emily wilkins is live with the details. emily? >> reporter: hey, kelly.ittle bit easier for american bourbon distillers to get into the spirit this christmas through the eu after they announced they would suspend tariffs on u.s. whiskey. the move avoids a 50% tariff from going into effect on january 1. and all this, of course, is tied up in that larger debate over tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which donald trump implemented way back in 2018. the biden administration has been working with the eu for two years to try to lift these tariffs. u.s. trade representative katherine tide says trading partners are working economically to incentivize fair and trade commission. they said the delay allows additional time to work on addressing global overcapacity and decarbonization of steel and aluminum industries. andy barr who pushed for an extension of the tariffs being halted, told me the eu has become a critical market for distillers from his home state. the year after tariffs were first lifted in 2021, he said there was a 32% increase in u.s. exports. >>

much th emily wilkins has more on the story. >> good morning, frank. holiday season. they are using it as the latest fight over the fees that come every time you swipe your credit card. at the center of the debate is the bipartisan bill to go after the two largest networks, visa and hmastercard. roger marshall, a sponsor of the bill, said more competition means mauler feell smaller fees retailers. >> our bill promotes competition. we don't set a price quote. we let the bank that issues the card chooses. it has other choices besides visa and mastercard. >> banks and credit card companies are warning the bill could lead to the end of the point reward systems. a survey found 45% of travelers this holiday season will use points. and one big name to be using them for travel this year by richard hunt. >> santa claus will use his points to lower his cost of travel. >> hunt questioned whether more competition is possible given the high level of investment and security needed for credit card net networks. he suggests this could be a race to the bottom. >> you h

emily wilkins has more. >> hey, melissa. bank ceos are going to be making the case why a pending increase in capital could hurt the economy. that proposed rule from the fed, you know, it's meant to decrease risk, but it's hit really strong push-back. in testimony prepared for tomorrow, jvp pamie dimon put i this way. "more is not more in this case. ironically, a proposal to mitigate risk will create even more risk in the financial system." and several republican lawmakers on the committee told me this week, they want to hear from the ceos, what impact those potential capital increases will have on communitien banks, on small businesses, and on consumers. democratic senators, most of them have told me they plan to ask ceos about other topics, including climate change, derisking their energy portfolios, and if they are making use of a new instant payment system from the federal reserve. the hearing starts tomorrow morning, should be a very interesting day, melissa. >> emily, thank you. for more on tomorrow's hearing, let's tur

emily wilkins joins us.od morning. >> it's easier for distill letters to get into the christmas spirit after there was an agreement to suspend the tariff. it's the result of a larger dispute on steel and aluminum tariffs put in place under the trump administration. now the discitiesers in kentucky, virginia, and beyond can breathe easy,s at least until the end of march 2025. they have been negotiating the tariffs for two years. the representative said the goal is to forge a forward-looking arrangement that will allow us to join forces economically to incentivize fair and clean production and trade in the steel and aluminum sectors. republican kentucky congressman andy barr who pushed for the extension of the halting of the tariffs tells me it's been critical in his home state 69. after the tariffs were initially lifted in 2021, barr said there was a 21% increase in u.s. sk exports. >> europe really matters. we're still trying to crack the code in asia and other parts of the world, but europe really understan

emily wilkins is here with those details. emily? >> hey, scott.lers are raising a glass to the eu this year after the countries announced they would extend a suspension of tariffs on whiskey. if they hadn't, bourbon would have been slapped with 50% tariff that would have started on monday with the start of 2024. the tariffs on liquor, they're the result of a larger dispute on steel and aluminum tariffs that were initially put in place under the trump administration. now, turned biden administration, the u.s. and the eu have been negotiating over the tariffs for about two years, and u.s. trade representatives katherine said the goal is to forge a forward-looking arrangement that will allow the u.s. to join forces economically to incentivize fair and clean production and trade in the steel and aluminum sectors. andy barr, who pushed for an extension of the halted tariffs, told me that the eu has become a critical market for distillers from his home state. in the years after tariffs were first lifted in 2021, barr said that there was a 32% increase i

