we also know ron johnson of wisconsin has yet to vote. as seen huddling with mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, as they discussed last-minute concerns. >> mr. johnson? mr. johnson, aye. >> the senator is not reported. scarlet: it is now a 50-50 tie. the senate minority leader, voting no. >> they are going to go through all the remaining -- scarlet: going to go through quickly. >> let's talk about this again. we have a tie-break in this situation. we have to wait and see as we continue to get these nos. we have been talking about what discussions were going on between senator ron johnson and mitch mcconnell, the difficulty of standing up and making a decision even on this procedural vote to continue the debate and how difficult it is for all of these senators. >> it's very interesting that johnson decided to be among the last senators to vote. if he were to vote yes without getting anything for it, he could have kept the spotlight off himself. he had a lot of problems with the gop leadership during his reelection campaign. they ab

ron johnson has yet to vote, and is ron johnson really going to be the decision--maker here?> i doubt that ron johnson will vote to stop debate here, but you never know he's been somewhat unpredictable in this process. of course, john mccain also hasn't voted, but on the question you were talking about earlier to sarah i just got off the phone with a strategist familiar with mitch mcconnell's thinking who said that one of the reasons that they have been able to get the votes as close as they are right now, they just need to get the last two in order to begin debate is because they recognized to your earlier question that it's not going to be the end if it fails, that this issue still is going to be hanging around they are still going to have pressure from their base, and so a vote to begin debate with an uncertainty about what comes out of it is a kick the can solution, and it's going to delay it if they can ultimately get that so-called skinny repeal, they will have a conference with the house. don't know how long that conference goes on, and there is a risk if it goes on ve

ron johnson, senator. he's been so helpful to us. the only thing you haven't heard too much about recently, health care. and i think we're doing okay, ron. i'm hearing good things. i'm hearing good things. secretary mnuchin, secretary ross, all of the congressmen. great congressmen. and senators we have in the audience, thank you very much. and thanks especially to my friend, one of the great businessmen anywhere in the world, terry goh. [ applause ] >> i would see terry and i would say, terry, you have to give us a couple of those massive -- these are massive places that you do such great work with, and he's going to be doing that in a state very close to my heart, wisconsin. we're very happy. one of the big job producers anywhere at any time, sco. so i know it's going to be fantastic for the people. this is a great day for american workers and manufacturing and for everyone who believes in the concept and the label "made in the u.s.a." [ applause ] >> today i'm pleased to announce that foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for co

and particularly ron johnson. ron johnson was re-elected from wisconsin. you would think he has six more years to get his work done. a staunch conservative. how in the blazes is it possible that he would contemplate not voting for this motion to proceed? this is what drives me absolutely crazy about these folks. they go home. campaign, they say one thing, they come back to the swamp and do something -- well, the suer and do something entirely different. ron johnson should be voting for this, period. trish: let's look at senator john mccain getting out of his car where he will cast his vote momentarily. this is his first public appearance he's had since this tragic diagnosis of brain cancer. but again as we said, senator mccain, a great american doing his job for his party and the country as he heads to vote right now. i got ask you, adam, what do you think about the future of senator mcconnell? so many people said he's a magician here, can pull it all. he hasn't pulled a darn thing off. >> undermines his ability to effectively legislate, to lead the senate

ron johnson is sort of the mystery man here. he was just re-elected.s difficult to put any leverage on him. if he votes no on this bill, the republicans are stuck. that gets them to 49, 50. mike pence can't break a tie. it's the same problem they would have had if john mccain didn't show up. what he decides to do in the next 10 minutes could be a huge problem for republicans in moving this thing forward. right know, this is pure politics, he has all the leverage right now with the majority leader, who desperately needs his vote in this moment. >> michael steele, what do you think that conversation is right now? >> i want you -- your many years of experience, your understanding of the process come on, what's going on. >> i'm telling you right now, mcconnell is working the magic on him. >> is this magic or let's make a deal? >> there's respect for mcconnell. the senators are getting his pound of flesh now. you want this vote, this is what i expect in this bill. this is what i want this bill to look like on the other side of this conversation, he's trying

