lisa desjardins has been reporting on this as well and is here to give us a preview. , what's different abut this budget and the way they're approaching it? >> very dramatic proposal the president is making to congress, he would significantly increase military spending and significantly decrease spend ink other domestic agencies. as part of this he is starting to change the way he look at budgeting, congressional source are giving me this information they say he's trying to say, don't just look who is recipient of a program, look at those who are funding it, taxpayers and ask, do taxpayers think this is worth it. that's a sign of cuts to come. >> woodruff: we're hearing big changes to medicaid, health care for the poor, what do we know about that? >> the source say the president will propose additional cuts to medicaid on top of what is already in the house republican bill. we talked about that extensively. there's a lot of shifts in that bill, it would likely mean, according to congressional budget office, millions fewer americans on medicaid, president the a's plan w

our own lisa desjardins joins us for that, just back from capitol hill. and julie rovner is with "kaiser health news." lisa, let's start with pre-existing conditions. that became the phrase that pays all week long and even today. who is going to get left out of this? >> it is a very serious concern, according to ciezy family foundation, some 52 million americans have pre-existing conditions, adults, could have their insurance affected. the way this works, hari each state would decide if the they t a waiver so the states could opt out. now, republicans say this should not affect those with pre-existing conditions because if their premiums get too high, they've created what's called high-risk pools. they say that will help them, but i spent a lot of time talking to republicans about this today. they do not guarantee that your premium won't go up if you have pre-existing conditions. insurers can raise those premiums. the question is will states opt in to do this and also important, hari, it's easy to get these waivers under this particular version because if

now, we go back to lisa desjardins on capitol hill. , have you gotten any reaction to this from lawmakers yet? >> reporter: that's right. we put out some calls and we have a little bit of reaction from the house democrats' leader's office, nancy pelosi's office, they say they are furiously writing a statement but they have told me that this does not change their call for an independent commission, which is what they were working on today. they have been asking for an independent counsel of this sort, but they say they still want more than that. from republicans, our capitol hill producer julie percha, just talked to representative peter king of new york, he is on the house intelligence committee. he told her that he thinks there was no allegation of a crime here, and he's not sure a special counsel is needed. so no surprise, john, in this divided congress we have divide reaction right now to this announcement. >> yang: but is this going to turn the temperature down, do you think, on some of the rhetoric we're hearing, especially from th

john yang, lisa desjardins. and now what this means for the function and stability of the trump presidency. we turn to man who has had a front row in the white house. leon panetta was chief of staff for bill clinton. he then served as director of the c.i.a. and secretary of defense in the obama administration. secretary panetta, thank you for talking with us. so as somebody who has had a top job, the top job at the white house as chief of staff, as we said at the pentagon and c.i.a., how do you read how this comey episode has unfolded? >> well, it's a very confusing picture obviously, because a number of reasons have been presented as to why it's happened. but, you know, deep down there's no question that however it happened, and for whatever reasons it happened, that this has undermined the credibility of a very vital national security investigation, and somehow that credibility has to be restored. >> woodruff: how has it undermined that credibility? >> it's undermined the credibility because obviously the f.b.

our lisa desjardins has been studying the numbers, and joins me now. , you've had a little bit of time to look at this. essentially, what is different about the c.b.o.'s look at this version of republican healthcare from what the earlier version was? >> in those top line numbers, not much. the changes that the republicans made meant there was an improvement in the number of people with insurance by 1 million people. that's something republicans were happy to see but it's not very much. judy, i think, overall, the differences are in the individual effects here. we see from c.b.o. a forecast that says under this republican bill you would see a wide disparity with the less healthy seeing much higher bills and also older people seeing much higher bills. >> woodruff: so we know the republicans were trying to do a number of things with this legislation to make it more palatable to people to win not only more approval in the house but the senate. they were trying to get premiums down. talk about some of the changes they made and what the c.b.o. was saying abou

our lisa desjardins brings us up to speed. >> and now i will take your questions. >> reporter: a rollerst week for the white house ended with more turbulence-- and questions- - after reports that allies of fired f.b.i. director james comey insist he never told president trump that he was not under investigation-- the opposite of the president's version. this morning, a tweeting president trump fired out: at the white house, reporters asked press secretary sean spicer if that was meant as a message. >> that is not a threat. he's simply stating a fact. >> reporter: asked repeatedly if there are recording devices in the oval office... spicer refused to answer. >> the president has nothing to add. the back and forth and back again this week has been dizzying. it may clear things up to look at the two core issues-- why was director comey fired? and when was that decision made? first: why here's what the president said yesterday to nbc news. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, "you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the d

