>> wynn resorts, the stock is moving lower on news federal authorities investigating whether the casino operator violated money laundering laws, according to the "wall street journal." the stock right now down about 2 and a third%. >> big news for the end of the show. sure "closing bell" will have more on that developing story. >> that is next. thanks for watching street signs. see you tomorrow. welcome to a very special editing of the "closing bell," i'm kelly evans coming to you live from washington, d.c., as wall street and d.c. politics converging today at in a very big way, bill. kelly, i'm bill griffeth holding down the fort at the new york stock exchange. kelly is quite right, a pretty quiet day again on wall street. i think it's safe to say, kelly that a lot of the action between now and end of the year will be occurring in washington, not on wall street with this lame duck congress.

you know, and the president's expected announcement tonight as he takes executive action on immigration policy as well, right? >> that's exactly right. bill, we were at the white house this afternoon. i can tell you people are buzzing about the fact that he's doing this. the questions it raises about the office. the executive action itself and what it means for the business community. and for the future of employment and wage growth in this country. we will get to all of those topics coming up. >> we have many important interviews to come over the next couple of hours here, including senator from wyoming, we have mary jo white, the s.e.c. chair, chris van hollen, the always outspoken and controversial michele bachmann coming your way as well. you're going to be talking to the president's council of economic advisers chair, jason furman and in a separate interview this hour, we have john barrasso from wyoming as well. a lot of things to talk about here, kelly, in terms of economic policy, political direction, where we go as we head into the new year in 2015

and we begin the new congress where the republicans will be very much in control of both houses. that's exactly right. the language is already heated, bill, as greg put it, going to be something for everyone to hate in what the president's doing on immigration. all hell will break loose.. again, after the bell, when we are going to speak with more heavy hitters, s.e.c. chair mary jo white on a big day a big week for them. the s.e.c. moving forward with some regulations on the equity markets, but a lot more to talk about we will also hear from top ranking house democrat, chris van who will., always outspoken and controversial michele bachmann on the gop side and can't forget about the big, huge issue of regulating the internet. former fcc chair, reed hundt will be here. >> show what you is going on in the markets right now. anymore, especially this month, kelly, as soon as the european markets close, that's when we see our markets settle down quite a bit and that's happened

again today. the industrial averages up just three points, as you see, the s and p is virtually unchanged now and the nasdaq is up 18 points. by the way, the dow and the s & p are very close to record territory once again. let's talk about it all, our "closing bell" exchange today, ron wiener from rdm financial group is with me here at the big board. we have kyle brownly from weimer brownly, jim low lowell from adviser investment and own rick santelli joining us from chicago. jim lowell, this decided lack of volatility in the marketsing we have seen in the month of november, does that mean the market has everything figured out right now? >> absolutely not. clearly, we have seen low volatility. i think the sense is that we have really got to get more data to provide a catalyst for sustainable further gains, but against that backdrop, despite sort of man's inhumanity against man, we continue to see good fundamentals continuing to pave the way for slow growth, not no

growth, that's reasonable road for intermediate long-term investors to take. >> ron weiner, what did you think about the consumer price inflation data this morning? what does that tell us about the environment here? >> you know, i don't think much at all. i think employment's growing reasonably. people can handle any increase in inflation on a relative basis, taxes, a different story there going up, though we don't actually see it till we get our tax bill. i don't -- it tells me that there demand out there, tells me that it's okay for the economy to grow but grow slow. >> are you worried about deflation at all as a possibility here, especially in do the lar continues to strength here as well?

>> ron brought up things happening outside the u.s. that may be contributing to this let's talk about iron ore prices, commodity space, outside of oil, a lot uglier moves this year, what does that tell us about the health of the economy? >> well, i think it tells us a lot about weather, a lot about growing cycles, a lot about cattle feeder cycles, i think really energy in agriculture are some of the big movers and i think for two very different reasons. i think the energy commodity move is something we should pay a whole lot more attention to, because i don't think the

weather on that is going to change very much. we are making permanent long-term generational changes on energy and coming home to roost in pricing. >> that is not the case with iron ore, rick. i'm sympathetic to -- >> iron orself. a different scenario. >> that's what i'm -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> the message is that china overbuilt out the sector, probably overcompromised their collection of various resources like iron ore and like copper and then they were forced to use them as collateral on loans and none of it worked out well. i actually think in many ways that the picture of the man in iron ore is as important as it may be is not the biggest issue. the biggest issue is that china really screwed things up. they got a bit greedy in the cycle about two and a half, three years ago, my opinion. >> kyle brownly, for the first time in a long while, a communication came from the fed in the form of yesterday's minutes, yesterday's meeting and

the markets did absolutely nothing with it, but at the same time, we are seem to be focusing more on what's happening with the european central bank and of course, the japanese central bank. is our fed becoming a little more irrelevant now? >> you know, i don't really think some i think that we've seen this fed movement, we have expected it for years, actually forrant -- for months recently. i think it is healthy for the u.s. economy to be on its own and off the government stimulus. and really, we are doing the inverse of what those european nations are doing as they continue to inject money into their economies. i think it's healthy for europe, as has been discussed before, since we are dependent on part of that economy, but i'm really pleased for the fact that our fiscal policy conservative and more independent going forward. >> go back to rick on a point here as well, which is that we see what's happened in europe, those breakevens if you think inflation expectations are.i don'ting here, take a look at what they are doing, rick. i know do you follow this.

we can shrug it off. >> [ overlapping speakers ] >> prices to move down to loosen up the economy, they are going to prevent a healing process and going to spend a whole lot of money and create a whole lot of debt not to be any better off. now that you asked me something, i like in washington on the immigration speech night. my big question, i was just mazed that the major non-cable networks aren't covering it and that the white house really didn't seem to mind much. [ overlapping speakers ] . >> who are the major broadcast networks? >> the broadcast. staggering and the conspiracy theories running rampant what it means. i'm not sure i believe any of

them but really is kind of surprising. >> we are hearing some reports that the white house does care to some degree about that, rick, but your point is well taken. >> in the past when they had these issues with football and whatnot, there was a give and take between the networks and the white house. i haven't read that that's been going on very aggressively with regards to this speech. >> i can tell one of the questions we are going to ask the democrat who is joining us from congress is going to be, you know, how upset are people in owe bam in's own party with the moves that he's making on the immigration front here and the precedent that it sets, bill? >> we have a lot to talk about on immigration. we will get to that. let me get back to the markets for a moment. jim lowell, ron wiener points out the multination as have a problem with the strong dollar here, you like the u.s. megacap nationals now, how is that -- make the case for them if the dollar continues to strengthen here as expected. >> the case made for them for years, the dollars continue to

strengthen, see europe enter into deflationary spiral that is going impinge some of the dollar badge our u.s. blue chip balance sheet companies continue to plow their way forward to better earnings growth and i think they will get a slight tail wind if they can start selling goods and products into a recovery midyear next year. we continue to hope europe recess but bic quick and recoverarecould have -- recoverable, [ inaudible ]. >> i know the way the president is going about it being one part of the issue, do you support free movement of labor? in other words, do you support immigration policies that loosen what we could see in this country today if it were to come

from congress? . >> listen, i'm old enough to remember the executive orderers from ronny reagan, executive orderers from bush. didn't like them then, don't like them now, two wrongs don't make a life. all my grandparents were immigrants, immigrants, the cornerstone of the united states of america, but so is the rule of law. they have to find a way to work both of those together to the advantage of the country. >> all right. all right. we got to go at this point, ron, thanks for joining us today. and everybody else, too. we will see you a little bit later. heading toward the close here, we got 50 minutes left in the trading session here, it's early, but art cashin came by the bias is slightly to the upside now, kelly and we do have a slight upward bias the major averages now. the dow is not in record territory. the s & p very close right now on the end. the nasdaq up 20 points. >> we will have much more ahead on this special washington edition of the "closing bell." jason furman, the chairman of president obama's council of economic advisers will be joining us next, how will the

president's unilateral move on immigration impact wages, already depressed? we will get to his views on that and more. >> plus, we have wyoming senator john barrasso with us, he is warning that the president's executive action on immigration would, in his words, and i quote, hurt cooperation on every issue. we will get his viewpoint on that coming up in a little bit. and then later, securities and exchange commission chair mary jo white along with chris van hollen and michele bachmann on each side of the aisle and former federal communication chairman reed hundt all joining us on "closing bell." we are back in two. ♪ music

