on the other hand, i think john mccain votes for graham/cassidy. as one example of someone who's clearly a critic of the process, is looking for a way forward, i think -- i can't speak absolutely, but i do think john mccain would end up voting for graham/cassidy and that's why i think it is a way forward. >> this morning, i don't know how often you read the president's tweets, but you know, in one of them early this morning, he singled out your colleague, senator lisa murkowski. she was a no vote on multiple versions of this. or said she would have been a no and then yesterday the procedural vote, she was a no, saying she let her party -- that she let her party and the country down, that this is the president of the united states, you know, tweeting about her. is this a way to woo? >> well, it's a funny way to woo. i think a better way to woo is to have better policy, and president trump during the campaign said he wanted everyone to remain covered, care for those with preexisting conditions, eliminate mandates, lower premiums. that's actually poli

the other proposal is the graham/cassidy amendment, written by south carolina senator lindsey graham and louisiana senator bill cassidy. it would keep the obama tax on the wealthy and send that tax revenue to the states. each state would then decide whether or not to repeal obamacare or administer their own state-run health insurance program. so, with me now, the co-author of the graham/cassidy amendment, senator bill cassidy, who is also an m.d. thank you so much for swinging by the camera. i know you've got a busy day. >> thank you for having me e. >> before we get to your amendment, senator, how do you plan to vote on this repeal only that's coming up? yea or nay. >> repeal and delay, which gives congress a deadline. i've been so frustrated with this process, i think deadlines work. right now, my intention is to vote yes. >> to vote yes. and then on to the skinny repeal, and you, sir, were one of the senators to watch, more oz as a moderate, maybe the concern is with the death spiral that would -- i know hurt a lot of people. how will you vote on that. >> i'm voting for anything th

that's why we're putting up graham/cassidy. we think that's a way to get to 50 votes and maybe even get to some democratic support as well. we've got to move out of this kind of locked, nothing happens, don't know what happens next. >> right, but you imagine -- you mentioned, senator, the magic number of 50, and thus far,

. >> so there has not yet been a vote on graham/cassidy and it may be that it's in conference that we have to fully consider it. we think that gets to 50. i'll tell you why. there are three states right now getting 37% of all the obamacare health insurance payments. think about that. three states get 37% of all the obamacare health insurance premiums. now, if you just say to the senator, no matter whether it's blue or red, you're not one of those three states, maybe there should be equity, maybe no matter where that patient lives, the federal taxpayer support of his or her health insurance should be equal across states, they say, yes. and frankly, many of those states do financially better

states do financially better under graham/cassidy than they do under status quo. we think giving those senators that option to vote for fairness is a way to go forward. we still repeal taxes and mandates but we do create fairness and that leaves most states better off. >> so that's your amendment. i hear you looking at the glass half full on the getting to the 50 and we'll be watching to see where you go. but listen, you were there when senator john mccain amazingly stood up before all of you, eleven days off of brain surgery and as he was doing so, he really lectured your party for a lack of transparency on this whole thing. and a lot of senators up until, you know, the vote, didn't actually know what they'd be voting on. is your party botching this? >> i totally -- i do not defend the process at all. i do not defend it at all, and would, and have said publicly, i would have done the process better, differently.

>> let's go back to the graham/cassidy amendment. so far i think the only thing that gets 50 votes is that amendment. it is a good conservative republican but also american principle to allow states to come up with state-specific solutions as opposed to d.c. dictating. >> and you think that even sadly in john mccain's absence right now that you have the votes for all of that? >> we don't know if we have the votes yet, but when we speak to governors, they like that approach. they like the idea, wait a second, alaska is different than louisiana different than rhode island. so allow us to come up with a specific solution. we need resources, guidelines, you got to use it on health care, not a ballpark. but on the other hand allowing a state to come up with their own solution is worked very well in other federal-state programs. >> i understand why governors would obviously want that. but that's not what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has been talking about. i mean, what we've heard most is the repeal only. that's what they say tha

