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 earlier, he is

ready full throttle to go back to health care. more importantly this was. >> we'll 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. meantime we'll do all of our other work we came here to do. neil: all right. that on top of what was some pretty good economic news prior in the day. big jump in consumer confidence. big jump in the case-shiller home price index. a lot of people's homes are starting to percolate, presumably get them buying and get hes investors buying at the corner of wall and broad. we're near session highs after eight straight down days. we have the infrastructure committee member, congressman thomas massey joining us now what happens now. what do you think, congressman? >> well you know on health care i presented an option in morning in our conference to break it up into three bits.

there were three bills in that bill. i think you can get to 218 on each of those three things but not with the same 218 members. conservatives want to repeal it. more moderate members want to replace. if you separate three bills i think you can do it. they seemed receptive to my idea in conference. neil: maybe you have to push back the tax cut thing and rework and all of that? >> i don't think we have to do this sequentially. there are 435 members of congress. we're not all working on the same thing at once. we have two dozen committees. you can work on the things simultaneously. neil: maybe so. i haven't seen that in washington in the past. i know it is possible. >> we're working in the transportation committee for ideas on funding trump's proposals. neil: on the health care thing, you were among those who went from no to hell no, right?

you didn't like it. so what do you have to see to revisit it and deliver a yes vote? >> if they split it up into three bills inside of it. i could vote for the medicate reform portion of it. it wasn't as conservative as i like but unambiguously better than the status quo which is more than i can say for the obamacare light portion of it. that is what i'm calling it, which i think it could have been worse, both politically and for our constituent to do obamacare light versus obamacare. i don't subscribe to the notion that we let the perfect be the enemy of the good. we saw something bad friday. that is my opinion. i think other republicans have other opinions if you tease this bill apart you could get to 218. president trump said he wanted democrat votes on this. excuse me, i think he can get there but they will not vote for repeal or medicaid reform. if you want to do a scaled down version of obamacare you will

have to separate that. neil: all right. we'll see what they do. congressman, thanks for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thanks, neil. neil: let's look what is happening on wall and broad. i'm very honored to have my next guest with us, because i like to thing david zaslaf, he despite the fact he is media knowing gull he is responsible for my career and saving my butt. >> that is not true, neil. neil: he is president and chief executive officer of discovery communications. back when i knew you were chief counsel. >> that was 27 years ago. we had dream of creating a business news network. when we got you it was a big deal. neil: absolutely. >> a few years later we got maria and we became the number one business news network. now you and maria and the crew. neil: we're not done celebrating. you're 10 years at discovery.

>> right. neil: you left in 2007. i think 2008 you guys went public, right? that was $6 billion. you're worth about 20 billion now which is close to your net worth. what's behind all of this? is it driven by the environment that you're in, like the one we're in right now? >> a piece of it is driven by the environment. i got lucky, i got to discovery 10 years ago, and they were a great platform company. they had 14 channels in the u.s. and average of 10 channels around the world but they were only spending $400 million on content. my core strategy was let's get creative leaders on here, spend a lot more on the channels. we had discovery. we have tlc. we spend 2 1/2 billion on content. we have tlc, discovery, "animal planet".

o the number one channel for women in america. neil: do they stand collectively they obviously do? >> dual revenue stream cable is one of the greatest business models in the world. one of the reasons we went from six billion in value to 30 billion is our share grew around the word. but the model itself, sub fees are about 50% of the business. neil: right. >> the rest of it is ad revenue. the margin on our company as a whole, we're the largest international media company. we're much bigger outside of u.s. than we are here. neil: in terms of employees, revenues, profits. >> euro support. is pen. olympics and larger with kids in latin america. the core is, when i worked with welch he used to love, he would say never seen a modell like this, 50% of your revenue give or take is long cycle. it is almost like the aircraft engine business. for instance, like us, that is little over 50% of our revenue

is locked. internationally we have guaranteed revenue of 13% growth this year. and it will grow to 14 or 15. neil: regardless of economic conditions. >> regardless of -- if subs grow a little more maybe we grow another point. neil: helps to have the wind at your back with economic growth, right? >> the run that we've had, the last 10 years have been good for television and good for the cable business. if you look across europe, there has been zero gdp growth across europe over the past 10 years. wages are slightly down. the u.s. has been more favorable to most countries but not terrific growth. so the good news is people still love watching tv. they love great stories and we leaned into that. if there was household formation growth here in the u.s., right now subs grew for all the years you and i together, subs were growing. neil: now, they're cutting the cord. >> they're cutting the cord and people -- neil: you argued you got the

content, whether you hook up as you have with snapchat and some others there is always a means to get the content out there you about do you worry in an environment where everyone seems to be relishing we need a tax cut, we need regulations eased up, is yours the type of industry that would benefit from that or does it really matter in the scheme of things? >> it certainly matters. regulation, political instability around the world has been a challenge for us. we're in 230 countries. if they change the way media works in russia or argentina tips or venezuela, we're diversified. but political instability and regulation. those are the two things that could really hurt you -- neil: all this populist wave took over europe. how is that affected you? >> it hasn't affected us that much. i would say it is consequence of zero growth. it's a consequence of the fact europe is struggling with high unemployment. so there is, we've seen some political instability.

for instance, russia required that, it was a big business for us. and putin made a decision that only russian companies can own media. we had to restructure. we can only own 20%. i wouldn't say we're but let proof. advertising tends to follow gdp the fact that growth is relatively flat around the world has had an impact on advertising growth. neil: right. >> because our share has been growing around the world we've been able to grow our international business around the world. neil: does it matter, david, friendlier environment for big mergers because you could argue at&t and time warner coming together lilts the pipelines you can sell your stuff, right? there are fewer of them. does that worry you? >> a light governmental touch everywhere is positive for our business. neil: nothing too heavy handed. >> anytime there is regulation there is a challenge and creates uncertainty, so the idea of a

light touch. you've seen media stocks move up. the reason they moved up, there is a sense a lot of mergers can go through maybe before there was more of a question. never for sure. and the fcc is going to be a lighter touch. neil: they don't hurt you? everyone always needs proverbial content, right? >> consolidation in general is usually, presents challenges but it also presents opportunities. the fact that at&t wants to buy time warner he reflects the fact that content is very, very important. and for us, we own all of our content. we own it on all platforms around the world. in companies in the distribution or pipe business, whether mobile companies or cable companies they're all coming together and the investment is really substantial. if you're sitting around in germany and you can get your phone and your cable and your broadband from vodafone or deutch telecom or liberty

global, the customer, customer often doesn't know who it is. so -- neil: they're okay over there with that soup-to-nuts? >> what is happening i think will help the overall value of content is, at&t is buying time warner because they believe that owning ip will decommoditize their platforms and make them stronger. across europe you're seeing a number of platform players investing in ip. we're doing exclusive deals. neil: right. >> even in the loaning run even though consolidation presents issues it really reflects the fact, ip, content is still king. owning content you can do unique things with. neil: right. >> or you can have exclusive right to is -- neil: do you worry though about, obviously keep an eye on revenues and all about the ratings? not too long ago in the throes of presidential campaign the great sucking sounds like news and business network like this one getting all eyeballs, but

