accept their offers to be behind the scenes. every time they offered it. anytime you see the president behind the scenes, you learn something about him. you see something. i can be there for you. you can't be there. everything i see is important. weekend, every weekend. american history television. on c-span3. education labor and pensions committee chair alexander crafted a bipartisan deal on health care with ranking member patty murray joins senate colleagues to discuss the latest in health care policy. this came a day after a toartisan deal was reached

help stabilize insurance markets for the next two years. politicopolitical -- correspondent moderated this discussion. >> you can join the conversation #axios360 on social media. please welcome mike allen. mike: a fantastic day for health care policy, to look at the next steps for the nation's health care. thank you all for joining us and thank you to c-span for welcoming their audience here. delta for thank

sponsoring this event. thank you to all of you for coming. for all of those following axios360.lease use # axios events are like all of the manifestation of axios. information you can trust and information will help you make that are decisions -- better decisions. we are honored to have three senators at the center of this conversation who are going to be here with us. we hope that together, people have a tour of the landscape and make you smarter. we can count down how many of those we do. i will act as host.

i welcome my colleague. good morning! thank you for coming in your great coverage. -- and your great coverage. what happened last night? i have been writing about the alexander deal all day. -- i am still writing. mike: how much of a surprise yesterday -- was yesterday's announcement? murray have and been working for this. if i had been hiking yesterday and came back today, telling what happened yesterday? -- tell me what happened yesterday?

the first bipartisan major health care bill released in an individual market since obama care past. obamacare passed. it is just a bill at this point. we don't know if this bill will have a vote. that alone is really significant. and it will have a huge impact on the lives of millions. if i am someone who is taking advantage of the affordable health care plan, as my life changed -- how has my life changed? >> you have a lot of uncertainty. you don't know what is going to happen to your premiums, if your plan is going to get canceled, you don't know what your options

are going to be. you don't know if you will be able to afford health care. tries to do is stabilize the exchange and give people certainty they will have coverage and what they need. even if something routine happens. the goal is to keep those premiums stable or even lower them to make it more affordable. and also to make sure that insurance stays in the market. axios has had great health care coverage. coverage sam, your from the capital. how do you keep that human dimension in mind? >> this is such a political fight. you forget. this isn't a back and forth

about who is right and wrong. --re are millions of people obamacare has been in place for a few years. people are enrolled. this is people pop coverage. and health care is so personal. this is your own medical care. and we are talking about, do we repeal and replace? to forget there are a lot of people waiting for these positions to be made. a key part of journalism is being there. i pop in the capital, you are there. time in thatmuch building. video that takes

you to the reality involved in politics and health care. there was a great video of you by the elevator. what was it like to be in that building yesterday? it was a day of high drama for people in this room and others who feel so passionately about these battles. caitlin: the crazy thing is how quickly everything mopes. -- quickly everything mopes. -- quickly everything moves. we didn't have much notice that a deal had been made. alexander came out. questions,o many like what you trump and the republicans think? -- what do trump and the republicans think?

mike: you are going to be joining us. caitlin will make sure i haven't missed the news. let us walk through these three guests and tell me why they matter. the first guest will be senator kaine, a democrat from virginia, was a member of the public education and labor pensions committee. role.hayes -- tell me his caitlin: i am very excited about the senators. it is almost like they struck the deal yesterday for us. senator kaine is the democrats on the panel. -- is the democrat on the panel.

he was at all the health committee hearings on this topic. people don't want to listen to the whole thing, because it gets boring at times. he was pushing for this bipartisan deal. he has made good faith to meet republicans in the middle. and he might know where health care goes from here. mike: we will also be hearing from senator cassidy, a republican from louisiana. a headline name of all year and nameh care -- a headline all year in health care. author thatis the republicans say they want to go back to early next year, cap de-glam, which takes federal money and turns it into a block author of the the

plan that republicans say they want to go back to early next federal moneykes and turns it into a block grant for states. my: -- mike: and what is the number one thing you would like to learn from chairman alexander? caitlin: is this going to pass. is this going to become law. what happens after that? is this the white flag saying they are going to work together? wherewe have a future health care creates such partisan warfare? what do you think is the number one thing democrats would want to know from senator alexander?

