of that? >> john finds me fascinating and -- >> we'll be live in washington, d.c. for the next three days and special "fox & friends" coverage. the 45 inauguration of the president of the united states here tomorrow on fox. >> bill: start with a fox news alert. former president george h.w. bush in a hospital in houston. the 92-year-old taken there over the weekend after complaining of shortness of breath. right now we're being told he is responding well to treatment. spokesmen telling fox news this. doctors and everyone are very pleased and hope to have him out soon. that's the latest end quote. short statement. more on his condition and more on the story as we go through the day. president barack obama commuting the sentence for chelsea manning. the former army intelligence analyst serving 35 years for leaking government secrets to wikileaks will now serve only seven of those 35 years.

that move already causing uproar from lawmakers on both sides who call manning a traitor. it is a big morning of news. two days before the inauguration. so here we go and good morning, i'm bill hemmer live in "america's newsroom." >> shannon: i'm shannon bream in for martha maccallum. chelsea manning is transgender was known as bradley at the time of her arrest, three days before president obama leaves office for good. republicans are blasting the move saying the president should not have aided a person who betrayed their country and put american lives at risk. >> chelsea manning committed grave crimes and no doubt this is demoralizing for our intelligence and military community. i can't imagine anyone in the military chain of command or intelligence agreed to commute the sentence of chelsea manning. very disappointing and harmful to our national security going

forward. >> shannon: it seems like it cost most of congress offguard. >> they seemed stunned. he was serving a 35 year prison sentence for leaking national security secrets to wikileaks. sensitive documents, both military and diplomatic documents that were very embarrassing to the nation. and what speaker paul ryan is saying in particular is that he believes this will encourage more insiders to leak dong they hook. ryan is putting out a statement saying this is just outrageous. chelsea manning's treachery but american lives at risk and exposed our nation's most sensitive information. those who compromise our national security won't be held accountable for their crimes. remember manning was supposed to be in prison until 2045. now will get out on may 17th of this year. >> shannon: of course, it's now

first conversations, would it open the door to clemency for julian assange and edward snowden. >> is there a deal in place that there would be extradition? the white house is pushing back on that saying there is no deal. they're trying to draw a distinction about what assange has done and how he has not faced up to what he has done and how edward snowden as well with all of his leaks of the surveillance program at the nsa has never faced justice as well. contrasting that with how manning has dealt with this. here is josh earnest. >> chelsea manning went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes. and she acknowledged wrongdoing.

mr. snowden fled into the arms of an adversary. >> the distinction they're making there. what they aren't mentioning is this administration has been more aggressive than any other in terms of prosecuting national security leaks and now this move appears to turn all that on its head after eight years. >> shannon: ed henry in washington thank you. >> bill: steve hayes some analysis. fox new contributor. i saw you last night and you were red hot on this. answer this question. help our viewers understand. why would such a decision be granted on the way out the door? >> i wish i could answer that with any authority. what we've heard from the white house is that the president believes that chelsea manning needed this reprieve. she has tried to commit suicide twice in prison and her life was at risk. the argument you're hearing from her lawyers and from defenders of what president

obama has done. i think it will be hard for many people to accept that given the seriousness of what she did. and the fact that it did jeopardize lives and endanger u.s. national security and al qaeda celebrated receiving these documents and bin laden asked associates to study those documents as they planned to attack the u.s. >> bill: are you able to look down the road and examine for us what the effect of this might be, steve? >> i can tell you what i've heard from intelligence sources i've been in touch with. they're appalled and concerned, deeply concerned about the fact that this incentivizes future leaks. chelsea manning wasn't a whistleblower. he took nearly three quarters of a million documents, sensitive u.s. government documents and dumped them. even wikileaks withheld some of those documents due to the sensitive nature of the documents but they missed a lot

putting as i said, putting our military personnel on the battlefield in afghanistan and iraq in jeopardy. and i think that there is deep concern among intelligence folks that i've talked to that this incentivizes those kind of future document dumps and massive leaks. >> bill: the focus on julian assange. wikileaks tweeted the following from january 16th. if democrats want to see whistleblowers expose war crimes and corruption under trump they need to send a signal. that was from four days prior to the previous one on january 12th. what happens then? is this something that is pursued or is it something that is given a pass for now? >> i guess julian assange's

lawyers indicated he may make good on his pledge to be ex extradited to the united states. we don't know. the white house has denied any kind of a deal as you heard from ed henry. i think it's hard to be for julian assange and against bradley manning or chelsea manning. you have people who are making -- have offered a warm embrace of julian assange and what he has done with wikileaks after bradley manning in effect was what made wikileaks what it is today. i think they both deserve our scorn and i think they both ought to face justice for what they've done. >> bill: there will be a lot more said on this. steve, thank you for your analysis. steven hayes in washington what will the president say about it and how will he address it? he takes questions later today. he will hold his final news conference of his presidency at 2:15 eastern time from the white house. you can watch the entire thing right here on the fox news channel. it will certainly be fascinating and this issue

will come up. >> shannon: the number of democrats planning to skip the inauguration is rising higher. 60 house democrats won't attend the ceremony. the president-elect shrugged off the protest. >> as far as other people not going because we need seats so badly. i hope they give me their tickets. will they give us their tickets or give them to other people? what happens to their tickets? i hope they give us their tickets. >> shannon: peter, how is the president-elect kicking off his inauguration week down in d.c. >> kicked off last night at a fancy black tie dinner. they were invited to the chairman's dinner to mingle with the republicans about to take over the town. the president-elect did fly down to d.c. and back to new york in a few hours but he did

make remarks at this event and spoke about the importance of his running mate the soon to be vice president pence. >> it was the balancing act. i had a couple of beauties i could have picked. but they were good, too. maybe wouldn't have worked out. >> mr. trump gave rex tillerson a shout-out in the crowd to say that tillerson was the secretary of state he wanted from the beginning. shannon. >> shannon: all right. so there has been a lot of back and fort over the last few days. how does the president-elect things are playing out for him with representative john lewis? it has gotten pretty heated. >> he thinks the lewis attack on him calling him an illegitimate president and saying that the russian issue was encouraging lewis to skip his first inauguration ever

backfired when an old interview was unearthed showing that it won't be the first inauguration that lewis has ever skipped and his record is more like -- it will be the first one he hasn't gone to in 16 years. >> conveniently doesn't remember. how do you forget if you go to an inauguration? i can tell you when i was at the inaugurations. you don't forget something like that. he got caught and it's pretty bad. it's making him look bad, frankly. >> this morning mr. trump has been tweeting about jobs. he wrote this, totally biased nbc news went out of its way to say the big announcement from ford and others that jobs are coming back to the u.s. had nothing to do with trump is more fake news. ask top ceos of those companies for real facts. came back because of me. this morning also the top advisor to the transition team soon to be counselor to the president said the president-elect will keep

tweeting as president. one tool he has. it is his way to get around people trying to twist his words, shannon. >> shannon: we'll talk more about that with our political panel coming up. >> bill: we'll have full inauguration coverage live on the fox news channel as every event takes place. first up tomorrow morning shannon and i will be live starting tomorrow across from the white house and then america's election headquarters inauguration 2017 co-anchored by bret baier and martha maccallum starting at 11:00 eastern time on friday. >> shannon: these hearings, waiting on the nominees. there is a lot to discuss. >> bill: how are you feeling about this? i think it's an exciting time to start a new and very historic -- >> shannon: in so many ways. >> bill: the news will come very quickly. we'll be here for you on that. >> shannon: a former top prosecutor says granting

leniency to manning will make it harder to bring charges against assange. >> if we pardon manning, i think it makes it that much tougher to say we'll drop the hammer on person who published that information. >> shannon: the form he d. o.j. official joins us live as lawmakers in both parties are raising the alarm over commuting manning's sentence. >> bill: there are hearings on the hill today. two nominees for the cabinet. in particular getting a lot of attention. we'll tell you what that's all about. as a flurry of hearings set to begin only minutes from now. stand by. >> shannon: and the president-elect says he has got no choice but to use twitter. getting around what he calls the dishonest media. our political panel reacts. >> look, i don't like tweeting. i have other things i could be doing but i get very dishonest media, very dishonest press.

it is my only way that i can counteract.

