facebook.com/outnumberedfnc, looking at all of it, chiming in on the conversation. we are back on tv tomorrow at noon eastern. "happening now" starts right no now. >> jenna: fox news alert as we are following breaking developments on two major stories here and overseas. the battle over healthcare reform and the london terror attack from welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jenna lee. >> a lot happening with both those stories, i am lee linville are in for jon scott, right now we are learning that you taught resident kurt cochran is one of the four killed in the london-based terror attack outside british parliament had his wife melissa also from utah was injured and we are told is recovering at a local hospital, live pictures from london as we speak. police in london have identified the attacker as 52-year-old khalid masood who had been on law enforcement radar for a long time. >> jenna: me time in our nation's capital today the republican plan to place obamacare now faces an uncertain

fate, seven years to the day after obamacare was signed into law. at this point, conservatives and moderate republicans seem unable to agree on a plan that would win enough support if the vote were held right at this moment. also right now, some of those holdouts, members of the house freedom caucus are meeting with the president at the white hous white house. life on capitol hill is peter doocy, again at the moment, it appears that it can y time. >> at the moment, the question is what are the conservative members of the house freedom caucus asking president trump and speaker ryan for now because these conservative lawmakers in republicans have already convinced the white house and their leaders to rethink what should be considered essential health benefits because they have long complained about making all customers pay for things like maternity care or birth control, but we are still waiting to see what else is going to take to get them onboard. still, though, republican leaders think they are almost there.

>> i think there is 95% agreement on this conservative built in the house but in washington, the last 5% matters. so the meetings that president trump and vice president mike pence are having with our members is critical going forward. but we are also working with other members of the conference frankly who look at this as an awfully bold reform. >> the rules committee is still ironing out how a potential vote would work and there was supposed to be a meeting here at the capitol this morning where members were to be briefed on what they would be voting on, but it was called off since there still has not been a deal. the meeting was postponed so quickly, at least one prominent republican still showed up because nobody told him not to come. now democratic leadership says the last-minute maneuvering is a bad sign for the party in power. >> i don't know if you want to call this on trump's part a rookie error, but you do not find a date to pass a bill, you build your consensus in your caucus and then when you are

ready, you set the date to bring it to the floor. >> the math problem facing republican leaders now is pretty simple, the more conservative members they add and bring into the fold, the more moderate members they risk losing, one prominent moderate representative charlie from pennsylvania peeled off last night. there may be others who follow him. again, this is changing by the minute, but leadership is walking a real tight rope right now. >> jenna: rarely is it we have an interesting development to share with our viewers right now. thank you very much. for more on this, bring in "fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace. we've been waiting is a stakeout outside the white house for their members of the freedom caucus to step to the microphone as normally happens when there is a meeting with the president. here is the new video we have as of 1:00 p.m. eastern time. this is members of the caucus leaving the white house out the back door. not the back door, but they are not stepping to the microphone, no public statement, chris. curious what you think that

means? >> my reaction is your reaction which was if they had reached a great deal and accommodation, they were on board with the ryan-trump bill, they would have gone to the microphone, no cumbersome and can avoid wanting to talk and basically say we kind of got the president to gifted. the fact that they are not there, maybe we will both be wrong, but that would be my assumption is they don't have a deal. >> jenna: recently, they decided they do not like the media may be. hope that is not the case. >> usually they overcome that. >> jenna: range how that happens. interesting i just want to juxtapose with our viewers, this was closed to the press so we don't know what happened inside, but assistance to president trump tweeted out photos moments ago, members of the caucus giving the president a standing ovation. interesting that everyone wants to control their narrative, whatever that is, but what do you think it's really at stake

for the trump presidency today? >> i think this is huge. it may not be today, it may slip a day or two, and ultimately that would not matter. nancy pelosi talks as if everything went smoothly when she was the speaker of the house, but do you remember when obamacare was passed in 2010? bart stupak, it democratic member for michigan held up the president and her, so as they always say, legislation is like sausage, making it is not very pretty. but if they do not get this through, i think it is really a disaster. it is a very bad setback for paul ryan comerford donald trump, and frankly, for republicans. they have been campaigning for seven years about the idea that if they could just get in, just get a republican house, senate and president, they would repeal and replace obamacare. now, even at this hour, they were supposed to begin the debate in a couple hours, they still don't have an agreement to

