On health case, what you replace obamacare with. Talking to members coming out, you get a sense they dont want to do the immediate repeal and replace. They want this to be slightly gradual and make sure and certain they dont own this politically. If theres one thing ive heard coming out of here, theres a little concern they want to make sure obama owns obamacare until the very end. To give you a sense of how closely mike pence will be working with conession republicans. Hell not only have the traditional Vice President s office on the senate side. He announced that hell haven office on the house side. Remember, he was in the house before he was governor of indiana. This will be a Vice President who takes his constitutional duties seriously, spending a lot of time on the house and senate side. Hes going to be regularly coming to the hill to meet with members of congress. You were talking to these lawmakers, i saw you just before we came to air here chasing after somebody in the hallway. Anything that surprised them about this meeting that youre hearing about . No big surprises. Hell keep an office on the house side as well as the senate side. The idea this is a pep talk rallying the troops, talking about what theyre going to do, that was expected. The idea this was a lovefest. We knew heading in. Pence is a creature of the house. No huge surprises. The question now moving forward is whats the tactics and the strategy. Whats do they do in the immediate term and in terms of obamacare and the longterm strategy for having something in place to provide health care for millions of america. There does seem to be consensus or a broad agreement that you need to be allowed to keep 26yearold kids on their parents insurance up to 26. Thats one thing that seems to be filtering out. And the president elect has said he supports that, too. This is just the beginning of mike pences day on the hill. Hell be speaking with paul ryan any minute. And when it does, well bring it to you live. Im told by a source in that room as well that the Vice President elect is meeting not just with speaker ryan but members of congress including representative mullvaney and price. And the other side of the capitol, kasie hunt here following president obama. You had a very brief interaction. Happy new year was all the president said to you but hes saying more to hill democrats and staffers. What are you hearing . The president is just through this doorway behind me in the congression aal Visitors Center meeting with Democratic Senators and members of the house. Of course, as you were just talking about, the question here, how to protect that signature achievement. This is a president who came into office in 2009 and mad this his number one priority. He ended up using so much Political Capital on ramming this law through the congress. Nancy pelosi, then the speaker of the hour, helped him do that. 60 votes in the sete. Frankly, theyve been paying the price since. They lost midterm elections in 2010 and 2014. They want to protect it and those who have gotten insurance from it. What is the strategy for trying to make this difficult for republicans and also to make them pay the political price if they do go forward with repealing this law. Weve already heard Chuck Schumer use the phrase make america sick again. You can anticipate hearing that. Medicare and how thats wrap up in this law. Thats something people very much understand how it benefits their lives. We talked about a lot of people who are receiving benefits from the Health Care Law who may not know thats where they are coming from. Theres a lot of confusion about that point. So a lot of this will be messaging. Some of it will be, hey, should democrats help republicans replace this in some way if, in fact, they do go through with the repeal, as you know. Its very difficult to put this back together, but its not as hard to take it apart. If you think of it like a jenga game, republicans can use 51 votes to make it collapse but they need 60 votes to build tup again. That does give democrats some leverage. Thats what theyre trying to figure out today. Im going to ask you the question you kind of posed that is an extensial one. Are democrats going to work with republicans here to rebuild as you put it the jenga pile . And is todays meeting with president obama, its really much more about messaging and almost a pr push than it is about policy. Its about messaging. Well also hear once we have members walking out about the tactics and strategy. I want to put up for you, the tweet from donald trump this morning about the Health Care Law. It looks like a Little Movement here. We may be seeing the president come out shortly. Go chase if you its more the cops telling us you cant move which means the president may be on his way by. The tweet the president elect sent out calling schumer, the new democratic leader, a clown d sayihe republicans need to make sure that democrats own the negatives of this law. We do know this law is very unpopular. A lot of its provisions arent. The ones that cover preexisting conditions. So the challenge for republicans that donald trump clearly recognizes is, hey if you tear this down, you might end up taking some of the blame for people losing their health care. The president elect seems to be warning them not to do that, hall hallie. Casie hune kasie hunt, than. Well be bringing that to you as soon as he gets over here. President elect trump is in new york today for a bunch of meetings. This morning, hes intensifying his criticism of the u. S. Intelligence community over russia. Check out this tweet. Looks like hes side with wikileaks founder julian asaunge who is still held up in london. Russia did not give his website the emails of Top Democrats. Thats what he says. Republicans are now seeming to choose sides between the president elect versus the cia. Ive had a lot more faith in our Intelligence Officers serving around the world. Very smart and experienced analysts we have here in the nations kapcapital than i do i people like julian assange. Kristen welker, walk us through this. This seems like a bubbling fight between the president elect and the members of the nsa and analysts. What about the briefing hes set to get later this week . It is hallie. For some context, president elect donald trump has long been critical of the intelligence that said that russia hacked Top Democrats during the 2016 election. Thats created a rift between him and the Intelligence Community and this latest round of tweets only intensifying