the government up and running again when the vote is held in the next hour. that is very interesting. the senate needs 60 votes to pass it. jeff flake says they will get the 60 votes. that will interesting. neil, you have a show. neil: we're hearing from other senators, stuart, indicating out of this darkness comes a possible light a measure would pass and lead the way to the government opening up for business again. the only detail what time of day that would formally happen. jeff flake says the votes are there. a number on and off the record indicated much the same. a lot was buoyed by the talk that mitch mcconnell made a promise, commitment to have daca-related immigration legislation on tap, ready to be voted on in a few short weeks. the devil is in the details there. but again, this is something that came together literally within the last 45 minutes or so. it started looking good within

the last ten minutes or so let's go to the fox news capitol hill senior producer chad pergram with the latest. what are we looking at? >> i talked to senator jeff flake who indicated they might get to the 60 votes. this is all the math. they need to get this 60 votes. this is vote not to reopen the government. if they get 60 votes the government will reopen. this will be a test vote, signal, indicating later today that the senate will vote on three-week interim spending bill to open the government through february 8th. it will have to go to the house of representatives, what the house of representatives approved last week is different from this bill. more significant from senator flake is saying, we learned democratic senator from florida bill nelson indicated he is a yes. let me go through the math here. they need 60 yeas. senators flake and graham, they are now yeas. there were several republican nos the other night. so that gets you up into the low

50s. mitch mcconnell had to vote no for procedural reasons. so they could come back and vote today. so he will be a yes if it looks like they're getting there. there were five democratic yeses on friday night. joe donnelly, joe manchin, claire mccaskill, doug jones, heidi heitkamp. you put those five together, you add senator nelson. we're down to five. who are we looking at here? looking at at moderates, chris coons from delaware. senators in cycle, who face competitive reelections this fall. joe manchin from montana. sherrod brown, a democrat from ohio. those are some names you look at. tina smith, the new senator from minnesota. she has to stand for election this fall. she was appointed to the senate just a couple weeks ago to succeed al franken. if they get 60, they're there. this will move through the senate later today, through the house of representatives, they will reopen government, if they

get short that is the problem. i was told about it source they will definitely get into the high 50s, but who that 60th vote will be is the magic question. it may come down to one vote. that is how often, similar to how often the big votes come in the house and senate, one or two votes either way, neil. neil: to your point, we're hearing independent senator angus king, among voting for shutdown of the government last week, woe vote on monday to reopen the government. so how does that affect the -- >> that is another one, i didn't mention him by name. he is one of the names on my list. he caucuses with the democrats, but definitely somebody who would be in play. that takes it to four. they are getting close to where we think they get into the range of close to 60 votes. a lot of people thought this would be solved over the weekend. they failed that test vote late friday night, early saturday morning. saturday was kind of a lot of showboating and charades and press conference. but when the federal government

was supposed to reopen for business 9:00 this morning i had one senior source saying a government shutdown over the weekend you're playing with the house's money, when it gets to the monday morning that is the problem. most of the federal government is furloughed, bring people back to work. some were stunned they couldn't get an agreement or take the procedural vote late last night, 10:00 or 1:00 a.m. bright and early this morning as was the case. if they don't get the back here here is the fundamental issue. do enough democratic senators believe they get a agreement from mitch mcconnell to work on immigration reform? here's the other key, even though this is prebaked in the senate, it is not prebaked all the way yet, even if they get a deal with mitch mcconnell they have to get it through the house of representatives. that will be meddlesome, considering issue of daca and how some conservative republicans interpret that issue. neil: they were among those

holding their knows last week on votes they did v thank you very much. this is something that republicans explain how this happens when they have the show of running the table, controlling the white house and both branches government, but 60 votes are needed to end something like this, something south carolina senator tim scott on our new show "cavuto live," republicans can't do it alone. >> to run the senate you need 60 votes on legislative items. without the 60 votes you're not in charge of legislation. we have only 51 votes at best. neil: could this have been avoided dealing with it earlier? like a college thing, we do term papers night before? you could save yourself a lot of grief. >> three months we've been negotiating on these principles that are part of the plan. the democrats signed off on all those. what they now decided to do is hold hostage the american people and the government for something that is not yet imminent.

neil: well, maybe not for much longer. if again the latest vibes we're getting this could end, maybe soon. house republican conference chair, georgia congressman doug collins. doug, what does your gut tell you? >> neil, we'll see. we're good to hear progress and mr. flake that voted to shut the government down and will vote to open it back up. they're prioritizing a illegal immigration issue over our american citizens and defense and departments and governments not opening it is getting harder to make the case. my hope they get there. we'll see here. the proof is in the votes. those will happen just shortly. neil: say it pass this is hurdle, at least in the senate on this procedural matter, mitch mcconnell has apparently been instrumental in getting us to this stage by promising to hold a vote on immigration reform, daca, you name it, if the democrats agree to reopen

the government, but again, those issues go right back to you twice in the house, i'm told that maybe you, but certainly some of your conservative colleagues, are worried about overstepping here. what do you think? >> well i think the issue is, as mitch mcconnell is the majority leader of the senate. let's make that very clear, majority leader in the senate, not the house. he can make deals with his group. i encourage him to work his will. there is a house. we'll work our will as well. also there is president trump. president trump laid out distinctly four parameters making the deal for daca. nobody is not wanting to deal with daca not get it fixed we'll not take the president's wishes to ignore those as well. mitch mcconnell can make promises. i would encourage him to do so, get his people moving but we need to deal with these things, i will remind those watching today as well the house sent over all 12 appropriations bills. the house did this back in the fall, early fall. these things have not been as was said earlier something

waiting to the last minute from the house's perspective. we've been doing our job all along. it is senate who tried to take different tacks and different terms come up with reasons not to fund the government, funding fully military and funding priorities of the administration and moving forward. neil: there is a lot to go. you should hear the horrible things they say about you. i'm kidding. congressman, thank you very much. we'll see how it sorts out. want to take a quick peek at corner of wall and broad. stocks were up 60 points or so, might be a rumor, jeff flake saying that the he thinks there are 60 votes paving the weigh to open the government. won't happen rapidly but certainly will happen today if we're follow. government shutdown roiling the markets hat hampering them but not helping them in a robust way, talk this could end sooner than we thought. enough to propel the dow higher than it was.

what caused someone to blink, a lot of people are reading democrats potentially worried that this could be one problem for them and worried more about tax cuts looking to get more favable reviews and to get more optimistic views on the part of the american people. former bush 43 press secretary ari fleischer on that. what gets either side to blink in the course of this. >> if they both think it is not working for them. if the political pressure neither party feels this is absolute win for us, we're crushing the other side it makes people compromise. you know, neil, the congress is 100% right. the house passed 12 appropriation bills. the problem is the filibuster. when i worked in the senate, the senate passed every single bill. they never filibustered to forge a height fight over one bill. get rid of filibuster in senate on appropriations. i do wish for that. neil: if they were to end now,

democrats take control -- >> fine. it is majority rule. neil: okay. >> that is the decision the electorate makes. when the electorate says we want republican or democratic senate they should be e powered -- neil: supermajority treats senate difficultly not good enough. >> i negative supported that frankly. i said that when barack obama was president, they should get rid of the filibuster as well. i'm consistent on it. started out in history when senate was couple dozen senators, three, four senators. 100%, there was no filibuster. everybody could talk forever. so everybody could filibuster. neil: that is what the president wants to see. doesn't look like mitch mcconnell will blink on that. mitch mcconnell might have proven very instrumental on this particular issue promising apparently spelling out to some, i don't know everybody, i don't know details of the plan, we'll take up immigration reform, yes, we'll take up daca, first of all reopen the government but they want to go, that is, democrats want to go on more than his word, right?

