we've been hearing about the disaster of obamacare for so long. in my case, many years, most of it outside in civilian life. and for a long period of time since i started running and since i became president of the united states. i just keep hearing repeal, replace, repeal, replace. well, we're starting that process and we're starting it in a very positive manner. i can say when you get rand paul on your side it is positive. let me tell you. [laughter] [applause] i was , boring. -- i was -- [applause] i was just saying as he was , getting up and saying all these wonderful things about what we're going to be announcing i said, boy, that's pretty unusual. i am pretty impressed. [laughter] but seven years ago, congressional democrats broke the american health care system by forcing the obamacare nightmare onto the american people. it has been a nightmare. you look at what's happening with the premiums and the increases of 100% and 120% and even in one case, alaska, over 200%. and now every congressional democrat has blocked the effort to save america

premiums have more than doubled since obamacare went into effect. and next year premiums are set to increase even more. while costs have been skyrocketing, choices are plummeting. next year nearly half of america's counties will have only one choice of health insurance provider which essentially means they have no choice at all. as the president and i have traveled around the country we have heard from working families, small business owners who are struggling under the weight of obamacare. today, president trump will take decisive action, to provide the american people with flexibility and freedom from the burdens of obamacare and expand the number of affordable health care options for working americans. mr. president, i can say i speak for everyone here and for millions of americans when i say how grateful we are for your determination to repeal and replace obamacare and your commitment demonstrated today by this action, to provide the american people with more choices, for more affordable health care in the 21st century. and with that, ladies and

the democrats' obamacare is imploding. massive payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. dems should call me to fix. all right, if they call the president to fix, is he willing to sit down with nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, the democratic leadership, the republican leadership and come up with a plan to fix the problems of the affordable care act but stop short of repealing it? >> i think that word depends on who you're talking to. we are interested in repealing obamacare and replacing it with something -- >> you're not going to have a chance to do that, at least according to the legislative director at the white house, mark short, who was here yesterday, until at least the spring of next year. that will be the first time you'll have a chance to repeal and replace. in the intermediate time, direct mulvaney, are you willing to sit down with the democrats and come up with some improvements that both sides can agree on? >> if it's better for the american people and it's better for the public, it's better for health

you've been hearing about the disaster of obamacare for so long. in my case, many years most of it outside, in civilian life . and for a long period of time since i started running, since i became president of the united states, i keep hearing repealed, replace. well, we are starting that process in a very positive manner. when you get rand paul on your side, it has to be positive, that i can tell you. [laughter] [applause] i was just saying, he's getting up and seeing all these wonderful things about what is going to be announced and i said that's very unusual, i'm very impressed. seven years ago, congressional democrats broke the american healthcare system by forcing the obamacare nightmare on to the american people. it has been a nightmare. look at what's happening with the premiums and increases of 100 percent and 120 percent and in one case, over 200 percent. now every congressional democrat has brought the effort to save americans from obamacare along with a very small, frankly hand full of republicans. three. we are going to take care of tha

so you helped craft obamacare. also have been very consistent in saying that the law needs fixing. is what we're going to see today, is this the fix? >> no, this is terrible, actually. so there are three parts to the executive order as we understand it. one allows these so-called association health plans to operate across state borders, a second expands the opportunity for short-term health insurance the obama administration had three months as the limit that doesn't have to fully comply with the essential health benefits and other aspects of obamacare and the third is to change the health care reimbursement processes. all of the -- what the executive order does is tell the departments of health and human services treasury and labor to relook at these regulations. the real worry is that, especially under the health association plans is fraud. the association health plans have had a checkered history, almost every time we permit them, hundreds of thousands of people end up being affected because their bills are not

because of the soaring cost of obamacare. we have 155 very people who get their coverage on their jobs. we have 74 million people covered by medicaid, which has been expanded under this law. it is a social safety net for low income people. 55 million people who are 65 and older and are covered by medicare. unfortunately, in the individual market, which is 20 million people, many of them cannot afford the premiums. million million, 13 people are ineligible for government subsidies -. as premiums rise, they are throwing up their hands and saying, we cannot pay anymore. it is like paying a mortgage. of our budget. we are seeing we are paying bigger and figure premiums. because -- bigger and bigger premiums. because of the high deductibles, we are not getting anything back. dear still painful price for the doctors. drop out,f people incurring a penalty, but saying we cannot afford these plans anymore. it is one of the issues president talked about addressing last thursday in his executive order. he was reaching out to those peopl