pass tonight will go to conference and so the good ideas of people like senator lindsey graham and senator cassidy here can get scored, can have a chance to be argued and hopefully can replace obamacare with something that actually works for folks like sherry and vern. with that, i'm happy to introduce senator cassidy. >> i want to look at the potential of what happens should it go to conference. we have been working on a provision which frankly will take a little bit longer to be scored. the process as you know requires that to occur and they would be overlayed upon the bill that would be passed tonight. and in that we hope to take all the dollars that would go to a state and deliver to the state. the state would have to use it on health care but then allow that state to come one a solution particular for their state. what happens in alaska with less than one person's per square mile is very different than what happens in washington, d.c. over 100,000 people per square mile. those states should decide what's best for those states. we can do that through this process if indeed we pass the bill ton

senator cassidy: i want to look at what could happen if it goes to conference. senator graham and senator heller and i have been working on a provision which could take some time to be scored, it could be overlaid upon the bill that could be passed tonight. we hope to take all the dollars that would go to a state and deliver to the state. the state has to use it on health care but they can come up with a solution particular for their state. what happens in alaska with less than one person per square mile is very different than what happens in washington, d.c., over 100,000 people per square mile. which is difference than louisiana, south carolina, wisconsin and arizona. those states should decide what's best for those states. we can do that through this process if we pass the bill tonight and then it goes to conference committee and then we can overlay this we think we can overlay this. we think this is a way to fulfill the promise president trump made to the american people to actually repeal. and that's our commitment. we hope this process allows it. reporter: you said you h

heller on fox said the only reason he voted for the motion to proceed was to get onto the graham cassidynk those folks who are not pleased with what's being offered would find a home with graham cassidy. >> bill: we've pushed it for some time and talked about it for some time as well. when do you think we'll know in the next 36 hours or less than that? >> we'll vote sometime early tomorrow morning. the graham cassidy bill will have to be scored and that will take a week or two in which case that going to conference gives an opportunity for that score to be completed and hopefully for graham cassidy from my perspective to be put on top of that skinny bill. >> bill: we'll follow it by the hour. senator, thank you for your time. long hours up there. thanks for coming back here. >> shannon: fox news now confirming iran has launched a rock ert towards space. it comes despite sanctions banning the country from conducting ballistic missile tests. we're joined live at the pentagon where it appears has happened. what can you tell us about the launch? >> u.s. official confirms that iran's rocket b

senator graham, senator cassidy thank you for coming on and taking my questions. thank you.ood luck. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >>> a member of congress investigating the trump campaign's contact with russia, a different member of congress. you are going to hear what he says about the president's defense about his son's meetings and why president trump says vladimir putin would have actually preferred hillary clinton be president. that's coming up. >>> plus, we are going to show you live pictures. right now, we are moments away from president trump facing the media, holding a news conference in paris. stay with us. we'll be right back. (dog) mmm. this new beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken. hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) new beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites - so you save up

it's essentially what you see in the graham cassidy bill. this is not a federal issue.ederal government shouldn't be involved in dictating health care because mississippi and massachusetts both will approach health care for their citizens in a dramatically different way. maria: absolutely, you make a lot of good points, governor. let's talk about what just went on in the white house and whether or not john kelly is going to be able to put some stability and discipline. obviously governor, your daughter got a big promotion, sarah huckabee sanders has been doing very well, he's right in the thick of things, though, we saw that outburst by anthony scaramucci last week. you are a religious man, how did you feel about what you read from scaramucci's rant? how is your daughter holding up? >> i would have given him breakfast that would have included two bars of soap followed by strong coffee for some of the language he used just because i don't think it's necessary. scaramucci is learning something. there's no such thing as off the record, not in politics and every morning you

senators, we had bill cassidy, lindsey graham, john mccain and john ron johnson, they say that skinnyepeal is not good enough to replace obamacare. they don't want it to get to house conference, they want it as a vehicle. they say insurance rates will continue to go up and people will continue to get hurt. what did you make of what you heard? >> my question is, why this posturing, if you do not like the bill, vote no, there is no reason to say if this, then this, they do lootic th like the bill. thin just vote no. my question, what happens if conference fails and the house goes on to pass the bill. what happens then. i just think they need to go ahead and stake their stick in the sand. if they do not file th file this bill will help -- feel this bill will help americans, say, that leave it there, go from there. liz: wendy makes an important point, mak make a stand. saying that leaves in place essence of obamacare. that means that would be bad obamacare collapse, why should we own it. lindsey graham said, let it collapse. >> i think conservatives win if obamacare does collapse. and i t

