[background chatter] margaret talev: ladies. [laughter] margaret talev: why does it work so much better when you do it? tim scott: because we are a team. margaret talev: welcome to the 73rd annual dinner of the washington press club foundation. i am from bloomberg news and i am the foundation president and i would like to introduce the table. starting on my right into your left, deidra walsh of cnn. she is our secretary. [applause] margaret talev: secretary of the foundation board and dinner committee cochair. congressman cedric richmond, democrat from louisiana. [applause] margaret: diane rehm. [applause] margaret taley: lou jacobson, a political act vice president of our board. [applause] margaret taley: greta von susteren, our master of ceremonies for the night. [applause] margaret taley: senator tim scott of south carolina, republican. [applause] margaret taley: jill jackson of cbs news. [applause] [cheers] margaret taley: jill is the cochair of our dinner committee. congressman jim feinberg of south carolina the assistant d

[applause] margaret talev: now without further i do, greta -- i do -- ado, greta. [applause] >> thank you for the announcement. i should add that i also worked at cnn, and some of you may think she can't hold a job. i've been in so many networks. anyway, i'm very pleased to be here this evening. and to have the pleasure of thisnting this word -- award, because the regional reporting award, as much as i enjoyed all of the things we do with national reporting, we have to reach out in the community beyond the beltway, and the people who do the regional reporting are really the heroes on this. day in and day out there getting -- they are getting the message out to the american people. especially with the price of cable these days, people aren't always buying cable. ok so, in order to present this award, you need to know what it is the david lynch regional , reporting award. it is given each year to the washington-based daily newspaper reporter whose work best exemplifies the thorough and incisive regional coverage of congress. regional reporters are responsible to the

[background chatter] margaret talev: ladies. [laughter] margaret talev: why does it work so much better when you do it? tim scott: because we are a team. margaret talev: welcome to the 73rd annual dinner of the washington press club foundation. i am from bloomberg news and i am the foundation president and i would like to introduce the table. starting on my right into your left, deidra walsh of cnn. she is our secretary. [applause]

i am mark crumpton with margaret talev.pecial coverage after house republicans scrapped the highly anticipated vote to repeal and partially replace obamacare. what is seen as a setback for the g.o.p.. let's get democratic reaction. congressman john delaney represents maryland. he joins us from our washington bureau. thank you for your time on this friday evening. what did your constituents tell you into the lead up of what was supposed to be the vote today? >> thanks for having me. my constituents overwhelmingly told me to push back and fight back against this bill. obviously, to vote against it. i think the count in our office was something like 1500-2000 people called in to say do not vote for this will. and we only had about 20 people supporting it. it was overwhelmingly against it. i'm happy it did not pass today we did not even have a vote on it. margaret: thank you for joining us. this is a political victory for democrats today. are you concerned about the next step which is the president saying not only is he going t

shear and congressional reporter susan davis and bloomberg news senior white house correspondent margaret talevkind of a gamble here for the president on his budget and his base. >> part of president trump's base wants to see the government shrunk, wants to see less money out of their pockets go to liberal products they don't like. however, at the same time, one of the big chunks of money that they cut are these block grants to the states, the states often use for programs, meals on wheels, after school programs for kids. a lot of supporters in michigan and ohio, they actually use these programs. so the question is does he risk alienating the very people who helped getting him to the presidency by slashing a huge chunk across the board of the federal programs that the federal government and people actually like. >> does he risk it optically? because what's going to pass in congress is not going to look a whole lot like what the president is presenting here in this blueprint. >> i think that the bet that the white house is making is that you get the positive side of that calculation by presentin

i want to welcome back our guests margaret talev and shannon pettypiece.n you listen to speaker ryan address the press and talk about how their part -- there are members who could not vote, who'd you think he was addressing in saying that we are tempted to compromise, but we could not do it, sometimes you have to say yes to things you don't agree with? >> the attacking about the divide between the house freedom caucus on the far right leaning side of the house who wanted a full repeal, no mandates, no subsidies, complete repeal, and the more moderate who were concerned about people losing their hair -- health insurance, concerned about there not being a safety net for low income people. these two different sides and philosophies are fighting each other in the republican party, the side that health care is not a right, it is a privilege, who are against entitlements, and the side that feels like they need to take more responsibility for millions of people left without health insurance if this law was fully revealed. joe: margaret, what was your most interes