of the surveillance. as someone who has called attention to the civil liberties issues at the raert of our counterterrorism operation, do you think we have have a broad public debate about this. the debate over this will inevitably happen behind closed doors, how do the american people have a say in this? >> we have in the law a requirement that the collection of data is tangible things the standard for how those words interpreted could involve a very small limited people if you will, or it could be a barn door. the doors are wide open to any information. certainly what we're discovering now is the administration and the fisa court have interpreted that language to be the barn door. any information, any time. by declassifying the interpretations of those words by the fisa court then we can have the debate over whether that's what congress intended and that's what we consider

appropriate in balancing privacy and security. >> senator, are you happy with are you surprised? >> i am, i am surprised. recall that president campaigned saying, he attacked bush for his policies. saying we can balance privacy and security and it can be done in a targeted way. and what we have is very -- >> senator i'm going to have to cut you off. the president is now actually taking the stage. let's take a listen to what he has to say. >> i want to thank everybody who is here. there's only one problem, and that is that my remarks are not sitting here. people? you know, things by friday afternoon things get a little, a little challenged. i'm going to have a, i'm going

to -- answer a question. at the end of the remarks, but i want to make sure that we get the remarks. people? oh goodness. folks are -- folks are sweating back there right now. well good morning, everybody, this afternoon i'm going to be in southern california to meet with president xi of china.ç but before i leave northern california, i wanted to take a minute to address something that's happening with the affordable care act. in this state, and i wanted to meet with a group of people who are doing some very important work on behalf of california's middle class families. these leaders from california's government, the california endowment and major spanish language media outlets have joined to help implement the affordable care act here in

california. and to educate folks about how to sign up and shop for quality affordable plans. their efforts have shown some excellent results in the biggest insurance market in the country. there are two main things that americans need to know when it comes to the affordable care act and what it means for you. first of all, if you're one of the nearly 85% of americans who already have insurance, either through medicare or medicaid, or your employer, you don't have to do a thing. you've just got a wide array of new benefits, better protections and stronger cost controls that you didn't have before. and that will over time improve the quality of the insurance that you've got. benefits like free preventive care, check-ups, flu shots. mammograms, and contraception. you are now going to be able to get those things through yourç insurance where they previously were not, didn't have to be provided.

protections like allowing people up to the age of 26, to stay on their parents' health care plans. which has already helped six million americans, including six million young latino americans. cost controls like requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money that you pay in premiums in your actual health care costs as opposed to administrative costs or ceo pay. not overhead. but that money has to be spent on you. and if they don't mean that target, they have to reimburse you. so in california we're getting reports that insurers are giving rebates to consumers and small business owners to the tune of $45 million this year. so already we're seeing millions of dollars of rebates sent back to consumers by insurance companies as a consequence of this law. all of that is happening.

because of the affordable care act. all of this is in place right now already for 85% of american who is have health insurance. by the way, all of this is what the republican party has now voted 37 times to repeal. at least in the house of % representatives. and my suggestion to them has been let's stop refighting the old battles and start working with people like the leaders on stage here today to make this law work the way it's supposed to. we're focused on moving forward and making sure that this law works for middle class families. and that brings me to the second thing that people need to know about the affordable care act. if you're one of nearly six million californians or ten millions, or tens of millions of americans who don't currently have health insurance, you'll soon be able to buy quality affordable care just like everybody else. and here's how -- states like california are setting up new online marketplaces.

where beginning on october 1st of this year, you can comparison shop an array of private health insurance plans side by side, just like you were going online to compare cars. or airline tickets. and that means insurance companies will actually have to compete with each other for your business. and that means new choices. see right now most states don't have a lot of competition, in nearly every state, more than half of all consumers are covered by only two insurers. so there's no incentive to provide you a lot of choices or to keep costs down. the affordablehcare act change that. beginning next year, once they marketplaces are open, most states will offer new private insurance choices that don't exist today. and based on early reports, about nine in ten americans expected to enroll in these marketplaces live in states where they'll be able to choose

between five or more different insurers. so for example here in california, 33 insurers applied to join the marketplace. covered california, then selected 13 based on access, quality and affordability. four of which are brand new to your individual market. so what's happening is, through the affordable care act, we're creating these marketplaces with more competition, more choice, and so the question is, what happens to cost. a lot of the opponents of the affordable care act said, add all kinds of sky is falling, doom-and-gloom predictions that not only would the law fail, but what we would also see is costs would skyrocket for everybody. it turns out we're actually seeing in the states that have committed themselves to implementing this law correctly, we're seeing some good news. competition and choice are pushing down costs. in the individual market.