is that correct that susan collins and lisa murkowski have voted no and ron johnson has voted yes? >> we are we're headed for a 50/50 tie here once we're finished voting. susan collins has been a hard no from the get no. ron johnson, john mccain were the last two yeses for the republican party, sort of hero moment for mccain on republicans there and ron johnson very much making conservative sweat after he tangled with the majority leader over whether or not he would vote for their motion to proceed after he was extremely frustrated with this process. this will now come down to the vice president to break the tie here, that moves the motion to proceed. think of this sort of sets up the canvass on the floor of the senate with the original house bill painted on it. they will then paint over it, with a couple of amendments that we expect to see very soon. we expect to see a clean repeal that was promised to conservatives, the 2015 bill they voted on. the senate health care bill that we have talked about. then it's going to be open season on amendments. sort of a wild west atmosphere he

still waiting on senator ron johnson. if they get those two, they will have the 50 votes needed. mike pence who's currently in the chair right now would cast the tie-breaking vote and move forward but m.j. did a great job of laying out the uncertainty of what happens in this amendment process and i want to lay out the context. a lot of the very senators who voted to move forward on this have basically -- are said previously when they sank previous efforts that they would never vote to move forward unless they had a full replace plan in place. they don't have a full replace plan in place, so if this moves forward, there's a lot of senators who changed their minds once essentially their bluff was called. >> and the fact that they don't have a replace plan in place, then, thus, leaves the massive question over, well, then, what happens. they may be -- they may have been no's turned yes's for the procedural vote but who knows how this thing could go down the road. phil, thank you so much. we'll come back to you. talking to different correspondents on capitol hill, watching this vote

they -- here's what was extraordinary about that press conference john mccain, lindsey graham, ron johnsoname into the senate press gallery and said skinny repeal is a terrible piece of legislation. it's a fraud it will not do what we said. however if we're promised by the house they won't pass it, then we will vote for it to get into a negotiation with the house well, in the end, what paul ryan said was enough for ron johnson and lindsey graham, two out of the three, to say, okay, i'll vote for it even though i think it's terrible and a fraud because i don't think it will become law john mccain said what paul -- the assurances paul ryan had given were not enough for him. that's why he ended up voting no >> couple days ago we saw senator mccain say it's time for the senate to act rather than just deliberate for what seems like an ongoing period who is losing face more this morning? is it senate republicans failing to get this over the line or the president? >> i think this is more a failure for the republican party than president trump of course it's a failure for president trump, this is

senator ron johnson we're not sure. i've been told by our capitol hill producer, chad pergram, who is on the floor now, that senator johnson has been on the sidelines with senator mcconnell that leads the senate. they're having a discussion. let's go to chad pergram who is on the floor now. what are we to make of this? >> right now we'll have a 50-50 tie with vice president pence to cast the deciding ballot. john mccain came in just a couple moments to a standing ovation after his cancer surgery. he voted aye and ron johnson and the whip, john cornyn voted aye. democrats that have held their powder dry here are casting their votes. what we'll have here if all democrats vote no, that will tie this at 50-50. vice president pence is presiding in the chamber right now. he would be poised to break the tie here on a 51-50 vote. so far, mike pence has broken four ties already. one to confirm betsy devos as education secretary, he broke two in one day a couple months ago and significantly in his entire eight years as vice presid

. >> what about ron johnson?kprvel >> and ron johnson. >> i get the sense that ron johnson is negotiating a bit here. he's never put himself 100%. there is nothing you can say or do to persuade me in the no category. >> to be continued. at least they can be happy they're not chris christie. >> i don't know. he seems fine with it. >> right. we've got to go. sam stein and anne gearan, thank you so much. and more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. thank you so much. thank you! so we're a go? yes! we got a yes! what does that mean for purchasing? purchase. let's do this. got it. book the flights! hai! si! si! ya! ya! ya! what does that mean for us? we can get stuff. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods. you're a go! you got the green light. that means go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. parts a and b and want more

