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Philip Rivers, 44, Comes Out of Retirement to Join the Colts; Fed Cuts Rates by a Quarter-point, as Expected; Trump Talks Up the Economy at Rally Amid Persistent Anxiety; Senate Vote Expected Tomorrow on GOP Plan to Replace ACA Subsidies; Health Experts Worry How to Protect Newborns After New Hepatitis B Recommendations. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 10, 2025 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT HOST: -- keeping busy. He's been coaching high school football. He's now a grandpa as well. Fun fact, he has 10 kids and his oldest, Hally is 23 years of age. Earlier on Wednesday, Rivers speaking to reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP RIVERS, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS QUARTERBACK: They wanted me. And you know, I tried to keep it as simple as that and a game I love to play, a game that I thought I was done playing. Certainly, I wasn't really hanging on any hope of playing again. I'd kind of thought that ship had sailed. I think my younger children are most excited. I shouldn't say most excited. They're excited because they don't remember dad playing. My six-year-old actually asked me like four months ago, like, dad, why don't you play anymore? And I'm like, I'm sorry. Best you're going to get is me coaching on the sideline, you know? Because they were seeing a highlight or they're pulling up some old games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGH)

SNELL: So good to hear from him. Rivers is also a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2026. But his status will be reset if the Colts move him from the practice squad to the active roster. I'm sure he won't waiting just a little while longer for Hall of Fame consideration if, Boris, he gets another shot at playing on Sunday's. Back to you.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": It'll be fascinating to see. Nothing will ensure his entry into the Hall of Fame better than a Super Bowl ring. We'll see how the Colts do. Patrick Snell, thank you so much. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The Federal Reserve's new interest rate decision is out. Find out what it means for your finances. Plus, President Trump says he has no higher priority than to bring down prices. But will his message about his economic policies help ease voter worries. And doctors warn new Hepatitis B vaccine guidance could leave more babies at risk. Learn what's changing and why experts are sounding the alarm. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: We start this hour with major breaking economic news, the Federal Reserve making its decision on interest rates. Let's go right to the Fed where CNN's Matt Egan is standing by. Matt, any surprises?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, look, this was the quarter-point interest rate cut that was widely expected. This is the third straight interest rate cut from the Fed, giving consumers and businesses some relief from high borrowing costs because this lowers the Fed rate to a fresh three-year low. But the fact that the Fed is cutting at all right now, during a time of stubborn inflation, underscores the level of concern from officials inside this building about the weakening job market and the risk that that weakness snowballs into something more serious.

Now, let me read you some of the key lines from the new Fed statement that was just put out. Fed officials are reiterating that job gains have slowed this year and that the unemployment rate has edged up. They remove language that previously said that the unemployment rate remains low. Now, looking ahead, the Fed signaled that future interest rate cuts are not a done deal. They inserted some new language saying that they're going to have to deliberate about the extent and timing of additional interest rate cuts. And so that does sort of hint at the fact that there's some uncertainty over when and whether they're going to be able to continue to lower interest rates.

Now, the new projections put out from the Fed as well, just moments ago, some significant developments there. Fed officials are only penciling in one more interest rate cut next year. That's a bit of a surprise because some Fed watchers had been anticipating that Fed would signal two cuts, but that's not the case. And that may be because they've actually upgraded their views on what's going to happen in the economy in 2026. They significantly upgraded their forecast for 2026 GDP. They also think that unemployment is not going to continue to rise. They see 4.4 percent unemployment by the end of next year. That is good news.

On the inflation front, they also marked down their forecast for inflation. They don't think it's going to get back to normal next year, but they also do see it continuing to improve. Now the other big news here is that this is an increasingly divided Federal Reserve. Normally, these decisions are unanimous or perhaps there's one official that dissents. This time, there's three officials who've dissented. That's the first time we've seen that since 2019. And tellingly, Boris, the officials are dissenting in both directions.

