reinsurance mechanisms. for example, in wisconsin, we had a great risk pool that actually worked so that people with real high health care costs and diseases and pre-existing conditions could still get affordable health care. obamacare repealed that. they had a great risk pool reinsurance system in utah. a good one in washington state. all those are gone under obamacare. here's how they work and here's how our system would work. we would directly support the people with pre-existing conditions. let me give you a sense of this. 1% of the people in these markets drive 23% of the cost. 1% of the people in the individual health insurance market drive 23% of the costs. so a reinsurance program is to cover more than the 1% to cover the people who have high health care costs. so by having state innovation funds to go to the states to set up these reinsurance programs, we'd directly subsidize the people who have pre-existing

conditions. direct support from the people with pre-existing conditions so that everybody else has cheaper health insurance. what you do when you do this is, the individual market, the people who don't have pre-existing conditions have much more stable prices. let me give you an example. take a small business that has 40 employees. let's say that four people in that business get cancer. well, under that business, that business has to pay for all those cancer patients. all those cancer treatments. the other 36 people in that 40-person pool have -- get hit with much, much higher premiums to pay for the four that got cancer. that's how insurance works today. and that is one of the reasons why this thing is going bankrupt. here's our solution. let's make sure we just cover the people who have pre-existing conditions. make sure that reinsurance or risk pools kick in for those four people in that small business that get cancer, subsidize that coverage and what you do by doing that is you dramatcally lower and stabilize

the price of insurance for everybody else. so those other 36 people in that small business have predictable prices, lower prices. that brings you more choice, more competition and lower prices for the vast, vast majority of americans who are not in the pre-existing condition category. directly subsidize them through state-based risk and reinsurance pool programs that we would finance with support from the federal government to attack this problem. and let health insurance stabilize. go down in price. here's another thing that we think is extremely important. one of the problems we have is we don't really have a consumer dynamic in health care. people don't always care what things cost or how good care is going to be because they don't get that information. we actually immunize or block the ability for people to actually see what things cost in health care or to act like a consumer. let me give an example. jana and i have three kids.

they are 33 months apart. we call them irish triplets. our three kids had three tonsillectomies over the course of three years in janesville, wis wirks from the same ent at the same hospital. i tried to find out what is this tonsillectomy going to cost? i only found out what it costs months after those procedures when i got various bills from the ent, the ear, nose and throat doctor, anesthesiologist and the hospital. and the difference in those three years was huge. one of them, the recovery bill, the recovery for my son, he sat in a la-z-boy, ate jell-o and watched spongebob for two hours, it was $1400. we don't shop like this for anything else we buy in our lives. why should we shop like this for health care. what this achiefs. this is a law i helped write.

something we as conservatives have been fighting for is we want to increase health savings accounts which is what we do in this bill so we have more competition at a lower cost. in 2000, i got lasik surgery. the reason i can see you all so well in 2000, i got this lasik surgery which was elective. surgery didn't cover it. i knew what the procedure was going to cost up front. and since then, this lays are that does this procedure has been revolutionized three times and the price is lower. so in this area of health care, quality went up and cost went down because i cared as a consumer what it was. so it's not that that dynamic cannot happen in health care. it's that it isn't happening throughout most of health care. what health savings accounts does is it helps hard-working taxpayers get access to affordable solutions to help them pay for it but it's also their skin in the game, their money. if they save money by saying to

a hospital or doctor or health care provider, what is this going to cost me? where is the best value for my money? if we can bring that consumer pressure to bear in health care, we can enlist the support of millions of americans to help us fix this problem. and that's one of the critical things we're trying to achieve here. instead of using opm, other people's money, to help pay for health care that you don't care what things cost, we want to harness the power of the marketplace. the power of the consumer, the patient and doctor to demand better services. to demand better quality. we want transparency on price, on quality and in economic incentive to act to that thing so we can bring consumers to bear. this is what we mean when we say we want a patient health care system. okay. here is a really important part of our american health care act. refundable tax credits. i want to explain exactly what we mean when we say this. under the current obamacare system we have a