not for the traditional entertainment networks. is that less or so now? things have picked up a little bit. >> people are spending a lot more time watching you, news networks. it has -- we have 13 channels here in the u.s. we're having a great quarter. share is up mid-single digits. we're doing well. if you look at last year, all the political coverage and all viewership moved to you. some of that comes from discovery and tlc. some comes from "animal planet." people spending a lot of time watching you. neil: watching those natural, plan net-friendly type offerings that you have, does it make a difference with someone in the white house isn't as keen on climate change or doubts about it? or am i extrapolating too much? >> for us and me personally, our number one mission we're about the planet. the globe is in our brand but animal extinction is the biggest issue i think we face on the planet. when you and i were born and you

look a lot younger than me but we're about the same age. neil: i'm older than you. >> 20% of the animals that were on earth when you and i were born are. neil: tinge. if -- are extinct. if we do nothing, 50% -- neil: your viewers are passionate about it. >> it's a nonpartisan issue. if you say raise your hand you care about the fact that there are 3800 tigers left on earth, you would have every political affiliation every country in the world everyone will raise their hand. neil: i'm not saying my viewers are socalloused but they are concerned about a bull market. you are cognizant of this, but you were also worried about a year ago, david, don't go too tabloid, guys. told "the washington post" at the time, this is january 2016, no more bearded guys in the kitchen with fing pigs running

through the living room. get back to with we really are. we're about satisfying curiosity. chase what the brand is at its best. what were you saying back then. >> it turned out i think to be the right strategic move for us and we even leaned into it which is, when everyone watches content just on tv and 30 channels they clicked around and you could care -- neil: the python who ate the guy, wasn't that you? >> that was one of ours -- neil: he survived. >> he survived. neil: your point okay a little bit of this but don't get so distorted because all of it. >> more important the fact when people consume content on a phone and there is seven billion of those, on a device, several billion they can watch anything. it is not a gated community like the television. they will say, the biggest problem we have as human beings

how do we curate that? brands matter. if somebody wants to watch content they know they can go to own and they will no they get great content curated by oprah. for discovery, satisfying curiosity. discovery id it is about crime. in europe they get sport. it is important people need curation and navigation. people have to stay true to the brand. we came closer to what is discovery at its best, what it tlc, our ratings were actually up. neil: it is about smart tv, right? it is about smart. >> about keeping your audience. the audience is smart. and so -- neil: but you don't have to talk down to them. you do not have to, in a bastardize the product, right? >> when we did "planet earth" one of the most success fell things we did. neil: stunning. i want to step back, i think you're on contract there,

extended not too long until december 2019. >> correct. neil: about the same time they extended iger's contract at disney. was that coincidental. >> that was coincidental. discovery is my home. neil: you're much better than he is. >> nobody does better than bob. neil: do you want to stay there, you're still a young guy, we have to stress that, you're still a young guy. do you want to stay there? the world is your media oyster? >> i have a unique situation. i work with, i think in life hour you hang out with. you and i got to hang out together but i got to hang out with jack welch for 15 years. neil: genius. genius. >> just being in the boardroom and making presentations. he asking, you start to think a little bit like he thinks. and i moved to discovery and i get to hang out now with john malone and with bob myron and

the new house family. i feel like i have had a gifted and lucky run. neil: if you look at your vast work, you worked hard for it, say, well, now i'm going to slow down, i will take it easy? >> no. because this is what i love. this is what you love. if you i get up early in the morning and figure out where we push or falling pick yourselves up. neil: president trump, how do you think he is doing? >> i think it's early. i think some of his business policies could really be helpful to america. i believe in divided government. i think that, you know the idea of having republican congress, a republican senate, a republican president is a good thing because now they're going to get some things done. believe i -- neil: you hope. >> there was a lot of diving judging on both sides. now they have to govern. in two to four years people will say i like what they're doing. let's bring them back, or i

don't like how they're doing, let's get rid of them. that is why america is great. it goes back and forth. neil: pleasure, david. discovery communications president and chief executive officer. everyone wants that guy's number. we have a lot more coming up. stocks rebounding. to david's point whether this is reflection of what the administration is doing, whether companies are getting giddy about this whether this justifies their eye-popping returns and stock prices, always in the eye of the beholder. stick around. you're watching fox. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt,

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something for everyone is awesome. find your awesome with the xfinity stream app. more to stream to every screen. neil: l.a.'s mayor is already saying when this crackdown on sanctuary cities we're not changing a darn thing here. we'll continue doing what we're doing. as the president and attorney general is promising he will crack down on that sort of thing. former attorney general john ashcraft on that and immigration policies has the justice department doing something silly, enforcing them. attorney general, good to have you. what do you make of this and this battle that is brewing here? >> that is simply a demand or policy of returning to the rule of law. if there's an imperative to have cooperation between federal and local law enforcement authorities it is a national security imperative and that

relates to who we have in the country especially, i'm keenly aware of that when i know who perpetrated the attacks of 9/11 and how many of them were illegal because of overstays or because they didn't comply with the law. so what we're really seeing is the attorney general of the united states doing what an attorney general ought to do and that is to enforce the rule of law and the police resistance. neil: what do you do? >> well, obviously part of the enforcement, cut off resources that would be sent to organizations from the federal government. this isn't really novel. this was something announced during the obama administration last summer. the idea that the federal government should fund belligerent resistance to federal government policies is, may be the definition of insanity. we expect very strange things from government but funding resistance to what is in the

national security, funding things that enhance the ability of people to disrupt the united states is certainly not something we ought to do. it's totally reasonable to say if you're going to disrupt our ability to enforce the immigration laws, we're not going to fund you. we're not going to send you some of the $4 billion in aid that comes from the federal government to local governmental entities for purpose of law enforcement and other things. neil: i sometimes wonder is that the only thing they listen to. once that starts happening, what do you think will start happening? >> i don't know whether they will respond constructively to that or not but i think when attorney general sessions make this is statement he means it so we're likely to see real consequences. there are proposals in other respects in the congress from thoughtful people that would provide liability to local governments that release individuals who the federal government asked for them to retain in custody or be

delivered to the federal government. what you have in these sanctuary cities, is release to the public of convicted criminals and people who have been ordered deported so they perpetrated additional crimes. they released them on the public but refuse to release them to the law enforcement authorities or the federal government. if that is not, if that is not inexplicable -- we should have settled idea whether local governments can counter manned supreme court of land 180 years ago, when in the south we had effort on the part of states to set aside federal government's laws. it was called nullification then. obviously south carolina and other states did not want to agree with federal governmental mandates. they sought to nullify the federal law. we settled that then. we settled it again in the civil war, especially national security or in the national

security arena to be able to have either states or local governments say, no we'll be belligerent resisttors. we be cooperators in enforcement. that is mind-boggling and they should pay a price for it, and i think at least the withdrawal of federal government resources for their belligerent resistance what the first step should be. neil: the first step as they say is on. attorney general john ashcroft thank you very much. good seeing you again. >> my pleasure. neil: this dust-up and issue in sanctuary cities, states and cities protesting. you have a separate issues with calls on house intel chair deaf anyone nunes to resign. are these based on real concerns or distractions they hope from the trump agenda? more after this. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. we only do it for everyone gary. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies.