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generally speaking what kind of macroimpact do you expect this executive action to have? >> it is important to understand this action is motivated by strengthening our borders, holding people accountable. when do you that it's also going to help our economy. it will expand our labor force some people here are now able to work but even more importantly, it will expand the productivity of our economy, as people can match themselves to better job, as it brings in people with ideas and innovation, people that will start businesses, hire americans to work. you will see it add to our economic growth. you are going to see that growth reduce our deficit and see that help people here in the united states today. >> are you largely talking about the impact of work -- of

so-called low-skilled workers or high-skilled workers? >> both of those contribute to our economy. businesses talk a lot about uncertainty and what it does to their investment. just imagine people who are here in this country facing uncertainty, take some of that uncertainty away, they can make investments, they can start businesses, they can go to school, other things that will contribute to our economy. now it's not going to be everything you would want to do. we're going to continue to pursue legislation. only congress can fully address the set of issues we have. but there are some the president can address, and he will be addressing. >> is it probable in the near term this will depress wages on the low end of the market? >> no. i don't believe that would happen. we did a huge experiment on this in effect in 1980 with the

mariel boat lift when a large number of cubans showed up in miami. it increased the labor force in 7% with low-skilled workers. economists who have studied that didn't find an adverse effect on wages of workers there. n in fact, if anything, they went up as the new people helped the economy and complimented the work. you're not going to see anything like that quantity here. in fact, we're going to toughen up enforcement at the border. it's going make it harder for people to come over. and it is the people -- >> what do you mean toughen up enforcement. a lot of employers across the country will be wondering if they have a de facto wink from the federal government if you will to allow illegals to keep working for them. so what do you mean by enforcement? >> i don't want to get ahead of any of the details. that's something the president is going to be talking about tonight. by better focusing our resource on the problems we have, for example, felons in this country and deporting them, people crossing the border, rather than the people who have been in the

united states for a long time who can create jobs, contribute to our overall economy and society. >> and this isn't the only executive action the president is taking, or that we expect him to take. but there are other things as well that we're trying to debate the impact of that are happening at the same time. the keystone pipeline, which failed in a vote just earlier this week, for example. there have been plenty of people saying look, if we wanted an economic stimulus, that would be a great one half. is your understanding of how many jobs the passage of keystone pipeline and the building and construction of it would create in this country? >> keystone is something that is being evaluated by the state department. they have to figure out if it's in our national interest. and that's something that they're working on. the president has pointed out before, though, that there is only about 50 permanent jobs at stake in keystone. and that's why the president said that our national interest is not served if it significantly exacerbates carbon emissions. and that's what the state department is look at.

>> sort of related to that, there is going to be a lot of focus on how healthy the petroleum part of this economy is. and as you know better than anybody, it was a huge part of the contributor to our recovery. it's a part of wages and jobs that are relatively high skilled and high income in this country, and the oil price has pretty much cratered as of late. are you concerned about having the negative impact and could having projects like keystone offset that? >> i think it says something i mazing that we're even worried that falling price might hurt the economy. it won't. it will help the economy. it will add to our growth. and we're going to continue to see growth in the oil sector as well. we've added production equivalent to discovering a new iraq here in the united states. at the same time, we've cut our consumption. as a result, our net imports are down 50%. that makes us much less vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of oil than we were before. but the fluctuations at least when they're in the down

direction are still a net positive for americans. >> i would be remiss not to ask. we learned you are one of the people jonathan gruber visited with while he came to the white house over the last couple years. and you worked on the affordable care act. do you feel as though the true cost of that was hidden from the american public? >> i think the affordable care act was enormously transparent, was enormously debated. every one of those numbers came out from the congressional budget office. every one of them was scrutinized and understood at the time. >> but why would he use that language then? >> you'd have to ask him why he used that language. all i can tell you is there wasn't any ambiguity about what the policies were, what the consequences were, and ultimately, that the goal of it was exactly as you just said in the language, making health care more affordable, expanding it to more people. premiums are lower than anyone expect they'd would possibly be. >> does it matter whether it was

framed as a tax or whether it was framed as a tax on the consumers or on the insurance companies. was that part of the discussion that you had? >> you can leave these types of debates to others. what i'm focused on is just look at premiums. premium growth has now at the lowest rate it's been in 50 years. the affordable care act has contributed to that. it's helping create more jobs and it's helping raises for workers. that's what is really important in the affordable care act. >> jason furman, thank you for being here this afternoon. as we continue our special coverage here in washington. bill? >> back here on wall street, kelly, still the major averages seem to be showing a quiet day on wall street. right now the dow is up three points. the s&p up a fraction. but that is masking some of the big movers we're seeing today. best buy, for example, surging almost 7% right now on the heels of a strong earnings. we have kate rogers standing by

with a roundup of some of the big movers in the stock market today. >> and then coming up, senator john barrasso speaking out on president obama's immigration policy. one of his colleagues thinks it will lead to riots. du he agree? we'll ask him that and more ahead. stay tuned. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

welcome back. let's get out to our kate rogers, tracking the biggest movers of the session for us now. hi, kate. >> hey, kelly, let's kick it off

with best buy moving higher after they posted better than expected quarterly results. same store sales increased by 2.2%. the street was expecting a loss. best by up over 6 1/2% right now. gopro moving lower after its $800 million secondary offering announced last week will be priced at $75. about 10.4 million shares are being offered. that's about a 5% discount to its wednesday close. the stock is currently trading down over 8%. also, dillard's gaining ground mercado capital management is calling for a reit spin-off saying the value would source 75% above current prices. mercado owns 4.9% of dillard's. the stock trading up over 8.5% and will end with intel after they increased to 96 cents a share. it's had revenue growth for 2015 will be in the single digits. that stock trading up near 4.5%. over to you, bill. >> thank you very much.

let's talk about the economy. a rather encouraging economic data out this morning on manufacturing. somewhat on housing and on the jobless claims. is the economy here in the u.s. doing better than most believe? that's the question. >> let's ask cnbc contributor greg and our bob assani, it's great to see you down here. and it was posited by the folks at citi today is the u.s. actually in the middle of a boom that nobody appreciates? >> there actually is behavior in this cycle that's a bit unusual in that the usual business cycle has you coming out of the starting blocks really strong right after the recession. and then things taper off to trend rates of growth later on. the offset seems to be happening where look at the payroll numbers. the decline inton employment rate in the last few years is one of the fastest in the last 30 years. it's almost as the headwinds have deleveraged and the crisis faded this underlying force of

stimulus is beginning to be felt. which is an interesting question for the fed. some time in the next year, they're going to be looking at unemployment rate that is very close to their measure of full employment while this global weakness continues to hold inflation down below 2%. so at that point, what do you do? do you tighten because of unemployment or not tighten because of inflation. >> bill? >> we said near all-time highs for the avrjts. i was joking that the quiet market we're having this month, maybe the stock market has already figured all this out? >> i agree with greg. this tremendous sin nymph about the markets, a lot of people neil is a fed engine new year's day rally. the market is higher because of the fed's actions. but i look at record earnings right now. we're up another 10%, the third quarter. we were up 10% in the prior quarter. and most important for me are the margins. 9.8% margins. that's close to the all-time high. it was 10.1% a little while ago. we're not seeing any significant slippage in margins, and a lot of people feel that would be the telltale sign. so far that's not happening.

