both the military and transgender trying to serve. we are putting them in a disadvantaged and bad situation. >> julie: we are >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast where senators have expected to vote on repealing large sections of obamacare. if it passes, lawmakers would have two years to figure out a replacement. we'll have the vote live. president trump blasting his attorney general, jeff sessions on twitter. this time while sessions was at the white house. lindsey graham's says his public humiliation is a sign of trump weakness. if the president wants the man gone, he should fire him. we're following the drama in d.c. and president trump on twitter reversing the military's policy of allowing transgender people to serve like everybody else. we'll bring you the reaction and

try to determine what it might mean for the thousands and thousands of transgender members of the military currently serving and sacrificing for our nation. we also expect to hear from the president in just minutes as he addresses the boys and girls "american legion" groups after his wildly panned talk to the boy scouts what will he say this time? let's get to it. first from the fox news deck, senate republicans are minute away from holding votes on healthcare. a live look at the floor with the voting will start in a half an hour. republicans are looking to repeal large portions of obamacare. actually, it's defund them. that's what they call it. repeal them now as they put it and give lawmakers two years to get a replacement plan. gop senators last night failed to approve a different healthcare measure.

nine republicans voted against that bill. including senator lisa murkowski of alaska. she was one of only two republicans that voted against starting debate on a healthcare bill yesterday. today president trump went after her tweeting senator lisa murkowski of the great state of alaska let republicans and our country down yesterday. too bad. the republican senator has criticized the gop's proposed cuts to medicaid. the program provides health insurance to low income americans, disabled people, patients and nursing homes and others. kevin corke is live at the white house. kevin? >> shepard, i asked the press secretary, the newly-minted press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders, what the president would do if gop leaders on capitol hill came up with a repeal plan and they sent it to him and that plan didn't exactly go far enough in protecting medicaid. you mentioned it. a number of lawmakers have expressed great concern that if you cannot protect medicaid, why would you want to completely

repeal the affordable care act? here's part of her answer to me. >> the president has been clear he wants to protect those that are part of that program. but also very focused on repealing and replacing. we're working through the process. excited about the progress made yesterday and we're going to continue pushing forward until we get a new and better healthcare plan. >> something new and better. we don't know what that looks like or sounds like. if you listen to lawmakers, they're a long way from coming up with something that is new and better. shepard? >> shepard: kevin, the president is attacking his attorney general yet again today. another tweet. this time while sessions was actually in the white house. the president wrote "why didn't attorney general sessions replace the acting fbi andrew mccabe, a comey friend in charge of the clinton investigation but got $700,000 for his wife's political run for hillary clinton and her representatives? drain the swamp."

this is a false claim. it was fails when he made it during the campaign and false today. his timeline is wrong, his claims are exaggerated and there's no evidence that hillary clinton knew anything about it. "the washington post" gave this presidential assertion four pinocchios. when the treat dropped, attorney general jeff sessions was in the white house. this is the third day in the row the president has criticized the attorney general on twitter. yesterday in a news conference in the rose garden, the president said he was disappointed in sessions and time will tell when it comes to his fate. time will tell. president trump last week told "the new york times" he would not have appointed sessions had he known he would recuse himself from the russia investigation. again, his timeline is wrong. first, trump appointed him. then the details of the russia investigation became public. then the attorney general

recused himself. jeff sessions has said he plans to stay on as attorney general for as long as is appropriate and continue supporting the president's agenda whole heartedly. attorney general sessions was the first senator to endorse candidate trump. the president down played the endorsement in an interview with the "wall street journal" newspaper. a company with which we share common ownership. president trump said he won session's home state of alabama by massive numbers. so it's not like a great loyal thing. that too is not untrue. sessions is widely popular among conservatives in the south and more popular than the president himself there. sessions' endorsements gave trout cloud among strong conservatives and many of the conservatives are backing sessions over trump. lindsey graham and ted cruz among them. back to kevin corke at the white house. >> very interesting setup there, shepard. i should add, keep in mind, it was jeff sessions coming into

this position neglected to mention some of the meetings that he had with russian officials. so this idea about maybe i wouldn't have picked him doesn't add up. that being said, you heard sarah huckabee sanders ask again today, why not just fire him instead of be rating him on twitter consistently that we've seen? here's what she had to say about that. >> i think the president has been very clear about where he is. he's obviously disappointed, but also wants the attorney general to continue to focus on the things that the attorney general does. he wants him to lead the department of justice, he wants him to do that strongly, focus on things like immigration, leaks, a number of other issues. that's what his focus is at this point. >> you heard her mention focus on leaks there, shepard. we understand the attorney general has in fact been focusing on figuring out where the leaks are coming from.

