One of the prognosticators on this, wasserman said this opens the way for about 80 seats to be in play for the democrats in the next election year. As far as some of the enthusiasm in my caucus, i always listen to my members, i respect the ambition that exists in any caucus. Its a part of our life. I am proud of the unity we have had and my leadership in terms of keeping everybody together and fighting the Health Care Bill and the house of representatives, very proud of our success in defeating it the first time, moving them to the right to a place that i think is unsustainable, but defines who they are very clearly. Im proud of our unity, which gave me leverage to succeed enormously in the negotiations on the bill. When it comes to the issues, we are united in terms of our concern for americas working families. Thats what unifies us. When it comes to ambition and having fun on tv, have your fun. I love the arena. I thrive on competition and i welcome the discussion but i am honored by this. Every action has a reaction. I try to say that. Every attack provoke as massive reaction. That is very encouraging to me, from my members, from our supporters outside and across the country. With that, ill be pleased to take any questions. Yes, maam. [ inaudible question ] is it time for you to step aside . Some. We always have this discussion. One is one, two is a couple, three is a few, some, some. I feel very confident in the support i have in my caucus. No, my timing is not about them, by comments are about the issues that we are here to fight and we are fighting on the Health Care Bill. The expansion of opportunity in our caucus has been great for people who want to take advantage and help us win. Maybe they dont want to play in that arena but there is im very proud of the members who do. They are going around the country, listening, 30somethings listening to the voices of young people. My 30th anniversary is june at my celebrations i have always featured the young 30somethings, and they are so impressive. We are paving a way for a new generation of leadership. Again, i respect any opinion that my members have of what my decision about how long i stay is not up to them. Projected to have no choice at all, meaning, yet again, americans could be thrown off their plans in states like missouri and ohio and wisconsin. Does this sound like obamacare is working . Democrats tell us it would be wrong for the senate to actually address these problems in a serious way while the law they have defended for seven years, teeters, literally teeters on the edge of total collapse. They were wrong before, they were wrong again, now. Because obamacare isnt working by nearly any mesh sure, it is failed. No 11th hour or passing by democrats is going to change the fact more americans are going to get hurt unless we do something. I regret that our democratic friends made clear early on they did not want to work with us in a serious bipartisan way to address the obamacare status quo. Republicans believe we have a responsibility to act and we are. For our constituents, for our states and for our country. We have long called for a better way forward. We have been engaged in intensive talks on how to get there. Through dozens of meetings open to each and every member of the conference, we have had the opportunity to consider many ideas for confronting the obamacare status quo. We debated many policies. We considered many different viewpoints. In the end, we found we share many ideas about what needs to be achieved and how we can achieve it. These shared policy objectives and the solutions to help achieve them are what made up the Health Care Discussion that we finished talking through this morning. We agreed on the need to free americans from obamacare mandates and policies contained in the discussion draft will repeal the mandate so americans are no longer forced to buy insurance they dont need or cant afford. Repeal the lawyer mandate so americans no longer see their hours and take home pay cut by employers because of it. We agreed on the need to improve the affordability of Health Insurance and policies contained in the discussion draft. Well do that. We will eliminate costly obamacare taxes passed on to consumers so we can put downward pressure on premiums. Expand taxfree Health Savings account and deploy targeted tax credits to defer outofpocket costs and shift power from washington to the states so they have more flexibility to provide americans with the affordable Insurance Options they want. We agree on the need to stabilize the Insurance Market collapsing under obamacare as well and policies contained in the discussion draft will implement stabilization policies to bring financial certainty to Insurance Markets and hope to americans who face the possibility of limited or zero options next year under obamacare. And ultimately transition away from obamas collapsing system entirely so more americans will not be hurt. We also agree on the need to strengthen medicaid, preserve access to care for patients with preexisting conditions and allow children to stay on their Health Insurance through the age of 26. Im pleased we were able to arrive at a draft that incorporates input from members that represent constituents facing so many different challenges. The draft containing the solutions i mentioned along with many others is posted online. I encourage everyone to carefully review it. There will be ample time to analyze, discuss and provide thoughts before legislation comes to the floor. I hope every senator takes that opportunity. Next week, we expect the Congressional Budget Office to release a score. After that, we will proceed with a debate and open amendment process on the senate floor, a process i encourage each senator to participate in. When legislation comes to the floor, it will present Senate Democrats with another opportunity to do what is right for the American People. They can choose to keep standing by as their failing law continues to collapse and hurt more americans but i hope they will join us to bring relief