>> this is so fascinating, greg. so if we lay this out we have an environment where unlike past recoveries, this is pick up steam as it progresses. should we take it for granted that then we pick up more steam next year? and if that's the case, first of all, how reliable are historical example to what the fed should do here, and secondly, what do you think they should do here? >> i think all else equal we probably do accelerate next year. if you look at things like credit growth and the stock market, the financial indicators, they're all talking about a head of steam being built up there. again, you're looking at labor market indicators tending to get better faster. however, i know you're right. nothing in this cycle has been like before. so you really need to be careful about assuming it will be like the past. one is the global picture. japan just crawling out of recession. europe probably still stuck in the doldrums. they're holding things down. but most important, you look around the world. almost every country, not just the united states and europe, but almost every country has

inflation too low below their target. i don't think we've seen a situation like this in the moerner ra of floating exchange rates and central banks where so many companies are trying to get back to their inflation targets from below. and that's a situation where you're probably going to see central banks take a few chances in terms of letting economies run hotter than usual. we saw bill dudley from the new york fed say that the other day. he would like to see the economy run hot for a while. let the unemployment rate drop below its long-term unemployment rate. >> wow. >> and bob, quickly, as the economy accelerates, that means the fed is likely to raise rates sooner rather than later. but the stock market doesn't seem to be acting as if it's anticipating that. >> so many things have gone wrong this year, so many theories that used to work don't anymore. last month was supposed to be weak. it hasn't been. i wouldn't be surprised to see big surprises. i think inflation could emerge very quickly. emerging markets have underperformed for a long time. i think they may do a little bit better in the next year. counterintuitively to what you might think with higher inflation rate. >> right.

>> i think a lot of interesting things are going to happen. goldman is just out. 2100 for the s&p. we're at 2050 right now. that's a pretty conservative no growth at least in the stock market target. i want to see what other people have to say. i'm surprised by that one. >> see what happens there, yeah. >> thanks, guys. >> thanks, guys. bob and greg. good to see you, greg. we've got about 30 minutes to go. what are the markets doing? >> they're up 16 points. a very, very slight upward bias as we head toward the close with 31 minutes left. and the s&p is up two points. we are in record territory on the s&p and now in the dow. so there you have it. we could do it again today, kelly. there. >> it goes, punching through 17,700 on that dow jones industrial average. and president obama's speech on immigration tonight already sparking a furor. one senator says it will cause americans to riot. senator john barrasso will react to that and more when we come back.

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shares of wynn resorts down about 2% at this hour. jane well stepping in with this still developing story. >> dow joness is reporting that wynn resorts is being investigated by the u.s. attorney's office, the irs and the dea for possibly money launders, specifically sports betting by high rollers and whether vips laundered drug money through the company's casinos. the company tells us it is unaware of any investigation, and the u.s. attorney won't comment. but according to the story, the irs sent wynn's lawyer a letter in august requesting information on the very biggest clients both in america and foreign, and also the staff working in the casinos. wynn tells us the fact that information is requested from us by a governmental agency in no way implies the accusation of any wrongdoing by the company. but this makes wynn the third biggest casino company being investigated for this sort of thing. back to you. >> all right, jane, thanks very much. we have more on that as they develop. in the meantime, president obama expected to announce a controversial executive action on immigration tonight.

and that's not sitting well with republicans, is it, kelly? >> let's ask our john harwood. john, is this city more divided than you've seen it? >> cue the fireworks, kelly. it's about to get even more divided. yes, it's more divided than it's been in the very long time that i've been covering washington. but this is going to be uniquely volatile order. the president is bog to lay it out in a few hours from now on television, although the major networks aren't carrying it. as we've been saying for a couple of days, the core of this order is going to be the extension of legal status to several million people who are relatives, immediate relatives of either greencard holders or u.s. citizens already. this is in lieu of the immigration bill that congress has not been able to get through both houses. the reaction from congressional leaders today depending on the party is about what you would expect. >> this is pretty exciting. it's bold. it's courageous. it's as good as it can be under the law.

>> if president obama acts in defiance of the people and imposes his will on the country, congress will act. we're considering a variety of options. but make no mistake, make no mistake, when the newly elected representatives of the people take their seats, they will act. >> the new senate majority leader who begins that role in january. the question is what action does that take. does it take shutting down the government? is it stopping selected appropriations bills? is it an impeachment drive, which some republican members have raised that possibility. managing that reaction as well as trying to counter the president's policy is going to be a real challenge for those leaders and a challenge for the white house. guys? >> and john, thank you for now. a likens it a hand grenade

thrown into congress just when everyone is trying to work together. >> joining us in this exclusive interview, john barrasso, the republican senator of wyoming. good to see you again. welcome back, sir. >> thanks, bill, thanks, kelly. >> you have said that you feel this executive action by the president would blow up any possibility of bipartisan cooperation with the president. but with all due respect, sir, is there any expectation that there would ever be any bipartisan cooperation with the president? there hasn't to this point. >> that's what the american people wanted when we had an election a couple of weeks ago. well want you to work together. find solutions, and we should be doing just that. so what the president is doing tonight flies in the face of things he has said in the past in terms of following the rule of law and working to help jobless americans. so i think he just makes it that much harder. remember, 22 times the president has said he doesn't have the authority to do this. so once again, we have a situation where the president is intentionally misleading the people, misdirecting, saying one

thing and now doing another and setting himself up as kind of judge and jury and executioner, which is not what you would expect in a democracy. it's more what you would see in a dictatorship. i want to get things done. i don't worry about the president making an end run around congress. i worry about him making an end run around the american people. >> and senator, that's why we heard mitch mcconnell there saying make no mistake, the new congress would act. would you support a government shutdown in return for these actions, or what kind of measures are you guys planning to take? >> well, what is being shut down is the opportunity to work together to solve the issues of immigration. we need to reform our immigration laws in this country, modernize things. and that's why we just had an election. and yet i was at the white house luncheon with the president to discuss these things, and that's all he went into is his issue of executive amnesty rather than waiting until the newly elected members show up, get sworn in and can start working on the

ways that we need to move forward on immigration reform. those are the problem. so the president seems to intentionally be trying to divide the nation in ways that he should be trying to unite america at this time. >> not surprisingly, sir, congressman javier becerra, the democrat from california had a different take on that very meeting. he was there as well and said that it was speaker boehner that brought up the immigration issue, that the president then talked about the executive action there let me ask you. the president in an interview elsewhere on cbs said that if -- and let me quote from that interview. he says the minute congress passes a bill on immigration that addresses the problems of immigration reform, he will sign it and it will supersede any executive action he takes. isn't the president leaving wide open the possibility that congress can come up with some immigration reform? >> well, i don't believe he is. i think that he is actually making it much more difficult. i think we ought to be passing

immigration reform in a piece by piece fashion, focused on border security, enforcement, e-verify. you can go through the list of things we need to be voting on to move forward on immigration. the president is not going to get everything he wants. but there are areas of common ground. there are issues of cooperation where i think we could be making a substantive difference and improvement rather than what the president is doing, which i think is intentionally designed to be divisive at a time that he continues to be unpopular as a president and ineffective. >> senator, do you agree with your republican colleague who had suggested that this immigration action will lead to more violence in the country? >> well, i would hope that that wouldn't happen. what i want to do is work together. and i've been talking to senators on the other side of the aisle. we want to work together on jobs, the economy, getting america back to work again. and i think we have a great opportunities. but what we told the president

at the white house lunch the other day is that this will poison the well and make it that much more difficult. >> but it doesn't sound like you -- >> the president has ignored completely. >> understood. >> what we want to do to help the country move forward. >> understood. just on that point, though, i'm not hearing you express any concern about an increase in violence as a result of the immigration executive action he is announcing. >> well, i mean, i've heard what tom coburn has had to say about this. i always have concerns about that across the country. but i'm hoping, again, that cooler heads prevail, and i wish that at the white house cooler heads had been prevailed and the president would do what he promised six years ago which is try to bring the country back together. but he has been i believe intentionally and deliberately divisive as a president rather than bringing people together. >> just a final question, senator, then, would you support a government shutdown? is that what mitch mcconnell is talking about? terms of what the new congress in just a word or two if you could is planning to do? >> we've been very clear.

