>> jon: good morning, i'm jon scott. >> julie: i'm julie ban deras. the house and senate reached a deal on the tax deal. the president calls it a giant tax cut for christmas. >> president trump: we're reclaiming our destiny as americans, a nation that thinks big, dreams bigger, and always reaches for the stars. we didn't become great through

massive taxation and washington regulation, and by the way, we're cutting regulation at a rate never seen before in the history of our country. >> julie: john roberts is live with the rest of this story. >> good morning. stole my line about the finish line being in sight. let's come up with something else. if you were climbing mt. everest tax reform would be the level of the hillary step almost all the way to the stop. a nail biter. bob corker this morning says he is still opposed to this. the margins are very slim and if tax reform doesn't pass early next week it gets pushed to the new year and the margins become more difficult when doug jones from alabama is seated in his seat in the senate. so that is why the vice president today announced he is canceling a planned trip to the middle east so he can be here in washington in case he is needed for a tiebreaker. the white house is hoping to have votes in the house and senate early next week, monday and/or tuesday.

the president hopes to get the bill to his desk tuesday afternoon. maybe wednesday at the latest in the final plan the top tax bracket will be cut from 39.6 to 37%. mortgage interest deductions on new mortgages will be capped at $750,000. people who report business income on their personal tax return, the pass-through or s corporations or llc's can deduct 20% of their income and a effective tax rate of just under 30% which is still well above the house plan of 25%. but that's what they came to when they conferenced with the senate. the corporate tax rate looks like it will be cut from 35 to 21%. the president had initially wanted 15% and settled on 20. yesterday in the cabinet room meeting with the house and senate said he is fine with 21%. listen here. >> president trump: we will see where it ends up. it's at 35 right now so if it got down to 21, i would

certainly be thrilled. i would be thrilled. we haven't set that final figure yet but certainly 21 a very great difference. >> it looks like it will be 21%. opponents of the plan say it's a giveaway to big corporations and the rich. president trump insists there is a big middle class tax cut included and the benefit from cutting corporate taxes will foster job growth and help everyone. staff changes we've been talking about. omarosa, the head of communications for the office of public liaison, was told to resign last night. she had a meeting -- tuesday night. she had a meeting with john kelly, the chief of staff in the situation room. after that meeting, she tendered her resignation with an effective date of january 20th. i'm told it is likely they will not be back at the white house. a situation of we're going to let you resign and you will have an end date of the 20th

but we really don't need you. thank you very much. in an interview today she said the writing had been on the wall since john kelly took over as chief of staff. listen here. >> i stand out. i'm the only african-american woman who sits at the table with those 30 assistants to the president and we all had to adjust to his very different military style. but i had a very clear outlined, defined role for what i did and every captain, every coach gets an opportunity to use a sports analogy to choose their team. donald trump chose me for his team and when john kelly was starting to develop his team. that someone he wanted me to be on his team. >> there were some breathless reports yesterday that went she was told she needed to hand in her resignation, she hit the roof and tried to see the president resulting if her being thrown out of the white

house complex. i'm told that's absolutely not true. she never tried to see ive anka. i heard there was yelling and as employees leaving any business or public place do was escorted out of the white house grounds. all the other stuff i'm being told is just nonsense. >> julie: gossip surrounding the white house. what a shocker. thank you very much. >> jon: we never hear about that. never happened here. >> julie: thank you. >> jon: i think i hear screaming behind him right now. to the fallout from roy moore's refusal to concede the alabama senate race. the embattled republican making it clear again yesterday he is not ready to give up. >> in this race we have not received the final count to include military and provisional ballots. this has been a very close race and we're awaiting certification by the secretary of state.

