Remarks on Expanding Access to Fertility Care and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Thank you very much. This is very exciting what we're doing. I want to thank everybody for being here, and I want to thank this group of people. They are incredible people.

We just had a call, as you know, with President Putin. I thought it was a very good call, so we'll talk about it, maybe later. But it went very well.

We're here today to announce a historic victory for American women, mothers, and families. With the actions I will outline this afternoon, we'll dramatically slash the cost of IVF and the treatment and many of the most common fertility drugs for countless millions of Americans. Prices are going way down—way, way down.

I want to thank Libby Horne, who is the senior vice president of fertility of EMD Serono. So I want to thank you. Let's see here. That's what I thought.

EMD Serono Senior Vice President of Fertility Libby Horne. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. I thought it was you. Thank you, Libby, very much.

And let me also thank the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose wife destroyed the people on "The View" yesterday. [Laughter] I have to say that. She's—I'm not going to ever get into an argument with her, and you've decided—you learned that a long time ago, right?

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Yes, I learned that a long time ago.

The President. She did a great job, actually.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Thank you, Howard. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Thanks, Lori.

Secretary of Labor Lori M. Chavez-DeRemer. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Howard, thanks.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, who's a fantastic guy, and he's done really well. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Thank you, Marty.

Commissioner of Food and Drugs Martin A. Makary. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Senator Katie Britt, who got me started with this whole thing when she called up to say there was a bad ruling by a judge, right?

Senator Katie Boyd Britt. Yes, sir.

The President. "We've got to do something, sir."

Sen. Britt. Yes, sir.

The President. And we did it very quickly, probably in 24 hours it was done.

Congressman Richard Hudson, a great guy, and his wife Renee. Richard. Hi, Richard.

And advocate Samantha Busch, who's a very respected person.

For years, American couples struggling with infertility have faced crushing costs in their quest to start a family, and IVF is among the most expensive treatments of all. A single round of IVF in the United States can cost up to $25,000—can actually go a lot higher than that—and many couples require multiple rounds for a successful pregnancy.

A major reason for these high prices is the excessive cost of the drugs involved. The number one fertility drug used in IVF is currently 700-percent more expensive in the United States than the rest of the world. And you know, we're ending all of that. It's called favored nations, and we're ending it, and we're ending it pretty fast. Nobody thought we'd be able to do it, and we've done it.

Drugs are going to come down. Drug prices are coming down 400 percent, 200 percent, 600 percent, numbers that nobody's ever seen before. Great for Medicare, Medicaid, even Social Security. Great for everything, I think, Dr. Oz.

So it's something that's—to me, it's very exciting. I'm bugging him and Bobby all the time, "How are we doing with that?" And we're doing really good, Bobby, right? It's really going good.

Other countries are agreeing to it, because if they don't, we put them—put tariffs on them, and then they agree. So it's amazing. It's amazing how that worked out.

But in—as an example, in London, you'd buy a certain drug for $130—and even less than that, I guess—$88 as of a count a month ago, and in New York, you pay $1,300 for the same thing. So now we're going to be paying—instead of $1,300, you'll be paying about $150, and they'll be paying $150 too. We're going to pay the same thing.

Favored nations. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing.

And we've been ripped off by the whole world for a long period of time. One of the most popular fertility drug regimens cost over $5,000 per cycle, as an example. Wow.

Largely as a result of these unsustainable prices, 70 percent of the employers do not offer insurance that covers IVF. Therefore, most couples with fertility challenges are paying these costs entirely out of their own pockets, which is not really possible to do.

Oh, look who we have. Look at that, the great Maria Bartiromo [Fox Business Network]. I didn't know.

Q. Hello, Mr. President.

The President. Did you get put into the regular pool pack? [Laughter] That's very good.

Q. I'm just listening in.

The President. Yes, that's good. Nice to see you.

I'm doing an interview with her in a little while.

In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for all couples to have babies, raise children, and start the families they've always dreamed about. That's why today I'm pleased to announce that, after extensive negotiations, EMD Serono, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, has agreed to provide massive discounts to all fertility drugs they sell in the United States, including the most popular drug of all, the—IVF drug Gonal-F. So it's Gonal-F. Is that a proper pronunciation?

Ms. Horne. Very well done.

The President. Close enough, right? [Laughter]

Ms. Horne. Very well done.

The President. Gonal-F.

As part of this agreement, EMD Serono will list their fertility drugs online at TrumpRx.gov at very, very heavily reduced prices, prices that you won't even believe. And ultimately, that's because of the favored nations.

In addition, the FDA will be working with the company to expedite review and approval of another common fertility IVF drug, and currently it's selling in Europe. It's Pergoverius—Pergoveris, and that's a sound—be a nice name: Pergoveris. Why can't you name them nice, simple names? [Laughter]

Ms. Horne. We'll work on that.

The President. Nice, easy names.

Doesn't matter. If it works, that's all we care about, right? [Laughter]

Upon approval, this drug would directly compete against a much more expensive option that currently has a monopoly in the American market, and this will bring down costs very significantly. And the other one is going to have to come down also.

