many days. we started off with peter doocy and a possible deal on capitol hill. >> a rare bipartisan agreement reached today was the last thing republicans wanted on election day. they were going to repeal obamacare without any democratic votes and then replace it with a g.o.p. alternative. now they are stuck making a deal with democrats to fix obamacare. >> obamacare is virtually dead. >> but not completely dead because democrats and republicans today agreed to revive something president trump just killed. federal funds for insurance companies that offer certain obamacare plans known as cost-sharing reduction payments. >> talking about a two year extension on cost-sharing payments. more meaningful flex ability to states. >> keeping those payments in place helps stop premiums from rising, main bargaining .4 senator patty murray. >> chairman alexander and i were able to find common ground on number of steps to stabilize the market. and help protect families from premium spikes as a result from the sabotage we've seen from this administration. >> president trump who campaign to repeal and replace obamacare insists today's deal isn't permanent. >> the solution will be for about a year or two years that it will get us over this intermediate hump. >> if obamacare is eventually repealed, the president said he favors a replacement that looks like a plan drawn up by g.o.p. senators bill cassidy and lindsey graham. >> needs to be replaced. the question is, does bernie sanders replace it with single payer health care or do we do the block grant? they go some democrats are patting the president on the back for being so hands-on. >> i applaud that the president pushed it forward. >> others are more skeptical. >> it's not a done deal that this agreement reached in principle by senators alexander and murray will ever become law. >> it's not just democrats. there's no guarantee republicans have enough votes in the senate which the majority party learned the hard way when senator john mccain sided with democrats in july, seeking the republican's replacement. today mccain said he's not definitely a "no" vote despite problems he has had recently with the president. >> my job as a united states senator, senator from arizona, it means i'm somehow going to behave in a way that i will block everything because of some personal disagreement? that's a dumb question. >> even if this deal squeaks through the senate, it may face more resistance in the house. lawmakers had enough votes to replace obamacare in may and that means finding the votes for anything they could prolong obamacare. it's going to be tough. >> bret: peter doocy live on the hill. thank you. president trump talked with reporters for the second day in a row with rose garden, this time as part of a joint news conference with the prime minister of greece. chief white house correspondent john roberts got the first question this afternoon. >> good evening. today's press conference was neither as freewheeling or as long as yesterday's impromptu rose garden event. but it still yielded some moments. the greek prime minister got the red carpet treatment today, a prestigious rose garden appearance alongside president trump. a warm welcome for a leader who not long ago referred to candidate donald trump as evil. >> mr. prime minister, with respect to the president, in march of 2016, you said the potential for a donald trump presidency "i hope we will not face this evil." i am wondering if after spending time with the president, you've changed changed your mind. >> i wish i knew that before my speech. >> through an interpreter, alexis tsipras said he appreciated the president's embrace of grace. the president trump did acknowledge some world leaders were concerned about what a trump presidency would bring. >> a number of countries were a little bit nervous at the beginning, and i have very good relationships with the leaders of virtually every country have dealt with. the reason they were concerned was because i will not allow our country, the united states of america, to be taken advantage of by so many other countries all over the world. >> as relations with turkey, a nato ally become more tense, greece sees an opening for closer ties to the u.s. president trump hailed greece's economic recovery and promoted the potential to deliver billion-dollar upgrade of greec greece's f-16 fighter fleet. >> these make our people savor and create jobs. >> while the president and prime minister were putting aside past differences. mccain sharply criticized the president's foreign policy last night. >> some half-baked serious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats and solve problems. >> and radio interviews, president trump promised mccain could be in for a scorching. >> people have to be careful because at some point i fight back. it won't be pretty. >> president trump continued his path with the obama administration over condolence calls to the families of fallen heroes. after first asserting yesterday and partially walking back his declaration that president obama didn't make calls to families, the president made a very personal survey. >> i mean, you can ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama. you could ask other people. i don't know what obama's policy was. i write letters and i also call. >> a senior when senior white house official confirmed to fox news that president obama did not make a condolence call to kelly or his wife after their son was killed in afghanistan in 2010. the kellies did attend a white house breakfast