washington-controlled system with skyrocketing premiums and dwindling choices. it's a death spiral. it's collapsing. government makes you buy what you have to buy. our solution is a portable monthly tax credit. this is why we believe this is the right way to go. we want a market-based system which will give us lower cost, more competition and more choices. there's a real problem in the tax code today in that the tax code discriminates against people who don't get health care from their job. if you are working and not on medicaid and you have a job paying you $10, $12, 15 bucks an hour and that job does not give you health insurance, there's nothing the tax code does to help you buy health insurance. if you have health care from your job you have an open-ended tax benefit. what we're saying, that's really kind of not fair to the man or woman who is working at a job that doesn't get health insurance offered to them. let's equalize the tax treatment of health care and give people the same kind of tax benefit to

go buy health insurance if they don't get it from their job. and giving a person a monthly portable tax credit gives them the ability up front to go buy health insurance of their choosing. here's the key. you buy what you want to buy. if you don't want to use your tax credit to buy health insurance, you don't have to. if you don't want to buy this plan, you want to buy that plan, it's your choice. it's called free market health care. states get to set up their own health insurance systems, own regulations so that you can buy whatever you want to buy where you live. that is called patients choice. that is called a patient-centered system. and that is one of the biggest tools we believe can be used to replace obamacare. this is part of replacing obamacare with a system that works to give everybody universal access to affordable coverage. now here is where we stand. the current system is riddled with endless regulations that are driving up costs and

limiting choices for consumers and you see how the collapse is occurring. our solution, greater consumer options. the patient is the nucleus of the health care system. we don't want insurance companies becoming monopolies looking for favoritism in a cronyistic way at washington. we want health insurers, hospitals, doctors, all providers of health care benefits competing against each other for business as consumers. that is how the great american free enterprise works in all other aspects of our lives and economy. that's what should work in this system as well. so the result, you choose the plan that meets your needs. you buy what you want to buy, not what the government tells you to buy. so our goal here is final as this. lower costs, more choices, patients in control, universal access to care. there are two points i would make in conclusion. we as republicans have been

waiting seven years to do this. we as republicans who fought the creation of this law and accurately predicted that it would not work ran for office in 2010, in 2012, in 2014 and in 2016 on a promise that we would, if given the ability, we would repeal and replace this law. how many people running for congress and the senate did you hear say that? how many times did you hear president donald trump when he was candidate donald trump, say that? this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. the time is here, the time is now. this is the moment, and this c happen. it comes down to a binary choice. we now have the ability through the budget rules in the senate with our three-pronged approach,

to actually make good on our word. we told people in 2016 what it would look like when we had the chance to replace obamacare. that was our better way plan. that's what this is. 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 our opportunity to do it. questions? chad? >> thank you, mr. speaker. you say this is a binary choice. two-part question here. why would somebody not believe this is take it or leave it when you hear from members of the freedom caucus and conservatives saying take your bill or change it. and number two, when the democrats aprufd cap and trade in the summer of 2009 there was concern of a managers amendment put in at the end to make that bill right for passage on the floor. why would we expect something like that not to emerge in this case to make that bill okay to pass and get their votes?

>> so i would answer it in this way. what people are talking about, and there's a lot of frustration and confusion out there among conservative groups and even among members is reconciliation has certain limits. there are folks who would love to see us put in this reconciliation bill all these other ideas. one conservative group is saying you better put shopping across state lines in this bill or we'll not support it. guess what, chad? if we did that, we wouldn't be able to pass this bill. it would be filibustered in the senate and wouldn't come up for a bovote. so if really is a conversation about the third prong approach. the other bills we're going to pass outside of reconciliation, which in the house were a majority body. we can pass. that go to the senate. so much of the conversations are about moving this other agenda on the same track around the same time to get these things done. the last point is, as you know the process but a lot of people

don't, we're going through four different committees. that's how legislation works through regular order. we just did the ways and means committee last night. we're in the middle of the commerce committee. next week it goes to the budget committee and then the rules committee before it goes to the house floor. the bill will be out there for three weeks to be looked at. go to readthebill.gop. it's not something they whipped together and threw to the floor. we didn't write it in harry reid's office on christmas eve. let's back up even further. this bill has been worked on for a year purpose this bill was worked on from january to june last year so we could offer our constituents and the american people in our better way agenda what we'd replace obamacare with. we offered it up in june. ran on it all through the election and now we've translated it into legislation. even backing up further, these two key components, block

