making sure that there are no cuts in social security and in medicare. and i hope that we are able to work with the white house in this regard, because we need the support of the white house as well as support here in both houses of the federal congress. so congressman, you of course are from new jersey, one of the states that did expand medicaid. you know, and i don t like putting people in ideological boxes, but people could say you re coming from the more moderate wing of the republican party. one of the issues when counting votes for this plan is the other side of the party, people who are in the freedom caucus, things like that, they are dead set against this for the opposite reason. they say it doesn t go far enough in terms of cuts, it spends too much money. listen to what mo brooks from alabama told me yesterday. it s still the largest welfare program ever proposed by the republican party. so how do you get what he wants and get what you want and still pass a bill? i m
caucus. i respect the views of all of my colleagues. i hope that we move in the direction i have sucked. and john, i also think the democrats have to be involved, because the exchanges are failing. i was in a markup for 27 hours last week, we spent 12 hours discussing the name of the bill. i would challenge my democratic colleagues to come to the plate as well to make sure there are more choices. in five states there s only one choice for the individual market, one-third of the counties of this country, i know that s not one-third of the people, largely rural counties, i hope the democrats will come to the plate as well. moving beyond that, i favor of course purchase of policies across state lines, tort reform, that cannot occur in reconciliation. but i think we should be discussing that as soon as possible. do you think the speaker should pull the bill as it stands right now, congressman? i think the speaker is doing the best he can, and i think that the bill has to be
advocating, only five republicans in 2015 voted against full repeal, so why don t we use that as the default position? this bill does more than repeal, so in essence you are against this bill as it stands right now. david drucker, your reaction to this news from the white house. maybe they re admitting to what is apparently growingly obvious, that there is a numbers problem. i think they always knew there was going to have to be some changes. you have conservatives who think it doesn t repeal enough, leaves too much of obamacare in place. it does leave a lot of the goodies from obamacare in place without the things people don t like. that s what makes this a difficult policy position. even in states that expanded medicaid, you have a concern that it will pull back too far and leave people without insurance. of course you re dealing with in
this particular instance a president who has liberal inclinations on health care. and i think that s what republicans in the house and senate are trying to balance, how do you get enough votes there, how do you satisfy the president? i think the question for adam is, groups like his that want to see a strong repeal and a real market-driven solution to replace obamacare, how much compromising are you willing to do to help president trump get a win on his first big legislative effort. adam, answer that question, it s a good one. sure. we re trump s number one ally in draining the swamp. the house freedom caucus is his number one ally in draining the swamp. we re looking for a bill that repeals obamacare and sets into motion where you can have free-market-patient-centered health care in the future. no one is looking for something that solves all of the problems. the one thing that unifies republicans today is repeal. if you re going to start and use
supposed to be good at it s deal making and negotiating. this is his first big test. even though speaker paul ryan had a lot to do with this bill, he worked with tom price, trump s secretary of health and human services. he has worked closely with the white house to try to produce something that trump has said he wants, a bill that would take care of everybody, cover everybody. that s what the president said. i think if the president runs from this and cuts bait, i don t think it helps him over the long term. i think the signal that sends is, when things got tough, he couldn t negotiate a deal. when you re dealing with health care or tax reform or big government spending bills on infrastructure, you re always going to be faced with moments like this. if you can t do this, it s going to weaken him politically. i understand why his supporters want him to back away from this but i don t think it would accomplish what they think it would. adam? i was going to say, i think the person wh