he feels they put a protective moat around your portfolio. thank you so much. [closing bell rings] we left 35 points where we were a few minutes ago. dow jones industrials as the bell rings gains 137 and falling the s&p 500 up five. nasdaq better than 10. that will do it for "the claman countdown." connell: stocks get a big boost today from strong bank results. dow in positive territory. melissa: we like it. connell: up 13as we settle in here. s&p 500 and nasdaq ending in the green. nasdaq up 11 points. i'm connell mcshane. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." first, here is what is new at this hour. living another day, british prime minister theresa may surviving a vote of no confidence in her government one day after bruising defeat over her brexit plan but the victory may be short-lived.

a live update from london. plus calling to postpone the state of the union. nancy pelosi urging president trump to reschedule his address to the nation as long as the government remains shut. the president meeting today with bipartisan lawmakers in the situation room. we've got the latest on that situation. from the white house. on capitol hill maxine waters is taking over the reins, of the house financial services committee. prepare yourself financial community. might not be good news for wall street. our guests this hour, art laffer, former reagan mick advisor. bill johnson met with the president. we'll get the skinny on that. pub pub senator kevin cramer. steve hilton. connell: the dow finishing the green, getting a boost certainly from goldman sachs.

gerri willis on floor of new york stock exchange. pretty nice recap, gerri. >> an analyst writes a note hey, beginning of the banking rally. give you a clue. only wall street bank showing trading revenue growth this quarter. also strong though was their investment banking revenue. they had the highest earnings in a quarter ever. and this is the first outing. fabulous earnings, coming in at 604, estimates at 445, imagine that. bank of america, more after consumer bank, beating on both the top and bottom lines. best intraday gain for that stock since 2012. rising interest rates, more on the loans as they make loans to consumers that business is up

4%. ii want to mention here, that gt other news just to note quickly. this comes from "the wall street journal." u.s. federal prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against huawei alleged theft of trade secrets for u.s. business partners. that story getting a big kick here, big i impetus from the headline in the "wall street journal" we'll continue to follow that. otherwise a banking day. i want to mention s&p 500 has 70 stocks. only one stock in the whole sector was lower. that was obscure reinsurance stocks that ceo moved on today. that is the kind of news it took to do badly in today's market if you were a banking stock. back to you. melissa: gerri, good stuff. let's bring in todd horowitz, host of bubba trading. john petrides, from wealth management.

there has been at that lot of news in the past 24 hours. we had kevin hassett yesterday aing damage from gdp will be greater than forecasted. why is that not upsetting the market? >> there is a such a lag effect of the government shutdown and data rollout. the fears of potential recession the u.s. may head into in december, banks are basically squashing that. loans are growing. more than enough capital or seeing deterioration in end market. melissa: todd, market supposed to forecast what happens in the future. told news the future gdp will be reported as lower because the government is shut down. does it not matter? i herd john's argument but i'm not sure i buy it. >> at the end of the day it has a little bit effect on gdp but has no effect on the dead-cat bounce we're seeing here in the general markets.

has no effect on what is happening from the big selloff. i think we have lot more trouble ahead of us. i think there is a lot more selling. i don't agree with john, i think banks are in trouble here. we'll start to find out when the debt bomb keeps ticking that the probation are probably a little underleveraged or over leveraged. melissa: doesn't sound good. connell, to you. connell: even still after today unclear path for brexit moving forward. uk prime minister theresa may and her government did survive a no confidence vote after suffering what was described as massive and historic defeat yesterday for her brexit proposal. ashley webster over in london with the latest. we're hearing prime will speak soon, is that right, ashley? >> yes. we just got the statement from downing street. speaks after 10 p.m. local time, 5:00 p.m. eastern. after earlier this evening

winning a vote of confidence in the house of commons. won by 19 votes, a narrow victory but was expected. following that victory she addressed the house of commence, look i will fill my aim deliver honor, deliver brexit, honor what the people voted for. i will get help of lawmakers on side with me. see what she said. >> this house expressed its confidence in the government tonight. i do not take the responsibility lightly. my government will continue work to increase prosperity, guarranty our security and to strengthen our union. and yes, we will also continue to work to deliver on the solemn promise we made to the people of this country to deliver on the results of referendum. >> as we know easier said than done? eu statements were made by

