>> thank you very much. i am very happy that everybody showed up. i would like to thank steve for putting us together and empowering us to have our ideas come to the forefront. leadership is about empowering those sitting at the table to come up with solutions, debate, and defend what you're putting on the table. do you know who has been under government run health care the longest? native americans. years, a 30% of my patient base were native americans. they are providing free market standards.

that is what is so great about the solution we are putting on the table. i want to see a level playing field. upow the government to break the monopoly of insurance companies. i want to see what they can give us as choice an opportunity. both are things that will drive the marketplace. when we make those health care see choicewe want to and defined benefits. empowered with our own dollars. that is what is magical about putting this together. is it perfect? no. that is what america wants to do. health care is a personal choice. you have to embrace it. you have to be part of it. we have to be better consumers. thank you for having me.

i will send it back over to steve for questions. [indiscernible] that, we will open up to any questions you have. since affordable care act past, why now? this atyou introducing this point? we wanted all of these great and sharp minds to pull together comprehensive bill that addresses all of the problems you want to tackle. time to getake the it right. if you look over the last congress, a lot of that was because of the presidential election. i served on energy and commerce committee. have my old markup of

that bill. it kept growing and growing. so many flags on that will. alternative in which we had a vote on the house floor. the aadership wanted to nominee and bring forward that alternative. wrinkly, it was one i thought was not developed. it was a lost opportunity. really heard and smart conservative way to fix the problems of health care. we wanted to show the american people the contrast. if you could bring me both bills, we will see both. we have read through this. got to passed the bill. this is the bill. this is obamacare. .e know what is in here now this is our bill. it is a very straightforward,

constant sense approach. it is a market-based approach to fixing the problems in health care as opposed to a government takeover approach. agents gettings in the middle of your health care decisions. trustot think americans then in charge of your health care decisions. we take the irs out in this bill. we repeal and replace obamacare in this bill. it is important to have that contrast. we felt very passionately when we put our ideas on paper. this will be a date -- great contrast that we are proud to bring to the american people. saying thatple obamacare is going to be devastating to the middle class. pcs what it is doing to the union employees who came and asked for the bill to be passed. now they are calling on it to be repealed.

something is happening in america. thing.me say one is anyone in this room think to health care has improved since that bill was passed? i think you would have to say no. you have to look at unintended consequences. am from a town that has medical school. right now and what is happening is we are cutting graduate medical education funding in my own community because of of medicare caps. they could not find a residency. 40% in my hometown quit and not do it anymore because they would have to

invest hundreds of thousands of dollars. they couldn't see how they could pay for it. or they do. i quit. you are saying it right now across the country. access is going down. my doctor had quit. i had experienced it myself. you will hear the stories over and over again. talking about having an alternative, going into the your message to speaker boehner on how important it is to have a vote on your proposal? if you have a commitment, you will get a bow? to workirst priority is both on repealing and delaying and defunding obamacare. we have been working aggressively on that. we will not slow down on that front. we need to work on replacing it with real reforms. there are a number of steps we

are fighting on. we are happy that we are continuing to move forward with legislation to delay and defund obamacare. ,hen you look at the next step we have talked to our leadership and let them know that we really want this bill to move forward in the regular process. it to continue and be signed into law. is first title of this bill repeal obamacare. the president likes to brag you need a certain number of votes and tries to trivialize it. trying to say there is something wrong with the house taking votes to repeal obamacare. keep in mind president obama had signed into law seven of those bills. those bills that he mocks saying it is a waste of time. the president himself has signed seven of those bills to repeal or defund all the parts of his law. .learly he sees there is merit

he admitted that this thing is unworkable. he wants to delay implementation but only for businesses and insurance companies. -- saying at the president agrees that this law is not workable, do not just give a break to businesses and insurance companies. extend that break to all american companies. that is repeal. >> is there a formal commitment? >> there is no formal commitment. not that it has been filed -- we have -- now that has been filed, from members.st i have been approached from nonmembers that have a real interest. this build momentum behind bill, a lot of the momentum will continue to grow. we will push to get a vote on the house floor. >> are you speaking to a andittee chair as well

possibly hold a hearing on this? ofthere will be a number committees that have jurisdiction. that would be the judiciary and ways and means and others. i have a ready talk to our chairman about that. he likes the fact that we are bringing the bill forward. or is interest -- there is interest beyond the rc. we are the ones who got together. we want to bring this forward and take that leadership step. that is why his committee has done a great job and bringing the stories together. -- embree in this together. -- and bringing this together. [indiscernible] by repealing obamacare. we want a clean slate.

then we will tackle the problems that existed before obamacare. the president himself admitted when he brought obamacare, the cost was a big problem. his action makes it worse. , we have talked to people who are putting quotes together for insurance in january. 25-35. over 400% increases in their health insurance. families in louisiana will be facing over 50% increases as of obamacare. his bill went the opposite way and broke the promises that he made. if you that she promised likely have, you can keep it. millions of americans are losing their health care. the units are saying that this bill ought to be repealed. thef we cannot get rid of eca -- thatt me say first of all

hopefully this'll be a good metaphor to explain the problem. th thing of obamacare iat not t. it is kind of like a skyscraper that is built upon a terrible foundation. you cannot exit. he had to tear it down and start over again. there's no way we can take this measure or any other and really fix obamacare. it is not based on the free market. it is based on the government making all of the stations. i believe secretary sibelius has over 1000 individuals making the proper decisions and the controls that she has taking much of the power away from congress itself to make those decisions. and of course, we have the independent advisory board that is 15 unaccountable, appointed individuals him and not necessarily health care providers, who will be making many decisions on health care

costs and rationing. even democrats admit this is no longer a battle over truth. a pediatrician liberal who supported sibelius -- there's no way we can implement a true market ace measure that would be affected until we fully repeal obamacare. you cannot draft on something that is market-based, something that is patient centered on top of a giant bureaucratic structure that is run by the government. it mixes like oil and water. it is in port and that we fully repeal obamacare. whether it is only a delay, our ultimate goal is to fully repeal it. if you talk to democrats, they do not like obamacare either. why? they think it is unstable and unusable as we do. they want to

wish to a single paging system that is more like what is in great britain. hopefully that gives you a better idea. it has to be taken down fully. we need to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. is getting sothis much push back now, this huge bill did not have a single republican idea that was allowed into it. we had 80 amendments to this bill. .e had no input whatsoever with the chairman said was that this is an open process. i would absolutely welcome democratic ideas to this bill to make it better. no question about it. i say this every time. i never understood why in the world health care, -- whether it

is at it is a people issue. it is just people problems. that was a mistake made from a one. that is why the american people do not approve of it. -- have aopulation congress did not get to put in any input on this bill whatsoever. says youalth law cannot discriminate based on pre-existing conditions or how much they can charge you based on your age. if you could talk about your provisions, does that give that same sort of certainty? >> the president's health care law -- the money where his mouth was -- he did it through mandates. raiseds that would have costs for everyone.

so with a pre-existing condition paying too much, that is a problem. he fix it. but you do not raise everyone else's costs. and putting cost our money where our mouth is a working within the state high- risk pools that are ready there, gives people options to provide market rates. they will have multiple options. they can work through their existing. there'll be a lot of options for people with pre-existing conditions to apply for health care and market rates. [indiscernible]

, let's say you're working in my office. you have a pre-existing condition. if you have a continuation of service or care, you have a plan or a pre-existing condition, you have to do it -- right now before you can buy an insurance plan that does not deny you a plan for having a pre-existing condition. where are saying you do not have to do that anymore. if you can go out and find a plan immediately, it is a lot less expensive. you can do that immediately. cobra is a very expensive way to buy health insurance. very few can afford it.

we heard this comment on the house floor and it did not make any sense. the individual market in new york will go down about 80% -- 50%. i look into that. i could not believe that. here is what happened. people in new york state, they put no pre-existing exemptions -- conditions. guess how many were there? there are 61,000. no one can afford it. government mandates force the costs up so high and no one could afford it. we have young people in the market and had to pay a lot more for something that they do not

need, the price will come down a little the. >> one last question. is a suggestion that there is nothing really new here. what is your response question?♪ a lot of these ideas have been talked about for a long time. some are new. they are all ideas that people across the country have wanted for a long time. if you have got a good idea that has been waiting for 20 years and it is still not law, stop waiting. acrossle want to buy state lines, people know how to shop around and find a good eel. -- good deal. cents die to save two

-- on a gallon of gas. if this is law, you'll see prices go down. those are all things that president obama promised, but he broke every one of those promises along the way. this helps. none of those are a lot right now. >> [inaudible] good ideas are common sense. common sense is keeping it simple. people gravitate toward common sense. because i been around engaged as a health care professional. common sense means coming to the forefront. that is what washington has forgotten. it does not take this kind of

complexity to fix a broken system. they take something that america can gravitate around. >> thank you for coming. this is the beginning of a long conversation that we want to have to replace obamacare. .hank you to all of our members we look forward to pushing this through until it is signed into law. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] toa couple of live offense tell you about on our companion network c-span 3. e-house oversight meeting open to seeing on the attacks in benghazi that killed four americans. and christine lagarde speaks at the u.s. chamber of commerce. span, we bring public affairs from washington directly to you, putting you in the room of congressional hearings.

white house events, briefings, conferences, and offering gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as a public service of private industry. c-span, created by the tv cable industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. you can watch us in hd. >> on "washington journal" paul gosar and ann kirkpatrick discussed how they work together in congress. this is just under an hour. >> we are joined by two representatives from arizona. ann kirkpatrick represents the first district. from the fourth district. welcome to "washington journal." guest: thank you.

good morning. you were called the arizona odd couple. we are working on issues to benefit arizona and other issues. how did this partnership come -- how didan mark this partnership come about? guest: we both come from large families that are bipartisan. we have democrats and republicans in our families. it made for interesting dinner conversation. >> i have i have always told the star that i am the first of five kids. always said that i'm the first of five kids. representing everyone across the board. work inpeople back to something that is crucial to arizona.