>> in government all you can have is the word of the other person. typically that does hold up. if that is broken, everything is broken. nothing can be passed. neil: you would think we honor that, come up in a few weeks. >> he would. schumer wouldn't accept it if that wasn't the case that is the glue that holds the senate and house together. the biggest hurdle even if it passes the senate is the house. the house is not a carbon copy of the senate and senate should not be carbon copy of the house. neil: make sure is does pass the senate, goes back to them -- >> what is this clean? what the house passed included chip funding and other things. will the senate send that back it house? opens the government until february 8. but if it is clean might be harder to pass in the house. i don't know what this will do in the house. neil: what is your reading of the political tea leaves on the tax cuts? when they first came tilted to the rich, tilted to companies. companies began sharing the wealth because they did get a good deal. it went beyond shareholders. all good for them. but i think it surpised a number

of democrats, i raised it this weekend in washington with number of my democratic guests who were surprised that these bonuses were happening and all that other stuff. what do you think? >> distresses me, for decades the democrats decried capitalism and success as trickle-down and they mock it. if you been around the private sector, it can not work that way. it must be good for employees f it is not good for employees it is not good for employees. didn't surprise me at all it was passed on. neil: providing temporary tax relief for companies, the rap against it, companies are free to do with their money whatever they want, they pouredded into the stock, benefits the stocks and shareholders. >> bush cut corporate tax rate from 35 to 21. this -- neil: you think this compelled guys to do more? >> from 2004 and 2007 after the corporate cuts were put in, not corporate cuts but dividend rate

cuts, the economy boomed three percentage points from 04 to 07. there is i had of growth. neil: this is much bigger in percentage terms. >> that's correct. i expect more growth and pay raises for workers. neil: in enough time the workers think twice than heaving republicans out? >> i think they're thinking twice. public polling tax reform, two million people getting bonuses. minimum wage going up to $15 naturally, not by dictate or law, i think this is going to continue. it will result in actually permanent wage increases because the labor market is so tight. everything is set up to benefit american workers. neil: he should, a lot of people say he gets in the way of his own message, it's a conundrum and weird thing. >> i have a football analogy are to the president. he makes so much progress driving the ball down the field and but keeps getting unnecessary roughness penalties and moves backs because of his tweets. his language he hurts himself. he makes himself too hot to

handle. if the focus was on the policies, laws and things that have been done, accomplishments the president would be in great shape. he needs to cool it. then things will turn around for him too personally. neil: always good seeing you my friend. >> thank you. neil: former press secretary of president bush one of the most perilous times of our nation's history. he was always cool and level-headed about it. the dow at highest level. dow, s&p and nasdaq are up. only event besides positive developments on earnings front, companies like halliburton coming out with better than expected numbers, interest rates holding steady, we're very early on in earnings season. get netflix later on. td ameritrade, big names after the bell. this potential end to what would end up being about a three-day government shutdown, i say potential. looks that way in a key vote going on in the united states senate. let's say this didn't hurt matters any. more "coast to coast" after this.

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neil: chuck schumer addressing the senate ahead of this key procedural vote. let's listen in. >> we seltze-r. we enter the third day of the trump shutdown, first-ever real shut down to occur when one party controls the entire legislative process. the republican party controls the house, senate, presidency, yet they were unable to keep the government open for the american people. leader mcconnell knows it

takes 60 votes to win passage of a spending bill, and yet he moved forward with a last-minute extension that he knew lacked the votes. both democrats and republicans voted against that bill. the reason the republican majority had such difficulty finding consensus is they could never get a firm grip on what the president of their party wanted to do. these days with, these days you never know who to deal with when it comes to the republicans. the republican leaders told me to work out a deal with the white house. the white house said work it out with republican leaders on the hill. separately president trump turned away from not one but two bipartisan compromises. each would have averted this shutdown. each would have led to a dole on the budget and health care, and

disaster aid and things like opioids and veterans and pensions, and on immigration. my recent offer to the president was a generous one. i put his signature campaign issue on the table in exchange for daca and still he turned away. president trump's unwillingness to compromise caused the trump shutdown, and brought us to this moment. the facts are well-known. now i wish to update the senate on where things stand after this weekend. since our meeting in the oval office on friday the president and i have not spoken, and the white house refused to engage in negotiations over the weekend. the great deal-making president sat on the sidelines. despite and because of this frustration, i have been having conversations with the

republican leader over the weekend about a path forward. after several discussions, offers, counteroffers, the republican leader and i have come to an arrangement. we will vote today to reopen the government, to continue negotiating a global agreement. with the commitment that if an agreement isn't reached by february the 8th, the senate will immediately proceed to consideration of legislation dealing with daca. the process will be neutral and fair to all sides. we expect that a bipartisan bill on daca will receive fair consideration an up-or-down vote on the floor. now it is a shame, mr. president, that the american people and the senate have had to endure such hand-wringing, finger-pointing, stridency, to secure a guarranty that we will finally move to address this

urgent issue. it is something the majority could have avoided entirely, a concern that the president could have obviated if he were only willing to take yes for an answer. while this procedure will not satisfy everyone on both sides, it's a way forward. i'm confident that we can get the 60 votes in the senate for a daca bill, and now, there is a real pathway to get a bill on the floor and through the senate. it is a good solution. and i will vote for it. i'm incredibly grateful to the bipartisan group that has come together in recent days to renew the immigration debate with a sense of urgency. there you are. i believe that this group has the potential to return the

senate to the kind of place it should be on the issue of immigration, a place for bipartisanship, a place for action, a place for achievement. the bipartisan group in a very fine way filled the glaring absence of the president in these talks. i expect the majority leader to fulfill his commitment to the senate, to me and to the bipartisan group, and abide by this agreement. if he does not of course, and i expect he will, he will have breached the trust of not only the democratic senators but members his own party as well. through these complicated and lengthy negotiations democrats have always sought to be reasonable, to act in good faith, and get something real

done. despite of all entreaties, president was obstinant. despite bipartisan support for daca, the republican majority dithered, the senate has muddled along for too long, content to delay action on our most pressing challenges until the very last moment. that ends today. the republican majority now has 17 days to prevent the "dreamers" from being deported. mr. president, we have to, we have a way to address the fate of the fate of the "dreamers," starting right now, instead of waiting until march with the minority, and the moderate middle empowered to bring a bill to the floor instead of being held by the most strident, anti-immigration voices in the republican caucus.

and we, on our side of the aisle, will continue to fight as strongly as we can for the "dreamers" in the weeks ahead. i say to all americans, urge your senators to vote yes on the bipartisan compromise when it comes forward. write, tweet, email, phone, visit, do everything you can so we can finally pass this bill. in a few hours the government will reopen. we have a lot to do. the issue of the "dreamers" demands resolution. a budget must be written. health care has to be addressed, relief provided to disaster-stricken parts of our country, pensions and opioids, veterans, child care, all have to be taken care of. the trump shutdown will soon end. but the work must go on.

and it will. thank you, and i yield the floor. neil: all right. chuck schumer saying, we're going to get this done. we're going to reopen the government. it is on republicans. the trump shutdown will end. you might be surprised their view this is the "schumer shutdown." mitch mcconnell is outlining exactly what is in store here. let's listen in. >> i think if we learned anything, i think we learned anything during this process it is that a strategy to shut down the government over the issue of illegal immigration is something the american people didn't understand and would not have understood in the future. so i'm glad we've gotten past that, and we have a chance now to get back to work, and therefore, mr. president, i issue unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

>> is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. >> cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to concur with a further amendment in the house amendment to the senate amendment to hr 195 signed by 17 senators. >> by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to hr 195 with a further amendment shall be brought to a close? the yeas an nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. president, before we call the roll i ask unanimous consent that the democratic whip be allowed to address the chamber for three minutes with the gracious approval of the

majority leader? >> is there objection? without objection. >> mr. president, i want to thank you very much and thank the majority leader for this opportunity. let me thank my friend, my colleague and our leader on the democratic side for his passionate personal commitment to this issue involving the "dreamers" and daca. he has been by my side and i have been inspired by his leadership from the start. and let me thank my colleagues. so many of you cast a vote that was very hard and very difficult because you believed as i did the issue of immigration, the issue of the "dreamers" is the civil rights issue of our time. you stuck your necks out, said i'm willing to go on record even if it is going to be hard to explain back home. i will never forget that. the question now is how we move forward. what i seen here on the floor of the senate in the last few days something we've not seen for years, constructive, bipartisan

conversations and dialogue on the floor, not just about this issue, which is obviously front and center, but about the future of this institution and what the senate will be from this point forward. that to me has been encouraging because it says it me that we do have an opportunity to work together. my special thanks to senator susan collins, my friend and senator lisa murkowski for joining with jeff flake and joining with lindsey graham and joining with cory gardner and others who have been working on this issue for so long to try to make a positive impact on this debate so that we can move forward. i can not tell my colleagues how many have come up to me from the other side of the aisle said we're with you on this issue. we want to help you get this done. each of them has a little bit of take on what that means, i do believe them. i do believe we have this opportunity to move together. now comes the test, the real test, as to whether we can get this done. whether we can be the senate

