>> sandra: many, many thanks to steve hilton for joining us today. >> harris: we didn't even get to talk about brock said. >> steve: we need lots of exits. >> sandra: "happening now" starts right now. >> jon: we start with a fox news alert. we are awaiting the start of the daily white house press briefing. the two press secretary sean spicer will speak to reporters any minute from now.ws happening now. >> we think we've made this bill a lot better. we think it will drive down ways to get the waiver. >> jenna: health care back on the congressional agenda. there could soon be a vote. >> we don't want to put an artificial deadline on this, we learned that a few weeks ago.

>> jenna: plus, the critics say is the return of voodoo economics, but others say it's the key to unleashing the economy. >> this is about having sweeping tax cuts, the largest tax cuts in history. this is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. >> jenna: a debate on what's best for america. as president trump promises to clean up the va with a new executive order, but really needs to be done to help our veterans. it's all happening now. ♪ >> jenna: house conservatives come on board with a revised plan to replace or fix obamacare. welcome to the second hour of "happening now." i'm jenna lee. >> jon: i'm jon scott. we are waiting for the press briefing scheduled to begin any minute from now. sean spicer will step up to the microphone to speak on the new health care plan.

now the challenge, pulling over the moderate democrats. let's listen to house speaker, paul ryan. >> we want to go when we are ready to go. it takes time to do that. >> jenna: mike emanuel is live on capitol hill with mark. mike? >> he's trying to assure them that voting for this health care package would keep a promise to all the american people. that's what house speaker paul ryan made at a press conference with reporters earlier. ryan insisted hypocrisy would be more dangerous, saying you're going to do so i have -- sometg and not take responsibility. >> the kind of agenda that we

are putting together here, overhauling health care, overhauling the tax system, rebuilding our military, securing the border, those take more than just a few months. they take a long time, at least a year. that's why we are working on the path to get it right, and are constrained to some artificial deadline. >> it's not a shocker that democrats are not in favor of repealing and replacing obamacare. nancy pelosi told reporters the updated health care bill is worse than the original g.o.p. plan. >> to make matters worse, the plan to make trump care even more costly. house republicans -- americans with anything from as much a cancer the whole list. >> g.o.p. leaders need their moderates on board. one moderate explains why he is so concerned.

>> our health care system needs repair, it's broken. the different positions -- that's what the debate is. how can we help? >> there is no doubt that there is pressure we can get this don done. capitol hill would love to put points on the board, but speaker ryan told me earlier that doing big things takes time. >> jenna: mike, thank you. >> jon: we are expecting sean spicer in the white house briefing room any minute now. in the meantime, the latest fox news poll numbers are in and president trump's approval rating is slightly better now at 45%. his disapproval rating stands at 48%. when asked how the president was doing and bringing real change to washington, 50% of voters say he's failing. this as mr. trump closes in on 100 days in office. let's bring in our panel. democratic strategist and former missouri state representative don calloway and a former

spokesman for the bush-cheney campaign, terry holt. should mention that of sean spicer steps up to the might, we are going to interrupted segment. terry, let's get your take. the american people have it wrong when it comes to president trump shaking up washington? his 50% say that he's doing so. >> i think the first 100 days have been about adjustment. donald trump has proven to be a strong and determined leader who has a clear, if not moving target of an agenda, but the cogs of washington progress grind along slowly and i think this president has had to adjust to the very real challenges of working with a legislative branch of the government and the american people are settling in

now to a kind of washington that they've grown accustomed to and been disappointed by. there hasn't been much progress here and even electing a guy who is intent and dead set on changing the way washington works. even a guy like donald trump is going to take some time and it's going to take some real effort and collaboration with the congress. a >> jon: don, many democrats, chuck schumer among them seem dead set on voting against anything the president wants to do, would you agree? >> no, i don't think that's the case. if you look at the first 100 days, we can agree that it's been objectively very rocky and a best -- democrats aren't willing to obstructed in a turn. went to the corporate tax rate come down, it just depends on how you get there. if you look lee's first 100 days, it's been very difficult for the american people to have a lot of confidence in this president.

