tumble or two. didn't win best in show, but definitely a fun performance. >> jon: ollie has given it his ally. >> jenna: he didn't win but that's who we're talking about. >> jon: good job. thank you for joining us. "america's news hq" starts now. >> sandra: a fox news alert. hello and welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm melissa francis. sean spicer expected to take questions on everything from health care and the cbo scoring of the obamacare replacement plan, to the justice tkep needing more time to produce evidence of president trump's wiretapping claim. we'll bring that to you live as soon as it gets started. snow pummelling the northeast today in what could be being one of the most severe blizzards of the year. major cities on the east coast from philadelphia to boston facing a possible 1 to 20 inches

of snow. five states have declared a state of emergency. and the weather has delayed or cancelled thousands of flights across the country. we have team coverage today just outside of boston. we're gonna start with chief meteorologist rick in our fox extreme weather center. rick, what's next? >> we still have a long ways to go with this storm, primarily heading towards new england and upstate new york. already over two feet of snow across parts of the poconos and in throughout pennsylvania and parts of upstate new york. then we're starting to see this really nasty mix here moving across parts of connecticut, down the i 95 corridor in toward new york city. new york city will probably get a foot of snow. it is very slushy. less been a lot of freezing precipitation, lot of ice pull lets going on, so the roads are incredibly dangerous. the snow that's on the ground is incredibly heavy. for those shoveling, it will be a big problem. lot of ice is coming off of the building so be very careful. this is how much snow is yet to

be had. see some spots here, especially as you head in toward the adirondaks. we'll be talking about spots over two feet of snow. long ways to go with this. also very windy conditions with this. we've been seeing winds gusting in the 50 to 60 mile an hour range. anywhere you see this red, those are blizzard warnings that are going to go on. this is what we'll look like as we move throughout the afternoon into the evening. center of the storm tracking a little farther to the west. that made a big difference for all of the population area here. we'll have more freezing rain cape cod and the islands. storm will be here 10 p.m. tonight. still snowing very hard across northern new england. we have a long ways to go. very cold air settles in as well. roads will be dangerous for that community. >> melissa: thank you for that. parts of new england could see more than two feet of snow by the time the storm is over. officials telling residents to stay off the roads.

as blizzard conditions sweep the northeast. brian is live outside boston in framingham, massachusetts. how's it looking there? how is it feeling? >> reporter: it feels okay, melissa. about 12:30, tkpwufhe gusts wer picking up. we are 30 minutes west of boston. some people are on the road, but mostly what we are seeing are plows and emergency vehicles. many people are heeding to the governor charlie baker's advice to stay off the roads and let these guys do their job. it is whiteout conditions in some parts of the state. the other major concern here are power outages. that's because this is a recipe for tree limbs to fall on power lines. over the last few hours we have seen numbers spike from 700 customers without power in the state up to 62,000. the other concern also is

flooding. all along the coastal line here in massachusetts, high tide was at about 1:30 p.m. today. so there is some concern for light to moderate flooding along the coast line here in massachusetts. they're going to keep an eye on that. as for travel here at boston's airport in logan, 800 flight cancellations have taken place. but all things should be back to normal come tomorrow morning, hopefully. icy roads though so you have to be careful. >> melissa: thank you. the white house briefing expected to start any moment now. let's go to john roberts with more on what to expect. a lot of issues on the docket today, john in >> reporter: good afternoon, yeah. first time we'll have a chance to talk to sean spicer about the cbo scoring, which came out yesterday. some numbers favorable to the white house. others favorable to people who are opponents of the plan to repeal an replace obamacare. the number they like $337

billion. that's the amount of money that would be trimmed from the deficit between 2017 and 2026 because of the fact that they are getting rid of the subsidies in obamacare. that's one for the white house. couple things the white house doesn't like, the numbers 14 and 24 million. 14 million is the number of people that the congressional bug office estimates will lose health care immediately in the year 2018 because of the fact that the individual mandate goes away. that number would rise to 24 million by the year 2026. but the white house is pushing back hard against that including the hhs secretary tom price said it's just not realistic to expect that all of those people would choose not to have health care if we make it affordable for them. the other figure the white house doesn't like is 15% to 20%. that is the amount premiums are projected to rise in 2018 and 2019 under this new plan, though they would start to go down in 2020 when grants to states then are given to insurance companies to take care of people in high risk pools. yesterday meeting with the 18 to

22 members of his cabinet, the president suggested that all of this is open for negotiation. listen here. >> we're negotiating with everybody. it's a big fat beautiful negotiation. hopefully, we'll come up with something that's going to be really terrific. >> reporter: it's a big fat beautiful negotiation, the president said to be in full deal making mode on this thing. though the freedom caucus, who were supposed to be here tonight for bowling and pizza, but the weather put the kabosh on that, is going to need probably more than some friendly arm twisting over rolling some balls and knocking down some pins. listen to what jim jordan said earlier this morning on fox and friends. >> 'cause i don't think it's going to accomplish what we told the voters we were going to do. we didn't tell the voters we were going to repeal obamacare but bring back the cadillac tax. we didn't tell them we were going to repeal obamacare but take the medicade expansion and extend it. we didn't tell them we would

