stuart: and that will give impetus to tax cuts? >> beginning. >> it will show motion of some kind. stuart: do you want to be contrarian, liz? >> no, i think peter's right. this is the third crack at just a debate. market's up though. stuart: we'll call it quits with a gain of 120 points for the dow industrials. and, neil, it's yours. neil: can you imagine if they don't? this is just the mechanics of going on to the next step, if they can't agree on that -- stuart: they've got to say yes. they've got to vote to proceed with the debate. how could you go back to your constituents and say for seven years i promised repeal, and when you get the chance, no, not going to vote on that. neil: you see upset. [laughter] -- you seem upset. thank you, my friend. we are focusing on that. it is interesting, this is voting on a process here to keep the debate going. now, it seems kind of gobbledygook-ish, but essentially it is. even getting enough support for this is proving a herculean

task. nevertheless, as you've been hearing, the markets are anticipating that an environment where the gop needs even small victories to the count for something, this is something. of course, the dow many record territory, the -- in record for story, the s&p and nasdaq in and out of that. we've been watching on the technology front, this is a very busy week as you probably know by now for earnings. we're going to get into that. 180 of the s&p 500 companies reporting just this week, and most of those numbers -- not all, but most -- have been better in cases of some, far better than expected. so how much of an impact will this measure have on not only wall street, but main street? the hope again being that this sort of paves the way for something, all sides can agree on. i say all sides within the republican party, this is still a republican party effort with democrats left out. now, they're complaining about that, but they have also -- the republicans say -- done little to advance in anyway. so we're going to weigh all of

this with former new york congresswoman nan hayworth, bob kiss el and charlie gasparino on the fallout from all of this. congresswoman, to you first on explaining this ridiculous process you once worked in and knew well. >> yes. neil: this does what? this allows you, if approved, to move to what? >> this vote will say that senators are ready to debate the bill. neil: the bill, in this case, being what came out of the house. >> well, potentially what came out of the house or maybe some other bill. senator mcconnell, as majority leader, can bring numerous bills before them to vote on proceeding. it's sort of like, okay, let's just set up a framework so that -- neil: but they have to base it on something. >> exactly. let's do something. neil: who would be against that even if you were against the measure, right? >> well, someone like a rand paul has said unless it meets certain strict criteria, i'm not going to participate in it in any way. neil: i see.

he's hinted in the last hour that might be shifting, but -- >> hope so. >> well, you have people like rand paul or ron johnson out of wisconsin who don't think the health care bill is conservative enough and does enough to repeal obamacare. and then you have susan collins out of maine and dean heller out of nevada who thinks it does too much -- neil: susan collins is a guaranteed no on this. >> guaranteed no. neil: with adding amendments and doing this, she's against even that. >> the divide is big, and the divide is for two totally different reasons which is why this is such a difficult thing to to push through. but, you know, this is one of the situations where donald trump -- it's a hard education, and it's a hard learning process. and, you know, from a business model, from a business-minded individual, this has to be infuriating, this sort of bizarre, as you said, archaic kind of process. >> makes no sense. neil: charlie, let me say if it goes down in defeat, they don't -- they're not able to advance this -- >> right. neil: -- i would imagine gains here would be reversed pretty quickly.

>> probably. listen, we have good corporate earnings today -- neil: very good, yeah. >> that's why the market is, essentially, up. if the market is trading on this, it's getting way ahead of itself. all you have to do is listen to mike lee, right, the conservative senator out of utah. neil: right. >> he's on the fence still even though they're thinking about putting his amendment, lee amendment -- neil: see, i don't think he's on the fence. i think he's playing coy. >> is you don't think he's going to do it. neil: no, i think he will, he'll vote for this. >> i don't know. this thing is very tenuous -- >> yes. >> and if you're betting that it's going to happen, you're crazy, because these people are all over the place x. the markets are way ahead of itself. you know, here's the real thing, the real reality is this, you know, we're saying this must be driving trump crazy. remember, the central theme of the trump campaign is i'm a businessman, i know how to -- i'm going to make your head spin on how great -- [laughter] when it comes to corralling these, you know, herding all these cats -- neil: do you remember all that, mitch mcconnell might be

updating us on where this stands now. real quickly, we'll dip in here. >> solutions to the president's desk for his signature. just yesterday the president reiterated his intention to sign them. just yesterday the administration released a statement urging all senators to vote this favor of the motion to proceed so that we can, quote, move forward on repealing obamacare and replacing it with true reforms that expand choice and lower costs. so i'd like to express my appreciation to the administration for its continued close work with us on this issue at every step of the way from the president and the vice president to secretary price and administrator verma as well as so many others. the engagement we've seen has been important to our efforts, and it hasp sent an unmistakeable -- has sent an unmistakeable signal to the country that this administration not only understands the pain

middle class families have felt under obamacare, but is actually committed to doing something about it. by now, we've all -- we're all keenly aware of the pain that obamacare has caused for literally millions of families. premiums have skyrocketed, doubling on average in the vast majority of states on the federal exchange. insurance options have declined under obamacare, leaving many with as few as one or even zero insurers to choose from. many americans now face the real possibility of having no options at all and could find themselves trapped, forced by law to purchase obamacare insurance but left without any means to do so. all the while markets continue to collapse under obamacare this states across the country -- in states across the country. it's a troubling indication of what's to come unless we act. fortunately, the american people have granted us the opportunity

to do so. we finally have an administration that cares about those suffering under obamacare as failures and a president who will sign a law to actually do something about it. we have a house that recently passed its own legislation to help address these problems, and we have a senate with a great chance before us to do our part now. if other senators agree and join me in voting yes on the motion to proceed, we can move one step closer to sending legislation to the president for his signature. i hope everyone will seize the moment. i certainly will. only then can we open up a robust debate process. only then will senators have the opportunity to offer additional ideas on health care. inaction will do nothing to solve obamacare's problems or bring relief to those who need it.

in fact, it will make things worse for our constituents all across the country. i'd like to reiterate what the president said yesterday. any senator who votes against starting debate is telling america that you're just fine with the obamacare nightmare. that's a position that even democrats have found hard to defend. remember president clinton called obamacare the craziest thing in the world, and a democratic governor said it's no longer affordable. you won't hear me say this often, but they're right. so i hope colleagues will consider obamacare's history of failures, the unaffordable costs, the scarce choices, the burden on middle class families as they cast their vote this afternoon. i would urge them to remember the families who are hurting under this collapsing law. numerous cayennes, like so many -- kentuckyans have

conveyed their heartbreaking stories with my office through phone calls, letters, dozens of forums all across kentucky. these families are suffering under obamacare. they need relief. i'll be thinking about them as i vote to proceed to the bill today. and i know many other colleagues will do the same. our constituents are hurting under obamacare. they're counting on us to do the right thing right now. that means voting to allow the senate to finally move beyond obamacare's failures. that's what i intend to do, that's what i urge every colleague to do. we can do better than obamacare. we have a responsibility to the american people to do that. today's vote to begin debate is the first step, and we should take it. mr. president, i suggest absence of a quorum. >> without objection, clerk will call the roll. neil: all right, i don't know

what a kentucky version of tony soprano would be -- [laughter] but i think in the case of mitch mcconnell it was an earth -- an effort to remind his colleagues i think it would be a very good idea to go through with this. not to come up with a solution or a sort of alternative to obamacare, the affordable care act, but just to vote on a motion, a technicality the allow that debate to ensue and then the add on some of the amendments that would follow. our guests here, we're talking about who would resist that and who would be for that. we are getting confirmation that senator rand paul does plan to support a health care vote, removing a possible headache here. but again, on only a procedural matter. he is saying that there are many objections he has to the original house bill, to some of the other measures that have been taken up in the senate. i interpreted charlie gasparino -- interrupted charlie gasparino on this, but that's one less thing to worry about. >> they're voting to vote, essentially -- neil: exactly.

