Director Kevin Hassett, Gov. Wes Moore, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger

17:24Margaret Brennan:You don't think these maps are fair now. This is something that happens every single decade. And if other states are going to have this process and go through this, go through this journey of identifying whether or not they have fair maps in a mid-decade cycle, then so should Maryland. I'm just not sure why we should be playing by a different set of rules than Texas or than Florida or than Ohio. Because you say those states are being unfair. So why adopt unfair policies in your state? This is just simply about making sure that we can have fair and representative maps and we can go through our process.

17:54It's the reason that I put together this commission where my job is not to draw the maps. What we've just simply said is I want this bipartisan commission to be able to actually speak with the people and to be able to go through their process. and just simply say that if other states are going to go through this process, that we're not just going to sit on our hands because Donald Trump tells us to. That's not the way this process is going to work.

18:16Margaret Brennan:Your state Senate president, Democrat Bill Ferguson, says this could backfire. He wrote, I believe mid-cycle redistricting twists rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately democracy. It's too risky and jeopardizes your state's ability to fight against the radical Trump administration. How do you make sure it doesn't backfire? Do you accept a map that gives you more Republican districts? You're not going to do that. I think fighting for democracy is never risky. I think that's our job as leaders and elected officials. So you're not committing to going with the outcome of what this commission provides to you?

18:51No, I think the commission, what I want is for the commission to do their work and the commission to do their job. My job is not to draw the maps. And frankly, it's a state legislature's job to decide to vote on it. That is not my responsibility. My job is to make sure that I'm protecting the democratic process. And the Senate president and I, we agree on the crisis that Donald Trump has put us in. He agrees on the fact that we have watched an administration that's using the Constitution like it's a suggestion box. But what I'm simply and where we where we differ is the urgency that this moment requires, the fight that this moment requires.

19:22And I personally am someone who is not going to allow Donald Trump to determine whether or not Maryland follows this idea of saying, are we going to do everything we can to make sure we're preserving our democracy?

19:34Margaret Brennan:Governor Moore, thank you for your time. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. So stay with us. We turn now to the Democratic governor elect of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger. She joins us this morning from Glen Allen, just outside of Richmond. Welcome to Face the Nation. Thank you so much for having me. Well, Virginia boasts one of the highest numbers of federal workers in the country. And as you know, many of them are not getting paid. You know, some in your party look at your election on Tuesday and the win in New Jersey and say that is permission to hold the line in Congress and refuse to fund the government or fold on the shutdown.

20:16Margaret Brennan:Should congressional Democrats view your victory that way? Absolutely not. Our victory was a victory that was based on a campaign that was addressing concerns related to costs and chaos. My campaign across the past two years have been focused on hearing the challenges that people are facing all across Virginia. It's rising costs in health care, housing, energy, and it's the chaos coming out of Washington that has been impacting Virginians so severely, beginning with the doge efforts, of course, continuing with chaotic trade policies. And now in this government shutdown, Virginians need to and Virginians want to see the government reopen.

21:00And my expectation is that we will see a Congress, a Senate and ultimately a president driving us in that direction.

21:09Margaret Brennan:But should congressional Democrats open the government and then talk about health care? the government needs to open and it needs to open immediately we need the president to demonstrate leadership bringing people together endeavoring to get through whatever negotiations need to get through whether it's before or after my priority is the is focusing on the needs and the the devastation frankly that more than 300 000 virginians are facing and that's just the federal employees, government contractors, they will never get made whole. The entirety of Virginia's economy is impacted by the shutdown, just as we've been impacted by Doge attacks, and the government needs to reopen quickly.

21:55Margaret Brennan:Well, and that's why I'm asking, because there are, what, 825 ,000 enrollees on food aid in the SNAP program. They're in limbo right now. You have immediate pain. So at what point do you weigh that against the potential of health care premiums? I mean, this pain is very real and very acute for people in your state right now. And it's been going on now for weeks, weeks too long. The government needs to reopen because in addition to the pain that we are already seeing. But eight Democrats could cross the aisle and do so. We absolutely need everyone to vote to open the government. And that's not to say that the challenges we're facing within our health care system are not also immediate and acute.