we have the five c's. that is a very important thing to the people back home. >> the two of you faced each other in an election a couple of years ago. teams.e on opposite still are, but how do you overcome the tone of a campaign and how did that all shake out? guest: we put that behind us for the good of the people in arizona. you may disagree issues, pierre got to get along. the framersis how looked at it. they wanted people from different walks of life. represent the people's house. host: we are speaking with

representatives from arizona and talking more broadly than just arizona issues. we will open up the phone lines to everyone. here are the numbers. >> you talked about -- tell us specifically how you came together on this issue? why is this an important issue? guest: this has been put forward by numerous congresses trying to get a deal which would open the word largest copper reserve in the world. what we're trying to do is that you have to work with different entities. -- it dealsttle bit

the so many different entities. roughly about a number of acres is what you are trading for. conservation, highly prized areas. what we have been doing is trying to make sure that we listen to the people in the different communities and trying to get something to work for everyone. ultimately adding people back to work. .hese are jobs that pays these are jobs in which people are investing in america. that is how you get that economy rolling. host: how do you overcome the objection of groups that are prone to support democrats? there was a report of a town hall the two of you did together. april were raising concerns. they wrote that you said -- it brings money and jobs.

can grow this diversified economy. it's an opportunity for the town to expand and be stable. responding to environmental concerns, kirkpatrick said she plans to lobby the senate to require the federal environmental review before the land exchange occurs come in gosar's position. in thateople who live community have lived there for generations. they want a good environment to raise their grandchildren and. they have a lot of questions are what impact is on the environment. i can only be done if we do the proper studies. host: how important are how much of a factor are things like ratings from environmental groups? perhaps ratings from conservative organizations? guest: i do not pay any

attention to ratings. i do not. in listening to the people the district. it is very diverse. i listen to folks. i try to find that common ground. guest: i have been challenged by one of the big conservative groups when i ran for election. what i love that is putting things on the table. what is your solution. get people involved. have a dialogue with people. . do not look at scorecards and make sure people aren't moving forward and we are getting them behind us. host: let's hear from the viewers. john on our republican line. welcome. i would like to say that

there is something going on, but i do not want to say it. i was talking about the stimulus thing. let's see, 100,000 to new zealand. 100 million to spain. 4.9 million to great britain. indonesia, and $200 million. to ask our going bridges? go, it soundsou like you are -- biden's stimulus recovery thing. host: thank you for your call. caller: look at it though. foreign aid.

guest: in regards to this when were talking about this business, this is private money. that is what creates jobs. from this standpoint, that is what we're looking at. 10 to get people back to work. -- we are trying to get people back to work. concern understand the the gentleman is expressing. i'm on the veterans committee. veterans taking care of veterans is a nonpartisan issue. we really need to address that issue. we need to take care of folks here in the united states. how will things move forward in coming to an agreement over the budget? it will be interesting. we will see how that plays out. will they played together a be separate?

or be separate? we have backed ourselves into a corner. it will be interesting to see what will be put into the table. schedule.is behind it is not ready for prime time. host: is it frustrating to you that the house of past some of the spending bills, but you cannot get work done on the bills in time? guest: my biggest concern is to question. i would like to have a cr that deals with sequestration. it is hurting our schools and our national parks. we really need to address that. at cuts that will continue year after year unless we address that. cuts that will continue year after year unless we address that. are from rurali america. people do budgets.

congress needs to stay on track. we need to pass some kind of short-term cr. .et back to regular order that is what a lot of people would like to see us articulate. as long as there is an open dialogue. host: here we go to texas. william. caller: hi. how are you? host: fine. your comments. caller: i thought democracy was mauled on multi-partisanship instead of bipartisanship. i feel like the whole two-party system is leading us dry. cattle. i do not know if it is semantically correct to say multi-partisanship. can you comment on that basis them?

-- base system? host: thank you for your call. multi-partisanship. other voices on capitol hill. guest: we have built coalitions. i think that is what it is all about. we should be inclusive, not exclusive. nashua areboard o both from rural districts. what is yours like? ruralh from districts. what is yours like? guest: it is like the big arm that comes around. my district can place each to the city of phoenix. host: congresswoman kirkpatrick? guest: i am all the way from utah down to the mexican border. host: christina.

massachusetts. independent line. caller: i come from a democratic state. you talk about getting continuing resolutions. they have not worked, so why keep doing the same thing over and over? we have to pass budgets and keep going. my question to both of you is with the bipartisanship, i have watched congress do stuff, the senate fight back and forth, he do not work together -- you do not work together, and you keep americans fighting with each other. do you picture us becoming two separate countries? that is what i am waiting for us

to see happen. the congress and the senate are actually fighting with the american people. i will listen for the answer. host: thank you for the call, christina. guest: christina, i see people trying to work together like congressman gosar and i are. we realize we are all americans. one of the concerns is whether we will shut down government. i am opposed to that. i think that is irresponsible. maybe the continuing resolution is the next best step, but it is not the best step. we need to sit down and negotiate a budget like we do with our families, setting priorities, our principles, how we want to spend our money -- that is how you do a budget and we need to do that as a country. host:, and gosar? -- congressman gosar? guest: congress mirrors what america looks like. we come from different backgrounds.

i hope we do not raise the tensions while we talk. -- to the point we stop talking. we all have to understand communication is the first aspect -- start talking and addressing these things. the facts set you free. trust is a series of promises kept. start simple, honor promises you made with the american people. that is what leadership is all about and that is what i think is lacking in washington, d.c. host: we set aside a line for arizona residents. a couple of editorials have been praiseworthy. this was from late august.

aey write that you both have history of battling each other. now you have been working together. that his raised a few eyebrows, but it is basically what constituents expect. they want to go beyond the bickering of partisanship. way, thected that ional rating would be higher. how do your efforts it with your leadership on the republican side first question mark -- republican side first? sent to get work done. government is about working for the people and by the people. it has ruffled some feathers.

some consultants have made terse comments. they actually called ann the enemy. she is a person of this country, a citizen who has an opinion, not an enemy. in this regard, we have close to the same opinion. we have been able to bridge that, making sure that we are moving forward in an aspect that benefits people. host: how about you? do you get much pushback? guest: this is about making progress. calling each other an enemy is not how we make progress. i have been called an independent democrat in congress because i put my district first and that is what i'm here to do. i represent a very rural district. we are always fighting for our fair share. host: aurora, colorado, louis on

our republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i wanted to comment on this bipartisanship. i think it is good you are doing this show. i watched with interest yesterday. steny hoyer from maryland was on a political show, and every chance he could he put in a jabber or took swipes at republicans, or somebody in the senate or the house, and after i was done watching that, i turned the channel and here is a reread doing the same -- harry reid doing the same thing, taking shots at republicans sentence after sentence. there is no wonder there is no getting along, so to speak, and that is why things are not getting done, especially in the senate, i believe.

i'm glad you guys are doing the show. these are two good people. if more people were like that we will be moving in the right direction. host: are there times where your leadership makes it difficult for you to work on the things you get done together? guest: first, thank you to the gentleman for getting up so early in colorado to watch c- span. there are times, of course, that i may not completely agree with the president or leadership because i am putting my district first. that is the way it happens. there are 435 people in congress. think about the last time your family tried to go out to dinner and you try to decide where to eat. that is the kind of negotiation we do on a daily basis. host: it goes -- guest: it goes back to family squabbles. we have to stop the infighting

and get back to fact. you can solve a lot of things when you take the emotion out of things and bring facts. facts set you free. host: independent line. william thomas st. paul, minnesota -- william, st. paul, minnesota. caller: thank you, c-span. i wanted to offer a comment on bipartisanship. the first caller asked the question about foreign aid. neither one of you address the actual question. nice lady asked the question, and you went off on some tangent about -- i do not know, something.

it had nothing to do with foreign aid. that is a problem in congress. we are looking at really low sides of the same coin, both republicans -- two sides of the same coin, both republicans and democrats. i think bipartisanship exists, but until there is another party, there will never be bipartisanship. in arizona, you cannot seem to get immigration reform right. i like to know where both of you stand on that. host: let's follow up on the comment on immigration, since you have not touched upon that cared where are you on immigration? guest: i think we need immigration reform. i think having a limited committee viewpoint and amendment process on the site for -- senate floor is a good bill.

i want the american public to have open dialogue on smaller piecemeal aspects. something to find out what is in the bill. share the aspects with the american people and allow them to integrate their ideas. immigration is so important that it needs to take its time. talk about border security, visa reform, guestworker programs -- is are important, but keep it simple, very germane. we have asked for this. a lot of people talk about arizona having a problem with immigration. you have to know its history. arizona is always asking questions. you might not like the answer, but they have the fortitude to come forward with questions. there is a problem with immigration and we need to address it.

i am very glad about arizona asking the question is today we are talking about immigration reform. if it were not for arizona we would not be talking about immigration reform. host: was the issue of immigration on the top of the list in terms of your august recess with town halls? guest: it is one of the reasons i originally ran for congress. i was frustrated congress was not dealing with it. i appreciate senator john mccain and jeff flake for their leadership's in crafting a bipartisan effort. it is a bipartisan issue. that is how we are going to get it done. there is a very broad spectrum, ranchers, farmers, business people, and dreamers, faith groups -- sit around the table and say what makes sense? i know arizona, we are commonsense, pragmatic folks that want to get something done

and the way we do that is to find common ground. host: the issue of immigration is front page of "the arizona republic" this morning saying this date expensive drivers license program to all migrants granted deferred action. in terms of drafting legislation for the house or congress, how closely have you spoken to the state governor, jan brewer? guest: quite a bit. we have had tragedies that have brought us together with the yarnell hill fire. that has been important.

