thank you so much. [closing bell rings] nothing too horrific here. above 26,000. little bit of volatility here. but a lot happening in the next five years with this budget situation. "after the bell" starts right now. david: stocks are sinking after yesterday's record run under threat after government shut down. but the dow remains above 26,000. the s&p also taking a breather, just off record highs. nail-biter for nasdaq. looks likes in the end, it women be in the end as well. i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." this is where we're covering very busy hour ahead. fighting whether to keep the government open. we're learning house freedom caucus could vote as a group against a temporary spending bill. things are changing by the minute. debate on the floor will begin at any moment, ahead of crucial vote tonight. we are following all of this very closely.

meanwhile president trump is on his way back from pennsylvania where he just gave a speech at an equipment plant near pittsburgh, touting the benefits of tax reform. we'll take you there live for more on the president's comments. we will speak with the plant ceo who the president just announced will be making a multimillion-dollar investment thanks to the tax cuts. that is going to be a fox business exclusive. and china caught in the act. details of a new report showing chinese ships, look at this, helping north korea, in clear violation of sanctions. all while the u.s. was watching. david: we didn't do it, we didn't do it. there they are. the dow is down about 100 points. 3 1/2 points off of that mark. we're watching all the action in the dow and in commodities markets. we're going phil flynn too. nicole petallides on floor of new york stock exchange. nicole first to you, looked like nasdaq might be in agreement. at the end it didn't make it. >> market somewhat stalled. back and forth action.

no clear direction. watching for government shutdown. we saw strength in tech. interest rate-sensitive stocks, reestate investment trusts. we saw financials under pressure n the end after back and forth tugging, the dow was up nearly 40. it was down about 168. at the end of the day the dow down 97 points. dowing laggards here, goldman sachs, walt disney, merck, boeing, as airbus got a deal boeing did not get. we see that dragging on major averages. homebuilders, tolle brothers hit a new high but with a number in december saw a drop for home building that was the worst december in monthly number. was a drop hadn't seen that since november of 2016, entire year for 2017. home building housing starts in particular did well. building permits not indication what happened moving forward.

here is look. the group is under pressure. last but not least watching viacom and cbs. sumner redstone split viacom and cbs in decade ago. failed attempt to recombine them. sherry road ten, controlling shareholder over at cbs has been in, there is viacom. we'll continue to watch this developing story in the media world. back to you. david: i said phil flynn will be here on commodities. he is not. let me told you gold took a major hit. a big hit for the gold bugs. thank you very much. melissa? melissa: it is the economy stupid. president trump taking a victory lap on tabs reform touting the effect of tax cuts on millions of americans. fox business's jeff flock is in pennsylvania where the president made remarks just a few minutes ago. jeff? reporter: he is on his way home now but i'll tell you the

president did today, melissa what a lot of people like the president to do a lot more of, that is to say talk about the economy. even said it, it is about the economy stupid. not the first guy to say that but it was today and that's great. touring this plant, h&k equipment. heavy equipment, they sell it, they service it, it is a great barometer for the economy. president stayed on message. didn't say anything, mucking around into any other subjects. here is what he some of he had to say. >> insuring the forgotten men and women of our country are never ever gotten again, remember, the deplorables? the deplorables. we're all deplorables. would have thought that would turn into a landslide. that was not a good phrase that she used. oh, some things you would like to have back. reporter: well, maybe not a

landslide but definitely was a win there. there could be another win here because there is a big congressional race that, that seat that open seat, the 18th district here in pennsylvania arbs big battle between rick saccone who the president is endorsing. this man says he was trump before there was trump, selling that agenda. he is in a big battle for that one. the president supports him. if they can stay on the economy that may be something that takes him over the finish line. melissa: he was trump before there was trump. okay. david: fine that hard to believe. melissa: jeff, thank you. reporter: that is what he said. david: he said it. let's bring in today's panel. scott martin from kings views asset management. dan henninger from "the wall street journal" if it is thursday, it must be dan henninger, that is when his piece appears in the journal. they are both fox news contributors. dan, you write eloquently how well we're doing economically. the president is pushing that point home in pennsylvania. can he turn the good economic news into good political news for his party?