22:42Even the passage of the one big, beautiful bill will have catastrophic impacts on Virginia, taking$26 billion out of our health care, leading to the closure of at least six rural hospitals. We've already seen three rural clinics announce their closure. hundreds of thousands will lose their Medicaid. And so the impacts on health care are already catastrophic. We cannot compound that pain by keeping the government closed.

23:06Margaret Brennan:Let's take a break and finish this on the other side of it. And we'll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.

23:24Margaret Brennan:Welcome back to Face the Nation. we return to our conversation with Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger. Governor-elect, artificial intelligence has created a really big demand for these data centers, and Virginia has the world's largest concentration of them. Power bills are up nearly 7 percent in your state over the past year. Is that driven by the AI boom? And if so, how do you offset those rising energy costs? Well, what we've seen in the in the research so far is that it is not the increased costs are not driven by the increase in data centers. There's some bad energy policies in some of our neighboring states that have driven up prices, particularly in southwest Virginia.

24:10But looking towards the future, we have to be clear about the fact that we will have an energy crisis headed into the future. And so here on the ground in Virginia, we currently have a rate case where it will be important that large scale energy users, particularly data centers, that the public know that they are paying their fair share for the energy that they are using. And we have to increase our energy production here at home so that we can meet the demand, certainly of larger scale energy users, but also of increased demand from our communities. And it is a real challenge that we have to get ahead of.

24:49And that's why among the first affordability plans that I laid out was one focused on energy. It's a challenge that is pervasive across our communities and particularly acute in southwest Virginia.

25:01Margaret Brennan:Just a few days ago, Cornell University reached a$60 million deal with the Trump administration in order to see their federal funding restored. This is the fifth such deal since the administration began this pressure campaign on universities. I know you went to University of Virginia, as did I, and must be following that UVA cut deals with the government, including kicking out the president of the school. You called that extortion. But now, as governor, are you going to have to play ball with the Department of Education and the Justice Department in order to keep federal government funding going?

25:41So it should it should shock everyone that universities, public and private, are receiving demands from the federal government and that dollars, research dollars are being withheld, that our universities are under attack. And certainly what we've seen in the case of the University of Virginia, a popular, experienced, excellent president was pushed out. And on the ground here, we did not see our governor in any way step up in defense of our university. And the idea that the federal government would be withholding federal dollars, including dollars already appropriated by Congress for research in order to compel universities to take certain actions.

26:29It is absolute federal government overreach. And as governor, I will be clear-eyed about ensuring that we have structures in place, including boards of visitors across our universities that want to defend academic freedom and, frankly, the viability and vitality of extraordinary institutions like the University of Virginia.

26:50Margaret Brennan:I want to ask you about your party. In 2020, when Democrats lost House seats, you said we need to not ever use the word socialist or socialism ever again. There are some who look to Tuesday's win in New York City of a Democratic socialist and say that your your party is actually being rewarded for echoing progressive policies. Does that victory create a branding problem for Democrats? Well, certainly, you know, I'm excited about what we did here in Virginia. on Tuesday. I campaigned addressing, wanting to address the issues of costs and stopping the chaos. I'm a capitalist. I'm a Democrat. And I won by 15 points in Virginia.

27:37You look to New Jersey and a similar story in Mikey Sherrill's win, now the governor-elect there. And so I think, you know, certainly we're a big tent party. But when I look at what led to the success that we had here and the, you know, the mandate for real governance here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it was based on what I campaigned on, the efforts to really address the challenges that people are facing in a day-to-day basis. And now it's on us to deliver and prove that really, truly the mandate that we have to work on lowering costs and strengthening our schools and keeping our community safe and creating steady leadership here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, particularly in light of the chaos coming out of Washington, that not only was it a winning message, but

28:22Margaret Brennan:the winning path towards governance. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, who will be the first female governor ever of the state of Virginia. We'll be right back. On Friday, we spoke with one of the other big Democratic winners last Tuesday, New Jersey's governor-elect Mikey Sherrill, who is currently a member of Congress, and asked whether given her new role as the chief executive of a state hard hit by the shutdown, she would support the Democratic Party position of blocking government funding until Obamacare subsidies are extended. Well, it's really important that we keep up that fight because we see in the market costs going up by 175 % if the Republicans don't address this health care crisis.

