Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Dan Crenshaw

19:20Margaret Brennan:Understood. So you said back on Fox Business on October 9th that I can't have people not showing up for work and that they may be let go. there's a shortage of 4 ,000 controllers already. You're not firing people, are you? You can't afford to. No. So we're 2 ,000 to 3 ,000 controllers short, but that's a huge number. And you make an interesting point because I've tried to surge air traffic controllers into the system through our academy. Margaret, we're up 20 % of controllers through the academy this year alone. It takes them about a year to two to get certified in a tower. But this shutdown is impacting my pipeline of controllers.

19:58And so as when everyone forgets about air traffic control and the shutdown, I'm going to deal with the consequences of, again, delivering for the American people and getting more controllers in the towers, not less. And you bring up a good point. We're already stressed in that we don't have enough controllers in our system. And this shutdown, when we have staffing triggers where they're not coming in because they're funding their families and food on their tables, that makes it more difficult because we're already short long-term consequences. So you're not going to fire them? I don't plan on firing control.

20:27No, listen, I have, no, again, when they're making decisions to feed their families, I'm not going to fire air traffic controllers. I have loved them and supported them as they're trying to go through this process, and it's challenging for them. They need support. They need money. They need a paycheck. They don't need to be fired.

20:44Margaret Brennan:All right. Secretary Duffy, thank you for your time this morning. We'll be right back. For more from our latest CBS News poll, we turn to our executive director of elections and surveys, Anthony Salvato. So, Anthony, how are people feeling about the economy? I'll start with prices because that's where people tell us they start. They see prices as still high. They expect prices to keep going up. In some respects, that's not new. That's been the case for years. But that's rather the point. Things haven't changed. So the ratings are still very low for the economy. Another front, you know, the stock market's going up.

21:16There's been an AI boom helping fuel that. But people have very mixed views of the U.S. job market. And part of that is they think AI may come along and take their jobs, they tell us. Right. Now, here's how that all plays politically, Margaret. And that is on ratings for handling the economy, handling inflation. The president's ratings have been ticking down for the course of his term and continue to do so. That's a big reason that he won a year ago. That's one of the things that people tell us. The economy. On the economy, people tell us today they still rate him on that and on handling immigration, where he does relatively a little bit better, especially with the base.

21:52But what I did was I asked people, OK, compared to a year ago, do you think the president is trying to keep his campaign promises? And most people say, yes, there's a but there. And there's a substantial number who say, but his approach isn't what they expected. And they're more mixed on that. So they see and some give credit for trying. But for things like tariffs as it regards to the economy, the approach is much more mixed. And that underlines all those ratings for it.

22:18Margaret Brennan:So we have an election in some states Tuesday. What should we be watching for? Well, he will certainly be a factor. I think the question for Democrats as you watch these races is, can they just run against him? So what I did was I asked them, asked folks to compare nationally Donald Trump's approach and what they perceive as the Democrats' approach. And Donald Trump still leads the Democrats on those measures for the economy and on immigration. And what that tells you is it may be, as you watch these races, Democrats can't just run against Donald Trump. They've got to have ideas of their own. We will see these races as sort of testing labs for what the parties may do ahead of 2026.

23:00Margaret Brennan:We'll be watching that closely. Anthony Salvato, busy week for you. Indeed. We'll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Congressman Dan Crenshaw and Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts coming up. Stay with us.

23:25Margaret Brennan:Welcome back to Face the Nation. We turn now to Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who joins us this morning from Humboldt, Texas. Welcome to Face the Nation. Thanks for having me. Congressman, I know you've been in and out of Washington, but largely the House members have not been here in town. The House hasn't voted since September 19th. It'll be the seventh consecutive week now that they've been working from home. Would you urge Speaker Johnson to bring everyone back to try to break the impasse over government funding? It's up to the Speaker. House Republicans and House Democrats coming back to Washington will not break the impasse.