>> well that remains to be seen, david. consider the marist poll came out today on trump's first year, fascinating result. republicans think it was a success by 87%. democrats think it was a failure by 87%. can you get over that symmetry? in the center you have independents divided about 50/50. so obviously in earlies of it politics the appeal has to be made in the center to these independents. i think trump is doing the right thing. i should think he should do it in more apolitical way. i don't think harping on the election or hillary clinton will pull more independents. david: the point, scott, democrats went along with nothing he proposed or succeeded doing, whether through executive orders or deregulations and tabs accounts. democrats were saying a month ago none of the things that are happening would happen. including companies giving out

bonuses, pay raises, imagine tim cook of all people, one of the i don't think he is, he has come out publicly been anti-trump he is kind of an anti-trump guy. here is what he says about the tax cuts have enabled him to do, play the tape. >> large parts of this that are result of tax reform. there are large part of this we would have done any situation. i haven't spent a lot of time categorizing those two. because to me this, is about america. it is not about, which bucket you put things in. david: but he did give credit to the tax cuts, scott, for enabling him to expand his investment tremendously. >> which is good to see, david. this is a big silicon valley company as we know, typically some of those companies out there, let's just say it, they tend to lean a little bit more left. tim cook i appreciate his honesty here. to comments on lead there, democrats poo-pooed a lot of the agenda. like you said they stood in the way.

i remember words like armageddon being used. nowadays, they won't even acknowledge, they're dying to avoid the acknowledgement we're already seeing from the agenda taking place even just this year from a couple weeks ago in the tax cut passage. at least you will see benefits come through with respect to i believe a strong midterm effort for the republicans. >> did not, i think americans are rightfully suspicious of political promises and corporate promises for that matter. they want to see it in their paychecks. they want to see whether their kid get a job after they get out of college. are they, once they do, if they do see their paychecks go up, if they do see the job situation improve, will they then be believers turn that into the way they vote? >> that is the big question. you're talking about economic well-being. as it spreads through the economy, through the country and people people see it in their hay checks. give the president credit for this. we're all having to talk coming days for president's first year.

i've been looking a little bit what he did on reregulation. we know what happened to the stock market, david. deregulation, touched almost every industry out there, mining tell communications. agriculture. i think all of that gradually win seep through into people's kitchen tables. david: good stuff. we have breaking news. american express reporting fourth quarter results. let's go to nicole with the numbers. how do they look nicole? >> looking good for american express. dow component, saw adjusted earnings per share, dollar 58, beating estimates of. the stock is to the downside 2.4%. not revenue came in 8.8 billion. that exceeded too. it is really the outlook as i look at full year adjusted earnings per share 6.70 to, 7.30. one estimate had 7.38. the other had 7.4. in one case it was great, right

in line. in another case it may have missed estimates for outlook going forward. i will say they had record card member spending where they saw quarterly revenues up 10%. turn it over to ibm. ibm, the story there was really to watch for the revenues. so after-hours, ibm is down 1.7%, dow component. these earnings are weighing on this stock after hours, looking at the big picture here, on the earnings per share, 5.18. bp s5 .17. estimate, 22.06. so a beat there. it is year over year numbers we're also watching. we haven't seen ibm's year-over-years exceeding cloud revenues. it is all about cloud computing. revenues increased there 30%, to $5.5 billion. 52 weeks, ibm is pretty flat. it is about 1% gain for the stock. so if you own this particular tech stock, unlike some other great ones of 2017 you sort of

