>> jon: he regained his dell my composure, finally able to open the door. the officers even get scared sometimes. >> heather: from snakes on a plane to snakes in an office. thanks for joining us. >> jon: america's hq starts now. >> sandra: president trump keeping up his full-court press on tax reform, saying his plan will make their businesses more competitive and keep more jobs right here at home in the united states. hello, everyone, i'm sandra smith. the president returning to the white house after speaking to the national association of manufacturers in washington earlier today. in his speech, the president highlighting how his plan will help give a shot to the arm to the u.s. economy. >> we will cut taxes on american businesses to restore our competitive edge and create more jobs and higher wages for the american worker. it is time to go from that last

two pretty much the front of the back. >> sandra: chief white house correspondent john roberts is live on the north lawn for us, john? >> from the back of the pack to pretty much the front of the back, we thought he would say right to the head of the pack, but there are some countries who have lower tax rates than the united states. sandra, wednesday was all about what tax reform will do for individuals. the president represented that in indianapolis. it's all about what his tax reform clan will do for -- the corporate tax rate will be lower from the current 35% two 20%. the small business tax rate will be capped at a maximum of 25%. for the next five years, there would be immediate full expensing of capital expenditures or companies. that means if you buy make some new equipment for your shop or

your factory floor, buy a new truck, if you buy make a new backhoe or front end loader, you get to write it off all immediately. the president wants to bring investment back the united states to companies who move the manufacturing, maybe their corporate headquarters overseas, also wants them to repatriate funds that have been held overseas, and an attractive tax rate, that has been yet determined, but 10% has been talked about. here is what the president said earlier in washington today. >> to restore our competitive edge and create more jobs and higher wages for the american worker. >> the president also was looking for a bipartisan buy in in all of this, but however his own director mick mulvaney said earlier today that he's already heard from a lot of democrats saying, "look, if you are going to cut taxes for corporations, we are not with you. we agree you should cut taxes for small businesses," but what the president is arguing for jobs, small businesses create a lot of jobs, if you want to give

the economy as shot in the arm, you have to cut the corporate weight as well. >> sandra: a lot of people think that's the most important thing. saw businesses, two-thirds of the u.s. economy. john roberts. what do we know now? >> talk about using private planes to get around the country and in some cases overseas as well. one case is clearly problematic, but in other cases, the departments are pushing back hard. one of the departments pushing back hard is the department of the interior and the interior secretary ryan zinke. he says he's taken three of private flights since being sworn in. one flight was to the arctic circle with a congressional delegation, the other one was traveling to the virgin islands, and another one was to wildfires out west, listen to what the secretary of the interior said. >> all of this travel was done only after determined by multiple career professionals at

the department that no commercial options existed to meet the promulgated schedule. and importantly, the flights were only booked after extensive due diligence by the career professionals in the department's ethical law division. >> also pushing back on private flights taken by scott pruitt. all of them received prior approval to the epa council. one case that really hangs out there is the hhs secretary tom price, some $500,000 for private flights. yesterday, he said he would pay back 51000 out of his own pocket for his seat on the some 26 flights. he is still on thin ice, though, with president trump who told us repeatedly, sandra, that he's not happy what happened. by the way, comparatively speaking, the administration source gave me some data. from january 22 september 19th,

the first years of the presidency, president trump's and administration use what is called white house support missions, his private jet 77 times. the obama administration in its first nine times, 94 times. >> sandra: important point. we will bring that up with our political panel in a few moments. john roberts, thank you. delivering supplies to those in need is still presenting a major challenge. garrett haney joins us live from puerto rico right now with the latest. garrett? >> yes, sandra. outside the city council, there is many areas where telephones are simply not working, even though they'll make our satellite phones have been having issues. we are on the west coast of puerto rico. this is a stark example how over the last few days, the government has said we have delivered supplies to every town on the island, but in a lot of places, that aid is not simply enough. the towns mayor told me his

people are desperate for help, it isn't enough for the people of his town to have a single meal a day. >> it's not enough. there is not enough water. not enough food. we don't have gasoline. we don't have diesel. we don't have anything. we have about 3,000 people in line this morning. 3,000 people in line. and only about 1,000 of those people got enough to eat. and you know what happens? people get upset. >> his town has 60,000 people, so only a tiny fraction of folks each day are able to get food and water to be able to try to make it through to the next. yesterday's people feeling right now that i would deal a hall is one of the initial 16 distribution centers across the island. all outside city hall was the town's sole water truck, which carries for about 1,000 people.

