now down 24. let's get some final thoughts. adam johnson. >> today will be volatile. it's a fed day. but what matters more, maria, is earnings and growth. that that's, i think, the story right now, not messily interest rates. maria: and they've been pretty good. scott martin. >> they've been pretty great. i think today's all about the fed, going forward, it's about the fed. they better not make a mistake in cutting rates. they've done enough. you're doing the wrong thing, guys. maria: jonathan fahey. >> advice for joe biden, stop undermining the incoming administration. don't sell the wall. you're trying to get short-term political gain from if a party that rejected you. the american people will remember you much more favorably being presidential if you stop talking. plaintiff. [laughter] maria: thank you, everybody. great panel and great with conversation. have a great day. "varney & company" picks it up, stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, everyone. elon musk doesn't like the funding bill moan as a

continuing resolution. he said on x, this spending bill should not pass. he and some conservative republicans object to the heavy spending. speaker johnson will need democrat votes to pass this bill. the federal government runs out of money at midnight friday. another standoff. meanwhile, money is pouring into the trump inauguration fund. uber puts in $2 million. robinhood, $2 million. to the markets, plenty of green this morning. the federal reserve is widely expected to announce a rate cut this afternoon, but what it is waiting for is jay powell's to news conference. what will he say about rate cuts in 2025? the dow is on a 9-session losing streak, should be up at the opening bell this morning. a minor gain for the s&p. the nasdaq at this point down 28 points. bitcoin hit another record high, $108,315. the next big milestone is $110,000. when do we get there? by the end of the year, say a lot of people.

interest rates, the 10-year treasury yield's now at 4.40, the 2-year right around 4.25%. it's actually 4.23. the price of oil, $70 a barrel. gas holding at $3.03 for regular. oh, poor old california, it's $4.31 is right there. and diesel, $3.51. on the show today, biden comes out in favor of a ban on stock trading for members of congress. is that a swipe at nancy pelosi, a bigtime stock trader when angered biden by pushing him out of the race? good question. the trump camp is reportedly considering ankle bracelets for illegals. if there's no room in detention camps, they'll be monitored, tracked and then removed. and a landmark column in the "new york times." brett stevens, quote, done with never trump. why? because the trump haters lost, and their hatred gave the election to trump, and that is in "the new york times." how about that? if it is wednesday, december 18th, 2024.

"varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ i know it's only rock and roll, but i like it ♪ stuart: you know, the producers are beginning to understand me. they know that the i like rock and roll, and they know i like the rolling stones. it's a great way to get the show going. lauren: -- keep you in a good mood. the beatles and the stones and christian music -- stuart further christmas is coming. lauren: it's a formula. stuart: shall i start? lauren: please. stuart: more tech leaders cozying up to trump. uber just announced a $1 million donation, uber's ceo is going the may not with a million dollars' donation of his own. 9 and the ceo of robinhood says he will be sending trump $2 million. tenet was not happy with how

biden handled the crypto industry. listen to what he had to say. >> the current administration and the, ec -- sec has been headed in the wrong direction. rampant regulation by enforcement, open warfare against the cryptocurrency industry in america. the u.s. should be a leader like we are in a.i. in the cryptocurrency industry. stuart: so $2 million. remember, trump has said he's going to make the u.s. the crypto an capital of the world. look at this op-ed -- [laughter] and, remember, it's in "the new york times." columnist bret stevens says he's done with never trump. he argues that much of the fear spout filed the left is overblown and counterproductive. ben domenech joins me now. this is "the new york times," ben, the bible of the democrats. is the media starting to warm up to trump in what do you say? >> well, stuart, you may not know, but about eight years ago

i stood across a debate teenage from brett stephens debating donald trump's rise. i was advocating for the position that it was the failure of america's elites who were to blame for that rise. he was taking the opposite position. and so i feel personally gratified by reading this this morning in the "new york times." [laughter] and i appreciate bret for coming around in terms of his acknowledgment of so many of the different attributes that elevated trump and the failure wheres of elite leadership -- failures of elite leadership over the past several decades even in america. and that's something i think more and more people are waking up to. st one of the reasons why i think this second term is going to go so differently for donald trump. obviously, there's going on the pushback, people who have long fives out for him and his agenda. -- knives out. but i still think this is going to be fundamentally different because people like bret stevens have -- are now having to