you call it voting to vote, i call it vote -- [inaudible conversations] >> right, they're voting to -- [inaudible conversations] neil: right. congresswoman, what do you think of that? he's telling colleagues, look, this is -- you can go ahead and do whatever you want to this thing, but if you don't, if you reject this today, the opportunity to change anything goes away. is he right? >> neil, witnessing this -- well, witnessing this whole process is so painful. the president has expressed his frustration. this is exactly why you don't put our health care in the hands of the federal government. because this is exactly what happens. neil: doesn't matter whether it's from the right or left. >> every one of these senators -- >> trying to put the genie back in the bottle, and that's a hard thing -- >> exactly. >> the point i was trying to make before is the central, the premise -- the central theme, i should say, of donald trump's presidency was i'm a businessman, i'm going to give you a health care plan to make your head spin, i'm going to herd all the cats because i know how to make the deal, and guess what? it ain't happening.

>> i think we're learning it's very easy to set the hook in the fish's mouth, it's difficult to pull out because the barbs go with it, which is what's happening right now. neil: which is why i don't fish. [laughter] >> i don't like to touch the worm. quite frankly, there was a fox news poll that came out last week, donald trump is at 41%. does he have the political capital to get this thing through? we watched his speech yesterday, a relatively normal speech which was abnormal for this administration, kind of an interesting, bizarre-o world we're living in, but does he have the -- >> by the way, that's on the high end. neil: right. by the way, i'm sorry, charlie. i do want to be clear. the only confirmed no vote of someone who has telegraph a no vote is susan collins of maine. keep in mind, when they had the repeal effort in 2015, she was the only republican who voted no, so that's not a surprise, even though in this case it's only on a procedural matter to

continue the debate. nothing having to do with the repeal here. i'm sorry. >> think of what went on today. we have this big thing we're trying to to accomplish, putting the genie back into a bolt, changing health care so it helps people and, you know, ended the disaster that is obamacare. guess what we have? we have anthony scaramucci talking about jeff sessions, we have, we have the president tweeting about jeff sessions. i mean, his most loyal adviser. i mean, could these two stop, put themselves in a room and just remind themselves -- i mean, i think -- neil: to be fair to scaramucci, he was asked that question. but you're quite right, it gets you off topic. >> i've seen him on tv for the last three days. where's he talking about the message of health care and why we need to do it? neil: we should explain the latest that the president has said about jeff sessions in a tweet that he has taken a very weak position on hillary clinton crimes, and this was on the heels of yesterday concern. >> so he wants him to indict, go after hillary now?

neil: well, bottom line is whether you accept or reject whatever his opinions are, it is a distraction. >> right, it is a distraction from health care, and i think -- neil: why doesn't he just be quiet on it? >> i think the president would benefit, definitely, from concentrating today on health care, for sure, and concentrating on health care from now on. but one thing he is endeavoring to do is to put the whole russia witch hunt in perspective. it's sort of like, hey, there is nothing that's going on with us. but look at what was missed, you know, take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of someone else's. there's a log from the hillary clinton -- >> yeah. but, listen, i'm not saying -- listen, the reason why hillary clinton didn't get elected is because people thought she was too sleazy. >> sure. >> she ran a bad campaign -- neil: by the way, chuck schumer said as much yesterday. >> violated the espionage act. >> by the way, he's saying she's worse than i am. >> the american people want somebody who's actually good. we're sick of everybody saying,

well, they did it, so now we can do it, and everything is fine. >> the senate can save us a lot of this trouble by voting -- >> yeah, but think about what everybody's saying here. we voted for -- people voted for trump -- >> yes. >> -- because he was this great ceo -- >> a doer. >> i can debate that with anybody, because i don't think his business record was that great. he had some good parts -- neil: this is why they hate you. >> i put it in perspective. neil: you're a hateful person. [laughter] >> because he can't get the job done, we're relying on a career politician in mitch mcconnell to get the job done. think of that irony here -- neil: i will agree, charlie, in this respect, and i don't know how you guys feel. the president, who's a very forceful proponent of causes he gets attached to, if he had been really 100% involved in this along the way, certainly he could have swayed a couple of -- >> we've got to look back to 2016. he destroyed the republican party. let's not mess around with that. he destroyed the republican party and made a lot of enemies.

and those enemies are getting a little bit of revenge. they just need 50 votes -- neil: you're right about that. >> vice president mike pence, he's cast three tie-breaking votes in the senate six months in. >> he'll do it again. >> herbert walker had eight the entire time under ronald reagan, biden had seven under obama. the fact that we've already had three tie-breaks from the vp is astonishing. he might have to do it again. >> i don't have a problem with that. >> right. good that we have it. neil: there's only one opposed right now. they can afford to lose only one more, and then it gets dicey. >> president trump was elected in a very different way from any other -- >> that is completely true. >> but, because he reflected the concerns of the nation. and he wasn't going to be able to break the blue wall unless he went to places that a lot of, you know, republicans in standard procedure -- neil: fair enough. >> -- would not be willing to go. and so that's something that we have to deal with now, and that's what -- neil: by the way, we're also monitoring chuck schumer -- i'm sorry, guys.

