. >>> and coming up, politico's alex burns on why dick durbin is asking the white house for help. >>>nd americans dial the three candidates vying to be prime minister in great britain, held their second debate last night. >> david, you're a risk to the economy. nick's a risk to our security. >> i just think they're trying to frighten me, the other parties, because they don't want britain to stand up for itself in europe. ♪ ♪ [ bell rings ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's fastest 3g network. this mother's day, get 50% off all messaging phones after mail-in rebate, like the pantech reveal, only from at&t. i'm ed whitacre, from general motors. a lot of americans didn't agree with giving gm a second chance. quite frankly, i can respect that. we want to make this a company all americans can be proud of again. that's why i'm here to announce we have repaid our government loan, in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule. but there's still more to do. our goal is to exceed every expectation you've set for us. we're putting people back to work, designing, buildin

dick durbin's a little more of an operator behind the scenes. good relationships with his colleagues and both have attributes that are appealing. >> and jim, just finally, does durbin have at least an inside track because of his closeness with the white house and president obama or is it really the kind of secret poll among democrats and it really is a popularity contest? >> it really is a popularity contest. the question for schumer, he raises a lot of money, but his ambition is so obvious that some find it off-putting. the truth is, and you've covered a lot of these leadership races, you never really know until the votes are cast behind closed doors because there are so many trade-offs and calculations that individual senators are making. >> that's why we love it so much. thank you so much. chris dodd lost by one vote. and coming up, is the senate any closer to a deal on wall street reform? just hours from now, another test vote on whether to permit debate. plus, homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, joining us right here with her reac

[applause] senator dick durbin and congressman steny hoyer all provided outstanding leadership that our nation needed -- needed. [applause] on health care, max baucus, chris dodd, henry waxman, and charlie rangel and so many others offer expertise throughout the year. congressman george miller, jim cliburn, ruben hinojosa lead the house . senator tom harkin's dedication

here's what dick durbin had to say on this subject. >> timing was perfect we are about to take up regulatory reform bill banks are saying this is unnecessary we have everything worked out. now we find out the securities and exchange commission has charged goldman sachs one of the biggest with involvement in some trading that really turns out to be very suspicious. >> sean: the sec vigorously denying the case is related to the administration's political plans in the voting process that determines whether the commission could pursue the case votes were cast down party lines. final vote 3-2, two republicans against, two democrats for. one independent appointed by the president casting the tie breaking vote. the president is gearing up to deliver a big speech to wall streeters thursday to pitch his regulatory reform. there's some irony to that he took nearly a million dollars, 994,000 to be exact, from goldman sachs during his campaign. so now that his administration has made an enemy of the banking giant, is he going to you return the money? joining me with reaction from the fox business networ

dick durbin from illinois. i know it's a busy day. i hope you heard a little bit of what dana and gloria were saying as you hooked up there. the expectation is if you talk to senator dodd and his staff, senator shelby and his staff, when the democrats and the republicans spend a few days in a room, they'll come up with the language. if that's the case and they're optimistic you can get 60, maybe 70 votes for this in three days or a week, why keep having these votes? >> i tell you why, because we face so many filibusters from the republican side. you know, chris dodd made a good faith effort. he sat down with the ranking republican dick shelby of alabama. they spent two months. he then said i'll work with bob corker, another republican on the committee. they spent a month. then dodd said, let's all come together in the room, democrats and republicans and discussion our differences, consider amendments. the republicans brought in 400 amendments that markup didn't offer a single one of them. so we believe that we have to make things righ

you know dick durbin, are great liberal senator, some i truly support and consider a dear person, dickdurbin said clean coal is the fight of his life here and i just can understand it. i just thought, you know, there's a great person from the soviet union said coming up, the roadside dogs bark or the caravan moves on. and i just thought, this coal is the roadside dogs in the green caravan is moving on. we know this is the future, but this kind of talk about coal on the weather's just a bruise or not blindsides any kind of progress it has were putting billions of dollars in tuition ultimately it's not stopping either.yeah? >> i spent a good deal of time a long time ago on the issue of nuclear power we were working out in the west where there was uranium reserves on the navajo reservation, which a lot of coal as well. and now, there are people who are sane well, nuclear power in people i respect sandefur not going to block mountains, we're going to have nuclear power. and so i think that then we tried to not think about that alternative and now nuclear power seems to be on many peoples m

there are other democrats, the senate minority whip dick durbin among them, not happy about the way thethink it needs to be tougher on wall street, better for consumers. for as far as being bipartisan, if republicans want to stand up for all streets, we will stand up for consumers, they say. either we will get a better bill or we will have a fight in the elections in november. >> there's so much frustration against wall street, so we dare you to stand up against this this time, they are saying. >> some democrats -- wall street bailout was really unpopular. a lot of democrats say it they're looking for a way to bolster their tough on wall street credentials. >> alan greenspan is testifying before a commission investigating the crash. he said the government bears much of the responsibility for pushing all street to make the sub-prime loans, which led to the toppling of the housing market. >> that's right. his testimony was somewhat controversial. if the city was 70% right hand 30% all. he says that's a pretty good average. other people say it's like driving a 70% without a crash and 30% b

