Washington journal continues. Host Katie Bo Williams is back at our desk from the hill. She joins us regarding that russian interference in the 2016 election. Guest good to be here. Host what was one of the one of the key moments yesterday during testimony was john brennan. This is what he had to say in exchange with trey gowdy. I saw information and intelligence that was worthy of investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not such cooperation or collusion was taking place. That doesnt help us a lot. What was the nature of the information . I think this committee has access to the information i am alluding to, it is classified and im happy to talk about it in the classified session. That would be directly between the candidate and russian state actors . I said i am not going to talk about it. But that was my question. I responded to your clary and uery i will ry aboutond to your que contacts between russian officials and u. S. Persons that raised questions about whether those
Its looking at getting rid of programs that congress no longer authorizes through their authorization process. Many programs are set on autopilot and just keep getting more funding year after year after year even though congress will not vote to reauthorize those programs. Whattimate based on Congressman Ken Buck wrote in his book that that totals 300 billion a year. Host in terms of specific cuts that your supportive here, what are the biggest ones that you are cheering on in this budget . Guest i am cheering on mainly getting rid of things that congress is no longer authorizing. If there is a program that congress cannot even vote on to continue to leave in place, then those programs need to go away. Those the things that we are really the most excited about. Im really also excited about the entire budget because its looking to put the taxpayer first. Thatrd in the briefing Mick Mulvaney gave earlier this week about the budget that he wants to be able to let the taxpayer in the eye a
We also come from a state where Insurance Companies pulled out of 14, to 17 counties. Most of the people cant afford health insurance. They wont have any option at all in the next enrollment period. Neil im reminded what fred barnes had to say in todays wall street journal. Will be a special guest of mine on fox news later today. But he said republicans are not acting like team players. Referring to senator paul, kevin, he owes boss senate bill because it leaves too much obamacare in place but the alternative to leave it all in place. What do you make of that . That is certainly true. A vote to not move forward is vote for obamacare. It is a vote for the status quo. We know where that is going. It will have to be ailed out one way or the other. It is in a death spiral. We all know what the democrats answer is to that. Dump a ton of money. Reform nothing. Kick the can down the road wait for it to fail at a later date. This is the time to act. They have gone on this for eight years. They
Adam shapiro joins us with all the details. Reporter its important to know in regards to tax reform, they have always been on separate tracks. Tax reform will be guided by what will eventually be the 2018 budget resolution in the house and senate. Tax reform according to chairman kevin brady of the ways and Means Committee not in jeopardy. But with healthcare, you saw what happened today. Lets look at the three nors who for lack of a better term killed the repeal of obamacare. Yet there may be at the end of the kay the ability to come together, democrats and republicans. Let obamacare fail. It will be a lot easier. I think we are probably in that position where well let obamacare fail. Im not going to own it. The republicans are not going to own it. Well let obamacare fail and then the democrats will come to us and say how do we fix it or come up with a new plan. Reporter the democrats are quick to shoot back saying the president wants to sabotage income the United States. The presiden
You why did mccain vote against him . This doesnt do what republicans planned to do which is repeal and replace obamacare. Neil everyone acknowledged that. The republicans in this bill were hoping that it would pass but that it wouldnt become law. They wanted to use the vehicle to get to a conference. Its difficult to explain to people. The other thing neil you could change it. Exactly. Difficult to explain to people. The idea that trump and republicans sold substance to this bill, low Approval Rating, cbo scores it would take people off insurance. Republicans didnt solidify the argument by saying this this is what we would give to people. John mccain, of course, is known for being kind of the maverick in congress. Its very telling though, he was the standard bearer of the Republican Party, the party that has campaigned or years. Neil being the admiral who would be the leading the charge. If youre looking at the people who voted against for it, they are not up for election. Youve done