hello. i'm stephanie gosk. here's what we're following this hour. a busy day for the trump administration. mike pence in florida today making the push for the republican health care bill to small businesses and conservatives that have been critical of the plan. now that the bill has cleared key hurdles in the house, republicans are hoping to get into the floor for a vote on thursday. rex tillerson talking tough on north korea. the secretary of state in china today after a two-day visit to south korea where he said all options are on the table for dealing with the north and its nuclear weapons program. president trump says cna shouldo me to help with north korea. now chinese leaders are pushing

back. the president catching a lot of heat for his latest budget proposal and even some republican lawmakers say it won't fly in congress. who wins? who loses? what's next? we start with health care and the big sales push from the white house. time is running short. they're aiming for a thursday vote in the house on their obama care replacement bill. the president claimed he is gaining more republican support, but there's a significant block of republicans who still say they won't vote for it. vice president pence is trying to shore up support today making the case to small business owners in jacksonville, florida. it is the second weekend in a row he has done that. pence had one message, obama care must go. >> florida can't afford obama care anymore. job creators in florida can't afford it either. i heard it. [ applause ] i heard it earlier today the

small businesses represented here. they told me that obama care hits them with mandates, regulations, higher taxes, and high are costs. >> msnbc's marianna atencio is live in jacksonville covering pence's visit. how was his message received today? this audience was cherry picked, wasn't it? >> it was. he spoke before a select group of invitees. everybody in here was supportive president trump and supportive of the new health care bill. it was a relative small crowd, if you will, stephanie. they're just sort of picking up behind me, as you can see, in this paper supply company where the vice president spoke today. at the beginning of his speech he sort of touched on those same campaign themed that we heard during the general election -- immigration, infrastructure, fighting terrorism. before he got around to health care. there he sort of stuck to his same obama care talking points, the same talking points that li,

last weekend. florida is a textbook example of why obama care doesn't work. last weekend in liouisville he said it's a textbook example of where obama care doesn't work. then we saw him make that pivot in his tone to actually acknowledging that this is going to be an uphill battle in washington d.c. and they've had to make amendments to get the conservative lawmakers behind this bill. let's listen to the vice president. >> we're going to go a couple of different things with a few recent amendments that are worth mentioning, and our owing in part to the engagement that we had with congress. first off, we're going to stop any more states from expanding medicaid and adding a burden to future generations. we're going to give states the option of block grants of medicaid to the states so states

ke florida can ino vat and design medicaid around the union ike needs to the people in this community, and we're going to allow states like florida to include a work requirement for able-bodied adults insuring that medicaid's benefits are available for those who need them most. >> whether that will be enough remains to be seen. as you mentioned, stephanie, they're pushing for a vote this coming thursday in congress. you know why that is. it's because this is is the seventh year anniversary of the day obama care passed. stephanie. >> all right. msnbc's marchana atencio, thank you very much. as the white house tries to woo republican votes, many americans are grappling with the fear of losing health coverage and the potential for rising premiums. according it a poll from the keiser family foundation 48% of americans think the republican plan will result in fewer people getting coverage and 41% expect higher deductibles under the

plan. joining me now is the president for the foundation for research on equal opportunity. thank you so much for joining me today. >> hey, stephanie, how are you? >> i'm doing well. thank you. in forbes you wrote the critical mistake of the gop plan is its insi insistence on flat tax credit. it will place poor and vulnerable people out of the health insurance market. can you elaborate on this? >> one thing that the -- paul ryan has a very strong opinion, speaker of the house, that if you graduate the financial assistance by income - meaning, you provide more assistance to lower income people and less assistance to middle income people, that that degradation of the amount of assistance you're giving people discourages them from working harder. if you work longer hours, you are -- that economically would have a negative affect. that's what paul ryan's concern is. my view is that that concern is overstated, and it's overwhelmed and trumped by the really

