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Obama Speaks on Ukraine, ObamaCare

Aired April 17, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: But then you have this that came out today, the fact that now we heard from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in that meeting on Ukraine in Geneva, acknowledging and -- really the stunning allegation that Jews in Donetsk, this one town in Ukraine, are having to register with self-proclaimed authorities.

And so hearing from the U.S. ambassador, yes, this is the real deal. Might Obama, Jim Sciutto, address that in the Q&A?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I would be surprised if he wasn't asked about it.

This incident shows the real urgency of de-escalation in the region, because it's been the Russian strategy to stoke up the ethnic divisions there, nationalism, to a political end, to show instability in eastern Ukraine to require possibly the intervention of Russian forces just as they did in Crimea, which then, of course, led to the annexation there.

The trouble is stirring up those tensions, those ethnic divisions, that nationalism is difficult to control and you see an example of that today.

We don't know how many people distributed these leaflets, but they are certainly worrisome, as Secretary Kerry such a throwback to the 1940s, to Nazism, as much as of these events of the last few weeks have been, right, you know, echoes of the Russian invasion of Poland in the 1930s.

And that's a real worry here. And that's why you have Kerry in Geneva fighting along with his European partners for some sort of diplomatic way out of this.

BALDWIN: That's the worry. That is the concern. One would have to assume one of the questions, certainly, as you point out, will be on what we have been discussing will in Ukraine towards the president.

But, once again, just reminding all of you as we are awaiting the president of the United States to make an appearance inside the White House briefing room to talk specifically off the top about the Affordable Care Act, as Wolf was pointing out, that extension to sign up was -- there was an extension of two weeks. That was two days ago, the end of that. So, we could have more numbers.

But, John King, let me bring you into the fold into this conversation here. As far as the politics all of this goes and the timing, what do you make of it?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, the president is trying to change a tide in the country in public-opinion polling, and he's trying to change a behavior pattern among Democrats who are in tough races this year.

Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, just said at an event at his home state of Nevada that the enrollment numbers have passed 8 million, so that's what we expect the president to say.

Remember, their target was 7 million. After the disastrous ObamaCare Web site rollout, some people thought would they ever even get to 2 million or 3 million.

So, the president is trying to say, hey, we bombed at the beginning, but we're make thing work. The numbers are out, now in a strong place to give the program, the people we need in the program, the financial footing the program needs.

And we also had word from the Congressional Budget Office this week that it's not going to cost quite as much for ObamaCare.

And, yet, go to Arkansas, go to West Virginia, and go to Alaska, go to Louisiana, go to a place where a Democrat is at risk of losing a Senate seat this year, and they are in a crouch. They're in a crouch over ObamaCare, because Republicans and Republican groups, conservative groups, have been spending millions of dollars on negative TV ads.

The president is trying to change a political dynamic. He is not going to convince Republican voters to love ObamaCare. What he's trying to convince is Democratic voters to get out and vote this year -- right now, there is an intensity gap -- to convince independents what the Republicans are telling you about this isn't true, or at least most of it isn't true, and he's trying to convince members of his own party who think of him as a liability that perhaps he is not such a liability this year, and that perhaps even if they don't invite him to come campaign with them, they should be a bit more proud about his signature domestic achievement.

BALDWIN: November will be here before we know it.

John King, Jim Sciutto, Wolf Blitzer, all three will be standing by with me in Washington, once again, as we await the president.

Quick break, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news in case you are joining us here, quick reminder, we are watching and waiting for that White House daily briefing to begin.

It is extra special today because the president himself will be standing up behind that podium. We can tell you we have learned that he will be addressing, specifically, the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, might announce new numbers as far as enrollees. We know the extension was two weeks, Monday. We should perhaps get some new numbers and perhaps we will learn the percentage of young people who signed up for ObamaCare.

The message the president has when it comes to this signature piece of legislation of his, possible that he will be answering questions once they finish discussing ObamaCare and maybe answer some questions from the White House press corps.

Maybe a question will be asked about Ukraine. We don't know. We are watching and we are waiting for that, so stick with me.

We are also, of course, watching the latest rescue efforts out on the Yellow Sea where search teams are frantically trying to find the survivors of a capsized ferry.

Twenty people now are confirmed dead. Nearly 300 are still missing, and many of them are young. They are high school students. Officials believe that people are still alive, holding themselves up in air pockets within the ship here.

