i'm thinking of lamar alexander, congresswoman virginia foxx. would have said a few months ago, senator patty murray of washington, but it seems like there's been a bit of a track share in the bipartisanship that usually comes along with education issues. where do you guys see them standing on moving education legislation through the pipeline ? i'm thinking maybe a career tech ed. there is bipartisanship around that. what is realistic for us to expect? anyone can take this. >> i will start. pre-esa thatsaid the opportunity was limited, but i was surprised when it ultimately made it all the way through and got signed into law, so anything can happen. it will be interesting to see if something like a federal tax credit, new, national federal tax credit were to move forward.

shortly after the house passed legislation, a tennessee republican, lamar alexander came to the senate floor to outline items he would need to see in order to support it. the house ofnder: representatives has just passed a bill that would make major changes in the affordable care act by a vote of 217-to 13. i congratulate the house. the senate will carefully review the bill and we will go to work on the senate bill. for a senateoals bill. for not pretend to speak any member of the senate or any republican, but these are my goals for a bill which we will pass here. thousands, rescue the of tennesseans and millions of americans who under the affordable care act will be trapped in obamacare exchanges with few or zero options for health insurance in the year 2018, unless congress acts. number two, my second goal is to lower premium costs. premium costs have increased and in some states are going through the roof under the afford of a care act. graduallyee, to transferred to the states more flexibility in administrating -- administering the medicaid program and to do it in a way that will n

it is under the chairmanship of lamar alexander, whom i respect personally very much, and ranking memberpatty murray of the state of washington, a democrat. i know, having spoken to senator murray, she's ready to roll up her sleeves and go to work and to write a revision to the health care bill, the health care system in america. but there have been no hearings, none, on the measure passed by the house of representatives, so when the republican leader says he wishes the democrats would join in the effort, this committee is ready and willing to work, and i'm sure if he picked up the phone and called senator alexander and senator murray, they could get to work on doing a much better job than what the house of representatives did. why am i so critical of the house of representatives? not because of the traditional rivalry between the chambers but because yesterday the congressional budget office took a look at the bill that passed the u.s. house of representatives three weeks ago by two votes. it was all republicans voting for and passed by two. a number of republicans refused to support it

they say lamar alexander as well.oes despite the immense influence it will have, these leaderships -- while is expected to have a heavy income of two senior lawmakers will be in seminal and driving support for any measure the chamber considers. by the way, senator mitch has had a working group for weeks now with republican senators to come up with their proposal for changing the health care system. here is republican senator lamar alexander, chairman of the health and labor pensions committee. went -- we want to .et it right we will work together to write our own bill and make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it. we will get it right and then we , mr.vote and hopefully president, the in result will be significant improvement for most americans, giving them more choices of health insurance at a lower cost and to do that, by decisionstransferring from washington, d.c. to the states and individuals. host: chairman of the health committee outlining his approach that will come out of the senate. lose twoonl

that is senator lamar alexander, republican in tennessee. [video clip] >> we want to get it right. there will be no artificial deadlines. we will carefully consider the legislation passed by the house. we will work together carefully to write our own bill. we will make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it. by law, we have to do that. we will get it right, and then we will go. hopefully, the end result will forignificant improvements most americans, giving them more choices of health insurance at a lower cost, and to do that by gradually transferring more decisions from washington, d.c., to the states and individuals. host: back to your calls. california, democrat. caller: good morning. i have one question that hopefully someone can answer for me. 218ought you had to have votes to pass a bill in the house. host: they have had some early retirements, some vacancies up there. it has to be a majority of the current number. that is why it is 216. caller: thank you. host: brenda, republican. hi. caller: hi, how are you? host: good morning. caller: i'm on the republican lin

he was also previously in education policy advisor to senator lamar alexander, the republican from tennessee, who is the chairman of the senate education committee. a quick housekeeping note. this is one of the first panels at ewa. #ewa2017.et using everything is on the record, so it is fair game. we want you to make news. this is also being livestreamed on periscope. because we have such a big task ahead of us today, we want to provide lots of time for your questions. we are going to forgo opening remarks from the palace -- into this.nd dive i want to take a minute to set the scene we are currently in. , six months ago, how many of you guys thought we would he in this -- be in this politics and education environment we would be in today? no one? ok. [laughter] so the collective we kind of missed the ball on this. i don't think many of us expected to have a president trump, or maybe we expected a republican would be in the white house, but maybe not this republican.he is certainly doing things a little differently , as he has pledged to do. we are transitioning from an administration that re