have a 30% penalty even though the mandate's gone. >> reporter: jordan basically saying we told you we were going to do all these things and then we're not doing them in this bill. one of the central figures here in the texas senator ted cruz. he's going to be here at the white house this afternoon meeting with the senior staff. it will be the fourth time he's been here. so ted cruz certainly wanting to play a big role in this. 2018 may have something to do with that. back to you. >> melissa: a big fat beautiful negotiation. i love it. thank you. for more on all of this, let's bring in our panel. a former bill clinton campaign adviser. matt sclapp is the chairman of the american conservative union. simon, you heard what he said. big fat beautiful negotiation. if you were a democrat in the ring right now and you were trying to not obstruct but to make things better, what would you offer to this plan? what would you say is your number one thing you want

changed? >> that's an interesting question. i don't think any democrat will support the republican house this initial plan. >> melissa: let's make a deal time. go ahead. >> it's not let's make a deal time. we just got this thing a couple days ago. we just got the cbo scoring. usually there are voting before we have the scoring. this plan is a disaster. it's a political disaster for the republicans. it's a disaster for tens of millions of people. our plan is obamacare. we think it's working. i know you don't think it's working, but we think it's working. it's incumbent on the republicans to come up with something better. >> melissa: when the whole thing goes down the drain that makes it not working -- >> can you guarantee that will happen? >> melissa: you can. it's a math certainty. >> cbo said that's not going to happen. >> melissa: it is but an all of the insurance companies are pulling out. >> the cbo report said it is not going to happen. >> melissa: can we let matt

respond? matt, go ahead. >> the cbo has such a great track record for obamacare. i don't know why we're continuing to listen to their analysis. i love the fact they say thaoe millions of americans will immediately be, they say kicked off of their insurance plans when the individual mandate comes in. >> melissa: matt, the name of the game is let's get in the ring and make things better. it's so easy to stand here and say this one is gonna kick everyone off. give me one thing you would do to this plan to make it better. >> okay. so let me finish that thought real fast. when americans decide not to buy insurance, do you know what that is? that's freedom. so what i would do if i have in the republican conference, the first thing i would do, let's have a repeal bill. this is about scrapping obamacare. the second thing i would do, it's great paul ryan has this version of the bill, but i would have a very open amendment process which conservatives have a real chance to reform this bill. the only way we're gonna get consensus through the house and in the senate is if they have an open debate with the american people about what we want and

about what we want to avoid, all the pitfalls with obamacare. >> melissa: you are both doing exactly what both sides in washington have been guilty of. you're criticizing the other plan. you're saying why we should do nothing. can you come up with a real solution? >> i can be specific. >> melissa: go ahead. >> i think every mandate should go away. i think the refundable tax credit is an interesting idea, but i think it probably goes too high of an income threshold. i think that should be reduced. i think we should be sensitive to those folks that don't qualify for medicade, but still want to find an affordable way to purchase health care. paul ryan is trying to find a way to do that. i think he should be open to changes so that the truly needy get it not people who make an awful lot of money. >> melissa: simon, do you want to take one more crack at the number one thing you would do? >> i reject the entire framing of this conversation. the market was broken when barack obama came to the white house. people were not able to get insurance. health care inflation was

galloping. we fixed those things. >> melissa: what about all the markets where there's only one choice and the company o insurance companies are coming out. >> you've been interrupting me. let me finish. i'm answering your question. so tens of millions of people have insurance who didn't have it before. they're happy with that insurance. we know that from polling. >> that's not true. >> it is true. >> not true. >> health care inflation slowed down. we made significant changes that improve the health care system. preexisting conditions are covered. the republicans are the ones who say they don't like it. the public support -- >> melissa: you're repeating yourself now. >> if they want -- >> melissa: sir, you are repeating yourself. now you need to answer my question. what about all the markets where there's -- >> i aoepl not answering your question. our idea is on the table. the republicans don't like it. >> melissa: i ask you what about all the markets where there's only one insurance company and those carriers have said they are leaving. what is the answer to that

question, simon? >> higher subsidies. >> melissa: more government tax dollars? that's the answer? >> yeah, that's the answer. >> melissa: okay. i'm glad you're willing to admit it on television. i'm glad you're willing to admit it. more taxpayer dollars. taken from working people and giving it over to insurance companies. you're gonna take packs payer dollars. what pays taxes? working people pay taxes. who pays taxes? gentlemen, we got to hold it there. we're gonna take a breath and come right back. i just want to find a used car without getting ripped off. start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com.

it's about moving forward not back. it's looking up not down. it's feeling up thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutand minerals vitams and 10 grams of protein. all in 3 delicious flavors. it's choosing to go in one direction... up. boost. be up for it. >> melissa: we have to go to sean spicer. let's listen. >> -- in light of the storm the schedule for today changed a

bit. obviously, chairman chancellor merkel's visit was moved to friday. we'll con to give you updates as we go closer to friday. today the president had lunch with the minister of defense of saudi arabia. the president will swear in the administrator of centers for medicare and medicade services. the president looks forward to having the spectacular qualified and experienced administrator verma finally on board. especially as we continue to lay the ground work of our reform of our health care system. the president and secretary of health and human services dr. tom price will have a call with the ceo of anthem health care, mr. joseph swedish. he will then have a phone call with speaker ryan to further discussion the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare with the american health care act and a series of much needed regulatory reforms to accompany that. the president was glad to see the national federation of

