>> how about this fantastic panel today. >> thank you. >> all you, maria bartiromo. >> a great show. thanks for joining us. "varney & company" joining us now. ashley steward webster and for stuart. ashley: we have plenty to go out. natural disasters, and yet the market still at record highs. good morning, everyone coming thank you for joining us. hurricane maria hitting straight on as a category four -- 185 miles per hour winds were too 24 hour state. in new mexico devastating earthquakes more than 200 dead as the numbers expect you to rise, they are still pulling people out of the school for at least 20 children were killed or

devastating. two politics for the president stole the stage at the u.n. general assembly warning north korea, you provoke us or our allies, we will destroy you. general jack keane moments away on that. despite all those headlines as we say the market in record yet again. more all-time highs expected just a half-hour from now as investors wait for janet yellen this afternoon. also waiting for word on health reform. the gop we are told one or two votes short of getting it done. three top senators will be joining us over the next three hours. the day for politics. "varney & company" has got it covered and it's about to begin. >> we are now getting our images of hurricane maria head-on. as you can see from the map on the right and what is happening on the ground on the left.

we spoke to the d.c. office of the governor of puerto rico and they say, quote, the situation on the ground is catastrophic. communications extremely difficult. they don't know what condition the infrastructure or communications will be after the storm passes through puerto rico but they call this an unprecedented situation. we will check in with adam klotz very shortly with the forecast in the hour. right now, puerto rico right in the eye, literally, the hurricane maria. now to the earthquake in mexico. lives come and give us the details. we mentioned a search for survivors at a school in mexico. liz: the authorities say we need quiet, we need to hear the voices in the rubble to see if we can save people. they are using rescue dogs. unfortunately, the bodies of 21 children at one school. this struck on the anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed 5000 in mexico. of these 40 for billions

collapsed in the capital alone. the deadliest earthquake in 32 years for the death toll rising to 226 right now. ashley: will stay on the story. thank you very much. the president's speech to the u.n. this is him putting north korea on notice. roll tape. >> the united states has great strength in patients. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea appeared train to come in general jack keane, fox news military analyst. general, i would imagine your reaction was one of actual, i would imagine you're happy with the president has to say for the first time in maybe after we've had a president laid down the line and say it as it is to the leaders. what was your reaction? >> you're absolutely right. it was so refreshing. gone from the obama speech as we listen to for eight years before

the same body for the empty phony platitudes are the apologies for america and also the confident, soothing feeling to get people to get applause lines during the 40 minute speech. enter trump and what we get is the truth. one, and the u.n. not a defect that they could be. i am tired of paying a disproportionate share. i am calling you out. you have got to get better results than what you're doing. number two, this is the world as it really is. iran is murderous. north korea as depraved. loser terrorists. we have to deal with them. what the critics miss because they are all preoccupied with the directness and boldness and i applaud that. what the critics miss the many appeals to the 193 nations. to the leaders of powerful people in this room, let's work

together under the auspices of the u.n. to deal with this vicious and complex problem. that is a strong message. he defines the problem and says let's work it together. good speech. ashley: strong message about sovereignty single people deserve a government that cares for their safety. i want to get to the next one. earlier in the week president trump said he would like to stage a military parade on the fourth of july. what's your reaction to that? >> i think it's a great idea. fourth of july, small towns, small cities and some larger ones all celebrate america as greatness, barbecue, parades, fireworks. here in washington d.c. the military does a concert in the early evening followed by a massive fireworks display compared to what takes place in new york city. i think it's a terrific idea. it would be a militaristic parade like we see in north korea or russia dragging out all

of it. this be a celebration of the military's and families in sacrifices. it would be about people, not about things. i think it's a great idea. we celebrate armed forces day in november on the 11, but this is a special day. i think it's got a good idea. ashley: interesting because people say in which he referred to, this is like north korea, like china where we see the icbms being dragged through the streets. to this point that's not what he's saying. >> no, we would never do anything like that. the pentagon would not want to do that. that's not who we are. we are better connection to the american people in identification with the american people values. the instruments of war are dangerous things. we don't have to put them on display going down pennsylvania avenue. ashley: and deep or general jack keane, great stuff. thanks for joining us. back to the market. quick back to the flat, the

market as we hear from janet yellen this afternoon to find out what the fed is going to do with the latest statement. probably not a whole lot but the market hanging on waiting to see what the fed chair has to say. retail ice age story of the day. they happen every day. bed bath and beyond will be down bake at the open reporting some pretty weak numbers. i save down nearly 14% in premarket nearly four backs. amazon, questions about how much or how little corporate income tax they pay. the numbers are deceiving. ashley: transfer one point for billions at amazon paid versus wal-mart. amazon doesn't have taxable profits. they have been known since the 90s to make up their own profit numbers. they come up with their own

accounting figures. so when it comes to gas earnings , yes it looks bad. 460 billion plus in market value with a tiny tax bill, uncomfortable questions for amazon right now. ashley: the stock with a slightly higher. thank you very much. health reform a big topic right now. president trump treating this about senator rand paul that somebody negates the cassidy bell. he says look, rand paul is a friend of mine, but he such a negative force when it comes to fixing health care. it is great and it's okay or, calling our rand paul. all rights, judge andrew napolitano. >> read within the prompter. that's what i'm laughing now. ashley: he is always in no. >> i strongly, strongly stand in senator rand paul scan. obama carries for basic

principles. the federal government has the obligation to provide health care coverage for every american. to come in the federal government can mandate the acquisition of health care. we, the federal government can micromanage health care. for current federal government can have access to the laptop of every primary care physician in the country and access to medical records. grand cassidy changes none of those principles. ashley: we are throwing out upon the care and replacing it with obamacare. >> we are not throwing out obamacare. we are making it permanent by giving it a different name. the four principles of federal dominance in federal intrusion of federal command individuals remain. ashley: so what is the answer? i want for themselves? >> the answer is regulation by the state or the answer is in new jersey to buy an insurance policy from colorado rather than

forcing me as an unmarried man to have maternity coverage. i don't think you can invade it. >> but i have to pay for it under obamacare and vendor graham-cassidy. ashley: an all or nothing situation is we will say no to everything that doesn't match 100% what we want. surely some compromise is the only way everything will get done. >> the insidious big jury that barack obama as president achieved was persuading republicans that it is the duty of the federal government to ensure health coverage for everybody else. five years of republicans condemn that. they condemned in campaigns and party platform and on the floor of the congress. now they go along with it. >> he gets away with the individual mandates. you still have the obligation to have insurance and if you don't

have insurance when you get it you are forced to pay for the years he didn't have it. ashley: against its a lot more leeway than before. >> federal dollars, which will eventually be accompanied by strings that the states will have to comply. ashley: come back to the same point. the only way you'll say yes that's a great plan is if we scrap the whole thing and i would have been the air. >> they've nothing to do with health care. that's not me. that's a constitution. where is you are going to have to argue constitution? ashley: that's a good question. where is stuart varney. thank you very much. another chapter futures for you. a daily dose of outrage. more national anthem protests on the football field, but this time he wrote kids taking any. we will have that story coming out. check that out. plus, bad news for anyone who upgraded their iphone software yesterday. turns out that more than 180,000

not compatible with the new ios 11 operating system. it looks like progress on tax reform, the senate clears $1.5 billion in the budget or tax cuts. the question becomes where does the money go? tax breaks for the middle class? the corporate tax rate of 15%. we are on it. more "varney" after this.

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ashley: from stocks to health reform, senator to repeal obamacare, getting some traction that's for sure. but do they have enough votes? john kennedy always very much the speaker of common sense. thank you for joining us. are you a gas? >> i am a yes. it's not a perfect bill, but it's a good bill.

we are not quite there yet. i think we are getting close. i want to thank my friends on the democratic side of the aisle anyway, they made a deal with president trump on the debt train in the continuing resolution for the budget. this is the case for the president might have been ready. >> on tax reform, $1.5 trillion for tax cuts. what is that for? >> i'll tell you what i hope it's for. we start with the middle class. talking about people that make $100,000 or less. you can give them immediate relief by doubling the standard deduction about 80% of taxpayers standard deduction by 84% of those make less than 100 grand a year if you really want to help ordinary people doubled a

standard deduction. i want to help business, too. not just the courts, the past errors. i want to encourage them and we can do it through tax cuts to invest in more plants and machinery and equipment and software that's going to create jobs. that will increase productivity which will cause wages to go up and we can get the economy back to 3% growth, which by the way is normal. ashley: we can do much better than 2%. getting the budget is an essential first step for getting this major tax bill through. can they get the budget done so they can toss back the tax bill? >> they will get it done next week. a number of meetings among ourselves. i talked to chairman nancy yesterday. i respectfully, but enthusiastically suggested we have a meeting. i will do that next week.

