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Some Dems Move to Change Obamacare; Mayor Under Fire in Toronto; Kerry Says No New Iran Sanctions; Jay Carney Gives Briefing on Obamacare.

Aired November 13, 2013 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: On Capitol Hill today, nervous congressional Democrats met with White House staffers. They're looking for a fix to the Obamacare website mess and other related problems. If President Bush was remembered for the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, here's the question some are asking, including some Democrats, is this President Obama's political nightmare unfolding right now? According to our Dana Bash, those leaders had one question today, what's your plan?

Let's discuss with CNN political commentators Maria Cardona and Ben Ferguson.

Guys, thanks very much for coming in.

Maria, these latest poll numbers from Quinnipiac University poll show that these numbers are not very encouraging for the president and for the Democrats. If congressional elections were being held today, for whom would you vote, on October 1st, 43 percent said Democrats, 34 percent said Republicans. Now, 39 percent say Democrats, 39 percent say Republicans. I guess a lot of people are blaming -- a lot of Democrats are blaming the Obamacare rollout for those numbers.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Sure. And so, thankfully, Wolf, the election isn't today. And it is still a year away. And a lot can happen in a year. One of those things that's going to happen is that by the end of this month, as the White House has stated, the fixes to Obamacare website will be in full force and a lot more people will be able to sign up. A lot more people will be able to enroll.

So that is what this administration is focused on. They have some of the best folks on this, including Jeff Zients and Todd Park, who is one of the best minds in technology. He's the chief technology officer for the White House, who is frankly, right now, I think, wasting his time on the Hill, testifying when Republicans, if they really wanted to make sure that this is fixed, they would have him back at his office to make sure that the website is fixed. And that their constituents could get the health care they want and need.

BLITZER: Ben, go ahead.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Wolf, yeah. Maria seems more optimistic about the website being fixed by the end of the month than Democrats and the president of the United States of America himself. They're even pulling back now, not claiming this thing will be fixed.

But the bigger problem than that right now is, and you heard it earlier, one million people in California alone got cancellation letters because of the Affordable Care Act. And the Democrats are really upset right now. Are those going back to their district and phone lines are blowing up by people that said, the president told me and you told me that if I was in favor of this, I could keep my health care plan if I liked it? We now know that's a lie. We know they're upset about it. That's why the president's numbers are tanking this morning. That's what they want fixed, even more than the website. If you got a cancellation letter, you are not happy about with the president of the United States because you feel like he misled or lied to you.

BLITZER: Maria, a lot of Republicans are going through all the videotape not only recalling what the president said, if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, but they're looking at a lot of vulnerable Democrats who made similar comments over the course of the last year or two or three or whatever. And they're going to be blowing those up, as you know, in commercials and political advertisements to those who might be vulnerable in 2014.

CARDONA: There's no question about that, Wolf. That's why congressional Democrats are nervous. They should be. I certainly would be if I were in their position. And they're furious. And that outrage I think is the one that the president is taking heed on as well as the outrage of the people who are receiving those letters.

I think the faux outrage, Ben, and please spare me the Republican outrage going on on the Hill today because, instead of helping, instead of helping this president fix this, they have done everything they can to defund, delay, derail and destroy Obamacare from the moment it became law. So where was their outrage in the last 30 years when insurance companies were dropping people left and right?

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Where was the outrage when people were actually going bankrupt because they couldn't get the health care they need?

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: So let's try to fix this. This is what the president has promised to fix it --

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Let me say this. Let me say this. Those talking points --

CARDONA: -- make sure that constituents get those plans.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Ben.

FERGUSON: The talking points that you just said mean nothing to people that got a cancellation letter. The fact is, Obamacare and the president walked out and lied to the American people saying you keep a plan. We now know that is an absolute fallacy. We know for a fact that in 2010, the White House knew what they were selling was not truthful to the American people. They were warned by health care executives: If you pass this, these plans are no longer going to be available. And so you can blame Republicans, but we didn't pass Obamacare. We didn't write it. We didn't look at it.

CARDONA: Yeah, obviously.