federal interaction with state and local municipalities. that is one of the things rural america is good on. i am meeting with city councils and chambers. i think it is important that the chief executive officer, the governor, you ought to be in step with where they are going. when i talk to her and my constituents, jobs are number one. it is not immigration. people want to be back rebuilding this country, having their say. immigration was not number one, not even number two. jobs and jobs were one and two. host: let's hear from arizona. charlotte is a democrat. welcome to "washington journal.

caller: good morning. i have been watching c-span for a year or two, and i am very happy and fortunate to be on listening to ann kirkpatrick and mr. gosar. thank you. i am a native american from arizona, and i am very proud of you to be working together. the other one is basically the knock on arizona on the navajo reservation -- the infrastructure needs development, and i am very happy to hear that you, as partners, are working together. the part that i also know is the immigration policy -- i didn't see -- i did see senator jeff flake and senator mccain working together because we are one country, one state, and the way

i feel is we are diverse. at the same time, i feel we depend on our leaders to work together to make it the best for arizona. the part that i want to really explain is infrastructure. unemployment is very high, and i feel we have the ability as leaders to help us to go forward. host: charlotte, thank you for your call. guest: thank you for calling this morning, getting up so early. you are absolutely right. infrastructure is a huge issue for us. has 12 tribes. i grew up on tribal land. many parts do not have running water, electricity. school buses -- charlotte, as you know, run on dirt roads. we have had a lot of rain. we have communities that are

flooded out. no cell phone coverage, and communications. it is a huge concern. host: you were speaking now i'll? -- navajo? how much territory is that in your district? guest: is a good question. probably about half. if the same -- host: same for you? guest: not as big as hers. district.alf of her host: she also mentioned unemployment rates. guest: it can be as high as 70%. host: in terms of what you can pass to affect native areas, what would that be?

guest: paul said it was about jobs and getting people back to work, and that is exactly right. it is the one issue that unifies rural arizona regardless of whether you are in my district or his district. one of the things people do not realize is we do not have broadband and cell phone coverage in many areas. when we talk to businesses about locating in arizona, they say we talk to corporate offices with broadband and internet, and we do not have that, we are starting with very basic infrastructure. guest: arizona is huge. the original district one was bigger than the size of pennsylvania.

when you are on the road, you are on the road. there are a lot of public lands. in some cases it is wonderful to have great, open spaces, the one there is maintenance on these, you have to be able to drive from one place to another, and that happens and it is interrupted when you have big snowstorms or rain. it is automatic. -- it is problematic. host: republican caller. john. caller: thank you for the opportunity to speak on c-span. i was wondering about the lobbyists that you hear obama talking about stopping that process. i want to know how much you

think personal agendas or the lobbyist situation, which is worst against bipartisanship? thank you. guest: i am a believer that everybody should have a voice and you should hear everybody's voice on issues. it is up to us as members and representatives to balance that, make sure we're doing the right thing with that expertise. the president has made the comment that he wants to limit that, of the problem is actions speak louder. we have not seen that. when you are a lobbyist in raising money, you have better access to the administration. i do not think that is right. it gets back to what is good for our constituents, the people back home, and how does it work in the fabric of getting people back to work and functioning on all cylinders. host: back to arizona. phoenix. steve is an independent there.

caller: good morning. i know the topic is bipartisanship, but talking about illegal immigration, one of the parties say we cannot send them back, that would ruin the economy, and the other would say we cannot send them back, it would ruin the families. they knew they were breaking the laws, so they do about separating their families, and you can replace 11 million people overnight because in trucking we have a 100% turnover rate every year. if you think i am kidding, asked for the statistics. that is my point. the people that are legal, there doing what is right, but the laws are getting passed to supersede them and make lawbreakers benefit. i would like congress people explain to me how it is that we who are illegal and should be represented are being overlooked for those that are not legal and

illegal hirers. guest: there has to be a pathway that allows people to earn the right to be citizens and our farmers are very common sense and pragmatic. they have come up with a solution, at least in terms of agricultural workers. they have submitted a bill to congress ss if you can show you are employed in the agricultural industry, -- that says if you can show you are employed in the agricultural industry, you can have limited status, and you can choose whether you want to

become a citizen or a visa to work in the country. we are listening to those pragmatic, common sense ideas. it has to be earned. you are right about that. host: "the arizona republic" and a picture from one of the town halls you did in august together. this is largely focused on the issue of the coppermine. what brought you together on this issue and tell us how well it was received for the audience there? guest: it was a packed house. superior is a little town of less than 1000 people, and i think well over 400 people showed up. unemployment is very high. host: superior, your district or your district? guest: it is in my district, it is an area that has been copper mining forever. when you talk to folks, they are going back, third, fourth generation.

that is what they do, what they care about, and we had overwhelming response. the purpose of a town hall i reminded you and in my first firm. i ran legislation in my first term. paul ran legislation. native americans have sacred sites. we took that out of the land exchange. when we put the slide up in the auditorium, you could almost hear a pin drop in the room because people said that has been a contentious issue. these representatives right together. that is out of the land exchange. host: where is the billion the -- bill in the process? guest: it is ready out of the natural resources committee. it is sitting poised possibly this friday. you might see this coming out of the house this friday. we have cosponsored this, senator flake and senator mccain have done this on the senate side. it is time to get this over the hurdles. going back to how we do this, as

ann has things she is good at, so do i, and when people have the chance toask -- to ask a question, and maybe it is better for me to answer or fourann -- or for ann to answer, people were sitting back going wow. host: bottom line -- this bill passes, what are realistic expectations on how many jobs it creates? guest: over 4000. this is real money. it is not investment money from the federal government. this is private enterprise producing something. resources like copper -- each of those windmills that you see as

five tons of copper -- has five tons of copper. copper is huge in the new technology aspect. copper is king and we are importing 30% of that. this could take a big chunk of that, produce jobs, and when you have resource money, it circulates in your state. take $1 billion and add it into your economy. it is a big deal, and a bigger billion world arizona. host: california. san bernadino. democrats line. caller: this is my take on this. we had an administration that set the country ablaze. the people that we voted for -- we voted a new fire chief, and the administration does not want to let us use the hoses.

that is not a partisan. bipartisan -- bipartisan. bipartisanship is going ahead, letting us fix the country. all republicans have to do is come together and help us fix the country because when their administration was in there, it went bad. now we have a new fire chief. the people overwhelmingly voted for a new fire chief. as far as immigration, my feeling is you wanted cheap labor, and now you have a lot of cheap labor. now, they do not want them here, but they want their votes. it is really sad to me how people sit and ignore the truth. my mother told the right is right and wrong is wrong.

host: thank you. guest: thank you for calling and expressing your opinion. i would like to go back to paul's comment about jobs and the project we are working on. my work, my vision for arizona is a diversified, stable economy, and this bill is a spark plug. it is not the end-all, be-all, but as paul said, over 4000 jobs, and is a huge jumpstart. it does not stop there. we need to bring in other industries, address the infrastructure needs. the price of copper comes and goes. it comes and goes, but at the end of the day we need to have people working -- money comes and goes, but at the end of the day we need to have people working. host: in reaction of the navy yard shooting on monday, what

have you heard from constituents and any calls for congress to take up gun legislation? guest: my district is very pro- second amendment. here you have some of the strictest gun laws in the united that is not what the second amendment was all about -- restriction. what we want to do is proper ownership and making sure there is stewardship. the second amendment is a strong amendment that allows you to have the rest of your amendments from speech, to not quartering the military, to looking at all of the freedoms that we have. what they want to see if they want to make sure there is common sense application upholding the rule of law instead of adding more rules and regulations that restrict that ability. host: congresswoman picked -- congresswoman kirkpatrick, what are you hearing? guest: my heart goes out to the victims of the shootings and their families. these are folks that went to

work that day, and i cannot get it out of my mind that they went to work, doing their jobs, and they did not return at the end of the day. i have heavy grief in my heart for those families. i want them to know i -- they have my sympathy. in terms of what we do about guns, after newtown, i started talking with folks in my district. i have a lot of nra members in my district. i am a rural hunter. i grew up hunting. we should strengthen background checks, crackdown on illegal gun sales, but the real issue is mental health treatment. we are now finding out at once again we had a shooter that had mental health issues -- finding out that we once again had a shooter that had mental health issues not being addressed.

host: glendale, arizona. nick is an independent. guest: a quick point on the gun issue. i'm originally from chicago, one of the most restrictive gun places in america, and i do not need to tell anyone what the gun rate was like. having grown up in the inner city, i never knew someone that did not have a gun. gun laws are silly. i feel in arizona ash i live in arizona and i feel safer. -- i live in arizona and i feel safer. back to jobs and cooperation, i find it funny. for example, foreign aid -- we are poor here. i am on disability. i broke my back four years ago, and my senators and congressmen can easily take my money away from the, send it to egypt, israel, all over the world, but somehow forget that i am here. also, a quick point -- i wish you would agree on syria. three things -- christians are not need to die at the hands of al qaeda of senators and congressmen are sending money to

al qaeda. is the irony lost on anyone that manning is in jail for informing al qaeda, my congressman send money to al qaeda every day? they call them the free syrian army, but everybody knows they are al qaeda. people have said they are only a small percentage. 10%, 15%, i think john kerry said, but here is the point -- manning was accused of giving information that al qaeda could get. why are none of my congressmen or senators being arrested for sending money, weapons and aid to al qaeda? that is what they are doing. i have family in syria that is trying to be freed and al qaeda terrorists. host: nick in glendale, arizona. thank you for your call. we will get a response.

guest: i agree with nick. i introduced legislation that we do not support enemies of this country that hate us. if you do not agree with the peaceful aspect of upholding civil liberties and human rights, you get no money, and you should not get any money. he also brings up an aspect of our failing economy here in this country. we have a government that is out of control. it is way too big. we have to empower people to be part of that solution and get government out of the way.