missed out on a great rally. it has been relatively flat. it is down 1.8% right now. american express, dow component. back to you. david: expectations are high. thank you, nicole. melissa. melissa: clock it ticking on republicans voting on short-term spending bill to avoid a government smutdown. blake burman is here with the latest on it. blake? reporter: couple different messages on air force one that president was heading to pennsylvania. the number two in the press shop, rage shaw, does not feel there will be a government shutdown. however i can tell you a senior white house official told me they don't think it is better than a 50/50 coin flip at this point of the president preemptively for days now if there is a shutdown, it would be the democrats to blame. and today, he refined his point with this theory right here. listen. >> i really believe the democrats want a shutdown to get off the subject of the tax cuts

because they worked so well. nobody thought, including the democrats it could work this well. they have been so good i think the democrats would like to see a shutdown in order to get off that subject. reporter: here at white house they feel that things are moving in the wrong direction in the senate. they feel that things could potentially right way in the house. house freedom caucus, conserve testify members in the house are meeting to vote what they would do. the bill does not include a daca solution which is a big issue for democrats. earlier the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer said if there is a shutdown it would be the republicans who would be the ones to blame. >> the president is like abbott, leader mcconnell is like costello. you do it. they point at each other, and nothing gets done. reporter: all right, here is how

the makeup, how the math works as it relates to the senate. 51 republicans though john mccain is not here. three different republican senator, lindsey graham, mike rounds have already said as it stands at the moment they would be voting no on the bill in it is current form. this there would be 13 democrats, 13 at least would have to vote yes with the republicans. david, melissa, when you break the math down that way, you can understand why here at the white house they feel that the tough spot on the hill is with the senate, that one senior white house official telling me, it's a 50/50 shot. back to you. melissa: blake, thank you so much. here now is stephen hayes, "the weekly standard" editor-in-chief, a fox news contributor. what is your take on that. >> blake is right. white house source is too optimistic, 50/50 is stretch. mike lee, has history voting

against short term budget fixes and expressed skepticism. inconceivable that republicans in the senate will get 13, 14, 15 democrats to pass the thing the white house wants to trumpet as accomplishment. melissa: so i feel like talking points shifted among republicans today. i heard two or three of them say, shutdown, when you think about what a shutdown is, remember the president has the ability to name whatever he wants in essential service. so he really gets to dress up this shutdown any way he wants, and pay the people that he wants to pay. at same time, if you think about that, his followers are drain the swamp type people. maybe a shutdown, maybe they're not gunning that hard against it, that it wouldn't be that terrible from the president's point of view. what do you think, steve? >> i guess i would have a different view. it would be bad for republicans. chuck schumer as much as i disagree with him most of the time is accurate when he

describes the politics on this. there is president trump saying he wants a shutdown. that was long time ago. we can be sure that the democrats will not be assiduous use ever context when they air those sound bites. republicans ultimately have control of the senate and house and white house. in many respects it is up to them. melissa: it is, what is the downside of a shutdown? it is the people who don't get paid, that they bring out this one doesn't get this, military doesn't get that he has power to make that not happen. so then what are the parts of the shutdown that happen, stuff is not popular with the american people? you hear what i'm saying? when they say what is the price of this shutdown? if it is not that dire -- >> i mean there are two potential problems. one is practical one. as you suggest, the president, secretary of treasury have some flexibility in terms of how the money is dispersed. the bigger problem, the political problem is one of perception where we know that the media will blame this on republicans. i think it is heart for

republicans to defend themselves because they have majorities in both chambers in congress and president has the white house. i think it's a tough argument politically for republicans to make at this point. melissa: i know but blame for what? like we all hate the government. so to shut it down is, doesn't seem that terrible, from a practical reason? who does need to keep paid? then, beyond at that, so what happens next? so steve, say there is a shutdown, then who has the better bargaining position at that point? what do we see happen? >> well, i mean remember, we might be skeptical of government. i certainly am. but a lot of americans aren't. that is in part why we're in the problem, having problems that we're having right now. and i think more than anything, that sort ever macro message that would come from washington is one of dysfunction. even if we think, that i think there are cabinet agencies that should be shuttered. this is not the right way to do it. republicans having campaigned party can both rein in