we're not going to go down to this here, but democrats are free in this process to go ahead and approve this motion that will allow continued debate, ask and after that -- assuming it passes, and it's a big leap, i should stress, but maybe not too much of one given this rand paul maneuver now to say he would vote for this -- it would allow democrats too to add amendments and provisos to something that could be a christmas tree by the time we're all done. so we could get taxed with a lot of goodies. that's what you guys used to do -- [laughter] >> not i, sir. >> everybody but you. [laughter] >> everybody but me. neil: be the process -- that would be the process. democrats are very concerned that if they're going to change these things, if i'm chuck schumer, i'm going to try to throw in my own amendments -- >> well, he could certainly do that. but i think they're going to -- right, they're not going to -- >> see what happens. absolutely. >> they're asking themselves that. look, they got us into this mess because obamacare passed with no republican votes, and they're not --

neil: and this might likely pass with no -- >> we all hate obamacare, we say how bad it is -- >> it works for some people. >> but listen, where is the outrage in the country for obamacare right now? i mean, listen, the system before that was horrible -- >> yeah. >> he made it marginally more horrible. >> right. >> but marginally. you know, i'm just telling you that the problem that the republicans have, it's kind of like if you change this and it doubles down on it -- >> oh, absolutely. >> -- you bought it. if you don't change it, you basically are, you could be held accountable. >> when it fails, republicans are going to be blamed. >> this is like a no-win -- >> that's why it was absolutely insane that mitch mcconnell wanted to vote on this before the july 4th holiday. i mean, these politicians gotta go to their constituents, meet with them -- neil: i'm not a fan of this measure, but i will say because of health issues that coverage for pre-existing conditions was a big, big bonus here and a big win. >> absolutely. neil: obviously, the behemoth they created to address that was

beyond -- but i do think whatever they come up with, whatever they look at has got to address that. >> neil, listen, i'm not an expert in the is insurance business. my dad die of a catastrophic illness. it hurt our family, it made us from working class to poor in a couple years. but just from a business standpoint, how do you guarantee pre-existing conditions and sell an insurance policy on that? neil: that's just it. >> how do you do that? neil: i wish we could debate this ad nauseam. unfortunately, we can't. i want to thank all of our quests. what they have agreed on here and what seems to be forming is enough of a consensus amongst republicans to go ahead and proceed on a measure that technically, technically originates from the house, and it was in that it morphs into a combination of all these other measures that is a long way from getting a measure that everyone can agree to in the republican party, because it will be just republicans on coming up with a replacement here. so this is just a measure to proceed with that debate, maybe

to head to repeal, maybe to head to repeal and an they were, but a long way from that. what they've agreed to do here is to try to keep you happy. is so they're still yapping. we'll e have more after this. but when family members forget, trust angie's list to help. [ barks ] visit angieslist.com today. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance

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neil: all right. chuck schumer has wrapped up some comments to opposing this effort on the part of republican

ares to yet genre jigger obamacare. this effect on the markets though is because they think this time republicans might have their act together for what is a small moment really being celebrated here, a moment where republicans look like they can continue the debate. so this is kind of an arcane procedure here that effectively allows republicans to move on. not agree on alternative here, but just to fight another day. a vote that rejects this effort to the continue with the procedure, as arcane as it sounds, is as arcane as it sounds. yet the markets are leaping on that as a sign that they can live on to fight another day. sort of like a wildcard team at the end of a baseball or football season that inches into the playoffs. their odds might be daunting, but they're in the playoffs, so that's essentially the analogy that i'm using, because that's the way i roll. all right, former south carolina republican senator jim demint launching a new initiative right now to push more republicans to the right so they're not stuck in a pickle like this, yet they are.

the senator joins us now. always good to see you, sir, thank you. >> thank you, neil. it's interesting to hear you discuss it on health care here. i'm glad they're taking up the bill, but it's probably going to be a messy thing to watch. neil: it is. and explain how it works, senator. i mean, all they're agreeing to -- if they agree to it, because we don't know, one known holdout will be susan collins of maine, rand paul has been persuaded to at least, you know, go on with this measure. what does it allow you to do? >> it's an agreement to take up the bill, to begin the debate which means on floor of the senate they will begin to discuss it and offer amendments. and under reconciliation, it's basically a free-for-all with a lot of different amendments. so the democrats could actually offer a lot of amendments, and it would be hard for republicans to vote against. and this bill could become more and more like obamacare or, hopefully, republicans will stick together and do what they promised, repeal obamacare and then begin to work on how to make our health care system work better.

neil: so, senator, i think that was the gist of what chuck schumer had to say, that they will then get involved in the process and craft this to their liking if it is approved and they add amendments that they like and kind of put republicans on the spot. so republicans might be careful what they wish for, because it could complicate their efforts, right in. >> oh, it really -- it will. democrats will offer amendments that make it hard for republicans to vote against. it's a bidding war to give people more for medicaid, insurance companies more for stabilization funds. and it's very hard to get all republicans to vote against it. obviously, i hope they will. and part of what we're doing, neil, is i've seen and you probably hear the country all over the country is what happens to conservatives once they get to congress. they're not themselves anymore. and the reason for that is there's no support system for conservatives once you get in congress. i've been in the house and the senate. once you get here, you're in a

foxhole. everybody's firing at you. everything in washington is pushing you against your conservative principles. so what we're doing with the conservative partnership institute is creating a support group to help identify and train good staff, place them in offices, educate the members on procedures and then work to conning screen members, conservative members in the house and senate so they can develop a better way to be effective and constructive and actually get things done. neil: but it's particularly problematic, that move to the middle or some interpret as the move to vanilla, in the senate, right? i mean, where this is a collegial atmosphere in this very, you know, august club of 100 men and women that they're sort of deemed to be the more mature, thoughtful body -- >> right. neil: -- after the rebellious, rowdy house. is that how it's viewed? >> well, it is. and if you try to do things like limit government or balance the budget or reduce spending,

you're considered a neanderthal both in the house and the senate. but they can make it very painful for you, and that's why people don't stay conservative. they can dry up your fundraising, they can make it hard to get on committees. k street that supports the party may actually run ads against you in your re-election. and we need to do -- neil: by the way, that's some of the threat that nevada senator heller is facing, that if he doesn't vote a certain way, they could make life very difficult for him in his election next fall. >> yeah. and there's -- the conservative movement, neil, is big enough that if we pull it together, all the groups, all the voters as well as the members and staff, they can work a lot better together, have a lot more leverage than they do now. and that's what we want to do with conservative partnership. i think we can be a lot more effective, but right now we're not leveraging the power of our ideas, and i'm optimistic we can do a lot better in the future. neil: all right. we'll watch it very closely, senator.

congratulations on your new undertaking here. that is an uphill battle, blood test of luck there -- best of luck there. there are signs that the president is disrupting his own message by going after a key cabinet member yet again today that has some republican senators saying, all right, enough is enough. after this. ♪ ♪

