Differences and its amazing sometimes how little our differences are. Announcer plus, the banishing Political Center. The president is the leader of the Republican Party. Announcer are moderates rapidly becoming an extinction species. And checking in on the irma Recovery Efforts from florida to the Virgin Islands. Its been the biggest hurricane to ever pass through the Virgin Islands. All of the windows blew out. Completely flooded. This is mtp daily and it starts right now. Good evening. Im chuck todd here in washington and welcome to mtp daily. The civil war one heck of a distraction away from what could be a civil war on the left. Decisions inside the Democratic Party are now exposed to a bit more by sunlight and in dramatic fashion in some ways. Sometimes anywhere you look. Divided how they deal with the president. Democrats call him a fraud and now cozying up to some, talking deals, tax reform and the budget to name a few. What did they do . He met with a group of democrats at the white house today, again. This time on tax reform, after meeting with three red state democrats last night. And hes meeting with chuck and nancy as hes been fondly calling schumer and pelosi, for dinner tonight. The president s strategy seems to be a rather conventional one. Which could drive a wedge between red state democrat, leadership and progressive democrats, and oddly enough, arguably, the single most helpful person now in an effort to divide the party along some of the fault lines is the independent who wanted to lead the Democratic Party. I am just very excited about the kind of support our medicare for all legislation is receiving all across this country and right here in the United States senate. As of today we now have 16 cosponsors on this legislation. Guess what . Medicare for all isnt for everyone in the Democratic Party. Its supporters include a whos who of democrats. Many people speculate, theyre thinking about running in 2020. Bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, harris, booker, franken, to name a few. But this bill could be a nightmare for another chunk of the party including Vulnerable Senate democrats. Ten of whom up for reelection in states mr. Trump won. Only one of those democrats is supporting the bill as of now. And Tammy Baldwin of wisconsin. Baldwin might end up being the canary in the coal mine whether this idea can play in a swing state. Republicans in the ten states would love nothing more than to tag their democratic opponent with sanders bill if they support it or use it as a wedge with the Democratic Base if they dont. This also could be a giant headache for chuck shoopers who se schumer who seems to be keeping isnt distance from sanders bill. Look, democrats believe that health care is a right for all, and there are many different bills out there. We want to move the issue forward looking at all of these. An added wrinkle for schumer who once said this kind of approach would basically bankrupt the country. There are some on the left who say medicare for all, just have a government program. Medicare for all, the private Insurance Industry would be out of business. The public would be happier, but the cost, medicare costs are going up so much, would be so huge wed be broke. So we cant do that. When sanders introduced a single payer plan on the campaign trail one estimate pegged the cost at 32 trillion over ten years. Thats right. 3 trillion a year over a tenyear period. Campaigns only estimate was only somewhat less trillionee, pegging the cost at roughly 14 trillion over that same tenyear period. Needless to say the bill isnt going anywhere in this congress and some cosponsors seem to be just fine with that. Theres not much of a chance youre got to get a vote on it much less it will pass. Why do it mnow . These are value statements. I dont care about timing. Theres no time like now to do what is right. And real peel for a seamless system in which people being an american have coverage. Even if it cant get passed or to the floor now . The question never talk about an idea because you cant immediately pass it we wouldnt talk about any ideas. Joined by one of the cosponsors of the sanders plan. Democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. Welcome back to the show, sir. Thank you so much, chuck. Gb good to be with you. Start with this question the times of this announcement. You have a Republican Party stilling w looking to repeal obamacare. The possibility that they do that is still there for the next couple of weeks. Why muddy up this issue . Why spend so much time working on a new health care plan, when the Democratic Party took so many bullets for fighting for obamacare and you still have been fighting for it, and its still the law of the land . Well, in the course of arguing over trump care, trump wealthcare, i might add, we talked to citizens across the country. I had 36 town halls in oregon mostly republican counties, twothirds of them. What the citizens in republican counties came out and said is, our Health Care System is just too complicated, too inefficient and too stressful, and there was real desire, and im talking republican counties, for a simple, sacless health care that just by virtue of being an american you have coverage when you need it. Look, sounds great. Everybody wants this until you tell them theyre going to have their taxes raises in order to pay for it. Thats number one. Again, i go back to obamacare. Is this your way of saying obamacare is a failure . No. This is our way of saying that in the course of defending obamacare, because it was such a leap forward, were also very aware of how stressful health care remains. If you caulk to citizens, blue collar citizens, hey, am i eligible for medicaid in oregon . The Oregon Health plan . If i earn more i have to get off, go to an exchange . On that exchange do that in the middle of the year . What if i have a new employer, covers me, not my children . Can i get my children on