gloog and we turn now to our lisa desjardins on capitol hill, and john yang at the white house. lisa, i'm going to start with you. we were just hearing from those senators as they came out of the briefing with the deputy attorney general. what more are you hearing from that? >> right, those senators emerged with one unified theme, that the deputy attorney general was a very cautious man, and on many questions, he actually deferred, saying he couldn't answer them, that it was up to the new special counsel mueller. now, judy, that left republicans, they said, with a sense of confidence that here was a deputy attorney general who was trying to remove politics and congress from this investigation. democrats, however, they were frustrated. they said they're worried that as this goes forward they may not get many details about what is happening with this investigation. >> woodruff: and, lisa, other questions the senators were asking today. >> the big one. they asked repeatedly who told deputy attorney general rosenstein to write that letter about why f.b.i. director comey should be fir

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins at the u.s.itol. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. house easily approved a compromise bill to fund the government through september, the end of the fiscal year. it totals $1.1 trillion, and includes an increase in defense spending, but ignores several other of president trump's priorities, including money for a border wall. leaders on both sides praised the rare example of cooperation between republicans and democrats. >> this is a bipartisan piece of legislation. and so each side doesn't get everything they want, but we are able to come together and find a package that advances many of our important goals. >> democratic members' participation is absolutely essential if we're going to pass fiscal bills and appropriation bills. and i'm glad that the republican leadership and negotiators came to the conclusion and worked with us to advance this omnibus to the floor. >> woodruff: the legislation now heads to the senate for approval before this week is out. a revised republican plan to r

lisa desjardins reports. >> desjardins: at the capitol, a swarm of attention at a russia hearing with high profile witnesses. one was former director of national intelligence james clapper. but attention focused on the other-- former acting attorney general sally yates who first warned the white house that then national security advisor michael flynn had lied about his talks with russian officials. >> the concern first about the underlying conduct itself, that he had lied to the vice president and others, the american public had been misled and then importantly, that every time this lie was repeated and the misrepresentations were getting more and more specific as they were coming out, every time that happened, it increased the compromise and to state the obvious, you don't want your national security advisor compromised with the russians. >> desjardins: yates said she made no recommendations, just relayed information >> that created a compromise situation-- a situation where the national security advisor could essentially be blackmailed by the russians. finally, we told them that we

lisa desjardins reports. >> present. >> desjardins: on this national day of remembrance, there were largents, like a new president laying a wreath to an unknown solider. >> desjardins: at arlington national cemetery president trump expressed what he called undying gratitude. >> we pay tribute to those brave souls who raced in to gunfire, roared into battle, and ran into hell to face down evil. they made their sacrifice not for fame, or for money, or even for glory, but for country. >> desjardins: afterward mr. trump stopped with homeland security secretary john kelly at the grave of kelly's son robert, who was killed in afghanistan. from there, the president met other families in "section 60" of the cemetery, where military members killed most recently, especially in iraq and afghanistan, are buried. he's looking down and he's very proud. >> thank you so much. thank you for everything you're doing for the country. >> desjardins: but for many, the day was defined by smaller, personal events. in raleigh, north carolina, the day was for supporting survivors. >> and we have a lot of vietnam v

i'm lisa desjardins for the pbs newshour. >> sreenivasan: there's no doubt that this budget proposal is the sharpest departure with past plans in at least a generation. we look at the potential impacts, and the reasoning behind it, with jared bernstein. he is an economist who served in the obama administration. he's now a fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities. and, chris edwards is a budget expert at the cato institute, a libertarian research organization here in washington. jared, let me tart with you. in your opinion, what's wrong with this budget? >> this is a budget that solves the problem that seems to be vexing republicans is poor people have too much in this country and rich people don't have enough. if you look at the landscape of american inequality, of the kinds of wage and income stagnation that the poorer face and the very effective anti-poverty programs that have helped to kind of push back against those market inequalities, this is a budget that goes just in the wrong direction at 100 miles an hour. >> sreenivasan: chris edwards? yeah, there is a lot i li