get it through the house let alone the senate. this really calls all of them into question, and i have to say president trump come you can say it is a house bill, paul ryan, but he is supposed to be the closer. he was supposed to be the guy that could make the deal, that is what he campaigned on. here he is, being held up and apparently at this point not able to satisfy the house freedom caucus, my gosh. if they are not afraid of him, who is? >> jenna: we have to reserve judgment to see what actually happened over the next several hours in give you the play-by-play. we expect to hear from speaker ryan to get an update over the next several hours but more immediately we expect to hear from sean spicer this hour. interesting to see whatever statement he has to share but the meeting that just took place in the white house. there are so much to talk about with politics, and i wanted to bring up something that a viewer tweeted me during our break between shows. i read our viewers tweets so if they would like to participate in our conversation right now, they can do that by tweeting me

online. >> my guess is they are already tweeting about what i just said, go ahead. >> jenna: this is what brian said, i think he is so right on. on healthcare, a heat due to hear people say wins or losses for republicans or democrats, that is the problem with politis about parties, not people. are we spending enough time on the content of the bill and whether or not this bill is actually going to be better for our country? >> that is an absolutely jet legitimate question, in that should be the only question, not which party wins, which player wins or loses, it should be is it a better bill? in the fact, quite frankly, that they are still messing around with it clearly to get votes, not because they think it is the best thing, there is some dramatic changes being made at the 11th and a half hour would be an indication that politics trumps policy and what is best for the americans, american people -- you could say that about obamacare as well. a lot of the decisions that were made there were in the end to

get votes, not to do the best thing by all of us, but it is a very good point by brian that often, too often in washington, it is about winning rather than doing what is best. >> jenna: quite frankly, informative for us as well because it made me think, what are the points of the policy that are the hold up here? what is the content in the bill that is being argued over that will have an effect, real-life effect on real people? if you could give us one, chris, what do you see as one of the holdups when it comes to the policy debate over what should be in the bill and what should not? >> let's take a look at what we think was one of the big issues in this discussion just now between the president and the freedom caucus. it has to do with insurance mandates appear there all kinds of mandates, employers have to provide this kind of coverage, e mandates that people have to buy it or pay a tax penalty, also mandates on insurance companies that they have to provide a list

of benefits, full array of benefits, and some people think that is a good idea, you get more bang for your buck, some people think it is a bad idea, government should not be telling private companies, but here we are at this late date arguing about whether maternity care, mental health should be included in those bills, and healthcare coverage. again, you have to wonder, and this incidentally is playing into the politics, conservatives say if you do not have that kind of umbrella coverage, a basic insurance plan, then you can make it cheaper and premiums will go down because the coverage will be less. on the other hand come you have moderates who say we want better coverage, we want more coverage for our people, and they are going to be upset if they are getting less plan. again, this is a case where it seems like the politics of getting the votes to satisfy one constituency goes against the interests of the constituents in another district. >> jenna: are interesting but

i take away from what you just said is there a big, fundamental, philosophical questions about healthcare and the relationship between the healthcare industry in the american people that are still not resolved at this point. these are big questions, not minor questions that are still being debated. we are going to have to run come you have a big interview coming up on fox news sunday, i know this will be a big topic, healthcare, but the interview is significant so i want you to have an opportunity to tell us about it now. >> indeed. we are a work in progress because we don't know what's going to happen on healthcare but whether it is some in the house or white house, senate leaders, we will have the very latest breaking news and the key person to talk to on healthcare. but we also did an interview yesterday with the prime minister of iraq, he was in town, fascinating interview. i asked him, and i'm going to tease it, not tell you what i said, who has shown a deeper commitment to defeating isis, president trump or president obama who he worked

with for years. i also asked him, and this is before we even knew what we do now about the attack in london, what did it tell him and what can the west, like in europe, the u.s. do to protect? he also tells us how quickly and surprisingly shockingly so how quickly he thinks that iraq will have defeated isis and get them out of their country. not syria, but iraq, all of that on "fox news sunday." >> jenna: house like a great interview, i know the show is on twitter, but are you on personally? >> i'm sorry, i did not hear you. my feeling is there are enough ways to blow up my career, i did not need to find another one. >> jenna: good point, i thought i would ask just in case. thank you. >> leland: i bet he has used that line before. isis is claiming responsibility for the london terror attack but if investigators dig deep, find out why our next guest who is a 21 year veteran of the fbi says this attack is specific, it is posing special challenges to the

intelligence community as well as law enforcement. more on that. and we are awaiting today's white house briefing schedule to start just a few minutes from now. live to the white house where sean spicer to see what he has to say about healthcare when we come back.

