that's it for this special report. fair, balanced and unafraid, greta will be back monday. tonight a special fox news reporting hour. it's pretty good. you should check it out. it starts right now. >> the year began with a victory lap. >> republicans said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest americans. obviously the agreement would raise them permanently. >> it's ending in frustration and apology. >> nobody's more frustrated than i am. >> what's behind the obama breakdown? >> there's no question we can fix this. >> the stories you haven't heard. >> obamacare, right? >> this hour fox news reporters behind the obama breakdown. from washington, d.c., here's bret. >> who'd have thunk it. a tech savvy barack obama struggling to get a website up and running. confounding democrats. washington wondering if the

progressive capstone achievement may be their undoing. a freshman senator leading his party down a road its senior statesman would rather not go. we're going to try to make sense of the last 12 months. we start with another paradox of sorts. a cadre of young, political activists, mobilizing against the president's signature legislation. ♪ november 10th, 2013. a month after the obamacare exchanges opened for business. thousands of university of miami and virginia tech fans party outside sun life stadium. but this is more than a pregame tailgate bash. it sounds a lot like a call to civil disobedience. >> hundreds of people are going

to sign up for obamacare, right? >> that's right. >> though 29-year-old evan feinberg, the president of generation opportunity, would deny that. you've been traveling the country essentially telling people, young people to ignore the law. >> no, not at all. >> oh, come on, evan. we have cameras following you around, you tell young people to opt out. >> well, no doubt we're actually telling young people to opt out. >> federal obamacare, right? you want to opt out of oba obamacare, right? >> oh, yeah. >> that's the best possible decision about their health care. they shouldn't pay three times as much for their insurance, not to get better health care for themselves but to pay for an older, sicker generation's health care benefits. >> feinberg is talking about the fact that for obama care to work, young, healthy people must pay into the system. but not make many claims on it. that way, their premiums will subsidize older, sicker people. who, statistically speaking, will use a lot more health care services.

on this day, and this venue, at least, the word seemed to be getting out. >> with obamacare i'm going to have to pay three, four times more money in health insurance for premiums and deductibles and i think that's ridiculous. >> you're basically a community organizer, aren't you? >> in a lot of ways, yes. we're trying to get them motivated and involved in ways that will make a difference. >> the obamacare scam relies on these young people being impacted. they are not. they will not sign up for this ideal and that's why this law is going to fail. >> you want this law to fail? >> our goal with this campaign is not to undermine the law. >> but evan, by doing what you're doing, you are undermining the law, if you succeed, the law does fail. >> well, that's the sign of a really, really terrible bad law. >> or at least a law that's disappointed a lot of americans for a number of reasons. >> nobody's more frustrated by that than i am. >> breaking tonight, a new health care bombshell. >> this will be a story of an

epic collapse. >> -- called the biggest political lie of the year. >> we're seeing this thing seemingly crumbling. >> millions of canceled policies. sticker shock. and, of course, the malfunctioning website. it all adds up to the most amazing spectacle of mayhem and meltdown anyone has seen in politics since watergate. said "wall street journal" columnist dan henninger. >> i don't think it's just obamacare here, i think it's the underlying idea that the democrats have promised the american people in the entire post-war period, government can provide good things on an almost limitless basis and that is being shown with this, to no longer be true. >> columnist dan henninger wrote that 2013 will be remembered as the year when the whole progressive ideal fell apart. you agree with that? >> no, i don't agree with that. >> freshman congressman john delaney a maryland democrat acknowledges obamacare's rough

start but says suggestions that progressiveism may be dead are greatly exaggerated. >> the progressive movement is about reform, the progressive movement is about making investment in our kids so they can compete in a global and technology enabled world. the progressive movement is about adjusting to climate change. that's what i think the progressive movement is about. for 100 years, american liberals had been lusting to create a truly nationalized health care system. >> charles kessler with the author of a book on president obama and his place in the progressive movement. >> under linden johnson they created medicare and medicaid but that was far from being universal health coverage. when bill clinton failed liberals and conservatives both thought this is it, we have seen the high water mark of liberalism. but lo and behold, along comes barack obama and does the thing which had seemed impossible. this was their holy grail. >> their entire identity is