But the ferry company's evacuation procedures are coming under fire because some passengers who escaped said lifeboats were not used. Apparently, according to one of our affiliates, one out of 46 was used and they were not allowed to jump ship when the ferry started to sink. That was direct orders saying don't move.

Also under investigation here, the captain of the ferry, there are reports he may have veered off course. He is now in police custody, but earlier, he offered this apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): Any words for the family members of the missing?

LEE JOON SUK, FERRY CAPTAIN (via translator): I am sorry. I am at a loss for words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The president of the ferry company also apologized to the victims and their families. He said the company had committed a grave sin, quoting him directly.

Let's go back to those live pictures inside the Briefing Room. Let's just bring it up full so you can see what we're looking for.

A lot of activity here, that's when you know it is a special day. That's when you know the president is dropping by the briefing.

Wolf Blitzer, Jim Sciutto, John King, they're all standing by with me in Washington, so as we all watch this together, and, gentlemen, I have heard we have gotten the two-minute warning, but let's chat until we, of course, see the president.

And, Wolf, to you, first, we know that the president will be talking about the Affordable Care Act, will be talking about ObamaCare.

We know that they had released numbers initially north of that 7 million figure. Do we anticipate new numbers today?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yeah, he's probably going to say, according to one insurance executive -- he just met with a group of insurance executives -- that the number has gone up above 7.5, getting closer to 8 million.

About 35 percent are young people who have enrolled. I think the president will make that formal announcement to all of us within the matter of the next few seconds.

And Ben Rhodes, one of the national security advisors, just tweeted he is getting ready to answer questions and will be ready to answer questions about Ukraine, as well.

So, this will be Affordable Care Act followed, I assume, by some questions on Ukraine.

BALDWIN: Here he is.

BLITZER: Here's the president, yeah.

BALDWIN: Let's take a listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE: -- everybody.

Before I begin, I just want to express on behalf of the American people our deepest condolences to the Republic of Korea and the families of all of those who have seen their loved ones lost when the ferry sank within the last couple of days.

Obviously, information is still coming in. We know that many victims of this terrible tragedy were students, and American Navy personnel and Marines have already been seen helping with the search and rescue.

As one of our closest allies, our commitment to South Korea is unwavering in good times and in bad. And that's something I will underscore during my visit to Seoul, next week.

Before I take questions, I would also like to say a few words about how the Affordable Care Act is now covering more people at less cost than most would having predict ad few months ago.

The first open enrollment period under this law ended a little over two weeks ago. As more data comes in, we now know that the number of Americans who signed up for private insurance in the marketplaces has grown to 8 million people. Thirty-five percent of people who enrolled through the practical marketplace are under the age of 35.

All told, independent experts now estimate millions of Americans who were uninsured have gained coverage this year, with millions more to come next year and the year after.

We have also seen signs that the Affordable Care Act has brought more security to Americans. For this law added new transparency, competition to the individual market, folks who bought insurance on their own regularly saw double-digit increases in their premiums. That was the norm.

While we suspect premiums will keep rising, as they have for decades, we also know that since the law took effect, healthcare spending has risen more slowly than at any time in the past 50 years.

In the decade before the Affordable Care Act passed, insurance rose eight percent a year. Last year, it grew at half that rate.

Under this law, real Medicare costs have nearly stopped growing, the life of the Medicare trust fund has been extended by 10 years, and the independent Congressional Budget Office now expects premiums for plans on the marketplace to be 15 percent lower than originally predicted.

Those savings add up to more money families can spend at businesses, more money the businesses can spend hiring new workers, and the CBO now says the Affordable Care Act will be cheaper than recently projected.

Lower costs from coverage provisions will shrink our deficits by an extra $100 million.

So, the bottom line is, under the Affordable Care Act, the share of Americans with insurance up, the growth of health care costs is down, and hundreds of millions of Americans who already have insurance now have new been pits and protections from free preventative care to freedom from lifetime caps on your care.

No American with a pre-existing condition like asthma or cancer can be denied coverage. No woman can be charged more just for being a woman, those days are over. This thing is working.

I have said before this law won't solve all of the problems in our healthcare system. We know we have more work to do. But we now know for a fact that repealing the Affordable Care Act would increase the deficit, raise premiums for millions of Americans, and take insurance away from millions more, which is why, as I said before, find it strange that the Republican position on this law is still stuck in the same place that it has always been.

They still can't bring themselves to admit that the Affordable Care Act is working. They said nobody would sign up. They were wrong about that. They said it would be unaffordable for the country. They were wrong about that.