if you look at the violent face plant of obamacare, if you look at his initiatives getting slapped down by judges of various potable stripes and if you look at this ongoing russia investigation which has caused massive shakeups, and has been a comedy of errors in this management from this white house and will have serious ramifications about blocking any real agenda. >> jon: as your speaking, we are watching the president and the first lady at the white house there. they are saying goodbye to the argentinian president and his wife. they were here for a bit of business in the oval office, talking about trade and some other things. we played you a snippet of that in the first hour of "happening now" ." as the argentinian president and his wife pull away in the limo, that's what's happening at the

white house right now. president trump is described as the least popular president in modern history at the 100 day mark, we are almost there. is that important at this point in his term? as a guy who campaigned to be a change agent and drain the swamp, as he put it, is that important for him to continue? >> i think that's just a tech tells you that this country remains very divided. i don't think you're going to look for a lot of people changing their mind about president trump. i do think some accomplishments we are going to have to see some real legislative change, the american people are going to have to see taxes lowered.

and that takes time. it doesn't happen over a 100 day period. the president has a four-year term and he is now recognizing the complex place we call the d.c. beltway, that it doesn't move like a corporation or like a business. that's part of the challenge this president faces. >> jon: you'd don't have two coequal branches of government when you had the trump corporation. democrats said they'd be on board with an infrastructure spending plan. >> i think you see universal agreement from both chambers of the democratic party that we would love to see the corporate tax rate come down. the question is how do you get there? democrats at large can't seem to get on board and reasonably so with the planet secretary minh nguyen rolled out yesterday.

lowers the corporate rate by taking us to a system. would love to see the rate lowered because we would love for america to stay competitive with the rest of the industrialized world, but democrats can't seem to get on board with some plan that doesn't have real mathematics about how to get there. you don't have to take it from me, take it from george callas. the democrats get on board with syria as soon as the white house and secretary minute and i'm ready to come up with some. >> jon: we'll see how it goes. don calloway and terry holt, thank you both. >> jenna: in the meantime, a fox news alert. a new investigation is underway and the actions of former white house national security advisor michael flynn. we expect there to be a question at the press briefing today. general flynn was warned by the

pentagon end 2015 not to accept foreign payments without approval in advance. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge has been running down the details. she is live with more. >> house democrats released these documents this morning to reinforce their case that the national security advisor hid his contacts and payments from the russian government. the first document comes from 2014 and it was sent to mike flynn when he was retiring as head is of the intelligence ag. speak out this letter explicitly warned general flynn as he entered retirement that the constitution prohibited him from accepting any foreign government payments without advance permission.

the pentagon's warning to general flynn wasn't bold, italicized, and could not have been clearer. >> the democrats saying the second letter shows without doubt that mike flynn did not declare these payments from a december 2015 trip where he got $45,000 for a speech he gave to mark the tenth anniversary of russia day which is russia's propaganda tv network. he also dined with the russian president. the secretary says that the intelligence agency was fully aware of this trip, they were briefed on before and after the trip, this issue comes down to semantics and the issue of the money. the ranking democrat says they want documents from the white house and they won't take no for an answer. >> sean spicer made all kinds of

excuses on how hard it would be to comply with our requests. come on, man. general flynn served in his position for 4 days. that excuse and the white house will not fly. >> the third letter confirms that there is an active inspector general investigation within the defense department and to flynn's contacts with the russians as well as his payments in 2015 and whether they were appropriately cleared. >> jenna: a lot there, we'll continue to watch. thank you. >> jon: we are still waiting on the white house press briefing to begin. when it does, we will bring it to you live. also this afternoon, the president will sign an executive order and withholding veteran affairs employees more accountable. plus, second amendment supporters fighting a major gun

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>> jenna: welcome back everyone. we are waiting there white house press briefing such a start on moment now. in the meantime, president trump is expected to sign an executive order creating an order in the va to fire and competent employees. one of the questions we are asking is as the president keeping his campaign promises? our next guest says he is. what problem is it looking to solve? >> is looking at solving the accountability problem we have within the va and also providing whistleblower protection.