just like the law was designed to do. the 13ç insurance companies chosen by covered california have unveiled premiums that were lower than anybody expected. and those who can't afford to buy private insurance will get help reducing their out of pocket premiums even further with the largest health care tax cut for working families and small businesses in our history. about 2.6 million californians. nearly half of of whom are latinos will qualify for tax credits that will in some cases lower their premiums a significant amount. none of this is a surprise. this is the way the law was designed to work. but since everybody has been saying how it's not going to happen, i think it's important for us to recognize and acknowledge this is working the way it's supposed to. we've seen similar good news by the way not just here in california, but in oregon, and in washington. in states that are working hard to implement this law properly.

we're seeing it work for people. for middle class families, for consumers. that's not to say that everything is go to go perfectly right away. when you're implementing a program this large, there are going to be some glitches and hiccups. but no matter what, every single consumer will be covered by the new benefits and protections under this law permanently. so the bottom line is, you can listen to a bunch of political talkç out there. negative ads and fear-mongering geared towards the next election or alternatively you can actually look what's happening in states like california right now. and the fact of the matter is, through these exchange, not only are the 85% of people who already have health insurance getting better protections and receiving rebates and being able to keep their kids on their health insurance until they're 26 and getting free preventive care. but if you don't have health insurance and you're trying to get it through the individual

market and it's too expensive or too restricted. you now have these marketplaces where they're going to offer you a better deal because of choice and competition. even at those lower rates, and better insurance that you're getting through these marketplaces, you still can't afford it, you're going to be getting tax cuts and tax credits through the affordable care act that will help you afford it that's how we're going to make sure that millions of people who don't currently have health insurance or getting a really bad deal on their health insurance, are going to get it. and here's my final point. to take advantage of these marketplaces, folks are going to need to sign up. you can find out how to sign up at health care.gov. healthcare.gov. or here in california, you can sign up at çcoveredca.com.

covere coveredca.com. because quality care is not something that should be a privilege, it should be a right. in the greatest country on earth we've got to make sure that every single person that needs health care, can get it. and we've got to make sure that we do it in the most efficient way possible. one last point i'm going to make on this. because there are a lot of people who currently get health insurance through their employers. the 85% who are already out there. they may be saying if this law is so great, why is it that my premiums still went up? well, part of what's happening across the country is in some cases for example, employers may be shifting more costs through higher premiums. higher deductibles or higher co-pays. and so there may still be folks who are out there feeling increased costs, not because of the affordable care act, but because those costs are being passed on to workers or

insurance companies in some cases, even with these laws in place are still jacking up prices unnecessarily. this doesn't solve the whole problem. but it moves us in the right direction. it's also the reason why we have to keep on implementing changes in how our health care system but we're going to have to continue to push on that front as well. that's also part of what we're doing in the affordable care act. the main message, starting on october 1st, if you're in the individual market, you can get a better deal 679 if you're a small business providing insurance to your employees, you can get a better deal through these exchanges.

you've got to sign up. so thank you very much. i'm going to take one question and -- remember, people are going to have opportunities to answer questions when i'm with the chinese president today. i don't want the whole day to be a bleeding press conference, but i'm going to take jackie holmes' question. >> mr. president, could you please react to the reports of secret surveillance of phone and internets? can you also assure that the government, your government, doesn't have shom mass i secret database of all of their personal online information and activities. >> when i came into this office, i made two commitments that are more important than any commitment i make. number one to keep the american people safe. and two, to uphold the constitution. and that includes what i

consider to be a constitutional right to privacy. and an observance of civil liberties. now the programs that have been discussed over the last couple of days in the president. are secret in the sense that they're classified. but they're not secret in the sense that when it comes to telephone calls, every member of congress has been briefed on this program. with respect to all of these programs the relevant intelligence committees are fully briefed on these programs. these are programs have have been authorized by broad bipartisan majorities repeatedly since 2006. so i think at the outset, it's important to understand that your duly elected representatives, have been consistently informed on exactly what we're doing.

now let me take the two issues separately.ç when it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. that's not what this program is about. as was indicated. what the intelligence community is dot is looking at phone numbers and durations of crawls. they are not looking at people's nation and they're not looking at content. but by sifting through this so-called metadata, they may identify poe tejs leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism. if these folks, if the intelligence community then actually wants to listen to a

phone call, they've got to go back to a federal judge. just like they would in a criminal investigation. so i want to be very clear. some of the hype that we've been hearing over the last day or so. nobody is listening to the content of people's phone calls. this program by the way. is fully overseen, not just by congress, but by the fisa fourth. a fourthhespecially put togethr to evaluate classified programs to make sure that the executive branch or a government generally is not abusing them and it's being carried out consistent to the constitution. and rule of law. so not only do that court authorized initial gathering of data. but i want to repeat if anybody in government wanted to go further than just that top-line