White House economist, Stephen Miran, who's a Fed Governor, he wanted an even bigger interest rate cut and two regional Fed Presidents, they didn't want to cut at all. And now, the attention shifts to what Fed Chair, Jerome Powell says later this year -- later this hour about where he sees interest rates and the economy going in 2026. Back to you

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thank you so much for that update from the Federal Reserve. Let's get some perspective now with Roben Farzad. He's a Business Journalist and the Host of NPR's "Full Disclosure." Roben, great to see you.

[14:05:00]

What does this mean for the average American consumer?

ROBEN FARZAD, BUSINESS JOURNALIST AND HOST OF NPR'S "FULL DISCLOSURE": You might see some incremental relief on your personal finances, credit cards and the others, but it's really cold comfort, especially as Wall Street deliberates this is saying, does the Fed still have its independence in that Jerome Powell is already a lame duck. He's probably leaving the situation with his last rate cut at a quarter- point. And what does the future foretell? The Fed can only look into its crystal ball so much, try to define what unemployment is going to be next year.

And right now, it's almost like Wall Street, the investing community, the bond community is like this other branch of government, a check on Donald Trump writing roughshod over the Fed's independence and saying, I just want a person cutting more than this. It should not be dictated by the White House. And let's see how the markets react. If they sense that the White House is now controlling monetary policy by proxy and that bodes well for the next Fed Chair, then that is not good for markets. And who knows if anybody's going to get the leeway to cut as much as Donald Trump wants.

KEILAR: And Roben, a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business finds small businesses ramped up price hikes in November at a historic pace. Does that raise questions for you about the wisdom of a cut or are other factors at play?

FARZAD: I think about that, Brianna, and I think about where asset markets and real estate are right now. You typically would not see an urgency for rate cuts. What does kind of beg that is the general mood out there, consumer sentiment, this kind of shadow joblessness that maybe the headline unemployment rate doesn't reflect. And I wonder if it's a cost of capital thing. If you're thinking about borrowing, are you as a small business or a corporation saying, gee, if only rates were lower, I would go out and hire a ton of people. I'm not sure it's about that.

Maybe if rates are lower, they're going to go back and buy stock or consider other things or save cash or invest the money. The big multi- trillion dollar question right now is how do we create and sustain jobs in this environment where it's threatened by A.I., where it's threatened by automation, where China's dumping its wares on the United States, and that's not necessarily a bottleneck about interest rates. There are kind of broader existential issues at play.

SANCHEZ: Robin, I don't obviously have the full slate of votes in front of me, the way that Matt Egan does. But I wonder what you made of the -- some of the dissenting opinions that we heard about. You have Stephen Miran wanting a bigger cut and you had at least two members not wanting any cut.

FARZAD: That's troublesome. I mean, that's pretty binary, isn't it? I mean, maybe you're looking at a proxy of the White House or somebody out there. You typically, as Matt said in the past, you would see some unanimity around it. Either we are slowing down or we are too hot. The Fed in Powell's defense is saying that, look, we've been at a restrictive interest rate policy. Merely by taking it down a smidge, we're approaching neutral. I know that gets in the jargon, but what kind of resets it at the zero level is the big question right now.

But the fact that there were two governors out there, two presidents saying that we should not have hiked at all, I think reflects still a concern about inflation. We haven't slaked -- we haven't killed inflation. And maybe there still has to be more pain and bloodletting, the likes of which Donald Trump and this dissident Fed member don't want to see.

KEILAR: Oh, bloodletting, my goodness. The president is -- he's got this big choice and we're watching it, right? Who he's going to replace Powell with. And this could happen before the end of his term. You have National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, who's thought to be the front runner. Trump's also the meeting today with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. What do you think about these choices? What could this mean?

FARZAD: You are hoping that he would step back and like in his first term, bring in someone like Powell, who after Janet Yellen was kind of person you could get behind. Recall Alan Greenspan, recall who was there after -- Greenspan's replacement in Bernanke and Yellen who came in, there's generally been unanimity. This has been able to levitate above politics. But Trump, as with many other things, he's gone there. He specifically says, show me the extent of your loyalty. How much are you going to cut rates? That is something that is pretty taboo in the hundred plus year of the modern relationship of the White House and the Federal Reserve.