for gold star families a year later where they sat at michelle obama's table. president trump is turning his attention towards tax reform from making his case to the heritage foundation. despite signals yesterday from the center of the term mitch mcconnell that he may have to wait until next year for tax reform, president trump is optimistic. >> i think we are going to be good for taxes. it's very close. we have no support from the democrats. they are obstructionist. >> president trump looking for a new nominee to be the drugs are. congressman tom marino taken out of contention after a report that a bill he sponsored in congress has contributed to the nation opioid epidemic. >> bret: john roberts, thanks. let's go deeper into the issue of the budget and tax reform. treasury secretary steven mnuchin joined me now. mr. secretary, thanks for being here. they budget this week. you have a vote coming up. are you confident you have the votes to get the budget first before tax reform? >> i think we are comfortable with where we are with the budget and looking forward to the senate passing it tomorrow. >> bret: do you think senator paul can get there? >> them president has had multiple conversations i hope you both a favor. this isn't just about tax reform. it's about jobs and creating economic growth and that's what we are focused on. >> bret: a lot of people are focused on also though timeline. when you thought august was, and then health care took a long time. last time we talked, you thought the fallen possibly before the winter. house speaker ryan has had christmas. is it realistic. >> it took ronald reagan over two years on a bipartisan basis to get tax reform done. if we get it done this year, it will be extraordinary. our objective is to get it on the president's desk by december to get him to sign it this year. >> bret: seemed like the president and senator mcconnell were laying the groundwork that it goes into 2018. >> we are going to work on it as fast as we can. there's no artificial deadline. we have to get it done to create economic growth and a competitive business system terri sewell white house council of economic advisors issued over forecast of an average income, as much as $9,000 based on corporate tax cuts. how do you get there? doesn't it depend on what these companies do with the extra money? what is to prevent them from taking profits and bonuses and not reinvesting? >> we've done great research on this. we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. we have a concept of deferral. if you leave the money offshore, you don't pay taxes. trillions of dollars are sitting offshore this is all about making american business competitive. i have repeated this, that over 70% of this is passed on to the worker that the corporate tax is borne by the worker. kevin, the cea, has done the research, and there's going to be other economists who, with that. >> bret: corporate tax of 20% is, it's not going to change. >> that's our bottom line. we need to do that to make it competitive. >> bret: where is the wiggle room? state and local taxes? >> our objective has been to get rid of a lot of deductions and bringing down rates. on state and local taxes, we think the federal government should get out of business of subsidizing states. but that's something we are working very close with the house and senate on. >> bret: sounds like it might be a negotiating point. >> i would say everything is negotiable to get this done. minus the corporate tax. it's not that salt is negotiable. what we are focused on right now is making tweaks to the system to make sure we have a middle income tax cut and the people in new york, new jersey, connecticut and others aren't hurt too much by the elimination of state and local deductions. >> bret: you off talk to about growth and getting the economic engine growing. there are concerns about -- from deficit hawks. are you concerned you can get them over the finish line if you have senator corker saying he's not going to vote for any tax reform that raises the deficit. >> senator corker has been very helpful. he was critical to getting the budget out of committee. i've gone through the numbers with him. this is relatively simple math. we hope to have a budget that's a trillion and half dollars and reconciliation. as we've said, there's half billion dollars, $500 billion of difference, half a trillion, 500 billion between baseline a policy that takes us into a trillion dollars and there's 2 trillion to $2.5 trillion in growth. we are confident it will be positive paying down the deficit. >> bret: how do you -- do you think you need to get democrats on board looking at the landscape? how do you do it? >> i think we'd like to. i was at dinner last night with democrats and republican senators. we were talking about the tax plan. the issues we are talking about our middle income tax cuts, making business competitive. i hope that's something democrats understand just as much as republicans. >> bret: what about repatriation? is it going to be completely separate from infrastructure? >> at the end of the day, we're looking at everything as revenue and expenses. i think these are two very complicated issues. the president wants to get infrastructure done. that's a huge critical priority of his. but i think it's too complicated to put it together with tax. >> bret: talking about timing, we haven't seen a lot of details yet. obviously you are dealing in details with capitol hill. when do you think all of it is going to roll out? >> our expectation is that