bill to impact portfolio companies, there is a lot of implications for companies but we sympathy in general the implications for middle market companies where we invest are very positive, domestic u.s. companies. [closing bell rings] liz: good to see you. chris overbeck. nice returns. that will do it for the claman countdown. >> stocks sinking into the close. all three major averages ending in the red. hello, everybody. i'm david asman. melissa: welcome back. i'm melissa francis this is "after the bell." more on big market movers, this is what he would we cover in the very busy hour ahead. the white house wrapping up wide-ranging press briefing, sarah huckabee sanders taking several questions on president plans to announce moving u.s. embassy in israel, a move that is very controversial here and abroad. more on that developing story. crunch time on capitol hill. both chambers back in session, facing a tight timetable to get

the final tax bill on the president's desk by christmas, pass a measure to keep the government funded before midnight on friday. the president meeting with key members this afternoon. the latest from capitol hill. new examples of anti-trump bias at the fbi. one of robert mueller's deputies reportedly praising a doj official for defying president trump's travel ban. this as we're learning more about that agent fired for sending anti-trump texts. connell: the deep state. meanwhile reversing course. markets ending in the red. let's go so nicole petallides on floor of the new york stock exchange. there was never a lot of conviction in the market but there was green earlier in the session. >> you want to say what happened, right? the truth of the matter triggers why did we see a basically 200 point swing from top to bottom, we can't have every day an up

arrow. down day of 11 points. take it a lot of high hopes for the nasdaq. tech has been a big, big story. we watched home billers today. homebuilders in particular got hit hard. hovnanian 7%. toll brothers 7% to the downside. this story revolves around tolle brothers not getting supplies, seeing demand for homes, not getting them out there, and charging lower prices. that hit a whole group overall. they will have newer line of homes for millenials. they're cheaper, faster, they will get those out. i mentioned the tech turn around. here are some up arrows for you. amazon, alphabet, facebook, netflix, gaining. i will keep ebay out of this one they're falling into

retailers. this group up 2, 3% for the month. ebay not in that category. ebay is a real win this month. i know rest of them you have them in your portfolio up, folks. david: i hope i have some of them in there. nicole, thank you very much. melissa. melissa: fears of a looming government shutdown. republican leaders facing a tight deadline to pass the spending bill but members of the house freedom caucus are not exactly on the same page, big surprise. our own adam shapiro live on capitol hill with the latest. adam, i hope you can hear other drill here. it is here, there, we're not sure where it is but we keep going. adam. reporter: i can hear you over drilling there and screaming over here, let's say not everyone seeing eye-to-eye with speaker paul ryan and mark meadows if you get what i'm saying here. essentially what mark meadows and freedom caucus want for the speaker to commit passing

continuing resolution only with republicans. not going to democrats to rely on some votes, cutting out any of what the democrats want. mr. meadows is not getting what he wants. so we are still waiting for timing on a vote in the house on continuing resolution, which then sets up the senate for a vote on continuing resolution. then you have mitch mcconnell, leader in the senate weighing in saying he prefers the paul ryan plan of let's go to december 22nd. then figure out from there. i want you to listen what mitch mcconnell said earlier today and then how mark meadows was responding to all of this. >> the date hadn't been set yet. what we're talking about. my preference would be a two-week cr end december 22nd. >> could you go into december 30th? >> i don't think that is the best way to go forward. >> have it another two weeks come due with crisis before christmas where people start worrying about a shutdown, is not appropriate thing to do. a number of my colleagues if we'll do this, have more time to

negotiate, make it a little bit longer. reporter: speaking of negotiations, remember that thing called the tax cuts and jobs act? the house voted to go to conference. we know hot conference committee members are from the house. people like kevin brady, house ways and means committee, diane black. those will be republicans. sander levins retiring after his term in congress one of the democrats. we still don't know. mitch mcconnell has not scheduled a vote for the conference committee in the senate. that is expected to happen soon, wednesday, thursday. we'll get a list of the senators. back to you. melissa: wow, that's a lot! thanks for staying on top of it for us, adam. david: we do have breaking news. the full senate is voting for christian nielsen to head department of homeland security. nielsen is deputy chef chief of staff under john kelly. with him when he ran the dhs.