recognize he speaks for americans across the country. it's not just some kind of racist impulse or however they wanted to write it off last time around, some kind of white lash, etc., that they were saying in 2016. it's about something more fundamental, and the demand for change is very real. stuart: got it. biden's cabinet officials are holding firm in the administration's final days. they still say, look, biden is cognitively fit for office. i just want to show you another piece, again in "the new york times" this morning. quote, a weary biden heads for the exit. even "the new york times" says he's running out of steam. the obvious question is, okay, who is running the country, ben? >> this is the big problem, stuart, i mean, we still have some time to get through here before we actually see donald trump become president again. and in the in-between time there are numerous things that are already happening around the world. and that's something we really have to be cognizant of because,

look, we can't have any if confidence at this point in the kinds of things that the white house is saying about joe biden's cognitive capability and how much he's even aware of what's going on around him. so the idea that he's going to be president many some kind of critical moment between now and when inauguration happens is something that is really of deep concern to me, and think, a lot of americans as well. we have to demand more transparency from the white house when it. cops to this, but i don't think we're going to get it. stuart: i agree with you. ben domenech, thank you. >> merry christmas. stuart: merry christmas. thank you. bitcoin did, indeed, hit another record, $108,315. lauren, when do analysts think it might hit are $110,000? lauren: so many are saying by the end of the year. so in the next, what, two, three weeks? this pullback, call it a breather. bulls just exhausted9 with the 50 plus percent jump since election day, november the 5th. also today is fed day. if the fed indicates it's cutting less in 2025, some

investors may derisk and find a -- stuart: sell stock, right? lauren: -- find reasons to sell some of their crypto. stuart: futures at the moment point to a higher opening. dow up maybe 70, nasdaq down 20. that's where the market stands now. premarket, that is. excuse me. look who's here in new york, no less, eddie georgia boor -- eddie ghabour, gracing our set -- >> it's a pleasure to be here, thank you. stuart: this afternoon, widely expected a rate cut, down 25 basis points. what everybody's interested in is jay powell's news conference. what will he say about 2025? >> that is the most important part of today the. and what i think jay should do is insure -- let everyone know the economy's strong the enough that it actually doesn't need many more rate cuts and they'll still be accommodative if it needs it. this way you kind of get your cake and eat it too. i think they're putting too much stimulus in an economy that doesn't need it, and it's going to lead to bigger problems like

inflation reaccelerating at a much higher pace hand they're pricing n. i think they're making a mistake -- stuart: if they did not cut today to, do you think the market would hike that? >> i think the initial reaction would probably be a selloff. however, if he positions it the way we're talking about, the market would take that in, and we would hit new highs going into january and inauguration day. stuart: you know i read your stuff. you're saying trump will get a handle on inflation and government spending, but that will result in a 20% market selloff. link it all around for me. >> i think donald trump is inheriting something very similar to what ronald reagan did in his first term in office where he inherited inflation that was really high because a fed miscalculated the fact that they thought inflation was decelerating. they tack their foot off the -- took their foot off the gas, and we had to have that volcker moment where it hurt the economy. but we need to take one step back to take several steps

forward. so i hope they stick to hair guns and cut spending -- their guns, cut spending, tackle the deficit and get spending down. i think we could have an amazing decade. i hope he takes those tough decisions that so many have been afraid to tackle. stuart: that would slow the economy down dramatically, wouldn't it? >> it would, but i think they can pull it off in a a way where you have the slowdown without a recession. if the market goes down 20-25% in a non-recessionary environment, you can still do really well on the back end. not going into an '08-'09 type of scenario. so the setup is perfect, and if he's going to do it, do it early in your term so you have 24-36 months to get it back to where we are. stuart: that's what reagan did. >> exactly. and i think the setup's exactly the same, and investors need to have a game plan to pivot when that happens. i think first half of 2025 is going to be when we start derisking based on our yacht

look. -- outlook. stuart: you've got us all worried, eddie. >> there's nothing to worry about. you've made a lot of money this year, and you'll make more -- stuart: what? [laughter] nobody's ever said that to me on live television. you're a good man, thank you. >> thank you. stuart: kamala harris calling on people to stay in the fight. lauren: it's her first major address since conceding the election. she addressed young voters with this -- >> people have come up to me telling me they feel tired. maybe even resigned. you will not walk away. that you will stay true to your spirit and your sense of purpose. that you will continue to fight for the promise of america. lauren: fight for what? democracy, civil rights. and how? if you look around the country, we talk about this all the time,