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neil: you know, amazon stock dipping a little bit today as president trump the reason he slammed the company in a tweet. the amazon washington post, as he called it. so many stories about me in "the washington post" are fake news. they're as bad as ratings-challenged cnn. lobbyists for amazon and taxes? meanwhile, the president also joking about firing his health

and human services secretary in front of the boy scouts yesterday. take a look. >> hopefully, he's going to get the votes tomorrow to start our path toward killing this horrible thing known as obamacare. by the way, you going to get the votes? >> hope so. >> he better get 'em. he better get 'em! oh, he better -- otherwise i'll say, tom, you're fired! i'll get somebody -- [cheers and applause] neil: he was talking to boy scouts. i mean, these are 12, what, 17, 18-year-old boys? okay, fine. fire the guy. but it comes on the heels of the president doubling down on his attorney general jeff sessions tweeting out that he has taken referring to sessions a very weak position on hillary clinton crimes. there's been sort of a long string of attacks on what had been, whatever you think of the attorney general, of one of his most loyal allies. so i'm beginning to wonder this kidding around and the back and

forth when it starts alienating republican senators and friends of jeff sessions like senator inhofe of oklahoma, lindsey graham and even orrin hatch, you have to begin to wonder whether it could be backfiring. to real clear politics co-founder tom bev vin. tom, what do you think? >> well, i certainly think the thing about tom price was a joke, and i don't think tom price has any reason to be upset with trump. it's not his job to get the votes, it's mitch mcconnell's job, and he'll be the one that gets blamed, i think, if the health care bill goes down. to your point about jeff sessions, trump is upset with sessions. he's made it very public. he feels like sessions betrayeded him -- neil: then fire him. take him aside and fire him privately. >> and he may yet do that, neil. we're going to find out. there's reporting that he's been investigating options for replacing him. ted cruz's name has been mentioned, among others. but to your point, it's alienated some folks in the senate. they want to see jeff sessions treated fairly.

they don't think he's being treated fairly by the president. and, look, i think the president has to think very hard about this because not only from what a distraction that would be, but the amount of time and effort they invested in getting his cabinet put together in the first place, to have to go back and start doing that sort of thing all over again, finding someone, nominating them, getting them through the senate is going to to be a heavy lift, particularly for the attorney general general any of these other positions. neil: yeah, that's a pretty big job particularly when a couple of the candidates have supported, possible replacements have supported jeff sessions recusing himself on this russia thing. having said all to that, tom, i want to pursue more of the psychological effect of something like this. the president demands loyalty and he's right to. but it works both ways, so what's to stop them from feeling, wow, he's happening sessions out to dry here -- hanging sessions out to dry here? am i next? should i be that loyal to this

guy? he could turn on me. what do you think? >> yeah, i agree. if you're in one of those positions, you have to be wondering am i next on the chopping block, and do i have the independence to do what i think is right for the country, the administration, etc. i would say this too, neil, is that there are some rumblings about some disgruntlement among rex tillerson, secretary of state. we have a story on real clear defense about some frustrations at the pentagon over foreign policy, and i think for those -- if one of those people were to the leave office because they were disgruntled over policy, over the way that trump was handling things, that would be an entirely different kettle of fish, i think, and present much bigger problems for the administration than this current back and forth between him and, as you said, one of his longest supporters, a guy who was backing him from the very beginning in jeff sessions. neil: as you remind me, i mean, it is politics. that, i understand. but it is such a disruption in the middle of this health care push.

whether people feel the sessions is attacks are justified or not. tom, thank you so much. >> you bet, neil. neil: all right. here is one reason why you should worry about north korea. now china is. i'll explain after this. ♪ ♪

neil: all right, you know, there are a lot of votes expected today. in the house they're looking at cracking down on russia. this is the one that adds iran and north korea to a sweeping sanctions measure here. the president has indicated or at least the white house it might be open to support such a measure as long as it doesn't go too, too far. meanwhile, we have china preparing for potential conflict with north korea if the u.s. threatens to hit north korea. to trump 2020 advisory board member, former navy seal carl higbie on what this might be

telling us. obviously, the chinese are worried enough to protect that 800-mile-plus border to prepare for the unthinkable. >> this is a huge chess game here, because you have all these components -- russia, china, north korea and us. and also south korea. no one's talking about we have the olympics in seoul, south korea, 35 miles south of the dmz in six months, and nobody's talking about it. these are huge moving piece, and china is the largest factor here. they don't have a direct conflict with north korea like we do where they're threatening us with nuclear weapons. so what we have to do is we have to play this very cautiously, because china also likes that buffer zone of north korea where we can't put our troops on their border or. so this is a very tricky game, and it's a lot of moving parts, neil. neil: i sigh china -- i see china working more aggressively to prepare for the unthinkable than even thinking of helping us get north korea off the ledge. what do you think? >> right. let's play it out. north korea launches a nuclear

strike, they say they can reach alaska. they might kill six people because it's not a very populated area, but at the same time, it's still u.s. soil. they launch, we launch a counterattack because something like that can't go unanswered. you potentially find yourself in another pearl harbor scenario where we are forced to actually go to war with north korea. is china going to side with north korea? probably not, but they definitely don't have the resources and don't want to fight the united states of america. where does russia come in on that? that could lay directly on congress as they start to vote on all these sanctions against russia. we could potentially, you know, the economical impact and fallout for this is far greater than any physical war too. neil: yeah. i think the chinese are worried about millions of north koreans flooding into their country as well. let me ask you a little bit about the russia thing in general. you know, the administration is in this unwinnable position of favoring, you know, tough actions on russia if it has gone too far, the sanctions toward really because of the 2016 election involvement, but others are linking it to still not

surrendering ukraine, what have you. but if they don't accept that, then it's deem to be, well, they're too cozy, or administration's too cozy with vladimir putin. what do you think, ultimately, the white house does on this? >> well, here's the thing, is we can't have russia as a foe. i mean, they are not -- they did not act in our benefit historically, but they cannot be a direct foe of ours. we need to get on the same page as them in the syria, like president trump when he was at the g20 agreed to a ceasefire and no-fly area, but we need to get on the same page as them. sanctioning them right now, in the midst of this congress, i don't think is the right move. look, everyone's talking about this russia collusion thing. if there was russia collusion for them to put president trump in office, don't you think be getting on a lot better than they are now? neil: well, that's a very good point. you know, carl, switching gears like a crazy professor, but you've endured that from me, what are you thoughts on the

jeff sessions thing and the president looking and targeting him in one tweet after another? he's clearly fed up with him, wants him out. all but wants him to quit. but even some republican senators have voiced concern maybe because it's one of their own and they like the guy, that he's not being treated pairly. this could boomerang on the president. what do you think? >> you know, i'll say that president trump is a very strong individual, very strong personality, and if he's feeling in this way, it's for probably ad good reason. i, you know, some people may have handled it differently, but i think what needs to happen here is we need to figure out what is going on here and what is taking so long for certain investigations that, quite frankly, the american people chanted lock her up at every one of trump's rallies. so we need to find out why attorney general jeff sessions has not pursued that. and it may be in the midst of this russia investigation that he's recused himself, maybe he's just trying to play it cool. i'm not going to comment on what president trump's intentions are for jeff sessions.

neil: what about for rex tillerson, secretary of state, who also has talked about being frustrated in his position, limited and sort of stopped at every, you know, at every way? >> well, there's a number of factors to that. i mean, rex tillerson is an enormously intelligent and competent guy, ran exxon, for god's sake. there's a bottleneck in getting people in the door. trump can appoint people all day long, but there's a huge backlog in the senate confirmation systems, and rightfully so, secretary tillerson is very upset about that. president trump can appoint people all he wants, but it requires the senate, and i think the senate is the one that needs to get in gear here. neil: all right. thank you very much, carl, for your service to the country. carl higbie, former navy seal. >> thanks, neil. neil: carl has one of these handshakes too, he could break your hand. that strong. we've got senator chuck grassley joining us, of course, he is a power broker, to put it mildly, in the senate. what he makes of all these developments and the health care bill that is coming up.