he is hand-picked her. first time nominee for the position previously served at the department. let's talk to a member of the freedom caucus stirring things up inside of congress. arizona congressman, paul goes start. good to see you sir. reason why you have tux on? >> tomorrow is creole wednesday. we're going to the white house for christmas party. david: have a good time. you have a lot of work to do. what is going on with regard to spending. seems like every year congress tries to get a little more spending by threatening people to cancel a christmas vacation. is that what is happening again. >> absolutely. fool me once, shame on you, shame me twice, shame on me. that is exactly what we've seen predicated outcomes. we but up against christmas, instead of bifurcating two things and separating them and look out for the american packs

packs -- taxpayer. david: you guys are using our money for your political future, right? >> we've seen this over and over again, david. why we kept saying is the leverage is there when you put these two together at the same time. because you saw on the sunday shows the leverage that susan collins had when she made promises. now if you keep those closely together, what she does, she leverages the budget for her gifts that she wants. what stops john mccain, what stops bob corker doing the same thing? once again we hold the process hostage. david: talk about starving the beast and cutting taxes for a second. now the senate of course has their version. you will try to reconcile it with their own. they have end to obamacare mandate. are you guys going along with that? >> i'm happy for that. i'm a dentist in real life. so i want to see a change. give me that individual mandate change. put some health savings accounts reform and we can rebuild the marketplace. david: just a point of order, congressman. is this just the individual

mandate already also does it include the individual mandate and include the businessman date. david: just the businessman -- businessman date. david: >> i would be remiss if i didn't say if we break up the insurance my no police, passing my bill as promised in senate, called mccarran-ferguson, sherman clayton antitrust what a nice businesschristmas present. david: that is wishing for something that may not be in santa's bag. >> that is promise, trust is series of promises kept that was a promise made to me. david: something called the amt, alternative minimum tax. you guys took it out. there is corporate version and individual version, sort of like the obamacare mandate. now all the corporate lobbyists make sure they get rid of amt for them, for corporations but we individuals, millions of us would still be stuck wit. what are you guys going to do

with that? >> well we huddled about that aspect, we had that conversation. the senate went on spending spree on their bill. that is one of those sacrifices that came back up. shouldn't be really fair that the corporations get a reduction in the amt and not -- david: but they got all the lobbyists. that is why, it is very simple, isn't it? >> but you know what? that is where we become involved. david: good. >> we as members of congress have to take that into consideration to look out for the little guy. david: paul gosar, thank you very much. best of luck to you. we hope you get that cut out. >> betcha, we're going to try. david: appreciate it. melissa: let's bring in today's panel. gary kaltbaum, kaltbaum capital management and bob cusack of "the hill," editor-in-chief. bob, let's start with you, talk about the ability or the push to keep the government running, i feel like i want the government to stop running but i digress.

who does it benefit to put it off -- yeah, gary likes that too. negotiation. >> i think it benefits republicans because democrats want to get provisions on the "dreamers." they want it this year. now both paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, have said listen the deadline for that decision isn't until the spring. so they could at least push it into january, february. so i think what congress is going to do, congress will punt for couple weeks and i think problem little will decide, keep that february, december 202nd deadline. then there will have to be some type of deal. maybe they punt knit january. maybe they have a big deal. republicans want to focus on tax reform. they want to get that done as soon as possible. melissa: gary, does that give them the ability to negotiate on something or democrats are not coming along on tax reform so what difference does that make? >> not a lot of difference. democrats are not in the game at this point of time. this whole government shutdown

talk. we've been hearing about it for decades. worst one was 21 today is under clinton. obama had one for two weeks. a few others one and two days. so whether it is or not the essentials still run. they eventually get back up again. you know what we know? debt ceiling going higher. government spending going higher. deficits going higher. who is paying for all this? you and i. lovely. melissa: bob, when we talk about government shutdown or funding these things, it is so frustrating to so many people out there in the audience, because number one it feels like a fake story, oh, people are going to die in the streets and if we don't pay our bills. you know here is turns out everybody gets paid essential services continue. the ones that can wait, they still get paid later, it is deferred. all in the continuing down the path of government getting bigger and bigger, and bigger. reinforces the notion of the swamp. is there anything they can do to dispel that?

