got less support, was a vote for a muddied partial repeal but with a huge insurance company bail-out super fund. so it s a good news that more republicans supported clean repeal. it s disappointed that many republicans who promised to vote for repeal already had voted for this repeal, chose this time not to vote for it. neil: i don t know what they re going to end up with, a skinny repeal thing, but the whole thing seems goofy in the end. skinny repeal is better than no repeal. neil: is it really? it removes the mandate for companies and individuals, maybe the medical device tax and all other taxes remain in place. the actual structure of obamacare remains in place. so i m wondering here s the thing, neil. the republican leadership plan kept the fundamental flaw of obamacare, the 2015 did also. some of this is because the arcane rules of the senate
we will soon find out. that means the final lobbying blitz is on in a big way. some of the loudest pressure coming from the president himself, this morning issuing a statement. big day for health care. after days of talking, we will see whether or not republicans are ready to get up? national politics reporter, mj lee is following all of this from capitol hill. what is the latest? reporter: it is a lot. a lot of moving pieces. first on the news john mccain is going to come back today. that is a big deal for his colleagues. obviously, a lot of colleagues have been sad and shocked about his brain cancer diagnosis. the fact that days after his z big surgery, he is going to come back with all that much more pressure brings in a lot of emotion to a day that was going to be dramatic. i have new reporting to share on leadership plan or a plan on how
i think it s a good question to ask if senate republicans actually want this president to succeed at this point. got to ask the question. do you want this president to succeed? absolutely. i think we can move on to tax cuts, but to tell you the truth, i think clean repeal could even be married with the senate leadership plan and as long as you took the pork off, i think conservatives would be interested in voting for it, and if the moderates want a pork fest, let s stick their big government spending on another bill and they can probably get that in by working with democrats and then it s more honest that conservative republicans could vote for something that looks more like a repeal and helps the situation and we don t have to be forced we don t have been forced to swallow a big pork fest that they are sticking on there. i m for the president s agenda on repealing obama care and reducing taxes we will leave it there. a lot on the agenda. great analysis. thank you very much for j
between white house counselor steven bannon and house speaker paul ryan. with common ground on capital investments. imposing new taxes on exports and exempting exports. wiping all alternative minimum and estate taxes. told ryan this tax reform comes close to first step of economic nationalism as there is. bannon replied i will call it responsible nationalism. brought attention on the freedom caucus. no votes ended up derailing leadership plan. on friday said he was disappointed by friends of his, adding, quote, very good people. political reported over the weekend, early march congressman jim jordan pushed the idea of secret pact saying no member would commit his vote without consulting the entire group. on saturday the president tweeted democrats are smiling in d.c. the freedom caucus with the
over president obama s supreme court nominee merrick garland who never got a hearing. they are threatening to return the favor so to speak, by filibustering, threatening to filibuster any vote to confirm judge neil gorsuch. republican leadership plan to get him confirmed by any means necessary, though, which is a not so subtle reference to willingness to use the so-called nuclear option. that would change senate rules so judge gorsuch could be confirmed with 51 vote instead of 60. that s why this morning on cbs face the nation, texas senator ted cruz said in his mind judge gorsuch is a done deal. judge gorsuch will be confirmed, he will get 60 votes and be confirmed or otherwise whatever procedural steps are necessary, i believe within a month or two, neil gorsuch will be associate justice of the supreme court. reporter: republicans are hoping to avoid the nuclear option, though, and to do that they ll need eight democrats in the senate to support gorsuch s