access to $400 in an emergency, and yet the obamacare hit tax would increase it by $500. this tax has the potential to push over half of americans into financial ruin, and it would be neglect for -- negligent for congress to allow this to take effect. the effect that this tax imposes on families is a far cry from the bold promise made to reduce costs by $2,500 per family, one of the biggest pinocchios, stow speak, of the -- so to speak, of the affordable care act. at a time when almost half of americans could not shoulder a $400 expense it would be irresponsible to allow this obamacare tax to take effect. this affects seniors as well. for seniors involved in medicare advantage plans, one of the most popular aspects of medicare, premiums are expected to rise by roughly $370 a year per enrollee, if congress does not find a resolution. these are fixed-income -- in many cases, fixed-income individuals that would see their premiums increase $370 a year because of the obamacare hit tax. in addition, seniors enrolled in medicare part d prescription drug plans could expect their

so people who are very sick will stay in obamacare.ll flock to these plans. this is urgently needed relief for about 8.8 million people currently in the obamacare plans who don't get any subsidies. so they've been overpaying, and they want to be able to buy the stock. stuart: so this is their exit. those people who don't like this, but they're in it, they can opt out to a short-term plan. or get into an association. >> that's right. stuart: now, if i opt for a short-term skinny plan, does my cost of insurance go down? >> way down. they're going to be paying maybe half what they currently are being -- >> are you sure of this? >> i am absolutely sure. >> because i have not heard that any place else. >> too bad, stuart, i know between the underwriting rules, it will be half. those two rules requiring no underwriting accounts for 64% of the increase in premiums since obamacare went. ashley: is this the beginning of the end? will it become so stable, it's a divide? >> stable is the wrong word. it will be a high risk pool. people who are att

you can repeal obamacare today and nobody will know. the plans won't change in a meaningful way for another two years. that's what they're trying to do. there does seem to be a general consensus, bipartisan consensus that that is something that should be done so premiums don't really spike. but over the last two hours or so, we've been hearing from republicans after republicans that this lamar-alexander, the democrat plan to stabilize the markets, to keep making the payments the next two years is not the way to go. perhaps the biggest nail in the coffin there is the speaker of the house, paul ryan, that said look, we don't want to hear in the house about anything else having to do with making these obamacare payments that the house is suing for because they think they are unconstitutional and illegal. so no matter what they do here, ryan says just send it once it's repealed. >> shepard: let's cut through the noise a little bit. what happened, the president is saying the subsidies are illegal. a matter that is still up for debate. and he

let me say this about obamacare. obamacare is failing.al some failings are because president obama decided to undertake actions in the health care area not just through the pursuit of legislation but through a number of executive orders including as you mentioned earlier on providing subsidies that were not appropriated by congress and taking action by the president. that, of course, puts that portion, that legacy of obamacare at risk. president trump has to decide whether or not he continues the president obama legacy or if he does what he says he is going to do which is take action to rein in areas where there are executive orders and force congress to take action. everyone says obamacare is failing. it needs to be addressed in the house and senate. this is a dialogue i think will go on for a while until we find the right solution. the president is taking a look at what actions president obama has taken and what actions he can to move this debate forward. >> i want to make sure people understand what it is we are talking about. the pres

so, obamacare is still there, it's still walking around.s still selling health insurance plans to people. but it has no chance in its present form of ever offering affordable and attractive health insurance. and more and more people are just exiting it and going uncovered because they can't afford it. sharyl: is trump correct that the plan that just failed, sort of partial reform and replacement, will be passed in january, february, or march? robert: no, no. we've got two problems here. first of all, democrats and republicans aren't anywhere near close enough to each other to get anything done. for democrats, the holy grail is not going backward on the insurance protection reforms and the medicaid expansion. for republicans, the holy grail is to go backward on the medicaid expansions and loosen up the insurance protections. so, democrats and republicans are never going to agree here. sen. bernie sanders: today, all of us stand before you and proudly proclaim our belief that health care in america must be a right, not a privilege. [applause]