They were wrong to keep trying to repeal a law That is working when they have no alternative answer for millions of Americans with pre- existing conditions that would be denied coverage again, for every woman who would be charged more for just being a woman again.

I know every American isn't going agree with this law. I think we can agree that it is well past time to move on as a country and refocus our energy on the issues that the American people are most concerned about.

That continues to be the economy, because these endless, fruitless repeal efforts come at a cost. The 50 or so votes Republicans have taken to repeal this law could have been 50 votes to create jobs by investing in things like infrastructure, or innovation, or 50 votes to make it years for middle class families to send their kids to college, or 50 votes to raise the minimum wage, or restore unemployment insurance that they let expire for folks working hard to find a new job.

The point is the repeal debate is and should be over. The Affordable Care Act is working, and the American people don't want to spend the next two-and-half years refighting the settled political battles of the last five years.

They sent us here to repair the economy, build the middle class and restore opportunity and not just for a few but for all.

As president, that's exactly what I intend to keep doing as long as I'm in this office.

With that, I will take some questions. Let's see who we have.

Kathleen Hennessey of the "L.A. Times?"

KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": It sounds like there has been some development in the Ukraine talks in Geneva.

I'm wondering if you could describe your level of confidence in what the agreement is and how you can be sure that Russia will follow through given some of the remarks from President Putin.

OBAMA: I don't think we can be sure of anything at this point. I think there is the possibility, the prospect, that the diplomacy may de- escalate the situation and we may be able to move towards what has always been our goal, which is let the Ukrainians make their own decisions about their own lives.

There was a meeting in Geneva, representatives of the Ukrainian government, the Russian government, the E.U., as well as the United States.

It was a lengthy, vigorous conversation. My understand is that the Ukrainian prime minister gave a detailed and thorough presentation about the reforms that they intend to introduce, including reforms that provide assurances for the Ukrainians that live in eastern and southern Ukraine that they will be fully represented, that their rights will be protected, that Russian speakers and Russian natives in Ukraine will have the full protection of the law.

And my understanding based on what I've heard is that there was an acknowledgement within the meeting that the Ukrainian government in Kiev had gone out of its way to address a range of the concerns that may have existed in southern and eastern Ukraine. There was a promising public statement that indicated the need to disarm all irregular forces and militias and groups that had been occupying buildings.

There was an offer of amnesty to those that would willingly lay down their arms, evacuate those buildings so that law and order could be restored in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The Russians signed onto that statement, and the question now becomes, will, in fact, they use the influence that they've exerted in a disruptive way to restore some order so that Ukrainians can carry out an election, move forward with the decentralization reforms that they've proposed, stabilize their economy, and start getting back on the path of growth and democracy, and that their sovereignty will be respected?

We're not going to know whether, in fact, there's follow-through on the statements for several days, and so today I spoke with Chancellor Merkel. Later on in the day, I'm going to be speaking with David Cameron.

We're going to be consulting with our European allies. Over the last week, we have put in place additional consequences that we can impose on the Russian if we do not see actual improvement of the situation on the ground, and we are coordinating now with our European allies.

My hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the past few days, but I don't think, given past performances, that we can count on that.

We have to be prepared to respond to what continue to be efforts of interference by the Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine.

If, in fact, we do see improvements, then that will obviously be positive. In the meantime, we're going to make sure that we continue to help the Ukrainian government, working with the IMF, the Europeans and others to stabilize their economy and to start reforming it.

We're going to continue to work with our NATO allies to make sure that they are assured that we're going to meet our Article V obligations and that they are secure.

And as I've said before, I think had an interview with Major yesterday in which I mentioned this whole exercise by the Russians is not good for Russian either.

I think a number of articles today indicating the degree to which an economy that was already stuck in the mud is further deteriorating because of these actions, and in my conversations with President Putin, I've emphasized the same thing, that we have no desire to see further destruction of the Russian economy.

On the other hand, we are going to continue to uphold the basic principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity for all countries, and that there's a way for Ukraine to be independent, to be sovereign and to have positive relationships with both the west and the east, with both its European neighbors and its Russian neighbors, and that's our primary concern.

Maria Pena, "La Opinion?"

MARIA PENA, "LA OPINION": Yes, thank you, Mr. President.

I've got a hotspot for you here in the U.S. House Majority Leader Cantor said -- or explained that you haven't learned how to work with them and he's angry that you're attacking the GOP on the lack of movement on immigration reform.