important policy goal making sure that everybody in this country has health insurance. what we really need to do to improve this house republican bill is to change that. instead of having a flat tax credit, make sure you're giving more financial assistance to the people who really need the help, which are low income people, sicker people, and people who are near retirement, the near elderly. >> isn't there also a concern that that credit isn't enough for poor people to be able to afford health care? >> exactly. that's what i was just saying. one thing that i'm very encouraged by is that there appear to be a number of people both in the house and the senate on the republican side who share the concern that i've expressed about this problem and are working to try to fix it. let's see what happens when these amendments come out. i think there may be some encouraging developments on this front, and even if they're not, i think the senate is not going to pass this bill unless it addresses this problem of pricing lower income people out of the insurance market. >> let's talk about a couple of those changes that came out of the meeting yesterday with the president.

one, giving states the option to block grant medicaid and then incentives for states to include work requirements for medicaid. how significant are those? >> yeah. a number of republicans have long felt that block grants are the way to go. that's been the idea that's been out there for decades. those republicans feel that this new approach of per capita cap, which was originally proposed by bill clinton, is maybe not conservative enough for them, so they want the option of block grants. the way it's going to be designed is they'll have the option. they want to do one or the other. the money that flows to the state will be roughly the same so that that way they'll have more flexibility to maybe design the program to focus on those who need it. the work requirement is another thing that a lot of republican governors have really cared about in order to encourage people to participate in the economy, so that's something that will go in the house bill. the key there with that work requirement is whether or not that can pass the senate reconciliation process. it's not clear to me that it can, but that's the thing that they're going to have to figure out. >> the president was asked about this repeal bill hurting the

very people who actually voted for them. here's what he said about that. >> a bloomberg naltsz shows that counties that voted for you, middle class and working class counties, would do far less well under this bill. the more affluent counties. it seems like maybe this isn't consistent with the message of the last election. >> a lot of things aren't consistent, but these things will be negotiated where. >> what needs to be negotiated and changed so those trump supporters don't lose the health care that they probably don't want to lose? >> stephanie, ritts the very thing that we talked about at the outset of the segment. you've got to up the amount of financial assistance you're offering to people who are just above the poverty line. meaning they're too wealthy for medicaid and they're entering this tax credit system. the tax credits need to be higher -- of higher value for those individuals and phad down over time or over the income brackets so that the lower income population and

particularly near elderly lower income people have the assistance they need. i know the president cares about that. i know that a lot of people in the house and the 123459 care about that, and i firmly believe that this bill will not pass congress unless this is fixed. >> all right. we will have to see. thank you very much for joining me. >> thanks, stephanie. >> joining me now for more on the politics of all of this, congressional reporter for the washington post and mark, political writer for politico. thank you very much for being here. let's begin with the big health care sales push by the white house. trump met with over a dozen republicans on friday at the white house to shore up support. here's what he said about that. >> we just have a really wonderful group of people meeting later. we met with 12 pretty much those in congress. you saw that a little while ago. they went from all no's to all yes's.

we have a lot of yes's coming in. it's all coming together. we're going to have great health care. i think substantially pretty quick quickly. you have conservative groups, other groups. everybody wants certain things. in the end we're going to have a great hlth carepl. >> at least one republican said that's not true at all. conservatives haven't flipped. mark, is this thing coming together? >> well, maybe it is, but it's kind of interesting. governor rick scott, former hospital executive, guy who met with president trump almost, you know, for hours in the oval office. governor rick scott won't say much nice about the bill at all. you have one of the top defenders, a health expert by all measures, not saying one nice thing about your bill. what's it say about your bill? you have to send mike pence to talk to a group to say let's repeal obama care. there just doesn't seem to be a lot of pitter patter in the

hearts of conservatives to support this bill. i think if they went for a straight up obama care repeal they would have a better shot, but that causes certain policy problems which cause political problems. >> well, if you look at the white house making a few changes to the bill, they were reportedly agreed on, they include more tax credits for older lower income people and more control for states to manage their medicaid. congressman mark walker says he will vote for it now, but not everyone is on board. what is your take on whether this is going to pass on thursday? >> you know, i don't really think that it is at a stage right now where it can pass on thursday. i spoke with congressman mark meadows who is the chairman of the house freedom caucus. it's a block of about three dozen conservatives who are kind of on the hard line in th house. he said that he can count 40 people who will vote against this right now and a dozen more in the senate who don't support it. he thinks there's a group of people who are undecided that he can sway towards no. he is pushing for some sort of