n: does he still want to repeal and replace. where do we go from here? mike: thank you for your great coverage. [applause] us,those of you for joining i am the cofounder of axios. we would like to welcome c-span and all online guests. and we are honored to welcome to the stage senator tim kaine and a member of the senate health committee. thank you for joining us. kaine: feels like clubbing at eight in the morning. been my mayor,

senator, and governor. >> you are an international cult figure. [laughter] bio is pretty nifty. you're only one of 30 people who are mayor, senator, and governor. sen. kaine: i said, clearly, that is wrong. -- i asked the historian if this was accurate. and it is. and i remember why, because being mayor will kill you. mike: big news yesterday on health care. there was the introduction of a compromise plan by senator alexander, who will we -- who he will be hearing from later.

we support this. we need to show the american public we can do something bipartisan on health care, even something modest, in this very controversial area. mike: this is a bridge. sen. kaine: it is. it stabilizes the toughest part of the insurance market. but it is not past yet. the way it sort of came together, after the skinny repeal failed in late july, we started talking about, the door opens for bipartisan solutions. we got 14 democrats and republicans together to talk about the essential concepts, which is, how do you guarantee cost-sharing payments with this uncertainty the president has created?

and how to allow for flexibility through the waiver process that the aca has allowed? that was a discussion that grew butjust in the committee, lamar have a fantastic track record of being good negotiators. we were almost there, and the president didn't want to see whether graham cassidy would get a vote. but it was good to see they reached that final conclusion. work behind the scenes with republican chairman work kind ofyou the scenes with republican chairman alexander. what is he doing behind the scenes?

what lamarr did was identify and narrow the problem. ways toare has a lot of improve this. it is the individual market. he focused on this particular problem. mike: senator murray? has twone: she republican houses and a republican white house. to get a deal that protects democratic principles, protection for people with pre-existing conditions. she is a superb negotiator.

it on rewriting no child left behind. mike: in the spirit of a health care event, put on your lab coat and be clinical. what are the chances a compromise will pass? that it will come to a vote? sen. kaine: it will pass as part of a must-pass piece of legislation. the omnibus hearing in appropriations, or something else. that is my sense. x.e: you introduced medicare sen. kaine: very futuristic. the president praised senator alexander's work. there were discussions about improving the health system.

you will hear from senator cassidy, who is going to talk about what he thinks the big idea is. it was important to stabilize for the near term, and then have a more deliberate discussion. what we hear from our constituents is also what we hear from republican colleagues. he should have more choices. -- people should have more choices. year, therenext will be 1500 counties in the united states where the will -- there will be one or no insurance companies offering policies under the individual market. this is rural america, which tends to have a higher percentage of people in the

individual market. patients thatr tend to be older and sicker. people want more affordable choices. have introduced the bill, and the idea is, take advantage of medicare's higher network reimbursement schedule and low administrative cost. secretary toe hhs write a policy that would cover all the essential benefits on obamacare and offer that policy under the exchange. in 2020.roll it out availablet would be everywhere. republican cosponsors

do you have now? sen. kaine: none. now is the time for us to talk about the big ideas. if we can get alexander and murray past this, let us have a discussion. senator cassidy has a few di fferent bills, and i'm sure there are elements of that he would want to put on the table. nothing wrong with big ideas. what is wrong is trying to push it through with no committee process. committee, lamar knows medicaid. patty is a fantastic negotiator. you have doctors and governors on the committee.

cap insurance commissioners. now is the time for big ideas to come to the table. and a lot of transparency. mike: it is a long road, that you were optimistic. constituents are saying, there are no options for me. i don't think we're going to tolerate big parts of the population not being able to buy insurance. mike: you were the vice presidential nominee last year. you are from the commonwealth of virginia.yeah -- of are democrats moving too fast to single-payer? sen. kaine: the bernie bell has 15 democratic sponsors -- the bernie bell -- the bernie bill

has 15 democratic sponsors. single-payer and the cassidy grandma turned the system -- and the cassidy-graham turn the system topsy-turvy. same for lowy the income individuals. there will just be one initial option on the exchange. way for healthht care? is it to work with what you have, or turn it upside down? caitlin, i will come to you in thirty seconds.