that rift. This started with a tweet overnight in which the president elect said a briefing he was set to receive was pushed back until friday. That inflamed intelligence officials who said the briefing was always scheduled for friday. That briefing is going to be with members of the fbi, as well as other top intelligence officials. So a real disconnect there. Donald trump insinuating in his tweet it was pushed back so that the intelligence officials could further build their case. Then this morning as you pointed out, another series of tweets about julian assange, pointing to the fact that assange said russia didnt give him the information he leaked out in wikileaks. This is putting other republicans in really tough spot, including House Speaker paul ryan. Take a listen to how he responded to this latest flap. Look, im not going to get into the last thing im going to start commenting on every little tweet or facebook post. That is just not what i do with the president elect or when hes president. And hallie, mr. Trump also said he had information that no one else had about the russian hacking. He said hed divulge it yesterday or today. Now it seems thats not going to be the case. He said he was going to give it to the public after he got briefed. Since this briefing is happening on friday, will we get some of that information . Well have to wait and see. He also announced hes going to hold his first News Conference since being elected next wednesday. Hang there for one second. I want to let our viewers know whats on our screen. In the bottom righthand corner is where we believe mike pence will be walking out from that meeting with House Republicans. It looked like leader Kevin Mccarthy may have scooted out of the screen. On the left side is this podium where we expect the Vice President elect and House Speaker paul ryan to come out and address the media and questions for ghem what the Vice President elect plans to do along with the rest of the house about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care act. It sounds as though president obama in this simultaneous showdown is getting ready to come out of his meeting as well. Casie is standing by because once we hear from some of the lawmakers coming out of the president s meeting, i imagine well have this dueling showdown. What can you tell us . What are you hearing about how this went . Hey, hallie. Just getting some background intel from a source inside the room. The mood is really fired up. Theyre really focussing on trying to take things to republicans. So far theyve talked all about at this point the Health Care Law, which we knew. The president taking a few questions. And some quotes from what he had to say. In two weeks ill no longer be a politician but ill still be a citizen. We have heard him say that in public. But he also said, i envy you so much right now because id love to be on the field. I think weve talked a little bit, too, about the president and how he has said, well, maybe hes not going to step back and take that traditional role like what george w. Bush did when he came into office, where he didnt say anything publicly. Some questions about whether the president will be willing to stay silent as donald trump starts governing this country. Sounds like hes getting what were hearing is more like a Campaign Push and a little bit less about perhaps policy and compromise. Hallie . Kasie, i want to talk about this because when you talk about sources in the room, obviously, nobody better than, for example, lawmakers. Im here now with connecticut senator chris murphy who sat down about 45 seconds ago. Thank you. We talk about people in this meeting. First question to you, walk us through what happened . What were the highlights to you from the president . The president wanted to make it clear whats happened over the last eight years. He inherited an economy in meltdown, an auto industry, a Financial Sector shedding jobs. He wanted to remind folks that part of the reason were in the mess were in today because there was a lot of social change, a lot of economic change that happened over eight years. And were suffering a little bit from how fast that change took place. But then he had a specific message on the Health Care Law. And his message was, first and more foe foremost, we certainly lost some of the messaging on this but there still isnt a majority of americans that want it repealed. Only about 25 want it repealed. Everybody else wants it to be perfected, made better. If we hold true to that message which is that republicans have to make good on their promise to replace this, to make it better, then we will ultimately win this fight. He wanted to make it very clear to us that we shouldnt be under the illusion that the majority of americans want this thing to go away. They want it to be made better. Right now republicans are at risk of losing this fight by repealing it without any offer of replacement which throws the whole Health Care Sector into chaos. Were watching for mike pence to come out. Hes delivering the opposition message to what you just heard from president obama. What was the president s demeanor in that room . And i want to drill down, too, this acknowledgment that frankly democrats are not winning the messaging war here. What hes saying is we didnt win the messaging war on the rollout of the Health Care Bill which was in part because of the disaster of the technology, right . People couldnt get on the website in the first few days. Still 20 million americans have health care insurance. Still sick people who never have to pay more. And the fact is, if republicans do what they want to do which is to repeal this law without replacing it, without offering anything instead, there will be chaos for everyone in the Health Care System. Not just people on these changes. And so if we chaos seems to be the messaging buzz word. But it is chaos. This isnt just about the people on these exchanges. All the insurance protections that right now make sure that people who have cancer or have a heart disorder dont pay more. Those all go away as well. Thats onethird of the marketplace. Republicans were lying to you when they said they were going to replace it. His message today is you have to hold them to that promise they made. Did he seem fired up . The Nodrama Obama were used to. At the very end he said, dont mistake my cool demeanor for lack of outrage. Im upset about whats happened in the election and after the election. You can sense that he is maybe feeling a little forlorne hes not