the budget gets passed tomorrow night which we expected to come it will go into conference with the house as soon as the budget comes out of conference, our expectation is the house and senate will be releasing virtually the details and we will be working on the closely. >> bret: what about the consumer financial protection bureau? do you think it has a future? >> i think it has a future but it has a future in a small, significantly smaller way. consumer protection is important but we've got to get rid of a lot of rules that are hindering their economy and growth. >> bret: in the wake of equifax, seems like there might be a call for it. >> we had, a group meeting across the regulators. obviously cybersecurity is a huge issue. i just finished the g7 and g20 meetings. that was a major issue. we are obviously very concerned about the equifax breach. >> bret: the head is considering a run for ohio governor. could the governor appoint someone new? >> absolutely. term is up next year, we will see whether he serves it out or not but we will be replacing hi him. >> bret: deficit and debt, concern about the national debt. if the engine of the economy really starts churning, it sets into motion perhaps inflationary environment. if the interest rate goes up 1%, the u.s. starts paying more interest on the national debt that we do for defense. the concern for the national debt going up in this environment. how serious is it? >> we are concerned about the data. we've gone from 10 trillion to 20 trillion under the last administration we want to put in place programs that will pay down the debt over time. it's very important. >> bret: mr. secretary, appreciate the time. a judge in hawaii has blocked the latest version of the president's immigration travel ban hours before it was set to take effect. white house press secretary sarah sanders has the decision undercuts the president's efforts to give the american people safe. justice department spokesman says it will appeal. growing concerns about water contamination and disease in puerto rico. nearly a month after hurricane maria hit. officials say running water has been restored to 72% of the island population. raw sewage is said to be pouring into rivers and reservoirs. treatment plants are out of surface. the epa says it will dedicate more staff to inspect small water facilities. we are releasing new poles on a couple political races. in the alabama senate contest. roy moore and doug jones are tied at 42. an early poll in alabama is raising eyebrows. in the new jersey governor's race, phil murphy has a 14-point lead on republican lieutenant governor. the dow crossed the 23,000 mark. industrial average gained 40.5. s&p 500 up 2. nasdaq lost a third. hop next, the company behind the dossier on president trump says it's executive is and will refuse to talk to congress. mediterranean shrimp, topped with a blend of green onions, tomatoes, and herbs. and your favorites, like garlic shrimp scampi. now's the only time to try as much as you want, however you want 'em. so hurry in today. our guests can earn a free night when they book at choicehotels.com and stay with us just two times? fall time. badda book. badda boom. pumpkin spice cookie? i'm good. book now at choicehotels.com but he's got work to do. with a sore back. so he took aleve this morning. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. tylenol can't do that. aleve. all day strong. all day long. also try aleve direct therapy with tens technology for lower back pain relief. >> bret: a gorgeous night at the white house. political research firm behind the unverified dossier on president trump that helped kick-start the fbi russia probe is finding subpoenas from the house intelligence committee. in a letter obtained by fox news, fusion gps insists it has first amendment rights like a news organization to protect its clients. tonight we taking an in-depth look at the company behind the dossier in an exclusive report. here is chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. >> based in washington, d.c., fusion gps describes itself as a strategic intelligence firm. it commissioned the controversial term dossier and has a track record of using intimidation and smear tactics. according to congressional testimony. statements for the record and the account of london-based journalist alec boyd. >> they are particularly good at spreading misinformation, disinformation. >> and his first american television interview, he says he was targeted after his reportin reporting. a company with closed ties to the venezuelan government. they allegedly skimmed money from the government. >> my understanding is they were hired to smear opponents. >> police records show that boyd reported a break-in with laptops stolen. what was on the computers? >> evidence about corruption and scandals. a lot of information about my sources and people who were believed to be collaborating and sending information from venezuela. they were assaulted in venezuela by the intelligence police of mr. chavez. >> did fusion gps come after you? >> they created fake twitter accounts with my name. they produced huge amounts of information, fake information about me. accusingly from being a pedophile to an extortionist, drug traffickers, car thief. >> he says he believes the suspects seen in the video, pictures of children inside his coat as a warning. >> the message was, we know where you are. we know where your children are. about a week after that, two sets of envelopes were sent to me from georgia. handwritten messages saying