"the kudlow report" just moments away. >> all right. a lot of disappointments after the bell. nike, yes, i thought it could hold. that was a bad call. you have to own it. why do i like it? i said you could buy it for the olympics. i'm sticking by that. i think the company deserves more credit. research in motion, no credit. no nothing. research in motion, sorry. it just is still wrong. it's still too early to buy rimm. don't be fooled. the europeans aren't coming up with a compromise overnight. i will say this. the big bad event of health care is at last gone and that's a positive. there's always a bull market somewhere and i promise to find it for you right here at "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. hey, larry, what do you have for us? >> all right, jimmy. the supreme court just ok'd the largest tax hike in the history of the world. >> announcer: obamacare upheld. but the fight is on.

larry looks at the obamacare tax from every angle. business, markets, your money, politics. >> we're going to take back this country. >> announcer: the election. >> today's decision was a victory. >> announcer: and the obama legacy. from cnbc head quarters, this is a special edition of "the kudlow report." here now is larry kudlow. >> good evening, everyone. welcome to this special edition of "the kudlow report." two major breaking news stories on this momentous day. the supreme court raised taxes on every american on the legal premise that obamacare is actually a tax. minutes ago, attorney general eric holder held in criminal contempt of congress. for obamacare, 20 new or higher taxes across the board. bad for economic growth. bad for job hiring. bad for investors and bad for families trying to earn a living. this $2.5 trillion spending

entitlement could conceivably bankrupt this country. the architect of obamacare or one of them, zeke emmanuel goes up against greg abbott live in a few minutes. breaking news for the first time in american history, an attorney general has been cited in criminal contempt of congress. take a listen. >> today's vote is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation during an election year. >> all right. that's mr. holder's take. tonight, america's mayor rudy giuliani said to me that the whole thing sniffs of a possible cover-up. also this evening the market drops big after the obamacare decision. seema, what's on that? >> the dow losing 1% after the supreme court ruling came in. we saw a late stage recovery as positive comments from europe helped. a mixed day for health care stocks, health care insurers ending lower while hospital

stocks rose sharply as they were considered the net winner from the supreme court ruling. larry? >> there is so much to get to. let's begin with the top story of the day. even the president was surprised the supreme court upheld obamacare or at least a key part of it. john harwood is live at the white house. good evening, john. wild and woolly. >> crazy day, larry. almost as surprising as the ruling itself which the white house predicted was the way in which it came about with john roberts, the chief justice, a conservative appointed by george w. bush siding with the court's liberals to uphold the mandate calling it a tax. president obama used the moment to celebrate also as a teachable moment to try to remind americans as the virtues of the law even though he acknowledged it hasn't been a winner politically. >> i know the debate over the law has been divisive. i respect the very real concerns that millions of americans shared. i know a lot of coverage through this health care debate has focused on what it means

politically. well, it should be pretty clear by now that i didn't do it because it was good politics. i did it because i believed it was good for the country. >> his republican opponent mitt romney, even though he pushed through a similar health care plan in the state of massachusetts as governor criticized the justices' ruling and made the point politically that the only thing standing between the united states and the implementation of the law is a mitt romney presidency. >> i disagree with the supreme court's decision. i agree with the dissent. what the court did not do on its last day in session, i will do on my first day if elected president of the united states. that is, i will act to repeal obamacare. >> what happens next? first of all, the republican controlled house plans in mid july to take up a vote to repeal obamacare in toto. that's expected to pass. will go nowhere in the senate. the democratic senate will block it.

mitt romney will make the argument that barack obama wants to raise taxes on the american people citing john roberts's ruling. he may get political advantage with his base about that. president obama's team will turn to implementation of the law and countering the tax argument by noting the congressional budget office has said fewer than 1% of americans would pay what john roberts called a tax. that's the penalty for not buying health insurance. >> all right. john harwood, thank you very much. we'll see you at the cbo encounters all of the myriad facets of the new decision. let's get to our legal panel to talk about this stuff. we have former obama health policy adviser dr. zeke emmanuel and texas attorney general greg abbott. thank you. mr. emmanuel, thank you for coming on. >> nice to be here. >> greg abbott, i read your notes. i'm not as thrilled about this as you are. they had s slight of hand and the tax power has been expanded substantially. why are you enthused about this?