Finally, EMD Serono has agreed that all future drugs and everything that it develops and sells in the United States will be offset at most-favored-nation prices. I've been after this for a long time. And we started the process in the last administration, and then we had a little thing called COVID that came up. We had a focus on that. Did a good job on that too.

And they'll bring a significant portion of their drug manufacturing back to the United States. So they're going to bring it largely back into the United States. And that's for a lot of reasons, but primarily because of the election result, November 5, and, maybe most importantly, because of the tariffs, because if they do it here, there are no tariffs.

So we have—we're going to be very close. I think by the end of this year, we're going to be very close to $20 trillion in investment. As an example, the Biden administration had less than $1 trillion—substantially less than $1 trillion for 4 years. Maria, can you imagine? Four years, less than one. We're going to break $20 trillion of investment, and we're already over $17 trillion, and that's in 8 months. Can you believe that?

Participant. Incredible.

The President. And he was at less than $1 trillion. And in addition to that, he had open borders, allowing millions of people to pour in. What an administration that was. Worst President in history by far.

As a result of these actions, the per-cycle cost of drugs used in IVF will fall by an estimated 73 percent for American consumers, and the numbers are going to actually be very substantially higher as time goes by, when it really kicks in. For most of—I mean, think of those numbers.

You know, I told the story last time, because we were with Pfizer, and Pfizer is doing something very similar. But I told them that my first term, I was so proud of myself because I was the first President in 28 years where drug prices went down for the year. And you know what they went down? One-eighth of 1 percent. But I was so—one-eighth of 1 percent. Now I'm getting them down, Maria, 500, 600, 800 percent. In some cases, even more than that. It's hard to believe.

But I was proud. I said, "Oh, wow, I'm the first one." One-eighth of 1 percent, and I was proud of that. Now I realize—and I called a news conference. Some of you are at that news conference, actually. And I said: "Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations. We've gone down by one-eighth of 1 percent," and now we're going down 5-, 6-, 700, 800 percent, Richard. So it's really something.

For most administrations and all of the people involved in this kind of thing, this action would be a crowning achievement of their agenda for fertility health. But for us, it's really just the beginning. It's just the start. It's one of many things we're doing.

Today we're also taking historic steps to vastly expand access to insurance coverage for fertility care, including IVF, something that, as you know, was not covered. Effective immediately, for the first time ever, we will make it legal for companies to offer supplemental insurance plans specifically for fertility. That's never been done before. We're signing it in today with what we signed.

Americans will be able to opt in to specialized coverage. Just as they get vision and dental insurance, they're going to get fertility insurance for the first time.

So I don't know. You know, I don't know how well these things are covered. I—you know, I see the Democrats like to take credit for all of the things we do. We do the things, then they take the credit. But I figure if you do enough of these, eventually people are going to figure it out. The Democrats have done nothing.

This will make all fertility care, including IVF, far more affordable and accessible. And by providing coverage at every step of the way, it will reduce the number of people who ultimately need to resort to IVF, because couples will be able to identify and address problems early.

The result will be healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and many more beautiful American children. It's a big factor. It's a big deal.

I'm asking all employers to make these new fertility benefit options available to their employees immediately.

The initiatives I've just announced are the boldest and most significant actions ever taken by any President to bring the miracle of life into more American homes.

And I will say Katie was great. As you know, she's a great Senator from Alabama. She's the first one that told me about this. I had not known too much about it, and we worked very rapidly together, didn't we though?

Sen. Britt. You did. Mr. President, you saved the day.

The President. We had everything passed. And Alabama then took care of it and passed it. Within a week, everything was done. Really, it was something. So I want to thank Katie Britt.

There's no deeper happiness and joy of raising children. And now, millions of Americans struggling with infertility will have a new chance to share the greatest experience of them all. So, I'd like to thank all of the people that are here.

And I think we'll start with Dr. Oz and Ms. Horne. And we'll go through the list, and we'll listen.

And yesterday I did this, and I stood for about an hour-and-a-half as people spoke. And I said, "This time, I'm sitting right there"—[laughter]—"and I'm going to watch you." I stood for an hour-and-a-half this. I said, "You've got to be kidding." [Laughter] Here we go. It was one after another, and it was wonderful listening to him. But I said, "If I have to do this every day"—Bobby, should I stand or sit?

[At this point, Secretary Kennedy indicated the chair behind the Resolute Desk.]

Thank you, Bobby. [Laughter]

Please, Dr. Oz.

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz. Go ahead.

Sen. Britt. That's you—okay. Mr. President, I'm going to jump in here real quick.

I want to start by thanking President Trump. Sir, from the very first phone call we ever had, your support was strong. It was steadfast. It was unwavering. And because of you, millions of Americans are going to have a greater opportunity to bring the greatest gift, in my opinion—life—into this world.