you touched the wrong girl. you think no one can touch yours. >> fusion gps is led by glenn simpson. boyd says the document shows french travel to venezuela to shutdown investigative reporting. >> does fusion gps use its credentials as former journalists? >> i believe they are cashing in the years of experience they accumulate it collectively in different newspapers, different media around the world. >> do you swear? >> the allegations mirror congressional testimony. in a congressional declaration, human rights activists said fusion gps used "scorched urgedh methods. >> i don't believe certain privileges that apply to journalists or lawyers should apply to mr. simpson because he is neither. he is a spin doctor. >> fusion gps do not respond to requests for comment. a lawyer did not address its associates with fusion gps. claims to congress are without merit, they say. >> bret: thank you. of the next, trey gowdy on how then fbi director james comey made up his mind long before the conclusion of the hillary clinton email investigation. here is what some of our fox affiliates are covering tonight. fox 11 in los angeles. crews are working in steep terrain to battle an out-of-control fire near an historic observatory. huge plume of smoke visible after the blaze broke out. 25 acres of brush were charred as flames turned down the mountainside. fox 51 in gainesville. florida governor rick scott declares a state of emergency in advance of thursday speech by white nationalist richard spencer at the university of florida. governor scott warning in an executive order monday that a threat of potential emergencies in it. the order allows local law enforcement authorities to partner with state and other agencies to provide security. live look at new york from our affiliate fox 5 looking at times square. talks between the nfl owners and players association over player protests. the league has been criticized over allowing players to kneel during the national anthem to bring attention to what they consider racial injustice. a player's union spokesman called today's session productive. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report" ." we'll be right back to the white house. ♪ video-game dance music [burke] abstract accident. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ >> bret: welcome back to the white house. fbi releasing documents confirming that then fbi director james comey began drafting his public statement about the hillary clinton email investigation two months before it was complete. joining me now with reaction a south carolina congressman trey gowdy, chairman of the house oversight committee and member of the house intelligence and judiciary committees. he is in greenville tonight. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> bret: i think i left out ethics. you are on every committee. thanks for being here. listen to the sound bite. >> did you make the decision not to recommend criminal charges relating to classified information before or after hillary clinton was interviewed by the fbi on july 2. >> after. if colleagues of ours believe i'm lying about when i made this decision, please urge them to contact me privately. all i can do is tell you that the decision was made after that because i didn't know what was going to happen in that interview. >> bret: now the fbi has come out with these documents that suggest that decision was made well before that time. your thoughts. >> we are going to take him up on his offer. we are going to talk to his former colleagues. these memos came out and they are discussing internally whether or not to make a charging decision. it's a month and a half later before he announces his decision in early july. that's two months. two months from may 2 until jul. two dozen witness interviews in that time period. if you are discussing whether or not to charge someone in early may and you haven't interviewed two dozen witnesses including one named clinton, john radcliffe asked the right question. i'm not sure that director comey give them an accurate answer. >> bret: i interviewed loretta lynch and asked her this. does it concern you that there is a perception that your justice department may in the end cut secretary clinton a break or do her a favor. >> with every case, we handle at the same way. that's what i want to convey to the american people. >> bret: comey said that the tarmac meeting between loretta lynch and former president bill clinton was what precipitated his action of taking it essentially from doj. that doesn't seem to add up. >> the chronology does not add up. may 2 is when they are discussing their charging decision. the meeting on the tarmac was june 22nd, june 26, june 27. later they interview secretary clinton and then they decide they are not going to charge. he makes the public pronouncement. his ostensible reason for taking that decision away from the department of justice was the meeting on the tarmac but yet a month and a half earlier, he is memorializing a decision he's already made. the chronology does not add up. his answers have been all over the map. intelligence committee and the cliff you just played from oversight. we need to talk to him again but we need to look at these memos before we have a conversation. >> bret: so you would like to see comey back testifying on capitol hill. >> for a number of reasons. he made a lot of decisions in 2016 that i think are worth reviewing. when everybody someone decides to charge someone, there's lots of layers of scrutiny. we decide not to start someone, there