the president and secretary dr. agree with us. we have to take a step further and pass legislation. that's why the doctor and of the president's rubio's bill. we need to identify problematic va employees and have the opportunity to fire them up legislation. >> jenna: what is the status quo about whether or not you can fire someone who is not helping veterans? >> it's unfortunate that within the va, a huge growing bureaucracy, employees who do the wrong thing cannot be fired. we acknowledge that there are thousands of employees within the va who want to do the righte veterans, but due to employment law within the government of bureaucracy, it can take years to fire bad employees. that's what we need the va accountability first act of 2017 to get real teeth to

dr. ashokan's plan. >> jenna: i'm sure there are viewers out there shaking their head saying it really? it would take years to fire someone who is not serving our veterans? bureaucracy is part of the problem, it's adding a new department within the department, would that solve the problem? those people that are running the department are the same people who have been to the va before and not new people, i question the effectiveness. what are some of your concerns? >> va accountability right now sits in the united states senate. at past the house months ago. the president supports this bill, the va secretary supports this bill, along with the other bso's. we are encouraging mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer to pass this and put it on the president's desk. the scandal which was highlighted a couple weeks ago shows that less than 3 miles away from the white house, we continue to have problems at va

hospitals. 98,000 veterans who are served by the d.c. va are an imminent danger. those aren't my words. that comes from the inspector general. we expect to face imminent danger overseas, we should never face the type of danger when we try to receive health care here at home. that's why concerned veterans for america is trying to build a movement of millions. we've made hundreds of thousands of phone calls and passed over thousands of citizens to their lawmaker. we need accountability to be passed now. let's reform the va. >> jenna: it's taking so long. there are stories that have come out, everyone is moved by them, lawmakers came out and say they want to fix it, and still wear asking the same questions. how frustrating is that? >> washington, d.c., is a frustrating place. i just move my family out here a few months ago and we see the challenges. we, as veterans, we are continuously thanked by our

politicians on the campaign trail, however we need a demand that these same politicians, when they come back to washington, they enact the legislation that is necessary to put real solutions to the problem. that's why we support marco rubio. we support his bill. today is another sign that president trump is adhering to his campaign promises. over the last two years, we for the president talking about a need for a ten-point plan to reform the va. this legislation will help him accomplish over half of those policy points. it's up to mitch mcconnell to take this up, we are also urging johnny isaacson to expedite the vote. let's get this done. they make and people on it and more importantly, veterans, we deserve it. >> jenna: the message is delivered loud and clear on that. mark is going to be with the president today when the president signed the executive order, but he is also advocating for a law to really backed things up there at the va and hold people accountable. mark, great to have you with us.

we welcome you back on the program anytime. >> jon: a clear and present danger as kim jong-un puts the u.s. and its crosshairs.

>> make no mistake. kim jong-un is making progress on his quest for nuclear weapons. all nations need to take this threat seriously because north korea's muscles point in all directions. north korea's capabilities are not yet an ex is uncial's the america, but if left unchecked, they will match the capability to hostile rhetoric. >> jon: that's u.s. navy admiral harris sounding the

alarm, telling the senate armed services committee that we could be vulnerable to a strike from north korea. the press secretary might be asked about that at today's briefing. as you can see, it has not begun yet. "the washington post" reporting on the danger with this headline. "to counter north korea, admiral harris says the u.s. should consider adding ballistic missile interceptors in hawaii." i was thinking about the historical parallels. the u.s. entered world war ii in an attack in hawaii. >> thanks for having me. that headline you just read came from a story yesterday with the admiral's testimony to the house committee. what started as different is that it wasn't the usual

rhetoric about someday north korea might be a problem or someday north korea might be able to reach one of the 50 states. it was that he thought it was a threat today and he thought it was necessary to put interceptors in hawaii now. that made it sound like a much more current threat. >> jon: we know north korea has a short range missiles, but we don't really know what they might have in the way of long-range missiles. >> they've been trying to work toward building a long-range missile. they test them and the case is basically that we don't really know how long it's going to take before one of these tests go right and how quickly they can turn around something like that. this morning, the follow-up testimony on the senate side, the admiral hesitated to answer in terms of putting a number of years on it.

