We e going to get rid of nafta for once and for all. That turns into a decision to negotiate instead. Last night the president took a victory lap in a campaignstyle stop in pennsylvania. We are keeping one promise after another. This morning ill talk exclusively with the Vice President , mike pence, who joined me here live. Plus, two senators from opposite sides of the aisle on what it would take for our two parties to finally work together. Angus kane and Susan Collins are here live. And winners and losers. What President Trumps tax outline could really mean for the people who support him the most. Joining me for insight and analysis, Chris Matthews, host of hardball at msnbc. Helene cooper, from the New York Times. Nbc news political analyst nicolle wallace. And Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise institute. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest run ini Television Show in nbc history, celebrating its 70th year, this is meet the press with chuck todd. President trump certainly looked like he was eager to cross the finish line. But this week the president has struggled to put big legislative points on the board. He has won the confirmation of neil gorsuch. The Supreme Court rolled back quite a few regulations and stayed true to his promise to restrict immigration. But in what may be the most revealing moment of the week, the Republican House rejected his call for a 1 billion down payment for the wall with mexico. Like many president s before him, President Trump came to town promising to defeat washington. Like many predents before him, hes discovering that the washington empire knows hoto strike back. We are keeping one promise after another and, frankly, the people are really happy about it. Reporter in harrisburg, pennsylvania last night the president marked 100 days in office in his favorite element. Were going to have the wall. Dont worry about it. Major tax relief for the middle class. Were going to get the premiums down. Were going to get the deductibles way down. Were going to take care of every single need youre going to want to have taken care of, its not going to cost that kind of money. Reporter it is a stark contrast to this admission earlier in the week. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier. Reporter the 100day honeymoon is regarded, politically at least, as the easiest part of a president s job. On the campaign trail, governing looked easy. So a lot of politicians said you cant get mexico to pay for the wall. I said, its going to be so easy. Youre going to have such Great Health Care at a tiny fraction of the cost. And it is going to be so easy. President ials easy. Reporter but of the ten major pieces of legislation mr. Trump promised in his contract with the american voter, none have been accomplished. If mr. Trump is still battling washington, then washington appears to be winning. Health care is stalled for the second time in the house. Im disappointed. Ill tell you, paul ryans trying very, very hard. Reporter the president s plan to overhaul thousands of pages of the federal tax code, so far just a single sheet of paper. We will let you know the specific details at the appropriate moment. Reporter a white house demand to include a down payment for a border wall in any spending bill . Dropped. Build the wall well build the wall. Reporter after promising to terminate nafta, instead on saturday, mr. Trump signed an executive order which simply launches a sixmonth review. Mr. Trump railed against socalled globalists during the campaign. Hillary clinton is the chief emissary for globalism. Wants to surrender america to globalism. A representative for globalists. You know what globalists are . Reporter but this week he called himself one, telling the wall street journal, hey, im a nationalist and a globalist. And then there is the russia investigation. It continues to hang over this presidency with new questions this week about former National Security advisor mike flynn. When they say we didnt vet, well, obama i guess didnt vet. Because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama Administration. Well, we got a lot to get to. No better person to talk to than my next guest, Vice President of the United States, mike pence. Welcome back, sir. Good to see you, chuck. Happy day 101. Thank you. The president made that remark that this was more work than in his previous life and he thought it would be easier. What has the president found harder than he expected so far . Well, i dont know that hes found it harder. I think he has found the range of issues as president of the United States at home and abroad given the path of the past administration to be particularly challenging. As the president s said, world is a mess. He spent an awful lot of time in the first 100 days reengaging the world. He sends many of us around the world. Were rebuilding our military. Were rethinking trade agreements that have been costing american jobs. Then here at home the president has rolled his sleeves up, literally, not just 100 days, chuck, but since the day after the election, the president has been out there fighting for american jobs and in 2017 alone more than 500,000 jobs have been created. You see optimism ang job creators in america, enthusiasm among consers across the country. Its just i think i think we went through a difficult time the last eight years but americas back under President Donald Trump fp. But in many ways, hes found himself its almost Like Washington has either moved him or his has defeated him so far. Would you accept that . You look at his positions on nato, or even the pullback on nafta a little bit, what he has said