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this stock has been moving fast and furious, well ahead of course of the iphone release for later this year for the 10-year anniversary. iphone 8 when it comes out? okay. so that, but that is not even doing it. this red-eye phone they're selling. getting good sales from the less expensive ipad they have got out but it is on fire. all right, in the meantime they say that the best defense a good offense and the president is trying that today, by trying to take the offensive with yet a new executive order to all get back on track. is it working? blake burman live at the white house with the very latest. hey, blake. reporter: neil we're talking about a lot of green initiatives president obama and his administration put in place. hour 1/2 here in the white house there will be a whole lot of red ink flying around as it relates to initiatives as president trump is expected to sign a couple of executive orders. the headline from trump administration officials this will center around the clean power plan.

that is of course the plan that makes utilities reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly a they are by 2030. epa administrator scott pruitt who epa over that clean power plan when he was the attorney general of oklahoma. also expected to be a part of these executive orders. end to coal mine moratorium on an end to the rule that calls for the federal government to reduce its carbon footprint. scott pruitt was speaking earlier today about the executive orders about to roll out. he says this all centers around jobs. listen. >> for the last several years we've had an anti-fossil fuels, anti-growth, anti-jobs type of approach we do environmental regulation. good to see the president coming into epa to set a new course. we'll be pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-environment. reporter: meantime neil, here in washington, the controversy, drama, surrounding devin nunes continue its.

democrats continuing to call for him to step down, one of them the house intelligence committee. congresswoman jackie spires. she doesn't trust nunes. she thinks this is effort by the white house to shut down the committee. she says it makes for a good spy novel but not a good investigation. press briefing from sean spicer half hour or so. we expect that to come up once again. neil: thanks he very much, blake burman. a lot of people looking at, trying to tell the house intelligence chief to pack up as a sign the democrats are seizing on administration that could be stumbling and hoping that it stalls the trump agenda. that includes the big ol' tax cuts as well as rework of the health care attempt to repeal and replace it that went down last week. former trump transition team member joins with us, cara skinner and brian wright. welcome to both of you.

you get a sense, not saying much ado about nothing but when you call for someone to step down, resign, very close to just leave congress over a meeting where it was held, you know you're at the throw grenades stage. what do you make of this? >> i agree with you completely. congressman nunes is in a very difficult situation as the chair of the house intelligence committee. he was also a member of the executive committee of the transition. neil: right. >> he was presented with documents that apparently included the names of u.s. persons, to use a somewhat technical term, who whether associated with the trump campaign and transition. i think he is deeply concerned that hose names not be unmasked and the, it was important, i think, from what he said, that he viewed these documents, not on capitol little where political attacks like the one that he is under are flying all

over the place, but in a calmer environment for him to understand, study and reflect on what he saw. it is very difficult to manage privacy, security, safety, and transparency in the context of this kind of investigation. i think he was trying to navigate those very treacherous waters. neil: but, brian, these already-poisoned waters, no matter what you make of the accuracy or legitimacy of the remarks that cara just made, that this isn't going away? >> well, the bottom line is that we have a clown show in d.c. on this issue. let's be really blunt on the republican side of the house. look it, they are pushing, there is a reason why representative nunes apologized for what he did because he sacrificed the independence that needs to go into this investigation. on the left you certainly have a shift going hard and heavy on the russian dossier, even president obama said, when

presented with it, what does this have to do anything with anything? both sides are making pretty serious mistakes and i think the -- neil: where was the mistake? you're a national security expert, former cia guy. >> yeah. neil, you maybe know this far better than i, was it meeting at white house with whoever the operative was, was it meeting with the president and not checking with other committee members? where does it start, stop, because i do remember a little more than a week ago the chairman was a hero when he seemed to be confirming with the ranking member there was no tapping of donald trump's phones. >> sure. neil: there was no evidence to suggest that. as soon as all this other stuff came up and he intimated, president as president-elect might have been surveiled, all of a sudden he became media persona non grata. what is the most offensive part to you, politics aside? >> two things of the going to the white house in the midst of a very serious investigation before going to his fellow

committee members, that is a problem from an he will intelligence perspective because we want to see this investigation is being done without political interference. it is being done fairly. that suggests when he goes to the fellow members, go to the find the individual which he could have -- neil: isn't that the prerogative of the chairman? i'm not playing politics. that is told what chairman do? >> how do american people consume this at end of the day. that is what the our government should be looking at. neil: i'm sorry. what do you make of that, cara? >> i agree the appearance of all of this is not the best and perhaps the white house was not the place to view these documents you but as a member of congress he does, congressman nunes have a responsibility to the president of the united states. if it were something deeply compromising, i think he was, you know, within a large bound to think about how to let the president know. should he have informed

congressman schiff? probably but, this seemed to be something that was fast-moving and we don't know all the details. he has apologized. i don't think his overall integrity has been deeply hurt. if you look at the body of his work and his long record, and as you just said, neil, only a week ago he was the darling of the democrats on one issue. so i think this will pass. lesson has been learned. what we do know with all of these investigations in the senate, the fbi, the house, there is a lot going on in terms of understanding russian involvement in the u.s. election and how it may have compromised our democracy. this is a stumbling block but we have a larger problem that we really need to make sure it doesn't happen in the midterm elections. neil: all right. i wish we had much more time. guys you are both eloquent expressing your views on each side of this. thank you very much for stopping by. all right, in the meantime there is this whole tax cutting thing has markets excited.

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three-day week. each contract he get as raise. works less, gets more. that is the drill with congress. there is limited time, more immediate issue, pending debt crisis. we're running out of money. committee for responsible budget director maya mack maginnis is here. >> if you look at busy news cycle of the day, right? we moved on to tax reform. oh, except we're also still going to do health reform. we may add infrastructure to that. neil: what is the priority? i think if you have very limited time what is paper is do first? if you had like an order, not based on politics but on priorities here, obviously the debt thing would be a big one, right? >> the debt thing would be a huge one but the first thing i would do, i wish our lawmakers would do before they do any of these initiatives, all of which

i think are important, is put together a budget. neil: bingo. >> keep in mind the president put forth a budget that deals with one year, instead of a entire 10-year period we look forward. but even more importantly -- neil: what are the obligations, maya, to do a one year? a lot of presidents let that slip for quite a while. >> you budget for one year but project out, to see what debt trajectory is on. put forward a whole budget. the first budget, they come back with a bigger one, it only looks at 1/3 of the budget, discretionary, it leaves off entitlements to revenues. after the president puts out a budget the congress has to pass a budget, in many years, unconceivable way managing a country we proceed without a budget. we can't do that we shouldn't be doing that. we need a plan to put all the initiatives from tax reform to infrastructure reform into a

budgetary framework and of course to put this debt which is at near record levels on a trajectory cycle downward. neil: we looked year after year if budgets that we're lucky to have them are delayed, not inclues of some of the things he want to see inclusive. we can't keep doing this whether republican as are democrats. >> the debt is not political. it is economic. neil: the money is already spent, right? >> we spent the money and we borrow so much, then we have to lift the debt ceiling which is another thing on the calendar we'll have to deal with. neil: that is an october event, right? september or october? >> the debt ceiling took is place. we're doing something borrowing different trust funds in the government to get around the fact it is limited. that is another thing how you shouldn't govern. you shouldn't got earn without a budget in place or taking from trust funds. come with a economic plan. one of the things you asked about priorities, create jobs

and grow the economy. you can not do that with unsustainable debt. that is a critical part of an economic growth plan. we need to look at it that way. neil: all he has to prove the debt is going down. i think that would go a long way to, you know? >> we look at markets all the time. the markets ups and downs can not be sustained if you have unhealthy fiscal underpinning. neil: i totally agree with that. >> we need to make changes. neil: you are a way ahead of this you are, way, way i mean way ahead of this. you're quite right to keep watching and worrying. keep worrying for us. more how this will affect us. you have to get the budget done and spending priorities and you're backing up like planes at laguardia into the fall, you have a debt sealing that's blown through the roof. the roof of that building and then what do you do? freedom caucus on all of those worries after this. the bottom line is, for your goals,

this is a strategy i'd recommend.

