But cap other popular tax breaks, including deductions for mortgage interest and state and local taxes. It would also eliminate the individual mandate under the Affordable Care act. This tax cut will mean less of a paycheck going to washington and more to the hardworking person who earned it. Robert but democrats are calling to delay the vote until alabama senatorelect, doug jones, is seated. It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from alabama the opportunity to cast his vote. Robert we explain what a compromise could look like when it comes to cutting taxes, can christensen welker of nbc news, jeff zeleny of cnn. Nancy cortice, and shawna thomas. Celebrating 50 years, this is Washington Week. Funding is provided by their leadership is instinctive. They understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. Some call them veterans. We call them part of our team. Additional funding is provided by newmans own foundation, donating all profits from newmans own Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. Koo and Patricia Yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Once again, from washington, moderator, robert costa. Robert good evening. Republicans are charging forward tonight with their sweeping tax cut bill, after two republican senators reversed course and said they would support the legislation. Republican leaders made some lastminute changes to win over florida senator marco rubio, who threatened just yesterday to vote no. Another holdout, tennessees bob corker, the only republican to vote no on the original senate version, also said he would support the bill, despite his concerns about the 1. 5 trillion it will add to the deficits. Nancy, you just came from capitol hill. You have to update us. Where is the state of play tonight . It looks like senator corker and senator rubio have gotten to yes. Where does that put the bill . Its a very good day for republicans and it looks like they are on track to meet their time line, which is a vote in the house on tuesday, a vote in the senate shortly thereafter. It doesnt sound like a major milestone to take a House Republican bill and Senate Republican bill and meld them together, but actually, there are so many ways that could have gone wrong. There are so many stakeholders who are attached to one version or the other so the fact that they said they would get it done on friday and they did is a big sign of how unified this party is and its the culmination of awe decadeslong dream. It seems like the party is really hanging together now. Robert theyre unified bah a lot of these holdouts, because of what happened in alabama on tuesday, they think they have leverage, this process has been rushed. What has happened in the tweaking of this bill . Who has been pulled across the line . You mentioned senator marco rubio from florida was able to get the child credit changed in a way so that people could get the money back themselves but basically he was masterful in the leverage that he had. Everyone has been saying we have to pass this bill by the end of the year. They didnt really have to pass this bill by the end of the year but with senatorelect doug jones from alabama next year, they really do kind of have to pass the bill by the end of the year. So he saw that, he came out strong and publicly that he thought the bill needed to be better for the middle class and he got what he wanted and they worked it into the bill. The thing is, what that creates are a couple of losers possibly. You have senator susan collins. We dont know how she feels about the bill but we know she wanted something done damage about shoring up the obamacare markets. Robert whats the president s role and the white houses role in closing this deal . I think the president has been engaged differently than he was during the healthcare gant. He was working the phones behind the scenes, unlike healthcare where he was making promises from individual lawmakers. Im told he learned from some of those mistakes and he was serving as an energizing force as opposed to derailing the negotiations. Today we had a chance to ask him some questions early in the morning and i asked him if he would support increasing the Child Tax Credit. He indicated the answer to that was yes. So it was clear, as the day was progressing, that this was moving in a good direction for the president. I dont think you can overstate that President Trump needs a victory, after the failure to repeal and replace obamacare, he hasnt had a major legislative victory so it was a full court press for the president. Its also a test that republicans do tax cuts. If it would not have been accomplished, it would have been a sign that governing in this era is impossible but you have to give credit to the president that he was working the phones and not out so much publicly. Whenever you asked him questions, he was engaged with what each senator wanted. Its also easier, i think, to build a piece of legislation rather than take one away, like the healthcare debate. Even publicly, the president did have events, he did have speeches and did go to towns and usually at those events he pretty much stayed on message. They wanted this badly. Robert the president was taking a bigpicture approach, talking in Broad Strokes about the legislation. We havent had many hearings on this piece of legislation. The bills released on friday night and were still reading the 500page document. Lets look at whats actually in the brill. Bill. First, the individual rate would drop from 39. 