promised to the american people. we'll see if they get that done and we'll watch all my government funding. in the meantime, most-watched, most trusted, most grateful you spent the evening >> vis are 51, the names are 48, tax cuts and jobs act is passed. >> after eight years of slow growth and underperformance america is ready to take off. >> the american people will remember this. heather: andrew mccabe wrapped up with 71/2 hours behind closed doors. >> emergency brake was automatically activated after the accident was occurring rather than being initiated by the engineer.

♪ heather: good morning, you are watching "fox and friends" first on wednesday morning, the countdown is on. thank you for joining us, a busy day we start with a fox news alert. the senate making history. >> the tax cuts and jobs act is passed. heather: the first major rewrite of the tax code in 31 years clearing a major hurdle. donald trump touting the college man tweeting the united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax cut and reform

bill, terrible individual mandate obamacare repealed. griff jenkins live in washington dc, it has been a very long night but the bill isn't quite ready for the folks yet. >> on its way to the president's desk, one more stop in the house, history was made this morning, when the senate passed down party lines 51-48, democrats against it, senator mccain not present, mike pence presiding over it and it got passionate. >> let me ask my friends on the democratic side of the aisle, prepared to look in the eyes of a kid with disability and explain why you said you are cut out, standing up, raising that objection, at least 100-0, all of us should agree on that.

>> democrat slamming it. >> the republican tax bill is like pouring gasoline on a raging fire and though the republican propagandists college passage a political victory, a year from now republicans will be running away from this bill in shame for voting yes. >> mitch mcconnell couldn't disagree more with this legislation. >> after eight years of slow growth and underperformance america is ready to take off, stock market is up, optimism is high, coupled with his tax reform, america is ready to start performing as it should have for a number of years. >> the senate had to make minor changes to the house bill so it would fit in their budget rules, the house will vote again around noon today on the modified version, then it heads to the president's desk where it

appears it may be headed for a news conference at the white house. heather: given the timing the president will not be able to sign it after christmas when he returns and everyone else returns after the break. >> whether or not it is a mystery we will find out by the end of the day. heather: the number of democrats voting for donald trump's tax plan a big fat 0. chuck schumer and house minority leader nancy pelosi leading that charge trying to convince americans it is all a scam. >> today we face a gop tax scam that raises taxes on 86 million middle-class families, 83% to the wealthiest 1%, berries children and that, medicare and

medicaid. >> to remind everyone democrats have a chance to contribute to this bill and they refused. >> the fact the democrats say they weren't consulted is not true. i said in the white house with donald trump, bipartisan discussions on tax reform can be proven to be not true, they were consulted, they didn't want to help the american people, that is why this is a republican bill. >> who do you believe? another talking point for democrats is the bill is intended to make the rich even richer. some of the wealthiest americans, no question the biggest winners are middle-class americans. >> what will happen is the wealthy's share will go up and this business about state, local

income taxes, 250,000 and up club, they are going to pay more but the insanely rich, the crazy rich, lighting their stars with hundred dollar bills on private jets rich are going to get big breaks, all sorts of good stuff, the point of this bill is to dump a bunch of liquidity into the top in the hopes that trickles down to the rest of the economy and the very wealthy of the corporations take the money they are getting back and invested and that will create jobs and growth, that is what they are banking on and the republicans have all their chips on. heather: the bill is expected to pass for a second time when it hits to the house and lawmakers pivot toward keeping the government funded past this friday's deadline. have to work quickly on that.

also big, demoted doj official bruce or is expected in the hot seat for his release diffusion gps, one day after andrew mccabe was grilled for 7 hours about bias in the agency. breaking it all down, the big question was did this indicate what was going on inside? >> the question is answered with we don't know yet. 71/2 hours, almost a full workday of testimony but house intelligence committee members, what andrew mccabe said calls for his fiery over allegations of conflict of interest and antitrust political prejudice, the latest development of the controversy between fbi official peter strzok and lisa page who worked on robert mueller's russia probe and links between doj officials like bruce or and fusion gps which created that anti-trump bossier. we are expected to press the case whether he should have

