Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Velshi And Ruhle 20170928

When i was laying out on that ball field, the first thing i did once i was down and i couldnt move anymore is i just started to pray. And i will tell you it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm knowing that at that point it was in gods hands. But i prayed for very specific things. Ill tell you, pretty much every one of those prayers was answered. And they were some pretty challenging prayers i was putting in gods hands. But he really did deliver for me and my family. It just gives you that renewed faith and understanding that the power of prayer is something you just cannot underestimate. So im definitely a living example that miracles really do happen. The first place i want to go to thank true angels along the way starts with the United States Capitol Police. When i was elected majority whip as you know the elected leadership has a security detail. And if anybody ever wondered why were assigned security detail, i surely found out that day. And let me tell you. I want to specifically mention crystal griner and david bailey. [ cheers and applause ] crystal and david were assigned to my security detail that morning. And day in and day out, theyre part of our fami. Jennifer and i truly do treat them as part of our family because theyre with us everywhere we go. On that day was no different. On june 14th, they came 6 30 in the morning we arrived at the baseball field. Just to play and practice for a game of charity baseball. And nobody would have suspected what ensued. And yet as soon as those shots were fired, ill tell you when i was laying on the ground, one of the things i prayed for is that david and crystal would be successful in carrying out their duties. And both david and crystal are incredibly well trained, incredibly professional. But when i was laying there, not long after the first couple of shots were fired, i could hear a different caliber of weapon. And that told me that they had immediately engaged the shooter. And let me tell you, if they didnt act so quickly and even after being shot both themselves, continued to engage the shooter and ultimately got him down which not only saved my life but saved the life of a lot of other people that are here in this chamber today. Crystal couldnt be with us today, but david bailey is with us. David, you are my hero. You saved my life. Thank you so much. Tiger blood. I also owe thanks to peoe on e field with me. Right after the shooter was down, a lot of m colleagues came and ran to come check on me. And one i want to mention in particular is one of those things that jennifer and i call the Little Miracles that happened that day and throughout the next few months of our recovery. Happened to have Brad Winstrop on the field that day. He was one of the first to come to my side. As you know, not only is brad a doctor but hes a decorated army ranger that served in combat. One of his roles in missions was to take care of people that were wounded before they went off on the helicopter to go get prepared. Who would have thought god put brad on the field with me because the tuournakit he aplayd saved my life. Where are you . Right down front. Once i arrived at medstar hospital, i was a little bit out of it at that point. But luckily i ended up in the trusted hands of dr. Jack s sarkssava and his med team. They gave me a Second Chance at life. And through many, many surgeries where my life was truly in the balance a few of those, they did a wonderful job of making sure i was well taken care of and ultimately made it through that point so i could get to dr. Golden and his team who actually put me back together again which was quite the task. To the point im able to relearn how to walk again. Thank you for being here and thanks for your teams work. Above all else, i want to thank my lovely wife jennifer. Those of you who know her know how strong jennifer is. Shes an incredibly warm and loving wife. And shes an incredible mother o children. And somehow through the late nights and the surgeries and all the other things, she managed to hold our family together. To make sure that harrison and madison were cared for as well. And still to this day shes not only by my side but shes also serving as a great mother. I am lucky to have you. Thanks for being here. Love you, sweetheart. And while its been a challenging time for my family, the thing that really overwhelmed us from the start was the outpouring of love and warmth and prayers from southeast louisiana, the district that i represent. We saw blood drives at st. Catherine. We saw prayer groups at First United Methodist Church in slidell. But what we also saw were prayer groups and well wishes being given from people wed never met before throughout all of your districts. And you shared it with me. And it was one of those things that was hard for us to completely comprehend that you had people from all walks of life that had never met me before and yet they saw what had happened and they just wanted to offer prayers. And let me tell you to each and every one of you and please convey it to your constituents and i sure convey it to my constituents back home, that warmth and love gave us just incredible strength that you cant imagine during some really, really difficult times. And so that is one more example of the power of prayer. Something else i saw first hand wasnt a surprise to me. But it was the outpouring of love from you my colleagues. Both republican and democrat. I know right after the shooting we were practicing on the republican side and the democrats were practicing too. And my colleague and