. >> reporter: to help thread that needle, mitch mcconnell has appointed senator lamar alexander to convene a working group to work out a compromise. meg oliver, cbs news, capitol hill. >> and the alexander working group held two meetings looking at options before the house passed the bill. senators say it will be weeks before they could bring any kind of bill up for a vote. >>> new at noon, the victims of a berkeley balcony collapse that killed six college students have reached a settlement with seven of the companies they sued two years ago. lawyers for the families of the students who died and seven others who were injured say they are keeping the settlement amount confidential. they were at a birthday party when the balcony collapsed sending them down 50 feet to the street below. two companies did not settle so the lawsuits with them continue. >>> police need your help to find suspects, one for a violent attack at a protest in berkeley. officers say these men were all part of the demonstration, but more specifically, they are all wanted in connection with a violent attack that happened

we need >> senator lamar alexander was appointed by mitch mcconnell to lead a group are to come up with a compromise. white house is emphasizing the president wants it done right and not necessarily quickly. state senators say it will be weeks before they can bring the bill up far vote. >> while the president and house republicans celebrate the passage of the health care act and democrats cry foul. , stephen colbert may have summed it up the best. what's next? >> reporter: so they did it. obamacare is finally officially dead. it is something they can say once the bill goes to the senate and then gets out of committee is debated on the floor where amendments can be added and the senate votes on their bill which is sent to conference committee where the difference between the two bills is ironed out and voted on in the house and senate again and isn't to the white house for the president to sign. which is why chanted we're number one-third of the way through a very complex process. [ laughter ] >> thanks, stephen. president trump is no, ma'am comedian but some are clopping over what he sa

of course, lamar alexander who is going to shepard it through the senate says it's great.e're going to finish the work on our own bill, let's be clear about that -- >> not this thing ha passed yesterday. >> and we're going to take time to get it right. those are pretty telling language from republicans in the senate. >> jeff, you've been watching president trump go through a learning process through the different attempts to get this passed. at least in the house. what has it been like watching that and what is your expectation about what he'll do now as senate will be considering? >> i think based on what white house officials are telling us, he's engaged and i think he learned from the first couple times about what -- why they went wrong, why it didn't happen and is trying to avoid some of those mistakes. clearly it's a win for him that he had this vote at all and that it was successful. very shortly after the 100 day milestone. he wants it to be -- he wants to take it all the way to the finish line. he's listening. he's sort of the person who at least the white house of

. >> reporter: senator lamar alexander of tennessee was appointed by majority leader mitch mcconnell will lead a group that works towards a compromise. meg oliver, cbs news, capitol hill. >> president trump praised australia's universal healthcare system today and said: camera... where the planned weekend closure of runway 28-l is now cancelled. nticipated hig >>> here's a live look from our sfo camera where the planned weekend closure of runway 28-l is now canceled. it's because of anticipated high winds through tomorrow night. the runway was supposed to be shut down for repairs. but airport officials say using a single runway during high winds would lead to severe delays and cancellations. paul deanno has a closer look at the winds. paul? >> liz, already 38 miles per hour at sfo. and a wind advisory in effect mainly for the coast and for the hills through tomorrow evening. let's get to the specifics now. we are looking at wind gusts that likely will be in the 30- to 40-mile-per-hour range with some isolated gusts over 45 miles per hour. so right along the coastline right along the