there will not be a government shutdown there is not going to be a default on the debt. what is being shut down is the opportunity to work together cooperatively and find common ground on improving the immigration system in the united states in terms of modernization. >> senator john barrasso, our deep thanks this afternoon. >> thanks, bill, thanks, kelly. >> thank you so much. 17 minutes left here. we have had a modest gain now. the dow and the s&p comfortably now in record territory. and yes, we do get excited about a gain that puts us in by about 15 or 20 points. the dow is up 33. the s&p up 4 points right now, kelly. >> and it's a busy day down here in washington. amid that immigration showdown, a senate panel hearing a holding on wall street banks manipulating commodity prices where. consumers may have ended up picking up the tab. did they, for example, end up driving up the cost of the new ford firefighter-150 truck which now sport answer aluminum body?

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welcome back. this also happening in washington right now. a u.s. senate investigation looking into if wall street's top banks used their commodities businesses to gain unfair

pricing advantages, bill, which ultimately hurt consumers. >> our kate kelly has been covering that hearing today. what did you see, kate? >> bill, i just walked out of a tense hearing ongoing right now on capitol hill where senators are grilling executives from three of the nation's top banks -- goldman sachs, morgan stanley and jpmorgan over their handling of risky and capital intensive commodities businesses and what they tell the public as to what they appear to have withheld. at particular was jpmorgan. their commodities business consists or did until recently of a range of things from power plants to metal warehouses. they already settled with regulators to the town of $400 million overcharges they manipulated certain power market notice the u.s. but senator carl levin, who is leading this investigation and this hearing today has gone on to say that they have underplayed the risks to their balance sheet from some of those activities, sort of pulling the wool over regulators' eyes and that regulators like the fed, the occ and others have had trouble really keeping up with

what they're doing. now earlier today, very much of the focus was on goldman sachs and their role in the aluminum business. goldman has a large presence in detroit where they own metal warehouses. and the issue is there have been long waiting lists for people to actually get their physical metal out of those warehouses, and that the waits themselves have contributed to literally record high prices in the u.s. we spoke to a metal user earlier today, nick madden from novellus, one of the largest users of aluminum in the country. he works on things like cars, cans, and other consumer products. and he says, guys, that aluminum is 70% of his company's cost base, and they're in the markets dealing with these issues, kelly and bill, every single day. so both the consumers and these companies could be vulnerable. >> all right, kate kelly, thank you very much for that important. boy, a lot going on in washington and a little bit going on here on wall street as well, kelly. we have about 12 minutes left in the trading section here, and

the dow and s&p, albeit with minor gains still in record territory right now. >> that's right. >> and another avalanche of after the bell earnings tonight, as you know, kelly. we're going to bring those numbers the instant they hit the tape, including from retailer the gap. >> and much more ahead from washington. the securities and exchange commission's mary jo white. we're going to ask her about some of the issues you just heard from kate kelly chris van hollen and michelle become man. don't miss any of it. "closing bell" is back right after this. e

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welcome back. small gains on wall street. art cash just telling me we got about $600 million to buy as we head to the close. i think as you're highlighting, kelly, they're in washington. a lot going on this lame duck session of congress, and the tone probably is going to be set for the coming year in washington by what does or does not get done over the next few weeks here, right? >> bill, i look forward to hearing from representative chris van hollen next hour. again, the question is about whether some democrats are really finding their hands tied by the approach the president has taken to this immigration executive action. we heard senator john barrasso there echoing mitch mcconnell about how upset they are. and we heard what mitch

mcconnell had to say. he said we will act. we will act when the new congress is formed in january. so we asked the senator does that mean a government shutdown? what kind of action are they talking about? he reiterated no shutdown. we're not going to breach the debt ceiling. it doesn't sound like impeachment, they're going the take the bait on that one. so the question remains, interestingly enough, if they were to act, for example, on immigration, would that be the very outcome the president is ultimately after? >> and you know, the way that wall street is acting to all of this, as we often joke, you know, wall street loves when there is gridlock in washington. but that seems to be what the anticipation is in the stock market right now, right? >> sure. and we've gone back and forth on this. and whether or not it is still good. but i can tell you, and you know, bill, the one thing everybody talks to us about is the need for corporate tax reform. what is the one thing that looks like it isn't going to get done? corporate tax reform. >> even though there was so much hope going into the election that that might be possible for next year. at any rate, we will see how you've tonight, what the

president has to say on immigration and what the fallout will be politically in other areas of d.c. there. >> we'll be right back. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back with bill and the closing countdown and bring you today's batch of after the bell earnings today. autodesk, gap, intuit. they're all set to report. we'll cover that too. only gap on the session today. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. you're driving along,

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heading to the last couple minutes of trading for this thursday, a typical trading pattern lately. we had some weak economic data out of europe this morning that may have contributed to the sell-off here in the u.s. this morning. european stocks lower. that pushed our market lower. until the european markets closed, and then our market came back again. and we sort of meander the rest of the afternoon. we're seeing a little bit of action here this last hour of trade. the dow up 28 points. it's enough to put us into record territory. not only for the industrial average, but for the s&p 500 as well. and yes, there are more earnings. the emphasis this week has been on retail stocks. but we have also coming our way in terms of earnings tonight, we have auto desk and intuit announcing earnings. but you also have gap, which is one of the few gainers today in that sector, up 1.4%. mark spellman from alpine funds is here along with bob pisani. do you like retailers here? consumer staples have been doing

pretty well. they've been a leading group here. >> sure. and you're getting the lower gasoline impact. >> which help. >> absolutely. at alpine funds, we've been vf corp., phillips-van heusen, those kind of names, tj maxx just reported a terrific quarter. generally speaking, we continue to like that consumer discretionary space. >> you're not buying hand over fist here. >> i'm a little nervous about gap's earnings. we'll see how it goes. >> a highly cyclical company, that's for sure. but earnings for the most part, as you pointed out, bob, have been pretty good. >> that's what i keep saying. when you have margins at close to 10%, and near historic highs, not slipping, as the concern inflation, there is various concerns about margin slip. but still growing 10%. still at record numbers. you might say the fed has engineered this. i believe the market is higher because of the fed intervention. but there is no doubt that the numbers are still validating very high levels.