>> i don't think so. this is always used by one parity or the other stoops both as hostage-taking. politics always setting up these fiscal fights that are exhausting to most people. i don't think they will go away. congress is really got at punting. they keep punting it and deal with it almost every month. melissa: gary, all the fights going on, whether you look at one about the budget or look at the one about taxes or even daca, anything else there is not one conversation about slowing down spending. >> why would they ever do that? they have never done it in the past. the biggest bull market in history is the government. it grows every year, no matter what. just so you know in the last year it grew $300 billion. nobody said a word. the left complains they don't have enough money. in three to four years we'll go from 4.1 to $5.1 trillion. i got news for you, the economy will not be able to stand it if

it continues. you can't continue to make so much money out of economy to put it in such inefficient hands. i believe in government and good and efficient government and in previous years they have not proven efficiency in any way, shape or form. melissa: i heard three people on television we shouldn't approve the tax cut because the economy might overheat. [laughter]. wow, that is, somebody really had to get creative for that one. guys, thank you. appreciate it. thanks. can you imagine that. it will overheat because it is already moving along. we don't want to loosen it up. david: what kills me is how disconnected government is with the private sector. during the great recession i went down to washington several times during that year and, washington was booming. all the restaurants were filled. all of the fancy hotels were filled. melissa: new buildings people, buying new homes. i think they want us to stop complaining. david: banned from the olympics meanwhile. hundreds of athletes are told

they will not be allowed to compete in the games two months from now. guess which country they're from? we'll tell you. >> like the oscars. we get the music. republican national committee backing roy moore in the alabama senate race, following the move from the empty. response from the white house, with impact to the race with one week to go before the election. david: speaking of the white house. they responded, new reports of anti-trump bias at the fbi. we have more examples coming up. republican strategist ned ryan is here to sound off next. >> we've seen some reports that certainly caused a great deal of concern, and we hope those are fully looked at and investigated. to create a financial plan built to last from generation to generation. we'll listen. we'll talk. we'll plan.

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melissa: sarah sanders wrapping up heated and contentious white house press conference moments ago. let's go to blake burman to break it all down for us. blake, what were the biggest takeaways for you? reporter: deutsche bank, the story we've been following throughout the day. there are several news reports out there that the special counsel's office, robert mueller's office had subpoenaed deutsche bank for information about president trump's relationship to that bank. however, a source close to the matter tells fox that is just not the case and one of president trump's attorneys, jay sekulow, reiterated that in statement that sarah sanders red off during the briefing and i quote here, we have confirmed, speaking of jay sekulow, news reports that the special counsel subpoenaed financial records relating to the president are false. no subpoena has been issued or received. we have confirmed this with the bank, and other sources. sanders, when i asked her about it, took issue with those other reports. >> i think this is another example of media going too far

too fast. and we don't see it going in that direction. reporter: here at the white house the president spent part of his day speaking with leaders throughout the middle east including jordan's king be a beulah and palestinian president mahmoud abbas. the president is fulfilling a campaign promise to relocate the american embassy in israel to jerusalem. arab leaders are speaking out against that decision. >> he spoke with five leaders. hardly indyktive of everybody across the globe but certainly he will continue to have conversations with different leaders from abuse the world. we'll keep you posted as those calls take place. we'll let you know when the president has made a decision. reporter: she says we will let you know when he made a decision. the white house not officially saying this is the president's decision. though sanders didding a knowledge at this point the president is pretty solid with his thinking. melissa: a lot of people getting

excited about the deutsche bank story. one person who doesn't understand finance at all, saying deutsche bank was the president's bank of last resort. no. as if people weren't competing to finance his hotel projects, meaning it is very normal in business you would have hundreds of millions of dollars of loans as they back a project. that is what finance is. that is how projects happen. like, total ignorance on the story has been very interesting, blake. reporter: there are those financial disclosure forms, medical list sashes that the president put out there in 2015. you see all of his liabilities listed there. deutsche bank is on it a few different times. so are others. >> they don't understand finance. blake, thank you. david: here to react, ned ryun, republican strategist, founder and ceo of american majority action. he is also former writer for president gw bush. the question, ned, where is the story came one. i would throw it out there. adam schiff, the democrat on the house intel committee has suggested to the press on several occasions that a subpoena is forth coming to