french president macron who said the brits have to sort it out for themselves. we'll not negotiate anymore. not particularly nice. germany's angela merkel said there is still time to renegotiate. you bring a plan to us, we'll take a look at it which is little more encouraging. a huge task for theresa may. she is under tremendous pressure. vowing to talk to other political parties and their leaders, but she has to give ground because her current plan is not going to work as we found out in last night's vote. the question is, can she compromise? can she bend a little bit. otherwise, time is running out. brexit 46 working days, still no plan. they may be forced to delay that exit if they can't get their act together. connell: seemses like most likely bet. steve hilton joins us host of "the next revolution" on the fox news channel. what do you think is going to

happen, steve. not what you think should happen. we will talk about that in a second. at this point, uk after all said and done going to leave the european union? >> i think the short answer is no. you're right in suggesting there may be a delay. what you might get from the delay a cross party deal within parliament, basically delivers brinks it, what is derided by supporters of brexit, brexit in name only. brino. leaving the eu a little bit but staying in key certain areas. that is not what people voted for. they voted to actually leave. but the problem people voted to leave, but parliament, the politicians they want to stay and that is the fundamental structural problem none of these votes will solve. if they want a deal done with the eu, has to go through

parliament. no majority for anything that deliver as clean brexit which is what people voted for. connell: that is interesting, we're looking at financial markets we're doing now, the pound sterling is stable, stocks are done well, particularly banking stocks. i think they're betting on what you're describing. that is for the financial markets. but for the people, to your point, this would not be what they voted for, what would you be worried about in terms of social unrest and all that? >> we won't overdramatize. we wouldn't look to see that happening in any kind of positive way. i think it is yet another example to people. there was a book written a few decadessing, i was getting into politics by a british politician. the story was if voting changed anything they would abolish it. what they will see a total collapse in people's faith in

politics, political system. you will get a split in the party system in the uk, the conservative party, where membership and supporters are overwhelmingly in favor of brexit but the leadership is against. i can see that splitting. complete realignment in british politics. there will be big shifts years to come regardless what happens. connell: to that point, steve, the phenomenon you're describing, reaction from markets, from elites whatever might be, if this scenario would happen, we really dodge ad big one here. , your point longer term you may create more issues? >> even in the short term that judgment is right. my personal view that the best solution here is actually to leave as planned on march the 29th, what is dismissed by the establishment group think as a no-deal brexit. that is portrayed as some time of calamity of biblical proportions. connell: before we run out of time, why would it be such a

disaster, banking jobs would leave, thousands of banking jobs leave uk, ports slow down, trade comes to a halt, all those kinds of things, you're right, people say it's a disaster, why wouldn't it be? >> i put the question the other way why wouldn't -- would that happen? they join hundreds of members of the not part of the e.u. and join world trade organization rules. about whether the ports operate, customs checks, that will be in the hands of brought tish government. why would they want to block essential supplies and food from coming into the country? plus you have the opportunity to put in place, this is the key point a pro-enterprise policy agenda to make britain the best destination in the world for business and investment, corporate taxes, build infrastructure out. there is huge amount you can do to make this a positive outcome which is exactly what people voted for in the first place. connell: thank you, steve

hilton, thank you very much. >> breaking news, president trump meets with ambassadors and security officials in the white house following the deadly bombing in syria. we'll bring you the latest headlines from the meeting as soon as we get them. connell: we'll follow that. far from common browned, the president did meet with bipartisan group of lawmakers today with shutdown stalemate, still just that a stalemate over border security. why one congressman is urging the president to use his state of the union address, if it were to happen as a platform for negotiations. the congressman is bill johnson, a member of the problem-solvers caucus. he met with the president earlier today. he is coming up next. melissa: plus the economy at risk. white house economic advisor kevin hassett telling "after the bell" the damage from the shut down is worse than expected. so can the u.s. get on track? we'll talk to art laffer, former reagan economic advisor. that is coming up. connell: a threat to our nation's heroes. isis claiming responsibility for the deadly attack against our

