And what is behind President Trumps Andrew Jackson obsession . This is mtp daily and it starts right now. Good evening and welcome to mtp daily back in washington. Where the republican draft bill to repeal and replace obamacare is been assailed from almost all corners of the gop with no simple solution in sight. But prident trump has an opportunity to do what he can do best tonight, sell his vision to a large, boisterous group of supporters. The president is set to hold a Campaign Rally in nashville, tennessee tonight with a chance to use the bully pulpit for the First Time Since the plan was put on paper. And mike pence was dispatched to the hill today to get the deeply divided republican conference on the same page. The question tonight, how how much Political Capital is the white house willing to spend to get a win on this bill . Conservatives dont think that the house plan goes far enough. Some spoke at a rally on capitol hill today. You need to tell them you want them to stand firm, you want to bring down the paul ryan plan. And that what we want is freedom. We want to be free of obamacare completely. When we were campaigning, and we talked about repealing obamacare, we didnt say we were going to keep part of it. We said we were going to repeal it all. Dont you think now is the time do that . Republican moderates think its going too far, slashing things that are helping their constituents. I plan to vote no on current ahca bill as the written plan leaves too many from my district uninsured. And only governors are against the bill including a former conservative republican congressman turned governor, asa hutchinson. I do not support this bill as it stands. Its okay if it passes out of the house we just have to remedy this in the senate. This cannot be the end product. Account be a beginning of the process. Then there are conservative senators like ted cruz who say it would be dead on arrival in the senate if it makes it there. And despite winning elections by running against obamacare, Public Opinion does not seem to be on the republican side at least not right now. A Kaiser Health tracking poll shows more americans now have a positive view of the current Affordable Care act, aka, obamacare than a negative view and the a slight majority of respondents are opped to repealing the law. Sometimes politic groups can get desperate enough they just want to win and do whatever it takes to get a win. Republicans and President Trump both want to put up a w on the scoreboard for health care. But legislative victories like this take a united front and right now they dont have anything close to that. Im joined now by arkansass republican governor asa hutchinson. You just heard from him yesterday saying hes okay if it passes the house but wants changes in the senate. So let me start with that. If the house version is what passes the senate then you cant support this bill . Thats correct. Thats a bad idea. Its not a bad beginning process. But its a terrible ending process. So lets get to what changes you want to see made. I assume on the medicaid front you want to see changes. Explain. I do. First of all theyre doing the right thing by replacing obamacare. Thats important because its not working here in arkansas now but its in terms of the house bill, the challenge is first of all, a shift from the federal government to the states in terms of costs. Secondly, theyve got to readjust on the subsidies for that are at Poverty Level and low income. Right now, theyve increased the limits in the subsidies so it goes up to twice the welcome limits that was under obamacare. That needs to be narrowly focused on those trying to move up the economic ladder, trying to get back to work but need health and health coverage. That should be the focus on the plan. The subsidies should be more narrowly focused. Right now there is a disincentive to move off medicaid and go up the economic ladder because there is a cliff they would not have any help. Those the kinds of things that need to be corrected. We need have to have less of the cost shift to the state and more of the subsidies focused on the low income. Where does the money come from then . They have gotten rid of some of the tax revenue that they had raised in obamacare. In the Affordable Care act, which that was making up some of the money where they got the subsidy now theyre doing tax credits. Where do they get the money to increase the tax credits. Do you want to see it done by income instead of age . The cbo numbers indicates there is a savings under the house plan. So thats good news. But lets just readjust those numbers. And so on the subsidy side of 9 lets congress trace the subsidies at Poverty Levels. You want means tein you want a means test comings something that i know some have called for and the administration and House Republicans have resisted. There is means testing when you have the subsidies up to 800 of Poverty Level. That is means testing. I just want to have it lower so we concentrate those resources on those who are really struggling at Poverty Level and a little above trying to move from medicaid on to the employer insurance or moving on to their own individual insurance. Thats where they need the help. And in terms of savings, i want the states to share and reducing the cost curve for medicaid and for health care. We will share in that. We just cant bear the bulk of that burden. When you became governor why did you decide not to undo the Medicaid Expansion . Well i decided not do undo it because its part of the fab rick of the health care sum in arkansas. All of the systems