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>> jenna: we are learning more in new information about the deadly london terror attack with british police identifying the attacker is 52-year-old khalid masood who had a long record of criminal offenses going back more than 30 years. police say he killed two people and injured dozens more as he mowed down pedestrians with his care leave my car on the bus mr. bridge then stabbed a police man to death outside parliament before police shot and killed him. among the dead is an man, her cart creek 2 -- kurt cochran in london celebrate his wedding anniversary. his wife melissa seriously injured. the attack could serve as a wake-up call to great britain on security challenges as it leads

the e.u., you want to talk about with my next guest, 21 year veteran of the fbi appeared wake-up call not just for britain but perhaps for us as well. what do you think this attack tells us? >> i think what we learn from this attack is unlike other previous ones ten or 20 years ago where there was a lot of planning and tripwires for law enforcement and the intel community to pick up on amtrak to disrupt the attack, a lot a lot of the more recent attacks appeared to be lone wolf motivated by isis, possibly motivated off social media messages, if that is going to be very difficult for law enforcement to stop because they cannot identify them. >> jenna: difficult but insurmountable? >> nothing is insurmountable. the law enforcement, intel community continues to work together, they will be able to identify and stop a lot of these attacks. some attacks are just going to be very difficult. >> jenna: i ask because with attacks like this one, there is this sense coming from so-called

experts that this is just the new normal. were not going to be able to defend all the time. this is just going to be what we have to deal with. do you subscribe to that as well? >> i think there is something to be said about that. i think some of the questions are going to fall back on the individual. when i am asked, i tell people, listen, you have to have situational awareness of what is going on around you because law enforcement in the intel community is not going to be able to identify all of the attacks, stop all of the attacks. >> jenna: jacob reminder for all of us. often walking down the street come looking at my phone, listening to something off my phone, not really paying attention, and this is a reminder at that. when you think about the threats here at home, and we are looking at the day after this terror attack, still a lot there come additional arrests made, but we do not know what that means yet. as far as our own security here, how would you access it at this time and what do you think the threat level truly is?

>> again, you have to be aware of what is going on around you, but i think our security situation is very good. the cooperation between local, state, federal agencies, the information sharing which is key to identifying and disrupting attacks is great here in the united states. our joint terrorism task force that has local and state agencies along with the fbi in other federal agencies is second-to-none in working together and in identifying threats. >> jenna: if you could ask for an investment, more time, energy, money and one particular hour of -- area of counterterrorism, what would you say? >> information technology. >> jenna: in what way? >> a lot of these attacks seem to be driven by social media with the increased encryption that everyone gets on their social media networks, it makes it very difficult for law enforcement and the intel community to track people, bad

people. if the federal government or the fbi could get more assistance in addressing that, i think i would be helpful. >> jenna: want to ask this a little bit more in addition, we had this travel ban, not the travel ban for people, but when it comes to electronic devices out of certain airports. one of the things we were discussing earlier west there is still a question about those coming from europe here into the united states, not necessarily on those flights coming from certain middle eastern countries, because of the threat level in europe and because of the technology question that we are asking about with devices on airplanes, how concerned are you about the ease of travel between european countries in the united states? >> i'm not concerned, but that is a very good point. if we stop travel or make travel more difficult for a particular region, terrorists who are bound and motivated to do an attack would just figure out a way to circumvent our security steps

and will possibly go to a second country that does not have the van and continued the attack. >> jenna: interesting if they are savvy enough to figure it out, they can get around. although more recent to pay attention. jeffrey, thank you so much. >> leland: president trump and house speaker ryan continuing to push hard this afternoon for the g.o.p. plan to repeal and replace obamacare. we could be just hours until the vote, but do republicans really have all of the votes they need to pass it? mississippi congressmen telling us how he will vote and why, maybe some insights into what will happen later today. and awaiting today's white house press briefing, sean spicer walking out the door and just a couple minutes. live to the white house with what he has to say about the president's meetings earlier today. so how old do you want to be when you retire? uhh, i was thinking around 70. alright, and before that? you mean after that? no, i'm talking before that. do you have things you want to do before you retire?

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>> leland: fox news alert as we await the white house daily briefing a little later today. we're going to hear from house speaker paul ryan. he a lot of questions and lots of last-minute arm-twisting and dealmaking surrounding the fate of the gop's health care overhaul bill. live pictures on capitol hill, do republicans have the votes they need to pass it in the house? speaker ryan wanted the vote today, though it still may not happen due to all of the uncertainty. we bring in now congressman greg, republican from the great state of mississippi. good to see you, sir. >> great to be with you, thank you so much, hope you're having a great day. >> leland: we are, sir, better because you're joining us paid getting to the news from our producer on capitol hill that just spoke to a member of the freedom caucus he said there is no deal yet after their meeting

