Washington, DC…THE VICE PRESIDENT: Speaker Ryan, Majority Leader McCarthy, Majority Whip Scalise, Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers, Chairman Brady, Chairman Walden, Chairwoman Black, Congressman McArthur, Congressman Meadows, and all the principled members of Congress who are standing with us here today, on behalf of President Donald Trump and the first family, welcome to the White House. (Applause.) And thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, welcome to the beginning of the end of Obamacare. (Applause.)

It was March, 2010, seven years ago, Democrats passed a government takeover of healthcare. And at that time, Republicans in Congress promised the American people that law would not stand. Today, thanks to the perseverance, the determination, and the leadership of President Donald Trump, and all the support of those gathered here, we’ve taken a historic first step to repeal and replace Obamacare and finally give the American people the kind of healthcare they deserve. (Applause.)

So, today, with heartfelt gratitude for all he has done to keep his word to the American people, and for all he will do to continue to make America great again, it is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you the President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. (Applause.) That’s the group. Thank you.

Thank you very much. This really is the group. What a great group of people. and they’re not even doing it for the party, they’re doing it for this country — because we suffered with Obamacare. I went through two years of campaigning, and I’m telling you, no matter where I went, people were suffering so badly with the ravages of Obamacare.

And I will say this, that as far as I’m concerned, your premiums, they’re going to start to come down. We’re going to get this passed through the Senate. I feel so confident. Your deductibles, when it comes to deductibles, they were so ridiculous that nobody got to use their current plan — this nonexistent plan that I heard so many wonderful things about over the last three or four days. After that, I mean, it’s — I don’t think you’re going to hear so much. Right now, the insurance companies are fleeing. It’s been a catastrophe. And this is a great plan. I actually think it will get even better. And this is, make no mistake, this is a repeal and replace of Obamacare. Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake. (Applause.)

And I think, most importantly, yes, premiums will be coming down. Yes, deductibles will be coming down. But very importantly, it’s a great plan. And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.

We knew that wasn’t going to work. I predicted it a long time ago. I said, it’s failing. And now, it’s obvious that it’s failing. It’s dead. It’s essentially dead. If we don’t pay lots of ransom money over to the insurance companies it would die immediately.

So what we have is something very, very incredibly well-crafted. Tell you what, there is a lot of talent standing behind me. An unbelievable amount of talent, that I can tell you. I mean it. (Applause.) And coming from a different world and only being a politician for a short period of time — how am I doing? Am I doing okay? I’m President. Hey, I’m President. Can you believe it? Right? (Applause.) I don’t know, it’s — I thought you needed a little bit more time. They always told me, more time. But we didn’t.

But we have an amazing group of people standing behind me. They worked so hard and they worked so long. And when I said, let’s do this, let’s go out, just short little shots for each one of us and let’s say how good this plan is — we don’t have to talk about this unbelievable victory — wasn’t it unbelievable? So we don’t have to say it again. But it’s going to be an unbelievable victory, actually, when we get it through the Senate.

And there’s so much spirit there. But I said, let’s go out — we have a little list of some of the people — and I think after that list goes, if they don’t talk too long, our first list, we’re going to let some of the other folks just come up and say whatever you want.

But we want to brag about the plan, because this plan really — uh oh. (Laughter.) Well, we may. (Laughter.) But we’re just going to talk a little bit about the plan, how good it is, some of the great features.

I want to thank Paul Ryan. (Applause.) He has worked so hard. I was joking, I said, you know, Paul, for the last week I’ve been hearing “Paul Ryan doesn’t have it. It’s not working with Paul Ryan. He’s going to get rid of Paul Ryan.” And then today I heard, “Paul Ryan is a genius, he’s come a long way.” (Laughter.) Right?

SPEAKER RYAN: I’ll take whatever.

THE PRESIDENT: The groups have all come together. We have the Tuesday Group — we have so many groups. We have the Freedom Caucus. We have — and they’re all great people. But we have a lot of groups. But they all came together. Really, Paul, I’d say in the last three, four days — especially in the last day. I see Mark and I see Kevin, I see so many people — Jim.

We just have developed a bond. This has really brought the Republican Party together, as much as we’ve come up with a really incredible healthcare plan. This has brought the Republican Party together. We’re going to get this finished, and then we’re going — as you know we put our tax plan in, it’s a massive tax cut, the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. I used to say the biggest since Ronald Reagan. Now, it’s bigger than that. Also, pure tax reform. So we’re going to get that done next.

And this really helps it. A lot of people said, how come you kept pushing healthcare, knowing how tough it is? Don’t forget, Obamacare took 17 months. Hillary Clinton tried so hard — really valiantly, in all fairness, to get healthcare through. Didn’t happen. We’ve really been doing this for eight weeks, if you think about it. And this is a real plan. This is a great plan. And we had no support from the other party.

So I just want to introduce somebody to say a few words who really has been I think treated very unfairly, but it no longer matters because we won and we’re going to finish it off. And we’re going to go on with a lot of other things, and we are going to have a tremendous four years and maybe, even more importantly, we’re going to have a tremendous eight years. But we’re going to start off with just a great first year.

And, Paul Ryan, come up and say a few words. Congratulations on a job well done. (Applause.)

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