states of america. >> freshman congressman liz cheney addressing enhanced interrogation. >> i support enhanced interrogations. it is something that has clearly helped us in the past to prevent attacks and save lives. >> to watch our programs anytime, go to c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. congressman john faso, freshman, from the 19th district of new york. we talked in our last conversation about trump's executive order on immigration. you had that, in your reaction to part of that, that "i believe the order was neither well drafted norwell implemented -- nor well-implemented." given recent events, we need to

take steps to strengthen our nation's security. what would you like to see from the administration? guest: there is no doubt the president has the authority to issue an order relating to immigration. but i think maybe this was an aspect of the administration just coming into place, not having cabinet secretaries in place. carefuleded to be more scrutiny and vetting of this within the government. so that there was less confusion at the airports, at our embassies abroad. clear policy could have been enunciated. that was what was lacking. host: let's talk about a major at thec issue coming up republican richard reid a week ago. that is replacement -- at the a week ago.etreat

the associated grass saying that while they have not abandoned their gold in repealing the health care overhaul, republicans are increasingly talking about repairing it as they grapple with this unity, drooping momentum, and uneasy voters. about anyyou heard replacement or repair plans republicans are working on? guest: there is overwhelming consensus among republicans that there are serious problems with the affordable care act, and we need to do something differently. what i had heard the last year and a half, when i was on the campaign trail, particularly from small business employers, was they were previously offering employees coverage. and since the aca went into place, it has created a lot of some alt in the market. what happened is many employers were seeing skyrocketing premiums. -- heone woman tell me

works for a health insurance company. heard about the bull is not a thousand dollars. so there is a lot of issues that arise from the aca. on the other hand, constituents have told me they have gotten coverage and are satisfied with it. my approach has been use the things in the aca that are desirable, that people want to maintain, for instance the issue conditions, kids being on their parents policy until 26 -- those kind of things there is a rod agreement on. but fix what does not work. there are a lot of features of the aca which are not working. so i think that the misconception among many in the public -- and i think harley because of the rhetoric of repeal, repeal, repeal, is that anything can happen right away. process. multi step

it requires both legislation and regulation changes. oncerankly, i think congressman price gets over to hhs, we will be able to help stabilize insurance markets with some of the regulatory changes we need to effectuate. at the same time, many of us, especially states like new york where you saw the medicaid expansion, are concerned about not acting in a precipitous way to pull the rug out from people. representative john faso of new york. we welcome your calls. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. for others, (202) 748-8002. or send us a tweet at @cspanwj. what is your district like? in theit touches from on northeast boundary and pennsylvania to the southwest. it is a wide area of the

catskills and the mid-hudson valley. the capital city. we also go out to cooperstown, the hall of fame. it is a large area. eight president from our intent, martin van buren. and franklin d roosevelt in hyde park. it is a beautiful area, bisected by the hudson river. and we have the catskill mountains in the west. the berkshires in the east. unemployment? droppedt has significantly. the biggest issue is the workforce participation rates of able-bodied people for -- 60%een 18 and 65 is under

in some of these counties. what is happening in upstate new york is you see a lot of people leaving because of high taxes or lack of economic opportunity. it is a critical issue we face in our region. upstate new york is kind of a inror image of those places pennsylvania, michigan, ohio, wisconsin. the over industrial small town, small business, a lot of farming. it is a very interesting district politically. host: here is what the national number looks like on unemployment. from the bureau of labor statistics. the january job number picking up from 4.7% to 4.8%. 227,000 jobs added. we have calls waiting for congressman john faso. to bob in kentucky. thanks for taking my

call. about the refugees in australia, they took those people six months ago. it was an understanding between the united states and australia that they would get them and everything before they came to the states. then the seven countries that they keep saying that obama put did wasn -- what he warned the u.s. not to travel to those countries. he did not say those people could not, here. people keep getting it wrong. -- now they say they will repair obamacare. is, if you get rid of it, then that thing condition is gone. thathe only reason pre-existing condition is on there is simply because if you do not buy into the insurance, you get analyzed.