>> jon: joining us now larry sabato the director for center for politics at the university of virginia. it's never over until it's over. the race has not been certified yet by the secretary of state and it is my understanding they have about almost another week for some of those overseas ballots to come in. but does roy moore stand a chance here, larry? >> no. there is a difference of 21,000 votes, john. if it were a few hundred i would say it would be justified, hold out, wait for the remaining military ballots, whatever provisionals haven't been counted. but you are just not talking about that many votes. it is a relative handful. 21,000 votes is a lot of votes when you go looking for them. >> jon: yeah. in alabama if the election is within half a percent there is an automatic recount as i understand it. this one is a 1 1/2% margin. >> yes, it's three times they

would want it to be. so no, i think -- look, candidates who go all in and put everything into a race naturally have a hard time adjusting to the fact that they may have lost. it takes a little time. sometimes it takes years. but not before you concede. look, at some point, jon, doug jones is going to be certified by the republican secretary of state who has already said in alabama that this is over. there is virtually no chance of anything arising that would cause some recalculation. once doug jones is certified he will be sworn in the u.s. senate and that's the end of that. >> jon: there were a lot of republicans who were afraid that moore would lose and there were a lot of republicans who were afraid he was going to win. what does his continued presence on the stage, what does it do to the republican party at large? >> this is right after the election. i would say as long as this

fades by early in the new year, it's not going to have any major impact because it is going to fade from the headlines. if anybody reads dead tree papers anymore what's on page b42 doesn't affect public opinion or anything else. >> jon: i was surprised that president trump sent out what i consider by his standards a very charitable tweet. he wrote congratulations to doug jones on a hard-fought victory. you don't hear the president congratulating democrats very often. is he hoping that he can sort of nudge jones into his camp on perhaps on important pieces of legislation? >> i think that's one of the motives. trump got positive publicity for that. that ought to be a hint that showing good grace like that is a big plus, at least a little plus politically and jones himself, if he wants to be reelected in 2020, is going to have to vote a more

conservative line than most, if not all the other democrats in the senate. it will be interesting, jon, to see whether the other democrats in the senate as well as the democratic base are going to be tolerant of that. are they going to give him the room to maneuver to potentially be reelected or are they going to insist on adherence to one particular philosophical line? >> jon: he is replacing the attorney general jeff session's seat. the seat is up for reelection in 2020. doug jones only has two years. that's a blink of an eye in terms of the senate timelines. and his chances of getting reelected in that very republican state not real strong right now. >> i don't think they are strong but you also wouldn't rule him out as an incumbent. my best advice to him would be in washington, given the housing market there, he should rent, and not buy.

>> jon: larry sabato, university of virginia center for politics. he may call you for more real estate advice. we'll see. thanks, larry. >> julie: we're getting a look at what's in the republican tax bill. we'll let you know how the house and senate plan to work on this and how it will impact you coming up next and crews making progress on the thomas fire in southern california. how much destruction has this monster caused so far? >> i built that house 35 years ago. it is solid adobe. we built it knowing someday a fire would come.

>> jon: crews are making progress on the largest fire burning in southern california. right now mandatory evacuations still in place as crews battle the thomas fire. it has burned more than 238,000 acres so far.

hundreds of homes in ventura and santa barbara counties destroyed. firefighters are making some inroads on it. this morning the thomas fire said to be 30% contained. >> julie: breaking now on the outcome of the alabama senate race with a look at how the press covered it all. howard kurtz host of media buzz writing it's not much of an overstatement to say the media are enjoying the alabama upset. it is, among other things, a great story. one that feels as much like a cultural moment coming in the midst of a fierce national debate over sexual harassment as a political verdict. and there was the late night drama of doug jones surging past roy moore in the final hour. a vote counting that produced a democratic victory that once might have been hard to imagine. howard kurtz joins us now. it did seem that the media did celebrate this as a victory a little differently than they did perhaps all the other major

celebrities and political powerhouses whose careers came tumbling down. there is a double standard? >> it was a great story. imagine how different the tone would have been had roy moore surged in the final counting and beaten doug jones by 20,000 votes. i mean, i think part of this is that there was a collective judgment that roy moore was a bad guy and he wasn't fit to be a senator. but beyond that the press played such a key role, julie, in digging up those accusations by the nine women of sexual harassment by the former judge back nearly four decades ago and moore ran against the "washington post", what he called the lynch mob media. he was a trumpian flavor to that. i think that factored in as well. >> julie: basically when we heard of john conyers, al franken, harvey weinstein, matt lauer, charlie rose, all those stories were broken by the

media. that's ironic. the media is responsible for bringing down those people. you didn't necessarily feel the same kind of celebration. it was a depressing story nonetheless but it wasn't one that was exciting the media so much. why, then, the celebrating of roy moore's fall yesterday? >> for one thing when you talk about some of the media figures, many journalists reporting on the story know matt lauer and charlie rose. the voters of alabama who decided, not the press that took him down. the press played a key role. the other fascinating factor to me looking at the coverage is the way in which many in the media trying to hang this defeat around president trump's neck. there is no question he endorsed moore, did the robocall and it was a setback for the president who wanted to preserve that seat but at the same time it's not just the liberal precincts in the media,