Your support, your administration's support, it's a game changer. All of us here today are aligned. This is a celebration of life. It's a celebration of parents. It's a celebration of families. And it's a celebration for those people who want to one day be parents themselves. I think every parents can—can attest, and I certainly do myself, that the greatest gift that God has ever given me is the ability to be a mom. We want more people to have that opportunity. We want to make that easier and more affordable.

[Sen. Britt continued her remarks, concluding as follows.]

But this isn't the only thing that you've done to prove that we're the party of parents and we're the party of families. If you look at the working family tax cut—guys, he made sure that hardworking parents were front and center in that legislation. You know, whether it was child tax credits being expanded and made permanent, whether it was "Trump Accounts" that are going to change the game for so many parents——

The President. It's true. Yes.

Sen. Britt. ——or whether it was childcare.

So, for decades, we have heard Democrats talk about childcare. President Trump actually took action on the affordability and accessibility of childcare. We know that one in four families say that they hesitate to have more children because of the cost and because of childcare cost.

For the first time, this man actually took steps to change the dynamics for hardworking parents. So, of the three tax credits that he reformed and the working families tax cuts, two of them had not been touched in two decades and one of them had not been touched since 1986. So President Reagan was in office the last time anybody did anything about it. But you changed the game on that, and I was proud to lead that effort in the Senate.

And so, on behalf of moms and dads, on behalf of grandparents and sisters and aunts and uncles and brothers and people who are looking to expand their family, we say, thank you. Thank you for all you do to support families in this country and make a healthier environment and an easier one for us to grow the very most important thing.

The President. Great. Thank you, Katie.

Sen. Britt. God bless.

The President. That's so nice. Thank you very much.

Administrator Oz. So let's set the stage. To put it in perspective, 2 weeks ago, as President Trump alluded, a leading U.S. drug manufacturer came into this room and agreed to do something none of us thought was possible: a most-favored-nation agreement with numbers, again, inconceivable.

Last week, a leading country—a company from Europe, a global leader in the pharmaceutical sector, came to this office, made the same kind of commitment for most-favored-nation pricing, again, because the President insisted on it and was persistent. And he alluded to the fact that he was calling Secretary Kennedy and me quite a bit—he definitely was with great insights into the process—and would not hold back.

[Administrator Oz continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

The most prescribed drug in this category in America, made by EMD Serono, is described over here. And you'll notice President Trump, these are discounted from $242 to $10. I don't know what the math is on that. We can't even calculate it.

The President. It's a lot.

Administrator Oz. It's a lot. [Laughter] It's a—it's too high to calculate without a more studied approach.

But I give it up there, because that number of $10 will apply for every American who earns less than $115,000 a year. That's 70 percent of the American people.

The remaining folks who are able to make more will have to pay a tiny bit more, but it's still most-favored-nation pricing, no different from what the Europeans are—willing to pay.

[Administrator Oz continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

But first, we think you should hear from Libby Horne. Libby is EMD Serono's head of fertility. She brings both professional expertise and a personal connection to this work. She has three beautiful daughters, and she has personally benefited from reproductive medicine that shaped her family. And her company made today's spectacular MFN pricing possible.

Libby.

Ms. Horne. Thank you, Dr. Oz.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Today we gather on this national stage to celebrate a historic step forward in expanding access to fertility treatments for those who need it most. Mr. President, thanks to your leadership and the tireless efforts of your team, this is a momentous day for Americans who struggle but remain hopeful to build their families.

Infertility is on the rise in our country. One in eight couples face infertility. This isn't just a number; it's real lives, dreams, and aspirations of hard-working Americans. The teacher who goes to school each day surrounded by children, but aching for children of her own. The firefighter who puts his life on the line, but can't create the life he wants at home.

The consequences of these challenges can take significant tolls. Some of you watching today have given up or are frustrated because access to IVF treatments has been out of reach. That's why expanding access to IVF has been an issue of great importance to the President. He made this clear in his Executive order declaring the administration's goal of supporting American families by enabling access and eliminating barriers to IVF.

Today EMD Serono is proud to help President Trump deliver on his promise to you. Thanks to your—thanks to the President's leadership, EMD Serono has worked alongside distributors and other partners to help more families have access to services and innovations that are consistent with other countries. Through our partnership with the administration, we are proud to announce that Americans will have access to our leading IVF therapies for an 84-percent discount off list prices.

Sen. Britt. That's amazing.

Participant. Wow.

Ms. Horne. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you for making this possible.

The President. Thank you very much. That's great. It's fantastic.

Ms. Horne. For more than 40 years, EMD Serono has been a global leader in fertility. Our science was instrumental in the birth of the first IVF baby in the U.S., and we've helped to bring more than 6 million babies into the world since then. Our purpose is to help create, improve, and prolong life. That means discovering more medicines and bringing them to patients faster.

FDA Commissioner Makary has made it a priority to ensure that Americans have access to the world's most innovative treatments as quickly as possible. To that end, EMD Serono is filing a new IVF therapy called "Pergoveris" for review under the FDA Commissioner's National Priority Voucher program.

If approved, Pergoveris would combine two key reproductive hormones in synergy designed to mimic reproductive physiology. This therapeutic option could mean fewer injections, fewer co-pays, and lower self-pay cost, all of which make a real difference in the IVF patient experience.