senator, do you believe the nation needs a single-payer system? sen. kaine: i like more choices. if someone wants to buy on the individual market, fantastic. off my nose. i want people to have more options. mike: caitlin. caitlin: you were trying to take a middle-of-the-road approach and been very active about this deal. you have gone a lot more towards the middle. the party as a whole is talking about whether or not to do single-payer. are you afraid this is going to be, the left version of repeal and replace? but, everyone knows there is not

the votes for it at this time. isn't this mythical thing you -- that campaigning on you can't pull off? sen. kaine: there is nothing wrong with putting big ideas on the table. the block grant idea is a very different system. mine is big. tableare ideas on the that come out of a bipartisan background. there was reinsurance in the first three years of the aca that expired. kept premiums down for everyone in dick stockton this mechanism -- for everyone and established this mechanism.

we use it for flood insurance, medicare, three years under the aca with republican support. are more basic ideas. minnesota and alaska are using reinsurance properly. bill --ander-of myrrh a bill giveser-murray this a little bit of a posh. -- gives this a little bit of a push. you may see the next bipartisan thing we do. congress owes the american public some important thing where we can save we work together -- can say we work

together. that is why we need to focus on getting this deal passed. mike: caitlin, you good? caitlin. -- jump in, sen. kaine: her face says, nice try. [laughter] caitlin: this sexy guys up for disappointing the base -- this sets you guys up for disappointing the base. sen. kaine: i do that every day. that is my occupational hazard. good policy is good politics. listening -- the open to listening to good ideas -- be open to listening to good ideas.

we will have to listen to the ideas of others. this to talk questions and make it public. no one should be afraid of making their case. are just back from puerto rico. tell us what your bottom line is. sen. kaine: the magnitude of the disaster is hard to convey. i was there two weeks ago. wow.lized, we had a massive hurricane in virginia. it knocks out power in one fourth of your state. there are hotels open. schools are functioning. people can move while you were tried to fix this one part of your state. cut right across

the island in puerto rico. lost access to power, food, roads, every jurisdiction. yet been ae has not response that says, you were an american as someone in florida is. american asn someone in florida is. i would see the indiana utility in virginia trying to get the great backup -- trying to get the grid up. mike: how would you grade the administrative response? sen. kaine: as a d. i don't know why the utility mutual aid agreements weren't kicking in. we asked, and you said, you weren't sure could pay.

-- you weren't sure you could pay. where else in america would people tolerate, if power is back on in it 25% of the state, that is ok. we would not tolerate this and anywhere else in the united states. rico has one of the most notable records in the military since world war i, in our military. we shouldn't tolerate this. mike: another good tweets there -- good tweet there for axios. your thoughts about iran and north korea. sen. kaine: three problems the president is doing with iran. mike: it didn't just make you

mad -- >> it really scares me. when the head of the joint chiefs and the secretary of defense and the secretary of state are saying iran is c omplying, any step backward is extremely problematic and suggest we don't value diplomacy. in 2003, iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. iaeant to war, and the was right. brings backack -- all these bad memories of experts being overruled. if the president wants congress to rethink the deal, what is iran going to renegotiate?

iran back on the path to finding a nuclear weapons program. and we're in the midst of a negotiation with north korea. deal is less than 20% of a that it will be passed, but it is more than 0%. --youary and mattis drop to 0% that north korea will ever do a deal. you have given us a great tour of the landscape, especially on health care. would you come back in six months and tell us what progress has been made? sen. kaine: i would be glad to. mike: thank you so much.

[applause] from dental. >> we are trying to save south dakota. there are obvious challenges. transportation. some people have no water. senator cassidy: we see a lot of kids -- senator cassidy: we don't know -- >> we'll know what is going to happen. -- we don't know what is going to happen. next we will take the office to the people. truck don't just buy a

and deliver care. you have to ask how you are going to make this visit successful. you have to have your heart in the right place. >> bringing this into the community is huge. -- parents are thrilled their kids can get cavities filled. of insurances are not accepting anymore. we can get the kids fixed. >> smiles or how you get your first job, how do you meet and greet people on the street. >> this is everything. >> you know the power when you see a child's smile.

when they feel like they can smile, that gives them the ability to do anything. mike: we're honored to welcome to the stage, senator cassidy, republican of louisiana. and an actual doctor. thank you so much. us what you practiced in. gastroentology. if you are over 50, you get it. mike: thank you for joining us.