not just here at the white house but throughout the administration. that's something that we could hear more about very soon, shepard. >> shepard: kevin, last year a study by the rand corporation found there were between 4,000 and 11,000 transgender service members in the active duty military and reserves. last month, up to 250 of those were in the process of transitioning. last year defense secretary ash carter announced all transgender members of the military will be treated the same as everyone else. allowed to serve openly without prejudice. they would have the same rights to offer service and sacrifice for a country they love. today on twitter, president trump reversed that policy. he tweet ed -- thank you. after consultation with my generals and military experts, be advised that the united states government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the u.s. military.

our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with a tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. thank you." but at least check, the policy allowing transgender service members was still up on the defense department website. former secretary carter who noted the change in his policy last year released a statement. it reads in part -- here's how the current defense secretary james mattis responded in january. >> do you believe that allowing lgbtq americans to serve in the military or women in combat is

undermining our lethality? >> frankly, i never cared much about two contenting adults and who they go to bed with. >> shepard: we have not heard from secretary mattis. republican senator lindsey graham called for a hearing and said once he hears from military leaders, the move may make sense. republican congress woman vicky heartsler of missouri treated to hear that real donald trump shares my readiness and cause concern and will changing this costly and damaging policy. critics including the ranking democrat on the house armed services committee, adam smith, called the move flat out discriminatory. the senate armed services care john mccain said this is another example of why major policy announcements should not be made on twitter. he called the president's statement unclear and said any americans that want to serve and are able to serve should be

treated as the patriots they are. others are noting that the contrast between today's decision and a tweet that trump sent when he was a candidate. thank you to the lgbtq community, i will fight for you where hillary brings more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs. why the change? we don't really know. we know what he said. the white house says it's about readiness. analysts say it's likely a play to his political base leaving trans warriors no directions about their careers. kevin corke at the white house asked the press secretary about this today. >> potentially thousands, by the way, as you point out, shepard, thousands potentially transgender warriors out there already serving. if you're alongside someone that is doing the job with a weapon, you're in a forward-facing unit, does it matter? that was at the heart of a great many questions today and what about the notion of equal protection under the law and

what message was the president trying to send? i asked sarah huckabee sanders that question here today. >> what is the message that he's attempting to send to them by making this shift in policy and if i could follow on that healthcare -- >> let me answer the first question. on that, the decision is based on a military decision. it's not meant to be anything more than that. it's simply about -- obviously it's a difficult decision. it's not a simple one. the president feels it's the best one for the military. >> not a simple one. apparently not one that has been fully fleshed out. you heard the press secretary say the white house will work with the pentagon and will work with the white house counsel's office to making sure that the process is going to play out in the courts is handled in an expeditious way. i think the obvious question, shepard, why not do that first before rolling out the new policy. that's one of many questions that we'll hear about this

latest proclamation by twitter, shepard. >> shepard: kevin corke, thanks very much. president speaking as advertised to boys and girls. it's not in front of me. here he is. >> and i want to congratulate you, what a job you've all done. basically on all you've achieved at a very young age. it's incredible. for decades, the "american legion" has brought the best and the brightest to the white house. this has taken place for many years. each of you were chosen out of the many thousands of people that, you know, they're all calling in, they want to get into the white house. is anybody upset that here? >> no! >> but you're all really happy that you're here, right? >> yes! [applause] >> you represent your state that is a very important element, too, a very important factor in

getting here. you all share incredible talent and drive. most importantly, you have each other to really work with and to help and you help each other, your teammates, you love our country. that is something that we all have in common. we love our country, right? [applause] why you come from all corners of our great landscape, you're all united by your devotion, total devotion to our great american flag, our freedom and the principles that bind us together as one people and one nation. for more than a century, the "american legion" has taught young citizens about the importance of patriotism and loyalty to our country and through it all, there's nothing like what you're doing today and what you've achieved over a very, very short period of time.