to the families that struggled under obamacare for far too long. Either way, either way, obamacare is a direct attack on the middle class and American Families deserve better than its failing status quo. They deserve better care. Thats what we are going to continue to work to bring you. All right. You are listening to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell as the senate floor is coming to order, beginning the business of the day. They are announcing the Senate Released and revealed the long awaited draft, their version of how to overhaul obamacare. That, released moments ago. Also, hearing from nancy pelosi, addressing many topics and this discussion draft and topics we will get to. This is what we consider a live eventpalooza type of day. We are also standing by to listen to President Trump. He will address and discuss this version. The white house officials were briefed last night on the details. Lets get to it right now. Mj is here as well as rick newman. Mj, you have been reading through how many . 142. 140 plus pages. What are the headlines . Its significant we have a bill to try to read through. This is a big, you know, area of contention that Senate Republicans felt frustrated they hadnt seen the bill in full form. Now, we have a name for the bill. Its called the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, not the same as the House Republican bill. Here are the headlines, similar to what we have been reporting when some of the details started coming out. It repeals the mandate, gets rid of the obamacare taxes on the medicaid front, which is one of the biggest parts of the debate going forward. It does gradually phase out medicaid expansion. There will be drastic changes to the Medicaid Program overall. States will get certain amounts of money, but the funding will be cut back drastically. We have more state flexibility to waive obamacare regulations in a one year block of funding. Again, more or less in line with what we have been reporting. The big question, of course, came as we get more details and Senate Republicans get a chance to look through the bill. Whether they feel they got enough of what they asked for to vote yes on the bill or feel like the details are enough hang ups they are not willing to go there. What republican moderates want because at some level is different than what conservative senators want. We are seeing that already as we lead up to this moment. We have to await their reaction. Let me go to capitol hill. Phil mattingly is there. What you are seeing is what Senate Leadership is trying to do is thread the needle. The question is, if those details get them to 50. Thats been the end game the entire time. It seems simplistic. The goal is how do you get 50 of your 52 members to vote for this bill. You see things given to both sides of the ideological spectrum. On medicaid, changing the faze out, making it more gradual. I have to cut you off, sorry. Lets go to the top democrat in the senate. Give these folks another, larger tax cut in their tax bill. Even though much of the early reporting says the bill will keep certain protections for americans with preexisting conditions, the truth is, it may well not guarantee them the coverage they need, by allowing states to waive essential health benefits. What the bill is saying to those americans is insurance still has to cover you, but it doesnt have to cover what you may need. It doesnt have to cover all or most of your costs. Treatment or opioid addiction. The plan may no longer cover it. If you are pregnant and need maternity care, the plan may have decided thats too expensive. The coverage they actually need may well become unaffordable or nonexistent under this bill. Simply put, this bill will resolve, not right now, at the end of my remarks. Simply put, this bill will result in higher costs, less care and millions of americans will lose their Health Insurance particularly through medicaid. Its every bit as bad as the house bill. In some ways, its worse. The president said the senate bill needed harp the way this bill cuts health care is heartless. The president said the house bill was mean. The Senate Bill May be meaner. The Senate RepublicanHealth Care Bill is a wolf in sheeps clothing, only this wolf has even sharper teeth than the house bill. Its clear that republicans know that cutting medicaid will hurt so many people in the middle class, so many in my home state of new york. Republicans know people want health benefits. They have created a disguise saying these changes wont occur. In reality, Senate Republican bill is a wolf in sheeps clothing, only this wolf has sharper teeth than the house bill. We are potentially voting on it in a week. No committee hearings. No amendments in committee. No debate on the floor. Ten measly hours on one of the most important bills we are dealing with in decades. That brings shame on this body. You wont even know the full cost or consequence of the bill until cbo scores it. That could take a few days more. How can my friend, majority leader, expect this body to fairly consider this legislation, prepare amendments and debate it in a week with only ten hours of debate . How can he expect his own members to do the same . Many of them on the republican side are learning the details of the bill the way we democrats are, reading it today. Listen to what the majority leader had to say in 2009 when we were debating health care. His words, this is a very important issue. We shouldnt try to do it in the dark, and whatever final bill is produced should be available to the American Public and members of senate enough time to come to grips with it. We are going insist the American People are going to insist that it be done in a transparent, fair and open way. Is five or six days enough time for the American People and members of the senate to come to grips with a bill that affects one sixth of the economy and the lives of every american in this country . I dont think so. Neither do the American People and neither do a whole bunch of republican senators. Senator