this actually makes sense. now on the next page you'll see a breakdown of costs. what? it's just... we were going to ask about it but we weren't sure when. so thanks. yeah, that's great. being clear and upfront. multiplied by 14,000 financial advisors, it's a big deal. and it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

>> i want to tell you the timeline because we want to get it right. i don't want us to become a faction alizeed majority. i want us to be a unified majority. that means we'll sit down and talk things out until we get there. that is exactly what we're doing. we saw good overtures from those

members, from different parts of our conference to get there because we all share these goals. and we're just going to have figure out how to get it done. neil: all right, whatever speaker ryan said there, sounds like kind of the same stuff where they hope to get together, freedom caucus, conservative groups, revisiting health care which markets interpreted, go ahead this is what we want to see, i don't know about that, sets the stage for tax cuts. smartest guy i know with me on this stuff, charlie gasparino. the market reaction to that first off what did you make of that? >> markets like stability. last friday it looked like the leadership, the leadership of republican party was very unstable. the president couldn't make the case to a faction of the party. you had a speaker who develop ad bill that, wasn't liked by he really anybody. neil: going to revisit it though? wouldn't that be interpreted let the health care thing rest a while? >> i think couple things are going on. the markets are convinced in

order to get a decent tax reform package, the budget, it needs to be revenue newt -- neutral. i don't know if that is true or not. reagan did tax reform in '86. we weren't talking about fixing health care or social security and they just did it. they said supply sigh economics work. there are no supply-siders -- neil: doing that in divided congress. >> right, i can't stress how remarkable that was at time. >> tip o'neill and he sat down, let's do this what's a good way to do it. did it over probably couple drinks. neil: remember how reagan handled that. don't gawk, don't rub the other guy's face in it. that, we all have to look good in this. >> right. remember one other thing about the reagan administration then. you could say this about the obama administration. you could say this about the bush administration. they were monolithically, they

were, idealogical monoliths in this sense. they really believed, reagannites, believed in tax cuts produce revenue in the future. they were supplied siders. neil: stockman. >> he did at the time. he did at time of the. neil: then he discovered got a little nervous. >> yeah. neil: you're quite right, supply-siders, art laffer, who were advising treasury secretary reagan. >> look at the obama. their folks were all progressives. health care is the way of the future. we don't have that in the trump administration. we have gary cohn, liberal. we have steve bannon national alist. we have wilbur ross -- neil: steve mnuchin hinting we might not need to make this huge. >> that is another one. neil: worries me. >> steve mnuchin is smart man but he is a green eye shade guy, you know what i'm saying? you need some of that too. there are no idealogical -- neil: you don't have the crazy

fervor behind it. >> no. and donald trump is idealogically mixed. that is what is coming out here. paul ryan has a whole other issue. the fact of the matter it is starting to look like he is an effective leader. neil: they need a w. the president knows it, staff, subsiders know it. they need a w. >> they get a w on massive infrastructure bill, what do you think happens with the market? neil: coupled with the notion of democrats with us on big tax reform, it will be great. if it is not and big spending thing, bad. >> i agree. a lot of people in the markets agree. that is the problem they face. neil: thank you my friend, very, very much. we have that. sean spicer is scheduled for the presser a little bit earlier today, 1:00 p.m. i live for the moments. and watch blake burman who has become a rock star. blake burman has people. now his people have people. they are heard to take the entire couple rose there, but i always live for that. fox business we mean business.

i don't even know if the other business network is covering there. i don't think they are. they are in the middle of a commercial. stick around. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. don't let dust and allergens and life's beautiful moments. flonase allergy relief delivers more complete relief. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause all your symptoms, including nasal congestion and itchy, watery eyes. flonase is an allergy nasal spray ..

>> 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 an opposition party to being a proposition party in a governing party. it may take a little bit more time, but we are certainly listening and we are going get there. sure into doesn't paul ryan remind you of rocky in. cut me, cut me. he's not done. god bless him, the markets jumped on this. where sessions high today, up 100 points in the belief that this sunday we will get it right. hope springs eternal that tax cut goes through. they've got the former chief of staff to paul ryan. christie senator kerry and the concerns of the democrats -- democratic strategist. then we go to you and you know paul ran far better than i of course. he's not getting out. americans are happy that he's not giving. i could also flip it around and say it is worse than they are still pursuing the health care thing when maybe they should move on first and foremost to the tax-cut name. what do you think?

>> at some point they'll have to do health care because the aca cannot exist over a long period of time. as it is starting to contract on itself and k. then, they'll have to do health care. while paul wants to do is get all the different factions in the room and give them a little more time to see if they can find the tuesday group in freedom caucus can come together. neil: can it work? hadley, would you think? >> well, there were several forces working when it comes to repeal and replace. they were trying to work around the senate rules when the bill started in the house and they were trying to work to find consensus within the party. you know can and sometimes the goalposts were moving. sometimes they wear. there's absolutely way they can find consensus on the health care issue end of a repeal and replace bill forward. working around the center roles and working to reform health care, which is an issue that we just saw major overhaul only seven years ago. that's a lot different from the

tax issue where americans have been itching for tax reform for decades. neil: no doubt. the president wants to bring the democrats to help out here. how many democrats will be interested, especially if it is no repeal. real quickly. >> on health care? >> nine. if a signature issue of the president is much beloved by the democratic party. there is not going to be a lot of places they go to get democrats. despite the fact -- neil: i'm sorry to do that to you, kiddo. right now, sean spicer, the briefing has begun. >> the vice president to discuss law enforcement issues related to terrorism and the fraternal order of police is the world's largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers with more than 330,000 members. they represent those who dedicate their lives to protect

the men serving. they advocate for improved working conditions for law enforcement officers in the safety of our community. the president thanked the fob leadership for their supporting reaffirmed his alleged to have our back. the president also remarked his highest duty of security of our people and pointed at several actions he started taking to enhance our domestic security, including the creation of a task force in reducing violent crime and interagency task force to dismantle criminal cartel and historic action to secure our borders and remove criminals to our country. the group of an in-depth discussion about the rise of violent crime in some parts of the country from the disturbing increase in numbers of one hours meant being targeted ambush style attacks and the need to address the country's opioid academic -- epidemic excuse me. the fob leadership looks forward to continuing to work closely to tackle the challenges facing my enforcement as they worked to

keep our community safe. this afternoon at the mention of the top, the president will sign an executive order on energy independence at the environmental protection agency headquarters. the president strongly believes protecting the environment and promoting our economy are not mutually elusive goals. this executive order will help to ensure that we have clean air and clean water without sacrificing economic growth and job creation. first, it directs all agencies to conduct a review of all regulation, bowls, policies indicted documents to put up roadblocks to domestic energy production and identify the ones that are not either mandated by law or actually contributing to the public good. it also rescinds a number of the previous administration action that don't reflect this administration's priorities. the full list in the executive order which we provided to you later today after the president signed it. next, the order directs epa to take several actions to reflect the president's environmental and economic goals, including a review of the new performance standards for coal-fired and natural gas fired plant that

amount to a de facto ban, a new coal plant production in the united states. this is great news for states like wyoming, west virginia, kentucky, pennsylvania and others. finally, the order establishes for agencies to use the best available science and economics in the regulatory analysis moving forward. for too long the federal government has acted like a barrier to energy independence and innovation. by reducing unnecessary regulatory obstacles will free up american energy companies to responsibly use our vast energy resources, protecting the environment while creating well-paying jobs throughout the country. american electricity producers have done an amazing job of adapting and utilizing new technologies to deliver clean power to the united states appeared under president trump, the federal government is going to acknowledge that progress and adjust its priorities accordingly. moving on later this afternoon the president will meet with secretary of state tillerson.