granting medicaid back to the states, defederalizing entitlements, putting a cap on it, that is something conservatives have been talking about and dreaming about for decades. and repealing another entitlement, obamacare, its mandates, its subsidies, its taxes, and replacing it with republican free market health care tax policy. if you told me ten years ago this is where we'd be, i think i'd be in a dream. i'd be doing backflips. to conservatives who have been fighting for health care reform, this is so exciting. so what's happening now is members realize, this is the chance, this is the once in a lifetime opportunity. so naturally in the legislative process, people are saying, i'd love to have this in there, that in there. that's the legislative process. that's what we're going through. and what people are sort of learning is, this reconciliation tool is pretty tight. there's a lot of stuff we'd love to put in the bill but the senate rules don't allow us to do that. that's where you see confusion and frustration.

understandably so. but that's also why we have a three-pronged approach. administrate of actions by tom price at hhs and the additional legislation that we're going to move as well. >> just to clarify, not to belabor the point. you are saying this bill was crafted in a way that would meet the reconciliation test in the senate, ergo, there couldn't be many changes? >> we'll see what we have to do when we get our score. you go to authorizing committees you typically don't go with your score ready. we'll have to make some tweaks and adjustments. that happens every time we do reconciliation. this bill is written so that it's called privileged. it's written so that it can't be filibustered so they have to bring it up and vote on it in the senate. if we put things in this bill that take that privilege off of it so it's not reconciliation, they will filibuster it and won't even vote on it. that's what i mean when i say this is the closest we've been

to a repealing and replacing obamacare. and again, this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. yeah? >> how did you come up with the amount that you would give out in tax credits, and why should a family that makes $140,000 a year get the same amount as a family that makes $40,000. >> that's a really good question. the amount of the tax credits is based upon the way insurance works. it's modeled after the tom price legislation which he had last year which is adjust for age and family size. because the older a person gets, the more costly their health care is. that's how insurance is written. so the tax credit adjusts more tax credit for the person's age and, obviously, if you have a bigger family, more health care costs. where is it set where it is? 12 members of the freedom caucus for co-sponsors of the price legislation last december which is this kind of a tax credit

situation. a lot of our members through our feedback, we had seven member listening sessions in february. four conferences getting feedback from our members on this draft of this legislation. getting their ideas. and one of the concerns was, we should cap this credit. so like a millionaire that doesn't get health care from their work but is a millionaire doesn't get tax credit. that was something everyone agreed with. the ways and means committee made that adjustment. the reason it's set where it is, we don't want a job penalty. go back a few years ago and when cbo said obamacare produces job lock, obamacare says that the equivalent of 2 million to 3 million will not take jobs because of the way the obamacare subsidies work. what i mean is, if you set that credit limit too low and a person loses their credit by getting a raise or advancing in life, you don't want to disincentivize that. they are set at such a level

that wouldn't occur. set at such a level so that it really is for a middle income family or even upper middle income family so we never tell a person don't take that rose or get that job or take that promotion. we don't want federal tax law or tax credits to ever encourage a person not to advance. not to take a job. not to get a raise. that's why. >> $2,000 figure -- >> let me go in the back. >> [ inaudible ] -- to provide the option you're talking about. and almost every industry organization has come out against this. the reason why there isn't as much participation as customers might like is because these companies can't offer these products and still make money. >> yeah, it's it's a great example. here's what people are not seeing, which is number two. tom price, for legal reasons, can't tell you what he's thinking about doing. there's laws that prevent that. we can do so much deregulation through the executive branch by the secretary of health and

human services. he just put one regulation out the other day which will go a long ways toward lowering the cost of health insurance. so they haven't even seen yet what our secretary at hhs can do in number two, in phase two here where they actually can dramatically lower the price of health insurance. those companies have seen that yet. let me -- don't interrupt me if you don't mind. here's the other point. we have basically a few options in front of us. number one, do nothing, let the system collapse. what the insurers are telling us is, if you thought a 25% average premium increase was rough in 2017, it's going to be a whole lot more than that in 2018. and more and more insurers are going to pull out. the insurers are telli ining us we don't know what's coming up late spring, we'll have massive premium increases and pullouts and it will collapse the individual market. they also tell us, if you only repeal the law, just gut and