damage. , this isargaret talev another effort to undo obamacare.f the campaign promises. does this succeed somehow where efforts in congress failed? >> it may to a large extent. this is the president's way of telling congress, if you want repeal obamacare i will just do it myself. the opening salvo is the health associations. it's a play to small businesses to say you can consolidate your pulling power and offer a kind of insurance option that would be unencumbered from some of the restrictions that apply to the affordable care act. it can be good if you are healthy, younger, looking for a cheaper plan. the concern on the other side of course is that if you drain some of the cheaper or healthier people who use the obamacare exchanges out of that system you could trigger essentially a death spiral, kill what's left of obamacare by making it the look sicker people. created under these executive order mechanisms. findey should at one point themselves desiring some of those protections that the affordable care act had thought to set up, those would not

we've been hearing about the disaster of obamacare for so long. in my case many years, most of it outside in civilian life, and for a long period of time since i've started running and since i became president of the united states, i just keep hearing repeal/replace. well, we're starting that process and we're starting it in a very positive manner. i can say when you get rand paul on your side it has to be positive. that i can tell you. [laughter] rand. [applause] he is getting up and saying all these wonderful things about what we're going to be announcing i said boy, that's pretty unusual. i'm very impressed. but seven years ago congressional democrats broke the american healthcare system by forcing the obamacare nightmare onto the american people. it has been a nightmare. you look at what is happening with the premiums and the increases of 100% and 120% and even in one case, alaska, over 200%. and now every congressional democrat has blocked the effort to save americans from obamacare. along with a very small, frankly handful of republicans, th

the trump administration clearly believes obamacare is called obamacare and still the democrats' problem if it's not working right. >> jon: doesn't supreme court back him as to whether or not the white house can unilaterally repay the insurance companies. >> yes, the question whether the administration can take it upon itself to simply choose to pay subsidies to insurance companies to provide policies under obamacare. but the political question is whether the people who sit behind in congress will fix the problem by proposing and passing legislation that authorizes those payments. that could still happen by the way. some republicans that may be the way to go. you eliminate the legal question and it becomes a budget question, not a legal question and we'll see if that happens. it is not very clear from what the president is saying whether he thinks that would be a good idea or not. >> jon: the tweets like that from nancy pelosi the democrats will try to pin it on the republicans and to see whether that blame sticks. >> that's true. that is a big question and kind of a logical disconnect i

have witnessed the failures of obamacare first hand.s have more than doubled since obamacare went into effect. next year prem yums are set to increase even more. while costs have been skyrocketing, choices are plummeting. next year nearly half will have a choice of one health care provider which essentially they have no choice at all. as the president and i have traveled the country, we have heard stories from working family who is are struggling under the weight of obamacare. today president trump will take decisive action to provide the american people with flexibility and freedom from the burdens of obamacare and expand the number of options for working americans. now, mr. president, i can say i speak for everyone here and for millions of americans when i say how grateful we are for your determination to repeal and replace obamacare and your commitment demonstrated today by this action to provide the american people with more choices and more affordable health care. with that, ladies and gentlemen, it's my privilege to introduce the

care is provided by obamacare.m is going up because of what this president did. this goes back to what he said all along. he said one thing. i'm going to help the middle class. i don't care what party you are from. if you are going to help the middle class, that's important and good, but with his policies he helped big business and the super rich. over and over again. with obamacare and with his tax plan. that's what he is doing. >> i'm a highly paid lawyer. why should they subsidize your insurance? >> excuse me. i know you know. jack, don't go spreading this information. i know you know how obamacare works. it i did not say it's subsidized. i purchase through the obamacare market place. i am not subsidized. >> then it is subsidized. >> no, no, no. >> to sally's point, if these increased premiums will hurt the middle class and the middle class is looking for assurances and tax reform that will help them, what is going to be the argument and the plan in place from the white house to say if obamacare is not there or

obamacare did expand. ok which is great because basically they pay nothing they get nothing and they get one hundred percent coverage in return that's what you expect when you're paying twenty six thousand a year that you're actually going to get something for is like no actually if you're paying that much that means you get the least of it so i saw this headline for the basically the equivalent of what we pay for insurance executives and they give us nothing in return here's a headline drive a different porsche every single day of the week with this new subscription service the german luxury automaker is launching a subscription service called porsche passport there are two versions which is two thousand dollars a month and includes on demand access to eight models hey stop that and. war. and the other model is called accelerate which is three thousand dollars and includes on demand access to all twenty two course models like these are people in the background by the way who are like i want that book book