deutsche bank and why? he says because russia may have lawn dered money through the trump organization. now, throws this charge out there. maybe he does it in an undisclosed way or as secondary source. don't quote me on this, but you guys can run wit. then throws out the idea that the trump organization is laundering money through a russian bank or vice versa. and it gets in the public conversation, right? >> this to me, here we go again. here comes the opposition party, yet again, friday with a false report from brian ross and abc that candidate trump somehow instructed general flynn. now we have this report deutsche bank records being subpoenaed. i'll tell you this, david, there is nothing there with deutsche bank even if they did subpoena it. i'm not concerned. here with we go with the opposition party. they're not trying to be objective, getting their facts straight. they have trump derangement syndrome. like they're losing complete

grasp of reality in role of society. i want honest press. i want a free press. i want an honest press as well. david: good luck. the point they are so susceptible to politicians, that hate trump, that throw stuff out there, they just want the stuff to go out there, whether it is the charge of collusion with russia or now that they were laundering money with russian banks, you throw the charge out there. you let it settle. you see whether it creates a stink or not. >> this to me, again is irresponsible. i think what we've seen this last year, david, is one of the greatest political tantrums in the history of politics from the left, from democrats from the mainstream media. here we go again. at some point they have to understand, people think you're fake news. they don't think you're actually being objective in reporting the facts. at some point, people are just saying you have no credibility left. david: yeah. >> so i think what is moving forward, i think obviously we've got to take real pause, when brian ross reports something like that. you know what? i have gotten to the point, david, i've been doing enough tv

last year, anytime i hear something like, wait 24 hours, see how the story changes. guess what? it is probably going to change radically. i encourage those listening hearing something come out, take a deep breath because the mainstream media has been missing stories all year. david: let's move on to another story that kind of relates to this the story of the man running for the senate seat in alabama, judge roy moore. different polls show essentially a dead-heat right there. i don't know who is going to win but the fact is, the public which had been, when the first reports came out of allegations that he dated or propositions younger women when he was in his 30s, that in fact they now, they now are so questioned, the whole, everything that the press comes out with, that the public is saying we'll not believe any of these reports, we'll go with judge roy moore no matter what the allegations are. >> a poll came out couple day, david, 83% of likely republicans

either thought they were definitely false or likely false, these allegations that have been brought against roy moore. at end of the day the people of alabama are going to choose. i will say this, david, these are serious allegations but used to be in our country, something was false until proven true. now almost it is true until you can prove it false. whatever happened to due process? again until these allegations are actually proven i do think roy moore is going to win next week. i will say this. if the allegations are proven true, he wins is in the senate i think it is obligation to step down. at same time, david, where is the moral obligation for somebody we photographic evidence of, essentially assaulting a sleeping women, i'm talking about al franken? he is still sitting in the senate. how can somebody say roy moore can not sit in the senate? david: really undermines stone throwers at judge moore. >> it really does. david: doesn't excuse anybody. undermines their position. that photo will be seen time as again as long as al franken is in the senate. ned, leave it at that thank you very much for coming in.

>> thanks, david. melissa: congressman john conyers announcing his retirement after multiple sexual harrassment allegations surfaced over the past few weeks. he broke the news from a michigan hospital bed where he is resided since last month, following chest pain. conyers was the longest-serving congressman. he is endorsing his son for the seat. so he retires in disgrace. then he anoints someone to take over. david: pass it on. that is the way politics these days. melissa: no. david: nancy pelosi is on the attack. you will not believe what the house minority leader is now saying about the tax plan. congressman adrian smith responds to her latest desperate outcry coming next. also you're not having deja vu. wildfires tearing through parts of california again. we'll take you live with an update from the scene. that is coming next. >> my son is a firefighter, i am not waiting around for somebody to have to come rescue me. so i'm out of here.