we got the first inklings this evening from senator ron johnson of wisconsin suggesting that maybe he would vote no, that he was offended about the way mitch mcconnell has been talking about the obamacare repeal. i don't know if that's what opened the flood gates. but right after we got that from ron johnson then a half hour ago, senator mike lee of utah tweeted my colleague jerry moran and i will not support the motion to proceed on this bill. and it was like -- i mean, we thought all week long we'd be standing at two. now all of the sudden the republicans went from the two no votes they could barely afford to four no votes and ron johnson too. definitely enough to doom the bill with no voepts to spare. how did that happen? is this some sort of disturbance in the force for this evening and they're going back to a safer position tomorrow and in the days ahead for this week or did this thing really just completely fall apart tonight. millions of people's health insurance is at stake. joining us on the phone is frank thorp who has been following these events closely. frank, thanks very

senator john mccain and ron johnson from wisconsin. the vote is 48-2.one of the democrats have voted. they are sitting on their hands, waiting for the rest of the republicans to vote. this is sweating out the numbers. if john mccain and johnson vote yea to proceed, then there will be vice president pence who is presiding over the senate currently, it will be the tiebreaker. you see how crucial it was for it senator john mccain to be back here in washington. every last vote counted, and the fact that after that surgery and he got back on the plane, he is back here, and now johnson and mccain are the final two. >> julie: john mccain coming back, it has not proven that he saved this thing. he really did. >> or he will kill it. >> julie: i believe, and you agree, he wants us to go to a debate. if you were to vote on let's say, the house bill, he would get es, but to move forward to a debate is something i have a feeling, if you want to happen as most do. no? >> i think you can expect them to vote yes, but again, i don't think we can say it until it happens.

ron johnson has been so whole awful to west the you have not heard too much about witches health care. we are hearing good things. secretary ross, secretary mnuchin, and senators in the audience thinks especially to my friend, terry. [applause] >> i would say you have to give us a couple of nasa places in addition the state close to my heart anywhere at anytime that is fantastic for the people for gregory day for american workers so if anybody believes in the concept of the label made in the usa. [applause] i am pleased to announce a world leader of manufacturing for computers to build a state of the are many veterans facility in to invest many millions of dollars and american jobs. >> another survey investor in similar country, raising so much money per our great republican party. thank you. great job. you have done a great job so to invest is southeast wisconsin to be constructed over the coming years ago and is about the biggest there is anywhere with an initial investment of $10 billion to create 3,000 jobs at a minimum with the potential of 13,000 jobs with the very near future.

>> probably the strange jest thing was ron johnson, republican nor of wisconsin. he had been for one of the other iterations of obamacare, and he got into a tough with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. he didn't think mcconnell had been clear with him and straight with him on medicate issues for his state. the end of last week he indicated he had been for the motion to proceed and was rethinking it. we sat for quite a while at 48 and 2 with murkowski and collins. you have mccain coming in. ron johnson was on the floor with that majority leader mitch mcconnell. you can't change the math. you have to get to 50yays. but he sat on his hand waiting for mccain to come in and they basically voted together and got him to 58. kennedy: as you said, this was a procedural vote. as of this point, they are til nos. nos -- they are still nos. >> vote-rama will be roll call vote after roll call vote and it will culminate late thursday night, maybe early friday morning on pass or fail with this bill. but it's something that's key. that will tell us what's in the bill and tha

moderate side and on the conservative side you've got rand paul, mike lee, ted cruz who had said ron johnson is another one. they are not willing to vote for the bill as it was currently constructed. they are trying to improve the bill. ted cruz offered an amendment which some think might be able to garner some votes, but those are the ones to watch. we hybody else is barely on board. we haven't had too much rumbling from other republican senators on the moderate side. rob portman is another one to keep an eye on to see which way he's going to go on this. mitch mcconnell can only afford to lose one or two of these folks. he's not going to get any democrats to come along and support. he's in a bit of a tight spot. >> mitch mcconnell known as a savvy dealmaker. what is this going to mean for him for that reputation of ahe e dealmaker? >> the pressure is definitely on. nobody knows the institution of the senate or how to collect is better than mitch mcconnell, but this is going to be a reall test for him. republicans are two minds about this. some republicans think, you know, if they vote on th

wisconsin senator ron johnson chairs the 90-minute hearing. mr. johnson: this meet something called to order. pursuant to notice, the committee meets to consideration of nominations of claire and grady to be the secretary of management and henry concerner to be the special council, office of special council.