yesterday, there was a compromised announced by alexander and murray. will you support this? cost sharey: reduction payments has been ruled unconstitutional. congress has done something. we can begin to lower the cost of health care. there needs to be something done allowsrmanently that this to be limited within the interim. mike: will president trump support this? sen. cassidy: he said he would. what would you say is the outlook for this? it is good.: mike: did you pressure plan to much -- did you rush your plan

too much? w --us your pl;aand and plan and what happened. sen. cassidy: the plan was begun with cassidy-collins, which envisioned that states could implement a program. receive that block grant and do what they have been doing. nothing would have changed. but in tennessee, where the individual market has imploded, of course. you need to do something different. dy-collins envisioned that. we had attempted to socialize that with the other party for eight months. no one was interested.

republican leadership failed. i had a few weeks to put together an alternative. if you asked if it happened too quickly, if you consider cassid progenitor, ihe would say no. cassidy-graham, to get our policy changed, we were working 18 hours a day and didn't have a chance to push back the left, which was misrepresenting the bill. in that case, it was clearly done too quickly. i totally accept the criticism it did not go through the committee process. learn aboutid you what it takes to get people

comfortable with such a massive change? sen. cassidy: i am going to dispute the idea it is a massive thege, except in so far status quo is failing. california loves what they are doing and can continue. mike: what did you learn about what does and doesn't work? sen. cassidy: some people pushed back and got what they wanted. they wanted it for twenty years when they wrote it for ten. we said it had to be reauthorized, and there would not have been a fall off. but if you s cored -- scored it for 20 years, it does look like

there are fewer resources for states. standard and poor picked that up. people are going to push back, however misleading. the problem for republicans is that all kinds of protections for pre-existing conditions are written throughout the aca. republicans have to figure out where they are going to draw a line. if more states have more control, sick people will be worse off. sen. cassidy: i disagree. that reveals the prejudice of washington dc, which is that, you cannot trump the governor. there is a thought that people have to be protected against a governor,rupt

scheming to take away health insurance, even though that governor is up for reelection or has been recently elected. we specifically say in the bill that if a state wishes to do something different, he must do ishat whatever they adequate and affordable for those with pre-existing conditions. agreement, the waivers now just have to show themselves to be of comparable affordability. there is little room -- wiggle room, the kind of language we have. on theone here is and are underket, a certain federal poverty level, you can't afford the policies now. in my state, you can pay

year to from $30,000 a $45,000 a year. that is not affordable for families with pre-existing conditions. it turns out, i am right. no lies? sen. cassidy: none. i have to give context. i think he said, the total will be $46,000. that is not affordable, but that is status quo. we allow states to come up with a system that is affordable. replace,you repeal and the number of people who lose >> we could have more coverage

under grant cassidy under the status quo. everything you are saying i'm disputing, but that was echoed by the left. if you actually think about what we proposed, we would allow states to do so-called automatic enrollment. you are in unless you are out. medicare.e is if you turn 65, you are on medicare. you can call them and say you don't want to be, but otherwise you were on. we would allow states to do what enrollment.tomatic if you are eligible, you get a premium sufficient for your annual premium. a state that elects this. costng lower the overall because you are spreading the cost of the few sick over the many healthy. we would end up under that scenario, more people enrolled then under status quo. >> you are committing yourself to introducing and supporting a

plan under which a number of people is zero. >> it would be up to a state. washington, d.c. does not in the, but it is invested interest of the state to have as many people in shirt if possible. i am all about people having coverage. my background was trying to bring coverage to those who did not. we have families, 6 million penalty, asg the opposed to purchasing insurance 78% of those households have adjusted gross income of $50,000. workingmitted to those families being able to afford insurance under status quo, they cannot. >> do you plan to revise this plan in 2018? >> yes. change.y things have to

it.re going to socialize this should have been a better process. under grant cassidy -- >> are using there should have been a better process? >> i said that all along. gave us untillure the end of september to put it together. we were under research for much of that time. hearings.ee i agree there should be a better process. under grant cassidy there would be billions with more in virginia than care for working families. they have a history of talented governors who would be able to take those dollars and do something and virginia that would expand coverage for the working uninsured. similarly, missouri would get billions more under graham