the catholic church was eating few people rice and beans, and for many that's the first food people have had for days. he's expecting another flight of aid from private charities, but even that won't be enough. the federal government needs to get here in this town to help before it's too late. sandra? >> sandra: garrett garrett ten, thank you. 12,000 federal workers trying to help, meanwhile president trump is defending his administration's response to the devastation there and the recovery efforts, again slamming the media, saying that their coverage is not accurate. he tweeted this:

let's bring in the campaign director for the center of american progress action fund and cheryl chumley, emily, is the press treating the president fairly? >> i don't think the presses hard enough on him. can he get off twitter and focus getting relief to puerto rico and the virgin islands, which he hasn't even mentioned? still in puerto rico, 44%, millions of people, have not had clean water in days. you heard cities that have population of 60,000 getting meals delivered for 5,000 people. he left the situation unmanned for eight days. there is no fema director, no homeland security -- >> this is an unprecedented situation, they got slammed by two major hurricanes, as the president pointed out, in one of those tweets. big decisions have to be made as to the cost of rebuilding. this is a massive project that the president has on his hands. >> that is an understatement. look, what else does the left want president trump to do? he sent the army corps of

engineers, he sent fema, since national guards, and active army. you've got blackhawk helicopters, you've got military trucks. the problem is the island has been wiped out and that is an act of god, not an act of donald trump. he is reacting the best way he can, fielding multiple hurricane crises that we are facing on u.s. soil here in florida, texas. the virgin islands. this is something that is unprecedented. right now, i think we need to withhold criticism. and if we do think that more could be done, maybe we should get in the act ourselves, take off our own two hands, our own charitable dollars and reach out reasonably instead of pointing to the federal government -- >> sandra: emily -- the governor of puerto rico has been complement array of president trump handling of the

situation, saying the administration and the president, every time we've spoken, they've delivered. all right, i want to move onto another subject because we are talking about government officials and their use of government taxpayer-funded lights for personal travel, the latest with ryan zinke. you heard a bit with john roberts earlier. secretaries and key responding all of this is just a little b.s. watch this. >> i just like to address, and the words of general schwarzkop schwarzkopf, a little b.s. on travel. there are times, however we have to utilize charter services because we often travel in areas and under circumstances that we don't have other flight options. i fly coach. >> sandra: emily, what did you make of the secretary's defense of his use of those lanes? >> yeah. clearly, there is a very strong culture among the cabinet and i would say the entire administration that from the president on down appointed very wealthy people who are used to getting exactly what they want and they are treating the government as the ones to be able to provide that for them.

i want to respond for the governor of puerto rico's comments, how could you as the governor when you are wholly dependent on federal aid right now, how could you risk upsetting this president with all he does and looking at attacking him in responding back? they are entirely focused on the federal government being able to help them. they need military grade women in puerto rico right now. how could you risk upsetting the president? >> sandra: in addition to doing everything he possibly can and we wish all the people well, they are in a devastating situation. cheryl, i want to get your response to zinke and the response from some of these government officials as we do know that tom price on "special report" last night told bret baier that he plans to put $51,687 of his own money back toward the use of these government planes. ryan zinke makes a fair point. there is reason for responsible use of those government planes. he said he was fully approved to

do so. >> well, of course. federal officials need to get to the sites of their jurisdiction and a speedy manner. they cannot be hopping commercial flights just like the rest of us americans do for all of their issues. the thing that is needed here is context. and a little bit of clarity. $51,053 is not used when it comes down to taxpayer dollars to getting a federal official to his or her duty station at the appointed time. what is bigger cause for concern is frivolous spending. if you want an example of that, go back to barack obama and what judicial watch calculated, $85 million spent on eight years of barack obama family vacations in that short period of time. >> sandra: john roberts went about the fact in the use of those planes compared to where the obama administration was in their first year of office. fair enough. we are going to leave it there. thank you to you both.