senator john mccain and ron johnson said the measure would destroy the obama care insurance markets by getting rid of the current requirement that people by insurance. >> the skinny bill is a disaster. the skinny bill as a replacement for bomb ma care obamacare is a fraud. it is not a replacement in the self. >> the house would be willing to negotiate if the senate passes that so-called skinny bill but at least two gop sensors are saying that assurance is insufficient. no votes by three senators would be enough to defeat the bill. >> today people gathered to protest the state law restricting rent control. they want the housing act to be repealed. the law restricts cities from passing rent control on many types of building and on vacant apartments. renters say it allows families to face large rent increases and unfair evictions. some land records are saying records are saying it prevents people from buying homes. >> the repeal was introduced in the legislature earlier this year and would stop the ban on rent control for single family homes and homes built after 1995. >>> in san francisc

ron johnson, senator, he's been so helpful to us. only thing you haven't heard too much about, health care. and i think we're doing okay, ron. i'm hearing good things. good. i'm hearing good things. all of the congressmen, the great congressmen and senators we have in the audience, thank you very much and thanks especially to my friend, one of the great businessmen anywhere in the world, terry go. [ applause ] >> i would see terry, and i would say terry you have to give us a couple of those massive, these are massive places that you do such great work with, and he's going to be doing that in a state that is very close to my heart, wisconsin. so we're very happy. one of the big job producers anywhere at any time, scott. so i know it's going to be fantastic for the people. this is a great day for american workers and manufacturing and for everyone who believes in the concept and the label made in the u.s.a. [ applause ] >> today i'm pleased to announce that foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for computers, communications and cons

ron johnson of wisconsin, mike lee of utah, not happy with the cruz amendment.ven though he's one of the authors. shirley of west virginia. dean heller of nevada. he's interesting. his governor today says he has great concerns about the bill. lisa murkowski of alaska said she didn't like where this is going. we're waiting to hear ther -- hear from all five of those. they can't lose any one of those. that's just the beginning. >> woodruff: you two will monitor every minute until we know what the answer is. lisa desjardins, julie rovner, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump held talks in paris with the president of france, but he faced questions about his son's meeting with a russian lawyer, last summer, aimed at getting information harmful to hillary clinton. at a joint news conference, mr. trump dismissed criticism of the meeting, and said, "it's called cposition research." we will have a full report, after the news summary. in china, political dissident and nobel peace prize winner liu xiaobo died today, of liver c

and ron johnson said he appreciates the statement but he's still undecided. so anderson, this is very much a fluid situation. it is up in the air. we still don't know if there are enough votes to pass this so-called skinny repeal. >> we're going to be covering this all night long. the word came out in "the new yorker," a phone call from anthony scaramucci to "new york yorker" reporter ryan lizza. scaramucci was having dinner with the president and sean hannity a hannity and he wantsed to know who leaked that information. this is a rare moment in american politics. not that it was filled with curse words but the fact that it wasn't off the record and the fact that this whole staffing drama is playing out almost in realti realtime on television and in print. here's what ryan lizza had to say. i want to read part of what scaramucci said to you. "reince is a blanking paranoid skets frschizophrenic. bill shine is coming in. let me leak the blanking thing the way i blank blocked scaramucci for six months" didn't he just say that they were friends? >> yes. he did. h

when ron johnson came in to vote yes, they weren't sure how it would end up. that's an indication of where they are in general. they don't know how they finish. this they're glad to open 2 process, but we also don't know if anyone is willing to compromise as senator mccabe asked for today on the floor. >> woodruff: so much to watch. lisa desjardins with another long day at the capitol. thank you, lisa. we'll talk to montana senator jon tester about the day's drama, right after the news summary. in the day's other news, president trump today kept sawing on the tree limb where he's recently placed his attorney general, jeff sessions. he charged sessions has been "very weak" on investigating hillary clinton, and needs to be "much tougher." as for whether sessions will keep his job, the president said, "time will tell." one of mr. trump's advisors said he probably wants sessions to resign. we'll have a full report, later in the program. the state department denied today that secretary of state rex tillerson is increasingly frustrated in his job. several news outle

i think it can't pass without -- if somebody like ron johnson in a trump state isn't for it, i thinkhe bill's chances. >> okay. thank you, kaitlyn and david. that's it for me. thank you for watching. i'm going to see you back here tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern. i'm ali velshi. for now, i have to quit talking on tv in favor of my friend chris matthews and hard ball that starts right now. >> so what if it was chelsea. let's play hard ball. >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in san francisco. let's call it the chelsea test. a new monument university poll shows that 29% of americans say they do not think it was wrong for donald trump, jr., paul manafort, and jared kushner to meet with russians to get dirt on hillary clinton from the kremlin. this is their position, they say. the 29%, even if it's proven, it was fine. well, now the chelsea test.