In closing, on behalf of EMD Serono, I want to send my heartfelt thanks to President Trump and the entire administration for their leadership and vision in this critical area of health care. Together, we will make a difference in the lives of countless families across this nation and uphold our long-standing legacy of creating life.

Thank you.

The President. Great job. Thank you very much.

Ms. Horne. Thanks very much, Mr. President.

Sen. Britt. Wonderful.

Domestic Policy Council Deputy Director Heidi Overton. Mr. President, thank you for your bold leadership that's allowed our teams to go far beyond what anyone thought was possible.

On behalf of the Domestic Policy Council and Vince Haley here, we would like to also thank all the agency partners and the stakeholders that we worked with to get to the solution today that will make a real impact for families.

[Deputy Director Overton continued her remarks, concluding as follows.]

This is a profamily benefit expansion that will transform clinical outcomes by addressing fragmented coverage in care. I'm a physician by training, and it's very important that we have high quality care. Fertility benefit companies are poised to offer packages that have reported, so far, roughly 25 percent higher live birth rates for those that seek care compared to those that don't have such benefits. They also report fewer cycles to achieve pregnancy, improved natural pregnancy rates through better care before you need IVF, and reduced chance of miscarriages, a 21-percent reduction in miscarriage rate.

The President. Oh. Wow.

Deputy Director Overton. Leading physicians in the field have also relayed that these types of benefits significantly improve the patient and doctor experience, allowing both to focus on care rather than navigating the bureaucracy.

These impacts are very personal. Here with us today are my good friends, Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina and his wife Renee Hudson. Both who have worked in public service for years, including, Renee, for all 4 years of your past administration, Mr. President, and they struggled with infertility.

[Deputy Director Overton continued her remarks, concluding as follows.]

So today, with this announcement, we are realigning the industry towards the simple metric of more healthy babies at lower costs.

I would now like to introduce Samantha Busch, the wife of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, who's been a leading advocate for IVF access and affordability after your own infertility journey.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Thank you very much. Thank you.

IVF advocate Samantha Busch. Hello, everyone.

My husband Kyle and I battled infertility for over a decade before being blessed with our two beautiful children, Brexton, who is 10, and our daughter Lennix, who is now 3. But our journey was long and painful. We faced six rounds of IVF, multiple miscarriages, multiple failed cycles, and countless moments of heartbreak. We faced the roller coaster of hope and devastation that so many families know all too well. Through it all, we held on to faith, each other, and the belief that somehow, some day, God would turn our pain into purpose.

We also saw firsthand the staggering financial burden that comes with infertility treatments. Sitting in the waiting room of our fertility clinic, we overheard another couple quietly say that money was the only thing standing in their way of having their family. In that moment, Kyle and I looked at each other and we knew God was planting a seed in our hearts, a calling to take action.

In 2015, that calling became the Bundle of Joy Fund, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to providing financial assistance to couples struggling with infertility. What began as a small act of faith has now grown into something far greater than we could have ever imagined. To date, we've granted over $2 million directly to individuals, helping them pay for their IVF treatments and we've celebrated the birth of 108 beautiful babies through our fund.

Sen. Britt. Amazing.

Ms. Busch. Thank you.

Each baby is a living, breathing testament to hope, community, and God's grace. For every tear we cried, for every shot we gave, every doctor's appointment that ended in disappointment, Kyle and I knew there had to be a greater reason.

This was God's plan for us to use our journey to advocate, empower, and be the voice to those battling in silence. Over the past 12 years, we've worked hard to raise awareness, erase stigma, and bring hope to the one in six couples that will face infertility.

[Ms. Busch continued her remarks, concluding as follows.]

Your acknowledgement honors the power of family, faith and love, the very values that make America the greatest country in the world. It's proof that when promises are made and promises are kept, lives are changed forever.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Wow.

Ms. Busch. Thank you.

The President. Anybody else?

Howard, would you like to say a couple of words?

Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick. No. [Laughter]

The President. I was hoping you would say that. [Laughter]

Bobby, come on up please. Thank you. What a job you're doing.

Secretary Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Yes, say a few words, Bobby.

Secretary Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your vision, your commitment to our country.

When my uncle was President, the fertility rate in this country was 3.5 percent. Today, it is 1.6 percent. The replacement rate—in other words, the amount of fertility that you need in order to keep your population even—is 2.1 percent. We are below replacement right now. That is a national security threat to our country, and we know why this is happening.

[Secretary Kennedy continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

I saw on an airplane the other day, you said that you didn't believe that you were going to get to Heaven. You're doing God's work here. You're—you've made peace in the Middle East, which is beyond anybody's imagination——

The President. Thank you.

Secretary Kennedy. ——and now you're giving millions of Americans a chance to have babies.

And you're doing this while the Government is locked down by the Democrats.

The President. That's right.

Secretary Kennedy. But this administration has not stopped working for the American people.

Sen. Britt. That's right.