>> thank you. >> sandra: the state department/their staff in cuba after so-called sonic attacks toward u.s. diplomats. plus, the president is saying this is a boon to the u.s. economy. so what will it mean for the housing market? our very own deirdre bolton from the fox business network will break it down. patrick woke up with a sore back. but he's got work to do. so he took aleve this morning. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now.

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>> sandra: you information on the crash of a u.s. aircraft in syria that injured two marines. officials now say a mechanical issue is believed to cause the crash. the marine 4 osprey like the one shown here went down in an undisclosed location in syria earlier today. roughly two dozen marines were on board at the time. the osprey was destroyed, the two injured marines in the crash are expected to be okay.

the state department taking action after the mysterious attacks on american diplomats in cuba. the u.s. cutting more than half of their embassy staff in havana and warning americans not to travel there. rich edison is reporting live from the state department. secretary of state rex tillerson made this decision this morning. what now do we know? >> good afternoon, sandra. the secretary did make this decision while traveling to china, the final order and final decision went out this morning to dramatically reduce the amount of uf staff at the embassy in cuba after nearly two dozen american diplomats have been harmed by these automotive serious, so-called "sonic attacks." the state department says all nonessential members and family members are out of cuba. that means the united states is cutting that the phonetic presence there to less than half its level. the state department suspending these operations indefinitely to cuba and would only conduct

emergency services there. the u.s. is warning americans against traveling to cuba, issuing that travel warning, the tartan that says "because our personal safety is at risk and are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe u.s. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to cuba." officials say that 21 american officials have been injured in these attacks and they have no information of nongovernment officials being part of any type of attack like these sonic attacks we've seen against diplomatic staff there, sandra. >> sandra: we will continue to follow that story. secretary tillerson attending high-level meetings in beijing. what is the update their? >> he is. he's on the way to beijing. going to meet with xi jinping. north korea will be on the agenda of the last time he was there in march. of late, the u.s. has a very complement array of what china has been doing to try to isolate north korea. they have agreed to these u.n.

security council resolutions. they have started to implement them, according to the chinese government. they are cutting an amount of trade, energy, textiles, businesses in china and contacting comers with north korean companies, according to china, has 120 days to stop her right. there are critics of china pointing out that the country still amounts to a majority of north korean trade, there are concerns in china when it comes to the u.n. security council resolutions as china and russia water them down at the u.n. before they agreed to support them. the secretary, according to officials, is going to continue to push them to do more, noting that every country can do more to try to isolate north korea. back to you. >> sandra: thank you, rich. an emotional return on capitol hill yesterday. congress in steve scalise

returning to the house floor for the first time since he was shot on that congressional baseball field at a practice. reaction i had from one of his colleagues. plus, the debate over home ownership, which has sunk to a multi-decade low. what the white house said is the number one reason why people buy homes, and it's not the tax deductions.

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>> sandra: a 12th death has been reported from the florida nursing home that lost power during hurricane irma. a57-year-old patient. eight patients died after the storm knocked out the nursing home's air conditioning. three others died in the following days. police are looking at all the deaths as part of a criminal investigation. the white house is pushing back against claims that the republican tax plan could hurt the real estate market.