government but also run it effectively is not the party to be able to do that. looks like the swamp is swallowing donald trump and republicans rather than republicans and donald trump taming the swamp. melissa: i know republicans are part of the swamp. so anyway, steve hayes, thank you so much for your insight. thank you so much. david: glad we were listening to you and steve while keith ellison talking on left hand of the screen. deputy director of dnc. this guy is endorsing antifa about a week ago, the far left organization, believes in violence as a way of solving political problems. that is who is talk talking right now. we're keeping a close eye on the house floor as official debate whether to keep the government is set to begin. i'm intrigued by your idea, president trump may decide which group gets the money, which group doesn't. we'll bring you any new developments as they come in ahead of tonight's big vote. melissa: it will be close in the house. senate faces even more challenges. we were talking about this,

passing a temporary spending bill, coming up the senate's third highest ranking republican john thune of south dakota how they will get through this thing. david: may come down to the senate. we'll speak with a military officer. he has more than three deck kid serving the u.s. on what a government shutdown will actually mean for our men and women in the military. retired army general anthony tatum joining us next. >> the group that loses big would be the military and we're never letting our military lose at any point. complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy.

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david: funding america' heroes. president at the pentagon hammer that home. >> if it shuts down the worst thing happens to our military. we're rebuilding our military, we're bringing it to a level it has never been at. the worst thing is for our military. we don't want that to happen. i'm here to support our military. our military has to be best in the world by far. david: here is retire brigadier general tony tata, best-selling author of this book, direct fire. general, how would a shutdown put our security at risk? >> david, what you see here you have soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, around the country in their foxholes doing their job, my question is why can't congress get in its foxhole to its job and pass a budget that will fund defense and all the other agencies that need to be funded for us to have, first and foremost a good national

security -- david: general, assume the worst for the moment. assume that we do have a government shut down on friday at midnight. what happens to our security? is it really put at risk? >> yes, so, you will have thousands of people furloughed from dod civilians, army, navy, air force, civilians, that serve in critical functions all across the government, all across the world. dhs, department of homeland security will have to furlough people all across the nation. what you will have, department of state will have to furlough people. inner agency efforts will slow down and gum up. importantly, veterans affairs will have to furlough people in contract services and wait times will be extended. so it impacts every soldier, every service member, every veteran, and it impacts our national security greatly. the left wants to hold hostage the servicemen and women and children to, put in front of them illegal immigrants? that is unconscionable.

really? they need to step back, david, think about why the heck they ran for congress. david: we have had major cutbacks in the past seven years during the obama administration in the military. there is waste in the pentagon, like there is waste everywhere else. >> sure. david: to the point a lot of people in the know said we were putting our security at risk with these cutbacks. the president wants to reverse that. president trump wants to build the military back up, within reason, cutting out waste, building up to the point where we're ready to fight any battle anywhere. to do that you need long-term contracts but we keep having the continuing resolutions. >> right. david: don't they stand in the way of these long-term contracts that we need? >> they do. that is exactly right. the unpredictability of continuing resolutions and these budget crises that are fabricated quite frankly, get in the way of steady planning, contingency operation planning done by the military in the pentagon and in the combatant command around the world.

they don't have the personnel needed to run all of the plans that they need to whether u.s. forces korea -- david: you talk about u.s. personnel, the air force is not particularly your area of expertise, you were in the army, but the air force magazine has a cover story out, something has got to give. says u.s. air force has too many missions and not enough airmen. we don't have enough airmen to fly planes we have. we need more personnel, to do that in competitive jobs market in the u.s. you have to pay more. we don't have fund for that. >> two a-tens saved my soldiers on battleground in afghanistan. david: there you go. >> i love air force and all services you're exactly right we don't have people to do the job. we don't pay them enough. we need to give privates and sergeants pay raises. people all over the world temporary duty. i heard an argument, troops get paid on the 1st and

15th. you turn in your temporary duty pay stub when you're down with it. 10 of thousands of troops impacted immediately if the government shuts down, the left doesn't care about that? they really need to step back and think hard, what they want president trump to fail. they want the country to burn down under his watch and they're happy to light that match. david: general tata, we thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. >> thank you, david. david: melissa. melissa: did china violate sanctions against north korea? shocking u.s. intelligence is revealing that with photos to prove it. plus the battle to win over amazon continues. what location will the e-commerce giant pick for second headquarters. david: denver. melissa: that is coming up. probably. ♪ sorry about that. they're all about me saving for a house, or starting a college fund for my son.