lamar alexander / (r) tennessee: "there won't be any artificial deadlines we will carefully considergislation passed by the house . we will work together carefully to write our own bill . we will make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it."top senators from across the party's ideological spectrum...now committed to working groups - an effort, gop aides say, to reach crucial consensus before publicly moving forward on the bill. the 13 member senate gop working group doesn't include any of the five republican women.but the push and pull inside the party is reminiscent of the fractures that nearly killed the bill in the house. ( marty ) president trump looks to have his itinerary set for his first foreign trip since taking office. he had already planned to attend a nato meeting in belgium and a g-seven meeting in italy later this month. but white house officials say the trip now includes stops in israel, saudi arabia and the vatican.. they say it is part of a strategy to reach out across religions to fight extremism. ( marty ) a suicide note written by aaron hernandez has

after the house passed the legislation, tennessee republican lamar alexander came to the senate floor to outline the items he would need to see in the senate bill in order to support it. number one, rescue, rescue is not too strong a word, the millions of americans across

. >> and lamar alexander asked about what the prospects are in the senate. let's take a look. >> in almost every case, if you get insurance on the job, you have insurance for pre-existing condition. under the affordable care act in 2010, there had to be insurance for pre-existing conditions. we want to make sure those americans continue to have access if they have a pre-existing condition. >> that means a big change, kelly o'donnell, that would require really overhauling the house bill, and they said they're going to write their own bill. >> senators certainly like to have their own crack at an issue as big and complex as health care, and while even republicans appreciate that the house conference found their way to a yes, but senators view this differently. they have a state-wide constituency. and in many ways the bills they celebrated in the rose garden is just a shell when it comes to the senate. using that has a basis for the senate to work tough it's own committees with it's o ideas and senators wanting their own amounts. there was so much to discuss on

push rod rosenstein our weather jeff flake and john mccain or lindsey graham korb rob corker or lamar alexanderand lisa murkowski and susan collins. kennedy: one day after comey's firing president trump met with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. lavrov met with secretary rex tillerson about ukraine and bilateral issues but there meeting was effaced after reporter asked about the comey firing. >> you are kidding. it was a bad joke but something is lked in translation. these are the best optics for the white house. what do you think is going on here anthony? i honestly think this is not a mistake. this is the white house saying we are going to meet with whoever we do want when we want to because we are not guilty of anything. ivana trump is the president. is he supposed to ignore russia? there are a lot of opportunities for cooperation and it's important as a syrian ally depending on what the situation is and if there are clouds of russian smoke covering around the white house you still have to work with them. putin and trump are teetotalers which makes them twice a as gary. kennedy: you ar

lamar alexander / (r) tennessee: "there won't be any artificial deadlines we will carefully considergislation passed by the house . we will work together carefully to write our own bill . we will make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it."top senators from across the party's ideological spectrum...now committed to working groups - an effort, gop aides say, to reach crucial consensus before publicly moving forward on the bill. the 13 member senate gop working group doesn't include any of the five republican women.but the push and pull inside the party is reminiscent of the fractures that nearly killed the bill in the house. (pam) president trump looks to have his itinerary set for his first foreign trip since becoming president. he had already planned to attend a nato meeting in belgium... and a g-seven meeting in italy later this month. but white house officials say, the trip now includes stops in israel, saudi arabia and the vatican. the say, it is part of a strategy to reach out across religions.. to fight extremism. (steve) happening now:some rivers and streams are

lamar alexander / (r) tennessee: "there won't be any artificial deadlines we will carefully considerhe legislation passed by the house . we will work together carefully to write our own bill . we will make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it."top senators from across the party's ideological spectrum...now committed to working groups - an effort, gop aides say, to reach crucial consensus before publicly moving forward on the bill. the 13 member senate gop working group doesn't include any of the five republican women.but the push and pull inside the party is reminiscent of the fractures that nearly killed the bill in the house. (steve) millions of americans with pre-existing conditions are likely wondering what impact this health care legislation would have on them. kron 4's vicki liviakis is back to show us what some of those concerns might be. (vicki) yeah steve, no doubt, if the recently passed american health care act ever becomes law, there will be winners and losers... the winners: the young, healthy and wealthy. on the losing side: could be the millions of ameri