>> you mention you think the democrats, this new era, which to some conservatives this just unthinkable. but his bat the way the president's agenda will get through by working the other side of the aisle? >> he was criticized for it, but i think he outsmarted in. had he not made the deal, we would run out of taxes. it although a debate right now? the budget and the debt ceiling. he kind of soccer demanding they agree to his proposal and that is why we have the time to talk about health care. that's why he went to thank my democratic friends. i'm not sure they knew what they were doing but they certainly know it now. it was a pretty good deal making. >> senator john kennedy. thank you so much. lots of news today. hurricane various limited to puerto rico. on the cloth of the fox news weather center with more.

puerto rico taking the direct hit. >> we next the u.s. virgin islands of the category five. category for running up just outside of san juan, the heavy populated area there. winds are still powerful pay 145-mile winds gusting up to 190 miles from the still become difficult to see where this high while this. it is right around off to the west side there is san juan. very powerful winds hitting the island that this will eventually lift on it. even on the backside for a while talking about a powerful, powerful storm. those folks have a while to go before they are clear this thing. the turnoff to the east side of turks and caicos before lifting its way to the north. varied as turning off to the east a little bit. the east coast to find out to find a way that things are going to go.

ashley: hopefully way out at is always appreciated. the nasdaq in new york called in a moment of silence right now for the victims of the mexican earthquake. ashley: hurricane maria simon into puerto rico rico as you just saw 150-mile per hour winds. two feet of rain expected in

puerto rico. fox news steve harrigan on the ground braving the elements with more. steve. >> we have been seeing some destructive winds in san juan for the last two hours or so. best of well over 100 miles an hour could care hour could carry the side that's a pretty dirty structures including major hotels. balconies torn off, a lot of tree snapped as well. this is in the heavily built-up capital come to some of the strongest buildings around were first responders have taken refuge. across failing to make people live in wooden houses and those groups according to officials are flying around as projectiles right now. this is a worst-case scenario for puerto rico. the major storm has not made it back to the island for 3.5 million people in more than 80 years. the direct hit now at a very bad time but they are still weak from irma.

back to you. >> i noticed someone to shot that was just taken. >> there is still power in some places. more than a million people lost power. the lights are on, the parables in the building in the casino is now river. liz: some people had no power since irma. ashley: that's a good point. san juan puerto rico now in the eye of the storm. some of the damage on the side of the building where he is. look at a full scale look at what happened after maria until the storm goes another 20 hours or so. president trump says bill babel. r. robles p. disagrees. she says president trump should be rethinking its plan. guess that from a list peak is here to make her case. big heart of the campaign. build that wall. who's going to pay for it? mexico.

you say forget it. >> and a number of reasons why the bill is impractical, it expensive, not durable. with hurricanes coming to my fall down. this is a bargaining chip, a metaphor and i think very many more important things to do about immigration that could actually permanently change the incentive for people to enter our country illegally. we need to either make it mandatory nationwide, every employer has to check on the status of the would-be employee employee. it's a government program that is free, doing very well. many states have made it mandatory, the california, for example, is illegal to use either a fight which gives you a sense of how california has gone vis-à-vis immigration. i also think we need to get rid of first-rate citizenship. this is a policy only the united dates in canada still adopt in all the developed world. everyone else in europe, for

example, has discarded it. the idea you can come into our country illegally, how the cave indicated automatically do a citizen not only is a huge win an enticement for someone coming across the border, but also attracts a tourism industry which is really detrimental to our rule of law and everything else. we need to change why people coming to the u.s. and then we will have fewer people doing that. >> i read your article. the big problem is people overstayed their visas climbing over, land under a wall. >> i/o matrix screenings for visa accidents is another measure. a lot of those are anything kid and they don't pay attention or whatever. that is how the saudi 9/11 perpetrator stayed in the country. that's a very dangerous thing.

we have no idea who's in our country. all of these things are doable is the thing. you don't need the will to do it. ashley: quickly on daca, what are your thoughts? it's inhumane to send one of these people better kids, not kids. who have grown up to a country they've never seen before. that is absurd. they should stay here, but they shouldn't have a password citizenship. they should be votes and no votes. ashley: very interesting. we are just poor play five minutes away from the up and the stock market. features down on the dow, but i think the markets waiting to hear from janet yellen this afternoon on what the fed is going to do. it does have an impact in that's where the market is waiting. more on the markets after this.

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after they've been meeting the last couple days. what about a rate hike on inflation, getting that balance sheet unloaded a little bit. all of them are it waiting, but not having much impact. here we go. let's get on the way the little logo on the dow, still 22,351, down 14, down 16. just kind of bear. same story on the s&p and nasdaq. we are doing this throughout the day. s&p essentially flat. 25 of seven and the not back down. markets just kind of waiting to see what happens with the fed. anything they can get out of the statement for janet yellen that they can latch onto. so far i don't think we're expecting to love. rate hike by the end of the year , maybe some monetary typing, all of those things. >> some people are interested.

>> and i love them for it. >> yes, exactly. let's get to the weak numbers. bed bath and beyond. down 16%. the retail ice age down more than $4. amazon by the way paid $124 billion in corporate income tax and 2008. comparatively over the same time period, wal-mart paid 64 billion. more on that in just a minute. joining us now, liz peak, listening donald still inside and my good friend shag lonnie from his sniff sniff mansion. looks like the markets waiting on the fed. do you care? >> i do care. i try not to, but i have to. i don't think there's anything unexpected coming out of this

meeting. i think what is going to have been promote what should happen is the fed will announce it will begin to unwind. i don't think that's any news there. such is the question of whether or not they provide any guidance for the timing of that because they will be dated dependent on that. as far as the rate hike, it doesn't make any sense to hike now. december hike is not only likely, going to happen. ashley: one rate hike in december. for part $5 trillion balance sheet at the fed they are going to fill bonds off of that. probably 50 billion a month, a drop in the bucket. >> are we going to hear about inflation or lack thereof? >> we are going to hear that exact message and get to 50 billion. we are going to start at 10 billion not even selling the bonds. we will let the ones mature go

away. we buy them. that is why everyone is kind of quiet. one key thing. right now the market thinks low volatility that it is pricing two to three months from now. we will see some volatility based on this. >> let me very quickly make a case for low inflation. it is pushed money into equities because they can't get any yield anywhere. what's the problem? >> economists think it is dilatory to investment and spending. i think we'll have to to start looking at these numbers. janet yellen is very concerned up to the 2% target. it really comes back to labor. for .3% unemployment. i don't believe that number. it is much higher than that. you still have an awful lot of people who are on disability and so forth who now the jobs --

yes, that is true, too. now the jobs are more plentiful, people are coming off these welfare rolls and so forth and taking jobs. i think we haven't yet seen the impact on wages that we eventually will see. i think there'll be a a rate hike in december. ashley: go ahead, cheryl. >> i have to say this whole discussion about interest rates and inflation is so passé. it doesn't matter we don't have inflation. as long as you don't have deflation. it is long since time the fed needs to normalize policies and ballad sheets and get less interest rate. nothing to do with inflation. if we wait on inflation, it will be another 10 years. >> i think that's totally right. one thing that's essential we've never had a $4.5 trillion said alan chi. no one knows what the impact of that has been or what it's going

to be a sister to unwind it. variable out there for sure. >> let's look at amazon. we talked about this earlier. $1.4 billion in corporate income tax since 2008. believe it or not, not a whole lot. wal-mart has paid 64 billion. more on that in a minute. are the numbers misleading here? how is amazon getting around it? >> the numbers are misleading because it is those and company have been clear since the beginning. for two decades they've told us we are not going to generate profits. we are going to build business, build an empire. we invest that if you're not making a profit, you don't pay taxes on it. it's pretty simple now. they built a huge company doing it, that they are playing by the rules, not taking money out of anyone's pocket. >> getting away with murder. >> shareholders in stock tires.

people are priced amazon on its future prospects forever and basically not cared whether or not it was a profitable company. the trend of amazon is so formidable that people have been overlooking. >> since the 90s. i'll tell you something, watching the european union to headquarters are in luxembourg in the e.u. going after more u.s. tech giants and companies like amazon. ashley: jealousy about american might. after reporting week profits, that will do it on 16.5%. big-name retailers closing stores this year. the retail ice age seers, route 21. route 21 i think i've we know what's happening to the malls. kmart, radioshack.

we talk about the retail ice age all the time. the numbers of the dems continue to grow. >> there are several things you can say. one is it's not over. a lot of storefronts are still struggling to compete with online shopping. secondly, what you saw with toys "r" us is to buy these companies, load them up with lots and lots of debt and a struggling retail environment isn't going to support that. the rationale has been don't worry about that. we've got the real estate assets to take care of. sears, but all of a sudden it's malls are going under, your real estate is questionable. the nike got to wonder if it's a d.c. policy issue. the number of store closings in those laid off is triple what it was last year at more than the financial collapse of 2008 and more than manufacturing layoffs combined. you've got to wonder if d.c. is paying attention to the minimum-wage jobs that were

created at a pace that we haven't seen under obama if that's the way we want this country to go. >> as far as the retail, this is just creative destruction. not just amazon. online businesses in general. the leader in the forefront of all of that. did far too much retail space in terms of the united states. they have the average of the world. way over bill. this is long overdue. the retail space needs to consolidate. there will be opportunities to discuss these thoughts about god and catch them on the way down again. >> what you see? >> i think i'm more in shock and to this point, doing something regulatory to stop the market from clearing itself, from getting rid of the overbuilt malls, all the extra stuff we've done will put them into the technology in all the things

coming from this online explosion. >> very quickly some live pictures of president trump i believe with king abdullah dissected the jordan. he he's talking. let's listen in. >> partners and allies for a long time and never has a relationship better than it is right now. we are working together on many problems and some things that are problems that are very very good, but we'll make the bad ones turn out good. i want to thank you for everything you've done terms of the refugees and taking care of people with who knows what would've happened without you. i want to thank you and everyone involved with you in your done an amazing job. thank you. >> mr. president, thank you for having us here again. we've met several times this year and i think that shows the special relationship between our two countries and how close we are together. i'm very grateful to your support for country support for

our country in these difficult times of the special bond between our two nations. i'd also like to extend condolences on the victims of the hurricanes and also how you the government, the people and first responders react to the crisis. for us on the outside looking at how americans came together at this difficult time as an example to everybody else and we are grateful for that and everything we do to solve our problems. >> i've never seen wins like this in puerto rico you take a look at what is happening there and it's just one after another. we are doing a good job. mccain is a very fine gentleman from a very nice man, also a great, great fighter. we are all fighting together. terrorism around the world but they only stand beside you in your country. thank you very much. >> thank you, everybody. ashley: there you have it. it is fair to say donald trump

and king abdullah the second like each other. jordan mackay ally. the warmth between the two leaders. in fact, the king of jordan congratulating the president on the response to the hurricane disasters racing in the united states. that was very warm indeed aired also making by the way the president, palestinian president box with abbas. the egyptian president, theresa may, british prime minister. another busy day and before that, leaders of african nations. the u.n. week in the new york area and the president very busy. thanks shai gallani, enjoy life in the hamptons. dr, thank you for seeing me in person. liz, you are not going anywhere. up about five points, 22375. not bad with all the headlines out there, the markets as they wait to hear maybe from janet yellen and what she has to say.

hurricane maria slamming into puerto rico is a category four storm. 155 miles an hour winds gusts close to 190. as much as two feet of rain could fall in some places. a live report from puerto rico in the next hour. another amazon story for you. this augmented reality with the likes of the system built right in. we have the details for you on that next. patients that i see

that complain about dry mouth they feel that they have to drink a lot of water medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. i like to recommend biotene. it replenishes the moisture in your mouth. biotene definitely works! train to take a look at the doubt for you. five, 22,375 that the mere two or three points just about 15 minutes into the session. amazon moving slightly higher at three points at 973 working on smart classes as its first wearable device.

