>> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told reporters that it would be helpful to have less drama coming out of president trump's white house. he also gave an update on health care legislation that the senate is working on. he will also hear from minority leader charles schumer, who called on the president to release transcripts of the conversation he had with the russian foreign minister in ambassador at the white house last week. >> you got this? senator mcconnell: i do. ok, good afternoon, everyone. hadepublican senators another extensive discussion

about the way forward on health care at lunch. we will be doing that, as i indicated last week, tuesday, wednesday and thursday. trying to come together behind a proposal to repeal and replace obamacare. on the floor, regretfully, we have to go through a lot of procedural hoops just to confirm the deputy secretary of transportation, the number three of justice. onven had to file cloture the ambassador to china, who came out of the foreign relations committee unanimously. you can see the democrats want to make everything go as slow as possible, but we will work our way through that on the confirmations and we will be back in touch with you on health care. our conference has been sitting a lot of our time spinning about the path forward on health care. we know that obamacare is broken

and needs to be fixed. everybody in this country i think no step. the status quo is unsustainable. we are looking for a way to make health care more affordable, more patient centered, more personalized for people in this country. there are one in three counties in america today that has one choice when it comes to health care options. iowa is losing its last provider in the individual marketplace, and that will lead 72,000 iowans without coverage if that happens. mid-level plants all premiums go up like 25%. disaster in a death spiral and it needs to be fixed. we are going through the process right now with our members and getting the best ideas and charting a path forward that will latest to a place where we have something better for the -- people,ople and

who certainly deserve better than what they are getting with obamacare. >> insurance companies are starting to come out with premium suggestions for what they will have to charge next year. for people who live in this general area, what you have seen as there have been announcements of rates going up in the district of columbia 29%, regina 35%, -- virginia, 35%, maryland an 50%. these increases are absolutely dramatic, and that is the concern obviously of all americans when they see announcements like this, what can we do to lower the premiums that are the result of the obama health care law? how bad has it been over the years? an organization called the health said premiums and individual market from 2013 until now are up 91%. last week, an insurance company

said we are out of the obama care insurance markets. this is a company that initially was one of the cheerleaders for the obamacare exchanges. when you look at counties all around the country, seven out of 10 counties are down to one or two choices total on the obamacare exchanges as companies continue to pull out saying, we don't want the business and to sell there. people at home are seeing increased premiums, fewer choices, and we are working on getting a health care system that is better than the one we had before obamacare. year of the implementation of obamacare, i went to the floor virtually every week with story after story after story of the syrians in the families losing the health care they had. one family whose son was born with a significant problem, he

was 20, have the same doctors his entire life, under obamacare , they lived on the kansas border, their doctors were on the kansas side. there was no insurance policy they could qualify for the head those doctors. they decided to go without insurance and put their personal money behind letting him go to the doctors he had always gone to. we continue to get those same stories. i had someone last week called. a farmer in oregon, missouri, she said her situation continues to get worse and worse. if anybody in her family was sick, they would have $28,000 out of pocket if two people in their family were sick before anything would be done by the insurance company to help bills.y the $6,000 deductible, $12,000 maximum, $16,000 in monthly amy adams. .- monthly premiums

these families so have access. if you have already put $16,000 on the table and you have to put another $6,000 on the table before you can have your insurance company help you, nobody thinks that is interest. the current system is not working. we have to figure out how to make this market work better. most missouri counties now only have one insurance company willing to offer insurance on the individual market. we are hopeful those counties still have at least one company that year, even though it has been mentioned iowa has no companies willing to offer in the exchange or out of the exchange on the visual market because this that plan we are under now has stressed the marketplace so badly, nobody wants to be part of it. a small business guy in st. joseph said his insurance at for his pays half of it

employees, has gone up 50% at work. we 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. letsed to do the job that americans have access to health care and interest they can afford. to put a finer point on what they were talking about, in iowa, it is not just that ensures our leaving the exchange, they are leaving iowa. the concern is that they will , individualable plans to purchase. for people to save the status quo is acceptable, shame on them. i hope we can come to an agreement both democrats and -- and republicans, we have to find a solution that reduces the cost while increasing quality of care. something else that is probably

not making the headlines it should this week is national police week. the fact we have law enforcement professionals around the country in town today talking about those they have lost this past year. in colorado, we had tragedies, but i want to share with you and celebrate and memorialize these individuals. here.onahue, derek if you see them around the country today, share our thanks to the minimum and of law enforcement who keep our communities safe. reporter: where is the republican whip? and [indiscernible] recommendation, the president was apparently not interested, i said he should look at judge merrick garland.

who comes next, i think it should be somebody deeply credentialed in criminal justice enforcement, completely apolitical, in line with the tradition of prior fbi directors. i am optimistic the president will maim someone like that. -- name someone like that. i'm not discussing the matter with him. [indiscernible] >> no. are you losing confidence in the president trump? >> no. reporter:

-- i have a lot of confidence they will handle that matter. completely. [indiscernible question] >> let me repeat what i said this morning. i think it would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the white house. earlier thislicly morning. crosstalk]