to the c. H. I. P. Program . Childrens Health Insurance program . A gauntlet of paperwork and complexity no other developed citizens in know other developed nation face and shouldnt have to face here. And its cheaper. Cheap are four our nation. Think about the fact that let me ask you this. You say cheaper for the nation, but whether you use the sanders estimates of 14 trillion, additional in the federal spending, one estimate, another puts it twice that a year, 3 trillion a year. Where do you get this money . Because the same estimates say that the total spending by our citizenry on federal budget and off federal budget put together, total cost to our society goes down. You can imagine why. Medicare has a, an overhead of about 3 . Private insurance has 25 to 30 thats wasted. Private insurance denies your claims even when they should cover what you have. Every time you are sick or have an accident, or member of your family, you have to go to war in order to get the bill paid. An additional piece of the stress. Having a system that is cheaper for the United States of america, that provides better coverage than our current system, that gives peace of mind instead of the stress we have now, thats appealing to democrats and republicans. I understand with the way youre painting it, but to be honest, senator, sounds a little too rosy. Was why Chuck Schumer wrong in 2009 saying medicare for all would bankrupt the country . And sponsored single pair as a house member and he was looking at commenting on just the federal cost, if you put more weight there. But there are ways to approach medicare for all that dont cost another single penny to the federal government. Ive been arguing we need to have the public option. Public option. People already paying money on the exchange, already have tax credit on the exchange. Being able to sbi medicare on the exchange doesnt cost a penny in fact will save money because of a more effective, efficient system. Allowing private companies to buy boo medicare, doesnt spend a dime. Ways to proceed forward that wouldnt cost the federal government anything, take us closer and during the course of it the entire doft our Society Keeps dropping. We have an unsustainable system and have to have a serious conversation. Sounds like about that. Your last comment seemed to think, what youre saying is, youre endorsing the idea of medicare for all but that isnt really what you just described is, we need to have an inkmental step. Fix obamacare, add a public option. Thats a different plan than this one. Which are you pushing for . No. Bernies bill also have an incremental approach. Lowers the age in year after year after year. So it is not saying its a dramatic change all at once. But so i dont think anybody in this conversation thinks you can take the enormous 1 6, 1 of our economy, but giving People Volunteer ways. By the way, under bernies way it is voluntary for people to opt in. Listen, this conversation is so important for the future of the nation, we have the most fractured, stressful system in the developed world. We have the most expensive per person system in the developed world. We have the most expensive system per treatment in the developed world. We have to talk about doing better, and citizens want simplicity. They want seamlessness. They want stressfree. Lets have a serious conversation about it. I hear you on all of that, but sounds like youre promising the world. And it feels like im having a deja vu when republicans essentially spent eight years overpromising, underdelivering and voters punished them for it. Voters turned to a guy with no experience ever returning for Political Office to be their nominee because they were tired of broken promises to the base. How does this not end up as a broken promise, pie in the skies, overpromise, underdeliver . I certainly would contest your theory there, bu theyve turned to someone who promised the world and had no plan to back it up. And hasnt delivered on any of broken every promise. Remember, a man, trump, who was going to promise your health care will cover everyone. Your health care will cost less. Your health care will be of higher quality. How are you guaranteeing this is not about donald trump, though. My point, the Republican Party went down this road. Overpromisi overpromising, overpromising, not delivering. Feels no pathway to passing it. Are you not raising expectations only to essentially bring back the cynicism that politicians just love to tell you everything is easy, were going to make the system simple, and then you cant get it done . It would be overpromising to say this bill is going to pass this year. That its going to get a hearing, but to lay it out as a vision, as honestly has been laid out, to say we need discussions across america how to make our Health Care Better and the way bernie presented it today. This is important to our country. To wrestle with how we have a simply better system than we have at the moment. So those who say never talk about a vision of where we could go to, because you cant get there tomorrow, i would say wed never have any progress. A huge mistake. Senator merkley i love the idea of more debate and youre right on that, and thats a good thing to have. Sir, thanks for coming on. Always a pleasure. Good to be with you. President trump spoke briefly to the press this afternoon before his bipartisan meeting on tax reform and before his new allies Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi returned to the white house for dinner. Why have leader schumer and nancy pelosi over tonight . Im a conservative and will tell you im not skeptical and i think that if we can do things in a bipartisan manner that will be great. Let me bring in tonights panel. Michael stooels, former chairman of rnc and based in iowa, joins us when d. C. Hes here. And Campaign Manager for president obamas 2012 campaign and has a lot of scar tissue over the issue of obamacare. And stephanie, start with