you guys already have a plan to put money to push money in districts? our hope is that this bill as constructed right now will fail on the house floor later this afternoon and we ll be able to go back and work with republican leadership and the white house to actually have changes that will drive down the cost of health insurance for all americans. you re not saying no, dan. not saying no. great tasee you, thanks very much. appreciate your time. let me bring in the panel right now to discuss kevin madden, democratic strategist emily sussman and cnn political commentator john phillips. from one action fund to the other. emily, respond to what you just heard from dan holler. well, never thought i would be aligned with the heritage foundation, but it turns out we also want people to vote against this bill. but not because we think that republicans can go back and come up with a better bill, they can t. if the premise is to repeal obamacare all republicans have
minutes from now, ted cruz will face the media and people he hopes will send him to the white house as he launches his bid for president. you can see ted cruz moving through the crowd there. liberty university in virginia has been a key stop for republicans looking to shore up shore among conservative christians. cnn is covering cruz s announcement from all angles. our senior correspondent is at liberty university and joining me from washington john king peter hamby, democratic strategist and former dnc communication chair karen finney and communication director dan holler. thanks to all of you. jeff let s start with you. quickly set the stage for us. carol, senator cruz is on stage right now as you can see. he just came in to a cheering
might lose their doctors, insurance premiums are going up. we can stop that if we defund the law. if we make the case and make it over august and into september, we can achieve real victories. you would see the government shut down if you fail, if the president were to veto any such legislation. probably would not even get to his desk because it certainly wouldn t pass the senate where the democrats have the majority. mike lee said i made a huge mistake after the election saying we need a plan b. i made a mistake. we passed our tax extenders for everybody in august, i should have said, okay, harry reid, okay, president obama what s your plan. they ve been down the road once before and realize th. you don t have the votes in the senate, right? i don t think anybody knows what s possible in the senate until you try. that s one of the things that the republicans in congress haven t tried. is this a dream, that dan and some others have that they can pass legislation that would
believes if republicans stand up for principle, they can win this debate. wolf? jim acosta, thanks very much. let s dig deep near the republican party divide. we re joined by cnn political analyst, the republican strategist, anna navarro and dan holler, the communications director of heritage action for america. anna, let me start with you. you think the strategy that a mike lee or a senator cruz putting forward is suicidal for the gop. explain why. you know i m not sure it s suicidal and i don t like those kind of dramatic words being used. i think it s one of things we have to do as a party. be more collegial to each other and ratchet down these very dramatic and personal attacks that are being waged amongst and between republicans. we re putting on a spectacle that s frankly not benefitting republicans. it s benefitting democrats. we have got to learn to disagree without want doing take each other out because we disagree as
republicans. it s something, diversity of thought in the republican party, is is a good thing. and it s something that we have to learn to live with. i think this is good for ted cruz and mike lee and rand paul. because it gives them a higher profile, it gives them a cause, they are rebels with a cause. it allows them to build up their fundraising list and it ends up being all about raising their profile. yet, we have to think about what s best for the nation. and this is not it. you agree with those, dan, you agree with the ted cruzs, the rand pauls, you re willing to see a government shutdown, in order to try to defund obama care. i think what mike lee and ted cruz and heritage to action are saying we re happy to fund the government. we ll pass a fupding bill and urge house republicans to do it as soon as we get back in september. but we don t want to fund obama care. it s a powerful case we can make to the american people that the law is not being implemented as barack obama sai