going to be in this fight in the way we purpose he clearly wanted to deliver to us a message that if we stand our grond and hold republicans to this claim theyve made for six years theyre going to replace it, in the end, americans are going to look at repeal with no replacement and have real grave doubts about the republicans position here. What does stand your ground mean . The numbers are democrats dont have the numbers to stop the repeal of the Affordable Care act. When it comes to replacing it, to building it back up, are you going to work with republicans to do that or more obstruction. Stand your ground to me reads stop them. Republicans right now, a lot of them, think they can repeal it and then work with democrats later to fix it. Is that not a possibility . No, they own this. If they want to break this, they own it. I know what works, which is the Affordable Care act with some common sense changes that republicans and democrats could agree on. What does not work is to throw the system into chaos and then try to build it back up. Id argue its impossible to repeal it and build it back up again because you will have created such a mess that you wont be able to build a foundation. Republicans shouldnt bet on any democratic votes to how do you build it back up . How do you prevent the chaos if you assume republicans are going to follow through by repealing i think there are some republicans of good will in the house and the senate who if they look into the ka ogs thchaos th going to create will say lets take our time and form a replacement, make some fixes before we repeal it. I think thats a possibility. And i think thats the message that a lot of us are going to be conveying to our republican friends. Stay with us. I have more topics to get to with you. I want to remind folks what theyre seeing. Republican leadership here, Kevin Mccarthy speaking on the left side of he screen. Where you see Vice President elect mike pence and paul ryan. Then in the smaller box we expect to hear from democrats. This kind of showdown over health care on capitol hill. Chuck schumer, nancy pelosi. Potentially president obama. If he, does youll see it live right here. Were talking with senator chris murphy who is gracious enough to race over here to our set after the meeting with president obama. I want to listen in with you for a minute to what were hearing from Kevin Mccarthy. This is happening right now to what youre talking about from your meeting. Lets listen. The act only deals with those bills of regulation that get imposed upon that cost more than 100 million on business. You think there would have been a few of those. But if you look in just the last six years, there was 82 of those presented and put in place every single year by this administration. We have to get that burden off and start working. The act will say no new rulings will be imposed without a vote of the house and senate where the people have a voice. Well also be deal with obamacare. So many of you know of what these failed policies have done to america. If you look at those families that have employerbased insurance, their premiums have increased by more than 4,300. Of the 23 coops created in obamacare, 18 of them have already failed. But whats most concerning to so many, more than 1,022 count thais across america, thats more than onethird, have only one choice inside the exchanges. Everything president obama promised about health care has failed. We are so thankful that we have a new administration coming that had the wisdom to listen and the courage to lead. Morning, everybody. It was an exciting day yesterday to see all the new members get sworn in. To see this new majority excited about getting to work for the American People. Theres a lot we want to do. A lot were going to do working in tandem with our new president and our new Vice President. Its great to welcome our friend and former colleague mike pence back, not as a member of congress, but as the soontobe Vice President of the united states. A great partner in working to get our country back on track. Theres a lot we need to do. A lot wooeere going to do. You also know theres somebody else thats going to be at the capitol today. Thats barack obama. When the president comes back here maybe for the last time as president , its important to remember the first time he came here as president. Barack obama came here and made very specific promises to the American People about obamacare. He came here and says if you like what you have, you can keep it. How did that work out . Today, millions of americans lost the Good Health Care plans that they like and expected to keep and are not able to today because of the broken promises of his law. Barack obama came here and said if his bill passes, Health Insurance costs will drop dramatically for families. Instead, what have we seen . The reverse. Dramatic increases in health care costs. In my state of louisiana, over 25 increases that families are paying in higher costs for health care because of those broken promises of his law. I hope he comes here to apologize for those broken promises. But i dont think thats whats going to be the case. Hes going to be here more concerned about preserving his legacy than about fulfilling those promises. The good news is, we are here to fulfill those promises to the American People. We told the American People if you give us this great opportunity, that were going to work hard every day, not just to repeal obamacare but to replace it with reforms that put patients back in charge of their health care decisions. That actually focus on lowering costs and increasing access to health care. And to bringing doctors back in the practice of medicine who are getting out of the practice because they dont want unelected bureaucrats in washington telling them how to deliver the health care they were trained to provide. Its an exciting time for the country. Were really excited about getting to work to restoring those promises that were made to the American People and to get our economy back on track and to make America Great again. Happy new year, everyone. Im very excited, energized by the new year, the new opportunities that it brings. This really is a moment that weve been given by the people. Its a moment to think big. Its a moment to reimagine the federal government and to put people back at the center of it. Just down the road is the washington monument. And right now its closed to visitors. You think about families, individuals that travel from all around the country. From