to try to make sense of it all, we are joined now by our own lisa desjardins; by yeganeh torbati, state department reporter for reuters; and, julie davis. she covers the white house for the "new york times." and we welcome all three of you to the program. let's talk first about the president's comments about the health care bill, this replacement bill. lisa, he was asked some pointed questions over the weekend. cbs' john dickerson in an interview for "face the nation," here is some of that interview. let's watch. >> they are worried, are they going to have the guarantee of coverage if they have a preexisting condition or if they live in a state where the governor decides that's not part health care or that the prices are going to go up? that's the worry the american medical association says-- >> we actually-- >> make coverage completely unaffordable for people. >> forget about unaffordable. what is unaffordable is obamacare, john. >> i'm not hearing you say there is a guarantee of preexisting conditions. >> we have a clause of guarantees. >> woodruff: lisa, today there are republicans s

we turn now for the latest at the white house and on capitol hill with our own john yang and lisa desjardinshn, let me start with you. it's been about 24 hours exactly since this decision came down. what have you learned in the interim about where this all started, what was the genesis of it? >> well, white house officials describe it increasingly angry and frustrated president newscast couple of weeks, angry and frustrated that comey was appearing before congress, talking about the f.b.i. investigation into possible russian collusion with the trump campaign during the election last year, but not offering any new details. the president felt that there was nothing there, there, and it was time for it to be over. but according to deputy principal assistant secretary-- sorry, principal deputy press secretary sarah sanders, the president did not ask for the rationale to fire comey on monday when he met with attorney general jeff sessions and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. she says that the two justice department officials are the ones who brought up their exwrnz comey's performance. and

they're now talking about august, september, for health care and tax reform. >> yang: lisa desjardins on capitol hill, olivier knox of >> yang: let's keep our focus on capitol hill, and to republican senator james risch of idaho. he's a member of the senate intelligence and foreign affairs committees. i spoke with him earlier this evening, just as the story on comey's memo broke. senator, welcome. i want to begin by asking you about a story "the new york times" has just posted about a memo, a contemporaneous memo that former f.b.i. director james comey wrote after a meeting with the president on the day that michael flynn resigned as national security adviser. he quotes the president as asking him to "let the investigation into flynn go. i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go." he interprets it, mr. comey interprets it as asking for an f.bi. investigation not to go forward. do you have any reaction to this? >> i haven't seen it. don't know anything about it. i haven't read it. and before i comment on it, i want to know a lot more about it than i do,

lisa desjardins reports. >> desjardins: the massive trillion-dollar plus spending deal keeps governmentded through the fall and gives this congress its first bipartisan success. hard work, they promise to positively and meaningfully impact the lives of the men and women we represent. >> and at the end of the day, this is an agreement that reflects our basic principles, something both democrats and republicans can support. >> desjardins: president trump told bloomberg news he's "very happy" with the bill. what's in it? first, what was a sticking point: security. in the end, the pentagon got a healthy boost of 20 billion. and immigration and customs enforcement will see an increase of eight percent, much of that for increased detention beds. the bill also funds ten new immigration judges. but it provides nothing for a president trump priority-- the border wall. despite that loss, vice president mike pence, speaking on cbs called the deal a "bipartisan win." >> it'll avert a government shutdown but more important than that there's going to be a significant increase in military spending. ou

our lisa desjardins has more. >> desjardins: as part of our ongoing look at what's at stake in health care for those closest to the problem, we're joined now by asa hutchinson, the republican governor from arkansas. you'll recall that arkansas was of course one of the states to expand medicaid under obamacare. governor hutchison, thank you for joining us. now, you're in an interesting position. you have opposed the affordable care act, but also you and your predecessor, as we just said, supported the expansion, and because of those things, we've seen insurance rates in your state get slashed in half under the affordable care act. what do you think of the affordable care act right now? does it need full repeal? >> well, we need to change what we have. it doesn't work completely. for example, we wanted to reform the medicaid expansion in arkansas with a simple work requirement, just lick we have on the snap program, but under obamacare, the previous administration would not give us that requirement. we needed to control the cost more. we're unable to do that. whichever it's mandatory th