and some of the nos have become yess. i want to bring in ken abomb slip, you know all about obamacare from the inside. now, one thing that speaker ryan talked about today was that obamacare is collapsing. he used that word quite deliberately a couple of times, i think. what does a collapsing obamacare look like, and what does it mean for our country? describe it. >> sure. there's two key aspects of obamacare; medicaid reform, in other words, bringing ten or more million people into medicaid, and reform for the uninsured. so the medicaid is stable.

it's the uninsured that he's talking talking about who are now insured through very complicated mechanism that we call obamacare. and one by one insurance companies are pulling back from that market, and one by one fewer healthy people are joining the exchanges and more sick people are joining the exchanges. stuart: does that mean if insurances keep on withdrawing, you could end up this some states with no carriers servicing the obamacare exchanges? is that possible? >> yes, well, you have to go stage by stage. first let's just say there's three in a given state, and thes to one, and you're right. in a year or two, that one may also disappear. stuart: that's the absolute collapse, and that would be you don't have it, you've got nothing. it's gone. that's what happens. >> yes, yes. well, the history of democracies is democracies act during a time of crisis. so obamacare i would put in the precrisis stage right now.

the crisis will come in a year, two years for sure, three years. and then that will create the pressure for everybody to put their heads together. so the trouble is we were in the precrisis stage, and democracies don't do great during a precrisis. stuart: i believe you've also written that 50%, half of what you think of as obamacare, will disappear. is that what you've been talking about? >> yes, yes. the medicaid portion is not disappearing. i don't see they're touching that. there's too many doctors and hospitals who want the revenue from those patients. and they put a lot of lobbying pressure. but on the uninsured side, that's the unstable, inherently unstable aspect of obamacare, and that will disappear all by itself. and it's probably better for the republicans to just sit back, let it collapse by itself and then come in and pick up the pieces. that way they don't get blamed for watching over the collapse of obamacare.

stuart: ken to blom wits, are you a brutal kind of guy here. sit back and watch it collapse and let the other guys take the blame. what are you, a politician? investor in health care companies, thanks for joining us, ken. we're to blaminged to you. >> sure. thank you. stuart: the dow industrials holding on to a gain. it's not as good as it was, we're up close to 70. why? at 10:00 eastern we reported a 16-year high for consumer confidence, and by the way, speaker ryan about a half hour ago was talking about revisiting obamacare. he says that some of the no votes have become yes votes. wouldn't give a time frame when they'd put it back in front of congress, but that's what they're talking about still. revenue, weak at mccormack spice. everybody has something in the cupboard. revenue's weak and down it goes, 2%. three items of news on tesla for you. number one, the chief there, elon musk, he wants to link your

brain to a computer, okay? that's kind of brain wave stuff, gee whiz technology. number two, the company is taking orders for solar roof tiles. number three, tesla says the new roadster will be the fastest car they ever made, but it probably won't be out until 2019. nonetheless, tesla's stock is up 2, nearly 3%, $7 higher. look who is coming down the hallway. cue him, please. varney favorite, obamacare is, well, it's still with us. i don't think he's happy about that. let's see when he walks in the door. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ 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.

>> i'm nicole petallides. the dow up 75 points right now, snapping the recent losing streak at least for now. we haven't been down nine days since 1980. take a look at some of the winners and losers, goldman sachs and jpmorgan gaining after having a tough month, in fact, the dow would have its first down month now since last october. amazon on the move to the upside, amazon fresh pickup is something they're introducing in two cities available to all prime members. you order it, pick it up within 15 minutes for fresh groceries.

working on technical issues for its amazon go unit. facebook announcing new camera features once again, taking on snap and despite some bullish calls on snap yesterday, back under pressure today. start at five a.m., i'll see you there.

stuart: update. the lockdown of the white house has been lifted. a man outside the fence on the north lawn said he had a bomb. no apparent threat. lockdown lifted.

obamacare is still with us, and so therefore are all those taxes and all the regulations that come with it. zane tanking is apple metro ceo, runs about 43 applebee's in the new york area? >> about. stuart: okay. you must hate obamacare and be very sad it's still with us. >> i've hated from before it was law, and you and i have been talking about it for a long time. yeah, i'm sad that it's with us, but, you know, it's going to go away, it's going to go away because it's a car crash. stuart: it could have gone away last friday if it wasn't for the freedom caucus guys who stopped it and kept it with us. >> my apologies. stuart: is that sincere? >> no. [laughter] stuart: how can you be on the freedom caucus -- >> i'm not. that's a big leap, stuart. they've all got to be brought into the tent. that's politics. you don't like it, i don't like it, i don't know that any american likes it, but that's

washington, and that's how it operates. and i think the president's learning that's how it operates. stuart: are you happy to hear speaker ryan went out there 45 minutes ago and said, hey, we're still talking, and some of the nos are now yess. >> well, we were hearing that before the vote as well. let's hope so. listen, stuart, this is abominable, what's going on. this is terrible to the small businessman, to all the people that employ the people in the united states. and it's just an ongoing abomination -- stuart: there really was such a thing as the restaurant recession. that really was -- >> there still is. it still is there. stuart: it's till there? >> absolutely. again, you and i have talked about it, the cash that they're taking from people in fines which would be in circulation for people to go out and have expendable income is going to the government to redistribute in terms of health care, right? they fine people that don't sign up, they take that money, and they redistribute to other