kassidy, would i prefer a more open process . The answer is yes. Senator collins. I dont think it gives enough time to thoroughly analyze the bill but well see when it comes out. Theres member after member, rand paul, lindsey graham, jerry, marco rubio, bob corker, who repeatedly have said this process, in their words and now in mine, is unfair, truncated, rushed. For my dear friend, the majority leader to say we are going to have an open amendment process is turning truth upside down. I would ask our leader, rhetorically, because i know the answer, can we allow at least one hour on the amendment, not two minutes . Will we have more time than ten hours to debate the bill . I hope so. But, if not, please dont call this an open and fair process. You want to rush it through, admit the consequences. Now, mr. President , the debate over health care has been fierce. We know the republicans and democrats have differences whep we debated the Affordable Care act, at least we had a debate. At least we had xhit tee hearings and a process. More broadly than that, at least we democrats were trying to pass a Health Care Bill that helped more americans afford insurance and tried to bring costs down and some of the most egregious prok tises. What is trump care trying to achieve . Designed to slash support for Health Care Programs to give tax breaks to the very well think. When the cbo score comes out, i believe it will verify that millions of americans in this great country will be unable to afford insurance or the insurance they can afford wont cover the services they need. Somewhere in america, mr. President , theres a family who takes a trip each friday to visit grandma or grandpa at a nursing home. Who sacrificed all their savings to pay for their health care until they had no more savings and now relies on medicaid to help pay the cost of Long Term Care in a nursing home. Somewhere in america, theres a father who is eaten up inside watching his son struggle with opioid addiction, who knows in his heart that his son would be able to go on and live a healthy and fulfilling life if he could only afford treatment to get him out from under his devastating addiction. Somewhere in america, theres a parent whose child has chancer, mother and father who stay up late at night, worried their insurance will not be available or run out when the family needs it most. The america my republican friends invision with this Health Care Bill, those americans and many more, might not get the coverage and care they need. We live in the wealthiest country on earth. Surely, surely, we can do better than what the republican Health Care Bill promises. Now, i have a consent request. Going to have to delay my friend from asking questions until we finish the unanimous consent request. I asked unanimous consent for a substitute offered to calendar number 120 hr1628 not be in order if the text of the amendment has not been filed at the desk and made available on a public website for at least 72 hours, along with an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of the budgetary cost implications. Is there objection . Reserving the right to object. Senator cornyn. They were referring to a bill he hasnt received a copy of. The speech is about a bill he hasnt seen. With regard to his consent, i object. Mr. President , leader time. The senator has the floor. Thank you. 142 pages, thus far, of this supposed bill have been printed online. Thats what i have used. Minority whip. Mr. President , several weeks ago you have been listening to the top democrat in the senate, Chuck Schumer calling the bill a wolf in sheeps clothing, hitting the process hard and back and forth you see with Mitch Mcconnell there. That bite just beginning on the senate floor. Its safe to assume this new senate plan to overhaul obamacare is not going to get any democratic support to push it through. But, will it get support from the white house . Will it get support from the president . Lets head there. Sarah murphy is there right now. Sarah, we know the white house officials have you heard anything from the white house or the president since this bill was finally, this discussion draft was finally just released . Reporter not only were they briefed last night, they were told that last night the president was aware of details of this legislation when he was out there speaking in iowa. He spoke favorably about the bill. Now, hes in a Technology Meeting right now. One Senior Administration official expects the president will talk about health care as well. With President Trump, you never know for sure if hes going to stick to the script or the talking points. Yes, they feel positive about this bill as it stands. Really, this is in Mitch Mcconnells plan. They are looking to him to shepard it through and get all the senators what they need to vote yesterday on this bill. They are cautiously optimistic about the progress to this point. As Phil Mattingly and other colleagues have been noting, this is a difficult needs l to thread. They are looking to see how senators react. Some of the reaction, slowly, slowly coming out. Many are reading it for the very first time as we are as well. Sarah, well come back to you in a moment. We are waiting to hear the president s first reaction at any moment. Lets get reaction on this new Senate Health care plan for republicans and also what nancy pelosi said about her future. Democratic congresswoman and head of the dnc, debbie wasz zerman schultz is joining me now. Your reaction i dont assume you read 142 some pages since five minutes ago, but your reaction to what the Senate Unveiled to overhaul obamacare. Yeah, i have had the bill was posted online at ten of 11. I have had a little bit of time to take a look at it. Whats clear to me is that the senate bill takes and ax to the knees of those who finally have health care as a right, not just a privilege and give the States Health benefits, making sure pregnancy is covered, making sure your mammogram is covered. We protect people with preexisting conditions. Ending medicaid as we know