But he's wanting to go that way. And my perception is Wall Street and the gigantic, multi, multi-trillion dollar capital markets community don't want it to go that way.

KEILAR: Roben, it is always great to have you on a big day like this. We appreciate the conversation.

FARZAD: Likewise. Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, on the Hill, a push to force Pete Hegseth to release video of a controversial second strike on an alleged drug boat. How it's being tied to a military spending bill.

SANCHEZ: Plus, relentless rain and rising rivers, Washington and Oregon under threat as an atmospheric river unleashes flooding across the states. And later, what would you do if you saw this while you were driving down the highway?

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A small plane making a crash landing on an interstate right on top of a car. The amazing video when we come back.

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KEILAR: It was a return to form for President Trump as he rallied supporters in northeastern Pennsylvania last night. Trump was there to promote White House economic policies, but as millions of Americans are struggling with rising expenses, the president had a slightly different take.

[14:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- getting lower prices, bigger paychecks. We are getting inflation, we're crushing it. And you're getting much higher wages. I mean, the only thing that you -- that's really going up big, it's called the stock market and your 401(k)s. They say affordability and everyone says, oh, that must mean Trump has high prices. No, our prices are coming down tremendously from the highest prices in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, let's talk about this now with Marc Short. He was formerly the Chief of Staff to Vice President, Mike Pence and was White House Legislative Affairs Director during the first Trump administration. He's now the Board Chair for Advancing American Freedom. I wonder what you think about the president's messaging, how it's working for or not working for Republicans in what is going to be this key election year?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Well, I think there's part of it that he's right. I think he has lowered energy prices by 25 percent. His push to increase supply does have an impact to lowering prices, which is terrific. I think he's right that markets are at all-time highs. S&P up roughly 16 percent this year. And he should be talking about those accomplishments.

However, the reality is that for a lot of Americans, prices are still up. And to dismiss affordability as a hoax, I think creates a disconnect with a lot of voters, particularly in Middle America who are struggling with continued problems of inflation. And I think, in a lot of ways, Brianna, when you've lowered energy prices by 25 percent, it exacerbates the challenge of what this trade policy is, when you still see inflation driving prices up, in spite of a 25 percent reduction in energy prices. Prices should be coming down with that sort of achievement on the energy side.

KEILAR: Yeah, because listen, when you're talking to people who now are going to multiple grocery stores, right, to manage their grocery bill, who have gotten rid of the steak and gone to chicken, or have gotten rid of the chicken and gone to beans and rice, I mean, that's a different thing, right? So he has the -- I guess, he could look back at how Biden messaged on the economy and it didn't always go over well as he was trying to tell people that things were better and they weren't feeling it. What is that sweet spot for Trump and Republicans to be commiserating with Americans even as they're kind of starting to own this economy?

SHORT: Well, I think it's a little bit different because I think with Biden, the perceptive was that he's aloof and not in touch. I think with the president, I don't think there's a question about his energy level and the fact that he's in touch, but I think there's a sense that he's intentionally not --

KEILAR: You don't -- you don't think that there's a question about whether he is touch economically with people?

SHORT: I don't. I think it's a different question, which is why, is he not one to admit that his trade policy is not working? So he messages it a different way. And I that's a concern. I think Republicans are probably glad to see him out on the campaign trail. It's probably helpful, but I think there has to be an appreciation that says, look, inflation was at nine percent in the Biden years. I've brought it down to three percent. Here's what I'm going to do to continue to fight it. As opposed to saying for a lot of voters, this is merely a hoax and you're not really feeling it.

KEILAR: Well, he's also seen inflation go up since he started.

SHORT: Again --

KEILAR: I hear your number, but that's not where it's at. Right? So, he has actually seen perhaps some inflationary policies (inaudible) questions about that.