accused himself on hillary clinton email investigation. mccabe's wife received money for her virginia campaign on donors linked to clinton. >> i don't want this to just occur behind closed doors, one thing our subpoenas, the judiciary committee and all the american people get answers to these questions, expose the bias we know exist and ensure we have a rule of law we can rely on. >> the people need to coming because the bias is so palpable, so real, when that happens nobody believes anybody will get a fair investigation at any level. >> the house is preparing to hold a standalone vote to renew a controversial warrantless surveillance program the intel community says is critical as republican senators rand paul and mike lee said they would vote against the government spending bill that includes

authorization of that part of the law. a lot going on on capitol hill even though we are just a few weeks from christmas. heather: we will see if any christmas vacations or breaks are to play. >> they will get everything done because people like to be with their families. heather: breaking overnight, americans are among the dead in a tragic tourist bus trash in mexico, new reports show us 5 of the 12 people killed are us citizens, the bus driver and a child also killed, 18 others injured when the bus taking cruiseship passengers to an exclusion at mayan ruins flips over. a manhunt for two escaped prisoners including an accused killer, david anderson, broke out of their cell in florida by chipping through the wall under

a sink and squeezing under a gate. it is believed they stole the truck and could be anywhere in the southeastern united states. they are facing murder and drug charges. the mastermind of an isis plot to kill a conservative blogger will spend 28 years behind bars, david wright was found guilty on conspiracy terrorism charges last october after investigators say he, his uncle and another man planned to be had pamela geller, organizer of a mohammed cartoon contest in texas in 2015. the plot failed after her uncle was shot dead by police over a separate attempted attack. donald trump slamming what he calls fake news once again by calling out the washington post after reports claiming he was close to rescinding the nomination for supreme court pick neil gore such prior to his confirmation hearing. the president not holding back with his tweet, he said a story

in the washington post rescinding the nomination of neil gore such prior to confirmation is fake news. i never even wavered and am very proud of him and the job he has done as justice of the supreme court. the unnamed sources don't exist. the report was attributed to several people with knowledge of the discussion but unnamed. came down to a single vote taking the house seat in a recount and the balance of power. 11,608 votes to 11,607. this is the 16th republican held seats taken by democrats, republicans have healthy majority for 18 years but it was split 50/50. how about good news? big congratulations to jackie ibanez welcoming a baby boy, 4:46 p.m. jackie gave birth to

her third child and first son, 8 lbs. 12 oz. 22 inches long, jackie -- already two big sisters fighting over who gets to hold him. jackie was ready. congratulations to jackie, her husband eddie and their family. good job. time is 12 minutes after the top of the hour, another clinton cash scandal, the hillary clinton campaign running a massive corruption money scheme, the new trust fund, outrage over ivanka trump, parents pulling their kids out of school for an unplanned visit by the first are, controversy sparking outrage nationwide. and extraterrestrial moments at

the white house press briefing. >> i want to ask about ufos. >> does the president believe in ufos? we have the out of the world answer next. ♪

heather: did the rush to lunch express train service resulting this deadly train crash that happened in washington state, no question this is at work to install technology that could have prevented a derailment still underway where is this train went off the tracks.

breaking developments for us this morning. >> reporter: so many questions in this ongoing investigation but investigators with national transportation safety board focusing on a number of things including speed and the possibility the engineer who was driving the train may have been distracted. they say the emergency brake was automatically engaged, this train was going 50 miles over the speed limit and the engineer was not alone in the locomotive. >> there were two people in the cab, the engineer and the conductor who was getting experienced at familiarizing himself with the territory, the actual conductor, there's one on every train, in the actual passenger section.

>> the engineer was qualified and had been running this train in the last couple weeks. all five crewmembers were hospitalized, the ntsb speaks to all of them in the next few days, we are learning about two of three people who were killed, and they were excited to be on the maiden voyage of amtrak's new high-speed service which means seattle and portland and how ironic and said these two men who devoted so much of their lives to promoting railway service perished in a train accident just one week before christmas, the mangled train cars have been hard to a secure facility to be further examined as part of the ongoing investigation. investigators finish their work to make sure it is safe to reopen the traffic. heather: sad anytime but right

before christmas, thank you, prayers with their families. hillary clinton and the democratic national committee at the center of another corruption scheme, a legal complaint filed with the fcc accuses of state party chapters to bypass campaign donation limits. they believe roughly $84 million was funneled illegally with the dnc with state party chapters back to clinton's campaign coffers. much more to come on that and the latest bombshell discovery into a former congressional it aids charged with fraud, according to court testimony former ita, his younger brother, randy used car dealership and did not have its own inventory or real employees had nothing at

all while working on the hill, $7 million disappeared as an aid working for former dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz. and maybe funneling money to pakistan and it is being investigated. sealing the deal, republicans poised to pass their tax reform overhaul today. what does it mean for your wallet. you may not like this. the controversial facebook feature the confined photos of you even if you are not tag it in them. ♪ every step you take i will be watching you ♪

