I think the core reason is all of this is at cspan. Org p. We will take you live to the white house. President trump with fairly busy agenda in washington. We will hear more about that from shaean spicer, president s spokeman. President continues to closely monitor the impact of the storm throughout the northeast. The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs has been in touch with state and local officials in the path of the storm to provide guidance and support. As the storm continues to track the east coast, heavy to intense snow, sleet and strong winds could result in significant travel impacts and possible coastal flooding. Again, the president encourages everyone to listen to their state and local leaders and Public Safety officers and closure notices. They are working around the clock to ensure the safety of our citizens and their families. In light of this storm the schedule for today changed a bit. Obviously german chancellor merkels visit was moved to friday. We will continue to provide updates on the schedule as we grow closer to friday. Today the president had lunch with the the president looks forward to having spectacular qualified and experienced administrator verma finally on board especially as we continue to lay the ground work for historic reform. Dr. Tom price will have a call with Anthem Health care joe swedish. And talk with mccarthy about repealing and replacing obamacare with the American Health care act and muchneeded Regulatory Reform to accompany that. The president was glad to see the national fed rag eration of independent health care act. They have identified health care with Small Business taxes as two Business Priorities and president S Health Care will address many of their concerns for Small Businesses. Yesterday of course the Congressional Budget Office released their report on the American Health care act. I know there have been significant concerns about the cbo report. I want to give a little bit of context to the numbers going around. In 2013 the cbo estimated 24 Million People would have coverage under obamacare in 2016. They were way off. They were off by 13 Million People. Over 50 . In fact, only 10. 4 Million People are actually covered. Reports now suggested that number has dwid elled down to 9 million. Cbo estimates are consistently wrong and did not take into consideration the comprehensive nature of the threepronged plan to repeal and replace obamacare with the American Health care act. We are working to bring real relief and better choices to the american family. Two other prongs of our plan contain several additional reforms that will further drive down costs and increase coverage. When you get down to it, Congressional Budget Office is there to measure potential impact of programs on the federal budget. Its attempts to estimate coverage have been historically faulty. The focus is on what the office is really about. Cbo concedes the American Health care act would reduce the deficit by p 330 billion and bring heal down 10 . As i mentioned before, some of these include expanding Health Care Savings accounts, streamlining the process at fda so innovative and lower cost medicines can get to patients faster. Allowing Health Insurance to be sold across state lines which increases competition and decreases cost. Permitting Small Business to band together and negotiate health care rates for employees. And reforming the medical malpractice system so doctors arent spending their time and patients money on unnecessary procedures. Lets talk about real life examples of the cost of obamacare for some actual americans who the president heard from during his listening session yesterday. A Small Business owner in arizona had her Health Care Costs sky rock fret 389. 79 a month to 809. 15. A resident from colorado, mother of six, whose youngest son who is autistic saw their family insurance go from 1700 to 52,000 for lower quality plan. And joel brown, farmer from tennessee saw his catastrophic coverage cost spike in the wake of obamacare from 119 a month to more than 500 per month. These are the stories that really matter to millions of americans who are suffering under obamacare. And these are the stories at the top of the president s mind as he works towards reforming our health care system. The president is committed to working together with speaker ryan, majority leader mccarthy and mcconnell to create a system thats affordable and accessible to allamericans. Let me walk through the rest of the schedule for the week. Tomorrow the president is heading it michigan to meet with auto professionals and workers and how the plans to roll back federal red tape will lead to more american jobs and higher wages specifically in the automobile sector. Its a great opportunity for the president to showcase moves he already made towards ambitious buy america hire america agenda. Like encouraging investment in Work Force Training and development so americans are had for jobs in the future and removing roadblocks to prevent american businesses for staying and commanding here in the United States. The president hopes to build on the great optimism that he built within the Business Opportunity and the renewed opportunities the economic agenda created. He and his team are working hard to produce the results they preserved. He will also travel to nashville, tennessee where he will lay a wreath at Andrew Jacksons tomb on his birthday. Coming to the white house for traditional st. Patricks day visit including reception and honor of the tshook and mrs. Kenny. As i mentioned german chancellor merkels visit will be on friday. We will update the schedule. With that, a few questions. Sean, President Trump said under his plan there will be insurance for everybody. How do you square that with the cbo numbers and is that a promise he can keep . There are two issues that are important to note on that, katherine. More and more americans have no choices. They dont have insurance. Having a card and having coverage that when you walk in to a Doctors Office has a deductible of 15,000, 20,000 a year isnt coverage. Thats a car. It doesnt get you the care you need or procedure or referral that you need from a doctor telling you what you need to have happen. Thats vastly different than what we hope to exist which is giving people who dont have it and lets kind of i think its important to add context to this. If you think about the individual market that exists right now, individual insurance market, you have roughly 30 Million People that exist right now. 9 million pell on the exchange. That number has gone down. 6. 