as senator franken himself acknowledged. it's the fcc and the justice department that gets to decide. but congress can apply pressure. one of the things we saw in the comcast/nbc u.s. transaction was they wanted them to not use conditions in a particularly aggressive way. it was conservative argument against heavy-handed government regulation. the interesting parallel here is that while nbc and time warner cable are very different transactions, chairman tom wheeler before he got to the commission wrote a lot about the importance of merger conditions. it came up quite regularly during his appearances on capitol hill before his confirmation. plenty of republicans asked him whether he felt his previous writings were correct that, you know, the fcc could stimulate big market changes when it comes to big transactions. and so wheeler's going to be in the spot here. it hasn't really started yet. we've only heard murmurs from republicans, but if the ncc looks like -- fcc looks like it might use pretty serious conditions, you could s

what did you hear from senator franken there, specifically about comcast? >> it's not over is basically what we heard from senator franken, not just because he wants another hearing, but because there are hearings still to come. the house judiciary committee plans to hold its look at this deal. they might hold another hearing on this, partly because comcast filed its formal documents with thefcc just hours before senate judiciary committee ultimately held its inquiry. what we heard from senator franken is that there are plenty of pressures on capitol hill. there may not be as many critics who share his very serious concerns, but plenty of them who have lots of questions and concerns. >> you attended yesterday's hearing. what did you hear from the other senators? were senator franken's views widely shared? was there some support for this potential merger? >> there were definitely questions about consumers and competition. plenty of folks are concerned that this could mean higher cable rates. plenty of folks are concerned this could affect broadband. comcast

and what did you hear from senator franken? >> it isn't over. and not because he wants another hearing but there are other hearings to come. the committee holds a look at the deal in may, i believe may 8th. and the chairman says he might hold a hearing because comcast filled formal documents with the fcc hours before the inquiry took place. there might not be as many critics on the hill who share the senator's concern but plenty of questions and concerns going forward. >> what did you hear from the other senators at the hearing yesterday? was senator franken's views shar shared? was there support for the merger? >> many are concerned about higher rates, and many are concerned it could affect broadband and the breakdown over democrats and republicans over what the fcc and doj should do. senator hatch doesn't think the fcc should take a strong hold on the deal. we only got the documents and folks are beginning to parse them. we will hear more on the hill but lots of interest on cable and broadband. >> comcast is under neutrality and the only compa

senator franken has talked about this and, you know, senator franken actually appreciates what you have said about service because i want to tell you with our company, we have an incredible focus on this, and it bothers us that we have so much trouble delivering a really high quality service level to our customers on a consistent basis. it is not something we're ignoring. it is not something that we are not serious about. we have spent billions of dollars over the past five years improving our networks to try to make them more reliable on additional training for technicians and for our call center employees. we have created new call center centers of excellence, one of which is in delaware where you have specially trained call center representatives with a design of trying to enhance the level of customer service. we have focused on a whole host of measure service improvements including creating one and two-hour appointment windows across most of our footprint, which we actually meet now 97% of the time statistically. we're not happy that we don't meet it 3% of the time. this is a place

right, peter cook, senator franken, thank you both so much.ator franken did mention bloomberg talking about that neighborhood set up, and for purposes of this disclosure, -- for purposes of disclosure, bloomberg and cnbc are competitors. next, a market update. we'll be right back. ♪ >> welcome back. this is "bottom line" on bloomberg television. i'm mark crumpton. staying with us. the equal pay debate is at a stalemate after republicans blocked a motion to advance the paycheck fairness act, killing the debate. aimed at narrowing the pay gap between men and women, the bill would allow workers to compare salaries without threat of retaliation and would allow companies to explain pay disparities. after senators talk past each other on the floor today, no one voted off -- on the bill. democrats promised that the fight is not over yet. and a reminder -- there are multiple ways to watch bloomberg television. we are on the web at bloomberg.com, on your mobile -- on your mobile device, on apple tv, and on amazon fire tv. bloomberg's washington corresp