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the nonstop attacks on jeff sessions from his boss, the president of the united states, continue. the president obviously following up on yesterday's beleaguered comment, referring to his attorney general, to say that sessions has taken a very weak position on hillary clinton crimes. i could go more and more into that, suffice it to say that that's got a number of republican senators going slow, inhofe of oklahoma, lindsey graham and, of course, senator orrin hatch who says he has not been fairly treated here. and then there's chuck schumer. take a look. >> it's clear that president trump's trying the bully his own attorney general out of office. how can anyone draw a different conclusion? if president trump had serious criticisms of his attorney general, why not talk to him in person? why air his grievances so publicly? he wants him out. neil: all right. schumer voted against sessions and was quite cutting in his

review of the senator when he was up for the attorney general post. having said that, you can see that this has become an affair that when it comes to someone picked and plucked from the well of the united states senate, they kind of look after their own. so there could be a boomerang effect here. maybe not. we'll see. blake burman live at the white house with all of these cross-currents. hey, blake. >> reporter: neil, politics is a strange thing at times when you hear chuck schumer come to the defense of the republican and stated attorney general. on this day the focus is renewed once again as president trump is absolutely hammering his current attorney general, one of his earliest supporters, jeff sessions, the person that he personally picked to be the next attorney general, the current attorney general. here is the tweet that kicked it all off this morning, quote: attorney general jeff sessions has taken a very weak position on hillary clinton crimes. where are the e-mails and dnc server and intel leakers? neil, here at the white house today they haven't really come to the defense of jeff sessions at all. in fact, anthony scaramucci, the

new communications director, said on this day, quoting here, he said, we'll get to a resolution shortly when talking about all of this. and kellyanne conway was asked will sessions be fired? this was her response. >> that is up to the president. and it's up to him to deal with personnel throughout this administration. >> reporter: now, that wasn't a yes, wasn't a no either. one of the top communications folks here at the white house. and as you mentioned, neil, over on capitol hill republicans, democrats now chime anything as well saying this will not -- chiming in as well saying this will not sit well there. sessions, of course, was in the senate for decades, worked with many of these folks, and they do not like the way he is being treated by the president. neil: when you have lindsey graham, senator hatch, better ways to do this, senator inhofe, he's a good guy, variations of the same anemia. i'm sure john mccain, who's due back today for this vote on the health care thing, it could

make it difficult for the president whether he feels justified or not in replacing the guy to replace him, right? because this would be the same group that would be deciding on his successor's fate if it comes to that. >> reporter: not only just replacing him, because the senate has to confirm. but when you look down the road, what about other legislation? is who knows what's going to happen this a afternoon, actually in the next few days with health care but just even set health care aside, because that's sort of a beef that republicans have been talking about for seven years. whatever comes down the line if they see jeff sessions get kicked to the curb by this president, essentially, and there's the slimmest of margins -- remember, now, just 52 republicans and they need 50 plus 1, what happens there? they're not happy at all. neil: loyalty is a two-way street. all right, thank you, blake burman. real quick, look at the markets. the dow in record territory, a lot of market buoyed by earnings. boy, this is a busy week for earnings. the s&p 500 companies, almost 200, 180, i believe, to be exact, posting numbers this week.

and most of those numbers have been better than expected, their guidance better than expected. that's all these guys have to hear, something like that. we'll an update on that -- have an update on that, also word that senator john mccain will be there for that vote and senator chuck grassley, who welcomes that development and says the republicans are doing just fine. all in this drama notwithstanding. stick around. you are watching "coast to coast." hour two starts in minutes. ♪

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neil: we are told republican senators ahead of this pivotal healthcare vote, it allows the debate to go on, vote for this and they can proceed to add amendment, technical amendment from the house but it is anyone's guess what it will become. trish reagan is here and let's begin with you. given the fact rand paul indicated an hour ago he would vote for this, they will vote for it, might be making that leap. susan collins is the only sure no vote but what if they don't? >> we are back where we started and there will be a sense of people being demoralized. voters sent them to washington to make sure it happened, this

goes back to tax policy because you need savings to get the tax policy with reform in a way that is quick and painless. if we can to do this how do we move on to anyone else? neil: they would have to go on to taxes. >> don't you think everything on the agenda is in crisis? if you can't even agree to bring the bill up for debate and that is what we're talking about, not even voting on legislation but just getting it to the floor, something simple, open conversation about health. if you can't do that can you pass a budget? can you deal with the debt ceiling? you think the sentiment against washington was bad when the president was elected? it is getting worse every day. neil: what is at stake here? >> i agree there's not much more to say. what we are missing here is congress, the senate specifically have been a dysfunctional body for a long

time. president obama got one major legislative achievement. when his party ran a congress, that was obamacare which we are talking about today. obama's presidency was about the pen and the phone and his executive action. the question for the senate is will it be display a role in our constitutional democracy? there was no we should the dominated politics more than the republican promise to repeal obamacare. we never get our message out, we complain we can't communicate, we did a good job on obamacare. everyone america believed the republican party wanted to repeal obamacare. if they can't get this done through congress i agree with what you have said, there's going to be hell to pay at the polls. neil: they agreed on the broad concept of getting rid of what was existing, they couldn't agree on what would be the alternative. the same applies to the tax-cut front. i want your reaction, two

different views of this, congressman chris collins talking about go slow on the taxes and budget director, mick mulvaney, you didn't say what you just said. >> there is the potential of getting some democrats to come on board. it might not be as massive a cut as some would like but if we can get the corporate rate that money would be invested in jobs and the economy. >> we are all on the same page, i talked to the director this morning, secretary steve mnuchin, had regular conversations with the president was we want the biggest tax cut, the most sweeping tax reform that can pass. neil: that strikes me as division even among conservatives how far to go on taxes. >> there is a big misconception the taxes are easy and there is consensus and republicans love -- it is the opposite. it will be almost as complicated as healthcare. what will happen on taxes, we have to take a reality pill.