one of the things that i do all the time is go over -- all over our state talking to business owners, municipalities, consumer groups, and one of the things they say is arizona is ready to take off. we could see growth rates of four or five times what they are today, and the biggest problem is the federal government is dictating to us instead of fostering areas where people have an opportunity to succeed. that is the biggest problem. we are bogged down in a government. half of america believes in the nanny state, big government, 50% believe in personal accountability and responsibility that built this great country. we have to have an idea of where we are going. america has to decide. guest: i also here in the question the concern about national security and privacy -- how do we balance those things how much piracy are we willing to give up in terms of security? that is a conversation we need to have as a nation and really talk about that. where are we comfortable in terms of how much privacy and security we want? that is something we have to talk about. host: on the issue of privacy -- the front page of "the new york times" --

about five more minutes without representatives from arizona. it's go to eric in california. hello there. the public in line. -- republican line. caller: good morning. i hope you are doing well. right now, i believe we are in a marriage between liberals and conservatives, and i believe this marriage has to end. i used to believe in bipartisanship.

as a so-called minority, i have been called a sellout by people from my own race, that no self respecting -- hispanic should vote for republicans. the more i hear that kind of talk, the more i dig my heels in, and i am fed up with it, basically. so, that is all i have to say. to i. -- thank you. host: eric. guest: we are all people, and what we are talking about is putting people over politics in terms of good ideas. solutions, good ideas -- regardless of where they come from -- that is what we are talking about. we are all people, all americans. host: we have talked about the copper issue and immigration in arizona.

are there issues in arizona were in the west that you do not hear much coverage about but have national implications that either c-span or other media outlets do not cover that you think should be brought to national attention? guest: absolutely. i sit on natural resources, and talking about the interaction of federal -- the states that have large swaths of federal land. our schools get less than one half of the money that you get east of the mississippi, and part of that is because we have large swaths of public land. it has to be a win-win situation for the western states. we are always here in washington, d.c., begging for what we were promised would support our schools. mining -- a lot of the royalties exchanged for resources and timber harvesting -- ecb's big fires in california -- a lot of that goes -- you see these big

fires in california -- a lot of that goes to kate-12 education. no is not an answer. people on the east coast really do not understand what the western states have to manage. we spend a lot of resources maintaining those roads and our costs comparative to everyone's involvement. host: arizona and western issues do you agree with that guest: -- with that? guest: i agree, and i'm happy to have paul on natural resources. we were both there after the yarnell hill fire. homes were still smoldering. we know how important it is to address those issues. we both support the forest

restoration initiative which is a job creator and protects communities from wildfires. guest: if you take for example, the largest arizona fire on record, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars putting the fire out, lost $2.5 billion of assets. guest: if you take for example, the largest arizona fire on record, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars putting the fire out, lost $2.5 billion of assets. 20% of the spotted i'll -- spotted owl population burned up. part of the reason it is not on the ground is because of government bureaucracy. think about all of the benefits that come from a healthy forest. thick about all the benefits -- think about all of the benefits that come when you are managing resources properly, when the resources go to education. it is the process of science. i love stem. i am part of the educational process on science and math. it has to be based on fact that we have to move forward and get

answers on the question. host: one more call. roberta. massachusetts. independent line. caller: good morning. i would like to get back to the topic of bipartisanship in congress, and i think there is a problem right there in the title, and the problem is we have a two-party system where the politicians care more about the parties and getting reelected than they do solving problems. so, the only solution i see to this problem is to have term limits. you know, elected politicians to one longer-term so that they are not constantly running for reelection and that they need their party's support to do it.

the other thing i would suggest to voters is if they live in a state or whatever district they are in, if they know the election is in the bag, vote for a third-party candidate. i did not vote for bush either time, and i did not vote for the democrats because i just cannot stand these parties voting in lockstep. host: roberta, thank you for your comments. on term limits, how do you feel about that? guest: let me say, roberta, you are not alone. i hear this frequently, and the fact that the constitution says members of houses of representatives have to run every two years might not make sense anymore. i hear that commentary frequently. guest: i am not in favor of term limits. if i cannot solve problems, i will show myself the door.

you will not have to worry about that. it comes down to americans being involved in the aspect of governing. we have town halls, and in some cases where there is an issue that is controversial, like immigration or obamacare, a lot of people will show up, but the day-to-day aspects, nobody really cares until it really affects them. america has to be involved in the aspect of politics. you have to start looking your presented as in the eyes. i like running every two years. is it frustrating, absolutely, but it is the people's house, and you are much more in tune. just because there is a third- party, it would not make it better. you should be looking at the caliber of the candidate, the teacher the person you are putting there is a album solver. that is what is the problem solver. that is what is frustrating. -- problem solver. that is what is frustrating when you do not solve anything. as a dentist, for 20 years, i was a problem solver.

host: one of two dentists, paul gosar, and ann kirkpatrick, thank you. guest: thank you. guest: thank you. coming up, house republicans. then a house oversight hearing. the affordable care act. and the republican committee analyzes its own health care reform proposal. on the next "washington scott garrett about raising the federal debt ceiling, then representative james mcgovern. jeremy on how they are looking into last year's attacks in libya.

live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c- span. john boehner announced today the house would vote on a short- term spending bill this week. it would also defund the affordable care act. discusseds also raising the debt ceiling and changing the tax code. american families and small businesses just doing fine in this economy. is aboutter speech justifying his failed policies. failures isiggest adding 6 trillion dollars to the national debt. they have used the .ebt limit president obama used it to put

controls on spending. this year will not be different. we will continue to do everything we can to repeal the president's failed health care law. this week, the house will pass -- to lock the sequester savings in an defund obamacare. the president signed seven bills over the last two and a half changes to obama and i hope our friends in the thise have plans to make an eight time. the law is a train wreck. protestedent has american big business and it is time to protect american families from this unworkable law. , first i want to express my deepest condolences to the families who have lost a loved one on monday in the horrific attack in the navy yard just blocks away from capitol hill. it is in these tragic moments we also witnessed the steel bizarre -- resolve of all those

who serve our nation there as well as the first responders who came to help. out of ourt come conference and we had a very good discussion on our work on a budget measure that will continue our record of reduced government spending and deal head-on with obamacare. not since the korean war has the government done this. we aim for that to happen.-- reduced spending two years in a row. we aim for that to happen. we aim to stop obamacare before it costs one more job or raises out-of-pocket expenses for a family one more dollar. that will continue as we negotiate the debt limit with the president and the senate. in the coming weeks, we will unveil a plan to extend our nation's ability to borrow while delaying obamacare and protecting working class -- middle-class families from the horrific effects.

the discussions will also focus on a path forward, tax reform, the keystone pipeline. and a variety of other measures designed to simplify our tax system and get the economy going, from the middle class working people of the country. together, we house republicans will not ignore the problem of our debt or the problems facing the working middle class of the country. we hope and ask this president finally engage with congress and work with us on behalf of american families. >> we all join with the comments the leader made. we just walked out. all of you stay outside to see, what is the seal, what does it look like.

i have not watched our conference -- us be so united. you will see big excitement coming through the week. the excitement is that a united conference going after the battle we are always willing to wait. now we will look forward to the senate waging with us. the president laid out different portions of health-care bill not prepared for the rest of the nation. we think -- it is not just us who talk about it. it is union leaders, as well. we think the individual matters more. that is what you will see coming forward out of the house.

>> i would like to join in offering condolences to the families who lost their loved ones on monday. our hearts and prayers continue to be with them. it was a terrible day here in our nations capital. also on monday, we heard from the president regarding the economy. he said what we need to -- we need to work together to create jobs, grow our economy, and band opportunity. what i would like to remind the president is that that has been

our goal since day one. it is unfortunate that many of the president's policies are making it harder on americans across the country. americans continue to have a tough time finding a job in the economy. they are seen their premiums go up for their health insurance. it is harder at the gas pump. 1000 days plus that gas has been over three dollars a gallon, the first time ever. at the grocery store, it is harder to pay the bills. republicans are focused on policies to make it easier to

create a crock -- a climate, a stronger economy for america, so americans have an easier time finding a job, paying their bills. these are not just numbers. these are real people's lives. the policies we debate make a difference in people's lives. we are committed to work with the senate where we can to move policies forward that will make a positive difference and get people back to work. >> the president said earlier this week that the economy is not where he would like it to be. something my constituents are very well aware every time they go to the doctor and go to the grocery store and fill up their automobile with gasoline. it is not where it needs to be.

after five years as president, we are hoping he will turn to congress and work with us to -- improve the economy. the unemployment rate was slightly down. it is because people have all but given up looking for work. the more important statistic is the work force participation rate is the lowest it been in 35 years. the lowest since 1978.

while we stand ready to work with the president on a number of issues articulated already on the health or law, to keystone, tax reports -- tax reform is something we have been working on for several years now. we have the highest were brick tax rate in the world. every minute we refuse to pursue tax reform we are incentivizing

businesses to take their jobs offshore. that is the wrong answer. we have been working very hard to make life easier for small businesses by lowering the rates, eliminating the loopholes only the wealthy take advantage of. we want to put more money in hard-working taxpayers pockets. we stand ready to work with the president and hope you will engage reforming our tax code and getting the economy back together. >> thank you. i appreciate some of the comments made by the president and vice president this week regarding the economy and necessity to do infrastructure jobs. biden was at the port. there has been one infrastructure -- process, because of the -- political reasons, has been ignored. and getting the economy back

no action taken by the administration. i'm talking about the keystone xl pipeline. tomorrow marks an interesting anniversary. it is the fifth year anniversary of the keystone permit. what is particularly interesting about the administration ignoring the infrastructure and jobs and economic driver bill and project is that, shortly into his first year, the president did sign and the state department did recommend a cross-border permit is a highflying carrying oil into the united states. the president did not have a problem with the alberta clipper pipeline delivering oil into the united states and crossing the border until he be -- it became an environmental issue on the keystone pipeline. only then, because of politics, as -- has the president refused to act on the permit. i am surprised our leadership is discussing and contemplating putting the keystone pipeline, and whatever opportunities we may have, the debt ceiling, and continuing resolutions, and i appreciate our leadership continue to focus on this type of job bill.