we want to thank you and we want to thank the national chapters and everybody else. we have to really give a special thanks to commander charles schmidt. where is charles? [applause] come on up here, charles. what a great job. see? he wants to give you all the credit. who served in the air force for 28 years and now advances the legion's proud legacy. thank you, charles. [applause] today we're joined by president of the "american legion" and auxiliary, mary davis. where is mary? hello. come on up here. [applause] executive director that i know, verner jones. come on, verner. come on up. [applause]

come on up, mary. careful. i want to thank you for your commitment to these incredible students and our country. thank you. i also want to honor bob turner who everyone really knows. [cheers & applause] [chanting]. wow! that's pretty good, bob. that's as good as i have ever heard. fantastic. come over here, bob. be careful. we don't want to see bob go down. do you agree with that? he will never forget that.

this year bob is celebrating his 35th year helping to lead boys nation all as a volunteer. thank you very much, bob. [applause] and bob, i know everyone here today agrees when i say thousands of young americans are better patriots because of your incredible and steadfast service, right, fellows? right? [applause] through this program, countless young people like you have been inspired to protect american interests and to promote american values, right? many of us that have been in your place have gone on to become governors, members of congress, generals and one even

became a president. you know who that was? >> bill clinton. >> that's true. see? the "american legion" has held this meeting for seven decades. just think of the history that has occurred during that time when the first group of students met in 1946. that is an important day. you know why? that's when i was born. i hate to admit it. [applause] . i hate to admit it. 1946. oh, wow! i shouldn't have said that, bob. our nation had just welcomed home our brave heros whose spirit and courage achieved victory over tyranny in world war ii. just over 20 years later, young men and women like you watched a man land on the moon and dreamed of new frontiers in space. in 1987, americans all across

this nation joined their hearts with president ronald reagan in the hope, the prayer and the conviction that the berlin wall would crumble in the face of truth, justice and freedom. you know all about that. in each of these moments and so many others, america triumphed. we win. we know how to win, right? we win because of the spirit of our people. believe me, that's a big part of it. just think of the amazing moments in history you will witness during your lifetime. you saw one on november 8, right? [applause] that was a pretty amazing moment. we're doing a good job. our country is doing so well now. we're doing a good job. you all happy? >> yes! [applause]

>> because you have what it takes to be the leaders that will shape this future. some of you may want to come back to the capitol some day. you'll be back, many of you, and help make the laws that will guide this nation. govern our land. others may choose to answer the call of duty, put on the uniform and risk everything for our nation and for our nation's people. still others may become business leaders, teachers, artists and inventors. we have them all. we have them all here today. some of you don't even really know what it might be, but we have people that are going to be so successful, so incredible in their lives. you're going to be happy. do what you love. do what you love.

follow what you love. so i want to just tell as you pour your whole heart into everything you do, really you're doing it for your family, you're doing it for your country, but you're also doing it for yourselves. because ultimately you have to do it for yourself. it's better for your country and your country wants you to succeed so much. there's no country like the united states of america and there's no country that can give you the kind of opportunity that we give you in the united states. [applause] being successful is about finding your purpose in life. and never ever giving up. you ever give up? no way. does anybody here give up?

>> no, sir! >> what about here? >> no, sir! >> you're right. and i think they mean it. i think they mean it. you were chosen for this program because you believe in america's future and because you have the ambition and the heart to ensure that america will always be victorious and will always prevail. through boys and girls nation, you're learning the values that are necessary for a nation to endure and for a nation to thrive. pride and our history, loyalty to our citizens and allegiance to our great american flag. in the decades to come, you'll help our nation reach new heights. we'll be so proud of you. discover new frontiers and strengthen the bonds of loyalty between our country and its people. it is my honor to meet with you

all today and it was my greater honor to come out here early before the press got here to take all of those pictures that we took. i hope they send you the right pictures. [applause] and they will. as i look out at the audience, i see the next generation of american leaders. i see the promise of our future, i see the strength and love of the american spirit. because of young like you, i am more confident than ever in the future of the united states. together we will make america greater than ever before. i meet that. make america greater than ever before. we're on our way. we're building up military, getting great job numbers. best in 17 years. best job numbers in 17 years. the enthusiasm for manufacturers

and business is at just about the highest point since they started taking those tests. so i just want to tell you, go out there, go get'em. i have no doubt you're going to every one of you be successful. never quit, never give up. always do what you love. take great care of your family and your parents because we love your parents. you probably wouldn't be here without your parents. right? [applause] so thank you again to the "american legion" and congratulations to you all. god bless you and god bless america. thank you for being at the white house. [applause]