does this mean nicole petallides will have more people talking to themselves? >> could be. could happen at the end of this year. amazon stock up one third of 1%. the first wearable device we had to outgoing the in-home hardware which they also out by the end of the year. this is smart classes, your virtual assistant will be with you embedded in the classes and connects wirelessly to your smartphone. you'll actually be able to hear alexa without your funds because of the audio system. the same sort of system that allows people to hear, help swimmers, music underwater. this is something very cool. the google by founder they hired in 20 for king to lead this project. very interesting stuff. appreciate that.

three gop holdouts in the senate on the green cassidy bill. mccain, collins and makowski, joining us now, senator john grasso. usual group in other words. mr. barrasso is a republican for wyoming. my question to you, can the republicans rip the votes needed to get this through? >> and for having me. committed to do something. we need to provide relief and a better way to get the decisions out of washington works much better. many of us were committed to do. where in the process of working with every member to get it done. ashley: what do you do to persuade senator murkowski, collins and mccain that this is the way to go. >> you work with every member on

why it's better for people who suffered under obama cured to help those get the care they need from the doctor they choose at lower costs. so many governors have come out supporting mass because they know they do much better in their states if you don't have washington dictating what they have to buy. plus this eliminates the individual mandate that says everybody has to buy a government product, a government approved product it eliminates the employer mandate, which is very helpful across the country in stimulating the economy. ashley: at will. it will encourage people. before you go, democrats like nancy pelosi, dianne feinstein blasting the president for what he said about north korea at the united nations yesterday in his speech. what was your reaction to the speech? >> i thought it was a strong speech unrealistic speech.

united nations ought to come together in what the charter calls or in pointing out in dealing with people in north korea and iran. the president that all the nations of the world it's time to address this force big north korea getting closer and closer to the capacity to attack us. it is time for the world to unite against them. we need to have russia involved. the president talked about that as well as china and specifics of china to cut off the oil to north korea. i thought the president was bold and very strong with his speech. ashley: he was indeed. senator barrasso, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. good luck getting the gop members in line for the bill. we wish you the best of luck. >> things, actually. ashley: one of his restaurants and rooted the national anthem before an nfl game. more details on that next.

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>> to dow stocks, caterpillar and procter & gamble and procter & gamble hitting all-time highs by the broader market was i was waiting for janet yellen. caterpillar up again. still higher. procter & gamble up a quarter of a percent.

general mills profit missing on week, and yogurt and cereal sales. people not eating their wheaties. general mills started getting hit down 6% to 51.96. customers at a buffalo wild wings say an employee refused to let them hear the national anthem before an nfl game monday night, which was also by the way the 16th anniversary of 9/11. that story means nothing to the stock. buffalo wild wings up a dollar. cahokia -- not easy to say, but the ages eight and undertook a knee during the national anthem ahead of sunday's game. would he think about that? >> it's an interesting story because the coach talked to the kids about this scene is happening at the nfl wanted to know what it was about. one could sad is this because black people are getting killed and no one goes to jail. the coach supposedly talk to

them and explained why this is happening. what was missing in the conversation is why they should not do it. the values that are represented by our flag, why they should be singing the national anthem in saluting our flag. unfortunately, that is what is happening, this love of country is out there, everyone embraces it so we can rebel against it to make a point. ashley: think of the peer pressure of the 8-year-old 2000. >> and they didn't even understand it. they understood only that their coach with a love and respect and follow his encouraging them to do this. he missed an opportunity to say by the way, the other side of the coin is not split should go on. it's everywhere. ashley: it's out of hand. i think it is exploitation, too in some respects a little eight

year olds. whatever, it happened, we showed you at, we talked about it. let's move on. amazon sending alerts to nonexistent babies. liz: added amazon even know? where is my wedding riches are you? so they accidentally sent e-mails to millions of people to millions singing baby gift is on the way because that baby registry. it was a glitch. some of the e-mails redirected them to set up a new registry. how much does amazon know about us? >> we were talking about the classes. they can look and know there's another member. >> we were talking about this earlier. i guess they're not so perfect talking about amazon. transfer by the way, some people are like where is my present? >> that is great.

let's check the big board. let's move on. not much going on in the markets, down five. the dow still at 22,368. really quite remarkable. hillary clinton blasting president tribes u.n. general assembly speech. she called it dark and dangerous, unquote. you could say this about the e-mail server. president trump firing back and you can imagine his aunt. we will have it after this.

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ashley: 10 a.m. on the east coast. 7:00 a.m. on the west coast. i'm ashley webster in for stuart today. here is a big story for you. as president trump takes on the world of the united nations, congress takes on health reform. the president cleared the deck to get things done when he made a deal with the democrats. now they're taking advantage. here's a big surprise. hillary clinton goes on stephen

colbert's show and blasts president trump. saying the president's speech was dark and dangerous. we'll get into that. pointing to the dire situation there in venezuela as a failure of socialism. we may have found a bipartisan issue of equifax. both sides are fired up over the massive data breach and all the news come out since. it does not look good for equifax. the stock taking a big hit since the breach, at two-year low. the chart falls off a cliff when the news came out. we're covering all of that. plus hurricane maria, the quake in mexico. record-setting markets. hour two of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ashley: right at the top of the hour breaking news. new numbers on existing home sales, emac. liz: lower than expected. 5.35 million on annualized

basis. markets looking for 5.46 million. so we see the median home price, ashley, you and i are talking about this trending up. here is why the median house price going up. we see existing home sales continue to flat line since the beginning of the year. as housing inventory has been virtually cut in half at peak of 11 years ago. it is down for 26 straight months decline in housing inventories, those median prices go up. first-time home buyers we talked about it, students with college debt waiting seven years to buy a home. because of massive student loan debt. the first-time home buyers not coming in to buy homes. housing markets are under pressure from the number. the dow dipping to the downside right now. ashley: what an interesting fact on these numbers. if it wasn't for houston numbers would be flat. houston, existing home sales down 25% year-over-year because of course hurricane harvey. that is thrown in the mix.

not having any impact on market. the dow still off five points. check the big board for you. we're waiting to hear from fed chair janet yellen later on this afternoon around 2:00. she will probably talk about inflation, the fed's massive balance on its sheet there, how will it get rid of some of that, all that liquidity it bought up put into the markets. we'll hear about that fed rate hike maybe by decent. current betting, 57% of a rate hike in decent. regardless the market remains flat. s&p 500 hitting all-time high though again. anything slightly higher means another new record. the s&p up at 2506, just up slightly on the day. tech stocks we like to check every day for you. they are a mixed bag. facebook down as is microsoft and apple. alphabet, google, amazon, slightly higher.

latest read on inventories, emac can't wait for that. oil pushing through the $50 barrier. we've been hitting $50 and coming back. finally going through that up 1 1/2%. opec meeting at end of the week in vienna. do we care? more and more we don't care what opec says. they will meet later this week. now this, hillary clinton criticizes president trump's speech at the u.n. listen last night to interview with stephen colbert. roll the tape. >> i thought it was very dark, dangerous. not the kind of message that the leader of the greatest nation in the world should be delivering. ashley: uh-huh. president trump responded with a tweet this morning. here it is. quote. after allowing north korea to research and build nukes while secretary of state bill clinton also, hillary clinton now criticizes. i love his tweets. we have fox news contributor

rachel campos did you have fifth thanks for being here. i'm not surprised. we know what hillary clinton is going to say. after my mind eight years apologizing for america's actions. we have a leader went in front of that group told it as it is. what was your reaction? >> thanks to obama, thanks to her and thanks to george bush. he is taking problem head on the best he can with limited options. liz: her own husband bill clinton said in '94 it would be the end of north korea if north korea does use its nuclear weapons. ashley: right. liz: so the president is doing conventional approach, saying

u.n., you're here for. step up to take care of the problem. ashley: hillary clinton is hawking her book blaming everyone, including squirrels for why she lost the election. i think it is doing massive disservice to the democrat party. it emphasizes why they lost and how out of touch they are with the american voter. >> shows how selfish she is, hurting the party, doing the book tour and making excuses for the party. the party is unable to move forward. why did we lose wisconsin, working class americans, many of them democrats, a large majority are democrats. they can't move on until this woman decides -- ashley: needs to step aside. they keep looking backwards. >> as my kids say, their favorite movie "frozen," let it go, we'll sing it for you in a minute. 180 professors calling for boycott of free speech week. they call it a threat to

students physical and mental safety. are you kidding me? birthplace for one of the revered campuses in this country of free speech, that is what we're getting from professors. >> they called in counselors to counsel the kids because they might be traumatized for free speech week. this is wake-up call for parents. you are sending your dollars here in these schools. you don't want to send your kid to berkeley. it is not just berkeley. this liberal. ashley: intolerance is spreading across universities. be very good consumers where you send your kid to school. don't think because you raised them up, they are immune to the indoctrination of left. they mastered this. they are good at it. they will take your kid, instock trin nate them. by the way, taxpayers are funding this. ashley: i know. >> why are we funding this kind of behavior? why does the constitution is

suspended because you're on a college campus. this is wrong. liz: incurring massive student loan debt to be taught things like this. they can't buy their own house waiting average of seven years. ashley: basically the message, we don't like your message. we're not allowing you to say it. that is the message. that is not free speech. liz: pot calling the kettle fascist. ashley: russia circa 1950. thank you, rachel. to the latest effort to repeal obamacare. last hour we asked senator john kennedy whether the senate will be able to pass the graham-cassidy bill. roll tape. >> i am a yes. it is a, not a perfect bill. i will offer some amendments. but it's a good bill. i think we have an excellent chance of passing it. we're not quite there yet, but i think we're getting close. ashley: not quite there yet, getting close. joining us david smick economist and senior hill advisor. david, you've been in the hill more than once. do you think they will get this done? >> i think they have a at least