there is so much enthusiasm -- stuart: yes. lauren: -- out there for the change that's coming in just a few days. and the other thing is, how's she going to stay in and fight? does she run for the governor of california in 2026? stuart: i don't think she'll -- i don't think she'll run for elective office again because she's not a good candidate and cannot win. lauren: then what would she do? teach? if. stuart: i have no idea. moving op. thank, lauren. coming up, hamas' military depleted. in a weakened state, they're beginning to compromise on a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. we'll hear more from if u.s. ambassador nominee to israel mike huckabee. the house foreign affairs chair, mike mccaul, he has this bombshell theory about the drones. >> i believe they're spy drones. the prc, chinese, communist china, is very good at this stuff. we're not getting answers, and i

think it's because our government does not know who is behind them. stuart: really? why don't we know what's going on? if we'll ask florida congressman cory mills. he's next. ♪ oh, what's going on? ♪ what's going on? ♪ yeah, what's going on? ♪ oh, what's to going on? ♪ meet the traveling trio. the thrill seeker. the soul searcher. and - ahoy! it's the explorer! each helping to protect their money with chase. woah, a lost card isn't keeping this thrill seeker down. lost her card, not the vibe. the soul searcher, is finding his identity, and helping to protect it. hey! oh yeah, the explorer! she's looking to dive deeper... all while chase looks out for her. because these friends have chase. alerts that help check. tools that help protect. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. to go further,

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stuart: 13 minutes til the opening bell. the dow should be up about 80 points, but we've gotten to the negative if territory for the s&p and the nasdaq. happening now the house to border caucus holding a news conference on how they plan to stop the flow of illegals. lucas tomlinson joins me.

the trump team wants to expand the the use of of ankle and wrist-monitoring bracelets? how's that work? >> reporter: stuart, president-elect donald trump wants to conduct the largest mass deportation of illegal migrants in this country's history, and they think using ankle bracelets could help them track down those not in custody. it's all for monitoring and to help with those deportation efforts. under president joe biden, more than 2 million illegal migrant have come to the united states each year, and according to the congressional budge office when it comes to net migration, stuart, more than 8 million have come into the united states. that's an american recor nothing seen before in this country's nearly 250-year history. now in colorado more than a aragua are now in custody forde allegedly kidnapping and torturg a couple from this now-infamousurora apartment complex that's been ofiled on the fox news and fox business

channels. they were taken to anoth apartment where the police say they were bound with, stol whipped and beaten, one was stabbed. here's a local congresswoman deribing the t clling details of why the couple was kidnapped in theirst place. >> they were targeted becae po. woman ma a social media she asked r help on social media, and her and her husband were kidnapped, beat. she's ssing all of her >> reporter: according to presidenelect donald trump, he also wants to the end birthright citizenship. that's been on the books for over 150 years, stuart. anyone born the united states u.s. soil is a u.s. citizen. stuart: thanks, lucas. house foreigaffairs committee chair mike mccaul has a w theory for those unexplained drones watch. >> the ones flying over our military bes be by definition, i would say, are adversarial. we nd to know who behind that becauset -- believe theye spy drones.

communt china's very good at this sff, and we kthey've bought land a around mility bas. this wld be ve consistent with theiricy over the last coup of years. wee not tting answers, and i thk it's becauseur governmentoes t know whos behind the uart: another member of housfoie is cory mills, and he joins me now. ngressman, is ere an evidence that the chine are involved? >> well, tnk if you ok at it, stuart, fromhat pped during the spy balloon that came acsshe west east coast and wadowned in south roli that we und t was partf cc prc's kof spy operations, i think ver ouadversars would utilizehow this weakness to gaifurther intel. they're ing it over key military installionskey energyermina, key ars that wouldn't be knowfor hobbyist it'd be mo known for probing

ercises or gaining int. so i think from me, from what we'vseenwhat we've read, the briefs in the house, i agree with the foreign aairs chairman, mike mcif callthat this is kely a china, ccp or prc rveillance operation. stuart: why don't know categorilly exactly who's anwhat we' doing?s uthere why don't we kw? ifecause they all have identification. sure we know what they're identified a whdon't we know? the weakness of thisause is that they may knoandact they're noactually releang that to the use to the civilian populace to know exactly at's going on. of it's the same thing when they tried to hide the spy balloons that came acrossnd ted to deny its presence. i don't see how they haven't done a brief, we hav't had a classified scif ouet, but the from the bidenquest that administration and the next course of actiono to try and prent this.

