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Interview with Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA): Trump Offers Americans $5,000 if GOP Wins Midterms; Trump Cites Movement at Iranian Nuclear Site, Floats Striking It; Inside Puerto Rico's Worsening Water Emergency. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 10, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're now less than two hours away from day two of the Republican midterm convention in Texas. President Trump raised eyebrows and brought up new questions during his one day speech, vowing $5,000 payments for every American adult if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate. Let's discuss with Georgia Republican Congressman Buddy Carter.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us from what I guess is your man cave. Thanks for being with us. Are you in favor of handing out these $5,000 checks?

REP. BUDDY CARTER (R-GA): Absolutely. Anytime we can return money to the citizens, we should. I mean, after all, we tax them enough.

There's no question about that. And it's important to note that the Working Families Tax Cut Act resulted in almost $5,000 per filer of taxes in the state of Georgia. So we have been putting more money in people's pockets.

You look at what we achieved in this Congress and this Republican controlled Congress with the Working Families Tax Cut Act. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security. And as I say, it returned over $5,000 in taxes to people who paid their taxes.

SANCHEZ: Well, Congressman, back in 2022, you argued that giving Americans $1,400 checks under President Biden's American Rescue Plan fueled, quote, waste and inflation. You actually wrote a bill, the PAID Act, to take the leftover money from those pandemic funds and put it toward the debt. Now Trump wants to give more than three times that amount.

How is that consistent? How is this different from the money Biden was trying to give folks?

CARTER: The money Biden was trying to give folks was a result of a pandemic that the Democrats and Fauci had pulled the wool over our eyes. And there's no question about that. And this is apples and oranges here.

We are trying to put more money in people's pockets in order to stimulate our economy. And this is why this is so important. SANCHEZ: Congressman -- pulled the wool over our eyes. How exactly? The entire economy effectively shut down during the pandemic.

The argument from the Trump administration and then the Biden administration was that these supplemental funds were going to help people. Right now, unemployment is 4 percent. Inflation is creeping up.

Gas and diesel prices are near record levels. The president wants to throw about a trillion dollars on top of that.

[14:35:00]

Are you just supporting this idea of giving Americans money because the president is a Republican?

CARTER: No, not at all. I'm not supporting that at all. I mean, look, I serve on the Budget Committee.

I get it. We got $40 trillion in debt. We've got to address this.

I understand that. But right now, people are hurting. They need more money in their pockets.

And this is a way for us to get more money to them. Yes, this is a different from what the Biden-Harris administration and their policies. It's much different.

And I would mention to you that inflation is lower than it was during their administration. Well, the argument was, Congressman, I'm sorry. We do have a recovering economy.

SANCHEZ: The argument you made was that inflation was worse under Biden and Harris because they gave Americans money, just supplemental funds. And now you're saying we should actually give them more than three times that amount and that won't lead to inflation?

CARTER: No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is simply that people right now, our economy, we need this stimulus. And this is going to help stimulate our economy.

And that's what the president is trying to do. And that's what we've done in this administration. You know, look, we're coming up on midterm elections and we're not going to run from our record in the Republican Party.

In fact, we're going to run toward our record. We have been successful in putting more money in people's pockets through the Working Families Tax Cut Act. We've been more successful in making sure that our economy is working.

And something that is very important to me professionally as a pharmacist that has flown under the radar that the media has not picked up on is the fact that we decreased prescription drug prices. 3.1 percent decrease in the last year. The highest decrease in over 60 years. And how did we do this? We did it through the administration with Trump Rx. We did it through Most Favored Nations.

We did it with the Republican Congress by putting more transparency in the middleman, the PBMs. That's how we did it.

SANCHEZ: You can make the argument that the administration helped to lower prescription prices, sure. But it doesn't answer the question of how you can argue that a few years ago, giving $1,400 stimulus checks to people was wasteful and inflationary. And now you're talking about giving them $5,000 checks when the economy, according to the Fed, is already in a tough place when it comes to inflation.

They're talking about potentially raising interest rates. How is a $5,000 check to each American adult not going to be inflationary, Congressman?

CARTER: Again, this is apples and oranges that you're trying to compare here. What we're trying to do is to stimulate the economy. And this is going to make people --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: You may be trying to stimulate the economy, it could still lead to inflation. Could it not still lead to inflation, whether it's a stimulus or an emergency health plan or a monetary effort by the administration to help folks? At the end of the day, it's still inflationary, isn't it?

CARTER: We have addressed inflation. We've addressed that through this Republican Congress, through this Republican administration. And we've made sure that we've got inflation under control.

And this is why the Fed, instead of talking about raising rates, they need to be talking about lowering rates, lowering rates to make it possible for people to have affordable mortgage, particularly young people. That's what we need to be talking about.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I believe that at last check, wholesale inflation is actually up. I do want to ask you, pivoting to the war in Iran about how that's going, because six months after the White House said it would take four to six weeks, 18 American service members are dead with hundreds wounded. Negotiations have ceased.

