joining me now is senator ben cardin, democrat of maryland, ranking member of the senate small businessommittee and member of the senate finance and foreign relations committee. let me go right to it, senator. the nearly $1 trillion covid package is being held up by the president's veto threat. if he doesn't sign it by monday, the government will shut down. what happens during a shutdown in the middle of the transition? and could this last until president-elect biden takes office? >> reverend sharpton, it's good to be with you. this is tragic . a shutdown at this particular moment would be devastating to our country in the middle of a pandemic. and the president could pocket veto this bill. he could just hold it until january 2nd. on january 3rd, a new congress takes the oath of office. this is tragic. it's tragic for our economy, it's tragic for dealing with the vaccinations to try to get through this pandemic. i met with small business owners. every day this aid is delayed, more small businesses are going to have to close their doors. congress came together. it's not easy. congress ca

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we're joined by democratic senator ben cardin. served on the finance committee.t's your reaction from this very angry tweet the president just posted? is he essentially threatening your republican colleagues who have gone ahead and acknowledged the fact that biden will be the next president of the united states in 27 days? >> wolf, this president has shown over and over again how he has compromised american security, how he's defamed the office of the presidency, but right now our main concern is getting help out to american families. the bill that we passed is critically important. provides relief in regards to those who are unemployed, small businesses to the direct payment checks are desperately needed. we've got to get this relief out there, and the president is deciding whether he's going to hold this up for his own fancies. this is horrible, particularly on christmas eve. it's just unthinkable that he's holding up this bill. >> as you know, this covid relief bill now almost on its way to the president in palm beach florida. earlier republican senator roy bl

it gave us confidence maryland senator ben cardin wants to take the program a step further for harder hit small businesses by offering grants and the hardest hit. >>small businesses are the smaller small businesses. >>florida senator marco rubio says the program has lived up to its 2 goals keep workers attatched to employment. and second and related to the first was helping small businesses to be able to stay open. >>during a hearing thursday business owners told senators about the need for another round of ppp loans. >>millions of small people throughout the country need more help to survive. they need your help to survive. >>the 908 billion dollars bipartisan relief plan includes 288 billion for ppp loans, ohio senator sherrod brown says conger shouldn't go home for the holidays until a deal is done i want to keep little companies, small businesses and business that i want to see their employees getting paychecks for now negotiations to include more money for businesses are stalled in are shot hudson. >>a new report says california senator dianne feinstein is having trouble with her

maryland senator ben cardin says it's critical for political leaders to convince americans. >>that the vaccine is safe and effective we want the vaccine to be taken there's nothing to worry about president elect joe biden and vice president mike pence were among the eye piece to get the vaccine live on camera connecticut senator chris murphy says the white house should do more to set an example the president and his top staff should get the vaccine asap president trump has so far opted not to take the vaccine and says he will do so at the appropriate time, reporting in washington, i'm morgan wright. >>still ahead what. >>a small change in the retail process is making a big difference in a number of online purchases. the forwards you've been seeing how >>paying with plastic and it is certainly not your grandmother's layaway however while shopping online during the holiday season, consumers. may notice a new form of installment plants these plans allow customers to get merchandise immediately without paying the full price son at a low gives us a closer look at the services inc

senator ben cardin, we're following these developments and as the good senator pointed out we do have a second vaccine out so that's promising news and again the likelihood you heard it from a republican and democrat that we're going to get relief just a matter of time so that should be the wind at our economy and market's back, right? after this. this holiday at t-mobile, get an iphone 12 with 5g, on us, on every plan! and if you're 55 and up, switch to our essentials 55 plan and save 50% on your bill vs. the other guys. that's right, iphone 12 on us! holiday on with t-mobile. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you choose, yo