cassidy. i just listed to states represented by democratic senators. i can also list maine, florida, wisconsin, indiana, and others that would do far better. it's the same congress, mostly the same players, you don't have the votes, would you do about that? >> some people complaining about voting no, they complained about the process. we now have more time for a better process. think we canto socialize it among our democratic colleagues. they have finally showed a willingness to give a little bit aca.ca -- on the senator murray's and alexander's worked out. they get more for working families, families who cannot now.d insurance

maybe i need to look at this a little bit more closely, not through the limbs of policy -- policy politics. senator, what difference did jimmy kimmel make? kimmel, a couple things. his son --how can you not feel for this? he was born with a congenital heart disease -- >> your wife's a doctor? >> yes, retired breast cancer surgeon. i can imagine what happened. the child was born, the nurse and doctor realized the child was blue. they made a diagnosis, they knew he would die before the mother and father held. who cannot relate to the emotional response? first episode in

which i said we should have a test to make sure his child is addressed. help to find the terms of a debate. that was so positive. he later came after me and talked to schumer, he never called me. i wish he had. not to confront, but to explain. >> have you talked to him? >> no. >> we will make that happen. thereer graham cassidy, would be families in virginia, texas, florida, maine, indiana, missouri, who would now have access. they would have billions of dollars of resources to help purchase insurance and help those families in ways they otherwise would not have. >> did the coverage of jimmy kimmel's statements something

group support at the capital? >> i don't think it cost me votes, democrats were going to vote for it anyway. they were not going to. 10 democrats when i was trying to push cassidy collins all said they were touching it -- they weren't touching it. >> you covered a lot year. something i want to touch on, minding this idea that you are saying no one will lose coverage under your plan. the ability tout put in plans that would avoid it or even expand coverage, but i can dictate what a state does. >> the thing about your plan is the shifted money are among states. who gets what. states that didn't expand medicaid generally did it. red states that it expand medicaid lost a lot of money. california being a great example

of a blue state. i think this plan is shifting these resources. even if it didn't result in a net loss of coverage, how do you justify that lost in california and the people that would almost inevitably lose coverage there? turn, honey last democratic senators to support your plan? ask democratic senators to support your plan? >> the state gets billion more in resources under status quo to support our plan. it begs the answer. of course the people in the state do far better. going to earlier, a transfer of wealth from blue states to read. not really. the red states, which is not expanded, do have a significant

growth. but the blue states that are already expanded and up with far more money because they are getting an amount over time and the red states are growing over time. virginia, maine, florida, all represented by democratic senators. i reject the implication that it is partisan. we also work to mitigate. so under graham cassidy, new york was held harmless. massachusetts was held harmless. there are a couple of states that actually did have money relative to current law that they lost. let me ask you. should the federal taxpayer the on the hook for no matter what expense the state passes on to the federal taxpayer? if you have a high cost state which is deliberately put any system of care which is known to be far higher cost than other states, should the federal taxpayers subsidize those decisions?

hopeu say yes, there is no for controlling health care costs. because a state legislator can give us a special deal to unions or hospitals, the federal taxpayer should have the ability to say there should be some cap on how much is going out. if you compare this state to other states. actuallything, states have the ability to reimpose some of the penalties that graham cassidy did away with. the employer mandate and the individual mandate, for example. if you reimpose those penalties, that gives the state a lot of money that they can then use to subsidize their system. the head of covered california was reinstituting the health insurance fee. i'm fuzzy on that. reinstituting one of the fees that was going to be lost under trump's executive asked them -- action. he would use it to subsidize the

policy. states could have done that, example.a proved the california didn't have to lose resources, they just had to levy the taxes on themselves as opposed of getting them from the federal government. >> you are going to stay at ground zero, would you be willing to come back in six months and update us on progress? >> absolutely. it's an lsu tie. is this something you have in common with james carville? .> he is a big lsu fan lsu football, you can sit there and rub shoulders with people you otherwise disagree with and who cares. we should be able to put politics aside every now and then. >> thank you for great conversation. see you in six months.

we are going to hear from jason don delta dental vice president of relations, and i will be right back. >> good morning. this is the part of the programs were a guy reads to you, so get ready. i hope you enjoyed and were moved by the video we just watched. it truly captures. who we are at delta dental and what we care about. i understand we are not here to talk about dental care, it's our belief that the current health policy conversation needs to include oral health. polling shows 90% of americans view dental benefits as a critical part of the public debates around health care legislation. according to the kaiser family foundation, in 2015, more than a quarter of uninsured adults went without needed dental care due to costs.

