>> the year began with a victory lap. >> they would never raise the tax rates on the wealthiest americans. >> it is ending in frustration and apologies. >> nobody is more frustrated than i am. >> what's behind the obama breakdown? >> there's no question we can fix this. >> the stories you have never heard. fox news reporting behind the obama breakdown. from washington, d.c. here is bret baier? >> who would have thunk it? a tech savvy obama getting a web site up and running. conservative it is defense cuts come founding democrats.

they wonder if the capstone achievement may be their undoing. a freshman sen dorr leaving his party down the road a senior statesman would rather not go. we are going to try to make sense of the last 12 months. we start with another paradox of sorts a cadre of young political activists mobile liedzing again the president's signature legislation. >> november 10th, 12013 the month after the obamacare exchange's open for business. thousands of university of miami and virginia tech fans party outside sonlife said yum. >> but this is more than a free game tailgate bash. it sounds a lot like a call to civil disobedience.

>> though 29-year-old evan fineburg the president of generation opportunity would deny that. >> you have been travelling the country telling young people to ignore the law. >> not at all. >> you follow people around telling them to opt out. >> no dut we are telling them to opt out. >> you are ready to opt out of obamacare. >> they shouldn't pay three times as much for their insurance not to get better healthcare for themselves but to pay for an older sicker generation healthcare benefits. >> for obamacare 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 use a lot more healthcare services. on this day and this venue at

least the word seemed to be getting out. >> with obamacare i am going to have to pay three, four times the premium and deductibles. >> you are basically a community organization. >> in a lot of ways, yes. >> we are trying to get them motivated involved in ways that will make a difference. >> the obamacare relies on young people. they won't sign up to the bad deal that's why the law is going to fail. >> you want the law to pass? >> our goal is not to undermine the law. >> but evan by doing what you are doing you are undermining the law if you succeed the law does fail. >> that's the sign of a really really terrible bad law. >> orb at least a law that disappointed a lot of americans for a number of reasons. >> this will be a story of an

epic collapse. >> the biggest political lie of th the year. >> we have seen it crumbling. millions of canceled policies the sticker shock and the failed web site. it lay leads up to the biggest spectacle of mayhem and melt down since watergate. >> i don't think it's just obamacare failing it's the underlying idea that the democrats promised the american people in the entire post war period government can provide good things in an almost limitless basis. that's being shown with this act no longer to be true. >> columnist dan henning ger says 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. >> pressure man congressman a maryland democrat acknowledges

obamacare's rough start. but says progressivism may be dead or greatly exaggerated. >> the pro gristive movement is about making an investment in our kids so they can compete in a globally technology enabled world. it is about adjusting to climate change. that's what i think the progressive movement is about. >> people will say for 100-years american liberals had been lusting to create a truly nationalized healthcare system. >> charles kessler is the author of a book on president obama and his place in the movement. >> under johnson they created medicare and medicaid. when bill clinton failed liberals and conservatives thought this was it we had seen the high water mark of liberalism. but lo and behold along comes barack obama and does the thing which 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 progressivism is this, we will have progress, bliss and paradise if and only if we concentrate more and more power in the hands of all super c competent experts who can do things normal americans can't do. that's what progressivism is. >> that's the tragedy of this a progressive government. >> kirsten powers says the problem is in the execution of obamacare not the idea behind it. >> it feeds into the conservative argument the government is dysfunctional they can't handle anything they will screw up anything they touch. >> it is a big point against big government. young people are hearing about this law they are feeling the effects first hand and they are run ago waway from big governmet as fast as they can. >> if that is true and some polls suggest it is it would be

a stunning turn about from the white house and this president. >> with will hear more from them later. how did it begin? it is a story cameras watched unfold for years in cities and towns and in the nation's capital where they had to swallow tough medicine.