it. When the republican majority leader is referencing people that are poor as the beneficiaries of medicaid, he isnt thinking or clearly caring about the 65 of seniors in Nursing Homes that are only able to be in a nursing home, relying on medicaid. Is this version better or worse than the house version . This version is certainly no better than the house version. It just cuts people in different gutless and heartless ways. I mean, this is devastating to people who now finally have the ability to go to the doctor when they are sick. Make sure they can catch illness early and make sure when illness is potentially life threatening, they will be able to survive it. Again i caught my Breast Cancer early. Because i could go right to the doctor. This plan, heartless plan will deny people that ability. Something republicans ran on, this is them making good on what they promise, overhauling obamacare. Before im going to have to cut us off because paul ryan is going to take to a microphone. Before his News Conference begins, i want to ask you about the democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi. After the tuesday night loss, there are calls from some democrats for the democratic leader to go. Do you think she should go . Nancy pelosi just helped us bring in a budget that essentially made sure we were able to provide for the needs of millions of americans when President Trump and the Republican Leadership were clearly headed towards dramatic, devastating cuts. So, shes a consummate legislature, a leader that helped us get things done. Shes going to continue to do that as she should. You support her staying on as speaker . Well, shes the democratic leader im sorry, democratic leader. Nancy pelosi was elected as our leader. She has been a remarkable, strategic legislature, someone who helped us make progress and prevent cuts and policies from being implemented. We have a president in office for six month who is accomplished nothing. The republicans have the house, the senate and the white house and they have got nothing of significance because of Nancy Pelosis leadership. You have kathleen rise saying she is not the leader for the future of the democratic party. Tim ryan says she was toxic in parts of the country. Kathryn rice makes the point, if we were talking the ceo of a country, the sports team losing time and again, changes would be made. The ceo would go or the coach would go. Do you agree with them . You know, i think what i do agree with and leader pelosi agrees with is we need to make sure we have Generational Development of our leadership so we have seasoned leadership like nancy pelosi and as she has done bringing in leaders from the next generation and being, you know, broadening the leadership table, being more inclusive. As we move into the next congress, the 116th, whereupon we have a significant ability, given how devastating the policies that President Trump and the republicans made, we have the ability to take the house back. When we do, we are going to be able to hold trump and the republicans accountable as the American People are crying out for it. Something else has been happening on capitol hill. The former secretary of Homeland Security testified about the russian hacks. He flat out said the dnc refused the departments help. You put out a statement saying jay johnson was wrong. Where is he wrong . Hes wrong in every respect. Let me be very clear. At no point during my tenure at the dnc was icon tacted by the fbi, dhs or any Government Agency or alerted or made aware that they believed that the russians, an enemy state was intruding on our network. I am a member of congress that had the ability to sit down and be briefed in a classified setting. Director comey said he wished he went to the top of the organization. We are one of the two National Political parties. It is astounding, when they had a member of congress leading that organization, no one felt it was more important when we had a foreign enemy intruding on the partys networks to do anything more than lob a phone call in to our tech support through our main switch board. How can that be true . Secretary johnson says dnc rebucked the help offered. You are saying no one contacted you. Secretary johnson is utterly misinformed. That is not accurate. Much has been written about the time line of events by the new york times, the washington post, that document through multiple sources, including me, that the fbi and other federal agencies did virtually nothing to make sure that when they were aware, at the point they were aware or concerned there was an intrusion on our network by the russians they did virtually nothing to sound the alarm bells to make us aware of that. They left the russians on our network for more than for almost a year before we discovered that they were there. But its not like this was a republican secretary of department on some kind of face saving tour after the fact. This is jay johnson. Hes a democrat. Whats im confused. Jay johnson so was i. Secretary johnson specifically referenced that he was told we were working with the firm crowd strike. We began working with the firm crowd strike once we learned the russians were on our network in april of 2016. So, he seemed to be referencing that he became aware that we have this intrusion in april when that phone call started coming in to our Tech Support Department in the fall of 2015 unbeknownst to me. How is it that a that the fbi or dhs or any federal agency that was concerned about a foreign enemy state intruding on the networks of two Political Parties did not think it important enough to go higher than a tech support staff. When you have the chair of an organization briefed in a classified setting, it is astounding and outrageous. I assume thats why director comey and johnson said yesterday they wish they had taken it up or a little farther than they did. Who is to blame, johnson or problem . Im not pointing fingers at all. There was certainly more that should have been done. More alarm bells and more action that should have been taken. Im