independent businesses announce their support for the american health care act and had previously identified hel care along with small business taxes as their two biggest priorities. and the president's health care agenda will address many of their concerns for small businesses. yes,ed of course, the congressional bug office released their report on the american health care act. i know there have been significant concerns about the cbo report. i want to give context to the numbers that have been going around. in 2013, the cbo estimated 24 million people would have coverage under obamacare in 2016. they were way off. they were off by 13 million people. over 50% in in fact, 10.4 million people are actually covered reports now suggest that number has dwindled down to 9 million. cbo coverage estimates are consistently wrong. more importantly, do not take into consideration the comprehensive nature of the three pronged plan to repeal and replace obamacare with the american health care act. we're working to bring real

relief and better choices to american families. the two other prongs of our plan contain several additional reforms that will further drive down costs and increase coverage. when you get down to it, the congressional bug budget office, its attempts to estimate coverage have been historically faulty. but in the portion of its analysis, the focus is on what the office is really about. cbo concedes the american health care act would reduce the deficit by $330 billion and bring health insurance premiums down 10%, even before many of the significant reforms in prongs two and three have taken effect. as i mentioned before, some of these include expanding health care savings accounts, stream lining the process at the fda so that lower cost medicines can get to patients faster, allowing health insurance to be sold across state lines which increases competition and decreases cost. permitting small businesses to

band together to negotiate health care rates for all of their employees and reforming the medical malpractice system so that doctors aren't spending their time and patients money on unnecessary procedure. beyond the numbers, let's talk about real life examples of the cost of obamacare for some actual americans who the president heard from during his listening session yesterday. kim certicl a small business owner in arizona had her health care costs sky rockets from $389.89 a month to $809.15. carry kooey from colorado, whose youngest son is six saw her family's yearly insurance go from $1700 to $52,000 for a lower quality plan. and joel brown, a farmer from tennessee, saw his catastrophic coverage cost spike in the wake of obamacare from $119 a month to more than $500 a month. these are the stories that really matter to millions of americans suffering under obamacare. these are the stories at the top

of the president's mind as he works towards reforming our health care system. the president's committed to working together with speaker ryan, majority leader mccarthy and mcconnell to create a system that's affordable and accessible to all americans. let me walk through the rest of the schedule for the week. tomorrow the president is headed to michigan to meet with auto executives and will discuss how his plan for rolling back federal red tape will lead to more american jobs and higher wages, specifically in the automobile sector. it's a great opportunity for the president to showcase moves he's already made towards his ambitious buy america, hire america agenda, like encouraging investment, work force training and development so that americans are ready for jobs of the future and removing the road blocks that prevent american businesses from staying and expanding here in the united states. the president hopes to build on the great optimism that he has built with in the business commune and anticipation of the renewed tunes the president's economic agenda has already created. he and his team are hard at work

to produce the results of the american people deserve and voted for last year. he will all travel to nashville, tennessee, where he will lay a wreath at president jackson's tomb on his 250th birthday. thursday the sheik of ireland will come to the white house for st. patrick's day visit including a reception and honor of him an mrs. kenny. as i mentioned german chancellor merkel's visit will resume on friday and we will have an update on that schedule. with that, let's take a few questions. >> sean, president trump has said that under his plan, there will be insurance for everybody. how do you square that with the cbo numbers? is that a promise he can keep? >> there's two issues that are important to note on that. number one, more and more americans have no choices. so they don't have insurance. i have mentioned this before. having a card and having coverage that when you walk into a doctor's office has a

deduckable of $15,000, $20,000 a year season coverage. that's a card. that doesn't get you the care you need. it doesen allow you to get the procedure or referral that you need from a doctor that's telling you what you need to have happen. that's vastly different than what we hope to have. which is giving people who don't have it. let's kind of -- i think it's important to add some context to this. if you think about the individual market that exists. the individual insurance market. you've got roughly 30 million people that exist right now. 9 million people now are on the exchange. that number's gone down. 6.5 million people have said they don't want any insurance and they're gonna pay a penalty. just under 14 million people have said that they have applied for a hardship. so you've got almost 20 million people in america who have said that they don't want obamacare and they'll either pay a penalty or have applied for a hardship. those are people who don't have it to begin with.

the exchanges sought out to cover these people. we're finding it out you've got 9 million plus who aren't getting it now. for more and more american, they're losing their coverages, their choices are gone. tax credits and competition that will come in phases two and three and the prongs we talked about will further drop prices down, will further increase competition. the cbo score didn't take into consideration in that. again, if you look at their numbers, you've got roughly just over 9 million people on the exchanges. the cbo number says that 14 million people in the first year alone will lose coverage. it doesn't take an analysis to recognize that this doesn't make any sense logically. you can't only have 9 million plus people on the exchange and say in the first year alone where there's no touch to medicade or anything else, you're just removing the individual mandate that forced people to buy something they didn't want in the first place, that it's going to lead to 14 million people. that people will gonna drop off medicare.