>> bill: we have heard from democrats and republicans. both parties hitting back at barack obama's decision to commute the sentence of chelsea manning saying he has put american lives at risk and exposed some of our most sensitive secrets during a time of war. thomas despres former deputy

attorney general. you like steve hayes were hot on fire last night. give us a sense for how the president explains this decision a few hours from now. >> good morning. i expect what we'll hear in a few hours is the president saying in his view the sentence imposed on chelsea manning was disproportionate and excessive when you look at other cases involving leaks or disclosures of classified information. the president is going to say in other cases you have one, two year sentences imposed. here you had 35 years imposed and it is excessive. all that said i think what's going on here this is a political decision. it is no secret that chelsea manning is somewhat of a political celebrity on the far left and i think the president heard those voices and at the end of the day decided he was going to overrule were the recommendations of his defense and national security advisors. >> bill: he has until noon eastern time, about 50 hours from now to issue more pardons.

we're told more may come tomorrow. would general petraeus be in that group? >> this president has been very aggressive in wielding the pardon power. i think what's going on here is that the president as he said publicly is uncomfortable with many aspects of our justice system and i think this is his way of really trying to affect rough justice and doing what he thinks is court system should have been doing in the first place in terms of issuing being more lenient >> bill: they're considerably higher than his two predecessors and his interpretation of how justice has been distributed in our system. it dwarfs george w. bush and bill clinton. we expect to hear from julian

assange at some point. what is his fate? does he come here and is he tried? >> he has made a pledge if this outcome happened, if manning was commuted or pardoned that he would return to the united states and agree to extradition. i expect he will abide by his agreement. i think what president obama has done puts aassange in a stronger bargaining position. when you have the president saying we don't think it was serious enough to warrant a penalty of this nature it makes it harder for united states prosecutors to take a hard line with assange. he was the person who published the material that manning unlawfully obtained. >> bill: he is in london now. you think he comes here? fascinating. we'll see if that happens. you believe this decision has the potential to match a decision made in january of 2001 on behalf of former president bill clinton. the pardon of mark rich. why do you draw the parallel

there, tom? >> the parallel i draw if you recall you turn the clock back to 2001 and the final hours of the clinton administration, he overruled the advice of many of his top advisors in deciding to pardon mark rich and caved to political pressure. it is a parallel here. advisors at the defense department and national security advisors saying don't do this. giving manning the pardon sends a harmful signal to our security communities. don't bend to political pressure. he did. something historians will look back at and second guess. >> bill: ash carter's own defense secretary said don't do it. he is one of them, right? >> when you're overruling career officials and in a national security capacity and elevating political consider ations above it. it's dangerous ground. >> bill: thank you for being here today. 20 minutes past. shannon. >> shannon: several high

profile confirmation hearings are about to kick off on capitol hill. tom price and governor nikki haley will be in the hot seat. why they could bring major changes to their respective offices if they're confirmed. >> bill: two days to go until the inauguration. number 45, donald trump is slamming two of his favorite targets. that being the media and democrats. >> he did a bad thing for the country. very divisive. we have a divided country. it is not divided because of me. it has been divided.

>> shannon: four confirmation hearings about to get underway on capitol hill including governor nikki haley for ambassador to the u.n. and tom

price for health and human services. democrats claim price may have broken the law by buying stocks in two companies and then introducing legislation that would have benefited them. joining me now to talk about that and more republican senator and john -- you know what the claims are by democrats. they're demanding a retraction on the story and point out the trades were made by someone other than the congressman but you know they'll hammer it hard. how do you think it goes for dr. price? >> he is the right person to be the secretary of health and human service. i worked with him for a number of years. he is the right person in terms of the whole obamacare repeal, replacement, returning the power to the states. i think he will do very well and i agree with what he has been saying. that is one of the contentious hearings today. the other is scott pruitt for

the epa director that i'll be sharing in the environment and public works committee. >> shannon: your fellow colleague, senator tom carper had this to say about scott pruitt, his views are so far out of the mainstream that confirming him as head of the epa would be mistake. he sued the epa14 times, maybe more. that's what we calculated. so you can understand how democrats will say this is a guy who tried to take on the agency at every turn. why would he want to run it in a responsible manner? >> scott pruitt is the right choice for this position and someone who was attorney general in oklahoma. has protected the environment and strengthened the economy and stood up for state's rights. the epa under president obama has actually gone rogue. they've gone way against the initial job description of the epa, to protect human health and the environment by following the laws of congress.

this epa needs wholesale changes to get back in line. they have been going -- ignoring the law. they were found guilty of covert propaganda. we need to make sure we have clean air, clean water and land and do it in ways that don't hurt the economy. but the obama regulations have been punishing for hard working families, people living paycheck to paycheck. they have hurt the economy. we can have both a healthy environment as well as a strong and healthy economy. >> shannon: something democrats seem preoccupied with in a lot of hearings that have nothing to do with science or environment is the issue of climb ant change. we've seen it come up in education and all kinds of different places. there is no doubt there will be a lot of conversation about that when the attorney general is up being vetted by your committee for this. he has said that he doesn't think climate science is settled. he has a lot of questions. you know that democrats are going to take that and run with

it. >> i expect they will spend a lot of time on that. they did during the c.i.a. director and the secretary of state. they are going on this failing to realize what obama policies have hurt our economy in so many ways. if you follow the environmental extremist's position when it comes to energy economics we'll be left in the cold, dark and hungry. you need to use free market energy economy. that's the kind of thing we do to get a strong and healthy economy. you can talk about climate change, talk about the future, all of those things are important. is the climate changing? yes. how much man has actually contributed to that is still significantly under debate. i want to make sure we have a strong and healthy economy as well as a clean environment. scott pruitt is the right person to get that job done. >> shannon: senator, i want to ask you about governor hailey

as well. she will be under the microscope and i want to play what senator chris kaounz has to say. >> it is a huge portfolio. it means to have to understand the interests and priorities and concerns of more than 190 nations. so i understand she would have a steep learning curve but i think the u.n. is a place where we can't afford to have an ambassador who is learning on the job. >> shannon: we're almost out of time but is she qualified? >> she is absolutely qualified. he talks about issues and concerns. i'm focused about the issues, concerns and values of the american people. she is the right person to do that. every time barack obama went to the united nations, it was either for iran, against israel or against american energy. nikki haley is the right person for this job. >> shannon: senator brasso, thank you.