repeal the law, some folks are suggesting, then you have triple-digit premium increases and you'll collapse the individual market. got to remember, if we just repeal obamacare, it's not like life goes back to life before obamacare. obamacare did so much damage to the u.s. health insurance system that it's not as if you can just go back to the day before. so that's why we are offering a better way. that's why we're offering the american health care act. that's why we're offering a system that brings choice and competition back into the marketplace, gives people through the use of risk pools, health savings accounts and tax credits the ability to find affordable coverage and that brings insurers back into the marketplace. insurers are telling us that will bring insurers back into the marketplace. if they can offer plans people want to buy, they'll have more plans being offered. there will be more choice and more competition. that's what brings down cost. in conjunction, with all the administrative things tom price can do, those efforts together

can help dramatically save our system and give us low-cost health insurance, better quality health insurance and access to affordable health insurance. don't forget how all this works together. subsidize the sick and pre-existing condition through risk pools and reinsurance. health savings accounts to bring the consumer in the marketplace to put pressure on providers to compete for our business based on cost and quality. and give families who have jobs but don't have the kind of jobs that gives them health insurance benefits the same tax benefit everybody else gets so at the beginning of the month they can go buy a plan that best meets their needs. that is how you fix and save this system from the crash that is occurring. and we're very, very confident that will work that way. thank you for indulging me. thank you for putting up with my town hall presentation. i think it's really important to try and iron out all the differences. to show that there's folks who say, gosh, you should have this and that in thus bill.

reconciliation didn't let you do it. people say these regulations sore expensive and costly. tom price at hhs can fix those things. we can fix this problem. we promise the american people we would fix this problem. and the way to fix this problem is to repeal obamacare and replace it with a patient-centered market-based system. this is something we as conservatives have been dreaming about for decades. this is the chance and the best and only chance we're going to get. and that's why i'm really excited. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> mr. speaker -- >> what you have been watching is classic, vintage paul ryan. this is the reason why he rose through the ranks as a young man because he's a policy wonk and likes to explain the policy that he supports and in this case as you just saw, suit jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up going through his powerpoint presentation trying to sell his

health care plan to, not democrats, not voters out there generally, but fellow conservatives. welcome to "inside politics." thank you for joining us. i'm dana bash. john king is off today. let's talk about what we just saw. first and foremost, that's classic paul ryan. the fact that they are doing this on capitol hill, he's the guy explaining the policy. he's the guy selling in that way. not donald trump. what does that tell you? >> that he understands the policy. i don't mean that in a negative sense to the president but the president's team worked with speaker ryan's team on the policy. this is speaker ryan's baby. he was the driving force behind this. his team was the driving legislative force behind what we're looking at right now. that house bill. his team has been working on this, not just for a year or two years, but particularly when it comes to the entitlement sections of this, years on end. powerpoints on end. one story in particular, the president's top adviser, reince priebus, were treated to a

similar power point behind closed doors as this process all started. when they need an explainer in chief, he's the guy. >> explainer in chief but then does he -- has he wrapped himself up in this to own this issue? i should be introducing you. julia pace with the associated press. everybody knows phil mattingly. but as i come to you on this, i was told from some conservatives who were in a meeting with president trump last night that what they are hearing from their grassroots is anger. but not necessarily at the president. >> right. >> they do see this as just yet another move by the republican establishment, paul ryan leading the charge, to not listen to what conservatives really want. >> you also hear this difference between what paul ryan is saying where he says this is the only choice. not only the best choice but only choice and what the president seems to be saying in some of these private meetings which is leaving the door open

to negotiation. having some flexibility around it. that's the dealmaker side of him coming out. but how ryan and trump try to close that gap and appeal to these conservatives. trump wants a win here but doesn't want to tie himself to something that's going to be unpopular for the sake of that win. >> and laura, just want to also add that as he was speaking, i was texting with some people in his office noting what was abundantly clear but this is where he's in his element. he feels he can explain it probably better than anyone. and most importantly, admitting that they need to sell this to the conservatives who are becoming more and more fiercely opposed to this. >> and it's not just the conservatives in the house or in the senate. it's a lot of conservative groups out there. think tanks. the support you'd think you'd have for a piece of major legislation. paul ryan is really in a bind here. this is his moment. he's been talking about this for so long. they've had years to talk about how they would replace the