>> absolutely, senator franken. it's true that they don't overlap geographically, but that's not the entire competitive analysis either for the department of justice or for the federal communications commission. are there ways in which they can leverage unfairly? do they have excess market power? can they drive up prices? can they harm quality and innovation? and there are numerous ways in which they can do that. if time warner can no longer discipline their pricing for nbc programming, prices will go up there, they probably will go up across the entire distribution chain. harming consumers everywhere. having the additional leverage of time warner as part of the comcast -- the internet develops the ability to offer new innovative services. what devices, what consumer interfaces work? if they have almost half of the customers in the country, that's what manufacturers will make. products for that, meet their specifications. if they continue to want that to be through a bundled high priced set of services, i'm sure it

senator franken. just a quick question. you and i agree that the cost of sports programming are rising, in fact. they are rising astronomically and should better reflect consumer demand. really aren't consumers the best judge of what a fair price for programming should be and wouldn't prices come down if they had more choice, specifically the way to break this cycle of ever increasing costs for sports programming instead of give consumers some more choice through ala carte programming, and i wonder if you could comment on the potential effects of disciplining the market and bringing down the costs of cable as a result of ala carte. >> thank you. i truly believe you are correct. i think that one of the concerns that wasn't addressed earlier was that we have numerous studies that show with vertical integration we end up with higher prices on the regional sports channel that is are integrated than the ones that are independent, and one of the related concerns there is that competitors who want sports pro

. >> al franken asked some of the toughest questions.e will be chatting with him in the 2:00 hour. ultimately it is not congress that will decide this. it is the sec and the justice department. >> what about the likelihood of approved? earlier on it seems like everybody thought this would go through despite opposition. what we sawiven today, the hurdle is higher. there is a likelihood of approval, but you will have even tougher conditions given the politics around this, the criticism we are today, and the possessions the company is have -- the concessions the companies have offered may not be enough. and then the question if the conditions are so tough the companies decided it's just not worth it to move for work. >> does the sec listen to congress? do they realize the heat will be show? or is this just a >> they do listen to congress. congress controls the jurisdiction over the sec. -- the fcc. it is my understanding that they were in the room listening. there are politics. the fcc has to make a decision here, cory. know, all it takes a

>> absolutely, senator franken. it's true that they don't overlap geographically, but that's not the entire competitive analysis either for the department of justice or for the federal communications commission. are there ways in which they can leverage unfairly? do they have excess market power? can they drive up prices? can they harm quality and innovation? and there are numerous ways in which they can do that. if time warner can no longer discipline their pricing for nbc programming, prices will go up there, they probably will go up across the entire distribution chain. harming consumers everywhere. having the additional leverage of time warner as part of the comcast -- the internet develops the ability to offer new innovative services. what devices, what consumer interfaces work? if they have almost half of the customers in the country, that's what manufacturers will make. products for that, meet their specifications. if they continue to want that to be through a bundled high priced set of services, i'm sure it

and why does senator franken think this merger is such a bad idea?s me now to talk about all these issues. senator, thank you for coming here. >> thank you, brian. >> i was rattling off all the cash donation to see lawmakers. it seems very difficult to believe it doesn't have some effect on the response that comcast is getting now from washington. do you worry about that? do you worry, for example, that one of the former fcc commissioners now works for comcast, that we see that kind of cod coziness and business ins case and that it may affect winning approval. >> i don't like this revolving door. i thought that was kind of tacky that one of the fcc commissioners, i think just four months after they approved the comcast/nbc deal, went over to work a high-paying job at comcast. i just don't like that. >> the money specifically, do you think it influences your colleagues on capitol hill? >> you know, i think comcast does give money to people who support them, not necessarily to buy their support, but -- yeah, i really don't like the role of money in pol

that means we're joined by syndicated columnist and self-proclaimed selfie king himself, bob franken.perating my own camera. >> that's why you're the selfie king. >> that's right. they don't want to spend the money this early in the morning. >> all right. i want to get to this. even though the white house is preparing new sanctions tas goes into today's meeting with russia and ukraine, does putin appear to have the upper hand in this geopolitical chess game, if you will? >> one would think. first of all, he has said the obvious to the russian people. he has -- the russian counterpart of a fire side chat. he is saying now that, of course, russian troops back the efforts in crimea. so the fact is now we've moved on to the rest of eastern ukraine and in answer to your question, it would seem that he does have the upper hand. the range of sanctions is somewhat limited by the fact that the european countries, part of the european union, have a real problem applying too much pressure on putin because he can apply it right back by raising the price or cutting off the supply of natural gas. >