So, I was wondering how you respond to that.

And the second part to that, right now you have hunger strikers across the street, demanding relief for undocumented immigrants, and I was wonder if you could dispel the rumors or if there's a leak from the White House that you will make some sort of announcement in the coming weeks to expand that relief for the undocumented.

Thank you.

OBAMA: I actually had a very pleasant conversation with Mr. Cantor yesterday. I did.

You know, the -- you know, you're always surprised by the mismatch between press release and the conversation. I wished him happy Passover, and what I said to him privately is something that I would share with him -- that I've said publicly, which is there is bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform.

It would strengthen our economy, it would help with our security and it would provide relief to families, many of whom children and family members who are U.S. citizens and that Congress should act, and that right now what is holding us back is the House Republican leadership not willing to go ahead and let the process move forward.

So, it was a pretty friendly conversation. I think in his press release I gather he was referring to the observation that we'd made a day earlier that it had now been a year since the Senate had passed a strong bipartisan bill and that, although we had heard a lot of talk about the House Republicans being interested in doing something, nothing had happened yet and suggesting that we need some urgency here.

I still feel the same way. I know there are Republicans in the House, as there are Republicans in the Senate, who know this is the right thing to do. I also know it's hard politics for Republicans, because there's some in their base that are very opposed to this.

But what I also know is that there are families all across the country who are experiencing great hardship and pain because this is not getting resolved.

I also know that there are businesses around the country that can be growing even faster, that our deficits could be coming down faster, that we would have more customers in our shops if we get this thing resolved. We know what the right thing to do is. It's a matter of political will. It's not any longer a matter of policy. And I'm going to continue to encourage them to get this done.

As far as our actions, Jay Johnson, our new head of Department of Homeland Security, has been talking to everybody, law enforcement, immigrant rights groups, to do a thorough review of our approach towards enforcement, and we're doing that in consultation with Democrats and Republicans and with any interested party.

I do think that the system we have right now is broken. I'm not alone in that opinion. The only way to truly fix it is through congressional action.

We have already tried to take as many administrative steps as we could. We're going to review it one more time to see if there is more that we can do to make it more consistent with common sense and more consistent with, I think, the attitudes of the American people, which is we shouldn't be in the business, necessarily, of tearing families apart who otherwise are law-abiding.

And so -- so let me -- I won't get into timing right now because Mr. Johnson is going to go ahead and do that review.

Tamara Keith?

TAMARA KEITH, "NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO": So, you, regarding the Affordable Care Act, I think --

OBAMA: Yeah, let's talk about that.

KEITH: I think everyone agrees that it has flaws, but Democrats have been sort of reluctant in Congress to reopen the conversation, and Republicans have been more than happy to reopen the conversation but in a different way.

Now that, as you say, it's here to stay, there's so many people that are signed up, in this environment is it possible to do the kind of corrections that the business community and many others would like to see, sort of small, technical corrections?

OBAMA: It is absolutely possible, but it will require a change in attitude on the part of the Republicans.

I have always said from the outset that on any large piece of legislation like this, they are going to be things that need to be improved, need to be tweaked. I said that, I think, the day I signed the bill. And I don't think there's been any hesitation on our part to consider ideas that would actually improve the legislation.

The challenge we have is that if you have certain members in the Republican party whose view is making it work better is a concession to me, then it's hard in that environment to actually get it done.

And I recognize that their party has gone through, you know, the stages of grief, right? Anger and denial and all of that stuff, and we're not at acceptance yet, but at some point my assumption is that there will be an interest to figure out how do we make this work in the best way possible.

We have 8 million people signed up through the exchanges. That doesn't include the 3 million young people who are able to stay on their parents' plan. It doesn't include the 3 million people who benefited from expansions in Medicaid. So, if my math is correct, that's 14 million right there.

You've got another 5 million people who sign up outside of the marketplaces but are in part of the same insurance pool.

So, we've got a sizeable part of the U.S. population now that are in the first -- for the first time in many cases, in a position to enjoy the financial security of health insurance, and I'm meeting them as I'm on the road.

Met with -- saw a woman yesterday, young woman, maybe 34, with her mom and dad, and she's got two small kids and self-employed husband and was diagnosed with breast cancer, and this isn't an abstraction to her.

She is saving her home. She is saving her business. She is saving her parents' home, potentially, because she's got health insurance, which she just could not afford.