people who do sign up, and the car crash part of it is every year you can sign up. so you're healthy today, the aging process you're going to get unhealthy. you'll get diabetes, heart condition, so you wait, you pay the fines, the $650, the $750, i think it's going to $1,000 -- stuart: it is. >> you pay those fines and then you get sick and you join. wonderful. stuart: you want it gone. >> gone, gone, gone. stuart: join the club. >> thank you. stuart: before we close, you are a major investor in -- >> director of an oil field be services company. ruth ruth tight. -- stuart: right. now your point you brought to us is the saudis really want to get the price of ill up -- >> correct, yes. stuart: -- because they are selling a stake in their oil reserve, they want to raise $2 trillion next year -- >> that's what they valued their underground reserves -- stuart: and the ipo is next year. >> they can always yank it, but

that's what they've announced. stuart: are they going to be successful in pressuring other peck countries to get the price up? >> so much of this is geopolitical as well. they've given a pass to nigeria and libya because of their internal strife. in fact, only this morning the libyans shut down one of their oil pipelines because of internal strife, and i believe they blew it up. something happened there which was producing 70,000 barrels a day, so they gave a pass to those two. the other folks that are not part of opec, there's 13 countries that are part of opec led by the saudis, although the chairman is qatari of the opec organization. the russians, who are -- all they have is oil, they're also interested in getting the price up. stuart: but it's going to be very difficult because they lower production, opec lowers production to get the price up. and american frakers get out there and drill, baby, drill and make up the shortfall in supply. >> well, there's another reason, interestingly enough, as to why it'll be very difficult, because

they all cheat. [laughter] stuart: that too. >> they all cheat. for example, in all seriousness, for example, i believe it's the iranians that said they're producing 4.8 million barrels a day, and they reduced it to 4.4 -- stuart: you believe that? >> well, what the saudis have said, the saudis have said, wait a minute, you only produce 4.4 now. [laughter] so if you're going to cut back, you've got to be at 4. so they all cheat, and they all, you know, it's hard to rein in and herd cats. stuart: as the directer of an oil services company, you want to price up or down? >> stuart -- stuart: come on. >> i want the price up, of course. [laughter] stuart: now he tells us. >> of course. stuart: well, your time's up, zane. get out of here. >> obamacare and higher oil prices, what a wonderful economy. stuart: you're done, son. hold on a second, steve forks is is -- steve forbes is with us. i want your reaction to the fact

that the saudis are trying to get the price of oil up? >> they're going to have a hard time. they're going to cheat and, by the way, zane, you are a living contradiction. you want higher oil prices which means less spending at applebee's. stuart: there you go. >> that's correct. but if we eliminate obamacare, it'll more than replace -- stuart: offset. offset. >> more than offset it, because the fines, steve, the fines are so much higher than what one pays in the additional oil or gasoline prices. stuart: all right, enough already. next case, ford motor company announcing a significant investment in three more michigan plants. joining us next, joe hinrichs, the ford president of the americas. we will be back. ♪ ♪

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talking about getting going again on repealing obamacare. how about that? that's positive. we're up 100. check this out, ford motor company announcing significant investments in three more michigan plants. joining us now is joe hinrichs, ford president of the americas. sir, welcome to the program. it's great to see you. >> good to see you as well, thanks for having me. stuart: you would not be doing this unless you were going to make some more money out of it. you cannot say you're doing this to be nice or because president trump wants you to do it. you're doing this to make money, are you not, sir? >> we are, and we're excited about the ranger and bronco coming back to the portfolio. we should make good money on that and, of course, investing in our engine plants and the data center which is very important for serving our customers in the future. stuart: tell us exactly what you're doing at these three plants and how much money you're putting in.>> yeah, sure. we're investing $850 million to build the ranger and the bronco

in the future, adding to our truck and suv portfolio, we're investing in the romeo engine plant to add component capacity to build a new engine, support the ranger and the bronco, and importantly, a new data center, $200 million data center at our flat rock plant to give us the capacity we need to handle all that data coming from connected vehicles in the future to be able to serve our customers in new and better ways. stuart: we hear president trump wants to scale back the mileage fuel efficiency standards that were going to be imposed by president obama. i take it that that is -- is that part of your plan? because i notice you're building bigger vehicles in michigan, and the focus is going elsewhere. is that to do with mileage standards? >> well, it really doesn't. we're planning for the cafe standards and the one national standard that we have today. we, as an industry, have asked president trump and the administration to do the midterm review as it was originally agreed to, a data-driven

discussion about what's going on with oil prices, technology costs, consumer affordability, etc. we've had these plans in the works for quite some time, but we made an announcement in january to spend $700 million in ad capacity in flat rock, michigan, to build an all-electric suv, and we have $4.5 billion of investment going into electrified vehicles. stuart: you're looking good in the eyes of president trump. that's the fact, sir. joe hinrichs, thanks very much for joining us. great to have you. >> thanks for having me. stuart: yes, sir. dow's up 94. more "varney" after this.

. . stuart: dow is up close to 100. why? because paul ryan came out and said something about getting back to obamacare and some of the nos are now yeses. what do you say? >> ryan rally. stuart: in the last half hour. ash? ashley: no coincidence the market went up. it is pretty clear. stuart: lizzie?

liz: we'll work on it. try to get something down. wow. stuart: you're not impressed are you? liz: i hope they can in the time they have. stuart: the dow is up 9. see what you did? it has been a great show. neil, it is yours. neil: i agree with lizzie. if they do health care, does it potentially get in the way of tax cut thing? stuart: wait a second. is it not possible to get a number of people who were voting no, vote yes, resubmit the bill, if they now say yes, away you bo, what is wrong with that? is that possible parliamentarywise? neil: it is just possible but just as possible you will get a brooklyn accent. that doesn't seem probable. buddy, thank you very much. that is what is going on here. i'm neil cavuto. you're watching "coast to coast" on the fox business network. here is the conundrum. market seizing on the speak are's remarks