the testimony yesterday sees something that they need to address sooner than later. >> jon: right now, we have antimissile to avoid an alaska and california, but the fear is that if pyongyang or some other state were to launch an attack and attack the hawaiian islands, at some point the missiles might be overwhelmed. >> the existing systems which include the one you referenced an alaska and california and the system at the navy is working on which does missile defense from ships, all of those are options. the concern is there are not enough interceptors and if you don't add more in hawaii, a wave attack where you would have a number of missiles at one time, you might miss some of them. >> jon: if i'm a secretary of defense or even the president, and i get this advice about

putting antimissile interceptors on u.s. soil out in the middle of the pacific, i would say yeah, let's do it. what is preventing them, if anything? >> i think it's partly a case of not having everything you need. they are trying to work against all the competing priorities at the pentagon has, although competing things of the trump administration wants to buy at this point. how you stack those priorities is a big part of it. >> jon: we are money basically basically. >> yes, absolutely. if got a number of things they're looking to catch up on. >> jon: is there a feeling that if kim jong-un felt that any attack he might launch was going to be futile, ultimately, he would be less likely to launch suck and attack? >> the concern would be that if

he has the chance to launch something destabilizing, if that's completely or in large part, he still has to deal with the counterattack, and that's the current security situation. >> jon: dan lamont, the man who wrote that story we talked about earlier. thank you very much. speech of the president rolling out his new reform plan, steve mnuchin saying the plan cuts taxes across the board. we'll talk about it with former advisor to president reagan. the press briefing is about to get started. >> press secretary spicer: i'm sure you will know i was up here this morning off camera with some your kids. it was a pleasure to share a little above of the white house experience with them and i hope they enjoyed it. some of you have trained them very well. i hope they enjoy their visit and i'm glad they got an opportunity to sit with the

president and vice president today. we have a bunch to talk about about what the president has been doing. we're going to try to get through it all. this morning, the president welcome the president and his wife of argentina for a visit. the president and first lady of argentina just left, so we'll have a read out for you very shortly on that. at 2:00 p.m., the president will be signing another document so we'll try to keep this on time. i want to reiterate that the american industry is in trouble, having declined to the lowest level of aluminum that we produced since 1952. it is critical for our national defense. the air force jet and navy warships are producing less aluminum than before. especially in these high purity

aluminum used to build the f18 the c-17. the secretary of commerce has initiated an investigation. the memo on the president will sign today, similar to the memo he signed on steel, elevates this investigation and directs the secretary to prioritize its completion. this memo combined with similar action on steel is an important step towards fulfilling the president's promise to "put american steel and aluminum back into the backbone of our country." the president has been speaking about revitalizing the industry for quite some time. another one of the most significant pledges is to make sure that the men and women of the military have the care they so greatly deserve. later this afternoon, the president will go to the department of veteran affairs where he will sign an executive order that will take serious action to fix the broken va

system through the establishment of the new va office and accountability and whistleblower protection. it will remove and disappoint federal employees while protecting employees who speak out about wrongdoing. the president will be joined by several veterans and their spouses who have experienced the low quality of treatment that so many of these heroes have experienced. including sergeant michael beard oh -- and his divided wife and caregiver, sarah. the delays and improper care experienced by these veterans is unacceptable. the president's action today comes on top of the signing of the veteran's choice improvement act last week, which gives more veterans the option of seeing the doctor of their choice without traveling long distance or waiting for va care. these actions, which are only the beginning of the plans to modernize the va, the president

is making clear that the trump administration will not accept anything but the best for those who have served our nation. today, as with every day this week as we approach the hundredth day in office, he continues to follow through on some of the biggest promises that he made to the american people. on monday, he hosted a working lunch reiterating his dedication to making america a leader in the world. on tuesday, he prioritized the protection of the farmers and ranchers of america's heartland by establishing the interagency task force on agriculture and rural prosperity. today, he took several important steps to review massive federal land grab by the previous demonstration under the antiquities act in egregious federal overreach. that was yesterday, actually. today, he's taking action on trade and veterans. as we speak of trade, i know last night you saw a readout of the president's call with prime minister trudeau.

they called him to renegotiate rather than terminate. the president has a great respect for these two countries and their leaders and he said he will hold off on the termination as we renegotiate a better and fairer deal for america. he made it clear that if they can't agree on a deal that he will move forward with termination. with that, i'll take some questions. >> reporter: what changes will he be achieved through negotiations? this before when you look at the various sectors, it's a being a multilateral agreement. there's sectors in canada where there's agricultural manufacturing that we look on both of them where there is both a modernization and also some balances and issues that have come up and also, frankly, some areas that fall outside of these areas that we want to look at.