with president trump at the white house. bringing that back to your very kind tweet promoting this interview, you said you were going to talk to us about the ahca vote happening today. can you guarantee us that there is going to be a vote today? >> no, i don't think anybody can guarantee anything. it's possible the vote could be tonight. it could be tomorrow. i know that the president has continued to meet with folks to state his position. he is fully behind this. i think that gives us great credibility. i am hopeful that -- look, most all republicans in the house would classify as conservatives, some of us just are not mad about it. so this is something i think we have a great opportunity to repeal and replace obamacare and i hope that everybody will see fit to do this. remember that their vote is an individual vote, not a group vote. >> leland: why is this so

hard? this is something republicans have run on for seven years since obamacare was signed into law seven years ago today, as a matter of fact, and yet it is so difficult that you've got at least 21, depending on some counts, up to 30 republican saying no. >> it should not be that difficult. it is just an understanding of the process and how you go through budget reconciliation and the fact that everything you might possibly want, you cannot get in this one vote. you do a great deal of it here. you have to rely on tom price, the hhs secretary, and then you have another third stage that will allow you to do some other things that will improve the health insurance market. this is part of the process. it is good for us, good for the country, and good for the replacement of obamacare, and i hope we can get this done if not tonight certainly tomorrow. >> leland: you're one of the first people i've heard make that argument essentially a policy-based argument, something

that jenna referenced earlier about a tweet someone wrote to her, why are people so worried about, for lack of a better term, the politics of this rather than whether this is actually a good bill for the country? >> you have to get past the politics. you have to look at what is best. what is best for each district, what is best for the country, and rarely do you have a piece of legislation here that you are going to agree with 100%. i don't even agree with myself all the time. so you're going to have bits and pieces that may not be perfect, but you have to ask, is the country better off today than they were seven years ago with healthcare? the answer is absolutely not. we have an opportunity to turn that around and do some things that will really help people, help them in their lives and with their health insurance. >> leland: at least so far, not everyone on your side of the aisle is convinced, sir. this just coming out, has freedom caucus member harris saying that lawmakers had an informational meeting with the president, does not sound as he speaks right now to reporters, doesn't sound like there has

been any grand bargain struck yet. it might be a late-night or long weekend for you, congressman. we will have you back to talk about it. >> thank you so much. >> leland: thank you, sir, all the best to you. >> jenna: are we able to listen in there? >> we always try to get to yes, but i think it would be a mistake to move forward today. >> do you think it's going to come to a vote tonight? >> it would be a mistake. >> to be clear, were you given a specific offer and said this? >> there is nothing new. some reported about the repeal, but our position has never been in favor of a repeal by itself that would be a mistake, it would make the bill worse. >> we have not asked for changeo all of title i. we've been very specific about some of the sections that we

think would bring down premiums. particularly looking at community ratings, changing it without dealing with community ratings, it would make the exchanges worse for the sickest patients. >> did the president have anything to say about that part of title i? >> nothing came out of it. >> is this the final offer, what is your response? >> they are not going to pass the bill. >> you do not think they have the votes? >> so there is an offer? >> and offer? it is only the same thing that you were discussing in the media today. that is all we have heard. that is a nonstarter. >> you do not think they will vote tonight? >> i do not think there can be about tonight because they don't have the votes. if there is a vote tonight, they will fail. >> to be clear, is essential health benefits all you heard from the president? >> that is all we heard which is the same thing that many of you have been reporting. >> thank you.

>> jenna: let us a congressman out of michigan, and you heard it as we did as well saying that a vote on this bill would be a mistake because it would not pass and there are still some real issues that do not seem to be reconciled at this point. one of the things you will hear from the freedom caucus and also among the office of senator rand paul is the question about premiums. we are still not addressing when we talk about the health care bill, what is really crippling businesses and individuals in this country which is the cost of healthcare. the fact that premiums continue to rise so high. there is a debate within the republican party about how to keep those rates under control and how to do best for customers, and you heard that just briefly touched on there by the congressman that the issue about pleading do my premiums going up and had to make sure that doesn't continue to cripple individuals is still a question that does not have an answer at this point. we will continue to try to get more from the freedom caucus,

this is a big voice in the freedom caucus, congressman meadows. >> without getting into the details of the discussion or negotiation, this has not been a single focus on essential health benefits for any of us. obviously, we have come from six requests down to two, which you might even modify that it is one and a half. it has to do all with the obamacare mandates, the obamacare rules, and we are trying to move from phase ii into phase one. we are not adding anything other than we are taking what was supposed to happen in phase two in bringing it into phase one. >> the chairman has said this meeting was do-or-die, it all comes down to you. >> obviously, he is the speaker of the house, and he knows the conference better than anybody. we are certainly trying to get to yes, but indeed, we have made

very reasonable requests, and we are hopeful those reasonable requests will be listened to and ultimately agreed to. i have to run, guys. >> jenna: more from capitol hill as we get it. congressman meadows they are talking about compromise that is or is not happening over the bill. i want to mention something equally important, moments away from the press briefing at the white house by sean spicer. what is the president say about all of this? we hear from the freedom caucus, what about the white house? we will have that after the break. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. due to your first accident. i wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from. and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea.