sorry to cut you off here. We have to head over to the house. House speaker, paul ryan is speaking. Well get his reaction to the senate Health Care Bill unveiled. Come on. All right. Congratulations anyway. You know what . It was cool to see special agent crystal griner throw out the first pitch. She just got out of the hospital. To see her come out and throw the first pitch was a very, very cool thing to see. I saw steve this morning. His spirits are up. Hes talking. Hes doing well. He sent his regards and thanks for everyones thoughts and prayers. This has been a busy week delivering on our agenda for the country. Yesterday, for those of you who may have missed it, republicans and democrats came together to send important veterans reform to the president s desk. We have all seen the scandals. We saw the waiting list. We saw the scandals. Things clearly need to change at the veterans administration. This bill is going to help deliver the fundmental reform that is needed to solve those problems. It will help veterans get the world class care and treatment they deserve and have earned. We have a lot of work to do, but we are going to keep at it until we, as a country, can say, we are keeping our promises we have made to veterans. Later today, today, we expected big bipartisan vote for Glenn Thompsons bill. This is going to make it easier for people to get the skills they need to fill better, higher quality, better paying jobs. A good Technical Skills job. I see this everywhere i look in my home state of wisconsin. This bill can make a difference for american workers. So, bottom line, every day here, we are working to address the problem that is people face in their daily lives. These are just two more examples of us coming together and delivering on our agenda. Questions . Have you seen the i have not. I have been briefed on the Senate Version. I have been busy myself. I have been briefed on the Senate Version of the Health Care Bill. [ inaudible question ] i know how hard this process is from personal experience. From what i understand, it tracks along the house bill. I think thats very good. Im not going to pine on their process. They gave us the space to go through our process. The last thing i want to do is be disrespectful of their process z. The bottom line is, i want them to pass the bill so we can get on with keeping our promise. You have to remember, the systems collapsing. Anthem blue cross, yesterday, pulled out of wisconsin. Thats a flagship insurer we have had for years. This system is in a tail spin. We made a promise to repeal and replace. The senate went together with putting together a bill that keeps that promise. Reference to the process. They have largely done this behind closed doors. You, in a recent interview said your process was open and you are proud of it . You release legislation after you draft legislation. This is sort of a talking point in search of a problem. You dont release a bill before you finish writing the bill. You write the bill, then you release the bill. Thats what the senate has done. They want to vote next week. Is that enough time for america to digest it and debate it . [ inaudible question ] if you are asking if we have a cap adjustment, should we have offsets to mandatory, yes. Quality and quantity. [ inaudible question ] its premature to say. We havent made that decision yet. They are just beginning their process. We are not at the point of making that decision. [ inaudible question ] how many of you know what the blue slip problem is. Four of you. This is a very technical issue. Its the constitution, so we take that seriously. My understanding is ways and means is giving the Technical Assistance the senate needs to conform. Ed royce, chairman of foreign afears indicated he is eager to move the bill. We want to get the bill cleaned up. We need Foreign Affairs to do their scrub on legislation. Chairman royce indicated he wants to get moving on that quickly and we want to honor that. They are actually going to dont know the answer to that. We want to get moving on it. We have to honor the blue slip, a constitutional clause issue. Thats why we asked ways and means to give Senate Foreign relations the Technical Work they need to get this right. I support sanctions, i always support sanctions. Im going to let hvac do their scrub. Ed wants to get moving on this bill. Its important to him. Speaker . I apologize . Who are you with . Cnn news. President trumps 2018 budget eliminating federal funding for corporation for public broadcasting. Do you support that and will you follow that elimination in the budget . I have to refer you to the appropriators. They are just getting started. I dont get deep into the microdetails. I refer you. A budget question for you. Diane black the budget chairwoman is supportive of the idea of doing 150 of mandatory cuts. Some other chairmen, not so comfortable with that, coming out with the savings. You are still having your family discussions, but how do you vision short of, like, going through this . Do you think theres a Half Way Point . Deja vu all over again. I served as budget care eight years. I had these conversations each and every year with the authorizing chairs. She is doing a fantastic job of getting consensus on the kinds of instructions we need to get savings out of the budget. Every budget should have savings. Diane black is doing that. Just like any other year and any other budget chair should. Shes going through, talking to each authorizer about the savings target. Thats the way it works. Im confident she will get that done and find consensus with other chairs. Thats how you put a budget together. Mr. Speaker, do you think it would be appropriate to send Judiciary Committee to subpoena Loretta Lynch . Im not going to comment on what they are doing. Yeah. I was going to ask you, knowing how hard it was to pass the health care plan, was there red flags that came to your attention no. I havent seen any of that, yet. I think, i know how hard it is to pass a bill like this. What was helpful to us that we