Gas is nearly $4.30 a gallon, over a dollar what it was before the war. And now there are indications that Tehran has been carrying out construction at one of its nuclear sites. So it's no closer to giving up on its nuclear program.

How do you sell all of this to voters as a success?

CARTER: This is all the more reason why we need to continue on the track that we're on and destroying their economy, destroying their military. That's what we've done. We have done that and we will continue to do that. Look, this is not a war we started. This is a conflict that's been going on for 47 years. Finally, we have a president who is addressing this situation and trying to end it once and for all.

Look, I'm a father, I'm a grandfather. I do not want my children, my grandchildren living in a world where the leading state sponsor of terrorism has a nuclear bomb. That cannot happen.

That's what this president has made as his goal, to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb. We all know what the Middle East is like. We all know that diplomacy is messy.

This is tough. This is not easy at all. But look at what we have achieved.

We've actually gained allies in the Middle East who now understand that Iran is the problem and that this is the solution.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, there was an unclassified assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency last year that said that Iran would not have a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland until 2035.

[14:40:00]

And they hadn't directly attacked U.S. bases until the U.S. launched this war in February. So how exactly is it that there was an urgent need to start this war when they wouldn't have been able to hit America, the American mainland, directly for another decade?

CARTER: Number one, we didn't start this war. This is a conflict that's been going on for 47 years. Why don't you call the survivors of the USS Cole, of all the Americans who've been killed by the leading state sponsor of terrorism --

SANCHEZ: That was al-Qaeda, that was a completely different branch of Islam. It's not the same.

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: -- in the world over the last 47 years and explain to them why we're not responding to this.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, the USS Cole, that attack was carried out by al- Qaeda, a terror group. You can argue that the U.S. has been in conflict with Iran for nearly 50 years, but this specific set of hostilities was launched by President Trump, even though his own DIA says there was no immediate threat to the U.S. mainland. So how are you selling this to voters as a success?

CARTER: There is intelligence that leads us to believe that Iran was increasing the number of ballistic missiles that they had. And that before long, they would be able to reach the mainland. We hear these people who are chanting in the streets, death to the USA, death to the USA.

And what are we supposed to do? Just ignore it. No, we cannot ignore that.

We have to address it. And I applaud this president for addressing it.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Buddy Carter, we have to leave the conversation there. We do appreciate you coming on CNN and sharing your perspective.

CARTER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: So hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico have faced severe water rationing and scheduled shutoffs. After the break, CNN is going to take you to the island to see firsthand how people there are coping during a crisis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A water crisis is unfolding in Puerto Rico. For hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens on the island, finding enough to drink and bathe with has become just a daily survival routine. Many are on their own trying to collect clean water.

Residents blame severe drought, aging infrastructure, and mismanagement for the widespread service interruptions. CNN's Isabel Rosales takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now we're entering Luis Llorens Torres. This is the largest public housing complex in Puerto Rico. There's over 2,000 apartments here.

ROSALES (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico have been without reliable water for months.

CARMEN NIEVES, SAN JUAN RESIDENT: (Speaking foreign language).

ROSALES: She tells me that she has been under this water crisis for over two months. How do you shower?

NIEVES: (Speaking foreign language).

ROSALES: She says she throws the gallon of water over her head. That's how she showers -- cold water.

NIEVES: (Speaking foreign language).

ROSALES: There's no water for her to flush.

ROSALES (voice-over): The government has mandated a water rationing plan for 180,000 households in the San Juan metro area. Two days on, two days off. But the water doesn't always come back when it's supposed to.

ROSALES: She's saying this is an abuse. And you would think that right now, based on the government's rationing schedule, that she would have water. But as we saw, she turned on the faucet, and there was nothing. ROSALES (voice-over): And it gets worse. In some neighborhoods, when the water stops, homeowners call in water delivery trucks.

ROSALES: So we see a potable water truck up ahead. We're hearing that they're filling up the water tanks in some of these homes. So we're going to go and check this out.

ROSALES (voice-over): Luis called them to make sure his aging parents had water for the day.

LUIS BLONDET, PINONES RESIDENT: (Speaking in foreign language)

ROSALES: Yes, you can't imagine that they'd be under these circumstances. It's critical, he says.

ROSALES (voice-over): This team says it's been covering as many as 80 homes per day.

PETER PAVON, WATER TRUCK DRIVER: (Speaking in foreign language)

ROSALES: He now knows these neighbors very well. And he's given his phone number out to everyone. And when they need some water, they're just ringing him up.

ROSALES (voice-over): Puerto Rico's Governor Jennifer Gonzalez has been blaming the severe drought for the water shortage. The level of the water reservoir serving San Juan has been low. The capital recorded its driest July on record in more than 120 years.

But many Puerto Ricans told me the drought is only half the story. Pointing the finger at the government, their anger more visible by the day.

ROSALES: We've been going 139 days without water this year.

ALFREDO CUYAR, ACTIVIST, EXIGIMOS AGUA COALITION: There's a drought. The drought started in June. And we are having problems with the water distribution since July 2025.

ROSALES: How does that happen?