an amendment that would come out on monday. it would include stricter work requirements for medicaid, and he said he also wants to address the fact that these tax credits that are being discussed would go to people who are many much, much richer, essentially, than the people who receive subsidies now. he wants to address that problem and many others before he can say that they'll support this. you know what, if they were able to reach an agreement, it's not entirely clear that that would solve their problems. they would lose moderates then. >> let's shift to the unsubstab -- unsubstantiated wiretapping -- the gchq to put trump under surveillance during the campaign, and then during a bilateral press conference, the president tried to joke around about the wiretapping, and then he poirnted the finger at fox on claims of the gchq.

>> as far as -- wiretapping by this past administration, at least we have something in common perhaps. and just to finish your question, we said nothing. all we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. i didn't make an opinion on it. >> mark, let me ask you, do you think officials in the u.k. are going to give the president a pass because he heard all of this first on fox? >> i don't know if they're going to really give him a pass or not. think everyo in the world is now just surprised that president of the united states has to watch cable news to get informati information. it would seem a lot easier to pick up the phone and call either the cia or the fbi or the

pentagon and the nsa. he could find out these answers a little more easily rather than watching fox news or reading certain fringe right wing web sites where he is starting to get information that is going to tell him that, you know, the moon landing was fake and that, you know, there are skeletons on the moon and the like. it's a bizarre time. not just for us, the united states, but for the world at large. >> kelsey, you have both the house and the senate intelligence committee saying they found no evidence of the president's wiretap claims, and now we have an international incident basically with the u.k. over it. is the president going to back down? >> i don't know if the president is going to back down, but he certainly is not receiving a whole lot of support from people within his own party. you have the chairman of the house intelligence committee saying that he has not seen any evidence that this is true, that there was any wiretapping. >> at some point, i don't know when that will be, but a lot of

republicans on the hill seem to be getting more and more comfortable saying no, the president is just wrong. >> very quickly, do you think that all of this gets in the way of what we were talking about before with the health care bill? >> i would think the health care bill is going to rise and fall on its own merits. in the end politics is a team sport. the republicans in washington in the house and the senate understand that. they don't want to undermine the president. yet at the same time i think certainly in the senate this obama care repeal is just too heavy of a lift or too bad a bill for them to vote for. it's tough to see it passing now in its current form. >> all right. mark caputo from politico and kelsey snell, thank you very much. up next, rex tillerson in china as tension grows with north korea. the secretary of state says all options are on the table when it comes to dealing with north korea's nuclear weapons program. will china step in? a panel of national security experts joins me next to break that down. plus, the president's po posed cuts to the state department budget.

he real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you.

hey team, i know we're tight on time, but i really need a... ...sick day tomorrow. moms don't take sick days. moms take nyquil severe: the... ...nighttime sniffling,sneezing, coughing, aching, fever best... ...sleep with a cold, medicine. i just want to find a us c start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com.

america's top diplomat rex tillerson spoke to leaders in china. north korea's nuclear weapons dominated the talks, but what will china do to stop the north korean nuclear weapons program. these are tillerson ace first face-to-face meetings with the chinese. he meets tomorrow with chinese president xi jing ping. p.j. crowley, former state department spokesman and senior fellow at the center for american progress, specializing in homeland security. thank you, gentlemen, for joining me today. colonel jacobs, i want to start with you. let's listen to some of rex tillerson's remarks from today. >> i think we share a common