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david: that was a quick trip. quicker to come from the west to the east. that is the president arriving from pittsburgh. he is at joint base andrews. he should be at the white house at about 5:05. he was in pittsburgh touting the economy and all benefits from the tax bill. melissa. melissa: u.s. intelligence officials releasing evidence of chinese officials violating sanctions against north korea. the u.n. slapped sanctions on them from exporting oil, gas and seafood. ashley webster has the story. >> this speaks absolute volumes although the chinese would beg to differ. u.s. intelligence tracks ships in the sea of japan through the yellow sea. what they saw is flabbergasting. saw certain ships using certain manuevers and techniques trying to pretend what they were doing is not picking up cargo and exports from north korea and moving them on to places such as

vietnam and russia. in one ship particular, called the glory hope one, to give you an example. it was across the yellow sea under the panama flag, under the panamanian flag. it had its identification beacon turned off, making it invisible to satellites and lan-based tracking systems. it is shown picking up coal in north korea. it then heads to the coast of china where it loiters, says the u.s. for about a week, just off the coast, to gift impression, actually getting a load from china. then it eventually drops off that load in vietnam. so in other words, we have the proof, we have the photographs. what the u.s. wants is for these particular ships to be blacklisted by u.n., would make them blacklist theevery point ever every member. which don't want these ships blacklist the. we're not doing. they have a hard time explaining what is going on in these pictures that coal alone is

worth $400 million a year to north korea. and north korea needs that hard currency in order to sustain its military machine. so, lots of questions for the chinese to answer and so far we haven't had many responses. melissa: caught red-handed, ashley webster, thank you. >> my pleasure. david: some unusually blunt talk at united nations. our ambassador nikki haley saying greatest threat to nuclear non-proliferation in the world initiating a a. iran's destablizing behavior in the middle east and russian and their defense of syrian dictator bashar al-assad. melissa: president trillion hitting -- president trump hitting the road to tout h&k equipment. david: we're 36 hours away from a possible partial government shut down.

congress will be very busy between now and then. senator john thune is giving us some of his time to explain where they are now. >> this is like giving you a, a bowl of doggie doo put a cherry on top and call it a chocolate sundae. this is nothing.

melissa: president trump touring headquarters of h&k equipment

company in pennsylvania before making remarks touting his sweeping tax reform plan. in his speech the president celebrated the company's recent success. >> the signs of america's comeback can be seen at companies like this one which just had its most successful year in its 35 year history, congratulations. good job. [applause] h&k equipment will soon be making a $2.7 million capital investment, thanks to the new tax cuts. so i appreciate that. the workers appreciate that. [applause] >> joining us now in a fox business exclusive is the president and ceo, cofounder of h&k equipment, george cook. thank you, sir, for coming on. what was it like to have the president there? describe your day to us a little bit. >> it is absolutely awesome. it was awesome for myself and my family t was awesome for all of our employees. it was, it took three, four, five days, i suppose to get

ready for it, just created a tremendous amount of comradery. the enthusiasm having president of the united states in your building is off the charts. melissa: did you support the president before? >> yes. melissa: yeah. now that, now that he has been there and you made the announcement and you said that you will put 2.7 million of cap-ex to work, did that happen before you knew he was coming? did you always know it would be that number? some people say companies are dog this to please the president, god forbid? >> no, we're, we're an asset-based company. we, we have very large rental fleets, and we have cap-ex every year with the accelerated depreciation increasing to 100% from 50%. it enables us to buy, spend more cap-ex on more equipment for our rental fleet. melissa: he said that you have had your best year in 35 years.