the president for a single host a reception in the white house for senators and says. this would be the first time president trump has invited current senators to the white house and he looks forward to the opportunity as well as speak with senators about the places where they can come together and make this country better. one of the places he hopes to find common ground with senate democrats demanded the confirmation of judge neil gorsuch to the supreme court. yesterday, many senate democrats began declaring support for chuck schumer's partisan filibuster of judge gorsuch. as i said, if the senators get their way, this'll be the first filibuster of a nominee to join the supreme court. leading democrats have lamented the taxes as recently as last year. senator schumer wrote last year in an op-ed in the new york daily news at a time when americans want to move forward, the last thing we need -- the last thing is the recipe for gridlock in the supreme court.

democrats nominate hillary clinton said of his supreme court confirmation progress, should not be an exercise in brinksmanship and partisan posturing and nominees deserve a full and fair hearing followed by a bow. senator claire mccaskill of missouri tweeted the constitution says the senate shall advise and consent and that means having an up or down vote. who are senate democrats going to enact this on an extraordinary lengths to block? an individual who their body, including senator schumer unanimously confirmed for a seat on the 10th circuit not too long ago. this is a judge who received a unanimous well-qualified rating by the american bar association with a harvard law graduate who received the letter jay randolph award for outstanding service at the disk. they can't be qualifications they take issue with. judge gorsuch is frankly amazed or judge. here are some figures and starts to point that out. in 90% of the cases in which he issued the opinion, he received

unanimous support of all of his colleagues. second, divided cases over the last five years involving republican and democrat appointed judges, judge gorsuch decided that the democrat judge wanted three times. when the shoe is on the other foot come a supreme court nominee for a democratic president went to the confirmation hearings and meetings with senators from both 30s, neither justice kagan nor sotomayor based day. when senator harry reid plan to file a motion to bring it to a vote, it was then senator and our current attorney general jeff sessions is stopped and said i have a high standard before i would attempt to block an up or down vote and senator reid to overcome a republican filibuster. judge gorsuch had met with the democratic caucus beauties come today's appearance and answer

probing questions he's eminently qualified and deserves the deference and consideration for the minority senate democrats. president obama selections were given once they had gone through the confirmation process. a few things i want to highlight good last night the president announced his intent to nominate the con delta have two service assistant attorney general for antitrust division at the department of justice. this binary not the present declaration in a major disaster exists in the state of nevada and other federal assistance to supplement recovery effort in areas affected by severe storms, flooding and mud type this past february. finally, the president was pleased to see the board announced $1.2 billion investment remanufacturing facilities in michigan just two weeks after automobile executives came to the white house and met with the president. this adds to the positive news, jobs and is under the president and continued investment from charter communications. the approval of the permit for the keystone axel pipeline on friday. in addition, partners reported

monday that the code access pipeline has been filled with oil as they entered the final station -- stages of preparation that will finally put this in the service. according to data released by the conference board in march consumer confidence soared to its highest level in 16 years and from individual announcements a significant boost in consumer and ceo confidence generally it is clear the economic agenda is what makes america business wave four. they've spent years being held back by unnecessary bureaucratic red tape and what we see now is a taste of the hype their economy could reach once is earnings are removed. lastly, i want to make a comment on a false report regarding former acting attorney general sally yates. i would like to walk you through the sequence of events to make sure everyone's abundantly clear on what happened. march 14th, chairman devin nunes invited sally gates to testify march 20 testify march 28. on march 23rd of the sally gates sent a letter to the

department of justice asking for their consent to testify without rants. on march 24th, the department of justice responded the president knows those privileges to discuss communications a request to talk about and referred them to the white house. in the 24th in attorney sent a letter to the white house counsel requesting the consent specifically stating that they did not receive a response by march 27th at 10:00 a.m. they would conclude that the white house does not assert executive privilege over these matters. the white house did not respond to a collection from testifying. that is the story. that's what the documents show and without i'm glad to take some questions. >> there are reports that even though the hearings for the 27th was not scheduled. it was canceled by devin nunes to prevent the white house from publicly invoking a claim of executive privilege. could you speak to that? >> i hope he testifies to this

be honest. the hearing was actually never notified. if they choose to move forward, ray. we have no problem with her testifying plain and simple. the report in the "washington post" is 100% false. the letters they publish on their website back up everything i just read. all of the letters available on their website. i hate to give them the traffic, but the reality is they specifically say if you don't respond we will go ahead. we encourage them to go ahead. to suggest in any way, shape or form that we stood in the way that is 100% of. ryan. >> a couple things you said earlier. the agency's tea is best available science. does that mean no further scientific research? you don't want to fund additional scientific research? what other issues you like to see the president reached out to democrats? >> sans the first one, by science is a science.

it's not available. it's have to use it. >> is that a code -- >> now, it's code for its got to be available. that's a plain and simple. you shouldn't read anything into that. the president will speak more to that at today's signing at 1:30 -- 2:00 rather. i tacked yesterday about how scared they will come together in on infrastructure, tax reform. would love to have as much support as possible. >> a couple questions. you actually today saying they are going to reverse president obama's war on coals. a lot of people know: history suggested jobs will not come back in the industry based on the weight the industry is changed, technology and other things you does the administration have an estimate at how many jobs are created as a result of the actions today? >> i'm not aware of one. the president has met with coal miners the other day and

senators p. go and manchn and others. i will tell you that from a mining dave, the miners and the owners are very bullish on this. the people actually in the business applaud this effort, believe it will do a lot to revive the industry. it's obviously private industry so i'm not going to get into who does what. the industry itself said so. >> the announcement today comes two weeks after they met at the white house. at the white house or the president do anything in that meeting? >> there's been some regulatory effort and commitment on the regulatory efforts going forward in the future that may have played a role. i think it's a continued sign of it. we have seen a number of industry leaders, union leaders,

truckers, truck companies coming and talk about burdens. there's been several cases where meetings in the white house are frankly like to michigan and help the roundtable as well, that meetings we have to have a very positive follow-up in terms of a commitment from a company or an industry to create jobs, to invest more in this country. in each of these cases -- >> ali but up to ford for that determination. we are pleased that more americans getting jobs throughout various sectors and i think we will continue and the president has made it clear he continues to fight to bring back jobs in manufacturing to the country. steve. >> could you just go through what is the president's bottom line? does it mean to have middle-class tax relief, corporate tax relief? can you do a comprehensively or piecemeal? do you infrastructure spending somehow?

how are you looking at this? >> on the first two, those are the middle-class individual attacks piece of it and the corporate rate has to come down. those are guiding principles the president has laid out. as far as how the process works, i don't want to get ahead of the folks in the legislative affairs of the guys on capitol hill, but i would suggest a prevailing attitude out there that an flight 18 reconciliation is the most like a vehicle to move some of this. again, what we want to do is keep a lot of options on the table in terms of doing put infrastructure and, is there another vehicle to drive back? the part of gathering folks together now from capitol hill, from industry groups is to begin that discussion, to talk about what needs to go in, what the way forward is. and so, that conversation has begun and is continuing.