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>> the debate on health care is life and death this is armageddon. this is a very big deal. because you know why? there is really very hard way to come back from this. melissa: gloom and doom, what nancy pelosi and democrats hammering out the details on the tax bill w very republican congressman adrian smith from nebraska. a member of the house ways and means committee. what will happen here, congressman? >> i think we're on track to improve our tax code. we're on track to improve the economy. i know leader pelosi has little different view on lower taxes and has a little different view on spending.

we're on track to improve the economy and create more opportunity for americans. melissa: do you feel confident because at this point the democrats are really laying down that this is a tax break for corporations, it is going to be on the back of individuals, and really hammering home this idea that middle class people are going to see their taxes go up, not down? if that prediction does come true, i mean, obviously no democrat will go along with this. there will be hell to pay. if americans are really better off, then they will look really foolish. you have to be very confident how it will work out in your district in particular. are you? >> well there is great relief for middle income folks, whether it is improved or expanded child tax credit. whether it is the house version or the senate version. the doubling of the standard deduction. these are provisions that are really geared toward middle income, and i think folks, middle income will see more opportunity but overall our economy will see expansion. that is really opportunity for everyone. melissa: if you had to guess, how would you say that the final

bill comes out? the word that we're hearing it will look very similar to what the senate has put forth and not so much as the house. do you think that there are things that the house will win over and what in particular if anything? >> there will be combination of things. we're seeing the process work here. i'm a little biased in favor of the house bill. melissa: right. >> because i had more interaction there. hey, we need to let this process work this is the first time in a long time. melissa: what is one thing you think will make it from the house bill not in the congress? if you had to point toward it, what is most likely thing not in the senate bill, coming from the house, you think will make it? >> i think corporate tax rates kicking in 2018 instead of delayed for another year. melissa: you think you guys will win that one? that would be a good one because the economy really needs that. >> absolutely. it is about opportunity and economic expansion. that is why we're doing this. melissa: thank you, sir. thanks for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. melissa: we hope that corporate

tax rate, right away. that was a part of the house bill that has got to get in. anyway, go ahead. david: individuals in there too, folks. tax impact on small business owners is of great concern to all of us. can republican leaders unite on one plan to give tax relief to small businesses? hector ba rote toe, former -- barreto, former administrator for small business administration coming up. melissa: dismissed bias details from the fbi removed from the special counsel investigation over anti-trump messages. what we're learning about his work on the clinton email investigation. utah congressman chris stewart sounds off next. >> people have the right to assume that the people that are investigating them are objective and have not already made up their mind. that is why we need to see the texts and we need to interview this special agent. ♪ copd makes it hard to breathe.

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my dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day.sh it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. melissa: more examples of fbi bias against the president. a top prosecutor and now deputy special prosecutor, robert mueller, praising then acting attorney general sally yates back in january when she was fired by president trump for refusing to defend his controversial travel ban. here now, is fox news chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. what can you tell us on this one? reporter: okay, melissa and david, this email was made public this afternoon after a lawsuit was filed by

"judicial watch." they had been seeking all the official government records for sally yates, who in january of this year was the acting attorney general. and the key player here is this guy, andrew weissmann. at the time he was senor justice department official. yesterday to join robert mueller's probe that began in may. in any event weissmann writes to yates and writes to her under the subject line, i am so proud, he continues in the body of the text, and in awe, thank you so much. all my deepest respects. after that yates forwarded the email to her personal account. on its face, weissmann the very least praising yates for defying the president's wishes. i don't think we can read more than that into this about his realpolitiks. whether that is in any way influenced the special counsel probe but it comes the same week that another fbi or separate fbi

official we learned was fired last summer because of these anti-trump texts. melissa: yeah, i mean then there is the agent like you mentioned, one reassigned after sending anti-trump texts to someone reportedly his mistress. what are we learning about this story now? reporter: this fbi senior agent, peter strzok, he is really at all the key points of the clinton email investigation. what we learned today by going back through these february by summaries, it is called the 302, and this one is of clinton's july 2016 interview, he participated in the interview. just three days later when director comey gave his public statement, that clinton was extremely careless, what we know the same fbi agent helped craft that statement and helped revise earlier draft and changed the language from grossly negligent to extremely careless, maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal but gross negligence is a

very loaded term under the law because the criminal statute, that is the standard, to be prosecuted, gross negligence, under something called 793(f). then he is, he is involved in the review of the huma abedin emails found on anthony weiner's emails reopened case just before the election. and when this is all over, he pivots to the russia probe. so he, he has his fingerprints all over his thing and anti-trump, texts this is really uncomfortable revelation for the special counsel. though to his credit robert mueller fired him last summer when this came to his attention. melissa: he reassigned him somewhere else, right? he was no longer on this case. was he fired all together? reporter: my memory serves me correctly, i don't want to give people bad information, i believe he was reassigned to human resources at fbi which is really like the deep black hole of being fired, yeah. melissa: great reporting,