>> 80 percent of americans said government spending waudz out of control. one attempt to stem the red ink was the sec quester a parliamentary doomsday machine no sane law maker would dare set

in motion. that was the theory. would it hold? >> do you see anything changing until we hit a government scene? >> i hope not. >> january 31st. bucks county, georgia. >> that's congressman paul brown. president obama had republicans like him when mind when he proposed the sec quester 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 whit the sec quester is how it came about. that was over a fight over the debt ceiling. >> a fight andrew mccarthy says was picked by tea party republicans. >> a lot of professional politicians of both parties said they are crazy they are going to ca cause us to default and throw the world economy into chaos but

they forced a sec quest sec /* sequester on government. >> they couldn't improve the growth of spending for ten years automatic cuts would kick in half from domestic pend sending half from defense. >> that is why brown was torn over the sec quest ter. he wants to down size the government except for the pentagon. >> we need to make targeted cuts but we need to have strong national defense. we need to spend more money on the defense. >> former clinton advisor william galston says the sec quest terry vealed something they didn't expect. >> it turned out to be an x-ray of changes inside the republican

party where the automatic reflex of pro defense has been over laid with an equally important impulse toward smaller government. >> it would take months for the extra image to develop. >> i think both parties have a site this would be a negative event for the economy. remember john delaney? 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 poison pill for republicans they were not going to swallow it on the conventional wisdom of the past. >> the president of the united states. >> business leaders and economists have already said these cuts known here in washington as the sec quester 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 am announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing. oil and gas revenues to fund energy security. to put people as soon as possible on urgent repairs. make preschool available in every school in america. redesign american high schools so they better equip graduategr. >> more spending continues to destroy jobs. >> our cameras followed you through the sec questions ter sh ssh /* sequester show down. is that a point where people said he is not hearing us? is>> the president is not hearing the american people. they want spending cuts. it is the only mechanism where spending cuts are actually

taking place. >> turns out the republicans almost liked it it was clearly a blunder by the president it was a complete misreading in the opposition. >> at this rate job creating investments in energy and medical research. >> the president tried to corn vince the public the sequester cuts would be too painful to bare. >> border patrol agents will see hours reduced. fbi agents will be furloughed. federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let president go. >> he went into full chicken little the sky is falling. the planes are going to fall out of the sky. air traffic controllers and security will see cut backs which means more delays in air course. thousands of teachers and educators will be heylaid off. >> only a minority fear the cuts more think they will have a positive effect or make no difference at all more ominous perhaps for the president nearly half of the country thought he

sdlib br deliberately exaggerated the effects of the cuts to try to square people. on march 1st a unified republican caulk quack cuss let's the sec ster cuts go into effect. >> were democrats surprised they actually did? >> i think each side was surprised. they thought it would never happen and republicans thought dem prat democrats were no concerned they would never let it happen. >> the sequester cuts a small amount. it was 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 how. speaker john boehner fights back. >> i think that they have lost all credibility.

>> december if12th the house passes the bill. >> this budget agreement rolled back republicans say they accomplish with the steek test . ster -- sequester. >> we have to stop spending we have to do it today. that's the only way to stop the government. >> he predicted the gop would agree to ease the sequester but that was before the ill fated tea party power play that began in earnest last summer. coming up, the limits of leverage inside the long shot site to defund obamacare. {off-lin {off-line}

>> month before the obamacare exchanges were to go in effect nearly three times as many voters said the law made them worried rather than reassured. that's according to a pfox news poll in late june. in late july a majority of americans wanted it repealed. lawmakers who sougaw a way to d that were selling their strategy in august. >> i am 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 clerk shift the longest solicitor general in the u.s. he ran for senate in 2012 and headed to washington with what

he believed was one overriding mandate, repeal every word of obamacare. >> i am going to do everything i can to oh stop this failed law. >> you have someone who is determined. >> democrat path cadell began working politics when jimmy carter was a presidecandidate f president. >> i had someone in the past five months he's the focus the president the vice president they smell something that scares them. >> the most significant divide is 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 of traditional washington rules. >> 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 government expires. that gives congressional republicans ex fraud nature releverage. >> the house of representatives could pass a continuing resolution that funds every penny of the federal government. everything if its entirety except obamacare. >> what did the senators tell you then? >> a lot of people were urging we had just come through the sequester battle.