white house national economic director gary cohn saying people do not buy homes because of the mortgage deduction. listen: >> the number one reason why people buy homes is they ard and optimistic about the economy. they have a job today. they feel confident they are going to have a job tomorrow and their kids are going to have a job, their spouse has a job, they feel like there is a board wage pressure, they feel like there is mobility in their jobs, they feel good about the economy. that is why people go out and buy homes. >> sandra: so excited to have deirdre bolton on us from the fox business network. i've known you for many years. you dig into these numbers. so is what he's saying true or not? >> so it's true, but it's a bad sales job, right? it's true that if you and i want to go by make new home, what feels like what will be secure, our incomes. there is truth to what he said,

but there was a lot mixed in. i think one thing that people are really freaking about is this idea of keeping the mortgage interest deduction. the trump administration plan is to do that. they catch is that fewer people would be eligible for it. rightly or wrongly, americans think they have a right to own a home. there is never been a politician successful in fighting that. back to the 1960s, freddie mae mae, fanny fannie mae, freddie mac -- you aren't going to rebel against the country if you own a piece of land. >> sandra: what is happening with the housing market? in recent months, you read reports that home ownership in america is at a 50 year low. something significant has changed. i don't know if it's the mentality of millennials they talk about, the needs and desires -- >> there are a lot of moving parts. for millennials, as we've seen

in our peer group, it's hard to get a job. it's hard to get a job that pays you enough to get your own apartment, it's easier to stay home and eat your mom's cooking. it also takes confidence to gary cohen's point, it does take calls and to want to drive try to buy a house. if people are getting by, they don't feel like they can make an investment. >> sandra: this chart says a lot. while there's been a gradual increase in single-family building permits, housing starts, we are still nowhere near the levels of, say, 2004, 2005. >> some people may even argue this is a more prudent looking charge , this is how the chart should look like. you and i went through the credit crisis through that together, and honestly people who could not afford homes were given mortgages, right? that's when the credit crisis kicked off and we had a very mighty big mess. that has clamped down. they have asked you to show a little bit more statistics to show that you can prove to pay the loan back.

so some people would argue, may be the brakes has been put on too much and we've overcorrecte overcorrected. perhaps that's one of the reasons it's in there. >> sandra: the big question is can the g.o.p. sell this tax plan? that's what we caught onto this idea of him talking about home ownership. if this plan will encourage people to go out and buy homes. will it, though? >> in my humble opinion? no. it's not going to encourage people to buy homes, but the fact they are saying that you are going to keep your mortgage intense interest rate deduction, they need to clean up the language on that, they need to make it clear in , and the need to make it clear as reagan did in '86, we should both be taxed at the same way. it's not fair if i live in a blue state and you live in a red state, somehow i'm going to pay more. that's where you're going to

begin the season g.o.p. revolt among house members from so-called blue states, new york, new jersey, illinois, california are beginning to come forward and say, "listen, it has to be fair." if you are a prospective home buyer and listening to this, this might sound familiar. they did a nationwide survey talking about housing costs are what is discouraging home ownership among the millennials. they say affordability and fungibility are the top reasons consumers sight delaying home ownership now and in the future. they also talk about consumers in the survey saying there are a two few homes on the market and that homes are too expensive. they also face struggles financing a home purchase. that process is too much for some people. >> sandra: it is true. speaking to the chart you showed earlier, there is this lot right after the credit crisis, there were a lot of builders who said, well, we aren't going to build homes right now, so we are going to slow down. it did set off a chain reaction which i think we are still seeing even out and you layer on

top, as you mention, the fact that millennials sometimes have jobs they can pay well and sometimes don't. there needs to be something bigger. >> bottom line, they need confidence in the economy. >> sandra: it's not about your job, what's in your pocket. deirdre, great to see you. president trump's earlier thoughts on health care proving all true. do you remember this? >> now, i have to tell you some unbelievable complex subject of a nobody knew that health care could be silk obligated. >> the effort to repeal obamacare lives on. up next, the latest on the ongoing battle. plus, thunderous applause. it was such a moment for congressman steve scalise that he returned to the house the first time since being shot and seriously wounded during the congressional baseball practice last june. we get more reaction from one of his colleagues. canvassing congressman gary palmer next. for free.