6 to 37 . The corporate rate drops from 35 to as low as 21 . The standard deduction for individuals doubles. It will now be 12,000 for individuals and 24,000 for married couples. Republicans say this would simplify the tax process and allow more people to stop itemizing. The proposal preserves the deductions for medical expenses and Student Loans. People living in hightax states like new york and california could pay more under this new provision that limits state and local income and property Tax Deductions at 10,000. Republicans will also repeal the most controversial provision of the Affordable Care act, the mandate that requires just about everyone to have some form of Health Insurance or pay a fine. Nancy, on the healthcare point, this is a Major Overhaul of president obamas signature law. Were not talking much about it on capitol hill because its all taxes but this is a healthcare debate as much as a tax debate. Republicans dont want to talk about it because theyd love to slide it through. Another priority they dont talk about is opening up part of the alaskan Wildlife Rescue to oil drilling, something that republicans have wanted to do for a long time and it was interesting, as you went through the laundry list of whats in the bill, its remarkable how much at this late hour we still dont know. First of all, because we just got the bill and its 500 pages but also, because i checked again before we went on the air, the joint committee on taxation, the nonpartisan referee, if you will, the bipartisan number crunchers, has not been able to release its analysis this bill so we dont know basic things like how much does it cost . What does it mean for people at every income level . Yes, there are individual rates coming down but theyre also losing some deductions. How do they fare when you average that out . We dont know because republicans were negotiating some of these things right up until about 12 hours ago and it takes time to run the numbers. And yet, lawmakers are being expected to vote on this in just a few days and they may not have all those answers when they vote. And i think, while this is a legislative victory, certainly, for republicans, once they do finally get it passed, if thats what happens, its not necessarily a political victory for all of the reasons youre mapping out, nancy, and also, because if you look at the polls, this is not a popular piece of legislation. Now, weve, of course, seen that before, if you talk to republicans, they say, hey, look at the reagan tax cuts. That was wildly unpopular. Obamacare was very unpopular initially so their calculation is that ultimately people will start to like this but i think there is a concern that in 2018, democrats could really use this on the campaign trail. One of the things that the senators, the republican senators had to do to get the House Republicans on board was that top rate of 39. 6 , bring it down to 37 . The original senate bill did not do that so they have now given the democrats something where they get to say, hey, for the richest of the rich in this country, they are going to get a tax cut and i dont think the Senate Republicans originally wanted to give that away. They also wanted to keep a couple of ways to pay for the bill. I think also, all along the way, as kristen is at the white house every day, the president talked about getting democratic votes for this. Hes gone out to a bunch of red states that have Democratic Senators and was trying to entice them. At the end of the day, it fell short and was sort of a halfhearted effort but you make the point of 2018, as people digest whats in this bill and realize it doesnt help a lot of trump voters as much as trump donors, i think that is something Going Forward will be the legacy of this bill. The healthcare bill was obviously freighted with a lot of weight. It was passed around the same time, Christmas Eve of the first year of the obama administration, at least in the senate. Once this is all digested, politically, its not going to be that great for everyone. I will say there are some changes in the final version that may help to win people over, at least in the short term. The fact that that Child Tax Credit is refundable up to 1400, thats a pretty big chunk of change. The fact that some of the deductions they were planning to eliminate for Student Loans and health costs, which those were incredibly unpopular, they dialed that back. And so, yes, some of these goodies expire in 2025 but in the short term, there may be lower middle income people who say, ok, im obviously not getting as big of a tax cut as the wealthy but im still getting a tax cut so how can i hate this plan . Robert when do we expect the vote . Its looking like tuesday in the house and then the senate has to take some time to allow for debate. Democrats probably will take up all of that time. But if everything goes according to plan, the senate vote would take place on wednesday. Robert jeff brought up the midterms. When you look at this bill, the corporate rate the cut is made permanent to about 21 . The middle class tax rates are not permanent. Is there going to be a political cause for republicans next year because of the fact that the corporate rate is locked in and its really helping corporations . I think the thing that republicans are going to say is that, yes, to make the system work through the reconciliation process, the special process the senate is using to pass this bill, we had to sunset those tax cuts for individuals, personal tax cuts, but well continue them on. There is a historical trend that when you try to sunset tax cuts, someone ends up going ahead and extending them and extending them because nobody wants to run on your taxes increasing but that will be brought up and thats part of the messaging problem that the republicans have, which is, when you start to look down the line, middle class