>> she's very rude. >> shepard: she's very rude for asking his policy on transgender in the military after he tweeted it. she's rude for asking. ♪ [chanting] >> you got the last word. [applause] >> thank you, bob. thank you, everybody. have a great life and love your country. love your god.

okay? bye, everybody. bye, everybody. thanks. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> shepard: president speaking to kids from the "american legion" out in the rose garden. it would appear in probably a moment the kids will never forget, out there, looks like a few hundred of them. the president is facing backlash from members of his own party after the latest attacks on the attorney general, jeff sessions. half a dozen republicans on the hill rallying around the former senator from alabama. president trump's former opponent, senator marco rubio or

little marco tweeted today, served with jeff sessions for six years, always honest and transparent. when he's with you, no better ally. when he's against you, tough adversary. when we disagreed on immigration, i saw his fairness and kindness. trace gallagher has this for us. we also got reaction from several of the house -- several of them from speaker paul ryan. >> yeah, house speaker paul ryan isn't criticizing or defending jeff sessions. ryan just reminded us how this whole thing works. saying the president gets to decide what his personnel is. you all know that. he's the executive branch, we're the legislative branch. he determines who is hired and fired in the executive branch. that is his prerogative. gop north carolina senator tom

tillis in defense of jeff sessions while saying some argue he shouldn't have recused himself, attorney general jeff sessions showed good judgment by doing so and removed all potential conflicts of interests. here's john cornyn. >> jeff sessions is an honorable man. he did what any ethical attorney general would do under the rules of the justice department. any subsequent attorney general that might be nominated would have to basically answer the questions the same way jeff sessions did to get confirmed. we should know, fellow alabama senator richard shelby tweeted that jeff sessions has his unwavering support. schlepp? >> shepard: some members of the conservative media are speaking out about president trump. >> right. if the comments against jeff sessions were a way for the president to test the waters, it's very apparent, it's not played well in the conservative

media. radio host mark lavigne said that firing jeff sessions would be a terrible mistake. and others say stop attacking jeff sessions. rich limbaugh said i hate to see him being treated this way. he's a fine man. and former gop talk show host, joe walsh said jeff sessions is a red line that trump would be not wise to cross by firing him. walsh said his listeners don't like the way the president is handling this because sessions is a good conservative. >> shepard: thanks, trace. let's bring in louise, the white house reporter for the "wall street journal" a company with which we share common ownership. good afternoon. >> thanks for having me. >> nothing going on there. >> and in healthcare either. >> shepard: any clarity to be had on this transgender ban

something. >> the tweet this morning sent from the president, three tweets, were the main policy. but it's notable that now press secretary sarah huckabee sanders sent a large portion in today's briefing that you thought could be devoted to healthcare and a number of issues talking about the president's decision to make this announcement of where he had arrived on the issue this morning. we've been talking, hearing about blowback from the white house on the moves around jeff sessions. what is interesting, we've heard similar comments coming from perhaps unexpected quarters raising concern over the president's move on this policy as well. this appears to go further than perhaps what house members had been mulling a few days ago. >> shepard: on jeff sessions, what are you hearing around there from people close to the president? was this an attempt to try to get him to resign and then when it didn't work, he's going to lay off him? that's what we thought about 6:00 a.m. by 6:30, that changed. >> right. the person that we heard the most from in the last 48 hours

and the president himself, a number of colleagues interviewed him yesterday, at which point he said he was looking at whether he wanted mr. sessions to go. largely then went on to make other remarks that have been more in the vein that he's been making the last couple days against the beleaguered attorney general. he poo-pooed the importance of mr. sessions early endorsement of him in alabama suggesting that people turn up for mr. trump. >> shepard: i guess the other thing is the healthcare vote. they voted on repeal and replace last night. nine republicans voted no. all the democrats. today they're voting on repeal and hang on awhile, figure it out later. does that have the votes? >> it probably doesn't have the votes right now. what you've noticed as well as when a bill seems close to going down a number of people that had not spoken out against it sort of then use the moment to signal