wrapped up in the success of this law. >> conservative columnist george will. >> for a century progressiveism has said, we will have progress, bliss and paradise, if, but only if, you concentrate more and more power in the hands of all-seeing, super competent experts who can do things normal americans can't do. that's what progressiveism is. >> that's the tragedy for this as a person who supports progressive government. >> but kearsen powers says the problem is in the execution of obamacare. not the idea behind it. >> it really feeds into the conservative argument that the government is dysfunctional, that they can't handle anything, you know, that they'll skrup up anything that they touch. >> obamacare is a turning point against big government. young people are hearing about this law. they're feeling its effects firsthand and they are running away from big government as fast as they can. >> if that's true, and some polls suggest it is. that would seem to be a stunning

turnabout for the white house and this president. twice elected with the overwhelming support of millennials. we will hear more from them later. but how did the obama breakdown begin? it's a story box news reporting cameras watched unfold throughout the year. in cities, and towns around the country. as well as in the nation's capital where politicians had to swallow some tough medicine. our investigation continues when we return.

in a fox news poll taken at the beginning of 2013, 83% of americans said government spending was out of control. one attempt to stem the red ink was the sequester. a sort of parliamentary doomsday machine no sane lawmaker would dare set in motion.

that was the theory. would it hold? >> -- actually see anything changing until we do hit the government collapsing? >> i hope not. >> january 31st, bucks county, georgia. >> i believe in the constitution as our founding fathers made it. >> that's congressman paul brown. president obama had republicans like him in mind when he proposed the sequester. back in 2011. >> if we went back to the original intent of the constitution we wouldn't have a debt ceiling problem. >> people need to remember what the sequester is, how it came about. and that was over a fight over the debt ceiling. >> a fight andrew mccarthy of the national review says was picked by tea party republicans like brown. >> a lot of the professional politicians of both parties said, oh, they're crazy. they're going to cause us to default. they're going to throw the world economy into chaos. but eventually they forced a

deal with the sequester on an unwilling washington. >> the deal was this. if republicans and democrats could not cut $1.2 trillion out of the growth of spending over ten years, automatic cuts would kick in. half would come from domestic spending. half from defense. that's why brown was torn over the sequester last winter. he desperately wants to downsize the government. except for the pentagon. >> we need to make targeted tests but we need to have a strong national defense. we need to spend more money on the military. the white house's calculation was that republicans would not be able to tolerate the sequester because of its impact on the defense budget. >> but former clinton adviser william galston says the sequester revealed something few in washington expected. >> itturned out to be an x-ray of changes inside the republican party.

where the automatic reflex of being pro-defense has been at least overlaid with an equally important impulse toward smaller government. >> it would take months for that x-ray image to fully develop. >> i think both parties have a sense that this would be a negative event for the economy. >> remember maryland congressman john delaney? well on february 12th, he headed to his first state of the union address. >> i don't think a sequester is going to happen. >> defense cuts were supposed to be a poison pill for republicans. >> yes. >> they were never going to swallow it back in the conventional wisdom of the past. >> the president of the united states. >> democrats, republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in washington as the sequester, are a really bad idea. >> true.

but they disagree on how to avoid them. republicans want entitlement reform. the president asks for higher taxes, and new spending programs. >> i'm announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs. use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an energy security trust. put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs. make high quality free school available to every single child in america. redesign america's high schools so they better equip graduates. >> our taxes on job reducers, more spending will continue to destroy jobs. >> the sequester showdown and one telling moment was after the state of the union. was that speech a turning point that some republicans said, he's not hearing us? this thing is going to kick in. >> the president's not hearing the american people. they want spending cuts. and they see that as the only mechanism where spending cuts are actually taking place.