emily wilkins in washington. >>> make or break week when it comes to rates, yields an the fed with thes here at post nine. is the fed going to mess this up, bob? >> i don't think so. i think they want to go out of this year fairly balanced. they don't want to be too dovish and create too loose financial conditions, but they also don't want to be too hawkish and create too much downside here. they're going to try to thread the needle. >> that was the message we got from powell before the blackout period, right, that there are risks to doing, you know -- the riskses are more balanced to over tightening or under tightening, lags, and that we haven't felt the full effect of monetary policy tightening. you expect a similar message or benign? would that be a green light to keep buying everything, bonds and stocks? >> look, the long and variable lags are always questionable when they'll hit. what we do know is that we're in nirvana right now. this is as good a soft landing as the fed could have taken us into, so i, for one, am going to enjoy it. if bonds back up in yield i'm out buying. i thi

let's bring back leslie picker and emily wilkins both in capitol hill.is the vibe right now, emily, from lawmakers? we go in waves of hostility towards big bank ceos. >> reporter: you'll see a lot of that. it's going to depend whether a democrat is asking questions or a republican is asking questions. most of the republicans i talked to, including today in the halls said they want to focus on in had on the capital requirements and they say they want to be able to cut through the noise. they want to help banks make the case that this proposed regulation would not be helpful to consumers, small banks and small businesses. of course you heard in his opening testimony chairman sher rod brown come back and refute that. i think from democrats you'll hear a wide array of topics to touch on, including climate, diversity and inclusion, and more minute things they want to hear from the banks on. remember every senator only gets five minutes so they have to prioritize what they want to ask. because it is not that much time when all is said and done. >> leslie, they

let's get to emily wilkins with that. is this about defense policy? >> yes.00 billion, incredible critical piece of legislation congress is getting done today before everyone goes home for christmas. a lot of this bill does have to do with the military a 5.2% pay raise for service members, additional funding for ukraine, but there are a number of provisions in here that deal with other interests and topics. one big one is ai. we are seeing dozens of provisions in here as the pentagon and the military really look to adopt this new technology, that includes trying to see if they can hold a competition to get someone who can identify watermarks on ai and ai generated content so you can tell what's real and fake. they are sponsoring a program telling hackers, come, test our ai, see where our faults are. we want to make sure that we are putting out a really strong product when it comes to the ai models as well as cyber defense models. there are pieces in here on china and taiwan having the department of defense basically train taiwan military and help boost up the

emily wilkins is joining us with that story emily, this is the least productive congress in modern historyn terms of the laws passed >> reporter: in terms of the laws and, i think, if you look at congress on any given day and how much dysfunction is going on that is the lawmakers to consider whether or not they should stay. lawmakers are preparing to leave d.c. for the loholidays or for good 40 members of congress are not running for the current seats next year. that is the most in two decades. some members are seeking another office like house members going to the senate, but many have decided to leave the office like ken buck and dan kilday. they have been frustrated where anything getting done is increasingly difficult >> it is very difficult to move difficult issues we can rename post offices all day long, but we can't move difficulty issues in terms of cutting spending and dealing with some of the really tough issues like medicare and social security and defense budgets >> what i learned is no matter what the rules are, no matter what the system looks like, if you have a group of peop

want to get over to cnbc's emily wilkins, she joins us now with more on that battle twin retailers and they're both using the holiday season really to try and make their point. the average family is going to be racking up about $20 in these fees this holiday season just from paying with their credit card and that's according to the merchant payment coalition. republican roger marshall is trying to change that. to have families pay less. legislation from him and democratic senator dick durbin would require banks to offer retile retailers more options. this would reduce those fees. now, the bill targets visa and mastercard, which make up about 70% of the market. >> it is not fair that these two credit card companies, four big banks are taking advantage of american consumers. and i think that this -- what affixing a price, what it does is increases competition. >> on the other hand, banks and credit card companies are warning that this bill could lead to the end of credit card points, which nearly half of all travelers are using this holiday season according to a survey from ipx 1031. ric

emily wilkins is joining us. do you have a new alarm clock? >> reporter: of course. anytime i get coffee, i can do this. breaking news from d.c. president biden is going to be signing an executive order threatening sanctions for those helping russia. a senior administration official said yesterday that they are seeing signs previous sanctions have had impact, russia has been able to circumvent barriers with third parties. the executive order is meant as a warning to the companies over goods sold to russia do not bolster its military or cut off the u.s. financial system. it bans russian diamonds sent to other countries for processing before coming to the u.s. the agreement earlier this month from the g7 leaders vowing to curtail the international financial systems while they continue fighting ukraine. the white house says sanctions will help, but congress needs to approve the 6$61.4 billion of ad to ukraine. that is difficult as more americans feel they should not sent more assistance. the president is looking for the border provision, but congress was unable to do so