The very program that youre trying to cut. I want to get off. But if you take away my ability to get off, what can i do . Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff Senate Republicans are giving repeal another try, trying to see if there is a way forward on health care reform. Their latest bill to replace obamacare collapsed yesterday, and talk of a repealonly option also ran into opposition. President trump called the caucus to the white house today. He said he is ready to act, and insisted that inaction is not an option. Frankly, i dont think we should leave town unless we have a Health Insurance plan, unless we can give our people great health care. Because were close; were very close. Any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling america that youre fine with obamacare. Woodruff afterward, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said he still means to try for a vote next week, but its not clear on what. I think we all agree, its better to both repeal and replace. But we could have a vote on either. And if we end up voting on repeal only, it will be fully amendable on the senate floor. And if it were to pass without any amendment at all, theres a twoyear delay before it kicks in. Woodruff we will talk to two republican senators about the state of play on health care, after the news summary. Seperately, theres word that President Trump is ending a c. I. A. Program to arm and train moderate rebels in syria. The goal was to fight bashar alassad, but it had only limited effects after russia intervened to aid assad. The Washington Post reports the president made the decision nearly a month ago, before he met with russian president putin at the g20 summit. Afterward, the u. S. And russia announced a limited ceasefire in syria. The post account says the aid decision is part of a strategy to negotiate more such deals. Iran today stepped up its defiant response to the latest round of u. S. Sanctions. The sanctions target 18 individuals and companies assisting the iranian Ballistic Missile program. In tehran, president Hassan Rouhani charged the u. S. Measures are inconsistent with the 2016 nuclear deal. And, he warned of reciprocal acts. translated if americans pass new sanctions in any form, or under any pretext in congress or elsewhere, the great nation of iran will have an appropriate answer. We wont ignore violations by the united states, and will stand up to them. Woodruff separately, the head of the hardline revolutionary guards warned, the u. S. Had better pull its military forces back at least 1,000 kilometers 600 miles from iran. The u. S. Supreme court has issued a split ruling on enforcing the president s travel ban. The court today allowed the administration to strictly enforce a ban on refugees, while an appeal moves through lower courts. But, the justices expanded the list of people from six mostly muslim nations who are allowed to visit the u. S. Back in this country, the Justice Department is restoring authority to local police to seize money and property, on suspicion they come from criminal activity. The assets can be taken even without criminal charges being brought. The Obama Administration had curbed the practice, but attorney general Jeff Sessions today eased the restrictions. On wall street, tech and Health Care Stocks fueled a day of record highs across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 66 points to close at 21,640. The nasdaq rose 40 points, and the s p 500 added 13. And, salem, massachusetts today marked 325 years since five women were hanged in the infamous witch trials. They were among 19 people condemned and hanged for witchcraft in salem in 1692. A descendant of one said it brings justice to the fact that they were wrongly accused. Still to come on the newshour two republican senators on their partys efforts to repeal obamacare. The president s response to revelations of his second conversation with Vladimir Putin. Two state views on the controversial voter fraud commission. And, much more. Woodruff now, we return to the battle over health care, and President Trumps meeting with Senate Republicans at the white house. We hear from two people in the room. First, senator pat roberts of kansas. He is a member of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. I spoke with him earlier this evening, and began by asking if what the president changed today. We had a meeting i thought was highly productive. I thought the president made a very good case that if you simply have a repeal and in two years youre going to see further deterioration, if thats the right word, for obamacare. In kansas, our premiums continue to soar. Were up now 3,000. This is a little like being in the back seat of a convertible with thelma and louise and were headed toward the canyon and about at the edge. So we have to do something. Number one we have to get out of the car. Number two, weve got to get into a new car. Thats what the president was talking about. We had the entire republican conference, i think there was a good message. There was a good i think he did a good job. Woodruff but what has changed with your republican colleagues because, yesterday, there werent going to be enough votes to do this. Today there are. Is that simply because of an argument the president made . Well, the first thing, judy, is weve got to get over the business of denying the leadership of our party Mitch Mcconnell, at least a motion to proceed. I think the American People want us to debate it. I think the