senator franken -- >> guest: it's privacy, technology and the

>> no, the comic counterpart of al franken, franken and davis. >> he's an actor, comedian. >> where isy that started "american idol" with ryan seacrest? >> forget. >> who was the guy with tom hanks on "my two buddies"? what happened to him? think about it. >> we're still together. >> yeah. i don't know which one of us is going to end up like -- i don't remember the ryan seacrest guy's name. >> i don't remember. >> who was the guy on boo"booso buddies"? peter xa larscalari. >> did somebody give that in your ear. >> no. >> that was good. >> brian dunkleman. ryan seacrest makes $100 million a year. what is this guy doing? these two guests are waiting. >> they want to talk about the markets. >> they do. >> let's do that. we saw a huge rally yesterday after the minutes from the federal reserve policy meeting were released but is this rally sustainable as we progress into earnings season? joining us with more, our two guests. joseph, let's talk about what happened yesterday. was this the right reaction from the markets, a more accommodative fed reason for rallying. >> i'm not so sure the fed

senator franken please continue. really meant that. >> i was going to say that i think the interpretation here is on what the word look means and i think everyone knows what the word look means. >> manning chair if i can i will acknowledge that the word look may not have been the best chosen word. the point i was trying to get out was whether there were compliance issues. i don't think that was a compliance issue so i will acknowledge that we should have had a better use of words in the written testimony and i apologize for that. >> accepted. >> thank you. >> okay. i have a few more questions. i wanted to follow up on what some of the other senators have asked about and the first thing was about what senator graham was asking about the wireless competition and i guess i will start with you mr. kimmelman. in the antitrust subcommittee hearing that senator lee and i recently have been wireless competition witnesses agreed that wireless is out there but it is not a substitute for wireline so when there was discussion ab

au cannot live without broadband internet connection. >> did anyone else find it funny that al frankenas the one? i mean, because he used to be on nbc and saturday night live, and the family pedigree. i thought that was an interesting family twist. i was waiting for smiley. ofthere is a future for all us, from cable to politics. google is getting into the hotel business. to website is adding more its hotel business listings as it tries to deal with hotel booking startup software room 77. the plan is to get people to go through google directly and to encourage more hotel operators to place ads on the site, bypassing advertising. it is kind of risky. the clients of google, those that advertise, are a lot of these travel companies. what is the expression -- don't bite the hand that feeds you? >> it is five percent of their total business, and we are talking about a market that is $50 billion. it is a big, big market. this is not new for google. i have spoken at a couple of google conferences for travel. they've been in this travel business for a while and you think it goes with the maps a

franken: franken: thank you. i want to thank my colleague for his words on the minimum wage. very very important points raised in terms of that letter from those economists and the american pediatric association. just adds wonderfully to the debate. i rise today madam president to support like my colleague from pennsylvania, an increase in the federal minimum wage. i'm a proud cosponsor of the minimum wage fairness act which would give 16 1/2 million americans a much-deserved raise. i'm incredibly proud of the important step that minnesota took to raise the minimum wage earlier this week. just a few weeks ago -- or earlier this month. just a few weeks ago the governor and the minnesota state legislature took this big step for workers and families and because of this, hundreds of thousands of hardworking minnesotans will themselves receive a raise. this is a big deal. before this increase, minnesota's state minimum wage was actually lower than the federal minimum wage. i'd like to talk a little bit about why minnesota has taken this important step. minnesotans believe that if

democrat al-franken said the merger would mean fewer options, higher prices and less services. the company says it's not true. >> this is not a challenging traction from an antitrust -- transaction from an antitrust perspective. our company does not compete for customers. the for example will not lead to production in competition or consumer choice. >> if approved the merged company would serve a third of the country's cable tv households, and 40% of homes with broadband internet services. >> democrats suffered a setback towards bridging the payback between men and women. the paycheck fairness act was blocked. it would have required all employees to improve differences and pay is not based on gender, or allow workers to discuss winter games. the g.o.p. shot done legislation in 2010 and 2012. according to the sensis bureau, women earn less than 80% of what men make. >> detroit's public employees could be given help from a deal worked out by a bankrupt city and bond holders. they were to pay back $400 million in funds. the remained will be used to set up a fund to stop retirees f