we had in place previous to it had been dismantled. Im talking about many of the Charity Clinics that provided free health care. Those have gone away. So we shifted and you cant reverse that. Secondly, it has helped us in terms of access to health care in arkansas. Many benefits from it and we need to control the numbers better. Thats why i wt move 60,000 off the Medicaid Expansion but you cant do that if there is not any place for them to go. Thats the challenge we face if the house plan was adopted. Do you think, frankly your party is too caught up in the word replace that it is so fixated on being able to say and you went out of your way, let me just say replacing it is a good idea. Whats wrong with just saying what you just said now, the system, there are some things that are better about it, why not just embrace the repair and you might get more people on board trying to fix this thing in washington . Well, repeal and replace is the right language. Youre doing away with the individual mandate and the employer mandate. Youre putting restrictions on the Medicaid Expansion and more flexibility to the states. These are dramatic reform changes. I want to increase the reform, improve the replacement but the right direction to go to repeal the Affordable Care act and do something to control costs, have access, work with the states and listen to the states as you develop the replacement reform. If the house bill passes the senate you couldnt support. That would you rather have the system in place now than the house bill . I will phrase it differently. My sense is there will be changes whether in the house or the senate, theyre listening to the governors and were communicating to them. Im confident there will wll be changes. This will be improved as it goes through the process and im looking forward to that. But do you think the system youre running in arkansas right now is better than what the house bill would be mandating on you . We have to have help from the house bill. For example some of it can be done by waivers requesting from the Trump Administration but we need fundamental change and reform. I want to move 60,000 right now off of our Medicaid Expansion on to the exchange. I need to have a replacement in order to accomplish some of those objectives and know where we are going in the future. You would still take the house bill as is over the Current System youre running now . I would take the house bill as is as long as its changed in the senate. Youre giving me a false choice, there, todd. Im not trying to give you a false choice. This is the bill that mike pence the Vice President , the president , the speaker, theyre saying, no, this is the vehicle. This is what you do. I understand you want it changed. But what if it doesnt change . At that point would you rather see them fail to the this replacement . Ill make that decision down the road. Clearly we need to repeal the Affordable Care act and replace it with something that works for the states that gives us more flexibility than whats in the houspl rht now. Well help you control costs. Weve got somethinged good goi in arkansas. I just need help to do it the right way. Thank you, mr. Hutchinson. Let me bring in the panel. Michael steele and molly ball, politics writer at the atlantic. I get it. A member of your party cannot say they would prefer any part of obamacare. They cant say it. They cant say it. But he basically said it. He basically said it and laid out the parameters under which it would make sense to do a repair and what to repair. But when you pressed him back on why dont you just say that . They have to stick with the nomenclature that has been on the street for the last six years and thats what is getting them in this box. Repeal and repair language is deadly at this point. I feel like its a political argument that theyre having right now. That they just got to fulfill the political semantics. You know, i think if the problem was as simple as messaging youd hear them start to change the messaging but i do think the messaging reflects a deeper policy problem which is that there are i thi the wall street journal editorial page may be the only institution in the right that likes this bill. The problem is that republicans, conservatives, theres no constituency outside of paul ryan and a few people in the Trump Administration who like and support this bill. And governor hutchinson, you have to have some sympathy for him because hes a republican governor who is governing a state where his democratic predecessor expanded medicaid. Hes in a very difficult position. I will give a shoutout to the conservative Health Care Expert with a piece in this Months National review that said House Republicans took a middle road where they repealed the taxes and the two paths he suggested are a more aggressive and less aggressive pass. He said they took the worst one possible which was the middle road. I think it just it sounded like to me that governor hutchinson, if you cant bring yourself to say im willing to shrink the Medicaid Expansion and it does sound like theres not a republican governor in this country that are willing to the that. Even bevin cant do it. And i think that what elian that was saying is right. The devil is in the details here. The problem is what is in the bill. I dont think the bill has no constituency. And because President Trump has gotten behind it and because is he behind it . Is he . Nominally he has gotten been it. Republicans are on tender hooks, particularly as he does this Campaign Swing whether he can throw his weight behind it more