FERGUSON: As Nancy Pelosi said -- as Nancy Pelosi said, we won't know what's in it until we pass it. That was the most truthful statement any Democrat ever made about Obamacare.

CARDONA: And this president has apologized. The HHS secretary has apologized.

FERGUSON: That doesn't matter if you lost insurance.

CARDONA: CMS has apologized. He is doing what he can legislatively or through administration fixes to make sure those constituents are able to either keep their plans or receive better plans. What are the Republicans doing?

FERGUSON: Wolf?

CARDONA: Again, the Republicans are doing nothing other than trying to get rid of this law.

FERGUSON: That's not true. Factually not true.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: This president is, frankly, with the American people who want it to work. So work with this president and help us make it work.

FERGUSON: I'll go back to this. The last offer the Republicans made when the government was shutdown was to delay Obamacare for one year, saying it is not ready for primetime. We did offer that up. And now Democrats are looking at the same realistic issue.

CARDONA: That is not a fix.

FERGUSON: The fact it needs time to be fixed.

CARDONA: It needs time to be fixed.

FERGUSON: It needs time to be fixed. You're even saying that.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: One year is about time, I would hope, to fix this.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: So instead of having the chief technology officer right now testifying, why don't you let him go back to his office and fix it? BLITZER: All right. We got that.

(LAUGHTER)

Maria, Ben, we got a good discussion there, a good debate to be continued. Obviously, the story not going away. Appreciate it very much.

Maria Cardona --

CARDONA: Thanks very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: -- and Ben Ferguson, always good debaters.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

BLITZER: The Toronto city council is trying to reign in its larger- than-life mayor, Rob Ford. Even though Ford admitted smoking crack, the council has no legal power to remove him because he's not a convicted felon. Today, he admitted he bought illegal drugs in the past two years. Ford says he's no longer cooperating with police in an investigation. Amid all of this, the council is trying to force him to take at least a leave of absence. Ford denies he's addicted to drugs or alcohol. He said, and I'm quoting him now, he said "Yes, I've made mistakes. All I can do is move on." Yet, this morning, the council's meeting produced another flare-up with one member actually accusing the mayor of bullying him on the floor. He wants an apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: I did not threaten him in any way, shape or form. He was walking here. He stood at the clerk's desk. He did not make an approach to you, Madame Speaker. I said, Counselor, please take your seat. And that's exactly it. So there is nothing to apologize for when I'm following the rules and he is not.

UNIDENTIFIED MADAME SPEAKER: Counselor Minnan-Wong?

DENZIL MINNAN-WONG, TORONTO CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Madame Chair, I stand on behalf of all members of council. The mayor said that he was not threatening in any shape or form. He stood very, very close to me in a threatening manner, other members of council asked me subsequent to that because they saw, what was he doing? And what he was doing was threatening me by his presence in standing close to me, and it was deliberate. It was deliberate and I take -- and he was ordering me to sit down. He showed a fundamental lack of understanding of the rules of this chamber and how questioning and speaking and moving motions operate.

FORD: Apologize for following the rules and asking the other members of council to follow the rules? That's what I'm apologizing for? No, I don't think there's an apology necessary. If I said something derogatory, if I did what he's accusing me of, yes, I would apologize. But I did not say that. The Madame Clerk was right there. All I asked him to do is take a seat while people are asking questions. That's the rules. Not walk around. That's it. There's nothing to apologize about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: If Mayor Ford refuses to take a leave of absence, the council could ask the province of Ontario to pass a new law to remove him from office.

The Secretary of State John Kerry insists imposing new sanctions on Iran would be a big mistake right now, especially now that the nuclear talks with Tehran he says are making some progress. They're going to resume November 20th in Geneva.

But just how confident is the White House that a deal can actually be reached? I'll speak about that and more. The deputy national security advisor to the president, Ben Rhodes, is standing by live. We'll discuss at the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden are on Capitol Hill today, urging Senate leaders to hold off imposing new sanctions against Iran. They want more time to pursue nuclear negotiations with Tehran. Those talks are set to resume in exactly one week in Geneva. Kerry says significant progress was made at last week's talks in Geneva, as well.