that doesen add up. i would argue if you look at the other part of the equation, the 20 million plus people who have ire chosen to pay a penalty. 6.5 million people are saying, either the plan is too costly, the plan doesn't provide coverage. i think a lot of those people, especially when we continue to instill additional coverage, they have more choices. they can pick a plan that fits their needs or fits their budget. you're going to see more people want coverage who are going to choose coverage. so i think the cbo number, a, they've a record that doesn't match up with the ability to count people. they're pretty good at dollars. not as good at people. when you look at the additional phases or prongs of this whole comprehensive approach, that actually changes the equation a lot. it's looking at one piece of a three part plan. that's not the entirety of the plan we're looking at. that doesn't -- >> what does the white house think of the change next year? >> we don't do those

projections. i think that there's no question when you look at the cost, they're already saying just this alone, just doing the first prong of this, will take costs down 10% in the individual market. they're 25% on average already. this year alone just people under the exchanges up 25%. cbo is saying just with what we're doing on first prong alone, 10% decline in the individual market. that's a significant reduction. that's what we're talking about. that's a big deal. the problem you have currently is that these subsidies that people get, get them a card that doesn't get them care. that's what we need to start tpo cushion on. how many people are getting the care they need to deal with the medical concerns of them and their family? that's not what's happening. mike? >> sean, stating as you did primary veterans white house is that the cbo report doesn't take into account phase two and phase three.

are there specifics in terms of the regulatory reform that the white house is considering and specific terms of the legislation that you would of near are out there for people to study as part of this? as you surely know, tom cotton, among others, are skeptical. >> look, the things that i mentioned earlier allowing people to buy across state lines, to pool their insurance, to expand hsa, to reform. all of those things i think unquestionably add competition and choice. there's no question about it. if one plan can sell that within maryland into virginia where they can seek additional customers, that competition alone brings down costs. we've seen this in market after market where once you allow competition, by itself, that will bring down cost. it will bring in choice. right now these insurance companies who have been mandated by certain packages that people don't need. you've got young people being told to buy packages that have end of life care that they don't

necessarily need. you've got people in their older phases of life having to buy stuff for maternity that may not be a service that they need at their stage of life. but the problem is that the government got involved in health care an started dictating what needed to happen, instead of allowing the choice and allow people to buy a plan that was tailored to the needs they want. those reforms in themselves unquestionably bring down costs. there's no question. one of the issues that has to go back to overriding this issue, and the president has stated this on numerous occasions. if we do nothing, it will collapse on its own. the cost of it is unsustainable. the premiums are going sky high in state after state. choices keep going further down. this idea of comparing it to obamacare is a false choice because they have no choice. the choice is going away and the cost continues to get higher through every phase.

so to assume the comparison is apples to apples is a false choice. >> you've been critical from this podium of the obama administration, of democrats and the way they went about passing the affordable care act. in the interest of transparency that you accuse them of not following, shoving this down people's throats, should they put the legislative details out now? >> i think the house is working on that. as that legislation gets down -- that's a great question for speaker ryan. i know he's been working with the team getting it done. the sooner we can get all those prongs out there, the better. the big difference, just so we're clear, we posted this bill online. the speaker had it out there. the president tweeted it out. anyone in this country could read it. that's a vastly different approach than told after we pass it you can read it which is somewhat speaker pelosi said. sure we can get out there, absolutely. the speaker is working with his members to do that. that's an appropriate question for the speaker to answer, not

for me. i know we are trying to work with them. i know there's a lot of members working with speaker ryan and leader mccarthy. and frankly on the other chamber as well. we continue, and that's why we're talking about all of though prongs and all of the pieces so that we can start making sure that people understand the comprehensive nature of this. >> will it happen before there's a vote? >> that's a question for speaker ryan to answer. the more we get out there, the better. alexis? >> mark was asking you about senator cotton. why does the white house giving senator cotton bold running room to go again and again in the media and to denegrate the house plan without bringing him in, discussing what mike was just bringing up, alternatives that he's suggesting. why does he have special dispensation -- >> i don't think he has special

dispensation. we've been engaged in a very very robust discussion with members on both chambers who have ideas to move this thing forward. i don't think we can tell them what they can and cannot do in a free society. senator cotton is obviously able to make any comments that he'd like. we'd obviously continue to like to work with him. i think the team will continue to reach out to he and his team to try to get his ideas on this. >> president spent time talking to him about his ideas on immigration. has he called him? has the vice president called him? >> i know we had a robust discussion with members of the house and senate. i would have to get specific details with what we've done with senator cotton. >> is senator cruz coming today? >> i'd have to check on that. i know there was a group of individuals. i don't have that list in front of me. >> senators? >> i will get back to you on that. the snowstorm kind of shifted a

bunch of stuff. so i don't want to start getting in front of who can be here and who can't. but i will make sure that we get details out. i'd be glad to give you the entire pool. >> thank you. >> margret. >> thank you. on the same subject. does the white house support the house bill as it is or amending it? and there's been reporting that the white house is involved or some white house officials are involved in shaping what's being described as a major significant manager's amendment in conjunction with conservatives. we can go back and forth. i was wondering, is the white house writing this amendment or just considering backing the amendment? >> i think speaker ryan is well aware of the manager's amendment. >> okay. >> i think as we've noted multiple times from the podium, when people have ideas that are constructive or supportive or ones that we have heard ab from different members that we have

engaged with. ones that the senate and house have engaged with, we've always stated a willingness. director mulvaney talked about this, the president, the vice president. part of the reason we're engaging with these individuals is to hear their ideas. talk to them about the approach. what can go in, what can go out. how we deal with the different phases. all of that is part of a strategy to engage with members who support us, who have ideas and want to be on board and want the be constructive and achievepresident's goal of having a patient netanyahu -- patient centric health care system. the president will be on the phone with speaker ryan and leader mccarthy later this afternoon to talk to them about some of the ideas. that's part of the legislative process. >> so actually i have a separate question. just to clarify. the white house is working to help shape that? >> yes.