about china. Its all falling into the washington conventional wisdom. Oh, i dont i dont really share your perspective on that, with all due respect, chuck. I mean on the international scene, heres a president who said that nato had a change, that our nato allies had to begin to step up to begin to share the burden of the cost of our common defense. And they are. Theyre also changing the mission of nato to focus more on terrorism. Thats exactly what the president called for when i mean he didnt change on nato, nato changed. But nato changed years ago. Natos been at the forefront in afghanistan fighting terrorism. Nato hes not the first president to complain that the rest of the nato nations dont pay their fair share. Well, most of them dont. The president s going to be visiting nato in just a couple of weeks and hell deliver that strong message again and i know the secretarygeneral is Standing Shoulder to shoulder with him. But, look, i think you look at what this president has done, come to washington, d. C. To fight for the forgotten man and women of this country and they see him doing it each and every day. I mean he announced this week that were going to renegotiate nafta. In the early days of the administration, we got out of the Transpacific Partnership which, as the president said, would have made naftas failures pale in comparison. He literally each and every day has been out there fighting to keep his word to the American People. And hes, frankly, been fighting against the galeforce wind of the establishment here in washington, d. C. , and frankly, fighting against the galeforce wind of many in the National Media who would constantly like to change the subject away from the president s relentless effort to keep his promises to the American People opinion one promise had to do with a ton of legislative action. These are the pieces of legislation he promised to at least introduce and begin fighting for. No one said he was going to sign all of this, that i will give you. Tax reform, offshoring jobs, infrastructure, school choice, health care, child care, immigration, ethics reform, military, crime and drugs. The only place where theres been any action actually in congress is really on health care. So whats taken so long getting these other aspects introduced . Or was it an overpromise . Well, no, it wasnt an overpromise. Remember, this president has already signed more bills in the first 100 days than any president since harry truman. I mean hes literally 13 different pieces of legislation that have rolled back job killing regulations from the Obama Administration signed into law. Hes taken executive okay, but were not on health care, were not on tax reform. We have im talking the big signature pieces of legislation. But he signed over 30 different executive orders on virtually every one of those topics that you just referred to. And were working with the congress. I think health care reform, repealing, replacing obamacare, is just around the corner. Because this president is driving relentlessly toward an agenda to make America Great again. I got to tell you, when we were out visiting a factory yesterday near harrisburg, pennsylvania, you saw the big crowds, the thunderous crowds, virtually unanimous support of the people who supported us in last falls election. But was even more inspiring to me, as we walk the shop room floor, not just the Business Owners expressing enthusiasm for the president s plan to cut business taxes and cut taxes across the board, but the guys that had paused from working on the line, to reach out to this president and just thank him for being there. Somebody said to me recently thatverybody that puts on a steeltoed bt ins couny knows theyve got somebody fighting for them every day, and it is absolutely true, and it is President Donald Trump. Lets get out of atmospherics and get into some details. Talking about health care a little bit. I know youve been working hard on this, in many ways back and forth, people see you ducking into different congressional offices. One of them has to do with this socalled macarthur amendment that moderates on the other side are worried about. I wouldnt be surprised if they pass something. But im not for it. Im just telling you. It could affect people with preexisting conditions, and it will make insurance probably much more expensive for them in some cases inaccessible. It doesnt help the people i represent. Youve heard this concern which is that if you essentially eliminate these essential benefits you give the states the opportunity to essentially take out the protection for preexisting conditions, or if you do keep it, making it so that those folks are guaranteed to be paying a lot more for Health Insurance. If that is the case, how do you pass this thing . First before i get to that, lets begin with the fact that obamacare has failed. I mean it literally is collapsing all over country. Insurance companies are fleeing a lot of folks that is a very debatable point, mr. Vice president. In frness. That is a very debatable point. There are states around the country where literally where people in half of the state have no choice for Health Insurance at all. People have seen their insurance premiums skyrocket. The American People know that we need to repeal and replace obamacare. And President Trump, from the first day of this administration, has been working every single day to keep that promise to the American People. And i have to tell you, the legislative process is often slow. Nobody knows it better than you. And yourself. You were a member of congress. Whats the old saying . If you like sausage, dont go where they make it. Were making