view and a sense that tensions on the peninsula are quite high right now, & that things have reached a rather dangerous level, and we've committed ourselves to do everything we can to prevent any type of conflict from breaking out. >> he is talking about any kind of conflict. is he talking about nuclear war there? >> yeah, i think he is. i think when the government says that everything is on the table, he is talking about also the perception that on the peninsula for all the actors, everything is on the table too. we've been through all this routine before, you know. the korean war is not over. it's just a cease-fire. anything is possible. especially given the inflexibility. >> given what we know about kim jong un or maybe what we don't know about him, what can we reasonably expect china to exert on him as far as pressure? >> it's another thing to think

th any of t opgs are good. y litary action is going to get a substantial number of people killed on both sides of the korean, you know, border. what we -- during the campaign, you know, donald trump said that china could solve this problem if it wanted to. i'm not sure that's true. in a tweet the other day he said that china needs to do more. that is true. my worry is that today, you know, foreign minister yang and his remarks with secretary tillerson continue to convey one of the main problems here. he said this is really a problem between north korea and the united states. i think our challenge is to help china understand that it is a chinese problem and that china, you know, needs to do more. china's redicance is that they will put more pressure. they withheld coal shipments for the time being, but they're not going to put so much pressure on north korea that it risks

breaking and then, you know rs sending a large number of refugees into china. that's the needle that we're trying to thread here. >> it sounds like, colonel, that there really aren't any good options. >> no, no good options. all the options are bad. >> what does a military option look like? >> much worse than you can possibly conceive. i mean, if north korea perceives it as becoming destabilized, it may conduct a preemptive attack on the south despite a new government in the uth, which is committed to having negotiations with the north. just about anything is possible. quite frankly, if we get involved, which we surely would be in a land war there, it's possible that we might decide that we're going to use tactical nuclear weapons to prevent elimb nati -- elimination of the south. it's a very dangerous situation. >> those are incredibly scary terms. p.j., turning to you, isn't one of the fundamental problems here

just how unpredictable north korea is? >> it's an essential problem, and just to add to the complexity, you know, kim jong un, as far as we can tell, has not yet been to beijing. his father and grandfather went there. the chinese don't necessarily understand him much more than we do. i think our challenge going forward -- when we've had success in the past, we've had sanctions that have put much more financial pressure on the kim family because they run this government as kind of a kim family business. i think that's the mix of sanctions we're trying to get to. something that really hits kim jong un in his wallet, but to get to that kind of pressure, we're going to absolutely need chinese cooperation. >> p.j., i'm going to stick with you for just a moment and take a turn to the president's budget proposal and what it says about its priorities. drastic cuts across the board, but the state department is one of the hardest hit with the

funding reduction of almost 29%. isn't that going to mak t zwrob of secretary tillerson a lot harder and possibly lead to more conflicts involving our armed forces? >> secretary tillerson talks about efficiencies. if you are talking about a 5% cut, maybe at a 10% cut, you're talking about efficiency. when you are talking about something approaching 30%, you're not cutting fat. you're cutting muscle. the real issue is what is the state department currently doing that it's not going to do in the future? one of the ones -- one of the cuts that -- proposed cuts that puzzles me, there's something within the state department budget called oko, overseas contingency operations. it's a state department piece of what the military is doing in places like iraq and afghanistan, and this proposed cut of something like $8 billion, and i think that risks a misunderstanding what it's going to take to defeat the likes of the islamic state. you know, we'll be retaking territory from the islamic state, you know, militarily.

in iraq sooner and syria later. defeating the islamic state, meaning, you know, eradicating their ability to recreate a califate somewhere relies on how will this govern? what kind of a rebuilding effort will be made in these countries in conflict, and that's the state department's challenge. i think while i understand the need to plus up military funding and homeland security funding. the state department has a large piece in this long-term effort as well, and so you're in essence robbing peter to pay paul. >> colonel, that -- relying on your military experience, how important is that piece of the state department pie for what the military needs to do on the ground in places like -- >> very important. part of our problem is that we have a tendency to put our capabilities in boxes and decide that we're going to use a rather than b. in actual fact, the only way you can gain anything is to use all the instruments of policy in consort for strategic objectives. if you can eliminate the