friend and sometimes arch rival in baseball from back home in new orleans unfortunately the star of the game too many times Cedric Richmond somehow figured out which hospital i was sent to and got there probably the first person there on the scene in his baseball uniform to check on me. So many others of you, again, both republican and democrat, reached out in ways that i cant express the gratitude and how much it means to me, jennifer, and our whole family. It really does show the warm side of congress that very few people get to see. And so i want to thank each and every one of you for that. You dont know how much it meant to me. When i come back into this chamber here today, just seeing the faces of all of you, it just means more to me than you can imagine. So thanks for all of that love and support. A lot of people ask did this event change you. And i think those of you who know me know im an optimistic person. Im just a fun loving person. Im from south louisiana and we believe you work hard and you play hard. Is an event like this really going to change that . And the first thing i can tell you is yes, it changed me, but not in the ways you might think. Its only strengthened my faith in god and its really crystallized what shows up as the goodness in people. I got to see that goodness in people. And so while some people might focus on a tragic event and an evil act, to me all i remember are the thousands of acts of kindness and love and warmth that came out of this and kept me going through all of it. Again, just reemphasize just how wonderful most people are and how much compassion there is out there. And finally i want to talk about something that, i guess, hit me and probably struck me more than anything that i was not expecting. That was the outpour og of love and support from World Leaders. People i have met and known. Benjamin netanyahu and i had conversations from the hospital. King abdul of jordan who so many of us met reached out. But other World Leaders also reached out. People id never met before. And that touched me in a different way. Because each and every one of us, we come here and we fight for the things that we believe in. I have passionate beliefs. For some reason some of you dont agree with all of those. But its so important that we come up here. We are the peoples house. This is the place where these ideas are supposed to be debated. And we fight through those issues. But ultimately we come together on whatever the board shows as 218. If you can put the majority together, thats what rules the day. Its so important as were having those political battles we dont make them personal. Because one of the things i saw and i guess this is the thing that really kept coming back to me as i tried to make sense of all this and comprehend the outpouring of love that i saw. It kept coming back to those World Leaders. You know why would leaders from around the world ive never met before reach out and say steve, we hope you can get back to work and come through this. What it says is, sure, they cared about my well being. But more than that, they saw this as an attack on all of us. They saw this as an attack on the institution of the United States congress and our government. And they really count on us to be successful. Look, we all know the United States is the leader of the free world. Its something that we, frankly, had the honor as a country to hold as a distinction for generations. And yet, when you look at that title, what it really means is that there are people all around the world that want freedom, maybe that have freedom, but they know the United States being strong is critical to the rest of the world having the opportunity for freedom. But thats why im so excited to be back. Because as were fighting through the issues of the day, lets just keep in mind that we rise above the challenges of the day and understand that its not just us and our constitntand the country, the United States ths counting on us being successful. People all around the world that believe in freedom are counting on us as well. And we will deliver for them. Thats why i am so honored to be back here in the house serving with you. God bless each and every one of you and god bless the United States of america. [ cheers and applause ] wow. Great to see him back. That, of course, was House Majority whip Steve Scalise speaking on the house floor for the First Time Since he was shot in june. What a morning. That is really, really amazing. It was, you remember, the week afterward, the days afterward were filled with talk of bipartisanship, members of congress saying this is a side of congress the public doesnt get to see. Thats what Steve Scalise said. The warmth he felt, the love he felt from democrats, from republicans, from everybody really gave him a real sense of the good things that congress does and the camaraderie that exists there. It was a heartwarming speech and a big rousing welcome from every Single Member of the house. Democrat, republican, staff, everybody on their feet for Steve Scalise. Its not just bipartisanship, its humanity. Thank you for joining us this morning. Im stephanie rhule. Im ali velshi. Lets listen to this for a second. Gentlemen yields back the remainder of his time. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I ask to speak out of order to join you in thanking god for the return of our colleague Steve Scalise and to do to have him do so in such a strong way. You were brief, mr. Speaker, ill be even briefer. Thank god our prayers are answered. I take great pride in steve because were both italian americans and i think thats a sort of some of his strength. Right, steve . I, too, want to say how proud we are of jennifer, harrison, and madison and of your staff and of our first responders, our Capitol Police who took such good care of you. But if it is as you said an attack on you is an attack on all. We all came through this magnificently because of your strength. So the day we came to the floor when you werent here, we were all team scalise. Today we are team scalise. Thank you for being so wonderful. God bless you. [ applause ] fiveminute voting will continue. The question is on passage of the bill, those in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. The ayes have it, the bill is passed. From california. The yeas and nees are requested. A sufficient number have risen. Members will record their vote by electronic device. This will be a fiveminute vote. All right. The United States Congress Getting back to work now, regular order for them. But just as we were tossing to garrett haake, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came up there to offer her very generous words. It was a great time after that. What a horrible event that led to interviews that you were doing and other of our colleagues were doing on capitol hill where democrats and republicans would be sitting next to each other talking about the fundamental respect that they do a very poor job of letting the American Public know that they actually have for each other. And they were reiterating all of that. Lets bring in a guy who spends a lot of time on the hill. Msnbcs garrett haake. Garrett, you were there for a joyous morning, surely, on the floor. Reporter yeah, absolutely, stephanie. And to alis point. Thats part of covering Congress People dont see. There is actually a lot of respect and friendship across the aisle. And its never more clear than what you just saw with Steve Scalise coming back out here. Thats genuine emotion. Hes someone who is genuinely well liked on both sides of the aisle. And so many people were so upset and so shaken by that shooting a few months ago and have been truly, you know, asking about him. Its always sort of an undercurrent of the conversation here on the hill. Whenever you see one of his staffers, hows he doing . Whats he looking like . Whens he coming back . So just a huge sense of relief here on the hill. I should point out i saw probably half a dozen at lea senators coming over, folks from both parties who wanted to be a part of this moment. That really erased even just for a few minutes any sense of partisanship over the contentious issues. Instead seeing people wrap their arms around each other as americans and as people who went through this incredibly dark day and dark series of days. One other thing ill add is one thing that jumped out to me. After congressman scalise thanked the Capitol Police officer who is saved his life in the moment, he went back to thank the doctors who saved his life later talking about how touch and go some of those surgeries were. I dont think even now we have accurately and adequately reported how much danger he was really in. I know in the moment i was in the field we talk about how he was shot in the leg. People down played the seriousness of that. His life was very much in danger not just for that day but several days afterward in those surgeries. You got a sense of the gravity of how serious the injuries were listening to him speak on the floor just now. Were seeing Steve Scalise that was him walking into the chamber before he started speaking. You see the rounds of applause hes getting, the warm hugs. The genuine happiness of people there that one of their own is safe and back. And garrett, i dont know if hes going to be walking out or near you but if he is and you talk to him, just interrupt us. It is kind of its important to note, i think there was a time, garrett, before you were covering congress where democrats and republicans would share homes together, theyd play squash together, dine together. More than that, there was a reaganstyle time where they moved their families to d. C. No difficult the day you had against one another on opposite sides of the aisle on the hill, when you left work, uyou were o the same side of the field on your kids Little League teams. This seems to harken back to those times when it was a camaraderie more than just an adversarial relationship. Reporter thats right, ali. Sorry, ive got my head on a swivel here. Seeing people start to leave the chamber here. Youre absolutely right. You know, a lot of people point to this short work Week Congress has now that theyre essentially here a few days a week. Theres not the time to build up those bonds and build up those friendships like there used to be in the past. A longer week, people were less likely to fly home to their districts. In part because you werent necessarily painted as a washington insider in a lot of ways in congress used to be a good thing. It used to be something that meant you could get things done for your district. Now its looked at as a bad thing. People want to be out of here all the time. Scalise is a member of leadership. Sorry to keep doing this, but im going to keep looking over my shoulder. Hes somebody whos going to have a lot more contact with members particularly on the republican side. But on both parties, many members would have themselves. So if youre a republican from texas and a republican from california, may not have as much to say to each other. But Steve Scalise. How was it . It was awesome. Reporter well, very brief comment there from speaker ryan hes working his way through the hallway not talking. But he said it was awesome. Awesome to have Steve Scalise