that they have concerns. what they're voting on today is a sweeping repeal of the 2015 bill that along the 49 sitting senators told them. the white house said if they were willing to vote it at the time that barack obama wasn't willing to sign it what has changed that now there's a republican president in the white house. are they serious or is this talk? again, the message has been muddied by other different things going on, many at the white house's incitigation. >> shepard: great to talk to you. thanks, lisa. >> thank you. >> shepard: a live look now at the senate floor. lawmakers getting ready for two more votes on healthcare. first, the procedural vote to ban the use of federal money for abortions. then a vote to repeal large portions of obamacare. it doesn't really repeal them. just defunds them. you can't repeal. that's not what it is. they'd like for you to think

it's repeal. it's not. both measures are expected to fail. mike emanuel with the news on capitol hill what are you hearing there? they're introducing the hyde amendment. can you mention that? >> that's right to make sure that federal funding does not go for abortions services. controversial with the moderates that voted no on taking up the issue yesterday. they're going through the various proposals to try to see how much support each have and key republicans are saying it's time to get serious. >> now that people have to vote, they're going to have to tell their constituents they're either farther status quo or they want to improve it or they don't know what to do. that's good. that's healthy. we need to be there. everybody needs to saddle up and put it on the table and say this is my position. >> nobody is making bold predictions at this point about what can get 50 votes. one of the next amendments as you mentioned is from kentucky

senator rand paul. >> the problem is we won't get to the solution if we don't begin to repeal. the other thing about this repeal is there's a two-year window in which part of the repeal doesn't take place for two years. over that two years, my guess is we will have impetus from the other side to begin to negotiate. >> senator paul making the case for partial repeal now. replace later. popular with some conservatives. not so popular with moderate republicans. shep? >> shepard: can you explain what happens if and when these fail? >> they'll continue with a votarama tomorrow. they may end up with something known as skinny repeal, which would get rid of obamacare's mandates and taxes. >> make no mistake about it, skinny repeal is equal to full repeal. it's a trojan horse designed to get the house and senate into

conference where the hard right flank of the house republicans, the freedom caucus, will demand full repeal or something very close to it. >> if it can pass skinny repeal, that would set up a conference with the house, a lot of ifs at this point. >> shepard: thanks, mike emanuel. that's what they're trying to do. they're trying to get into conference to introduce amendments and the rest to try to come up with something that will gain enough votes to be able to pass. whether they will be able to do that remains to be seen. it's an enormous gamble and seen as risky on capitol hill. they were down to this. i assume rachel bade is here now. good afternoon. >> how are you doing? >> shepard: how is the vote proceeding now? >> they're about to vote on the repeal-only bill. they repeal now, wait for two years to come up with a replacement and make the transition in the future. the problem with this is that

moderates hate this idea. they're worried they won't come up with a plan in the next few years to replace obamacare. so people will be left without insurance, sort of ripped from their insurance company very suddenly. this is going to fail. this begs the question, what can actually pass here? this is the problem we're seeing right now. although republicans, yes, had a victory last night when they decided -- voted to open debate on this bill, they still haven't coalesced around a policy. they're still divided between conservatives and moderates and they all have different ideas about what to do. it's possible in the next 24 hours despite this debate, despite the amendments, that they have nothing to show for this. >> shepard: in that case, obamacare would remain the law of the land and they'd have to figure out a way to shore up the marketplaces otherwise people will -- because of republican inactions in the past, they'll have to figure out how to shore them up. is there any appetite for that

working across the political aisle? >> that would be incredibly difficult to do, a bipartisan fix at this point. still, i think leadership in the senate still has one rabbit they're trying to pull out of their hat. a hail mary, if you will, this idea of skinny repeal. what they're telling the senate republican colleagues i'm told, if you vote for this slimmed down version of repealing, repealing the individual mandates, the taxes, no replacement, that will bring us to a conference with the house and we can hash out an agreement. the problem with this is i was just talking to mark meadows in the hallway. he was saying as a conservative, i can't vote for this. it doesn't do enough of repeal. so i don't know that this will pass. >> shepard: that's the rand paul position as well. in addition, you've got shelly moore capito who has said over and over again that you have to do something about medicaid, that her folks can't lose their