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connell: now day 26 of the partial government shutdown. negotiations, well, sort of carry on. president trump did just sign the fair treatment act to insure government workers end up getting paid after the shutdown. also the president met today with bipartisan house members. blake burman live at the white house with the latest. blake. reporter: connell the stalemate really ratcheted up today on day 26 of the shutdown as house speaker nancy pelosi suggested today, writing a letter to president trump saying that the state of the union address, at least televised portion of it should be canceled. pelosi cited security concerns

saying that the united states secret service falls under the umbrella of the department of homeland security caught in the middle of this partial government shutdown. pelosi saying in the letter to the president, sadly given the security concerns, unless government reopens this week i suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has reopened for this address, or for you to consider delivering your state of the union address in writing to the congress on january 29th. however one department of homeland security official tells fox the democratic leadership never even reached out to the secret service and the head of dhs, kirstjen nielsen said there is no security issue at all. she released following on twitter, quote, the department of homeland security and u.s. secret service are fully prepared to support and secure the state of the union. we thank the service for mission focus and dedication, for all they do each day to secure our homeland. bottom line with this, is the following. the president has to submit information to congress about the state of our union but the

whole televised portion of it didn't become a formal tradition until 1965, when president johnson delivered a state of the union address before the cameras. president trump in theory could give a state of the union address at a certain place of his choosing, at a certain date, time of his choosing, just not up on capitol hill for the congress if he chooses. so far the president has not responded to nancy pelosi's letter. president trump in 10 or 15 minutes here at the white house will meet with senators and his national security team involving syria that bombing that isis takes responsibility that claimed lives of four u.s. servicemembers. connell: thank thank you, blake. melissa: bill johnson is a member of the problem solvers conference. he attended a meeting at the white house. we're dying to know what are some. solutions the problem solvers came up with to solve the

problem? >> it was productive meeting. what was clear at the table, particularly the president, wants to secure the border and also wants to open the government back up, but they must come as a package deal, they made that very clear. i support that, as do my republican colleagues. that is a no-brainer. melissa: what is the solution though. what is the solution to get out of this? into the solution for nancy pelosi to stop playing politics and come to the table and negotiate. >> that is not going to happen. >> well part of the problem is, let's be clear what the president has asked for. he hasn't asked for simply a wall. he has asked for a list of 10 things, many of those things the democrats have supported and asked for themselves. melissa: absolutely we know that. >> okay. melissa: we've seen that. what i'm wondering is, i'm trying to help the problem solvers solve the problem here, what could you put on the table that you guys hate they would like? because you have to give to get. they're not, you have to lure

them back to the table, they're not coming, so what would you -- i know you won't give on not doing money for border security. so what would you give that they want, that you guys don't like? is it daca? give us something? >> sure they wanted to solve the daca problem last fall. so did we. we had legislation in the house that would have solved the daca problem, the dreamer problem. we could get no support for the democrats. that is not off the table. melissa: putting -- we would give you daca? >> no, i wouldn't say we would give daca. we would discuss solutions about daca and how to solve that problem. that is an open conversation. it is not a one-way conversation. but we've got creative solutions that we think can solve that problem too. certainly the president made it very clear he is interested in widening the birth, widening the scope, so we got some things to talk about but you have to get nancy pelosi and chuck schumer -- melissa: i am talking about

luring her back to the table. i understand about politics, the way you have to look at constituents and way sound bites are ripped out put here and there, but in negotiation what they teach you is, you have to give to get. so you have to put something out there that you would, that is a true compromise, that you truly, you know, do not like in order, because they don't want to put money toward border security. so you would say you would find some sort of, open to talking about some sort of solution on daca, is there anything else? >> those are the main items that i would say are on the table as far as republicans and the president are concerned. i can't speak for the president but he has indicated he is opening to discussing those issues. but you can't have a negotiation when you have one side of the table that is simply refusing to walk in the room. melissa: should i state that during the state of the union? should he put when all america is watching, would you advise him put something on the table, come to me on daca? let's do that in exchange for border security money, not use