>> what happened was this is a devastating blow for america. two of the arguments with made were upheld by the court today. the individual mandate was an unconstitutional overreach by congress trying to cram it through the commerce claus. second the state won the argument with regard to the medicaid coercion principle. this is a loss for america because the court did today what congress and the president refused to do. they called obamacare a tax. now we have an obamacare tax that, as justice kennedy pointed out was judicially engineered by a close majority of the court as something the obama administration themselves are shocked by. no one believed this was considered a tax. it will have a devastating business impact across our state and across the country. >> that -- >> zeke, i know you favor this. i thought the thing was a tax. what bothers me is it's new and aggressive tax power. >> that is not true. look --

>> if i don't eat broccoli or put solar window panels in my house you're going to come back and slap a tax on me. >> well, justice roberts, a conservative justice says that congress could do that if you didn't upgrade your house to make it weather efficient. there could be an incentive to do that. we provide incentives in all sorts of ways. the idea that this is a massive tax is simply false. the penalty does not raise a lot of money. it does raise some money. it is not the main way of getting this through and financing it. we should mention that obamacare over the course of the next decade is actually going to reduce the deficit $100 billion. it pays for its. >> i know i have heard the argument. pardon me, but neither i nor the congressional budget office believe -- >> the congressional budget office is the one who said it saves $100 million. >> that's over a short period of time. >> over the first decade. >> i beg your pardon. they are talking about two and a half trillion in spending and

five or six hundred billion in taxes although a.g. abbott, i want to come back to you on the tax issue. you did win one on medicaid. ththe feds can't take your mone away if you don't want to fork up all the money for medicaid. my question on this which goes to zeke's point is what if you don't want to finance all the people that are moving into exchanges? the exchanges are supposed to be financed by medicaid. what -- >> no, no, no. larry, you've got it wrong. >> let me ask greg first and then you come in. >> but the question's wrong. >> who's going to pay for the exchanges if medicaid doesn't pay for it? >> i will agree with your other guest. the exchange will be through a different mechanism as i understand it. but ultimately the taxpayers of this country. this is not free money. it's money being lifted out of the wallets of americans paying for this historic expansion of the health care system. >> larry! >> this will be paid for by the

taxpayers of the country. >> excuse me, larry. you misdescribed the law. you don't know what you're talking about when it comes to this law. medicaid applied to medicaid. texas can decide if it wants to expand medicaid or not and it can refuse to do so. analyses by the docouncil of economic advisers said it would be to their advantage to -- >> that's what i'm talking about. that's an important piece, zeke. let me expand that for a second. the way this thing is, it's a middle class entitlement. it raise it is leverage, the ceiling on medicaid. my point is a simple one. >> no. >> if you go into medicaid and use the so-called market exchange options, somebody's got to pay for it. if the states don't want to pay, texas doesn't want to pay. >> i'm sorry, larry. >> who the heck is going to pay except the three of us? >> you didn't explain it right. in the exchange it's separate from medicaid. you are buying private insurance

and people are getting subsidized up to 400% of insurance. >> right. >> of poverty to buy insurance. >> that's huge. it's medicaid. >> wait a second. it is not medicaid. >> it is. >> larry, you don't know what you're talking about. it's separate from medicaid. i'm sorry. you're not describing the bill properly. >> all right. >> a subsidy to buy private insurance is not medicaid. medicaid is a different program where the government pays the doctors. in the medicaid part the federal government is picking up 100% of it between 2014 and 2016. that declines to 90% by 2020. >> all right. >> texas can decide to participate or not. the exchanges are separate and texas -- if it doesn't participate, the federal government will run that exchange. >> will texas participate? last word to a.g. gregory abbott? >> we'll evaluate it. we believe texans can do a better job running texas as opposed to bureaucrats in washington, d.c. we want to craft our own