American People want us to vote on several different items that people would be presenting. Were probably going to have 150 votes, but we need a debate and we need to vote. This business of stopping the motion to proceed, that has to quit and that was one of the main messages the president indicated to give Mitch Mcconnell obviously the number of votes he needed to go ahead with this kind of exercise. I think the president really listened. We had at least 35, maybe 40 people make suggestions with regard to the bill. There was a lot of consensus. Woodruff right. And the other thing, he mentioned this is much larger than healthcare, is whether or not republicans can actually govern. Woodruff so youre saying let me just clarify. Youre saying whether republicans can get together as a group is more important than healthcare legislation. No, its not more important. Its another consideration that if we cant do this, maybe you cant do tax reform or for that matter anything else on the table, both are very important. Obviously, you have to get healthcare right. That was the whole intent of the meeting. He listened very carefully. He stated his position very forcefully and i think it was a good meeting. Woodruff let me ask you about the fact that the criticisms of this legislation are the same today as yesterday, and im just looking at the state of kansas. Your Hospital Association looked at the changes you proposed directing more money to the hospitals and they said thats great, but they said, even with that, it doesnt make up for the deep cuts to medicaid and other problems with the bill. What would you say today to your Hospital Association . Well, as a matter of fact, im meeting with them just as i get through talking with you. I will point out to them that obamacare will continue to deteriorate. Weve already lost one insurance company, 42,000 kansans dont have insurance anymore, and if we lose our remaining insurer, were really going to be in trouble. So it isnt so much what we would like to have as what is happening to obamacare. Working with the kansas Hospital Association, i think there are going to be new ideas presented and whatever bill we come up with and the president was doing a lot of listening, the white house was doing a lot of listening, tom price, all the people within the administration, that theyre going to come up with something new. Woodruff senator, i was also reading 70 of all medicaid enrollees in kansas are children. Right. Woodruff 300,000 kansas children. Whats going to happen to them . Theyre going to be covered. We are increasing medicaid every year. There may be more wraparound amendments or different opportunities for medicaid for us and we were a nonmedicaid state. The reason the kansas Hospital Association was so upset is twice they supported efforts on medicaid funding and not to make it a nonMedicaid Expansion state. But that ship has sailed. The Kansas State Legislature did not approve that, and the governor vetoed it and they were not able to override the veto. We have to work with what we have. Theyre going to be in my office in about 30 minutes and well go over that and what the president said. Woodruff we look forward to hearing about the outcome of that meeting. Senator pat roberts of kansas, thank you very much. My privilege. Thank you. Woodruff and senator roger wicker of mississippi was also at the white house today. I began by asking him if the president s engagement adds more pressure on republicans. Well, i guess there is some pressure on some of the people who are sort of still doubtful about this. I dont feel the pressure because i have been a yes vote for quite some time, but let me tell you, there are two schools of thought on moving forward. The majority leader, senator mcconnell, would like to get to a vote on the motion to proceed and see where people are, and if we win, great, we proceed to the bill. If not, at least people have voted, and we know what the target is, if we lose by two or three votes. The president , on the other hand, really thinks that, over the next few days, we can get 50 votes to yes, and he was all about today getting into the details of whats keeping various members from being able to say 100 that they can support this legislation and deciding what levers to pull to get the bill to a place where 50 of us can say yes. The reason im asking about pressure is because, a couple of weeks ago when senator dean heller of nevada indicated he was having problems with the legislation, there was a Political ActionGroup Supporting the president that ran ads against him. Is that the kind of and i think that was generally considered to be bad form and counterproductive among people in the republican conference. Woodruff well, let me ask you a little bit about the substance of this. As you know, a lot of discussion about what this bill would mean for coverage, including medicaid. The Vice President of your home state of Mississippi StateHospital Association quoted this week as saying they are opposed to anything that increases the number of uninsured in mississippi. Well, for one thing, i dont think it would increase the thurm of uninsured. These changes are based on projections of people that will be covered, if the estimates are correct. So i would just challenge that. But let me also say and i dont mean to be critical or i dont mean this to be taken wrong but theres never been a provider who came to us and said, we need you to slow the growth rate of these entitlement programs. I mean, thats just