eastern washington, its a long trip. Maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the washington monument. And yet theyll be met with a closed sign because the federal government is going to take more than two years to fix an elevator. Now this is just one example, but people are deal with these kind of roadblocks every day at the va, at the doctors office, when they are just trying to do the right things. Provide for their families, get a job. This is how the government has come to operate. One person, one agency at the top deciding for everyone. Its why its our responsibility as the peoples voice and the peoples representatives in their government to protect the constitution and the balance of power. Representative government, the rule of law, equal opportunity for all is protected here in the house by the people and for the people. I want to thank Vice President elect mike pence for joining us today. It is so exciting for us as we start this unified republican government. 2017. And all that it has in store for the people of this country creating opportunities for everyone. Happy new year, everybody. Throughout this transition, we have been working hand in hand with the Vice President elect with one goal in mind. And that is to make sure that president elect trump can hit the ground running when he takes office on the 20th. So were getting right down to business. Were starting today on our work to deliver relief to americans struggling under obamacare. We must remember this. This law has failed. Americans are struggling. The law is failing while we speak. We need to reverse the damage thats been done. Then once we repeal this law, we need to make sure theres a stable transition to a truly patientcentered system. We want every american to have access to quality, Affordable Health coverage. All of the things that obamacare has kept from the American People. More choices, more control, more freedom, we want to put them back in their hands. We know that things are only getting worse under obamacare. This is about people paying higher premiums every year and feeling powerless to stop it. Its about families paying deductibles that are so high, it doesnt even feel like you have Health Insurance in the first place. And so many parts of the country as youve always heard, even if you want to look for better coverage, youre stuck with one option. One choice is not a choice. It is a monopoly. The Health Care System has been ruined, dismantled under obamacare. The answer here is not to ignore the problem. The answer here is not to ignore the problem to keep some failed legacy. The answer here is bold action. Solve problems. Bring relief to americans. We will help americans crying out for relief from obamacare, and we will keep our promise to the people. As you can see, well be working with the new administration on every step of this law, every step of the way, even before day one. With that, i want to hand it over to somebody that we all know very well because he served here with us. Were so proud of him. And were so pleased about this new working relationship with our view Vice President , Vice President elect mike pence. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you to the speaker and to the leadership for the warm welcome today at the House Republican conference. Ill be meeting later today with members of the senate at their weekly luncheon. And this is a day that our message is very simple. On behalf of the president elect and on behalf of all the leadership that we are 16 days away from then of business as usual in washington, d. C. Today our message is very simple. Working with the leadership here in the house and in the senate, were going to be in the promisekeeping business. The president elect campaigned all across this country. He gave voice to the frustrations and aspirations of the American People. He laid out an agenda to make America Great again, and my message on his behalf today, before this conference and before members of the senate, is that we intend to keep those promises. That begins with assembling a government and the energetic effort through the course of this transition to build a cabinet that will be able to implement that agenda speaks for itself. It will literally begin on day one. Before the end of the day, we do anticipate that the president elect will be in the oval Office Taking action to both repeal executive orders and also set into motion through executive action policies to implement promises that were made on the campaign trail. Working with the congress, were going to have that classic threepart agenda the president elect talked about so often on the campaign trail. Jobs, jobs, jobs. The focus will be from day one. And to work with the congress, and you heard about the efforts this week to begin to roll back the regulations that have been stifling growth in the American Economy and stifles jobs and opportunities. Were going to be working with the congress over the course of the first several months to construct the kind of tax reform for businesses and individuals that will unleash the boundup energy in the American Economy. Were going to keep our promises to end illegal immigration. Build a wall. Well have an infrastructure bill. Well invest in rebuilding our military as our commander in chief marshals strategies with our military commanders to hunt down and destroy isis. But the first order of business is to repeal and replace obamacare. And that was our message today and it will be our message on capitol hill. And it needs to be done. Not just as a promise kept, but because in the course of this election, the American People had a choice. And what appeared to many as against all odds oftentimes with overwhelming opposition, our president elect took his case to the American People to repeal and replace obamacare, and the American People voted decisively for a Better Future for health care in this country. And we are determined to give them that. The reality is, i was here in march of 2010 in another capacity when obamacare was signed into law. I remember all those promises. We were told if you like your doctor, you can keep him. Not true. We were told if you likior Health Insurance, you can keep it. Not true. We were told the cost of Health Insurance was going to go down. Not true. The reality is today, premiums this year are increasing by an average of 25 , in some states, in arizona, premiums went up 116 this year. 63 in tennessee. 53 in pennsylvania. 