stuartlisten to what biden said about congression stock grade thing. roll that tape, please -- trading. >> you know, i don't know how you look your con stretch nts in the eye -- constituents in the eye and know because the job they gave you gave you an inside track to make more money. i think we should be changing the w, that we have to to -- webide by at the federal level that nobody, nobody in the congress should be able to make money in the stock market while heir in the congress. they're in the congress. stuart: what do you think? should members of congress be allowed to trade stocks and make money while they're in congress? >> stuart, you're about to hear me say something that you've never heard before, i agree 100% with joe biden. no member of congress or their spouse should buy, sell or trade stock when they're in office, especially when they sit on certain committees of jurisdiction that gives them an insider track as to what appropriations are going through and what is not. listen, it is mutually exclusive.

you cannot serve the public and serve yourself. mix service is about being -- public service is about being representative, and if you go into congress and come out a lot wealthier, you didn't serve the american people. you served yourself. stuart: it could have been a slam on nancy pelosi, but that's a sidebar issue. [laughter] congressman cory mills -- >> i walked away from it, stuart. [laughter] stuart: always a pleasure. merry christmas. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: congress just unveiled its solution for the looming government shutdown. it's a spending bill, of course. how many pages? lauren: 1,547. and lawmakers have three days to read true this raft of new spending that could touch off a revolt among republicans. politico dubs this speaker mike johnson's nightmare before christmas. here's what it includes in part, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending for disaster relief, think the hurricanes. more aid for farmers, 500 to pages of health care provisions, and the list goes on. elon musk says the bill should

not pass in this x post, he calls it a piece of pork and congress must pass it or the government shuts down midnight friday. stuart: that's the way it is. thanks, lauren. check this out, futures, this is wednesday morning. a little bit of green for the dow but some red for the s&p and the nasdaq. the opening bell is next. ♪

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so you can invest with confidence. visit howard c.m. funds dot com. stuart: 2450e minutes to the opening bell. the dow is up maybe 40, but we've got red ink for the s&p and for the nasdaq. mike lee with me today. mike, are you still a super bull? >> absolutely, stuart. all signs pointing go. we've got, you know, things are looking dramatically better. just last week we had the largest one-month jump in the small business optimism e index. that's a survey and it's the not messily the best economic -- necessarily the best economic indicator, but it happened once before and that was the same time frame in 2016, and that led

to some pretty substantial economic rebound in economic growth from an incoming trump administration. i expect we'll see the same thing the here especially with a lot of efficiency, a lot of regulation cutting, tax certainty, lower energy costs. all signs point towards go especially with the earnings growth from the s&p 500 next year. stuart: jay powell is widely expected to cut interest rates 25 basis points this afternoon. okay, got that. what everybody's interested in is his press conference. what's he going to say? he could upset the apple cart, couldn't he? >> yeah. so that's what this all comes down to. i think we're n like, a 97 or 98% chance we get 25 basis point points today. and over the last month, coincidentally since the election went the way of donald trump, he's talked about slowing the pace of rate cuts going forward. look, i think how he words this makes just as much a difference as to what he actually does in the future.

so if he says he's going to stop completely or it's going to be really data-dependent which if anybody's been watching the fed for like the last decade, they're anything but data-dependent. it could definitely upset the apple cart, but i think we get a rate cut or two next year no matter what, maybe three if the inflation ticks down more. stuart: deal with nvidia real fast because it's in correction territory. are you buying more? >> no. that's really only because i've largely owned it for my clients in the $50 range, and so what people are doing is what i've done, taking some profits of nvidia after this meteoric rise and buying things like palantir, buying other software names because i think we're in the hardware to software rotation for a.i. at the moment. but if you don't own any a.i. stuff or anything like that, definitely buy. stuart: okay, you got it in just as the market opened, and it is now open. the dow has opened with a gain of 40 points. an even split between winners and losers among the dow 30.