>> bill: 30 minutes the hearings will get underway. yesterday there were a few surprises. >> shannon: a few fireworks. >> bill: there was a massive manhunt for a man accused of killing a police officer and his pregnant ex-girlfriend. now under arrest and learning details of his capture. that's coming up in a moment. >> shannon: president-elect answers the question many have asked. what will he do with his twitter account once he's sworn in? >> i directly communicating. the man is a brilliant communicator in politics or otherwise. he will continue that. the american people want information immediately. i have tried so hard to forget what it felt like

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>> shannon: president-elect is explaining why he uses twitter so often. telling "fox & friends" ainsley ehrhardt he doesn't like to use it and would stop but he has to do it to bypass the media. >> i'll be very close to 50 million people.

so when people misrepresent me, because the press is very dishonest, unbelievably dishonest, and when people misrepresent me, ainsley, i have at least a way of saying it's a false statement. if the press were honest, which it's not, i would absolutely not use twitter. i wouldn't have to. >> shannon: former dnc communications director and fox news contributor and former deputy assistant to george w. bush. great to see you both, gentlemen. do you give any credence or credibility for the fact that he has had to go around media that has given him a very hard time and it works. he was elected president. >> the notion that donald trump doesn't like to tweet is laughable on its face. he joined twitter in 2009. he has tweeted over 34,000 times in the past eight years. he was doing it long before he ever entered politics. he used it to push the birther

conspiracy and lie about president obama. that had nothing to do with the dishonest media. >> shannon: that was way before he was running for anything. as you yourself said this is ages ago. let's focus on now when he feels he doesn't get a fair shake and it's a direct line to the american people where he doesn't have to have his message filtered through a network he feels isn't treating him fairly. >> i don't begrudge him the use of twitter. i'm not one of the people who thinks he needs to put twitter down. we're living in a digital age. candidates, politicians have all sorts of new tools they can use to communicate directly with people. my problem is not with his use of twitter, my problem is with how he uses twitter. i'm a former communications director and i know the importance of pushing back on a narrative. the problem is he creates a lot of that narrative himself with how he tweets. he says he wants to be a president for all americans but he uses twitter to settle petty scores with people who are not in the press.

uses twitter to launch attacks himself. that's not being presidential. >> shannon: let's bring brad into this. his defense says he is a counter puncher. he likes to finish fights, not start them. you know, is it presidential? he won't give up tweeting and keep his personal account and also been on the record saying no one else has access to it. whatever he tweets as the 45th president of this country, it will be right at his feet. that's where it goes. >> now doubt. it is presidential now or will be when he takes the oath. look, why give up an effective form of communication that is direct as he points out. he has over 50 million followers and after he becomes president many, many more. this is the modern-day fdr fireside chat. a president has a direct form of communication unfiltered to the people and the reason why the press doesn't like it is because they have no control over the message until the message is delivered.

and that's exactly a tool that the president should have in his tool box. look, communications can be used offensively or defensively. donald trump is most known for his defense. that's not to say he is not going to be offensive in his tweets so let the american people know what's on his mind or what's coming up. he can't stop because tweeting is donald trump. it is an effective form of communication everybody uses. he should continue. >> shannon: i want the play a bit about kellyanne conway said about using this format masterfully. >> this is one of the ways he can directly communicate with the american people and he goes around those who want to, i think, distort his message and communicate and connect. he is the most brilliant communicator and natural connector than i've met. >> shannon: it takes the left out of the equation, is that why they hate it so much? >> when brad and i were both young bucks in the business we

used to fax out press releases. when barack obama took office in 2009 the white house was breaking news on twitter. it is an effective use of communication where political leaders can connect directly with people. i don't begrudge him that. my problem is with how he uses it. my problem is with the message he uses. his tweets now will have the ability to move markets, to drive policy, to create international incidents. he needs to be a little bit more judicious in the temperament he uses on twitter. i'm not saying don't use it. i'm just saying be better. >> shannon: use your tools for good, not evil. brad, final word to you. >> it is fantastic, exciting. a president can go directly to the people on the moment's notice and say what's on his mind and it is refreshing in a town that seems to be obsessed with spin ancontrol. our president is going to be uncontrolled and that's a good thing.

>> shannon: okay. i would guess that mo would disagree with that but we'll leave it there. mo and brad, good to see you both today. >> bill: there is a dangerous manhunt in florida finally over for the suspect accused of shooting a killing and police officer and his pregnant ex-girlfriend. another officer died in a car crash during a nine-day search. steve harrigan on that story live in miami. how did this end there in florida? >> the death of these two orlando police officers generated one of the largest manhunts in central florida history. it ended last night around 7:00 when law enforcement surrounded the suspect, markeith loyd, 41 years old inside an abandoned house. he was heavily armed in there and they were surprised his arrest did not end in a shoot-out. >> we knew he had body armor and we knew he had weapons and

obviously not afraid to use those weapons and honestly i thought this would end up in a much different situation. i'm very happy that no other officers or citizens were hurt during this arrest. >> loyd's face was heavily bruised and he shouted out he was beaten up. the police say he resisted arrest. the 41-year-old is a career criminal. he spent 10 years in jail for dealing cocaine. he had once joked in media online in a video about killing a police officer and he said his goal in life was to be on "america's most wanted." bill. >> bill: goal in life. steve harrigan, thank you in miami there with that story now. >> shannon: we are awaiting a flurry of confirmation hearings on capitol hill. four cabinet picks will go before senate committees just minutes from now. two in particular getting a lot of attention.

we'll explain why. >> bill: it started over the weekend when congressman lewis said he will boycott the inauguration on friday. president-elect saying lewis has been caught in a big lie. >> eventually doesn't remember -- how do you forget if you go to an inauguration? i can tell you when i was there. you don't forget something like that. so he got caught and it's pretty bad. it's making him look bad, frankly. nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad.

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>> he conveniently doesn't remember. for him to have grandstanded. i think he just grandstanded and got caught in a bad lie. we need seats so badly. i hope they give me their tickets. >> bill: president-elect donald trump calling out john lewis in an interview saying he undermined his own credibility when he said he hasn't skipped an inauguration when he skipped george w. bushs. the list of democrats skipping inauguration today. sean duffy, how are you and good morning to you. you will be there on friday. what did you say this week. put your big boy pants on. what was that all about? you have a lot of kids yourself.

>> i have eight kids. you know what? if you look at the inauguration, members of congress sit in the half shell. a great american experience and members of congress don't go there to represent themselves or their families or districts. we represent america in that half shell. a great tradition where he come together as one country after a divisive political battle and we join hands and move forward as americans, not as partisans. i'm disappointed that democrats are saying no to see donald trump's inauguration. >> bill: the idea is to divide before you take power. is that the intent? do you agree with that? >> they don't want to bye into the fact he is the commander-in-chief and this is part of that process. >> bill: how would president trump, i don't think accommodation is the word you should use here. how do you think he would or

should deal with this and perhaps if you want to be the bigger man in the room you extend an olive branch to heal this wound, let's say. >> first of all. i think he was being pretty funny with ainsley. give us the tickets back. we have a lot of people who want to come and see this great event. it will be huge. beyond the inauguration, bill, i think donald trump has shown a pretty good ability to forget past offenses and past fights and bring other folks in. mitt romney a perfect example of that. romney said horrible things about mr. trump and trump about romney. they got together and were almost working together. i think donald trump will do that moving forward. you have to work with the congress and not just republicans in congress, john lewis and other democrats who won't show up will be part of the next four years of this administration and i think he will be the bigger man and offer that olive branch to democrats say let's work together and advance the country. >> bill: i see you at work.

you're cordial with one another. folks on the outside who don't live and work in the environment of washington, d.c. think you're going at it all day long and you are not. so you think about the image this is projecting. you think about how partisan the message that is being sent forward. but give us a sense about what you've really felt about the attitude in washington today. is it as poisoned as actions like these would lead the american people to believe? >> well, so i think you make a good point. what people see is the animosity and the fight that they might see on cable news networks. but outside of those moments there is a lot of democrats and republicans who do work together to get things done. over the last eight years barack obama didn't want to work with republicans. he didn't want to build relationships with republicans or democrats. donald trump understands working across the political aisle. if he brings in republicans and democrats we should all go

bowling at the white house, bill. or have a few people over in the oval office. reach out -- maybe we'll have a beer and he can have a coke. let's engage in personal relationships. once you have that personal trust from a relationship you can start to work on the bigger issues. now, we might not agree on the far left and the far right issues but there is a lot of stuff in the middle we can get done that will move the country forward. help middle income americans left behind by the economy like one of these swing areas of the country where i'm from that helped bring donald trump to the presidency. there is a great opportunity to change from what barack obama to now a new set of ideas where you bring the other side in and partner with them and i think donald trump if he does that will be successful as president. >> bill: your point is well taken. final point in the 30 seconds we have left. i think part of the result of november is because the american people looked at washington and said you aren't working anymore. when was the last time members

of congress went to the white house? when was the last time the president got everybody together and said let's work on something? can you recall? >> you're right. no, for us as republicans, when i was first brought in in 2011 we had one meeting at the white house. that was it. bill clinton was a master at this. george bush did it. -- reagan did it really well. obama hasn't done it with republicans, democrats either weren't brought in. this is a great opportunity for trump to bring folks to the white house and bring people together and move the country forward. there is a lot of stuff we can get done as americans, not as partisans. >> bill: i think the american people want it and are ready for it. don't let them down. sean duffy the republican from wisconsin. thank you for your time. >> shannon: a flurry of cabinet picks heading to capitol hill for confirmation hearings getting underway. they are all going before the senate just minutes from now and we'll take you there.