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>> leland: a lot going on right now, back to capitol hill or the white house as news breaks on the g.o.p. effort to repeal obamacare. that vote could happen today, do they have the votes? a lot coming out, we get back to that in a moment. this story breaking yesterday, house intelligence chairman devin nunes reportedly apologized to his colleagues behind closed doors for not sharing information with the committee before going to the white house and making it public. this is according to a democratic colleague on the intelligence community, it comes after nunes confirmed some trump advisors commit comedic agentse click requested by intelligence agencies after the 2016 election, not before as mistruths trump had claimed in his tweets a few weeks back. and it was "incidental" collection. >> what i have read seems to me

to be some level of surveillance activity, perhaps legal, but i don't know that it is right in the american people would be comfortable with what i have read. this is information that was brought to me that i thought the president needed to know about incidental collection where the president himself and others in the trump transition team were clearly put into intelligence reports that ended up at this white house and across a whole bunch of other agencies, and i thought it was important for the president to know this. >> do you feel vindicated by chairman nunes? >> i somewhat do come i must tell you i somewhat do. i very much appreciate the fact that they found what they found. i somewhat do. >> leland: bring in our panel on this, former chief counsel for democrats on they have to be my house judiciary committee and former director for the reform committee and our good friend,

former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. take me back to your white house days. these same sets of circumstances, if they had happen with president bush where there were these big questions and all of a sudden the house until committee chairman's coming up to save the tweet may not have been perfectly correct, but it is basically correct what the president said, there is some truth to it, there is a real sigh of relief there. >> there is a sigh of relief but it's also very troubling that americans are being caught up in these incidental collections of foreign intelligence. not only that, but these names are supposed to be protected because they are not the targets. worse than that as we know crimes have been committed because these leaks involve the names of those who were caught up in incidental to the overall foreign intelligence. that is a violation of law, in the president wants to and should as congress get to the bottom of it. >> leland: we saw mike flynn's name among others leaked out. do democrats need to come together on this and say, we

need to have an investigation into x, y, z and perhaps agree with the republicans that just because a week is politically helpful to them does not make it legal? >> yes, that is why john mccain yesterday said that there should be a select committee on this entire matter. if there was anything that was done improperly with incidental collections, should be investigated, i agree with that, but nunes himself who has not come under attack from lots of republicans for very unprofessional and un-chairman like conduct said there was nothing illegal, that it was accidental, incidental, and this is common for fisa investigations. >> leland: as you can see on the screen -- speak of this administration is under criminal investigation. >> leland: we have to go to sean spicer at the white house to address this among many other things. >> press secretary spicer: -- as the story continues to develop had re-stand ready to provide consular assistance considering some privacy concerns, i am not going to further discuss the current

state of any of those individuals at this time. as i said yesterday, the president spoke with u.k. prime minister made to offer his condolences and pledged his full cooperation of united states government and bringing those ro justice, now i want onto today's schedule. this morning after receiving his daily intelligence briefing, the president met with over 30 members of the house freedom caucus to discuss building momentum toward replacing and repealing obamacare with the american healthcare act. the members of the freedom caucus thanked the president for engaging with them throughout their negotiations and the president like wise thing to the group for their willingness to work closely with the white house and their colleagues to crafter the strongest bill possible. the group agreed that their ultimate goal is to intimate a system that will drive down cost, increase access to health care for millions of americans. in this meeting, it was a very positive step toward achieving that goal. this is just the latest in a series of discussions in person or on the phone that the president and vice president and his team have had holding with

that republican house members and american healthcare act. this afternoon, we expect the president to continue those meetings with members of the other groups in the house presents the law was introduced, the letter state of affairs mitty has been in constant contact with members of -- american people will be catching on to fulfill the promise of repealing and replacing obamacare by supporting the bill later tonight. in the past few days, the president has been on the phone with scores of republican members in addition to inverse meetings with republican study committee, house freedom caucus in the tuesday group. this bill has truly been a collaborative effort from the beginning there and open and deliberative process, the president and his team have helped to negotiate a very, very strong bill. he was on the phone last night well into the 11:00 hour with members on an individual basis discussing their support for the bill. the amendments that have been incorporated at important