importantly, research from the institute of medicine, and many other sources shows oral health is a critical component of overall health. a positive effect on overall health and well-being, and reflects general health conditions, and the social and medical impacts of oral diseases in children is substantial. to be happy and healthy, americans need access to high-quality medical and dental benefits. everybody needs both. -- as them discussion reform discussion moves forward, we believe oral health should be essential to be able to achieve overall health. is one of the most experienced dental benefits providers we believe we are the perfect partner in helping americans achieve optimal overall health. at delta dental, we live and breathe oral health, it's our only priority. we consider this partnership with axial's to be an

opportunity to elevate this in the broader health conversation. we are underlining this event and another event we will hold earlier next year. thank you so much for joining us, i will have things back over to mike. >> thank you for the partnership, i appreciate it very much. thank you for making this possible. honor to welcome senator lamar alexander, chairman of the senate health education, labor, and pensions committee. have been covering you since i had hair and you had flannel. >> that's a long time. >> senator caitlin owens always has the newsbreak. she just whispered is group to me. . she said you just got off the phone with president trump, what did he say? he wanted to be encouraging

about the bipartisan agreement that senator murray and i announced yesterday. number two, he intends to reveal carefully, see if he wants to add anything to it. but still for block grants, he's going to focus on tax reform this year. i was thinking this morning, it's sort of a parlor game that president trump doesn't know what he's doing, on health care he probably does. in september, against the mitch,of paul ryan and he sort of cleaned up the last half of september so the senate can consider the cassidy graham bill that you just talked about. engineered the bipartisan agreement that senator murray and i cannot yesterday. he talked to senator schumer and encourage them to ask murray to do it. he called me twice over the last 10 days to talk to me about a bipartisan agreement for the short term so people aren't

hurt. he checked in this morning. >> why did he just say he's for it? >> i think he wants to reserve his options. what we're going to do is, we have a number of republican and democratic senators. we are going to introduce the bill on thursday, but on the senate floor some people can see it. then we will see where it goes from there. will be a part of discussions between the president, speaker ryan, senator schumer, mitch mcconnell. i believe it will pass before the end of the year. my experience as usually the most ideas fail for the lack of idea. this is a very carefully thought out compromise. it advances some republican principles that haven't been advanced in eight years. some democratic ones, as well. i think it will happen before the end of the year. i appreciate the fact that he

encouraged me to do it and i understand the fact that a president, whether any president, would want to review it and maybe try to add something to it to make it a part of a larger negotiation before it's done. indicate how he feels about it? busy --ad it, he's been he hasn't already, he's been busy. he called me 10 days ago and encouraged me to do it. i was impressed with the fact that he was willing -- he understands the bill -- the graham cassidy bill doesn't take effect until 2020 or 2021. what do you do in the meantime? when you don't want to do is create chaos and hurt millions of americans by skyrocketing premiums. some counties where they can buy insurance, the congressional budget office has said that without the patient -- payments,

up to 60 million americans might live in counties where they can buy insurance. toos is a four lane highway a single-payer solution. it's a birthday present from birth -- bernie sanders. i think the president is shrewd to understand that there's a gap here that needs to be filled. the only way to fill it is by bipartisan agreement on the one we suggested yesterday. alluded the fact that there are sometimes questions that you're the president mastery of policy, but in health care, you believe he doesn't know what he's doing. tell us about that. >> i think i just did. in september, he cleared the way so he can deal with the cassidy bill. he recognized there's a gap in this case, and worked with me so that i would work with eddie murray and produce a bipartisan agreement to fill the gap. >> what do you believe, based on what he said, about what his big

goal is? what he's trying to achieve? >> i think it's the same as mine, which is to move more decisions about the kind of policies that are written for backcans out of washington in the states so people have more choices and lower prices. that's 80% of the dispute that's created a partisan stalemate over the last eight years. the three or four steps in the alexander murray agreement that move in that direction is the first such steps we've had in eight years. there also is a compromise, democrats have some things, too. windon't get a conservative without a result. results,t had any we've had a lot of speeches, a lot of lost votes, that's not a conservative victory. >> have you had copied this morning -- have you had coffee this morning?