capability of the state department to do what it does best, i think you'll make it extremely much more difficult for the military establishment to accomplish its part of the national security objective. i'm all for having more people in uniform, but you can't cut out the capability of the state department to do what it does best and to work in consort with the military establishment. >> do u think the administration doesn't get it or just doesn't care? >> i think it does get it. it's easy when you are in the white house to say we're going to do x when you recognize every money bill has to originate in the house of representatives. there may be quite a bit of grandstanding in order to satisfy those people who voted for president trump on the basis of doing exactly this. in actual fact the guys that write the check is at the otherent e end of pennsylvania. >> thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> later, gunfire at a paris

airport after a man tries to grab a soldier's rifle. new details about the suspect when we come back. are your allergies holding you back or is it your allergy pills? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one.

break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪

( ♪ ) upstate new york is a good place to pursue your dreams. at vicarious visions, i get to be creative, work with awesome people, and we get to make great games. ( ♪ ) what i like about the area, feels like everybody knows each other. and i can go to my local coffee shop and they know who i am. it's really cool. new york state is filled with bright minds like lisa's.

to find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin. hello. i'm stephanie gosk atsnbc headquarters. the secret serce says a person is in custody after jumping over a bike rack near the white house. they say the suspect never made it to an actual fence, but the threat level at the white house was briefly raised. president trump following his meeting yesterday with german chancellor angela merkel took to twitter this morning to take a jab at the media saying his talks with merkel went well "despite what you heard from fake news." he also tweeted that germany owes vast sums of money to nato and the u.s. must be paid more for the defense it provides to that nation. so far no response from germany. >> a suspect was shot and killed this morning at orly airport in paris after trying to steal a soldier's rifle.

authorities say the same suspect fired at police during a routine traffic stop in a paris suburb earlier in the day before speeding away. nbc's ali arusi is in london. what else have we learned about the suspect? >> there are several incidents involving the same suspect who went on a rampage. he was stopped firstly, as you said, by police at a checkpoint. he shot a police officer, fled the scene, went to a cafe, started shooting there where he didn't injure anyone, dumped his car, stole another car at gunpoint, and travelled across the city to orly airport where he assaulted a patrol of three soldiers, one of whom was a woman he managed to grab, held a pistol to the soldier's head, and used her as a human shield. he also managed to wrench away a powerful military grade assault rifle from her. the other soldiers that were on the scene were able to take him out with three shots and this all unfolded in the space of two minutes.

amazingly, nobody at the airport was injured. french authorities have identified the man as ziad, a 39-year-old french national of north african origin, born in paris, who is a radicalized muslim who is known to the authorities in france. now, the paris psecutor just gave a press conference an hour or so ago, and he said that the airport attacker intended to shoot people and shouted there that i'm here to die for allah, there will be deaths. during the incident, he also threw down a sack containing gasoline. authorities in france have said that they're treating the attack as a terrorism investigation, and i'm sure they'll want to determine over the course of their investigation whether he was part of a cell or he was one of these so-called lone wolf attackers similar to the attack in the louvre in february earlier this year. we're waiting for some more details to come out from him, but that's what we have so far.

back to you. >> regardless some terrifying moments in the airport there. coming up, my conversation with the editor in chief of breitbart news on its close ties to the trump white house and the article that reportedly led to the president's controversial wiretapping claims. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. is i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia

nosy neighbor with a glad bag, full of trash. what happens next? nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad.