medicaid coverage. for one thing, it could be political suicide. otherwise, she said our constituents expect this now. it's hard to imagine getting them to come to the vote on the motion to proceed, which is just a vote to start debate is one thing. getting them to change this law, it's as if you're dealing with two different parties. the more moderates want this medicaid item to continue and the conservatives want the government out of it. they might as well be in separate parties. >> that's right. i think that's why you're seeing mitch mcconnell struggle so much right now. the president is doing what he can in terms of putting pressure on these guys to get something done. i'm not sure that that will move these folks. trump was able to tweet at the freedom caucus when the house conservatives blocked this bill. eventually they came to the negotiating, came up with an agreement and passed something out of the house. senators are different than house members, i'll say. they're elected for six years.

they can't be pressured. so you have the two totally different sides of the party and it's unclear how they'll get this done. >> shepard: rachel bade, thank you. let's get to chad pergram to give us an idea of what is happening down there on the floor where he is standing, chad. >> yeah, i'm off the floor here, shep. at 3:30, we were supposed to go to a procedural vote. these were going to be the first two votes of the day on the healthcare bill today. the first is a procedural vote on an amendment to the hyde amendment. the hyde amendment is named after the late congressman menry hyde and would ban the use of federal money for abortions. such a plan is interpreted as policy, not fiscal in nature. they're using the special set of budget rules which outlaw things that are monetary and policy. policy has to be tossed out. so this would not play unless they can get 60 votes.

yesterday they could only get 50 votes. so the only way you can get 60 yays. they'll have this procedural vote in the next few amendments. it was supposed to happen at 11:30 a.m. the hyde amendment will not likely be tacked on to this. the second vote is a straight repeal of obamacare. this is akin to the 2015 repeal bill. it also includes the two year window for lawmakers to come up with a replacement plan. that has a different scenario to it here. still not what they're calling the skinny repeal where they just tear down parts of obamacare that could come in the next 24 hours. is that we know rand paul of kentucky and susan collins of maine are against that. what about the others that are in the middle there? >> this is the problem. you fix one thing for the conservatives and the moderate republicans don't like it. then you fix it for the moderate republicans and the

conservatives don't like it. this is we that 50-vote yesterday, the 50-vote pro said -- procedural vote was so critical. a lot of people are thinking the only thing that might be able to pass is the skinny repeal, maybe do it on a 50-50 vote with vice president pence breaking the tie. shep, just since we've been talking here, they just started this roll call vote. i'm looking around the corner here. this is the vote, the procedural vote on the hyde amendment. it's barred for the rules that prohibit policy items and this would bar federal money for abortions. they can put this on the bill if they get 60 votes. it's a very high bar and it's unlikely to cross the threshold. >> on the matter of the skinny bill, the one you seem to be saying has the better chance of the three, that skinny bill, how are you going to get dean

heller, shelly moore capito or lisa murkowski? how are you going to get those to that? >> that's the problem that people are seeing here. how do you fix one thing for one group and not break it for the others? it seems as though, shep, there are chasms inside the republican party. the chasms are too deep. even though they talked about healthcare for months and months in eight years, the policy chasms have never narrowed. that's why they still have people like dean heller on one side, shelly moore capito on the other, rand paul in the corner, mike lee in another. those are the various corners of the senate republican conference right now. >> shepard: are there any alternatives that can be summoned from somewhere that might work for higher numbers or is this all just an exercise so that when it's over, say well, we tried. these people voted against it, we tried. we're stuck with obamacare and no, we're not going to shore it

up. away we go. >> you have to remember, this was mitch mcconnell's gamble here. he tried a couple things. i had one senior aide that say they ought to do a sienfeld show with costanza. he would always do the opposite and his luck would change. so as mitch mcconnell is unable to move this and we'll have some finality to this at the end of the week, they're limited with 20 hours of debate on this bill, mitch mcconnell said we tried everything, a couple weeks ago when he pulled the second version of the bill, he left open the possibility of working with democrats. as we said on sienfeld, perhaps doing the opposite. doing something completely different. >> shepard: what is the mood around there amid this turmoil? >> what you're starting to see, members are getting jumpy in the house and senate because they haven't passed much of anything