the s&p 500, that should have opened with a minor loss. it has. down .04 president. .04%. the nasdaq opening with a very small gain, up.04% on the nasdaq. all right, big tech, what have we got? alphabet and meta up. let's go more on nvidia. this, i'm going to call that a minor rebound today. why the -- lau lauren yeah. it's still in correction territory for nvidia, but they are coming off the 2-month low hit yesterday. they unveiled a cheaper but upgraded a.i. computer. it's super small. it's about half price now, costs you $250, and ceo jepsen wang says -- jensen huang it allows the hobbyists to play with a.i. locally, yet it can process -- i don't even know what to do this with -- 700 trillion operations per second -- 700 trillion. it's not -- 70 trillion. a.i. in your hands for $250.

stuart: i'm interested in this story about merck. they're going to develop the a pill. lauren: yeah. it's a licensing deal worth up to $2 billion with a chinese biotech to develop and sell this pill. look, it's not moving merck's stock. it's up fractionally, down 8% this year, and i think the reason is while this is the all promising, the bo obesity market is huge, but this drug is in the early testing stages. so we're several years away from getting it on the market. stuart: okay. but it is a pill. lauren: yeah. many companies are getting into the pill market. we're all going to be skinny. stuart: i know that -- we're all going to be skinny? if i love that. salesforce hiring 2,000 new workers for what? lauren: sell a.i. software to their customers. 2,000 is two times the number of workers that the ceo, marc benioff, said hire one month ago. he doubled it in a month. and for those 2,000 positions he says he's received 9,000

referrals. i mean, talk about competitive. also wanted to tell you this, salesforce has closed 1,000 paid agent force deals. that's digital labor. think of a hotel saying, okay, let's deploy the robots to clean the rooms when the human workers don't have time to do it. or a retail company saying, hey, why don't you use our chat bot instead of calling in to customer service and speaking to a human being. so the salesforce is a robot force. king -- digital economy, digital staff. stuart: i think i got that. good stuff. cathie wood, i know she sold some of her tesla shares. i want to know how many and why -- lauren: $70 million worth, and the reason, i had to look this up a million times, i couldn't believe it, tesla was up more than 90% since election day. i actually charted it. 90% since trump won the election. tesla is still 16% of her main fund. that fund is only up 20% this

year with, so it's kind of testing her strategy, the disruptive innovation investor. tesla's down 2.5% today. obviously, it's a little bit of profit take, but their shanghai plant manager has left the company, and shanghai is the largest plant. stuart: it's down $12 the right now, 467 on tesla. musk has got to be worth $450 billion -- lauren: it's got two price targets at $515, but the average is way less than 467. it's the around $270. so this stock is flying on the autonomy and the amount i. hopes of it going -- a.i. hopes of it going beyond just an ev maker. stuart: and musk's association with donald trump. lauren: the bromance, absolutely. stuart: we have oklo, it's a nuclear energy start-up. it's openai'sment sam --

openai's. sam altman is the chair. lauren: deploying 12 gigawatts of nuclear power, basically enough juice to power every single household in new york state. this is electricity for the a.i. boom. nuclear is clean, reliable. big tech is interest interested. stuart: got it. starbucks' union just voted to authorize a strike. oh, dear. i can understand they've got some leverage because it's right before christmas, but that's a nasty thing to do. lauren: i'd agree with that. i think they're just tired of these contract negotiations. they've been going on all year. so nearly all of their 10,000 unionized workers voted to back potential strike. they haven't said when the walkout would happen. starbucks says, look, negotiations have been productive, and what was it, just yesterday we did the story that the new ceo, brian nichol, says i'm going to up your presential leave. stuart: so -- lauren: they're work with the union, working with the baristas who aren't in the union to give them what they can, but starbucks' sales are down. so those pay hikes that workers

might be expecting aren't going to be as big as hay want. it's the reality. that's capitalism. stuart: okay. all right. [laughter] earnings before the bell -- lauren: uh-huh. stuart: start with birkenstock. how many pairs do you have? lauren: a lot. i can count on more than one hand. stuart: the good lord. lauren: and you're going to call them, what is a birkenstock? hawrt. stuart: we all laugh at you who come out with your birkenstocks. lauren: they're sandals. no. a third of their business are clogs. they always sell at full price. average selling price for the sandals and the clogs up 8% this year. great record card. to stock's up 10%. stuart: moving on -- [laughter] general mills. cheerios, lucky charms, bit quick -- better quarter? lauren: stock is down 3.5%. lower prices help boost sales, boosts volume, but hits margins.