arizona, lindsey graham of south carolina, david perdue of georgia, and then the conservatives, ron johnson of wisconsin and mike lee of utah. this is a group that have all played an important role in this conversation about health care. they're set to reveal something here in the next few minutes, and it could play a big role as to whether or not this skinny repeal bill ultimately passes later today. >> we'll see what these five republican senators have to say if they come out and say for example that they are opposed. they're not going to vote for the skinny repeal legislation. what happens then? that seems to be the last hope that the republican leadership and the president, at least right now have. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, wolf. if those five senators will not vote, there's no way it'll pass. it'll likely mean that once again mitch mcconnell is going to have to go back to the drawing board and come up with another plan. there could be a curve ball thrown here, wolf. there could be something where both lindsey graham and some of these conservatives say that they've agreed on

what i mean by that is -- remember when ron johnson asked hillary clinton that question about benghaziand she said at this point what difference does it make and she kind of won this round of 30 years earlier ron johnson was trying to figure how to get a loan to get truck to move pallets of plastic and hillary clinton with left-wing law enforcement -- law firm or a sense where liberals would go into politics, take it and live it much more seriously and the standard republican is this -- usually a guy who comes from a mid western town who is a little successful in business and leader in his community and church and he says, i want to give back, right, and so they come from this very sort of -- i don't want to say -- narrow frame of american culture that does not speak well to big swaths of american culture. democrats have the same sort of problem but the reverse image of it. and so a lot of republicans think i'm going to go washington, i'm going to bring business skills and make sure that the account pay bles department runs well and liberals have a vision for what society should look l

also john mccain was standing there and ron johnson of wisconsin. all three senators said they will not vote for that so-called "skinny repeal" or that smaller repeal bill unless they are guaranteed that that is not the end, that they are guaranteed that the chance to debate a larger bill in conference with committee in the house. that's critical. that means we won't see the healthcare debate end this weekend as some people were starting to talk about. >> woodruff: lisa, how did they get to the point where right here at beyond the eleventh hour, you still have republican senators saying they're not comfortable with the options they're being offered? >> i think there is a graduate level class and probably several in the works that will look at ha exact question, judy, but from my viewpoint, one of the issues here is they did not go through the usual process. they did not go through committees. they did not have public discussion or drafts of this bill. judy, as i talk to you right now, there is still no draft of what could be the final proposal befor

we see wisconsin's senator ron johnson actually broached the subject of saying that perhaps mitch mcconnell in terms of what the true value is of this bill. so we are seeing deep tensions within the caucus. and now, and this is where i think being not only the president of the united states, but being the leader of your party, comes into play. and donald trump, given his low approval numbers, given how toxic is administration has become, u nfortu nately toxic is administration has become, unfortunately isn't able to corral his caucus to get this deal over the finish line. and i think that is what is deeply problematic, and what is not getting the attention that ensured, is that you have got a president who wants this bill, who is ready to sign this bill, but because he hasn't been able to build the bridges across the board, with centrist and democrats, he can't go out to the public and win support, and he can't find support even in washington. he has said i will be very angry if it doesn't get through, he said a lot of people will be very disappointed, but does he not see it as hisjob will

we talked to our senate sponsors and we are trying to get ron johnson's committee to mark this up fairly soon and we will be having conversations over the next couple of weeks about that topic. some of the concerns that senate appropriators and some of the same concerns that we talked through before we even introduced the current form of the legislation so again, i think this is something that will get through some of these concerns and might need to be a tweak or two there but i feel good that we can get this done. again, when i was an undercover officer in the cia chasing terrorists in back alleys and i was thinking about running for congress to. >> it procurement was not one of the issues i was thinking about but when i got here i realized that when you change the way the federal government operates, you change outcomes. that is the kind of innovation that we need to see in the federal government. this is something that not too many things past the house of the significance with support of the majority leader, the majority whip and this is something we will get the right momentum in t