catherine. always appreciate it. david: well does all this give robert mueller a credibility problem? here to react utah congressman chris stewart. he is a member of the house intel committee. so congressman, we have two, now, count them, two lead prosecutors in the mueller investigation who are clearly biased against president trump. how do we clean this up? >> gosh, i don't know. it was very troubling. i have to say one of the very first several months ago saying we should probably appoint an independent counsel but i have come to the conclusion mr. mueller was the last person in the country we should have appointed. he has ties and connections all through the people he was supposed to investigate. for him to be credible he has to be viewed as being fair. and the more we learn from him, the more concerned i am about this. david: the more concerned, frankly, congressman, a lot of people are, that this investigation is turning into a

witch-hunt. it is run by people that hate donald trump. they proved their hatred in emails, texts all sorts of ways. >> not only that but they're hiding it. that is the thing that troubles us most. doj, fbi are hiding it. we've been trying to get information on mr. strzok for months now. it wasn't until over the weekend we finally threatened to hold them for contempt, they leaked it to the press, yeah, sure this is the people information you need and we'll make people available. we've been asking for months. david: congressman, irony, since the collusion charge didn't get opposition to president trump anywhere, now they're pushing obstruction charge. if anybody is obstructing justice, the justice department themselves are not providing with you information that would show their investigation is biased. >> there is no question that is true. the american people should be so deeply offended by that. if there is anyone we should trust, it should be fbi and director of the fbi. if there is anyone we can trust,

it should be mr. mueller. he is put in a special position of trust. i'm not sure they lived up to this i have can assure you senior directors and senior leadership of fbi have not lived up to the trust. david: congressman, what happens now? what do you do? >> we continue to press. if we have to hold them in contempt we will. i was talking to -- david: by the way we saw how the last attorney general dealt with contempt of congress. he just ignored it. do you think they will do the same this time? >> what i was just about to say. i'm only half kidding on this, when we come to the hill we should arrest them. the previous attorney general wore it as badge of honor he was found in contempt. congress has to be willing to enforce our authority. to enforce our prerogatives as the people's house. and we are looking at options that are available to us, to make it so it is not a toothless contempt. but they should be ashamed many themselves to be found in content. they should be ashamed of themselves if they haven't responded. david: congressman, i'm sorry, i

think most americans believe there is no shame inside of beltway. melissa: no. david: there hasn't been for a long time. thank you for joining us. congressman chris stewart. >> thank you. melissa: a dangerous wildfire twice the size of manhattan. david: wow. melissa: it is spreading by the minute. thousands of homes and businesses are in the line of fire. we have a live report from southern california. that is coming up next.

david: fast-moving and very dangerous fire. thousands of people are forced to leave their homes as a massive wildfire is spreading all over southern california. fox business's hillary vaughn is in ventura, california with the very latest. hi, hillary. reporter: hi, david. at least 27,000 people have been evacuated but we're still at 0% containment and part of the reason why is because of these santa ana wind. i don't know if you can tell, the wind is whipping behind me. that causes embers to fly sporadically, which makes it very difficult for fire crews to

predict where the next fire is going to happen. this structure was standing a little over an hour ago. now it is completely burned to the ground. not only winds make fighting a fire very unpredictable but the speed which they're able to burn through struck source remarkable. we've seen several homes standing on this black, were not on fire, now completely leveled to the ground. we're hoping for update in just a few hours to get more final numbers how many structures have burned. so far, 150 building we know have been burned to the ground. but there are more fires now throughout southern california. at least three more popped up, prompting a lot of road closures, more evacuations beyond this area. here in ventura county, fires are ripping through in very random areas. i just talked to a pio who told me that there really is no way to predict where these fires are going to go and by the time they spot them, it's really too late.