5 Million People said they dont want any insurance and they will pay a penalty. Just under 14 Million People have said they have aplayed for hardship. You have almost 20 Million People in america who dont have obamacare and will pay a penalty or apply for hardship. They dont have it to begin with. The exchange is covering the people. Have you 9 million plus getting it right now. They have no coverage. For more and more americans they are losing coverage, choices are gone. Tax credits in competition that will come in phases 2 and 3 in the prongs we talked about will further drop prices down, further increase competition. The cbo score didnt take into consideration that. Again, if you look at their numbers, youve got roughly just over 9 Million People on the exchanges. The cbo numbers says that 14 Million People in the first year alone will lose coverage. It doesnt take a ton of analysis to recognize that that doesnt make any sense logically. You cant only have 9 plus Million People on the exchange and say in the first year alone when theres no touch to medicaid or anything else, just removing the mandate that force people to buy something they didnt want in the first place that will lead to 14 Million People. People drop off medicare, not take their employer that just doesnt add up. I would argue if you look at the other part of the equation, 20 million plus people who have either chosen to pay a penalty, 6. 5 Million People say either the plan is too costly, plan doesnt provide coverage, i think a lot of those people especially when we continue to instill additional coverage and they have more choices, they can pick a plan that fits their needs, or fits their budget, youre going to see more people want coverage who will choose coverage. So i think that the cbo number, a, that they have a record that doesnt match up with the accountability to count people. They are pretty good at dollars. Not as good as people. When you look at additional phases or prongs of this whole comprehensive approach, that actually changes the equation a lot. It is looking at one piece after threepart plan. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt oafter threepar. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt of after threepart plan. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt after threepart. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt fter threepart. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt ter threepart p. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt er threepart pl. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt ar threepart plan. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesnt threepart plan. Thats not the entirety of the plan were looking at. That doesn [ inaudible ] again, we dont do those projections. When you look at the cost, they are saying just this alone, just the first prong in this, will take cost down 10 in the individual market. If you think about it, they are up 25 in the individual market on average already. This year alone under just people on the exchanges, of 25 . Cbo is saying just with what were doing on first prong alone, 10 decline in the individual market. Thats a significant reduction. Thats what we are talking about. Bringing cost down and increasing choices. Thats big deal right now. The problem that you have currently is that subsidies people get, get them a card that doesnt get them care. Thats what we need to start focussing on. How many people are getting the care they need to deal with the medical concerns of them and their family . Thats not what happening. Mike . Sean, stating as you did that prima prima primary projection of the wlohi house, not taking into account phase 3 2 and 3, are there reforms the white house is considering and specific terms of the legislation that you would offer that are out there for people to study as part of this . As you know, some are skeptical the things i mentioned earlier, allowing people to buy across state lines, pool their insurance, expand hsas, reform the fda, all of those things unquestionably add competition and choice. No question about it. If one plan can sell that was in maryland into virginia where they can seek additional customers, that competition alone invariably brings down cost. We have seen this in market after market. Where once you allow competition, by itself that will bring down cost. Itll bring if choice. Right now these Insurance Companies who have been mandated by certain packages, and youve got young people an told to buy packages that have end of life care. That they dont necessarily in phases of life being having to buy stuff for maternity. That may not be a service that they need at their stage of life. And started kidictating and allowing the choice and people to buy a plan that actually was tailored to the needs that they want. Those reforms in themselves, unquestionably bring down costs. No question. But i think one of the issues that has to go back it overriding this issue and the president stated this on numerous occasions, if we do nothing, if we just allow this to continue, itll collapse on its own. The cost of it is unsustainable. Premiums are going sky high. In state after state and choices keep going further and further down. So this idea of comparing it to obama care is a false choice. Because they have no choice. The choice is going away and cost continues to get higher through every phase. So to assume that the comparison is apples to apples is a false choice. But youve been critical from this podium of democrats and the way they went about passion the Affordable Care act. In the interest of transparency that you accuse them of not following, shoving it down peoples throat, to the quick legislative details i think the white house is working on that in a lot of cases. As the put the cards opt tablen table. I think thats great question for speaker ryan. I think the big difference so were clear is that we posted this bill online, speaker had it out there, president president tweeted it out. Anyone in the country, anyone in the world could read it. Thats a vastly different approach than after it is being done. After its done then you can read it, which is what Speaker Pelosi did. [ inaudible ] yes, the speaker is boworkin with members to do that. That is an appropriate question for the speaker, not for me. We are trying to work with them. There are a lot of members working with speaker ryan and leader mccarthy and frankly on the other chamber as well. But we continue and thats why we are talking about youll of those prongs and all of pieces of them so we can start making sure people understand the comprehensive nature of this. [ inaudible ] i think thats a question for speaker ryan. The more we get out there, the better. Alexis . Asking about senator [ inaudible ] why is the white house giving senator cotton full running room to go again and again in the media and to den grate the house plan without bringing him in, discussing with him what mike was just bringing up, alternatives he is suggesting. Why does he have special dispensation to go out . I dont think he has special dispensation. It is a free country. He can say what he wants. I think his team is working with our team, senator pauls team, anyone with ideas. We have been engaged in a very, very robust discussion with members on both chambers who are are working it move this thing forward. I dont think we can tell people what they can and cannot engage and senator cotton is able to make any comments that he would