i know they don't want to consider that possibility but at some point, you can't just bring along all these coincidences and just say that that's all they are. i don't buy that. i think that there's much more to this than people are willing to consider. i think it goes far deeper than people are willing to consider. >> caller: minerva, ohio. line for republicans. good morning. >> caller: good morning. how are you. >> host: doing well. >> caller: i think this whole thing is absurd. i can understand why mcmasters came out yesterday and said the story is false. this story is false. he turned on his heels, went right back into the white house. >> will take you live to the capital for remarks from senators as they leave their party caucus luncheon.

>> okay. good afternoon, everyone. we republican senators had another extensive discussion about the way forward on healthcare at lunch. we'll be doing that as we indicated last week. , tuesday wednesday and thursday where trying to come together behind a proposal to repeal and replace obamacare. on the floor, regretfully, we had to go through a lot of procedural moves to confirm the deputy secretary of transportation, the number three justice and i even had to file closure on governor branstad. he'll be the governor to china and came out of the foreign relations committee unanimously. they want to make everything go as slow as possible. we will work our way through that on the confirmations. will be back in touch with you

on healthcare. >> our conference has been spending a lot of time talking about the password on healthcare we know that obamacare is broken and needs to be fixed. everybody in this country knows that the status quo is unsustainable. were looking for the way to make healthcare more affordable, more patient centered, more personalized for people in this country. there are one in three counties in america today who have one choice when it comes to options in individual market. as you all for leslie, iowa is losing its last provider in individual marketplace. that leaves 72000 islands without coverage, if in fact that happens. the mid-level plan, saw premiums go up by 25%. it is a disaster. it is in a death spiral. it will need to be fixed.

we intend to fix it. were going through that process right now with our members and getting the best ideas. were charting a path forward. it will lead us to a place where we have something that's better for the american people and certainly, we deserve better than what getting with obamacare >> the insurance companies are starting to come out with the premium suggestions for what they're going to have to charge next year for people who live in this general area. what you have seen is that they've announcements of rates going up in the district of columbia, 29%, virginia, 35% and in maryland up 50% on the obamacare market. these increases are absolutely dramatic and that's the concern obviously, of all americans when they see announcers like us but we have to say what can we do to lower the premium that are the result of the obama health care law.

how bad is a been over the years organization called the health said that premiums in individual market from 2013 to now are up 99%. last week, the insurance company said were out of the obamacare markets, all across the country, and this is a country that initially was one of the cheerleaders for the obamacare exchanges. when you look at counties all around the country, seven out of ten counties are down to one or two mac choices. total under the exchanges of obamacare. we don't want the business and we don't want to sell there. people at home are seen increased premiums, there seemed fewer choices and were working on getting a healthcare system that's better than the one that we had before obamacare. >> in the first year of the implantation of obamacare, i went to the floor virtually every week with story after

story after story of missourians and their families who simply were losing the healthcare they had. one family whose son was born with a significant problem, he was 20, had the same doctors his entire life but under obamacare they lived under the kansas border and their doctors were on the kansas side, there was no insurance policy they could qualify for that had those doctors. so, they decided to go without insurance and put their personal money behind letting him go to the doctors he'd always gone to. we continue to get those same stories. i had someone last week call, carla, was a farmer in missouri and she said her situation just continues to get worse and worse in her case, anyone in her family was sick they had $28000 out-of-pocket of two people in their family were sick before anything would be done by their

insurance company to help them pay those bills. $6000 deductible, $12000 maximum , $16000 in monthly premiums. this is -- families even if they have coverage don't have access. if you party put 16000 on the table, and you have to put another $6000 on the table before you can have your insurance company help you, nobody thanks that is insurance. the current system isn't working we have to figure out how to work make this market work better. most missouri counties now only have one insurance company willing to offer insurance on the individual market. we are just hopeful that these counties still have at least one company next year, even though it's been mentioned today that iowa, our neighbor, has no companies willing to offer in the exchange or out of the exchange on the individual market because this bad plan

that we are under no has stressed the marketplace so badly that nobody wants to be a part of it and rob, a small business guy in st. joseph said his insurance at work, whether he pays half of it is boys has gone up 50% at work and when you ask the insurance companies they say we have to find some way in the group market to help offset what happens in the individual market so we need to do the job that lets americans have access to healthcare and insurance they can afford. >> to put a finer point on what roy and john were talking. in iowa, it's not that the insurers are leaving the exchange. they are actually leaving iowa. either on the exchange or off the exchange, the concern in iowa is that there will be no longer available individual plans to purchase in iowa. for people to stand around congress and say the status quo

is acceptable, shame on them. i hope we can come to agreement both democrats and republicans to realize we have to work and find a solution to put in place for the affordable care act something that reduces the cost of care while increasing the quality of care. something else that is probably not making headlines that show this week in washington, is a national police week. the fact that we have law enforcement professionals from around the country in town today talking about those they have lost on the end of watch this past year and in colorado we had some tragedies as well. i want to share with you and celebrate and memorialize these individuals. corporal nate carrigan, trooper cody donahoo, deputy sheriff derek year. if you see them around washington dc today and around the country, please share our thanks to the men and women in law and present to keep our committee safe. >> where is the distinguished republican whip? what does that mean about will be the new fbi director?

>> my recommendation to the president apparently today was not interested. i take a look at judge merrick garland. that illustrates the kind of person i hope and expect will come next. somebody deeply credentialed and criminal justice enforcement, completely apolitical and in line with attrition of prior fbi directors. i'm optimistic that the president will name someone like that. [inaudible] >> i'm discussing the matter with him. >> do you have concerns about the president's ability to properly handle classified information? >> know.

>> are you confident. >> no. [inaudible] >> the intelligence committee i think is already requested additional information and i have a lot of confidence in chairman burr and senator warner to handle that whole matter ethically. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> let me just repeat what i said earlier interview this morning. i think would be able to have less drama. emanating from the white house. [inaudible]

>> i said it publicly earlier this morning. [inaudible] >> i think all of that is a question that's addressed to the white house itself. thank you. [inaudible] >> will leave this year to go live to the senate he iewrm form. floor our democratic institutions and where peace and order reign, so too does society prosper. none of that is possible without our nation's 700,000 men and women in blue. each and every