"new york times" editorial page has a headline sanity reins. this split the republican party and conservative commentators were happy. >> julie: while the media may have been celebrating moore's loss, a roy moore win would have been a bad thing for republicans in the end. it would have been a bad thing for the gop. so then that brings me back to my original point why then would the media celebrate roy moore's win when really it is a win for republicans despite the fact a democrat took that race away in alabama? >> there was such high drama. it become a national election. if roy moore had won despite everything thrown at him. he was a terrible candidate. he kept meiering himself in new controversies. the press felt it was a better

outcome. many of the press of roy moore not becoming a united states senator. some of the more savvy analysts. if roy moore had won there would be months of battle with the ethics committee. the democrats would have run against this guy every other republican senator would have been described as a colleague of roy moore, donors supporting roy moore. in a way you could say the republican party dodged a bullet and even for president trump probably he loses the seat. he has a 51-49 majority in the senate but doesn't have the roy moore as a continuing drumbeat of a story. >> julie: there is also this effort to blame president trump for roy moore's loss, which let's just remember what has happened in alabama, because he did also campaign for luther strange. luther strange lost in the primary. he ended up backing roy moore as a number two but that wasn't necessarily his first option. the president campaigning for a candidate doesn't always mean that candidate is going to win

and that's not just for president trump, that also applied to former president obama but for some reason when the president sticks his neck out for a candidate now and that candidate doesn't win it seems there is a big pile on the president showing that he has lost a lot of the power that he once wielded. >> right, roy moore lost the election, donald trump didn't. even though he came to roy moore reluctantly, once he came out and endorsed and had the rally in pensacola it would be judged as a win or a setback for president trump. and the other thing the press tried to do is say to badger sarah huckabee sanders so the president doesn't believe these nine women, does he? the president is saying what about the president's own accusers from the campaign? all of that got dredged up in what ordinarily would have been an easy win in a red state of alabama. >> julie: you just said it. he campaigned and held the rally in pensacola. he did not go to alabama. he did want to distance himself

as well. i think president trump did something that we are all not catching on to. perhaps he saw this is where this was going and he just did the right thing as a republican president to back the republican candidate. howard kurtz. that's all the time we have. appreciate you coming on. thank you very much. >> jon: there is still no sign of a missing argentine submarine. a newly revealed message might reveal clues as to what happened before the sub disappeared. plus deputy attorney general rod rosenstein facing tough questions from lawmakers on robert mueller's russia probe. one of those congressmen joins us next. >> in your mind a little embarrassment of what's going on right now. did you know of his bias? you responded no. >> i agree the text messages raise concern.

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>> julie: new information on that argentinean submarine that disappeared last month. one sailor on the sub reportedly told his sister the vessel was being chased by a british helicopter and a chilean ship. the sail or's sister said she received a strange message just days before the submarine vanished. argentine military officials dismissed her account. 44 crew members were on the submarine when it vanished on november 15th. despite a multi-national search the submarine has not been found and the crew members are presumed dead. >> jon: the house judiciary committee grilling deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on robert mueller's russia investigation. you might have seen that yesterday. rosenstein defending the special counsel after revelations an f.b.i. agent was

removed from mueller's team for sending anti-trump texts during the 2016 campaign. georgia congressman doug collins asked rosenstein about that agent and whether he had security clearance after being removed. >> our mission is to pursue justice, defend civil rights and promote the rule of law. the people who carry out that mission are what i treasure most about my job. very few exceptions. they are honorable, principled and trustworthy. rigorous scrutiny by internal affairs offices and external oversight agencies has resulted in increased accountability and higher standards. when wrongdoing occurs, we are more likely to discover it and we remedy it. >> jon: rod rosenstein defending his agency during his

