right now. i'm hearing that there's a lot of second guessing and a lot of jittery republicans who don't want to repeal these important patient protections and are questioning their own leadership about this vote. we'll see where they are at the end of the day tomorrow. >> okay. congressman steve israel, thank you very much. right now, breaking news, live pictures from newark international airport. currently under a ground stop because of smoke reported from an elevator shaft leading to the evacuation of the air traffic control tower. nbc's tom costello covers aviation for nbc and joins us now. tom, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, exactly that. this is likely going to lead to a bit of a mess today in the new york city air space. as you know, newark is a linchpin, one of three airports that services new york city along with laguardia and jfk. the faa telling us there is a ground stop in place because controllers had to evacuate their positions because of smoke coming from an elevator shaft. they have relocated to another position there at the airport. they are working to reestablish