like. We would like it continue to work with him and the team would continue to reach out with him and his team and try to get his ideas on this. Well, the professor spent time talking to him about ideas on immigration. Has he called him . Has the Vice President called i know we had a very, very robust discussion with members in the house and senate. I would have to get specific details with what we have done with senator cotton. Is ten tore cruz coming today . I believe i know there is a group of individuals. I dont have that list in front of me. Senators . I will get back to you on that, alexis, i promise. The storm storm caused changes. [ inaudible ] i will get you that form. Does the house support the will as it is or amending it and theres reporting that white house is involved or some white house officials are are involved in shaping what is being described as major significant managers amendment in conjunction with conservatives. As major significant managers amendment in conjunction with conservatives. Im just wondering, is the white house writing this amendment or just considering backing the amendment . We could tell them about it right now, i guess. I think speaker ryan is well aware of the managers amendment. I think as weve noted multiple times from the podium, when people have ideas that are constructive or supportive and when we hear about members we have enkwgaged with and the hou and he is not yac senate and mulvaney talking about the president himself, Vice President , part of the reason we are engaging with these individuals is to hear their ideas and talk to them not just the content about the approach. How we deal with different phases, mike was asking, and when we go. All of that is part of comprehensive strategy to engage with members who support us. Who have ideas and want to be on board. Want to be constructive in the process. And achieve the goal in having a Patient Centric Health care system. We are in talks with house leadership. As i mentioned, president will be on the phone with speaker ryan and leader mccarthy later this afternoon to talk to them about ideas and the path forward. Thats part of the legislative process. And just to clarify, the white house is working to shape the amendment . Yes. And on the visit of the deputy saudi crowned prince today, can you talk through more detail . Is that about arms sales, oil it literally was wrapping up as we were walking over here. I want to make sure we get a readout. We will provide that to the pool as we do with all leader shis its. Once they were con cluesing that visit as we were coming here so i will make sure i get it here. Blake . In the middle of all this there is the debt ceiling. Yeah. How concerning is this and how important is it to get the let he that s. The secretary sen out last week . So the secretary sent out a letter that they have until march 15th. He notified them of that. We will continue to work with congress. Well release a budget later this week thats part and parcel of our approach to fiscal responsibility making sure we talk about the path forward. How we address both ending fiscal year 17 that goes until september 30 this year then the budget which would be fiscal year 18. How we address our budget deficits, debt, and spending Going Forward is something that is a whole list of conversation that secretary and dr. Mulvaney and others, president and Vice President , are engaging with congress on. Our job under the law was to notify them of the authority that they passed and when it expired. And i think the secretary will work with congress on a path forward as far as our debt situation. Let me get your reaction to jonathan gruger, one of the a. C. Architects of obamacare. Your reaction to what . I think the plan he helped create hasnt done so well for americans seeking Health Insurance. Again, there are numbers. But just think about what he sought out to do. There is a pool of people that needed health care. They got about 9 million of them. Have you about 14. 4 plus or minus million of people who claim hardship exemption. They have no insurance that are not receiving medicaid. They dont qualify for any other assistance. Who cant afford obamacare. Then another 6 million plus that have chosen to pay the penalty. So i would argue that just on what he sought it achieve and the plan he helped craft didnt achieve too many great results. Of the people that did get it, their premiums have gone sky high. Choices have gone down and singlehandedly had a tremendous effect and so people bho werent affected by obamacare me and even for the 175 Million People who get employer based health care they felt the impact of what he sought out to do through higher prices, fewer choices. So respectfully i think he should just hang out more time at mit and allow good ideas to continue to come forward so we can focus on achieving the preds goal pred president s goal of what he sought out to do in the first place. Residents goal of what h sought out to do in the first place. The president said he wanted health care for everybody. If phases 2 and 3 are ever offered publicly, there will be health care for everybody. You can define that phase. You have 30 plus numbers. Of the obama care mandated under penalty of law and you had to have Health Insurance. 20 or 30 million plus or minus got it. 4. 5 said no, we will pay the penalty. Another 14 or so Million People said we will claim hardship. So that was a governmentmandated system and they chose not to do it. I think in many of the cases that if people were given the choice and option to get a plan that sought their needs, was tailored to what they wanted. They didnt give them services and brought down costs. I read you stories and individuals and we have seen tremendous growth and on the individual market, 119, 150 bucks a month which i think for people who arent Getting Services through med kaz baud of their financial situation. For many middle class families, thats struggle. An attainable goal in many cases. When you talk about 350, 500 on the individual market thats huge chunk of somebodys individual takehome pay. And i think that getting a process that we have down that levels the playing field, allows people who arent getting it through an employerbased system to get a tax credit that at the same time lowers costs and creates more competition and choice are giving more people the opg to have health care and to give more americans that ability. Right now they are choosing not to do it. That is still not everybody. Everybody has a choice to get it. Thats what i think we want to do. Everyone wants to get health care the financial ability to get it is what the president is trying to achieve through this. Athink th i think this is the system forced to get them there. In huge margins choosing not to. I think thats the system. By the way, they are getting a system that is failing. And that it is collapsing on its own and only going in the wrong direction. With higher prices, higher premiums, higher deductibles and lower choice. If youre an american system on