>> bill: road trip and the inauguration. how some of mike pence's oldest friends are celebrating his big day.

>> bill: word from the pentagon a lot of fallout on the chelsea manning matter. our producer and reporter over there talks about chelsea manning leaking 700,000 documents. not the 250,000 quoted yesterday. defense officials telling fox news his actions may have accelerated the arab spring, might have contributed to the rise of isis, quoting now, ambassadors were forced to resign, c.i.a. station chiefs had to be recalled. secret diplomatic cables were revealed, end quote. watch this story. president obama talks about it four hours from now at the white house.

>> shannon: a group of indiana hoosiers hitting the road today to see governor mike pence be sworn in as vice president of the united states. we're reporting live from new castle, indiana. are they already on the road? it's early. >> shannon, it is early. they are already on the road and they left at 6:00 eastern this morning. they're expected to arrive in d.c. tonight. we got to ride on the bus for the first hour and it is loaded with people who love mike pence, some of them who know him personally. others there when he was sworn in as governor and they're on their way to see him being sworn in as the vice president of the united states. it goes without saying the trump/pence ticket won the hearts of tens of millions of americans. folks on this bus have a special place in their heart for mike pence and donald trump. >> i'm excited. go trump. >> excited. >> i'm so excited.

i am excited trump is president and i can't wait to see everything and mike pence, too. >> happy to be here, happy to see history made. >> there are two buses in total with 110 people organized by a group called the roving elephants, a republican group here in indiana, shannon. >> shannon: thank you very much. we're taking our own road trip. >> bill: we'll see matt there. washington, d.c. thank you. minutes away now, four confirmation hearings set to begin. it will be a hot hour. everybody is talking in washington nikki haley for u.n. ambassador. tom price for health and human services. we'll be on it live top of the hour here at "america's newsroom." it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support.

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as lawmakers put their feet to the fire. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm shannon bream in for martha maccallum. >> bill: i'm bill hemmer. we call this a quad box. that's a dual. special focus on south carolina governor nikki haley up for ambassador to u.n. and congressman tom price for health and human services. critical for price is the whole idea of obamacare. that's why he has been nominated. mike emanuel is live on the hill with a busy day ahead. good morning to you. he is a critical player, dr. price. what is expected in his hearing today? let's start there. >> one would expect fireworks as dr. tom price talks about the future of healthcare. as democrats try to defend obamacare, dr. price is a member of congress from georgia has brought forward many republican ideas about how to improve our healthcare system. we expect price to tell

senators today quote, we all want a healthcare system that's affordable, accessible to all of the highest quality with the greatest number of choices driven by world-leading innovation and responsive to the needs of the individual patient. no surprise vermont senator bernie sanders doesn't sound impressed. >> our job guarantee healthcare to all people as a right in a cost effective way. lower the cost of prescription drugs and i'm afraid his ideas are moving us in the wrong direction. >> republicans love tom price as a medical doctor and member of congress. he understands both healthcare and government bureaucracy. >> bill: another one who has democrats up in arms is pruitt. >> scott pruitt as the oklahoma attorney general understands washington top down regulations and how states feel about those regulations. we expect pruitt to tell

lawmakers today, quote, environmental regulations should not occur in an economic vacuum. we can pursue the mutual goals of environmental protection and economic growth. republicans are encouraged that west virginia democrat joe manchin has spoken in a supportive way about pruitt. they say he has not committed to vote for pruitt but has been supportive. also today south carolina governor nikki haley has a confirmation to be ambassador to the u.n. expect democrats to question her foreign policy credentials. then there is wilbur ross to be commerce secretary. he is a billionaire investor and expected to take a tough look at foreign trade deals. lots to watch today. >> bill: now doubt about it. mike emanuel on the hill. shannon. >> shannon: let's bring in a fellow at the american enterprise institute. columnist for the "washington

post" and fox news contributor. of all those confirmation hearings we'll watch today who do you think will get the toughest time in the hot seat? >> i think they all are to some extent. i think we watched last night with betsy devos how the democrats went after her and basically ignored the subject of education and went after her about her wealth and her investments and whether she supported -- >> shannon: climate change. >> everything but education. they're using these hearings as theater for their base. the democrats are powerless to stop any of the trump nominees. in 2013 they got rid of the filibuster for presidential appointments. they can approved with just republican reports. i'm sure a lot will get democratic votes. unless elizabeth warren can convince republicans to vote against price they won't stop the people. they're trying to put on a show for their base but it is all a sound and fury signifying

nothing. >> shannon: nikki haley is up for u.n. ambassador and we talked last hour about some of the criticism she is facing. she doesn't have the right kind of foreign policy experience. some democratic senators speaking out publicly about that. we also have a sneak peek of some of what they'll say. she will fire back. here is a couple of her quotes. we contribute 22% of the u.n.'s budget. more than any other country. we must ask ourselves what good is being accomplished by this disproportionate contribution. are we getting what we pay for? nowhere has the u.n. failure been more consistent and outrageous than its bias against our close ally israel. >> she is a smart lady, successful governor. if democrats go after her for lack of experience, my gosh, did they criticize barack obama for his lack of foreign policy experience when he ran for commander-in-chief of the

united states? there are governors who have less foreign policy experience than hers. the united nations will not be central to donald trump's foreign pollz. i think she will do a great job. a perfect pick and a great example if people are saying donald trump is not bringing the country together, she was one of his fiercest critics during the campaign. he reached out to her, gave her an important position. it's an example of donald trump trying to bring the country together and the republican party together. she will do great. >> shannon: we saw seconds ago dr. tom price a republican congressman from georgia and a surgeon and a critic of obamacare. we have a bit of a preview of what he will talk about today, too, with regards to healthcare and potentially become the hhs secretary. he says he thinks healthcare is about affordability, accessibility, quality,

choices, innovation and responsiveness. he is going to get raked over the coals because they'll want to talk about what republicans will replace obamacare with when they repeal it. whether they give him credit for the amount of work he has done on this? >> he is a 240 page bill to replace obamacare. that won't necessarily be the trump plan. donald trump is working on a plan to replace obamacare and there will be discussion about that. democrats will be less interested in talking about healthcare today and more interested trying to take down price with accusations of insider trading, which is absolutely ridiculous. the trades that they are referring to were a grand total of $300. if they want to talk about insider trading, john kerry when he was chairman of the senate -- healthcare subcommittee in 2003 was in charge of helping usher through medicare part d and he had 111

transactions in drug pharmaceutical companies that would benefit from medicare part d that earned him between $500,000 and 2 million dollars. democrats didn't raise that during his confirmation hearings. there is a ton of hypocrisy in how the democrats are going after these nominees. >> shannon: now this is one of thoefs i really, when this announcement came i felt like inside of trump tower they might have had a meeting and say who would upset the environmentalists the most. the president-elect had this meeting with al gore. then he rolls out scott pruitt. he had to know this was not going to go over well with democrats. >> yeah. look. george will called him the obama administration's greatest tormenter. that's correct. the fact that he himself lists himself as a leading advocate against the epas activist