>> turns out the republicans almost liked the poison. it was clearly a blunder by the president. it was just a complete misreading of the opposition. >> it will eviscerate job creating investments in education and energy and medical research. >> the president tried to convince the public that the sequester cuts would be too painful to bear. >> border patrol agents will see their hours reduced. fbi agents will be purr lowed. federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go. >> the president went in to full chicken little mode. the sky is falling, he said. in fact, planes are going to fall out of the sky. >> air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks. which means more delays at airports across the country. thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off. >> the problem is, only a minority of americans fear the cuts. more think they'll have a positive effect. or make no difference at all. more ominous, perhaps, for the president, nearly half the

country thought he deliberately exaggerated the effects of those cuts. to try to scare people. and so, on march 1st, a unified republican caucus lets the sequester cuts go into effect. were democrats surprised that they actually did? >> i think each side was surprised. the democrats thought the republicans would be so upset about the defense cuts they'd never let it happen. the republicans thought the democrats would be so concerned about cuts to education and things like that that they'd never let it happen. >> and here it did. >> here it did. >> the sequester cuts only a small percentage of increases in federal spending. but that was still a huge accomplishment for small government conservatives. then, december 10th. democrat and republican negotiators agree to set aside the sequester, and increase spending, though they say their deal reduces the deficit. tea party groups howl. speaker john boehner bites back. >> frankly i just think that they've lost all credibility.

>> december 12th, the house passes the bill. but 62 republicans vote no, including tea party conservative paul brown. >> does this budget agreement roll back what republicans say they accomplished with the sequester? >> absolutely. there's no question. we've got to stop spending. and we've got to do it today. because that's the only way to stop this federal government that's out of control. >> months ago, you predicted that the gop would agree to ease the sequester. but that was before an ill-fated tea party power play that began in earnest last summer. >> thank you. >> coming up, the limits of leverage. inside the long shot fight to defund obamacare.

months before the new obamacare exchanges were to go into effect, nearly three times as many voters said the law made them worry, rather than reassure. that's according to a fox news poll in late june. in late july, a majority of americans wanted it repealed. a new generation of gop lawmakers, who thought they saw a way to do that were selling their strategy last august. >> i am very pleased to introduce senator ted cruz. >> 42-year-old ted cruz of texas is the son of a cuban refugee father, and a working-class, irish-american mother. princeton, harvard law, supreme court clerkship, the youngest state solicitor general in the u.s. he ran for senate in 2012, upset

the gop favorite, and headed to washington with what he believed was one overriding mandate. repeal every word of obamacare. >> i promised texans, i'm going to do everything i can to stop this failed law. >> thank you. >> you have someone who's doggedly determined. i've been in politics. i know horseplay. >> democrat pat caddell began working in politics when jimmy carter was still a candidate for president. >> you have someone who has been in the senate five months? he's the focus of the president, the vice president, every democratic mailing, because they smell something that scares them. >> the most significant divide right now, it's not between republicans and democrats. it is between the entrenched politicians of both parties. and the american people. if the path to getting this done depends upon convincing people in smoke-filled rooms in

washington, it can't be done. the only way this happens is if we break out a traditional washington rule. >> getting this done means killing obamacare before it fully takes effect. >> between now and september 30th, we need to stand up, and defund obamacare. >> september 30th is when funding for the gofrt expires. cruz says that gives congressional republicans extraordinary leverage. >> the house of representatives should pass a continuing resolution that funds every penny of the federal government. everything in its entirety, except obamacare. >> what are the senators telling you, then? >> there was significant resistance internally. a lot of people were urging that we had just come through the sequester battle and we need to focus on that. >> there is a new paradigm.