away a confidential conversation, obviously it still was cassidy collins or it's now graham cassidy,ately not senator durbin. >> do you think if senator mcconnell took reconciliation off the table and allowed it to be, you know, force the 60 vote, do you think you would have more democrats that would be willing to work with you? >> that political article that was written a couple weeks ago in which it basically quotes chuck schumer saying that he was going to keep everybody in line, debbie stab now saying every time i wanted to do the right thing, i was told don't do scenario, someone else saying i couldn't speak with republicans unless given perms. again, i'm frustrated by that. this should be an american solution, not a democrat or republican. i've done my best. i'm still going to do my best. >> where are you on this bill if your amendment doesn't pass? >> i have started reading the bill. i'm on page like 8 because i'm flipping back through the obamacare bill. i'll know hopefully bied end of the weekend how this bill afelkts by state and whether it fulfills president trump's campai

no democrats are part of the grand graham-cassidy bill.d you're a member of the house, not the senate. are democrats willing to throw republicans a lifeline yet on health care, are you still going to let them flounder? >> we've been waiting for our colleagues to reach out to us, and hasn't happened on any issues quite frankly at this point. especially on the issue of health care. i can't believe what's happening in the senate, i do know they have a history of working sixes and aides to come together in bipartisan ways. i haven't seen them materialize, i know that some agreements said, we haven't seen them materialize. i do think there is a body within the senate who would like to strike a path forward. i know senator mcconnell has said, if unable to reach an agreement in their own party, they'll have to talk to democrats and work with democrats. since when is being bipartisan such a bad word? i hope at some point rather sooner than later, they get to the point where they can work together in the senate. >> leland: that brings up an importa

. >> kennedy: very quickly about senator graham and cassidy's bill, why not make that apart of this senate health care bill instead of making it something up with a separate? >> meghan: asked mitch mcconnell that. >> kennedy: he's talk about federalism and these ideas, and essentially, ed's granting money and giving that money and feeding the bloated bureaucratic state, which is very inefficient, very ineffective. allow people to choose their catastrophic plans. >> harris: is not what we are kind of trying to do with veteran affairs with health care for veterans? that was one of the ideas. >> meghan: that's why socialized medicine doesn't work, but going forward, when i never understood about this, they didn't want to have open debates and they are still against it, i think the most average americans, it should be pretty rational. why is the leadership so averse to having -- 's before they have self-imposed deadline. they had a deadline that they missed a couple months ago. this is so complicated, get rid of these deadlines, actually have a debate. i'm sorry, bring in some democrats who no

talking about senators graham and cassidy, their plan to keep obamacare taxes, give money to the statesom those taxes. here's lindsey graham. >> is mcconnell on board? >> well, you know, we're going to support mitch's effort with his new plan, but we want an alternative, and we're going to see which one can get 50 votes. we're not undercutting mitch. he's not undercutting us. >> are you upset that they unveiled their alternative plan during the very hour you guys released your revised bill? >> well, i think it's, you know, we're an entrepreneurial party. we have people with lots of good ideas. everybody says they don't have an idea. we have lots of ideas. we have multiple ideas and that's another one that gets into the mix and clearly it sounds like they intend to offer an amendment on the floor. but you have to get on the bill before you can actually have a debate about amendments. so, if senators graham and cassidy want to offer that, it is probably a good discussion to have. it's an interesting approach, and it will give people something else to look at, but you braren't going to be

it seems as if the plan by senator graham and mccain and cassidy in particular is they view the conferencepportunity to write new legislation. how does that work? is that -- and will you participate in something like that? will democrats be appointed to a conference committee and participate in helping to write that legislation? >> and p don't forget, we have reached this point in this deliberation, and the republicans in control of the united states senate could not find a plan that 50 of them could agree on. and so they came up with this skinny thing, which i think lindsey gram graham was right. it is a fraud. it is going to raise health insurance premiums. he said as much and i agree with him complete. . it's going to cut 16 million people off of health insurance. and so they couldn't come up with a plan that 50 of their members can agree on and now they're hoping that a conference committee might be able to. i just say to george will s heats go pack to basics here. basics suggest that we ought to junk this approach, real go down to the regular order which john mccain spoke about. let's