here. they would like to have a punctuation point going into the august recess. the house of representatives is scheduled to leave friday. just in the next hour or so here, they're going to put on to a spending bill, a complete $1.6 billion for a full border wall. they want to have a message and say look, we passed this in the house of representatives and ride off to the sunset for the august recess. that's why members are getting nervous. they haven't approved anything other than getting neil gorsuch on the supreme court. there were a couple of republicans that i talked to saying wait a minute. we keeped getting stepped on by the president when it comes to messaging. it was the transgender issue when they thought they would talk about healthcare. yesterday a couple house republicans said they thought the message got stepped own when he talked about sessions and not healthcare. >> shepard: chad pergram live

with us. thank you so much. this afternoon's votes are none the last word. back to capitol hill for more when we go from here and how do they proceed? that's next.

>> shepard: u.s. senate casting its set of votes on healthcare now. the first on an amendment to ban the use of federal funds for abortions. and then a plan to get rid of chunks of obamacare or at least defund them and give congress two years to come up with a replacement. neither is expected to pass. peter doocy live with more. what have lawmakers told you heading to the votes? >> shep, some of the most conservative senators including mike lee just out here on the plaza are looking at this vote, this clean repeal and wait two years to replace as an opportunity to get their own colleagues on the record about whether or not they want to repeal obamacare or leave it in place. the point that lee was making is one that we've heard many times

before that is about to finally come to a head on the floor of the united states senate. do you want to repeal and replace or not? did you get elected to repeal or not? however, other senators, more moderate members including dean heller are telling me they don't expect this repeal-only measure to pass. you get a sense that leaders don't really feel it's that close because we're out here on the plaza where we're trying to catch senators as they come out on their way back to their offices. the vice president's motorcade is not out here. yesterday they knew it would be close. he was here to cast the tie-breaking vote. he's not here. that is and indication that the leaders did not call down to 1600 pennsylvania and ask him to stand by just in case. so it's going to move on to a skinny bill. again, this -- that's something that i'm told senator rand paul, who is proposing the repeal only

today could potentially get behind, but he still needs to know more as many lawmakers want to know more about what exactly would be in the skinny bill. >> shepard: has anyone read it? >> no. the reason is there's nothing to read. they're going to continue voting on these amendments. the actual bill as it would become something to send to the house so that they could have a conference and try to figure something out to send to president trump isn't going to be done until thursday night, very late or friday morning very, very early. so there's really -- they can read this thing piece by piece but stuff will be tacked on a little at a time or chipped away a little at a time. the final piece, the whole cake, isn't going to be ready until the end of the week. nobody has read it yet. >> shepard: so they're going to vote on a bill that has not been scored by the congressional budget office, we won't know how many people would lose their

insurance, we won't know how many premiums will go up, how much deductibles will go up and no one will have read it. >> you know, senator ted cruz says he hopes to avoid the problem that nancy pelosi said a couple years ago. you have to pass the bill to find out what is in it, again, there's nothing -- leadership is candid. they don't know what will be in the final bill. so they can't go and start asking people for votes yet about a specific point. you know, your state wants this, it will have this. your state wants this, it will have this, until late thursday or early friday, shep. >> shepard: when is the vote? at some point -- they really like to get home for the weekend. so we expect friday at lunch at the latest. >> shepard: so you have to

figure if you get the healthcare bill that is 1/6 by 10:00 a.m. friday, vote by noon and get out of washington, right? ha-ha. we'll be right back. your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. yeah, 'cause i got allstate. if you total your new bike, they replace it with a brand new one. that's cool. i got a new helmet. we know steve. switching to allstate is worth it.