the Obamacare Exchange you pay more, you have a higher debuktable and your choice is going down. Thats an unus unsustainable our americans who need care. A group that tracks the number of sanctuary cities in the u. S. Came out with a report today saying there is now nearly 500 sanctuary cities across the country. That has grown by 3,000 just this year. Does that concern the white house . Doesnt it suggest that your warnings about withholding federal funds is not getting through to people . I think the last polly saw on this issue, on sanctuary cities, somewhere in the 80 naers American People dont support sanctuary cities. They dont want their tax dollars used to finance people in this country illegally. If youre a mayor or councilman or state representative or governor in a state, you need to answer to the people that elected you. Whether or not you support this. If a federal perspective, i think the president s been very clear that were not going to use federal taxpayer dollars to support cities that support services to people here in this country illegally. But i think at the end of the day this is a question for mayors and councilmembers at the local level who have to answer to the people that elected them with clearly a position that is not in keeping with when most americans believe. Aman . Thank you. You mentioned a call with ceo of Anthem Health. Can you tell me about Insurance Companies, will their profits go up or down in the president s proposal . I dont think thats been the focus of the president s proposal. It is not about them. It is about patients. I think what it means for them is they get to create more choice and more plans. And allow people to choose a plan that fits them. Right now they dont have that choice. And frankly, more and more markets, Companies Like anthem, united health, cigna, are pulling out. Aetna. Because they dont have the choice and because of the government mandate. I think what we want do is allow competition and choice to exist so they can have more options. Will those Companies Make more money . I dont know the answer to that. Thats not the focus of what we are doing now. Right now they are pulling out of market after market leaving the American People with fewer and fewer choices. Right now it is an question of from last i checked i think many were doing well but it is the American People and patients losing under the current system. I think there is a way can you do a little bit of both. Hunter . Yes. We have seen the white house and secretary price push back on health care called trumpcare. Does anything need to be done for the president to feel comfortable putting his name opt bill . The Obama Administration didnt label it obamacare. They called the aca. This is the American Health care act. The president is proud of it and proud we are working with congress. This bill isnt his. It is a joint effort we worked with house and senate on. He is proud of it and proud of the impact it will have on american patients. I dont think this is about baseballs and names. It is about getting the job done. John . Keep pointing out that cbo doesnt take into consideration phases 2 or 3. Some might say the white house has been criticized, the white house for not taking into account phase 2 and 3. How are they supposed to take into account something that doesnt yet exist . Thats question for the house offer. There are constraints that are put on the cbo in terms of what they can consider. But i think the point we want to make and it came up yesterday, if members are going to base their vote off a score they need to under the totality and comprehensive nature of the entire program. To base your score off of one piece of information hold on, let me answer the question. [ inaudible ] i understand that. But what im saying is the question that keeps being asked is to see all of the reports on this about how its going to impact and not note i dont recall too many packages that ran on the evening news last night or too many stories. Noting it was one piece aftof a comprehensive package. Noting it was prong one of three prongs. When we have gone out here and tried to make sure the people understand the comprehensive nature of what is happening and why it has it happen. It wasnt by choice we today do this. There are serves ways it had to be conducted. In terms of thousand is repealed and replaced. The reconciliation of this, which is inside baseball senate talk, may not make a lot of sense to people but it is the way it has to go the process by which we have to achieve this because of senate rules, which is how it was constructed in the first place with democrats in 2009. When we talk about this, again you guys, when there is a report that comes out on the evening news or cable news or the paper and it doesnt explain the comprehensive nature of this, and just says the cbo says this is the impact the full stop, it is incumbent upon us to make sure that people trying to understand what we are doing understand there are two more pieces to come of this. It is like building a puzzle. If you only put a third on the table and say this puz sell incomplete and we heard the other two third pieces doesnt explain to people how it comes together. That is a very, very important piece of complaining how this whole thing will matter and impact the American People. Other thing im curious about too, is the president called it a big beautiful negotiation. People like jim jordan say it is a big beautiful dud. Is there a way to handle it into shape for conservatives or as subjected by a number of people rip it up and start all over again. Jim jordan just this morning said the fundamental aspect of what was promised the American People by house members when they ran for election back in the fall and by the president when he ran for election is not in this bill. Right. Respectfully, i would suggest it has gone through two house committees consisting of 50 members when you look at both committees with unanimous support. [ inaudible ] i dont know that that is actually true. Thats what they say i understand that. I will use major gar tet fact check you. [ inaudible ] i did not say that the president wants it work with them. There will managers amendment and yeah, i would love to have every Member Support this on both sides of the aisle. I think the president s principles and goals will benefit every american and obviously the more support we get the better. And as we continue to meet with members and talk to them and get their ideas, i think we will have a phenomenal outcome of the bill. There is a lot of ways to continue to gather input and ideas and the more that we can get that will achieve that goal, great. So i hope that he continues to provide us with constructive ideas. And we look forward to getting as many as possible. Major . Lets continue that conversation. Sure. . The managers amendment is an admission of the bill as no, not entirely true as you have the votes no, it is an admission of what we stated at the beginning. The president would engage with members to hear their