a 50/50 chance. this is what is so great about politics. this bill was dead two weeks ago. there was one guy who revived it, made it into a contender. when bernie sanders came out for medicare for everyone. people took look at potential cost of that, to particularly working class families, it is horrific. they look just, we can't even afford the current medicare system, much less this gigantic thing. that is the alternative. really the choice is between this, and letting states have a hand at it, essentially the uk medical system. government-run, which is, is not a good track record there. ashley: so what about these holdout republican senators, the

mccains and susan collins i think will never going to agree? are there any arguments that can persuade them to get their vote or moderate democrats who will come across and vote for it? >> i'm not sure about moderate democrats. obamacare and democratic party is such a badge, if you rip off the badge, you will have automatic primary candidate. but i would say, a lot of it depend on the senator from alaska, and i think -- ashley: lisa murkowski. >> exactly. i think the governor of kentucky, whether the governor of kentucky can have effect on rand paul. that is where it comes down to. i mean issue again is not whether rand paul votes for this or votes for something more perfect, to his liking. the issue, do you want to to down in history as the senator who killed a chance to have an alternative to bernie care? i really do think that what it

has come down to. ashley: another one for you, david, the senate set aside one-half trillion dollars in the budget for tax reform. what exactly does that mean? >> well, they, in order to get a tax reform bill through, according to these crazy rules of the senate, you have to produce a budget, a 10-year budget. that is really, a important breakthrough, they were able to get a budget. i think this thing comes down to, you know, if you're sitting at home, saying i hear, you know, i keep hearing this will, tax reform will go through, but i'm not sure, here is what you look at. in the house, you look at the freedom caucus. most of the freedom caucus are really good guys, look at things from standpoint of the betterment of their constituents. there is a group, that i have read about, in "wall street journal" and elsewhere, that are into, the sport of killing things.

so watch them. if they are, continue to down that path where they have almost kind of a psychotic hatred of the leadership, then we could have a problem. ashley: right. >> now in the senate what you have to look at is president trump's approval rating. that is why i think this has a better chance of greater his approval rating. when the president went bipartisan on the debt limit, a lot of people sat around, a lot of conservatives said he is selling us out, actually what he is doing, he is raising, particularly among its, his personal approval rating. ashley: right. >> higher that goes, if he gets into the 40s by time they have a vote, number of moderate senators from the republican side and conservative democrats will say, maybe it is safer now to vote for something that is going to have trump's name on it. i don't think that is the case when the president is sitting at 34% approval. 44, everything changes.

ashley: that's true. >> i spent a lot of time up there. when president raises approval rating everything becomes easier for his party. ashley: that is very true. but you know what, getting something done is wonderful thing as well, even if this sticks in the craw of those conservatives. >> absolutely. david: david, appreciate it. hurricane maria, the first cat-4 hurricane to hit puerto rico since 1932. 10,000 people are evacuated to shelters. we have very latest on the storm. venezuela president nicolas maduro calling the president trump the new hitler of international politics after the president urged leaders to restore political freedoms in venezuela. more on that story. the deal-maker-in-chief is tackling middle east peace. you're watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪

ashley: let's check the big board for you, down fractionally , down 11 points. still remarkable levels on the dow. let's talk about the retail ice age. bed, bath & beyond posting weak numbers. the stock hitting the lowest level since march of 2009. that is what, eight years. hurricane maria hitting in puerto rico right now as we speak. the governor's office using terms like like catastrophic and unprecedented. fox news meteorologist adam klotz joins us now with i guess the ugly details. adam. >> ashley, it's a powerful storm. we've seen last several hours taking back to this morning, this is the path hitting the u.s. virgin islands as category 5, just clipping it. you're looking at eye wall passing by. making landfall at 6:15 this

morning. the eyewall weaken as little bit as moves over. still powerful storm. wind gusts still up to 113 miles per hour that will do some damage. the reason you take lose the eyewall, mountain topography. even with that happening the storm still doing a lot of damage throughout the area, because it is running into the mountains, just not mean this thing is over even though the eyewall is fizzling out a little bit. winds at 145 miles per hour. we're getting a peak wind, peak rain, peak storm surge. folks in san juan and eyewall, off to the west of san juan right now, really getting battered at this hour. here is the motion. they will see very heavy wind and strong, heavy rains and strong wind for a little while. eventually this tracks up over wa water. th eyewall comes back together. it will lift off to the eastern side of the bahamas.

here is the forecast track. this takes you into the weekend by the time we get into the eastern side of the bahamas. you see it make that turn. there is lot of indecision where eventually it will go, once it gets past the islands. that is what we're watching very closely. ashley: great information as always, adam. appreciate it. now this, venezuela's president nicolas maduro calling president trump, quote, the new hitler in international politics. he was responding to this part of president trump's u.n. speech. roll tape. >> the socialist dictatorship of nicolas maduro has inflicted terrible pain and suffering on the good people of that country. this corrupt regime destroyed a prosperous nation by imposing a failed ideology that has produced poverty and misery everywhere it has been tried. ashley: couldn't say it plainer than that joining sus vanessa

newman, author of the book, blood profits. how american consumers unwittingly fund terrorists. thank you for joining us. you must have been interested to see what the president said about venezuela yesterday in that speech. what were your thoughts? >> i am. i was very pleased to see what he had to say. i had heard rumors from sources of mind that venezuela was going to feature large and i was not disa pointed. i was happy to see that he was standing up for the people of venezuela. that he called the regime corrupt, which it is. one of the second largest on planet in terms of largest in terms of amount of money stolen. my only criticism is he didn't, he didn't refer to it as really a drug cartel which is basically or their ties with the drug cartel. that would have been, you know, the trifecta. but it was very brave of president trump. i'm very glad to see him do it.

ashley: but practically, vanessa, does it make any difference? he certainly, he praised those leaders in the region for helping those citizens of venezuela who were trying to escape but ultimately these strong words, are they going to have any tangible results? >> well, we don't know. i mean president trump has backed away from his statement of you know, sort of military intervention. colombian president santos has sort of dropped the ball and said he will not support that what will happen in venezuela however, obviously increasing sanctions. venezuela but also venezuela will hang itself by its own pitard, the ma during reregime will. they have a increasing humanitarian crisis. 60% of children under age of 5 are severely malnourished. today it became official they missed their september 15th bond payment.

if they don't pay it within 30 days this could be start of cascade of defaults. we're not there yet, but we're starting to see, you know the catastrophe of the maduro regime. that could well bring some form of intervention in terms of a humanitarian crisis where the rest of the region has to step up. so, i think that is the way this is going to unfold. ashley: very quickly. i have literally 10 seconds, vanessa, to that point, when does this come to an end? when does maduro himself be forced out? if ever? >> the sooner the better quite frankly. ashley: yes. >> so there is some sort of country to recover. i'm hoping by the end of the year. i don't see how he can last much longer than that there are forces within, they're already negotiating his exit. that is very much an open secret. ashley: vanessa neumann, as always great insight. thank you very much from london today. coming up congress demanding

answers from equifax after 143 million customers had their information breached, accessed, not to mention three executives who miraculously sold stock before the breach was made public. they say they didn't know. the department of justice investigating possible insider trading. this could be one issue that unites congress by the way, just like it did with wells fargo. remember that? this as well. >> i've been on this committee nearly 10 years now. you have done something that has never happened in the last 10 years and united this committee on a major topic, and not in a good way. you can do endless move 201online research.t, or, you can take advantage of our best offer ever on an xt5. don't wait. our 2017 models will be moving fast.

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assembly plant in chicago with more on this story. jeff, what's going on? reporter: you talk about the retail ice age a lot, ashley. we're talking about a small car ice age. i am at the explorer plant here in chicago. that is cranking just fine. five other plants, two of them in mexico, three in the u.s., one in kansas city, two in michigan being shut for a while because they have too many cars people are not buying. look at ford's four biggest losers in terms of sales this year. three of those four are small cars. three of them are made at these plants in question. you know, i got to commend ford, what they're trying to do is match inventory with sales. they don't want to make sure, they want to make sure they're not making cars, too many cars they have to discount. they have currently 81 days of supply after 76 days of supply last month. they don't want to have oversupply. that is what killed them last time. they were making cars people didn't want. they had to discount them, they

lost money. probably a good thing. ashley: nice to see jeff flock without floodwaters around him. jeff reporting from chicago today. look at this. a south american travel site just opened for trading. it is up 10 1/2%. how about that, nice start at 28.7. next hour ceo of the company will join us. we will ask him how do you compete with big guys like priceline and expedia? we'll be right back. kevin, meet your father. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin

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much going on in the market as we await for janet yellen. we have weekly oil inventories breaking now. it says, ashley/emac. liz: 4.9 million barrels up. more oil in storage than expected. ashley: more in storage, that should be put pressure downwards, right? because we have more to play with. liz: charlie brady, senior editor here pointed out, seasonally there is drawdown. there is less. but the hurricane, hurricanes really -- ashley: gasoline distillates big drawdown. liz: gasoline down 2.25 million barrels. third straight week of build in barrel. ashley: oil prices right there, right around $50 a barrel. quick check of the big board for you. we know the dow moving sideways, just up a point. doesn't get flatter than that, 22,371. waiting it see what happens

next. see what the fed has to say. let's look at the big tech names, we look at them every day because that is where so much money goes. facebook apple slightly down. apple having negative reviews for the new watch coming in. reports that the cellular connection made so much about that is not that reliable. down it goes apparently. apple down just a couple of bucks, about, at 155.97. general mills, meanwhile the parent company of cheerios, haagen-dazs and betty crocker making less money as expected. that stock down 4.28%. general mills disappointing shareholders. massive fallout from equifax is attracting the attention of congress. we have warren davidson, congressman from ohio. of.

congressman -- let me just, congressman, if you could wait two seconds. i've been told we'll hear from trump who is meeting at this hour with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. there he is in the room. let's listen in. >> palestinian authority is with us, and his representatives who have been working very hard with everybody involved toward peace. i mean we're looking seriously at peace and maybe ultimately peace in the whole of the middle east. i think we have a pretty good shot. maybe best shot ever. that is what we're looking to do. i want to thank you for all of the time, all of the meetings, all of the work. complex subject. always been considered the toughest deal of all, peace between israel and the palestinians, the toughest of all, but i think we have a very, very good chance. i certainly will devote everything within, within my heart and within my soul to get that deal made. our team is expert.