again. whether we return to regular order on the floor and construct toughly have a debate. sore tom of you it will be the first time you have ever seen it but believe me it is worth the price of admission. all it took for you to come to the united states senate. now we have to stand together. my last word is this we gathered the largest bipartisan group of senators to ever commit to moving forward on the "dream" act and immigration. we have a process. i want to thank senator mcconnell for explicitly saying today it will be a level playing field t will be open to both sides. we will move to the issue as you carized it this morning of daca and immigration. thank you for doing that. i believe that sets the stage for us to work together. for the first time in five years we will have a debate on the floor of the senate on the "dream" act and immigration. to all the "dreamers" watching today, don't give up. i know that your lives are hanging in the balance on what we do here on capitol hill and with the white house. three weeks from now i hope to be joining you in celebrating

passage with you and your families in your communities of a measure which will strengthen america give you an opportunity to be part of our future. mr. president, i yield. >> the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. alexander. >> aye. >> miss baldwin? mr. barrasso? mr. bennett. >> aye. >> mr. blumenthal. neil: i want to explain what is going on here. they are voting on this measure would effectively clear the way for the government eventually to reopen. i also feel compelled to correct something i hear often on, not to politicize this issue, this is the first time government has had a shutdown under one party rule. that is simply not the case, my friend. i don't care whether you're a democrat or republican on this this happened self times under jimmy carter when democrats ruled the house and senate as well. the big difference back then, no government workers were furloughed but the government

shut down, not once, not twice, but three different times there. is precedent to this they try to make this seem it is historically unique. it is getting to be historically common, no matter what the shape of government and who controls what branch and when. but the fact of the matter this is not a first for one party rule. the difference now, is that it is extended to government workers getting furloughed. something not an option back in the 1970s all they would have entertained it if it were. be that as it may the vote going through and expected to garner 6 votes to eventually pave the way for the government to reopen. the catalyst, was promise, commitment on mitch mcconnell to hold a motion on immigration reform measures including daca as long as the democrats agree to reopen the government. they will do this in rapid-fire fashion. this will probably happen within the next few minutes. i want to go to gerry seib, "wall street journal" washington

bureau chief. also an excellent writer i might point out. he is able to step back and put things in english. for that i appreciate and his fine mind. gerri -- what happens now? just taking it up doesn't mean both sides agree what they're taking up, right? >> what is worth noting here, this is exactly what a group that senator schumer was referring to, a group of 22 in the senate from both parties got together over the weekend to figure out to solve this below our leaders. our leaders are paralyzed. take it into their own hands. this is what the group asked for. reopen the government, clean, no-holds-barred, everybody on equal footing debate on immigration in the senate. we'll settle it that way. that is what is going to happen. remarkably common sense solution if you think about it. there will be people on the left who are not happy, neil, with this there is no guarranty this

will happen in the house. that is the great concern. there was general lack of faith in congress over the weekend that the other guy's word would be honored. that will continue here but i think the likelihood is that this will work in the senate. the government will be reopened. i think there is a majority, 60 and more votes in the senate for some kind of a compromise that solves the "dreamers" problem. the question is, is that going to be acceptable in the house? is it going to be acceptable to president trump. those are the great unknowns. neil: who blinked here? we tend to trivialize this, isn't this what republicans were offering, don't attach this to a measure up against the limit here? we shut the government down over this daca issue. let's take that up separately which now they have promised to do, democrats signed on, presumably they will to do, so what happened? >> well, look, i think there were two problems over the weekend.

the first was democrats didn't have faith that president trump was going to accept this deal and i think they're still uncertain about that. that is one of the ways this kind of fell apart. the other way this fell apart there was a lot of pressure from the dem contractic base not to accept this deal, kind of thing we're talking about now. not to take as promise there will be a "dreamers" solution but demand that as price for keeping the government open. that is not happening. that as i said will be unhappiness on the left with that outcome. i'm not sure that there were many options left for senator schumer at this point. you know, the great question here how much trust is there? we'll find out in the next few days. neil: i know you're right about that that. while they discovered there is great bipartisan support for "dreamers," others who came to the country illegally, not just kids, when americans were polled on the subject would you shut the government down over that,

then the answer was no. >> right. neil: so how much of that came into play. >> well look, i think the flip side, what democrats are counting on now is the fact those same kind of polls show about 70% that has been a pretty consistent number oaf couple polls i've seen, americans think there should be solution for "dreamers" that give them legal status going forward. i think democratic calculation the pressure on republicans comes not from procedural gimmicks or a threat of another shut down but more from public opinion that is on the side of having a solution to the "dreamers," by the way something president trump is in favor of as well. neil: you're right. >> while they don't have a guarranty, they think they have public pressure on their side on that point. it's a straight-up debate as the senators we saw just said we'll see if that carries the day. i suspect it will in the senate. whether that happens in the house will be the intriguing question. neil: we're looking at dow as you're speaking, jerry, erasing

all-time highs. s&p and nasdaq already at that i don't think these kind of things dominate traders thinking. i guess it would if it dragged on a long time. relief when it doesn't look like it will, what do you make of it? >> people discount this, you said a minute ago, this has become almost the historic norm, shutdowns, scares of shutdowns. in the market the market was going to discount these because it happened before. i think there was some underlying risk for republicans and the white house here, government shutdowns cost money, they are costly to the government in the short run and maybe in the long run and costly to the economy. that is not something that republicans wanted or need the a this point. they had incentive to get beyond the sheer economics of the matter. >> chuck schumer here in threatening tone here, i assume, i'm paraphrasing here, jerry, i will hold you to your word you

will do this all mcconnell agreed best i can tell he will hold a vote on immigration reform measures, presumably including daca, see what happens. down mean those measures would be instantly popular with either side or provide everything let's say chuck schumer wants or mitch mcconnell wants. i'm asking you could we be revisiting this. >> yeah, i mean sure but i think the key thing that senator mcconnell agreed to was not only to promise to bring it to a vote, he said it publicly, he will be bound by that, but leave the debate essentially open. neil: you don't know if he will commit to that? >> not at all. neil: gotcha. >> that will also be an open debate. there will be the ability to basically craft this on the floor of the senate, the way it is supposed to work and used to work maybe it will again now. it doesn't guarranty anything as i said before. democrats who want a solution here, including dick durbin believe there are plenty of republicans who want that as well.

that will win out in the end in the senate, if it is a really a fair process i suspect they're right. neil: jerry, you mentioned the president, his role in all of this, how actively he was involved or not involved. one thing i get seems to be consistent read his reversal from a promise made couple weeks back, that famous tuesday meeting where he said, you guys come up with something on daca. really oversimplifying it, and i will take the heat and i will sign it because you guys came up with it. then something happened, this talk that he talked more hard-line conservative types said no, no, that would be a disaster. so he changed his mind. one thing to get chuck schumer mad at you for changing your mind. quite another for lindsey graham and some other republicans said you left them sort of at the altar. >> yeah. neil: what of the president's role in this and what he has to do now? >> problem here, and you're right, that was uncomfortable -- that is the part that was uncomfortable for republicans

and it made people uncertain what the president's bottom line is. i think that uncertainty continues now. i think that the key in resolving that is going to be less "dreamers" in daca. i think a fix is possible on that, but what is the price conservatives in the senate demand for that? which is to say they want an end to visa lottery system. an end to what they call chain migration, allowing family members to come in here with immigrants that have legal status, those will be debated on the senate floor where conservatives will get offsets to an agreement on the "dreamers." how tough will that be? where is the white house bottom line on those questions? those are the details that will be still very tough to work out. neil: jerry, we're almost to the point it looks like to your point they are going to make it official, that they have got the 60 votes they need on the procedural effort that greases the skids for reopening the government sometime later today but in so doing, they have raised some questions here about

the oddity of this shutdown versus other shutdowns. normally they're driven by serious differences even jimmy carter and fellow democrats repeatedly back in the 70' complaining about excessive military spending that soured him with democrats, maybe made him a one-termer. with every disagreement there has been disagreement. they all agreed doing something on daca. all agreed on doing something that made sense for thesehundred thousand or so who were here -- 800,000. agreed to make the government open to avoid that, yet this is what happens. >> this is frustrating to some people and i wrote about this in the journal to some extent. there was deal to be done. everybody saw that. both majority in the congress and country agree to fix the

