PLUS: White House Legislative Director Marc Short Says Health Care Vote Will “Probably Be Wednesday”
Short: Trump is “Standing with the Vast Majority of Americans Who Believe That Our Flag Should Be Respected”
SEPT. 24, 2017 — In an exclusive interview on “Meet the Press,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) addressed his “no” vote on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill in the Senate, telling moderator Chuck Todd: “I’m just not for this block-granting concept because to me that is an affirmative vote that I’ve agreed to keep Obamacare.”
He added, the “bill basically keeps most of the Obamacare spending — almost all of the spending — and just re-shuffles it and block grants it to the states.” Paul also weighed in on President Trump’s criticism of N.F.L players who decline to stand during the national anthem: “If I were president, I probably would not get involved in this.” Watch the full interview.
On the Graham-Cassidy bill, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told Todd that “pre-existing conditions are protected in this legislation” and that the White House is planning for a vote this week: “We think it’ll probably be Wednesday.”
Short defended Trump’s criticism of the N.F.L: “There are coaches — high school coaches across America today — who are punished for leading their players in prayer, and, yet, when an N.F.L. player takes a knee, somehow that player is presumed to be a martyr for a social cause. … The president is standing with the vast majority of Americans who believe that our flag should be respected.” Watch the full interview.
In an exclusive interview for “Meet the Press,” NBA Mavericks owner Mark Cuban responded to the president’s N.F.L comments: “If the president’s going to say something condemning a person, an industry, a sport, then he’s got to be able to take the blowback that’s going to come back. So LeBron [James] and Steph [Curry] and any athlete, any owner, it’s an open door now, and so they have every right for the same reasons to be able to say whatever’s on their mind. Now we’ll be able to see if he can take it.” Watch, and tune in to MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET for more from Cuban.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) exclusively told Todd that Trump has committed to a pathway to citizenship with the DREAM Act: “I trust him on it.” On the N.F.L controversy, she said that the president “should see this as an opportunity” and that “he was ill advised — if advised at all — to go down this path. Sports have always been a great unifier.” Watch the interview.
NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico joined Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, Detroit Free Press’ Stephen Henderson, POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson and National Review’s Rich Lowry on the program’s roundtable this morning to discuss N.F.L protests during the national anthem. Watch the conversation.
Read the full transcript of this morning’s “Meet the Press” on MeetThePress.com.
For more from moderator Chuck Todd throughout the week, sign up for the “First Read” newsletter, and subscribe to the “1947: The Meet The Press Podcast” for on-demand interviews.
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NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD”
“Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is where newsmakers come to make news — setting the political agenda and spotlighting the impact Washington decision-making has on people across the country. “Meet the Press” reaches more than three million people every Sunday through its broadcasts and millions more through NBCNews.com, OTT platforms and social media. “Meet the Press” brings its authority and influencer interviews to MSNBC with “MTP Daily” weekdays at 5 p.m. ET and to the “1947: The Meet the Press Podcast”. Chuck Todd is the political director of NBC News and the moderator of “Meet the Press”; John Reiss is the executive producer.
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