>> okay. and the visit of the deputy saudi crown prince today, can you talk us through a little more details? does that involve the resumption of arms sales? was it about oil? >> it was literally wrapping up as we were walking over here. i want to make sure i get a readout. we will provide that to the pool. i will have more details from that once they were concluding that visit as we were coming here, so i'll make sure i get blake? >> thanks, sean. also the debt ceiling. how urgent of a priority is this? and how concerned is the administration tackling this in a letter that was sent out last week? >> secretary sent out a letter that congress's debt authority had until march 15th. he notified them of that. we'll continue to work with congress. we'll be releasing a budget later this week that's part and

parcel of our approach to fiscal responsibility, to making sure that we talk about the path forward. how we address both the ending fiscal year '17, it goes until september 30th of this year. and the budget which would be fiscal year '18. how we address our budget deficits, our debt, and our spending going forward is something that is a wholistic conversation that the secretary and dr. mulvaney and other, vice president and vice president are engaging with congress on. so this isn't -- our job under the law was to notify them of the authority that they passed and when it expired. i think the secretary will work with congress on a path forward, as far as our debt situation. >> let me get your reaction to jonathan grover, one of the arch teblgts of obamacare. he called essentially the plan that you put forward if implemented a, quote, scam. your reabction to that would be what? >> i think the plan that he helped create hasn't done so

well for americans seeking health insurance. i don't have to go over the number. just think about what he sought out to do. there was a pool of people that needed health care. they got about 9 million of them. you got 14.4 plus or minus million people who claimed a hardship exemption. they had no insurance. that are not receiving medicade. that don't qualify for any other assistance. who can't afford obamacare. then you've got another 6 million plus that have chosen to pay the penalty. so i would argue that just on what he sought to achieve in the plan that he helped craft didn't achieve too many great results. of the people that did get it, the premiums have gone sky high, their choices have gone down and single handedly had a tphrepb douse effect through the rest of the health care system. people who weren't even affected by obamacare initially have now paid higher premiums and get less choices.

even for the 175 million people who get employer based health care, they felt the impact of what he sought out to do through higher prices, fewer choices. respectfully i think he should hang out more time at mit and focus -- and allow good ideas to continue to come forward so that we can focus on achieving the president's goal of doing what he sought out in the first place. >> president several times recently has said that he would like his health care plan to have health care for everybody. >> right. >> cbo score yesterday seems that's not the case. will the white house commit to alter phases two and three if they are implemented, if they are ever offered publicly, that there would be health care for everybody. >> i think everybody -- look at what obamacare did. i just ran through the numbers. you've got 30 million people plus. obamacare mandated under penalty of law that you had to have health insurance.

9 million of the 30 plus or minus people got it. 4 million, 4.5 said no, we'll pay the penalty. the other 14 or so million people said they will claim a hardship. that was a government mandated system and they chose not to do it. i think in many of these cases if people were given the choice and the option to get a plan that sought their needs, was tailored to what they wanted, it wasn't forced down their throat. and brought down cost. i read you some soft stories of the individuals. we've seen tremendous growth from people who got a reasonably priced plan at $1950 a month. for people who aren't getting their services through medicade because of their financial situation, for many middle class families, while that's still a struggle, it's an attainable goal. when you're talking about 350, $500 on the individual market, that's a huge chunk of somebody's individual take home pay.

and i think that getting a process that we have down that levels the playing field, allows people who aren't getting it through an employer based system to get a tax credit that at the same time lowers cost and creates more competition and choice is actually gonna give more people the option to have health care and give more americans that ability. right now they're choosing not to do it. >> that's still not everybody. >> everybody has a choice to get it. that's what i think we want to do. give everyone who wants to get health care the financial ability to get it is what the president is trying to achieve through this. i think this is the system that will get them there. right now they're being forced to get it by a government run system. huge margins choosing not to. i think that's the system. by the way, they're getting a system that's failing. and that is collapsing on its own and is only going in the wrong direction with higher prices, higher premiums, higher deductibles and lower choice. i mean, that's what you've got

now. if you're an american citizen on the obamacare exchange, you're paying more, you have a higher deductible and your choice is going down. so that is an unsustainable, unacceptable outcome for americans who need care. dave? >> thanks, sean. on immigration, group that tracks number sanctuary cities in the u.s. came out with a report today saying there's now merely 500 sanctuary cities across the country. that number has grown by about three dozen just this year. does that concern the white house? and does it suggest that your warnings about with holding federal funds is not getting through to people? >> i think the last poll i saw on this issue, on sanctuary cities was somewhere in the 80% american people don't support sanctuary cities. they don't want their tax dollars used to finance people who are in this country illegally. i think if you are a mayor or a councilman or a state representative or a governor in a state, you need to answer to the people that elected you.