initiatives that do a better job providing health care access in our state. >> all right. >> we might remind people viewing your show 25% of texans have no insurance. >> we'll have you back. you're a great fighter, i love it. zeke emmanuel, gregory abbott. we appreciate it. >> thank you, larry. all right. let's turn to another special guest for more on this story. we welcome back america's mayor rudy giuliani who joins me tonight from las vegas. mayor, thank you, sir. we have been talking about constitutional law and jurisprudence. i want your take on the economy. after all, at the end of the day obamacare, tax and spends, raises debt, stops jobs, stops hiring. what's your take on this part of the story? >> this will be enormously expensive. more than anticipated. the court struck down the way they were going to force people in the states to contribute to medica medicaid. there could be another 12, 15 million people to be covered and we have to pay for it.

the bill is budget busting. it's enormous. >> tell me about the medicaid piece. it came up in the first segment. i'm not sure we nailed it down. if a state doesn't want to pony up more medicaid money according to the ruling the federal government can't take their money away. therefore, if you have these exchanges people move into exchanges, where is that dough going to come from? has anybody made an estimate? i haven't seen congressional budget office, nothing. >> of course not. the bill wasn't premised on that. it was premised on people 133% above poverty would be covered and the states were going to go along. now the states don't have to. it's another added expense to what's already an enormously expensive bill. the way chief justice roberts wrote the opinion, the taxing power of the federal government is now unlimited.

if they can tax your failure to buy health insurance, your failure to do exercises or your failure to eat the food they want you to eat. >> my failure to eat broccoli or if i don't have solar window panels in my house. >> this is the point the dissent made. they spent no more than 50 yards in argument and 21 lines in the brief on taxing power. they went off on doing something never briefed, never argued and never considered. this is dangerous. we are giving barack obama now the power to tax us if we don't breathe the way he wants us to. >> couple shorties. mitt romney. is this a romney opportunity? does this give him a fresh new issue? how do you see it? >> every poll i have looked at shows this issue is one of the biggest motivating issues, not only for republican voters, but for a lot of independent voters. people do not want government

controlled medicine. they don't want mandates. they don't want to be told that they have to buy health insurance. they don't want to be in a position where the federal government can tax now to an unlimited degree. there is no limit on the taxing power of the federal government. that's frightening. >> there is a new issue created here which they can do anything they wanted under the commerce claus. now anything they want under the taxing clause. >> last one as a former u.s. attorney and during the reagan years associate attorney general if i have that right. >> correct. >> eric holder was voted criminal contempt of congress today for failing to deliver subpoenaed documents. i want your quick take on that. >> he hasn't explained why there was a misrepresentation or, if you want, a lie to the congress about whether there was knowledge of this fast and furious program. there clearly was a letter sent

to congress that was false. there was knowledge of this. congress has a right to explore who knew, who authorized. if they would just comply and answer you wouldn't be this in situation. i have no idea why they are being this extrep rous about it. >> is there a cover up? >> they are giving the impression there is. that doesn't mean there is. but they are giving the impression that there is. >> great stuff. many thanks to america's mayor, my favorite mayor rudy giuliani. thank you. >> thank you, larry. >> we're off the air. next up the special report continues. how will republicans react to this? congressman kevin brady and senior senator jon kyl will sound off on the show. don't forget, free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity, especially a night like tonight. with all due respect, obamacare is most definitely not free market capitalism. i'm larry kudlow. we'll be right back.