lamar alexander, senator from tennessee, we are writing a senate bill and not passing the house bill. we'll take whatever good ideas we find there. that's most -- that's some of the conversation that significant. >> sandra: maybe you can look at what this means short-term for the party and maybe it means that house republicans were able to come together and some of those mills were turned into yeses just hours before that vote took place. >> michael: president trump and republicans were put here to get stuff done. you have to look at the flip side if they haven't gotten it done yesterday. what would happen if we turn to cheek in syria again and what would that have done worldwide? you're owning the house, owning the senate, and owning the white house, we couldn't get together and improve obamacare which is falling apart all over the country, i think it would've been bad for the party. >> harris: meanwhile, president trump is getting credit for playing a big part in sealing the deal for the health care bill. the president was directly engaged this time around as tweets took a backseat.

. >> reporter: senator lamar alexander of tennessee was appointed by the majority leader to lead a group work toward a compromise. meg oliver, cbs news, capitol hill. >>> the white house is saying that the president was just being nice when told australia's prime minister that his country has better healthcare than americans. australia has universal healthcare. democrats jumped on the comment but the president doubled down saying of course the australians have better healthcare than we do. everybody does. obamacare is dead. but our healthcare will soon be great. >>> samtrans is standing down to help thousands of veterans in san mateo. samtrans employees are at the san mateo county fairgrounds today to givens food clothing -- give veterans food, clothing and health screenings. this is across the country but this is the first time that samtrans has taken part. >> for them to come here they show the veterans some are homeless, some have issues, some don't, some are here for direction or help with the problem they're having, housing or whatever, and these provide us with everything we need.

amber, let me pull up a tweeted out statement from senator lamar alexander who is going to be headingis working group. we've shown the photographs, but let's look at the tweet. he says, the senate will finish work on our bill, but -- not and -- but will take the time to get it right. seems like a backhand at the house. >> yeah. the senate wants absolutely nothing to do with this house bill. they think it is absolutely toxic. listen, paul ryan -- and you can understand why when you look at the political dynamics with the house. to get this house bill through, paul ryan needed to shift it to the right. he needed this group of 30 or 40 conservative members of the house freedom caucus, who want government like completely out of people's health care, to get on board. managed to do that. the senate is an entirely different beast. you have more moderate republicans who are in states that expanded medicaid under obamacare. those states would be on the hook financially, hundreds of thousands. in some of the states, millions of people could lose their health care. these senators cannot face vot

i'm thinking of lamar alexander, virginia fox, maybe luke messer. i would have said a few months ago senator patty murray but it seems like there's been a bit of a fracture that comes along with education issues. where do you guys see them standing on moving education legislation through the pipeline? i'm thinking maybe a career tech ed. there's bipartisan ship around that. what can we expect? you know, are there folks who don't play who were not -- who were not really considering. there is a push ton part of the administration i this to streamline the tax code to lower rates. you know, does that run into a push far new federal tax credit scholarship which maybe could go in the opposite direction? i say that only to say there will be interesting dynamics that operate outside of the session space when it comes to something like a scholarship program. ata is up for reauthorization. we could see some removement in that direction. the calendar is pretty truncated into the fall. >> do you think there's any alignment from some of those republicans with th

we do have some sound from lamar alexander, talking about his approach to crafting health care legislationhe chairs the house, education, labor, and pension committee. >> we want to get it right. we want to meet official deadlines. we carefully considered the legislation passed by the house. we will work together carefully to write our own bill. we will make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it. by law we have to do that. we will get it right and then we will vote and hopefully the end result will be significant americans,s for most giving them more choices of health insurance at a lower cost. and to do that, by gradually transferring more decisions from washington, d.c. to the states and individuals. host: the question for you this morning is what is your message the senate as they approach cracking their own health care legislation? there are the numbers on the screen. let's has now to fort lauderdale florida where robert is on the republican line. caller: yes. host: what would be your message to the senate on health care? itler: i don't understand that it i just know trie