affordable care act if they had the chance. now they have the chance. everything is in place for this legislative action to go forward. if he can't get it through, that's going to be just a huge defeat for him. and i think -- but it stands in real contrast to what we saw in 2009 when president obama was trying to pass the law in the first place. and you saw an incredible effort having learned from president clinton's failed effort to round up supportive groups and keep everybody in the tent. obviously, they barely did it but they did do it. given how difficult it was, whether starting out with so much opposition, whether they're going to ultimately be able to do this. >> it's a great question. olivier knox, one of the important things paul ryan said this was is the closest we'll ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. listen, folks, you are used to being in the opposition. this is called legislating. this is the best we'll do and

the reality we're in. >> it's one of the core messages. it's this or nothing which is a very interesting argument when the president is saying, maybe it's an opening bid. it's really interesting to watch how this white house is ramping up its pressure campaign. with the exception of the president's tweets. it's a lot of regional interviews from the white house grounds. presidential and vice presidential travel. vice president pence is going to kentucky this weekend. and it's this. this is another component of this multipronged attack. stand by. we're going to talk more about the meat of this and what has happened overnight on capitol hill. high drama. high stakes in the wee hours. lawmakers did burn the midnight oil. hours n hours of discussion on this republican plan. we just heard from paul ryan talking about. and guess what? they're still going. we'll be right back. holding yok or is it your allergy pills? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief

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the first of many hurdles for their new health care plan. the ways and means committee approved the plan very early this morning. 4:17 a.m. to be exact. after 18 hours of debate. and over at the house energy and commerce committee, they're still at it working through the night and still right now. democrats are slow walking the gop attempt to repeal and replace obamacare so it could take days before that committee will vote. the white house, president trump, has been wining and dining trying to win over conservative lawmakers and outside groups. as for the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell is doing his part as well. >> i hope in the end our members after they've had a chance to offer their amendments and complain about one thing or another will remember that it repeals a significant number of taxes on the american people. republicans usually like repealing taxes. >> and then there's the opposition from across the

aisle. >> okay. no one likes this bill. hospitals, doctors, governors, conservatives, liberals, nonpartisan groups and most of all, the people who will no longer have affordable health care. >> i think probably the easiest way to characterize it is repeal and wreck. repeal and wreck. it basically undermines the premise of the affordable care act if you were designing a bill to hammer my state, it would be this bill. >> but at this point, democrats may be the least of the president and gop leaders' worries. opposition is fierce from conservatives. take the series of tweets from arkansas republican senator tom cotton. he said, house health care bill can't pass senate without major changes. to my friends in hour, pause, start over, get it right. don't get it fast. another, gop shouldn't act like

dems in o-care, obamacare. start voting wednesday with no budget estimate, and another, what matters in the long run is better, more affordable health care for americans, not house leaders arbitrary legislative calendar. again, guys, this is a republican senator with these tweets. one key unanswered question as we heard alluded to is how much is this going to cost? that has not been even noted yet by the agency that does that. opponents of the bill increasingly loud conservative voices and democrats are complaining that is going on -- all of this is going on before the congressional budget office has had a chance to quote/unquote score the legislation. so let's talk about all of this. diving into this substance. phil, i want to start with you. one of the reasons i'm told why house speaker did this lengthy powerpoint, aside from the fact it is something he enjoys and that's for him -- >> that's the number one reason. that's recreation for him. but putting that aside, they are

trying to telegraph to conservatives what they are calling this three-pronged approach. >> so and it's their view is it's a wholistic repeal process that's a step-by-step process. what they are trying to impress upon people is the bill that's moving through the house as we speak, still in the energy and commerce committee is part one of that process. there's still two major component s left to the repeal and replace. health and human services secretary tom price. on his own, administratively, there are 1400 occurrences inside obamacare where it says the secretary shall or the secretary may. when you talk to trump administration officials, they say that gives him the leeway to make all of these changes on his own. that can help stabilize insurance markets or on their

own, too. part three will be the hardest part. they'll need to move piecemeal bills or kroushl issues of conservative reform. they'll need to meet those bills and move them by 60 votes through the house, through the senate. big problem there. don't have 60 votes out of the republican congress at all. you need eight democrats at least. there's a big chance that final part might never happen. >> which conservatives get. they understand how the legislative process works which is why they are so upset. i want to show our viewers a tweet sent during paul ryan's press conference. here's what he said. despite what you hear in the press, health care is coming along great. we're talking to many groups and it will end in a beautiful picture. well, mr. president, it's not us. it's us reporting what you are hearing inside the white house walls from these conservative groups. julie? >> he's hearing it yesterday from conservative groups. he's hearing it from some of these lawmakers as well.