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the administration says it's time to get rid of that. >> if you and i make the same amount of money, we live in the same value of house, drive the same value of car, our kids go to the same school, should we pay the exact same to help support the federal government? the answer is, yes, that's not the way the world works right now. if you live in a low tax state, you actually pay higher taxes to the federal government than the exact same person does to the federal government in new york and california and that is not fair. >> republicans in danger of that tub state and putting them in a tough spot asking them to vote or increasing their constituents can taxes without the right off. >> we are going to have to work through this, but we are trying to get a lot of revenue to lower rates. this is a revenue raiser, $1 trillion in revenue when we do not allow you to write off your state and local taxes. >> minimum growth. >> this thing is going to absolutely collapse. we need it.

>> leaders are counting on that to provide revenue in order to do tax reform. sandro? >> sandra: what about the next steps on health care reform? >> there are talks on capitol hill, bipartisan talks between lamar and as lamar alexander and pat murray. what they are working on and see if they can come up with a way to help stabilize the obamacare marketplace. if they can get enough support, they say they will bring in the proposed piece of legislation to majority leader mitch mcconnell. the senate's top democrat is encouraging the senators. >> our health care system needs it, our constituents need it. they do not want premiums to go up in coverage to go down. it would be a great start for some bipartisanship in this place, which i hope we can continue on issues.

>> there is also the lindsey graham-bill cassidy after that fell short this week, but they met with president trump yesterday and they put out a statement saying, "over the coming weeks and months, we are committed to holding congressional hearings and working with our nation's governors who believe returning powers to states is a vast improvement over obamacare." bottom line, those guys are not giving up. sandro? >> sandra: mike emanuel, thank you. health care back on the burner. republicans aren't giving up on repeal and replace. senators graham and cassidy are vowing to hold new hearings and work with the nation's governor governors. >> we are going to take a collapsing obamacare system, take the same amount of money and put it in the hands of people that are closer to you. and i am competent, confident as i can be that graham-heller-cassidy will be better than obamacare. >> sandra: gary palmer is a republican on the budget and oversight committee and a member of the freedom caucus. congressman, thank you for joining us this afternoon.

>> thanks for having me on, sandra. >> sandra: the freedom caucus, very important on their thinking of this graham-cassidy bill. what is it? >> i don't know particularly about the freedom caucus, but i thought it was workable. i was hoping the senate could get it through because if they felt like that they did, it would be the first in a longer-term effort to repair our health care system. >> sandra: where does this all go? we know it's on the back burner because they are out there trying to sell the tax cuts, tax reform. where does health care go? we know the president push this into next year. >> we will be focused on getting the tax reform bill passed. we are also working on health care, there are a number of democrats that i've talked with that are going to work with us on the health care side. i don't think people should give up on repairing our health care system. i think we can get there. and we may get there sooner than people think.

but i don't think we are going to do one bill and be one and it done. i think we need to do it in phases. i've said that all along. i think we can address some of the bigger issues with health care, including covering people with pre-existing conditions, making sure we actually add people to the rules of the insured residence and we do so. >> sandra: it sounds like you are pretty optimistic on health care. are you as optimistic on something getting done on taxes? >> i am. i think there is a lot of noise out there about what's in the tax bill. it's interesting, since we have the framework, not the details. you get people out there talking about how it's going to impact different income levels when we haven't even discussed the income levels. this is the direction we need to go because prior to 2008, there were 100,000 new businesses starting up more than were closing. by 2014, it had gone down the

70,000 more businesses closing and starting up. what has happened to our economy is we've driven investment out of the marketplace, particularly in small business. what we will have with this tax code, not only will it help individuals and families by putting more money in their pockets, it's also going to help small business in the sense that we give to predict ability, we'd bring lower rates, more capital investment in the economy. that's going to create a lot of jobs. >> sandra: congressman palmer, yesterday was a very emotional day when your colleague and friend steve scalise returned to the floor and he made a very emotional statement about what he has learned from his traumatic ordeal. let's listen to that. >> the first thing i can tell you is, yes, it changed me, but not in ways you might think. it's only strengthened my faith in god, and it's really crystallized what shows up as the goodness in people.