>> sure. >> and we get an economic number. the fed was great. >> very strong. >> good existing home sales. this is not irrelevant numbers that we're getting. and the european numbers, the manufacturing numbers disappointing. so the whole world is saying we want to be in the united states. we still don't overweight europe. >> do you view europe right now as place to avoid or is it an opportunity? >> i think we're mostly domestic. and in alpine equity income fund. we are staying even in our international companies, trying to focus on the u.s. we don't see global growth still not very good. people are starting to dip their toe in there. but i don't think there is a lot of evidence there is so many good things going on here. the economic numbers have been good. lower energy prices are going to be a benefit going into 2015. i don't see any reason to be doing anything when you can find opportunities here. >> there is a great inverse chart i saw today. inverse oil versus economic growth. as oil drops in the 30% range, it gives a notable boost to economic growth, particularly

next year, big international companies, lower energy costs, major factor. >> all right. good to see you both. thank you very much. bob, we'll see you a little bit later. and that may be one of the reasons we're seeing begin gains with major averages over on wall street. all-time highs for the industrial average and s&p 500. stay tuned. our focus now going to washington, d.c. and the second hour "closing bell" with telly evans. i'll see you tomorrow, kelly. record closes. in fact, the first close i think over 17,700 coming in at the level of 716 as you can see there. so picking up some steam into the close. that's enough for another record high of 2052. let's get straight to it.

a very special group. david wessel joining me from the hutchins centered on fiscal point. dean baker from policy research and the american enterprise institute. our fast money trader john najarian joining us in a moment. i promise not to ask you about those guys right away. we really want to talk about washington, david. >> you don't want to talk about gap? a lot happening this week in washington. can you help us understand the most important things to be -- what is the takeaway from everything that we're seeing? >> i think this is the first stage. >> trying to show bill clinton that he is still relevant. he is going to do this executive order. he knows they're going to react negatively. but i think he promised his base that he would do it. and i think that he thinks that the only way to get republicans to do an

immigration bill is to threaten to do something on his own and the republicans are sounding like they're going to use this as an excuse to start another fistfight with the president. >> right and your reaction here james? do you see everything wrong in what he's doing? everything right? is the whole approach wrong? is the policy itself wrong? just what do you make of the whole executive action on immigration? >> listen i would prefer this be done legislatively and not through an interaction which is probably pushing the president's powers to the limits and my concern is that the reaction -- if i was going to give republicans advice adopt the n hannibal rule. don't let your heart beat go over 65 beats per minute. stay cool and calm. you could get a problem with the budget. government shutdowns. they try to use the power of the purse to delay the executive action but it's going to happen. heaven forbid i hope this doesn't yield corporate tax reform because we're so close.

>> does anybody here think that's going to happen? >> this could be the one thing. >> there's no way. hold that thought for just a second. let's get to the earnings results from gap with our kate rogers. >> kelly that's right. so gap has a beat on earnings. they're reporting 80 cents a share versus dthe 79 the street was expected. $3.97 billion versus the $4.4 billion expected. down about 2% and also lower their fiscal year guidance to a range of $2.73 to $2.78 per share versus the $2.82 that was expected. the new ceo announcing changes to the line-up here. he starts in february and apparently has the blessing of the current ceo glenn murphy and gap stock here down almost 3% kelly. back to you. >> kate thanks a lot. not a very impressive move there from gap shares. we'll get to the rest of the earnings in a second but i did

want to give you a chance to respond. do you see good in what is happening here on the immigration front? >> i'm glad to see him do it. the reality is there's millions of people here living in this limbo and he's not doing anything that hasn't been done by president clinton and president bush. these people have been living here and working here and they have children here so he's saying you've been here and you can stay here. you don't have to worry about being deported. i think congress made it clear they're not interested. >> is that true? we heard this line today as well saying the president is going back to eisenhower and taken executive action on immigration and there's nothing new here. is that the case? >> the president is in an awkward position. previously he suggested he didn't have the power to do some of the things and now he is doing them. i was interested in what you said jim. seems to me if the republicans wanted to really show him up they could pass an immigration bill. we'll repeal your executive order and here's our plan.

in a way i think he's calling their bluff and i think they'll not be able to do it. >> what do you read into when he said we are going to act in this new congress what do you think he means? >> i think you're going to get smaller actions. there will be a legal case made. i think there will be a push to do something with the budget. i think they'll try to make progress coming up with the immigration bill though i don't think they'll come up with anything the president will sign. what it's going to be is a border security bill. it's not going to be a comprehensive piece of reform. they don't want to have an amnesty piece. they want to do border security first and then maybe work on like a high skill immigration piece. >> hang on one second because i want to get into this. we do want to hit the gamestop earnings though. it looks like the shares are taking a hit on this. josh, what can you tell us? >> well, kelly gamestop just reporting. 50 cents here on $2.09 billion. now the street was looking for

61 cents on 2.20 billion so a miss on the bottom and top. more importantly is what to look for in q-4. their 2.08 to 224. the street wanted to see more like 2.30. also narrowing that range now to 340 to 355. the company talked about several titles being moved out of 2014. this is a stock under pressure. the concern being digital downloads. expect a lot of questions about that when the conference call kicks off at 5:00 p.m. eastern. >> that's a big move in those shares. they're down 12%. john i hope that you heard and saw that and see what's happening. what happens now for gamestop? >> there's a whole bunch of negatives. josh did a great job covering upmost of those. one that stood out to me additionally is i believe same store sales for the coming quarter they're projecting to be down 5% or some sort of number

like that, in other words, there's nothing good in this report. top line, bottom line, hit, miss, guidance week, the whole gamete is being thrown at this stock so where does it shake out? going into a holiday shopping season, this should be a good time for a game stop like any retailer but instead this is a pretty significant warning. i think 12% sell off is warranted. >> is it too much to tie back to gap. is there a theme here that's simply about brick and mortar going into this holiday season? we heard the spin might actually surprise to the upside but especially with regards to cyber. >> yeah and for my money anyway kelly i think where people are spending that additional ching in their pocket is data plans. not necessarily game stop although they could be getting some but with some of the games being pushed out later people are waiting until closer to the door buster time next week when that obviously wouldn't have

shown up in these numbers on a positive way. instead that would be the negative that the stock is down here. so i don't think it's the same as gap stores but i do think that they have some issues because of the competition from other tech items like the iphone 6 and so forth and i'm not saying people play their games the same way with that as game stop products but that money gets spent somewhere probably not with gamestop. >> maybe it's on obamacare. >> will they sell more gizmos? >> you're thinking like a trader. i interrupt you guys as you were just getting into the point here about what we're expecting from the president in a couple of hours. >> i think that the republican party overall has moved away from thinking that immigration is a good thing. everybody wants to bring in the braniacs. what i have felt is even that they're less confident that we

actually need all of these immigrants. they view it as a capitalist thing for silicon valley so the party as a whole certainly out in the grass roots tea party just don't think immigration however you describe it is a particularly good thing. and as far as the president's authority goes i really look forward to him not enforcing the corporate tax rate. i'll be very excited in 2017. >> the point is these people have been here so how come they vnlt been deported. immigration isn't perfect but if we wanted to we couldn't find these people? we've had a policy that these people could live here and work here. >> but do you have any concern on the low scale with that automation, today there was news that amazon is going to buy like a billion dollars worth of robots. do you have any concern that the automation issue changes the studies. >> two separate issues.

one is having more immigrants come in. sure that would push down wages and be a serious issue but the people here are going to stay here. do we treat them as criminals -- >> i think the concern, particularly on the right is that's going to be more immigrants come across the border. >> it would be great to have something worked out to normalize our our number and unfortunately no one is interested in talking. >> do you have thoughts on how this action will play out in the markets or anything else happening at post midterms here? >> well, obviously the president has decided this is the fight he wants to pick. he can clearly do something whether or not it is deemed to be within the rules. that will be something that they'll fight about. but if this rallies the base even more, only 38% of americans according to polls we had on cnbc this morning support this move. so there's 14% undecided out

there. if they get swayed the other way rather than to the president's side that would enforce more of the sort of agenda that the republicans want pushed through in the remange two years of his presidency. >> dr. jay, thank you, sir. this afternoon. stick around everybody and check him coming up with the rest of the fast money crew at 5:00. they'll be talking to the ceo of live nation about their new partnership to launch a digital music platform. yes another one but don't miss that. huge issue. up next an exclusive interview with sec chair mary jo white. does she think the can't lose bet on allergan was a loophole on insider trading laws and later president obama set to unveil his executive order on immigration. we'll speak to chris van hollen and michelle bauchmann. plus whether you think president obama or congress should be making this policy on immigration. your chance to vote is coming up. you're watching cnbc first in