>> history made on capitol hill

as house prepares for second time on the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades. what does it mean for our wallet? breaking it down is our business analyst, appreciate it, it was a long night. >> there are technical snafus, time to go back to the house. >> always the senate rules have put a glitch into things so it is back in the house and i don't think there's any question it is going to pass. heather: let's talk about what is in it and go first of all to the individual tax brackets, take us through that. >> what we had originally was seven tax brackets, the house that they were going to take it down to four, we are going to file on a postcard. now we are back to seven tax brackets again, makes things complicated but that is where we

are. heather: that is is for individuals, the joint tax brackets as well. there are seven of those as well. >> they correspond together and it falls into you are single or married so basically -- heather: that is one of the promises market, some are saying 80% of taxpayers will get a tax-cut in 2018 but if you look through someone like nancy pelosi that is not through. what is true? >> i don't think nancy pelosi is right, i do believe 80% will get tax benefits. i say that because the vast majority of people do not itemize their deductions lose they are not itemizing their deductions. heather: they already weren't getting one. >> the standard deduction has gone higher so they benefit and

tax rates come down. 80% of people will get -- heather: who are those people? middle-class americans or the extremely wealthy? >> predominantly middle-class americans because those were the people not itemizing their deductions. the 20 who is not included in that? is not getting a tax break? >> who is not getting a tax break is high earners, not superwealthy, high earners in high tax states like we are in new york, california, new jersey, those people will have tax increases. heather: a couple other things, the alternative minimum tax and interest rules. >> the alternative minimum tax is one problem the president made, it is back in. why is that problematic? a parallel calculation to your regular tax so what is happening is you are doing two tax calculations to make sure you're

doing the minimum amount of tax. that is more work so they stay in business for a wild. the carried interest rules made famous by warren buffett, my tax rate is lower in my secretary, the interest rules benefit superwealthy who get all their income from investments. they are paying rates of capital gains so warren buffett is paying at a lower rate than we are, not fair, it was promised that was coming out and it is still in there. heather: trish regan very upset about that because it is true, someone extremely wealthy in new york state or new york city, able to use that and a firefighter or police officer paying more tax. thank you for joining us, appreciate it, back to the

house, fox news alerts, wait for us on your party, terrifying new threat from isis targeting new year's eve. >> at the end here dangling out, another down railcar here. heather: a grandmother dangling outside one of the derailed cars in washington state, the hero soldier who saved her. ♪

heather: the senate making history, the first major rewrite of the tax-cut in 31 years clearing a major hurdle. there is still work to be done. >> reporter: not quite done, he is already tweeting tracing its

passage, the repeal of the obamacare individual mandate and if approved there will be a news conference at the white house at 1:00 pm after it gets through the house's second vote, we will see what happens. the bill passed and that did make history down party lines 51-48. senator john mccain was absence, mike pence presiding, at times it was very passionate, listen to ted cruz. >> let me ask my friends on the democratic side are you prepared to look in the eyes of a kid with disability and explain why you said you are cut out, you're standing up, raising that objection. that ought to be 100-0, all of us should agree on that. reaches democrat slamming it, listen to minority leadership are. >> the republican tax bill is

like pouring gasoline on a raging fire and so republican propagandists may call this a political victory, a year from now republicans will be running away from this bill in shame for voting yes. >> mitch mcconnell disagrees with the future of this legislation. >> after eight years of slow growth and underperformance, america is ready to take off, stock market is up. >> reporter: the senate had to make minor changes to the house bill so it would fit in the senate budget rule, around noon today on the modified version, but this is a done deal and if you head to the president's desk we will see if it is a big christmas present that he promised. heather: we appreciate it. always a christmas present to

have griff with us. another fox news alert, isis making another chilling threat of a holiday terror attack targeting new year's eve celebration, propaganda posters sending the message wait for us on your year parties, show two heavily armed terrorists, that terrifying threat from isis not the first of the holiday season, they are also targeting time square and the pope, new york recalling hundreds of officers to protect people, joining us to discuss is doctor darren corker, for joining us. a big concern, look at the propaganda and you have to believe you have to take it seriously. >> recent attacks, one in october and one in december we have to ramp up in terms of protecting new yorkers here, and the pope was deemed the antithesis to isis.