29:12We know that there have already been huge cuts in the one big, beautiful bill to people's access to health care. And, you know, when we look at this crisis, so much of it is really imposed by Donald Trump. So there is money for him to put towards SNAP funding that he's refusing to do, even though courts are demanding it. Now he's kind of slow walking it, making it very difficult for states to do that illegally, and courts are holding him accountable. We see with the air traffic control problems, some of this is because the administration hasn't moved quickly enough at Newark in some of the problems we had over the summer.

29:48So we're already down by 25%. Now with this crisis going on, because the president refuses to open up the government, we're seeing another 10 % in flights being derailed. And we see continued late and delayed flights. So it's time that the Trump administration, that Republicans in the House and the Senate get serious about opening up government.

30:10Margaret Brennan:When we look at our recent polling, a majority of Americans are really concerned that this shutdown is going to hurt the overall economy. How can you justify the damage? Well, it truly is hurting the economy. You can't justify the damage, which is why the president and the Senate and Republican majority in the House need to get this government open. And they need to do so in a way that's going to stop punishing the American people. I think what we saw with this election is the American people, you know, are really demanding that our federal government operate in a way that is going to stop punishing them economically.

30:46I'll tell you, I ran on affordability, on the fact that I'm going to fight in Trenton to make sure we're cutting through red tape and permitting to drive down costs. but also that I'm going to continue to fight for Washington to address things like the tariff program, which is raising costs on everything from a cup of coffee to groceries, to fight the one big beautiful bill, which is continuing to raise costs on education and innovation, housing, health care, to continue to fight this government shutdown so that we can really address health care needs here in the state.

31:16Margaret Brennan:You keep saying it's up to the president to reopen the government, but you withheld your own vote on that continuing resolution, that short-term funding bill. And over in the Senate, Leader Thune is tearing into Democrats for that decision. He said it shows you're not caring that there are men and women in uniform frequenting food banks because of the shutdown, not making rent payments, trying to borrow. He said Dems view this as leverage, and he used that word because it was your House leadership. Catherine Clark justified withholding votes to end the shutdown, saying that's one of the few parts of leverage that Democrats have.

31:55Margaret Brennan:How do you respond to this accusation that it's actually Democrats who are being heartless here? Well, when you have the Republicans that have the presidency, they have the majority in the Senate, they have the majority in the House, they've even, many would say, including myself, taken over the court system, then they have a responsibility to open up this government. And I have to tell you, as a veteran myself, I know how devastating that is. Leverage to serve the American people. I mean, we see again and again these Republican attacks on everything from health care. Look, if they don't fund the Affordable Care Act, costs are going to go up by 175 percent for people here in New Jersey at already high levels.

32:41That is going to kick so many people off health care. That's on top of the huge Medicare cuts that we're seeing in the one big, beautiful bill, on top of the tariff costs that are raising grocery prices everywhere, on top of the fighties in now, which is raising gas prices. So again and again, we're seeing the Trump administration punishing people. And these Republicans have got to come to the table and they've got to start really working for the American people. And this election showed that.

33:06Margaret Brennan:But when you were talking about the extension of the health care subsidies, why isn't the promise to hold a vote on those health care subsidies enough for Democrats to vote to reopen the government? So we are working hard to address the concerns for the American people. And Republicans again and again are refusing to address that. So right now, this is part of how we get the government open, and they should do it right now. I think we have seen what the promises that Republicans have made have been worth. What he needs to do is actually put the subsidies in. We can serve the American people. We can drive down health care costs.

33:45And that's really key.

33:47Margaret Brennan:Let's talk a bit about your election. As you said, the economy was front and center for you. Energy prices in particular you focused in on. In New Jersey, they're up 19 percent over the past year versus 6 percent nationwide. I know you want to declare a state of emergency day one. What does it actually mean? How quickly will prices come down? So the state of emergency will freeze rate hikes because there are some rate hikes that are set to come into play in the next several months. And I, you know, I'm not going to allow those to be put on the back of the New Jersey rate payer. And we see that the can has been kicked down the road by too many people.

34:26So the utility companies have already come to the table and say, OK, let's negotiate those rate hikes. We have money that comes in through the BPU to defray the cost. But what's really going to also happen is very quickly I'm turning to adding a lot of power to our grid. Right now, PJM, that's our regional grid operator, has really screwed up the market for various reasons. And so every electron we produce in New Jersey will defray the cost of electricity we have to buy on the market. So that's why immediately I'm going to cut through red tape and permitting delays to get solar done. We're going to continue to build out battery storage.