back on the floor. Im sure well hear that over and over. It looked genuine. We end up having conversations where youve heard from people and everybodys got platitudes about whats going on. Your photographer very effectively has panned off to the side. So were also going to be watching for Steve Scalise. But the comments today like they were the day that congress came together after Steve Scalise was shot had a genuineness to them. Maybe im just being optimistic, but i wanted to believe that congress changed a little bit the day he was shot and was reminded of those changes today and that maybe things like the Problem Solvers Caucus and things like that are an outflowing ali, these politicians are people. And since then you have seen more participation in the Problem Solvers Caucus. Since health care isnt making its way for the Graham Cassidy bill. As soon as that went down, Problem Solvers Caucus sent a letter to the white house. You might not see bipartisanship happen in terms of actual results, but youre seeing it in changing the conversation. Were see it on this show. We get republicans and democrats saying were not going to agree on everything, but we are going to carve out the things that we can agree upon and move forward on those so that the American People dont think their dax dollars are going entirely to waste. Ali velshi, rand paul going to the white house trying to push reform not necessarily peal at this point in terms of obamacare bei able to sell insurance across state lines. I mean, thats a youd almost call that a bipartisan move from republican to republican. Garrett, what are you sensing . Do you sense any of this . That theres work getting done thats not necessarily health care and maybe its not even tax reform, but there are other things that folks are trying to get done . Reporter absolutely. Especially on the senate side, ali. Its a different nature of how things get done over there. Because its a smaller body. The personal relationships matter a lot more. And its very common to see people cosponsoring pieces of legislation with members of the other party. Look at Lindsey Graham and dick durbin working together on the d. R. E. A. M. Ers issue. Youve got others talking about bills to protect this special counsel. So on the senate side in particular, that is far more common to see people working together to get things done just because you need to build coalitions so much more than you do on the house side where no one member quite has as much power and authority to get things done in big blocks. But i think thats absolutely true that there is a little bit more of a spirit of than an issue Like Health Care that has become so divisive and so red hot nobodys really going to cross over and sort of lean on the other side. All right, garrett. I guess when you hear that Steve Scalise is coming out, youll hear it and sense it. So well leave you for a minute. Were going to take a commercial break. But if you get Steve Scalise, yell to our control room and stephanie will break out of a commercial. When we return, guess what ali and i are going to do. Break down tax reform. President trump said, believe me, this isnt going to help me personally. Im sorry, mr. President , we dont believe you. Yeah. Well be back with you. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends, three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad. Then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. 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Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those whove had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can do more with my family. Talk to your doctor today. See if lyrica can help. Marie callenders Turkey Pot Pie staa rich, flavorful gravy. In and a crust made from scratch. Because she knows that when its cold outside, its good food and good company that keep you warm inside. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. The morning walk until. It. Wasnt. Dont let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. Even if you reach your a1c goal you are still at risk for heart attack or stroke. Talk to your Health Care Provider today about diabetic heart disease. And find out more at heartoftype2. Com. Your heart and type 2 diabetes. Make the connection. Welcome back to velshi rhule. It is tax time. Weve been waiting for this for so long. A tax plan to sort of be unveiled. I will tell you in truth, it hasnt fully been unveiled. We have a little more meat on the bones than we had before. A little. The president tweeting just a few hours ago the following. Democrats dont want massive tax cuts. How does that win elections . Great reviews for tax cut and reform bill. Well, this morning the president and other republicans are pushing the plan out. Its really for the middle income people and its for the working people and its for jobs. There is not another thing we can do in congress, in law that will do economy, lift wages, help people t a raise, and bring confidence into our economy and hit that 3 growth average we used to have. We flatten out the brackets and lower the rates for every american so they can keep more of what they earn. Thats just not the case. And if you want to make the argument whether it does or doesnt directly help the middle class, you can have that argument. But for paul ryan to say this is going to directly create jobs and growth, theres just no empirical evidence proving that to be true. And today, this plan is faced with a lot of controversy. This morning critics are arguing it is not clear how theyre even going to pay for this thing. According to the nonpartisan committee, 5. 