and then there's that new proposal from senators lindsey graham and bill cassidy, seems to be gaininge support. msnbc's gherarrett haake joins . >> the easiest way to explain this, if this skinny repeal was a way to take the controversial parts of repeal and replace out of a bill entirely and pass something small, graham cassidy is an effort to take all of the controversial parts of repeal and replace and kick them back to the states. so the idea is that states and their governors would have more say in how to spend things like medicaid money and set up funds to help keep premiums low and that kind of thing. that's an idea that has a lot of support among republicans, just for the sort of federalism aspect of it. and now it seems to be getting a little bit of traction with the white house. we know lindsey graham was there on friday, selling the plan. i'm told by an administration official it was moderately well-received. and bill cassidy is going to the white house today. the other advantage that this bill has, it's sort of the next last serious republican idea that's been committed to

i want to add onto that the graham cassidy amendment. sponse so that iowa doesn't have 95 counties without a single insurer. >> all right. senator bill cassidy, thank you so much for being on the show today. >> thank you. >> coming up, regulations currently prevent the president from directly firing robert mueller himself. but the president has repealed plenty of regulations. could he just repeal that one too? >>> and what about the possibility of a nixon style saturday night massacre? we'll dig into the president's options ahead on "morning joe." ♪ [vo] progress is seizing the moment. your summer moment awaits you now that the summer of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. on a hotel just go to priceline. they add thousands of new deals every day at up to 60% off. that's how kaley and i got to share this trip together at this amazing hotel. yeah ash and i share everything - dresses, makeup, water bottles... we do? mmhmm. we share secrets, shoes,

just whaunants it to work and p >> does this graham/cassidy alternative, does it undermine the chanceshat mcconnell and the republican leadership are pushing? >> maybe. depends on how much traction this alternative gets and a lot of it depends on the governors. if republican governors, again, have a lot of pow around say in this, if they decide they like this alternative better, it might take the wind out of this alternative that -- i mean, this fundamental republican bill they're trying very hard, as ryan said, to tweak around the edges to get to that 50. >> all right. we'll talk more about this after we take a quick break. >>> coming up, the president is about to speak in the city of lights, as russia and storm clouds gather back in washington, d.c. what will president trump have to say about the latest controversial involving donald trump jr.? we'll be right back. (woman vo) is now a good time to refinance? (man vo) yes! mortgage rates just plummeted. the time to refinance your home is right now. get started at lendingtree dot com. the only place you can compare up to five real offe

one last question from south carolina. >> i am 99% sure that we will get a memo saying that the graham, cassidy, heller, maybe johnson bill will be conferenced. and that block has been checked, and i really wouldn't too much worried about anything above that. until i got a call from mark meadows. and i got a call who believes gnat skinny bill is not a replacement. that obamacare is collapsing and the skinny bill won't prevent it from collapsing and makes everything worse. so that part of it i think we're good to go. i just need an assurance and what's an insurance? who asked that. here's what an assurance would be -- >> what is the guarantee? blood oath, what's it going to be? i'm serious. >> it's a like pornography, you'll know it when you see it. >> why are we a little concerned? walking up somebody asked me that the house is going into marshall law. didn't know that was possible. that would give us a little bit of a concern. in remaining moments, i'm happy to give you all of this chart. keep talking about information we need. this shows you the disaster that is obamacare in terms of premiums

really the block grant that graham cassidy wanted would give the blue states something the blue statesanted to do, but a state like mine, louisiana, could do better for our people. so far there wasn't an offer to help. there was a political ad a few weeks ago saying don't cooperate. debbie stabenow said every time i wanted to help do the right thing, i was pulled back. so i think there is perceived political advantage on their side. i find that regrettable. i would love to work with democrats to find a common solution. >> senator and dr. bill cassidy, senator of louisiana, thank you, as always. >> thank you, jake. >>> a white house report says president trump is ending the covert war to end assad. >>> new information showing north korea could be preparing to launch another intercontinental ballistic missile. stay with us. dad: flash drives? yup. that's dad taking care of business. laptop setup? yup. but who takes care of dad? office depot, office max. this week, all hp ink, buy one get one 30% off. ♪ taking care of business man: let's go! man #2: we're not coming out! man #1: [ sighs ]