opening statement yesterday. doug collins joins me now. are you satisfied with the answers you received yesterday? >> i'm not satisfied at all. the deputy attorney general shouldn't be satisfied. that's the problem we're dealing with here. he made it very clear yesterday he has control or he is where the buck stops for the mueller investigation. he and mr. mueller talk all the time about different aspects of this. he is the one that set this up. my question to him yesterday and still not answered shouldn't he be imbar'sed and mr. strzok with such an anti-presidential bias. he tried to use the civil service guidelines we couldn't -- we haven't answered simple things if he is still in communication in anybody on the mueller team. why was he put in human resources where he could influence other people? the thing for the attorney general said if he is in control why isn't he taking steps to say let's stop for a

second. we believe the mueller investigation can go on. if he believes so, fine. there needs to be done with those who are not anti-the president and those who seem to have an agenda and bias before him. >> jon: your colleague and chairman of the committee congressman goodlatte had an interesting question. i want to play the sound for you now and then get an explanation from you on the back side. here it is. >> it's very important the inspector general do get to the bottom of this. i have worked with him closely for years and worked with him on this investigation and he has cooperated with the investigation that trey gowdy and i have launched. because we've called upon the department of justice to appoint a second special counsel to look into all of this and as the evidence mounts that there is a need for an investigation by someone who has prosecutorial abilities, it's very important. >> jon: my question is this. chairman goodlatte seemed to be saying he has confidence in the inspector general but also like to get a second special counsel

to look into this issue. do i hear that right? >> yes, you do. i think that's one of the things we're trying to say now there needs to be a special counsel. many of us feel the mueller investigation. i've said it before. it should do it without bias. the president deserves and the country deserves a hearing on the russia issue without bias and without people who come into it with a formed opinion. even the deputy attorney general acknowledged mr. strzok's bias yesterday. what we have to look at is the attorney general is doing that work which we found out about these text messages, we found out about some of this bias, the special -- another special counsel could still look into something that's never been done. finish the investigation of the hillary clinton emails and the things that led up to some of what we're dealing with in these investigations. when we do that then the american people can have a true picture of what we're looking at. >> jon: jim jordan of ohio was very focused on whether or not peter strzok, the f.b.i. agent who was demoted for those

anti-trump text messages, whether he was at all involved in going to the fisa court and asking for surveillance of the trump campaign. are you satisfied? have you received an answer to that question and is that question still out there? >> the question is still out there. i think -- this is the problem that we have. you have somebody so compromised in this investigation in way from his own bias and texting things like i will stay if here to actually protect this country. having an overinflated view what he should be doing. if he thinks he can protect the country from donald trump what was he willing to do to protect the country in his opinion? that's the questions that aren't being asked here. the deputy a.g. said something yesterday interesting. if he felt like something was inappropriately he would take care of it. is it not inappropriate to have people investigating in such a

high-profile very important issue among many in our country to have people investigating that have obvious bias and one in particular who seemed to have an inflated self-ego to believe he was the person that should be taking care of the country because undoubtedly the country didn't know we could elect a president like donald trump who is now leading us? that's the kind of questions. if the deputy attorney general doesn't believe that's inappropriate my question is what's inappropriate? i'm not sure what we're finding. >> jon: doug collins is vice chair of the house republican conference and member of the judiciary committee. we'll watch as you press for some of those answers. >> julie: is the calendar congress's worst enemies even as lawmakers are on the verge of passing tax reform. a government shutdown looms behind it. >> we're clear on avoiding shutdown. the 22nd was a self-imposed deadline.

i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. that's because i'm trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind. we'll be right there. we have to go. hey, tom. you should try right at home. they're great for us. the right care. right at home.