yesterday on bloomberg radio, i spoke with senator ben cardin, a democrat from maryland, one of the architectsthis bill. what he said is that he is working with republicans less so on the fiscal stimulus checks, but more so on providing grants to small businesses. he's working with senator marco rubio of florida on that. has do you see how cirilli gone to the ferro school of self-promotion? he's got "sound on" on there. lisa: tom, do you have the sound on, or do you have the mute button? i'm sorry. lisa: i'm just -- kevin: i'm just learning from the three of you. lisa: there is a question about what the sticking point is, and jon was saying how earlier, this has been an ongoing sticking point, the concept of liability with businesses. we are not hearing as much about funding for state and local governments. does that give you hope that we have moved past that particular blocking point, and that we have moved past the change in mood music to an actual substantive change in both sides here? kevin: from a political standpoint, people like senator bernie sanders, congers woman alexandria ocasio-co

the one that ben cardin and i have introduced recently focuses on what i think are the four big problems that can be identified and addressed through legislation. one is to help lower-income and part-time workers. and this is an obvious issue, you know you only have 20-some percent of people who are part-time and low-income saving now, so when people are living paycheck to paycheck, it's tough to set money aside and so we help in that regard in a number of ways. second, it focuses on small businesses. why? because that is where the opportunity is. less than half of workers employed by small business have access to an employer-sponsored plan. think about that. that's compared to 88 percent of workers employed by large businesses. so, it's small businesses, that's where we really got to target and focus to expand coverage for so many working americans. and eric talked about his restaurant business, a lot of them are small businesses like that, that just can't afford to put together a plan so we help them in that regard. and they're also concerned about the complexity of it. third, we've go

maryland senator ben cardin says it's critical for political leaders to convince americans. >>that the vaccine is safe and effective we want the vaccine to be taken there's nothing to worry about president elect joe biden and vice president mike pence were among the eye piece to get the vaccine live on camera connecticut senator chris murphy says the white house should do more to set an example the president and his top staff should get the vaccine asap president trump has so far opted not to take the vaccine and says he will do so at the appropriate time. reporting in washington, i'm morgan wright. >>covid-19 vaccinations have begun for inmates with special medical needs at the california health care facility in stockton. critics argue though that those who are incarcerated shouldn't get the vaccine before frontline workers do. angela could dana with the we are their voices says the staff should be vaccinated instead. according to the state's data 11 employees in more than a 110 inmates have died from the coronavirus cadena says that they cannot afford any more deaths. >>th

it gave us confidence maryland senator ben cardin wants to take the program a step further for harderit small businesses by offering grants and the hardest hit. >>small businesses are the smaller small businesses. >>florida senator marco rubio says the program has lived up to its 2 goals keep workers attatched to employment. and second and related to the first was helping small businesses to be able to stay open. >>during a hearing thursday business owners told senators about the need for another round of ppp loans. >>millions of small people throughout the country need more help to survive. they need your help to survive. >>the 908 billion dollars bipartisan relief plan includes 288 billion for ppp loans ohio senator sherrod brown says congress shouldn't go home for the holidays until a deal is done i want to keep these little companies, small businesses and business that i want to see their employees getting paychecks for now negotiations to include more money for businesses are stalled in are shaw takes him. >>and the dmv is temporarily suspending behind the wheel driving tests for

maryland senator ben cardin says it's critical for political leaders to convince americans.afe and effective we want the vaccine to be taken there's nothing to worry about president elect joe biden and vice president mike pence were among the eye peas to get the vaccine live on camera connecticut senator chris murphy says the white house should do more to set an example the president and his top staff should get the vaccine asap president trump has so far opted not to take the vaccine and says he will do so at the appropriate time, reporting in washington, i'm morgan wright. you know else is getting the vaccines inmates with special medical needs at the california health care facility in stockton. >>critics though say that people who are incarcerated they shouldn't be getting the vaccine before front-line workers. anjelica dana with we are their voices says staff should be vaccinated instead prison workers. according to the state's data 11 employees and more than a 110 inmates have died from coronavirus can dana says they can't afford to suffer any more deaths. >>these are p