>> to think you have some recommendations to take to the president? >> internally, the team has been talking for a while. there's a bigger discussion that has to happen as we branch out with outside groups. industry, members of capitol hill, et cetera they start to formulate additional listening that needs to happen on this. again, part of it is a legislative strategy that needs to tie into this. blake. >> is the white house currently involved in any renegotiation of the health care bill? and if so, in what manner? >> staff has met with individuals and listen to them. so i don't know how detailed you want -- have we had some discussion and listening to ideas? yes. proactively yes. are actually planning a media strategy? not at this time. there is a discussion that began yesterday of a lot of individuals on both sides of the

aisle reaching out to the president and key staff members to share ideas and additional ways forward. so there has been a discussion and i believe there will be several more. >> what would she say to the folks out of genuine concern that if you could not get health care done, how do you go about getting big-ticket items like tax reform and infrastructure done? if you can'tt would you say to that? >> well again, we are going to build a coalition for this. each of them have different constituencies and we are going to work with members on both sides of the aisle and both of the big ticket issues to see if we can find agreement and move forward. i don't want to prejudge the outcome at this point. >> thank you, sean. >> we will do both. [inaudible] sorry, francesca.

>> lucky day. >> thank you, sean. just as a follow-up question on blake's. did the president himself had many discussions with speaker ryan or leader mccarthy or any one over the weekend about health care in making an actual vote on the american health care act? one got the impression from speaker ryan today that he was going to try to pass with republican votes, which would contradict some of the statement about reaching out to democrats all along. as any of this come up with discussions between each side of pennsylvania avenue? >> i tacked yesterday they have spoken a few times about different strategies, different ideas could different policy aspects of the bill. absolutely. at least on a number -- to come in maybe times they spoken and i

know several staff members have also engaged in discussions again to talk about potential ways forward. those conversations have occurred here that's an invention to blake. and mention to someone yesterday. if we can find a way forward, we will do it. just so we're clear, i'm not saying we picked a strategy and will go with this group or that group. i think the president -- several people reached out and expressed an interest. the president's view as he is willing to listen to them and hear what their ideas are. i made a comment yesterday, just so we're clear, we have -- let's call it let's call at 205, 207, somewhere in their votes. maybe to 10 depending what it is. the point that i made yesterday is to get two to 16, to get to 218 depending on the week, there were certain things people want they would take what i think the

president uses a very good bill that weren't worth doing it because they would make the deal that. the question is can we add the additional boat with ways that enhance the bill or bring people over that up in previous skeptics. but there's a way in which people are saying if you bring me on board with these five provision, then i'm on board in which either take people off the bill or don't make it as strong and make it a bad deal. that's a balancing act that has to happen. can you add additional folks on without pushing additional folks of. and two, in which you have to add to that though, does it make us stronger or does it not? there are suggestions by some out there that is that we are willing to come in the bill, but in doing so would make it a bad deal. that's an important aspect. how do you take whatever that number is that we have now and get it up to 216 to pass without making -- without losing people

and/or making it a bad deal. >> what about republican votes, not democrats. >> jessica. >> yesterday you were unable to tell us very much about congressman views to the white house and hypothesize information last week. the white house would have known that he was here paid the same democrat also said it looks like a criminal cover-up. my question to you is have you learned any more information since we had this conversation yesterday about how he would've gotten in and how he would have gotten cleared and you think congressman nunes will recuse himself at this point? >> of the latter part of that, it's not me. he's a member of the house appointed by the speaker. we are not going to start commenting on that kind of stuff. i do think that is running an investigation which we asked for.

the thing that is important to note is there someone of a double standard when it comes to classified information. when leaks are made illegally to the press annual report them, the coverage focuses entirely on the substance of the allegation that are part of an illegal leak, not on the illegal nature of the disclosure committee identity of the leaks are the agenda. when the information occurring now, which is to individuals properly cleared for whoever you met with, i don't know, that they are sharing stuff that is entirely legal with the appropriate clearances in their senate session on the process. it is a backwards way of that when you are report on on report on stuff with sources that are leaking -- illegally leaking classified information, that is appropriate and fine. no one questions that substance immaterial. when two individuals are engaged in the process, they have a discussion that is 100% legal

and appropriate in cleared, said maybe the session becomes about the process and not the substance. it is somewhat reckless how the conversation over classified information is discussed ulcerated attempting to press a false narrative that exists. so while it is completely appropriate to share classified information that individuals who are cleared, it is clearly not the case to do that when it is illegally leaked out and i think that asserted the irony of how this whole conversation has gone. john. >> just following up on your statement with the "washington post" story -- [inaudible] invoking privilege as it relates to sally yates testifying before the congressional committee. >> no. >> you would certainly be in a position to invoke or ledge. these were privileged communication between the

executive office of the president. >> i know this is a shocker, the part of it is we've been very clear that when you actually get to the bottom of the fax from every single person briefed on this as i said ad nauseam from ms. poznan that they've been very clear there is no connection between the president or the staff here and anyone doing anything with russia. did you hear was great. go share what you know. so now when that's why the "washington post" should be ashamed of how it handled the story. it was 100% false. the letters they actually published backup exactly what we are saying, that she was asked about the information. the doj said that she had to ask white house. they made it clear if you don't do this, we are going to go forward. we have no objection to her going forward. that's it. there's an order here. >> just quickly following up on that, i have two questions.

so, we are taking what you are saying as assurances that chairman nunes' decision to cost the hearing did not have anything to do with pressure from the white house. >> no. >> on a different topic, we are seeing more states specifically moving to expand medicaid under the affordable care at joining the 30 plus a set of very done that. but his president trumps message to republican legislators some legislators generally in the state added the affordable care act feature is so uncertain? >> there's a reason he explained to congress and especially members of talked about entitlement expansion, whether should it pass this bill last week and why we need to address it now. this is a major issue. it's one of our talking points. i hope they listen. [inaudible] >> he understands that the way it was handled in terms of the able-bodied provision right now are leading to an implosion on that piece of the entitlement

and that there was an opportunity to refocus it and pushed the money and a lot of the authorities back to the stakes to best determine how to handle issues but then there's dave both in terms of high risk tools and individuals that they wanted to cover. frankly, the bill made it states rights program and states rights decision-making process in terms of how to care for the populations they had to address. cecilia. >> how and when exactly did the white house encourage her to testify? >> the letter that her attorney sent literally says that if we do not receive a response by march 27th at 10:00 a.m., i will conclude that the white house does not assert executive privilege over the matters with respect to hearings or otherwise. i don't think you can be any clearer than that. >> you are saying the executive privilege does not. >> i'm not saying anything.