"dreamers." why did it come to this? this was a shutdown driven by mistrust. you may say we all agree we'll get this solved, want it in writing voted on now before anything happens. this underscores the lack of trust in washington right now both between the two houses of congress, between the two parties in congress and between congress and the white house. that is in a way the mistrust gap has to be bridged here. we'll see in the next three weeks whether that has been accomplished here or not. neil: i don't think it has. i don't want to be that jaded. i don't see that changing. even in the tone and snarkiness of each side's remarks it didn't. >> well there is, let's say there is plenty of room for skepticism on that front, i agree with you. neil: thank you my friend, very much. gerry seib, "wall street journal" washington bureau chief. are they saying anything, ralph? can we dip? they're going to the votes -- >> merkley, murphy, paul -- neil: they keep that to under

40. remember, not he have one is there. john mccain is not there. i believe two other senators potentially might not be there but bottom line this, is expected to pass. charlie gasparino with us, also taking a look at the dow which is at session highs, at record highs. normally these things we get used to them, charlie, but if this had dragged on much, much longer, what do you think? >> it would have to drug on a lot longer for this to have an economic impact. government is a big part of the economy unfortunately. we bemoan it. people do work there. if people were furloughed for months on end, a month, two months that would probably have a gdp effect of the markets, on other hand, know that it is not really going to happen. you could see it. the markets were not trading off last week when it looked like we would get a shutdown or may get a shutdown. neil: during the last shutdown

five years ago for those 16 days it was a blip. >> because we were printing money at that point. in the middle of qe, quantitative easing, there was massive amount of money printing, lower interest rates, all generally good for equities. here you have something different. i think a lot better. trump's fiscal policy which is driving stock prices valuations of companies are going up because people are pricing impact of much lower taxes and less regulation into earnings and it would take a government shutdown of massive proportions to derail that train. there is other things that can derail the stock market train. higher interest rates because of bubble bursting or a war, i get that, or the tax plan, net-net in april because of personal side is funky. there are tax increases on personal side, somehow that destimulates the economy being stimulated by corporate stuff. neil: i don't mean to interrupt, i want to confirm this they have

60 votes and then some. >> those are things that generally would have to kill the economy and markets. it is just. neil: yeah. >> donald trump lucked out for this reason, okay? he took the presidency amid a global sort of recovery in markets and economies. global economies are doing pretty well. he was smart in the sense that he pushed a very big corporate tax cut in that. so -- neil: i think they're discovering as democrats, even those who were leery about the tax cuts they're quickly winning a lot of skeptics over. >> yeah. neil: poll numbers can change, as tax cuts, historically we've got eninto this before they come out of the gate not universally loved. these like those in the past there has been a sentiment shift. maybe democrats feared that? >> or looking like they're being babies not having government rolling as things are getting

better. they could come across that. my producer brian schwartz, republicans were looking at key senate races like joe manchin and races like that, bombard them with ads if they did shut the government down in long term. neil: they didn't want to risk that. this yes vote is turning into overwhelming yes vote, looking closer to 80 yeas when all said and done. timing will be how soon they reopen the government. that is unclear because remember this has to get kicked back into the house. irony, many conservative members there who don't like giveaways and retreats and might not think too kindly. >> yeah. neil: i doubt it would imperil this but it is not a slam dunk. >> no. the other thing i like to point out we keep getting back to president trump's personal popularity. it does change when he, people want to give him a chance. we're told to take his trumpkin supporters, where trump can do

anything, there is whole bunch of them on my twitter page. i'm talking about generally. neil: his reversal brought us to this, whether people like him or not. appears a reversal -- >> on the daca. neil: on daca thing that got us here. >> yeah. neil: maybe that is good or bad thing. maybe it will craft a better thing. >> they won't hold him accountable, neil, most people generally agree, i think his policies -- neil: by the way his solution he might end up getting anyway would justify that if you're of that mind. >> listen, if anybody sits there that says we need more poor people in this country to do jobs that don't exist doesn't understand basic economics. when donald trump, you know, threads that needle, doesn't thread that needle, when he basically goes out there and defines it, that sentiment, that economic sentiment -- neil: i'm not talking about the whole remark. i know what you're talking about. i'm talking about the fact he would sign on a daca deal and then reversed. there might have been wisdom to that, but that is what

frustrated the lindsey grahams and others who said we're on the verge of nailing this down and you kind of left us. >> trump, when he loses support among people it is not on tactical stuff like that, more on attitude. that people are start stock harden to the -- starting to harden to the notion they don't like him personally. that is his biggest, his biggest hurdle. not these procedural things. not his policy think of his economic policy. neil: people like extra money. >> immigration policy. tell me what is so absurd what he is saying? everybody knows you can't have open borders and welfare state. milton friedman said that. he is not right-wing zealot. a libertarian economist. monitorrist as well. i'm saying his policies on these things, they make sense. he puts them in the most crass way that people are starting to take it out on him personally. can he keep acting out and sometimes acting rationally even though he has great economy and

be successful? politically i don't know. neil: you think normally there is delay on presidents enjoying economy picks up steam? the economy was in pretty good shape prior. >> right. neil: he put it on all cylinders here, the perception tax cuts is getting to be more fav -- more favorable, remarkable he is in the getting advantage of, do you see that changing? >> we are in uncharted territory a guy doubling down on his unlikability? what do people despise about donald trump? they don't like his crass or nastiness. neil: but they like making money. >> why didn't they vote obama out? no offense president obama was very likeable guy, a smart man but reined over a economy that made rich people richer, middle class people lost wages. they will -- neil: we got over the meltdown. you're a hater. >> he wasn't very good economically you know. neil: we come out over a meltdown or not?

>> the fed did a great job [laughter] neil: not begrudging you. we all, president is accountable for these metrics that we like him or not. the metrics were good for obama. >> i could make a good case he made a bad situation worse through higher regulation and taxes. neil: you should see the things he said about you. >> i say he is nice guy. people gave him a chance twice, right? the question will the good economic policies produce the good economy help trump and republicans? i don't know. neil: i see the good in you. when people say horrible things about charlie gasparino, i seize on the good. there is a good human being. >> you almost became a priest at one point. neil: yes i did. performing an exorcism on you. >> the power of reagan compels you. the power of reagan compels you! neil: on that we bring in one of my favorite people on the show, "barron's" editor-at-large, jack otter it. we're looking at this is the market response, looks like

they're getting a heck of a lot more yeas than they counted on, maybe 80 when said and done, they felt best interest to end the drama, reopen the market, what do you think of the market reaction and everything else? >> this market reaction has been a yawn. nobody expect ad protracted drawn-out closure. as charlie said other forces are moving the market other than what the government is doing. that is yawner. look at earnings season. neil: we never say yawner because people click off when you say that jack you know? >> i just exposed my print and dot-com roots and tv experience. neil: there were a couple of provisos attached to this where is kind of threatening senator schumer saying you mitch mcconnell have to make good on this promise. all i think mitch mcconnell has to do is offer up measures on daca, immigration reform and if democrats don't like it, some republicans don't like it, does that mean he has broken the deal, i mean?