aspects to the bill like removing costly essential health benefit insurance regulations, repealing obamacare taxes immediately starting in 2017, reforming medicaid by allowing states to accept funding as a block grant to implement able-bodied work requirements and blocking states from receiving enhanced federal medical assistance percentages if they expanded during the transition. we have already seen the result with many members coming out to say they are going to be eight yes tonight. as i've noted before, today is actually the seventh and we hope the last anniversary of the day that president obama signed obamacare. the president is looking forward to seeing republicans fulfill the pledge denied that they have been making to their constituents for years. that with a republican in the white house and control of congress table once and for all see the end of obamacare. i assume president obama must be feeling the time is up for his signature lawsons today he came out with a rather lengthy statement about it, but he cannot change the facts about where it stands.

president obama stated that americans received a "upgrade and insurance." the mandates obamacare placed on insurance for us to off their insurance or away from the doctor which broke the promises they were given. president obama attempted to move the goalpost on cost, downplaying the skyrocketing premiums, some of the case of over 100% in some places. unaffordable deductibles. americans come he seems to have forgotten, he pushed obamacare on the promise of reducing cost, not making healthcare unaffordable. president obama said obamacare isn't in been for a death spiral" but enrollment is nowhere near expectations and this year it is actually declining. insurers are fleeing the exchanges and one in three counties in america only has one insurer. president obama may not believe that obamacare is a "job killer" but the new law including his job killing taxes, mandates and regulations speaks for itself. with the passage of the american healthcare act, we will begin the process of rolling back

obamacare's many disastrous policies. of course, is not just a big day on the house side, over on the senate we begin the final and fourth day of judge gore suggests in the judiciary hearing. earlier today, democratic leader chuck schumer announced that senate democrats were going to not a filibuster against his nomination. from day one, we said the president made an inspired choice in the nomination of judge gorsuch. the american bar association has given him their highest rating of well-qualified. this week, though, throughout four days, he has showcased his sterling credentials and a brilliant legal mind. we find senators senators humans announcement disappointed because it changes the way that the senate has handled confirmation votes in recent times and represent the kind of partisanship that americans have grown tired of. in the past half-century, only three soup import justices have faced filibuster, the most recent was justice alito opposed by then senator obama who voted to uphold his filibuster and later admitted that his vote was

a politically motivated act that he regretted. in fact, senate republicans did not filibuster his supreme court nominees elena kagan and soto mayor. we call on senator to follow and fall on democrats to stop blocking judge gorsuch from receiving the fear up and down vote that he and the american people have voted for. back to the rest of the president schedule, this afternoon the president will meet with members of the tuesday group. he had lunch with secretary of the treasury steven mnuchin and nelson at 3:00 today, we hope you will come out and join the president to welcome the truck drivers and truck company ceos who will be meeting on the american healthcare act as they arrived to the white house alongside two rather large big rigs. one in every 16 americans work for the trucking industry, the backbone of our country's domestic freight transportation, it moves over 70% of domestic freight tonnage. the trucking industry has suffered greatly under obamacare appeared many truckers were forced to buy healthcare plans that were not necessarily right

for them on the exchanges, like millions of americans across the country, they saw their premiums rise and their options plummet. trucking companies classify as large employers under the law are mandated to provide insurance, and we already know it doesn't work. instead of imposing senseless restrictions from washington, the presidents three prong health care reform plan will lower premiums and increase choice by increasing competition. the president looks forward to discussing how these policies combined with forthcoming tax, regulatory and trade reforms will provide much-needed relief for the trucking industry. also today, the vice president with president hernandez of honduras, a readout on that meeting is available from the vice president's office. and if you notes before i get to your questions. as the president noted during his first cabinet meeting earlier this month, while many of the spectacularly qualified choices to lead the departments and agencies are already in place and taking action to fulfill the president's ambitious agenda, there are still some important positions

that have not been filled in large part because senate democrats have abstracted. i want to give an update on some of the outstanding confirmations. the secretary of labor or designee alex acosta had a very successful hearing yesterday and we expect him next week. secretary of agriculture designate sonny purdue is currently appearing before the senate committee. we expect governor sonny purdue to show why he is the best choice to lead the usda and hopefully he will be up in the next coming days. we also announced earlier this afternoon that prime minister of denmark will be visiting the white house on march 30th. we will have further details on the visit in the upcoming days. tomorrow, the present will host medal of honor recipients and their guests in celebration of medal of honor day which falls on saturday at this year. we will have some more details on that event coming forward. the president intends to be here this weekend as soon as we have updates on his weekend plans, we will let you know as well. i will also note that we've got coming up on a deadline related