whether or not you're going to support this. from a federal perspective, the president's been very clear that we're not going to use federal taxpayer dollars to support cities that support services to people who are here in this country illegally. but i think attend of the day, this is a question for mayors and council members at the local level who have to answer to the people who elected them with clearly a position that is not in keeping with what most americans believe. amen? >> thanks, sean. mentioned the call with the cbo. can you tell me the proposal the pft has for health insurance companies. will their profits go up or down under the president's proposal? >> i don't think that's been the focus of the president's proposal. it's not about them. it's about patients. i think what i means for them is they finally get to create more choice and more plans and allow people to choose a plan that fits them. right now they don't have that choice. frankly, more and more markets, companies like anthem, united

health, cigna, are pulling out. aetna. because they don't have the choice. because of the government mandate. what we want to do is allow competition and choice to exist so they can offer more options for the american people. >> will those companies make more money under the plan or less? >> i don't know the answer to that. at the end of the day, they're pulling out of market after market, leaving the american people with fewer and fewer choices. last i checked i think many are doing pretty well. but it's the american people and its patients who are losing under the current system. i think there's a way you can do both. hunter? >> yes. we've seen the white house and secretary price push back on calling this health care bill trump care. does anything need to change for the president to be comfortable putting his name on the bill? >> i don't think the obama administration didn't label it obamacare. they called it the aca. this is the american health care act. the president is proud of it. the president is proud of the

fact that we're working with congress. but this is a bill, it's not his. it's a joint effort that we worked with the house and the senate on. he's proud of it. he's proud of the impact it will have on american patients. so i don't think this is about labels and names. this is about getting a job done. john? >> you keep pointing out that the cbo does not take into consideration phases two or three. some people might say the white house has criticized the cbo for not taking into account phases two and three. how are they supposed to take into account something that doesn't yet exist? >> i think that's a question for the house. there are constraints that are put on the cbo in terms of what they can consider. the point that we want to make, and it came up yesterday, if members are going to base their vote off a score, they need to understand the totality and the comprehensive nature of the entire program. so to base your score off of one

piece of information is literally -- hold on. let me answer the question. what i'm saying is the question that keeps being asked is to see all of the reports on this about how it's going to impact and not know -- i don't recall too many packages that ran on the evening news or too many stories noting that it was one piece of a comprehensive package. noting that it was prong one of three prongs. respectfully, i think when we've gone out here and tried to make sure people understand the comprehensive nature of what's happening and why it has to happen, it wasn't by choice. there are certain ways that it had to be conducted because of how it was constructed in the first place in terms of how it gets repealed and replaced. the reconciliation piece of this which is inside senate baseball talk may not make sense to a lot of people, but it's the way that we have to go, the process by which we have to achieve this because of the senate rule, which is how it was constructed

in the first place when democrats enacted it in 2009. that being said, when we talk about this, again, you guys, when there's a report that comes out on the evening news or cable news or in the paper and it doesn't explain the comprehensive nature of this. just says the cbo said this is the impact full stop, it is incumbent upon us to make sure that people trying to understand what we're doing understand there are two more pieces to come of this. like anything else, it's like building a puzzle. if you only put a third of it on the table and said, look, this puzzle is incomplete, we hid the other two-thirds pieces, is not explaining to people how it comes together. that's important to showing people how it's going to matter. >> can this -- the president called it a big beautiful negotiation. people like jim jordan say it's a big beautiful dud. is there a way to hammer this thing into shape where you could satisfy conservatives? or do you have to, as has been

suggested by a number of people, rip it up and start all over again? jim jordan just this morning was saying that fundamental aspects of what was promised the american people by house members when they ran for election back in the fall and by the president when he ran for election is not in this bill. >> well, respectfully i would suggest that it's gone through two house committees that consisted of over 50 republican members with unanimous support. so i get that -- i don't know that's true. i understand that. i will use major garrett to fact check you. or john roberts. >> i did not say that. >> my point is, i think we've got tremendous support. the president, as i have stated, wants to work with them. there will be an amendment. yeah, i'd love to have every member support this on both sides of the aisle. the president's principles and

goals are going to benefit every american. obviously, the more support we get, the better. as we continue to meet with members and talk to them and get their ideas, i think we're going to have a phenomenal outcome of this bill. there are a lot of ways we'll continue to gather input and ideas. the closer we can get to achieving that goal, great. he'll con to provide us with constructive ideas. we'll get as many people included. >> the managers amendment is annedan ed admission of the bill. you would never pass it if you had the votes, correct? >> no. it's an admission of what we stated at the beginning of this entire process. the president is going to engage with members to hear their ideas. he welcomed them. secretary price, the vice president. we're not -- this has never been a take it or leave it. i have said it from this podium. the president's talked about it.