>> no i haven't. >> you been to the gym, you are relaxed, you can take this question. do you want republicans to revive full-blown repeal and replace in 2018? >> i expect the president to recommend that, and senator kassidy cook introduce a bill to do that. if he does, i would vote for it. >> the believe it will pass? >> i don't predict the senate very well. that thet forget alexander murray agreement will probably in one form or another pass before the end of the year. i hope it will. the major problem with the affordable care act is what i many of theoo decisions about the kind of insurance policies that are written are written in washington. it doesn't take into account what happens in the states. we want toes, i know help people even more than people in washington do.

we can make decisions about that, we can lower prices, and offer more choices. that's what that's about that's what we will for it,. is going to ask a question in 30 seconds. but first, is there a risk with the way this is being done? is there a risk that insurance companies will say this roller coaster is too much is just not worth the trouble,? two-year bridge to whatever comes next is something that insurance companies can easily plan for. set, buts are mostly they would have plenty of time rates. a 2019 we are trying to make sure consumers get the benefits of the payments in 2018, not that insurance companies.

in 2019, consumers automatically will get those benefits. we passed our if agreement before the end of the year, it will have some effect on rates in 2018. in 2019, rates will go down. >> you are one of the great minds in the republican party, someone who actually knows the country. as you look ahead to a tough midterm election next year, are you fortunate that repeal and replace didn't pass? are you fortunate that you don't want hundred percent own it? >> i don't think so. person, that'sed why we announced that agreement yesterday. i want to get something done while i'm here. we did with no child left behind, that was the biggest evolution of federal powers of states in 25 years. that was a result. i don't know if we get elected or unelected based on that, it's the reason i'm here. i would like it to succeed -- i would like to secede on cheney

-- sexy on changing the corner where -- the world to act. executive orders are another way. look ated to take a new the affordable care act, i would like to see power move out of washington to the states. i don't know what the effects of that would be in the november elections in 2018, but it's what we ought to be doing. you areaccomplishment, talking to a young senator, someone who wants to be a leader and accomplish things. what is the secret to passing something bipartisan? what is the secret to pulling off -- give me something modest. >> get to know them, there's no secret. if you don't know each other, you don't know the areas of agreement. don't always try to do something comprehensive. go one step at a time, that i you get where you want to go. have a lot of patience. keep your word, those are things that are important.

if you do that, you can get a result. i like working with senator murray, she is a part of the democratic leadership, we don't agree on a lot. but she can do all of those things that i just mentioned. i have a few questions. about this deal that you reached yesterday. some conservatives are already blasting it as insurance bailout -- insurer bailout. if you successfully passed this bill and sign it into law, is this a win for republicans, something trump gets to say he forced video? or is it -- forced the deal? or is it something that republicans say they only passed in -- an insurer bailout? conservative victory requires a result. had been eight years, we've

50 votes to repeal obamacare, we lost them all. we made 1000 speeches, got no results. the three or four results in this compromise, one is a catastrophic plan or the first time of people of all ages. medical catastrophe doesn't turn into a financial catastrophe. two is, a change in the affordability guardrail. it gives more state liketunities to do waivers the alaska waiver, the iowa waiver, the oklahoma waiver, the new hampshire waiver, all of these are different ways of doing things. the single biggest objective of republicans is to move decisions out of washington and back to the states. it also encourages interstate contacts on health insurance. it also streamlines the way the system is meant for results. results thanore

conservatives have achieved in eight years despite the votes and speeches,. passes, theif this president can say this is a deal ?e directly insulin impact diduch of an trump have? is it something he can say he owned and is responsible for a result? engineered thet bipartisan agreement by calling me and asking me to work with senator murray to do it. i talked with him three times in the last 10 days about it, including 30 minutes ago. he dashed out there is an option. if he decides in the end that it's something that he was a part of, of course it will be something he supports. i think he's been pretty screwed

in the whole process. by giving himself a bipartisan option that could give them three or four conservative wins on the way to try and get block grants again. longer-term, you said this is a bridge to whatever comes next. what is your ideal version of what comes next? >> i think bill cassidy did a good job with his bill. he's got time to improve it between now and the next time he comes up. the idea is fundamental, allow state to make more decisions about a variety of insurance policies as a goal of having more prizes and more choices. that's most of the difference with obamacare. is the step one executive order that the president issued last week. step two would be a bipartisan agreement to make sure people

aren't hurt, that we don't have chaos, that we have a few conservative wins in the meantime. step three would be whatever we can agree to on long-term change. long-term change won't take 2022. until 2021, i think the alexander murray agreement is an option, i hope it's one that congress will adopt. >> is it something you can work with senator murray on? 10 democratics -- democrats and republicans worked on it? >> this is step one, there's probably step two, there are other issues that can be considered like, the employer mandate is about to kick in. a lot of employers are about to get charged a lot of money. we can reveal that. , that would cost the money. -- we can repeal that, that would cost the money. things in theler affordable care act that could be changed in step two or three.