aggressively. That would help them. The activists in the party, not the conservative institution but the activists out there in the country are tentatively for it if the president is for it. But they want to he didnt do it today in michigan. He didnt granted that was a different type of event. Maybe he does it tonight. I dont think he will. But his constituents thats why in michigan the fact he didnt bring it up in michigan. Is he afraid to bring it up there, there the people that voted for him, they dont like how much it costs. I dont think its a matter of fear for trump. I dont think he really wants to put his brand on it. You may be right. When you have his Senior Adviser saying why would anyone want to put the president s name on a Health Care Bill. That tells you everything you need to know on where the president s head is on this. In my estimation there is no Convention Difference that the breitbart hit on ryan occurred two days ago and this sudden lets take a closer look by the administration tells me that ryans on the hook for this. This is ryancare in the land of trump and thats perfectly okay for them. And my bet is on the back end of this when the wheels come off he will cut his deal with Chuck Schumer and the democrats. You are me viewing a conversation i have later in the show from breitbart who believes in that theory. This is a president who campaigned on health care for everybody and said people were dying in the streets who didnt have health care. I dont think that trump cares very much one way or the other about the particulars of the bill but this bill is not what he campaigned on. I think there is a reason he is not putting his name on. And i would be hard pressed to think that steve bannon is not giving approval to these attacks coming from breitbart on paul ryan and the Health Care Bill. Very quickly. Kentucky, arkansas, west virginia, some of his strongest states, thats where he is meeting some of the most resistance, or this Health Care Bill is meeting the most resistance. But if he does decides to disown the bill the buck stops with him not only because he is the president. If this thing falls apart in congress thats the opposite of the type of leadership he promised. Bringing people into a room and getting things done. That was the leadership he promised. He promised to repeal obamacare, talked about how terrible it was with the cost comes up. It is a competency problem for him. Absolutely. Its hard to get bipartisan agreement on anything on the hill. But one thing they can agree on they want answers from the fbi on whether there is any proof of the president s wiretap claims. Stay tuned. Ive found a permanent escape from monotony. Together, we are perfectly balanced. Our senses awake. Our hearts racing as one. I know this is sudden, but they say. If you love something set it free. See you around, giulia with 9 lobster dishes. Est is back try succulent new lobster mix match or see how sweet a lobster lovers dream can be. Theres something for everyone and everyones invited. So come in soon. Welcome back, the Justice Department announced charges today against russian government officials in one of the largest cyberattacks in u. S. History. This is not about the election. Two russian spies are charged along with to hackers. One of whom is a Russian National and cybercriminal. This is the first time that the u. S. Has filed criminal charges in a cybercase against the russian government. Hackers stole personal data associated with 5 million yahoo accounts. They targeted russian and u. S. Officials and journalists and diplomats. Federal authorities continue to investigate russias hacking into the 2016 u. S. President ial election. By the way one of the hackers was among the russians sanctioned following the Election Hacking efforts. But right n there is known tie between this hack investigation and the electionrelated hack investigations. Keep in mind these are two very different kinds of attacks with different motives. The dnc hack was aimed at impacting the u. S. Election. Well be right back. St st about a medication. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain. And protect my joints from further damage. Humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. Humira works by targeting and helping to. Block a specific source. Of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain and. Stop further joint damage in many adults. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas. Where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com this is humira at work. Welcome back to mtp daily james comey was on capitol hill today as everyone is asking about russian interphoenix in the 2016 election and President Trumps claims that president Obama Wiretapped him. Comey just wrapped up a meeting with Chuck Grassley and his democratic counterpart, dianne feinstein. The setors were tighlipped about what they learned from mr. Comey. Did he confirm that there is an investigation ongoing into russian im not going to answer any questions on it. Before this little briefing, senator grassley was peeved and at the same time, Lindsey Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse want comey to them them about the wiretapping accusations. They heard back from the fbi today that they will get briefed but it wont be in public. Something graham is not happy about. From my point of view, i dont think the answer is a classified answer. There is a warrant or there is not a warrant. I dont know how divulging. Once you get that base information it allows you to move on to other areas like is there a criminal in