(chanting) >> he has incredible talent. he is not afraid of a fight. to be able to think through the policies to grow. >> entore cruz is extremely bright supreme court clerk ship but he is not common sense smart on how to operate on capitol hill. >> if the measure is do you play the washington games you scratch my back i will scratch yours then you are right. >> when you first heard of ted cruz's defund obamacare what did you think? >> i wouthought they would neve vote to stop funding obamacare. >> he was elected in the tea

party wave of 2010. cruz and others were raising money around the country to pressure republicans to support it, you didn't like that. >> i would have preferred the hole political pressure be applied to democrats who support obamacare. >> do you think creme kratz fought harder to enact legislation they have been trying to push through than republicans? >> they have followed through on their principle. 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 resinated with the people so concerned about what obamacare means to our healthcare system to federal budget and personal freedoms. >> and to the economy. ever hear of a 29er? you didn't before obamacare. fox news reporting continues when we return.

>> obamacare passed in 2010 on the heels of the financial melt down. the president pitched in as an economic boom to the nation. it would bend the cost curve help small business. it was called the affordable care act. some americans are wondering if obamacare is one of the reasons

why. >> i want to thank all of you for joining us today. i know i have heard from many of you. >> august 28th unionville connecticut democratic congresswoman elizabethest tee is hosting an affordable care act small business workshop. >> there has been a lot of confusi confusing information, misinformation and uncertainty and i want to make sure we are on the same page. >> it's a scene playing out across america. >> worried constituents asking what obamacare will really mean for them. >> (indiscernible) >> there are going to be adjustments we need to make. we will find those out as the program rolls out. >> the obama administration has been making adjustments that the law nancy polesy said we had to

pass so we could find out what was in it. 1200 waivers to companies, unions schools and lo he can cal governments exemptions to congressional staffers delayed he had deadlines like the employer mandate. >> which again to me is smart policy. try to do something transform tive to deal with a big problem. you get a feedback loop of what facts were emerging that you couldn't aroundtis pate and you make adjustments to move. >> but it is not normal behavior say many obamacare critics. they say instead it is quite literally lawlessness. >> obamacare really isn't the la you in the traditional sense. a document that is 2500 plus pages long can't be a law in the sense of a settled standing rule of right and wrok. >> charles kessler of the claremont institute says the affordable care act is to the obama administration and bureaucrats what the notion of a

living cons pughs gives to activist judges. the ability to interpret the written law as they see fit. >> it is indigestible incoherent. it is an ex clues for bureaucrats and congressman and congressional staffers and interest groups to negotiate forever the meaning of the law. in a way that lines their pockets or favors their interest. >> equally indigestible the growing stack of obamacare regulations reportedly 15,000 pages worth. 71 percent of americans find that over the top. >> while the administration issues the waivers and exempt n exemptions the president can't suspend the law of unintended consequences. >> donthey are our top performe we made money it was on small margins. >> bob rest view told us he

won't be able to buy healthcare for his employees or to pay the obamacare fines if he doesn't. he unloaded two of the 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 we made out of the three stores. >> obamacare put in our new language new phrases there are now 49ers. 49ers were companies with 49 employees who aren't going to get that 5th employee because it writi triggers all kinds of expenses in obama cave. then there are 29ers that won't be able to work 30 hours because they stipulate someone who works 30 hours a week is a full-time employee. >> when you hear that what do you think? >> it is inclusidiana conclusiv whether that is happening or

not. >> 57 percent call the way obamacare is being carried out a joke. >> some worry a government program is so big and so complicated will be impossible to up root once it takes hold. >> what is your gut? do you have confidence this is going to happen? >> which is why some peeks in rome georgia are pushing the congressman to move ahead with his plan to kill the law now. >> you better buckle your straps it will get a little interesting. >> the bill to defund obamacare is the first everett we know: written. it will pit republican against republican. >> pest thing you can do is to turn the tv off for a month. >> three of them loom over washington.