your team is expert. israel is working very hard toward the same goal. i must tell you saudi arabia, many of the different nations are working also hard. we'll see if we can put it together. who knows. stranger things have happened. i think we have a good chance. honor to have you with us. thank you. >> thank you. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i'm very delighted to be here with president trump and i thank you very heartily for allowing us this opportunity to meet with you for the first time. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: if this is any proof of anything, it is a test to the seriousness of your excellency, mr. president, to achieve the deal of the century in the middle east during this year or in the coming months. god willing. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and we are very certain that you, mr. president, are determined to reach real peace in the middle east. this gives us assurance and confidence that we are on the verge of deal between the palestinians and israelis. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: and i would not be giving away any secrets if i say we have met with your brave and active delegation more than 20 times since your access into power at the white house. if this is indication of anything, it indicates how serious you are about peace in the middle east. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and i'm very thankful for these efforts and you will find the utmost seriousness on our part to achieve peace, because is in our interest and interests of the

israeli people. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and allow me, mr. president, to use this opportunity to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the jewish people on the occasion of their today and on muslim people of the new islamic year tomorrow [speaking in native tongue] s. >> translator: this is a very sweet coincidence that we can celebrate the new year together with -- our period. if this indication to anything, it means that we can coexist together. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: , once again, mr. president we can -- >> that was very nice.

very great sentiment, frankly. i have to say from the time i'm a little boy i've been hearing about peace in the middle east and for some years i've been hearing about peace between israel and the palestinians and we're at very important juncture. there is a small period of time and we're going to see what we can do. so many people have talked about it and it's never happened but we're fighting very hard. we are trying very hard. we're all getting along together well. we'll see if we can do it and if we do do it would be a great, great legacy for everybody, for everybody. so let's see what happens. good luck, everybody, good luck, and you have millions of people rooting for you, that i can say. thank you. thank you very much. everybody. [shouting questions] >> thank you.

>> will you remain in the deal? >> i haven't decided, okay? i will let you know. [shouting questions] >> thank you. ashley: so the lights went down briefly. the cameras started moving. that is the end. how fascinating was that? president trump meeting with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. both speaking very warmly about the, you know the possibility of peace. of course president trump said, ever since he was a young lad he heard about it. it has been talked about. ever so complex and very hard to attain. emac, one thing interested me. palestinian president saying since president trump had taken office he had his country and his cabinet, 28 times they have had dealings with the white house talking about issues in the region. he found that incredibly

encouraging. liz: he did and that was positive statement coming out from mahmoud abbas. you did not see the president saying whether he endorse as two-state or one-state solution. president saying to the parties you have to hash that out on your own. this was optimistic comments out of the palestinian leader, just two days after benjamin netanyahu had positive comments about peace in the middle east. no three-way meeting in the u.n. between three of them but optimism. ashley: that is very true. president said, who knows, peace in the middle east, stranger things have happened. bring in charles hurt, "washington times" columnist. wow, charles, what did you take from that little i guess conversation we saw there between the president and the president of the palestinian authority? very interesting stuff. >> it was truly remarkable and the thing that stuck out to me more than i think anything was the statement you just made where he said, you know, who

knows, stranger things have happened. have you ever heard a president say anything like that? and it isn't sort of the normal diplomatic speak we get from politicians and because of that it is, i think it is such an opportunity. as with everything, it is donald trump's greatest strength. nobody knows what to expect. emac just pointed out, we don't know whether he believes in a one-state solution or two-state, because he kind of said everything. what that means everybody is sort of on tenterhooks, what is this guy doing, what is he talking about, what does he want? he just wants people talking, wants people negotiating. i thought it was interesting. he comes at it from the perspective of a businessman. he thinks like a businessman, whether leader of china or north korea, all these world leaders, they view him as a businessman. so when abbas says to him this, could be the deal of the century, i was cackling out loud saying, he has read his book. he knows this is a guy wants a

deal. it would be the deal of the century. ashley: would it ever. >> that is how the guy operates. ashley: i just want to follow up what the president and his speech, you know, amazing speech yesterday. 41 minutes long at the general assembly where he covered every topic in very clear, defined sentences. by the way whoever his speechwriter is, brilliant, absolutely brilliant, but he delivered it very well. what were your thoughts as you were watching donald trump, president donald trump address the united nations yesterday? >> what a breath of fresh air. what a dramatic change from the last u.s. president to speak at that group. it is very clear. he called out our enemies. and he led with strength. the first thing that he said was, look, we have a massive military and we're about to put $700 billion more into it. it will be stronger than it ever has been ever. he understands that is not really a bellicose comment actually. it is simply a comment that

says, look we have massive guns and a massive military. don't mess with us. let's all get along. kind of a message i take from it. democrats because they're politicians because they have to carp about things. they viewed that as being belligerent. that is just nonsense. most people saw it as being, this guy is really serious. ashley: let me bring in sebastian gorka right now. sebastian, so good to have you with us. you must have been very heartened what you heard from the president at the u.n. general assembly yesterday. he basically said all the things that you have been touting. time to get tough, time to call a spade a spade. what were your thoughts? >> look, ashley, truth be told, a month ago the person who wrote that speech sat down in steve bannon's office with me to talk about the key messages that have to be built into that speech. and god bless that speechwriter. he smuggled them past the swamp.

he smuggleed past the anti-megaforces in the white house. he knocked it out of the ballpark, hit for six. ashley: a home run in cricket which you get sick runs for. what do you think of him calling out north korea, if we're forced to essentially defend ourselves, that would be the u.s. and our allies, you will be totally destroyed? was that appropriate? >> well, since bill clinton and president obama have both said the same things, actually to cnn, let fake news industrial complex have a little sense of history, it is in fact totally appropriate. as survivor of the holocaust once said when a facile journalist asked him the question what is your one lesson learned from losing your whole family to the nazis? this aged man, said, there is really one lesson. when a group of people persistently and repeatedly

calls for your death and destruction you may want to take them seriously sooner or later. that is what the president is saying. you are using illegal ballistic missiles. you're firing over the territory of our allies. you're threatening guam which is a u.s. territory. and you are in illegal possession of nucleares weapons. that is something we have to take seriously. i was in the oval office when the president said to me, i don't want to go to war over korea which is the right attitude. but at the end of the day if somebody is holding a loaded gun over your head, words are not enough. ashley: sebastian, are you disappointed you're not at white house? i know you say those forces that would not make america great again weren't particularly on board with that mantra, everything that it entails. it was disappointing to you, steve bannon leaves, you leave, did you resign or were you asked to leave? >> i resigned. you can read the whole letter to

the president, i informed general kelly i would be resigning. the president reached out to me the day after he resigned. he thanked me for my service. he is sticking to the agenda. he wants me to help from the outside. it was a high honor to serve him. there is temporary state of affairs inside the building. when i joined the make america great again coalition to support the president from the outside, because the november the 8th message must be implemented. ashley: what was expression you used -- >> temporary state of affairs inside the building. ashley: what do you mean by that? >> very simple. your colleague tucker carlson nailed it after steve's resignation. he said whatever you think about steve bannon, whether you're a fan or not, he would not have been at home in a clinton white house under hillary. that is absolutely true. the fact is we have people in the west wing right now who not only would have been at home in the hillary clinton white house, they would have been cabinet members.

that is a problem. we have to expert pressure from the outside right now to redress that balance. to bring people in who are associated with the original agenda. not saying steve or myself are coming back, but the president is surrounded by a lot of people who wouldn't know maga, from a hole in the ground. ashley: he addressed it at the united nations general assembly yesterday. sebastian. we're glad to have you on the show. >> thanks ashly. ashley: let me get back if we can to congressman warren davidson, who i was close to introducing. i got sidetracked with the president. congressman we were talking about equifax, what we learned about the company since the breach was made known to the public at least, perhaps insider trading. we know stock was sold. we know the department of justice is involved. what is your reaction to what is going on at equifax? >> pure outrain. a lot of curiosity to know the

facts. what was public. there was a data breach. certainly cybersecurity is critical issue for any company. certainly a company with the size of information equifax has. they have a high duty of care. but the real troubling thing but appearance of fraud. the appearance that two million shares were traded between the time the breach was discovered and the time it was disclosed. and that i'm sure is why the department of justice has stepped in. the securities & exchange commission is looking at this. as is the federal trade commission. of course the cfpb. ashley: what could consumer, especially those who very private details were basically left open to those that would steal and do whatever they want with it, what recourse does the consumer have? no they're still working through how to do that. they set up websites in terms of response. their initial reaction was a pretty bad one which was to try to protect themselves at all times, force consumers into a

bad arbitration deal. this was not a wise decision i think. immediate feedback from consumers, from advocacy groups, from congress and from shareholders. so i think consumers need to be wise about what they sign, and make sure they're not giving away any future rights. congress will be intent making sure that happens as well. for markets we have to focus on how consumers are protected, making sure those who are trusted as fiduciaries do not lie, cheat or steal. there is a certain concern here that may have in fact occurred. ashley: well you mentioned congress. is this kind of issue brings both sides of the aisle together? i don't see there will be a lot of distreatment between democrats -- disagreement between democrats and republicans on ways to find out what happened here? >> yeah. i have heard no one who is anxious to give equifax a pass on this it seems pretty unifying to say, this violates the

standards we expect out of publicly-traded companies in the united states. ashley: especially a company whose job it is to protect the most, you know sensitive information that an individual can have. >> yeah. absolutely. it follows on heels of some concerns with wells fargo. that is in the news this week as well for the financial services committee. ashley: very good. we appreciate congressman davidson. thanks so much for sticking around. i apologize for the interruption there. thank you for sticking around, talking to us about equifax. we appreciate it. let's move on. hurricane maria, let's not forget hurricane maria slamming into puerto rico. this is a big one no doubt. 155 mile-an-hour winds, two feet of rain in some places. a very dangerous situation. we're going live to san juan, puerto rico next.