i think what's interesting about what tom cotton was saying is he was talking about don't rush. don't go so fast. time actually is an important part of this, though. we are in march, which sounds like it's early, but very quickly these lawmakers on the hill start running up against their midterm elections where the political pressure gets even greater and that's in the mind of ryan's office as well. they don't want to make it look like this is a process that wasn't thorough or didn't get through the details. they know the longer this goes, the greater the concerns that already exist are going to be. >> and julie, i think -- julie? you're not julie. laura. what i also find interesting is that the president is as unconventional as he is, is doing the most conventional of lobbying. things that president obama, frankly, never did. having people over and over, wining and dining them. next week, he's inviting conservatives in the house freedom caucus to go bowling. this is actually -- he gets this

and he's good at it. the question is, is it going to work when it's the policy they're upset about? >> it's a mirror image because president obama was very engaged in the policy. he understood all the policy wonk. you can go one on one with paul ryan any day. for trump, he understands the art of the negotiation and he enjoys that piece of it. the question is, what is he going to say when people say, what i really want is this chaunge or that change and he says, that sounds reasonable. let's do that. and i think he has a tendency, at least people who have talked to him, to sort of agree with the last person that he's talked to. and we saw immigration reform. people came in and said, let's do a big immigration reform. that sounds like a great idea without regard for the fact that many in his party would severely oppose that as well as his own advisers. so i think the question is, when you get into this dynamic and health care as he has told susvery complicated.

>> who knew? >> and it is -- when you really get into it and start figuring out how to change things. it's going to be a lot of people coming to him with requests. how does he manage that? does he defer to paul ryan or try to strike deals that may turn out to be more complicated to deliver on. >> i want to play what the senate majority leader much mcconnell said earlier today, giving us a window into how president trump is interacting with republicans on capitol hill. >> how often are you in contact with donald trump and some of his advisers? >> a lot. the president is extremely interactive with all of us. and as heard, he's pretty easy to call. just call his cell phone and he's there. so he enjoys people, obviously. there's a lot of interaction. so i have no complaint about

that. most of my members have had conversations with him since he's been president. >> yeah, it wasn't that long ago that senator bob corker was telling reporters that actually donald trump, he still had donald trump's cell number. very clear he -- >> he still uses. >> he did as of a few weeks ago when senator corkerle to us that. it's very clear it's not the obama lecture from the podium. much more courtship. so much wining and dining you'll get sick of wining and dining. >> but never sick of the meatloaf, olivier. >> never. i thought it was interesting he had senator ted cruz over for dinner last night after an extraordinarily contentious productial campaign and after ted cruz said the bill was basically dead on arrival in its original form. donald trump can make all the deals he wants but it needs t s be true this is not an all or nothing. if he can't assure them urnclad

assurances about these next two prongs satisfying them or changes to this existing bill, he can wine them and dine them all he wants. >> you referenced senator cruz and his wife and turns out his daughters going to the white house to have dinner with the president last night. this is a tweet from senator cruz. our family had a dinner with president and first lady who were warm and gracious. the girls were in the shot and maybe not mrs. cruz who was not treated all that well. that's probably an understatement, by the president on his twitter feed during the campaign. but it is noteworthy that even the cruzes are being wined and dined. >> you can't overstate how important and how necessary the president is to this process. and this is coming -- you've talked to him, too. house leadership aides who make

clear. they are counting wholeheartedly on the idea these house freedom caucus members or conservatives not there yet will never say no to his face. he can call them, threaten them on twitter but when you're standing in the oval office and the president of the united states who has an 80% approval rating in your district says i need you to vote for this that these guys are going to say no. the calculation right now is that it will work. it's a dangerous one, though, because you just aren't sure where he's going to go on this. you aren't sure how hard his sell is. but this is the deal. he has to sell this and make it happen or it fails. >> i want to play something that nancy pelosi, the house democratic leader, said on that point this morning. >> many of them living in very red states and very red areas that vote forward donald trump. but people who have benefited from the affordable care act. so ironically, i don't know if ironically is even the word. sadly, the people who will lose care because of the -- if the republican plan were to prevail,