moderate side and on the conservative side you've got rand paul, mike lee, ted cruz who have said, ron johnson is another, they said they're not willing to vote for the bill as it was currently constructed. they're looking at different alternatives trying to improve the bill. ted cruz offered an amendment which some people think might be able to garner some votes. those are the ones to watch. everyone else is fairly onboard. we haven't heard too muchs grumbling from other senators. mitch mcconnell needs them all. he can only afford to lose one or two.he he's not going to get any democrats to come support the bill. he is in a bit of a tight spot. >> mitch mcconnell known as a savvy dealmaker, what is this about going to meet for him and that reputation of a dealmaker. >> the pressure is definitely on. nobody knows the institution of the senate or how to collect votes better than mitch mcconnell but this will be a real test, even for him. for republicans, there are two minds about this. some think, if they vote on this, if they don't do this they do not repeal it will be catastrophic for them in

on the conservative side, rand paul, mike lee, ted cruz, ron johnson, they have said they are not willing to vote for the bill as it was currently constructed, they are looking for different alternatives to improve the bill. ted cruz has offered an amendment which some things -- think maybe able to garner some votes. is fairly one board. we have not heard too much rumbling from other republican senators. mitch mcconnell needs them all. he can only afford to lose one or two of these folks. he is not getting any democrats to support this. he is in a bit of a tight spot. host: mitch mcconnell is known as a savvy dealmaker. meanis this vote going to for that reputation as a dealmaker? guest: the pressure is definitely on. nobody knows how to collect votes better than mitch mcconnell, but this is going to be a real test even for him. republicans are of two minds about this. some think that if they vote on this, if they don't do this, if they do not repeal this, it is going to be catastrophic and the 2018 elections and beyond. sayr republicans will obamacare is going to fall of its own weight.

late in the day we've heard from john mccain, lindsey graham and ron johnson who said they will not vote for skinny repeal unless they have a guarantee that the house will go to a conference committee and just not pass it. so it's a confused situation. without those three votes it couldn't pass but we don't know how that's going to go and voting will go late into the night. >> on to tax reform the republicans dropped the border adjustment tax that raised a lot of revenue. how does the gop keep tax reform from ballooning the deficit. >> they do not know and that's why they haven't told us. that was the number one lynchpin of tax reform in which they could change the tax code in a way that didn't cost the treasury a lot of money. one option is to find another source of revenue, another which i think is more likely is that republicans are going to try to figure out a way to pass a tax cut that does lose revenue because it's simply too hard to find other revenue sources. they might be able to do that if they can make those tax cuts expire after ten years, which is what the bush administratio

what is ron johnson's position? caller: ron johnson has slowed down the process on this bill, somewhat surprisingly took people that have watched him campaign against the affordable care act in his last 2 elections . he is not so much opposed to the content of the bill, though he does have some objections. he has decided the process needs to slow down. he has been holding telephone town halls to get more input. it is not necessarily going to be a no in the end, but he is putting the brakes on it. host: he wants them to slow down? why? caller: he is hearing a lot of opposition. there is a marquette university law school in wisconsin that said 54% of people in the state want congress to keep the affordable care act and fix it as opposed to repeal and replace . the repeal and replace number was 27%. a smaller portion of the routetion in favor of the they are taking. he is hearing a lot of anger, fear, sadness, what a lot of senators across the country are hearing. he has been holding telephone town halls. no matter wha

these four republican senators with assists from republican dean heller of nevada and ron johnson unraveled it. what's left is, well, obamacare. absent some sort of legislative lazarus obamacare remains the law of the land. spicer's departure caused a lot of talk, but the senate appeals of republican power from 2010 forward is overturned. with it republican credibility as a governing party. joining me for autopsy and prof si are page winfield cunningham of "the washington post." she covers health policy and hadas gould. welcome. big shakeup at the white house. i don't want to overlook the fact that sarah huckabee sanders joins perino and myers as a woman as white house press secretary, and that's a big deal. there are a lot of those. charmaine yost at hhs. are you surprised how many women are giving voice to the trump administration's message? >> not necessarily, especially if you look at the amount of white women who supported the president in te election. sarah huckabee sanders is the third woman to be the press secretary. there have been more communications direct torts, not as many. you