. >> senator franken weighs in on the proposed comcast time warner cable merger, at 8 p.m. eastern on "c-span2." >> our guest on "newsmakers" this week is virginia's bob goodlatte, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. thank you for joining us. >> it is good to be with you and your viewers. >> john gramlich is the legal affairs reporter, josh gerstein is at national security for politico. >> thank you for taking the time today. i wanted to ask about the appearance before your committee this week. it was very contentious toward the end of the hearing where he was making a personal swipe at your committee. i wonder if you can talk about that and whether you think maybe he crossed the line in terms of the oversight. >> it is always wise for anyone appearing before the committee

. >>> joining me now from washington, bob franken. good morning. >> good morning.i don't think this is a mystery. how many of our politicians are clearly from out of space. >> there you go. let's talk about this so many facets in the supreme court ruling, 5-4, striking down a limit on donations to political candidates and campaigns essentially meaning these limits are an unconstitutional violation of our first amendment to free speech. essentially did buying elections just get easier? >> well, exactly. we are becoming more and more of an oligarchy. will rogers said we have the best government that money can buy this has deteriorated into the worst government that money can buy. in the process just about everybody is pulling away from the idea of participating in the government. >> some people say, you know what? this is democracy in others. others say freedom of spree speech there. we'll see what it does when it comes to the midterms. speaking of the midterms, those who see obamacare and the goal met as something that candidates need to embrace and not walk away fr

al franken accused him of secretive network to funnel dark money all over the country. senator marc beg ginch -- running it into the ground. a lot of alaska begans are losing jobs. i'm concerned about the drinking water. >>> charles koch responded to it as character assassination. senator reid didn't seem the least bit bothered by it. >> most people are familiar with the koch brothers. i helped make them more famous. i'm glad i've done that. these two men are a pair of billionaires spending millions of dollars to rig the political system. by every indication, my republican colleagues are falling all over themselves to advance their self-described radical philosophy. already we've had one senator run to the senate floor and read word for word the piece on the floor. >>> after two weeks on the job mozilla's new ceo stepped down. brendan eich stepped down. in 2008 he gave $1,000 to back a bill bang marriage equality. mozilla was aware of the donation and when he became ceo, half the company's board member quit the post. the dating website okay cupid.com, 8% of whom are gay

. >> stephen: skin and blood, why would the vatican want-- they're building a franken-pope! (applause) (laughter) folks t was a monumental day that brought all catholics together. luckily the news media was there to help drive use part. >> we have two men who are often seen as sort of para gorntion one john xxiii as sort of the liberal wing of the catholic chfern and the other one pope john paul ii seen as sort of the conservative. >> two very different popes. one liberal and one conservative. >> one viewed as a liberal icon and one as a conservative icon. >> stephen: thank goodness with all the love talk this weekend i was afraid that we will forget that everything in the world must be divide mood liberal or conservative. (laughter) i mean we all know judd as was a liberal and clearly god say conservative because he was pretty religious. but despite the pope's infallibility in all things religious, i can't help but feeling you got something wrong here. >> two miracles are required for sainthood. but pope francis waived that recognize businessity for pope john xxiii seen her

this week joining us is senator al franken,

. >> senator franken weighs in 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> last month the supreme court heard oral arguments in the case of whether an employer health insurance and should have to cover birth control. object.bby's owners they sued the government, and the supreme court oral argument in the case is an hour and a half. >> we'll hear argument this morning in consolidated cases number 13354, sebelius, secretary of health and human services, v. hobby lobby stores, and 13356, conestoga wood specialties corporation v. sebelius. mr. clement? >> mr. chief justice, and may it please the court, when a federal government agency compelled employers to provide something as religiously sensitive as contraception, it knew that free exercise in rfra claims would soon follow. in particular, the agency itself provided exemptions and accommodations for the religious exercise of a subset -- >> is your claim limited to