. >>> tomorrow we visit with dick durbin, the number two democrat in the senate joining us with his thoughts on the battle for financial reform and the midterm elections. coming up next this evening, just days after being charged with fraud by the s.e.c. goldman sachs reported huge first quarter profits. on the other hand, their stock dropped another 2%. michelle cabrera has the details. >>> and later on, should synthetic cdos be banned? we'll talk to david goldman and peter morici. there is a debate. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. >>> all right. fresh off s.e.c. fraud charges, goldman sachs reported huge first quarter earnings today. cnbc's michelle cabrera joins us. hello. >> three and a half billion dollars they made in profits, much better than a year ago. nearly double what they made a year ago. look at the numbers. turned out to be 5.59 per share, much better than expected. there's the chart. what the stock did today. we'll explain why it was down toward the end here. once again, the first thing we wanted to show you were the actual earnings which were much better t

senator dick durbin has been subpoenaed to testify at rod blagojevich's corruption trial.he former illinois governor is accused of trying to sell president obama's senate seat after the 2008 election. durbin says he talked to blagojevich on the phone that november about possible replacements. blagojevich's lawyers are also asking a federal judge to subpoena president obama. the corruption trial is set for june. >>> the star witness testified today in a high profile hacking case. sarah palin took the stand in knoxville, tennessee. fox 5's jonathan seery has palin's creax to the crime that made her -- reaction to the crime that made her family's life public. >>it's not right. it's not legal. it's not fair or decent. >> reporter: former alaska governor sarah palin rails against the former college student accused of hacking into her e-mail. palin told the court that while campaignings a the republican vice presidential nominee, she found out her personal information had been stolen. >> access and communication is so extremely important when you're thousands of miles away from

. >> let's listen to a little bit of the political argument, first you have dick durbin of illinois whoays this is all the republicans' fault. >> if we could just get enough compassion from the other side of the isle for unemployed workers as we had for bank bail bailouts, we would have a chance of feeding these people during one of the worst recessions in history. >> and the republicans say we would have done it yesterday if you would just help us find the money to pay for it. >> for my money, if we can't find $9.5 billion somewhere in this government and say that it's a higher priority to extend these unemployment benefits and pay for it, then whatever that money is used for, then we're not doing our job. >> so will the politics of this get in the way of getting the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate and end this and get the checks in the mail by the end of the week? >> i'm told tonight from democratic and republican sources that they are talking about trying to at least move faster on this, both republicans and democrats. up until then, both republicans and democrats think it's har

joining us now, senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois. senator, your reaction to the president's speech? >> i think the president really hit the high points of what we're trying to achieve with wall street reform. the notion of too big to fail left the taxpayers holding the bag when financialists constitutions made some of the worst decisions in their history and almost cratered our economy. secondly the issue of transparency, more openness, open-market trading, so we can understand what's going on in these transactions. and finally, the strongest consumer financial protection law in the history of the united states. these are all desperately needed. >> the bill in its current form gives the federal reserve more power and has the ratings agencies still under the employment of the bank as opposed to working for the bond investors, the pension managers, those who actually represent our teachers, our police and our firemen. so much of this happened because of the misrepresentation or the misunderstanding of the value of the things being sold

exclusive john harwood interview with president obama and the number one senate democrat majority whip dick durbingive us an exclusive interview. we'll talk fin regular, back attack. >>> john paulson, who shortage mortgages correctly and is now touting a v-shaped economic. he must be watching our show. >>> the new derivatives bill will clobber new york and oobeboost chicago. >>> finally, a brand new $100 bill, a counterfeit c-note benjamin for you, or is it for the chinese? fasten your belts, "the kudlow report" begins right now. >>> good evening, i'm larry kudlow. welcome to "the kudlow report" where we believe free market capitalism is the best path to prosperi prosperity. president obama spoke with john harwood. and john joins us now from washington wash with the lee tails and key clips. >> reporter: i talked about all the issues surrounding financial regulation with president obama at the white house this afternoon. but one issue really stands out over the last few days, and that's the question about goldman sachs and the s.e.c.'s case against goldman sachs. some have raised the question about

people like senator ted kaufmann, senator sharrod brown, senator blanche lincoln, dick durbin, maria can'twell, carl levin. bernie sanders. they all want an honest debate about the fundamental flaws in the bill. however, those in the leadership role are attempting to quash that debate and serve the bankers who deliver them the money. lawmakers, actually trying to bring transparency to the shadow banks. lawmakers actually trying to stop the police and regulators for being under the employment of the crooks they're supposed to supervise. trying to fix a bill that perpetuates permanently too big to fail. it's a bill that is designed in fact deliberately to hide the next bailout so that congress never has to do it again. and meantime, all of them, the bankers and the politicians, hold you and i prisoner, to too big to fail banks that have only gotten bigger. four of them now control 60% of all the assets in our country. with leverage like that, my friends, you don't need a democracy, you own the place. the goldman sachs lawsuit finally put a spotlight on the dire need to fix the derivati