>> jon: right now in washington house speaker paul ryan talking about progress on tax reform. let's listen in. >> appropriation committee introduced a continuing resolution that into -- we passed all bills. our goal is to see all 12 become law. at a time when we face threats around the globe we believe its important that we fund our national defense. we want to make sure that the resources are in place to continue the important work to

rebuild our military. as you all know, this is one of our high priorities of this term is rebuild our military. this bill helps do that. we're acting to extend the children's health insurance program. you may recall last month i think it was november 3 the house passed a fully funded extension to protect the nine million children covered under chip. that bill is hr3922. championing healthy kids act. unfortunately an overwhelming majority of house democrats voted against that extension of chip funding. care for children in need should always go beyond party lines. so i certainly hope both parties will come together to make sure that we extend the chip funding now. questions. casey. >> [inaudible question] >> i had a couple conversations with blake yesterday. he is making the right decision to retire. there are no stories that are

disconcerting. unacceptable behavior has been alleged in those stories and i think he made the right decision that he will be leaving congress and that reflects on the conversations we had. rachel. >> [inaudible question]. >> the first i've even heard that. i don't -- i have never heard this before. he is under ethics committee investigation right now and so i would refer you to susan brooks about nature of that ethics committee investigation. they don't report on where they are. he is under an ethics committee investigation right now as he should be. chad.

>> [inaudible question] >> more of a convenience thing but yeah. >> [inaudible question] >> i don't see the point. we sleep in our offices because we work until about midnight and we get up early, early in the morning. it actually is a convenience factor. we don't see our staffs. i never see my staff when i return back to my office. i go from the capitol to the office. it is not that we're seeing our staff in the evening when we're sleeping in our offices. it is simply a factor of convenience and that to me makes a lot of sense because i live in janesville, wisconsin. i don't live here in washington, d.c. if i'm not here voting and working i'm at home with my

family and constituents. so this is simple lay convenience factor and i don't see how it is connected to anything else. let me go to kristin. >> [inaudible question] >> i would like to see that happen. i don't know the answer to that question. when the democrats pulled out of these talks, that cost us weeks. so we'll see where we can land but it would be my preference to get an agreement sooner rather than later. andy. >> [inaudible question] >> and florida and louisiana and other places. say that again? i do, our members very much want to see an agreement on disaster supplemental before we leave. that's something we're working toward. warren. >> [inaudible question]

>> i don't know the answer to that question. there is discussion about this. it is all about timing and managing absences in the senate. so we are basically being flexible for the majority leader. i talked to mitch a couple times about this. we're being flexible to honor their concerns about managing their schedule and some possible absences. i will refer you to senator mcconnell. >> [inaudible question] >> i've got a memo on appropriations in my pocket. >> [inaudible question] >> april 15th is for last year. this is the tax code for the next year, right. >> [inaudible question]

>> you don't see a -- you'll see, sure, people who cover tax bills andy knows this stuff, you will see lots of different dates in this tax bill. for instance, depreciation schedules will be effective september -- you'll see depreciation schedules go into effect september 27th, 2017. that's when we announced depreciation, full expenseing schedule. what we didn't want to do is stop investments from occurring. there will be 2017 dates. there will be 2018 dates, later dates. that's how all tax laws work. >> [inaudible question] >> no. it's not a fund, i was not aware of these things. didn't know about it. we've all learned quite a bit

more since then. there is not like a fund of money set aside. it's just when claims are made, claims get paid. some of it is for anthrax. i was out of my office for a month when we had the anthrax letters that came to congress. there were anthrax claims, asbestos claims, slip and fall claims. lots of different kinds of claims that occur and payments get made but we did not know the nature of this beforehand. one more. >> [inaudible question] >> dynamic questioning. >> [inaudible question] >> yeah.

part of our agenda, right. yeah. so first off, if you look at the polling that was done in ronald reagan's signature 1986 tax reform a month before it passed. 18% of the people polled thought they would benefit from it. this is the nature of the debate on things this big like tax reform. you've got pundits and spin meisters confusing the public. like you see with any large piece of legislation, what comforts me greatly is the fact that the results are going to produce fantastic results that will improve the lives of hard working taxpayers in this country. i'm convinced it will help repatriate capital and launch more investment in businesses and workers. convinced this is going to give