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ashley: hurricane maria making landfall in puerto rico this morning as a dangerous category 4 storm. steve harrigan in san juan right now. steve, what are you seeing? reporter: the back end of this eye is hitting san juan right now. we've seen steady gusts of wind more than 100 miles an hour. the worst wind hit 9:00 this

morning. we saw destructive winds tearing apart buildings behind me. bits of walls, balconies, satellite dishes. tops of trees snapped off as well. will be two-prongs of danger, initial destructive winds, the worst that hit the island of 3.5 million in more than 80 years. a possible surge in rain that could produce flash flooding. as much as 15 inches of rain, a storm surge up to 10 feet. that has people really worried on the back end of this storm. it has been described by the governor as life-threatening and catastrophic. they positioned fema teams here across the island to try to help with the relief. there have been 500 shelters opened up. right now, almost 100% of the island is without electric power. so it will be a long, hard climb out of this. perhaps at least a day before we know how destructive and deadly the storm has been. ashley? ashley: steve harrigan, stay safe. there is always stuff flying

around in strong wind. steve, we appreciate it. we'll hear more from him in the next hour. gop senate close to health reform deal and they paved the way in the budget for tax reform. how about that? senator john thune among an all-star lineup. very big hour three is just three minutes away. hello, this is adt,

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>> just a little bit. we'll be following this story, of course, throughout the hour. and where does it go next is another big question. but first, to politics. senate republicans agreeing to a budget that paves the away for one and a half trillion dollars in tax cuts. we are now joined by peter morici, we always like to point that out. economic professor at the university of maryland, and our good friend dan shafer, president and ceo of shafer asset management. thank you, first, both for being here. but, peter, to you first. okay. so we have a budget that sets the path for tax reform. are things looking up, peter, in your mind? >> well, they are, and they're not. i mean, we don't have a budget

yet because the house bill contains provisions for cutting spending, and that comes down to cutting entitlements because it's very hard to cut spending without that. so there's going to be some compromise between the two bills. then they can write their tax bill. which will probably be in the order of 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion over the ten years of tax cuts, a lot of reform, and so forth. however, if the house prevails and wants some cuts and entitlements, will the senate be able to sustain a 51-vote majority? because of murkowski, collins, caputo, and so forth because they simply won't cut entitlements, even for men who are 35 years of age at home as long as they vote for senator collins, she doesn't want to cut back on their medicaid. now, come on. we do have that basic barrier. that's why, for example, the health bill is in limbo. still, here we are what? september 20th? and it's still in limbo.

ashley: ten days to go before we -- >> it comes down to senator collins demanding the right for this deadbeats to be able to play video games in their houses while they order pizza in maine. congratulations, guys. ashley: dab, let me bring you in. hurdles to get through. but ultimately, the tax plan that we get -- and we'll get the details, by the way, next monday, i believe. the actual details. are we going to get a watered down version of what we would like to have seen, which would be a much stronger across the board tax cuts for all. >> yeah. my opinion is that we will get a tremendously water-do you understand pan if it gets passed. if it gets passed. ashley: when you say water watered down, what do you mean? >> well, i don't think they're going to get to the levels that donald trump wants to. ashley: 15% corporate tax cut? >> there's two issues that i see. number one is the gop is against mr. trump. they just don't want to see things work for him. and you clearly have seen that

since his inauguration. nothing has really hand the way he wanted to, and they're fighting him. on the other part of it as an economic concern -- and this is where the stock market comes in and what the federal reserve is doing, is that if they cut spending in this bill or whatever they're doing, that's going to slow down the economy. can you get spending, government spends the economy to grow, they cut back, it's going to be a concern. and that's where the interest rates, the meeting today is going to be involved, and the equity market's going to be involved. this is going to be really interesting because the fluff that we're seeing now is based on a great tax plan. and i just don't see it happening. ashley: what do you think, liz? liz: skinny reform. i feel like skinny repeal. professor and dan, i'm just wondering what you -- and ashley think about the tax-cutting process being held hostage by budget reconciliation. basically, the ten years out, you can't hit the deficit. i mean, the cbo has always --

routinely been historically off with their revenue estimates on tax cuts or tax increases. so, i mean, should we be held hostage? should the american people and economic growth be held hostage by this check the box thinking about -- see what the cbo is going to say about the debt. ashley: well, we are being held hostage. >> well, come on. i think it's fair to say that the budget being so burdened by entitlements, 60% now. within a decade, 100% of our revenues will be going to entitlements. to say that we need to be looking at the spending side if we're also looking at the taxing side for cutting taxes. we'll get 30 cents back on a dollar in additional growth if we cut taxes but don't cut spending. but we're not going to get, you know, 100% back. at the same time, every other -- liz: every other male looks at it. that's the point. that's not how the c bo would look at what you're saying.

they wouldn't agree with you on that. >> i understand that. the question is how do they score it? how rigid are they and so forth? but these are rules that are established by congress and the cbo's trying to implement them. the other thing is every other industrialed country has border tax adjustments. that's how they have low corporate tax rates. they have a value-added tax with border adjustments. and the fact that republicans are held hostage, you know, to their contributors and to the -- to walmart, you know, is absurd. because all it would do is create a level playing field, and that would permit us to cut corporate taxes a lot. and i would like to get that done. ashley: peter, i want to jump in quickly to, we are waiting for the federal reserve decision this afternoon. the fed could start reducing that $4.5 trillion balance sheet, peter. what are you expecting from the fed? i have a feeling inflation is going to be part of the conversation, and i think you argue they should get over this inflation thing; right? >> well, i do. one of the things we've learned over the last ten

years is the fed can't influence the rate of inflation. the bump we're getting this month is simply because of the hurricane and the fed policy doesn't alter the weather. my feeling is that the rate at which they anticipate cutting back on their holdings of treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities is so gradual and so small and such a small share of the market that it will have an impact on interest rates. in fact, if they start to go up on the long end of the yield curve, look for european and asian money to come in and push them back down. ashley: what do you say, dan? agreed? >> i agree with some of that. i don't think they're going to reduce the 4.5 trillion. i think they're scared right now with the markets. ashley: they're going to hold back. >> they're going to hold back. in fact, i think in today's meeting, it's going to be doveish. if we look at the indicators that came out last week, retail sales, housing, very, very weak. how can you raise rates in that, we've been low inflation environment, even though peter talked about the bump up.

i think that they're going to keep rates unchanged, and i think the language is going to be doveish, and i think it's going to shock the market. i'm very bullish that interest rates, especially the ten-year treasury will break 2% and head to 1.7% witnhe next 12 months. ashley: we're out of time. dan, thank you so much. now this. the top online travel company in latin america going public today. the ceo damian joins us live from the new york stock exchange. damian, thank you for joining us. how do you compete, my first question, how do you compete with big companies like expedia and priceline? >> yeah. well, we get the latin-american consumer through tailor offering. not only specific destinations and packages, but those in each latin-american country. we have also the leading brand in the region, which is being built over the last 18 years.

so we're doing pretty well. >> and i was going to say how is business, very quickly? pretty good? >> pretty good. the first half of 2017 shows booking growing over 40%, revenues over 28%. so the overall market is doing pretty good. ashley: very good. well, congratulations on the company going public today. damian, thank you very much. >> thank you. ashley: hurricane maria slamming into puerto rico as a category four storm. 155-mile an hour winds. as much as two feet of rain could fall in some places. we're still on maria and where does she go next? also in politics, president trump taking the world stage at the un right now he's meeting with the president of the palestinian authority to discuss a mid-east peace deal. coming up next, outnumbered cohost sandra smith in the building. she's going to be coming down the hallway and sharing her expertise with this year -- come on down, sandra smith. you are the next contestant on varney. we'll be right back parodontax,

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. ashley: president trump taking the world stage at the united nations. right now, he's meeting with the president of the palestinian authority. to discuss a middle east deal. good luck on that, but keep talking. here to join us now, fox news cohost and a long time of the varney crew. >> thanks for having me. ashley: what did you think of the speech yesterday? it was such unconventional bold, straight to the -- i thought it was refreshing. what did you think? >> powerful, certainly. and governing mike huckabee was outnumbered as our one lucky guy in just the moments following that speech. and it was in complete agreement with that. just powerful, forceful, to the point, strong were some of the words that he used to describe that speech. and it's not like you're hearing a whole lot elsewhere

that this wasn't a president who stepped up to the plate and said exactly what he intended to do. it was a very powerful message for this country that i think we're all still really taking in today. ashley: we are. i mean, there was a few sharp intakes of breath as we listened to the president. of course, hillary clinton calling it dark and dangerous. >> oh, yeah. that's always interesting. in the wee hours of the nature i woke up, and that was the headline from late night tv with hillary clinton. as far as benjamin netanyahu, he immediately tweeted out in response to the speech and said by far it was one of the more powerful speeches that he had ever heard a world leader make, especially a leader of the united states of america. but that palestinian peace deal we're all talking about this morning, trump saying this may be the toughest deal of all. he said the administration is working very hard to achieve peace. he's optimistic trying to negotiate. and benjamin netanyahu, he's so busy today responding to all of this that he is equally

optimistic. ashley: saying all the right things. >> they're saying a lot of the right things. ashley: the deal maker in chief is doing his best. >> yeah. and trump saying he says that there's a pretty good shot this deal being achieved. so all eyes are on that. because that's huge. ashley: let's talk about taxes, why don't we? our favorite subject. looks like the senate is taking on tax cuts to the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. the question i have for you, sandra, is can this get done? >> connecticut? sure. absolutely. ashley: will it get done? >> senate republicans say that they're close to a deal. look, look no further than the american stock market to tell you that the optimism of getting this done. and we've seen this run-up in the stock market. you guys probably look at the numbers every single day, but i refresh myself prior to coming back on the fox business network. this run-up in the stock market is unbelievable. obviously, it's right to question if that's sustainable. even if tax cuts do get done, do you get selling on the

actual news? . ashley: and watered down tax package. that's one of the big fears. >> and that corporate tax rate a lot people are talking about trump saying the target would be 15% but looks like he would settle for something more like 20%, in that range. would that be good enough for this market, since it's so widely anticipating this. thank you. there's the number. ashley: look at those numbers. >> it is unbelievable, really; right? ashley: since the election, the dow is up 22%. >> and it would be one thing if we're just talking about that's been the overall trend. look at today. even in the face of a lot of questions about where this goes, where health care goes, where tax reform goes, what happens with tax cuts, you still have this unbelievable amount of optimism when it comes to the markets and the markets don't lie. ashley: very quickly, the fact that the president went across the aisle and started talking to democrats on certain issues, did that essentially clear the deck a little bit and say to republicans "this is a kick off the backside. you have got to go, otherwise i'll find someone else, even if they are democrats to get this through."