>> you did not want to attach a funding obamacare. i know it has not been easy. at this point, have you lost control? >> we have a lot of give urgent opinions in the caucus. the key to any leadership job is to listen. i was here during the newt gingrich era. he had a plaque in his office. a management model. listen, learn, help, and lead. we listen to our colleagues over the course of the last week. we are going forward. >> [indiscernible] >> the fight over here has been one. the house voted 40 times to change obamacare, repeal it. it is time for the senate to have this fight. i will not predict what the senate will or will not do. >> [inaudible] >> i will not speculate on what the senate will do or not do or what we will or will not do. it is very premature. >> the implications and the ramifications of a possible government shut down [inaudible] >> there should be no conversation about shutting the government down. that is not the goal here. our goal here is to cut spending and protect the american people from obamacare. it is as simple as that. there is no interest in our part on shutting the government down. >> jay carney was asked about the house republican proposal for a short-term spending bill. >> now that we have a clear sense of the trajectory of the house, does the administration think the fact they are probably not going to vote friday, does that make the possibility of a government shutdown more likely? >> i hope not. as i think we saw in the reporting today, house republicans have decided to

pursue a path away from the center, away from compromise, in favor of voting on a piece of legislation that they know will not become law. one sobering paragraph i read in one story was that members of both parties are becoming increasingly worried that the fact a factionthe house of representatives, the house republicans, is driving this thing in the wrong direction could bring us closer to an unnecessary shutdown of the government. congress has responsibilities. one of them is to fund the government, the operations. it is not to attach ideological aspirations to the kinds of bills that ensure the government

does not shut down and that we do not inflict another unnecessarily wound on our economy, just as it is continuing to grow and create jobs. what has become more and more apparent is that the leaders of the republican party in congress may want to avoid a shutdown. it may want to avoid, even worse, a default. there are members of the party, especially in the house, who seem to embrace the prospect. the irony is they are doing it in the name of trying to defund or delay or defeat in some other way a law designed to provide access to insurance for millions of americans. it is already providing tangible benefits to 2 million americans. a law that, when implemented, will ensure that at least close to six and 10 uninsured americans will have the capability of buying insurance for less than $100 a month. that law was passed by the house, the senate, signed by the

part -- by the president and upheld in the supreme court. in order to revive the political battle, some members of the republican party in congress seem to want to shut down the government and maybe have, for the first time in the history of this great country, see the united states failed to pay the bill it has already incurred. this is a problem. we have to be clear about the fact there is a majority in washington, a member of which is the president of the united states, every democrat on capitol hill, and many republicans on capitol hill, who do not want to see the government shutdown, who do not want to see the pain inflicted that a shutdown would put on the middle class, and will not negotiate over the ideological aspirations of a small group and

unfortunately not that small group, but a faction within the republican party in the house. >> when helen taft became first lady in 1909, one of the first things she did was address having cherry trees planted. in the early 20th century, it was a mess. the japanese heard about her interest and decided to give 2000 trees to the united states in her honor. everyone was shocked. the trees were very tall and older. it was decided they would have to be burned.

visitd more information? studentcam.org. >> state health care exchanges will begin offering insurance with subsidies for those under 400% of the official poverty line. a house committee heard testimony from state officials putting those exchanges into operation. the subcommittee on economic growth and health care. >> the meeting will come to order. we want to begin this hearing. we just to secure two fundamental principles. americans have the right to know that the money washington takes from them is well spent. americans deserve an effective government that works for them.

our duty is to protect these rights. i was solemn response ability is to hold the government accountable to taxpayers because taxpayers have the right to know what they get from the government. we will work tirelessly to bring the facts to the american people and bring genuine reform. this is the mission to the reform committee. in the past month, i have personally spoken to a dad who told me his high school graduates on is finding it difficult to find a job who will hire him for more than 24 hours. i spoke to a mom who brought me her late twenty-something sons paperwork which notified him his health premiums will decrease to just over $800 a month in january. i spoke to a family struggling with their family business because they cannot afford the mandates but cannot afford to sell the business they work so hard to build. they prevent anyone else from entering high-risk pools. no one disputes the concerns for the u.s. health care system or for obamacare. the rising cost of health care was crowding out other items in family budgets. obamacare was designed to fix

three problems -- reduced the cost of medicine, provide universal coverage for every american, and increase the quality. americans were told, if they like their doctrine insurance, they can keep that. after decades of work, union members are furious in the changes of health benefits and the traditional 40 hour health week. the law passed three years ago by congress, the implimentation has been mired by one problem after another.

they missed approximately half of obamacare is required deadlines. compressed time frames and a lack of clear federal requirements -- a major i.t. challenges to hoping -- changes in enrollment. obamacare's employment -- employer mandate -- a unilateral delay by the ministration -- the exchanges will have more difficulty verifying whether they will have -- at work. this exposes taxpayers to a risk of civilian spending on subsidies. for those who receive them, a tax at the end of the year that will be a surprise to them.

everybody ok? the administration only delayed the employer mandate. individual citizens are still liable. just businesses are no longer liable. state leaders across the country have complained the administration has not adequately responded to their questions and concerns. the new states have part-time legislatures only in session during the spring, the failure

to issue timely guidance to implement the law and better protect its citizens from its harmful aspects. multiple state officials involved are preparing their respective states for the start of obamacare. multiple witnesses. lieutenant governor of kansas, jeff colyer, who is also a physician. florida state representative matthew hudson. kathy kliebert. and attorney general for the state of south carolina, alan wilson.

yesterday, the democrats on the committee threatened not to participate unless we provided eight witnesses. normally, the minority party only elects one witness. even in the majority, you only had four. we do not want members of this committee -- willing to do

oversight work to walk out and fail to hear the serious struggles states are experiencing because of obamacare. we made the unprecedented accommodation to let them provide the same number of witnesses as the majority. we should listen to their concerns. we should find solutions. one area we will explore today is the sister programs. attorney general wilson from south carolina sent a letter to a secretary on august 14 asking questions about the outreach program. the in ministration has not yet responded. i spoke yesterday with health care leaders in my own state. they said they cannot get answers from hhs. we still have no idea what is happening and we are only days away from october 1.

i would like to introduce a preliminary staff report. these findings were produced or the committee. a large number of americans fall big into identity that. -- fall into identity the theft. the administration decides to leave the responsibility to the district. as a result the federal government will not be able to leave a list. they allow them to they their employees. we have multiple issues. every program needs oversight. it is reasonable to ask if it meets the requirements. >> this is not a hearing. this is the inner. -- is theatre. some of my colleagues did not like the way the election turned out. it's time to take the makeup and costumes off and get real. there will be no rewrite, no matter how much you would like to rewrite the ending. in some states the elected officials are not subtle about

it. they don't even try to mask it. take the member from georgia, who was caught on tape. let's play the video. >> the problem is obama care. we are doing everything in our power. a navigator, which is a position in that exchange, has to be licensed by our department. [applause] the obamacare law says we cannot require them to be agents. >> he said he was doing everything in his power to be an obstructionist. his insurance department would make up that test requiring navigators to pass. the only justification for the new requirement is it helps obstruct implementation of obama care. they are doing everything in their power to be

obstructionist. he is no particular ax or it -- expert about implementation. he released a bill recently about appealing obamacare, which was published by the american exchange council. not every american tolerates these tactics. the insurance commissioner struggled to implement the affordable care act. they returned a grant to help the state set up exchanges and called the affordable care act an abomination. senators mccain and coburn have criticized their colleagues for working to bring about a government shutdown just to stop funding.

senator coburn called it dishonest. this is a concerted campaign to deny people health care, but it is being orchestrated by entities and financed by billionaires. i believe in the importance of congressional oversight. it's our job to make sure the laws are carried out effectively. this committee is not interested in getting to the facts or identifying improvements or

technical fixes. this committee has decided to undermine the law. mr. chairman, this effort has become a theater of the absurd. while i appreciate that they are trying to convince the audience there is some balance to the script, your play will not make it to opening night and will be relegated to theatrical failures once the show begins to run. i hope this is the end of a charade to undermine a law that has been found to be constitutional, and i would like to remind my colleagues we are sworn to uphold the law and the constitution, and that is a duty i take seriously. it's time we do our job. i want to welcome the senator from south carolina and other

senators. thank you for joining us today. but i would like to recognize the chairman of the subcommittee for his opening statement. >> thank you for putting this together. let me say in response to the last statement, everyone knows this law is not ready.

they said, fix it or repeal it. not republican jim jordan -- they said it was a train wreck. howard dean said it was going to lead to rationing of care. they said it is going to fundamentally hurt the work week, which it did. even the president knows this needs to be delayed. it was unpopular when not one single republican voted for it. it is even more unpopular now. this is unbelievable. we are going to hear from people in the frontline today who know how hard it is to try to implement this legislation. in ohio, seventh-largest state, not one single navigator has been trained by the ohio department of insurance, and we are 13 days away from the exchange starting. do you think this is going to work well? you don't think this needs to be delayed? of course it needs to be delayed, and the americans need

to understand that. we are asking our colleagues to recognize that fact. this is about highlighting that fact. i did not read my statement. i just reacted to what we heard before. this is as clear as it gets. i have never seen something this obvious make this much common sense and have that much opposition. unbelievable. >> we are going to ask for his opening statement. >> thank you for calling this hearing. all across this country some state legislators and other public officials are obstructing the affordable care act. just this week florida governor rick scott issued a direct of banning grantees from operating under county health department. this is particularly obstructive because county health department are precisely where floridians with questions about health care will turn.

rick scott also stripped florida's insurance commissioner

of his ability to review insurance rates and protect consumers from unfair or excessive premium hikes. the affordable care act requires insurance companies to justify any increase of 10% or more. last year this saved 6.8 million consumers and estimated one point $2 billion in health insurance premiums. this is working. this represents a state government openly obstructing implementation of our affordable care act. these witnesses don't have concerns about implementation. one witness, state attorney alan wilson, works under nikki haley, who said, when it comes to obama care we did not just say no. we said never. we are going to keep fighting until we get congress to defund obamacare.

bobby jindal says, we do not think we should implement obamacare in louisiana. we are going to fight it. our constituents deserve better than this, and one constituent is here, a resident from my home state. if you are here, will you stand up? welcome. she came here at her own expense, and she is here to tell you her compelling story, but i will tell you right here. it is a written statement, but the majority has not allowed stacy ritter to prevent her statement, but i am going to read an excerpt. >> we have been unprecedented number of with -- we have an unprecedented number of witnesses. they were selected by the minority. there were four witnesses we selected. we have the largest have a we have ever had, all previous witnesses were select it by the minority, so i hope the gentleman was mistaken.