apparently lindsey graham and bill cassidy are introducing their own bill. the president is saying if republicans can't get a deal they should do repeal and replace separately. did the house go back and look at any other options? now that you passed something do you think you've done your part? >> as tempting as it is to comment on the senate's, i want them to get their job done. we did our job in the house. i look forward to the senate doing the same. >> would the house stay in session -- >> yes. if the senate is going to give us a health care bill, we'll stay and finish the health care bill. >> senator grassley is sending a letter to donald trump jr. asking him to testify about his meeting. should the president's son testify in court? >> any witness who has been asked before congress to testify, should testify. >> in public? >> i'll leave that up to others to decide, but anybody who is asked to testify to the senate should do that. >> a bill to reauthorize the faa could come to the floor as soon as next week. there have been some changes from the effort la

graham/cassidy amendment keeps it simple. chris cillizza, john mccain said in full-throated fashion, very impressive given his current medical state, he comes up and makes an address, we need bipartisan effort. the democrats are boxed in in a rigged system right now with how this is being done. this is not the typical process of going through hearings and bringing in lots of different testimony and having debates and moving from subcommittee to committee and ruling committee, et cetera. these amendments are only as good as the gop majority wants them to be. isn't that the truth? >> john mccain, interesting you bring his name up. remember that after the most recent delay, before this vote yesterday, john mccain came out very quickly and said we need to go back to basics, we need to start over. we need to have a full committee process, an open amendment process. he voted yesterday to move forward on a process that is not, in fact, that. you're going to have a couple days of debate and amendments and then you're going to see whe

and then the graham-cassidy amendment he outlined to us on friday evening that has the votes. that gives governors and states more autonomy and control. >> giving more power to the states is standard issue republican fare that's hard to oppose. skinny repeal, they'll remove the individual mandate. the problem with removing the individual mandate, it's a game agenda with the health care system. it will allegedly increase freedom but also take away a couple medical device taxes and things that are longstanding bugaboos for conservatives with this bill. a long way from resembling consensus. mike pence can be superman with the tie breaking vote every time. this is a legacy problem republicans have. toeptal focus seven years on repeal, not sufficient focus on replace. the next day or two is going to be key for this country's health care system. >> karoun, one of the things that is missing is clear direction from the president about what he would want. that's the price of his having separated himself from the policy process. inaction is not an option, get after it. i'll come after y

fernando: mientras que los republicanos ya se oponen, graham y cassidy tienen una propuesta alternativalazar obama care, todo se va a definir la prÓxima semana, cuando se intente ir a una votaciÓn final. ilia: gracias, fernando regresamos con mÁs tras la pausa. ilia: le hicimos el propÓsito de la visita del gobernador de puerto rico. eduado: hemos estado bajo aviso de calor excesivo para todos los condados hasta las 08:00 de la noche, pronÓstico y vistazo al pronÓstico. o se crió en el pacÍfico, ya regreso. ilia: quÉ tan seguras son las aplicaciones de telÉfonos inteligentes? a continuaciÓn mariana nos da consejo de seguridad de proteger a nuestros menores. mariana: cada vez son mÁs las aplicaciones que existen en los celulares, estÁn al alcance de sus hijos, que podrÍan tener un efecto negativo en ellos. >> el aburrimiento es la causa de muchos males. se pueden estar viendo cosas que no deberÍan esta viendo. mariana: es por eso que experto o deben estar bien informados y saber cÓmo usar las aplicaciones que sus hijos usan a diario. >> hay tantas aplicaciones donde los padres son engaÑa

he said that he feet the graham-cassidy bill which is his of course and gives power back to governorso make health care decisions for their states, he felt that that had 50 votes. do you know anything about that plan? >> i don't. i don't know exactly how it would work but i think the big question is, how is it funded? if you're giving flexibility to the states, but you're cutting medicaid by three-quarter of a tral dl trillion dollars over the next ten years is the false flexibility, the flexibility to choose as i said between the elderly, disabled and kids, or raise taxes. it's basically shifting cost from the federal government to the states. now i don't know how senator cassidy's bill fits within that category, but if it's still got the major medicaid cuts, then i think it's going to be very hard to get that majority of votes. >> senator angus king, we are on the edge of our seat to see what happens there with the vote, just as you are. thanks so much for being on "new day." >> thank you, alisyn. >> chris? >>> all right, so you had the independent senator from maine. what about the