ideas. He welcomed them. Mulvaney mentioned it several times. This has never been a take it or leave it. I said it from this podium. The president talked about it as you mentioned a second ago. This is an opportunity to hear from individuals in groups and insurance and victims of obamacare and doctors. [ inaudible ] hold on. Tax credit or some other operations. It is not about what caucus or one member. [ inaudible ] no, this is about bringing people together. If we have great ideas to achieve a better outcome for people we will listen to them and incorporate them. We have been very clear from the getgo. If you can come with a good idea to strengthen this bill and benefit americans, we will do it. About getting votes. You cant have a strong bill you can jam through a bill and get 218 and send it to the senate. But we want to get the strongest bill through the house with as many ideas and opinions and facts that will help strengthen this as possible. Instead of a getting a bill through with you know 218, 219, work on a process as speaker and majority leader have done that brings in additional ideas. If we can get the bill high earn higher, we will. To get to cottons point, you talked about prongs 2 and 3, you describe that process, process 2 and 3 because at least the third part of that will require 660 votes because it is outside of reconciliation by definition as mythical imaginary and just spin. He is telling House Republicans dont buy into the second or third prong. If you walk the plank, his words, not mine, on the First Initiative you wont get second and third phase of this process. It cant get through senate. There is a couple things. First, this is the only vehicle that seeks to achieve what people or on side of the aisle have been talking about since 2010. This is it. If we dont get this through, the goal of repealing obamacare and instituting a system to be patientcentered will be unbelievably difficult. This is the vehicle to do that. So we welcome senator cottons ideas. But the second prong of this is administrative in nature. Something we dedicated to sebelius, then secretary of health and human services. So prong 2 is easy to do. Same authority granted to secretary sebelius is now in the auspices of dr. Price. He has the ability to implement that. He noted yesterday his office has within going through and doing that. That phase is easy to do. The third prong, which conservatives have been championed for a long time, and frankly, dem a lot of democrats agree with us on. Allowing Small Businesses to group together is something that we have been talking about for over a decade. And not just get 60 but this should bring people together. Bipartisan, for almost every one of these things. They benefit, there is no one that doesnt benefit. It is something you can do your car there is no other product that i can think of, im sure someone will fact check me on this, but for the most part the American Consumer when you want a product, can you go online, to a store, have choice, go to a store cross lines, go to maryland or the district. And shop around. With insurance, we dont have that ability. No question that increased competition drives down cost. It is just the nature an economic certainty. And allowing greater choice will do the same. Respectfully, any senator that has that concern, theres no other entity that i can think of, great ert choice and greater competition doesnt drive down cost significantly. All we have to do is look no further than obamacare. I read off three individuals, president met with yesterday who are victims of obamacare. In every case, Insurance Premium skyrocketed when what . When choice and competition went away. You could get a plan for as low as a hundred bucks and change. Now the cheapest plan you can get is easily in the 300 range. So the question that you have to ask yourself is, what changed . Competition went down. Choice went down. I think allowing both to recenter the market lace will achieve in itself that goal. And in going through the additional pieces of reform will also do the same thing. So many ways that we can achieve greater choice and competition. That unquestionably bring down the cost of health care. Whether or not youre in the ex changes or employerbased plan and again we have to have this conversation in the context of what is going on now. Talk to someone on medicare or medicaid. Ask testimony if the kr and services they used to be getting is you Still Available to them. When you go into the Doctors Offices, there is a sign that says, we no longer accepted ka cade. Th medicaid. That used to oob given. It is getting harder and harder to find a place that take your insurance. What is your alternative . The ideas they pr poopose we ca incorporate. We can make it better and better. But sitting back and doing nothing is not a choice. As you know the doj has there is evidence that donald trump was wiretapped by the Obama Administration, how confident is he that there is evidence to support his claim . He is very confident. I will let the doj report. But there is significant reporting about surveillance techniques that existed throughout the 2016 election. Ill leave it to them to issue their report. I think he feels very confident that we will eventually come of this and vindicate. Quick followup. Sure. When a decision is announced, whatever efd or potentially no evidence is released, will he make a statement about the evidence or lack of evidence . I have been asked this i think at least three times. And i dont want to prejudge what is going to come. Im sure he will did a fine job of asking me the question when theres a report to be asked. I will not be able to escape it. But i dont want to get ahead of what president may or may not do. Jim . Evidence will be presented . I dont want to get ahead of as i mentioned, im not going to house intelligence has given the house until monday. It gave the doj and again we covered this yesterday, but im not getting ahead of what they may or may not submit. Maybe nothing . No, i think, least from where we stand, we know there is significant reporting on the subject. Something will be presented . I feel very confident on that. Followup. Of course. You were saying that people if they cant get access to insurance they dont have coverage. Right. If you remove the individual mandate you will have people who are not going to buy coverage or insurance. So getting back to the Congressional Budget Office score, would you concede that there will be some coverage losses . Perhaps in the millions . That millions of people who will not have Health Insurance as a result of what youre doing . Again, sure. Except you have to look at the current situation. You are mandated by law it buy insurance under obamacare. 13 Million People asked for hardship skejs. 6. 