this is an tune to hear from individuals and groups and insurance, victims of obamacare, doctors. hold on. hold on. it's not just a question -- [ talking at the same time ] >> it's not about one caucus or one member. i think -- no. this is about bringing people together. if we have great ideas that will achieve a better outcome for the american people, then we're gonna listen to them and incorporate them. i don't think this is -- we have been very clear from the get go. if you can come with a good idea that will strengthen this bill that will benefit american patients, we'll do it. >> it is about getting votes? you can't have a strong bill without the votes? >> you can jam through a bill and get it out and get 218 and send it over to the senate. i think we want to get the strongest bill through the house with as many ideas and opinions and facts that will help strengthen this as possible. so i'd rather, instead of

getting a bill through with 218, 219, work on a process with the speaker and majority leader that brings in additional ideas. if we can get the bill higher and higher, we will. >> tom cotton's point, prongs two and three. he went out of his way to describe that process, process two and three. the third part will require 60 votes. as mythical, imaginary and just spin. he's telling house republicans don't buy into this third or second prong argument as a practical legislator, don't exist. 60 votes to get them. so if you walk the plank, his words not mine, you're not going to get second and third phase of this process. can't get through the senate. >> there's a couple things. first, this is the only vehicle that seeks to achieve where people on our side of the aisle have been talking about since 2010. this is it.

if we don't get this through the goal of repealing obamacare and instituting a system that will be patient centered is going to be unbelievably difficult. this is the vehicle to do that. so we welcome senator cotton's ideas. but the second prong is administrative in nature. it is something we've delegated to the then secretary of health and human services to do. so prong two is fairly easy to do because the same authority that was granted to secretary sibilia is in the offices of dr. price. and he has the ability to implement and work on that, and i think he noted it yesterday, that his office has already been doing that. that phase is easy to do. the third prong which is all of thaoe things conservatives have been championing for for a long time and many democrats agree with this, is this ability to bring down cost through selling overstate lines and allowing small businesses to group together is something that we've been talking about for over a

decade. i think that we can -- this is something that should bring people together. there are bipartisan, is up por for almost every one of these things because they benefit -- there's no one it doesn't benefit. who could be against allowing insurance to be sold over state lines? something you can do with car insurance. there's no other product that i can think of -- i'm sure someone will fact check me. the american consumer, you can go online. you can go to a store. you have a choice. if you live in virginia, you drive to maryland or the district. and shop around. with our insurance, we don't have that ability. there's no question that increased competition drives down costs. it is just the nature -- an economic certainty. allowing greater choice will do the same. so i think respectfully i would say to any senator that has that concern, there is no other entity that i can think of, greater choice, greater

competition doesn't drive down cost. i read off three individuals the president met with yesterday who were victims are obamacare. in every one of those cases, the insurance premium went sky rocketing. when what in when choice and competition went away. most any person in the individual market eight or nine years ago will tell you, depending on the plan, you could get a plan for as low as $100 and change. now the cheapest plan is easily in the $300 range. the question that you have to ask yourself is what changed? competition went down and choice went down. i think allowing both of those to re-enter the market place will achieve, in itself, that goal. going through the additionals o do the same thing. there's so many ways that we can achieve greater choice and competition that unquestionably bring down the cost of health care that benefits every american, whether or not you're in the exchanges or on an employer based plan. and again, we have to have this

conversation in the context of what's going on now. talk to somebody that's on medicare or medicade. ask them if the doctor and services that they used to be getting are available to them. i know so many times now when you walk in the doctor there's a sign that says we no longer a actcept medicade. that used to be a given. it's becoming harder to find a place that even takes your insurance. to find that an acceptable income, the question thaos be asked to people who oppose this, no matter what side of the aisle you're on. what is your alternative? the ideas that they propose, we can incorporate. we can make this better and better. but to sit back and act as though there's a choice. doing nothing is not a choice. that's something the president had done. >> as you know, the doj has an additional evidence that president trump was wire tapped by the obama administration. how confident is president trump that any evidence will arise to

support his claim? >> i think he's extremely confident. i mentioned this before. i'll let them do their job. i'll let the house and senate and doj report this. as i have commented in the past, i think there's significant reporting about surveillance techniques that have existed throughout the 2016 election. i'll leave it to them to issue their report. i think he feels very confident that we'll ultimately come into this, will vindicate him. >> a quick follow-up. >> sure. >> when a decision is announced, whatever evidence or potentially no evidence is released, will he make a statement about the evidence? or lack of evidence? >> i have been asked this i think three times. and i don't want to prejudge what's gonna come. i'm sure that he will do a fine job of asking me a question when the report is available andly not be able to escape it. jim? >> evidence will be presented? >> i don't want to get ahead of,

as i mentioned, i'm not going to -- >> house intelligence committee has given the white house until monday -- >> it's given the doj. department of justice, we covered this yesterday, but i'm not gonna get ahead or what they may or may not is up mit. >> possibly nothing? >> at least from where we stand we know there is significant reporting on this subject. >> something will be presented? >> i feel very confident of that. yeah. >> follow-up on coverage. >> of course. >> you were saying that people, if they can't get access to insurance, they don't have coverage. if you remove the individual mandate, you are going to have people who are not going to buy coverage. they're not going to buy insurance. so getting back to the congressional budget office score, would you concede that there will be some coverage losses, per happens in the millions? there will be millions that will not have health insurance as a result of what you're doing? >> well, again, sure, except you