so when you heard from lamar alexander, the chairman of the health committee over in the senate, basically a little bit of a not so subtle shot at the house for moving their bill without knowing what it costs and making it clear they're moving in their own direction. this group of 13 is talking -- moving in a diverse perspective. changes are expected. whether it's the medicaid expansion, the shape of the tax credit, whether it's the obama care regulations that became such a hot issue in the house but also another issue that i think is really important, planned parenthood defunding. that's in the house bill. two of the women in the senate, susan collins and lisa her cow ski have made clear they don't support that. they can only lose two of their members and still pass the bill. you talk about who's going to be involved, how they're going to be involved, they don't have a choice. everybody in this conference is going to have to play a part of this process. >> right. >> to your point, it's better to be in the room early than outside and consulted earlier. >> you could have thought they would

lamar alexander, a top republican chairman of the key committee e on the senate side, is already talkingthing along those lines, ali. >> and mike, the other thing is, while we were running the cbo score and numbers and talking about the number of people who are going to lose insurance, that's still in the individual market. actually a much smaller part of the health insurance market than those of us who get our insurance through work. but medicaid, the medicaid cuts, this is going to be puff ftough lot of moderate republicans. >> it has been. we talked about substance abuse, for example, how premiums would go up if the essential health benefits are taken away oar the waivers are enact in some states. look at a law key republican senators. we talked about rob portman of ohio, medicaid is a big deal for him for just that issue, the opioid epidemic ravaging parts of ohio. he's not interested in cutting those programs that have involved many medicaid. a lot of bank shots. the politics on this are very tricky if not impossible at this point, ali. >> yeah. right. jennifer, you think we might h

lamar alexander said we'll be writing our own bill. the senate could use the house measure as a resource for ideas. moderate republican senators have criticized one of the major provisions for rolling back the expansion under obamacare. conservative senators say it doesn't go far much the to replace obamacare. so it works this way. the house passed it, the senate will do its own dance. if changes are made, it goes back to the house for approval. the president declared victory on twitter today. big win in the house, very exciting. when everything comes together with phase two, we'll truly have great healthcare. last night hours after the vote, he said this is a great plan that is a repeal and replace of obamacare, make no mistake about it. john roberts is live for us outside the white house. obviously. good to see you, john. >> good to see you, harris. there's a phase 3 the president didn't talk about in the tweet. he's trying to take this a bite at a time. he got phase 1 through the house and now looking at phase 2 and needs to get pha

in a positive sense, like lindsey graham, john mccain, like, you know, lamar alexander of tennessee.rs -- and susan collins, i think, will come around to this, too. she supported the stimulus plan, as i did, back when we had the great recession, which wasn't great at all. i, then a republican governor of florida as you indicated, supported president obama, who was a democrat and still is, and i am now, too, and proud of it, but the fact of the matter was it wasn't about the politics. it was about the people. we are elected to represent and to work for the people of america. in my case, st. pete/clearwater area. i'm proud to do so. what is important is keep our eye on the ball. it is not about republicans, democrats or independents. it's about our fellow americans. and doing what's right for them. what's right for them is not to strip health carraway from poe poor, sick, elderly, people with pre-existing conditions. it'll take at least 24 million people, throw them offealth care. why? so they can give a tax break to the top 1% in our country. that's appalling. that's inexcusable. >> c

. >> lamar alexander, former member of leadership in a state, tennessee, that is very hard hit by the-existing mandate repeal and a voice that republicans have trusted on health care since at least 2010. remember, he was the lead republican voice in those negotiations in 2010 with president obama. was that 20 seconds? >> yeah. let's see if you could beat it with rob portman of ohio. >> the quintessential moderate pragmatic deal maker. they did accept medicaid expansion. i think portman is concerned about freezing those funds in 2020. he, along with lisa and susan collins in maine will be your leading voices on that. >> and then there is ted cruz. >> you might have a two man freedom caucus or three man with mike lee in there. cruz was urging the government shut down in 2013 unless obamacare was defunded, which it was never going to be. he still has national ambitions. he was the runner-up in the presidential primary in 2016. how much does he use what will be a lot of eyeballs on him to do something similar? what will he accept, if anything, that's not full repeal, which won't go throug