>> here's what stacy had to say. there was a rare disorder, and she says, things to this, the girls will no longer be discriminated against if i lose or switch jobs. my girls can remain on my insurance until they are 26 years old, giving them time. i am going to ask permission to insert this into the record. nearly 10% of dental maintenance report they were unable to see a doctor due to the cost. families saw their health insurance increase, an annual increase of $13,229. of those who do have health insurance, 53% are covered by their employment public programs . five percent of residents purchase individual policies. this leaves 1.4 million, a 11% of the population uninsured. pennsylvania's children are uninsured at eight percent. nonelderly adults younger than 65 are uninsured at a rate of 32%.

a quarter of the nonelderly hispanic population lacks

insurance. nonelderly blacks are uninsured at a rate of 17%. over the next six months, as the health exchanges stand up, pennsylvanians like stacy ritter will finally be able to get the

help they need for their families. our job is not to interfere. i yield back. >> i recognize the chairman for a segment.

>> i want to thank the members for this hearing. we have a large panel, and i look forward to getting to that panel. there is an old expression. people will say, some of my friends are for it, and some of them are against it, and i want to be with a friend.

i have never said, let's eliminate all obama care without viable replacements without all the things the affordable care act chose to do. i voted against the affordable care act, because i felt there were many things that were overreaching or lopsided. i think every member would say there were problems with health care before president obama came into office.

the affordable care act was designed to tackle certain problems, many of which we agree with. people find themselves unable to leave a job. the college graduate or returning veteran not eligible for retirement but unemployed and out of the military trying to figure out where he or she is going to go to get health care. there were many groups falling through the safety nets of health care. america's problem is not that we have some of the best health care. it is that we have expensive health care. attacking the real problems of our health care costing more than any first world nation is something we should work on.

she said something i am taking exception to, not on a personal basis, but she said this law is the way it is and nothing is going to be changed. that law happens. the affordable care act mandates every member -- every staff member is to be thrown off the federal workforces health care system, put into an exchange,

and not reimbursed. the affordable care act cuts the benefit for people making as little as dirty thousand dollars a year as staffers -- $30,000 a year as the staffers on the hill. it needs to be fixed. we cannot have the men and women who would like to serve members of congress find themselves working for a deadbeat employer. that israel. it's in the act. maybe we can say we have to fix it, but it's there. in the act is an implementation that has a lot of bureaucracy, including exchanges. the idea was that states would come together and want to have exchanges and subsidies that came with it. i believe we have seen a legitimate disagreement between states that did not want to have a limited subsidy and leave them holding a bag with all regulations that come with the program. this committee has held a series of hearings. a series of hearings on the implementation problem, databases, privacy, and so on. these are not to kill an existing law. they are to make it clear if they are to go into effect, it can go in a time when it can be effective. nothing can kill obamacare faster than a series of mistakes , losses over denial of care, or huge cost overruns. i am not one of the people who said, i'm going to kill obamacare, i am going to attempt to delay or deny, but as chairman of the committee, we have seen serious problems. hopefully by putting all seven on this panel, we give an opportunity for people who have concerns or those who admit we are ready to go live in a couple days to have an appropriate debate. i think the ranking member when he made the choice to choose people from responsible positions where they are looking at the act and whether implementation will be done properly on time. the way it is and nothing is i share with the opening statement that if the president wants to delay one part of the mandate congress has to ask, are we ready to go live? we understand some parts of the affordable care act are already

implemented. it is a question of implementing these with a database that has not been tested but is supposed to go live with all your personal information transfer with the irs and your health care information added on a daily basis. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

constituents? >> we will be in the same boat that we were in a year ago. we will begin to look for solutions that really were not solutions. >> more than 32.5 million seniors have already received one or more free preventative ervices because of the affordable care act. can you express to the subcommittee the importance of these services to your constituents? >> absolutely. if the bill is repealed, i believe there would be greater hardships for our seniors. it would be shameful to repeal any thought -- part of the

benefits that have already passed. >> mr. chairman, i know there are those on the other side you have different opinions about where we are with the affordable care act. after hearing for my constituents, small business owners, those in health care in my state, i believe it is time for us to stop having these continual efforts to defund the affordable care act and it is time for us to have congress do our job to implement it and move forward. i would use my home state of nevada as an example of how republicans and democrats, the governor, the legislature, and members of congress are working to do our job. >> thank you. > let me say to attorney general wilson, i am very grateful for your service to

you this country. i was trying to make the point all of us have the great luxury of having a government sponsored health insurance lan. the hope is for the 45 million americans who have no insurance whatsoever, the affordable care act will place them on equal status with all of us. let me also point out, there is a script that is being used that is not accurate. when people talk about the affordable care act that is costing us so much money, that could not be further from the truth. in fact, the very nonpartisan congressional budget office has said that we will save $1.3 trillion over the next two decades with the implementation f the affordable care act.

as a country, we spend 18% of our gdp on health care. you might think, we get better health care. we do not. we rank 38 in the world health organization rankings of countries in terms of the uality of health care. we rank number one in spending and 38 and overall health care. the reference made by my good friend mr. jordan and by others on the other side of the aisle about the comment made i max baucus has been taken -- by max baucus has been taken out of comment.

i would like to point out what was really being said. there were $554 million requested by the president in his budget for promotion and advertising and education on behalf of the affordable care act. our good friends on the other side of the aisle chose to strike that funding completely and with that backdrop that senator baucus said, without promotion and out -- without education, there is going to be a train wreck relative to the implementation because people will not know about it. when we use the term train wreck, let's use it accurately as it reflects his omments. without comment i would like to point out that the handwringing going on here is all well and good.

starting october 1, there will be six months in which people will have the opportunity to enroll. they will have the opportunity to enroll until march. lots of these kinks will be worked out during that period of time. it will be better for all of us to not be the obstructionists. i would like to quote governor schneider from michigan. it is the law of the land, upheld by the u.s. supreme court, and it is being implemented. some believe that fighting it is good politics. finding the way to make it work is good government. yield back. >> i want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. we are talking about our fellow americans.

we are talking about our brothers, sisters, neighbors. there are people -- i was in my district this weekend talking to some of my constituents. they are people who need this. i tell the story is about when we voted for the affordable care act. i got to the floor of the house for hours early. i sat on the front row. i had only one prayer. god, do not let me die before a vote for it. i knew it would save lives. i knew it would affect generations yet unborn. i knew it would allow some mother to be able to save her child. i knew would have a tremendous ffect. we need to make it work. a lot of things are hard. we are america and we're better than that.

i am looking forward to all of you working with us. it is about trying to make it etter. >> i would think the witnesses for coming. -- thank the witnesses for coming. you are the ones on the phone trying to get answers, writing letters, trying to get answers. in my state, we gathered all the state leaders last week. they had a long list of all of the unanswered questions. they got all the state leaders together and listen to questions and none of them had the answers. all of them assumed someone else knew that.

none of them knew what is going on. the focus of, this is going to be great, is very different when you have to implement. and when it is coming at you. the navigator a port dealing with the exposure areas -- report dealing with the exposure areas and the fraud. a lot of americans information is about to be exposed. with the navigators, and as we have seen the reduction of time required in their training, here are serious issues. in my district in central oklahoma, we have more advanced

cancer care in oklahoma city than in all of the united kingdom. we had a hospital opened in oklahoma city is a fee-based hospital. the canadian started coming for health care. 25% of their business are people from outside the country. when people are sick, and they needed advanced care, they are coming here. the term medical tourism did not exist years ago. some of the finest hospitals in the world are located right here. do we put that at risk by limiting reimbursements? we become equal with the rest of the world rather than leading the rest of the world in medical innovation.

we have to continue to press on. this is a billboard there are major problems. it is the law of the land -- this is a bill where there are major problems. there are major issues with mplementing the law. almost every state is under a waiver, no one here is saying, we need to implement all of no child left behind. why? there are major problems with the law. we can see it based on how it is implemented. waivers have gone everywhere to free everyone up. we are seeing the same thing occur with the affordable care act. the problems continue to double on this.

the house and the senate are dealing with what do we do to replace no child left ehind? there are so many issues in so many problems with the implementation, we have to look again at what we do to a place -- replace this. i look forward to the day when -- states are allowed to xperiment. there is a program called insure oklahoma, which has been a fantastic program. we have to beg to allow the program to continue. when health care is controlled from washington, it is about numbers. when it is controlled from the state and local areas, it is about neighbors. it is about family and real lives.