40 in north carolina. Obamacare has worked a hardship on American Families, on american businesses and in a very simple conclusion, the American People have sent new leadership here because obamacare has failed. And has been rejected by the American People. But now is the time for us to keep our promises. Step one will be to repeal obamacare. But as the president elect said today, and i admonished members of the House Republican conference today. Its important that we remind the American People whats they already know about obamacare. The promises that were made were all broken. And i expect youll see an effort in the days ahead to talk about the facts around obamacare. And secondly, of course, is to begin that orderly transition to something better. The truth is that to the commitment that the president elect made was to repeal and replace obamacare. As he said this morning in a tweet, it will be important that we be careful as we do that, that we do that in a way that doesnt work a hardship on American Families who gained insurance through this program. Doesnt work a hardship on our economy. And as i told the House Republican conference today, were working on a strategy in concert with the leadership of the house and the senate for both a legislative and executive action agenda to ensure that an orderly and smooth transition to a marketbased Health Care Reform system is achieved. The speaker of the house used the word stable. And we will do that. In his famous speech in philadelphia, the president elect spoke about an orderly transition, and it will be that. Make no mistake about it. Were going to keep our promise to the American People. And were going to repeal obamacare and replace it with something that lowers the cost of Health Insurance without growing the size of government. Theres a broad range of ideas about how we do this. And republicans have been offering those ideas again and again, literally, every year since obamacare was first signed into law. Well be working with dr. Price, both before and after his confirmation, when he steps into the role at hhs. Working with the Republican Leadership in the house and the senate to bring forward those solutions and to take the case for those solutions to the American People. With that being said, i couldnt be more humbled and more excited to be back in the capitol today. I was encouraged by the president elect to come here to capitol hill. First full day of work for members of congress because its time to get back to work. And while others are visiting the capitol today talking about defending the failed policies of the past, we are here today speaking to republican majorities in the house and senate to advance policies that will make America Great again and have a more prosperous future for all the people of this nation. Questions . Yep. Deidre. This is for Vice President elect. Its all good, but no shouting out. Earlier today, the speaker called him sympathetic to russia. [ inaudible ]. The president elect and i will receive a briefing from the leadership of our intelligence agencies this coming friday. And well be listening in. But, look, i think that the president elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy american skepticism about intelligence conclusions. Were going to sit down later this week. The president and i have been receiving since the election regular intelligence briefings. I received a president ial daily brief with the president yesterday. And well be looking well be looking at the facts and the information. But i think given some of the intelligence failures of recent years, the president elect has made it clear to the American People that hes skeptical about conclusions from the bureaucracy, and i think the American People hear him loud and clear. [ inaudible ] mr. Speaker, the president elect is warning you to be careful here. Is there a danger here . Why look forward to the appeal of obamacare when you still dont have a clear plan. The president elect is making an important pont that were trying to emphasize here. So much damage has been done. Obamacare is a story of broken promise after broken promise followed by failing program, higher premiums, higher deductibles. So we want to make sure that as we give relief to people through obamacare, we do it in a transition that doesnt pull the rug out from anybody during that transition period. Thats the point were all trying to make. This law has failed. Its getting worse. Families are hurting. No one has choices. Weve got to fix this by replacing it with something betters. In that transition, we want to make sure we dont pull the rug out from anybody during that transition. Thats the point were trying to make. Why still no plan to replace it . We have a plan to replace it. Plenty of ideas to replace it. Youll see as the weeks and months unfold what were talking about replacing it. How we can get better choices with lower prices by not having a costly government takeover of health care which is causing all this problem in the first place. Sherman . For the Vice President elect or both of you, i guess. Were talking about a transition thats going to happen relatively quickly and going to take action the first day. Is it possible you extend some of these provisions which the president elect and for a temporary period of time . I think people want to know what this is going to look like. Well, i think its i want to be very clear. And i would commend you and anyone looking on to look into no, i was commending you to do something. Nice. Good to be back. It really is. I would commend all of your attention. The president elects speech in philadelphia during the waning weeks of the campaign where he laid out a plan to repeal and replirks balm replace obamacar. Allowing americans to purchase Health Insurance across state lines. But his commitment was very clear in that. That we will insist upon and implement working with the congress but also using executive authority to ensure that that is an orderly transition. And were working right now, the white house staff is, on a series of executive orders that will enable that orderly transition to take place even as the congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacement of obamacare. Sounds like some of the provisions might stay in place until theres a new jake, weve been saying all along we dont want to pull the rug out from people while replacing this law. The point is in 2017 we dont want people to be caught with nothing. We want to make sure theres an orderly transition so the rug is not pulled out from under the families