lamar alexander should be charged to produce their own approach.s a small group of senators that sit in the caucus that is working on this. ma connell has promised been them some time for deliberation unlike the way the house passed this. the probable vote is exactly what you're talking about. senator collins has already announced she will not support a bill that does not include planned parenthood fund. okay. the bill will not include planned parenthood funding. that means that republicans need 51 votes. they've got a margin of one in intloosinintroducing this piecef legislation. there's no margin of error for them here. >> sreenivasan: let's talk about another rose garden event that happened yesterday. we'll talk about religion and politics and the trouble administration bring that to the fore. he signed an executive easen't an irs rule by limiting activity by houses of worship. he proclaimed a national day of prayer and had a statement saying quote all human beings have the right to practice their faith in private and in the public square. the p

majority leader mcconnell has appointed senator lamar alexander of tennessee to lead a group of 13 men and no women tasked with coming up with a senate version of the health care bill. >> joining us now to talk about what it means for california and what was going on behind the scenes in washington is congressman mark desaulnier. thank you for joining us this morning. >> my pleasure. >> what was going on? aside from the rose garden and at the capitol? what was going on behind the scenes? >> i was privy to what the republican majority was doing but it was pretty crazy. one of the most irresponsible things i've ever seen. i don't understand how they could possibly believe the american public would support. that. >> blast the democratic alternative plan? >> it would be medicare for all. i'm a co-author of a bill. single payer universal health care. >> but i haven't seen the democrats coalesce around something. i just hear them say no, no, to this one. >> we're trying to save what we've got right now. we can do medicare for everybody in america. every other industrialized country has a for

even republicans like john mccain, lindsey graham, lamar alexander, they have already gone on record saying we've got to take this slow, we've got to be smart about how we look at this. health care is incredibly important. the american peopl desve the very best. we're the richest country in the world. frankly, we're the richest country in the history of the world and we need to provide people who need health care a very good product and that's what has to be at the end of the day. >> you talk about being optimistic. if this ends in a best case scenario for congressional democrats and president trump doesn't sign obamacare repeal into law, will there be a push to work on legislation that will help americans handle the massive premium increases we're seeing in states across the country? >> of course there will. that's our job. we work for the american people. they're my boss. they pay me. i'm grateful to them. and they pay all my colleagues. and so this is democracy. and democracy means that the will of the people shall be heard. our greatest job is to listen. got gave us two ears and

lot of leadership in the senate, cluding john cornyn and the chairman of the health committee, lamar alexanderade clear this is going to be a process that takes weeks and weeks in the senate. the senate will work in a deliberative process and not try to rush something through to give the president a victory that this for them is about actually putting through a bill that at least the republican majority feels confident in. and as hunter pointed out, some of these people like ted cruz and rand paul in particular have strong views on health care. have put forward their own bills. have shown that they're willing to use senate procedures to hold up bills they don't like. and i think what you're going to see here is a much longer process that's going to be reminiscent of the year and a half that it took to pass the affordable care act. >> when the cbo reports that 24 million people could stand losing their health care under this bill, they haven't necessarily put out their reports on this new amended bill but many experts suggesting it's going to be the same numbers there. how do republicans defend

here is more from that chairman, lamar alexander. >> number two, i second goal is to lower premium costspremium costs have increased and in some states are going through the roof. under the affordable care act. number three, to gradually transfer to the states more flexibility. >> other senators have described it as writing their own health care bill if they can pass something like that, then the house and senate would go to conference to work out the differences. >> jon: we noted there were no democrat supporters in the house side, what about the senate, any sign of democrats being willing to work with republicans on healthcare? >> so far, a couple of them are not willing it out. montana senator jon tester is an interesting one. he told neil cavuto he is willing to work on improving obamacare or repealing and replacing it with something better. he is up for reelection next year in a state won by president trump. another key democrat is also talking about at least working at the table. >> it is important to get it into the senate. if we take healthcare seriously, we will put the bill of