agenda on his website in the oklahoma attorney general's office. he is the perfect person to lead the epa. a man who believes that environmental policy should be to the states. the perfect person to pick a state leader to do that. and the reality is the obama administration has been using the epa, abusing the epa, regulatory powers of them to impose a radical environmentalist agenda in the country that they couldn't get through congress. they tried to use the clean air act and scott pruitt sued them and now in position as the head of the epa to roll back the regulations and unleash american business from under the neck of this regulatory burden. >> shannon: we see him there as he is watching the opening remarks from the ranking democrat senator tom carper on the committee who made clear he thinks pruitt is the worst possible choice. we'll see, as you said the numbers don't work well for the democrats on these votes so

we'll wait and see. always good to see you. >> thanks. >> bill: we'll take the opening statement from dr. tom price as soon as it begins. the big issue is what the future is for obamacare. republicans with the votes can do what they want. repeal yes, replace how is where it is at the moment. when you think about nominees to serve in the cabinet, i think 1989 was the last time someone was rejected. this is not common. there have been men and women who have withdrawn during the process since that time but you think about eight years ago in 2009 when president obama was sworn in, on that day they had numerous nominees that were confirmed on that day. we have yet to get there and we're about 49 some odd hours away from the inauguration of the 45th president. >> shannon: don't ask me to do math. i'll trust you on that. dr. price -- you remember the democrats put out a list of

eight or so that they would vehemently object to. people they would go after and build a case again. dr. price on the top of the list because he threatens to undo obamacare. a critic from the beginning. dr. price also congressman has been working on a plan to undo it and replace it ever since. >> bill: part of what he'll say is this. our approach to policy my differ but a common commitment to public service and compassion for those we serve. here is senator alexander from tennessee. let's drop in and get ready for tom price in his opening remarks there. >> various proposals to repair the damage done by obamacare and replace it with concrete, practical alternatives for the american people to give them more choices of lower-cost health insurance. dr. price i believe you are an excellent nominee for this job.

you were practicing orthopedic surgeon for nearly two decades, a professor at emory university school of medicine. i read about the resident doctors in training who you taught. you served as medical director of the orthopedic clinic at grady memorial hospital. in the house you were chairman of the budget committee and a leader in the future of our healthcare system. you know the subject very, very well. one of the first responsibilities that you will have is to give us your advice about how to repair the damage that the affordable care act has caused to so many americans. and how to replace it or to replace parts of it with concrete, practical alternatives that give americans more choices of lower-cost insurance. let me give my view about how we might proceed on that and then during the question and answer session i will ask you more about your view.

following the presidential election, president-elect trump said on 60 minutes that replacement and repeal of obamacare would be done simultaneously, his word. to me that means at the same time. and then recently speaker of the house paul ryan said that repeal and replacement of obamacare would be done concurrently. and then senator mcconnell said last week that we need to do this promptly but in, quote, manageable pieces. trying to interpret what those words mean, to me it means obamacare should be finally repealed only when there are concrete practical reforms in place to give americans access to truly affordable healthcare. the american people deserve healthcare reform that's done in the right way for the right reasons and the right amount of time. it's not about developing a quick fix. it is about working toward long-term solutions that work for everyone. one way to think about what

simultaneously and concurrently mean is to think about obamacare the same way you would think about a collapsing bridge in your hometown. because that's just what is happening with obamacare in my home state and in many other states. according to the tennessee insurance commissioner the obamacare insurance market in our state is quote very near collapse. and across the country premiums and co-pays are up, employers have cut jobs in order to be able to afford the mandates of obamacare, medicaid mandates are consuming state budgets, and one-third of america's counties citizens with federal subsidies have only a single choice of company to buy insurance from on the obamacare exchanges. without quick action next year there may be zero choices on those exchanges. their subsidies may be worth as

much as a bus ticket in a town where no buses run. if your local bridge in georgia or tennessee would be near collapse the first thing you would do, i would think, is send in a rescue crew to repair the bridge temporarily so no one else is hurt. then you would build a better bridge or more accurately, in the case of healthcare, many bridges to replace the old bridge. and finally, when the new bridges are finished, you would close the old bridge. that's how i suggest we proceed. rescue those trapped in a collapsing system. replace that system with functional markets -- market or markets as states develop their own plans for providing access to truly affordable healthcare and then repeal obamacare for good. first we should offer a rescue plan so the 11 million americans who buy individual insurance now on the exchange can continue to do so while we build a better set of concrete,

practical alternatives. second, we should build better systems providing americans with more choices of insurance that cost less. note that i say systems, not one system. if anyone is expecting senator mcconnell to roll a wheel barrel onto the senate floor with a 4,000 page comprehensive republican healthcare a long ti. we don't believe in that. we don't want to replace a failed washington, d.c. healthcare system with another failed washington, d.c. healthcare system. so we'll build better systems providing america with more choices of insurances that cost less and we'll do this by moving more healthcare decisions out of washington, d.c. and into the hands of states and patients and by reducing harmful taxes. we'll do this carefully, step-by-step, so that it's effective. finally, we should then repeal what remains of the law that

did the damage and created all this risk. i know that the president-elect has said that after you are confirmed, which i hope is fairly early in february, that he will propose a plan to congress. i look forward to that plan and i know you can't tell us what that plan is today, but i do look forward to hearing from you how you suggest we approach this. we want to do this right. we want to sequence the events carefully and adequately so that americans have concrete, practical alternatives in place of what is there today. and we want to make sure that the parts of obamacare that are repealed are replaced before the repeal becomes effective. senator murray. >> thank you very much, chairman alexander, thanks to all our colleagues joining us today. congressman price,

congratulations on your nomination and before i speak about this nominee i do want to say that we remain deeply disappointed in last night where democrats were blocked from asking more than one round of questions on betsy devos nominee for secretary of education. and are disappointed we're rushing this hearing as well. mr. chairman, you said seven minutes but i will just say i don't think any of us in prior nominees that you keep pointing to ever thought if i don't ask for another question i have just set a precedent. in fact, i think that there is no example of any senator asking to do a question before and being turned down. so these nominees in a new administration that many people have questions about deserve to be asked questions, scrutinized in public before we have a choice to make on the floor of the united states senate on both sides of the aisle in

terms of whether we vote yes or no. that is why we think it is extremely important that we are allowed the opportunity to ask second rounds of questions after we have heard all of the questions and today we have three or four committee hearings going on at the same time as this so it is extremely challenging for our senators to be here on a nomination they care deeply about on a subject we care deeply about. i would like to point out again that several nominees that have come before, if we'll talk about president george bush's second hhs secretary, five bipartisan senators participated in a second round. senator daschle, president nominee -- obama's first hhs secretary three bipartisan senators participated, and again it is unprecedented for a chairman to turn down a member who has a question to ask. so for the record, i would just like to ask consent to put parts of the record of the

nominees of michael leavitt and tom daschle into the record of this hearing. and again our members have questions because this nominee is going to have jurisdiction over the healthcare and lives of millions of americans and we want to know where he stands before we make a decision yes or no for him to be there. that's why it is so important to members of our committee. having said that, i want to say this. the health of our families and communities could not be more important to our strength as a nation. when a young child goes to school healthy and ready to learn, she is better prepared to succeed. when women are empowered to plan their families and pursue all of their dreams, our communities benefit. when workers have access to quality healthcare that they can afford, our economy grows, and when seniors are able to

trust that the guarantee of programs they have paid into, medicare and social security, will be there when needed, we live up to some of our country's most vital responsibilities. the department of health and human services has a critical role to play in our ongoing work to meet each of these goals and many more. that is why in evaluating a nominee for secretary of health and human services, i consider whether the nominee has a record of putting people first, not politics, not partisanship, or those at the top, whether they were put science first, not ideology and whether their vision for healthcare in our country would help more families get quality affordable care or take us backward. congressman price, i have serious concerns about your qualifications and plans for the department you hope to lead. and i'm looking forward to hearing from you today on a number of topics. i'll start by laying out issues with what your record suggests