the president from interview: i talk to folks on rope lines and in coffee shops. people who have been out of work. you can tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i

today's ruling underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety. >> the decision that was announced by the supreme court is a victory for america's

families. >> welcome back to a special edition of "the kudlow report." we have two key interviews now from capitol hill. one from the senate and one from the house. let me turn first to the house side. my great friend kevin brady, republican of texas. vice chair of the joint economic committee. all right, i want your take. it turns out it's not the mandate penalty but the power of taxation on the obamacare. what's your take? >> yeah. this is the wrong ruling for the wrong reason. it was convoluted reasoning on justice roberts's behalf. yet they basically said congress has the power to tax you if you do something and tax you if you don't. and it has a tremendous consequence. plus, it left in place 21 different tax increases, half of which hit the middle class in a big way. >> what's that going to do to job creation? >> i think it's very damaging. i'm convinced when i listen to our business people back home

obamacare is already holding back job creation. i think this will do it in a bigger way and the congressional budget office says it will hurt the economy by about 800,000 jobs. this is not good news for a struggling economy. >> quickly, you all are going to vote, i'm told, july 11 to repeal all of obamacare in the house. is that correct, kevin? >> we are. we believe we need to start with a fresh slate that lowers health care costs, gets back to the free market. gets patients more choice. so i'm looking forward to that date. >> all right. last one. i know the house is on the warpath against attorney general eric holder. i know there is a contempt citation. i want to ask in your opinion should mr. holder resign at this point? >> well, i have felt he should anyway. i think the mishandling of a number of cases but especially fast and furious. if at the end of the day he has

lied, misled congress clearly he doesn't have the standing to stay in his office. i think letting the public see these communications will tell them more about his behavior. >> all right. thank you very much. we appreciate it. let me turn to another old friend. senator jon kyl, spobl of arizona, the number two man in the senate. this decision by the supreme court, was it sleight of hand? it's a taxing power issue? what's your hithinking? >> a mandate by any other name. to the average citizen it doesn't matter if it is a mandate or a tax. the end result is the same. they have to buy insurance dictated by the administration, whatever the insurance policy is, whatever it costs and if they don't, they have to pay a big tax which is enforced by the internal revenue service. i don't think the fact that it is called a tax is going to make americans feel better about

things. the end result is the same. they have an intrusive federal government telling them what to do, how much it's going to cost when they would probably prefer to make the decision for their own family is way they think works best and not worry about the potential for more taxation and unaffordable health care, not going to the doctor of their choice and potentially having rationing of care. >> senator, let me ask you. there will be a vote in july in the house to repeal obamacare. do you anticipate any legislative action in the senate, any amendments, anything at all after today's decision? >> i think republicans will want to give the senate another opportunity to vote on this now that we know it is a big tax increase. before the democrats and president obama specifically said, oh, no, this isn't a tax. now that we know that it is we can put the question to them again. our congressional democratic colleagues can answer the question, are you prepared now to impose a brand new big tax on

the american people in the guise of obamacare? we ought to have that vote again. >> we'll leave it there. thank you very much, sir. as always. >> thank you, larry. >> much more on the fl das out from the supreme court surprise on health care. will obamacare bankrupt america? howard dean and vin weber will battle that one out on kudlow. i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands

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welcome back to welcome back to the special edition of "the kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. two major stories we continue to follow. the supreme court shocked america by upholding obamacare. conventional wisdom says it will help mitt romney but might it also help president obama? i want to ask the question. also in this half hour, history in the making. the first attorney general to be cited for criminal contempt of congress. we'll have congressman charlie wrangle and jason chaffitz scare off. the supreme court shocks the world pi upholding a key costly mandate of obamacare. here now is cnbc contributor, former democratic presidential candidate and former vermont governor howard dean, author of "prescription for real health care reform." and vin weber, republican strategist and mitt romney economic adviser. i'm told we don't have howard

dean yet. >> you do have me. >> oh, we do have howard dean. somebody said we don't have howard dean. i beg your pardon. love to have you. no taxes. that was the original mantra. that's been misproven. no middle class taxes be llow 200,000. the cbo says 71% of the tax hikes come from obamacare will fall on people under 200,000 a year. that's roughly 8 million people. not my number, howard dean, but the congressional budget office says this is a major middle class tax hike. >> nonsense. what they are getting is health care. health care that's heavily subsidized. you know i wasn't a huge fan of the bill. this was a win for the president which i don't think matters much. i think the substance of it matters. this does something you should like. it keeps the health care reform in the private sector. if you think john roberts was