who are currently struggling rnd obamacare while we bring relief. Vice president elect pence, on the aca repeal and replace, can you give detail on the executive actions that are planned . How does that square with the complex budgetary process thats also involved. Theyre hand in glove. The senate will be acting first next week and the congress will follow which gives us the budget resolution to bring the legislation through while the administration works on the executive orders theyre talking about to deliver the kind of Transition Relief that weve been talking about. The problem is, just remember, obamacare has failed. Families are hurting. They broke the Health Care System. Its a string of broken promises. Were going to make sure we van orderly transition to a better system to get back to what we all want, which is lower cost health care, more choices so that families can actually get Affordable Health care at a decent price with more choices, more competition and not a costly government takeover thats bankrupt this health care stomach a system and left families struggling. If i could respond, id be happy to. Were working out right now with the white house staff and in concert with legislative leadership a twotrack approach to ensuring that it is an orderly transition as the president elect has directed. You read his tweet this morning that he has admonished the congress to be careful. I reiterated that before the republican conference today. Look, were talking about peoples lives. Were talking about families. But we are also talking about a policy that has been a failure virtually since its inception. And we intend over the course of the coming days and weeks to be speaking directly to the American People about that failure, but about a Better Future we can have in health care. A future that is built not on growing government, not on mandates or taxes, but also but rather a future thats built on giving the American People more choices in health care. Allowing the power of the free marketplace to flow in. But the transition to that, we will work out in a way that reflects the compassion of the president elect and the compassion of every member of congress to see to it that we do that in a way that serves the best interest of the American People. But, look. Whats clear here is the American People have spoken. They want to see us repeal and replace obamacare. And today, my message to members of congress is that we are going to be in the promisekeeping business. And the first order of business is to keep our promise to repeal obamacare and replace it with the kind of Health Care Reform that will lower the cost of Health Insurance without growing the cost of government. Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. Vice president elect mike pence leaving a News Conference, essentially, a short brief with the press along with House Speaker ryan. After the meeting held with House Republicans, Vice President elect mike pence now on his way to meet with republican senators at their policy lunch. Hell have a private one on one meeting with speaker ryan and members of congress who are set to become part of the incoming administration. A lot to digest there. Hans nichols is getting set up inside that briefing room. Pence giving some clues here about what republicans might do to replace the Affordable Care act saying its going to be a twotrack system. They dont want to pull the rug out from under people but there are serious questions about what happens if republican s repeal the Affordable Care act without something concrete to replace it with at the time. You heard those questions there. Were told he talked about a shorter inaugural parade for donald trump. Maybe about 90 minutes. Why . He told members that donald trump wanted to get to the white house to start working on repealing executive orders that president obama put into place. Pence also briefly talking about russia, of course, after the president elects tweets overnight insinuating he did not trust the intelligence he was getting on the russian interference in the u. S. Election according to intelligence reassessments and reconfirming that toplevel intel briefing will happen on friday. I think hans is set up for us now. I want to be clear here. If the president obama, who by the way is also on capitol hill, comes to the podium to speak, were going to interrupt you and go there live. We also expect to hear from Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi. So, hans, bring us into that News Conference with you. What stood out, and what was sort of the mood or the energy from the Vice President elect in your view . The energy is high. Theres a great deal of enthusiasm among congressional republicans, House Republicans on what their next steps are going to be. The mann tain takeaway here is theyll be moving on parallel tracks. Parallel tracks in terms of actually repealing and then replacing obamacare. They want to be very careful about this. Yes, they enumerated what they think are the failings of obamacare and ticked through their upsetness with the president for acting unilaterally on actions. What theyre talking about today, executive actions on day one, unclear whether or not thats going to involve obamacare. Most lawmakers coming out says those executive actions will not be designated for obamacare. And the very criticism House Republicans have lodged, leveled against this president , namely that he hasnt been acting in a bipartisan way, they are starting things off with mike pence speaking directly to House Republicans. In some ways doing the things say so successfully ran against the president for. Hallie . It wasnt just the Affordable Care act but clearly that dominated the discussion among reporters and with House Speaker paul ryan and others. You heard Vice President elect pence asked about russia. He clearly backed up his boss, right . Yeah, well, it was somewhere between a backup and a dodge. He was asked to endorse speaker ryans view on julian assange. He said well be receiving those briefings. They received their intelligence briefing on russia. He continued to say theyll listen to them. But he did sound a note of caution about some of the conclusions u. S. Intelligence agencies, the final assessments made. Thats pretty remarkable from an incoming Vice President to publicly doubt some of the assessments, some of the conclusions the intelligence agencies, 17 intelligence agencies in the case were talking about. But just in jirgeneral about th entire Intelligence Community. Thats