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welcome back. breaking news on the federal reserve and the way it reviews banks. >> kelly the federal reserve board announcing two separate

actions. it's own review of the supervision of the largest most systemically important financial institutions to in the fed's words ask questions whether the decision make as good that the board received enough information to ensure consistent and sound supervisory decisions regarding the supervision of the largest most complex banking organizations and whether adequate methods are in place for decision makers. separately as well they are requesting that the inspector general look into two additional aspects whether there are adequate methods to obtain the necessary information and whether the channels exist for decision makers to be aware of views among the examination teams regarding those material issues. the fed responding to criticism that perhaps it's relationships with the largest banks could use tighter scrutiny. back to you. >> all right hampton, thank you very much. that's as good a place as any to

introduce mary jo white joining me for more on that and much more here in washington. >> thank you very much. glad to be here. >> do you have concerns about the feds lapse of oversight of the biggest banks in this country. >> i think sufficient robust oversight is very important for all of us as regulators. the fed does an excellent job at that but we can all do better. >> there's more and more concern from your own commissioners that the sec's teeth aren't there. that the last five year versus been occupied by rule making that's not pertinent to what's really going on these days. is it true the sec is rendered almost impotent by having the agenda dictated by issues not that pressing. >> it's no question the sec got a large number of rule makings in those act and that's our responsibility to carry out. we also must not let them crowd out in our other priority agenda

items and we don't. we're a major law enforcement agency and we had a record year there. it's a challenging job. we have vast responsibilities in a lot of areas and there's no question that the rule making is a part of that challenge. >> i bring it up with spending years on conflict minerals. the kinds of things that didn't bring it down and the fact that there are issues not only in the equity markets but the fixed income space about liquidity, transparency for the retail investor and again no prospect of being able to tackle any of these in a way that near term is going to do anything to change that. >> well, i think a major priority of mine and my fellow commissioners are the market structure issues for the equity markets as well as the fixed income makrkets and there's short-term initiatives and enhancements as well as the longer term once and in the fixed income markets working with the msrb and best execution

rules are there for government bonds. they have both just publicly put out a regulatory notice to deal with the principle transaction and mark ups on those. that's part of it. pretrade transparency is a major issue in the markets that we're focused on and we also have a full plate on the equity market structure side. again moving forward with initiatives but also doing a comprehensive review of those markets too. >> you have a very full plate. >> no question about it. we have some wonderful staff fortunately but the challenges are there but i think the sec is quite focused really accomplishing a great deal. really every day. i have been there about a year and a half. very pleased with what we have done on the policy side and law enforcement side and they're challenges. >> and there's about 100 rules your agency has to write. >> that's right. >> 55 still have to be written. >> we have either proposed or adopted about 90% of those but

in terms of actual ones to finish there's 30 or 40 of those left to finish. >> the reason i ask is that when the new congress comes in there will be almost nobody in the congress that created and passed the legislation. it was a single party bill at the time. how much of the work that you've done since that bill passed in 2010 might be changed, delayed, taken up by a different direction. >> again, you can't predict that i think. i mean, obviously we in the other agencies that were given congressional mandates have to take those very seriously to carry them out. implemented them in as optimal a way as we can and consistent with our mission if we can but if congress chose to act differently we'd be responsive to that too. >> thinking about another matter on capitol hill where we're having many people testify about the bank's involvement in commodity markets one interesting thing to come out of this among many is investors had no idea how much capital was being put at risk.

a lot of this happened after the financial crisis when the likes were reclassified and able to get more involved in these markets. do you agree that basically we need to go back and separate banking from commerce and specifically separate or very much inkeys the transparency in capital involved so that shareholders and investors are aware of what banks are up to. >> certainly we're all about transparency at the sec. i haven't actually read the report that's been put out. that's more for other regulators in terms of these particular kinds of commodities but in terms of material risks, material trends that's something the sec is focused on across all business types including these institutions. >> have you looked into bill's activity on allergan the work he did with valiant involved with whether they would buy that company whether there was inside information there. >> i can't comment on that as i couldn't with respect to any

manner we are actually looking into. clearly there's been some policy issues raised that our staff is obviously considering but really couldn't comment beyond that. >> understood. generally speaking you have expressed that you want to see more criminal indictments from the banks and from some of these investigations. the latest round with regard to the fx probes doesn't seem to have materialized much of that. are you disappointed? is there more to come? should we expect more from the sec? >> is, ec doesn't have the criminal powers and my prior life as a federal prosecutor where we did and the department of justice does there's been more criminal proceedings against financial institutions by the department of justice and there's nothing that sends a deterrent message as strongly as that. i think if the sec and financial crisis cases and after the financial crisis cases we have charged many institutions with a vigorous enforcement program but it's a civil law enforcement program. >> but to go back to the

overhanging issue here to quote one of your own commissioners dan gallagher he says the sec is teetering at the edge of irrelevance because of time taken up with rule making and they need to be a preimminent federal agency and thought leader. how are you going to do that? >> i think the sec is a preimminent thought leader and federal agency. it's an independent agency with expert staff and vast responsibilities carrying out on all cylinders i would say. there's no question that the legislation was and remains controversial. some of that obviously we need to deal with in terms of the mandated rule makings but it's up to me as the person that sets the agenda that we attend to our priorities among them carrying out the mandated rule makings. >> with a very full plate. we thank you for taking the time to be with us this afternoon. mary jo white. >> my pleasure.

>> president obama likely igniting a fire storm in washington with his executive action on immigration yet stocks keep hovering at record highs. the economy is chugging along. is gridlock good for the market and the economy. we'll talk about that next. later is all hope for bipartisanship off the table with president obama's go it alone plan. representatives will be here later on the closing bell to weigh in. we'll be right back. [ breathing deeply ] [ inhales deeply ] [ sighs ] [ inhales ] [ male announcer ] at cvs health, we took a deep breath... [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] and made the decision to quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. now we invite smokers to quit, too, with our comprehensive program. we just want to help everyone, everywhere,

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we begin with breaking news. scott has the story. >> hertz has a new ceo and his name is john tage. he was the first choice to lead that company. icon has an 8.5% stake. he has three board seats and he personally interviewed mr. tague. a search was on going for the replacement. remember he stepped down in september. hertz has had a number of issues, in fact, just this week announced that it was going to have to restart three years worth of earnings and they had found their man after that search. again john tague is his name. what's really interesting is here is that just yesterday janna partners and barry rozenstien made a filing saying they would shake up the board of hertz depending on the outcome. they were angling for scott

thompson. he lead dollar thrifty. so one can only think about what he thinks that tague has been named and not mr. thompson. with a proxy contest who knows. as for mr. tague he's new to the karenal business but not to the transportation business. he was the former president of united airlines. he was instrumental in that company's turn around and instrumental in getting the deal with continental done and he has a long history in the transportation business. i can also let you know, and you know by now, he has a long history of finding credible and capable folks to leave companies. in fact, we just heard from another one earlier this week in the allergan deal. remember it was brent saunders that ran forest labs when activists took over.