that four-letter word? >> i think you should make it very clear to the american people and i suggested to him he use the state of the union as an opportunity in front of the watchful eye of the american people to do exactly that. you will have all the stakeholders in the room. roll up your sleeves, let's solve this problem. melissa: what did he say, when you said that? good idea? >> just sat there but he looked, he didn't dismiss the idea either. right now you know nancy pelosi has said she is going to disinvite the president for state of the union. melissa: okay. >> i think mitch mcconnell should invite him to do it, invite him to do it in the senate. melissa: maybe she will show up and make paper airplanes and throw them at the president. that could be about the level they're at there. congressman, i liked your ideas, good stuff. connell. connell: interesting. one company meantime is staying open for business. look at the sears stock price today, absolutely soaring, look at that after billionaire investor chairman of the company eddie lampert prevailed in a bankruptcy auction, takeover bid

of more than five billion dollars. so sears lives on. the deal will keep the struggling department store chain shutting all remaining stores. that leaves up to 450 stores open and sears. melissa: congresswoman manages even waters laying out a new agenda for the house financial services committee. her warning for wall street next. how president trump's attorney general nominee could impact some of tech's biggest players. ♪ re. ♪ liberty mutual has just announced that they can customize your car insurance so that you only pay for what you need. this is phoebe buckley, on location. uh... thanks, phoebe. ♪ only pay for what you need.

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going to see it, maxine waters the chairman of the house financial services committee says the first priority will be to revive the consumer financial protection bureau. she says she sent a letter to mick mulvaney, saying she will hold him responsible for gutting that bureau. she says she wants to reinstate regulations under the dodd-frank act, as well as strengthen the volcker rule. those regulations are meant to head off the next recession or next financial crisis, that could lead to a recession. waters also wants to overhaul credit checks. she says, your credit report. she says she wants to make more affordable loans available to more people. >> we also need to place limits on credit checks for employment purposes, reduce the time period that negative items stay on credit reports and make other reforms to fix the serious problems with the credit reporting sector. for the sake of consumers across

the country, credit reporting need as comprehensive overhaul. >> waters will create the first-ever subcommittee on diversity and inclusion. she says there are too many, there is not enough diversity among the upper echelon, senior level of big banks, also financial institutions, should be joined on the committee by alexandria ocasio-cortez. who says she wants to dig into student loans, possibly debt forgiveness, and for-profit pensions, as well as look at banking regulations this is a very key committee also oversees is ec and federal reserve. it will be interesting to see how this goes forward. back to you. melissa: interesting. that is a good word for it. edward lawrence, thank you. connell: very neutral. ed to horowitz and john petrides back by popular demand to react to that. interesting, john. start with you, the obvious kind of first question, should wall street be nervous about maxine waters taking over this

committee. we asked that leading up to the midterms. what is your take on whether the banks and financial community should be nervous? if they should be why specifically? >> so, yes, they should in the sense that one of the reasons why the market rallied so strongly post the trump election was the fact of deregulation on the financial services sector. connell: right. >> so if she is going to tighten the screws once again, that is going to make it less compelling and harder for the banks to make more money than what they would have previously. connell: no, it's a good point. remains how much power she will actually have, todd, to do that, but john makes a good point. even if you polled people on wall street, some might not like president trump's politics or his personality or whatever the case may be but almost all of them will tell you to john's point, when he came in, one of the things he did to help the economy and markets was all the deregulation. is that era of trump deregulation coming to an end do you fear? what is your take? >> no, i don't think so,

connell. if you look at markets, the markets are acting if there is nothing wrong. connell: won't get it through. >> one of the bigger problems we have not been able to have banks lend to the smaller buy. what happened throughout this period, peer-to-peer lenders don't fall under same regulations as banks, do majority of lending, assigning loans to banks. market tells us there isn't anything concerned about. don't think she can get it through the senate. connell: i know democrats have control of the house but i tend to agree with todd if there was a lot of concern about this, we do see financials over the past year down a decent amount, a lot of concern about this you would be focused something like that rather than strong earnings today. banking stocks look pretty good at least today, right? >> with republicans controlling the senate that clearly put as check on maxine waters. it will make a lot more noise and headlines for the banks.