24:07Let's not forget that the House passed a clean CR. It was a temporary CR. OK, and, you know, Democrats keep saying the Republicans have no intent to negotiate. We can't trust them to want to negotiate if we reopen the government. That's nonsense. Look, if we had passed a year-long CR, I think they could make that argument. That's usually an indicator that we really don't want to talk about the budget right now. We want to kick the can down the road for a year. But when you pass a very short-term duration CR, a seven-week one, it is a clear indication that we intend on continuing those conversations.

24:42So, look, there's other things we could do. The reason I keep going back is because I work on the Intelligence Committee, and I have to do that work from inside D.C. There's a number of reasons people go back. But look, in the end, the Senate has to deal with this. And Senate Democrats just have to reopen the government. It's that simple. They voted, I don't even, what is it, 15 times now to keep it closed? They wouldn't even vote to keep federal workers paid. That was a crazy lifeline that Senator Thune gave them, allowing them to vote, almost have the easy way out, allow them to at least vote to take the pain off of federal workers.

25:17And they voted that down, too. I really don't know what their strategy is at this point. They're the ones who need to figure this out.

25:23Margaret Brennan:So you heard perhaps you heard Senator Warner at the top of the program say, you know, conversations are happening this week. He was hoping that there would be some some end on your side of the of the capital. You're saying you don't see signs of this ending this week.

25:44Don't see what? Sorry. Yeah, I don't I don't I don't see us going back into session. I think we would have been notified by now. Yeah. But again, the impasse is not in the House. You know, we passed it out of the House to come to an agreement, which is what he was there.

25:57Margaret Brennan:The senator was talking about everyone getting together and going to the White House with the president to hammer this out. The speaker, at least it doesn't sound like you have that level of optimism. But let's talk about the impact where you are. Your district includes parts of Houston. We checked the numbers and it appears three hundred and fifty thousand Houston area families may have some difficulty with their food stamps, these SNAP benefits because of the standoff. Have you gotten any guidance from the state or from the administration about whether people get food payments this week? Well, from what I can tell from the administration's statements, I mean, they're going to try to use the emergency contingency fund for on a temporary basis.

26:41But look, I think there's about six billion dollars in that fund. Yeah. Monthly SNAP benefits cost Americans nine billion dollars. So that's that is a very, very small bandaid. And the only way you're going to get SNAP benefits back on track is if Democrats vote for our clean CR. I visited a food bank recently. Yeah, they're preparing for a huge influx in demand. And, you know, the state can only do so much on this. All of us can only do so much. There's a really simple solution to this, which is just keep the government open. And, you know, you want to negotiate this very complex health care issue, which is what Democrats say they want.

27:22I think they kind of chose it out of randomly and all of a sudden decided to throw this temper tantrum. But fine, let's negotiate it. But you have to do it with the government and open and not hold it. You're not holding a gun to our heads. You're holding a gun to the regular American people's heads. Mm hmm.

27:36Margaret Brennan:You are on the Intelligence Committee. You mentioned you have had to come back here to view what I assume is classified intelligence. The president confirmed a few weeks back that he had authorized some CIA activity in Venezuela. He didn't give detail on that. But have you seen any evidence that the U.S. pressure campaign on Nicolas Maduro is working, that all this military hardware that's being moved around into the region is doing something? I can only tell you what I can assume. Having been out of session, we aren't getting the briefings because we aren't there. One of the reasons I keep going back is to look into these things.

28:18The broader question, this is more of a geopolitical question, is the pressure campaign working? Well, look, deterrence almost always works, especially when you're dealing with dictators like Maduro. They only listen to one thing, which is power. and in Venezuela has been largely left alone by American administrations. The Western Hemisphere has been left alone and I think this president's taking it much more seriously. Look, the Venezuelan government is a, it's, it's, it's a fake government, right? He ran a rigged election. Everyone knows that. It's propped up by the Cubans and by the Russians.

28:53They have been in collusion with terrorist groups like the FARC for years. It has been an annoyance to countries like Colombia for years. There's many high-ranking officials in Venezuelan government that are literally under indictment for drug trafficking. It is effectively a narco-terrorist state supporting narco-terrorists. Yeah. Maduro what? Sorry?