but it also winds into the obamacare. one of the reasons he sabotaged -- he looks like he's sabotaging or laying the groundwork for sabotaging the iran deal. >> he is. >> in the same way he looks like he's trying to sabotage obamacare. it has the former president's name on it, former party. he wants to appeal to his base. everybody -- the country overwhelmingly in polls said we don't want to repeal with no replacement because it leads a lot of people to suffer and insurance markets that become chaotic. and why we would do this when the country itself is so opposed to it suggests that it's the president's internal urge. and what we did in iran was to scratch his itch, you know. we didn't need to go this route on this, but his aides said let's find something that's going to keep the president feeling somewhat satisfied. we're doing the same thing on obamacare. i've never seen a situation where because a president has an impulse, because the president has a dislike, that policy is suddenly bent to satisfy some psycher inner

here today at the white house have witnessed the failures of obamacare firsthand. premiums have more than doubled since obamacare went into effect, and next year premiums are set to increase even more. while costs have been skyrocketing, choices are plummeting next year nearly half of america's counties will have only one choice of health insurance provider, which means they essentially have no choice at all as the president and i have traveled the country, we've heard stories from small business owners like those gathered here today, from working families who are struggling under the weight of obamacare. today president trump will take action to provide the american people with flexibility and freedom from the burdens of obamacare and expand the number of affordable health care options options for working americans. mr. president and i can say i speak for everyone here and for millions of americans when i say how grateful we are for your determination to repeal and replace obamacare and your commitment, demonstrated today by this action, to provide the american pe

i want to repeal the obamacare spending, i also want to repeal the obamacare taxes. i think as obamacare gets worse until this is revisited, i think maybe you are going to see some new republicans, republican challengers all over the country, you are also going to see maybe the republicans that are in washington go home and feel like people are upset because they didn't keep their word. i kept my word, i have always voted for repeal and always will. >> harris: i want to get to taxes now, are you comfortable with the president using his executive pen to get you where you are today? >> i think if the president is like me, he wants to cut everybody's taxes, i am all in. the package we have doesn't cut the middle class taxes so i am still working with the white house, willing to work with them and i predict in the end we will get this bill fix where i can be all in on it. >> harris: i was still talking about health care. are you comfortable with the president using his executive pen today ahe did? barack obama did it north of 45 times. >> the difference is, president oba

millions of americans with obamacare relief. liz: fed up and frustrated, president trump doing an end run to end the d.c. swamp to repeal and replace as much of obamacare as he can on his own. signing a new executive order he says will fix the broken obamacare system. while the president was signing the new executive order, the dow reversed downward course hitting fresh intra-day highs. the dow did close down 32 points but drawing closer to the bellwether 23,000 mark. tonight an all-star panel to weigh in. ben stein, kayleigh mcenany and mike baker as well as nfl great burgess owens here to react. welcome to "risk & reward," i'm elizabeth macdonald. forwarded by congress, president trump going solo to stop obamacare from continuing to cause household chaos and costs to soar. signing executive order he says will bring health insurance costs down and help millions of people. >> it directs the department of health and human services, the

>> i think obamacare, has been ceiling its own fate. it's imploding.lth insurance costs since its inception have doubled. i think that that what the president is doing, he is actually giving, again be giving consumers the choice of the insurance plans they want, freeing up consumers from the burdensome regulations that come with obamacare and giving great healthcare at a lower cost? if i'm to understand the executive order, what this does open the for the plans that are really almost catastrophic care plans, they won't deal with a lot of preventive measures covered in the affordable care act, these are those bare bones plans we've heard about >> what it does, it allows businesses, small businesses, who are disadvantage ed in the marketplace to come together and act as business and they will have more leverage but frees them from, as you suggest the onerous obamacare regulations such as the essential benefits mandates >> is there any estimation or possibility that that you may get some kind of bipartisan move down the line to stabilize what's left of th