that's what she wrote. the action is if you don't act we will assume the following. great. i don't think you can read that any other way. she's i'm sure a very talented -- is a very talented lawyer and wrote it specifically and we've added that way of them chose to not act because we have no problem with testifying. payment simple. >> executive issue would not have been an issue for sally yates testifying. >> you're -- it's interesting. this is very clearly worded and yet somehow you're asking me how to interpret that in any other way then literally reading plain english. >> the president still believes climate change is in no. >> you if you're more today about the climate and what he believes. i think he understands he does not believe that there is a binary choice between job creation, economic growth and caring about the environment. that's what we should be

focusing on. at the end of the day, we should be focusing on making sure americans have clean water, clean air and do what we can to preserve and protect the environment. you've got wiretapping. >> we don't have that. >> on capitol hill. >> i get it. i said it from the day that i bottom here until whatever, that there is no connection. you got russia. if president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that is russian connection. i appreciate your agenda here.

the reality is, hold on. at some point report the facts. the facts are every single person who has been briefed on subject come away with the same conclusion, republican democrat. i'm sorry that drills gusts you. you're shaking your head. i appreciate it. but understand this, at some point the facts are what they are. every single person who has been briefed on the situation with respect to the situation with russia, republican, democrat, obama appointee, career, have all come to the same conclusion. at some point, april, you're going to have to take no for an answer with respect to whether or not there was collusion. reporter: how do you change the perception of -- >> are we going to keep everything we're doing to make sure the president, what the president told the american people he was going to do to fulfill pledges promises he made to bring back jobs, to grow the economy. to keep our nation safe, that is what he has focused on since day one. we'll keep focusing on that every single day. reporter: conde rice did not

support this president. she did not go to the convention. how is their relationship? has it halted since 2006 when he used a very negative word -- >> it is interesting you ask those two questions back-to-back. on one hand you're saying what are we doing to improve our image. here he is once again meeting somebody that hasn't been a big supporter of his. hold on. reporter: you have negative -- >> april hold on, it seems like you're hell bent on trying to make sure whatever image you want to tell about this white house stays because at the end of the day -- let me answer. reporter: i am reporting -- >> you're asking me a question i'm going to answer it, the president, i'm sear please stop shaking your head again of the at some point the president reaches out to individuals who supported him, didn't support him, republicans, democrats to try to brit country together to move forward on agenda every american. that is it plain and simple.

we continue to do it, bring groups together, supportive of him, haven't been supportive. but to share a goal which is finding common ground on areas of national security, of personal security, of economic security, of job creation, of safer communities, of education, of health care that can unite us as a country and make the country stronger. reporter: russia and tillerson -- >> i'm not ready, when we're done with that. we'll see if we have a readout. hold on. i understand that we're not at friday yet. i will have a readout when that's done. i know the pool needs to get to the to the signing. thank you. back tomorrow. five days in a row this week, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. neil: okey-dokey, that went well. in the end there, there is always a moment in these press briefings where it gets a little heated. i want to go to hadley heath manning. hadley without judging one way or the other how it went, that was an pretty aggressive exchange in the end.

i'm wondering, what you made of it? >> well, sometimes you get some heat. sometimes you get some light. sometimes light and heat go together. what we saw there sort of exemplifies some of the relationship the trump administration had with certain outlets in the press, with certain members of the press corps trying to defend their actions every step of the way. focus moving ahead with their agenda. after last week's fumble on the health care bill, trump and his team are looking forward to focusing tax reform, infrastructure and executive actions you heard spicer speaking about today they're continually asked about the russian probe and latest hearing with sally yates. neil: you can get mad, every right to, this sound like a sexist question, pointed to her, quit shaking your head quit shaking your head.

could have easily said that as to a man. as a man i'm not taking umbrage if i were the questioner, i am betting in the media in short order, it will get a great deal of attention. i could be wrong but what did you make of that? >> he well i think what you're pointing out neil, some behaviors and some things that we might say are appropriate or inappropriate and then there is the question of sexism. i don't know if it is appropriate for the press secretary to tell member of the press corps how, what posture to take, whether or not to shake their head. neil: whether that person is male or female, right? >> exactly. the more important question was it appropriate rather than was it sexist. neil: you just rescued me for what certainly would have been a avalanche of negative tweets which could still come. let me get your take whether the administration is okay with the new agenda. one of the reporters, i forget whom, had said you said earlier that the president was going to be working actively with democrats going back to health

care and all that. i think by extension even the tax package. paul ryan said we could work with republicans words to that effect, get going again. two different signals paul ryan cobble something together on health care, working with the same republicans he is working with before. with little chance or overtures to democrats. did i misread that? are they on the same page on that or what? >> i think if you listen carefully to what president trump said last week, he was open to working with democrats. i think his expectation, expectation of others including speaker ryan, democrats will eventually somehow come crawling to president trump with hopes of changing the affordable care act because as we head into open enrollment this fall we know at least 16 counties in the state of tennessee where there are zero health insurance companies participating in the exchanges. that means people in those counties who might get subsidy or tax credit have no options

where to buy health insurance. at that point we really have to ask, when will democrats come to the table? will they come to the table? will they put needs of americans ahead of politics. neil: i'm sorry. i'm reading what speakser ryan is saying, doesn't appear to be optimistic. freudian slip or excluded them accidentally. but i'm reading that he will try to revisit this, whenever they revisit repeal or replace, together, without them. i could have misherd it. if that is the case, then what? >> i think speaker ryan understands, americans everywhere should understand if we want a free market, patient-centered limited government health care bill more likely republicans come to a consensus on those ideals rather than extending, moving consensus to the middle. neil: you would need democrats in that event? >> if we can't get to simple majority and use budget reconciliation process it is possible for republicans to pass

partisan health reform bill. unfortunately that is what the affordable care affordable care act was and become so polarized. neil: stay there, hadley. gerri willis. this is sean spicer telling our blake burman what he thinks where this health care thing stands of the take a look. >> reporter: white house currently involved in any renegotiations health care bill and if so in what manner? >> staff has met with individuals and listened to them. so i don't know how detailed you want -- i mean are we, have we had discussions and listened to ideas? yes. are we actively planning an immediate strategy? not at this time. neil: all right, so two different vibes there, gerri. one from speaker, full steam ahead which prompted market rally which continues at session highs up 122 and a third points. nothing dissuaded from that

argument given what spicer said. what do you read into that? >> i think what spicer is saying there is no clear action plan at the white house. paul ryan may want to pick up the pieces and i think there is an opportunity to today and i will tell you why. my sources say in meetings with the freedom caucus, house republican study committee, here is how he described the mood in those meetings. there is a pall over everything, seven stages of grief. different from what you heard them say publicly. very different behind closed doors. there are options here to these republicans. the flip side this idea somehow democrats jump on trump bandwagon, no less than democratic congressional campaign chair says ain't no way we're getting together. in fact, if you try to come and repeal obamacare yet again, we're coming at you with both fists. i don't see that open door

coming from democrats, not yet anyway, all right. hadley, you're hearing that. i'm wondering if the markets are jumping the gun then? they read into that far more action than maybe appears to be the case at face value? >> well, one piece of good news, you heard spicer mention some executive action president trump can take when it comes to the energy, when it comes to the clean power plan, when it comes to getting pipeline like dakota access and keystone up and running. those are things the market can respond to which are not in question because those are unilateral decisions from the white house. on the other hand we heard spicer talk about more issues than simply the health care issue, tax reform and infrastructure. i believe it was blake from fox business who asked if you fumbled on the health care issue why should we believe congress and white house can work together on other big-ticket items? neil: right. >> the answer they are very different and come with different constituencies. the partisanship on those issues

isn't as strong as it is on health care. neil: to that point, gerri, i've seen more partisanship and differences on health care thing even now more than the tax cut thing. certainly to hadley's point that tax cuts will be a walk. there are differences among super conservatives, paid for, revenue neutral, want to work this out. >> i don't know. neil: i'm wondering there, i'm not sure the way the market is responding, is justified given the fact that they're still going with health care to straighten that out. >> i think we're a long way from straightening that out. but i think the idea that tax reform is easier is just wrong on its face. it's another repeal and replace. you have to take out existing tax policy, and put in new tax policy. and it requires a lot of coming together over very difficult issues. the idea that tax reform is something we all ahe agree on, just can't buy that.