29:14Margaret Brennan:But he still is in power. We were just talking about that with Senator Warner, the need for more information to go to lawmakers about exactly what the extent is going to be of U.S. military involvement. Would you support U.S. land strikes in Venezuela?

29:35Actually, brutes on the ground in Venezuela. Land strikes. I think we would have to have a longer conversation about doing something to that extent. But I think what the president is doing right now is very much within rational legal means, looking at drug boats that we have. people ask do we have the intelligence to really know what these drug boats are and who's on them yes we do that i can say right we have multi-source intelligence that we so we know for sure what we're what we're actually shooting at and we don't even shoot at all the targets yeah and people say well why can't you just interdict it all and i say well how many boats do you think we have how many boats and helicopters do you think you have and you know how risky an interdiction operation is you're going to people put people's lives at stake and you know we've been doing that for years and it hasn't work.

30:20So you do need to try something new because it is an imminent harm to the United States. And that's clearly within the president's authority under Article 2. So I don't wring my hands over what's going on right now. Talking hypotheticals about invading Venezuela. I mean, that's not really what we're talking about right now.

30:36Margaret Brennan:No, no. I was asking about land strikes. But let me ask you about something some of your fellow conservatives have been talking quite a lot about, including Mitch McConnell. He's been concerned about anti-Semitism on the right. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said he's seen more anti-semitism in the past six months than in his entire life. Take a listen. This is a poison, and I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and in our country. If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry,

31:17and you say nothing, then you are a coward and you are complicit in that evil.

31:26Margaret Brennan:He was specifically referring there to a widely watched interview Tucker Carlson did with far right commentator and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Do you share Senator Cruz's concern about your party? Oh, yeah. Mr. Cruz put it pretty well. I've had a longstanding feud with Tucker Carlson. I'm glad everyone else is also waking up now to how bad of a person he is. He's changed a lot over the last 20 years. Hard to say why, but it doesn't really matter why. I mean, you have a guy like Fuentes on your show. You're uplifting what is... A guy who has really fallen off the radar, you know, he used to send his followers to my events and try to ask me a bunch of questions about the Jews and Israel support and all that and try to disrupt events.

32:20And they would try to infiltrate the MAGA movement. You know, they were really on a downhill slide. And for Tucker to have him on, Senator Cruz is exactly right. And this idea that we have to, you know, that it's cancel culture if we keep Tucker out of our circles from now on is just nonsense. I literally wrote a book on cancel culture, so I've thought deeply about this. Cancel culture means you're canceling someone for what is basically a mainstream belief or maybe a small, like, honest mistake they made. That would be maybe considered cancel culture. It's not cancel culture when you say, look, I want to disassociate myself from you because your beliefs are crazy and you're psychopathic and you're and you are falling apart in front of everyone.

33:08You know, disassociation is not canceling anyone. And I know some have suggested it is. So I think moral moral clarity is a lot more important in this case.

33:19Margaret Brennan:Congressman Crenshaw, we have to leave it there. Thank you for your time this morning. We'll be right back. We go now to Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey, who joins us this morning from Boston. Governor, welcome to Face the Nation. Good morning. A family of four receiving food stamps makes$31 ,000 or less per year. That program gives less than$200 a month to one in eight Americans. That's 42 million people. I know you joined this lawsuit to try to sue the administration to get them to use emergency funding to pay for food stamps during the government shutdown. Given what happened with the courts Friday, will food stamp payments be going out this week?

34:07Margaret Brennan:It's your state that has to administer the program, right? Yeah, I don't know, Margaret, because the president hasn't said whether he's going to approve the release of those contingency funds. I mean, the impact of this is just devastating. One in eight Americans, you say. I have about one in seven Massachusetts residents who are on SNAP. I was at food pantries yesterday. I mean, people across our state do not want to see people go hungry. But people woke up on Saturday morning not having access to their benefits. The reason we sued Margaret, 28 states, and I'm glad and grateful to the AGs for getting the favorable ruling, it basically tells the president, do what you're supposed to do, which is use the contingency funds that have been set aside for exactly this purpose.