but obamacare is everything but dead. the people are not going to take it. they're not going to take it. alaska, they had over 200% increase. in arizona, they were 116% i hear going up even higher. the people are not taking that any longer. i think we're in great shape. i think we have the votes. we'll do that after the largest tax cuts in the history of our country are approved. hopefully sometime in very near future. reporter: is graham-cassidy still the plan? , sir. >> yes, sir. block grants. reporter: mr. prime minister, in march of 2016 you said potential for donald trump presidency, i hope we will not face this evil. i am wondering if after spending time with the president you have changed your mind or of the same mind. >> i wish i knew that before my speech. [laughter]. [speaking native tongue] >> translator: the meeting i had with the president, his approach and the way he addresses -- [inaudible] you asked is a very strong power and their ability to intervene for good are very, very important. i want to confirm that the meeting that we had was very

, according to a lot of experts, obamacare to begin with, is his purpose to see obamacare fail? >> no, wolf. the president is not looking to -- the president's looking to do is give the american people more choices and more options. that's hard to see how that's a bad thing. you create more freedom in the process you create nor kpet tigs, it'll help to lower prices. he understands that the average premiums increase over 100% over the last few years. americans are getting crushed. and he cares about them and he wants to give them more options, that's what he's trying to do. >> the critics and experts are suggesting, insurance commissioners, health insurance experts are saying that if the plan that the president announced today goes through, it will dramatically increase premium costs for those that have serious ailments for example and the elderly. >> right. wolf, let's look at it this way, right now if you're a major employer, let's say you're general motors and you have tens of thousands of employees, you have employees all across different states, why can't you if if you're a

it makes a huge difference for some obamacare enrollees.example, for those just above the poverty line, it lowers the deductibles to $255 a year. without those subdies, those 6 million people will see huge increases in deductibles the next year. that uncertainty, just going month by month causes many ininsures to hike rates by 20% next year. some of them dropped out entirely. but insurers who didn't price in the loss of these subdies can sue or raise rates. >>> president trump also expected to decertify the iran nuclear deal despite the international communities assessment teheran is in compliance. it's raising concerns about a potential backlash that could set the stage for another nuclear crisis. let's get the latest from cnn's orrin leiberman reporting from jerusalem, certainly one of the ones that favor decertifying the deal. >> reporter: netanyahu being one of the harshest critics as he has been including that speech in 2015. it's essentially president trump saying iran is not in compliance with the deal. it doesn't change the deal, do

obamacare has many, many, many faults and mr. obama told many untruths about it when he was in the process of building it up. the sad fact is mr. trump's plan doesn't help all that much. he's not going to have a plan where by any person anywhere in the united states can sign up for health care, which obamacare did allow, and that is a very, very big omission in the united states of america. liz: he's forming these -- >> going back to the drawing board. liz: sorry, ben, the lower costs plans that don't come stocked with the requirements and the benefits that obamacare has, and trying to form insurance pools where you can buy insurance across state lines. that will bring costs down, right? >> well, it doesn't really it. gets a little complicated, but if you have somebody wanting to buy insurance in new york and wants to buy it at mississippi prices, that's not going to last long, all the expensive providers will go to mississippi and the lawsuits go to mississippi soon, and mississippi prices will go up, too. you cannot achieve mir

obamacare essentially back from the dead. the president said it was dead 24 hours from this deal. >>. >> it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. 13 days after four u.s. service members were killed, president trump reached out to the families of those slain soldiers. one of those calls is drawing outrage from a congresswoman who says she heard it. >> moments earlier she received a call from the president. democratic congresswoman says she listened to part of the call on speakerphone. she recounted part of that call to don lemon. >> we were in the car together in the limousine headed to meet the body at the airport. so i heard what he said because the phone was on speaker. >> what did he say? >> well, basically he said well, i guess he knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurts. >> congresswoman wilson telling the washington post it made the widow break down in tears as you might imagine any remark from the president might. cfn h cnn has been unable to reach the family for comment. >>> officials say the investigation is an inv