the stock is selling off. stuart: micron after the bell today. lauren: $8.7 billion in revenue, $4 billion more than a year ago. micron is one of just three companies that provide high bandwidth memory chips, and those chips are used in nvidia's a.i. processers. the a.i. boom is helping offset weakness that micron might very well point to in some of the old tech businesses that it provides chips for like laptops and smart if phones. i'm calling them old tech. it seems we're in the age of quantum computing -- stuart: micron's had a great run though. they're up 110. i'd love to see a chart. lauren: citi says it's going to keep going. buy any weakness. stuart: chicago's residents erupting over brandon johnson's out of control spending. >> -- and to cover up where our money actually went. >> but it's your fault because you gave half the money to illegals. >> can you do the job,

mr. brandon johnson? it's looking like you can't do the job. stuart: almost $530 million has been spent on my migrants under johnson in chicago. more on that later in the show. new york's governor, hochul, she wants to abolish the electoral college. >> the electoral college does not contribute to the overriding objectives set forth in our great constitution. this convoluted process also leads candidates for president to spend an inordinate am of time in a few swing states. stuart: why is the governor of new york suddenly calling for the abolition of the electoral college? i'll ask that question and put it to jason chaffetz later in the show. congressional leaders releasing their bill to avoid a government shutdown. it's 1,547 pages long it's full of the things that doge is likely to cut. elon musk has already spoken out against it. more on this from florida congressman byron donalds. he's next. ♪ ♪

stuart: 12 minutes' worth of business on a dnesday morning. dow's up0, nasdaq down to. at -- down 20. at 2:00 eastern, jay powell will announ the fed's rate cut decision. edward lawrence is joining us now. everybody thinks we're going to gea rate cut, but but the important thing is going to be the what powell says at the news coerence, right? >> reporter: exactly right, and the tone. looking for clues if there will be an extended pause maybe in the first part of next year. it doesn't change the fact that the dow has now closed for the ninth straight day in a row, closed down, the lost -- longest stretch in about 50 years, and this could be why we see the markets in a mixed fashion.

listen to this. >> i expect them to account cut 25, but this'll be the last cut for a while. the numbers aren't going in the right direction on inflation. we've stalled out in decreases. in fact, some of the numbers are coming in hot. so we haven't stamped out inflation. >> reporter: and overall, inflation trending up over the past two months, and core inflation moving sideways the last three months, 3.3%. the markets look eight months out, and we're now gaining that the federal reserve are will not cut as much as thought. i spoke with mary daly who's in the meeting today, but they're in a blackout period. she signaled multiple can cuts, however, hedged on how long it'll take to get there. where's your neutral rate? i've heard 3.5-4%, that would be one full percentage point down from where we are now. >> i put it closer to 3%. to my mind, it has gone up a little bit. it's so uncertain though. it has gone up a little bit, but i'm not willing to say it's gone

up that much. >> reporter: how fast do you think we need to get there? >> i think we can take our time. i think we can take our time and adjust as the economy gives us more information. >> reporter: so daly says the federal reserve will get to 2 president inflation. we're not there yet, and stu, as you know, that last mile is the hardest. high higher inflation means higher interest rates. stuart: got it. now this, elon musk says the 1,547-page continuing resolution to keep the government running should not pass. now listen to what speaker johnson had to say about that. >> i was communicating with elon last night, and he said we understand you're in an impossible position. everybody knows that. remember, guys, we still have just a razor thin margin of republicans. my bill has to have democrat accurates. it's not directed to you, mr. speaker, but we don't like the spending. stuart: come on in, byron donalds. this bill will fund much of what

doge is looking to cut. what's going on? >> unfortunately, this is what happens in the lame duck here on capitol hill. listen, there was a historic election, mandate given to president trump. people want government efficient says, hay want lower spending -- they want lower spending. but the swamp and, frankly, congressional democrats want what they want. and it was that or farmers suffer: it's a very unfortunate bill. what we have is a bill that puts disaster recovery for a sate like mine of florida and many other states, and that was held hostage to get ev mandates and all this other stuff through this package. personally as a member i have to vote no because i'm not voting for this kind of garbage. this is a bad bill. it should not pass. elon musk is correct. a lot of my colleagues are correct. in my view, we should go back to the drawing board immediately. disaster recovery should move on its own. and when it comes to the other functions of government, it should be a slim deal until

donald trump comes back. tooth south then if you vote no, i mean, if it goes down to defeat amongst republicans, you're going to have to have democrats to pass it and keep the government going. that is likely to happen. how do you feel about that? >> that's something i just simply don't like, but that's up to the members of my conference of republicans. because there was a mandate delivered in this election. and it was not for business as usual. it was actually to trim spending, to the cut spending as it needs to be the cut to have the government be more efficient, to not fund or do extensions to institutions that have been suppressing free speech. that is, frankly, they're now being sued by conservative media groups for suppressing free speech. the election was clear. the mandate is decisive. so it is incumbent upon us if it means we have to come back after christmas to clean this up, then that's what needs to happen. but doing this before christmas is not the answer. stuart: do you think this is what donald trump wants? he's about to get into the oval office on january the 20th.

