john harwood joins us now from washington. john, let me just begin by asking you about, you know, how investors are going to respond to all of this stuff going on in washington. up until now, there was a feeling we don't have to worry, there will be a bipartisan agreement and all of that. with this huge sell off going off wall street, will this debt limit be another headache? >> susie, i think investors should watch and monitor. i don't think there is reason to be overly concerned about this for the simple reason republicans who are the ones holding up the debt limit in the past realize that that is something that could hurt them politically. they are heading into an election year which things are otherwise looking good. they don't want to get in the way of their own good news. i think it's likely this gets resolved in a non-crisis atmosphere. >> so it will be taken off the railroad track one more time. what is the nature of the solution? will republicans give a blank check to the debt limit raise or what? >> the solution, tyle

that is very, very unlikely to happen. >> john harwood, thanks very much. john reporting from the capitol tonight. >>> we begin tonight's market focus with a round up of today's after-hours earnings. price line the online travel agency posted a better than expected results as it booked more hotel stays, airline tickets and car rental reservations. but its profit and revenue outlook for the current quarter lagged estimates. still shares were up initially after hours. the stock ended the regular section a fraction higher at $1283. >>> nordstrom's earnings topped estimates but sales during the holiday quarter came in light sandbagged by higher markdowns. the luxury retailer's guidance missed expectations as the company said its planned entry into canada will continue to weigh to profit. shares ended the regular session up a fraction at $59.44. >>> groupon's revenue jumped 20% on strong demand for discounts, but the daily deals web site forecast little profit growth in 2014 because of increased investments. that disappointed investors and sent shares lower after

john harwood joins us now from the nation's capitol with more. how close was the vote, john, and at what cost to the speaker did it come? >> reporter: the vote was 221-201. that is relatively close, narrow. you had the speaker because dissidents within his party were not willing to go along with the terms that he was proposing, he had to do it with a vast majority of democratic votes, 193 democrats voted yes joined with 28 republicans. so anytime the speaker of the house basically has to act and move forward with the other party rather than his own, that puts him in a weaker position vis-a-vis his caucus. on the other hand, it's something investors will be relieved about and senate expected to take this up and pass it tomorrow. >> what's 9 next battle ground then, john? the speaker did give, in they did pass a clean bill. but in washington there's always that next battle that's looming. and since the speaker did give in a bit, what's he facing next? >> reporter: the next battle will be on immigration. are we going to get a deal to overhaul the imm

john harwood is in washington for us tonight and john, what can we expect to emerge from the meeting this evening? >> well, we expect, sue, is that house republican leaders and their members are going to agree on a strategy of what they are going to put on the floor to raise the debt limit. it is expected they will raise the debt limit this week, meaning they will be well ahead of the deadline and the senate would follow suit. the question is what goes along with it to sweeten the pot? >> what would the condition be, and do you expect it will be a condition democrats will go along with in the senate and down along pennsylvania avenue in the white house? >> this is what is different about this episode, tyler, from previous ones. they are not looking for a companion provision that democrats hate. they are doing something that democrats might be able to say yes to. one of them is resource $6 billion in cuts to veterans pensions that were made in that bipartisan budget deal, patty murray and paul ryan a few weeks ago. the other is some increases in the reimbursement rates for doctors und

john harwood joins us now from washington with more. so john, let's first start out with just the basics. what is the cbo's forecast of the budget which will be the smallest since president obama took office. >> reporter: they show $514 billion for the current fiscal year, about $44 billion less than they estimated a year ago. and more importantly, they say that the deficit is going to be in the range of 3% of the size of the economy, 3% of gdp, through the end of obama's presidency. remember that early in his presidency the deficit was 10% of gdp. and that drew a lot of alarm. the near-term picture is good. longer term it's more problem eight because of babier boomer retirements and because the ceo has downgraded estimates of growth over the next ten years. >> i was just saying a moment ago there are always some surprises and controversy in this report. today some of the controversy was about the impact of the affordable care act's effects on the deficit and also on jobs. so what's the story? clarify what the headline said. >> reporter:

john harwood joins us now from washington with more on the gop proposal. john, what is chairman kemp proposing? >> reporter: the comprehensive reform, tyler, in the nature of what ronald reagan signed into law during the 1980s. it would collapse the current rates from seven rates down to two, 10% and 25%. that would drop the top rate from 39.6 down to 25. it would have a sur tax on incomes -- earned income over $450,000 of 10%. and on capital gains and dividends it would tax them at ordinary rates but it would exclude 40% of the income from taxation. so effectively that takes the rate from the current 20% down to 15. >> all right. so we know, john, that any time there's a discussion about tax on capitol hill, there are debates on both sides of the aisle. what are the biggest potential land mines in this plan? >> reporter: the biggest land mines are the things that the chairman kemp, dave kemp the chairman of ways and means has not revealed yet that is how he pays for this. in a revenue-neutral plan if you take the rate down from 39.6 to 25%, you're going ha