. it's a question that's been asked for the last two weeks. where did president trump get the idea that his predecessor had wiretapped him during the campaign? fox news's tucker carlson asked him in a recent interview. >> i've been reading about things. i read in i think it was january 20th a "new york times" article where they were talking about wiretapping. there was an article. i think they used that exact term. i read other things. >> some of those other things, reportedly, an article published by breitbart news the day before those infamous tweets. breitbart is one of president trump's favorite news sources once run by his top advisor,

steve bannon. they see themselves as provok tours, poking a finger in the eye of the mainstream media. they've also been called racist, anti-semites, and white supremacists. i talked to alex marlo, the 31-year-old editor in chief who pushes back hard against the critics and the labels. defending the news site he has worked at since it started in 2007. >> we're not a hate site. >> do you think you have been unfairly demonized? >> oh, absolutely. without a doubt. >> breitbart has seen a meteoric rise from a fringe start-up once run by strategist steve bannon. the right-wing news site exploded during the course much the presidential campaign with 240 million views a month. >> there was a former employee of yourselves who called breitbart trump bart. >> yes. >> was that a fair criticism during the election? >> it absolutely is unirfair criticism. >> he says they will criticize the president if he breaks h

promises where. >> if he makes good on those promises, will he get a lot of farable coverage. when we feel like the president is not honoring the pledges he made to the public, he is going to get critical coverage. >> do you talk to the president? >> i have spoken to the president on air, i believe, four times. twice when he was a candidate. twice before he was a candidate. i have not spoken to him other than since he has been elected. >> how about steve bannon? does he reach out? >> every so often. not as often as i would have expected. i think steve is a very busy man these days. >> still, the white house and breitbart seem to be in lock step on most issues. president trump's unsubstantiated tweets that president obama wiretapped him during the campaign echo an idea laid out in a breitbart -- >> was the wiretap tweet because of a breitbart article? >> that i don't know. i have heard things probably similar things to you, and i heard that a breitbart article played a big factor in it. >> the article never goes as far as trump does directly accusing his predecessor, but it argues

that steps taken to investigate the trump campaign's links with russia are purely political. >> we've learned very little about any sort of nefarious connection between trump and russia. we have learned that there is incredible amounts of leaks flooding out of washington specifically to undermine the president of the united states and the media is gleefully reporting all of them. >> who should the american public believe? main stream media? the federal government? breitbart? >> i would say believe breitbart. i think breitbart is producing -- >> why should we believe breitbart over what the federal government tells us about possible connections with russia trying to tamper with the election? >> well, possible connections and actual connections are different. >> yes, but when you have the federal government come out and say we are investigating russia potentially tampering with our election, why is an american citizen should you not step back and go i should be worried about

that? >> i'm not saying that you shouldn't be worried about it, but there has been ample reporting, ample investigation. the whole world is focused on this story. i'm asking for one piece of hard evidence. >> marlow describes his staff as a mix of reporters and activists. the site often blurring lines between -- >> first of all it's to be a great news site, covering hard-hitting fast paced accurate, always accurate, information. now, where we differ is that we're admittedly right of center. we're a populist nationalist grassroots conservative website. >> what is breitbart's position on immigration? >> we don't have a party line position on it, but i'll tell you a few things that are pretty consistent. we believe that border security and natiol security is a rious ise. we think that there is an american value system that is worth being preserved. >> do you think that american

value system is in jeopardy because of immigration? >> it depends. it's in jeopardy because of immigration if people who are coming into the country do not understand the american values and don't want to assimilate into american society. >> it has come under intense fire, frequently called, among other things, ratist because of headlines like this one from two years ago. hoist it high and proud, the confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage. >> would breitbart print that headline today? >> i don't know the answer to that. it's a good question. i don't know if -- but probably yes and to be honest with you, i disagree with the article. i don't disagree with us running it because it makes arguments that the flag doesn't just symbolize racism to certain people. it symbolizes southern pride, southern heritage, and states rights. now, my personal view is i think we've moved on as a society from that symbol, but that doesn't mean we can't have a debate and a discussion about it. >> regardless of who it may

offend. >> do you compromise civility in the defense of free speech? >> in some cases i think that's acceptable because of the fact that it's proving a point about freedom of speech and that we used to raise a society that was supposed to be resilient emotionally, and now everyone is looking for their safe space, and i think that's a dangerous thing. >> one thing he doesn't think is dangerous? president trump calling the "fake news media" the enemy of the american people. that kind of extreme language, is that not damaging to our democracy? >> i think in a lot of ways as steve bannon put it, the press is the opposition party. that's 100% the world view tha i ve. >> recently breitbart made its first significant break with the white house over the health care bill. one of the concerns, the tax cuts for the wealthy, but it's worth pointing out, however, that although president trump has publicly supported the bill, they lay the blame for the bill