35:03And then in the first budget, we will expand modernization of our natural gas facilities and in the long term nuclear.

35:10Margaret Brennan:You said on CNN this past week that there's a feeling working people have not been heard. and that there's too much caution and mediocrity in the Democratic Party today. What did you mean by that? That as I was talking to people across the state, thousands of people, they wanted to see an agenda to get their costs down and something that was going to take place quickly. As I said, you know, I'm not writing a strongly worded letter. I'm not doing a 10-year plan. I'm on day one declaring a state of emergency. not just because I'm furious that, you know, as too many people have failed New Jersey rate payers, that the costs are being dumped on them.

35:54Yes, that is a huge problem for me that I'm addressing. But it also, I think, conveys that sense of urgency that I feel to work for the people of New Jersey so that they know that this is a day one issue for me. They also want to see somebody, though, that has their backs because they know that these tariffs are raising costs. They know that the one big beautiful bill is going to take away their health care. They know that attacks on the Gateway Tunnel Project are going to raise costs here and really cut into job opportunities. So they want to know that whoever's governing is going to be focused on governing for them, not a party of one like Donald Trump.

36:31Margaret Brennan:Well, your criticism there was a fellow Democrats, as I understood it, but let me ask you about Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi. She just announced that she is going to be leaving Congress. When I spoke to her last on this program, she indicated that she knows it's a problem recruiting new candidates in part because of the environment we're in, including just how nasty our politics are and the security threats. And she said that's discouraging in particular women who fear the impact on children. What do you say to those considering for office right now? Are you seeing that, that female candidates are fearful of doing what you just did?

37:12Well, we work very hard here in New Jersey to really build out a future and an idea that's going to bring everybody in and really working hard to keep people safe. Public safety is a huge issue for me and for people across the state. as we double down on our constitutional protections, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, etc. But it is a scary time. I remember right after I won my primary, the assassinations in Minnesota took place. And here I have four kids and I'm suddenly thinking, oh my gosh, am I putting them at risk by running? But you know what I think most of us are weighing as moms, if we're candidates, is what does my kid's future look like if I don't run?

37:56And that's on balance. I think people are choosing to run. I see women across our state running. We have people newly getting into races and also some of the great, powerful women in our state continuing to serve. So I don't think it's dissuading them, but it certainly is on our minds as we are thinking about how are we going to keep our families safe as we are running for elected office.

38:21Margaret Brennan:Congresswoman, we'll be watching as you transition into being the next governor of New Jersey. Thank you for your time today. We'll be right back. We go now to the Republican governor of West Virginia, Patrick Morrissey, who joins us from Charleston. Good morning to you, sir. Hey, good morning, Margaret. Good to be with you. So your state has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. Nearly 16 percent of residents rely on food stamps, that SNAP program we've been talking about. In fact, the very first food stamp pilot program began in West Virginia back in the 1960s. Given the current shutdown and how rural your state is, I wonder, are you able to get help to those who need it right now?

39:07Absolutely. Look, great question. I do want to start out. First of all, thank you for having me on the program. One piece of information coming out of West Virginia. We've had a mining accident and we have teams down looking for a missing miner. I just want to say that our hearts and prayers go out to the family of that miner. We're doing everything we can to locate that person. Now, when it comes to the government shutdown, we're doing everything we can to help those in need. At the very beginning, I started standing up for the federal workers, And we announced that to address some of the concerns with food, we were going to send significant dollars to the food banks by tomorrow.

39:49That'll be up to 13 million dollars. I've activated the National Guard and we're doing things to make sure that no one in West Virginia goes hungry. Our people are hurting right now and I'm doing everything I can to solve the problems while Washington bickers. But I do want to be clear, this shutdown could come to an end right away. It's up to Chuck Schumer or just having six more Democrats step across the line. There's been a clean CR on the table available for some time. People should take advantage of that. And let's get the government reopened. And then we can go about the business of fixing the many other problems facing our country.