not something that theyre going to say, but the fact is we can make Health Care Better for mississippians, and we can make coverage better for the average american while, at the same time, saving a system that is not sustainable for future generations, and we can do that and, at the end of the day, i think people in the health care business, in the Hospital Business in future years will say youve saved the system and good for you. Woodruff so when i read that there are almost half a million children in mississippi who depend on medicaid, are you saying they dont have anything to worry about . I think well, for one thing, we are not a Medicaid Expansion state. Woodruff right. Our state did not choose to do that. So its completely inaccurate to say that these 500,000 children are going to lose their coverage. Theyre not. As a matter of fact, there will be a tradition a transition, im sorry, in states that expanded medicaid will have a sevenyear period and there will be an extra incentive for those states who chose not the do that. But those 500,000 children that you talk about are not going to have their coverage threatened. Woodruff all right. Senator roger wicker, joining us from the capitol, thank you. Thank you. Woodruff and a quick postscript we dont know yet what the latest revisions to the senate bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act will include. But for the record, the Congressional Budget Office already estimated what would happen with the first version of the bill. It concluded there would be 15 million fewer medicaid enrollees in a decade than projected under current law. It also said that over the long haul, states would likely have to either spend more money, cut payments, eliminate services or limit whos eligible for medicaid. It is not clear how many children would be affected. Woodruff on july 7, President Trump sat down for a highlyanticipated meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin at the g20 summit in hamburg. But last night, a second, lengthy conversation later that day between two leaders was disclosed by the white house, one that it had not spoken of at the time. Nick schifrin reports. Reporter it was a threehour dinner party for the worlds most powerful people. 20 leaders, and their spouses. On the menu, turbot fish fillet, friesian beef cheeks, and chit chat. President trump worked the room, and then took his seat. Diagonally across the table, First Lady Melania Trump and russian president Vladimir Putin. The two talked to each other with the help of putins translator. And, as a dessert of raspberries and cheese was served, mr. Trump walked over to putin. White house spokeswoman Sarah Sanders today called their talk brief and informal. To try to create that there was some sort of private conversation, in a room with 40 plus people, seems a little bit ridiculous. Reporter nick burns is a former u. S. Ambassador to nato and veteran diplomat who participated in dozens of u. S. Russia meetings. This is not a bad thing. Vladimir putin and donald trump are the two most powerful people in the world, they barely know each other, theyd only met once before this g20 dinner, and its really important that they get to know each other and develop some capacity to have an effective relationship. Reporter last night, trump blasted the media coverage, tweeting, fake news story of secret dinner with putin is sick. The prokremlin russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov used the exact same language, describing reports about a secret dinner as sick. And today, german chancellor Angela Merkels spokesman called these conversations normal. translated it is the fundamental point of the g20 meeting that, alongside working meetings, there is room and opportunity for multiple informal contacts. And that is certainly the point of such a dinner. Reporter but what is unusual was that, since there were no other u. S. Officials present, and the translator was putins, the u. S. Officials who work on russia have no official notes. The people down the line cannot do their job if they dont have an exact sense of what our president said, what the other guy said, and how they can then pursue these issues with the russian government. Reporter the dinner talk came on the same day as trump and putins only official meeting. That talk lasted more than two hours. The next day, having spoken with trump at least twice, putin praised trump personally. translated as for personal relations, i think that theyve been established. I dont know how this will sound, but ill say it how i see it the trump on television is very different from the real person. Hes very direct. He perceives his conversation partner very well. Hes a fairly quick thinker. Reporter it is that kind of praise that many here in washington find strange, and concerning. Multiple Administration Officials tell the newshour they have still not received a report from the official trump putin meeting, let alone the dinner conversation. That is not business as normal. President trump has put together, i think, the weakest policy on russia in 70 years. Its why youve seen so many people concerned by this one on one conversation. What did President Trump say to president putin . People in our government need to know the answers to those questions, and we as citizens need those answers as well. Reporter a dinnertime conversation might not be out of the ordinary except, the president s 2016 campaign is under investigation for possibly colluding with russia. And