peoples taxes go up at a certain point and the corporations dont. One thing thats not been discussed, i have been surprised, the price tag on this, for being a Republican Administration republicans were often the stewards and concerns about this were front and center. Bob corker is really one of onee only senators to talk about what is this costing . Im told one of the reasons he came on board, a republican close to the process told me that leader mcconnell went to him directly and said we need your vote on this. Senator mccain, as we know, is battling brain cancer in walter reid and its unclear if hell be able to vote. But having bob corker on board is an insurance policy. He raised concerns about the debt and you dont hear much about that from other people or the white house. Theyre not focused on that. I think theyre focused on the Corporate Tax cut. The president loves to talk about that. He wanted 15 . He didnt get 15 but they compromised at 21 and their argument is thats really going to robert theyre banking on the economic, the markets doing well and the tax cut. Traditional republican orthodoxy, trickledown economics will win votes next year. And President Trumps already started to make that argument. Hes tweeting about the economy, the stock market, almost every morning to highlight that book. Look at how the markets are already responding to the mere idea that this is going to pass so i think hell continue to hit that point hard. Robert lets talk about what sparked the frenzied activity this week. It was the upset in alabama, the special election where Democrat Doug Jones beat republican roy moore, a race dominated by allegations of Sexual Misconduct against moore but it was a significant political moment, a democratic win in the deep south, trump country. When i was on capitol hill this week talking with senators on both sides, i heard from democrats that it wasnt just about moore, senator Bernie Sanders told me this, it was a referendum on President Trump. The question remains whether democrats can translate this win into an effective way of stalling the trump agenda or winning back control of congress. Shawna, what are you hearing from democrats about whether this tax bill is a gift to them and they can build on the alabama momentum . I think in some ways nancy pelosi said it was a little bit of a gift to them and theyve said you dont want to about this but theyre going to run on the idea that they are lowering rates for people who are rich. And thats not its just not a great message for republicans. The thing about republicans is they can say, you have to wait and see and the economy will improve. And that takes a while, just like we saw, as kristen pointed out, with obamacare. People kind of like obamacare now that they understand how it affects their lives. This is a slow bill and we wont be able to tell you how tax reform will work but the democrats will tell you for a while, hey, that rich person down the street got a tax cut. Robert if the senate is 51 republican seats, 52 to 51, how does it change capitol hill . Its interesting, because on one hand theres not that much legislation that you typically pass with 51 votes rather than 60. We have been in kind of this unusual phase in the senate where republicans have been using this reconciliation process, this budget process, to pass legislation using 51 votes, first on healthcare, now on taxes. But after that, its going to get more difficult and so the problem isnt going to be that its 5149 and that makes it tighter when they try to pass with the simple majority. The problem will be that on a lot of legislation that they want to pass, they got to get to 60 so theyll need democratic support for the first time and everybodys muscles are atrophied. Robert the president reached out to doug jones, senatorelect. He did. It was a phone call pretty early on. This is one of the biggest defeats President Trump has had politically speaking but in a tweet about 11 00 p. M. Election night, measured and conciliatory, congratulating doug jones, less than 12 hours later, he was on the megaphone him, congratulating him, inviting him to the white house to come over. Doug jones was branded as a liberal but is still a democrat from one of the most conservative states, an extinct creature. So well see what doug jones does. Hell play ball in some respect but i was sort of struck by the week began so poorly for President Trump but will end, likely, as one of his strongest weeks if this bills signed. I thought it was interesting, earlier today, the president was asked, is it time for roy moore to concede and he said yes. He didnt hesitate. I thought that was underscored the point that youre making, jeff. Doug jones, i thought, ran a very Smart Campaign prior to the allegations that came out against roy moore. He said, look, im someone who can work with anyone in washington. If you talk to republicans, they say theyre holding him to that. Maybe not on every piece of legislation but think about some of the things they want to tackle in the new year infrastructure, for example. Thats an area where i think democrats and republicans can find agreement. The president keeps talking about welfare, trying to drill down on details, what specifically is he talking about, but those are potential areas, i think, of common ground. One thing i want to say is that doug jones has his seat and its up for reelection in 2020. The odds that a democrat rewins that seat are not that good in alabama, especially unless judge roy moore decides to run again or Something Like that. [laughter] a possible thought. Hes still running. He hasnt dropped out. He ran again for judge, lets just remember that. I dont know how much