>> you have health care, so can we. you have health care, so can we. you have health care, so can we. you have health care, so can we. >> he has got incredible talent. he's not afraid for a fight and to have the judgment that goes with it, to be able to think through the policies. >> here's what you hear on capitol hill, senator cruz is incredibly bright, princeton, harvard, supreme court clerkship. all that. but he's not commonsense smart about how to operate on capitol hill. >> if the measure is do you play the washington games, if you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours, then they're right. >> when you first heart of senator ted cruz's defund obamacare effort what did you think? >> i thought there was no chance whatsoever that president obama or democrats in the senate would vote to defund his signature piece of legislation. >> senator ron johnson, a wisconsin republican, was elected in the tea party wave of

2010. >> cruz and others were pushing this defund effort. they were raising money around the country to pressure republicans to support it. you didn't like that. >> i certainly would have preferred the political pressure to be applied to democrats that actually support obamacare, as opposed to republicans that, you know, share the goal. >> do you think democrats have fought harder to enact legislation that they've been trying to push through than republicans? >> they have followed through on their principles. and i think republicans ought to have the same commitment to principles. >> were you surprised the defund effort went as far as it did? >> no, because i think any kind of fight, whether it had any chance for success or not, resonated with the people who were so concerned about what obamacare means to our health care system, to our federal budget, to our personal freedoms. >> and to the economy. every year of a 29-er? you didn't before obamacare. fox's reporting continues when we return.

obamacare passed in 2010, on the heels of the financial meltdown. the president pitched it as an economic boon to the nation. it would bend the cost curve, he said, help small business. not for nothing, it was called the affordable care act. as the law takes hold, the economy's still sluggish. some americans are wondering if obamacare is one of the reasons

why. >> i want to thank all of you for joining us here today. i know i've heard from many of you -- >> august 28th, unionville, connecticut. democratic congresswoman elizabeth esty is hosting an affordable care act small business workshop. >> frankly, there's been a lot of confusing information, misinformation, uncertainty, and i want to make sure we're sort of all on the same page. >> it's a scene playing out across america. worried constituents asking what obama care will really mean for them. >> there are going to be adjustments we need to make and we'll find those out as the program rolls out. in fact the obama administration has been making adjustments to the law nancy pelosi said we had to pass so that we could find out what was in it.

1200 waivers to companies, unions, schools, and local governments, exemptions to congressional atfers, delayed deadlines, like the employer mandate. >> which again to me is smart policy. you try to do something transformative to deal with a big problem. you get a feedback loop of what facts are emerging that you couldn't anticipate. and then you make adjustments to improve. that's normal behavior. >> but it's not normal behavior, say many obamacare critics. they say, instead, it's quite literally lawlessness. >> obamacare really isn't the law in the traditional sense. a document that 2500-plus pages long can't be a law in the sense of a settled standing rule of right and wrong. >> charles kessler of the clairemont institute says the affordable care act gives to the obama administration and its bureaucrats what the notion of a

living constitution gives to activist judges. the ability to interpret the written law as they see fit. >> it is indigestible. it is incoherent. it's basically an excuse for bureaucrats and congressmen and congressional staffers, and interest groups to negotiate forever the meaning of the law. in a way that lines their pockets or favors their interests. >> equally indigestible, kesler says, the growing stack of obamacare regulations, reportedly 15,000 pages worth, 71% of americans find that over the top. while the administration issues those waivers and exemptions, the president can't suspend the law of unintended consequences. >> don't get me wrong, our stores are top performers, and so we made money, it was just on real small margins. >> bob westbrook of long view, texas, told us he won't be able

to afford to buy health care for his employees, or to pay the obamacare fines if he doesn't. so he unloaded two of his pizza franchises, while he says he could still get a good price for them. >> just the penalty alone was going to be thousands of dollars more than what we even made out of the three stores. >> obamacare has put into our language some new, interesting phrases. there are now 49-ers. 49-ers are companies with 49 employees who are just not going to get a 50th employee because it triggers all kinds of expenses and coercions under obamacare. and then there are 29-ers. people working 29 hours a week who aren't going to be allowed to work a 30th hour week because obamacare stipulates that someone who works 30 hours a week is a full-time employee. >> when you hear that, what do you think? >> i think in fairness, it's inconclusive whether that's happening or not. there's clearly examples of that happening and there's clearly examples of that not happening.