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>> shepard: breaking news coming in. this is the first we've heard from him. secretary of state rex tillerson says he has no plans to leave his post. he's saying that in response to the back and forth about jeff sessions. here's what secretary of state said ahead of a by literal meeting today with his qatari counterpart. >> i'm not going anywhere. >> how long are you going to stay for? >> as long as the president lets me. >> shepard: i'm not going anywhere. he reported president trump has criticized the attorney general jeff sessions in recent days and said he would not have appointed

him had he known that sessions would recuse himself from the russia investigation. let's bring in james hohman and he writes the daily 202 news letter. a must-read around dc. tillerson only speaks up when questioned. what are you hearing on this. >> tillerson is not alone in the cabinet. jeff sessions was the most loyal to donald trump. he was the first senator to endorse him. he put his neck out there and he talked about earlier in the hour. trump has shown no loyalty in return. so it's not just rex tillerson, the secretary of state. there are other people in the cabinet that are watching trump's tweet attacks on sessions and wondering if the president will have their back if they get into hot water. tillerson has complained to friends about the working environment he's felt very sidelined. he was frustrated when the president put his son-in-law, jared kushner, in charge of trying to discover middle east

peace as opposed to the chief diplomat. tillerson has had a rocky relationship with people at foggy bottom. he's kind of gotten it from all sides. i don't think he's had a very joyous time. it's certainly harder to be secretary of state than ceo of exxon mobil where you're really the undisputed boss and can make decisions. >> shepard: you mentioned sessions and his loyalty. the president threw that loyalty under bus yesterday. the suggestion is he wasn't so loyal. it's hard to overstate how loyal jeff sessions has been and how important he was. as we reported earlier in this news hour, when jeff sessions stands up as a strong stalwart conservative from conservative alabama and tells other conservatives this guy who voted for democrats, who donated to democrats, who has only recently

a republican and never shown any signs of being a conservative, when jeff sessions stands up and tells the south this is one of us, that means something. that means a whole lot to people in the deep south. when you're a conservative in the deep south and jeff sessions says it, it means something. >> yeah, shep. the week before -- it's a long time ago now. but remember super tuesday, the sec primary. all the southern states the same day. alabama, georgia a bunch of states voted. i went on a week-long road trip around tennessee, arkansas and that preceding week before the primaries which trump swept, i remember conservatives telling me i can get behind trump, i don't need to worry about trump because sessions vouches for him. so the idea only got behind trump because trump was popular in alabama is wrong. >> shepard: it's false in a list of falses. good to talk to you. action -- stay with us. we have action on the hill.

chad pergram is there again. the senate voting on a straight repeal bill now. >> right. what happened here, this is the organic nature of this special budget project. you change things on the fly, there wasn't a point of order made on the floor saying they were operating outside the bounds. this was unexpected. so what they're voting on right now is senator rand paul's amendment. a straight repeal of obamacare with the window of two years to put in a obamacare replacement. this bill is open here. they've run down the 15-minute clock. this is kind of like soccer. they usually put up 15 minutes on the clock but the time is kept on the field. they hope to resolve this in the next two or three minutes. the first major vote of the day on healthcare, if first of many votes that we'll have. votarama as we call it here on capitol hill. we'll have four, five, ten hours of votes late tomorrow night into friday as they try to finish this healthcare bill

sometime this week. >> shepard: this one fail just now, chad? >> no. they have not called the vote. this vote is still live right now. again, it's an organic tally. they don't put up a scoreboard. they keep it at the desk there they keep it because people switch their votes. there's no electronic system in the senate. they call the roll orally and people come in when they call their name and signal thumbs up or thumbs down. >> shepard: how do you keep up with this? >> it's very challenging. we were never going to vote on one thing. and then there was a huddle going on. without talking to anybody, that seems to be maybe what the change was here at the last minute. they change things on the fly. >> shepard: chad, great to talk to you. i appreciate it. those of you don't know, you can follow him on twitter. chad pergram on twitter. search for his name. his the most followed reporter in the senate. like more than 70% of senators follow chad pergram.

he's the source. he knows the news. he e-mails a lot. should news break out, we'll break in. breaking news changes everything on fox news channel. "your world" with neil cavuto is in the wing and starts right now. >> neil: all right. thank you, shepard. i'm neil cavuto. this is "your world." this is a vote going on in this votarama. you might as well get a cup of coffee. if you want to be glued to the set, it's going to be one after another. this latest go around is a straight repeal effort here akin to what rand paul had wanted. we're hoping to talk to the kentucky senator who this is part of the deal to keep him in the loop and get this procedural vote going. they did vote for that procedural vote to allow this to happen. this is a measure near and dear for him, go for a