are that many layers of scrutiny but there ought to be a couple. the media and congress should look at this decision not to charge. whether it was made before you interviewed two dozen witnesses including the target of the investigation. we need to talk to him again. >> bret: loretta lynch is up on the hill friday we are told. will she be asked any of this? >> i don't think so. she's appearing before the house intelligence committee, and it will be limited to the scope of the russia investigation, although the race a good point. there are lots of reasons to talk to loretta lynch also including to corroborate or contradict jim comey's recollection that he talked to her about his decision to appropriate the clinton server decision onto himself but not on friday. that will be restricted to what did russia do and with whom do they do it. >> bret: lots of investigation. russia, bob mueller. you had talked to the former ambassador to the united nations, samantha power. we reported her office requested some 260 efforts to unmask. get who was talking and picked up in surveillance. how did she answer that question. why so many? >> i will tell you broadly. if she were on your show, she would say those requests to unmask may been attributed to her but they greatly exceed by an exponential factor the requests she made. that's her testimony. she was pretty emphatic. surveillance community, intelligence community has assigned this number of requests to her. her testimony is they may be undermining but i did not make the request. we've got to get to the bottom of it. if there someone else making requests on behalf of a principal in the intelligence community, we need to know that because we're getting ready to reauthorize a program that's really important to the country but also has a masking component to it. >> bret: two more questions. any word back from the white house on your request for information about the use of private emails? >> yes, on the issue of private email and private travel. we have three categories. fully comply, partially complied, and ain't really done a good job. we have written those agencies back and said okay. you didn't respond the first time. this is number two. if you don't do it now, the word will start with a s and rhyme with subpoena. >> bret: there are democrats that this white house, the president hasn't talked about what happened with the special forces soldiers were killed in niger. people bringing up your name into the investigation in benghazi. your thoughts on why we don't know anything yet. >> with respect to benghazi, we looked at what happened in libya two years after it happened and after four or five other congressional committees and try to look into it but without much success. we are not two years down the road in terms of what happened in niger. i want to know what happens any time any american citizen, particularly a soldier, loses his or her life on the battlefield. armed services committee, house intelligence committee. we are nowhere near needing a select committee which is what i was on but it has been two years and we didn't have a false video narrative and no one was emailing their daughter with a different explanation than the one they were giving the public. i get that my democrat friends are obsessed with benghazi. the reports have been out for a while. i would encourage them to read it. it's a little early to start drawing the analogy. >> bret: i bring it up because it came up on a couple interviews i listen to. mr. chairman, we appreciate your time. we will follow up on these issues. thanks a lot. >> thank you. we went next, our "whatever happened to" series has breaking news about a border control agent. kurdish forces have pulled out of disputed areas across iraq. the day after handing over kirkuk to federal forces. tense standoff following last month's vote for independence. the taliban and unleashed a wave of attacks across afghanistan. suicide bombers targeting police compounds and government facilities. at least 74 people were killed. one afghan official because of the biggest terrorist attack of this year. anguished families gathered across molly is capital today at funerals for the more than 300 people killed in saturday's massive truck bombing. survivors awaiting word on nearly 70 people missing there. the somali government is blaming the al-shabaab terror group which is not commenting. u.s. military plane arrived in mogadishu today with medical and humanitarian supplies. for its on the other stories beyond our borders tonight. we'll be right back. >> bret: tonight our what ever happened to story deals with the gunrunning investigation known as fast and furious. a viewer tweeted us about it. there is breaking news this evening about the murder of a u.s. customs agent. it was a major part of the story. here is national correspondent william la jeunesse. >> we feared the use fugitives would never be brought to justice. >> almost seven years after his murder, mexican police arrested the last man wanted in the death of border patrol agent brian terry. >> each one of these members were of equal -- equally responsible for brian's death. >> mexican military and u.s. law enforcement apprehended a man. terry and three agents confronted drug smugglers. the mexicans open fire. u.s. attorney charged coconspirators and five gunmen. >> people died at the hands of these guns. >> weapons found of the scene belong to operation fast and furious, a botched federal investigation. congress held eric holder in contempt for failing to turn over documents. president obama claimed executive privilege, but to the dismay of former congressman jason chaffetz, the new administration refuses to waive the privilege, leaving the family with the same unanswered questions. >> it's up to attorney general sessions to pull the trigger, release the documents, give congress what it deserves to see and give the brian terry family the peace it needs to understand what happened. >> while the u.s. and mexico may share political differences, source of a law enforcement on both sides of the border remain committed in this case to finding justice for one of their own. >> bret: thank you. a senior syrian commander says u.s.