but what i mean by that is you have -- remember when ron johnson asked hillary clinton that questionabout benghazi and she said at this point what difference does it make? and won this round. 30 years earlier ron johnson was trying to figure out how to get a loan to get a truck to move pallets of plastic from oshkosh to st. paul, and hillary clinton was doing her -- working at -- crazy left wing law firm where she was doing her thesis. there is a citizen in which the will be recalls who go into politics take and it live it much more seriously and the standard republican is this -- usually a guy who comes from a midwestern town, a little successful in business, a leader in his community and church and says i want to give back. right? and so they come from this very sort of -- i don't want to say myonic but narrow frame of american culture that does not speak well to bill swath of american culture. democrats have a similar problem but just sort of the reverse image, and so a lot of republicans think, i'm going to go to washington and bring my business skills and get -- make shower that

[laughter] ron johnson, senator. een so helpful to us on a thing you have not heard much about recently, healthcare. i think we are doing ok, ron. i'm hearing good things. secretary mnuchin, secretary ross. all of the congressman, the great congressman and senators that we have in the audience, thank you very much. friend,specially to my one of the great businessman anywhere in the world, terry gao. [applause] i would see terry and say, you have to give us a couple of massive -- these are massive places that you do such great work with. he will be doing that in a state that is close to my heart, wisconsin. we are very happy. big job producers, anywhere at anytime. it will be fantastic for the people. it a great day for american workers and manufacturing, and for everyone who believes in the uncept and label "made in the sa." [applause] today, i am pleased to announce that foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for computers, communications, and consumer electronics, one of the great companies of the world, will buil

ron johnson has indicated he might be in favor of the skinny repeal. which are peeled the taxes and mandate which is the central core of obamacare. we also talked with rand paul who i thought might be open to another version of repeal as long as it is attached to a replace bill. he wanted to go to for a repeal or something close to it. so i think that leaves a little wiggle room open. they're not going to get certain people but they need to find to put together enough centers to get this passed and maybe the skinny repeal is the way to go. >> julie: do you know the details of the bill that actually debating hashtag >> no. >> know, they need to hash it out on the floor, do their work and bring it to the floor. he wants regular order in a process that the body is supposed to produce in the senate and he wants to see that happen soon. that would mean everyone would have a better sense of what would happen. >> julie: we know ted cruz's amendment is not going to go through. what sort of amendments are senators going to see? >> some have to do with the skinn

a number of relatively moderate republican senators masseuse and collins, ron -- susan collins, ron johnsonwho've been talking with democratic senators privately. there's $50 billion worth of stabilization in the republican bill that i guess today. -- that died yesterday. senator mcconnell said eventually come if republicans cannot pass their own bill, he will have to negotiate with senator schumer on a way forward because nobody thinks the market is sustainable without some tweaks. you mentioned president trump's comments that he's willing to let the aca fail and he and the public and the republicans will be blamed, it will be the democrats. this tends to not work in practice. the party in control of everything almost always gets blamed for when things go wrong. are polls that's a just republicans would overwhelmingly be blamed if the markets collapse and nothing is done about it. which is why senator mcconnell has been skeptical about the idea. vonnie: it's not just embarrassing for the senate, at this point, it is embarrassing for the house as well. remember that salvation in the rose ga

ron johnson felt like there was a breach of trust or the senate energy leader and john mccain sayingy were doing stuff in the open. this is a life-changing event for americans. republicans criticized democrats. there's no reason for them to do it. drinking at this point coming here is where we are at today. we are looking at this skinny repeal basically. some parts of obamacare may go away. the individual mandate has passed the senate now. the individual mandate, penalty and employers, but also expands medicaid and 31 date. still a heavy price tag to it. does that hurt the next note that we expect to see on this? >> i think so. there is a rumor circulating on capitol hill that mcconnell had a deal that if that is all the republicans gathered the walk back to the individual mandate from individual mandate, democrats will use up on the nominations for the president can work together on tax reform. if you let go of the individual mandate, you will have to fix and tax reform. train to basically help terry dies, but tax reform advances. that is interesting. i'd not heard that. eric, thank