i want to start by thanking my friend and colleague, the senior senator from maryland, senator ben cardin for his remembrance of paul sarbanes. it's an honor to join him and others in offering a resolution in memory of senator paul sarbanes, and i should say that senator sarbanes was very pleased that ben cardin succeeded him in his seat here in the united states senate, and so i'm honored to join with him and senator stabenow, senator reed, senator durbin, and others in remembering somebody who was a friend, who was a mentor, and who was the excellent role model for every elected official, senator paul sarbanes. he was a thoughtful and brilliant senator, a kind man, a dedicateed public servant. as we've heard, he was born on maryland's eastern shore to parents who emigrated from greece. he graduated from the local public school and was recruited to attend princeton on a full scholarship. he excelled in his studies as he would in his career, becoming a rhodes scholar, and graduating from oxford before attending harvard law school. he went on to a very distinguished career in public servic

the small business administration was the work product of many, but i want to single out senators ben cardin and marco rubio for their bipartisan effort. i later saw senator collins and senator shaheen working to give it another day, but here was a program which extended a lifeline to american businesses. forgivable loans if the money were spent on the necessities, utilities, rent, mortgage, and payroll. i will quickly add that we have a responsibility to taxpayers to make an honest assessment of how that program was implemented. i'm sorry to say that i have already heard evidence and anecdotal evidence that some of the loans were not carefully made. that is to be expected in something of this magnitude. but by and large, this program was essential. money that we put into health care made a difference. the cares act also protected those who were renting from eviction, delayed the payment of student loans, and a litany of other measures that made a difference. but that bill, the cares act of march, 2020, was really written with a notion that this was a short to medium-term challenge. many tho

ben, you are reminding people after cardinal rule to not let your emotions get in the way of your investmenteally about politics. let's stop talking about who the, what the winner of the election will mean for the stock market. it really doesn't matter. donald trump won in 2016. the stock market went up. joe biden won in 2020, at least looks that way, stock market went up. there are other things going on here that matter. vote your values, vote your checkbook, vote whatever you want but don't vote for anybody because you think the market will go up or down because they're in office. jack: that is great advice. if you hated obama, you had a painful few years in that bull market. if you didn't like trump same thing happened to you. jack, carlton, ben, those are great ideas. thank you, welcome to 2021. to read more, check out this week's of barron's.com. happy new year. see you next week on "barron's roundtable". >> it was year when nasa showed us the sky wasn't the limit. charles manson showed his family values and the beatles showed us why they crossed the road. these are the magical, ludicro

french fashion designer pierre cardin — who was hailed for his visionary creations — has died aged 98. now benn reflects on how the uk economy, businesses and jobs suffered throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and how things changed — from the ways we work and travel to how we shop — in review 2020: the business year. i've struggled getting out of bed some days, because what do you do with yourself when your whole world is turned upside down? we lost 90% of our revenue overnight. 2020 was the year that changed just about everything. the coronavirus pandemic affected how we live and how we work. it upended our social lives, changed our shopping habits and impacted how and where we could travel. i think this is by far the biggest crisis we have ever faced and clearly requires us to take very quick and deep action. for the country, it led to the biggest economic slump in a generation causing thousands of people to lose their jobs across the uk. and so, as we grapple with its impacts on our lives and our livelihoods, we will assess how long it could take for the country to recover. and amid all of

french fashion designer pierre cardin — who was hailed for his visionary creations — has died aged 98. now ben

when chairman marco rubio and i, together with senators ben cardin and jeanne shaheen, put the p.p.p. together at the on-set of the national emergency, none of us could have imagined that the pandemic would still be forcing shutdowns and curtailing operations and that extreme mitigation measures would be necessary these many months later. yet, sadly, the virus is still spreading and many of the steps taken to fight it, though they may be necessary to protect public health, threaten catastrophic damage to many of our small businesses and their employees, small businesses that have now spent their p.p.p. loan funds but are still unable to return to normal operations. i talked with a restaurant owner in bangor, maine, where i live, who told me that he, because of the size of his restaurant and to comply with the public health spacing and social distancing guidelines, can only have four tables a night. and because the governor of maine has imposed a 9:00 p.m. curfew, he can't turn over those tables to compensate for the reduced number of people he can serve at one time. it is so tough, an