>> political power that's how democrats pass the affordable care act. obamacare also fuelled the 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 texts as 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 delay in minimizing the

inevitable as welling of washington's power. they want to begin to win. of that frustration points you in a direction of urgent strategy and set of tactics. >> if everyone who pro ports 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. >> we have been talking about this as a last chance to get rid of obamacare. would you agree with that? >> the last chance before obamacare kicks in on january 1st. that is significant. we know when a major entitlement kicks in it is really hard to get rid of it. >> congress has given the power of the purse will you it is a meaningless power. if you don't say to the executive branch we are going to start as ted cruz might

adefunding. if you are not willing to use the powers that the framers gave you to rain in executive excess you are inviting more executive excess and the law wielding of power. >> senator cruz may be the most visib visible leader of the defund effort. tom graves is the congressman who sponsored the bill in the house that would fund the government only if ouribamacares out. >> i cannot look my constituents in the eyes and tell them i did all i could do for them if we don't do everything right now as i concluded in my remarks there was applause through out the conference. >> it was the first bill that graves had ever written. it passed setting up a shut down show down with the democratic controlled senate. >> it showed how far the tea

party would go. >> it was a game changer. >> i rise in opposition of obamacare. >> vowing to use every procedural measure to pifight o in the senate cruz takes the floor at 2:41 p.m. >> i intend to support defunding obamacare. the whole debate we are having here today is not over strategy. every one in america understands obamacare is destroying jobs. >> he speaks for 21 hours 19 minutes. >> the hour has arrived pursuant to the order. then as expected, the senate strips out the defund language. >> any bill a de funds obamacare is dead, dead. >> in that if everything went your way the president would have vetoed that i think this and you would have been back to -- >> not necessarily. if you made the case to the

american people obamacare wasn't working i think the political pressure would have been considerable. would he have somehow needed some sort of tree treat about this is not repeeling it is a delay until we get our act together it could have been achieved if we had been united. >> a fox news poll taken at the time found a sizable main nearity of americans did want to defund the law and the majority liked the idea of the lang that's what the house tried next passing a bill funding de government but delaying it one year. >> to senate democrats delaying was as much a nonstarter as defund. >> observe care is the law of the land and will remain the law of the land as long as i am

senator. >> funding is already in place. you can't shut it down. starting tomorrow ten's of millions of americans will be able to visit healthcare.gov to shop for affordable healthcare coverage. >> october 1st the big moment. but healthcare.gov crashes upon launch. >> unlike every new law every new product roll out there will be glitches that we fix. >> were you surprised this roll out had gone so poorly? >> yes. >> really surprised? >> yes. >> the team that was working on this let the american people down and the president down. >> if the web site was a de pock el for the democrats the shut down was pun for the president. >> i think we should have pursued delay. >> senator cruz would say it got over very quickly. once they sent it over once

senator reed said no was to say okay what about the one year delay? >> i think the original demand was viewed by the american public as unreasonable. as a result harry reid and president obama to dig in their heals and continue to point to republicans as being utterly unblooenable no matter what we said then. >> the president followed his sec quester the sky is falling the earth is coming to an end with government shutdown we have to first build a fence around an open air world war ii memorial so we can say we closed it. he looked like a foolish vindictive man. >> soon another deadline approached the debt ceiling again. that was one show down too many had an angry government.

>> they say let's jack up the debt kraeling let's not provide meaningful relief to obamacare. >> why don't you try to block the final deal? >> i could have delayed it a day or two. it would have had no impact. i am interested in fighting fights where you can make a meaningful difference for the american people. >> the real problem with what mr. cruz did he turned to decent voted conservative americans. >> it was an act of supreme ir responsibility to rouse the republican base good hard-working devoted people ar dent to have a government but to rouse them for a crusade he had to know he couldn't win. >> george who i have great respect for is wrong. >> i think a political movement has to be approved he can't sit on his hands.

>> wanted to attract political support. as obamacare rolls out what they will remember is that cruz was right. the people who didn't want to fight this thing were wrong. >> americans were as split as mccarthy and will over the defund fund according to fox news poll. 46 percent bau is as a waste of time exactly as the same number saw it as an important effort. that included 59 percent of republicans and 74 percent of tea parties. >> god bless texas. >> so it is not so surprising senator cruise returned to a hero's welcome back home. by november with the obamacare roll out front and center republicans erased an 8 point

democratic lead in the congressional balance. the gop was up by 3. meanwhile conservative efforts to kill the law continued with sturm michigans in venues you wouldn't expect. in the nation, we know how you feel about your car.