what was behind that? what's changed? what feels different to you? >> i think the whole first year of this prison sy generated a lot of enthusiasm. there is a lot of businesses that, based on that enthusiasm they purchased more. so we had, there is a lot of growth in the industries that we deal with. melissa: that is really come to light. because the other thing that haters are going to hate. what they say is, the stock market is overinflated. it is a lot of hype and a lot of hope, that you have to see the actual money come down to the bottom line. >> yeah. the numbers, the numbers don't lie. you can calculate it by the sheer purchase order that you get from customers that were substantial increase over previous years. melissa: yep. absolutely true.

george cook, would you like the president to come back? >> we would love him to come back. melissa: it sounds likes you're busy there. we'll let you get back to work. thank you for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. david: factory is always busy. melissa: i know, right. david: meanwhile, then there were 20. amazon narrowing its list of locations for it second headquarters to 20 cities whittling down from 200 proposals across north america. the list include atlanta, boston, chicago, dallas, watch ton d.c., columbus, ohio, toronto, denver and a lot of others. the e-commerce giant promises $5 billion investment and 50,000 jobs in the city chosen. a final decision expected this year. that number pales in comparison to how much apple will invest in their operations. >> booming economy. there you go. the flu season nowhere near over. it is turning out to be deadly. the update on this season's

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liberty mutual insurance. melissa: deadly flu outbreak is getting worse with nearly every single state in the u.s. reporting widespread flu activity, and cdc is saying flu activity is likely to continue for several more weeks. jonathan hunt more with the frightening outbreak. jonathan? >> this flu season is bad. according to fox's dr. marc siegel, it could get even worse. >> this is the earliest we have ever seen this severe of a flu season since cdc has been tracking it. it is already peaking and it is only the beginning of january. reporter: take a look at this. 49 of 50 states, hawaii the lucky exception, reporting widespread flu activity according to the centers for disease control. the states in red are the hardest hit. the spread of this season's

particularly h3n2 strain has been worsened by consistently cold weather in much of the country and a vaccine that is considerably less than perfect although the cdc says it is improving. >> ultimately we would love to have a longer-lasting more broadly protective universal vaccine. it may be a while before we get that. so in the interrim seeing some improvements in the vaccine now are a good thing. reporter: doctors, by the way, say the vaccine is still worth getting. meantime more than half a dozen school districts in oklahoma and one in texas have shut down for at least a day because of the outbreak. and here in california the loma linda medical center in san bernanadino has set up a triage tent outside to cope with additional burdens caused by the outbreak. further south in san diego county there have been 142

influenza-related death this is season, making it the most deadly since the county began keeping record two decades ago. nationwide, according to the latest figures from the national center for health statistics, 759 people have died because of the flu. in los angeles, jonathan hunt, fox news. melissa: that is incredible. jonathan, thank you. david: well a u.s. marshal was shot and killed in harrisburg, pennsylvania serving an arrest warrant to a woman this morning a man in her building shot the marshall and two other police officers. both of those officers are recovering from their injuries. one of them actually killed the gunman after getting shot himself. in south carolina a man accuse of domestic abuse shot and killed a sheriff's detective. three other officers were shot but are expected to be okay. melissa: the house is now debating a temporary spending measure to keep the government funded to mid-february ahead of a crucial vote. tonight if it passes the senate

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>> this is real america. the democrats want to see a shutdown to get off the subject, because this subject is not working for them. the tax cuts and tax reform not been working well for the democrats. david: president trump earlier today in pennsylvania, is he right? do democrats actually want a government shutdown because they failed to make the charge that tax cuts are actually bad for americans? let's ask one of the key negotiators in the senate trying hard to prevent a shutdown, republican senator john thune. so is the president right, senator thune? >> i think the president on that point is right, david. the democrats voted in block