at the end of the day, biggest risk how much capital banks have on balance sheet in tier 1 capital ratios that will not get touched. president trump's leadership they were not able to lower that. that is not going anywhere. banks are flush with cash to prevent a 2018 repeat. connell: everybody wants to prevent that. the one that might make most noise, might not get the most done, alexandria ocasio-cortez, junior member of the committee, she is big on the twitter from what i understand. that is what the kids are saying. and the inta. melissa: partial government shut down drag on for another day as wall street braces for more fallout, are we hitting point of no return? art laffer, former reagan economic advisor is up next. a deadly attack for the u.s. troops. what a treich could mean for heroes on the ground in syria. that is coming up.

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>> we made an early estimate at the beginning of the crisis a little lower than the estimate you just cited, been studying this hard as it has gone on. the damage is a little worse because of government contractors. the fact there is a lot of pain -- melissa: joining us to discuss is art laugh every, former reagan economic advisor and laffer associates chairman. >> my pleasure. melissa: thanks for joining us. we're trying to get to the impact. they're not getting paid now. they're going to get paid later. i understand the loss to businesses around there, because those people will not buy two sandwiches when they go back to work. they missed out on that business. but if in your mind we have 380,000 workers, government workers deemed non-essential, does this raise a legitimate question about the size of government? >> well the size of government is the real problem independent of the shutdown, totally

independent. now what kevin hassett is talking about, he really knows this stuff really well, he says there is going to be an impact. i think a lot of it is reversible. once these people get their paychecks, they come back, i think more than offset some of the downside on the economy. but there will be some net damage but it is not huge. and it does he illustrate very clearly, some non-essential workers are not necessarily, as necessary as tax dollars we use to fund them. we should reduce government spending, one area that the trump administration has not been able to handle well yet. it is tough to get your arms around government spending. but if you look what he has done on taxes, it is the best ever. if you look what he has done on regulations, even better than that monetary policy i think is in great shape. trade policy will be great. this is a minor blip, if it is that at all. melissa: james freeman of the "wall street journal" raised a

really interesting question last week, talking about the idea, 800,000 workers missing paychecks, 420,000 of them are so essential they're working without pay and they will get paid later but 380,000, as i mentioned before deemed non-essential. we these open job openings in the private sector. we don't have people to fill those. >> yeah, i know. melissa: are we holding hostage in one area folks that could be working in a different area, especially as we watch the unemployment rate drop so low? >> yes, i think you're totally right. one of the arguments in favor of the shutdown, some of these government workers would find alternative employment. actually wouldn't come back. they quit their jobs with the government. that would save us money. they would get private second tore jobs increase out put, employment and production and you know, when you have government bidding much higher wages against the private second tore, what you do you take good people out of the private sector and put them into non-essential

jobs in government. that makes no sense whatsoever. i don't care whatsoever, if you're republicans democrat, independent, that makes no sense. melissa: the problem the people are paid so well in government sector they're choosing that over private sector jobs that are open? you think that is what is going on? >> i think a lot of that is going on for sure. these jobs are highly paid, coverage, health insurance is very high. it makes them non-competitive with the private sector. when in fact they would be producing a lot more, a lot more useful services in the private sector. that is something we should really get into. let me just say, melissa as well, some of the government programs, when you get paid for not working a lot of money, whether it be welfare or whatever it is unemployment compensation, such you really don't want to go to work because the northern work pay is so high, that is lose-lose situation. taxpayers lose and the private sector loses and also all the needy services lose as well.