have to look at the current situation. you are mandated by law to buy insurance right now under obamacare. 13 plus million people have asked for a hardship exemption. and then 6.5 plus million people have determined to pay the penalty. so currently, if we look at the universe and say it's roughly 30 million people. only 9 million people engaged in the exchanges when required by law. the majority, almost two-thirds, if my back of the envelope math is right, two-thirds have chosen to apply for a hardship exemption or pay a penalty. >> mandate forces people to buy insurance. and if they don't have insurance, then you have the free rider program in the system. >> look at what's happening now. >> those folks -- >> no, no. >> they show up at the emergency room. health care is more expensive. >> the way the system was constructed under obamacare, they created this system to force people to buy plans that

they did not like. they were mandated by the government, in terms of what was part of the plan, what it had to cover, the detkuduck ductable, . two-thirds paid the penalty or asked for a hardship exemption. they didn't do it. if you could bring down cost and choices and allow people to find a plan that fit their budget, that was tailored to their needs, there's a higher likelihood that they will find something that they want at a price they can afford as to right now, which is i get a plan that i'm forced to buy, that has a deductible that i can't afford but i have got a cute card that i can wave around. >> it will get you coverage. >> that's not true. >> if you show up at the emergency room and you've been hit by a bus, you won't be paying out of pocket for the hospital. you will have some catastrophic coverage that will make sure that you have coverage. >> that's a great advertisement. thank you. that's exactly what the president is trying to do. because right now you've got -- of the attempt to get 30 million

people covered 14.4, 14.5 million people applied for a hardship exemption. those are exactly the people you're talking about. there's 6.5 million people have paid the penalty and don't have it. so we have roughly 20 million people in this country who were supposed to be paying, required to buy health care, that have chosen not to do it who fall into the category that you're talking about. the question -- no, no. >> that number is massive by the year 2026. >> right. but if they had choices and had a plan option that was down to a budget they could afford, there's a higher likelihood that they would buy a plan that was, a, tailored to them and, b, that they could afford. your question about catastrophic. in most cases that's not even an option. one-third of all the counties in the united states they have one choice. in five states, they have one choice. can you imagine if they could -- >> good talking point. it >> if you pull this away you'll

have people in a lot of states who aren't going to have access to coverage because they can't afford it with the tax credit you're providing. there's an argument to the other side. >> no. you've got 175 million americans that get their insurance through their employer. frankly, right now, they're the ones who keep paying higher and higher premiums because a system that was only supposed to help people get access and require them get a government mandated, government run health care has actually gone amuck. and so right now -- >> government run health care. medicare is government run. >> what's happening? >> they want you to get -- >> i think you need to get outside and talk to some of them. more and more medicare recipi t recipients aren't able to get coverage. it's one thing to have a card. it's another thing to walk into a doctor's office and them to tell you we don't accept medicare. the president's goal is to

provide health care coverage to every american. right now they're not getting that. by giving them more choices at a lower cost, more americans can either buy health care for their family, for themselves or in a lot of cases for their business without paying the penalty, which is what a lot of them are doing or forcing them into exchanges with fewer and fewer choices. the system now is not working. the costs are going up, the choices are going down and deductibles are going up. that is not an option. for every american, and i mentioned this earlier, to make this look like a choice, there isn't really a choice. the system we have right now is failing. the choice is whether we give them an opportunity to have real care and in a way that is tailored to them in their budget. jeff? >> sean, on a different subject, the intelligence committee yesterday when responding to the department of justice question basically issued a subpoena threat. does the white house have a reaction to that? do you think it will come that

far? >> i hope not. the department asked for an additional time. that will be up to the intelligence committee to grant that time. they're working on that. >> on a separate note, you mentioned the president's call with the ceo of anthem. does he have a position on anthem's efforts to merge with cigna, which would challenge the justice tkep under president obama? >> i'm not aware of that. i don't know president's ever expressed any personal view. i think that would come under the ftc, if i'm correct. so i'd refer you to them. john? >> one follow-up on margret's question about saudi. i know that meeting was finishing up when you came out here. can you give us a sense of what was on the agenda before they sat down? >> i think the president had a call earlier with the king couple weeks back, where they talked about safe havens in syria. they talked about the threat of isis. i expect all of though came up. but, again, i think i will

provide a readout to you all, to everyone in the pool, about what happened that will more clearly define that. john? >> thank you, sean. coming up in the rest of the year are four special elections for the u.s. house of representatives. all which are sure to draw national attention as venues for debate on the american health care act. does the president plan to be involved on behalf of the american candidates and perhaps appear on their behalf in the districts as this may well be a barometer of where people feel about the american health care act? >> you're all going to have elections in new jersey as i remember. as we get further into the schedule an closer to elections, we'll entertain requests from candidates at a variety of ballot level to gauge the president's support. he's been very supportive of candidates in the last cycle. onsee him not being continued

supportive of people that want to fight hard for the agenda. we're not at that point yet, so i can probably give you more at some point as we get closer to the elections. lot of those cases will be whether there's a request from the campaign. >> you said the white house doesn't have said earlier that white house or are you saying they're not -- >> that's not something that omb does. >> if you're advocating for a plan, how can you assess whether he's been successful? you're not going to protect yourself and cbo projections are invalid. >> i think that if you look at what the goal is, which is to make healthcare available to every american, as i said, you have a choice right now that is either we support a failing system and there's no choice and the premiums are going up or you provide them with a system we're looking at which a