Secretary Kennedy. And that's because of your energy, your commitment, your vision, and I want to thank you for allowing me to be part of it.

The President. Thank you, Bobby. You're doing a great job. Thank you.

And he's doing a great job.

And by the way, Kyle is fantastic, so—[laughter]—what a——

Ms. Busch. Thank you.

The President. He's got a lot of courage. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't care.

Howard, you and I would not be good at that. [Laughter]

Secretary Lutnick. No. No.

The President. We'd go about 30 miles an hour around. [Laughter] But we'd be safe.

Anyway, so thank you very much.

Any questions, please?

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Yes, please.

Q. Mr. President, this is a major campaign promise that you made. It was a big hot topic towards the end of——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——the election, and you're delivering on that again.

I actually had a question for Secretary Kennedy or Dr. Heidi. Dr. Heidi, you said something that I thought was really important. You talked about how this coverage option, this benefit option, gives companies the maximum flexibility to design benefits consistent to their values. I was wondering if either you or the President could expand on that and talk about why that's an important thing to understand about this program.

Deputy Director Overton. Thank you. It's a great question.

We think that employers are best situated to know what them and their employees, when—are—want to contribute to in relation to their benefits. So employers are going to be able to decide how to cover the root causes of infertility, things like obesity, metabolic health, and other things that are impacting infertility.

And also, if they want to encourage their employer—their employees to see certain types of doctors, and they can work with providers that are identifying the highest quality fertility providers. And so it gives—it puts them in the driver's seat. And our view is that we want employers to be the ones that can make those decisions, not the Government.

Thank you.

The President. All right. That was a good answer.

Participant. Yes, it was.

The President. That was a very good answer.

Yes, please. Go ahead.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, previously, you did not seem to be bothered regarding Hamas tracking—cracking down on what you called—cracking—gangs——

The President. What?

Q. Actually, a couple of gangs. And today, you issued a threat against Hamas on Truth Social. What has changed since then?

The President. And what has said? Go ahead.

Q. You said that they if continue killing—keep killing innocents in Gaza, that——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——if that continues that the United States will go after them.

The President. Yes. I know. I issued a strong statement. That's right.

Q. What—they used to be gangs and now you're saying innocents. What—made you think they're innocents now?

The President. Well, I'm looking at what's happening. And that wasn't the deal that was made, and we'll see what happens. It's calmed down. It's a tough neighborhood. We know that. We have a commitment from them, and I assume they're going to honor their commitment. I hope they do.

And I know—I understand they brought back some additional bodies today. It's a rough deal, when you think of it. Right? Very rough. We have our hostages back completely. We were very lucky with that. But it's a tough situation. They brought back bodies today, as you probably know. But they also said they're going to behave. We're going to find out if they behave. If they behave, good. If they don't behave, we'll take care of it.

Yes, please.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Following up on that. When you say——

The President. I didn't say you. You're CNN, fake news.

Go ahead.

Hamas/Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, you said in your post that if they kept killing people in Gaza, we would "have no choice but to go in and kill them." So do you mean U.S. forces would go in and take—take out Hamas?

The President. No, I didn't say who would go in, but somebody will go in.

Q. So then who is "we" in that?

The President. It's not going to be us. We won't have to. There are people very close—very nearby, that will go in. They'll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/Ukraine Conflict

Q. Could I follow up? You also posted about your call with President Putin today, and you spoke about meeting in Hungary with him. Do you have a timeline or a date set for when that meeting might take place?

The President. Yes, I would say within 2 weeks or so. Pretty quick.

Marco Rubio is going to be meeting with his counterpart, as you know, Labrov [Lavrov; White House correction], and they'll be meeting pretty soon. They're going to set up a time and a place very shortly. Maybe it's already set up. They've already spoken.

And I thought it was a very good phone call. I thought very productive. But I'll be meeting with President Putin, and we'll make a determination.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with President Zelenskyy, and I'll be telling them about the call. I mean, we have a problem. They don't get along too well, those two. And it's sometimes tough to have meetings. So we may do something where we're separate, but—separate, but equal. We'll meet and talk parties.

But this is a terrible relationship the two of them have, and it's one of those things. I've seen things that nobody would believe, but this is one of them.

So I'll be meeting—we're going to be meeting in Hungary. Viktor Orbán is going to be hosting, and it's—really something that's time.

Last week, over 7,000 people were killed. That's ridiculous. And, you know, it doesn't affect our country. We're don't—not losing people. We're not losing—Bobby, we're not losing Americans. But they're losing Russians, Ukrainians—mostly soldiers—for the most part, soldiers. And we think we're going to get it—we hope we're going to get it stopped.

I thought this would be—because of my relationship with President Putin, I thought this would be very quick. And it's turned out to be—who would think I did Middle East before I did this. We did a total of eight, now. Seven and now eight. And we're going to make this number nine.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

The President's Foreign Policy

Q. Sir, you said—you posted that there was "great progress." Can you tell us a little bit about that? Was it a shift in Putin's tone? Was it something new he told you? Did he give you any message to give——

The President. You're talking about the whole——

Q. ——President Zelenskyy tomorrow?

The President. It just seems to me that—you know, look, it's only a feel. That's all I've done in my whole life, I've made deals. I know about deals. I do it well.

