conditions but make it affordable to tell the truth. how do you do it without a mandate? we won t force americans under penalty of what the supreme court calls a tax but what is really a penalty. we won t do that to americans. brad, this brings up an important question, though. it seems as though republicans lost the healthcare p.r. debate and ended up going down in flames, repeal and replace failed three times in the senate. is that a winning strategy? would it be better for republicans to stick to tax reform and get a win on that rather than confusing them in giving democrats the talking points that we ve already heard? look, we can be safe or we can be bold and think big. great leaders do things that are big. i m glad that the senate is picking up where they left off on healthcare. because healthcare has to be fixed. if they can do both more power to them. there is a lot more work to do.
by christmas. chris, how do you see it? the main goal of tax reform for the trump add min is station. to fix the corporate tax rate. and they said congress and senate figure out how to get it through and how you can affect the individual tax rate. they have a limited box they can deal with. they re trying to jump start the economy, focus on the corporate tax rate first and see where they can cut taxes for the rest of us down the line. it is difficult to get into that box but they ve cut across all brackets with a few expiring in 10 years. then chris i ll stick with you. of course, losing deductions for state and local taxes, the big sticking point inside of the republican party do you think the gop will take this off the table completely or will all gop senators sign on for the sake of passing legislation for president trump? the republicans representing
in terms of the politics. it would be the first major legislative victory that he had notched up and it would put to bed to some degree these criticisms that he can t get the legislative process working to his benefit and to the country s benefit. to that point you feel the republicans especially some of those who are not supportive of the current tax plans that are on the table, do you think they will all get in line if not for the sake of policy but for the sake of the president? i think there is enormous political pressure on them to do so. not only for the president s sake but also for their own sake as it pertains to the mid-term elections that we see coming up next november. i think it s republicans to be able to point to something as an achievement in that regard and i think tax reform is almost tailor made for that process. virtually everyone in the republican party agrees with the need for tax reform in a way that was not the case with
i think that now that the senate bill has this provision in it, it really may help push us over the line not only on tax reform but teeing up another bill come 2018 for the full repeal and replacement of obamacare. i m hopeful the senate will pass this. the question is will the house in conference once the senate bill passes, will that be a sticking point to tax reform? and a lot of drama to play out now in washington in the next couple of weeks. it has been so calm the past year, nothing has really happened. we ll get drama. michael hopkins, to you, if this does get republicans closer, cut it any way you want, gets them closer, are democrats worried that president trump and republicans will get a major legislative victory? democrats are always going to be worried whenever 13 million americans risk losing health insurance. i don t see the individual mandate being repealed. senator mccain hold on.
the gop looking to jump start the process on president trump s judicial picks and it could mean the end of a senate tradition dating back 100 years. welcome to a brand-new hour of america s newsroom. happy thanksgiving everyone. sandra smith is enjoying turkey with her family. great to be with you, bill hemmer enjoying thanksgiving as well. i m leland vittert in this morning. republicans are thinking of getting rid of blue slips, an opinion senators write to give an initial up or down vote on white house judicial nominees to the federal bench. senators get to do this for picks from their own states. gop lawmakers accuse democrats of hanging to the blue slips to slow the confirmation process. kristen fisher live from washington first things first. break down this process, how