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because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ baby... ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> conservative republican lawmakers try to defund the affordable care act. but that hardly meant the law was succeeding. it's wobbly rollout presented a fresh opportunity for obamacare activists who had been waiting to take the fight to the streets. >> if the markets are panicking they have yet to show it. >> october 1st, 2013, arlington,

virginia. >> they are headed into the first day. how many young people will go back to the 3rd day and 4th day hoping it will be better than today. the staff of generation opportunity gathered to watch healthcare rollout. >> evan is generation opportunity's president. >> we completely expected the obama administration given all of the tech savvy individuals in the past did better. young people are used to technology working to see such a huge failure from government. >> as the days go on we continue to voice our message. >> six months of educating young americans about their healthcare. >> arch emphatic promise was getting ready to haunt the president. >> if you have healthcare you can keep your health insurance. if you like your plan teep your plan. if you like your doctor you will

be able to keep your doctor period, end of story. >> they told them they could keep their healthcare plan. at the sri les the administration knew many people who lose their policies. >> she had to find a new insurance plan but powers figured she would get better coverage on the new exchange or at least a lower premium. >> i thought it was going to go down. september saying if you liked your plan you could keep it people were going to cut costs and get better healthcare for less money. >> did you get the e-mail from tyler? >> generation opportunity

activists saw that happen on day one. >> the cheapest plan had him at $250 a month a 5,000 dollar deductible $5,300 out of pocket. >> how old is she 22? >> she is 22 years old. >> every day seemed to bring more bad news. cancer patients loser their doings. >> d stew allow me to keep my team. >> massive security problems>> do any of you today think the site is secure? oo how bad politically do you think this is for your son ? >> i think when we get the web site working it will pass quickly. >> you know it is bigger than that. you have a president who says you can keep your health insurance period that's not a wo web site. you have people going on seeing higher premiums than they

thought they were going to see. are you worried there are other shoes to drop? >> i worry about the momentum around getting people enrolled. if we don't get wrounger americans to participate it will throw off the insurance models. >> young people aren't going to sign up. >> health and human services gives the latest tally of people who signed up on the exchanges. only 365,000 no indication of how many are young and healthy. >> they haven't released any numbers of people who signed up now. >> how important is it to the success of the program? >> vitally important to the program's success. 2.7 million need young and healthy. it is a lot of work. >> which brings us back to where we started.

that tailgate party outside of sun life stadium in florida. >> i will opt out before i die. >> they are convincing young people not to get any insurance. >> if he needed any proof it was having an impact the white house supplied it. >> think about that. that is a really buzz zarqawi to spend your money to try to convince people not to get health insurance. >> the president's comments are misleading and honestly down right false. there are options for young people better than the lousy plans under the obamacare plan. >> it includes accident insurance short terms plans and healthcare sharing ministries that would keep a healthy wroung

terne from going bankrupt. >> i think this law will do what it is intended to do. it will be amended and mixed overtime. you don't reform something this assume you got it right this time. >> you have to get people enrolled and involved and fix what it missed. >> you think it can happen? >> of course it can happen. >> he insists a growing number of young people stuck with the tab couldn't even want to try. >> we are saying enough. enough in the fact that less than half of my generation is working full-time. enough that all of this debt has to be paid back by my generation. we are saying policies like obamacare are making our lives worse and not better. >> that's all for this fox news reporting. we hope you will keep watching in 2014. good night.

>> the problem is obamacare isn't too much capitalism it is socialism. >> they make a powerful argument. >> if you have been successful you didn't get there on your own. >> once upon a time there was a land that was happy. just about every one thought this was best. but over time rich people decided they weren't rich enough so they decided to get richer. >> is it that important after all? >> the fill posse is simple we are better off when everybody is left to