lamar alexander said he wants to have a softer landing. there will have to be more protection for older enrollees because this bill would raise premiums on them, and nobody wants that particularly not aarp. there will be other changes. we'll have to wait and see. >> what about women, we talked about maternity and other benefits? >> for the premium prices they're maintaining prices against gender rating. they can't charge more but women may not get maternity in their policies. >> which is a big deal, especially if you are a woman and you're thinking about it heading into 2018. i'm brook brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me. we will send it back to washington. the lead with jake tapper starts right now. ♪ >> this is "cnn breaking news." >> thanks, brooke. welcome to "the lead." we will begin with breaking news. politics lead, of course, after seven years of campaigning, promising and false starting, republicans did it. the house voted to repeal and replace the affordable care act, otherwise known as obamacare. they needed 216 votes. t

kaptur for her hard work on drafting this bill and our senate partners lamar alexander and senator feinstein and thank the staff for the incredible work and long hours. the energy and water section strengthens our nation's defense and makes important water infrastructure and advances energy strategy to ensure united states' energy independence. to maintain and safety and security readiness is more than last year. within that funding for nuclear weapons infrastructure is $2.8 billion, increase of 23% and address a backlog of preferred maintenance and high risk. he naval reactor's program has increased by $45 million. and fully funds the ohio class ballistic missile submarine. this supports the health of our water resources which is increased over the 2016 levels d makes full use of annual revenues in harbor trust fund hitting wrrda adjusted. flood and storm damage activities are provided with $29 million more than last year to mitigate flooding events. the bill capitalizes on abundant natural resources. these investments will improve our energy independence and keep our consumer prices afford

. >> lamar alexander is one of 12 republicans who will take the house bill and turn it into somethinghe senate can accept. they will not get any help from senate democrats. >> we will make sure that trumpcare doesn't pass t senate and can't hurt the american people. >> it doesn't matter. they're going to try to use something in the senate called reconciliation which will allow them to pass the bill without any democratic support. though, gayle, as we saw in house, getting their own members all on board can be a challenge. >> thank you very much, nancy. >>> president trump told john dickerson on "face the nation" last week that his plan will protect people with pre-existing conditions. >> they say it will make coverage completely unfordable for people. >> forget about unaffordable. what's unaffordable is obamacare, john. >> i'm not hearing you say -- >> we have a clause that guarantees. >> under the law bill states it can states can charge higher numbers. they can set up pools to hem people pay for insurance. the pools to be stuck in second-class health care coverage if they're able to

kaptur for her hard work on drafting this bill and our senate partners lamar alexander and senator feinstein and thank the staff for the incredible work and long hours. the energy and water section strengthens our nation's defense and makes important water infrastructure and advances energy strategy to ensure united states' energy independence. to maintain and safety and security readiness is more than last year. within that funding for nuclear weapons infrastructure is $2.8 billion, increase of 23% and address a backlog of preferred maintenance and high risk. he naval reactor's program has increased by $45 million. and fully funds the ohio class ballistic missile submarine. this supports the health of our water resources which is increased over the 2016 levels d makes full use of annual revenues in harbor trust fund hitting wrrda adjusted. flood and storm damage activities are provided with $29 million more than last year to mitigate flooding events. the bill capitalizes on abundant natural resources. these investments will improve our energy independence and keep our consumer prices afford

. >> reporter: tennessee senator lamar alexander is one of 12 who will take the house bill and turn ito something the senate can accept. >> we will work together carefully to write our own bill. >> reporter: they will not get any help from senate democrats. >> we will make sure that trump care doesn't pass the senate and can't hurt the american people. >> reporter: but it may not matter because republicans are going to try to use a process in the senate called reconciliation, which would allow them to pass this bill without any democratic support. though gayle, as we saw in the house, even getting all of their own members on board can be a challenge. >> yep. thank you very much, nancy. >>> president trump told john dickerson on "face the nation" last week that his plan will protect people with preexisting conditions. >> the american medical association says -- >> we actually have a -- >> make coverage completely unaffordable for people we have -- forget about unaffordable. what's unaffordable is obamacare, john. >> so i'm not hearing you, mr. president, say there's a guarantee of preex