at the end of this day, hopefully, we brought some questions to the table that we will get resolutions on. thank you for being here. we are adjourned.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> i want to thank everybody for coming. we are proud to officially unveil our health care bill, which is called the american health care reform act. this is a true alternative to obamacare. it is a bill we have been working on for months. when we started this process a few months ago, we have all been strongly opposed to obamacare, we continue to work on many different fronts to repeal, defund and delay obamacare, but we feel very strongly that we need to replace obamacare with arket-based reforms. both of those are worse under

obamacare. i want to step through the point in our bill and have our members talk in more specific about it. we start by repealing obamacare. this is something that gives us a clean slate so that we can lay a new foundation and start addressing the problems. we spur competition and lower health-care costs. we do that through a number of different means. we allow people to buy across state means -- state lines. consumers cannot do that for health care. if you can buy car insurance am a company in another state and still be able to drive in your state, you should be able to go. that is a lower cost for your amily.

we allow small businesses to pool together and get the same buying power as a large corporation. not just for small businesses, ut for families. something that helps increase competition and lower costs. one of the reasons that is the most attractive places your company can deduct those costs, the u.s. individual cannot deduct those costs. we level the playing field so an individual can deduct the cost of their health care if they find a better plan. something that increases competition, but lowers the

cost of health care. we put in place commonsense eform. frivolous lawsuits and the practice of defensive medicine. doctors tell me one of their big impediments to practicing is the threat of frivolous lawsuits. a third of all the tests they run are not tests they run for the health of their patients, but to defend against frivolous awsuits. people do not like having to go get test after test. we expand health savings ccounts.

we increased the limit so people can participate more ctively. we feel very strongly that someone with a pre-existing condition can be discriminated against in health care. we work with an existing -- we put our money where our mouth is. we put up $25 billion in this bill to fund those high risk. so that someone with a pre-existing condition can buy health insurance at market rates. there are a lot of other things that can allow people with pre-existing conditions to be allowed to buy health care at ower cost. we put in strong protections. pro-life protections we fought for and many other pieces of legislation to ensure taxpayer funds are not used for abortions.

o many strong -- we have a great health care working group that has worked really hard to put this bill together. i want to lead off by introducing the chairman, a medical doctor who has practiced medicine and understand all the issues. you do not have the government elling you what to do. >> thank you for being here. i want to thank our health care working group. what a great group this was and is. it brought together years of experience in health care, both in policy and practice. we had nurses, physicians, administrators, previous folks who worked in staff will --

legislature. one of the great disappointments i have had, i have been in congress for five years. i knew health care was going to be a huge issue in america. i came here to work on this issue. we were completely shut out of the debate four years ago when the affordable care act was debated. the problem with the system is not quality and not quantity. it is access and cost. i could see the cost of medicine was going up exponentially. it was forcing people out of being able to afford it. the premise of the affordable care act is one i wholeheartedly agree with. the methodology has not done hat. it is raising cost and in the end, with the exception of expanding medicaid, it may not expand coverage to many people.

the chairman said we need to have a market center bill that does not have any mandates in an, does not raise taxes, increases access and levels the playing field on the tax structure. one of the problems with our system is how we got here. i did not do a very good job of explaining pre-existing condition problems that occurred in the health care ebate is going on. you have a plan which covers 116 million of us in this country. you cannot have a pre-existing condition. we are talking about 17% of the population. this bill is enormously complex was about 17% of the opulation. we provided market-based solutions for this.

one of the most important things we did was to equalize the tax treatment for health insurance. let me use myself as an example. when i worked in practice as a physician, as one of the things in my practice was my health insurance was covered. when i retired to run for congress, the next day, i was treated differently. think about how many millions of people would benefit immediately if you treated them ike a large company. all of us have to have some skin in the game if we are going to lower cost. expanding health savings accounts is one of the things we did to do that. those are a few of the things we will touch on some more things in a moment. i will introduce one of my colleagues and one of my good friends in congress and one of my colleagues in tennessee who

helped navigate the program in our state and who is a real expert. many of her ideas are in this bill. arsha blackburn. >> i want to thank the chairman, the leadership that they have brought to this process, i think they are invaluable. they are going to pay dividends for the american people. access and cost. when you talk to constituents, they are concerned about their access to health care, to the doctor. they do not want access to the queue, they want to know they are going to get the treatment they need at the time they need it. they want to make certain that this is affordable. we focused on those. he mentioned what we had in

tennessee. it was the experiment -- this started in the mid-1990s. it was a program was to help get more people into the insurance pool. have them covered. kind of a microcosm on what we did on a national basis. what we learned was an incredibly expensive lesson. it was that any time you rolled the dice and you gambled on having those short-term expenditures or mandates lead you to long-term savings, guess what? it never happens. as we approached access and cost, one of the provisions i started working on shortly

after i came to congress was opening up the insurance marketplace so that you could take down those signs at the state lines and allow people to buy whatever insurance product they wanted that met the needs of their families. indeed, that is embodied in this bill. it is something that will lower the cost for individuals. when you asked individuals without health insurance, why do not purchase insurance? the number one reason is the cost factor. this along with an extended model helps to get that cost down and allows more people to opt into the insurance ool. we have that expertise from those who have worked in health care and we are so fortunate that renã©e came to us from north carolina as a nurse. she shares a republican women's

policy committee and has been such an important part of the initiative as we have worked on the obamacare replacement ill. >> thank you to everyone who is here for this very important rollout of the replacement plan. as we have gone through this process, we have listened to the american people. we understand what the american people need and want in their health care coverage. as we move closer and closer to the affordable care act, it is less accessible and more expensive and the promises that were made to us are just simply not being met. it is so important for us to be implementing all of these different aspects into the plan of action that we have formulated. being in health care as long as i have been, i have listened to

the concerns of my patients i have taken care of. it is affordability, access to care, the fact that they feel they might not be able to get coverage. pre-existing conditions, a perfect example. if someone loses their health care coverage but has any number of pre-existing conditions, the thought of getting insurance was so astronomically expensive, a were not able to do it. we implement pre-existing conditions, assisting states whether high-risk pools so that we can bridge that gap and move toward a time when we will eliminate the issue of pre-existing conditions. states no best -- know best what their citizens need. we are empowering them with $25 million worth of high risk cost. it is a very important ove.

as it is right now, if you are receiving va services, you cannot contribute to a health-care savings plan under obamacare. they will be empowered to do o. most importantly, what this health care plan does, it is 181 pages. it is a starting point. this is a starting conversation that we will be having with the american people on a good plan to not only help with health care coverage, but bringing down the cost of health care altogether. i have been so honored to be part of this working group. i want to introduce another member of the health care field. dr. john fleming from louisiana.

he has been so important to the ontribution. great to be here with you all. like most of us, i came to washington five years ago as a physician as well as a business owner who has to cover hundreds of people in their health insurance as well as my own family. i was quite distressed with were health care had led us to that point. we came here to reform health care. what was that we needed to reform? we sell the encroachment of government into health care making it less effective and ore expensive. we came here to put into it --

instead, we got obamacare. in the last couple of days, some very good friends of president obama turned away from obamacare. arren buffett said this, obamacare is a tapeworm on this ation's economy. what congress should have done was to lower the cost of care first and then try to expand it to others. instead, the government has taken over 1/6 of the economy. and has attempted to expand health care without doing a thing to lower costs. what is the result? you will have many more people carrying cards, but no doctors r hospitals.

that is what we need to fix. one area that i have taken great interest in is health savings accounts and the expansion thereof. back about 2003, 2004, like all other business owners, i saw my employee costs going up. i have heard of something called health savings accounts and i gathered all of my employees and i said, i will tell you my plan. instead of paying 15% increase in premium, we will keep the premium where it is by raising your deductible. i will take the difference and i will put it in your personal health savings account. we will do that ear-over-year. i had a lady raised her hand and say, that is not going to work for me.

the cost of my inhalers are more than what i will receive each month. i said, let me suggest that you stop smoking. the savings on your inhalers and the extra money i put in your account, i think you will be net better off. i forgot about that exchange. three months later, she said, you are absolutely right. i am making a bunch of money. that is the way we save cost, to invest the individual atient into the savings. if we do that, think of what what that would do with the overall cost. we want to bring consumers back into it. we wanted to be market driven. one of which we have transparency.

health care providers compete on price and quality and consumers can make those valuable choices. that is the way folks will get health care costs down. savings accounts will go a long way to get us all in the category of lower health care costs. i want to yield to my good riend for a few remarks. >> i want to thank my fellow members of the working group. i am one of the few members of this working group that has no professional health care experience. whe i was asked if i was supposed to conduct ecounts.

we had very robust discussions and they were positive ones and they were not unlike the same discussions that this nation is having around health care. this bill is a good result of those discussions. in my role as secretary of state, one of the things i did a lot of was consumer protection. i was able to bring to the table some important points regarding consumer protection. in order to be a good consumer, in order to be a protected consumer, you have to have the power and the skill set to do those kinds of things. the other thing you have to have is good education. i do not mean formal education, but education as a consumer. you have to know what the prices are. you have to know all of the information.

if you think about it, as americans, we have very little information when it comes to the ability to make good health care decisions. for example, anyone of us could go down the street and know the price of the -- of four tires and make a value decision based on what we need. i do not believe it has to be any more complicated than that in health care. there will be certain emergencies that come up or we do not care what the prices. -- price is. most of our transactions are not emergency related. we have not been allowed to apply the skill set that we have as americans. this bill does that.

it kicks starts what we hope will be a domino effect and price transparency. we require that medicare claims data be shared. now you can know what the prices doctors are harging. that information will drive the rest of the health care system and to price transparency. empowered with that information that we will be able to apply our skill set to our health care decisions and automatically and very quickly be able to drive down costs. that is what we mean by a free-market consumer driven approach. with that, i would like to introduce our last speaker, a good friend of mine. he is a health care provider in the state of arizona and the owner of the health care roviding organization.