5 million determined to pay the penalty. Currently, if we look at the universe and say it is roughly 30 Million People. Only 9 Million People engaged in the exchanges when required by law. The majority, almost two thirds, in my back of the envelope math is right, have two thirds, asked for hardship or mandate. If they dont have insurance you have a free rider problem in the system. Right. But look what is happening now if they show up to the mer emergency room and it is more expensive the way the system was con stukted under obama care, they created the system to force people no t buy plans this he did not like. Mandated by the government as to the plan, what it covered, deductible, et cetera, et cetera. Roughly two thirds of people paid the penalty for asked for hardship. They didnt do it. The idea is actually if you can bring down cost and choices and allow people to find a plan that fit their budget, tailored to their needs, there is actually a higher likelihood they will find something they want for a price they can afford, which is to right now, i get a plan that im forced to buy with a deductibl i cant afford with a card to pla flash around. You have coverage. If you are hit bay bus you wont pay out of pocket to the hospital. Have you c you have catastrophic coverage thats a great thank you. Thats exactly what president is trying to do. Of the attempt to get 30 Million People, 14. 5 million applied for hardship. They are exactly the people you are talking about. Another 6. 5 Million People have paid the penalty and dont have it. We have roughly 20 Million People in this country who were supposed to be paying, required to buy health care that have chosen not to do it who fall into exactly the category you are talking about. The question that number is massive by the year 2026. Hold on but if they had choices, and add plhad a plan o there is a highly likelihood that they would buy a, a plan tailored to them, or b, to a plan they could afford. Right now, catastrophic is not an option. A third of counties have one choice. In five states, one choice. Can you imagine if they could actually buy a plan that talking point it is not a talking point. If you pull this away you will people in a lot of states without access to coverage. Totally false. They cant afford it with the tax credit. It is an argument to the other side. No. You have 17. You have 175 million americans with insurance through their employer. The system is supposed to help them get access and they have a governmentmandated and governmentrun health care has gone amok. Medicare is governmentrun. You need to get outside and talk to them. More and more medicaid recipients, or medicare recipient, it is one thing to have a card and then walk into the Doctors Office and say we dont accept it okay. So the president is okay no, the president s goal is to provide Health Care Coverage it every american. Right now they are not getting that. And by giving them more choices at a letter coower cost, more a can buy health care for their family, theirselves, a businesses that a lot of them arent doing, and forcing them into exchanges. The system is not work. Costs are going up. Choices are going down. Deductibles are going up. To make this look like a choice, there isnt really a close. The system we have is failing. The choice is whether we give them an opportunity to have real care. And in a way that is tailored to them and their budget. Jeff . Sean, on a different subject, the Intelligence Committee yesterday, when responding to the department of justices request of more time, basically issued a subpoena threat, does the white house have a reaction it that, do you think itll come that far . As i said, as has been noted, the department asked for an additional time. And that is up to the Intelligence Committee to grant that time. They are working on that. A separate note, you mentioned the president s call with the ceo of anthem, does he have a position on anthems effort to merge with cigna, which was challenged by the Justice Department under president obama . Im not aware of a that. I dont know that president ever expressed any personal view. I think that would come under the ftc, if im correct. I would refer to you that. To follow up on the yes about saudi, that was ending as you came out here. Do you know what order they sent down . You came out here. Do you know what order they sent down . Ending as you came out here. Do you know what order they sent down . Was ending as you came out he. Do you know what order they sent down . Ending as you came out here. Do you know what order they sent down . You came out here. Do you know what order they sent down . The president had a conference with the king a couple weeks ago. They talked about the threat of isis. I think i will provide a readout to you all, to everyone in the pool about what happened, more clearly define that. John . Thank you, sean. Coming up in the rest of the year are four special elections for the u. S. House of representati representatives, all which are sure to draw National Attention and news for debate on the American Health care act. Does the president plan to be involved on behalf of the republican candidate and perhaps appear on their behalf in the disstricts as this may well be a barometer of where people feel about the American Health care act . Youre also going to have elections of virginia and new jersey as far as im aware. As we get further into the schedule and closer to elections, we will obviously entertain requests from candidates at a variety of ballot level to gauge the president s support. He has been very supportive of candidates if the last cycle. I dont see him not continuing to support. In a lot of those cases it is dependent on whether or not there is a request from the candidate. Julie . You said the white house doesnt have projection of how many people will lose coverage. Are you saying that white house is not going to come out that is not something that o b does. So if youre advocating for a plan you say because it wants it cover everyone, how are you able to assess whether youve been successful . If youre not fwoing to do that yourself and you say cbos are invalid. If you look what the goal is which is to make Health Care Available it every american, we have a choice of either to support failing system where there is no choice and premiums go up or provide them with sast em that we look at. Which does address the 30 Million People. One of the issues i have with the models they are very static. They talk about this piece of the this prong only. I think when you look at the subsidy and cost of a current plan right now, without looking at prong 2 and 3 and how those will additionally drive down cost, that its not a fair analysis of where the plan is going, but no question that right now there is, you know, i detailed it to jim. We have a system that mandates that people buy Health Insurance under penalty of law. And it is not working. So the question is, what can we do instead and what can we replace that with that gives people greater choice and lower cost . Of course some people always choose in a free society to not purchase something. We live in country of 320 Million People. At some upon the you cant force a product or good on people in a free society. But if you give them a quality