NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Thom Tillis

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:

Joining me now is the vice-chair of the committee in charge of getting Senate Republicans elected or reelected, it's Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Senator Tillis, welcome back to Meet the Press, sir.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Good morning.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me start with the Saudi Arabia issue and, and the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. You probably may not have seen, but at least heard, the, the timeline. It took the Saudis 17 days. Same question that I had for Senator Durbin. Is there any part of the Saudi government's explanation that you find credible?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

No, not at this point. I agree with everything Dick Durbin just said. We've, we've got to get to the bottom of it. In Saudi Arabia, you do not do something of this magnitude without having clearance from the top. We need to find out who that is and hold him accountable.

CHUCK TODD:

Are you as convinced as Senators Corker and Durbin are, as I just -- that, that the crown prince himself ordered this killing?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Well, it looks like it, based on the people who were involved in the actual act. I think that's why we need the help from the Turkish officials to get as much information as we have, draw a conclusion. And then there has to be a consequence for it.

CHUCK TODD:

What does a consequence look like? Is it -- and what is the goal of the consequence? Is it to get the Saudis -- the king to name a new crown prince? What would be the goal of the punishment?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Well, I think it is to hold the people accountable who committed this horrible act. And if it is the crown prince, then I think that that is something that has to be explored. I don't believe that you can have someone who would authorize this sort of an act be in a position of power with a nation that's very important to us. But we have to have limits as to how far we would go to work with them in a very difficult, complex part of the world. And I think that we have to do the investigation with the intelligence community, with the Turkish officials, Saudi officials, outside of the crown prince, to get to the bottom of it.

CHUCK TODD:

Are you at all concerned that the president seems to be maybe more patient than necessary with the Saudi government?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Well, I think that all you're seeing is the public response. I know that the State Department, the intelligence community, and a number of other people, are taking this seriously. We've got a lot of resources focused on it. And I think the president will take the appropriate action, when all the facts are in.

CHUCK TODD:

Can you imagine us having a relationship with the Saudi government that's positive, if the crown prince is still there?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

No, I don't think so. I think, again, if the facts lead to what we all suspect they will, I think it'll be very problematic for our relationship, going forward.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me move to the midterms. The president says, these midterms are about the following: Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense. You're the vice-chair of the NRSC. Is that the best summation that you would advise Republican candidates to give around the country?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

I think those are factors. But I believe historic job creation, historically low unemployment among Latinos and African Americans, the economic performance, the, the work that we've done to get NATO to contribute to our mutual defense, there are a lot of things that resonate with the voters. And again, I look at the top-line numbers that you gave earlier in a more specific way and how they're playing in states that we're targeting. And we're looking very good in a number of other states. I fully expect we're going to add to our numbers in the Senate for the Republicans.

CHUCK TODD:

I want to show you a column that conservative Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in Bloomberg earlier this week. "At the end of 2017," he was talking about the Republican agenda, "House Speaker Paul Ryan was pushing Republicans to take up welfare reform. The Trump administration talked up an infrastructure bill. The party compromised by not making a concerted effort on either. But Republicans are asking for voters to augment that majority now. And they still have no agenda." What would you say is the case for re-electing a Republican majority in the Senate, going forward, beyond just confirming judges?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

I think you go back to the age-old question in elections. Do you feel better about your economic circumstances today than you did two years ago? And I think the answer to that question is, absolutely yes. I think that most voters vote their pocketbook. I do believe the Kavanaugh matter ended up increasing intensity on our side, but only slightly. We typically have greater intensity going into the off-year elections. But I think this is about economic security, economic growth. Those are promises that we've made, and we've fulfilled. It's difficult to get some of the things done. We want to continue to work on infrastructure. But an FAA bill, the jobs, the economy, those, those sorts of things matter to the voters. And I think they're going to put us in a great position in the Senate.

CHUCK TODD:

One issue you didn't mention that Senator Durbin mentioned nonstop was healthcare and the issue of pre-existing conditions. In 2014, you ran, I remember covering your race down there. It's when we first met. You ran as a repeal-and-replace-Obamacare Republican. Why aren't we hearing that this time around? We don't really hear Republicans talking about repeal and replace. Is it because of the popularity of the pre-existing condition clause?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

No. For one thing, it's a false narrative to say that we want to remove pre-existing conditions. I filed a bill and got several cosponsors to try, in the event that a lawsuit throws out the Affordable Care Act, we have to have a place for people with pre-existing conditions to land. We also have to allow young adults under the age of 26 to be on their parents' healthcare plan. It is a false narrative to say that Republicans want to kill that. It's simply not true --

CHUCK TODD:

But in fairness you've had --

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

--There's not enough votes to do it.

CHUCK TODD:

But in fairness, you've had four years in the majority in the Senate to come up with an alternative and two years with full Republican control of Washington.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Yeah, and I know you know how D.C. works probably better than I do. You've got to get 60 votes to make that happen. We did, through reconciliation, get rid of the individual mandate and take some of the underpinnings of the Affordable Care Act out. We've got to replace it in the same way that we've got to make sure that Social, Social Security and Medicare can be paid for and Medicaid, over time. What, what the Democrats are not mentioning are widely publicized reports that say, if we stay on the current trajectory, we're going to have a crisis in funding in those programs. No one wants to take away Medicare or Social Security or Medicaid from people who need it. But we have to have a sustainable solution. And we need 60 votes to get that done.

CHUCK TODD:

Math is a funny thing here in Washington. Nobody seems to want to ever cite it. But we have a record-breaking deficit, a record-breaking debt every day, when you watch the debt clock, but a record-breaking deficit this year that may surpass $1 trillion. You now, annually, never mind, obviously, the multiples of that, in the debt. The president yesterday was talking about a new tax cut. You're talking about reforming Social Security and Medicare. What--where are you--how are you going to pay for this tax cut that the president is, apparently, proposing?

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Well, we've got to make sure that it's at least supported by facts around dynamic growth. It has to pay for itself. We can't go further in debt. I voted against the spending bill, the most recent one, because it was just too much money being spent. And so we've got to, we've got to get the American people to recognize that we have a powder keg of dynamite in a debt that's continuing to grow. We're reaching a point where the service -- our debt service could exceed our contribution --

CHUCK TODD:

Right.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

-- or our investment in the military. We've got to make sure that the American people understand, we've got to balance our books. We've got to be on a budget, just like the American people are.

CHUCK TODD:

Well, you just said you wanted any new tax cut to pay for itself. This current tax cut's clearly not paying for itself. The debt's increasing, not decreasing. And there's no sign that it's going to decrease.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Well, if you take a look at the scoring for economic growth over time, we can -- I think that there is a way to rationalize that this tax cut will pay for itself through sustained economic growth. If we don't make the numbers, it won't. But if we do, and we're already seeing it early into this cycle, then I do believe that we create the net incremental revenue. It's not going to be enough to come anywhere close to retiring our $21 trillion in debt. That's where we're going to have to look at tough choices --

CHUCK TODD:

Okay.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

-- so that we can balance our books.

CHUCK TODD:

Senator Thom Tillis, Republican from North Carolina, I'm going to leave it there. Thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Much appreciated.

SEN. THOM TILLIS:

Thank you.

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