But many in Congress, Democrats and Republicans, aren't necessarily convinced that sanctions should wait.

Those skeptics include the Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the foreign relations committee. I spoke with him this week. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ, (D-), CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: If Iran is going to continue to enrich uranium, it it's going to continue to produce domestic centrifuges and perfect them, if it's going to continue to construct a heavy water reactor for plutonium in Iraq, then ultimately, I don't see why we should stop our efforts to ensure that the Iranians know that there are consequences for that march towards nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's discuss what's going on. Joining us from the White House right now is Ben Rhodes, the assistant to the president, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications.

Ben, thanks very much for coming in.

BEN RHODES, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT & DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Good to talk to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: What do you say to Senator Menendez and a bunch of his colleagues, not only Republicans but Democrats as well, who say, you know what, the U.S. and the international community now should push for tougher sanctions as these negotiations continue.

RHODES: Well, Wolf, first of all, sanctions brought to us where we are today. The administration has worked with Congress to put crippling sanctions on the Iranian government. But that may be changing their calculus. The purpose of sanctions -- it's not an end -- it's a means to an end. We see Iran coming to the table in a serious way. We want to test that proposition and see if we can get the first step after agreement that would halt the progress of the uranium program and roll back elements of that program while we negotiate a comprehensive resolution. We don't believe that now is the time for new sanctions because we need to test those negotiations. If they fail, then, of course, we'd lead the charge for additional sanctions in partnership with Congress.

BLITZER: If these negotiations do work out in Geneva starting next week, as part of some initial steps that the Iranians might take, would you be open, as the Iranians are demanding, for easing some of those sanctions?

RHODES: Wolf, what we've said is, first of all, they would have to halt their program and roll back elements of their program. You're essentially putting time on the clock of the Iranian break-out capacity and getting much more intrusive inspections. In response, we would consider some limited relief. But this would not get at the core architecture of sanctions, world sanctions, banking sanctions that are having such a bite on the Iranian economy. Those would continue to be enforced. This is an important point. Even in the six months of this period of negotiation where there would be some limited relief, Iran would continue to face sanctions and they would face more in lost revenues from the sanctions that would continue to be enforced than they would get from the limited relief we're contemplating, which would be reversible if Iran doesn't meet its obligations.

BLITZER: Just to be precise, assuming a deal does allow Iran at least to continue enriching uranium, which a lot of people don't want them to do, but assuming they will continue to enrich uranium, you would be willing to at least ease some of those sanctions, is that right?

RHODES: I wouldn't characterize it as easing sanctions. It is providing them limited relief. There are ways to do that. It's like a spigot. You're giving them access to some revenue in response to what they're doing. But you're continuing to enforce the sanctions that are in place. Again, that would have a greater cost to the Iranians, the revenues they would loss in the next six months than the limited relief we're open to providing them. In response, they would have to address all of our concerns with respect to centrifuges, to bringing down the levels of enrichment, to neutralizing portions of their stockpile, with respect to their plutonium program and that reactor in Iraq, and also with respect to more intrusive transparency measures and inspections of nuclear facilities.

BLITZER: I know the president spoke with the French President Hollande today. Earlier, as you well know, in Geneva, the French foreign minister, Lahole Fabius (ph), he warned against what he called a "suckers deal" with Iran, suggesting the French were on a different page than the United States as part after ingredient with the Iranians. How much of a difference is there right now between the U.S. and France when it comes to a negotiated settlement or at least some sort of agreement on nuclear issues with Iran?

RHODES: Well, Wolf, what I can tell you is, coming out of that conversation between President Obama and President Hollande, the United States has a unified position with France going into the next round of negotiations. We expect to be unified with our P5-Plus-1 partners with the agreement we're going to pursue with the Iranians in the next round of talks in Geneva, and particularly with France and the United Kingdom. Right now, on the same page, going to the table, the onus is going to be on the Iranians to make sure they meet our concerns. Again, we're not interested in a bad deal. That's why we didn't get to an agreement in Geneva. We want to make sure our concerns are met. And that's what we're going to be unified with in terms of our relationship with France, the U.K. and the other P5-Plus- 1 partners going into the next round of talks.