and what we attempted to do and we're going to introduce this as part of the graham-cassidy amendment in which we attempt to establish fairness for all americans in terms of the support they receive from the federal taxpayer. what we will do beginning in 2020 is begin to equalize the payments between those states receiving very little, those states receiving way a lot, and those states who are kind of right where they should be. we do this by beginning with the formula which acknowledges that the poorer the people, the more support they need, the older the person, the higher their medical expenses. so between poverty and age, it's a good starting point about how to divide those dollars. and over -- between 2020 and 2026, we will actually gradually move those high-cost states down, those lower-cost states up, and keep those just about right states just about right until at the end, wherever that american lives, she is getting about the same amount as every other patient receiving support across the country. now, when you say this, i'm a physician. i know that if you have more disease b

so now we got to move on to the next step, which is what you see there, the skinny repeal, the graham/cassidy amendment. these are other options at looking at how you can get to repealing and replacing with the number of votes that they need. >> now, this is what we'll be looking for upcoming and we're actually going to be talking to senator cassidy whose name is on that amendment next hour. but maeve, it was a win for republicans yesterday in the sense that they got to the 51 votes, vice president being the tie. >> breaker and this opening up to debate. the president last night in ohio touting that as a victory and then promptly woke up this morning and insulted one of his own republicans being, you know, alaska senator lisa murkowski, tweeting, senator murkowski of the great state of alaska really let the republicans and our country down yesterday. too bad. is this how he woos senators? >> well, we have more and more questions as this goes along, right, about how effective his negotiating tactics are. i don't think that was particularly wise at the beginning of this whole process, you know,

apparently lindsey graham and bill cassidy are introducing their own health care bill. and the president's still saying if republicans can't get a deal on a bill they should do repeal and replace separately. my question is, could the house go back and look at any other options? now you pass something as you have done your -- mr. speaker ryan: as tempting as it is to comment on the senate, waints to give them a space to get their job done. we had a promise to keep and we kept it in the house. like forward to seeing the senate do the same. reporter: can i follow-up. would the house stay in session through august -- speaker ryan: if the senate gives us a health care bill. we'll stay and finish the bill. reporter: senator grassley is sending a letter to don jr., donald trump jr. asking him to testify about his meeting. should the president's son testify -- speaker ryan: any witness who has been asked to testify before congress should testify. reporter: in public? speaker ryan: anybody who is asked to testify to the senate should do that. reporter: a bill to re-authorize the

. >> bret: this alternative put forth by lindsey graham and senator cassidy, take a listen to senator graham. >> $500 billion of taxes in place that will not be repealed. we are going to take that $500 billion and do some kind of formula, give it to the states, and say you can't build a school, you can't build a road. you've got to spend it on health care. we have to take care of sick people bowl. if you want to repair obamacare, you can repair it. if you want to replace it, replace it. >> bret: giving the powers of the states, these governors take control. >> it is modestly better but i think at the end we found out obamacare was so entangled in so many aspects of our regulatory lives. obviously health care itself, that doing what needed to be done was really going to be unpleasant. these dates that excepted expansion of medicaid became like addicts. they were addicts. they want more federal dollars flowing back to the states, even republican governors like kasich. the numbers aren't adding up we are not going to bring down the cost of health care with this bill. i think rand paul is

. >> kennedy: meantime, lindsey graham and bill cassidy release their own proposal today.t would redirect much of the federal funding for obamacare to the states to use for health care spending. we have a lot of issues going on here and there are several senators who are trying to work it out and move it into a more free market, including senators cruz and lee and also, lindsey graham and bill cassidy have their own solution that would allow states to have more control over their health care dollars. is there a solution in here somewhere? >> charlie: the problem is that basically, rand paul is right. at the end of the day, there is still going to be a lot of obamacare in this. there may be a lot of good ideas out there and there are a lot of good ideas out there. if it still has -- if it's still a government run health care, it's still obamacare. that is a huge problem, there are some things that are very appealing about it, but at the end of the day, -- >> melissa: better is better. >> harris: if you go to what the bill has in its language, it's better. if you get there,