-backed forces have liberated the city of raqqa from isis terrorists. it would be a major defeat for an extremist group said to be collapsing. jennifer griffin is following the situation. >> the pentagon isn't yet ready to pronounce the ice is capital completely liberated. at a press briefing earlier today, a u.s. military spokesman told reporters 90% of of raqqa s been captured. >> the fight in raqqa is more about a fight against ieds and explosive senate is against isis. >> colonel ryan dillon set a u.s. backed syrian commander was killed by a roadside bomb while walking in raqqa yesterday. 350 isis fighters have surrendered in the past week but the pending fall of the isis capital doesn't mean the end devices yet. the colonel said the fight will move to eastern syria. in iraq, isis controls 3% of the country, including a pocket along the syrian border. overall about 6500 isis fighters remain in syria and iraq. today marks exactly three years since the u.s.-led coalition formed to fight isis. when isis fighters took raqqa there were iconic images of them parading in the streets. today u.s. backed fighters re-created the scene by doing their own doughnuts to celebrate. officials more that isis will likely go underground to countries like yemen where the pentagon says for the first time u.s. aircraft bombed two isis training camps yesterday. the pentagon is concerned about what happens the day after raqqa's liberated. when a terrorist group loses its capital, it's a big win. hundreds of u.s. troops remain in syria. senior u.s. and russian officers met face-to-face last week for the second time in a month as both country seek to stay out of each other's way as the fighting moves to eastern syria. >> bret: jennifer, thank you. two chinese nationals have been indicted on charges of manufacturing tons of snow and other powerful narcotics that were peddled in the u.s. justice department officials as the pair ran one of the most world's prolific drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. american consumers can purchase fentanyl and other dangerous drugs online directly from chinese factories. next up, president trump says obamacare is virtually dead but acknowledges there is a short-term plan to keep alive that he supports the time being. we will get reaction the panel as you look at the west wing doors. stay with us. i have no idea how we're going to get through this. follow me. unitedhealthcare has the people and tools to help guide you through the confusion. well that wasn't so bad at all. that's how we like it. unitedhealthcare. >> obamacare is a disgrace to our nation. obamacare is the disaster. it's virtually dead. >> it's a hot news item, just announced today. >> talking about a two year extension on the cost-sharing payments. >> more meaningful flexibility to the states. >> the uncertainty and dysfunction cannot continue. >> the president has been sabotaging this bill and the agreements would undo much of that sabotage. >> the solution will be for about a year or two years. and it will get us over this intermediate home because we have come as you probably know, we have the votes or we are very close to having the votes and we will get the votes. >> bret: the outline of a bipartisan compromise in the works on obamacare. this is from senators lamar alexander and patty murray who have been working on this, and it extends the subsidies that were cut off by the president just on friday. for a couple years, as you hear heard. the president signing on but tweeting: to be clear where he stands. let's welcome in the panel. joining me at the white house, shannon pettit peace, in washington, charles hurt, opinion editor for "the washington times" and tom rogan. shannon, seems like this movement here at least on the short-term deal. >> on a short-term deal. the fact of the matter is there is still millions and millions of people get their insurance through this exchange. they will start enrolling very soon for their insurance plans for next year. there needs to be something for these people in the interim so they have plans they can afford. short-term deal. lamar alexander is talking a couple years to get republicans an opportunity to come up with an alternate plan. we are not talking a couple months. this could end up being a longer-term patch. >> bret: that's the question because the president seems, it is like once he gets tax reform, he wants to go on to block grants. the cassity-graham. >> whatever you think of the deal being outlined today, and i would think democrats ought to like it. there is a lot in it for them to like. it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for donald trump. saying, batting down subsidies last friday. it's a strange thing to have a republican in the white house and republicans controlling both chambers of congress and we've gone from repeal and replace to essentially