>> by summer's end, 57% call the way obamacare is being carried out a joke. some urgently worry that a government program so big and so complicated will be impossible to uproot once it takes hold. >> what is your gut? do you have confidence? >> which is why some folks here in rome, georgia, are pushing their congressmen to move ahead with his plan to kill the law now. >> i want to tell you, you better buckle your straps it's going to get a little bit interesting. >> tom graves' bill to defund obamacare is the first he's ever written. it will soon pit republican against republican. >> the best thing you could do is just turn off the tv for a month, all right? you'll sleep a lot better. >> coming up, nothing focuses the mind like a deadline. and three of them loom over washington.

brute political power. that's how democrats passed the affordable care act. but obamacare also fuelled a tea party backlash that gave republicans control of the house of representatives. did that toehold also give conservatives the leverage to kill the law? two new senators elected with strong tea party support thought so. ted cruz of texas, and utah's mike lee. september 10th. washington, d.c. >> only you can win this fight. >> the tea party is tired of losing. republican successes, they think, have succeeded only in delaying and minimizing the

inevitable swelling of washington's power. they want us to begin to win. and that frustration points you in a direction of an urgent strategy, and set of tactics. >> if everyone who purports to be against obamacare agrees to do this, we can defund it. we can and we must, and together we will. >> right after the rally, i sat down with cruz and lee. you've been talking about this as a last chance to get rid of obamacare. do you believe that? >> what i've described it as is the last chance before obamacare kicks in on january 1st. and that's significant. because we know that when a major entitlement program kicks in in this country, it's really hard to get rid of it. >> we've got 20 days between now and september 30th shs -- >> congress is given the power of the purse, but it's a meaningless power. if you don't say to the executive branch, we are going to, as ted cruz might say,

defunding things. if you're not willing to use the powers that the framers gave you, to rein in executive excess, you are inviting more executive excess. and the wielding of power. >> senator cruz may be the most visible leader of the defund effort. but tom graves of georgia is the congressman who sponsored the bill in the house that would fund the government only if obamacare was zeroed out. he told us of his impassioned plea to get house republicans behind it. >> it was here in my heart. i cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that i did all i could do for them if we don't do everything right now. as i concluded my remarks, there was applause throughout the conference. >> it was the first bill that graves had ever written. it passed. setting up a shutdown showdown with the democratic controlled senate. >> i think it showed us exactly how far the tea party is willing to go.

which was not completely clear before that. i find it to be a game changer. >> i rise today in opposition to obamacare. >> vowing to use every procedural measure to fight on in the senate, cruz takes the floor on september 24th at 2:41 p.m. >> i intend to speak in support of defunding obamacare until i am no longer able to stand. the whole debate we're having here today is not over strategy. everyone in america understands that obamacare is destroying jobs. >> he speaks for 21 hours, 19 minutes. >> the hour of noons aarrived. pursuant to the order -- >> and then, as expected, the senate strips out the defund language. >> obamacare is dead, dead. >> if that fight if everything went your way the president would have vetoed that thing to defund and you would have been back to -- >> well, not necessarily.

listen, it's made the case to the american people that obamacare wasn't working. i think the political pressure on the president would have been considerable. now, would he have somehow needed some sort of face saving retreat about, well, this is not repealing it, it's a delay until we get our act together? sure. but i think that could potentially have been achievable. if we had been united. >> in fact, a fax news poll taken at the time found a sizable minority of americans actually did want to defund the law, and a majority liked the idea of delaying it. that's what the house tried next. passing a bill funding the government but delaying obamacare one year. >> we're not going to bow to tea party anarchist. >> to senate democrats delay was as much a nonstarter as defund. >> obamacare is the law of the land and remaining the law of the land as long as i'm senate majority leader. >> the partial government shutdown arrived. >> the affordable care act is