which i doubt it will, are people who voted for donald trump. and i don't think the president really knows what he's talking about. >> it's hard to tell what she really thinks. >> subtle, right? >> she's arguing there that trump voters vote against their interests which is not the first time we've heard democrats make that argument. but to what phil was also saying about the notion of these republicans even, especially these conservatives who are against this plan come from districts where donald trump won so big. and he's a popular guy there. >> he is. and that's the ryan play right now. if you are a conservative, you might not agree with the details of this plan but you know it's going to be really hard to go back to your home district and say not only did you vote against this but you delivered the president a major defeat. if we're being honest and this doesn't work it's a defeat for paul ryan and president trump in his first year in office. >> i want you guys to hold that

thought. we'll go to break. as we do, i want to show our viewers a brand-new cnn poll and one of the findings we found most interesting. and the question was, do they prefer the president to pass laws with bipartisan compromise? 72% say yes. the context is what makes it fascinating. same question of then president obama, 55% said yes. so marinade on that. we'll take a quick break. much more coming up. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away

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guaranteed acceptance life insurance. call massmutual today at this number. call now. you are looking at a live picture of the white house briefing room. we expect the sean spicer briefing to start at some point in the near future. we'll be monitoring that and get it to you as soon as it does. in the meantime, we want to talk russia. if president trump's attitude and policy towards russia confuses you, stand by to be a little bit more confused. sources tell cnn president trump is expected to nominate former utah governor john huntsman as

his ambassador to russia. why is this confusing? huntsman has no known russia experience and has been quite critical of russia's leader vladimir putin while president trump has not. and then there's the fact that trump and huntsman's relationship has been, well, complicated. in 2011, trump sent this tweet. quote, john huntsman called to set up a meeting. haven't returned his call. then let's fast forward to 2012. trump tweeted this about huntsman who was president obama's ambassador to china. john huntsman called to see me. i said no. he gave away our country to china. meantime, the former utah governor who was one of the first in the gop establishment to say nice things about trump was then really outspoken against him when that infamous "access hollywood" tape came out. huntsman told the "salt lake tribune" this back in october, in a campaign cycle that's been nothing but a race to the bottom

at such a critical moment for our nation and with so many who have tried to be respectful of a record primary vote, the time has come for governor pence to lead the ticket. okay. with that all as a backdrop, i want to start with you, julie. you are over at the white house. is this a surprise pick to you? >> it is a surprise pick because you've heard through the transition and start of this administration when names have been floated for jobs and the president finds out that that person was critical of him during the campaign, he often just says no. so this is a total shift. i think it's unclear why huntsman is right for the russia job necessarily, even though he was in china. he has some diplomatic experience. it is a pretty confusing position for him to fill and confusing that president trump would put him in this position knowing that he has this history with him. of course, we know that sometimes the president is reminded of his history by shows such as this one.

so anything is open for negotiation with trump until it's a done deal. >> that is so true. what's your take? >> i just think it's interesting how, yes, on some level he does reject people because they've been critical of him. he seems to be perfectly willing to move ahead in other cases where, take the dinner last night with ted cruz. like nothing ever happened. so he does seem to have a no permanent enemies sort of philosophy. i don't know how we read the mitt romney secretary of state piece. he was someone also hypercritical of him, was then brought in as a potential candidate of secretary of state. he didn't get the job. maybe it was the ultimate sort of -- >> a rebellion. >> yes, and exactly maybe just in the end had the last word when it came to that particular feud. but it just seems like he doesn't seem particularly ideological on this pick. i think the actual substantive piece is the more interesting one. russia has such an important

point in this -- for this presidency. he's under so much scrutiny for his ties to russia and he has also talked so much in a positive way about trying to improve relations with russia. you'd think he'd choose someone who had a little more of an intimate knowledge of our relationship. >> that's true, although we were talking before the show about the question of whether huntsman -- yes, he doesn't have russian experience but he has experience being ambassador to china which is not unlike the experience -- >> very complicated post. >> i want to turn to back home and the question about what congress is doing, vis-a-vis russia and broader questions that president trump put out there about whether his predecessor wiretapped him. and i want to play for our viewers and for you all the comments that lindsey graham made to manu raju yesterday. >> the whole purpose of this is to find out if a warrant was issued, directed at the trump