8 trillion bucks in revenue is going to be lost in the next decade to lower rates and other changes. 3. 6 trillion of that would be recouped by eliminating deductions for individuals and businesses. But the plan could potentially add 2. 2 trillion to the deficit. The deficit. And you know republicans dont like to do that. So i think this is a perfect time for lets talk about the president s claims about whether this plan is really about middle income working people. That quote, i think theres little benefit of people of wealth that the president made. Lets take a look at that. He said that. I think theres very little benefit for people of wealth. All right. The claim is that. The facts are that they are proposing to eliminate the estate tax. Let me tell you for people who say the estate tax is for middle income people, you dont pay the estate tax on anything that is below 5. 49 million this year. It doesnt matter how you define middle class, nobody with 5. 49 million falls into the middle class. The estate tax is for the rip and super rich. By the way, thats what it is. President trump says i think theres very little benefit for people of wealth. Reducing the top tax rate from 39. 6 to 35 , while there are some people who earn about 200,000 who will fall into the 39. 6 , mostly this is for the top 5 of earners and the top 1 . So anybody who tells you the rich are not getting a tax cut, theyre absolutely 100 getting a tax cut. Before you go on, the fact that President Trump continues to say it wont help him. He has pledged that he is a billionaire. How does that not help him . Its going to help him. Theres two things in particular about this tax plan that will help him. First of all, many his businesses are socalled pass through businesses. Which means you have a business, you take money in, you take deductions and the remainder goes through your personal income tax. Up until now youve paid up to 39. 6 . Thats going to go gown to 25 . There are a lot of Small Businesses that have these pass through corporations. But the Median Income of those businesses tends to be in the doveral hundreds of thousands of ars. This is the one you were looking at here, stephanie. Eliminated the alternative minimum tax. There are things that are wrong with the amt, but fundamentally eliminating it largely has an impact on people who are earning 200,000 to 1 million. There are people who make the argument at 250,000 if you live in manhattan, thats like earning 80,000 in cincinnati. And thats a valid argument to have. But the bottom line is this isnt middle class by most standards. One other point, whether or not you think you should get rid of amt. To the president s point this wont benefit him, the one year the one tax return we saw which would be a 31 million difference if he would not have paid amt. For the president to say this is not helpful to him, thats a lie. Trump paid 31 million more than he would have in 2005 because he fell under alternative minimum tax. Again, there are regular working people who incidentally and accidentally fell into amt because this wasnt indexed properly to inflation. Thats a topic for discussion. We should probably index that properly. But thats the claims that the president made. Of course the estate tax which i know michael strain is going to join with us and tell us is great. Again, that 5. 49 million threshold, its a rd to sell to the middle class. Whether or not its great, again, for the president to say it wont benefit him, maybe it wont benefit him beuse hell be dead and buried but it will certnly benefit his children. Lets bring . Jared bernstein. Hes an msnbc contributor. Also michael strain director of Economic Policy studies at the American Enterprise institute. Mr. Strain, i want to start with you. Republicans are making the argument that cutting the Corporate Tax rate will have a direct impact on middle america. Jobs will be created. People will get raises. Show me empirical evidence where that will be the case. And if the true goal is to get corporates to hire more people, why not directly leave the income tax where it is and double the deduction for employee costs . That would be a direct hit saying heres what you can do to hire more. As it stands, companies are going to have more money and they can do with it whatever they want. Well, i think its a good question. There is a difference between who pays taxes according to the letter of the law. And who pays taxes in terms of the economic effect of taxes. Right. And a lot of research has gone into trying to figure out who actually bears the burden of the statutory Corporate Tax. Im sure jared would agree that a large share of that burden is born by workers. In order, workers less becse of a higher Corporate Tax rate. But if it paid less taxes lets see what jared says. Jared, do you agree with that . I disagree with that. I think the conventional estimate of that is that somewhere around 80 of the instance falls on shareholders, profit holders, people who own the corporation. What about that other 20 , jared. I was just doing that math. That leaves 20 for labor but it doesnt tell you whose labor. What we have found is most of the cuts in the Corporate Tax accrue that 20 when they accrue to salaried workers at all its those on the top of the scale. So if you really wanted to help middle or Median Income workers, you certainly wouldnt try to do it through cutting the Corporate Tax rate. Michael, what do you think about lets go right to the heart of the matter. Because the president is selling this, i think somewhat disingenuously as this great boom for job creation. Draw me some kind of