didnt have leadership playing quarterback with us. Im going to respect their process. Im not going to pine on the microdetails. I havent read through all the bill. I have been briefed on basic contents. What is important is they pass their bill, we get this process going to keep our promise. Can you tell us about mr. Scalise . Ill let the doctors. We decided we are not going to be the ones commenting about the p progress other than to say i had a great meeting with steve this morning. He is bright. He is alert. He wanted to go through the agenda, the latest whip. He wanted a brief on work. He was so thankful, by the way, we are doing blood drives here. Hes thankful for that. Hes thankful for the outpouring of support he received from friends and colleagues of louisiana. He was taken. Just to hear him talk about bailey and crystal and his affection for them and thankfulness for them, its really something. He seemed like he was doing well. Thanks. The Weekly Press Conference from house speaker, paul ryan, giving an update, positive update on congressman steve scalise. Taking a lot of questions, of course, on the Senate Health care plan revealed this morning. Lets go to chief congressional correspondent. You have been so many things in my life. Dana bash. Paul ryan, playing it safe, we could say. I didnt want them involved in our process, im not going to get involved in their process. From what hes been briefed on, it tracks along the lines of the house bill they passed . Yes. Thats what he says. But, i think its also fair to say, if you are Mitch Mcconnell, you are going to be banking on the fact that the senate bill is going to be a nice contrast to the house bill. For lots of reasons. First, listen to the president of the united states, himself, saying in private the house bill was mean. Last night in public, in iowa talking about the fact hes hoping and believes the senate bill has heart. That, obviously, is a big way to put olive branches out there for the many moderate republicans in the senate who were not comfortable at all with the house bill, cuts to medicaid and changes that they made. The issue, of course, is, as you well know, kate, is that the Senate Republican leadership has to make that very, very difficult balancing act between the moderates and the conservatives. This is we have to keep saying it over and over again like when this was going through the house. This is about negotiations inside the republican party. Inside the republican caucus. Democrats are not part of this. They are not playing ball with each other, frankly. Right now, we have senators fanning out across the capital, reading the document, to figure out what is in it. Lets go to the house floor. Tensions are flairing there. Ranking democrat on the Senate Finance committee, my colleague, distinguished senator from texas, he knows that i know something about writing Bipartisan Health reform bills. I have written them. They become law. I have not once, not once, been asked to be part of any bipartisan effort with respect to this legislation. I think, colleagues, its real clear what is going on here. Senate republicans are going to keep telling americans they are fixing their health care right up until the second it gets taken away. Now, as the Ranking Member of the finance committee, i find it bizarre that a health bill of this importance was hidden for so long behind closed doors, denying the American People the opportunity to see it together in an open debate. There have been no hearings on this dangerous proposal. Not one hearing on whether medicaid should be flashed to pay for tax cuts, for the fortunate few. Not one hearing on whether the bedrock protections for those with preexisting conditions ought to be shattered. Not one hearing on whether americans should face higher costs, along with annual, lifetime limits on insurance coverage. This secretive process of concealing and rushing this bill, which until today have been seen by nobody, nobody outside the Republican Leadership and their lobbyist allies who dwell on k street. The secretive process stands in short contrast to the process that led to the Affordable Care act. Is the chair able to confirm that the committee considered s1796, the Americas Health future act, which is ultimately incorporated into h3590, the Patient Protection . You are listening to reaction on the senate floor. Lets head over to the house side of the capitol for reaction. Lets go to Michael Burgess from texas. He helped draft it. Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me on. Its a big day. A very big day. You helped craft that bill. Is the Senate Version, from what you see, better or worse than yours . I would agree with the speaker, i heard some of his remarks leading into this statement that it does track the house bill. I think thats good. I have not had a chance, i lterally just printed off a copy and put it on my table as i came over here to do this interview. Its only 147 pages, so i expect most of us would have a chance to read through it by mid afternoon and able to assess what the differences with the house bill are and whether or not they are acceptable on the house side. Senate has an enormous amount of work to do. They will receive a cbo score in a day or two and a lot of discussion over that and they will have a 24hour period where they amend the bill on the senate floor. That will be a fairly involved process z. We had a 28hour mark up in our committee in energy of commerce. That was instrucktive. We had 18 hours in the rules committee, that im also on. That was fairly constructive. The work on the senate there are will be constructive. I encourage people to watch and monitor themselves. Are you the first . I think second. Georgia first . Okay, georgia is first. How do you like the health care, folks . Its going to be very good. Little negotiation, but its going to be very good. There you have it. Short and quick, from President Trump. Theres a little negotiation, but its going to be good. Lets get back to congressman burgess. I hope hes still with us. We