34:55When there is a shutdown, among other things, release those funds, continue the SNAP payments to our states. I strongly urge that. I hope it happens immediately on Monday. people in this country should not go hungry. And I think Americans don't want to see their brothers and sisters go hungry.

35:12Margaret Brennan:Well, that federal judge in Rhode Island ordered full payments by Monday or partial SNAP payments by Wednesday on another network. The Treasury secretary was asked if if the administration would do just that. And he said, could be. Practically speaking, how do you how quickly can you turn it on? I mean, if that comes through Wednesday, do people in Massachusetts get to eat on Thursday? No, I mean, the problem, Margaret, with what the president has done is that he cut this off and it takes a few days to load up those cards. I mean, anywhere between two and five days. I will tell you what I am doing as governor, because I've got to protect my residents.

35:50I've got to work with others to make sure that they are fed. We've advanced funding to our food pantries. We stood up a United Way fund and And already, you know, three million, I think, in contributions have come through this week. We have seen an incredible outpouring of volunteers. I was at food pantries yesterday and the turnout is something. And, you know, but but this is not sustainable. Right. I mean, we cannot continue along this path, which is why he needs to release those funds, as at least one court told him to do right now, as soon as possible, because it takes us time to load up those cards.

36:25Margaret Brennan:So here's how President Trump described the shutdown impact Friday. Take a listen. All they have to do is say the government is open and that's the end of it. And, you know, 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. Doesn't he have a point that your party is responsible for some of this pain? Absolutely not. And frankly, that's a really insulting comment. You know, Margaret, I've got 21 ,000 veterans, men and women who have served our country, who are SNAP beneficiaries in Massachusetts, who had their benefits turned off, who face hunger right now.

37:12To be clear, you want to know who SNAP beneficiaries are in this country? There are seniors, there are kids, and there are people with disabilities. They live in every state, in every city and town around this country. And for the president to even suggest something like that or to say something like that is insulting. And this is the part, this is the problem with D.C. You showed the poll, right? I mean, at the end of the day, the president and Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. And, you know, Mike Johnson hasn't had these guys back in session, I think, but for 12 out of 100 of the last days.

37:46So get back to Washington, get back to the table, sort this out. Americans want to see that people are fed. They want to make sure that they have access to child care because health head starts getting turned off, too. And they don't want to see their health premiums go up. I mean, that's what's happening right now. And the impact is being felt everywhere.

38:06Margaret Brennan:We checked, and the top five states or districts with the highest percentage of residents who use food stamps are New Mexico, D.C., Louisiana, Oregon, and Oklahoma. Two of those states are ruby red and voted for President Trump in last election. I think that's what you're pointing to in terms of insult. But on the substance of why we are in this shutdown, Democrats have refused to sign on to a clean government funding bill. On that point, don't Democrats bear some responsibility? What Democrats in Congress did is stand with hundreds of thousands, millions of Americans right now who are seeing their premiums go up.

38:42I've got people in Massachusetts who just got notices because of the expiration of these subsidies. They're going to see their premiums rise as much as$20 ,000. American families can't afford that, you know. And I'm focused on economic hardship and what I can do to protect my people. And I think most of us are in our states as governors, which is why the folks in D.C. need to get back to work. Mike Johnson needs to call his members back because how are you going to get a negotiation if you're not even in D.C.? Right. You've got to get back to D.C. The president has got to give a clear directive to Republicans that they need to reopen government because Americans are suffering and continue to suffer every single day.

39:27Margaret Brennan:Governor Haley, thank you for your time this morning. We'll be back in a moment. We're joined now by Juan Andrade, CEO of financial services company USAA. Many of its nearly 14 million customers are in the military or veterans. He joins us from San Antonio. Secretary Bessett said on this program just last Sunday that by November 15th, the troops and service members aren't going to be paid. What level of anxiety are you seeing among your customers. Argrid, thank you for having me on your show. What we're seeing today is uncertainty, anxiety, and for some real hardship. And that's really within the active duty community.