line. Crooked, straight, dotted, dashed, between what you can do with the tax code that directly results effectively in hiring of more people. Well, i think the question is whether or not over time certainly including time periods outside the tenyear budget window over the next 10, 15, 20 years. A lower statutory Corporate Tax rate and a lower statutory tax rate on pass through businesses increases the businesses to invest in the United States to grow or even to form if the first place and whether that in turn increases hiring. But that doesnt mean that hold on. Can i i got to cut through this and get to the nub of it. Our corporations are more profitable than theyve ever been. Theyre literally sitting on over 2 trillion of retained earnings. Thats cash on hand. If they wanted to invest it, they could. If they wanted to borrow more, they could. At very cheap rates. So this idea that you somehow have to bribe our corporations into investing more by cutting their rates further when theyre already crushing it, it just doesnt seem to match the set of economic facts about how well the corporate sector is performing already. And michael could i just add, if you want to im sure jared would agree that a tax reform is not only for the year in which the tax reform is enacted. And its certainly true that corporations have a lot of cash right now. And its certainly true that borrowing conditions are good right now for corporations. And profitability is very good for corporations. Thats not necessarily going to be true over the next 20 or 30 years. Its been since 1986 since we did the last tax reform. And weve and thats accrued to our benefit over the last several decades. But you are living to establish a tax framework that helps businesses over the coming decade. And focus on whetherhere are currently a lot of earnings on the sidelines thisear i missing the point. In the coming decades, we have to examine the type of business thats growing. And its automation. Its technology. Were not going to lower taxes and suddenly start manufacturing more. For example, there is no industry in the United States that manufactures clothing anymore. And im not saying you should or shouldnt have a border adjustment tax, but you are still going to have companies who are beholden to their shareholders and their customers produce goods overseas. Because the American People said i want goods cheap and i want them fast. Let me agree with michael for a second. I think our Corporate Tax code is very much in need of reform. I dont think it helps us that our corporate statutory rate is the highest in the world. And i would bring that down. And by the way, president obama proposed the same thing. However, thats not what were talking about here. Were not talking about tax reform. Were talking about tax cuts. As you heard, ali in his introduction, were talking about tax cuts that were down to those at the top of the scale. I happen to know that michael and i both care a lot about how the working class is actually doing. And youre simply not going to help them if you cut taxes, i think massively at the top of the scale at the same time youre adding over 2 trillion to the deficit undermining your ability to invest in programs that i know michael and i both share. Training, apprenticeships, boosting the earned income credit. The things that help middle income people. The corporate sector isnt hurting now. I dont expect it to be hurting x years from now. Yet i know who is hurting. And i know who needs help. I know they dont get it in this plan. Thats an interesting point, michael. This is an area we can agree upon, right . We want businesses to do well. We want individuals to do well. But there are things to stephanies earlier point about deductions for employee costs. Why dont we go directly to targeted areas of job growth . Because the president keeps giving speeches about how this is going to somehow reshore, its going to bring jobs back from overseas. And stephanie and i are just is does that. H part of i get its lowering taxes. But beyond that, what does that actually do other than make owners theres no lever that kicks wages up. Well, look. So i think jareds absolutely right that our Corporate Tax code is in serious need of reform. Sure. Hes also right, obviously, that president obama agreed with that. And i think jared is especially right to focus on the Deficit Impact of the kind of current framework that was put out yesterday. 2. 2 trillion in new debt is too much. And it needs to be paid for. And jareds right that the beneficial economic effects of lower statutory rates will be mitigated against undone to some degree by accumulating that much debt in the process. So i continue to argue that lower statutory rates will help encourage investment which will in turn create productivity over the longterm if its done right. Where i also completely agree with jared is its important to do it right and that means to do it in a fiscally responsible way. Okay. We and as we move through the process, well see how that happens. Were in early innings here. We still have to figure out how it all does get paid for, what negotiations come from it. But we appreciate i will say that i share your excitement about taxes, ali. I know you do. Good to see you guys. Thanks for being excited with us. Jared bernstein and michael strain. Stephanie and i are going to stay on this topic. Also well do it on velshi rhule on saturday at 12 00 eastern. Now to another big story and hope eight days after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island of puerto rico, the press secretary for puerto ricos secretary of state confirms Florida Governor rick scott is