. >> senator franken weighs in on the proposed comcast time warner cable merger, at 8 p.m. eastern on "c-span2." >> our guest on "newsmakers" this week is virginia's bob goodlatte, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. thank you for joining us. >> it is good to be with you and your viewers. >> john gramlich is the legal affairs reporter, josh gerstein is at national security for politico. >> thank you for taking the time today. i wanted to ask about the appearance before your committee this week. it was very contentious toward the end of the hearing where he was making a personal swipe at your committee. i wonder if you can talk about that and whether you think maybe he crossed the line in terms of the oversight. >> it is always wise for anyone appearing before the committee and members of the committee to not make things personal and the remark by the attorney general, i do not think there are many people out there who believe he is a buddy of the attorney general. as a result, that was not well advised on his part. he did come in answer questions from 34 members

chief washing correspondent peter cook, who will be talking to al franken later. that is just getting underway at the senate judiciary committee. grwill bring in alan oons, a former justice department member who worked on some of the biggest cases of all time, and now with the firm -- has their hands full trying to convince the department of justice and interest in washington that this is in the best interest of consumers. what is the company need to do to make its case? >> i think when the merger was initially announced, comcast minimized its significance. they talk about themselves and time warner cable as regional companies, and the merger was going to simply add some more markets to comcast's territory. and by and large, the financial community and the antitrust bar looked at this merger, and they said, the department of justice and the fcc looked at nbc universal's deal two years ago, that was a real game changer. they approved that one with conditions, so what will they do here. so with this merger, as you scratch the surface and go a little deeper, you begi

reserves opposition to the controversial with extracted is getting louder environmental activists say franken should be banned until the day shawn problem to be safe. i just remind you briefly of the press is one of the deal it is fairly straight foot facility drill down and that new weaponry and illegal or something for the children told me it up like usual then didn't even get highly pressurized it mixes of water and chemicals which frees up the oil and gas. the spa the problem the ride to toxic chemicals injected in a band that released and so's over a period of time the warriors they can contaminants can come in a nearby groundwater tables. also the weights fluids that have come to the left on the top again to evaporate off nice and clean as cassius stitches at me faint. another probe into the atmosphere. so that's a hassle as the bad side of the business types. tracking is economic gold said. some us scientists don't agree they wanted to be a health risk because of what i was talking bout of my shoulder that percentage is still ultimately kill the still probing with the increase isn't di

. >> senator franken pointed out the comcast savings are not going to be passed on to consumers.s that kind of thing typically made in a merger? >> they have this obligation to prove to the fcc that this merger is affirmatively in the public interest. what they're saying is, whatever were going to do is not going to add an -- just add up into lower consumer prices. is more efficient for them to drive down the pricing of programming and get everything else they buy at much lower prices, but no particular consumer benefit. yes, they have an obligation to show that the public interest is served by this merger. as far as i can tell, they're not making that case for strongly. >> and yet the hearing today showed that they're going to have a tougher sell than potentially they thought they might. the case that this doesn't get approved? >> they're going to take this merger extraordinarily seriously. david cohen keeps saying we don't compete in any geographical area. as like the five families saying we have made peace. the cable organizations a long time ago divided up the nation among th

al franken said the marriage of the two would mean fewer options higher prices and reduced services. company executives say that is not true at all. >> this is not a challenging situation from an 18th trust perspective. we don't compete for customers anywhere so the transaction will not lead to any reduction in competition or consumer choice in any market. >> if approved by the justice department and the fc the merged company would serve nearly a third of the country's cable tv households and 40% of households with broad band internet service. 40 years later, the risks of living in baghdad, after saddam hussein. unprecedented flooding, thousands homeless in the solomon islands. we're on the ground. >>> and in hiding. this nine month old pakistani boy, charged with a crime, now being sheltered from the police. that the iraqi security forces cannot get a handle on. they have no way of even trying to rest control back from the be al qaeda militants. from the beginning the sunnis have done everything they can to destabilize the new government which is dominated by the shia majority. >> t

senator franken weighs in on the merger. monday on c-span2. >> tonight, q&a with tom coburn. >> senator coburn announced to retire at the end of next year.