they have got to pass a repealing replacement of obamacare. if they don't the party has no ability to go back to the american people and say we should be in the majority. they will get that done by the end of the year. on taxes do we pay for all of it or is some of it unpaid for? i don't tax-cut should be paid for because the stimulatory effect in the economy. >> has always been a debate. jfk cut taxes and there were republicans the didn't like anything about that because we can't pay for it and it was always the party of fiscal discipline. you need to be able to pay for the tax-cut before you enact them. art laughter and reaganomics proved if you stimulate the economy via tax-cut you will grow gdp. it is something that is very healthy for businesses, for individuals. we need to make a decision as

plenty of politicians, paul ryan has indicated that with the border tax he wanted to enact. neil: this could make healthcare look like a walk. >> of the 115th congress was hit by a meteor today their epitaph would read it is too hard, i can't get it done. neil: thank you very much, a special guest walked in. senate judiciary committee chair senator chuck grassley, good to have you here. >> thank you very much. neil: where does this healthcare thing stand? you are closer than we are. is your sense of the measurable pass today? >> i'm hopeful since mccain came back, don't think you would have them coming back of his vote weren't key but i have not had a whip count so i can't answer the question but i see it from a point of pessimism the last two

or three weeks because number one, 48 democrats under schumer's leadership don't want this to come up so any republicans that don't vote just to discuss this issue among all 100 senators am a 52 republican senators is playing into the minority's hands, that is not taking into consideration the fact that we won the election. obama could have corrected a lot of these things but we are in power now and it is our responsibility to pick up the broken promises of obamacare and move on so i hope we are not looking at a vote on a bill but we are voting to be discussed in the united states senate. i can't believe anybody would not want to discuss healthcare when it is so important. neil: against the cerebral vote,

susan collins, any other short no votes? rand paul is back to yes, maybe. what is your sense? >> my sense is we will have the votes. based on what you told me, not what i heard from other senators. neil: probably want to go to reliable sources. let me ask about this senate. do you think in the back and forth on healthcare that if this measure were to fail, maybe it is time to recognize that you can't come to consensus on this and move on to taxes? >> the answer is yes and that is what newt gingrich is suggesting to the white house, and having a major victory for the economy before christmas would be very helpful in creating jobs and moving our growth under 2%, hopefully over 3%.

neil: you mentioned the white house, the president was tweeting again his disappointment in jeff sessions, his attorney general, saying he has taken a weak position on hillary clinton after saying the leaders, you know the string of events, it is humiliating for him. are you surprised the attorney general hasn't already resigned? >> i hope the attorney general doesn't resign. i hope he is not fired. if you look at so much of what the president wants to accomplish on his agenda, jeff sessions is central to that and should remain in office and from my standpoint as a member of congress getting criticized by conservative and republican groups for not moving judges fast enough i don't want to be bogged down with other hearings, another appointee to attorney

general. i want to move the judges that are strict constructionists to the judicial branch of government and any changes at the justice department would heard that opportunity. neil: it gets back to in the president's eyes, jeff sessions should have recused himself, the present on this russia thing he shouldn't have. what do you think? >> two days before he recused himself in a phone call i suggested to jeff sessions under the situation the way it is he would have to recuse himself and i don't back off of that advice i gave him, i don't say he did it because of my advice, i am sure he did it because of the ethics panels with the justice department but that he had to do it. >> the fact that he didn't run this by the president, the president seems to feel that shows lack of loyalty. >> go back to something eric

holder probably told the american people in congress. i am a winged man for the president of the united states. i said in my comments on sessions's hearing the attorney general should never be a winged man for the president of the united states. the attorney general is counsel for the american people and working only for the american people. neil: you are the chairman of the judiciary committee and that comes with not some democrats and republicans in your move to subpoena paul man isfort, former campaign chairman might have escalated some tensions with the white house. the president seems to feel those republicans who are pursuing this aggressively might be going too far, it is said the republicans come even some that were carried over the line on my back do very little to protect their president. what did you think of that?

>> i protected the president for a year when i the supreme court vacancy should be kept open for him to make that appointment. we got it done and that is progress for this president, not just for his term but for the next 40 years on the supreme court. >> when your democratic colleagues say that when too far and you were being pressured too much, chris koontz said he saw that is a veiled message to you. if it was a veiled message, what are you saying your message is? >> the president doesn't have to send me any veiled messages, he can call me and talk to me on the phone anytime and he will. warner: the has he talked to you about this stuff? >> no. >> let's get a sense what happens with these ongoing investigations. to pursue this action, he was not providing information in a timely manner or a was limited.

what would you agree to? his lawyers are working up one idea and you have another. where is this going? >> what i agreed to will have to be in conjunction with senator feinstein, ranking democrat on the committee, she speaks for them. we are working together on this and right now there are negotiations going on with manafort. of those negotiations can't work out he comes to our committee and we are always open to negotiation this and things can be changed to satisfy him. what we want is to answer questions not just by staff in closed session but by staff and members in closed session with no promise there won't be open session following on. neil: would that include -- there has been thought that you would call jeff sessions to clear up this report he had a

meeting with the russian ambassador. is that true? >> that is what democrats want to do and i spoke to the democrats in my committee in an open committee meeting and i said roughly this, that i was holding off on their request to have sessions come in because i was hoping we would get his team in place through senate confirmation, doesn't look like we are going to do that but at least once a year we have the attorney general in for a oversight hearing and we are going to treat this as a regular oversight committee meeting. if democrats want to spend their time talking about some meeting with the russians they can do that. i will spend my time talking about russia but a lot of other things as well that would normally go on in a regular oversight hearing. neil: you have been very patient. on the tax situation and healthcare things that if this

vote doesn't go down today, is it your sense, just abandon the healthcare stuff that newt gingrich advocated? >> you can't abandon something that is in a death spiral like obamacare, we have to deal with it and 72,000 iowans can't buy health insurance if we don't deal with it. >> would you want those tax cuts to be retroactive to the beginning of the year? >> yes. neil: you answer questions. good seeing you again. that does seem to be a prevailing view that if we cannot move on this, republicans seem to be saying we don't drop it but we move on to tax cuts because the healthcare thing is in such a state we can't ignore

it but they would proceed to tax cuts. the senate is in this unofficial luncheon with those which senate leadership hopes to twist a little bit but this is all about a procedure. might seem to you much ado about parliamentary nothing but unless they can agree to this the technicality of proceeding to agree to disagree and fight back and forth and adding amendments to a measure to proceed debate then the debate is over and this is finished and republicans are in a world of hurt, more after this. where to get in... where to get out. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. hey, i'm the internet! ♪

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on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> i love to embarrass and rawlins, he is one of the brightest political minds of the last century but great to get his read on things, that god ronald reagan elected but provided valuable counsel and talked about these developments on healthcare and whether they can proceed and what chuck grassley said about how the president of the united states disrupted this. the former campaign manager, and rawlins, what do you think?

>> sessions is popular among his peer group. a colleague situation, supported trump, the first senator to support him, first major player to support him. to a certain extent, most people think he hasn't done anything wrong. the other side of that is a new president always thinks his cabinet is his staff and they should be able to do anything he tells them to do. neil: it is different with the attorney general. >> the achilles' heel of this administration, the biggest distraction is the mueller investigation which they have no control over and at this meal of the day he wishes sessions had stayed and taken charge. neil: talking about the kushner investigation, this guy is not

188 interviews, let's get a sense where this is going, this crossed into an area of perceived loyalty. the president is within his rights to be concerned about an attorney general he is convinced undermine the administration's efforts even though legal scholars say he was right to do that, legally and morally bound to do that but he is hanging him out to dry. >> i don't president will fire sessions. it is not his style. he might make his life miserable. if every day you get up in your the attorney general and went to survey president and serving agency well and get these tweets that depict losing confidence. warner: the why doesn't he quit? >> he may. might be the only solution. neil: he could alienate a very club you talked about.