data, and wanted to listen to jackie's phone call, they would have to go back to a federal judge. and indicate why in fact they were doing further, further probing. with respect to the internet and emails. this goss not apply to u.s. citizens and it does not apply to people living in the united states. and again, in this instance, not only is congress fully apprised of it. but what is also true that the fisa court has to fully chorize. in summary what you've got is two programs that were originally authorized by congress, have beenç repeatedl authorized by conversation,

bipartisan majorities have approved them. congress is continually briefed on thousand hess are conducted. there are a whole range of safeguards involved and federal judges are overseeing the entire program throughout. we are also setting up, we've set up an audit process when i came into office to make sure that we're after the fact, making certain that all the safegads are being properly served. now having said all that. you'll remember when i made that speech a couple of weeks ago the need for us to ship out of a perpetual war mindset. i specifically said one of the things we're going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the american people safe and our occurrence

concerns about privacy. because there are some tradeoffs involved. i welcome this debate ant i think it's healey for our drois, democracy. i think it's aç sign of maturi, six years ago why might not have been interesting this debate. there were folks on the left and now even folks on the right are wore ied about it. but i think it's important for everybody to understand and i think the american people understand, that there are some tradeoffs involved. i came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. my teen evaluated them. we scrubbed them thoroughly, we

expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the sabreguards. but my assessments and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent attack the. and the modest encroachments on privacy that are involved in getting phone numbers or duration without a name attached ant not looking at content, that on you know,ç net, it was wort us doing it. some other folks may have a different assessment of that. but i think it's important to recognize that you can't have 100% security, and also then have 100% privacy and then zero

ic inconvenience. we're going to have to make some choices. as a society. and i can say that in evaluating these programs, they make a difference in our plan to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity. and the fact that they're under very strict supervision by all three brachs of government. and they do not have listening to people's phone calls. do not involve reading the emails of u.s. citizens oontd u.s. residents. absent further action faction with federal sort. which is what we would do in a criminal investigation. i think on balance we have

established a process and procedure that theç american people should feel comfortable about. but again, these programs to congressional oversight and congressional reauthorization and congressional debate. and if there are members of congress who feel comfortable. then they should speak up and we're happy to have that debate. and we'll have a chance to talk further during the course of the next couple of days. thank you, guys. >> that was president obama speaking about health care in san jose, california and also addressing his coming back to the podium. let's face a listen. >> there's a why why these programs are classified. i think that there is somehow,

any classified program is quote-unquote secret program. which means it's somehow suspicious. but the fact of the matter is, in our modern history. this have been a whole ranch of manage as when it come to for example, fighting terror. our goal is to stop folks from doing us harm. and if every step that we're taking to try toç prevent a terrorist act, an the front page of the newspapers or television. the people trying to do us harm are going to be able to get around our preventive meeshs, these things are classified. but that's also why we set up congressional oversight. these are the folks all vote for as your representatives in congress and they're being fully

briefed on these brams. and if in fact there was, there were abuses taking place, presumably, those members of congress could raise those issues very aggressively, they're ep powered to do so. we have federal judges who are put in place, not subject to political pressure. they've got lifetime tenure as federal judges and they're empowered to look other our shoulder to make sure that that we have a system in which some information is classified. and we have a system of checks and balances to make sure it's not abused. and ifç in fact this informati

just ends up being dumped out, willy nilly, without regard to the risks of the program, risks to the people involved. in some cases on other leaks, risks in very dangerous situation. then it's very hard for us to be as he haprotective in protectin american people. that's not to say you just say trust me, we're doing the receipt thing, we know who the bad guise are. that's not how it works is because we've got congressional oversagt and judicial oversagt people can't truf the executive branch, but also don't trust congress don't trust jerl judges to make sure we're abide i by the constitution, then we're

going to have some problems here. but my observation is, is that the people who are involved in america's national security, they take this work very seriously. they cherish our constitution. the last thing they'd be doing is taking programs like this to listen to somebody's phone calls.ç and by the way, with respect to my concerns about privacy issues? i will leave this office at some point, sometime in the next three and a half years. after that i will be a private citizen. and i suspect that on a list of people who might be targeted, you know, so that somebody could read their emails or listen to their phone calls. i'd probably be pretty high i'd be on that list.