thet were not for that, supreme court would have never upheld obamacare. i wish people would listen to the news and watched c-span news. they will get more correct information then they get from anyone else. host: we appreciate your comments. have been a long-standing view of c-span as well. it is a great new source. here's where i think, just to reference your two points, i am concerned about going back on an agreement we had with australia. i want to look into that. i do not have enough details, but i will do that. secondly, the existing conditions, every single plan i have seen or proposed -- or postal i have seen about what comes posed aca, what kind of reforms or fixes need to be made , they all talk about making sure we cover people with

pre-existing conditions. one of the things i have supported for a long time is a reassurance plan where basically we could prevent anyone from being bankrupted by a medical situation. it can happen to any family. i have met numerous people in my district to have been affected by this. all of us know someone who has had cancer or some other serious medical condition, where they ore reasons -- reached a cap pre-existing condition where they were not able to get coverage. in new york, we enacted a law about pre-existing conditions. this is something everyone agrees on. republicans and democrats are united on this. when you get has the rhetoric, i think you will see we are going replacement or six of the aca, we will maintain the ability of people to purchase insurance even though

they have a pre-existing condition. host: independent line next. we hear from mike in pennsylvania. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i am going on medicare and a couple of months. been on obamacare. insuranceit as the market hegemony. it's interesting that the largest skyscrapers in philadelphia our own by comcast and blue cross blue shield. when you look at the merger and acquisition of insurance companies which are going on, these companies are being merged billion to $150

billion. i have two questions. first, i want like a comment on insurance or health care and profit. -- i just thing is lost my train of thought. but i would like for you to comment on health care and canit and how a business say that they have no profit with fixing books, so we have the so-called health care insurance companies that never really make a profit, and yet ofy are merging for billions dollars. guest: two things. one of the factors that has

affected this marketplace is since the advent of the aca, you have seen a large consolidation of not just health insurers but also hospital organizations. look at dr. practices. many doctors can no longer practice in their own individual practices. they have been forced by the marketplace to move into a hospital-based setting because they cannot deal with the regulatory mandates. so you have seen consolidation not just with health insurers but other aspects of the health care market since the advent of the aca. you raise the question of profit. one of the things we had in new lossstate is the medical ratio, which states 85% of all of the dollars that come into a be paid inave to terms of benefits.

all of rest has to go to marketing and administrative costs and health care reviews and monitoring. and if they are a for-profit company, profits. companies i do not think are making an exorbitant amount through the aca. many republicans also said the health insurance industry through in with the abc -- threw in with the aca and supported it. i think this argument about health care and profit can only take you so far. have many nonprofit hospitals where executives and those a hundredearn thousand dollars, $1 million. the distinction between profit-making and nonprofit is often obscured. a headline, planned parenthood seeks survival in the trump era.

do you support the defending -- defunding of planned parenthood? guest: i do not. i come out this as someone who has supported, both in state legislature and in congress, i voted for putting in law the hyatt amendment, which states that no federal dollars be used for abortion. however, if an organization is otherwise qualified and licensed at the state level and are providing a medical service and their patient comes in and is eligible for medicaid, then they should we reimbursed for its. i realize this is a controversial issue and it divides people, but really, dealing with the aca is difficult enough as a health insurance measure. host: let's go to our republican line.

north carolina, franklin. welcome. caller: yes. i have two questions. one on health care. my question is that everybody in the u.s. should have health care. i agree with the obamacare. what i do not agree with is the way it is implemented. when you implement a health care program that limits competitive bargaining in the states, then things are just not right. in north carolina, we have one insurance company, which is blue cross blue shield. that is the only insurance company you can get obamacare with. of otherompetitiveness insurance companies have moved out of the state, because obamacare is just not a good the competitive

field. every u.s.e, i think citizen should have insurance, but there are certain things that have to be reevaluated with obama care. policys to be a reformed . make it better than what it is now. the only way can do that is by implementing an appeal for obamacare. guest: thank you, i appreciate that. you raise an interesting point. over 1300 counties in the u.s., out of 3000, have only a single insurer now. this gets to the prior caller from pennsylvania, talking about the consolidation of the health insurance industry. a lot of them is consolidated

because that is what the market is dictating. because they cannot survive otherwise. also, you are seeing many insurers pull out of the various regions of the country. part of the fundamental issue with the aca is it over-fe deralized a system. health insurance has historically been regulated at the state level. much of the reform i hope to see enacted will push that regulation back at the state level, but still leave some federal subsidies for people cannot afford to buy insurance, if they are in the individual or small market, if they work for an employer or small business owner who is not offering insurance. but also leaving the high risk holes of people who have pre-existing conditions and have extraordinary medical expenses are covered. -- from ouremocrat