had a hot take reaction from President Trump there. Im glad you did it. Thank you. Im so sorry to interrupt. Hes right. Look, we have spent more time on this as a legislative branch than probably he would like. I hope we have a product that will be acceptable to both sides of the ap toll building. We need to put something in his hands. Look, the president ran on this issue. We ran on this issue. It is important that we put it deliverable in the president ees hands and there is work that needs to happen. This is Holding Things up. On the president , the president did acknowledge last night, he wanted the senate bill to have heart. That was his word. That means he doesnt he didnt think the house bill had that. Do you agree with that . I didnt hear him say the house bill didnt have heart. I agree with him. Yes, we do want he said behind closed doors he thought the house bill was mean and cold hearted. I didnt hear that. House was mean and cold hearted. As mean and cold i didnt hear that. Im grateful for the leadership that hes provided. Its up to us for the next steps i do want to stress this, when people complain that you didnt go far enough or went too far, this is the next step in a very long process. When obamacare passed, that was the end of the story. There were not enough votes to come back to the senate to do anything at all. So that was it. You pass the 2,700page bill, and youre done. This is the first step on the process of bringing more market sensitivity back into our Health Care System which i believe has been sorely lacking for some time. Looking forward to get your full reaction once you can actually see the details. Congressman, thank you very much for your time. Happy to do it. Thank you. Of course, rick neumann, Yahoo Finance columnist, here with me. Whats your initial take . Theres some reaction from the senate, some applauding what theyre reading. Also, manu raju and folks, orrin hatch, say this may be difficult to pass in a weeks time. For matters of the public discussion, this is more or less the same as the house bill. People are trying to figure out how does it differ, does it thread the needle in the senate. Generally it does the same thing the house bill does, and ordinary people wont make a distinction between will the medicaid changes occur in four years, six years the trump care rolls back medicaid. I think this is after extraordinarily hard sell. I think the republicans are in a legislative dead end. Lets keep in mind the Affordable Care act has an Approval Rating around 51 , 52 . The highest rating for trump care in the mid 30s now. Some of the ratings above 20 . The congress is basically trying to replace something something that is generally popular with something that is not popular. Its hard to see where they go with this. Frankly, you could argue that this is completely crazy. Rana, any surprises in here . Whats your take . The only surprise is that theres been so much secrecy, although maybe its not a surprise. I agree, i think this bill is going to disappoint a lot of people. Its something that will be tough for folks in the senate to take home during summer recess and say, yay, 23 Million People are going to be without health care it does get rid of a lot of things that the americans saidy that didnt want. They didnt want the individual mandate or obamacare taxes. I think that the headline is going to be 23 Million People without health care. I think that at a time when, you know, wages are still stagnant, when demand is an issue, the Health Care Market in general has become incredibly bifurcated. Rich people can afford health care, everybody else has a hard time with it. Thats what people will feel at a visceral level. I think its a hard sell. I think economically it shows that the republicans have become hostage to ideology instead of what works. Republicans actually as a party used to be pretty good at saying what works on the ground, rather than we have this big theory, and were going to do things based on that. This is a bill that is meant to just repel repeal obamacare because thats what they promised to do. Its not something that makes, to me, sense economically. I think things that would make sense economically are tort reform. You know, taking pieces of problematic issues in the Health Care System and dealing with them individually. Just getting rid of this because it says obamacare is wrong to me. This entire debacle affects about 8 of people with Health Insurance. Thats. You would think it affects everybody, it doesnt. And there are big problems in the rest of the Insurance Market. The big one is costs are too high. We spend way too much on health care. There is nobody in Congress Addressing this now. Thats right. Its all about what really were talking about a lot of people, but a narrow sliver of everybody with insurance. And everybody has problems with health care. Let me add another voice to the conversation. A Senior Research and health care fellow, joining us. Whats your take, whats your reaction to the conversation . Well, ive just begun looking through the draft bill. It seems to be a modest change from the house version which, in turn, is to a large extent a modest change from the Affordable Care act thats been in place for seven years. So things arent going to be dramatically different after this year whatever happens. Are you in the camp of believing the Congressional Budget Office score or not, robert, when that comes out . Of course, many republicans have been skeptical of the analysis when it came out about the house version, and everyones now waiting to see what happens with the Senate Version. Sure. Let me preface it with the Congressional Budget Office is probably the most nonpartisan, honest, fair group in washington, and theyre generally wrong on most of what they do. They do what they have to do. There are real problems with the cbo report that came out on the houses version of the bill. First of all, the 23 million losing insurance figure is a large problem. To large extent its measuring it against if the Affordable Care act