stands on that no vote this afternoon from senator john mccain they believe the path to passing graham cassie is extremely difficult cull at this point but not all together closed. i just got off the phone with mark short and he said this to me at this point we're only two votes away we'll continue working to get their votes. we'll keep pushing forward until we succeed in repealing obamacare and i asked him specifically about what the white house could do to win over the senators that are on the fence and susan collin said she is leaning against and he wouldn't gattis cuss that specifically i asked about a sweetener for alaska that potentially there were kick backs for the state that would help get her on board. he said there isn't such a thing in this bill i asked him about the prospect for a bipartisan effort to take shape after this bill and he said it's too soon to talk about that but at least from the white house perspective despite that john mccain is a no and rand paul is a no the white house still believes there's a very slim chance here. >> kayla, thank you. we get to see health care

they have senator graham, cassie from louisiana, this block grant plan to give federal money to statesbut mcconnell seems to be wary of bringing anything to the floor. seems like this is more messaging, ahead of the september deadline. talk about that deadline, why all this is coming up right now. >> right. so they have until september 30 to be able to pass a health care bill in the senate that would not be filibustered by democrats due to these complicated budgetary rules called reconciliation. so senators graham and cassidy are rushing to try to get their bill on the floor before then. but they are not getting a ton of real support from leadership. they don't have cbo, congressional budget office cost estimate, which is necessary. and mcconnell's stance has been kind of show me the votes and i'll put it on the floor. >> and the president has been supportive of graham and cassidy but hasn't been making calls, it seems. >> he's been paying more lip service. that was after senator graham basically called him out, that he issued a statement that was supportive but hasn't really been doin

when it came to the graham cassie proposal itself, she made the point just because you can dolgts do this in a partnisan fashion now, what's going to keep it going a couple years from you from now? preexisting conditions has been a concern for her. it's been a way to cut back on those. it underscores inside the republican conference, ideologically they are not unified right now. >> does graham believe it's over? >> he's still trying and working. it's still clear, phone calls are still being made. but the difference on lindsey graham from today and the lasting couple days is instead of guaranteeing there would be a vote, saying they would get to 50 votes, when he was asked whether they would be a vote, he said i don't know. he's still working on it but it's clear if you talk to anybody, there's no clear pathway forward. the numbers right now just don't add up. >> fill mattingly, thank you. joining us is rick santorum. also kirstin powers. senator, with collins a no vote, is this fight over. >> not by a long shot. whether this week this bill is going to pass, it's looking less likely,

the real credit goes to lindsey graham, until cassie, who had been working day and night on this bill, and dean and ron who also works -- pull this thing together. this is -- as they said, not only the last choice, but the best choice. america does the right thing after it tries everything else first. that's where we are here. we tried everything else first. this is actually the best idea, an idea that will work because it is proven to. it's proven because back in 1996, we passed the only reform of a major entitlement in the history of this country. that was welfare. defend children which i was heavily involved in. the reason i came up with this idea, it's the same principle, that is coming at the money out of washington, give them flexibility to design a program, and let them treat the population that the money is designated for in a way that meets the needs of the people sitting across the table from them. not, as lindsay said, from bureaucracy. it worked in 1996, and we got bipartisan support. i understand, that was a different era. in atisanship is not current lexicon of washingto

support something right now, even if they did not like everything legislation look republicans, graham and cassieng to throw more money at opponents. putting money in alaska, arizon arizona, and also kentucky squarely at senators, who are opposed. the issue is, you cannot buy these guys are. john mccain's complaint is not about money as much it is about process. he wants more committee hearings. also rand paul, he hates the idea of sending money to the states. there should not be any federal health care money. get rid of that. these are things you cannot bridge people by, and republicans, the time is ticking, and they want to do something, but they are in a bad spot right now. >> shepard: and president trump talking about north korea on the one hand and ratcheting that up and on the other hand, all the racism with the nfl. he has not been tweeting about health care at all. does he care about this? >> well, he certainly says he does. i can tell you republicans on the hill are very upset about the fact that he is in a war right now with the nfl. they say it is a distraction. it they could really us

. >> yesterday we briefly discussed the graham cassy proposal, i have a great deal of respect for both senators graham and cassidy, though if cassidy were here i'd say more for graham. but he's not here. i have grave concerns with this proposal and i want to ask our panel about the plans' potential implications. although the plans' specifics have changed overtime and reportedly will change again, what we know from earlier versions of the graham cassidy plan and from recent news reports is that it could eliminate funding for premium subsidies, eliminate the cost sharing reduction payments, and eliminate the enhanced federal funding for the medicaid expansion instead starting in 2020 the federal government would return some but not all of this funding back to states in the form of a block grant. this means that states will be receiving less money under these block grants than they would be projected to receive under the aca. not only that but the proposal also significantly redistributes funding across states such that states that have been more proactive in enrolling individuals in the

commentary that when the committee are to be celebrating a big victory for millions of kids the cassie grahamler brill threatens the health care of millions of children and families. second point reconciliation relies on secrecy, brute power and speed to have run purely partisan bills to the senate. it's a train wreck to do it on healthcare. we need to notice we start this hearing that leader mcconnell is committed to reconciliation round two on tax reform. when we went on the side of the area for colleagues working together in a bipartisan way as the chairman noted, i've written to full bipartisan bills. leader mcconnell says will have another partisan bill. another completely partisan bill with respect to tax reform. that too is a prescription for trouble the details that leak out of the big six meetings in my view suggests that what is underway is a nonprofit protestant and tax giveaway. the centerpiece could be a 2 trillion-dollar loophole dealing with something called pass-through. pastor status is supposed to be all about small businesses. the person who is running a cleaner or a restau

. >> reporter: according to a new report from the congressional budget office, under cassi cassidy/graham, federal spending on medicaid would be reduced about $1 trillion over the next ten years and medicaid would cover millions fewer enrollees. republicans must now decide whether to restart talks with democrats on a bill to sure up obamacare's individual markets. >> what mccain has done is a tremendous slap in the face of the republican party. >> reporter: president trump blasted his party's holdouts on the radio and on twitter singling out the ailing john mccain tweeting a mon toj of past clips of the senator vowing to overturn obamacare. mccain's close friend came to his defense. any america who is got a problem with john mccain's vote, all i can tell you is that john mccain was willing to die for this country and he can vote any way he wants to. >> reporter: senate republicans will hold a caucus meeting today to discuss they're next move now that they have cycled through all of their obamacare replacement plans. some of them are going to argue it's time to move on to tax reform. >> we