law here and were unmaking one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern american history. And on this point, congress obviously wasnt ready to begin the process of repealing obamacare little more than a month ago. But i think were close, and it is owing to the fact that youre seeing members of congress coming together to repeal the onerous taxes and penalties that people pay if they dont have insurance in obamacare, to expand Health Savings accounts, to give governors like my friend john kasich the ability allnew flexibility to improve medicaid for their most vulnerable citizens. But were also keeping our promises to protect people who have preexisting conditions. Besides protecting them, are you going to be able to prevent their premiums from skyrocketing . Thats the concern. If you isolate them into risk pools that the inevitable impact is the rise in premiums. How do you protect that . I think the way you protect that is, first and foremost you make it very clear. As we did in the first bill, but with the amendments that have taken place, in the last several weeks, and come forward, it is even better still, that were basically borrowing an idea from the state of maine that has seen a significant drop in premiums for people on their Health Insurance because you take people that have preexisting and costly conditions and put them into a highrisk pool and you subsidize that so that it is affordable to those individuals. So youre guaranteeing coverage for preexisng conditions. Anflexibility that youre referring to in this latest macarthur amendment, states can only apply for that waiver in flexibility if they have either a federal or state highrisk pool that guarantees that people will be able to have coverage. And it will be affordable. By the way, terrific segue. I have two maine senators coming on the show later today. I will ask senator Susan Collins about that maine risk pool. I want to go to taxes here. By the way, on health care, i know the president stressed the house votes in the next couple of weeks. You going to be able to sign a new version of health care, whether its full repeal and replace or not, by the end of this year . I believe through a series of bills, that first one that we are hopeful there will be action in the house of representatives soon, and through executive action, and through further legislation that well deliver on our promise to repeal and replace obamacare, and give the American People the kind of World Class Health care they deserve. Before the end of the year . Not making that promise . I hope before the end of the year. Look, again, i go back to the first point, chuck. I know you say it is debatable, get out across the country. Obamacare has failed. Every promise of obamacare has been broken. Premiums have skyrocketed. People have lost their insurance, lost the ability to choose their doctors. Weve got to do better. We will under President Trump. I want to ask you on tax reform. A lot of estimates. Lo, were very early in this process. Im well aware, wont get into too many of e weeds. But e overall impact looks like a big shot at the deficit. Some people estimate as much as 7 trillion over 10 years, as small as 3 trillion. If this increases the deficit, will the president still sign it . We have nearly a 20 trillion National Debt that doubled under the last administration, because of a struggling american economy. We just got the numbers. 1. 6 . The strongest economy on earth growing at less than 2 . Less than 1 in the first quarter. Look, all of those statistics and talking with Everyday Americans and job creators across this country attest to the fact that the American People are crying out for tax relief. We have one of the highest Corporate Tax rates in the world. The president s going to drive to lower that to 15 to make businesses large and small more competitive. And were going to lower the tax rate to three marginal rates for every american and unleash the boundup energy of the american economy. How are you going to pay for it . It is going to increase the deficit. Everything you outlined will increase the deficit, period. How do you prevent that . The only way were going to meet the obligations that we face in deficits today are longterm obligations in our entitlements, chuck, is through growth. The president has a growth vision for the american ecomy that begins with allowing the American People to keep more of what they earn. The president has proposed one of the largest tax cuts in american history. I have to tell you, the early response on capitol hill has been very encouraging. I understand people are happy about it. But you are going to increase the deficit. Well, maybe in the short term. But the truth is, if we dont get this economy growing at 3 , or more, as the president believes that we can, were never going to meet the obligations that weve made today. Quickly, on south korea, i know you were in asia. Theres some news this morning that we the National Security advisor, general mcmaster, has reassured or south korea allies about Missile Defense, about extra protections and that the United States is going to pay for this. President trump said south korea would. How you going to square that . Well, when the president asked me to go to south korea and japan and visit our allies in the region, it was to reassure them during these troubled times where we see increased provocations from the regime in north korea that american stands with them, america will defend them. And i have to tell you that the bonds between the people of south korea and the people of the United States forged during the korean war are immutable and unshakeable. And ho