what do you think of the linlds i graham-bill cassidy version that block grants medicaid money back to the states. >> we need the block grant medicaid money to the states. that's what our governor supports in kentucky, even thought it would be less money. i think we need to cut back on the expansion that obamacare did. but we need to give that flexibility to the states. kennedy: they are taking the stabilization fund and giving that $100 plus billions to the states. and pretty much every governor would agree with that. thank you very much for your time. in the meantime president trump has said he will be very upset if republicans blow this thing again. >> i will be very angry about it, and a lot of people will be very upset. but i'm sitting, waiting for that bill to come to my desk. i hope they do it. they have been promising it for years. they have been promising it ever since obamacare. it's a failed experiment it's totally done. it's out of business. kennedy: the president is going to be in a bad mood next week. why after 7 years can't the gop couple with a united plan? joining me i

now, lindsay graham and cassidy and others are talking about a straight up block grant and send it back to the states. maybe that's going to catch fire. i think it might. the point of this though is that i believe, like you, that it's president trump's agenda that won the election in november. it's the thing the president's been talking about for 30 years. so it's not like someone just came up with this. he's been talking about this stuff for decades. and that's the agenda that everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction on. i gave the speech that the president gave in youngstown to the senior staff the other day, and i said, this is the president's agenda. everyone should read this speech, learn it, and do everything you can to enact these promises that the president talks about has crowds coming out of the woodwork for. this is where the focus needs to be. >> all right. stay right there. we'll have more of reince priebus after the break straight ahead. ♪ so being cool comes naturally. hmm. i can't decide if this place is swag or bling. it's pretzels. word. ladies, you know when

, so cassidy graham. and this one would basically block grant this money back to health care kofrmgz to the states and let the governors in the individual states with the resources they've got create and utilize the money to do what their people think is the best for health care within their individual states just as another although naib. but i think one of the reasons why we're not simply doing it in the senate is they have to be skortd. and right now we're in session. we're going to be in session basically without a break until such time as we're done with this vote aram a. >> let me just ask you fills so farically. do you believe the government has a responsibility to help provide health care for all americans? >> i think government right now accepts that they should be part of it. remember, insurance is a regulated industry, whether you do it at the state level or at the federal level. we also know that we have a safety net in medicaid, which has become a part of this, an integral part of it. but med

the proposal by senators lindsey graham, bill cassidy and heller would keep most of the taxes and provide healthcare funding in the form of block grants which would give states more control. we are told the senators met with the president on the white house to share their plan and they are hoping to work out the details before offering a final version sometime in the next couple weeks. molly: where does mitch mcconnell stand on all the. >> on friday he said it's time to move on to other issues that congress has to deal with. previously he said republicans would have to work with democrats to fix obamacare instead of repealing it. today, susan collins of maine said she would still like to see that happen. >> what we need to do is go through the normal process, identify the problems, have hearings, hear from experts and all the stakeholders, and produce a series of bills to fix the very real flaws in the affordable care act. first on my list would be to stabilize the insurance market, to make sure that people have access to insurance. >> over the next few weeks while the senate is in town,

>> republicans do have a plan b, senator graham and cassidy also have a bill. i think that's actually very smart because there's more elements of the repeal in place contained in that bill. so we have more than draft on the table that republicans can bring to their constituents with different repeal and replace options. so i think republicans are doing everything that they should be doing to give their constituent what is they promised and what they were voted in office to do. cheryl: sounds like you're pretty confident that this doesn't need to be bipartisan to get this passed? >> i don't think that it does. i think the republican majority even though it's a mall majority it's still a majority. we have the potential of vice president pence as the tie-breaker if we needed. we saw that in some of the confirmation votes. i think there's enough consensus on the fact that we do need to change obamacare that even though some members are disagreeing on the details, we've got an agreement that we need to move forward. lea: sounds like you're positive about it. look, t

melissa: senator bill cassidy, we told you at the beginning of the show was planning on joining dawes but he just been called to the white house along with senator lindsey grahamns on the health care bill are in full effect. and senator cassidy has introduced his own version of the health care bill. we're going to be monitoring that closely, but in the meantime, james freeman from "the wall street journal" editorial page, he is the assistant editor. he is a fox news contributor. and he scrambled down here to join us which we very much appreciate. ashley: there he is. melissa: james, so what do you think about this? it does prove they're working. we had a senator with his own plan. he was holding out for more. got called away to the white house to go to talk to try to work on things. what do you think? >> i mean i think this will end upcoming together. i hope what is happening at the white house, is that the president or maybe the congressional leadership are saying to these kind of weak need senators like rob portman of ohio, shelley more capito of west begin i can't, this is entitlement reform. this is not mean. it is fair to the taxpayers. you're not cutting