squarely at the feet of house speaker paul ryan. coming up next, president trump is feeling the heat on his first budget proposal to congress. the winners and losers in the president's budget and what he is proposing to cut that has top republicans saying hold on a minute. what's the best way to get

two servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done! you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. zbleepts more money for defense, more money for border enforcement, more money for law enforcement generally, more money for the vets, more money for school choice, and then to offsetha moneyith savings elsewhere so that all of that is done without an additional dollar added t the deficit. he is going to spend less money overseas. there was a very deliberate attempt here to send a message to our allies and our friends such as anda and our adversaries, other countries, shall we say, which is this is a high power budget. >> a hard power budget. this week the white house released the broad outlines of president trump's budget, propose cuts to several government agencies have members of the president's own party

expressing concern. congressman howe rogers of kentucky called trump's budget draconian, careless, and counter productive. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said that a budget that cuts the state department's funding by one-third would not likely pass. >> for one, just speaking for myself, think the diplomatic portion of the federal budget is very important, and you get results a lot cheaper frequently than you do on the defense side. >> white house officials say the budget is based on the president's campaign promises. for more on this i'm joined by republican political strategist brandon bryce and democratic pollster fred yang. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> brandon, let's start with you. do you think that people who voted for trump voted for these cuts? >> well, i think, you know, with all due respect, the president said this is what he was going to do when he ran, and he is doing it. when we talk about, you know, the funding that he is giving towards putting that money back

into the military, let's remember a lot of that funding goes towards military families. now, what's unfortunate is when you look at meals on wheels, i think that's going to have a drastic effect. when we talk about going back to those voters that came out and originally voted for the president at front, it's those type of cuts that are going to hit home. >> i don't think they did. let's be clear. e presidwas very clear that this is what he was going to do was reduce the size of washington. when you talk about even the state department, you know, 3% is a matter of trimming the fat. now, when we start -- now we're talking about major cuts that have a real effect. >> i definitely don't remember them talking about meals on wheels, but fred, let's turn to you. democrats have been highly critical of trump's budget so far, but the president prides himself on being a deal maker. is this really just a starting point? >> well, i'm a democratic consultant, but i hope for the republican party's sake and

looking forward to 2018, i mean, it better be. i think number one there are a lot of reasons why president trump won. i think the korean is, you know, the implied or explicit premise -- promise that he would make life better for americans. i'm not sure you can say that i'm giving tax cuts to the wealthy on the one hand, and also, stephanie, it's not just meals on wheels. it's cutting the appalachian regional commission. that's an important part of the country. the economy is not doing great. if that is an important part of your platform, it doesn't seem to make sense to cut that either. maybe this is an opening gambit, but i think right now and sort of in terms of the first quarter of this budget battle, i don't think the paul's or the attitudes on the republican side. >> the overriding philosophy here from the white house being that the federal government doesn't handle people's money well, and we're seeing that in this budget. brandon, turning to you, listen to what new york city's police commissioner had to say about

trump's budget. >> under the president's proposal, nearly all federal funding to the nypd would be eradicated. this fund is absolutely critical and it's the backbone of our entire counterterrorism apparatus. it is the cornerstone of effective preparedness -- brandon, thu think this might be an unintended consequence or is the president awarehat this is going to be something that will at the face of his budget? >> any time you have those type of things that can happen. a big part of this is -- we'll allow these cuts that president proposes, will they actually pass in congress? the other part of that is, you know, when you look at things like funding towards whether it's military families or even funding towards police families and counterterrorism issues, those are the type of things that are really going to come down to the moderates that support and vote on a lot of these cuts to say, hey, are we going back to our constituencies and pass this bill in good faith to support this president? right now these changes like