product that serves their need at the time at a price they can afford, there is a greater leaklily hood that sulgts that will work. I think it is frankly economic 101 and basic common sense that dictate the more competition and more choice we institute in the system the greater likely hod ho hood of more and more americans getting coverage. Thank you. I want to ask about American Health care act. But first, i want it see if you have an answer to a question i asked you yesterday that you didnt know the full question. Whether or not there are repercussions of the i have a violation of the fiveyear im sorry. I do owe you an explanation. I will check with counsel and get back to you. On the health care act, you use similar language to what House Speaker ryan used. You talk about this binary close. Either this particular legislation or obamacare. Right. Have you republicans in control of the house and senate. You have President Trump in the white house. Why do they have to vote on this particular bill . Why cant they negotiate for Something Like the Freedom Caucus may be a better piece of legislation . To get back it a question that major asked, whatever it is, it has to get at least 218 votes. You want the greatest number of votes as possible. But you need 218. And in the case of r reconciliation, only 60 votes. You need enough members coalescing around key principles to get to you that particular. Can you go, you know, as high as you know, 435 in terms of the ceiling. Were not sure well hit that. But you know, the floor is whats going to coalesce the greatest number to get you around 218. We will continue to work with them. Providing ideas and input an regardless of what caucus or faction youre part of, if you have an idea to make it more pace sent rick and achieve goals then were all for it. So that is a process. I think speaker ryan has been talking about this since 2010. There have been a lot of ideas, a lot of debate and issues put forward on how to craft this. That been in the works for seven plus years in terms of getting members at least in the republican conference to coalesce around principles and ideas and solutions to make this a more patient centric thing. Francesca . Two quick clarifications. It sounded like you were telling mike to ask paul ryan about phases 2 and 3. Phase 2 bo be regulatory measures that the president and secretary price would be in charge of. When can we expect to see a list of those from the . White house . I will ask. I would be glad to see if we have a time line on that. I w. I would be glad to see if we have a time line on that. And also, it sounded like you said the white house would be close to 60 votes and is the white house confident about the 660 votes . Yes. And final thing on health care as well. 0 votes . Yes. And final thing on health care as well. Yesterday secretary price said he wasnt saying to disregard the cbo completely. But that sounds like what the administration was arguing and what you are arguing from the podium. Saying they are consistently wrong and you question their credibility. No, just to be clear. Cbo is a budget office. They look at impacts on the federal budget. That is why they were created. Thats what they do. To look at them in terms of budget numbers is one thing. Thats their job. And i think on the aspect of budget impact, it talks about how well we currently see at 25 increase in premiums this year under obamacare and individual market. It marketly shows under the current American Health care act, 10 decline in premium. Where they have gotten it wrong and it is not a question of what we kacharacterize it as, its fact. When cbo tried to project people in coverage was over 50 wrong the last time. The point we trying to make is when you look at their record and say the last time they did this they were off by more than 50 . They projected 24 Million People would be covered by obamacare and exchanges in 2016. That number was initially 10. 4 and its dropping. So the question you have to ask yourself, if you ask yourself about a gauge to determine a vet, you have to determine whether they count people like they do counting numbers. I think on the budget thing, thats what their wheel house is for thp they look at budget impact on things. When they come to counting people theyve been wrong and vastly so. I think its important for people to understand the context in which those numbers are given to you. Thats something i want to make sure of. [ inaudible ] i think that the president ple pl believes this is not a point of view he shares. He believes he is the president for allamericans. So i will leave it at that. Jim . Reports surfaced friday that president will support primary challengers to conservative lawmakers who dont support the final version of the American Health care act. Can you confirm that and can you offer insight in what the president is looking for in candidates in 2018 . I dont have anything for you on that. Veronica. Sean, its ronica. Sorry. Im sorry. Fix it now. Were done. So does he believe it get it done through microwaves and televisions . The president tweeted about this. He believes there is surveillance in the 2016 election. I will wait for the conclusion of that. I think there is pretty sound evidence that the microwave is not a sound way of surveilling someone. I think thats been cleaned up. It was made in jest. We can put that to rest. Second question, newt grinning rich said the cob should be abolished. So would the president agree with that . Cbo. Cbo. I got it wrong with you. Now were even. Look, speaker gingrich obviously, ill let him comment on the house. Cbo was established in 1974. It is up to members to decide on house and Senate Whether or not they want it go through this. Weve got o b. Theyve got cbo. I wont get in the business of telling the house who their score keeper should be. [ inaudible ] can you stand here and say the president will keep his promise for insurance for everybody. The president s goal is to make insurance available to everybody. Yes. Thats the goal of this is to make sure that every american has the choice and a plan to that they can afford and that they have the choice to buy. Thats not what they have now. [ inaudible ] i dont i would refer you back to the Kushner Company to talk about their entities. Jared went through extraordinary lengths, as you although, we provided a lot of documentation on this, although he is not taking a salary here, that complied as if he was an employee and went through extraordinary lengths to make sure that he deconflicted himself and worked through the office of government ethics. Is jarod currently working on preparations for [ inaudible ] im sure he is involved and making sure that insurance can be afforded by everyone, what is your specific response to the cbos estimate that for some not who is 64 years old making 26,000, that right now undercurrent law, they would shell out 1700 in a preep yum. Under this exchange it would go from 1700 to 14,000 what is the message to a 54yearold that a i go back to the fact that i dont think