ra note of caution from the Vice President elect that theyre not willing to accept Carte Blanche. Seem emblem atic of what mik pences role will be. As you reported earlier this hour, pence is anounsing hell have an office on the house side and the senate side. Its clear this is going to be a key if not the main focus for him through 2017. Hell be an interpreter of donald trump, right . Every president has a whisper. Someone that can whisper to the president , explain whats happening. Everyone needs an interlacher for congress. Rahm emmanuel, obamas chief of staff, really rammed through a lot of things and worked closely with house democrats. One thing Rahm Emmanuel liked to, do he liked to use the house gym to get some of his work done, some of the lobbying. My shouted question to mike pence is whether hed use the house gym or senate gym left unanswered. The senate has a tennis court and the house has a basketball court. Hans nichols, thanks much. Looking at the big screen thats up on the television right now is where we expect to see Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi. The small one is where any moment president obama could be walking out making that twomile trip down pennsylvania avenue back to his home. Its also where we find kasie hunt who is monitoring the xh comings and goings there. We had chris murphy on who said toward the end of the meet iing he said he almost seemed the president himself couldnt be fighting this fight, that he couldnt make these moves to save the Affordable Care act. And senator murphy saying, if republicans break it, they own it. Is that the sense from other members here . Thats right, hallie. Ive got sources in the room telling me whats exactly what president obama said. Id love to be out there on the field with you. Forgive me for continuing to look over my shoulder. The president will be walking out to my left. But, look, i think the message that were clearly getting in the early reports for, you know, what was said in these meetings is that theyre trying to dig in for a fight and to make sure that if republicans do damage Peoples Health care, that they pay a political price for it. And i think that sounds like that was the message that the president delivered. And i think this is very much a president that we have seen kind of light up when hes in the trenches fighting in a campaignstyle way for what he believes in. He hasnt, frankly, spent a lot of time building relationships on capitol hill. A lot of youll hear a lot of democrats privately grumble about that. Hasnt necessarily shown interest in the party building. And a lot of people have talked about the challenges he faced in governing once he tried to bring that message of hope and change here to washington. That it didnt translate. Hes always loved the campaigning part of it. You can tell that that was a message he conveyed in that room. That hes really going to miss being out there fighting for things like this. Of course, his signature achievement. Hallie . Let me ask you this. Did the president give any indication what his role will be in this fight, other than weighing in now and then, given hes still going to be in washington. Hes moving to a swanky neighborhood down the street from ivanka trump and donald trump on the other side. He said a lot about this come coming weeks that hes going to be a citizen and citizens still have responsibilities. And hes alluded to the potential that he will speak out as a private citizen, which would be a departure from how president george w. Bush, for example, handled that role of former president. Hallie . Kasie hunt, im going to let you keep an eye on the action there. Not too far from where we are here at the russell building on capitol hill. Well come back to you when and if we see president obama. Maybe hell stop at those microphones set up. In the meantime, on the left of the screen, where we expect Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi. And look, make america sick agone. This is the catch phrase that democrats are deploying as this fight over the Affordable Care act starts to ramp up. I want to bring in somebody standing by. Josh barrow, Senior Editor at Business Insider who has been lovely enough to be hanging out while weve been rocking and rolling on the hill with all this activity. Let me have you weigh in generally. These competing narratives being unfolded and unveiled by democrats and republicans over the obamacare fight. What messaging is going to be most effective. Its interesting how republicans are saying two contradictory things at once. One is emphasizing this idea of obamacare has failed. Not just that it has problems but its a total failure. This immense burden and you saw Donald Trumps tweets about how republicans need to be careful to ensure that democrats take the blame for that and how awful everything is right now. At the same time saying were going to eninsure that through this transition, people will be able to keep what they have. Its a recognition that Health Insurance is at a record high. A large number of people who have insurance because of the Affordable Care act. Yes, some are dissatisfied with the structure, but a lot of people are happy to have one at all. Youll have those people as you change things. Any time you change the Health Care System you get disruptions. People will reasonably blame republicans for whatever changes ensue. Its an effort to convince people that things are so horrible right now that whatever happens in this transition, its still better than the horrible status quo you entered with in january of 2017. Now im not sure thats exactly going to fly. I think theyll have a lot of the same problems president obama had when the Affordable Care act came in in the first place which is when you change anything, people reflect on how they like the thing they had before. Its an effort to frame the situation and say things are so bad that no matter what happens in the next year, it will be better than where we were before. I want to talk to you about this and a couple other topics but why have to sneak in a quick break. If you wouldnt mind hanging out. Were going to go to commercial and come back to see potentially president obama and democrats reacting to all of the days developments on the Affordable Care act. Statistic around. 