saunders was an icon selection. now he will lead that combined company. there's the chesapeake ceo. carl icon himself says believe hertz hired an excellent ceo. urges companies to read the press release which you heard from here first is out. but there's a shot of mr. tague. it is an interesting choice and as i said perhaps most interestingly it now sets up perhaps some what of a tussle between icon who has an 8.5% stake. and just filed that amended 13-d yesterday saying that if preferred scott thompson to be the ceo. he is a veteran of the car business. perhaps that's why the folks preferred him. carl icon says this is the right guy to take the top job at hertz and try to turn the company

around. the company has had a number of problems. avis out performed that stock over a long period of time. hertz has its man. his name is john tague. >> scott just a question here. they may be changing the leadership of this company but how deep do the problems run? these accounting problems have barely been mentioned and that was -- they were stated a couple of years worth of earnings. >> well, look there were a number of big hedge funds in this name for some time. it was one of the most favored stocks if you will in the hedge fund community. there was considerable concern over the last at least year about the direction of the company under mark and then the accounting issues came to light earlier this week so make no mistake, there's a big job ahead of mr. tague. there are many problems at

hertz. i think carl icon and the others in this name would be the first ones to admit that and perhaps that's why you have a number of activist investors invested in that company because they all feel it's in need of a turn around. they may differ now especially today on who the right person is to turn that company around. icon thinks it's tague. perhaps he still thinks it's scott thompson but it's going to be interesting to see what the reaction is from the jana camp but i can tell you from the press release from mr. icon's own tweet, the fact that he personally interviewed mr. tague with his own board members this is the guy he thinks is the best guy for the job. >> thank you for bringing us the news this hour. we thank you very much following the developments there. we'll take a quick break. president obama is set to announce a controversial executive action on immigration. who do you think should be making policy here? the president or the congress.

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comcast business. built for business. welcome back. president obama is set to launch the first in what is shaping up to be a bitter battle with the soon to be republican controlled congress. he will bypass congress and issue an executive order giving temporary relief to millions of illegal immigrants. we asked who you thought should be making policy on immigration the president or congress. you can weigh in right now on cnbc.com/vote. with me now chris van hollen of maryland. thank you for being here. welcome. what's your opinion of the president's move this evening. do you support him on this? >> i do support him. congress should act. i think a lot of people don't realize that almost a year and a half ago the united states senate passed a comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform

bill. as we speak that is sitting in the house of representatives. we have not been allowed a vote on that. speaker boehner could have a vote. the president could sign it so the action the president is going to take is not a substitute for congressional action. i need to be really clear about that but the president does have the authority to prioritize enforcement and that is what he is doing. it's not going to be a substitute for the comprehensive immigration bill, the president can't do that but president obama like the republican and democratic president before him can take action that's important for the country. >> you know these words are going to haunt you, aren't they going to haunt everyone when the next president down the road does something that you or congress doesn't want to do or doesn't support. >> within the area of immigration reform. >> but it doesn't matter if it's about immigration or not. all that matters is he's taking this issue. >> the issue is whether the president is acting within the scope of his authority and there's ample precedent from

previous presidents including president reagan and first president bush to take this kind of action. what we're doing is saying on a temporary basis the president is going to prioritize enforcement against felons, against people that have been involved in criminal conduct in some cases as opposed to family members and others and the presidents in the past and this president also has the ability to do that. does he have the ability to pass through executive order comprehensive immigration? not at all. congress still needs to act in that area and they should. >> aren't we supposed to trust the law making system. in other words even if the president is expressing the will of a large group of the population it's still in the fullness of time as suggested by the legislative process does not reflect the will of the people. if the gop is blocking this if boehner doesn't want to bring it to a vote it's because there is legitimate opposition that's out there so i guess i'm trying to understand why this matter needs to set the kind of precedent it is in danger of setting.

>> i would think the best way to reflect the will of the people is for the people's house to vote on it. let's vote tonight. let's vote tomorrow but let's vote. that's how we express the will of the people. the speaker decided not to allow democracy to work it's will. so the president is not going to substitute for congress but he's going to act in the scope of his authority. it's not going to do what the comprehensive immigration reform bill will do which is why congress should still act but he's going to do what previous presidents have done. >> is it possible that there will be an immigration bill that comes out of the new congress? >> well, all i can tell you is speaker boehner has said for the last year and a half that it was his intention to come up with an alternative to the senate bill and here we are today with no alternative on this issue passed. so the president has called upon the speaker if he doesn't like the bill that's before us put another one on the table because

every day that goes by more harm is being done to the country. you have an underground economy right now and this will prevent employers from paying people wages under the table which actually suppresses everybody's wages. >> that's why listen it's an issue that actually a lot of people on wall street in the business community are behind opening up our immigration system or however you would want to phrase it but if you take a look even at the poll we're doing right now 80% of people are saying congress should make policy on immigration here and i suspect a lot of that has much more to do with the general idea of letting the typical legislative process work it's way out as opposed to having the president ultimately be trying to make laws even if you can phrase it very narrowly in this case. do you know what i mean. >> i do. but the best way to allow congress to work it out is to allow congress to vote. all the effort that was put into that bill in the united states

sent on a bipartisan effort is sitting before the house. at the end of this calendar year that bill gets wiped off the books. you start a new congress. what we're saying is mr. speaker vote for it, vote against it, vote whatever you want but goodness sakes let democracy work it's will. let the people's house vote. >> thank you so much for being here this afternoon on such an important day. we appreciate it. we'll get reaction from the other side of the aisle. michelle bauchmann joins us after a quick break and our poll will remain open on who you think should make immigration policy. cnbc.com/vote will be right back.

welcome back. we are continuing the discussion on immigration here. polls are still open on cnbc.com/vote. let us know who you think should be making the policy the president or congress. so far by about an 8 to 2 margin people think congress should be doing it. joining me is michelle bauchmann from minnesota joining us here as closing bell takes on washington. it's good to see you. >> good to see you too. thank you for having me on this afternoon. >> i don't know if you heard the maryland democrat before you but he said time and time and time again that the way to handle this issue is for speaker boehner to let the house vote on the bill that the senate has already passed. is speaker boehner standing in the way of the will of the people here? >> he's not standing in the way of the will have o the people. the will of the people just

spoke at the ballot boxes and if you look at the exit polling 2-thirds of the people of exit polling said they didn't agree with president obama's executive amnesty. that's an amazing number because we're way beyond republicans and independents this includes democrats too. so your polling from your viewers is reflective of where the american people are at. they want us to observe what we call regular order. in other words follow the rules that congress has set up because that gives the american people and businesses safety because there's more certainty when government follows it's own rules. >> do you think this country needs to have a better immigration policy? >> of course. there's no one, republican, democrat, that doesn't believe that we have a problem in immigration. we do. we love immigrants as a nation. i'm married to an immigrant. we love them because we are all part of an immigrant community but it has to be orderly. that's really what this is about.

will we have complete open boarders where it's chaos and pandemonium or will we have an orderly system where it works for america. our system has to work for our country. >> you're on your way out of congress but the new congress in january, we heard mitch mcconnell saying there will be a response to what the president is doing tonight. is it possible hah that response is actually to pass it's own version now finally of an immigration bill in the house? >> well, as you know, mitch mcconnell, senator mcconnell has revealed what his plan is yet in the new senate and john boehner hasn't revealed what his plan is but i do know that they're going to uphold what the people of this country want and that is to make sure that we observe the laws of the land which is we pass a law through congress and put it on the president's desk. the president is forcing this issue by deciding that rather than do what we do across the street and pass bills he's going to speak a law into existence. that's not our form of government because that takes away the right of every single

voter in this country. >> it does seem like immigration -- listen that's exactly what i was just asking your colleague from across the aisle but it does seem on the issue of imgags as though there is a history of presidents having to act on this front. does the narrow issue of immigration change your general view on the matter? >> no, the law applies to one issue. there isn't one issue that is exempt and this issue more than others needs to be respected. i think a lot of viewers don't know that america is the most generous immigration country in the world. if you look at any other country. >> any developed country. >> no, all countries. if you look at any country in the world the united states received more immigrants every year than any other country in the world. we allow over a million people legally. >> i was in the u.k. there they're much more restrictive but we still hear from business leaders every day that tell us do something to loosen up this immigration policy. what i want to ask is about something i thought you had said about this.