obviously, the issue of derry came up so that is an issue we want to look at as well. part of it is to look at not just the existing agreement, but areas and sectors and industries that have fallen outside, or because over the last couple decades have not kept up with the promises that were made. we have a ways to go. >> reporter: under the reagan and bush administration, there were taxes about -- concerns about taxes and growth. they deficit increased greatly under both administrations. what's different about the president's plan that will lead to the same sort of ballooning? >> press secretary spicer: there's a few things. number one, we outlined it yesterday. we've got a lot of work to do with congress and it's moving in a very positive direction. as a lot of pay force in this. it will continue to be refined

as we move forward and negotiate with congress. there's a lot of things. the president laid out a plan that achieves or attempts to achieve three basic things. one is economic growth and job creation. two is a simple vacation for the american people and they can file their taxes and a normal process that doesn't require a ton of money and time. and three, it creates a better business climate that makes sure manufacturing and job creation, people want to hire here and we help the middle class. those of the three guiding principles of the president has. as we do not come up on the things you recognize, we achieve greater economic growth. we saw this with the tax cuts in the kennedy administration. john? >> reporter: you may have seen the news about the office of the inspector general announcing

that they launched an investigation into payments that form a security advisor michael flynn received prior to becoming the national security advisor. what's your reaction to that? >> press secretary spicer: that's appropriate. if there is wrongdoing, then the inspector general should look at that. >> reporter: are you satisfied with the vetting that was done by the transition team before he came on board as the national security advisor? >> press secretary spicer: that's a great question, i appreciate you bringing that up. let's walk through that for a second. general flynn was a career military officer who maintained a high level security clearance throughout his career in the military. his clearance was last reissued by the obama administration in 2016 with full knowledge of his activities that occurred in 2015, as you point out. the issue is, he was issued a security clearance under the obama administration in the spring of 2016.

the trip and transactions that you are referring to occurred in december of 2015, from what i understand. obviously, there is an issue that the department of defense is looking into. we welcome that. all that clearance was made during the obama administration. apparently they had knowledge of the trip he took. that's how the process works and i welcome the department of defense is revealed. >> reporter: if you had been fired for the president for to the vice president, would it be justified? >> press secretary spicer: i think the president made the right call it the right time and is clearly paid off. >> reporter: given the progress that they've made on health care talks, does the president want to vote on that bill this week? >> press secretary spicer: he wants a vote when they have 216 votes and i feel very good about the progress that's being made to get to that number.

i think speaker ryan's comments this morning indicate it's moving in the right direction and that should be good news for everyone in america as as a moe towards the system that creates a health care that serves us. they make sure that premiums don't skyrocket like they are now. the president wants a vote and a health care system that's possible, but that will be dictated by the speaker and the majority leader when they have the votes. that being said, we maintain for the last several days, we feel very positive about the work that's being done to get to that and the reactions we are having. as you recall, there are a lot of members who initially had problems and we are very pleased with the reaction and public reaction they are having to what is currently being negotiated. i think it's only getting bigge bigger. >> reporter: were getting a

little bit of mixed signals about what his plan is. can you lay out the president's vision is for the 401(k), particularly tax deductions? is he going to protect them? >> press secretary spicer: they talked about yesterday that the current plan right now protects charitable giving and moral interest and that's it. as we move forward with negotiation in the house in the senate, that plan will continue to flush out, but one of the benefits of the tax plan is by expanding the standard duction. that effectively creates a bracket of zero taxes for many, many americans and that's good news. we'll see more and more americans get some relief that they so desperately need. >> reporter: these tax deductions come with its own lobby and interests. are you guys prepared for a

battle? politically, that could happen. >> press secretary spicer: the one interest the president will fight for is the american people and the american worker. that's what he made his entire campaign about, putting america first and he's going to fight hard. his especial interest of the american people. he's going to make it, whether it's putting more money in their pocket, making sure economic growth leads to more jobs. thus the one interest that he's fighting for every day. will do battle with whoever we have to to achieve a greater outcome for american workers. >> reporter: [inaudible questio] >> reporter: at the trump administration had known, he would not have been issued clearance. >> press secretary spicer: i making sure people understand the process and how it works.