gardener is right on udol's hills and in colorado al franken is only ahead 44-41 and even in iowa, brayleead 31-47. >> is mitch mcconnell in trouble -- >> yeah, mcconnell might be a take away. we'll have to wait until the primary is over. you know, sean, i was incredibly affected this week by the data that came out from north carolina. it's most important data i've read in a year. >> real quick -- >> elections commissioner there, kim straight did a study of those who voted in north carolina who also voted in another state in 2012 and she found 35,500 people voted in north carolina and voted in some other state. and only 27 states pull that data, texas, california, new york and florida did not pull their data. so you're talking about probably over a million people that voted twice in the selection. the first concrete evidence we've ever had of massive voter fraud. we talked about it at nausea. this proves it. >> dick morris, we'll get more into that. thanks for being us with. >>> was the mozilla ceo ousted? >>> president obama's huge rapper is causing controversy by wearing wearing a neckla

we have these three, and other wish lists, including minnesota, where al franken is up for re-election, iowa, virginia, purple state indeed there. and what do you think the odds are those could change hats? >> the first three are states where we know who will win, in michigan, in new hampshire, corey gardner in colorado, they're all competitive races, one poll showing scott brown slightly behind, another showing him slightly ahead. the only poll in colorado showing corey gardner two points behind. got in the race less than ten days ago. i think these races are going to be very competitive. in 2010, republicans took seats in the house, four were in blue states, states that barack obama carried in 28. wisconsin, illinois, indiana and pennsylvania, two states were in red states that obama had lost. north dakota and arkansas. republicans had good opportunities. the other four states you talked about all depend on the outcome of the republican convention or primary. they're good candidates in each one of these states, the primaries are some months off, all the way into august in one instanc

i find franken a delight. i mean, franken -- look, he speaks his mind. i like bernie frank. speak their mind. i like jack welch. i like sam zell. i like people who don't play for dinner. they're not afraid to talk. they don't play for dinner. >> that was definitely the case yesterday. >>> when we come back, we'll get stock trading with jim. but first, sarah eisen is in washington at the imf world bank spring meeting where she has two very big interviews coming up. good morning, sarah. >> good morning. missed you guys at the stock exchange. enjoying the cherry blos sosoms. the imf head christine la guard. they'll be joining us for our first interview here on cnbc when we come back. a lot of talk about lhow to get this world economy breaking out. we're growing. it's better. there are still problems. there's blame gaming. so you will not want to miss these interviews. we'll be right back on "squawk on the street. t. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help th

the united states senate is in good hands with senator amy and al franken.tion from alan. wouldn't today earth day be the perfect day for president obama to say no to the keystone xl pipeline? theoretical theoretically, yeah. but i want the president to be consistent as he has been throughout this entire process and he's getting no credit for it whatsoever. the constitutional lawyer who sits in the oval office, knows that the legal process can't be circumvented by the executive. this is a state's rights issue. it's in the state constitution of nebraska. it's about imminent domain. it's about property rights. and it's going to the state supreme court for it to get permitted. and what the republicans don't get about that is amazing. i saw karl rove again today. i mean, i think karl rove got his legal knowledge out of a cracker jack box. dude, the president isn't going to speed this up by saying yes tonight to the keystone xl pipeline. there still has to be a state permitting process if this is going to work. but they're using it to beat up the president and th

dan sullivan of alaska, senator kay hagan, north carolina, senate candidate tom tillis, senator al frankenminnesota, and senator mark udall of colorado. so why might a candidate put up you raw, highly produced video on the internet for anyone to use? precisely so anyone can use it. like, say, groups who want to promote a candidate but due to campaign finance laws cannot work directly with them. >> american crossroads is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> except when they aren't responsible for the content of that advertising specifically the video in the advertising. for example, here is senator mitch mcconnell in his own video and here are the same shots in an ad from the kentucky opportunity coalition. here is senator kay hagan's footage and the same footage in an ad from the southern alliance for clean energy. here is footage from her challenger's youtube page. and some of the same video in a brand-new ad by american crossroads. senator mark begich's raw footage and the same video in put alaska first. here is b-roll from dan sullivan. and here's the same shot in an ad f

bob franken from king features and catherine ward, managing editor at "reason" magazine. good to see you on a sunday afternoon. >> hello. >> chris, much of the focus was on senators ron paul -- rand paul, i should say, and ted cruz. senator paul was asked if he thinks he's a front runner for 2016. this was his response. >> i don't know if that's good luck or bad. why don't we not go there? i guess it's better than not being noticed. no matter what, i think the republican party needs to evolve, change. >> does rand paul see himself as the guy? >> i think he does. he's got a base of support. he doesn't fit the traditional republican mold. obviously more libertarian. more libertarian than tea partyish. he creates a different image. the problem senator paul has, senator cruz has, it's a battle between the fringe. to win a presidential election you have to figure out how to win in a more progressive, less white majority country. you have to figure out how to win women majorities and young voterers. i don't see them able to do that. >> it seems paul is acknowledging what happen