campaign. either they're lying to me or there is no information. i don't believe they'd lie to me about this. i expect them to come forward as to whether or not a warrant was obtained or sought. >> will you subpoena this information? >> yes. >> it's kind of genius because they want to get the wiretap warrant. if it doesn't exist, then, guess what, it didn't happen. >> you get the sense senator graham knows what he's doing in situations like this. this isn't just his committee. and his -- he's operating on a subcommittee that's doing its own russia investigation. there's also the senate intel committee. those senators have been shuttling out to the cia headquarters in the midst of this. it's not just lindsey graham who has made his opposition known in the past. it's up n down the line. you have -- with manu, i've been up on the hill for the last week asking people about this. and from devin nunes on down, even supporters of trump say,

there's no evidence. haven't seen it. don't try to be mean about it but they're just saying, this is ridiculous. doesn't exist. >> just gave me the perfect segue to run something that the vice president said or maybe didn't say in response to a question about that. >> yes or no, do you believe that president obama did that? >> well, what i can say is that the president and our administration are confident the congressional committees in the house and senate examining issues surrounding the last election, the run-up to the last election will do that in a thorough and equitable way. >> i didn't hear a yes or no there, olivier, did you? >> no, you'll not hear a yes or no. i do love the idea that when asked to substantiate this incredible and frankly implausible allegation, they say -- they defer to congress. we're not going to provide it. they were asked -- sean spicer was asked over this week, listen, you must have, if there is something to substantiate this, you must have it. why not -- you are asking them

to confirm something you already have. what's going on? >> or that you could get very easily as president or do very easily as president. >> it would have been so much easier to say, obviously, the president didn't mean that barack obama wearing a con-ed uniform broke in to trump tower. we're talking about key aides to the future president. instead they just ramped up the rhetoric. >> we know as is the days have gone by since this twitter storm that president trump engaged in, i think, i guess saturday morning, about president obama. >> no one is aloudallowed a wee. >> schwarzenegger hardest hit. >> it was clear at that time that president trump was trying to mix things up and kick up dust, vis-a-vis his own -- questions about his ties to russia. but now it's put him in a box.

>> he's completely in a box. i think the question is, i think by trying to say, let's have congress investigate it, my suspicion is the hope was that would kick it down the road and some day, somewhere, the congress releases a report, months from now and people forget about this allegation. oh, there was nothing to it. but i mean, i think there are a lot of people who are -- it was brilliant the way senator graham approached this. he's challenging them to put up or shut up. >> right before we go, i have to give this news that the president's ambassador to israel was just reported out of committee 12-9. you've been following this. not exactly a noncontroversial pick. >> no. david freedman alienated a lot of democrats with his comments about the middle east and about democrats and accusing people of betraying israel if they didn't share his hard line views. interestingly, they got -- the democrats hoped to peel off between one and three republican senators in committee. that didn't happen. this is a big step forward

toward confirmation. bob menendez voting for freedman. the republicans sticking together. it's a big step toward confirmation but we'll still see more fireworks. >> olivier, laura, julie, phil, thank you all. great discussion. great to be here with you. thank you for joining us on "inside politics." i'm dana bash. and we are moments away from the white house press briefing. wolf blitzer will bring that to you live. did you make that? i did... n't. hey, come look what lisa made. wow. you grilled that chicken? yup! i did... n't. mhm, lisa. you roasted this? uhuh... n't. introducing smartmade by smart ones. real ingredients, grilled and roasted using the same smart cooking techniques you do. you own a grill? smartmade frozen meals. it's like you made it. and you did... n't.

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reporters are waiting for press secretary sean spicer to take questions. cnn will take you there live as soon as that briefing begins. lots of news happening today. we're also staked out up on capitol hill. sleep-deprived members of the house energy and commerce committee are still debating the gop health care bill. they've been at this now for more than 24 hours. so far, each party's leader is refusing to budge. >> this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. the time is here, the time is now. this is the moment. >> republicans are racing this bill forward before the cbo can truly expose the consequences, the catastrophic consequences of their health bill. and this is in stark contrast to