>> thank you very much. i am very happy that everybody showed up. i would like to thank steve for putting us together and empowering us to have our ideas come to the forefront. leadership is about empowering those sitting at the table to come up with solutions, debate, and defend what you're putting n the table. do you know who has been under government run health care the longest? ative americans. in my 25 years, 30% of my patient base were native americans. they are providing free market standards.

that is what is so great about the solution we're putting on the table. i want to see a level playing field. allow the government to break up the monopoly of insurance companies. i want to see what they can give us as choice an opportunity. both are things that will drive the marketplace. when we make those health care decisions, we want to see choice and defined benefits. we want to be empowered with our own dollars. that is what is magical about putting this together. is it perfect? no. that is what america wants to do. health care is a personal choice. you have to embrace it. you have to be part of it. we have to be better consumers. thank you for having me.

i will send it back over to steve for questions. >> with that, we will open up to any questions you have. >> since affordable care act past, why now? why are you introducing this at his point? we wanted all of these great nd sharp minds to pull together comprehensive bill that addresses all of the problems you want to tackle. we want to take the time to get it right. if you look over the last congress, a lot of that was because of the presidential election. i served on energy and commerce committee.

i still have my old markup of that bill. it kept growing and growing. so many flags on that will. we had an alternative in which we had a vote on the house floor. the leadership wanted to the a nominee and bring forward that alternative. wrinkly, it was one i thought was not developed. it was a lost opportunity. there is a really heard and smart conservative way to fix the problems of health care. we wanted to show the american people the contrast. if you could bring me both bills, we will see both. we have read through this. you have got to passed the bill. this is the bill. this is obamacare. we know what is in here now. this is our bill. it is a very straightforward,

constant sense approach. it is a market-based approach to fixing the problems in health care as opposed to a government takeover approach. you have got irs agents getting in the middle of your health care decisions. i do not think americans trust then in charge of your health care decisions. we take the irs out in this bill. we repeal and replace obamacare in this bill. it is important to have that contrast. we felt very passionately when we put our ideas on paper. this will be a great contrast that we are proud to bring to the american people. you have people saying that obamacare is going to be devastating to the middle class. pcs what it is doing to the union employees who came and asked for the bill to be passed. now they are calling on it to be repealed. something is happening in america.

>> let me say one thing. is anyone in this room think that access to health care has improved since that bill was assed? i think you would have to say o. you have to look at unintended consequences. i'm from a town that has a medical school. right now and what is happening is we are cutting graduate medical education funding in my own community because of of medicare caps. they could not find a residency. we just had 40% in my hometown quit and not do it anymore because they would have to invest hundreds of thousands of

dollars. they couldn't see how they ould pay for it. i quit. you are saying it right now across the country. access is going down. my doctor had quit. i had experienced it myself. you will hear the stories over nd over again. >> talking about having an alternative, going into the appeal, what is your message to speaker boehner on how important it is to have a vote on your proposal? if you have a commitment, you will get a bow? >> the first priority is to work both on repealing and delaying and defunding obamacare. we have been working aggressively on that. we will not slow down on that front. we need to work on replacing it with real reforms. there are a number of steps we

are fighting on. we are happy that we are continuing to move forward with legislation to delay and defund obamacare. when you look at the next step, we have talked to our leadership and let them know that we really want this bill to move forward in the regular process. we want it to continue and be signed into law. the first title of this bill is repeal obamacare. the president likes to brag you need a certain number of votes and tries to trivialize it. trying to say there is something wrong with the house taking votes to repeal obamacare. keep in mind president obama had signed into law seven of those bills. those bills that he mocks saying it is a waste of time. the president himself has signed seven of those bills to repeal or defund all the parts of his law. clearly he sees there is merit. he admitted that this thing is

unworkable. he wants to delay implementation but only for businesses and insurance companies. we are saying that the president agrees that this law is not workable. do not just give a break to businesses and insurance companies. extend that break to all american companies. that is repeal. >> is there a formal commitment? >> there is no formal commitment. now that has been filed, we ave interest from members. i have been approached from nonmembers that have a real interest. as we build momentum behind this bill, a lot of the momentum will continue to grow. we will push to get a vote on the house floor. >> are you speaking to a committee chair as well and possibly hold a hearing on his?

>> there will be a number of committees that have jurisdiction. that would be the judiciary and ways and means and others. i have a ready talk to our chairman about that. he likes the fact that we are bringing the bill forward. there is interest beyond the rc. we are the ones who got together. we want to bring this forward and take that leadership step. that is why his committee has done a great job and bringing this together. >> we start by repealing obamacare. we want a clean slate. then we will tackle the

problems that existed before obamacare. the president himself admitted when he brought obamacare, the cost was a big problem. his action makes it worse. young people, we have talked to people who are putting quotes together for insurance in january. 25-35. over 400% increases in their health insurance. families in louisiana will be facing over 50% increases as of obamacare. his bill went the opposite way and broke the promises that he ade. you likely have, you can keep it. millions of americans are losing their health care. the units are saying that this bill ought to be repealed. >> if we cannot get rid of the eca -- >> let me say first of all that hopefully this'll be a good

metaphor to explain the problem. the thing of obamacare is that it is not the repairable. it is kind of like a skyscraper that is built upon a terrible foundation. he had to tear it down and start over again. there's no way we can take this measure or any other and really fix obamacare. it is not based on the free market. it is based on the government making all of the stations. i believe secretary sibelius has over 1000 individuals making the proper decisions and the controls that she has taking much of the power away from congress itself to make those decisions. and of course, we have the independent advisory board that is 15 unaccountable, appointed individuals him and not necessarily health care providers, who will be making many decisions on health care costs and rationing.

even democrats admit this is no onger a battle over truth. a pediatrician liberal who supported sibelius -- there's no way we can implement a true market place measure that would be affected until we fully repeal obamacare. you cannot draft on something that is market-based, something that is patient centered on top f a giant bureaucratic structure that is run by the government. it mixes like oil and water. it is in port and that we fully repeal obamacare. whether it is only a delay, our ultimate goal is to fully repeal it. if you talk to democrats, they do not like obamacare either. why? they think it is unstable and unusable as we do. they want to

wish to a single paging system that is more like what is in great britain. hopefully that gives you a better idea. it has to be taken down fully. we need to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. >> the reason this is getting so much push back now, this huge bill did not have a single republican idea that was allowed into it. we had 80 amendments to this bill. we had no input whatsoever. with the chairman said was that this is an open process. i would absolutely welcome democratic ideas to this bill to make it better. no question about it. i say this every time. i never understood why in the world health care, -- it is a eople issue.

t is just people problems. that was a mistake made from a one. that is why the american people o not approve of it. half the population -- congress did not get to put in any input on this bill whatsoever. >> the health law says you cannot discriminate based on pre-existing conditions or how much they can charge you based on your age. if you could talk about your provisions, does that give that same sort of certainty? >> the president's health care law -- the money where his mouth was -- he did it through mandates. mandates that would have raised costs for everyone. so with a pre-existing condition paying too much, that

is a problem. he fix it. but you do not raise everyone else's costs. lowering the cost and putting our money where our mouth is a working within the state high-risk pools that are ready there, gives people options to provide market rates. they will have multiple options. they can work through their xisting. there'll be a lot of options for people with pre-existing conditions to apply for health care and market rates. >> > if you have, let's say you're working in my

>> if you have, let's say you're working in my office. you have a pre-existing condition. if you have a continuation of service or care, you have a plan or a pre-existing condition, you have to do it -- right now before you can buy an insurance plan that does not deny you a plan for having a pre-existing condition. where are saying you do not have to do that anymore. if you can go out and find a plan immediately, it is a lot less expensive. you can do that immediately. cobra is a very expensive way to buy health insurance. ery few can afford it.

we heard this comment on the house floor and it did not make any sense. the individual market in new york will go down about 50%. i look into that. i could not elieve that. here is what happened. millions of people in new york state, they put no pre-existing conditions. guess how many were there? here are 61,000. no one can afford it. those government mandates force the costs up so high and no one could afford it. we have young people in the market and had to pay a lot more for something that they do not need, the price will come down a little the.

> one last question. >> there is a suggestion that there is nothing really new here. what is your response? >> a lot of these ideas have been talked about for a long time. some are new. they are all ideas that people across the country have wanted for a long time. if you have got a good idea that has been waiting for 20 years and it is still not law, stop waiting. if people want to buy across state lines, people know how to shop around and find a good eal. people drive to save two cents n a gallon of gas.

if this is law, you'll see rices go down. those are all things that president obama promised, but he broke every one of those promises along the way. his helps. none of those are a lot right now. >> good ideas are common sense. common sense is keeping it simple. people gravitate toward common sense. these have been around because i engaged as a health care professional. common sense means coming to the forefront. that is what washington has forgotten. it does not take this kind of complexity to fix a broken system.

they take something that america can gravitate around. >> thank you for coming. this is the beginning of a long conversation that we want to have to replace obamacare. thank you to all of our members. we look forward to pushing this through until it is signed into law. thank you. cable satellite corp. 2013] national captioning institute] the house will work on the nutrition bill which will include food stamps.

on the next "washington journal," we will talk with congressman scott garrett about raising the debt ceiling and representative james mcgovern on the nutrition assistance bill that changes the food stamp program. oneporter from the hill looking into last year's attacks on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. is live at journal" 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> when helen taft became first lady, she addressed having cherry trees planted around the tidal basin at potomac park. it was a mess. the japanese heard about her interest and they decided to give 2000 trees to the united states in her honor. everyone was shocked. the trees that were said were older and tall and bug infested. it was decided they would have to be burned.

president taft himself made the decision. were veryse accommodating and understanding and decided to send 3000 trees which arrived in 1912. it is those that we still have a few of around the tidal basin. >> watch our for graham on helen taft on our website www.c- or see itirst ladies saturday at 7:00 p.m. saturday. we continue our series next monday. span, we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. as a public service of private industry. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider and now you can watch us in hd. >>