obamacare and taxes, but what he saw in obamacare was at everything they said they would be able to get done, they could not get done. the leaders wanted to get it done. some conservatives are confused about that. mitch mcconnell and paul ryan wanted to repeal obamacare. it was more liberal republicans who stood in the way. that is why you have steve bannon saying, we have moderate republican standing in the way, we are going to get rid of them. and i think that that is an important dynamic about what is happening. on the second piece about the democrats, chuck and nancy already went along on a budget deal. they are already talking to the president about daca. >> which the president is now backing off of. >> no, that is not true. we are talking about infrastructure. here's the thing. when we talk about the budget reconciliation. the democrats are allowed to come aboard at any time. if i was a democrat in the senate -- which god forbid i ever be one. i would cut the best deal possible. >> melissa: i have to go. i have to let michael get in. sometimes i think chuck and nancy protest too m

obamacare is a broken mess.iece by piece we will now begin the process of giving america the great healthcare it deserves. joining me now for more is texas republican senator ted cruz. good to have you in studio. always good to do it this way. all right. let's start with the decision happening overnight scrapping these bail-outs as the president likes to call them. >> i thought it was exactly the right thing to do. they're massive bail-outs to insurance companies. the democrats love that. one of the interesting things, one of the interesting consequences of obamacare, the profits of insurance companies have doubled. in 2008 the top 10 insurance companies had about $8 billion in profits. in 2015 they doubled to $15 billion and so of course we shouldn't be bailing out insurance companies. and one of the things that was also very clear with the obama administration was doing writing billions of dollars of checks was illegal. it was -- congress hadn't appropriated the funds. the president is doing the right thing bu

to know they're not on obamacare because you don't want to call an ambulance if you're on obamacare has hit with a cost but they're saying that they double digit increases yet again florida i think has like forty percent increase this year that healthier people are just going to go off and middle class people who are just above. the line are going to they're not going to pay if you have sixty four thousand dollars a year income you're not going to spend twenty five thousand of that on insurance. americans got a real problem with goons you know we were on the reservation in the dakotas we said that story right off here you've got ambulance drivers who used to say there are. people over the head with billy clubs you know. taken to hospital. we were around. the state of. course well anyway that's my final point on this i think we're going to be one of those people because i'm not going to pay twenty five hundred dollars a month for a policy that that is just not going to give me anything in return and instead next year we're going to have reports from a different portion every single day o

he is interested in repealing obamacare. it makes me wonder if it's a measure to quicken its demise if it destabilizes the markets. the problem is people want more affordable healthcare, yes. the issue this could bring up is what bill clinton talked about on the campaign trail during the presidential race. he got in trouble for saying how middle class or upper middle class people who buy on the exchanges are going to bear the brunt of the costs of any destabilization on these markets and really send those people who don't qualify for subsidies. their healthcare rates soaring. the craziest thing about obamacare. he is right. >> jon: let's turn to immigration reform. the so-called dreamers and democrats. here is what president trump tweeted earlier today. the problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the democrats don't want secure borders, they don't care about safety for the usa. kelly jane, take that one on. is this presidential -- he got nowhere with democrats. >> it proves the deal he supposedly struck with

a big move on obamacare, he promised to fix obamacare piece by piece late last night. a huge piece. he ended officially big government subsidy to insurance companies, that money goes to help poor people afford health care coverage. >> christine romans, chief business correspondent is here. we wait for the president and the panel is with us. give an overview of what this means. >> ending key subsidies will mean it speeds up obamacare implosion, cost millions health coverage. 6 million low income americans, individuals that earn less than 30 grand a year, families earning less than 61 grand. these subsidies to pay for lower deductibles, doesn't effect premiums, makes a difference for low income enrollees. those just above the poverty line, subsidy lowers their average deductible to 255 bucks a year. americans could see huge increases next year. the president threatened to stop payments for months. cost men to hike rates. 43% by more than 20%. some major players dropped out. insurers didn't price in loss of subsidies could sue or raise rates. all of this a new problem for