lindsey graham, bill cassidy earlier today unveiling details of their alternative health care plan. you on this particular instance where they are basically going to keep much of the obama era taxes on the wealthy which basically sends that money to the states to control instead? does that change things at all here? >> yes and no, here's the real problem here and of the real challenge for mitch mcconnell and the republicans. you have to thread a needle, everything you do to satisfy the moderates only alienates some of the conservatives. it everything you do to satisfy some of the conservatives alienates the moderates. you have to find a sweet spot and it doesn't seem even with this bill so far that they have. you have got rand paul they are saying that while they are keeping hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, he doesn't like that part of it. you've got some of the more moderate members saying you are going to end up with medicaid cutbacks, people who now have health insurance on the medicaid expansion will lose it, those are their voters and they don't want to alienate them.

health care, and today he tweeted -- and the president isn't alone, either, senators lindsey graham, bill cassidy and dean heller are working on an alternative plan to repeal obamacare which they hope can get 50 votes to pass. that plan in the works would keep most of obamacare's taxes and provide federal funding for health care to the states in the form of a bloc grant. and at the same time, you also have republicans, like senator susan collins of maine who voted against the skinny repeal this week and says it's time to give up on repealing obamacare and work with democrats to fix it. >> we need to go back to committee to the health committee and the finance committee, identify the problems, carefully evaluate possible solutions through hearings, and then produce a series of bills. >> reporter: and previously senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said that's what the senate would likely do if republicans couldn't repeal obamacare on their own, now that the president has weighed in so heavily. the decision of where to go from here has become a little more complicated. eric? eric: that it is. see

coming days, whether it's additional medicaid dollars, whether it's something along the line of graham/cassidyomething that would get the moderates who supports expansion of medicaid sign on. >> senator rand paul saying there's too much pork barrel and too much payouts before you answer, i think the president support about to step out here if you'll stay with us for just a moment. the vice president just finished introducing the president. >> and we'll see what this statement is all about as he makes his way to the podium there meeting some of the family members who came to the white house today to talk about their experiences with obamacare here's the president. >> well, thank you very much, vice president pence, secretary price, and thank you, everyone, for being here today for the past 17 years obamacare has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent hard working americans. behind me today we have real american families, great families i just spent a lot of time with them, who are suffering because seven years ago a small group of politicians and special interests in washington engineered a gov

working closely with lindsey graham and bill cassidy on the issue.or, you've been on the hill all day. does this revised health care bill have the support, in your view, to come to a vote? >> i don't think it does yet. but as you mentioned, senators bill cassidy and lindsey graham are working on an amendment that i think if added to the mcconnell bill, i think mitch mcconnell made some improvements. i think he's trying to listen to his members. now i would argue that he needs to listen to the nation's governors, and that's what they're doing, talking to governors. they're talking to medicaid directors. they're trying to make sure we can hand off the ball. this is what the grant caddie bill does. instead of trying to fix -- he mentioned several things he's trying to fix with obamacare. stop trying to fix something that shouldn't be fixed at the federal level and really just send a large block grant back to the state, try to mimic what republicans successfully did with bill clinton, i might add, in 1996 on welfare reform which i worked on which was, le

lindsey graham, bill cassidy as well. >> right.et: they have their work cut out for them in the two -- first two weeks of august. let's get a check of the headline, bloomberg first word news. mark: president trump's proposed budget would not balance within 10 years, contrary to the white house's claim, according to a report today by the nonpartisan congressional budget office. the cobe estimates the different deficit in 2027 would be $720 billion under mr. trump's plan. the president's budget office said its proposal would result in a $16 billion surplus that year. still the cbo says the trump budget would reduce the deficit well below current projections. senate republican leaders today released a revised health care plan that would provide an added $70 billion to stabilize insurance exchanges over a decade and efforts to win over gop holdouts. the change comes on top of $112 million for the same purpose in an earlier measure by a majority leader mitch mcconnell, who helps the modified bill will revive prospects for the embattled