I don't think any President has ever ended a war, frankly—one war. I did eight of them, Maria, right? And—but I don't know. Did Bush ever end? Do you think Biden ended a war? Biden started wars because he was stupid. But do you think Biden ended any wars? No. I don't think—I don't know of anybody that ended wars. I ended eight of them. And it's going to be nine.

I think we're going to have this one done, hopefully, soon, but I'll be meeting him probably over the next 2 weeks.

First, Marco is going to be meeting, and the Vice President, as you know, is very much involved. The whole team is involved. Steve Witkoff will be involved.

Yes, please.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. What did you tell him about the Tomahawks? Did you discuss——

The President. About what?

Q. The Tomahawk missiles. Did you discuss those?

The President. Well, we talked about it a little bit. Didn't say much.

But I do say to you, you know, we need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can't deplete for our country. So, you know, they're very vital. They're very powerful. They're very accurate. They're very good, but we need them too. So I don't know what we can do about that.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, why do you think a second meeting with Putin——

The President. What?

Q. Why do you think a second meeting with Putin now will yield different results?

The President. Well, I think Alaska actually set a stage. And that wasn't very long ago, but it set a stage. You have to understand, I came into this situation. I didn't start this war. This is a Biden deal, and I came into it, and it was a mess. It could have led to World War III. In my opinion, this could have led to World War III. That won't happen, but it could have.

So I came in; this war was raging. When I left, this wasn't even a thought. For 4 years, they—nobody talked about—I spoke to President Putin about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But there was no—never going to be doing anything like this. And this all went because of some really bad decisions that were made. And look what you have: You have millions of people dead. You have just a horrible, horrible situation.

I'm doing it to save souls. That's all I'm doing it for. I'm not doing it for us. We're—we have an ocean between us. I'm doing it also to help Europe. They want to have it ended, but they're unable to do it. I'm able to do it.

So I think we'll be successful. We'll save a lot of lives. It should have been done. Should have never started. This would have never happened if the election weren't rigged. This would have never happened, but it did happen, and I'll get it stopped. Okay?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ys, go ahead.

Prescription Drug Costs/Weight Loss Medications

Q. Yes. The—you mentioned a $1,300 drug at the top of this. Were you referring to the weight-loss drugs that are going to——

The President. Yes, I was referring to Ozempic, or——

Q. So—so——

The President. I was—the fat-loss drug.

Q. So, those are going to be $150, out of pocket, for Americans?

The President. Yes, well, they'll be much lower.

Administrator Oz. [Inaudible]

The President. They'll be much lower.

Yes, go ahead, please.

Administrator Oz. Yes, we have not negotiated those yet.

Q. Okay.

Administrator Oz. They're—we're going to be rolling these out over time. The GLP category of drugs, which includes Ozempic, have not been negotiated yet.

Q. What's the timeline for that, sir?

The President. But it will. It will come down, like everyone else.

Q. Okay. And any timeline on the—on those negotiations?

The President. No, but I think those are going to come down pretty fast. And—we do have, I guess, some alternatives.

Administrator Oz. The President will be happy with the result, and until he is, we're not going to close those negotiations.

Thank you.

The President. Except it will happen.

Q. Got it.

Administrator Oz. Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Conservative Objections to Fertility Treatment and Services

Q. Mr. President, what's your message to pro-life conservatives? Some pro-life conservatives have religious objections to IVF and are already critical of this policy. What's your message to them today?

The President. I don't know about their—the views of that. I'm just looking to do something, because, you know, pro-life—I think this is very pro-life. This is—you can't get more pro-life than this.

Please.

Access to In Vitro Fertilization

Q. Mr. President, you've been talking about how this new benefit plan will also include root-cause treatments for infertility. How will you make sure that those root-cause treatments are equally accessible to IVF?

The President. Well, I think we're going to be doing that. Would you like to—would anybody like to talk about that subject?

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. I'll comment——

The President. Please.

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. ——on the rulemaking process.

The President. Yes.

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. I think it's the determination—again, Secretary of Labor. The determination—the Department of Labor is issuing their intent today to open up the rulemaking process, again, for more flexibility.

Any time that you have a President who is leading, when you can offer more access to health care at a lower rate is a benefit to the American people and to the end user, and that's exactly what he's doing.

And so you heard before that, through the Q-and-A guidance that was issued today with the other agencies—that will give guidance to our employers and the employees about what the flexibility of that is. And then, again, opening that rulemaking process for further determination of the access that can be had offered in those benefits for all different types of health care access is the goal of the Department of Labor.

The President. Good answer. [Laughter] That was very good.

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. Thank you.

The President. I like this better. [Laughter] I just say you—they can do better than me.

Yes, please.

Q. Mr. President, do you think we could see——

The President. Good job, Lori. You know, you're doing a fantastic job.

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to work for you.