>> again, referencing huckabee on this representing his party. he said isn't this what everybody wanted? isn't this what we need? a president who's willing to reach across the aisle and work together to get something so -- something so huge done. ashley: love it. >> all right. ashley: talk about quickly. good to see you. >> you're so quiet. liz: i'm unusually quiet. >> thanks for having me. outnumbered at noon on fox news. ashley: don't miss it. sandra, thanks so much. let's take a look at the oil price for you. do we have more in store than we thought we were going to have? but it hasn't affected oil prices. we're up above 50 bucks a barrel. 50.35. up about 87 cents. the national average on regular now down to 2.60 per gallon. also, i want to give you an update on those wildfires in the west. cooler temperatures, rainfall bringing relief to some states. helping to stop this fires from spreading. officials have now scaling back those closures and evacuations in wildfire

zones. the u.s. forest service has spent a record $2 billion fighting fires this budget year. has been a huge issue out west. and a massive earthquake hitting mexico yesterday. about 70 miles outside of mexico city. the magnitude 7.1. dozens of buildings collapsing. more than 200 people are dead. that number is expected to rise. this is the second deadly earthquake in mexico in just the past two weeks. hurricane maria hitting puerto rico straight on. it's a category four. 1 55-mile-per-hour winds for up to 24 hours. adam clots will join us next with the very latest on the storm's track. but first, check this out. in the aftermath of hurricane irma, a florida home has been swallowed by a sinkhole just northwest of orlando. fire department spokesman says the sinkhole measures about 20 feet across, 15 feet deep. the family that owns the home just remodeled about five years ago. luckily, they weren't home at the time. more varney after this hi, i'm mindy kearns. it's great to finally meet you.

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. ashley: guess what? right before we hit the break, the dow hit another all-time

high. 7th day in a row it has done that. up 11 points. we are also, of course, tracking hurricane maria, which is slamming san juan right now. fox news meteorologist adam joining us. adam, we know what it's doing to san juan and puerto rico right now. where does it go from here? >> folks are going to get a little bit of a break once it gets off the island. i'm going to show you that track in just a moment. but think of this. landfall at 6:15. that is just over five hours ago. this hit land as a category four and still a category four. that is a long time of 100-mile an hour winds for these 3.5 million folks who live on this island. here's what we're looking right now. just off to the san juan area. typically, you're staying right there in that band where you're getting very, very heavy winds. strong winds, heavy rainfall in the san juan area. now, this has -- the eye wall has fallen apart just a little bit. the reason for that, the mountain rages here across puerto rico. it just any kind of elevation, any kind of land can tear these storms apart just a

little bit, so you see this nice eye wall, it runs over land and falls apart there, it's going to be back over warm water. this is going to stay a category four storm. so even if you look at some of these images and you say, hey, i can't see that eye wall, it's going to be back out over open water in no time, and these winds are just going to persist. currently at 140 miles per hour. gusting up to 165 miles per hour moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour. once it gets back over the water, warm water, you see the eye wall continue to form, and here's the direction, ashley, this thing's going to be heading continuing to the northwest. running just north of the dr, we begin to get a turn here. and here's our forecasted track from this category four storm. we get this turn, and it's a turn to the north. which is good news for the folks in the keys or florida who just dealt with irma. you see this turn staying off to the east of the bahamas. but then by saturday, we're running up to a point where we're not exactly sure. you see this is a fairly wide.

we're seeing whether this will hit the east coast at all. of course, it's going that direction, and i'm not sure that's going to happen at this point. ashley: well, we will keep our fingers crossed. any other storms behind this one? >> they keep spinning up. lee is the one behind it good news that's going to fizzle out. ashley: need to shut down the conveyor belt. adam, thank you very much. great as always. it looks like progress on tax reform. the senate clears $1.5 trillion in the budget for tax cuts. or tax cuts. but the question is where does that money go? tax breaks for the middle class, corporate rate of 15%, all of the above. and in health care, a last-ditch effort from senators cassidy and graham to repeal obamacare. we're all over it. more varney after this

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. ashley: all right. let's check the big board for you. the dow up 12 points. not bad. 22,384. is there a big sigh from the judge? the dow and s&p hitting all-time highs today.

oh, by the way, seven straight days the dow has hit all-time highs. investors waiting to hear from janet yellen this afternoon. but it's still positive, isn't it? let's get back to politics. we're joined now by republican from wisconsin. senate republicans clearing the way for a one and a half trillion dollars in tax cuts. it sounds big and wonderful. but what's it for? who gets the tax cuts? >> well, i have to tell you, we're not quite clear yet, ashley. we have our tax writing committee in the house and senate working with the group in the white house. and what we're seeing is challenges because we're trying to fit our tax reform into rules of the senate. so we don't get to do wholesale tax reform because this thing has to be revenue neutral. so i think what you're going to see is corporate tax reform, at least middle income tax reform. i'm not sure we're going to get to the wealthier side of our tax code. but for sure, i think those two will happen. on the corporate side, i think you're not going to get down to 15%. but i do think we'll have a rate that's better than 25.

so -- ashley: is that okay with you? some are watered down tax plan, certainly watered down from what the president was initially would have liked. >> well, i would like wholesale tax reform. but i'm not a senator. i'm a house member and the senate will change the rules. so we're stuck with getting the best deal we can and, you know, corporate and middle income, i'll take that if i can't get full sale tax reform. listen, i know it's frustrating for the american people to watch this and, again, if you want to change the rules in the senate, it only takes 51 votes. republicans could actually do this if they wanted and free ourselves to not be restrained by revenue neutrality and actually reform our code and make america competitive again. but that's not the case. the senate's not willing to do it, so you're seeing the scaled back approach. and i think what's key, ashley, is we saw in the past when the house leaves and tries to get the president and the senate to follow us, and we did that in health care, it didn't work. right now, people are working together. the committees and those in positions of power and each of

these three players in coming up with an agreement before we come out, and i think that's the best approach. to get everyone on the same page before we roll. ashley: i still believe something is better than nothing. would you agree with that? >> i would agree with you. ashley: there you go. okay. listen, you represent wisconsin. i used to live in green bay, by the way. it's a fine state. >> packer fan? . ashley: always. i have the cheese head. i have to ask you about governor scott walker signing a $3 billion incentive package for electronics giant foxconn. money well spent? >> really well spent. i mean, this is going to be thousands of jobs in wisconsin. billions of dollars invested in our state. this is about expanding and growing the opportunities that we offer to wisconsin citizens. what's unique, though, is that democrats for the most part have come out in opposition to this package. just because governor walker as a republican has struck a deal that's good for our

state. democrats kind of like with donald trump, they hate walker so much, they're in opposition to anything good that happens to the state if it comes through scott walker. so they're actually advocating against this deal, which is really advocating and fighting against the wisconsin worker. so this is good -- and, ashley, not just this investment, but what does this do to the talent and skill set that we developed in our state and the number of offshoot businesses that comes from foxconn and sky's the limit here and new innovation. >> and if i get -- if i've got it right, congressman, the benefits kick in the more that foxconn hires more people. in other words, it's performance-based, which, to me, makes a lot of sense. >> yeah. so this isn't $3 billion right off the bat. but as investments roll from foxconn, the money come from the state. and in the end, this is going to be a net win on the revenue side and on the wisconsin worker side for our state. ashley: congressman, thank you

so much. go packers. all right. now to health reform. president trump tweeting this morning. quote rand paul is a friend of mine. but he's such a negative force when it comes to fixing health care. graham-cassidy bill is great. it ends ocare. senator mccain, collins, and murkowski, the usual suspects, i might say. here now beating obamacare author betsy mccoy. you say we'll come down to the fine senator from alaska. >> it probably will. but this repeal bill should be passed. it could be called the middle class relief bill. because if it isn't passed, millions of middle class people who are being priced out of the individual insurance market because they're not eligible for a subsidy, they earn more than $46,000 per year. they are becoming the new uninsured. the middle class. and, unfortunately, in

washington, poor lives matter, middle class lives, not so much. ashley: you know, judge napolitano was on in the 9:00 hour. a bit grumpy this morning when he was talking about health care. he was, like, wait a minute. this is still taxpayer money being used. it's obamacare in another, you know, outfit. also said -- and i'm not too sure about it. he said it doesn't scrap the employer and individual -- >> that's right. it eliminates, it crosses out the penalties without technically repealing the individual -- ashley: there's no penalty. it's the same thing; right? >> that's because of these crazy senate rules again. but let me make it clear that it shifts the decision-making in the individual insurance market, which was always regulated state by state until this massive federal takeover called obamacare. it shifts the decision-making back to the state. ashley: through block grants. >> that's right. unfortunately, the money will still be siphoned through uncle sam. you'll still be paying those obamacare taxes. but the fact is that the

decision-making will go back to the states. so at least in the enlightened state where local lawmakers understand that people want more choices and lower premiums, that's what they will get. ashley: does it make it harder for sick people to get insurance? which is what critics will tell you. >> no. because as we're told, the text of this bill will require that in order for the state to take over the decision-making, they must have a plan like a pool fully funded to take care of those with preexisting conditions. but this law -- this bill if it becomes a law, and i hope it will urgently-needed relief to the middle class to buy insurance again. they're paying as much as a mortgage for their health insurance now. . ashley: what chances do you give it? better than 50%? >> i give it better than 50% because the president is really behind it. . ashley: all right. now, thank you very much, betsy. one day, you're not going to have to carry this huge example. >> that's right. don't dignify it like that.