moving forward. that funding is already in place. you can't shut it down. starting tomorrow, tens of millions of americans will be able to visit healthcare.gov to shop for affordable health care coverage. >> october 1st. the big moment. but healthcare.gov crashes upon launch. >> now, like every new law, every new product rollout, there have going to be some glitches that we will fix. >> were you surprised that this rollout had gone so poorly? >> yes. >> really surprised? >> yes. shocked. the team that was working on this let the american people down and let the president down >> if the website was a debacle for democrats, the shutdown was one for republicans. says gop senator ron johnson of wisconsin. >> i wished we would have pursued delay. i think we would be looking like political geniuses had we demanded delay. >> senator cruz would say, hey, listen, they got the delay very quickly once the house sent over its legislation, the next

negotiating ploy, once senator reid said no, was to say, okay, what about a one-year delay. >> well, i think the original demand was viewed by the american public as unreasonable. and as a result, kind of armed harry reid and president obama to dig in their heels and continue to point to republicans as just being utterly unreasonable no matter what we proposed later on. >> but george will said democrats didn't seem particularly reasonable, either. >> the president followed his sequester falling, the sky is falling, the earth is coming to an end, with, oh, my goodness, government shutdown, we have to first build a fence around an open-air world war ii memorial so we can say we've closed it. and he looked like a foolish and vindictive man. >> soon another deadline approached. the debt ceiling. again. that turned out to be one showdown too many for congressional republicans who were being blamed most by an angry public for shutting down the government. >> you had leadership in both

parties come together and say, let's jack up the debt ceiling, let's keep spending. let's keep borrowing money and let's not provide meaningful relief to obamacare. >> why didn't you try to block the final deal? >> i could have delayed it a day or two. that would have had no impact on the outcome. i'm interested in fighting fights where you can make a meaningful difference for the american people. >> the real problem with what mr. cruz did was he turned to decent, devoted, conservative americans, and said, i got a shortcut. there aren't any shortcuts. it was to me an act of supreme irresponsibility to arouse the republican base, good, hard-working, devoted people ardent to have limited government, but to arouse them for a crusade that he had to know he couldn't win. >> george will, who i have great respect for, is wrong. i think a political movement has to be a movement. it can't -- it can't sit on its hands.

it has to stand for things in order to attract political support. i think that as obamacare rolls out, what they're going to remember is that cruz was right, and that the people who didn't want to fight this thing were wrong. >> americans were as split as mccarthy and will over the defund fight, according to a fox news poll taken at the time. 46% saw it as a waste of time. exactly the same number saw it as an important effort. that included 59% of republicans and 74% of tea partiers. >> god bless texas! >> so it's not so surprising, senator cruz returned to a hero's welcome back home. by november, with the government shutdown in the rear view mirror, and the troubled obamacare rollout front and center, republicans erased an eight-point democratic lead in

the generic congressional ballot. the gop was now up by three. meanwhile, conservative efforts to kill the law continued. with skirmishes in venues you wouldn't expect.

welcome back. conservative republican lawmakers tried to defund the affordable care act and failed. but that hardly meant the law was succeeding. its wobbly rollout presented a fresh opportunity to a new generation of anti-obamacare activists who had been waiting to take the fight to the streets. >> well, if the markets are

panicking, they have yet to show it. >> reporter: october 1st, 2013. arlington, virginia. >> they're having glitches the first day? how many young people will go back the second, third and fourth day hoping it's better than today? >> reporter: the staff of opportunity gathered to watch the obamacare rollout. >> they can't even get exchanges to work so the people who are signing up can. it's pretty funny. >> we completely expected that the obama administration given all the tech-savvy individuals they had worked with in the past did better. they were used to technology working to see such a huge failure from the government. >> as this continues to have bugs, we continue to voice our message. >> here's to six months to educating young americans about their health care. >> reporter: meanwhile, an emphatic promise was coming back to haunt the president. >> if you already have health care, you will keep your health