>> i can find you about 48 people that say yes and 51 people say no. if all he promised was to bring to a vote, not promising a win. i wouldn't say that is breaking a deal. remember both sides needed to save face here. the democrats need to say, hey we brought this issue up is so important to you, our base. republicans need to say, hey, we didn't give away something you, our base don't want. maybe they did find a happy medium here. frankly i think anyone can agree, what should the government be doing? they should be deciding on things rather than throwing up procedural roadblocks. put an issue out there. let people agree, disagree, cast their votes, you can vote them out of office if you didn't agree. neil: what is really weird with this whole thing, charlie, always on the brink, we're always pushing things to the brink. always doing things late. doing term papers, studying exam night before. why? why do we always do this? >> i will defend this process in this sense. the founders created a process

of checks and balances inevitably at times lead to stalemates and it is just, we have a deliberative government. we don't have revolutions. we don't dispose of our constitution every three years. we don't change the types of government we have. i think that's, you know -- neil: this whole shenanigan got the chinese to say look, they're out of their minds. >> they're buying our debt or not selling it as fast, whatever is going on here. we're still the most stable democracy. people -- neil: like saying we're the tallest dwarf. >> really good. the reason why china buys our bonds. neil: you can't keep playing this. >> why not? >> easy for autocracy we get things done faster. they can also behead people. neil: there is that. >> i wouldish take issue with charlie, democracy succeeds despite these problems. founders built this in very good

reason, but on other hand did they want us to take this far. >> they kind of did. they made it hard to do stuff. it is hard to change course. everybody talks about, all the democrats running around donald trump got elected, this guy finger will be on the button, he is crazy, says this, says that. none of it happened. he has run a pretty conventional, aside from his tweeting and some of his antics which he sounds like a jerk at times, aside from that he has run a very conventionally republican government. guess what? his own justice department appointed a special prosecutor when he fired the fbi chief. that wasn't like, we didn't need like a revolution for that to happen. >> that is extraordinary thing. worth noting. neil: for those of you guys tuning in as we get close to the one p.m. east coast of the united states they have gone ahead and effectively approved a measure that will reopen the government after about three days of closure. this is not a guarranty. they kick this back into the

house. i could get into the weeds on this, i barely know them, why should i share my limited knowledge with you. but i will say this, critics of our country have been saying you do this a lot, america. you've been through three dozen of these going back through jimmy carter. more if we go further back, you guys can't seem to get your act together, but it doesn't hurt investment to charlie's point. it doesn't hurt our markets. it doesn't hurt our economy. what do you think? >> because the markets price in the expected outcome. if you have done something three dozen times, you have 35 examples what happened the last time, not that much. so they will not worry about it. >> markets know representative democracy, is messy business. it always has been. people, in the house of representatives in the old days they used to hit each other with canes. there were fights. it was, this is pretty, this is actually pretty marginal. neil: you like those days, didn't you? >> i miss them. when i could get away with it,

right? >> i will say i think because government is such a crazy spectator sport we tend to overemphasize the role of government in the process. really if you think about the business cycle, earnings, global growth, there is interest rates, there is so many factors that frankly have bigger effect. >> one thing i think, the reason why i was saying from the beginning i thought this would be kind of a snooze in terms of economics and the market, if we did what tim geithner threatened to do when obama, how long was that shutdown a couple days, right? neil: the one in 2013? >> yeah. neil: 16 days. >> remember what he was threatening to do. he was threatening to default. he was saying debt payments -- we consider paying out keeping parks open equal to debt payments almost. he was threaten default which i think was asinine. the markets reacted a little. neil: never came to that. >> this administration did not

do that. >> listen in. they give the final count. >> voting in the affirmative the motion is agreed to. cloture having been invoked the motion to refer false. >> mr. president? >> senator from maryland. >> thank you, mr. president. first, let me tell you how pleased i am of the people of maryland that we are now in the process of ending this government shutdown. government shut down does not benefit anyone, certainly doesn't benefit the federal workers who live in maryland and federal workers around the nation. neil: we're going in and out, because they will each get their time in the sun to talk about it. 81-18, fine member. senator john mccain was not rent for the vote. apparently all other senators were. this was flood effect in the end. everyone opting would better to

have government doors reopened than keep them closed, acrimony back and forth. republican louisiana senator john kennedy with us right now. senator, what happens now? >> well the government will reopen. we'll continue the negotiations that have been going on quite frankly for several months. i don't know what the chances are, neil, getting a deal. very haven't seen one so far. i will not agree to just any deal. i heard about the bipartisan group of senators. i'm happy we're talking. they still have to get 60 votes in the senate. if we don't have agreement by february 8th, then the democrats will have to, democrats have to agree to keep government open again. if they do, senator mcconnell will put some instrument on the floor to allow us to offer

amendments t -- it won't be dealing exclusively with daca amnesty and deal with sanctuary cities. neil: bottom line, senator, people don't know that this february 8th by which time, you know, senator mitch mcconnell has promised various measures addressing daca, immigration reform, all of this other stuff. it is just as likely that finding bipartisan agreement or any agreement on those measures could fall through again, and we could, could revisit this again; right? >> yes. i mean, what senator mcconnell said, he said set forth two very clear conditions. number one, if we reach february 8th without an agreement on immigration, and we probably will, then the democrats can't just shut government down again. if they do, then he's not going to put an immigration instrument on the floor. point two, whatever is put on the floor, it's not going to be just limited to amnesty for

the daca immigrants. it's going to include border security. it's going to include the visa lottery, it's going to include chain migration, it's going to include going to a marriage system of immigration. everybody will be able to offer amendments, and we'll have an up-or-down vote and see if we can pass something. now, let's suppose we do pass something. it's still got to be approved by the house. and it still has to be signed by the president. i think what senator schumer wanted if he didn't get it -- i don't blame him for asking, but i thought it was unrealistic. he wanted some sort of guarantee that the senate would pass a daca amnesty deal, guarantee that the house would pass it, and guarantee that the senate would pass it. and that was always unrealistic. trish: so what did your sense of what happened now it's a question of what happens in the house. are there a lot of your more

conservative members who say, you know, there are a lot of things agreed to here that start a slippery slope. be that as it may. i mean, the president himself has said looking at the senate and sometimes confusing rules that maybe it should be a simple majority that maybe the "nuclear option" is in order right now. a simple majority on any appropriations measure, call it a day. what do you think of that? >> well, that's not going to happen. it's going to take 60 votes. can we get 60 votes? i don't know. should we get 60 votes? i don't know the answer to that either. i'm interested in talking about not just amnesty. i want to talk about solving this problem so we don't have a daca-like situation five or ten years from now. i want to talk about border security. i want to talk about designing a common-sensical colorblind immigration system like canada, like australia that looks like somebody designed the thing on purpose. i don't envision this being, well, here's a bill granting

amnesty to our daca immigrants, take it or leave it. this is going to be a lot more complicated than that, as it should be. neil: so i don't know whether they can craft something, you know, by february 8th or thereabouts. i mean -- >> well, -- neil: what do you think? >> if we don't make it by february 8th, neil, civilization won't end. i mean, as long as the democrats don't shut government down again, then we'll -- mcconnell will put a bill on the floor. some bill. he hasn't said which one for us to start debating, and we'll have an open amendment process. but i can tell you -- i believe senator mcconnell when he says if the democrats shut down government again for 320 million americans over an issue that's not an emergency and i'm not saying it's daca immigrants aren't important. what i'm saying is not a single one of them is in danger of being deported. there isn't an emergency

here. the president controls deportation policy. he said that he wouldn't even think about -- wouldn't even talk about deportation until march. and if we went to him, he would probably give us more time, so why is this an emergency? i'm not saying it's not important. but why are we -- why did we -- why did we shut down the center for disease control? why did we shut down opioid treatment centers? why did we send home every civilian worker at our military bases without whom those bases can't operate? i mean, you know, for what? there's no emergency here. i just -- this is not been the senate's finest hour as far as i'm concerned. neil: yeah, it wasn't a lincoln moment to your point. senator kennedy, thank you very, very much, sir. susan collins of the fine state of maine is speaking to the press right now. she ended up being a "yes" vote on this measure. senators mike lee and rand paul are the only republicans who voted "no."