The President. I shouldn't tell—I won't say it, but I will not say that she was recommended by the Teamsters. Can you believe it? [Laughter] And she's turned out to be a gem, an absolute gem.

You're doing a great job. Thank you very much.

Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. Thank you, Mr. President.

Q. Mr. President, John Bolton was just indicted.

Lapse in Federal Government Appropriations/Insulin Costs

Q. Mr. President, do you—think we could see your dealmaking skills applied to the Government shutdown anytime soon?

The President. Well, look, I mean, all we want to do is just extend. We don't want anything. We just want to extend, live with the deal that they had.

They want to spend $1.5 trillion on illegal immigrants, and they want to destroy health care for everyone else. And it's crazy. Crazy. People that are here illegally—they want to spend $1.5 trillion. So we're just not going to do it.

No, we——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

——we have to take care of our health care.

Now, we're doing that today, and we're doing it with, you know, favored nations—and most favored nations. Your costs are going to be dropping greatly. And I'm really good it's—I'm really happy that it's at the beginning of my administration, because I did insulin and got it down to, like, $25, but it doesn't kick in—it didn't kick in for 2 years by statute. So it couldn't kick in. And I said, "Boy, I hope I win this election, because if I don't, somebody else is going to take credit for it, Bobby."

And sure as can be, Biden said, "I"—he didn't even know what the hell was happening, and he—and it was a hard thing for me to do. I got insulin way down. What was it before that? It was just massive. It was impossible to afford. And sure as can be—because it was statute; it couldn't have been earlier. I said: "Boy, this falls into the next administration. I'd better win." And all of a sudden, I watch this Biden taking credit for something that I did, and on other things too. We had a lot of things kick in.

So the nice part about this: This is at the beginning of our administration. So I think we're going to see the fruits of our labor, and I hope on our other situation that we've talked so much about, autism—I hope we're going to see some very good results based on the recommendations that we made. And you know, we have time to watch those results now.

Former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton

Q. Mr. President, John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. Do you have a reaction to that?

The President. I didn't know that. You're telling me for the first time, but I think he's, you know, a bad person. I think he's a bad guy. Yes, he's a bad guy. It's too bad, but it's the way it goes.

Q. Have you reviewed the case against him?

The President. That's the way it goes, right? That's the way it goes.

Will I what?

Q. Have you reviewed the case against him?

The President. No, I haven't. I haven't, but I just think he's a bad person.

Okay. Anybody else? Yes.

Q. What's the timeline for the IVF drug through the National Commissioner Priority Review Voucher, Dr. Makary, if you wouldn't mind?

The President. What do you think, Doctor?

Commissioner Makary. Yes. So, first of all, the National Priority Voucher program says we're going to proactively, at the FDA, look for amazing treatments like this IVF treatment, we're going to reach out to the companies, and if it's in line with the President's national priorities, we're going to put those drugs at the front of the line and get a decision out in weeks instead of a year.

And so, today we announced nine drugs that are going to be recipients. These are products where the manufacturing is going to be in the United States, or it's meeting a large unmet public health need—like a diabetes drug we announced today—or it is a product where you're going to see an affordability phenomenon because the prices are getting equalized in line with the President's most-favored-nations status goal.

The President. Wow, that's great. Why didn't I have him speak? He was so—could have saved a lot of time, right?

Thanks, Marty. I'm not surprised.

Yes, please.

Russia/U.S. Sanctions

Q. Thank you, President. So Senate Majority Leader John Thune today said he'd like to proceed with the bill, which would put sanctions on Russia. What's your thought on that?

The President. Well, we're going to see. He doesn't know about the call yet. I'm going to speak to him later, and it was subject to what I wanted to do. And so we'll see what happens.

We may have—this may be such a productive call that we're going to end up—we want to get peace. We want to stop the killing. Seven thousand people a week. Can you believe it? We want to stop the killing.

So I'm going to speak to him and the Speaker, Mike Johnson. I'll speak to them a little bit later, and I'll tell them about this, and we'll make the right determination.

I'm not against anything. I'm just saying, it may not be perfect timing.

Q. But did——

The President. It could happen in a week or two, but it's at my option, as you know.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. Right. But did President Putin try to dissuade you from selling Tomahawk missiles?

The President. Well, of course. What, do you think he's going to say, "Please sell Tomahawks"? [Laughter]

Q. No, but did he give any kind of——

The President. Is he going to say, "Please sell those Tomahawks. I really appreciate it"? I did actually say, "Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition?" I did say that to him. I said it just that way.

Q. And what was his response?

The President. He didn't like the idea. [Laughter] He really didn't like the idea.

No, I said it that way. You have to be a little bit lighthearted sometimes. But no, he doesn't want Tomahawk—Tomahawk is a vicious weapon. It's a vicious, offensive, incredibly destructive weapon. Nobody wants Tomahawks shot at them.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. Did he specifically ask you not to provide Tomahawks?

The President. So—wouldn't anybody? I mean, it's been in the news. Who wouldn't do that? CNN, who wouldn't do that, you know? You think he's going to say—

Q. Do you think they would help end the war?

The President. ——"I'd love to have Tomahawks sent my way"? I don't think so.