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On the left side of the screen we expect Democratic LeadersChuck Schumer and nancy pelosi to come out and speak about the meeting they just left from with president obama. The split screen also showed the hallway. Look at that mob, that gaggle of reporters waiting for president obama to leave. Photographers there as well. We expect him to be walking out that way. It sounds like hes essentially being mobbed by democrats who want to talk to the president who is making a rare trip to capitol hill. He was here in june 2015 to lobby members of congress on a trade bill. I want to get back to the conversation as we wait for more developments here with josh barrow, Senior Editor, and kasie hunt who is down in that hallway with the rest of the press. Let me pick it up here with you. What is the scene like and talk about the fact, as you mentioned earlier this hour, president obama does not often make these trips down pennsylvania avenue to come talk with members of congress. Right. Its been a little while because the campaign has been on and the action was focused elsewhere. That helps explain it. But the reality is there were a lot of democrats who lost elections because they backed up the president early in his presidency. And a lot of them felt a little bit like they didnt have the backup they wanted. They didnt have the kind of relationships that other president s had maybe spent more time building. The clintons often held up as examples of people who worked very hard to build relationships and remember to help when theyre asked to. There was a lot of grumbling about how president obama handled relationships wealthy capitol hill through the later parts of his term. Things went south fast because Mitch Mcconnell took on this strategy of refusing to work with the president from the beginning on any of the priorities that he was trying to push through. And the president has given mcconnell a little bit credit for that as hes started to do this series of exit interviews. That set the stage for how this health care fight played out in 2009. The president at the time had democrats in control of the house. A majority of 60 votes. A super majority of 60 votes in the senate that let him pass whatever essentially legislation he wanted to. And what he chose to spend his Political Capital on was this Health Care Law. Eight years later, a lot of democrats have paid a price for it. A Health Care System thats dramatically different. 20 Million People who now have Health Insurance that didnt before. There have been people who have suffered from it. Higher deductibles. Higher premiums. Clearly the law itself is unpopular but a lot of people who are benefiting from it dont necessarily know that some of the benefits they are receiving are as a result of the law. Theres a lot of complicated pieces to this. So were hearing the president is taking questions from lawmakers. Hes been mobbed inside the room, although were told me hay have a hard out at 11 00 a. M. In the next 2 1 2 minutes. Cross your fingers. I know youre hanging out. Were going to tether you to that camera for the next four minutes. Josh barrow has also been standing by here. So much of the conversation today and this morning has revolved around the Health Care Law. Also another headline which is this fight between donald trump and members of the Intelligence Community. I want to get your thoughts on that. Our reporting has been members of the Intelligence Community are angry. One calling that tweet the president elect sent out adversarial essentially. How much of a concern is this to you, or is it like mike pence just said 15 minutes ago. Is it healthy american skepticism of a Government Entity . Its not just trump saying that he distrusts the intelligence finding. That tweet also claimed the Intelligence Community had to push back the timing of that briefing. He said maybe they are out there having to gather more evidence. I know that nbcs reported and other outlets have reported talking to people in the Intelligence Community that that meeting was always scheduled to be on friday. This is a report being made for president obama who is going to receive it on thursday. And donald trump cant receive it until after obama has received it. So, yeah, looks adversarial to me. I was surprised to see pence back trump up, even in the halfhearted way he did there saying given the past intelligence failures, trump is just expressing a healthy skepticism. Obviously there have been past intelligence failures. Its not one has to accept intelligence Carte Blanche but whats Donald Trumps alternative theory . Hes taking Julian Assanges word about who this is over the cia and what not . It raises the question of whats the point of having intelligence agencies if youre just going to discount their findings whenever theyre politically inconvenient for you. You have about 60 seconds left in this broadcast. We have nancy pelosi, Chuck Schumer set any minute to come speak on the left side of the screen. On the bottom of the screen in the small box is where we may see president obama walk out here. Were told maybe hes got to leave by 11 00 eastern time in which case we expect him to be saying goodbye any moment. If he stops in front of those microphones and makes some remarks about his fairly lengthy meet with members of congress, well obviously bring them to you. Josh, very quickly before we go, where does it go from here for democrats . You heard chris murphy acknowledge the democrats maybe arent on the winning side of the messaging war and werent from the very beginning. Do they have any shot of getting this back. This is a very palate able place to be, that youll repeal what a lot of republicans believe is an unpopular law. The view of the democrats will be whatever happens now on out is the republicans fault. Trump said hed replace it with something terrific. They are promising a lot of big thungs. Theyll keep people covers, costs are going to go down, deductibles are going to go down, even though a lot of it would push the costs up. They have a lot of promises. I dont think democrats are going to lift a finger to make it work. See, republicans broke this even worse than it was before. Josh barrow, msnbc contributor with that perspective. Earlier this hour, kasie hunt, Kristen Welker and hans nichols. A lot more to come with Stephanie Ruhle who is watching it all from new york. Hi, hallie, im back. Its like yesterday. The boomerang effect. Right now on msnbc, the battle over abalm obamacare. Its taking place now. President obama and Vice President elect mike pence both arriving and holding dueling meetings with their respective parties. At stake, the fate of obamacare. Republicans wrapping up a press