it is under the chairmanship of lamar alexander, whom i respect personally very much, and ranking memberpatty murray of the state of washington, a democrat. i know, having spoken to senator murray, she's ready to roll up her sleeves and go to work and to write a revision to the health care bill, the health care system in america. but there have been no hearings, none, on the measure passed by the house of representatives, so when the republican leader says he wishes the democrats would join in the effort, this committee is ready and willing to work, and i'm sure if he picked up the phone and called senator alexander and senator murray, they could get to work on doing a much better job than what the house of representatives did. why am i so critical of the house of representatives? not because of the traditional rivalry between the chambers but because yesterday the congressional budget office took a look at the bill that passed the u.s. house of representatives three weeks ago by two votes. it was all republicans voting for and passed by two. a number of republicans refused to support it

you have lamar alexander and other republicans coming out yesterday all but flicking this thing aside and saying anything that passes through the house is going to look completely different, we're drawing up our own health care bill, all the things the house is doing, sticking their necks out for, are not going to become law. to what end did you put yourself out there? that's the question. >>> still ahead, senator dick durbin will joined us, ranking member of the armed services committee, senator jack reed and well as west virginia democrat joe manchin. >>> first, was jim comey lured into politics by a fake document? the former fbi director may have been duped into commenting on the clinton investigation after reviewing false information planted by russia. an incredible story in "the washington post" when "morning joe" comes right back. the classes, the friends, the independence. and since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, i'm glad she'll miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise who's the new guy? they call him the whi

senator lamar anderson has -- or alexander has been appointed by mitch mcconnell to lead a group that will work toward a compromise. >>> so many of you have questions about what health care could look like in a post obamacare world. but we won't know until the senate votes on the bill the house passed. people have been asking about three things. what about people with preexisting conditions? how will this effect older people don't make a lot of money. right now if you have a preexisting condition under obamacare, insurers have to insure you and charge you the same amount as people with that condition. under this bill called the american health care act, each state made a sign to charge you more. remember this bill isn't a done deal yet. this could effect $2 million. maybe even more. the new bill may leave it up to states to pick and choose like perhaps yeah, we'll cover alzheimer's but no we won't cover cancer. take a look at this list from the kizer family foundation. it has two dozen conditions listed on it from cancer to pregnancy to perhaps having a stroke. now let's talk about ol

after the house passed the legislation, tennessee republican lamar alexander came to the senate floor to outline the items he would need to see in the senate bill in order to support it. number one, rescue, rescue is not too strong a word, the millions of americans across this country who are going to have few or zero insurance options in the year 2018 because of collapsing obamacare exchanges, unless congress acts. number two, lower premium rates because, in many states, premiums are going through the roof under the affordable care act. number three, razaleigh transferred to state -- gradually transferred to states more flexibility in managing the medicaid programs. 20% of americans get their insurance on medicaid. do so in such a way that does not pull the rug out from under those who are currently served by medicaid. finally, pre-existing conditions. who sure that americans -- ornsurance risk pre-existing conditions -- continue to have access. if you are on medicaid or medicare, or, and almost case, get insurance on the job, you have insurance or pre-existing conditions under the a

days of being on the committee, i led a group of about 13 democrats, and we wrote to our chair lamar alexander, the finance chair orrin hatch and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and said we are ready to sit down and to talk about improvements and fixes. my heart soared, mr. president, when i read your comment last week. any final bill must, quote, fulfill president trump's promises to lower premiums, maintain coverage, and ensure protection for those with preexisting conditions -- the same items that you put up on your board just a few minuteing a -- because that's the same set of three goals i have. that's the same set of three goals i think all my colleagues have. if we can hold that up as the standard, we will work on a bill together and the bill should meet three promises -- to maintain coverage so people don't lose it, to maintain cost so people don't pay prope more,o maintain compassion, so those with preexisting conditions can't kicked to the curb. if we can find that bill, we will do it as democrats and republicans. we will do it in a way that we can build something that wil