really they're trying to work to prevent fires from getting to other structures, david. david: one hour, that is all it takes to level one of those houses. it is just awful. reporter: yes. david: hillary, thank you very much. melissa. melissa: the international olympic committee banning russia from the upcoming winter olympics in south korea because of their state-supported doping of its athletes. ioc said some russian athletes who failed drug tests will be allowed to compete. they will have to represent themselves as neutral athletes. if they win a gold medal, the olympic anthem will be played instead of the russian anthem. david: oh, interesting. i don't think vladmir will like that. melissa: yeah. david: congress works to compromise on their tax plan, president trump welcomes small business owners to the white house but will the tax plan really help main street businesses rather than wall street corporations? our next guest has some concerns, former sb c administrator hector barreto

joining us next. ♪

david: well the senate has just confirmed, kirstjen nielsen it head the department of homeland security and vote was surprising, 62-37. that is a big majority in very, very contentious beltway. nielsen will replace acting secretary elaine duke the so you will see more of her. melissa: president trump wrapping up business meeting with small business owners at the white house. no doubt talking about how the tax plan will affect them. >> they want to see tax cuts. they want to see jobs. they want to have choice. in education they talk about choice. we want choice in jobs also. you can look for five jobs, or six jobs not just take one because that's all you can get and that is happening more and more. melissa: our next guest thinks the gop needs to keep president

trump's promise to help small businesses. hector barreto is the former administrator for the small business administration. so you're not happy with the bill as it stands? what has to come together in conference in order for to you be satisfied with this? >> well they have to reconcile the differences, and they're close but they're not quite there yet and we're also looking to see if they will actually improve some of the benefits for the pass-throughs. as you know, melissa, most small businesses are pass-throughs. melissa: yeah. >> they pay their taxes as individuals. we like to see those rates go down a little bit more as well. melissa: but it is, the folks against this say when it comes to the pass of-through, last to% they don't want to lower that. that is the super-rich. this is not about lowering taxes on the super-rich. you guys are out there defending 98% of small businesses see improvement in the pass-through but why help the last 2%? those people are loaded.

what is wrong with the argument? >> there's a lot wrong with the argument. most businesses are not super-rich, but paying higher taxes than every major corporation. the big guys will always get deductions. they will always find mechanisms and strategies to avoid taxes or pass that on to your customers. small businesses can not do that. that is one of the reasons they have been struggling for the last eight years, and finally starting to feel optimistic about the possibilities. but we can't delay this this has to happen. this has to be approved this year and it has to take effect next year. melissa: last time i had the conversation being devil's advocate on the other side. they said well, when it comes to corporation, that is a corporation paying the tax. then all the individuals in there, pay tax on their income. so there are two taxes there. but for the small business owner in the pass-through tax, that is their income tax and their business tax. >> that's right. melissa: so even though you're saying that they're not getting the same benefit as a large corporation, that is not true because the large corporations are getting the deduction but

then all the people getting benefit of that, then pay income tax again. i hate all of it but this is the way it works so. >> that is one of the reasons we have to have reform. it is so complicated. small businesses don't have the advantages that the big guys. they can not pass the costs on to the customers. i if you lower tax rates any deduction will help small business. we still pay higher percentage than large corporations do. it is time we level the playing field. melissa: yeah. one of the democratic talking points that is getting traction, at least when i see real people out on the street, they ask me what the truth is, one thing that is getting traction that this idea the plan is bending over backward to help companies and help small businesses and large small businesses but that at the expense of making individuals pay for it. >> look, as you well know, 10% of the taxpayers pay 90% of the tax. we're not against anybody getting a tax reduction because a lot of the small businesses,

especially will put that back to work. they will hire people. they will increase inventories. they will increase things they haven't been doing last few years. we've seen the economy start to grow again. we want to keep it growing. that helps everybody. melissa: we have to go. i hope everybody yelling about this now, remembers to go back to washington to yell about cutting spending when this is all over. let's make a deal to that, my friend. >> thank you, melissa. >> a good pioneer in the good television news, the non-fake television news. a special note of love and remembrance coming next.

david: i want to say thank you to you, i have been getting cards and letters, i have been away, my dad passed away, that is him on left, with bobby kennedy in 1960s, another one he

was with space program, his favorite assignment. my father of a life long democrat, he was a reagan democrat, god rest his soul. melissa: he looks like paul newman in that first one, you as well. here is "risk & reward." liz: hysteria alert, democrat house minority leader, nancy pelosi warning that tax bill marks biblical end of the world, even democrats disagree, and republicans fight back, saying it is the end of the political world for democrats. tonight, all-star lineup, former governor mike huckabee on nancy pelosi and much more, bringing in. former fbi assistant