>> what we shared in common was the determination to accomplish the goal of reopening government, convincing our leaders that there was a path forward that would also accommodate those of us who are concerned about the fate of the dreamers who live in this country. many of whom have known no other country as their home. there are many other issues that we need to deal with, ranging from budget cuts, including the urgent need for additional defense spending, and for the opioid crisis. and that is a crisis that affects both of our states. but today, today we've taken a significant step forward with more than 80 senators voting to reopen government and with

a commitment from the republican leaders to bring an immigration bill to the floor with ample opportunity with those with differing views to offer up substitutes to a bill. >> the only thing i would like to say is that win that thing units us here is our military. our veterans. those who have served and those who continue to serve and defend our country. that's extremely important to all of us whether you're democrat or republican. it always brings us together in a common dialogue of how do we protect. how do we keep ourselves safe? the chips program for our children. the pension programs. i have my minors pension and people that by 2022 an average minors pension of $568 and most of them widows will be lost if we don't do something. so these are all so, so seriously important for all of us. and i think that arose to really take the lead today.

so with that, we'll answer a few questions if you want. >> let me just make one comment on the chip program. i'm particularly happy that south insurance program, which i remember sponsoring as a freshman senator when orrin hatch and ted kennedy approached me about their bill, and it's a six-year reauthorization, and it expired at midnight on friday night, so it was absolutely urgent that it be extended in order not to disrupt or jeopardize health insurance for low -- for 9 million low-income children, including nearly 23,000 in the state of maine. >> and about the same in west virginia. >> so i'm very happy that in addition to opening government, we've assured that that program will continue. >> thanks, senator. can you walk us through what happened? last night there was optimism

and then pessimism grew overnight and early morning and then you guys met. so can you talk about what specifically changed or -- >> let me just say that, basically, every meeting that we were in susan's office and the meetings that susan had separately was always an optimistic meeting. we always knew that there was a pathway forward. and it was a reasonable pathway forward. most importantly should we ever shut the government down? absolutely not. but there was other people that felt differently. but the bottom line was to not keep it shut down. it should never have been shut down past this past weekend. we all knew that. so we were all moving towards a very positive movement toward that. but leadership was still jousting back and forth. i'm only going to say this. the system must change. the rules of the senate has to change. i'm speaking for myself not the bipartisan group. this is me. i don't believe that either leader on either side should have the powers that they have. that's me speaking that two

people whether it be mitch or chuck whoever is in the majority and minority should be in the position of that much power to either set an agenda or stop an agenda when you have a force as strong as ours moving in a direction, and i will tell you they listened. and that's what moved it because we weren't backing off. we weren't going to be beat into submission. oh, no, we're going to do this and that. but i think if we looked at anything of the rules of senate. how do we make this place work better? how come committee chairs don't have input? how come the appropriation bills aren't working? how do we get to this point? so with that being said, we were always optimistic so you have no idea. >> let me just add a little bit to what joe has said. first of all, every single difficult situation that i have been in in the 11 years that i've had the privilege to serve in the senate has had the peaks and valleys and this was no different. but in the end, i give our

leaders a lot of credit for listening to the ideas that we put forward and for showing some flexibility after starting out being pretty dagon. and ultimately it was the decision made by mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer that brought us to this point. but i believe that our group by giving them specific ideas for how to move forward and because of the size and bipartisan nature of our group played a very instrumental role. >> you get a lot of people from the outside pushing, and you start pushing the envelope from the far right and the far left. chuck and mitch had to come together for the good of the country and say we hear you loud and clear. you're going to get a chance. you're going to get your voices heard. you're going to get a chance to vote on certain things.

but we have to get the government open and moving forward. >> both senators, the proposal that mitch mcconnell put forward, is it the same one that you guys brought to him? or is it some iteration on that? >> it's a variation on the theme, but it is -- it does reflect the approach that we suggested, which is that government would be reopened. we would all continue to work on the global issues that are still out there, such as budget cap. and if those issues were not resolved, then by a date certain, he would bring to the senate floor a vehicle for the immigration issues to be resolved, including border security and the daca or dreamer population. so i think we helped shape

it. but ultimately, it reflected the negotiations of the two leader. >> we never tried to write the bill in our groups. the common cause -- common sense coalition, our purpose wasn't set in there future legislation here. put this up. this is what we want. it was, basically, these people should be heard and this process should work to have those people heard, and they should have their day. now, the time constraints we're all cognizant of the time constraints we're working under. february 8th is another drop dead. so you have two dates you're working on right now. how can you make this happen. neil: all right. joe manchin and susan collins, republican and democrat both saying that maybe the leaders of the respective parties have too much power in this whole thing because the leaders were holding this up and to hear both of these folks tell it that making this more dramatic than it need be. what do you think of that, tom?

>> well, everybody's up there covering their political rear-ends. i saw that the first person speaking on the floor is ben who voted to shut the government down, and he has probably 50% of the federal workers furloughed right now in his state. so they got nothing. absolutely nothing. it was a total crash by the democrats. they didn't know what they were doing. what did they get? they got a commitment to bring the bill to the floor on february the 8th. that would have been on the floor and a deadline of march the 5th anyway. and the government gets reopened. the democrats got absolutely nothing. neil: no, you're absolutely right about that. this is essentially what was on the table before. it's now back on the table. but the one thing that's

interesting here is this notion that it was unprecedented or whatever. we've had three dozen or so government shutdowns. so is this the first time with the one party rule? that's not the case and three times with jimmy carter. you might make the distinction that there were no fers and the fact of the matter that it did happen before. what i find in a sense of the media i don't care whether you're right or left or rapport democrat but at least be accurate. this has happened before. and i think that when everyone says, oh, this is the first time, it's not. >> it's not. you know, they think the government shut down happened once in my time as leader, 12 years as leader. it happened over nine times. it was pretty much divided government. president and one party, congress in another. but the point is that these happen all the time. usually, you come out with something when the government has shut down.

but in this particular case, they so miscalculated the democrats so miscalculated that this was not an issue. amnesty against the american people. that just can't be sustained, and i know -- i know for a fact that schumer was losing his army by leaps and bounds because you had so many democrat senators up for reelection that wanted to get this behind them that he was losing everything. so he had to give up, and he did. neil: i know you were in the house there and you got your way. i do want to get your thoughts on what president trump has been saying about the odd parliamentary way that senate operates with the super majority 60 votes required. he says making a simple majority. if you think about it, the risk in that if republicans were to lose the senate, then

you might rue the day. what are your thoughts? >> well, i've been against the 60-vote majority for -- ever since i've been in politics. it undermines the will of the american people. it is nothing more than a rule -- it's not even a rule. it's a precedent in the senate. neil: only the senate. you're right. only the senate. >> that's designed to empower each senator and empower the minority. the only reason they were able to pull this off is the 60-vote margin. and that has got to be getting rid of. mansion is absolutely right. the rules of the senate are undermining the rule of the people. it needs to be fixed, and you start with -- because of this, you can punish the democrats by let him stand up on the

floor and let them talk until they're blue in the face. but that empowers the minority and undermines the will of the american people. neil: thank you very, very much. the u.s. is now looking at this, switching to the house of representatives where house republican leaders are apparently saying that the votes are there to reopen the latest government. wrap up and get very accurate. we've been through this three dozen times in our history. they're not pleasant. it happened with democrats having the full run of the table back in the 1970s with jam jimmy carter. no government workers were furloughed. at that time it was a herculean task to get to that. but it did happen no fewer than three times.

republicans saying it's democrats fault. democrats saying it's republicans fault. that is an understatement. it is sort of silly that we have to get to this so too often markets and average taxpayers get used to it. but again, let's not be red or blue let's be green. we'll have more after this oh, the things we do rising before dawn. sweating it out. driving ourselves to do more. be more. tough to make time for it all. but we can always find time to listen.

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neil: all right. 20 minutes after the hour if you've just joined us. they'll be talking about this at the white house presser shortly. jeff flake is also speaking to reporters he played a very instrumental role in all of this. let's dip into jeff flake talking about it. we went through regular order and dealt. >> you've been on a immigration bill for months now. what's been different? >> well, what's been difficult is dealing with the white house and not knowing where the president is. holding mitch mcconnell from. >> no, it hasn't. but that's what i'm saying. he don't think it will

change. i hope that it does. i hope that the president will say here's what we need and here's what we stick with. but what we've said is it will come to the senate floor. and we'll pass something and see if the president likes it. >> senator flake, how long -- >> we want to get a deal before march 5th. the last. i think the worst outcome would be to get to march 5th. and then try to jam something through, which would look something like the legislative equivalent of daca where we make it constitutional. but it's no more certain for these kids, and they would have to wait and for something more certain and, again, that's not good. i'm convinced a deal would be done, but it wouldn't be permanent. it's a victory i think for everybody when the government opens back up. i mean, clear climbing out of the hole. let's get it. we haven't done anything yet, other than open up the

government hopefully at about 2:30 when we have the final vote today. >> can the deal be done without the president's leadership? >> you know, ultimately, the president is going to need to get onboard in order for the house to vote on it. the house still very much more so than the senate relies on the backing of the president. >> have you talked to speaker ryan about this? >> i have. i've talked to him, and that's his message as well. it's going to be very difficult to pass anything one time house without the president's support. we acknowledge that. but what we're saying is we can't wait for the president to indicate his support before starting the process here. if we can pass a bill, obviously if it passes the senate, it's a bipartisan bill by definition. it will have at least 60 votes, i think, closer to 70. and if that gets to the white house, i'm confident the president will say i like this. and then it can move through the house. >> has the speaker told you that he will put the senate immigration bill on the floor? >> no. he hasn't. so he doesn't have to. he can put another bill, and