you, because i saw you smirk a little when i asked, started with, is this the time to have a medicare for all debate when the party was literally was united for an eightmonth period to try to save obamacare . A couple things on that. It doesnt mean the party is not still united, to save obamacare, or to push for firsts to obamacare. As senator merkley laid out, theres nothing wrong with a vision. I also would say that senator merkley is a great spokesperson on this, much better than we saw earlier, with the unveiling, and you know, lets also understand that we are in the Democratic Party debating about how to cover more people. With health care. And provide more coverage on health care, and to reduce costs. Were not debating how to take it away from people, which is the debate on the republican side. You are comparing the false promises of the Republican Party that they paid for with election of trump on health care. That debate was about repeal. They never put a plan on the table. So you know, democrats have been criticized since the election of trump and even in 2016 for not standing for something. And putting aside what i believe about the policy, theyre standing for something. I understand that, but it is a small group saying for something, and a bunch of people that have the base, have the ability to do it. Joe donnelly, Claire Claire mccaskill. Some day, you, too, will run for the United States senator. And nothing wrong with finding ways to cover every american with health care and reducing their costs simplifying the system. This is one way to do it. I believe. And then they can stwhat they believe. We have to be careful, democratses have to be careful this doesnt bn become a litmus test or sort of a, are you progressive enough test . Its not. This is a debate over how to kov are mother people with health care. All democrats stand for that. Chris, youve been on a few times. I remember one time a coffee can test. In that the one thing you said is, obamacare got rid of the coffee cans. Meaning people had an ability to get health care. Not small towns everybody chipping in to help a neighbor with health care. Medicare for all, the Immediate Response in middle america, yes, and then what . I dont know if necessarily its going to be a yes for everyone, but it is, you know you have a situation right now where if youre on the individual plan, you have one option in most places. And youre seeing a real serious premium increase. So for a lot of people like farmers or Small Business people, employers for Small Businesses, it is an option. I kind of looked at this situation today, though, as republicans have their push on the tax plan. What did democrats and hardcore liberals have . Really didnt have anything and now suddenly have anted in with a push again on single pay perp this is you have taxes, tax cuts on one side. Single pay other than the other. Cut the tax base tremendously, or increase taxes, increase costs to fund everybody. This is your balancing act right here between the two bases essentially. That is a stark vision. A stark veision and with all due respect to the senator and my colleague stephanie here, thats a great vision and plan, but no ones talking about it. Its not something moving through the rank and file of america, that i want more health care now. Yeah, there are issues on the health care side of the equation. Knot no doubt about it. But for a lot of folks around the country, its kind of settled. Other things distracted their attention, but this is not something thats a priority and in fact you put it very well. The president is still talking about cutting taxes. Democrats spending 1. 4 trillion. Right. A whiplash thing. Pause there. I do wonder, though, shouldnt democrats be focused on making obamacare work first before asking the public whether they can do this . Well talk about that after the break. Coming up, tough news out of florida as the impact of irma continues to grow. Well explain. Plus hurricane damage extending well beyond the u. S. Mainland. Talk with the governor of the u. S. Virgin islands about the long road to recovery there. Managing blood sugar is a series of smart choices. And when you replace one meal. Or snack a day with glucerna. Made with carbsteady. To help minimize blood sugar spikes. You can really feel it. Now with 30 less carbs and sugars. Glucerna. And lifes beautiful moments. Ns get between you flonase outperforms the 1 nondrowsy allergy pill. It helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. Pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. Flonase changes everything. Welcome back. People in florida are trying to begin picking up the pieces after Hurricane Irma. Lights are starting to come on in more parts of the state, but 4. 5 million customers are still without power across the southeast. It is the largest real electrification effort in u. S. History, believe it or not and the lack of power is sadly adding to the storms death toll. This has been a chilling day. At least eight people died after a nursing home lost power in hollywood, florida. 115 residents were evacuated from the facility thats been in the dark since earlier in the week. Florida governor rick scott says he is demanding answers. A lot of people want investigations. Meanwhile, the second nursing home with 110 residents was evacuated in miami beach this afternoon. In light of the situation in hollywood, no deaths but some taken to a local hospital as a precaution. Remember, no power means no air conditioning, and police say temperatures at the nursing home were in the triple digits. Remote areas of the florida keys, rescue teams are going door to door for people that rode out irma looking for assistance. Most structures in the keys received major damage from irmas intense winds. White house says President Trump does plan to visit naples tomorrow. U. S. Navy ships are off the florida coast to help with relief efforts there assisting in search and rescue op