. >> senator franken pointed out that the comcast savings are not going to be passed on to consumers.s that kind of thing typically made in a merger? concession to consumers that prices will come down? >> welcome back, i'm emily chang. this is "the best of bloomberg west." biz stone is the founder of twitter and also a cofounder of jelly. he is the author of a new book. the book chronicles his move to silicon valley and offers advice to budding entrepreneurs. i sat down with stone and asked him why he decided to write this book. >> i started over a decade ago. i was invited to teach at what they call a master class at oxford, which is just a fancy term for a lecture. miraculously they invited me back. i started doing that every year. then, the groups started inviting me to lecture at other schools. something pretty amazing happened. i found that everyone from high school students to ceos would come up to me afterwards and say, you know that thing you said about creativity or that thing you said about your perspective on opportunity really resonated with me. i thought to myself, that i

franken: thank you, mr. president. i would ask to speak in morning business for up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. this morning the supreme court announced its decision in mccutchen v. federal election commission. the latest in a series of rulings that have done away with any meaningful limits on money in politics. since the supreme court issued its ruling in citizens united in 2010 we've witnessed the systematic unraveling of our nation's campaign finance laws. i'm sure that this is a cause for celebration for some, the super wealthy and well funded corporate interests because these rulings give them more influence, more access, and more power as if they need it. then there's everybody else. everyday folks in minnesota and around the country who don't have the luxury of pouring millions of dollars into political campaigns. there's a senior on a fixed income who gives $25 to the candidate she likes, maybe someone fighting to contain the cost of prescriptio

senator manchin and senator franken have been particularly focused on this issue. the adequacy of power generation differs a great deal from region to region. rather than tackling the entire issue at once, at the request of senator manchin who is here today, we'll look at impact of coal-fired generation requirements on the pm system and reliability on during the polar vortex earlier this year. i appreciate all the senators concerns regarding the threat to reliability from coal-fired plant retirements, caused by new environmental standards as well as competition from the gas market. the question of coal retirement is multifaceted. there are different perspectives that will be shared today and i look forward a lively discussion on this question with the second panel. so in closing we have a pan negatively expert witnesses here today to discuss these issues. senator murkowski, i thank you for your help in planning this hearing today and for your cooperation from you and your staff. and i want to thank all of you who traveled a great distance to be with, to us today an

it's up to the fcc and the doj. >> senator franken weighs in on the proposed comcast/time warner cable merger tonight on "the communicators" at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> the senate on their holiday recess, we're bringing you highlights from booktv in prime time all week here on c-span2. tonight a look at the world of banking and finance. at 8:30 eastern, megan mccard l on her book, the upside of down: why failing well the key to success. then an interview with michael lewis, author of "flash boys: a wall street revolt," and steven harbor on "fragile by design." booktv in prime time all this week here on c-span2. >>> the world's finance ministers and central bankers were in washington last week for the imf spring meeting. the headed of the imf and the world bank held a press briefing thursday morning. emf -- imf chief christine lagarde discussed planned to loan $14-$18 billion to ukraine and said she hopes the authorities in ukraine will deliver on their commitments. she spoke for just over half an hour. [background sounds] >> okay. thank you very much for photographs. good morning,

but lately the fear factor around franken foods isn't quite what it has been.sts and even folks in the environmental movement have reversed their previous opposition and now the debate has shifted to labeling. do customers have a right to know what is in their food? >> it's not about taste. quite frankly, i'm no scientist, so for me it's not even about the science. it's about the fact of freedom. i don't approach this as a chef, i approach this as a parent. i want to know what i'm feeding my kids. >> ballot measures to require labels on gmo products failed in both california and washington state. but vermont is now poised to become the first state in the nation to require labeling and other states may follow suit. in anticipation of this, a new federal bill sponsored by mike pompeo would seek to prohibit mandatory labeling. instead it would establish a federal standard where all labelling is voluntary. a move that is currently supported by the fda. but opponents of that bill have a different name for it, the deny americans the right to know or d.a.r.k. act. the