. >> senator john mccain along with senators lyndsey gram and ron johnson say they can't support the current measure which would eliminate the requirement that people buy insurance. they say that would destroy the bam obama care obama care. we politically own the collapse of healthcare. i would rather get out of the way and let it collapse than have a half approach where it is now our problem. >> the three senators say they would vote for it only if the house promises to use it as a springboard for compromise. tonight house speaker paul ryan said the house would be willing to negotiate. no votes by those three senators would be enough to defeat the bill. >> the house of representatives voted this afternoon to approve a spending bill to build a wall along the u.s./mexican border. $1.6 billion of tax pay year money to put toward construction. president trump promised repeatedly during his campaign he would make mexico pay for the wall. the bill passed 235 to 192. >> today marks the official start to a new nfl season in the bay area with the 49ers reporting for training camp. we met wit

ron johnson stood up and lied.e was on c-span many times wisconsins company in offered employees a $10,000 deductible for their health care pre-obamacare. ron johnson come you understand what i mean. trump in florida in his campaigns, he promised the seniors to reduce medicare drug costs to them. what has trump done for the medicare drug costs. did this skinny bill have anything to do with pharmaceuticals? do the seniors know there is a mandate and penalty in the med d in 2003 by all republicans at 4:30 in the morning? points, you think these the policy of this, was driving lawmakers. you think the votes were more motivated? how likely are they to come together now to find a solution to the problems? caller: something has to break. let's look at if it is political or policy. look at kentucky. kentucky is the highest recipient of obamacare. they just do not call it obamacare. are the ones most fortunate from the affordable care act. you have the senate majority leader and rand paul wanting to repeal this. what about

they were on pins and needles wondering whether ron johnson with supportive and whether john mccain woulde it back in time to cast the critical vote. not hearing any bold promises. suggesting may be a struggle this week. they may have to go back to the drawing board at that. the skinny repeal is getting a lot of buzz because it does very little and it does a lot of things republicans should want. they are hopeful may be that may be the path to get to a conference trying to nail down a compromise. >> bret: mike emanuel, great job on capitol hill. president trump hit the road again to rally his supporters. he left one of his earliest backers twisting in the wind. he spent the evening in youngstown, ohio, or talk about everything from health care to jobs. what he did not mention was attorney general jeff sessions. who has gone from calling beleaguered to very weak. kevin corke was at tonight's rally. joins us live with what that president did and did not say. >> usually that president uses big rallies like this one to re-energize himself and maybe even the base, but also as an opportunity to

ron johnson, senator, he has been so helpful to us. on a thing you have not heard about much healthcare, we're hearing good things, secretary ne mnuchin, secretary ross, all congressmen, great congressmen. senators we have in audience, thank you very much. and thanks to my friend, one of great businessmen anywhere in the world, terry goh . [applause] [applause] >> i would see terry, and i would say, terry, you have to give us a couple of those massive, these are massive places that you do such great work with. he is going to be doing that in a state that is very close to my heart, wisconsin. wirwe're happy. one of the big job producers anywhere at any time, scott, i know it will be fantastic for the people. this is a great day for american workers and manufacturing and anyone who believes in the concept and label made in the usa. today i am pleased to announce that foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for computers, communications, and consumer electronics, one of the truly great companies of the world, will build as a state of the

congressman ron johnson was upset that mcconnell was telling senators not to worry about medicaid cuts. mcconnell said his remarks were misinterpreted. but when asked if he still had faith in mcconnell as a leader, johnson said, kwoquote, i find remarks troubling. when pushed, he was asked, you're not going to say that? >> this isn't about mitch, this is about the politics for health care. >> reporter: the path forward for republicans right now is unclear. the path that existed between the conservative and moderate wings of the party remain, leaving an alternative that doesn't currently exist as democrats open the door to a bipartisan conversation. >> it's time to move on. it's time to start over. rather than repeating the same failed partisan process yet again, republicans should work with democrats. >> reporter: now, there is a chance that a vote that would move some form of a repeal to the senate floor, which would likely fail, could happen as soon as this week. but just what form that bill would come in remains to be seen. senator john cornyn of texas who is the majority whip said