does he want a government shutdown and this big fight over what e spending and what's not being spent right before he assumes the oval office? >> listen, honestfully, i -- honestly, i think president trump is focused on his presidency which starts on january 20th. what this is, is cleaning up the last days of the worst administration we have ever seen with joe biden. and that's why my position for months has been we shouldn't even be negotiating with joe biden. we all know he's not running the country right now. let's be perfectly honest. we should not even be negotiating with him. we should be figuring out what is passable going forward, and that is all. no more, no less. and the most tragic thing is that you have family farms in areas that have been ravaged with natural disaster are being used as pawns to get through the same christmas someny bus that not just members -- omnibus that not just members here hate, but the american people despise. that is the frustration that elon musk has said, a lot of my colleagues on capitol hill, but we'll see what happens.

stuart: congressman byron dons, thanks very much for being with us. her christmas to you. >> merry christmas. stuart support why not? [laughter] the president says biden presidency -- this is my opinio. he's tired and defeated and seemingly angry. that is my take coming up at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ to go further,

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stuart: the man accused of shooting the united health care ceo is facing a new, rare charge. alexis mcadams is with us. what's this new charge, alexis? >> reporter: hey, stuart. well, it's murder as a crime of terrorism which you don't a really hear about that charge too much here in manhattan. ying to throw everything they can at luigi mangione because investors say it's simple, they want to charge him as much as they could because this was a brazen, planned and cold-blooded killing. listen to this. >> this was a killing that is intended to evoke terror. and we've senior that reaction. we've seen that reaction. you know, the statutory elements we can go into, but it's most

basic term, that's what this is. this was not an ordinary if killing. >> reporter: now mangione's looking at life behind bars here after investigators say he shot and killed uniteed health care ceo brian thompson. and you have to remember, too, right before christmas, brian thompson was a dad of two who was just in town for work, okay? he lost his life here. police say mangione if specifically targeted united health care, but neither he or his mom were even insured by the company. one thing is clear, he's far from a hero, say investigators. >> there is no heroism in what mangione if did. this was a senseless act of violence. it was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put new yorkers at risk. we don't celebrate murders, and we don't lionize the killing of anyone. >> reporter: so police say they yesterday mangione's mom less than 48 hours before he was

arrested because she had reported him missing last month to authorities in san francisco. hay gave her a call, said do you recognize the kid in the wanted posters, but what his mom said is now evidence in this case. >> they had a conversation where she didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing. >> reporter: so that's disturbing according to investigators, that the mom said, you know, she didn't know if it was for sure him, but it didn't sound like something he wouldn't do in this case. tomorrow he's going to be in court in pennsylvania, a quick hearing, and then he's going to come here to new york city. stuart? stuart: iowa lex is sis, thank you very much, indeed. a bit of a turn-around for the dow industrials, we're up about 120 points. the s&p 500, that is now up ever so slightly, a tiny loss for the nasdaq. now look at dow winners. what's at the top of that list? i'll tell you, it is unitedhealth, walt disney, johnson & johnson, caterpillar. now the s&p 500. this is an opportunity to see

your stocks as most people who are investors have some of these stocks. huntington, cigna, cvs health, unitedhealth group. nasdaq, asml -- and we have -- don't know that one. lauren: mercado libre. stuart: that's right. and on semi on the list. still ahead, liz peek will react to the biden administration not answering direct questions about the mysterious drone sightings. tennessee senator bill hagerty, he's going to be here on the backlash over biden selling border wall materials. ukraine says it assassinated a top russian general. what does that mean for the peace talks? incoming special envoy to ukraine and russia, retired lieutenant general keith kellogg to, has that for us. and some democrats are calling out biden for disappearing from the public stage the as trump tax over. bill hemmer on that. the 10:00 hour is next. ♪ oh, i wanna dance with

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