CUYAR: Because they have leaks that they have not fixed for years. The real issue is not even the damage they have caused. It's that they don't know how to bring water to the people.

ROSALES: So you're saying mismanagement.

CUYAR: It's mismanagement.

ROSALES (voice-over): The governor has said at least $7 billion has been committed to water infrastructure improvement projects. Her office did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. Meanwhile, the water shortage is putting small businesses at risk.

[14:50:00]

Including Hector Rosa's restaurant.

ROSA: And the water goes up and we just fill up the tank in the room. We train every single employee with this.

ROSALES: Do you feel like an American citizen having to do all this?

HECTOR ROSA, RESTAURANT OWNER: Oh no, definitely no, no, no. I feel like a Puerto Rican.

ROSALES (voice-over): A private water supplier. Is keeping Rosa's restaurant alive. It costs Hector roughly $3,000 per week.

But without it, he says he'd have closed days ago.

ROSALES: How much is this about to cost you?

ROSA: At least $400 every time he comes. We've been without water for eight straight days. And that's a lot of water.

ROSALES: How long can you keep going like this? Like a year?

ROSA: No, no, no, no, no. Maybe two or three more weeks.

I don't know if these people know the real struggle that we have every single day with these situations.

ROSALES: So you blame the government?

ROSA: Oh yes, completely. A hundred percent. These people in a different country that we live.

We live in Puerto Rico. These people live in Fortaleza.

ROSALES (voice-over): Back in Llorenz Torres, some of Carmen's neighbors are left to fill up jugs and bottles from a water tank.

ROSALES: This water tank was just dropped off an hour ago. And we have encountered Sandra right here who just backed up her car.

She has this trunk full of these bleach bottles that she's now taking up over here. And you can see that she's filling up the water. You can see the effort that people are going to.

The manual labor to make sure that they have water inside of their homes.

ROSALES (voice-over): And as Sandra is about to leave.

ROSALES: Her neighbor, her neighbor just shouted out, hey, the water's coming. The pressure is being turned on.

ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, CNN, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Thanks to Isabel for that. She can now report that there is some temporary relief for impacted Puerto Ricans as the government has now paused water rationing after much needed rain from a recent tropical storm.

SANCHEZ: Great report. And now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

A major decision at the Supreme Court that could affect the midterm elections. The justices rejecting a newly drawn congressional map in Missouri that favored Republicans. The decision almost certainly means the state will use a previous map that includes six rather than seven winnable seats for the GOP.

Also, a new study finds that drinking scalding hot beverages like coffee and tea may significantly increase your risk of esophagus cancer. Researchers found that drinking anything above 149 degrees was associated with a threefold risk of the disease. So the lesson, don't do that.

Meantime, Princess Diana's revenge dress is going up for sale for the first time in 30 years. The late princess stepped out in a head turning gown on the same day her then husband, now King Charles, admitted in a televised interview that he'd been unfaithful. Hence the dress's moniker. The revenge dress will be exhibited in London this month.

Eventually, it's going to be auctioned off in New York.

KEILAR: Well, bring a plate. Stock up at the Bottle-O.

SANCHEZ: No shrimp on the barbie.

KEILAR: No shrimp on the barbie.

SANCHEZ: We've learned that's not real.

KEILAR: Because the NFL is going down under and it's going to be bloody rip up, mate.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Tonight, the NFL goes down under. Fair Dinkum, the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams making history in Melbourne as the league's first teams to play a regular season game in Australia. Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Pacific time.

So when the players square off at 10:30 a.m. local, their body clocks will not think that it's time for Brekke. It won't even feel like it's the Arvo. In fact, it's going to feel like it's beer o'clock.

And it's not like they can chuck a sickie because they've got a game of footy to play. CNN's Don Riddell is with us now. And Don, one of the interesting things here is that these two teams really took dramatically different approaches to the big time change. DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it couldn't have been any more different, Brianna. So, I mean, it's a home game for the Rams, but it's the 49ers who've made themselves feel at home because they got there more than a week ago. The Rams literally over a three-day period are going to be spending more time on a plane than they will on the ground.

They literally just flew in, in time to go to bed in the hotel. They'll wake up, play the game, and then they'll be on the plane back home. And it is just fascinating.

We'll see kind of how this works with regards to how the game plays out, but also how they both feel over the next few weeks when they continue their NFL campaign back on home soil. But it is just so, so interesting which approach is going to be better. The 49ers assistant coach completely missed his 50th birthday because that was the day that was lost when they were going through the international dateline.

Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, admits that the whole thing is just rather confusing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE SHANAHAN, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS HEAD COACH: When I look at my clock and it says the time, and then I try to see my family's time, and then it says the time, but it says yesterday. I don't even get how that's possible. So I feel like I'm in the future.

And then also when we play on our Friday, which I think's a Thursday in the U.S., we're such creatures of habit. So I call today Tuesday. No, wait, sorry, I call today Wednesday, which is the first day we put in a game plan.

But I think it's Monday. However, though, it's Sunday in the present. So like, I'm going to mess that up all week if you guys ask me ...

END