i got to see that goodness in people. >> sandra: congressman palmer, that was such an emotional moment and such a beautiful moment for this country where everyone came together in support of him. your friend, i will remind everyone that that day at the congressional baseball practice on the field, you were just a mere 20 yards away from the shooter. >> i was. when he started shooting and we were trying to get to cover, i saw steve go down. steve dragged himself from the infield to the outfield and brad wenstrup and i were in a position where we were trying to get steve in a position to stay down. thank god brad wenstrup was there. thank god the capitol police were there. if there hadn't been, there would've been lives lost, no question on my mind. once they got the shooter down and if we were able to get out to try to attempts to see, brad wenstrup, decorated army ranger,

combat surgeon, knew what to do for a wound like that and was able to fashion a tourniquet out of steve's belt. that really saved his life. the most emotional moment yesterday, which i think it's my best day in congress thus far, it was a beautiful speech. just an incredibly emotional time to have steve come back and be able to walk in, even though he's using crutches, but when he talked about what brad did for him, when brad came around with tears in his eyes, it was really incredible. >> sandra: it's been brought to my attention, congressman, there might be an sec football game in the future with you and your colleague. obviously, steve scalise a huge lsu fan, as am i. you know i graduated from louisiana state. nick sabin sent a note? >> three weeks ago, i delivered a letter to steve from coach th

to be a guest for the university of alabama for alabama-lsu game on november 4th. our hope is that steve will be able to walk out of the field pregame and he asked me that he did not know how to respond to all of the boos when they saw his lsu shirt. i can assure you on that day, they will be steve scalise bands. >> sandra: beautiful. go tigers vary congressman, thank you for coming on. >> my pleasure. >> sandra: we want to hear about that ball game. that will be a moment for sure. the power is still out for most of puerto rican residents. there is no timetable yet for when the electricity could be turned back on. geraldo is live on the ground with a closer look on the situation there next. your brain changes as you get older.

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>> i'm trace gallagher. president trump talking about his tax can plan. we will look at the numbers and

the plans chances in congress. the president also defending the fed's response in the disaster in puerto rico, also felt like as many people are without food, water, medical care. we will talk to fox news on the anchor chris wallace about that and more when i fill in on "shepard smith reporting." >> sandra: puerto rico remains almost completely in the dark. more than a week after hurricane maria slammed the island, destroying the power grid. the power plant that supplies electricity to half of the island is actually working. corresponded at large geraldo rivera joins me live from puerto rico right now. geraldo, what is it like now? >> you know, sandra, there is still acute needs, acute needs like the hospitals. the hospitals need to be maintained and we need to be put back in full operational status. you have about five of them are closed, 55 of them operating at a partial basis.

only a handful that are fully operational. we've got to take care of those. the most acute patients, those have to be taken care of. there is still very little gas to be pumped, not enough gas being pumped. water to half the island is nonexistent. there is power. power is the heart of everything. power is where the real problem lies. this whole that's down in the middle of the street is classic. this is what's happening on streets throughout puerto rico. 16,000 miles of electrical power, cable, i would venture to say it, sandra, that a thousand of them are absolutely destroyed, sandra. >> sandra: wow. unbelievable images there, geraldo. anytime like when power may come back online? >> you know, the power is gradually being brought back, but that is my big beef with his relief effort. i know that attending to those most urgently in need in the

stranded, there has been devastation wrought by these back-to-back hurricanes, first irma coming through puerto rico and maria the direct hit, there's been enough misery for ten centuries here in puerto rico. there is no doubt about that. at the heart of everything is electricity. with electricity, you can pump sufficient gas. with electricity, you can pump water. with electricity, you can run the elevators. i call them the zombie condos in san juan. all of those multistory buildings where the elevator is not working where people have to carry a gallon of freshwater to the tenth, 11th, 12th floor just to flush the toilet. electricity is at the heart of everything. now the irony some of the bitter irony is that puerto rico's power plants are operational. i visited the dr gary