the way the process works is if you have a top security clearance, you fill out a form, there is an investigation done. you are re-investigated every five years if you're able to maintain that clearance. whoever owns that clearance, whether as the fbi or the department of defense, they go out and do the investigation and between that period you are responsible for updating the information that you provided in accordance with the agency that issued that. my only point is when general flynn came into the white house, he had an active security clearance that was issued during the obama administration with all of the information that's being discussed that occurred in 2015. i guess my only point is to explain how the process works and who adjudicated that. >> reporter: there is no wrongdoing? >> press secretary spicer: for

looking into how that process works, but i think it's important for folks to understand that when someone applies for a clearance, they get that clearance. it's issued at the top security clearance level for my five years and the person that has been issued the clearance has an obligation to update the issuing agency any variances and what they supplied as information. report back when you were here on february 14th, i was hoping now you could provide some more information in particular instead of come to light. is that what led to this information? >> press secretary spicer: we addressed at the time. i think the president made the right decision at the right time

and he continues to stand by it. >> reporter: your own vetting, meaning the transition, are you satisfied with that standard that should have been met with michael flynn and is there any regrets this white house has about bringing him in, knowing what you know about him now, seeing the behavior that is inconsistent with the standards of the campaign? >> press secretary spicer: it with respect, you're saying our process. the process goes through the same process. we don't have a unique process. >> reporter: that couldn't possibly be the only thing you asked him. >> press secretary spicer: the question is, do they have a clearance, if not, apply for one. if they have one, it's made available through the issuing agency. the whole reason you have a clearance is so that someone is found --

>> reporter: it was other instances. any regrets? >> press secretary spicer: knowd you miss something? >> press secretary spicer: the president made the right decision at the right time and it's been pretty clear -- i'm just saying, he made the right decision and we move forward from that decision. >> reporter: gary cohn left us with the impression astray that they were protected. >> press secretary spicer: let me get back to you. i'm not clear on that distinction. i will have the treasury folks read that out for me. >> reporter: the obama administration vetting -- >> reporter: general flynn came in and he walked through the door was just a clearance that was issued by the obama administration question like that doesn't make sense. >> press secretary spicer: sure it does.

hold on, just listen. let me explain the answer to you, calm down. i'm trying to answer it, major. this is the answer. hold on, listen. when you apply to come here to this briefing room as a member of the press, you filled out certain forms of the circuit surface. when i came here on january 20th, the people who had been cleared the day before were cleared on the 20th, the 21st and et cetera. we didn't run your background. we trusted that when you're cleared the first time, whether recorded on december 15th or january 20th that you are still -- they are background checks till cleared. every individual came into this white house either applied for a security clearance or had one. everywhere in the government goes through this same process. every single person. why would you rerun a background check on someone who is the head of the department of defense intelligence agency that had and did maintain a high level

security clearance? that's it. there's no difference between administrations when you come in from one, they rerun it. the reason they grant them for 5 years as it's a very extensive background where they check your contacts, their places of residence, your employment, they go into the field, they do a lot of that work and then you are required to maintain updates to that clearance. they re-adjudicated every five years. that occurred in this case and now the department of defense is looking into it. >> reporter: they accuses this white house of a cover-up. what's your reaction question marks before i was taken aback because they are frankly not true. the department of defense was the issuing agency for general flynn's ff 86. we refer them to the department of defense that owned and issued his security clearance and they got a copy of it. that's how the system works. documents that he requested, he received. with all due respect, he got the

documents that he requested, our job is they send a letter to multiple agencies asking for a copy of this. what we did was properly refer him to the issuing agency and said this is where you got it and he got it. >> reporter: there are no other documents you have at this point that could be turned over to this committee? >> press secretary spicer: not that i'm aware of at this point. what they sent to us, they asked for a contract, all copies of his speaking engagements from the speakers bureau, i believe he was referred to the speakers bureau for those contracts and they asked for all foreign contacts that he may or may not have had. the incident occurred that they were questioning before his employment with the white house. we complied with every document that they have looked for. >> reporter: to questions. does the president still feel that mike flynn is part of the

community? >> press secretary spicer: he needs to do what he's asked to do. >> reporter: secondly, the president is renegotiating nafta as soon as today. have you notified congress about that yet? >> press secretary spicer: we have been in communication with congress, yes. [inaudible question] >> reporter: there are millions of investigations -- people who may not be aware they hold funds that expose them. is there anything the white house should do to safeguard those senior citizens with their investments and two, to increase in cost to statement use the polities -- municipalities.