>> it is the way he has been treated, the mere fact -- talking about sessions send a very loud message and the message is trump think this is his team, each senator think they are an independent entity serving a state constituency and they are that you have to learn to treat them that way, put them together on something like healthcare or tax bill, don't expect them to do what you ask them to do as you see today in the big battle on healthcare. neil: loyalty is expected from the president and he's right to expect that but it goes both ways. when you were working with ronald reagan how would he handle that? you hear the story the nancy reagan was the one -- the chief of staff at the time. the president himself didn't like to get involved. >> know he didn't. i had a couple visits where he should've fired me and he didn't. very kind to me. the critical thing is he always had good friends in the senate,

his best friend was paul axel from nevada. he could send messages to him but usually he has a good relationship with congress. neil: where you the bad cop? >> i was the bad cop, the disciplinarian. he got to give the goodies, i had to do the bad things. neil: if your number showed up on a phone -- >> they would take my call and i control things like a fundraiser or a particular piece of legislation you want, are you going to get it? do you want ambassador, a judgeship, whole variety of things. a lot of ways you can deal but you don't have to deal publicly in the critical thing is if sessions goes away won't go away happy. he wants to be the attorney general, gave up his career in the senate and at the end the day could've stayed for life and

i think he was an important player. neil: beyond the personalities i wonder no one wants distractions in the middle of looking for an uphill climb on healthcare or tax cuts and that is all this is for the time being but can't afford it and i'm wondering like i said for the president tweeting, around the kind of thing you want. >> a large audience follows his tweets, better than attacking someone, today is an important vote, call your senator, call your governor, get him to call your senator. neil: would you advise the president to do that? >> absolutely. i would not they don't tweet but don't tweet personally and don't conflict with your message, message is very important come you can't go out and talk about healthcare and begetting into personalities. neil: it is clear whatever happens on the russia thing, he thinks they are going to get something done on healthcare. others have said we have to move

on tax cuts because this is going nowhere fast, newt gingrich a fan of doing that. >> we will know in the next 24 hours whether the votes are there. of the 20th the procedural vote failed it is over. >> certainly for this year and probably through 2018. i don't think they will want to bring it up in an important election cycle. today is an important day. neil: assuming they get it, looking like they will. i could be wrong but the only no vote, susan collins, rand paul, they would agree to this, the stipulations, let's say it proceeds. is it your sense republicans might regret what they wish for because they have to come up with amendment time, democrats and republicans participate, this could be pushed back through this month. >> the procedural thing is critical or it is dead. there are four five senators for

what the president is pushing so obviously there will be lots of alterations. cutting back on medicaid is the important part of this bill. so many republican governors extended this. a large element. the idea historically you give something when you have a piece of legislation, obamacare -- taking things away from legislation is tough. neil: has ever happened? >> not to my knowledge. neil: thank you very much, former reagan campaign manager. central casting. the president will be holding a big rally in ohio tonight on whether they pass the technical measure or not but it would be the wind at the president's back if they approve it, so much depends on this including timing of those tax cuts which are near and dear, a lot of these guys think it is going to happen.

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neil: donald trump is holding a rally in ohio, a state he won by eight points. this gallup poll shows his base remains quite loyal. democrats are aware they are being opposed, can only get you so far, a new economic agenda has a lot of trump lighting. who will get the better of this? democratic strategist richard goodstein, cabot phillips, the president thinks he has the upper hand in this. what do you think? >> interesting to the democrats try to highlight what donald trump took to get those young stone voters for his rally tonight and it is funny to see

how they are portraying this better deal is bringing the democrat party into the future, next generation idea, they're the same recycled big government ideas have caused democrats to lose elections in the first place and my generation, millennial, the largest voting bloc in america don't see any new ideas or new leaders and the democrat party is having an identity crisis, they are not unified or know which direction to go and that is evident when we see the proposal they put forward yesterday. neil: money surprised me because you would think given the unpopularity of a lot of measures republicans have taken or not taken, the democrats would be romping. what is going on? >> when you are in the minority, when you don't have the white house fundraising is not the easiest thing but nobody should cry the blues for the democrats. look at trump's historic unpopularity. the last abc washington post poll, who do you want to control congress after the 28 elections? democrats 52 the republicans 38,

among independents trump was down, republicans were down 14. the trump agenda is not moving forward like a steamroller. these midterms the margins are much closer in ruby red districts, if that hold in the 2018 election it does not spell good times for the republicans. i don't totally disagree with what it said about the better deal agenda. it is putting everyone together, democrats a run on. it is not cherry picking from trump. let's not kid ourselves. we 20 one things it does come up is the president being very unpopular, very popular with his base but that only gets you so far. the conundrum republicans are in to rely on rigid unity among everybody in the party to get anything done, what do you make of that and how crucial this procedural vote is? if republicans reject it, then

what? >> the same abc poll found the number one americans associated with the democrat party 52% of people, the number one thing is being anti-trump, not actual policies. that is a problem moving forward for democrats, the don't talk about issues instead of being anti-trump. of ours republican base goes that is holding them up right now. if they don't go to a vote tonight the base needs a vote so they can see who is keeping their word, who is putting forth a vote to repeal this plan day got elected unpromising they were going to repeal. if this doesn't go to vote the base might get even angrier and not just hold up this entire support for trump. neil: you did the chuck schumer talk about the fact the republicans lost because of hillary clinton and their message didn't resonate. first time i heard it in such prominent to the party acknowledge russia didn't play a role, this is really on them.

that says one thing about hillary clinton but also begs the question who is going to speak for the democratic party or to be that voice? a lot of those themes seem to be bernie sanders seems. >> hard to have a spokesperson, chuck schumer is that person. if you had chuck schumer on the air, did russia make a difference, to the coming back letter make a difference? you bet it did. if it was a 10,000 vote margin in wisconsin, by all accounts those things made a big difference. neil: they lost not because of that. >> hillary would have been self-critical if she was on the air but if she had to do it all over again she would have talked about economic issues in a way that she didn't but again the fact of the matter is who would you rather be going into the 2018 election? donald trump is not going to win reelection with his base, with