ashley: good for muscle building, though. thank you very much. now this. attorney general jeff sessions blasting california lawmakers for passing the sanctuary state bill. he says this sanctuary cities undermine the authority of the law. all rise the aforementioned and grumpy judge napolitano. >> i intentionally by the my tongue. ashley: you were very good, by the way, for doing that. >> i love betsy mccoy, even when we disagree. ashley: that's okay that's what life's all about. jeff sessions taking aim at california. but it's the same old argument. you can't do this. you're undermining federal law, and he gave an example of someone who was killed by an illegal immigrant who was not held for ice agents and was let out on the street and then committed the murder. >> look, is it unwise for state and local authorities to refuse to cooperate with the feds? of course it is. is it unwise for them to refuse to tell federal

authorities what undocumented aliens have just gotten out of jail who committed violent crime, even though they served their eternal? of course, it is. but it is not institutional, and it is not illegal because congress has not declared that. the republicans control both houses of congress and, of course, the white house. they could in fact a simple one-paragraph statute, which i will write for them. jeff sessions can't write the law. he can't change the rules. only congress can. all congress has to say is you want federal funds? you cooperate with ice. and that's the law of the land. why congresses has done it is beyond me. that's what a federal judge in chicago ruled when the city of chicago challenged attorney general sessions efforts to stop the block grants to the city to buy more police cars. ashley: because this are not federal entitlements. >> well, the courts disagree with him and congress disagrees. ashley: so maybe they are. going forward, though, as you point out, you could change the rules. >> remember, the money that jeff sessions is administering

and trying to pull back was in the obama years of the first trump budget. the new fiscal year starts october 1st. presumably would have in there the cooperation to operate with ice. you want the cash? you cooperate with ice. they always want the cash. so then this dispute will be over with. but it's up to congress to do it. not attorney general. he's a good man, but he doesn't get to write the laws. [laughter] . ashley: you weren't grumpy at all, judge. appreciate that. good stuff. let's take a look at amazon. we do every day. we found this out. only paid 1.4 billion in corporate income tax since 2008. nine years. >> i thought tax evasion was left? . ashley: thank you, judge. now, over the same time period, walmart paid 64 billion. interesting. and you just heard our discussion on health care. next up, we're joined by senator john thune.

i'm going to ask what does it take to get senator murkowski onboard. a bit of whatever it will take. we'll be right back

>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief on a day where stocks are hitting records. we're taking a close look at the stocks which surged late yesterday. we saw them upwards of 10% in the late afternoon.

on reports that the trump administration was looking to ease for the u.s. companies to export small firearms, assault rifles, and ammunition to foreign buyers. and, in fact, you can take a look at how they've done since the election has sold off. but the idea that this could go through because there's been heavy inventory. since the election, they sold of off, of course, you see a name like american outdoor brands down 46%. that is because during the obama administration, they ran up a 500% for american outdoor and ran up 739%. concerns about tight restrictions, more background checks, and mass shootings also. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely.

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. ashley: apple rolling out the ios 11 update yesterday. now guess what? some users are notifying a glitch. they're not able to send messages from microsoft e-mail accounts. apple says it's working on fixing that problem but there's another issue as well. more than 180,000 apps are just not compatible with the new operating system that's because the software no longer supports 32 bit apps. only 64, by the way, appears work now. that's not good. meanwhile, twitter taking down nearly 300,000 accounts tied to terror in the first six months to this year. that's according to the latest transparency report.

70% of these accounts were spotted before a single tweet were sent out. going to politics now, we are joined by republican senator from south dakota. thank you, senator for joining us. let's begin with health reform. where are we on the graham-cassidy bill? we're close, i'm told that. but how close are we? >> well, we're -- it's raiser close. we're within striking distance, but it always comes down in the senate to that handful of votes at the end that you have to swing. so there are lots of discussions and conversations are going on and exchanging of information and educating senators who are still undecided about how this bill is going to impact their states. and i'm hopeful in the end that we'll be able to get to that necessary threshold of 50 votes to enable us to pass health care reform. this is really important. a commitment that we made and obamacare, as we know, is failing. it has led to higher cost and

fewer action for people in this country. so we have to come up with a new way. and what has been laid out is a plan that's consistent with our principles, and that's distribute willing decision-making and power and control and money out of washington back to the states and back to patients. ashley: i think you're preaching to the choir. the question being what's it going to take for us to get there? for congress to get there, more importantly? >> i think it's going to take, ashley, obviously persuading a couple of our senators who are still on the fence on this. but in many respects, some of it has to do with getting individual states who are impacted by this in a positive way to convey that to their senators. and there's a lot of that -- those conversations that are going on right now. but in the end, it really comes down to trying to persuade that -- those last couple of necessary votes to get to 50 it that the -- you know, it's important for us to act on this for the american people to fix a failing system. and to convince these members that their states are going to

come out well under the new bill. so it's all at this point kind of one-on-one conversations in trying to provide the necessary information to educate members to the point that they feel comfortable being a "yes" vote. ashley: and talking which, i'm assuming you are a "yes" vote on this as it stands? >> i am. i've looked at it. i've had many conversations with our state about it. we think it makes sense, and we believe it moves us in the right direction. and i think i give great credit to senators cassidy and graham and heller and johnson with coming up with a plan that we think needs to be done in repealing and replacing obamacare. doing it away that protects people with preexisting conditions and, obviously, gets at the issue of moving power and control out of washington, d.c. so individual states can design programs that work in their states. the one thing that we is a one-size-fits-all solution out of washington doesn't work. that's what we had with obamacare, and we can see what the results are. skyrocketing premiums and fewer options.

. ashley: all right. let's move on to tax reform. another favorite subject of this particular broadcast. senator, $1.5 trillion for tax cuts. so what's it going to be for? who wins who be loses? do we get 15% corporate tax rate? what's your feeling on that? >> there are going to be a lot of moving parts to this, ashley. and, yes, families and middle income families are going to see a big benefit, a big tax cut. that's really what this is about. that's what the president and members of congress, at least those of us who are trying to push this idea forward intend to accomplish. and that is to give much-needed tax relief to middle income families who literally haven't had a pay raise now for the past eight years. and this is something that will put more money in their pockets, so they can spend for their and their families instead of sending it to the government. ashley: right. >> but i do think in terms of the business rates, they've got to come down. we know that. i think 15% is probably very ambitious, but if we could get down even to the oecd average

in the 22 range, 23, 24, that would be a big win. and i think businesses in this country need that. otherwise, we're going to continue to hemorrhage businesses, companies, jobs overseas, jobs that ought to be staying in america, and leading to higher wages for american workers. so we have to reform the tax code. we know that. we've got to get the rate down. i think we also need to look at ways that we can accelerate cost recovery and, another big priority when it comes to economic growth. but this on the business side needs to be about growing the economy, creating better-paying jobs, and higher wages. ashley: right there with you. i want to quickly turn to world politics. german chancellor angela merkel just responding to's speech, particularly about what he said about north korea. merkel says she's opposed to the military threat that mr. trump made. she wants a diplomatic solution and that any measures against north korea other than sanctions are wrong. what's your response to that? >> well, we all want a diplomatic solution, and that's our first priority. and that's what the administration is working

aggressively to try to achieve. but that doesn't -- those discussions aren't effective if you don't have -- if you can't back that up with a military threat. and i think what we're seeing in north korea right now is a desire on the part of this leader and his regime to threaten the united states and our allies, and we have to be prepared to answer that. i think the president has made it very clear that the u.s. military is at the ready with all of its resources and firepower to respond if in some way north korea threatens us or our allies. and that's, you know, the europeans, obviously, maybe have a different priority at the moment. but eventually, hopefully they'll come around to the view that we have to work together. yes, pursue diplomatic outcomes and solutions. but be prepared, always but carry a big stick. ashley: exactly. senator, thank you so much for covering a lot of subjects for us. appreciate it. >> thank you, ashley. ashley: well, you heard it all. here to respond, fox news star martha, she's up on the show.

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up 17 points on the dow, as you can see. some of the all-time highs today. and i really moving slightly lower. but boeing, procter & gamble, all the big companies of the united states and industry and aerospace and in consumer goods. all of them moving higher, which is really quite remarkable when you think of all the negative headlines, let alone the comments made on north korea. but also, we've had some horrible -- the hurricanes and now, of course, in mexico the earthquake. liz: the herring search for children under the rubble. but this is 32 years to the day when mexico also suffered an earthquake that killed 10,000 people. ashley: with us now, martha, host of the story on the fox news channel. thank you very much for joining us on what is a always busy day here. we've been talking a little

bit about this morning about how president trump moving across the aisle to talk to democrats to get something done and the impact that's had maybe on his own party. but maybe it was a kick out the backside saying you've got to get onboard. kind of cleared the decks a little bit and now we're seeing perhaps progress on health care. maybe tax reform. what do you think? >> you know what? this could be a very busy end of 2017. and it looks like they're trying to work these things sort of on a number of channels. from what i'm hearing, they're going to have some sort of tax reform bill that they're going to be able to look at over the next week or so. maybe the next ten days. daca is also something that the wheels are turning on. and at the same time, you've got this movement on health care. so i think there is obviously an effort. i think there's probably a little bit of handshaking going on and three things, you know? i can work with you on this if you do this for me on that. also, we also got modest numbers this morning. the new polls out that show that the president's number have held steady. so his supporters are not

dinging him for going across the aisle. ashley: despite all the media -- >> still 40%? ashley: sure. >> which is oiobvusly a number that's negate. but it hasn't moved soe's not bei punished by his supporters for making that move across the aisle. and it did light a fire under republicans. there's no doubt about it. ashley: already out of time. so sorry it was so short. but great to get you you in the show, martha. and the story tonight? >> 7:00. ashley: 7:00. do not miss it. more varney after this ♪

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ashley: welcome back. welcome back. the market up about 18 points on the dow. once again all time intraday high on the dow, s&p. we continue to march forward. a pick turf hurricane maria we're watching as well. but doesn't matter.

the markets keep moving. liz: probably one rate hike in decent and then done. ashley: that's it. janet yellen tonight, or this afternoon. maria is churning away across puerto rico. continuing to follow her. now pass it over to neil cavuto. takes the baton and runs. neil: thank you, ashley. strongest puerto rico landfall we've seen in 85 years. a million without power in the u.s. commonwealth. 11,000 people huddled in shelters. if you're trying to fly into and out of the region, good luck. 300 flights canceled today. more likely to follow. weather bell meteorologist joe bastardi where the storm is headed. where do you think, joe negative? >>er they were out of power. a lot of people from irma, i have friends in puerto rico. they hadn't gotten power back from when irma hit this is double dose of disas