insurance. if you like your plan, keep your plan. if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. end of story. >> reporter: according to a fox news poll, half of all voters believe president obama knowingly lied when he told americans they could keep their health care plan. 59% said at the very least, his administration knew many people would lose their policies. >> it's a whopper for sure. >> reporter: kirsten powers is one of 6 million americans who had to find a new insurance plan because of the affordable care act. but powers, an obamacare supporter, figured she would get better coverage on the new exchange, or at least a lower premium. >> i thought it was going to go down. he kept saying if you like your plan, you can keep it, and this is going to cut costs and people are going to get better health care for less money. >> reporter: instead, her premium doubled. >> did you guys see the e-mail

from tyler who is in virginia? >> reporter: general opportunity activists saw that happening on day one. >> he went to sign up. the cheapest plan had him at $250 a month, a $5,000 deductible, $6,300 out of pocket. >> how old is he, 22? >> yeah. he's 22 years old. >> reporter: every day seemed to bring more bad news. cancer patients losing their doctors. >> it does not allow me to keep my team, the team that's kept me alive. >> reporter: people no longer able to get care from neighborhood hospitals. massive security problems. >> do any of you today think that the site is secure? >> no. >> no. >> no. >> no. >> reporter: how bad politically do you think this is for your son? >> i think when we get the website working, i think it will pass pretty quickly. >> but congressman, you know it's bigger than that. you have a president who said you can keep your health insurance, period, and that's not a website, right?

>> right. >> reporter: you have people going on and seeing higher premiums than they thought they were going to see. are you worried the other shoe will drop? >> i'm worried that the young people won't get enrolled. it will throw off all the insurance models. >> he should be worried.'t goin sign up. >> reporter: december 11, health and human services give its latest tally of people who have signed up on the exchanges. only 365,000 and no indication of how many are young and healthy as opposed to those who are older or sick. >> there is a reason why the administration hasn't released any numbers for how many young people have signed up right now. it's because there are very, very few young people that are saying buying obamacare is good for me. >> reporter: how important is it to the success of the program? >> it's vitally important to the success, because of the 7 million people they're trying to get signed up, 2.7 million need to be young and healthy for it

to work. >> reporter: which brings us back to where we started. that tailgate party outside sun life sad yum stadium in miramar florida. >> believe it or want there, organizations out there trying to convince people not to get insurance. >> reporter: if they needed proof that it wasn't working, the white house supplied it. >> think about it. that's a really bizarre way to spend your money, to try to convince people not to get health insurance. >> reporter: doesn't he have a little bit of a point? aren't you telling kids don't get health insurance now? >> the president's comments, i think, are extremely misleading, disingenuous and downright false. there are other options better than those lousy plans offered to young people in the obamacare plan. >> reporter: those options, he says, include accident insurance, short-term plans and

health-sharing ministries that would help people from becoming bankrupt in a critical event. >> obamacare plans are lousy plans. >> i think this law will do what it's intended to do. i think it will need to be amended and fixed over time, because again, you don't reform something this size and assume you got it right the first time. >> reporter: cut and dry. >> right. now we need to implement the law, get people enrolled, fix problems that exist. >> reporter: do you think that can happen? >> i think it definitely can happen. >> reporter: not surprisingly, feinberg sides with those who say it can be fixed. and the young people stuck with the tab don't even want to try. >> we say enough. enough of the fact that less than half my generation is working full-time, less than half the debt has to be paid back by my generation. we're saying obamacare is making

our lives worse, not better. >> that's all for this portion of fox reporting. we hope you'll be back for 2014.

the o'reilly factor is on tonight. >> when you criticize something and you have no idea what you're criticizing, it undermines your credibility. >> house speaker john boehner blasting tea party groups over the budget criticism. we'll have the latest on this republican split and whether the two sides can heal the rift. >> if you like your plan and you like your doctor, you keep your plan, you keep your doctor. >> more bad news for obamacare as the president's now infamous health care plan has been dubbed the lie of the year. we'll take care of that. >> in times square, they put up a very obnoxious, in my