ever going to support a socialist bill you have another thing coming. this is not a bad bill. it's not what i thought it could be. but the private sector will work on cost containment. we need it because there was none nun in the bill. this is a carbon copy of what mitt romney did in massachusetts. 98% of massachusetts has health care. >> that's different from the united states. let me give you more numbers from the congressional budget office, howard. you're a numbers guy. you were a fiscally prudent gover in in vermont. the cbo is talking about a cost of 2.5 trillion dollars. 2.5 trillion dollars of spending. those are the latest estimates and that doesn't even include what's going to happen with some of the market exchanges where medicaid may be short. 2.5 trillion. on taxes, howard. 800 billion dollars worth of taxes. now the problem is -- >> do you know where some -- >> besides spending and taxing, the deficit is going up some more and the debt is going up some more. we're on the way to bankruptcy,

howard. that's my take. >> that's not what the cbo says, larry. >> i'm quoting their numbers. >> it's going down as a result of this. >> i'm quoting cbo numbers. they have had so many revisions since the early rigged six-year thing. 2.5 trillion dollars, howard dean. where the hell are we getting the money to pay for that? >> i'll tell you, i maintain this is one of the great things that will happen in small business. the democrats don't want me to say this but i am. small businesses are going to dump employees into exchanges. they will be taken care of and small business will be freed of the burden of health insurance. that puts us in a better competitive position to break the employer/employee bond in terms of health insurance. there is good stuff in the bill. i didn't agree either but it's a lot better than doing nothing. >> vin weber, welcome. i agree with howard dean. small business is going to dump into the exchanges. vin, congressional budget office numbers.

75% of the tax is going to fall on people less than 200,000 a year. that's middle class. and things will cost 2.5 trillion. because i agree with howard dean, more people are going to be dumped into the exchanges. the costs will be higher and may well bankrupt us. what's your take on this, vin weber? >> i think you're exactly right. the notion that we could ever spend this much money on a federal health care program and not have it raise taxes, not have it impact the deficit was always a fantasy land. it will be proven to be fantasy land. the cbo numbers will be proven wrong but we have to argue about it for a while. as far as people being dumped into the exchanges i think that will happen. maybe some small businessmen like it but the president promised no one would have health care coverage changed, nobody. as howard said, a bunch of people will be dumped into the exchanges whether they like it or not. >> another broken promise. >> that's good health insurance. it's a reasonable package. >> pardon?

>> i'm sorry. >> nobody's going to lose insurance. if they go into an exchange they get good health insurance. this is something mitt romney did in massachusetts. it works. we ought to give the governor credit and the president copied what governor romney did and i think it's going to work. >> vin weber, what's your reaction to that? we are going to hear a lot of that. mitt romney was at it today. made a forceful statement. he said he will repeal on day one, kill the waivers and repeal obamacare. okay, fine. how will he react to what howard dean is saying which obama will say that this models after the massachusetts romneycare experime experiment. how will he react to that? >> with all due respect there is nothing new to the argument. we have argued it all through the primaries f. the republican candidates couldn't make the argument cut against mitt romney in a republican primary, it's not going to work with the general electorate. mittmittney fashioned a plan that worked in massachusetts and presented it from going sinal payer which is probably where it would have gone and i know howard thinks we should go to as

a country. >> howard, i will give you the last word if you can do it quickly. >> vin weber is a good guy and a smart guy. he's wrong on this issue. we need a universal health care issue. this is a republican plan designed by the heritage foundation executed by governor romney in massachusetts. i think it's a good enough plan for the nation. not what i would have planned but it will work well. >> we're out of time. howard dean and vin weber. >> so long, howard. >> it's fiscally bankrupting and anti-growth. that's just my take. up next on kudlow and the special report, the supreme court's decision, obama care is destroying growth and jobs. the court didn't say that. i said that. however, we have ceos, john engler and jim garland joining us next. one's a big guy. the other is a small business guy. let's hear what they think about obamacare which really came in under false pretenses. now it's a tax. accolade overdrive.