about your approach to our nation's healthcare system. just last week you voted to begin the process of ripping apart our healthcare system without any plan to replace it despite independent studies showing that nearly 30 million people would lose healthcare coverage. even though more and more members of your own party are expressing serious doubts about its ability to unify around the plan and knowing that in a matter of weeks you could be leading the department whose core responsibility is to enhance america's health and well-being. my constituents are coming up to me with tears in their eyes wondering what the future holds for their healthcare given the chaos republican efforts could cause. president-elect trump and republican leaders have promised the american people their plans to dismantle our healthcare system right away would somehow do no harm and would not cause anyone to lose

coverage. in fact, just days ago president-elect trump promised, quote, insurance for everybody. congressman price your own proposals would cause millions of people to lose coverage, force many people to pay more for their care, and leave people with pre-existing conditions vulnerable to insurance companies rejecting them or charging them more. so i will be very interested in hearing your explanation of how you have a plan to how we would keep the promises your party has made to the american people about their healthcare. medicare is another issue i will be interested if hearing about today. president-elect trump campaigned on promises to protect medicare and medicaid. you dicaid. you have said you plan to overhaul medicare in the first six to eight months of this administration in a way that would end the guarantee of full coverage that so many seniors and people with disabilities rely on. you have put forward policies

that would shift a trillion dollars in medicaid costs to our states squeezing their budgets and taking coverage away from struggling children and workers and families. and while president-elect trump has said that medicare should be able to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors, you have repeatedly opposed efforts to do that. you even went so far as to call legislation on that issue a solution in search of a problem. i disagree. this is absolutely critical for families in my home state and i'm eager to hear how you would reduce the burden of prescription drug costs in our communities. as a woman, mother, grandmother and united states senator i'm troubled by the ways in which your policy who impact women's access to healthcare and reproductive rights. i have serious concerns about your understanding of women's needs for basic healthcare like birth control, given your

expressed doubts on this topic. your proposals to make women pay extra out-of-pocket for birth control. and your repeated efforts to defund our nation's largest provider of women's healthcare, planned parenthood. i'm also very focused on the role of the department of health and human services in strengthening and protecting public health. so i want to hear from you about whether and how you would uphold the gold standard of fda approval and for example how you would approach important programs and rules intended to keep tobacco companies from luring children into addiction. finally, as i discussed at our hearing yesterday i believe firmly that especially as the president-elect tries to blur lines around conflicts of interest, it is critical we not only do everything in our power to hold him to high standards but we do the same for cabinet nominees. that's why i was so appalled that with four of the

president-elect's nominees currently serving in the house of representatives, house republicans attempted right out of the gate to get rid of the independent office of congressional ethics and they backed down. the office of congressional ethics has been asked not only by democrats but by consumer advocacy group public citizen to investigate serious concerns and questions about your medical stock trades during your time in the house. i and other democrats have repeatedly called for hearings on your nomination to be delayed until such an investigation is complete. it is disappointing to us that instead republicans are moving forward with your nomination before we have all the facts. i hope you've come prepared to be fully transparent with us in your explanation. i have outlined a few of my questions and concerns about this nomination and i know in

light of republican efforts to take our healthcare system in a vastly different and harmful direction that are shared by millions of people across the country who can't be here today. with that in mind it's crucial that the voices of people who will be impacted every day by choices made under this administration are part of the process when it comes to the president-elect's cabinet nominees. so i just want to say i'm very pleased that tomorrow senators warren are talking to witnesses that can talk to the importance of work done in the affordable care act and substance abuse and mental health treatment and the ways in which the full guarantee of medicare has helped keep them financially and physically secure. there are stories across the country like this of lives saved and strengthened because of the progress we've made to

expand quality affordable healthcare. i urge my republican colleagues to attend and to prioritize what is best for these women, men and families, not what is best for politics as they consider each of the decisions in the coming weeks. congressman price, as we begin this hearing i would ask you to be as transparent and frank as possible about your views and your plans for the department, and urge you to commit to providing us with additional information and answers to any follow-up questions we have in a timely and thorough manner. i'm looking forward to what i hope will be a rigorous and open discussion today and i hope that we all arrive at the right decision for the families and the communities that we serve. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i would like to put in the record the information about the last six hearings that we've had here without going into detail. the current secretary one round

of questions, daschle one round plus three. leavitt six members asked a second round. thompson one round of seven minutes each. my decision is rather than give six of 23 members a second round that it would be better to let every senator have seven minutes. now, senator isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. like to ask unanimous consent of the remarks i'm reading this morning be submitted for the record. they will, because i'm not going the read them. i have a unique honor and privilege to introduce a friend of mine for 30 years. a great politician, a great

practicing legislator, a great family man, a great community servant and a great friend of mine and an honor for me to do so and thank you for taking my call before this meeting today when i called to ask you to listen to what tom had to say. i think you'll be impressed with what you hear no matter how tough the question might be. i approach this introduction in what i would look for who i wanted to entrust with $1 trillion of my money, the future of the american quality of healthcare and my own. i've looked for five things. first does this man understand the american family? not only does he understand it but his wife betty is here. betty, stand up. she will tell you he understands the family and his son robert is not here because he is in nashville, tennessee singing country music and writing songs with the chairman would appreciate. a fine young man and i enjoy working with him. tom is a great family man. active in his community and doing what's right for his

community. he understands the family and the value of the family and the value of healthcare to every family. secondly i want to know is he capable of handing a trillion dollars? that's a lot of money. 1.1 trillion. when you get to 1.1 why worry about it, it's a lot of money and more than we appropriate. he has been chairman of the budget committee in the house of representative. he has run one of the largest medical practices in the state of georgia. tom price is one of those people that put together what's known as regions -- resurgence orthopedics. they're my doctors. they saved my son's right leg 26 years ago in a terrible automobile. it is now the largest practice in our state. a well-run practice and a practice set up as an example of how to do medicine in the 21st century. i want to know my nominee knew and understood the healthcare business. who better to understand it than a doctor? even better than that a doctor

married to another doctor. i have watched them over the last 30 years participate in activities in our state whether elected or not that contributed to the betterment of healthcare in our state. the betterment of the largest crisis hospital and trauma center we have in the state of georgia savings lives every day. tom price gave his time and effort to see that we raised the money necessary to keep grady open and some experience with the legislature. if you get a chairman of health and human services to come in and give him a budget and talk to the people to change the law. you want to find somebody who served in the state of georgia. was the first elected republican leader in the century of our state. he improved the 6th district

when i left and he was elected to replace me. the intellectual level went up. he was reelected six times to the house of representatives serving as budget chairman, study committee chairman and active member of the united congress of the united states of america and i want to know if he was an accountable person and believed in accountability. he is one of the rare one of us, maybe the only one of us, i know this is true, that reads all the bills. when i need to know something about a bill i call tom price to give me advice. i know he has read it. sometimes he is boring but always knowledgeable. because he does his homework, he does it right and believes in his responsibilities. i'll mention a couple of things said negative about tom because they're wrong. i did on the floor of the senate yesterday afternoon when schumer took the case of zimmer bioimmediate and try to make it into a major case.

it is a 26-share stock that tom's broker bought for him at a time tom was unaware of the purchase. it was two months after the house acted on a medical device bill. the term of art called desperate impact where you take two facts that are unrelated and you put them together to indict somebody for a wrong. when in fact nothing wrong was done at all. that's the case there. the zimmer biomed a 2,674 stock purchase was done without his knowledge. his knowledge of that purchase took place one month later after the disclosure was madekn time it was made. the allegations that were made yesterday on the floor of the senate are patently wrong by taking two correct things and putting together to make an incorrect thing. second, something else has been said that i have working knowledge of. tom was accused of not being for saving social security for seniors. i'm 72 years old. i am not somebody who won't protect social security. i have some of it.