36% or 46 which is got what he got last time in its we today race. neil: not so good at imploding, that is what they are counting on. >> the fact of the matter is at his max he got 46, not a winning number. neil: it is a business show but for goodness sake. richard cabot, thank you both. senators i meeting to discuss their strategy and this big vote. adam shapiro with the latest on what the count would look like. >> looks like this could pass. senator heller from nevada is going to vote yes to get on the bill but let's talk about what that means. it is a vote to proceed to debate on the house's version of healthcare reform and then all kinds of amendments and we heard from rand paul that he is going to vote yes to proceed because he has been told by republican

leadership that there will be an amendment for an outright appeal. if that fails there will be more amendments but here is what mitch mcconnell said earlier today about why they need to act. >> i hope everyone will seize the moment. i certainly will. only then can we open up a robust debate process, only then will senators have the opportunity to offer additional ideas on healthcare in action, do nothing to solve obamacare's problems. >> reporter: one thing i want you to know is the president tweeted earlier this morning saying big day for healthcare after 7 years of talking we will soon see whether or not republicans are willing to step up to the plate. this is a big deal, big day and you can't underestimate how close this vote could be just to proceed to debate. neil: thank you very much, adam shapiro. this motion to proceed, that is

all it is will allow republicans the opportunity if it were to pass to fight another day. it is technical in nature but it is sweeping in implications because a no vote effectively botches any effort on the part of republicans to move forward at least immediately. you heard from senator grassley that they would still address this because healthcare itself is imploding and they got to do something and in case of senator grassley in iowa where those health exchanges are shining down fast but the fact is they are running out of options and running out of time and a procedural vote that allows them to fight another day gives them time. democrats a time to screw up, republican say time to get it right. we will see after this. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try new parodontax toothpaste. ♪

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neil: are you surprised the attorney general hasn't already resigned? >> i hope the attorney general doesn't resign. i hope he's not fired. if you look at so much of what

the president of the united states wants to accomplish on his agenda, sessions is central to that and sessions should remain in office two days before he recuses himself in a phone call, i suggest to jeff sessions under the situation the way it is he would have to recuse himself. neil: that is senator chuck grassley, attorney general jeff sessions, this is a very important club we call the united states senate, they look after their own, defend their own. it is in the eye of the beholder whether you think that is justified or not in light of the president's attacks. on a daily basis against jeff sessions. joining senator grassley are lindsey graham, orrin hatch, all of them saying go slow on trashing this guy.

to the beleaguered charlie gasparino on what he thinks of this. that this is a distraction. >> why would you want to work for a guy that does this to you? neil: i am surprised he hasn't resigned. >> no job is worth it. gives you the modus operandi, real nasty moves. neil: grassley agrees it is hurting the healthcare effort and a lot of others. >> look what we are talking about, firing jeff sessions, and out there, announcing, a guy who is michael short, i never heard of him until anthony scaramucci said he wanted to fire him. he announced this before telling

a guy, what the guy in charge of the message or trump administration. what makes this so bizarre, in crafting the message of the trump administration on big issues like healthcare, taxes, be out there talking to politico and announcing he may fire some guy he never heard of. neil: it distracts from the healthcare story. >> what we have been finding out, brian schwartz got this cold, vice president mike pence met with michael lee, one of the no voters. may be enticed to join the effort, the cruz lee amendment, consumer freedom amendment

allows insurance companies to sell plans that are cheaper. neil: as long as they still sell -- >> usually you have a choice. mike pence went to him and said this amendment might not be in the bill after whitehouse was saying it might be in the bill so what you got right now is lee back on the fence of this thing. what looked like -- we will see what happens. neil: susan collins can't afford any more. >> i am telling you unless lee changed his line in the sand, what brian understands from reporting is mike pence said we can't put this in the bill because if we put it in the bill we have to do this, get 60 votes because the cbo doesn't have time to score it yet so we go back to can't do this to 51 vote thing, got to get democrat and they will never agree to this

and that puts lee back on the fence essentially. warner: the crazy stuff. beleaguered or not you are still a guy. >> i feel bad for mike short. when you fire me can you not do it publicly? just don't go on the air and say anything. neil: when we come back donald trump is hitting the washington post. is it one of the reasons amazon stock is down? probably not but we will pursue this next.

neil: donald trump hitting the washington post again accusing amazon of a no tax monopoly with a big merger, including time warner, hoping to hook up with at&t. all of this rage might be overblown. is that where you are coming from. >> how far can you play this, tail wagging the dog, got to worry about the markets and the money because if you don't get anything done to sustain

anything, i am worried actually. neil: the amazon downdraft, a run-up on donald trump's and going on a number of occasions. with business practice avoiding taxes. what is going on here? >> a lot of people bring argument. traders i am talking to around the world are nervous about the twitter tirades, they are raining their horns. they don't want to miss a rally if there is a tweet the other direction or vote for goes in their favor. they are not buying either. that is causing this hesitation. neil: this is a busy week of

earnings, 200 earnings report, better than expected guidance. we tend to focus on the market rally looking forward to tax cuts, and earnings and momentum and as easy as they were to fall through, the damage might not be that big. >> you throw in some earnings so future, not politics, they are smart enough to figure that out. 20 years ago we had the dot.com crisis, and get that equation, to me that is reaffirming, focusing on the good companies and ceos.

neil: nothing to question, the finality of a republican, tax cuts i did this year. i don't know how that would be. >> i think there will be a problem. we will have a reset if that happens. a component of looking towards the future includes hope and optimism. you bet on what is likely to take place, not necessarily what is probable or possible and when someone says tax cuts are dead, healthcare is dead that takes 5% to 8% out of the market like that. neil: let's talk about who is going to lead this market forward. looking at caterpillar and mcdonald's, financials doing well, energy doing well, the worry is what the federal reserve says after his meeting about paring down this $4.3 billion balance sheet. what is there to worry about? how fast they do it?

>> that is the issue. how fast they will do it. the thing about a financial crisis, no one concentrates on, they blocked junk no one wanted in the first place. who will buy the junk they already junked? i don't know the answer. bond markets are pretty solid, corporate earnings are where you want to be so speed is where the market will have some problems. neil: always good catching up, thank you very much. keith fitzgerald, waiting on this crucial technical vote that will essentially mean we have the right to fight another day and we are going to fight another day but if they approve this measure to proceed expect christmas tree decorations from both parties as amendments to make this accessible begin to pop up. they will add tens of billions, even hundreds of billions of dollars to this thing to make it palatable to those who are

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. neil: all right, the vote for this procedural measure will come up shortly right now. also coming up shortly on capitol hill, senator john mccain returning to deliver remarks on the health care vote. people would assume he would vote and will continue to support an effort to keep the debate going. of course, senator has been diagnosed with brain cancer

after a tumor was found above his eye, but he's a fighter and doesn't want to be away for this big development. his party needs him. he will be there to vote, and he is expected to make a statement very shortly. no doubt trish regan will be taking you to that and so much more in the next hour. trish: i will, a lot going on everyone. moments away from a crucial vote in the senate. senators are going to be deciding if they will debate the health care bill, a procedural measure and have to figure out whether or not they are ready and willing and able to debate it? all of this as we watch the dow and the s&p snap a three-day losing streak and the dow powering to new highs, up 129 points, 21,642. i am trish regan, welcome to the "the intelligence report" on this very important day. we are waiting on senate republicans. the president out tweeting to them right now, saying big day for health care, after seven