Maria. We have one of the great stars of television here, and she's an incredible person. And she's just an amazing woman who—she got it all right. She got the "Russia, Russia, Russia" hoax right. She got everything.

Would you have a question?

Autism Spectrum Disorders/In Vitro Fertilization

Q. Yes, Mr. President. I would ask you why this was so important to you—IVF. And why was autism so important to you? What are you trying to achieve?

The President. Well, autism is like a whole different thing. When you look at—it was 1 in 20,000. Now it's 1 in 12. If you look—Bobby, we have different numbers—but 1 in 12, 1 in 28, 1 in 32. There's a couple of different numbers out there, but it's one in a very, very different number than it used to be. It used to be 1 in 20,000, and that was not that long ago—20 years ago or so.

And now they had something for boys, for babies—baby boys: It's 1 in 12. I heard 1 in 10, Bobby. I heard another one. You know, different lists, but when you think of that, it's not even sustainable. But there's something artificial. When that happens, that's not like a natural—and then you have certain groups of people that literally don't have autism, and they're not taking some of the things that we're taking. So we're working very hard.

And on IVF, it's just that I have friends, including Katie, that called me, and they told me the importance of it. I wasn't that familiar with it. Now, I think I've sort of become the father ever since I heard we—there was a bad decision in Alabama where a judge wanted all clinics to be immediately closed, right? And Katie called up, and you said you were pretty strongly attacked by your friends that you didn't even know were involved with IVF, right?

Sen. Britt. Yes. We had people's—that had grandkids, people who had gone through IVF themselves telling their story——

The President. Yes.

Sen. Britt. ——and saying there are people with—[inaudible].

The President. Tell them. Tell what you did when—when you heard from your friends. You said this was not—they almost became violent. Right?

Sen. Britt. I told him—I said: "Mr. President, we need you. We need your voice in this conversation. We need the directive. We need the strong support, because there are millions of people out there, moms and dads wanting to bring life into the world."

And you had people—the chilling effect that occurred across Alabama. There were people that were in the middle of that process that had been praying to have a child, and that was halted. And so the reality of that was very stark in our State.

And so I was able to tell the President some of the stories of people—you know, friends and grandparents and relatives that told me what they had experienced and also, you know, what they were fearful of in the future. And the President very quickly acted, spoke with a strong voice and really led the way.

Obviously, we saw Democrats continue to fearmonger for the remainder of the year, trying to use it as an election issue, when actually IVF is legal and accessible in all 50 States. And President Trump very clearly said where he was on this, and he said, "I'm going to make sure that this is more accessible and that it is more affordable for families coast to coast." That's exactly what he did.

But it's that real-life—those real-life stories, sir, that he responded to, and that's what people don't know about him. He cares. And when you tell him what American people are dealing with, he wants to do something about it. You have leaders and politicians that come before him that want to talk about things. President Trump wants to actually make things happen.

It's exactly what he did here. And I'm so, so grateful, Mr. President.

The President. Thank you. Thank you, Katie, very much. Appreciate it.

So we will go back to what we're doing. I'm working, again, with Marco and with J.D. and a few of the people on the war, and we're doing a lot of other things also.

The economy is unbelievable. It really is. It's been incredible. And I think one of the great numbers that I've ever heard—think of it: over $17 trillion being invested in our country. And when you think of—compare that to the last administration—but really, compared to any administration, compared to any country, there's never been a country with anything like that. That's in a period of 8 months. And we're going to—we've already broken every record possible. There's never anything even close.

So we'll go back to all of that.

Prices are down. Oil is down. We're down $58 a barrel. That's going to—we're going to be hitting $2 for gasoline. I think we're going to be at $2.

And the previous administration, they were at $4 and $5. They were going up much higher, and then they swung back into my things, but they didn't swing back properly. They were very, very late. They really blew it. We had it really going in the right direction. They came and took everything out.

And you know, it's incredible. I'll never forget. They lost control of the price of gasoline—of oil. They totally lost control, Howard, and then they went back immediately, "Well, let's go back to Trump." But by that time, it was too late. And they didn't go back, because the leases and everything else. They didn't do what they had to do. They wouldn't know how—they really didn't know how to.

But we could be hitting close to $2 a gallon. I'd love to break it, if we could. But we could be—and you know, when that comes down, everything else—and everything else has been coming down. Groceries are down. The price of things are down. And honestly, the—the simplicity is, if you can get oil down, it's such a big category, everything follows. So just about everything follows.

And we are working on beef, and I think we have a deal on beef that's going to bring the price of beef—that would be the one product that we would say is a little bit higher than we want it—maybe higher than we want it. And that's going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something. We worked our magic.

But groceries are down, and energy is down. Electricity is way down. We have the prices coming down for people. They were—abused for 4 years by the Biden administration.

Thank you very much, everybody. We'll see you soon.

Thank you. Thank you.

Q. [Inaudible]—changes to the IRS?