to the keystone pipeline, we will have an update on that for you tomorrow. finally, i am proud to announce that april 19th, the anniversary of the battles of lexington and concorde, the new england patriots will be visiting the white house to celebrate their latest and what will probably be a continuation of many more to come super bowl win. and with that, i will take your questions. >> reporter: -- >> press secretary spicer: is this a patriots question? is this about tom brady's jersey, true confessions? >> reporter: i have a healthcare question for you. do you expect there to be a vote tonight? >> press secretary spicer: that is what i understand the house has scheduled. >> reporter: do you think that will be pushed back? >> press secretary spicer: that would be up to speaker ryan and leader mccarthy, but nothing leads me to believe that is the case. >> reporter: is the president concerned at all that if he does not get support from the freedom caucus or if he does come he

will lose support from moderates? >> press secretary spicer: he is meeting with members of the tuesday group today. obviously, he understands there is a balancing act going on as you try to get 216 in the case but we continue to make progress every day. we walked out with more members in support of the american healthcare act today than we started the day with, and i continue to see that number climb hour by hour. i anticipate that we will get there. >> reporter: patrick mchenry said that they have an offer that that has freedom caucus can accept or reject, is that how you see it, are you just waiting on the house freedom caucus to come to your side, are you at their whim at this point, what is that about as far as you know? >> press secretary spicer: some members in the meeting stood up and told the president, i am with you now. i think member by member, that is how they are going to vote. i think we have continued to see that number rise and the same thing with the tuesday group. they are members that had not been with us that are expressing

that they are willing to be part of it. the president went over several commitments and changes that have been made to ask assuage different folks and we will continue to see the number rise. we see the number go up, not down and that is a very positive sign. >> reporter: any statement on what brought them across? >> press secretary spicer: it depends. i don't think there is a singular issue. in a lot of cases, we talked a little bit about sections of the bill that they -- there was an issue with. i think there is a couple areas that there is some common ground on but with over 30 members they are today, and some of them had specific aspects that they wanted to see improved, and some of them frankly came to say, thank you, i think what you guys have done already has been an improvement. >> reporter: essential health

benefits, is that their main sticking point? >> press secretary spicer: in a lot of cases, that was the number one for many members, but that was not the only thing across the board. again, i think some of the measures taken along the way have really -- again, there is also beyond that, a lot of discussion about phase ii and phase three. i think the president and vice pre continuing working and improving and making commitments on the totality and copperheads of nature of how we are going to do this. for a lot of these guys, it comes down to premium increases. they are very concerned with what they are seeing their constituents face, and i think the president, vice president, secretary price, director mick mulvaney, reince priebus, chief of staff, legislative affairs team, all will continue to work with them to talk about certain measures that have been put in place to drive down costs. i think when you realize it, what we continue to talk about, the costs are too high, premiums are spiking, deductibles are going up, these are real

concerns for constituents of these members. i think as they see an overall and total commitment, it is making them feel a lot better about not just this bill but phases two and three. >> reporter: two questions. the first one, is the president open to removing protections for pre-existing conditions from the bill? >> press secretary spicer: that is something he has been very clear that needs to stay in there. >> reporter: secondly, about this essential benefits protection, obviously among those on maternity leave, how would that removal go with the president's comments during the campaign to expand maternity leave? honestly this would take it out and insurance no longer has to provide. >> press secretary spicer: again, i don't want to get into a benefit by benefit discussion here, but there are a lot of concerns as i just said to blake. part of the reason that premiums have spiked out of control is because under obamacare, there were these mandated services

that had to be included. what happened was that older men, older women who had gone past maternity agent whereby benefits that were not necessary for them, people who were at the younger age of the age scale whereby end-of-life benefits, and i think this goes back to the net of the discussion, which is we have now gone down to a system where in one-third of all counties, there is one choice. it is this potpourri of mandated benefits that everyone has to have. we have lost consumer choice. so people are paying for benefits that may be they or their spouse or family needs that are driving up costs for everybody. part of it is not necessarily about a benefit. it is about here are the benefits being mandated for everybody. what has happened is the cost of healthcare for every individual has gone up, in the choice has gone down. i think there is a philosophical discussion going on about what we can do to make sure that