we can deal with it in conference. that's how we usually work it. no, he doesn't have to put the senate bill. but i do think if the president gets behind it, then it's something they'll want to put on the house floor. >> what are the next steps for the bipartisan group senators? >> well, to make sure that we have a bill -- i mean, if we do go to regular order whereally somewhat regular order. but if we bring some things to the floor, keep in mind everybody offers amendments, and you deal with the process under the senate rules, it can be a long, long, long process. so we're still going to need some consent and some kind of agreement to move ahead and to do that, you've got to have a product that has wide support. and that's what we're hoping to do is broaden the support that we already have with the bipartisan bill. we have seven democrats. seven republicans. but broaden that, add some border security elements that

people on my side of the aisle want, i'm sure the democrats will want some things as well. but if we can broaden that product, the support for that product, we can have an easier time when we get to february 8th. . trish: and when you talk about border security, how much of that is a physical border wall? >> well, senator schumer indicated that he was willing to give additional money. what is on the table so far and what we have in the bill so far is what the president has requested for this next year. if additional commitments need to be made in terms of a mix of authorization and appropriation beyond that time, we'll do that. but is it going to be a wall? the president has said, you know, not all of it is a wall. mostly defense, actually. but it's a border wall system i guess you could call it. whatever it is, it will be additional border security, and that's important. >> thank you very much. neil: all right. you've been listening to jeff flake who doesn't seem to pass up an

opportunity to sting the president of the united states. a lot of criticism comes back the president might have reversed himself on daca and immigration reform. he had committed to a "yes" that if they handed him something, he would vote for it. then was deemed to change his mind with conservative members. now, to be fair to the president, we don't know the details of what transpired or what came up in conversation with a number of white house folks, and we're getting a white house briefing in just a few minutes have said whatever they presented him was not the broad-based outline of something that would include a wall or security measures or any of that. and as a result, that's why he pooh-poohed it. nevertheless, we're not there. we don't know what happened or what changed or transpired but jeff flake, of course, not passing by another opportunity to say the president complicated this. he's not alone in saying that certainly among some republicans like lindsey graham who also said the president's views might have complicated things. but there's no way we could check on that. we don't know what prompted that change. we do know there was a change. new york city minority with

joe joins us. a big supporter of the president so, no, doubt not a fan of what mr. flake had to say. democratic strategist as well. so, joe, you heard what senator flake had been saying. i'm paraphrasing here, we would have gotten here. what do you think of that? >> i don't think that's the case at all. just what our own eyes showed us before, the democrats had to come to the table and give the 60 votes to turn back on the spigot of government. i think the real problem of what just occurred today is that democrats and the government has ended up right where we started. we've done a full 360-degree boomerang to come back to the place where both parties are at the table negotiating doing a give-and-take on daca and at the end of the day, the deal is still probably going to be some sort of a deal on daca for a deal for a wall. neil: all right. that, i don't know. we do know this much, guys. the senate is expected to vote to reopen the government about an hour from now. the house likely between 4:00

or 5:00 eastern time. something like this. any lessons from this whole drama? what do you think? >> yee-haw, neil. we get to do this again in three weeks. i absolutely agree with you earlier in the show when you said the number of times that this has happened, it's silly. you know, how do we keep getting back to this tonight? this is a really serious issue. so i'm certainly not happy as a progressive that when dreamers came forward out of the shadows and gave the government their information under the, you know, directive that they would be protected that that has not happened. i really do feel for those dreamers. but we cannot as a government keep getting to this place. so i'm just -- i'm done with dems and republicans on both sides of the aisle, and i really do think it's going to take women being elected. that's all it is. it's women being elected that

will stop. neil: right or left, we go through this a lot. i apologize for this. with all the breaking news, we have cut back on time. stocks are liking this in and out of record territory right now. the senate follow-up vote right now that could pave the way to then kicking it to the house some time between 4:00 and 5:00 eastern time today. in jerusalem, vice president pence has just said that the schumer shut down has failed after this agreement was reached. and said the trump shut down has ended. incredible. more after this. 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. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad.

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neil: all right. doesn't matter whether you're red or blue. a lot more green in the white house briefing room. and it looks like the senate is very close to reopening the government. there will be a follow-up vote in about an hour, and then, of

course, it gets kicked to the house where it is not a slam dunk, but it is looking increasingly like the government will reopen. wall street journal jillian. we have market watcher paul and last but not least manhattan institute's brian. all right. so let me get your sense of this, jillian. any lessons here? >> yeah. i do think there are a couple of lessons here. so i was looking this morning at the 2013 shut down and this shut down. and even the 2013 shut down, which went on for a substantially longer amount of time, you saw decent gdp growth. decent job growth. i think the difference here that the stock market's responding to is the overall political move to push to deregulate one of the good things that happened last shut down was the decrease in pages of the federal register. we're seeing that happen when the government's open now. neil: so you like shutdowns? >> i don't think i like them. they're not a sign of a functional government. but they have perks.

>> this is going to be the new normal. we're going to deal with contentious, complex political issues through these deadlines and the threats of a shut down because the old way we used to do this is with the err marks. people said let's make a deal. i'll give you this and that. so it was all done behind the scenes. and back in the bush administration, the republicans and democrats, the bridges to nowhere, they were spending like drunken sailors, and i mean no disrespect to drunken sailors. but the thing is that now this is a much more transparent process, and i think that we're going to see this more and more because this is the only way that we can kind of deal forcing to the edge in order to get some of these things solved. and if you go back to newt gingrich and clinton during the close downs that we saw -- shutdowns that we saw at that time, we got welfare to work

reform. we got entitlement reforms. neil: that came afterwards. you're right. you raise a very good point. there has to be an easier way of doing it. >> it's like making sausage. neil: i hear you. but, brian, i'm wondering if we are getting used to this and if it was hurting us, we wouldn't see what we've been seeing in the markets. we wouldn't see what we've been seeing in the economy. so maybe we're okay with this. are you? >> well, politically both parties thought it was good for them. otherwise they wouldn't have pushed their priorities as far as it did. neil: did someone blank? >> the democrats blanked but ultimately the lesson going forward might be that government shutdowns can be won. so as we continue this kind of partisan tribal warfare, i don't think either side is really going to move forward scared of government shutdowns. as for the economy, only 12% of the government shut down and for only two days. and so i wouldn't see any difference in consumption or business.

neil: so, in other words, this has dragged on. it might have been a little bit different. >> it might have been a little bit different. but i want to point out one thing that the trump administration has done is lessen the pain. with the with the obama administration, we saw them try to intensify it. and. neil: cordened off all the memorials. >> yeah. and most of it staying open this time. neil: what do you think isn't. >> i think jillian's absolutely right. and we're going to get used to this. you look at the market on friday and early this morning, the government shut down, the stock market's up. nobody cares. and i think that's. neil: but did it drag on maybe? >> the last time it dragged on for 16 days and the market was up during that period. who cares. neil: all right. guys, all of these fast-moving developments. i did want to let you know that ted cruz just spoke to reporters, among some of the things he said. remember, he was the catalyst behind that last government shut down and talk about one

that proved a waste of time because it was as if he could overturn the affordable care act with a democrat in office, that wasn't happening. and, of course, he got criticized. republicans were buy in large lockstep this time around. democrats buy in enlarge lockstep on this one now. depending on your point of view here, someone decides that this has got to end now. so it has or looks like it will with hours to go before the government reopens. we'll have more after this ow ju. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia, that can take you out of the game for weeks, even if you're healthy. pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that in severe cases can lead to hospitalization.