let me tell you a story about tom price. we got a phone call six months ago. now eight months ago from aarp asking if we would travel and do town hall forums on saving social security. why would somebody call tom price the congressman or johnny isaacson, a senator, to be the organization that represents seniors to do town hall meetings about saving social security if they weren't for saving social security? it doesn't make any sense. lastly, one of the best votes i cast four years ago for cabinet members was a vote for sylvia burwell when she came before this committee on finance i was on both committees, as i am today. she is an articulate. intelligent lady. a lot of reason for me as the republican to say i'll vote against her because she is a democratic nominee. but i listened to her answers, i studied her history and watched her actions and i voted for her and she is a

professional friend of mine and we'll miss her in her office. there is nobody better qualified to replace sylvia burwell than tom price. i voted for sylvia burwell with pride and i'll vote for tom price with pride. i know he is the right man for the right job at the right time for america. he is my friend and i commend him to you and urge you to vote for him and his confirmation. >> thank you, that's much better than whatever was written for you to say. dr. price, welcome to the committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman alexander and ranking member murray and all the members of the committee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and engage in, as the ranking member said in the discussion about the road ahead for our great nation. i want to thank senator johnny isaacson for his introduction. i'm grateful for his friendship and kindness and our state is blessed to have had his service

and his leadership. i want to thank my wife, betty, of 33 years who joins me here today. as johnny mentioned her support and encouragement and advice, which i would suggest to you is virtually always correct, and her love means more to me than i could ever say. over the past few weeks i've met with many of you individually and have gained a real appreciation for the passion that you have for the department of health and human services. please know that i share that passion. that's why i'm here today and why i'm honored to be the nominee for secretary of health and human services. we all come to public service in our own unique ways that inform who we are and why we serve. my first professional calling was to care for patients. that experience as a physician and later as a legislator has provided a holistic view of the complex interactions that take place every day across our communities. and today i hope to share with you how my experience has helped shape me and my

understanding and appreciation for the work of the department of health and human services. from an early age i had an interest in medicine. my earliest memories are of growing up on a farm in the state of michigan. we lived on a farm in michigan before we moved to detroit when i was five years old. i spent most of my formative years being raised by a single mom. my fondest memories are spending time with my grandfather who was a physician. when i was young we would go -- i would be able to go and spend weekends with him and we would go on rounds, which at that time meant going on house calls and so we'd drive up to houses and i was the memories that i have of individuals opening the door and giving him a hug and welcoming him graciously are cemented in my mind. after graduating from the university of michigan i moved to atlanta which i called home for nearly 40 years and where i met my wife and where we raised our son. i did me residency at emory

university and grady memorial hospital and throughout my professional career i've treated patients in all walks of life including so many children. anyone who has ever treated a child knows the remarkable joy you have when you are able to go tell the mom and dad that we have helped. we've helped save their child or helped their child back to healthfulness. my memories of grady are filled with the gracious comments of parents and patients for the team of healthcare specialists with whom i had the privilege of working. after 25 years of school and training i started a solo orthopedic practice. over the years this practice grew

>> health and human services is more than healthcare. we keep our food safe. develop new drugs and treatment options driven by scientists conducting remarkable research. there are heroes among the talented, dedicated men and women working to provide critical social services. helping families and children have a higher quality of living and the opportunity to rise up and achieve their american dream. the role of health and human services in improving lives means it carries out its responsibilities with compassion. it also must be efficient, effective and accountable. as well as willing to work with those in communities already doing incredible work on behalf of their citizens. across the spectrum of issues and services this department handles there endures a promise that has been made to the american people. we must strengthen our resolve to keep the promises our society has made to senior citizens and those most in need of care and support. that means saving and

strengthening and securing medicare for today's beneficiaries and future generations. it means ensuring our nation's medicaid population has access to the highest quality care. it means maintaining and expanding america's leading role in medical innovation and treatment and eradication of disease. i share your passion for these issues having spent my life in service to them. and yet there is no doubt we don't all agree or share the same point of view when it comes to addressing every one of these issues. our approaches to policies may differ but surely there exists a common commitment to public service and to compassion for those that we serve. we all hope that we can help improve the lives of the american people to help heal individuals and whole communities. with a dose of humility and appreciation for the scope of the challenges before us with your assistance and with god's will we can make it happen. and i look forward to working with you to do just that. mr. chairman.

thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. >> thank you, dr. price. we'll now begin a round of seven minute questions. i'll start the questioning. talk about the affordable care act and the healthcare system. my belief is that the historic mistake in passage of the affordable care act was it sought to expand a system that already cost too much, a healthcare system. what is our goal here of those who want to repair the damage of obamacare and replace parts of it? is it to lower the cost of insurance for americans? is it to give them more choices of that lower-cost insurance? and is it to put more decisions in the hands of states and into the hands of patients? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think certainly the issues that you raise with choices and access and cost are at the heart and the center of where

we ought to be putting our attention. as i mentioned in the six principle i have for healthcare, affordability is incredibly important. doesn't do you any good if you can't afford health coverage. accessibility is imperative. today many folks have coverage but they don't have care because they don't have access to the physicians they would like to see. choices are vital. >> isn't one of the primary means for achieving those choices moving more healthcare decisions out of washington, putting them back in the hands of states and patient consumers? >> the closer that you can have those decisions to the patient keeping the focus on the patient, the better. >> if the responsibilities are headed toward the states, or some responsibilities, would that not necessarily involve a fair amount of extensive consultation with governors and state insurance departments how to do that and what the implementation schedule out to be? >> absolutely. having served at the state level they know their

populations better than we can know them. >> senator mcconnell said last week that obamacare would be replaced and repealed in manageable pieces. i want you to look at a chart here. four major areas where americans get healthcare insurance. 18% of americans get medicare. one is employer insurance, 61% of americans get their insurance on the job. one is medicaid and one is which is 22%, one is the individual market only 6% and the exchanges we hear so much about are just 4% of that 6% but that's where so much of the turmoil is. let me ask you this. is this the bill, any effort to replace and repeal obamacare, is this the bill to reform medicare? >> absolutely not. >> so we would be focused on employer, medicaid and individual insurance. are those accurate categories or would you categorize them in a different way? >> the challenges that we have

to address immediately are those in the individual market and in the medicaid market as you identified. >> is it possible to work on one of those areas at a time? rather than in a comprehensive -- let me put it this way. don't expect senator mcconnell to wheel in a wheelbarrow with a big comprehensive republican healthcare plan because, in my opinion, we don't believe in that. we don't believe in replacing a failed washington, d.c. healthcare plan with our own failed plan. we want to work on it step-by-step, large piece by piece. is that -- how do you respond to that? >> i think that's fair. i think that for individuals to -- the american people need to appreciate the last thing we want to do is go from a democrat healthcare system to a republican healthcare system. our goal would be to go from what we see as a democrat healthcare system to an american healthcare system that recognizes the needs of all. >> i know your plan won't be

presented until after you are confirmed. but the president-elect has said let's do repeal and replace simultaneously. to me that must mean that any repeal of parts of obamacare wouldn't take effect until after some concrete, practical alternative were in place for americans to choose. is that accurate or do you have a different idea of what simultaneous might mean or what the sequencing might be as we move through this process? >> i think that's fair. i think one of the important things that we need to convey to the american people is that nobody -- nobody is interested in pulling the rug out from under anybody. we believe that it's absolutely imperative that individuals that have health coverage be able to keep health coverage and move hopefully to greater choices and opportunities for them to get coverage for their families. i think there are a lot of talk

about individuals losing health coverage. that's not our goal nor our desire nor is it our plan. >> let me ask you about how long this might take, the repairing the damage and working on these three big areas, individual market, medicaid and employer. my sense is we've been working on this so long, although we have different opinions about it, we ought to be able to make most of our votes in the next few months about what to do, but that the implementation of whatever we decide, especially since it will be going some of it back to the states to the department that you hope to lead, might take several years. is there a difference between the votes we might take and then a longer time for implementation of what we decide to do? >> i think that's fair. i would point out that our healthcare system is continually involving and should. we should look at whether it's working for patients and the individuals that are working to provide the highest quality care for folks. and when it is, that's fine.