40:29Margaret Brennan:I'm sorry to hear about the mining accident. But on the issue of food stamps, Governor Moore of Maryland said that he had been told the state would be punished, essentially, for fronting the money. Is that the message a federal government also gave to you, West Virginia won't get those dollars back? No. Well, first of all, I want to emphasize the Trump administration has been a great partner to work with throughout the past year in terms of the economic progress that we're making here in West Virginia. But also we've reached out. I was the first person to reach out to the federal government. So we had our national parks reopened.

41:08And now we're working by activating the guard and putting resources at the food banks. We're actually making a difference to keep people from getting hungry. So we've been in very close contact with the Trump administration and they've been very cooperative. Look, I think they know and everyone's frustrated that you're six votes short. These Democrats are saying no to reopening the government. It's a Schumer shutdown. I think President Trump is bending over backwards to be helpful. And I'm excited about the things he's doing in terms of how he's handling this and the broader economic issues at large.

41:44Margaret Brennan:Well, there is the fight in the courts specifically about providing full food aid. The Trump administration initiated that. I want to play something for you because 70 percent of West Virginians voted for President Trump in the last election. But here's how he described the food stamp program. Largely, when you talk about SNAP, you're talking about largely Democrats. But I'm president. I want to help everybody. I want to help Democrats and Republicans. But when you're talking about SNAP, if you look, it's largely Democrats. They're hurting their own people. Have you made the White House aware of the pain from the food program disruption specifically?

42:25Yeah, so we've been working closely with the White House, and I think they know they've been very supportive of a lot of the efforts that we're taking to make sure that people don't get hungry. That's the ultimate goal. We have to make sure we're protecting our people. Margaret, you're right. We have 270 ,000 plus people on SNAP. But once again, there's one reason why they're not getting the resources. It's because people are insisting to add all these new pieces on top of just a bill to keep the government open. That's the concern we have. But we've been getting really good response from the Trump administration across the board, whether we're talking about the food issues, whether we're talking about our energy jobs.

43:07or even just recently, the conversations we're having about President Trump's rural health transformation bill to put resources up front to save public expenditures at the back end. That's the kind of good working relationship we've had.

43:21Margaret Brennan:I want to ask you about that because I know West Virginia is one of the highest rates in the country for government insurance. There's concern about rural hospitals. There is this rural health transformation program Congress set up. Your state could get$100 million a year for five years, but your West Virginia Hospital Association says that your hospitals are going to lose more than a billion dollars per year because of this latest big, beautiful bill Republicans passed. How do you make up that kind of shortfall? Well, I think what President Trump and RFK and Dr. Oz are trying to do is common sense.

43:58If you subscribe to the adage, a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, what they're trying to do is invest the single largest amount of money in improving rural health. And in West Virginia, that means everything, because we're a very rural state. So the resources can go to invest in our people, to invest in our hospitals, our providers, and the technology that actually can move the needle in terms of improving healthcare outcomes up front, attacking obesity and COPD and substance use disorder. So we're really excited about that because if we apply the resources the right way, I don't think we're going to have the diminution of public expenditures at the back end.

44:42This is the common sense approach we're seeing from the Trump administration that we're not seeing from Schumer and the Democrats in Congress.

44:50Margaret Brennan:Governor, we have to leave it there. We are out of time. Thank you. The United States Marine Corps, will mark its 250th birthday tomorrow, and Veterans Day is Tuesday. For many veterans, the end of their military service is not the end of their public service. More than 700 ,000 veterans work as civilians in the federal government. And due to the shutdown, most are furloughed or have been working without pay for weeks. Unlike veterans, active duty service members have have been getting paid during the shutdown, but even that lifeline will expire Saturday. And some context, many military families already struggle with a growing number forced to seek assistance from food pantries over the last few years amid high prices and mounting economic pressure.

45:39Margaret Brennan:That's it for us today. I'm Margaret Brennan, and this has been Face the Nation. Today's guests were National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Maryland Democratic Governor Wes Moore, Virginia Democratic Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, New Jersey Democratic Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill, and West Virginia Republican Governor Patrick Morrissey. The senior executive producer of Face the Nation is Mary Hager, and the executive producer is Anne Hsu. This broadcast was directed by Shelley Schwartz. Face the Nation originates from CBS News in Washington. For more, we're online at facethenation.com and on YouTube.

46:15Margaret Brennan:We're also rebroadcast on our CBS News 24-7 streaming network at 12.30 on Sundays. And we're available through our apps, CBS News and Paramount+.