>> press secretary spicer: our government -- there needs to be a resolution effective this friday. the president has done everything possible, worked extremely hard with congress to ensure that they maintain the government and keep it open. the democrats have come in and turn a lot of monkey wrenches, despite the president doing everything he can to show good faith. they keep moving the goal post. the issue right now is to do us in the best interest of this country by keeping the government open. throwing in at the last minute and trying to come up or keep the government open is probably not the most effective way. >> reporter: is the administrative

stomach and ministry of working? >> press secretary spicer: a method right now is to do everything in our power to keep the government open. >> reporter: you think it's a fair question for anyone to ask how that plan personally affects the president and his family? >> press secretary spicer: the president's plan right now is something that every american should worry about how it's going to affect them. if you look at the ways this is going to benefit middle-class americans, middle income working americans, that should be and that is the concern of most americans out there. they're worried about their job, whether their company is growing or expanding, they're worried about whether or not they are saving enough money and how much they're paying in taxes, and the president's number one goal right now is to provide lower if to americans in that's what his

goal is and that's what most americans' goal is. it's up to every individual to ask, but yes. most americans would applaud what the president is doing to spur economic growth and job creation in this country. >> reporter: middle americans should feel empowered to asked. >> press secretary spicer: everyone in the middle class should know that this president's plan is going to make sure that they have -- the position of the white house is that the goal of this president's tax plan is to help lower income people and put more money in their pocket. thank you guys very much. look forward to seeing you at the signing. a >> jenna: sean spicer covering a broad variety of topics as we expected.

some of the back-and-forth between him and the journalist there is about my claim, the former national security advisor and his security clearance. the press secretary pointing out that mike flynn received that clearance from the obama administration. there will surely be a lot more questions about that in hopes of other issues including health care, napped out, tax reform. >> jon: wouldn't want that job job. united airlines is working to get past of the incident that unfolded last month in which one of its passengers suffered injuries when he was forcibly removed from the plane. no doubt you've seen the video. now the airline is overhauling its bumping guidelines, the changes it just made next. ou dr. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ou dr. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

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come close, come close. fun in art class. [ music stops suddenly ] ah. when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. awww. try this. for minor arthritis pain, only aleve can stop pain for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. thank you. you can't quit, neither should your pain reliever. stay all day strong with 12 hour aleve. check this sunday's paper for extra savings on products from aleve. >> jon: united airlines now making even more changes after the fallout over that dramatic cell phone video that showed one of its passengers getting

physically dragged off a flight earlier this month. laura? >> reporter: hi, jon. united laid out what many see as a substantial gesture to win back customers after the april 9th public relations debacle releasing a series of steps to ensure the episode never repeats itself again. united announcing that passengers who have already boarded flights should never have to give up their seats except for safety or security problems. and that of course would have changed the outcome of passenger dr. david dow's experience. though as we know now, he's take taken off the flight forcibly. some of the other new policies include increasing customer compensation incentives, booking working crews on to earlier flights, and powering employees to resolve customer service issues and providing additional annual training for agents. the airline also announcing

instead of just trying to switch passengers to other flights when overbooking occurs, united will also offer to fly travellers to nearby airports and pay to take them the rest of the way. dr. dow's attorney issuing a statement to fox news which reads in part, both dr. dow and i applaud united for promptly addressing the many issues that have plagued passenger satisfaction in the arena of airline customer service. reaction to the changes in policy have been positive so far. some of the airline industry have said united is certainly making steps in the right direction. united said more's coming, promising to unveil other changes later this year. >> jon: the friendly skies once again. thank you. >> jenna: it all sounds obvious, doesn't it, at this point, the changes that they're making? is it a surprise that it is not actually policy already? >> jon: companies have forgotten about customer service. >> jenna: it's fun to do these

stories. we all share our night mares. >> jon: you have to fly with small children. >> jenna: a new arena. absolutely. i'm sure our viewers can appreciate that. have a great day everybody. "america's news hq" starts right now. >> melissa: white house press secretary sean spicer wrapping up today's briefing. hello, everyone, i'm melissa francis. spicer fielding a multitude of questions on former national security adviser michael flynn and whether the vetting process was sufficient enough. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel's on capitol hill, eric sprowling is standing by with analysis. let's start with john roberts, though. he's live with more. >> reporter: melissa, good afternoon. what the department of defense is investigating, the inspector general's office, is whether or not lieutenant general michael flynn, retired military officer, asked for permission to receive payments from foreign