we have to take a major focus in securing what we refer to as the main quadrant in new york city on new year's eve, 14th street to central park south. you see the resources consisting of the nypd, ems, state troopers, focus on these splits, the internal and external threats. heather: 26 terror plots have been foiled by nypd and federal authorities so it is being done. >> we look at, primarily fortifications and tunnels bridge to that effect, the national guard is activated by governor cuomo and you see places like a subway system, the

world trade center complex, high visibility posts and you have the nypd in a position in time square we refer to, one police plaza area something we refer to as the ops desk, a command center that has a multifaceted organization where we have federal organizations, state and city and focus on whatever the threat potential is. heather: the last attack that went bad thankfully, the person that attempted to blow themselves up in the subway system, we saw the camera that got him walking. >> the nypd has a line of security cameras and officers monitoring these cameras, that is one component but the public is the greatest asset in thwarting these attacks in a city of 8 billion people, we only have 38,000 police

officers, 38,000 police officers in comparison to the intelligence elicited by 8 million people, that is necessary for us to continue this partnership with the public. heather: 81/2 million people and put into play the christmas holiday and all the people that come to visit and new year's eve celebration in time square, it becomes almost impossible to protect all of those people but that is the job of people like you. >> a massive undertaking. we are fit for the challenge because this is the greatest country on earth. heather: a great way to end it. you will visit new york city, you will be taken care of. always enjoy having you with us. a u.s. army soldier jumping into action to save a grandmother dangling from a car after this amtrak crash the derailed in washington state without any

concern for his own safety, robert mccoy was on his way to work, grabbed a tourniquet and cpr mask out of his trunk and rushed to the rack. >> at the end here dangling out, another down railcar was here, daughter pulled her out backwards and reached under her and got to a point where i could pick her up and put her down on some form of a semi-fixed structure. >> reporter: three people are dead and ten suffering serious injuries, the train was going 50 mph over the speed limit just before the crash. a terrifying development in the north korean missile program, the rogue nation trying to put anthrax on their intercontinental missiles that are said to be able to reach anywhere in the us as the trump administration vows to hold north korea accountable for that

massive cyberattack. >> donald trump has used everything you can use short of starving the people of north korea to death to change their behavior. we don't have a lot of room left to apply pressure to change their behavior. it is important to call them out, let them know we know it is them. >> reporter: the cybertech crippled hundreds of thousands of computers around the globe impacting 100 hospitals as well. some strange occurrences at the white house as a reporter asked if donald trump believes in aliens. >> i want to ask about ufos. several media reports -- >> ask -- i already want to pass on this question. you have aliens sitting among you. heather: the questions run the gamut, this after reporters at the pentagon have been

investigating ufos since 2007. as for the president white house press secretary sarah sanders says she will check into it to get his take on extraterrestrials, stay tuned for her answer, 20 minutes until the top of the hour, classroom controversy, parents pooling their kids out of school after a surprise visit from ivanka trump, the outrage across the nation. heather: are you thinking about retiring early? you may want to think twice. the new study that says it could be deadly. ♪ ♪ workingman

heather: welcome back to "fox

and friends" first, ivanka trump making a surprise visit to a connecticut high school, some parents were so upset they pulled their kids from class. kelly wright live in washington dc, they wanted the option to pull them out. >> that is the way it appears. ivanka trump was not there to talk politics but some parents wanted to make the call when it came to their children seeing her. the first daughter was visiting norwalk early college academy in connecticut to promote career education. she called it an honor to meet them but one parent told local media, quote, this should have been brought to our attention but i do understand security reasons but we should have had the choice to send their child to school or keep them home. in a deleted tweet a former