were operating perfectly, which its not, and its not going to. So its really matching a projection against a fiction. Let me bring you back to go back to where we began. I want to make sure its not lost with folks. Where are the differences that youre seeing between the Senate Version and the house version that passed . Well, i think you were making a good point earlier. We have a tendency because the house bill came out first to compare the senate bill to the house bill and use that as our gauge. It is important to take a comprehensive look at the senate bill and see compared to the house bill is it more moderate or conservative. Some of the big headlines, again, weve been talking about this all morning, but important details. On medicaid, the expansion would be kept in place until 2021 but would be eventually phased out over a threeyear period. There are drastic changes to the program, deeper cuts than what we saw in the house bill. Again, not to compare everything to the house bill, but that is a reality that there are differences between the house bill and the senate bill. On the federal subsidies, would be tied more to income rather than age. This is something that mirrors obamacare. So if you are rand paul or mike lee, you can easily imagine them saying, look, this is too close to obamacare. We already thought the house bill was basically obamacare light. There is not something that is acceptable. Insurance regulations, insurers cannot charge people more for preexisting conditions. Remember, this was probably the most controversial portion of the house bill. A lot of moderate members and conservative members said that this cannot stand about their own constituents. That is why they ended up making some lastminute changes. So a lot of differences from the house bill even though the big headlines might be the same. I think, again, the question is will some of the conservative members who basically just want a wholesale repeal of obamacare, will they take sort of relief in seeing some of the changes that were made. One of the issues that m. J. Points out is how the subsidies that help people pay for their insurance yeah. There is a difference between the senate and house version. The Senate Version tracks more with obamacare. Right. And they calculate it with regard to income rather than age. Is that better or worse . Do you have an opinion on that . You know what, i have an opinion on the fact that this is incredibly complicated. Welcome to the Health Care Debate guess what, only in this country. You know what would fix things . Making medicare universal. Thats one of the programs thats actually working, that americans like. Having employerlinked health care its not going to happen let me tell you something, businesses are starting to clue in to the fact, and theres a big movement in american business, to say, you know, having employerlinked health care is actually not great. Its not great for businesses. Its not great for individuals, more of whom are going to be working as freelancers in the future. Thats what the portable benefits debate is about. I know were dealing with the here and now, but essentially we keep missing the fact that the Health Care System in america is broken at a much deeper level. In some ways, details are technocratic. Yeah, but somethings got to give in the next week. People are going to start hearing this phrase the age tax, okay. This is a little bit of demagoguery here. This is what groups like aarp which opposes the Republican Health care plan, they say it would impose an age tax on seniors. They would have to pay more because of the way that this is all structured. Its hard to see how this is popular with any significant Mainstream Group anywhere. Robert, one of the big things one of the big things really, its amazing. Lets go to robert. Robert, on this one, i mean, what i heard from republicans here is republicans say some of the republicans say they like it better than obamacare in 100 ways. Thats from john mccain. One of the things the president wanted to see is that there was more heart in this bill. Is there a way to measure if theres more heart in this bill . I dont know. They didnt teach me that in graduate school, how to measure heart. Its look, its got a number of things that from a conservative standpoints would be attractive. It gets rid of a lot of taxes, some of which i think are important to get rid of the medical device tax, for instance, which has the effect of stifling the development of things that can actually make care better and less expensive. As for subsidies, look, its seven years ago, the Affordable Care act was passed. What it did was promised more services to a lot more people without producing any more doctors, nurses, hospitals, or anything else. The question is, i looked at the house version, i didnt see much difference on that. Well have to see whether the Senate Version does that. Im not sure it does. Were not really going to start fixing the problem in the country until we stop worrying so much about the insurance and who pays and who gets in line first. And actually start looking at the ways that we produce health care. Fundamental changes. Health insurance is different from fixing health care is different from fixing the insurance system. Yes. Thanks, guys. Thank you all very, very much, for sticking with me throughout this hour. Theres been a lot of moving parts, and it only continues as everyone continues to read through what is in and what is not in the Senate Health care plan that was just unveiled. Inside politics with john king starts right now. Thank you, welcome to inside politics, im john king. Thanks for sharing this busy newsday with us. A busy hour ahead. Cnn has exclusive conversations about the president s conversations with the chiefs about the russian meddling allegation. And nancy pelosi spoke with critics who say its time for her to go. We begin with another major story unfolding this hour. Senate republicans just unveiled their obamacare replacement plan and admit they are still short the votes to pass it