in puerto rico surveying the damage. And this morning Sarah Huckabee sanders announced on twitter that the administration is finally wa lly waiving the jt saying it will go into effect immediately. It is a nearly centuryold law that economists believe contributed to the current financial crisis. This waiver is a welcome relief to many including puerto ricos governor who says hes in constant touch with the white house but said more needs to be done. Weve also asked the dod to send some special troops over here specifically for transportation, fuel deployment, food deployment, medical engineering, and so forth. What we need is medical equipment, help. He needed scissors too to cut through the red tape. We point out before agrees to waive the jones act, the president said many people in the shipping industry said its not a good idea. We dont actually think of industries when were trying to save fellow americans from devastation. This critical need is for people like this who wrote an s. O. S. On the streets. You saw that of one coastal town. Contessa brewer joins us now from the port of san juan. Great to see you. We keep hearing supplies are comi i there are even backups at the port. Whats that look like to you . Reporter so ali, i want to set the scene for you here. When youre talking about the jones act, the reason why shipping executives are experiencing some consternation about waiving it is because theres already a bottle neck in the port of san juan. This shipping container just came in. Theres more than 400 Cargo Containers here. This is the top level. Theres a second level, a third level down. In order to get these Cargo Containers off, the port is running on 4,000 gallons of fuel every day to run generators so the cranes can lift them off, the trucks can get them off. But where are you going to put them . At this point, the executive says hes going to start stacking them out on this pier. When that doesnt work anymore, hes going to move them and start blocking in other containers of these essential supplies youre talking about. Medicine, food. Were talking about water and building equipment and supplies. Heres the problem. They say that lifting the jones act waiver does not move these supplies off of their yard at the terminal and to the people who need it most. It just creates more ships out in the harbor waiting to deliver it. And when the Puerto Ricans, the executives at this shipping company crowley one of the biggest shippers in puerto rico are looking around at all the supplies, theyre thinking of their neighbors, their friends, family, and fellow Puerto Ricans that arent getting it. Listen to what he had to tell me. Makes me sad and frustrated just to see that we have here all these goods and that people are out there are just begging in the need of such important supplies and they are all sitting here in this yard. Reporter a thousand Cargo Containers right now on vessels out in the harbor waiting to be unloaded. Again, what were being told is on the ground, its not that theres not enough fuel on the island to get to the delivery trucks. Its there no distribution to get there. That they need the Truck Drivers to be able to get to their jobs to have semitrucks filled with gas to be able to then come and pick up these containers and move them out. So lifting the jones act, you can see why they argue may not necessarily be so crucial to getting this island back up and running. I wanted to mention one more thing. There are 266 supermarkets right now that are ready to open. But they cant open because it takes fuel to run generators to open the Grocery Stores and they have no fuel. It all comes down to logistics, right . They need fuel in gas stations so people with vehicles can get to work, can fill up the tankers, can deliver the stuff. So the jones act may or may not have solved one problem. Now youve got a second problem right where you are at the port of san juan that theres stuff and there isnt a logistics mechanism. Supply chain. Reporter and while the streets sorry. I wanted to mention while the streets are clear around the port, you can see piles of trees and power lines and everything piled up on the side. As soon as you get out, the Truck Drivers are saying theyre encountering blocked roads and all kind of debris. They need to moved. They need the Construction Equipment in these containers to be able to clear the roads. All right. Contessa, thank you so much for joining us this morning. This is important reporting. Cnbcs contessa brewer. Joining us now, darren soto. Congressman, you are cosponsoring legislation for humanitarian aid to puerto rico. At this point, theyre getting a great deal of aid. What theyre missing is order. Is the answer is what they really need military action to come over and run things . We need a vast humanitarian surge of our military assets. Particularly our navy. We have the uss comfort finally arriving, finally a general, general kim of the army was appointed to help spearhead fema assets. Finally we have the jones act waived. But its been after over a week of trump being slow off the gates. And weve had to keep the pressure on for every single day to get some movement out of the administration. Why do you think the white house was slow out of the gates on this one . We didnt see those kinds of delays in harvey or in irma. Well, you could argue a couple things. One, i think they just vastly underestimated the damage there. And as people underestimated the damage there, and as people started coming through with their different videos and news reports started covering it, they realized its an island with 3. 