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the specialback to welcome back to the special edition of "the kudlow report." let's talk about the business impact. is obamacare a job destroyer or maybe not?

here now to talk about the potential burden businesses face we have business round table president and former michigan governor john engler and sharp details ceo and author of "the practical guide to exceptional living," jim garland. jim, we have not yet met. welcome to "the kudlow report." what happens to your business? you have a small business. i think you employ 70 people. what happens now that obamacare is going through? >> well, that's what we are faced with. uncertainty. we're not sure what's going to happen. i'm sure my cost wills go up. none of it kicks in until 2014. when that happens the costs go up. we don't know how much. lots of uncertainty now is the problem we face. >> john engler, this one size all insurance plan will be very expensive for certain categories of workers. isn't that why a lot of your members got waivers for this? you can't get a waiver every day. how upset are they? >> larry, i think howard dean in the earlier segment touched on

the important point. this law doesn't fix the costs containment problem. we've still got a problem in health care costing a lot in america. it is a challenge for companies. it's a challenge for payroll. too many workers had to forego wage increases because all the compensation has gone into the health package. when we look at the budget of the united states, the change that we need in the entitlement systems, medicare, medicaid are driven by health care costs. so much work to be done if you want to repeal and replace. you have to have a plan. if you support and love obamacare, you still have got to fix the law. so the debate is just beginning. >> this whole thing. jim garland, what does it take? my impression is the cost of hiring the extra worker with obamacare insurance is substantial. enough to make you not hire the extra worker. >> that could be a possible effect of this. our costs have been going up about 25% over the past years.

it comes back to uncertainty. if we have to help pay for a lot of employees mandated to cover health care, that cost for every employee has now gone up maybe 15% or 20% more than it is today. >> i'll leave it there. both of your taxes, including mine will go up. payroll, investment taxes. i'm sorry. we don't have more time. john engler, jim garland, thank you. now to the market. stocks did have a major comeback in the final hour of trading. let's go to the ceo of bull & bear partners. right at the top i'll tell you i'm not going to do it justice. i'm pressed for time. isn't obamacare with the taxes and regulation anti-growth and not good for the stock market in the longer term? >> it's been anti-growth from the beginning. it's one of the reasons we have been seeing depressed valuations in the markets. it's a reason we saw a muted sell-off today but there were good things that came out of the decision. one, we called a spade a spade.

it's a tax. now at least the supreme court is calling it what it is. the other thing it did and i think the market is starting to play into this is the chances of a romney victory just went up today. i think the market is probably going to start playing that and more importantly start pricing it in over the course of the coming weeks. >> that's a fascinating point. from your wisdom in the health care area which ones went up? what was the best performing health care stock or stock sector in the face of obamacare? >> if you've got a hospital chain, the tenants of the world, hcas, if you have 5% or 10% of patients uninsured this was a big day for you. it was a bonus. those are the groups that will be doing well. again, it will be at a huge cost for the rest of america. $2.5 trillion may be an under estimation. >> that's the cbo number. i couldn't sell it to howard dean before but that's the official number and rising. thanks for your patience, jack.

coming up, late breaking news. history in the house of representatives. for the first time ever an attorney general is cited in contempt of congress. next, house members charlie rangle from new york and jason chaffitz of utah are ready to rumble about the contempt citation of eric holder. ♪ [ engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] we created the luxury crossover and kept turning the page, this is the next chapter for the rx and lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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all right, look busy, the manager is coming. 255s. the nays are 267. one member present. the resolution is agreed to. >> with that for the first time in u.s. history a sitting attorney general has been held in criminal contempt of congress. welcome back to the special edition of "the kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. let's get to our special distinguished guest, charlie rangle, democrat from new york fresh off a new re-election victory and jason chaffitz, republican from utah. charlie, i couldn't help myself. i have known you so long. i want to go to jason first. is this contempt citation because there is a cover-up going on? is that the primary driver of this contempt? >> the simple answer is we are just trying to get the documents to get to the bottom of this,