. >> after failed attempts in congress, president trump dismantles obamacare on his own. his administration will stop paying monthly subsidies that cover low-income americans. democrats sound the alarm. >> this is sabotage of the affordable care act and quite frankly a real disservice to the american people, many of whom voted for him. >> what do the new rules mean for americans and the future of the law? plus... the president says the iran nuclear agreement is a bad deal and requests congress to act. >> the iranian regime continues to feel conflict, terror and turmoil throughout the middle east and beyond. >> but some of his own advisors and leading republicans are wary of walking away. >> as flawed as the deal is, i believe we must now enforce the hell out of it. >> where does america stand on the world stage? and what is driving president trump? we'll explore his go it alone strategy with shawna thompson of vice news, julie hirschfeld of the new york times, nancy cordes of cbs news, and michael crowley of politico. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." fu

senatos to restore critical obamacare subsidies. let's bring in our congressional correspondent, phil mattingly. he's up on capitol hill. phil, does this deal have a serious chance of passing not only the senate, but the house, then being signed into law by the president? >> reporter: wolf, there's optimism, there's even bipartisan support. but it's worth noting if this deal is but one piece of a puzzle that is, "a," very complicated, ab, may never be completed at all. let me explain why. the idea of what both sides would get, both sides like. getting a little bit north of $100 million in obamacare outreach funding for people who are trying to enroll in the exchanges. for republicans, it's all about regulations. we heard this repeatedly during the replace process. and what senator lamar alexander has negotiated is significant state flexibility to kind of change the obamacare regulations to make them more palatable for what the state wants to actually do. that's something that has been considered onerous by a lot of republican govern

well, short of ending obamacare. >> he clearly rails against the costs. the co the costs of meds, the costs of insurance. but his actions this week only push us further away from solutions so let's start there. last week president trump delivered what many could be a mortal blow to obamacare by cutting off csrs, cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers which subsidize coverage for low income americans. this week a bipartisan agreement was reached by senators lamar alexander and patty murray who have been working with their committee, the health committee for months on this. if that is passed, it would fund those csr payments for two years. donald trump wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. >> obamacare is finished, it's dead, it's gone. it's no longer -- you shouldn't even mention it, it's gone. there is no such thing as obamacare anymore. >> it is a short-term solution so that we don't have this very dangerous little period, including dangerous period for insurance companies, by the way, for a period of one year, two years. we will have a very goo

obamacare is a disaster. it's virtually dead as far as i'm concerned, it really is dead, and i predicted that a long time ago. it's a concept that doesn't work. and we are very close. we feel we have the votes. and as soon as we are finished with taxes, john, we really feel we have the votes to get block grants into the states where the states can much better manage this money and much better take care of the people. rather than the federal government, the state block grants, we'll do massive block grants into the various states so that the states can run the program. so we feel we have the votes, we're going to be doing that after the taxes. in the meantime, we're involved with a budget and then after the budget hopefully that gets approved. and after the budget, assuming we have the support of all the republicans because we'll have no support from the democrats or almost no support because they have really become just obstructionists. they have no good policies. and frankly, they are not good politicians bu

the democrats obamacare is imploding. massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. dems should call me to fix! but make no mistake, over the last 24 hours, it is the president who has gone a long way toward putting his imprint on government-regulated health insurance, and he has done it without an act of congress. president trump upending the health care market, scrapping critical subsidy payments to insurers that help nearly 6 million lower income americans pay for health care. the payments, which will cost the federal government about $7 billion this year, set to end immediately. without the subsidies, the congressional budget office estimates exchange premiums will rise 20% next year and increase the national deficit by $194 billion over 10 years. the move could force many insurers to flee the marketplace entirely. >> we pay hundreds of millions of dollars a month in subsidy that the courts don't even want us to pay. when the payments stop, it stops immediately. >> president trump threatened t

. >>> tonight, unraveling obamacare. president trump cuts off critical payments, a sweeping move that could send premiums soaring for millions of families. what happens now? >>> another major story. confronting iran. the president blasts the nuclear deal but doesn't kill it, pushing congress to act while others argue the deal is working and that he's creating an international crisis. >>> deadliest week. a tragic new turn as the winds intensify in california. families unable to escape the fires. >>> new revelations about those first moments of terror in las vegas when a killer took aim inside the hotel then opened fire on the crowd below. >>> up, up and away. a kaleidoscope of colors. come along for a spectacular ride. >>> also, tonight, why millions of you are about to see more money in the mail. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening to our viewers in the west. thank you for being here. in a flurry of announcements and signings over the last 24 hou

he dealt with what may have been a fatal blow to obamacare.