you thought this was presidential politics so the president could get illiterate voters to turn out for the party in the future or something to that effect? >> what this is really about is the american worker and will the rights and values of the american worker be protected? this is going to change the dynamic literally overnight. we'll have a flooding of the marketplace with new relatively low skilled employees and the president is saying 5 million. no one knows what that number is going to be. i think people are shocked and what is its 10 million. >> what if it's 15 or 20? what's the real concern? >> what's the impact on the american worker because the law of supply and demand tells us that wages will be depressed. >> now you know better han that. >> no i don't. >> this is about the freer movement of labor and capital and supporting the policies that build this company. >> i am an employer and former

federal tax litigation attorney and the laws of supply and demand are the laws of supply and demand. no one is saying we shouldn't have reform and there's areas and industries that need to be addressed in particular. in fact, you know, stapling a green card on to a ph.d. in tech makes sense. there's a lot of areas we can get to yes. i want to see us get to yes because i don't want industries in america to suffer. ultimately i want american businesses to succeed and thrive but everybody has to win at this game and so let's make sure that we have a reform that will benefit workers and those that want to come into this country because that's good that people want to come into this country. >> we have to go. i want to point out as well that as you earlier indicated 81% of our voters think it should be congress making policy on immigration. thank you. >> i agree with your viewers. >> coming up we're going to take a quick break here on closing bell and president obama wants to regulate the fcc, the internet like a public utility.

but is he putting improper pressure on what's supposed to be an independent agency? reed hundt joins us when we come right back. friday night, buddy. you are gonna need a wingman. and with my cash back, you are money. forget him. my airline miles will take your game worldwide. what i'm really looking for is -- i got two words for you -- re-wards. ♪ there's got to be better cards than this. [ male announcer ] there's a better way with creditcards.com. compare hundreds of cards from all the major banks

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welcome back. we have some breaking news here.

in fact, a quick update on hertz with our scott walker. scott? >> kelly, thanks. i last left you thinking, i wonder what barry rosenstein thinks about hertz. i just got off the phone with him and he said the following. while i trust carl, as in icahn, i don't know anything about john, but i hope to meeting him. we made it clear in our letter to hertz that whether it was scott thompson or someone better, we just wanted them to get on with it. we look forward to meeting john. remember, janna has the 8.3% stake, carl icahn has the 8.5%. jana was hoping for scott thompson. now we know how jana's barry rosenstein feels. kelly? >> scott, we very much appreciate the update as we following that story. an open internet crucial to america's very way of life. those were president obama's words earlier this month on the idea of regulating the internet. while many are challenging this idea, former fcc chairman here

agrees with the president. he joins us now to explain why. welcome, reed hundt. it's great to have you here. >> nice to be here. >> so you support this. and we've talked with different fcc chairs past, you can often guess which administration they've served with, with who have felt quite differently about this. why do you support it? >> i think barack obama has been very consistent on this topic for seven years, at least, based on my count, and he has always said the internet ought to be available for every single business to use, without discriminating against some businesses that are too small or start-ups or entrepreneurs. >> is that the case right now? >> yes, it can be the case. there can be companies that cut special deals to get faster access. and what the president is saying, let's not do that. let's let all the businesses connect to the internet and compete with each other on a level playing field called the internet. >> there's been concern, though, that if the fcc has to regulate this more akin to a public utility, it will involve their

decision-making on so many different pieces of investment, of infrastructure, of pricing, of competition in different markets, that it will slow down the entire process of innovation that has driven the internet to become the phenomenon that it has for this country over the past couple of decades. >> you know, that kind of regulation did not discourage the creation of a telephone network back in the old days that touched every single home and every single business in america. and back in the telephone days, all the businesses equally used the telephone network to reach their customers and reach each other. all the president is saying is the internet has replaced the telephone. let's treat the internet in the same way as a common medium of communication. >> except that it's not, is it? in a way, the telephone is a very lymph open line of communication between you and me. whereas the internet can either give you a page of search results or a video you're streaming on netflix. and i think about the cable model right now and the way in which people are saying, i don't want to pay for the fact that you want to watch espn. let's let there be more ala cart

pricing. why is that such a bad idea? >> well, the president has said and i'm pretty sure that the fcc has agreed that the price paid by the consumer for the access, that can vary according to the consumer's demand. but the key point here is, let's let all the businesses connect to this medium on equal terms and conditions. >> the best argument that i've heard for it is quite factually you have a de facto monopoly of the internet in certain markets, especially those that don't have a lot of competition. but you have to admit, that's where the googles of the world come in with the massive amount of capital expenditure they have in this country to create these new fiber systems, et cetera, and ultimately spur that kind of competition. we've seen the announcements from at&t and others saying on the back of this, they may begin to halt some of these investment projects. is that what we really want? >> i don't think that we're going to see that at&t's investment or not investment defines the future of the internet. and i really think it would be great if google would decide to spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars building an alternative network.

but until things like that actually occur, the president is laying out the right way for all businesses to compete fairly on this common medium. >> all right. we've tried to get all sides of the debate here. so reed hundt, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. former chair of the fcc. up next, the panel back with final thoughts on this market and on president obama's immigration plan that will be announced to the american public. ♪ for tapping into a wealth of experience... for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country... for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions... for all of your wealth management and retirement goals, discover how pnc wealth management can help you achieve. visit pnc.com/wealthsolutions

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welcome back. time now for some final thoughts with our panel here. david wessel, dean baker, james pethokoukis. let's start with you, wessel. >> i think what's interesting is we see the market going up, the economy seems to be getting better, even though washington seems to be paralyzed. it suggests to me that there's little short-term cost for political gridlock in washington. i think the problem is, they're not going to address any of our long-term problems. but the markets and the economy seem to have shrugged off this craziness here in washington. >> dean? >> i don't see it as quite that benign a situation. if you go back to where we were after the crash, 2008, 2009, tall the projections were, we would be much better off today than we are. i think it's unfortunate that we accept where we are and go, well, this is good. it could be worse, but it's far from a good story. >> you agree, jim? >> listen, three axioms i learned, you know, buy low, sell high, market climbs a wall of worry, gridlock is good.

the first one may be true, that last one is not good, except in the very short-term. gridlock is not good. >> why not? >> i think we have big problems to solve here, whether it's regulation, whether it's a tax code -- >> but we can't agree on how to solve them. every debate seems to be -- >> but you can't have long-term problems and you say, we're not going to solve them until the next election, which is two years away, then you never solve them. 10,000 baby boomers retire every year. the temperature is rising and we're not doing anything about global warming. everyone agrees that the immigration system and the tax code are broken, but they can't agree on what to do with it. >> and i would say we have short-term problems. we have millions of people that should be working that are not working. people that are working part-time that want full-time jobs. those are short-term. >> there seems to be general consensus that maybe it would be good if we do something about infrastructure. help us in the long-term and maybe put some people to work. >> but it never happens, nor does tax reform. >> in the world, they would join together. the healing power of the world "and." in an alternate earth ii

reality. >> all i know, im going to run screaming out of washington. but it's been great to be here. thank you all so much for being here this hour as well. "fast money" is coming up in just a few moments. back up to the nasdaq with melissa lee. what's on tap? >> we'll talk to the ceo of live nation, a stock that is up 52% over the past 12 months. this is the ceo's first interview off of that deal, kel. >> got to watch it. over to you guys. >> thanks, kelly. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq's market site, i'm melissa lee. our traders are here. a lot of big earnings movers after-hours. we'll tell you how to trade gamestop and gap coming up. and the ceo of live nation coming up in an exclusive interview. but first tonight, falling stocks. some of the biggest leaners seem to be losing, gas, gopro, el pollo loko seem to be getting killed. what do you do with some of these names right now. let's kick it