make sure it never happens again. we have a dead border patrol agent, 200 dead people in mexico, a department of justice that lied to congress in a february 4 letter. there are 140,000 documents out there. the department of justice has given less than 8,000 of those. we issued a subpoena in october and there's been no response. we are left with no other alternative than to pursue the contempt charge. >> charlie, with the changing stories from the justice department, holder's own changing stories, his failure to deliver documents why did you vote for holder? the whole thing is beginning to have a smell to it? >> no american or no reasonable person would believe that this attorney general or probably any other deserved what happened to him today in terms of holding him in criminal contempt. i think it's fortunate that it happened because it will show

just like with the debt ceiling, when the republicans said that the primary way for them to gain control of the white house is to destroy the president, i had no idea it would be at the destruction of our constitution. but today really proved it. if anyone can walk away believing that the president of the united states and the attorney general were involved in the cover-up that was criminal then that's the reason why some of us said, let's get away from all of this. let the public decide. it would seem to me that we got so many things to do that we shouldn't be tied up doing this. >> okay. jason chaffetz, things i don't understand. if they haven't done anything wrong what is it that they are covering up? if they have done something wrong then when are they going to fess up? in other words i don't see what else you can do. you tell me. what comes next after this?

>> look, we were left with no other options. there are 140,000 documents. they have given us less than 8,000. you don't ignore subpoenas in the united states of america. this was not about eric holder personally. this has to do with the department of justice and justice in this country. the beauty of our county is there is no person above the law. you provide the documents. we have a constitutional responsibility to that. there are two votes. one was criminal contempt and the other was civil. we'll pursue it. you can't drop it at this point because somebody says, trust me. i like what reagan said. trust but verify. that's the role of congress, to provide oversight. >> you know, with the criminal contempt it's possible that the district court could bring in marshals, handcuff the attorney general and take him off to federal jail. you know, i am so glad that they have distorted this thing out of proportion. you think i like it when executive branch sticks its nose township the congress?

you don't think we want the answers to these thing? but the whole concept that they would insult this country, the president and the attorney general for having something to believe that he believed he criminally intended to cover this up. well, now it means there is no way to compromise. really playing hardball. >> i don't understand. charlie, let me go back to jason. aren't you exercising your legitimate oversight authority? maybe there is a deal, maybe not. aren't they in effect thumbing their nose at you because you're doing what you're supposed to do? >> what percentage of the truth do you want? i want all the truth and nothing but the truth. look, i'm sad it came to this. it is due process. it says no one person is above the law. they have a duty and responsibility. congress concurred. >> charlie, you feel the same way. >> due process for the attorney general. >> again, congratulations, charlie. >> thank you.

>> up next on kudlow, our own special report. the high court's jaw dropping decision and the fall out for november's election. that's a key issue. i'm larry kudlow. we'll be right back. what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom. that's why programs like... ...the mickelson exxonmobil teachers academy... ...and astronaut sally ride's science academy are helping our educators improve student success in math and science. let's shoot for the stars.

let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. thin coffee shops. people who i thave been out of work. you can tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i

what the country can't afford to do is refight the political battles of two years ago with today's announcement it's time to move forward. >> if we want to get rid of obamacare, we're going to have to replace president obama.

my mission is to make sure we do exactly that. >> all right. welcome back to a special edition of "the kudlow report." you heard the presidential candidates' immediate reactions to the shocking supreme court health care decision today. now let's hear from our panel. here's former clinton white house aide keith bokkin, cnbc contributors jennifer ruben, author of the right turn blog and jim of the american enterprise institute. jennifer, what does this mean? since the 10:00 a.m. announcement this morning, mr. romney has received 2.5 million of contributions from 24,000 people. $2.5 million from 24,000 people. what does that mean? >> well, i think it means the republican base is pumped up. i think he has a unique opportunity here. he's been making the argument all along that obama's policies are a drag on the economy. this is going to be exhibit a.