democrat line in california, annie is next. caller: are you speaking to me? host: yes. guest: you are up early. caller: yes, i am. i was listening to the representatives speak and the other people. not i have to say -- i do know if you are one of the representatives that just got in in the last election -- guest: yes, ma'am. caller: you have a lot to learn. i am not trying to put you down or anything, but you have a lot to learn. i am a retired government employee. and i am not just saying this i am a former government employee, but i work with a lot of different insurance companies and the government and everything. what i keep hearing, and you are kind of coin along with the rest of the republican people, is you guys keep saying because

premiums went up on the affordable care act -- or obamacare, which is the same thing -- all insurance companies have gone up. it has nothing to do with the affordable care act. it is all of the insurance companies have raised the premiums. the thing i could never understand about the federal government, because it used to be -- it may not be now because people want to cut back on federal employees -- but that used to be the largest employer for the entire united states versus your regular corporations. host: let's get to her question about premium rates going up. guest: i think premiums have accelerated the advance of the aca. but the caller is right. it is not only that made it can be pharmaceutical prices.

it can be the lack of competition in certain areas as well. there is a whole host of reasons. talkhe main reason, when i to my small business employers 2-13 -- 2013 in said the lie of the year was that if you like your doctor, you could keep it under obamacare. that turned out to not be so. instead of focusing on the 15% of the population who did not have insurance, they turned to the people who did have insurance. it disrupted the market lately. that is one of the failings of the aca. it is a. a difference. conservatives, like myself, are more inclined to allow much of this regulatory authority to remain at the state level, with some federal involvement. the liberal side is much more inclined to trust washington to

make these decisions. is -- withthe hhs their rulemaking, has an extraordinarily amount of power now. and not all of that power has been for the better. host: our caller from california, her words were that have a lot to learn. being targeted by a democratic and pain is the 19th in new york. what are you doing to fend that off? guest: there is a lot of political spinning going on in washington. i am not paying a lot of attention to it. i have a two-year term. the next election is in 22 months. but i am focused on how do we fix the problems we face? i am focused on the issues i ran on. i am not focused on an election

almost two years away. host: the house get started here in about five minutes. we get to fill up on the -- philip on the independent line. caller: god bless c-span. do you recall the law that existed when george bush junior took office? he had a $3.5 trillion surplus. if people were in a serious accident, they did not have to pay the hospital. their credit would not be destroyed in the event that they were in a serious accident, because the hospital could not affect their credit report. guest: i am not sure i know what to, but heeferring does talk about the debt and the deficit a little bit. on the budgeti am committee. yesterday, we had a hearing from

the congressional budget office. warned wef the cbo are on the trend for a larger deficit. debt is nowonal about $19 trillion. within about 10 more years, we are looking at the national tots going up $20 trillion $30 trillion. we have to get spending and entitlement under control in washington. host: you are also on the transportation committee. trump calling for more huge infrastructure spending possible. what is your view? guest: first, i want to see what the funding source is. there is no doubt we need to have a more robust effort to road andur watery and sewer enbridge infrastructure. this in the north, where we have a lot of aging infrastructure. the key is not to reinvent the wheel.

to fund the existing funding streams that all of the local officials and design firms are familiar with. that is the way to do this. get her, wisconsin. we hear from doug on our republican line. caller: i have a couple questions. with car insurance, if you have or multiple accidents, your premiums go up. the same is true with health insurance and other insurance. -- with house insurance and other insurance. why, with pre-existing conditions, doesn't a person have to pay more in premiums? and what is the definition of pasting conditions? -- of pre-existing conditions?

some diabetes is caused by drinking and overweight and so forth. guest: good question. in new york, we had a law for a long time predating the aca which said if he had a priest in condition, the health insurance company has to cover you. but they will only cover you for the factors relating to the pre-existing condition six or nine months after you walk in. the idea is -- just like homeowners. you cannot call the insurance company and say cover my house the day after a tree falls on it. so the incentives put in the aca, that is why they try to force everyone to get coverage. but that wrought alternative problems. host: john faso is our guest, the new conversation from the 19th street of new york. early start in the u.s.