and dick durbin of illinois has an event out there for him. nator durbin loan has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for harry reid. and as "morning joe" viewers know, leader reid could use it. things not looking good. one of the reasons that immigration is going back to the top of the agenda. he appeared in washington, he thinks that will help him. and he's going to try and ride this banking issue. we're told that as soon as tomorrow, leader reid is going to force another vote, try and get republicans on the side of -- against rules and regulation. >> real quick, what's the relationship like personally with reid, durbin and schumer? >> they get along fine. if it were ugly, it would only hurt that person. you can hear arguments for both durbin and schumer getting it. i think schumer would be more a sign of change. durbin would be more continuity. >> aren't durbin and schumer roommates? >> they are. and literal room, they sleep in the same room. different couches. >> what? >> you know who else lives in there. >> who? >> della. a bad place.

the bipartisan agricultural bill is included in this proposal, just as dick durbin spoke about the dream act. there is a reason. the wilson immigration system has been devastating to a major industry, agriculture. in my state, it is the largest of ag stay in the nation. farmers cannot farm, growers cannot harvest, packers cannot pack but 90,000 acres have gone to mexico. 20,000 mexicans have been hired and nothing is better than american produce but if you cannot farm, you have to import from others and that is exactly what is happening. i have story after story of farmers whose crops lay on the ground because there is nobody to work in the hot sun with the skill to harvest a row crops or picked citrus or pears or any other thing or canned tomatoes. that is where we are today. the system is broken. farmer after farmer comes to us and says please help us secure a legal work force. this bill would do that. i think that is important. we note today that we have to do this. the question is, do the people of america want us to do with? one of the ways we have to look at this is threefold. ever

the committee is chaired by illinois senator dick durbin. >> good afternoon. i am pleased to convene this hearing and i apologize for being a few meetings -- minutes later. this is a hearing to consider the 2011 funding request of two are most important federal agencies, the commodities futures trading commission and the securities and exchange commission for it i'm welcoming my colleague. i'm sure you're tired from yesterday. senator susan collins of maine, who is my ranking republican on this committee, my friend, we've worked together on many aspects of many different laws over the year and this is an important 13 other colleagues will join us during the course of the hearing. i want to welcome. kessler -- when this subcommittee was created and started, i insisted that it bring these two agencies to gather into one appropriations subcommittee, because the parallel one another and the regulatory responsibilities and i felt that the ancient separations no longer applied, that there really should be considered as a tandem operation to bring confluence to impor

. >> chuck, on friday dick durbin acknowledged he had been subpoenaed for rod blagojevich's trial, a time for democrats in illinois up. also look at the fact, the democratic nominee's family bank went under, so a lot of problems in illinois, including our own chicago affiliate out in illinois has aggressively gone after some of the claims and have redacted some of the claims from a complaint. is the white house afraid that this president may get pulled in about some -- as this heats up over the summer and fall, may get pulled into this? >> reporter: can i tell you, the way they've handled the illinois political situation, there's been this fear of touching it, right? there's this assumption since blagojevich tried to sell the seat, figure illinois-related is radioactive. for instance, they made one effort to find a candidate in that senate race, it failed. then they backed off. even though you talked about the democratic nominee, alexei, his family bank that just went under. he's also going to get potentially dragged into the resco trial, another part of this blagojevich situation. >

the bipartisan agricultural bill is included in this proposal, just as dick durbin spoke about the dreamact. there is a reason. the wilson immigration system has been devastating to a major industry, agriculture. in my state, it is the largest of ag stay in the nation. farmers cannot farm, growers cannot harvest, packers cannot pack but 90,000 acres have gone to mexico. 20,000 mexicans have been hired and nothing is better than american produce but if you cannot farm, you have to import from others and that is exactly what is happening. i have story after story of farmers whose crops lay on the ground because there is nobody to work in the hot sun with the skill to harvest a row crops or picked citrus or pears or any other thing or canned tomatoes. that is where we are today. the system is broken. farmer after farmer comes to us and says please help us secure a legal work force. this bill would do that. i think that is important. we note today that we have to do this. the question is, do the people of america want us to do with? one of the ways we have to look at this is threefold. every

my friend senator dick durbin, a democrat, is so eloquent, but president bush -- the first case that came up was padea. that was before military commissions had been established. he established military commissions and the supreme court found them lacking, and the defense department stopped and had to rewrite rules. during that period of time through 2006 the congress passed legislation to effectuate the military commissions. in late 2006, that was. then it took time for the rules to be written and to move for it. -- to move forward. antÁnamo that were going to be tried. all of them didn't have to be tried. but they would be tried by a military commission and khalid shake ahamed's case was already proceeding as a military commission, was it not, tell president obama his first act was to stop that. >> the case had been proceeding in a military commission and a halting fashion and the decision the obama administration made was to put a hault to those things so that the commission procedures could be amended and congress passed those in 2009. >> you had a to a commission and you cochair