leverage the republicans or President Trump have over doug jones, if, in the future, the idea of him winning that seat again is really unlikely. Robert people say dont read too much into special elections, jeff, but this was a major win for the democrats and it made President Trump reach out, extend a hand. It did. He had no choice, really. He was humbled by this in the moment. Odd circumstances all around but i think the takeaway here has President Trumps relationship with steve bannon changed . Theyre still close but will he follow him, if hes challenging another sitting republican senator . Dont count on it. Robert the hard liner from breitbart is still in the president s ear but well see how much he impacts the president moving forward. Theres a Bigger Picture among all the tax discussion. As lawmakers were hammering out the final slergs version of this tax bill, President Trump was taking aim at the f. B. I. , minutes before he was speaking to a graduating class at its national academy. Heres what he had to say from the white house lawn. President trump its a shame whats happened with the f. B. I. But well rebuild the f. B. I. It will be bigger and better than ever. Its sad when you look at those documents and how theyve done that is really disgraceful and you have a lot of angry people seeing it. Robert today was the latest in a barrage from President Trump directed at the f. B. I. , saying the bureaus reputation is in tatters. When you think of this moment for republicans, moving forward with taxes, are you worried that the president s comment about the f. B. I. And his conduct regarding the russia probe, that could be a major problem going into 2018 . That worry is an undercurrent there all the time. Its not escapable. At the same time, theyre so used to him doing this, attacking the c. I. A. , attacking the f. B. I. , that its sort of become background noise at this point or at least they treat it as if it is and try not to address it. Yes, it gets them off message. Yes, they desperately disagree with it but they try not to acknowledge it because no one wants to be in a fight with the leader of their own party. And if its background noise on capitol hill, its really starting to bubble up to the forefront at the white house and you saw that play out today in President Trumps remarks. Hes really ramping up his attacks against the f. B. I. I think it reflects, potentially, a new strategy, a tougher strategy. Hes trying to undercut the investigation. Nothing really new about that, but he feels like hes been energized by a top official at the f. B. I. Who was removed from the special counsel investigation amid questionable text messages. But theres a debate in trumps inner circle about how tough should he get. You mentioned bannon. Bannon wants him to get much tougher. Robert should we expect Robert Mueller, special counsel, to be fired in the coming weeks . Is a pardon for mike flynn on the radar . The president was asked that this morning and he said im not thinking about that yet but left open the possibility of pardoning flynn. Michael flynn is cooperating with the special counsel. He pled guilty to one charge. But i think Going Forward here, the idea inside the white house, his lawyers believe that hes not the subject of this. They want to get through this as quickly as possible. Theyve tried to suppress every urge and inclination to fire Robert Mueller because that would create a situation but rob rosenstein, who appointed him, voiced support for mueller. Any firing of mueller, Rod Rosenstein would have to do it. The president would have to tell him i want him fired and rosenstein would have to either say, ok, ill do it, or say no and then you end up in sort of a saturday night massacre situation a little bit so its a little bit hard to fire him but there is no political upside and no one on capitol hill on the republican side wants that to happen. And no justification because apparently he did the right thing when he found out about these text messages, he removed this f. B. I. Agent from the investigation. What more is he supposed to do . Robert and the congressional committees are on the line investigating russia. Will they close by the end of the career . No. [laughter] theres just more and more all the time. Robert well have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us for our conversation tonight. Stay tuned, if youre watching, for a special edition of the Washington Week extra, coming up next on most pbs stations. Well talk more about the Alabama Senate race and President Trumps twitter feud with senator kirsten gillibrand. You can find more online at pbs. Org washingtonweek. Im robert costa. Thanks for joining us. Funding for Washington Week is provided by their leadership is instinctive. They understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. Some call them veterans. We call them part of our team. Additional funding is provided by newmans own foundation, donating all profits from newmans own Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. Koo and Patricia Yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Youre watching p divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. The story of henry viii and his 6 wives is one of the bestknown in history. Theres catherine of aragon, the bitter, abandoned first wife; anne boleyn, the original other woman; jane seymour, bit of a doormat. Then weve got anne of cleves she was the ugly one catherine howard, the one who slept around; and catherine parr, the saintly nurse. But im going to tell you a very different story. Im going to take you back in time and into the private lives of henrys 6 wives. Im going to see the story from their point of view,