Transcript: Rep. Lisa McClain on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 6, 2026
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Updated on: September 6, 2026 / 2:36 PM EDT / CBS News
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sept. 6, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Congresswoman Lisa McClain. She is the chair of the House Republican Conference, and she joins us today from New Haven, Michigan. Congresswoman, you're not just one of the most powerful Republican women in Washington. You also work on messaging. I want to ask you about President Trump's plan to hold this big gathering in Dallas. His approval rating currently is 39% according to CBS. On Iran, inflation, even lower. He says put the focus on him, though, for these midterms. Pretend he is on the ballot. Isn't doing that possibly helping the opposition?
REP. LISA MCCLAIN: Well, I don't think he thinks so, and I don't think so either. Listen, Trump is absolutely on the ballot, right? But the whole goal of the midterm convention is to get Republicans together and share the stories of what we've done through this Congress and the past two years, and get our base fired up and united. And I'll remind everybody what Republicans did was secure the border. We passed the largest tax cuts in history. We want to keep more money in your pockets. And what our goal is with the midterm convention is really compare and contrast the two roads: one communist crazy versus traditional American common-sense values. So that's the goal of the midterm convention, and I'm pretty excited to go.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report said of your party's prospects in the midterms, Republicans should brace themselves. The outcomes could be bad, really bad, or truly horrible. What he was zeroing in on are the tariffs and the fuel and fertilizer costs that are hitting rural voters. I know out in North Dakota, Senator Kevin Cramer said farm country serious trouble for Trump. Are rural voters in Michigan also serious trouble?
REP. MCCLAIN: Listen, I've had the opportunity to be in the district and talk to the rural voters. Right, we have a lot of farmers in our communities, and what the farmers are excited about and actually applaud the president for is actually standing up to Canada and try and level the playing field with the tariffs. Since the 1990s, Canada has had a 250% tariff on our farmers for things like milk and cream and poultry. He's trying to level that playing field. Number two, the president for our farmers also is- is enacted 20 new trade deals. Twenty. The last time we had a trade deal was under Barack Obama, and we had three. And the third thing that our farmers are really applaud the Republicans and President Trump for is actually the death tax. We want to keep more of those family farms in the family, so we want to make sure that they can pass that generational wealth onto the next generation.
MARGARET BRENNAN : Yeah. Sorry. We are going to take a quick break. You're freezing up a bit. I'm hoping we fix that during this break. Stay with us if you could.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We continue our conversation now with Michigan Congresswoman Lisa McClain. Congresswoman, you were talking about how Michigan was navigating some of the Trump tariffs. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation said those tariffs cost your state $23 billion since January of 2025. That's the equivalent of $5,619 per Michigan household. There are more tariffs coming on Tuesday from Canada to hit back at the U.S. It's going to hit this aluminum, dairy, steel, appliances. This is a big market for Michigan. How much is this going to hurt?
REP. MCCLAIN: Yeah, listen, I shop at the same grocery stores as everybody else does, but what the president's trying to do is actually level the playing field because what we're not happy with is we want a trading partner with Canada, and right now they're not being a great trading partner. And I'll give you a great example, is we have trading- a tariff, for example, country of origin tariffs, for example, on China. What our trading partner Canada is doing is say, hey, China, put your goods through Canada. We'll take a little piece off the top. Then we will pass those goods through to the Americans and act like there's no- there's no tariff, like they came from China. That's not a good trading partner, number one. Number two, we have to level the playing field, like I said earlier. Canada, since the 1990s has had tax and tariffs on our dairy farmers at 250 percent. Listen--
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- I think that's a sliding scale, right? That only kicks in at a certain level--
REP. MCCLAIN: -- We don't want a trading war with Canada. We want a trading partner with Canada. So I applaud the president for actually trying to level the playing field.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But- but it comes with a bit of pain, and you think voters will understand that?
REP. MCCLAIN: It does. It absolutely does. But at the end of the day, I trust that President Trump is not going to do anything to hurt the American people long term. But because we've had these poor trading policies, and I might remind you that we are at a $60 billion deficit right now with Canada. What's the matter with trying to level those long term and getting the tariffs that Canada is charging us lower? I applaud the president for doing that, for trying to level the playing field.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, hopefully there'll be a return to those negotiations. Let me ask you a little bit about House business, since you are in leadership. The National Republican Congressional Committee announced last week it's going to spend nearly half a million dollars boosting Max Miller. He's the Ohio Republican congressman who's been accused of domestic abuse by his two former partners. Speaker Johnson said he still- he still supports Miller's re-election. Do you?
REP. MCCLAIN: Listen, divorces are ugly, and I'm glad I'm not- I'm not in his shoes right now. I…
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