bigger paychecks, a more simple system. just doubling the standard deductions means 9 out of 10 people can fill out their taxes in a form like a postcard. so the results are going to be what sells this bill, not the confusion before it passes. on entitlement reform, i've long said there are two things you have to do to get this debt under control. reform the entitlement programs which are an autopilot and grow the economy. we had three reconciliation packages prepared for this congress. the first one which the house passed on healthcare didn't pass the senate. the second one which we're in right now was about getting the economy growing doing tax reform. we're on the cusp of delivering that. the one next year is back to very important entitlement reforms. one of the reforms we see that's necessary get us out of this poverty trap where we trap

people in poverty. disincentivizing works. we've been talking about tax rates that corporations pay this tax. you know who pays the highest tax rate in america? the single mom with two kids who loses 80 cents on the dollar if she takes a job. that's a problem. we are trapping people in lives in dependency and poverty and they're making rational decisions. let's fix that. let's change our welfare laws so we push and pull people out of poverty into the workforce and the great thing about tax reform coming right now is we'll be able to create the kind of economy that produces good family supporting jobs, higher wages, that will be there for people who are stuck in poverty and welfare to go to. next year is going to be the year where we work on people. next year is the year we work on getting people where they need to get in life, a better job, an actual career, closing the skills gap. if you take a look at the economy. this is something i feel

strongly about. there are three things we're trying to do right now to get this economy humming to reach its potential. fix the regulatory problem. we have been just slamming businesses over the last eight years with the obama regulatory state that's a massive hidden cost of doing business, a huge hidden tax. we are making great progress on that. reform the tax code so we can get faster economic growth, more jobs, higher wages, bigger paychecks. we're in the middle of doing that. people. this is going to be the new economic challenge for america. people. baby boomers are retiring. i did my part but we need to have the higher birth rates in this country meaning baby boomers are retiring and we have fewer people following them in the workforce. we pass something like a 90% increase in the retirement population in america but only a 19% increase in the working population of america. we need to be smarter, more efficient, more technology. still need more people. when we have tens of millions of people right here in this

country falling short of their potential, not working, not looking for a job, or not in school getting a skill to get a job, that's a problem. so that's why we need to tackle these things. next year we want to take on criminal justice reform. we want to take on skills. getting people the skills they need to get the jobs they want. career and technical career education. the entitlement reforms we're talking about. the last point i'll say is obamacare is collapsing and failing. we can't ignore that problem. we'll have to revisit the problem of a healthcare marketplace that is collapsing and something we'll have to get onto. thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. >> jon: every thursday the speaker of the households a media availability. that was speaker paul ryan's time to tout tax reform. republicans are on the cusp of getting a tax reform bill through the house and senate. they haven't done that since 1986. the question if they get tax

reform done and the president signs it, as he is expected to do, might there be a government shutdown immediately thereafter? that's something we'll take up with our political panel coming up. ♪ cleaning floors with a mop and bucket is a hassle, meaning you probably don't clean as often as you'd like. for a quick and convenient clean, try swiffer wetjet. there's no heavy bucket, or mop to wring out, because the absorb and lock technology traps dirt and liquid inside the pad. it's safe to use on all finished surfaces tile, laminate and hardwood. and it prevents streaks and hazing better than a micro fiber strip mop, giving you a thorough clean the first time. for a convenient clean, try swiffer wetjet with a money back guarantee. brand power. helping you buy better.

>> jon: right now it appears republicans are about to deliver the first sweeping tax reform legislation in more than 30 years. but as they face a christmas deadline on passing it, another deadline looms on averting the government shutdown. michigan congressman fred upton says he sees lawmakers getting both done in time. >> we'll get close to the deadline. at the end of the day i think we'll have the votes. bipartisan way to, i hope, keep the government open. i don't think anyone is anticipating that we are going to close down but yeah we're

getting a little closer. it looks like we are going to have the votes in the house and senate before the end of the week to keep christmas open. there will be another stopgap measure to take us into january and that will be where the real battle takes place in terms of what is going to happen on the spending side for the balance of fiscal year 18. >> jon: what about those two issues, tax reform and potential government shutdown? joining me now lis smith and steve cortez, fox news contributors. lis, it's the democrats that seem bent, i guess, on a possible shutdown of the government. didn't exactly benefit the republicans last time around. do you think it will happen? >> you know, last week i was on, we discussed this and i said i thought it could happen but from what i'm hearing it won't happen. what is most likely we'll see a temporary funding bill and a compromise on chip. what i do think will happen is