i don't have a problem with my privacy being protected. i know that the people involved in these programs, they operate like professionals. and these things are very narrowly circumscribed, they're very focused. and in the abstract, you can complain p big brother and how this is a potential program run amok. but when you actually look at the details. then i think we've struck the right balance. all right? thank you very much, guys, that's it. that was president obama weighing in on the news today, rathering the nsa's broad surveillance ofç americans' phe records and international internet behaviors. i think we still have senator jeff merckly if you were, thank you so much for hanging with us on the back and forth. the president implicated all of

this,cy that congress has discussed and authorized over and over again. he said at one point, if members of congress have an issue with this, i ebb courage them to speech up. in your opinion is -- >> the administration hasn't listened at all. we've asked for the rulings of the fisa court, the foreign intelligence surveillance act court about how it interprets the laws that congress passes to be declassified. so we can have a conversation with the american people about that for example, how is scooping up your cell phone data, related to an investigation? that's the plain lang laj of the law. treated to an investigation. certainly anyone would hear that and think that's a certain crime or potential crime or potential national security threat that

justifies your information and my administration, clearly the administration has not followed what an ordinary person would consider the standardç of the w and is not willing to release to the fisa court about how they're interpreting that language. despite repeated requests from congress to do so there are many pieces of this the president glossed over. he took lightly a detailed collecti collection, he took very lightly the fact that that information involves where you are, when. the tracking of virtually ever i american through their cell phone. he kept coming book to say the content of the phone call isn't listened to. but what mass endata, that doesn't mean the standard of the plain language of the law, regarding the investigation. >> senator, i want to open this up to folks in new york, the

president's arguments seemed to be one that "the new york times" called out there more. it may sound orwellian, but trust us, the safeguards are in place. i thought in terms of the broad contours of the president's remarks he himself seemed unsure of where he stood on this. raising the sector of government overreach and not legalry reassuring the public in his response. >> the old obama was always about, thatç this was a false champions between security and privacy. dedidn't have to compromise one orrert other. that's trade jufs, i'm sure it has to do with seeing all of the threats that coming with being the executive. my question to the nor which is based off of president saying there is adequate oversight. now that the practice.

i'm wondering to what extent you and others in congress knew about it, were briefed on it and were allowed to raise objections to it. >> i knew about the program that is brifed outside. i just get special permission to find out about the program. it raised concerns for me. it's why i put forth the amendment on secret law. because when i was many done, i get it was so out of sync with the plain planningage of the law. >> did you know about the program's operations or the program's operations and the efficiency. >> i way aware there was a broad vacuum of sweeping up information across america. the details were another stet steppe when i asked what was goincúon.

>> you were prohibited from saying anything about classification. that's why you see senator widen, mark udall and myself saying we're concerned about these programs, closing any back doors into surveillance, asking how much information has been swept up. calling as i did the declassification of the interpretation of the plain english of the law. but we could couldn't say anything that was going on. the president did begin the first 15 minutes of that, were remarks on the affordable care act. did you not get the sense it was a well rehearsed statement on the nsa that the president delivered. >> if you look at everything going back to the irs, it's a crisis only if you talk about it as a cries cries. >> snoench they seem to be going

from the playbook. i wouldn't call his response to jackie collins question a high point in oratory. it was meandering, we reached a point actually in the second avenue to speak again, he brought up his own emails being a high target for whom, exact by. i got to tell you the entire storyç is is very confusing. that doesn't up. the power point deck looks like it was made not just at kinko's, but by kinko's. he had. >> the president said i welcome the debate on this and i think there are a lot of people who are scoffing about that, given the efforts that you and senator udall have made and others have made regarding classified information and also surveillance. do you think it is possible to have the debate at this point? well, i think, i think it is possible. much more possible now that

there's public expectation. the only information i got was related to yes there is a program sweeping up broad amounts of data from through the records act. this second thing we've just lenard about called prism. i had no idea about that. i don't know how many people knew about it, but i small very small number on the intelligence committees. when the says says i think all members of congress or full clis closer. i ink he had very small numbers. but i hope we do have this debate. we must decide as a nation, are we going to honor the plain language of the law, are we

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the $29 million pricetag. steve kornacki, how do you grade chris christie's performance this week? >> we watched him squirm. there was no you know, there was, he took the most politically advantageous route in terms of his 2013 imperatives in new jersey but it also messed with the image that he's really cultivated the straight-shooter. blunt you know, honesty and all this stuff. it messed with that image and it made national republicans mad. because it looks like they're going to be stuck with a senate candidate who has no prayer. >> steve, i hear on your show, "up" you'll be talking more

about this as well as frank lautenberg. >> i think this like a tease or something. >> this is a tease for your show. your wonderful weekend show. >> got some great frank lautenberg stories, and we have some context you're not going to see anywhere else about this little back and forth between jon stewart and chris christie this week over the cost of the special election. we have a little context you might want to tune in and see that. >> you must tune in. and i am, thank you, my friend, joy reid, for coming. it was brief but it was real and thank you, sam, and josh as well. do not forget to watch steve on "up" right here on msnbc. that's all for now, i'll see you back here on monday at noon, "andrea mitchell reports" is next. andrea's rains will be long gone by saturday afternoon. a little leftover rain early

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