legalizing something the courts had said was illegal which is subsidies that congress refused to give obama the subsidies. he picked up his phone and his pen and he started including them. and it was an extra illegal, unconstitutional thing. the idea that republicans -- i hope they get a lot out of it because the idea that republicans are not going to go along with basically legalizing what barack obama had done illegally is mystifying. >> bret: once you put it in the bill from congress, it you can't appropriate and that's the constitutional question. tom, senate majority, senate minority leader. >> i think i can safely say that we are on the same page. his agenda is our agenda for the balance of the year. complete the job on taxes. >> and the american people see it, they ain't going to like it at all. >> if we get tax reform done this year, it will be extraordinary. our objective is to get it on the president's desk by december to get him to sign it this year. >> bret: it's not wednesday. thursday boating on the budget. seems like they may get there. senator mccain is signing on, saying he's going to vote for the budget. don't think senator paul will at this point but this year seems to be a little hedging. >> i do think you see the momentum building in congress. republicans recognize they need a win. on tax reform, something, reducing the size of the state potentially but putting more money in people's pockets on the corporate tax reform front. there is a sort of unity between we need to get something done and on this issue, it's probably the one where most going to agree with white house on. >> bret: is there momentum? >> there are certainly desire and acknowledgment they need to do something but tax reform is very difficult. that's why we haven't had it in more than two decades. if we are talking about middle-class tax cuts, if we are talking about a lot of candy and not any vegetables. tax cuts and no entitlement reforms. maybe that's something they could squeak through but the idea is it was supposed to be broad tax reform, simplifying the tax structure. that's a big, long debate. we are october 17. we have thanksgiving, christmas coming up. the calendar is ticking down. >> bret: charlie, are they going to have problems with deficit hawks on the hill? >> i think they are going to have real problems with it. at the end of the day, i think there's a sliding scale with tax reform. you can do big stuff or you can sort of nibble around the edges. i think they will get at least something so they can claim a major victory before the end of the year or maybe into the beginning of next year. >> bret: i want to get your thoughts, tom, the situation in iraq. the kurds, the iraqis. >> it is very tense and i think the issue we face now are what are the iranians, the russians and the turks going to do about this? potentially they could compress the entire region of kurdistan and create negative situations separate big key player on behalf of the iraqi government is the iranian revolutionary guard corps. the president mentioned them last week. we have to see what happens. >> bret: we fit a lot in. shannon, charlie, tom, thank you. when we come back, taking a stand for the national anthem. >> tech: don't wait for a chip like this to 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[he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing... ...so he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he can see his bottom line. ahhh...that's a profit. know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks-dot-com. yea, s#stuffynoset this cold #nosleep i got it... #mouthbreather yep, we've got a mouth breather. well just put on a breathe right strip and... pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone so you can breathe... ...and sleep. go to breatheright.com today to request a free sample. ♪ >> bret: a little chilly out here on the north montagnais. finally tonight as nfl owners and players need to discuss player protests in the national anthem, some blue-collar workers are taking a stand, three roofers in maine put down their tools saturday and stood for the national anthem as it played before a nearby high school football game. ♪ ♪ oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, >> bret: a video of coal miners in west virginia going viral, decided to sing "the star-spangled banner" during a routine safety meeting last night. he told the fox affiliate he wanted everybody to feel like a family. he said some of his coworkers are veterans and he knew the song would make them feel better. there you go. a busy news day tomorrow up on capitol hill. the attorney general jeff sessions testifying before the judiciary committee and we will bring it to you. thanks for inviting us to gerald tonight, that's it for this special report. fair, balanced, and unafraid. from the white house, "the story" hosted by martha maccallum in new york starts right now. ♪ >> martha: breaking tonight, president trump about to take the stage to talk about, we are told, the greatness of america. he will also rally support for his tax cut plan, vital to the success of year one for his presidency, he will do that at the heritage foundation in d.c. where you see everybody gathering. i martha maccallum, we are going to take you there live in moments. first tonight, our story begins in rocca, where it was a huge day as the isa stronghold all but fell to u.s.-backed syrian forces. the radical islamic group once referred to by president obama president obama -- dominated a caliphate that stretchro