that analysis takes into consideration the choice they have. Part of the problem right now, steve, is that if 54yearold doesnt need certain things. They dont need maternity care. They dont need certain medical services that are provided to them by the government product that is being forced down them right now. So number one have you a product that is being served up to Older Americans middleaged americans or younger americans that doesnt fit where they are in life and services that they need. Number one, having more choice and the ability to tailor a plan toward the needs that at individual has, whether an individual or family, number one. Number two, that they dont have any competition. So when you combine both of these things together, i think that number goes way down and then the third is that they can have whatever subsidy they want now. But on the exchange in many cases, again they get the subsidy to a plan with a very high deductible so they have a card but not care. Thats not an apples to apples way it examine the current plans. Thats where this all comes down to. Is the msa message that wait until phases 2 or 3 come in it is not just wait. You have to look at the totality of what we are doing. But right now in the scenario you are giving, a 54yearold doesnt have choice, buying a plan they dont want or need in it for the most part. And as subsidy probably isnt giving them the ability to go see the doctors that they need to because their deductible is off the chart. Thats one thing that is missing in a lot of these discussions. You can have a premium per month. But if your deductible is skyrocketing, then again, you might be able to get an appointment but youre not getting care. Sharon . Th. [ inaudible ] they will start background briefings for you tomorrow. I dont want to get ahead of him on this. So let me lets figure out where we go first on this. With what he has. Then we will have a full presentation on thursday. Did you say the infrastructure plan is part of that . No, thats separate. I have two questions. First one, president one of his Signature Campaign promises on immigration is to pursue reform. On april 1 United States will begin receiving h1h applications. Will we see more movement before that . Good question. We have talked about immigration in the past. I think theres a process looked at in terms of how we prevept ilLegal Immigration and then what we do about Legal Immigration with h1bs or k1 or others in the system. There is an entire look taken with respect spo the visa program. We will have more for you as we get through the system. Thank you guys very much. We are headed off to detroit and nashville tomorrow. If youre not on the trip, we look forward to, i hope everyone wears green on thursday and friday. We have a double shot at it this year. Because of the visit. Thank you. Stay safe on the roads. Weather in washington affecting the white house schedule and congressional schedule. You may have heard in the briefing pushing off the arriving of the german chancellor until friday. She was expected in washington today. The white house pushing back the schedule for the week but the Budget Committee expected to meet thursday o work on the republican plan it repeal the Affordable Care act. The president will speak with paul ryan and Kevin Mccarthy about their legislative efforts. Senate is in session today. Reviewing Obama Administration rule that bars drug testing for certain unemployment benefits. We have Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch whose confirmation hearings are next week. We will have live coverage for you monday, three days of hearings. Hoping statements on monday. On day two hearing from the nominee himself. Day three outside witnesses and other experts testimony. Look for live coverage across the cspan networks beginning next monday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern. Neil gorsuch, clerking for byron white and anthony kennedy. Herer clips of cspans programming this past week. Nominee for Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein before the Senate Judiciary committee. We need to refrain from disparaging people. If we charge someone with a crime and it is appropriate to introduce evidence against them in court, we do it. If we dont have a crime, we have a duty to not disparage them in court. This new executive order includes cosmetic changes but these changes dont alter the fact that President Trumps travel ban is still unconstitutional and still inconsistent with the values of this nation. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Gop Health Care plan. So we said in 2016 to our citizens, to the American People to our constituents, if you give us this chance, this opportunity, this is what we will do. Now is our chance and opportunity to do it. Senator chris murphy on the legislation replace the Affordable Care act. While trump care is here and you will hate it. Care is here a you will hate it. This is a Dumpster Fire of a bill, written on the back aftof napkin behind closed doors because they know it is a disaster. Nikki haley on plistballisti missiles. This is someone trying to get attention. Someone trying to cause reaction. But this is what bothers us, it hit less than 200 nautical miles from japan. They said their goal is to reach u. S. Bases in japan. This is not something we can take lightly. The Global Community needs to understand that every country is in danger from the actions of north korea. Congressman eliot engel during the markup of the health care bill. This is one of the most important things we are going to vote on this year. And it is rushed through. And we are buying a pig in a poke and because we dont have all of the details. Thats why we are so disgruntled on the other side of the aisle. We dont like this rushed down our throats. People dont want it rush. Search these items on the cspan library. Rod rosenstein said he cannot answer yes or no on whether would he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate russia in the 2016 election because he doesnt have all of the information necessary to make a decision that time. There rosentimes comments came before the Senate Judiciary committee. Good morning, everybody. Im pleased to hold this hearing for two outstanding nominees. Rod rosen stein and rachel brand. They have been held for two important positions in the department of justice. Deputy attorney general and associate attorney general. Deputy attorney general, second in command at the Department Overseas the daytoday operations. The associate attorney general overseas the departments civil litigation departments. Its critical that we fill these two important positions so that the department can operate at full capacity. And we couldnt have two better nominees for these positions. Mr. Rosen stein and ms. Brand share a lot of common. They both are dedicated civil servants. They both have been confirmed by senate before. And ms. Brands case, twice. And they both served in confirmed positions during president obamas administration. They are both