the big obama tax -- less affordable now than it was before chief justice roberts got ahold of it because of issues you have raised and the states won't be expanding medicaid most likely. and this thing just got a lot worse for the president as a policy matter, a political matter. >> keith, i want your take on this. i know you will disagree. i want to say the money is pouring in to romney. obamacare has been unpopular since its inception two years ago. is it possible romney will link obamacare to the lousy economy? >> i think, yes, he will try but i don't think it will be effective. he should be talking about the economy and the jobs numbers. those are the issues the american people are concerned about. not the health care reform issue. there was money raised today but the democrats will raise money today. president obama said on the e-mail today soliciting money

because of the decision. i suspect numbers about that tomorrow. i think the danger for the republicans is they overplay this. >> what do you mean overplay? >> romney doesn't want to talk about health care reform for the rest of the election. members of the house do want to talk about this. >> that's a key point. i heard this tonight. howard dean blasted vin weber who was representing team romney about romneycare in massachusetts. does romney have a problem attacking obamacare because of romneycare? i know it didn't hit in the primaries but it might be bad for him now. what's your take? >> i don't think it's a problem. mitt romney has a health care plan and he'll talk more about it. think you will see more detail in the coming days and weeks about what's in his health care plan and it will be completely different from the obama health care plan. his health care plan is about consumer choice, markets, competition, transparency. the president's health care plan is about central planning,

command and control, regulation, taxes. entitlements. >> they're on the same plan. it's the same thing. >> different plans. >> one is federal and one is state. >> no. the romney health care plan is different. it has to do with letting people use their own money to buy health care. >> and the same thing happened -- >> no, no. you're using -- they are using taxpayer money. it doesn't fit the third party provider. >> jennifer. >> yes? >> i want to branch out from this discussion and ask you about this. really, the john roberts discussion expands, if you ask me, the power of taxation. it expands tax power by more than anything we have seen. in fact, this whole thing was a ruse. we have gone from the mandate now to tax power. shouldn't mitt romney in addition saying look at your taxes, it's official. taxes go up, middle class taxes go up. and the obama people are going

to use this newfound, newfangled tax power to do all sorts of things. they will tax me if i don't eat broccoli, if i don't put in solar windows in my home. isn't the tax power going to be a big play? >> i think the entire tax issue will be front and center. mitt romney has always been hammering that this president broke his campaign promises. the biggest was he wasn't going to raise taxes on the middle class. as you pointed out, 75% of the tax, whiches what it is, will fall on people making $250,0les $250,000 a year. keith needs new talking points. the new talking point has to be why should we believe that obamacare, this big tax that has all of the regulations is a burden on business is not responsible for the slowdown in the economy. of course it is. >> that's a key point. >> it hasn't been implemented yet. >> it's money on the sidelines. if you talk to any business

person -- >> excuse me, jennifer. >> they will say they are not hiring. >> it hasn't been fully implemented yet. you can't blame it for an economic crisis before it was passed. >> of course you can. these people are on the sidelines, scared to death. >> people don't think about the future when they plan. they think of the next five minutes. they don't make long-term plans in business. let me cut off your talking point. they are worried about the huge deficits and the big taxes. if there is a more hilarious statement uttered by the president he said, we don't want to refight the battles of the past here. what's he been doing other than refighting the battles on the last 30 years by wanting to raise taxes and regulation in a way we haven't done in a generation. >> this is not a battle about taxes. >> it is! >> it is. are taxes going up or down? up or down? >> it is a battle about the economy. >> i think taxes -- >> will spending go up or down?

it just expands coverage. >> keith boykins, jennifer rubin. that's it for tonight's show. it's a heck of a thing. me, i think taxes came out of the closet today and they are really going to be a big issue. that's it for "the kudlow report." see you tomorrow night. [ male announcer ] introducing a powerful weapon in your fight against bugs. ortho home defense max. with a new continuous spray wand. and a fast acting formula. so you can kill bugs inside, and keep bugs out. guaranteed. ortho home defense max. and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning

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