(CROSSTALK)

SHORT: Sure. But it did peak. It did peak at nine percent during the Biden years and I think it's down from that.

KEILAR: Sure.

SHORT: But again, I've been critical as you know, that if you're going to lower energy prices the way he has, then naturally other prices should be coming down too. And they're not. And I think it's because the trade agenda is not working.

KEILAR: So Trump's Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles said on a podcast this week that for the midterms, they're going to put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters. This is her plan. This is the plan that she's talking about there. Do you think that works? Is that the right move?

SHORT: I think it's the right move. I think it's a question of whether it works. I think certainly in 2018, that's what we tried. But the reality is there's a certain number of voters who only turn out for Donald Trump and do not turn out for other Republicans. And so, there are other Republicans who are going to be saddled with the economy if it's not turned around by the time that November reaches.

KEILAR: The healthcare vote, looking increasingly likely, and we've talked about this before. You've talked a lot about it. It's looking increasingly likely that Congress, led by Republicans, is going to allow these enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire at the end of the year. These are premiums for 2026 that we're talking about. Just days away here, that would be going up. Should Republican leadership be worried that this is only going to compound these concerns of voters when it comes to this affordability crisis?

SHORT: Sure. They should be worried about it. I think the reality is, as you said, affordability is a concern for a lot of people. They don't want to see their premiums going up. I think it turns out that the Affordable Care Act was actually not that affordable. And so, I don't discourage Republicans from voting against increasing the subsidies. And I don't think you saying, instead of giving it to insurance companies, we're going to give it directly to people, actually solves it either.

[14:20:00]

The costs are going to continue to go up. But I do think that Republicans should be advancing free market reforms and that's kind of missing in the debate right now.

KEILAR: Marc Short, always great to get your perspective. Thank you so much.

SHORT: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: And still to come, the warning from doctors about new Hepatitis B vaccine guidance for newborns, what they're worried it could mean for infants. And time is running out to extend healthcare subsidies for millions of Americans, why Republican leaders say it could still happen. We'll talk about that.

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[14:25:13]

SANCHEZ: New vaccine guidance is resurrecting an old challenge for the medical community. How to protect newborns from the Hepatitis B virus? Last week, CDC Vaccine Advisors handpicked by Health Secretary and vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reversed the standard in place since 1991, giving all newborns the Hep B shot at birth. Now, the expected recommendation is to give the shot if the mother tests positive for Hep B or otherwise for parents to discuss the matter privately with her doctor.

Many doctors and caregivers say that relying just on testing is going to fail to protect thousands of kids from the virus. Why are they so certain? Because it's already been tried before. CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us now. Jacqueline, what more do we know about what doctors and public health experts are saying when they worry about this?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Boris, well, doctors and experts say that they're worried that reversing the Universal Vaccination Protocol will take us back to the late 1980s, early 1990s, before universal vaccinations were in place. And at that time, there were thousands of Hepatitis B infections that were identified among infants and young children during that time period. So when you look at the numbers, in the early 1990s, there were roughly 16,000 cases of Hepatitis B among infants and young children identified each year. But since the practice of universal vaccinations, so in recent years, there have been fewer than 20 cases each year.

And that big difference between thousands of cases and 20 cases is what has doctors worried and concerned right now. Now, CDC Vaccine Advisors have said that their recommendation will not take vaccines away from families that may still want to vaccinate their infant at birth. And they say routine testing is still going to be in place. There are no changes with testing. But doctors still say that even if a mother tests negative for Hepatitis B, that infant, if they're not vaccinated, could still be exposed to the virus out in the community. Or the mother's test may be a false negative. That's a small chance, but it still exists.

Or the mother may acquire Hepatitis B infection after testing, but before giving birth. ,So there are these small risks out there that still have doctors concerned and they say that's why they still recommend vaccinations, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for the update there. The House is set to debate a $900 billion defense bill. Passing it could be tied to releasing videos of boat strikes in the Caribbean, the latest in just moments.

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