two affirmative statements have been from orrin hatch and lamar alexander. what those two men have in common other than long time shfs in t service in the senate is they're leaving. lamar alexander announced this week he's hanging it up in 2020. that's a christmas gift to mitch mcconnell. that makes this meeting a little bit easier for mitch mcconnell. he doesn't have to go into the white house and say i don't want to do this, or i don't have the votes to do it without having this backup. he's got two other republican senators who are immune from the blowback they would get otherwise from president trump and his supporters saying this can't be done. >> that's a great point, thank you very much. i'm sure we will probably see you later on in this hour as they head back from the white house. >> reporter: i won't go far. with me now are congressman anthony brown, democrat from maryland and outgoing republican congressman ryan costello from pennsylvania. thank you both for being here. you had a busy night last night. congressman costello, it seems here that the president is stuck