politically against opponents, and that would be wrong. critics claim sessions ordered his prosecutors to consider a special counsel after president trump expressed frustration that he could not order the fbi to take action against the clintons. that has long been the allegation that the president is weaponizing the d.o.j., certainly looks that way but jeff sessions seems hesitant, though. no, it s not a political tool. 26 minutes after the hour. senate republicans, okay, they re trying to solve two problems at once. they re linking multitasking. yeah. or it s either crazy or brilliant. it s linking repeal of the obamacare, the obamacare individual coverage mandate with tax reform. the newest plan released late last night. will it work? what it means for your family next.
democrats have seized on this issue. trying to rally the grass roots like they did throughout the health care debate. the republican play is this, they know this is politically toxic. they know this is divisive, but their hope based on what they ve seen over the last couple weeks in the tax reform process is that the political imperative of doing something, of doing anything at this point will win out, when it comes to the debate over whether or not repealing the individual mandate is good politics. christine and dave? phil just mentioned repealing the individual mandate frees up $338 billion. you know, all of that taxpayer money that used to go to subsidies to help people afford their insurance, now that can go to pay for tax cuts. republicans plan to direct that money toward middle class tax relief. revised senate bill boosts the child tax credit to $2,000 and cuts several middle income tax brackets. it will increase health care premiums and still isn t enough to pay for a across t
randomly kill four others. welcome to early start, i m christine romans. dave briggs here, 4:31 eastern time. we start with weeks saying they didn t want to revisit the health care debate. senate republicans decided to do it any way. the revised gop tax bill released tuesday features a repeal of obamacare s requirement that all americans carry health insurance or pay a fine. republicans on the senate finance committee voting unanimously to scrap the so-called individual mandate. now conservatives in the house are lobbying their leaders to add a repeal of the individual mandate to the house republican tax bill. the house begins debate on that bill today with a vote on the sweeping overhaul of the tax code in the house scheduled for tomorrow. here is cnn s phil mattingly. christine and dave, for weeks it s been on the table and for weeks republican leaders made very clear they don t actually want to actually put it in the tax reform bill. and yet, it s there.
yeah, we re optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful. boom. a bold play by republicans linking obamacare s insurance mandate to tax reform. does the move help or hurt the tax bill? and what does it mean for insurance costs for everyone else? roy moore says he s not abandoning his senate bid despite years old accusations of sex abuse. now the rnc is pulling its funding for moore s backers in alabama stand by him? and countless lives saved when a california school goes on lockdown. police say prevented an attack from an armed man denied entry into the school, he went on to
lawmakers to get it done by christmas. good morning, everyone, welcome to early start. i m dave briggs. nice to have you back. good to be back, my friend. couple days off. nothing happened while you re gone. nothing. nothing ever does. it s 4:00 a.m. in the east, it s 11:00 a.m. in zimbabwe where the president there is under house arrest. let s start here, after weeks of saying senate republicans decided to revisit the healthcare debate. released tuesday, the bill features a repeal of obamacare s requirement that all americans carry health insurance or pay a fine. the individual mandate. republicans on the senate finance committee voted unanimously to scrap that individual mandate. now, conservatives in the house are lobbying their leaders to add individual mandate repeal to the house republican tax bill. the house begins debate on that bill today with vote on the sweeping overhaul the tax code scheduled for tomorrow. here is cnn s phil mattingly