neil: guys, thank you both. taking a peek what is going on, wall street does not share some of these concerns we raise here. i only posit them maybe wall street doesn't seem to care or doesn't think it will be a big worry and i should calm down. again you're getting revisiting what caused a civil war within the party around think it will have different results. it just might. it just might but it also might not. more after this.

neil: all right to connell mcshane on you heard what the trump administration wants to do but they're quite busy trying to undo that agenda, that is democrats, going after the house intel chairman, devin nunes. the latest on that with connell. hey, connell. reporter: neil, the pressure to your point really has been build froth democrats but chairman nunes wants to remain in the position as chairman of the house intelligence committee and continue the investigation into russian meddling in the election.

there have been calls for his recusal. the ranking member on his committee, adam schiff called for chairman nunes to recuse himself. people like senator chuck schumer, paul ryan, the speaker of the house should get involved and step down to replace him. speaker ryan at his news conference which we covered earlier today, asked about that. he certainly didn't want to expand much on it, he did not think it was necessary for nunes to step down. it got to the white house briefing room there a few minutes ago, with sean spicer, press secretary saying not up to him whether or not nunes should recuse himself. he wasn't going to comment on it. a lot today centered around this sally yates testimony or non-testimony, hearing not happening. all this really started with the decision by chairman nunes to go over to the white house complex and look at some documents that he says prove that trump campaign officials indeed were caught up in what is known as incidental election of intelligence.

and nunes has been trying to explain why he was there, why he was at the white house. watch. >> we go to the executive branch, at least once or twice a week this, is not unusual. because there are intelligence products we don't have access to in the house of representatives. but we do have clearances to see them. there was no sneaking around. i walked on to the grounds. said hi to people. did not go to the west wing. did not talk to the president. reporter: there you go, neil. nunes, a member it should be pointed out a member of the trump transition team. we've known that what is happening at least for now he will remain in place as chairman of the intelligence committee in the house and as the man heading up this investigation of russian mid-link into the election. neil: connell, i heard you raise this morning on "imus," great work there. he is making, nunes is making issue of the fact i didn't go

there in the dark of night. i wasn't trying to hide myself there. but the issue keeps coming back why were you there in the first place, right? this precedes meeting with president, meeting with somebody that is going to presumably give him information on surveilling of the president, i think, right? reporter: contention of democrats there are other secure facilities could have been used around washington to look at this classified information which is the reason, as chairman nunes started to talk about it in the clip we just played he was there. bottom line the democrats think this is a guy in devin nunes just too close to this president. trump transition official. you know, a member of the transition team who is now investigating that transition to some extent. attorney general sessions already recused himself. they add these issues. they think he is too close. that's it. neil: buddy, thank you very much, connell mcshane. we have a lot more coming up including the rally at session highs.

bond prices not looking so good. feared slowdown, obviously not a fear today. more after this. show me academy of country music awards.

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neil: all right, it is not just speaker ryan contributing to the huge run-up in stocks today. 16-year high in consumer confidence.

that knocked everyone for a loop. we had the case-shiller home price index. there are some different numbers come up on housing, folks. this tends to be the most important because it takes a look at bread and butter issue of value of your home whether you're trying to sell one or buy one here and right now the trend is your friend. that is something like to see in the real estate industry. this is a 31-month high didn't hurt anything. the president expected to sign an executive order on energy independence. jeff flock is on the illinois river looking at edwards power station i believe. hey, jeff. reporter: we wanted to look at this up close and personal neil, if we could. why we're out on the river, because you can't see these plants very close. this is the edwards power station up here. been around since the '60s. this is one of hundreds have been in the federal cross-hairs with environmental regulations that the obama administration had implemented, that the

president is trying to turn around, but it is not just the environmental regulations. you look at natural gas. it is now outstripping coal as the number one source of power in the u.s. 34 to 30% last year, according to the energy information administration. this plant is a particularly interesting story. this edwards generating station. it was about four years ago, the company ameron, owned five coal-fired plants in illinois. they sold those five to dynegy. i say sold them. no, they didn't sell them, they paid dynegy $200 million to take the plants. since in the last year, ameron stock who sold plants, up 14% year-to-date. dynegy's stock down 40%. it is tough in the coal business right now even with the president's expected action today. you talk about restoring coal jobs, neil, maybe some coal jobs come back. where will they come back?

look where most of the coal comes, from not the old state you think about ohio, pennsylvania, kentucky. it is mainly out west in wyoming. much easier to get the coal out of the ground in wyoming. that is where most of the coal comes from. up close and personal look we promised. a lot of people don't like the smoke coming out of those, out of those stacks when they're cranking. natural gas a lot cleaner and now cheaper. neil? neil: so isn't that a kick, if you think about it, right, jeff? the government might clear hurdles for coal industry to resume business as usual but people aren't as interested as they used to be. >> you know? tell you it is you tough to make the case for coal when you have natural gas, cleaner burning and cheaper. tough to, tough to justify the smoke coming out of the stocks. neil: where are you taking the boat to? reporter: fishing hole up here not too far from here. in fact i got a couple of rods.

i don't know if you see them here. we have a couple rods ready to go. neil: i wondered. thank you, jeff. always fun my friend, jeff flock, illinois, following industry expected to benefit. still might. still might. you have to get people into this stuff, right? laws or regulations eased or not. we'll have more after this. the update on the dow close to session highs. gain of 150 points, stopping for the time-being an eight-day losing streak. this is my new alert system for whenever anything happens in the market. kid's a natural. but thinkorswim already lets you create custom alerts for all the things that are important to you. shhh. alerts on anything at all? not only that, you can act on that opportunity with just one tap right from the alert. wow, i guess we don't need the kid anymore. custom alerts on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this.

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neil: all right, good economic news, talk that republicans are going to try to get their act together on health care, senator rand paul joining me in a couple hours on fox news channel to cut through all this debate back and forth. what republicans can still do, he says. to trish regan. trish: hey there, a good, nice rally on our hands, neil. sean spicer out, guns blazing, attacking reporters. i am trish regan, welcome, everyone, to "the intelligence report." we're going to have more on that in just a moment, but i want to get so to some of the substance regarding repealing and replacing obamacare, saying it is not off the table and if the white house can find a way to move forward on health care, they're gonna do it. tax reform, bringing relief to millions of americans, let's go to our own blake burman who was at that news briefing with more. >> reporter: hi there, trish.