Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 6, 2026

Margaret Brennan opened “Face the Nation” with two pressures facing Americans before the end of summer: signs of resilience in the job market and prices that remain high. Gasoline prices, she said, had reached their highest level ever for a Labor Day weekend.

The program linked the elevated prices to the conflict with Iran, which had flared up again the previous week, and examined what that war and a new U.S. oil deal with Venezuela could mean for consumers. Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined the broadcast from Denver after returning from Caracas. Brennan asked whether Americans could see gasoline fall back to $3 within two weeks, following a prediction by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tied to the Iran talks.

Wright said peak demand had passed with the end of the summer driving season and pointed to regulatory changes introduced by the Trump administration. The supplied transcript ends as he begins explaining how the changes could affect American refiners.

The broadcast also turned to the midterm elections. Republicans were beginning their case to fall voters at their first GOP midterm convention, with Michigan Representative Lisa McClain and businessman Ray Washburne, the convention’s co-chair, scheduled to appear. Democrats planned to counter with arguments focused on affordability, represented on the program by Colorado Representative Jason Crow and Michigan gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson.

Brennan also reported breaking news from Ukraine. After 19 months in office, President Trump had sent his top foreign-policy envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Kyiv in an effort to end what the program described as a 5.5-year war with Russia. The visit followed months of appeals from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Witkoff and Kushner had been in Moscow the previous day, while Witkoff’s meeting with Vladimir Putin was described as his sixth known visit. Putin rejected Zelenskyy’s proposed cease-fire, Brennan said, but the two leaders agreed to temporarily halt attacks on their capitals to facilitate the envoys’ visit.

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Well, we've passed peak demand time with Labor Day tomorrow, the end of the summer driving season.