40:09It's also important to note that 30 % of federal employees are also veterans or military spouses. So this is more than an impact to a household budget. This can really undermine morale and focus. And our goal is to provide stability for people who are living paycheck to paycheck and who are frankly losing ground.

40:30Margaret Brennan:Well, I've seen that you're offering interest-free loans to customers. Is that everyone or just specifically active duty military? And if they can't qualify for a loan, what do they do? So we're offering our government shutdown program to all eligible members of USA. So as you said, that's currently about 14.5 million people. And at this point, we've acted swiftly and decisively. In the first 48 hours of the shutdown, we funded$150 million in zero interest loans. We are now up to$400 million to date. But that's also in addition to payment extensions that we've done on credit cards, auto loans, mortgages.

41:09We've also waived fees for overdraft. And we've also had flexible insurance arrangements across our property casualty life and health insurance businesses.

41:20Margaret Brennan:$400 million in zero interest loans. So people are already looking to try to figure out how to make ends meet. We looked, and a quarter of all active duty military members are food insecure, according to the Department of Agriculture. That was well before this shutdown. That means they don't have a good diet or they're not able to afford food. we already saw a strain on a lot of that active duty military. Can you give us a sense of what this means for someone now to look at the calendar and know November 15th, there's no pay coming? Yeah, and I agree. This is one of the reasons why we've already funded$400 million in loans at this point in time.

42:03People are preparing for an uncertain period of time. And this is very important to them, particularly if we think about our younger enlisted and particularly those with families. Dual incomes in military families is not a luxury. It's a necessity. So these are people that we're very worried about, and we want to make sure that they're stable through this period of time. The other part of this, and frankly the reason for doing these zero-interest loans, is we want to make sure that they don't turn to high-interest rate payday loans or high-interest rate credit cards at the same time.

42:35Margaret Brennan:And the unemployment rate among civilian military spouses is almost five times the national average, to your point, that they need dual income. Many can't do that. But the Congressional Budget Office projection is that there will be an economic cost, that the shutdown itself could lead to$7 to$14 billion in lost growth. What's the impact on the communities like yours where you were living down in Texas, you know, in areas where there are bases around this country? Sure. I think you see it in a few ways. I think one is definitely on consumer spending. Right now, people are prioritizing basic needs, whether it's health or food at this point in time.

43:14So they're definitely coming back on discretionary spending. I think that's part of that. The other aspect of it is you're going to see more people who are food insecure. And this is one of the reasons why we have also been supporting our local communities. Our offices are all located near major military installations. And we have donated millions to military aid societies who are best positioned to provide food and other services in installations. And we've also been donating to local food banks in our communities.

43:42Margaret Brennan:So how does this compare to the last extended shutdown that we had during the first Trump administration? The last shutdown basically did not last as long. I think that was a big part of that. And we also had the certainty that the military would be getting paid. Now, clearly, up until now, they have been getting paid. The question of the uncertainty that we're seeing from our members is what happens over the next couple of weeks. Because you were already planning for that November 15th. When you say the shutdown wasn't this long, you're assuming the government does not get funded. For how long?

44:23How long can you keep doing this? Yeah. We're already planning for a second loan to members. So we've had a number take us up, certainly on the first offer of loan. Now they're taking us up on the second offer of loan. And we're prepared to assist. That's our job and to take care of our members in the military community. So we will keep up with this. And if we have to do more, we will do more.

44:45Margaret Brennan:All right. While we are thinking of your customers at this time, we'll continue to track What happens with that real-world impact? Thank you, Mr. Andrade. Thank you, Margaret. I'm Margaret Brennan, and this has been Face the Nation. Today's guest from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner, Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey, and USAA President and CEO Juan Andrade. 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.

45:24Margaret Brennan:Face the Nation originates from CBS News in Washington. For more, we're online at facethenation.com and on YouTube. We're also rebroadcast on our CBS News 24-7 streaming network at 1230 on Sundays. And we're available through our apps, CBS News and Paramount+.