that's the whole point of obamacare. you don't know, if you're a healthy millennial you're one car accident away from having a problem. the short-term plans is interesting. right now you can get the skinny short-term plan, three months. they want to make it nine months. if you're between jobs. the "journal" points out that's great for somebody between jobs. then you siphon off the healthy young people into the short-term plans, then that makes it more costly for everybody else in the obamacare exchanges. >> we have seen rand paul say if you make the changes, the small business owner can enter into a plan that benefits them in a way that doesn't hurt them as if the current options are not working for these groups of people. as you said, people -- employment situations, health situations, family structures change overnight. this is -- these plans, the critics say, don't factor in those kinds of changes. >> politically it's interesting to see the republicans do through executive order what they were critical of obama doing.

but now obamacare is alive and the payments are back. in this country? that's the most important part. >> i don't think we know where it's going right now. that is exactly the problem. we are coming up to open enrollment when people are going to, on the individual market, are supposed to be choosing plans. so a lack of on knowledge, lack of confidence about what's going to happen is probably not what we want to have right now. we should add one of the things in the bill is money to help sell obamacare. >> right. >> christine talked about the navigators, the advertising. so people know this is out there. otherwise, people might forget it's open enrollment. >> if you don't get insurance and you are uninsured, you don't buy insurance on the exchanges, you will face a fine that comes out of your tax return. it is still the law of the land, right, zach? >> theoretically. >> the president continues to say he has the votes for the graham/cassidy bill. again, there are not the votes. we're not sure where he is getting the additional tphoets vote

that they cannot let obamacare fail.ans come to the table and work with democrats on fixing the affordable care act. what's interesting even though republicans are saying, some republicans, that they don't want to let obamacare fail, they're doing everything in their power right now with what they can with executive orders to roll back all of the protections in the provisions. and yesterday's egregious rollback of the birth control mandate for obamacare is one of those pieces of making sure that obamacare actually does fail. >> okay. vinita gupta, a top civil rights lawyer wrote this the freedom is not an absolute right. it not be used as a shield to permit discrimination against lgbtq americans as a basis to discriminate against african-americans, jason. >> these images of the obamacare administration attacking the little sisters of the poor is a big part of the reason why hillary clinton lost the election last november. you think about these critical swing states like pennsylvania, michigan, ohio, states with large cat

i will let your viewers know that since obamacare past, we had 149 hearings in congress on obamacare. i'm not so sure we need more hearings. some senators who wanted more time, we will give them that opportunity and we will need another budget passed early next year. when the president talks about a march-april time frame, that is to afford us another budget. we do believe there is a lot more excitement around senator graham, senator cassidy's idea of block granting back to the states. trying to make decisions that should belong to the doctors and the patients. >> harris: to be a line of the t felt like he made -- even senator rand paul of the president credit for making a bold move. who would've thought he would be up there on the day. before i let you go, steve bannon, formally inside the white house as an advisor, has said he will go against all those senate republicans who didn't get on board with this president's agenda. the president was asked about this a few moments ago and he said he could understand how steve bannon would want to do that, what is the official word out of the

obamacare is a obamacare is dead. i predicted that a long time ago. we feel we have the votes. soon as we're finished with taxes, john, we feel we have the votes to get block grants into states where the states can much better manage this money and much better take care of the people rather than the federal government. the state block grants, we'll do massive block grants into the various states so the states can run the program. we feel we have the votes. we will be doing that after taxes. in the mean time we're involved with abudget. after the pwurbgt hopefully that gets approved. after tbu

the democrats, obamacare is imploding.ve subsidy payments to their pet-insurance companies has stopped. dems should call me to fix >> and that underscores exactly what we are talking about. the president there saying obamacare is imploding these steps he's been taking are going to continue its implosion. and so -- >> accelerate. >> yes, accelerate, so he's pouring gasoline on the fire politically saying dems should call me. what he means is he wants a deal and he didn't get one this year and is looking for a deal next year so here's adding this fuel to the fire in the hopes that the intensity will create some kind of deal-making possibility here. >> eamon, on the topic of deals, what's the latest on iran? >> we had "the new york times" and other media outlets within the past few moments publish stories which indicate that the president is not going to decertify the iran deal. that's been the big expectation of whether or not he would do that he has called this one of the worst deals that anybody has ever signed in history