3 million citizens that dont have power, dont have water, dont have food. You could also argue they just didnt have the political clout so they relied on allies like myself and others to advocate for them over the last week. Our reporters on the ground in puerto rico are at the airport, and theyve said threefourths of the people theyve spoken to arent just leaving temporarily, there leaving permanently, trying to ve to places like florida and texas. Do you think your state is ready for that kind of migration . We are certainly pushing our state legislature and the Scott Administration to get ready. Ive spoken with our school officials, our hospitals and other local officials about it. Were going to need food, were going to need shelter, were going to need our schools to be ready for enrollment midweek. Im really proud of Central Florida just after getting over Hurricane Irma opening their houses. But yes, were expecting thousands in florida and texas over the next coming weeks. Our thoughts remain with your fellow Puerto Ricans. Our thoughts remain and so do our people. If you can help, go to msnbc. Com puerto rico. What the democrats could gain as donald trump promotes his new tax plan. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. For tech advice. Dell Small Business advisor so you can get business done. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. Welcome back tove velshi ruhle. President trump is going back to the drawing board after repeal and replace obamacare collapsed. I will see if i can get a plan thats even better. So i will negotiate with democrats. From the republican standpoint, we have the votes. Well vote in january, february or march. And with republicans split on how to overhaul the obamacare, some dems could get a vote. We bring in michael of the state assembly. Good to see you, michael. Good to be with you, ali and stephanie. They said they have the votes. They dont. They tried this a few times and they dont have the votes. They controlled both houses but yet there arent enough people who can agree what Good Health Care looks like and we might come out with the same result with tax reform. Is there a middle groun with republicans and decrs, or will democratshoose not to do that . Its absolutely in our interest to help the republicans help the American People. We offer our thoughts and prayers with the congressman. Its great to see him back on the floor. When it comes to health care, weve regularly said we want to work with americans when it comes to health care. We should be bringing down the cost. We should be making sure preexisting conditions are covered. When you talk about taxes, the fact that theres conversations not around earned income tax credit to actually help communities that need help every single day, so were ready to come to the table. But what we continue to see out of the trump pence ryan agenda, they just want to help the top 1 . The proposal does not help americans and we want to come to the table to do so. President trump had that brief love affair with Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi, and some members of the Democratic Party were really angry about it and said do not normalize this president. There are a large portion of democrats that are simply members of the resistance who will accept nothing out of this administration, and we speak to members of the problemsolvers caucus all the time who have said their bigger roadblock is the first left than it is the right. How do you reconcile that . Were uniti our Democratic Party. How . Were always going to have family divisions o all sides. You look at what weve been able to do around the country, the fact we had the unite tour to fight back across the country of getting obama supporters, hillary supporters, bernie supporters, third Party Supporters united across the country. The fact weve had eight pickups in special elections this year demonstrates that democrats are moving forward in a very positive and productive way. The fact were seeing through a resistant summer more than 2,000 events across the country trying to get people involved in all the states. The fact that they just picked up that seat in florida. We may not agree in all policies, but its far bigger than a policy, its about the people. Thats the reason we have a new Democratic Division and a new dnc division. But when you have people suffering in puerto rico, you have people suffering in the virgin islands, you have people suffering with health care, we have to be united in this political crisis. Michael blake, thank you for joining us this morning. Michael is the vice chair of the democratic committee. We cant forget, there are people without homes in places like texas and florida. That brings an end for us. That was a fast hour. Part of it is its fun working with you. Not always. Thank you for joining velshi ruhle. People probably say, those two have no chemistry. Hes always interrupting. You can see this guy at 3 00 and i wont be interrupting at all that hour, i promise. I dont think of it as interruption, i think of it as just its a loving conversation. Right now time for some news on Andrea Mitchell reports. Desperate times for millions in puerto rico still without water, food or power. The president lifts a law thats been slowing down relief shipments as criticism mounts for the federal response. We are here, were pushing and we need america to unite around this rather than pointing the fingers right now. The bottom line is we are committed and busting our rear ends to do everything we can. The social network. Congress says twitter may have been more involved in spreading russian propaganda than facebook. Congress