BLITZER: Ben Rhodes from the National Security Council.

Thanks very much, Ben, for joining us.

RHODES: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: So who doesn't like using rewards points to get a free airline ticket? Those tickets may be harder to come by. We're taking a closer look at some big changes coming to the rewards programs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is answering reporters' questions about Obamacare, the many problems. Let's listen in briefly.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- create that system where there's quality health insurance available to every American. And it is important to remember, when we're talking about efforts largely undertaken by Republicans that don't try to fix problems or improve the Affordable Care Act but try to eliminate it all together or sabotage it, that the alternative they're proposing is the status quo. There's been a great deal of focus, deservedly so, with the rollout of the marketplaces but we should not lose sight of the fact there was a reason that this president, as so many presidents before him, pursued health care reform. The system was broken. It is broken. It needs reform. It needs fixing. It needs to be better so that the American people can count on affordable quality health care as a right and not a privilege.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So many Democrats see that as a failed promise, that you could keep your health care, your insurance. So is there anything they'll be able to rally around by the end of this week when they face -- you know, when they have to actually vote on something that the White House doesn't support?

CARNEY: Well, again, we don't believe that proposed legislation that actually causes more problems than it fixes is the right way to go, but we are interested in other avenues that actually address the problems identified. And as I just said, the president asked his team to come up with proposed solutions. And you can expect us to be announcing something sooner rather than later.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Briefly, then, last week, the president, in Dallas, speaking about the health care website said, "By the end of this month, we anticipate it's going to be working the way it is supposed to." Yesterday, you said, "We expect it to be functioning and properly by the vast majority of Americans by the end of the month." And today, the Todd park, chief White House technology officer, wouldn't' guarantee that it would be fully functional by November 30th and said it was a goal.

So the president gets updated on this daily. I wonder, what is today's appraisal of November 30th? Is it going to be functioning? And when you say, you know, for a vast majority of Americans, even if it doesn't help everybody, you could still be leaving millions of Americans not getting access to that website.

CARNEY: Let me say a couple things. As Jeff Zeints, who is managing this effort, said publicly to the press, we are working 24/7 making changes and improvements to the website. And it is our belief that we're on track so that, by November 30th, healthcare.gov will be working smoothly for the vast majority of users. That's what Jeff said, and that remains the case today. As I think Todd said in his testimony and others have said and I have said, there are still problems that need to be addressed. Even as we work through a punch list or the team, the tech team works through a punch list of issues that need to be resolved, the fact is, on November 13th, we are not where we will be and want to be by November 30th. But it remains the case that we believe the site will be working smoothly for the vast majority of users by the end of the month. That was the frame that Jeff Zients talked about when he first established this goal. And we believe we're on track. We make assessments all the time. Today, we are confident that we're on track to achieve that. If that changes, we will certainly let you know.

Let it -- let me also be clear, as I said yesterday, as with any major website that's complex, as this one is, it can be working smoothly for the vast majority of users and there could still be individuals who experience problems. So I do not doubt that if we meet this goal and it is working smoothly for the vast majority of users that there will be stories of people who experienced delays or difficulties. But it is our conviction that we can, with the fixes that are being implemented, reach that goal by November 30th.

Again, the purpose of this is to insure that Americans who are interested in reviewing their options and purchasing quality affordable health insurance through the marketplaces are able to do so in a satisfactory way. And there's no question, from the launch date on October 1st, the performance of the website has been far less than satisfactory.

BLITZER: So there you have Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, answering reporters' questions on Obamacare, saying he thinks that the vast majority of folks who need to go on that website will be able to do so successfully by the end of the month. If that changes, he said he'll let us all know. Much more coverage on this later.

I'll be back in "The Situation Room" 5:00 p.m. eastern.

NEWSROOM continues right now with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin. They're standing by after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)