against the tax cuts and jobs act. as you have seen since it passed all the bonuses and pay raises, impact it is having on people's paychecks across the country. now they seem insistent on blocking legislation that would authorize the children's health insurance program for the next six years. david: right. >> that is essentially what is included in this budget bill that the house is currently voting on, we hope to be voting on later. david: they so invested themselves politically in the idea that the tax cut would do no good for americans that it would just benefit the rich, when we see all the bonuses, pay raises on the lowest end of the economic scale and promises of invests. you know i have to give you credit, senator, because you said before the tax bill was signed into law we're going to see an immediate takeoff in the economy because once companies see the bill is signed, see how to plan their future, they will start investing but the democrats have failed in their prediction of disaster for america as a result of the tax bill. >> they have. that is i think really, and i'm,

i think very frustrated by that which is why now they're trying to pull the latest stunt of shutting the government down to shift the subject, but frankly i think what you will continue to see david as a result of the tax cuts is american businesses expanding and growing their operations, creating those better-paying jobs and you will see wages go up. you have a competitive labor market. when businesses are competing for labor, the price of labor goes up. they will have to pay people more. that is good for the economy. it is good for american workers. you will see short term and long term the effects of the tax and jobs act in a very beneficial way not only for american businesses and american workers. david: there is disconnect between effectiveness of the tax cuts and stirring economic activity and political strategy going on inside the beltway at least with the democrats. they continue to believe if they focus on the president's

character and focus on things that have nothing to do with what is happening with the economy but political things, that they will win the midterm elections. they also believed by the way, if there is a shutdown, they can blame it all on the republicans because you guys have the senate, the house and executive. representative slaughter, said if there is shutdown, our fingerprints are not on it, what do you think? >> believe it or not they're gloating about that. you're hearing from senate democrats out there as well spiking the football, talking about boy, if we shut the government down, we have the votes to do it, republicans will get blamed for it, i don't know whose interest that serves. if you want to do good things for the american people, fund the government, deal with the complex issues we have in front of us. one which is immigration and fund our military in a way that makes sure we're meeting our national security requirements. there are a whole serious of issues that need to be resolved but they don't get resolved by government shut down.

the democrats seem very intent trying to play a political game, gain a political advantage at the expense of the in this case the american people and priorities that are important to them. hopefully they will come to their senses. at the moment it looks like that is what they are intent in doing, at least the senate democrats. david: practically speaking, if you do a vote count, the house will be voting on it around 7:00 tonight. it comes down to the senate. frankly to get 60 votes in the senate to pass this thing, seems pretty much a impossible task right now, doesn't it? >> it looks at the moment like a heavy lift, but again, i hope in the end that cooler heads will prevail. that there are enough democrats in the senate who recognize that this is a, this is a losing argument for the american people. they may view it as winning political argument. i don't think that is the case either. people will realize that they the only ones voting enblock to shut the government down. we'll have that discussion and

debate this evening. we'll see where the votes are. but let's hope for the good of the american people and for our economy, that we, the democrats don't prevail doing something stupid like shutting the government down. david: one final quick question. senator lindsey graham, republican colleague says it is on immigration which is a sticking point in this plan, it is up to the president. is that true? or is it up to democrats who might vote with you guys on this bill? >> i think in a lot of ways what he is getting at there is only one person in the country that can sign a bill into law. that is the president. in order to get a presidential signature obviously we have to know what the president's priorities are, what he wants in the bill. so, he has got to be part of this process. we all know that as i said before, the discussions that are going on will reach a conclusion. we will get to a solution on immigration on the daca issue, but, we need to be able, be at the table to do that, not in a context of trying to shut down

the government. david: senator john thune, good of you to join us, senator, thank you very much. >> thanks. melissa: love at 36,000 feet. how one lucky couple scored the wedding after lifetime initiated by pope francis himself. david: that is very cool. melissa: very cool. with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. .. ..

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can you imagine having the pope do your wedding? risk and reward starts now. most significantly for was the tremendous tax really for working families the small businesses the big businesses that produce jobs for just about everybody. tremendous numbers and you are already seen what's happening. >> we have created nearly 2.2 million jobs since the election. an 18 year low the number of americans applied for unemployment benefits just hit a 45 year low.