when it isn't, it's incumbent on policymakers to make certain we do the kinds of things to adjust that policy so that it can work especially for patients. >> my last question is about the individual market. the 6%, obamacare exchanges are about 4% of all of us who are insurance. our insurance commissioner in tennessee says the market is virtually collapsing. i'm told by many people that we need to basically have a rescue plan, a reform plan for the individual market in place by march 1st so that insurance companies who make their decisions about the year 2018 can make those plans so that people have insurance to buy in all of these states. do you agree that the market is collapsing, that we need a rescue plan and that march 1st is an important proximate date for decision of action? >> we're seeing changes in the individual of small group market adverse to the patient

whether it's decreasing access to coverage, whether it's increasing premiums, whether it's higher deductibles, something is going badly wrong out there and imperative for us to recognize that and put in place the kind of solutions we believe to be most appropriate. >> your plan we're likely to see in february will include recommendations for how to do that? >> should i be given the honor of leading health and human services along with the president we look forward to working with congress to come forward with that plan. >> thank you. senator murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i want i want to ask a letter on the importance of a second round of questions on this nominee. and i ask the consent to put in the record 25 letters signed by 123 organization opposing his nomination to lead the department of health and human services and a petition signed by 500,000 people from across the country opposing this

nomination i ask to put in the record. >> it will be. >> congressman price, recent press reports about your investments in the australian biotech company raises some serious questions about your judgment and i want to review the facts. you purchased stock in a company working to develop new drugs on four separate occasions between january 2015 and august 2016. you made the decision to purchase that stock, not a broker, yes or no. >> that was a decision i made, yes. >> you were offered an opportunity to purchase stock at a lower price than was available to the general public. yes or no. >> the initial purchase in january of 2015 the market price. the secondary purchase in june through august and september of 2016 was at a price that was available to individuals who

were participating in a private placement offering. >> it was lower than what was available to the general public, correct? >> i don't know if it was. the same price that everybody paid for the private placement offering. >> well, congressman who sits on president trump's transition team is an investor and board member of the company and reportedly overheard last week off the house floor bragging how he had made people millionaires from a stock tip. congressman price in our meeting you informed me you made these purchases based on conversation with representative collins, is that correct? >> no. what i -- >> that is what you said to me in my office. >> what i believe i said to you i learned of the company from congressman collins. >> what i recall our conversation was that you had a conversation with collins and then decided to purchase the stock. >> that's not correct. >> that's what i remember hearing you say in my office.

in that conversation, did representative collins tell you anything that could be considered quote, a stock tip, yes or no? >> i don't believe so, no. >> well, if you are telling me he gave you information about a company, you were offered shares in the company at prices not available to the public, you bought those shares, is that not a stock tip? >> that's not what happened. what happened was he talked about the company and the work they were doing in trying to solve the challenge of progressive secondary multiple sclerosis which is a very debilitating disease and one that i have had the opportunity to treat patients when i was in practice. i studied the company for a period of time and felt it had some significant merit and promise and purchased the initial shares on the stock exchange itself. >> i have very limited time. let me go on. your purchases occurred while the 21st century -- act with several provisions that could

impact developers was being negotiated and days before you were notified to prepare for a final vote of the bill. do you believe it's appropriate for a senior member of congress actively involved in policy making in the health sector to repeatedly, personally invest in a drug company that could benefit from those actions, yes or no? >> that's not what happened. >> well, let me just say i believe it is inappropriate and we need answers to this regarding whether you and congressman collins used your access to non-public information when you bought at prices that were unavailable to the public >> i had no access to non-public information. >> we will go on. congressman price, just last week you and republicans in congress voted to begin ripping apart our healthcare system which would cause nearly 30 million people to lose their coverage and raise healthcare costs for families. without telling the american people specifically what you plan to do instead.

president-elect trump and republicans in congress have promised to deliver a plan that prevents anyone from losing coverage and leaves no one worse off. just days ago president-elect trump said his plan would provide insurance for everybody. do you share those goals? >> i think it's absolutely imperative we have a system in place that has patients at the center and allows for every single american to have the opportunity to gain access to the kind of coverage they want. >> you share his goal of insurance for everybody? >> that's always my stated goal and what we worked on throughout my entire public career. >> if your repeal pan of the empowering patients first act was signed into law would you consider these commitments to ensure all -- >> the goals of the bills i worked on in congress the role if i'm leading of hhs is different. my role in congress was to make certain individuals the opportunity to gain access to the kind of coverage they desired and that they had the

financial feasibility to do so. that's what is different about the plans we put forward. >> i think it's really important we have clearances so let me just say this. your bill only allows people with pre-existing conditions to obtain health insurance if they maintained continuous insurance for 18 months prior. millions of americans with pre-existing health conditions lack insurance for short periods of time. under your plan insurance companies could deny those americans coverage for pre-existing conditions. yes or no under your bill. >> that's a broader question than that. we would put in place high-risk pools and individual health pools to allow every person in the individual and small group market to be able to gain access again to the coverage they want. we believe through that plan that every single person would have the opportunity and financial feasibility to gain the coverage they want for themselves and their families. >> we disagree on the consequences of that. your bill would repeal dependent coverage available to

young adults up to age 26. that is correct, right? >> the bill i authored did not include coverage up to age 26. the insurance companies have said they were working that. they were including that in their plans going forward and so we felt it was covered. >> and your bill takes away current benefits which include prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits and maternity coverage among others, that's correct, right? >> it's different in the legislative arena than administrative but other factors we would put in place to make certain individuals had the care and coverage they needed for whatever diagnosis would befall them. >> your bill didn't cover that. your bill also repeals the lifetime limits on coverage that helps a lot of people who are sick and have high medical expenses like a person with cancer, yes or no. >> again, it's a larger question because what we would put is a different construct in place that would allow for every single person to gain access to the coverage they want and have nobody fall

through the cracks. >> i think just with these questions i am very concerned that your vision for healthcare system is very different than one that i think millions of americans are counting on. >> thank you, senator murray. senator enzi. >> thank you, mr. chairman and dr. price for being willing to serve and to go through this process. i call this gotcha management. nothing is barred and the idea is to get you to take questions on short notice in public that you wouldn't have done what you normally do. i've worked with you for the last two years meeting with you at least once a week every week that we've been in session. so i know how you operate and i appreciate how you operate, and the care and the focus and the

concern and how comprehensively you think about particularly the medical things. one of my concerns is always the rural areas. wyoming is the most rural state in the nation. i hesitate to do that because last night at the education hearing, i got to hear from mrs. devos, who remembered a conversation from a month before that i had on a rural problem, which dealt with grizzly bears by a school in wyoming and that became a major topic around here. and i'm glad everybody recognizes that need and concern. now, part of the story was that that's the grade school that former senator craig thomas went to and when he was there they didn't need that fence because he was tough. but there are different kinds of problems in different places

in the healthcare area. i have a county the size of delaware with one community that would like to say it has 2500 people. it does have a hospital. but when you have a rural community, rural county that big with that small of a small, it's difficult to keep a doctor without at least a p.a. there, the hospital has to close. and if that hospital closes, emergency care is 80 miles away. not a likely story and most of the places, and we need to make sure that those things are covered. i've appreciated getting to share those with you over the period of time. i was always curious as to why you left a very successful practice and were willing to come back here