-- plant that provides power to half of the commonwealth of puerto rico. the power lines are busted everywhere. even in the shadow of the power plants. this is the new symbol of puerto rico. the boston electrical poles where you can see how haphazardly they were erected and now they've been destroyed. i place the brain primarily on the back-to-back storms. the agency called brie bella -- bankrupt, i think it's criminally inept, sandra. >> sandra: a long, difficult road to recovery. thank you for your reporting on the ground there. thanks to geraldo. may via administration try to get more help to those who most desperately needed. lucas tomlinson has the latest from the pentagon on that. lucas? >> good afternoon, sandra.

less than two hours ago, the hospital ship comfort set sail from the north of virginia to arrive in waters of puerto rico thursday. >> my orders are a minimum of 30 days. and again, those are just decisions that are made much above our level. what we will do is we will go out there and hit the ground running or hit the deck plates writing, as we say in the navy. and we will be moving until somebody tells us we are no longer needed. >> some critics say the ship should've left sooner. captain robinson said there were less than 100 crew members on board, now there are 800 crew members. it treated over 120,000 people. that ship has six emergency rooms and 100 of beds. despite claims yesterday by the demonstration that 44 of 69 hospitals were not functioning, today, sandra, the u.s. military says only one hospital in puerto rico is fully

operational. sandra? >> sandra: lucas tomlinson, thank you. all right. we will be right aen back. but when it comes to mortgages, she's less confident. fortunately for maria, there's rocket mortgage by quicken loans. it's simple, so she can understand the details and be sure she's getting the right mortgage. apply simply. understand fully. mortgage confidently.

>> sandra: this is a fox news alert. we are just getting word of a police officer shot and killed while on the line of duty, that is happening in polk county, georgia. about 60 miles northwest of atlanta. authorities are now launching a manhunt for a third suspect. two are under arrest at this moment. we will bring you more information on this as we get i it. with another gameday right around the corner, the nfl is racing from our protest at the national anthem. how are advertisers reacting? fox business network hillary vaughn is life outside los angeles memorial communal cm

los angeles memorial coliseum. our ratings taking a hit? >> they are. last night's game, the packers beat the bears, but the nfl hit with ratings, down 13% to last season, but players taking a knee and protesting america's national anthem is not necessarily driving ratings down more than we already expected because people have already been tuning out. viewership for live sports has been down across the board. nielsen estimates that 2 million people that tuned in last year are changing the channel this year but still protest are having a big impact on the nfl as a whole, because companies are pulling out sponsorships, they are pulling their ads. one businessman said he's pulling his company's ads in 29 states for the entire season. >> we have pulled our ads off the air. we are a small player, but also like the car dealer in fort wayne, indiana, will pull his car off the air and all these mom-and-pop shops will pull theirs off the air. that is a big deal when you take

this all across the country. >> bars and restaurants across the country also getting in on the action. they are canceling watch parties in states like texas, south carolina, louisiana, and new york city, but people, sandra, are still showing up to the game. content analysts says that ticket sales are pretty steady. he says that doesn't mean that people are not ditching the game out of protest. he says what that shows is the boycott is being evened out by the additional publicity that the nfl is getting from this. still, consumers are finding ways to boycott. directv is letting customers cancel their sunday game packages and also the nfl on channel red zone has been hit with cancellations as well. sandra? >> sandra: hillary vaughn, thank you. all right. we will be right back. yaaay! the complete balanced nutrition of ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals.

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>> an officer on duty at the university of central florida facing his worst fear.

the officer sneaking out as he tried to capture a snake. bystanders tried to help. he opened the door and got the snake out. america's news headquarters signing off. i'm sandra smith. here's trace. >> president trump pushing his tax plan and making big promises. >> a giant before massive, the biggest ever in our country tax cut. >> but after setbacks in congress on healthcare, will republicans get anything passed? what would it mean for you? we'll talk to chris wallace from "fox news sunday." and the president pushing back claims on a slow response in puerto rico. even as we hear about new stories about suffering after the deadly storm. geraldo rivera is live. and a new warning for anybody thinking about a trip to cuba. americans g