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. neil: all right. the shutdown could be ending within the matter of hours. the senate on the follow-up is to reopen the government and then it kicks out of the house some time between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. eastern time today. we're back to normal, whatever that is because we're not seeing it in my choice of guests for this segment. comedian radio show host joe. not exactly normal. but an excellent read of humanity here.

you know what's weird that we keep doing this, and we just sort of say, well, that's the way it is. >> i know. isn't that insanity? . neil: i don't know what it is. >> i know why there was a shutdown. i know. because you had your debut show on saturday. like neil doesn't make a phone call? all of his big guys? i know. it was saturday. and thanks for inviting me to t. neil: sure. we didn't invite you. >> you were great, by the way. congratulations. great show. i know. really. where was i? i was shopping for a dress for my daughter for the father daughter dress. and said why aren't you on neil's show? i don't know. i didn't ask. neil: i thought you were shopping for one for yourself. that would be a problem. >> i have so many children. i'm like the mother. my mother said i should be your mother. i'm ready for a transgender operation. it is time. neil: you know what's weird about this? >> your show was great, by the way. neil: thank you. that we get used to it. it didn't cause people to go

nuts or anything. >> yep. neil: at each side they start playing the game. i understand all of that. but markets go up, people sort of feel it has no affect on them. what do you think of all of that? >> now you will see on fox business all the politicians get off the tv. do your job. they keep their salaries, pension, and welfare, and, again, the conduit of the people. on the radio. i hear it we've just had it. . neil: what are your viewers telling you? listeners. are they saying, like, hey, we're used to this? >> i think the dems took a real hard hit on this one. to the point that it will reflect on the 2018 midterms. neil: really? >> yes. because people -- neil: i think people have long forgotten. >> people are so smart, though. they think when chuck schumer comes out. and we were talking about this morning in depth. you cannot underestimate how bright he is politically. neil: he's brilliant. >> he is.

politically, he knows what he's doing. but you and i and the folks listening on my radio show, they go chuck, don't tell us that you win and you're going to pay for the wall. he wanted everything. immigration. look, we're the grandchildren of immigrants; right? we believe in that. the ethnicity, the foundation of the mosaic of the country. but you can't bring everybody in. neil: did your family come through ellis island? >> they did and they're legal very, very much. neil: my next question. >> no, listen, my great misdemeanor had an eye infection. what did they do? they sent her back to italy. now you have to have a committable disease. but they don't care. neil: it's interesting. unlike all of these other shutdowns mentioning here, they agreed on everything. they agreed they want to protect the daca children who are here. they agreed on some type of immigration reform. they agreed that shutting down the government was not a good idea. yet, it fell apart on typical squabbles, you know? >> it really did.

and i think that -- i always say, and i get criticized for this from my audience i'm not harsh enough because you have to yell. neil: it's not mean. you're not a mean person. >> i don't have time to be mean. neil: that's probably why you didn't run for office in new jersey they only like mean people. >> when donald trump goes daca, all right. let's talk about it. then what do the democrats do? oh, now we'll grab everything. it was terribly greety, and i think the public saw it. the dems sunnies sensed it. and that's why they pulled back. neil: ping-ponging here. the governor said he had spilt on a millionaires tax cut. guys like you. now, he has a round at the table. complete control. but the senate president saying that's not going to fly. what are we looking at? >> i have to tell you how you are mr. cavuto. you as the senate president, the state of new jersey the man who with due respect our current governor, that's the guy. he was supposed to be the next governor. steve sweeny. very common sense.

neil: this guy came out of nowhere. >> i'm just saying. and wish the new governor all the best in the. neil: you don't mean. >> that i do. i really do. no, i have to be nice, and it was good what you said about the senate president because the millionaires tax you can't tax that away. congestion pricing in new york city. that means when i come here to see you, mr. cavuto, i have to do from the studios in wall street, drive my car because the station doesn't really give me a car, so i drive myself up. neil: we don't provide a car? >> no. you provide a car. but if i'm driving. neil: you're doing a lot of whining. >> i know. i am. i'm a whiner. i am doug whiner. then i can't stand it anymore neil: you know. >> i've had it. neil: you know what i'm whining about on this? how late everything is. and we can never do anything early. and as a result, you're always up against a deadline and then you do something half ass. >> it's absolutely right.

and now to continue with that congestion pricing. i have to turn around, go back. if i go south of 60th street, which everybody does, i swear to goodness. people are going to say he's making this up. neil: people in topeka have no idea what we're talking about. >> they want to tax us to death. and then say just work together with the government. this is a major problem. and now i'm talking about they're all grandstanding. everybody has got to get alon a. neil: are you when you look at this and you were being touted as running for governor and a lot of other. people like you. you're a very popular guy. but you have to not to when you see these shenanigans and other stuff popular as you are. great host as you are. do you ever regret it? >> not going in. neil: yeah. >> yes, i do. i lick my wounds, and they know that. so now what do we do from here? do we make the move? i'm having fun grace of god, everything's going great. but sometimes you think want to go in. you want to put the animus

aside because you can't run a state on anti-trump. you just can't. show me some ideas. neil: you have to come up on something. >> you can't tax us to balance the budget. they don't create revenue. they don't cut spending. neil: are you happy for the eagles? >> for my philadelphia friends, i'm going out there to minnesota to do some performance. i think it's time we hung out socially. when i see neil socially, i don't make eye contact. neil: no, it's the other way around. so, again, the eagles are in the super bowl. that's the team. but did any of you see this eagles fan who ran into this pole? man, this looked dangerous. apparently a lot of people had it wrong. it wasn't over the eagles. he just found out about my live show. saturday on fox news. he was, like, oh, my god i missed it. he's fine. so are we. more after this it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts.

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. neil: all right. well, the government might be reopening later today. but tough signs of seeing it closed today. especially by the statue of liberty, ellis island both appearing to be open. deirdre bolton on how they did that. >> i am here, neil, and as you can see, if you squint,

anyway, like i am, you can see the statue of liberty and ellis island. and these properties were kind of caught in the middle this weekend, neil, and we know this resolution, it seems like the shutdown is going to be over soon. but saturday and sunday, tourist traffic was actually stopped to these two sites. so obviously as far as geographics go, they're in the state of new york. but the statue of liberty belong to the federal government. so the new york governor andrew cuomo worked something out with the u.s. department of interior and is actually paying the u.s. national parks department $65,000 a day because the tourist traffic, the foot traffic that would be missing from this whole area would add up rather quickly. i'm going to give you some stats from 2016. those, in fact, are really the most recent that we have. four and a half million visitors came down here to

this park to go visit the statue of liberty, visit ellis island, and visitors spent an estimated $263 million just downtown. whether it was wall street or visiting these sites and just kind of meandering around. so basically for the governor to pay 65k from the new york state tourism budget seems like a pretty clear call to make. because this event has been politicized, here is what the governor had to say. >> the statue of liberty, america, new york is all about immigration. it's all about welcoming new people. it's all about bringing new people here. the concept of closing the doors to immigrants is repugnant to the concept of america. >> okay. so obviously that was part of the political conversation, which hopefully seems like it's going to be resolved soon. but i will say one thing, neil. i've been down here before in

the summer with my family to take my kids to see the statue of liberty, and it was a mob scene. now, granted this is a monday, it is january. but you can see around me, it is pretty quiet. there are not too many tourists around. but there is actually a restaurant that i'm standing right outside of and one of the owners said he is so glad if this shut down can be resolved because he said he clearly lost business this weekend and actually he made the decision just to not open today because obviously he has to pay his workers and if there's not a lot of tourists, it's not worth it. neil: it does make sense. deirdre, thank you very, very much. to deirdre's point that that won't be necessary. that they will have things reopen shortly. even though were finding creative ways around this to avoid the impact on this. maybe we'll come up in the sarah sanders briefing minutes away here. lawmakers are on the verge of reopening the united states government after three days of being shut down. that, of course, takes up the vote to the senate and goes to the house. no guarantees there but increasingly both parties seem

to want to get over this hump and back to, well, just arguing like the good ol' days. we'll have more after this . . . .

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neil: we're awaiting white house briefing. things getting pushed back a little bit here. this coming on the heels of the government looking, looking, you know how this goes, anything can happen, change things fast, like it will reopen and maybe within hours because we're about a half hour away from another senate

follow-up measure lead the way to get a measure to the house. assuming that passes. away we to, for the 37th time in our history we get back to business. trish regan to take us through the next crazy hour. trish: thank you, neil. senate will vote on short term spend bill to reopen the government in a short while as congress reaches an agreement to end the shutdown. we'll take you live to the senate floor as soon as the vote begins. we'll hear from the white house on the government shutdown, and whether the president will sign any daca deal that doesn't include funding for a while. i'm trish regan. well -- welcome to "the intelligence report." we bo to adam shapiro on when the shut down to officially end. we vote on the