student bashed ivanka saying hope the diversity of our students and immigrant population doesn't scare her away. the reaction not all negative. one parent writing my son nicholas guzman, you talk to him today and he is so excited about it. you see how they reacted to that, we want to know what you think should parents be able to pull their kids from school based on who visit? comment on this story on facebook, twitter. heather: what is becoming of this world when because you disagree with someone for their father is president and you disagree with him you don't want to listen to what they have to say. >> listen -- let's have a

conversation. heather: appreciate the conversation. facebook can find your face even when it is not tagged. the social media site announcing tuesday they will use their controversial facial recognition program to alert you anytime someone uploads a photo of you. facebook says the feature could be especially useful if someone posts an embarrassing or incriminating photo without tagging you, you will be able to know about it. do you want to tune out annoying people on facebook with blocking them? now you can. they are rolling out a snooze button to give you a break from cereal posters who post too much information as well, the new feature will appear as an option from the drop-down menu on someone's post that allows you to unfollow them for 30 days without them knowing and if you

change your mind before 30 days is up you can turn it off. unless they ask you and you have them blocked. and some kneeling quarterback colin kaepernick looking to get back in the game as an owner of the carolina panthers. colin kaepernick needs to do something else first, live next to talk about it. ♪

heather: colin kaepernick trying to get back in the game as a coach. hip-hop mogul ditty i after gerri richardson announced his team was for sale amid sexual

harassment claims and colin kaepernick back in the news saying he wants in. here to react is super bowl champ and author of liberalism or how to turn good men into whiners, weenies and wimps burgess owens, for joining us. i love the name of your book. what do you this? sean ditty combs wants to buy the team and everybody jumping on board saying they want to be on it. >> we are here to do our work, to succeed, the most important thing is in terms of options, before he does anything, he should be saying thank you for the opportunity. as, the underlying theme of this process in this problem because too many folks not willing to say thank you to great flag,

great country. heather: instead of approaching it that way, the colin kaepernick situation, first thing i will do is hire him. >> this is a different industry, the customer base said loudly we don't like not being able to say thank you to the country and those we serve and have a chance of going to victory or whatever. that gift idea in terms of the nfl and happening in this area. heather: authentication means not really serious because clearly is a political statement, i want some attention put on me so i will throw colin kaepernick into his. first thing i thought about, where has he been the last year and a half? social injustice, economic justice begins with that

justice. why not give michael jordan, tiger woods, a plan to take care of black people. our responsibility, anything we do, a great opportunity, to work hard and an entrepreneur, to stop complaining, be the first to say thank you to america and let this happen. heather: someone else decided to get on board, carolina panthers sand, stefan curry saying he might join with this group. >> a lot of kids not having the issue of jobs that we should be having so those guys. >> anyone that knows the carolina panthers would be a bad decision to have colin kaepernick replace cam newton if that is on the table. thank you very much, appreciate

you joining us, it is 8 minutes until the top of the hour. a bottled red or bottle of green, the new marijuana infused wine sparking a lot of buzz this morning. ♪ out last night ♪ one thing to another ♪ out last night ♪ everybody and their mother ♪ i got you ♪

heather: you got to be happy when you hear christmas music. merry christmas from "fox and friends" first to you and this story for you. if you are thinking about retiring early it can do more harm than good. >> rip, it was a rush job. >> retire in peace. >> cornell university study showing a link tween premature death and retiring before the age of 65. the connection is even stronger for men with a higher% mortality

risk if they retire at 62. it could be because many people who retire early have health issues. a record-breaking christmas miracle, 26 you make tennessee woman gives birth to a baby from a 24-year-old frozen embryo. they could never have kids until visiting an embryo donation center in knoxville. >> just precious. heather: the all-time record holder for the longest frozen embryo to result in birth. a new wine promising the buzz with the hangover. california-based wine revel coast made a wine infused with cannabis and alcohol free. it tastes like marijuana, lemongrass, lavender and citrus, they hope to launch the

sparkling wine next year. right now recreational marijuana is legal in nine states. which part makes it wine? that wraps it up for us, hope you have a great day, "fox and friends" first continues now. >> is are 51, nays are 48, the tax cuts and jobs act is passed. >> after eight years of slow growth and underperformance america is ready to take off. >> the american people will remember this night. i hope they do. heather: it is wednesday the 20th, breaking overnight the senate passing the gop's tax reform bill sending it back to the house for a final vote. we are alive in washington as republicans get ready to seal