this, they're going to hit middle american and they're going to be the things that moderates are going to have to face. do we support the president or make those cuts? >> congressional leaders suggest there will be a lot of revisions where, what are democrats going to be focused on here? >> i think democrats will be focused on bringing back balance to this budget, and in general what seems to be president trump's priorities, which doesn't seem to be looking out towards middle class americans. the other thing is, look, the republicans control the government, and what i think i hear brandon saying on the other side, it's almost as if the president is waiting for the moderates of his party to rescue him from his budget, and, look, i think democrats will stand up and fight for principle, as we have always done. look out for middle class americans. i think a lot of -- look, the

republican controlled congress, they're the ones who are going to have to decide what they want to do with this. >> brandon, turning to this wiretapping issue. do you think at this point that this has the potential to have a negative affect on president's credibility? >> i don't. i think the president right now should really be focused on building his party and focused on cuts that actually will help reignite his base and also his party and being responsible for those elected that will support this bill and go back to their constituencies. i think this whole wiretap thing, i think there are bigger things -- yet, he continues to talk about it. it continues to be something that the white house continues to talk about. even in bilateral press conferences with the german chancellor. >> looking at other legislation

in these cuts, i think that's where the bulk of this president's time should be. what happened, you know, prior to the election, it's gone. donald trump is the president now, and now it's time to act and the american people are waiting. i think there are bigger things that could be of importance with this president's administration right now than any kind of wiretapping. >> fred, what's your take on all of this? >> i could not agree more. i think it's inexplicable and outrageous that he continues to make these comments, but i think, look, at the end of the day elections are about consequences, and it's about priorities and whose side are you on? i think we need to focus on those aspects of president trump and the republicans that impact ordinary people. i think wiretaps, all this other stuff, he talks about -- those are honestly just distractions. >> all right. brandon bryce and fred yang, thank you both. >> thank you. >> coming up tomorrow, msnbc's

chief legal correspondent ari melbourne will -- confirmation hearing for jgeeilgorsuch. preme confirmation clash airs tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. easte only on msnbc. [bullfighting music]

[burke] billy-goat ruffians. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ or is it your allergy pills? holding you back break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪

that wraps it up for us this hour. i'm stephanie gosk. stay tuned for more in the next hour. my colleague richard lui picks up coverage after the break. rts. but what if you could turn things around? what if you could love your numbers? discover once-daily invokana®. it's the #1 prescribed sglt2 inhibitor that works to lower a1c. invokana® is a pill used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. and in most clinical trials,

the majority reached an a1c goal of 7 percent or lower. invokana® works around the clock by sending some sugar out of your body through the process ofrination. it's not f lowering systolic blood pressure or weight, but it may help with both. invokana® can cause important side effects, including dehydration, which may cause you to feel dizzy, faint,lightheaded,or weak, upon standing. other side effects may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections,changes in urination, high potassium, increases in cholesterol, risk of bone fracture, or urinary tract infections, possibly serious. serious side effects may include ketoacidosis, which can be life threatening. stop taking and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms or if you experience symptoms of allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. do not take invokana® if you have severe liver or kidney problems or are on dialysis. tell your doctor about any medical conditions and medications you take.

using invokana® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. it's time to turn things around. lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. i've been fortunate enough to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit... even the smallest things became difficult. so i talked to my rheumatologist... and he prescribed enbrel... to help relieve joint pain and help stop further joint damage. enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis... lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common... or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleedi or paleness.

don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. get back to the things that matter most. ask how enbrel can help relieve joint pain and help stop joint damage. enbrel, the number one rheumatologist-prescribed biologic. for over 100 years like kraft has,natural cheese you learn a lot about what people want. honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it? oh, thanks. bon appe-cheese! okay... a good start to you. i'm richard lui in new york. vice president mike pence is in florida today. just two hours ago making the big push for the republican health care bill as conservative support is not as strong as president trump had hoped. the bill has cleared key hurdles in are the house, and republicans are now hoping to get it to the floor for a vote this thursday. rex