when you get to things like lock grant proposals or the senate bill, or the house bill, there is a fundamental difference between republicans and immigrants. democrats like the decisions -- democrats. that's why we continue to be partisan. >> did you have anything you wanted to? >> is it sustainable to have this debate every time the president changes? or do you have to divide -- the site on something that both parties can live with? >> it's better to do something that durable. one of the advantages of our tol is that nobody is trying repeal it every are, because we worked it out in a consensus. senator mcconnell said the 21st century cure his bill, which we worked out last year was the most important bill in congress. it was medical miracles, speeding things through the fda, very contentious and hard to do. no one is trying to repeal it because we had a consensus.

we have to eventually get to that on health care, it's just hard to do. in the meantime, the smart thing to do is to take step one, recognize a win when you see it. make sure people are hurt, make sure their stability -- make sure their stability. people like to get results. you don't get a conservative victory unless you get a result. you don't get a result in the senate unless you get 60 votes. we might get the block grant with 50 votes, but we will not get the results because the most important ones require 60 votes. >> there's been a fantastic tour of the landscape. as you make progress on your project, would you be willing to come back in six months and update us on how things are going? >> sure. >> thank you. as we say goodbye, tell us who the amateurs are.

>> the amateurs are tim kane and me. he has seven harmonicas, one for each key that he knows. and i have to change every time i play the piano. we perform at the resume and roots festival in tennessee at the state line. a couple months ago we had a pretty good time at the birthplace of country music. so we called ourselves honestly the amateurs, which is an accurate description. [laughter] >> i would like to thank delta dental and jason for making this possible and kaitlyn owings and my colleagues for their great coverage. thank you c-span and the viewers for joining us and all of you for coming out so early and senator alexander thank you for a fantastic conversation. [applause] >> thank you so much.

thank you for joining us. [applause] ♪ >> on monday, the senate will be back in session to consider a disaster relief bill for wildlife recovery efforts and debt relief for the national flood insurance program. senators adopted the 2018 budget -49 voteon by a 51 t last night. senator van hollen of kentucky was the only republican to vote against the measure, which kickstart republican efforts on tax reform. president trump says the vote is the first step delivering massive tax cuts for americans. next week, the house plans to take up the senate approved budget plan. as always, live coverage of the house here on c-span and the senate on c-span 2.

take a look at the first prototypes of president trump's boardwalk. -- border wall. , the to permit a home and begin testing which designs will prevent illegal immigrants from entering the united states. there are six companies who are building the prototype. contractors have until october 26 to complete their designs before testing begins. tonight i'm a we will bring you a panel discussion on recent supreme court rulings involving freedom of speech. that will be live starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. later, federal reserve chairman chair janet yellen will speak at the national economists club dinner. she met with president trump yesterday about her possible reappointment as fed chair.

live coverage of her remarks begin at 7:15 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, a look at controversial union and confederate generals during the live discussion with authors and historicalfrom a park in petersburg, virginia, starting saturday at 9:00 a.m. and sunday at 9:15 a.m. eastern, saturday at 10:00 eastern the abc scope examines resistance to the vietnam war and the draft. >> lyndon johnson is a common murderer and should be arrested for murder. think they should have the anger of the vietnamese woman whose child was burned by napalm dropped by american planes way up in the sky. that is the anger it should reflect. you have to go into the streets,

and it has to use the tactic of disruption. the american people are drunk with apathy. on sunday at 7:00, we talk with diane walker. acceptlt that i should their offers to be behind-the-scenes. every time they offered it because anytime you see the president of the united states behind-the-scenes, you learn something about the president and you see something. and it is important. i can be there for you. you cannot be there. everything i see is important. >> american history tv all weekend every weekend only on c-span3. >> this morning, first lady melania trump