that tax reform may not go through. despite what you said at the beginning there and it looks like paul ryan is going to jam the senate with a bill that they will be unable to pass because they don't have mccain or cochrane there to vote. collins, corker and rubio have allocated that they are either nos or flipable on this. so let's look at the state of play here. the republicans have the house, the senate and the white house and they still can't get this one thing done, which is why it blows my mind that they do not try to reach out across the aisle and try to get any bipartisan support for any of these initiatives. >> jon: the president seems pretty government. lis is not but the president seems confident they will get tax reform done. >> i'll be the first to conceit if anybody can snatch defeat

it's the senate. having said that i'm confident. i join the president in his confidence that we'll get this done. personally all i want for christmas is tax cuts. if we can't avert the government shutdown, i think we can. if we can't, i don't think that's a very big deal frankly, jon, essential services are maintained, the military, law enforcement, courts, planes will fly. what will happen is a bunch of bureaucrats won't be working around christmas and new year's. how much do you think they get done during that week? is a government shutdown that material? i don't think so as long as we get taxes done, massive win. economy is accelerating. a fantastic year for team trump and 2018 will be better for america. >> jon: the economy is accelerating. the stock market hit a new high yesterday and up again today. could be the fifth consecutive record close. what's not to like about the possibility of tax reform? >> what's not to like is what we've seen in the latest -- there is a lot not to like

apparently. because it is historically unpopular. some of the polling you see that 29% of americans approve of it. >> jon: you just heard paul ryan saying only 18% of americans approved the tax reform when ronald reagan did it and it set the economy on fire. >> that's good spin on his part. let me go into what's to like about it. we found out that yesterday in addition to granting massive tax cuts for corporations, the house and senate republicans agreed to further cut taxes on the richest individuals. and if you remember what trump campaigned on, it wasn't giving tax cuts to the richest people in america, it was to helping the forgotten men and women in our country. look, they're breaking i think with the promises that they made. this is not what we need right now. corporations are doing well, the wealthiest americans are doing well. the people who need more money in their pockets are working and middle class americans.

>> they are going to get it with this tax plan. 70% of people don't itemize now. they'll get a double standard deduction. doubled. i think the number who won't itemize will probably go up. about 80% won't itemize. instant benefit to the middle class. it's disingenuous to say there are no tax breaks for middle class. it's for small and medium businesses. it's for the real job creators who faced too much regulation and too much taxation. middle class gets a fantastic break. business and job creators do. this is going to be fantastic for our economy. the optimism out there already shows that. small business confidence hit a high unseen since 1983. there is a palpable acceleration going on.

optimism reigns in the economy. >> jon: do you think tax reform is going to happen? >> i do. i will admit that is the major caveat. if anybody can mess it up it's some of the republicans in the senate. they're like the keystone cops sometimes. they'll get it right this time. >> jon: from the republican and democratic sides, thank you both. >> julie: an ohio congresswoman slamming the way female lawmakers dress on capitol hill. what representative marcy captor said behind closed doors that's sparking outrage from other women.

each of these food boxes represents a gift of life for people here in israel who are in desperate need.

in their struggle for survival. many of these people are ill, they're sick, they're alone. they don't have the money to afford i ask you to please help.

that you stand with israel at her time of need. you can make a life changing difference to help a family in need in israel. >> we had a little surprised snowstorm in new york. it is a shoveling time. >> we did. >> thank you for joining us. >> "outnumbered" it starts right now. >> sandra: republicans are

sounding optimistic after working out an agreement that combined key efforts of severed bills already passed in the house and the senate. now, they are hoping to approve a final bill, and get it it to the president's desk by christmas. if they do, it would be the first major legislative accomplishment of his presidency. this is "outnumbered," i am sandra smith. here today, melissa francis, harris faulkner, the editor of townhall.com, katie pavlich, and fox news contributor jason is here, and he is outnumbered. i broke my bracelet. welcome, congressman. great to have you here. it is a remarkable day. anna melissa, you have called the ins and outs of this on taxes for quite some time. we're coming down to the final moments here. >> jason: yeah, it looks like it is going to happen, if we can ju