this is a very big eye-opener but let me just say, whatever it is, it can't be that bad if the stock market wouldn't have risen by as much as it has. melissa: i started the show like that. that is exactly what i was saying. >> i heard you. melissa: you're flattering me there, i like it. you come back right away. >> i'm flattering but you're also saying you are really right. the stock market is far better indicator than somebody crying in a corner. melissa: it is non-emotional. art laffer, thank you very much. connell: they just copy melissa, whatever she says. a little bit of presidential politics for you. we are definitely into the 2020 election season and we found out about that this week. looks like certainly as we expected it to be a crowded race for the democrats. new york senator kirsten gillibrand making a big announcement on "the late show" with stephen colbert. take a listen to that. >> i'm filing a exploratory committee for president of the united states tonight. [cheering]

>> tonight. connell: ohio democratic senator sherrod brown announcing a dignity of work tour. going to iowa, he is going to new hampshire, going to nevada, going to south carolina. brown says he will decide if he is running in march. certainly sounds like he is planning to. reports indicate former vice president joe biden is looking to throw his hat in the ring. so really is getting started. we'll have time to figure out who is the best contend to take on president trump. this is the week where things heat up. melissa: absolutely. no end in sight. both side standing their ground preventing the government from reopening. so what is next for the negotiations. republican senator kevin cramer from north dakota coming up.

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i'm not really a, i thought wall street guy.ns. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade connell: here is break news from overseas, british prime minister theresa may set to make a statement at any moment now. you look at the prime minister's

residence in 10 downing street. she did survive a no confidence vote earlier today after her brexit deal was overwhelmingly rejected. so she stays in place as prime minister. we will hear from her shortly. we'll bring you breaking updates when she starts to speak. melissa. melissa: isis is claiming responsibility for a suicide blast in syria that killed u.s. service member, four u.s. servicemembers i should say. president trump meeting with senators at the white house following the attack. griff: is -- jennifer griffin is life at the pentagon. jennifer. reporter: two servicemembers a translator and dod civilian. three other american troops are wounded but in stable condition. the video from the security camera shows the actual explosion ripped through the restaurant where u.s. special forces had gone for a meeting with local leaders. impact of the blast was magnified because the american troops were inside at the time

of explosion. the attack took place in a city which u.s. backed kurdish forces captured from isis in 2016. turkey's president objected to kurds holding the city and has asked both the kurds and u.s. forces to leave. prompting president trump to call for a pullout of all 2,000 troops from syria. pentagon officials worried that u.s. troops would be a target following the president's surprise announcement in december. the decision led to resignation of defense secretary jim mattis. three hours after reports that american soldiers were killed. vice president mike pence spoke at the state department praising president's decision to withdraw. >> thanks to the commander-in-chief and courage and act sacrifice of our armed forces we're able to hand off the fight against isis in syria to our coalition partners and we're bringing our troops home. the caliphate has crumbled and isis has been defeated.

reporter: acting defense secretary patrick shanahan would not say whether the attack would impact the u.s. withdrawal. the president is meeting with national security team. isis already claimed responsibility for today's suicide attack. melissa. melissa: jennifer, thank you. connell: we'll have more on all of this, this tragic attack jennifer was reported on in syria as republican senator kevin camer is set to join us. he is a member of the armed services committee and he responds next. ♪ 300 miles an hour,

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connell: right now with breaking news we've been covering. president trump meeting with key senators of the national security team after four americans were killed during an attack in syria. isis claiming responsibility for that attack.

we're joined by north dakota senator kevin cramer serves on the budget committee and armed services committee. senator, i want to ask you in the context whether this terrible attack, four americans dead, should change the president's plans at all or the excuse of plans getting out of syria? >> first of all, thanks for the opportunity, my heart, my very grateful heart breaks for members of the families and healing for other members injured. it will no doubt ignite the debate about the decision to withdraw. it is constant remind they're a caliphate, while geographic in nature, doesn't mean the end of isis or end of an ongoing fight. will the president change, i asked the president quickly. what are the conditions and change his mind on the withdrawal. yes know what is going on in the