people have actual coverage, something that was talked about before, but doing so in a way that does not drive up the cost for everybody. >> reporter: one follow-up on that. as the president concerned that without having those essential benefits in there, he will have a situation where women are effective paying higher for health insurance obviously because they would be paying for maternity leave? >> press secretary spicer: you could have a family plan. the point is -- again, you're picking one benefit and trying to extrapolate it. it's also sanctioned young people have to pay for end-of-life care? the idea is to instill choice back into the market so it is not just about one particular benefit, it is allowing people to tailor a plan and a cost point that is good for them or their family or them and their spouse. it is not just about one particular benefit. it's about looking at this and figuring out what are the cost drivers and how do we give people the choices they need. >> reporter: the white house and house leadership initially

defended the way the bill was written saying that it needed to be structured a certain way with certain things to be able to proceed through the senate through budget reconciliation. so what has changed to now put these substantive policy changes on the table, what has given the white house and republicans confidence that now it can survive through that same process? >> press secretary spicer: i think there is a lot of discussion that goes on without getting too into it. the issue at hand is the bird role in whether it affects the budgetary -- you cannot have policymaking things that do not have a budgetary impact. there are certain things that are being phrased in certain ways, and crafted in accordance with the rule, but there is a lot of smart people that are very familiar with the rules and trying to do things in a way to make this bill confirm do not conform in those ways. report my two questions, one on the healthcare bill first, questions about the way the bild to basically pick up votes, and

on monday night, that included a special carve out with a bunch of good nicknames for new york, but also now this latest trading, is the president concerned that it looks a lot like what obamacare look like procedurally back in 2010, and here they are on the same day making changes? >> press secretary spicer: not at all, in fact it is doing exactly what we thought it woul would, it is actually -- the two goals it set out to do it is actually doing, driving costs down, finding ways to lower premiums, keep options within reason or giving people the option to choose a plan that fits their budget and secondly doing things that instills competition and choice. the things that are being done actually achieve the goals that have been set forth. >> reporter: different question.

yesterday, there was testifying on capitol hill that they were willing to have congress come have a public debate around a new a1, is the house where the white house willing to go forward to lead the discussion? >> press secretary spicer: i refer you back to secretary james mattis, that is something the secretary of defense -- >> reporter: that comment from the white house -- >> press secretary spicer: that was brought up in the context of a conversation he is willing to have with respect to overseas contingencies that are existing right now and the battle especially with isis in the current tools we have to combat them. i think that was a discussion about whether or not we should have a discussion on authorized use of force or not and how to have that. >> reporter: now that chuck schumer has announced a definite filibuster on judge neil gorsuch should, do you

think it is time for the white house to take a stand on eliminating the filibuster for supreme court nominees? >> press secretary spicer: i am not going to -- i will let senator mcconnell who is a much more apt user and understanding of the senate rules. i'm not going to start to tell senator mcconnell what he should be doing from here. i understand, it is his rule, his chamber. i'm going to leave that. >> reporter: has anybody from the national security team or the homeland security folks been in touch with their counterparts in london in the last 24 hours or so? >> press secretary spicer: yes yes. >> reporter: can you expand on that at all? >> press secretary spicer: only to the extent to say that they have been in touch to evaluate, offer our assistance, and again i'm not getting into classified discussion about what we may or may not be discussing.

yes. >> reporter: chairman nunes today refused to say that they would roll out that he received the information announced yesterday on surveillance, that he got it from the white house. will you roll out that the white house or anyone from the trump administration gave chairman nunes that information? >> press secretary spicer: i don't know what he actually beeped the president on, but i do not know why he was coming to brief the president on something that we gave him. i don't think that makes sense. i did not sit in on that briefing. it just does not -- so i don't know why he would travel, brief the speaker then come down here to brief us on something that we would have briefed him on, he does not really make a ton of sense. i am not aware of it, but doesn't really pass the smell test. >> reporter: i have a couple for you. mark meadows said there was a meeting and there was no deal peer the president acknowledged that the bill appears to be in trouble right now? >> >> press secretary spicer: were going to continue, there is no deal, we were not asking for

a deal. >> reporter: you don't think the healthcare package is ideal? >> press secretary spicer: for a lot of members that was in many said mr. president, we are with you. some thought they would go back and think about it, but there was i think for some members -- i think this was a discussion that the president continues to have. we've been very, very pleased with the direction it's going in and the number of members who have expressed their support for it. we'll continue the discussion with the tuesday group. but, the number is growing. the number of members who have shared concerns. and i think that we have been very responsive, as well as speaker ryan, to the concerns and ideas that members have expressed from across the spectrum. >> reporter: question. you said there is only plan a. >> right. >> reporter: at this point, is there an acknowledgement that perhaps there does need to be a plan b if this vote doesn't happen tonight? >> plan a. >> reporter: the prede