meeting what he is thinking. people on both sides will refer to this event and maybe try to make a case for their position. connell: you asked the president? >> i asked some others. connell: other white house officials. and what was the answer there? i assumed your position, correct me if i'm wrong were thinking of pulling out too quickly? >> i think i, what my other colleagues are seeking will our friends and allies in the region be absent with on the ground presence? what exactly is concurrent with drawl, should give us comfort the area is secured? the kurds are a big part of what happened today. are we prepared, are they prepared to hold their ground along with our other coalition forces? my sense is, i am encouraged by

things i have heard, there is deliberate but sensitive withdrawal, in the sense we're still there, in spirit we're still there, in equipment we're still in the region, we're still providing kind of support, political support they need to be strong. connell: right whether today's attack changes that, it will cause pause. it does for me. would i like slow withdrawal, for sure, would i like to know with some great certainty, that we are there and that we aren't, not only that we're not abandoning our kurd friends, that we're not abandoning our influence in the region. any void left for others to fill -- connell: maybe we're heal more, maybe we'll hear more after the meeting in that regard. >> i would expect so. connell: quickly we were talking to but the government shutdown and talking to everybody, president essentially disinvited by speaker of the house from the

state of the union which is the big headline today, how does this all get solved? should the president, for example, think about lindsey graham's idea, open up part of the government, negotiate on other elements? your state and others are impacted. 2400 people impacted in north dakota by the shutdown, right? >> i'm hearing from some, including federal employees in the security business if you will, who want me to stand my ground and support the president's position and others who don't, everybody, nearly everybody talks to me from north dakota want as secure border, but bifurcating the shutdown from securing the border i think the moral high ground some people are looking for. this still comes down to donald trump and nancy pelosi. if she is not willing to do more than a dollar, to talk about more than a dollar, there is not much to talk about. i think it is nobody. i think we need to find a way to get democrats, at least senate democrats, i feel a softening.

i sense a softening in their position, they're willingness to talk about funding for barrier at the border, if in fact we reopen the -- connell: seems like the president likes that yet. you never know how things change. we have to go, senator, unfortunately because of the time. we very much appreciate your time. >> you're welcome. melissa: how president trump's pick for attorney general could shake up silicon valley. ♪ the fact is, americans move more than anyone else in the world.

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melissa: a second round of confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee william barr on capitol hill today with witnesses testifying on his behalf, but there are new questions about what barr's potential appointment would mean for silicon valley. deirdre bolton is in the newsroom with the latest on this one. fill us in. reporter: if president trump's nominee for attorney general, william barr, is in fact confirmed, he would become the nation's top cop and he has made it clear that he's going to be

looking into big tech. so going down the list, he says when asked about big tech's antitrust concerns, i think a lot of people, i'm quoting him here, wonder how such a behemoth that exists in silicon valley could have taken shape under the nose of antitrust enforcers. barr knows he does not believe that breaking up large tech is always the answer to a lack of competition but he is clearly ready to examine data privacy and security issues. as we know, five of the six most valuable companies in the world have all faced scrutiny to varying degrees during the past year. amazon, microsoft, apple, alphabet google and facebook. many say the biggest data breaches at facebook and google just make it more likely that a new democratic controlled house of rep will move towards passing a privacy bill. that remains to be seen but it seems as if barr could have a role. back to you. melissa: all right. interesting. deirdre, thank you. connell: to more breaking news. we will take you back to number

10 downing street in the uk where prime minister theresa may is set to make a statement at any moment after she did survive that no-confidence vote earlier today. you will see it live here on the fox business network. melissa: don't turn away. we will bring it to you live. that does it for us. here's "bulls & bears." david: we have breaking news. british prime minister theresa may is going to be making remarks at any moment from number 10 downing street, where she's living for the moment. this after surviving today's no-confidence vote in parliament. the panel is with us but let's go first to ashley webster, who has been following all of this from london. what is she likely to talk about? reporter: well, i think she will just reach out to the people of britain and tell them that she reaffirms her pledge to deliver brexit, what they voted for more than two and a half years ago. it was a message she brought to the house of commons after she survived that no-confidence vote by just 19 votes. she was expected to win, of course, but now