john harwood joins me now from washington with more on the good news from fannie, what it means for the treasury's coffers and what is next for fannie and freddie. john this was not a surprise, i suppose, but i guess a welcome sign post. >> reporter: uncle sam is loving it right now. they're getting big fat checks from these entities that they took over a few years ago that sucked a whole lot of money out of the treasury. and now as some one-time events are materializing, especially as they return to profitability has caused fannie and freddie to ramp up the value of some tax benefits that they had before that they had not counted on repaying. they've also gotten some settlements with other counter parties in the financial system. this is beneficial to the treasury right now but still a debate in front of us on what to do with the agencies long term. the administration says just because times are good doesn't mean we shouldn't figure out a different and restructured role for the government in the housing market. >> what is like will i -- like to happen? will the -- >> it's going to be c

john harwood is joining me. good evening, john. >> let me run through the cbo. the budget will be less than projected. that's around 3% of gdp and will remain 3% of gdp through the end of obama's presidency, better than the 10%. the bad news is more important and the bad news is economic growth is projected by the cbo to be less over the next ten years, perhaps a growth rate of 2.6% over the next ten years. that's .3% lower than it projected a year ago. now, the confusing news is it has to do with obamacare. the estimates of the effects on the labor market were that there will be the equivalent of two million fewer workers as a result of obamacare. but if you unpack that, you can see that the reason they say is almost entirely because workers with benefits under obamacare will choose to work less. now, in some ways that's a good thing. people have more choices. on the other hand, in macroeconomic terms, fewer workers means fewer growth. highlighted in the cbo study and a concern for everybody, it's why you're seeing more and more talk about growth right now. >>

. >>> next up, as cnbc turns 25 john harwood takes a look at what the world could be like in 25 years from now. and then from worst to first? that's what best buy is hoping the results will maine mean. it's making a major move higher. big debate on the big box retailer is on deck. you will decide the winner and new online trading platform is ufring trades in exchange for social media, love not money. the cofounder of robin hood will join us to explain why they think this will work. more "half" is straight ahead. [ bagpipes play ] make it happen with fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. >>> let's do our trader blitz. first up, noodles. shares are sliding after missing estimates on the top and bottom line. josh? >> this is a tough one. became public last year with explosive growth numbers. started to turn out that that's really new stores. because same-store sales not so hot. 3 percent. missed earns. not enough chart history here. i would avoid it. >> wendy's topping earnin

john harwood with the latest on that one. john, thanks very much for now.int of view, the debt ceiling is back with us. we're so used to it at this point it doesn't look like we'll go to the final hour so where does that leave investors? >> i can tell from you our experience, we had a horrible scare in the summer of 2011, a near 20% stock market crash in a very short period of time culminating in a 6.7% correction in one day following the s&p's downgrade. since then investors have cared much less. i think to john harwood's point, republicans seem less likely to push the issue to the brink, so really we've spent about two years discounting this and largely speaking at this point i don't have any conversations with clients about the debt ceiling almost at all. >> lindsey, do you? >> you know what's interesting about the debt creel something that we're waiting for yellen's testimony and the debt ceiling may be a little more political than normal. chairman bernanke was the one that continued to champion the idea of bringing fiscal policy in line with monetary p

let's bring in john harwood on this. john, even though this particular order only benefits a minority of american workers, to what degree does it set the stage for congress to be able to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers? >> well, the president hopes it sets the stage but there's no guarantee at all of that. remember, it's a very tiny number of people affected, just a few hundred thousand people. the president is hoping for two effects. one, that companies who are federal contractors will then be influenced if they have to pay minimum wage or this higher minimum wage on their federal contract, they will pay it for their other workers so there will be a response within the corporate community and secondly, he's hoping because this is very popular, if you look at polling, significant majority of americans favor this, that he can put some pressure on republicans to give on this, just as the house gave to him on the debt limit yesterday, trying to avoid a political problem. republicans want to run on obamacare. h

i'm john harwood in washington.xpecting president obama will not include in his budget which comes out in a few days a proposal advanced in the past to change the inflation adjustments for social security. it's something republicans sought. the president put in his budget last year as way to lure republicans into negotiations for a big deal nap didn't happen. we had a small deal and now there's calm in the budget waters, and the president's not repeating this offer. this is something that republicans expected to happen, and we'll see whether or not throughout the rest of the obama presidency we get any sort of resumption of grand bargain talks. now we go a market flash from dominic chu. >> thanks, john harwood. check out what's happening with directv. the nation's largest satellite tv company. stock up 3% reporting fwhaernt expected four quarter profits and sales as it made much more from each subscriber in the united states. it also authorized as 3ds.5 billion share buyback program. stock up nearly 10% in this year

i'm john harwood in washington. jay carney, the white house press secretary, is briefing now.a is conducting a phone call with russian president vladimir putin. of course, he has had a strained relationship with putin but they need to talk now because it concerns the ukraine, the violence that's been flairing all week. there is a tentative compromise designed to end the violence in which president yanukovych would give up some of his power, one of his rivals would be freed from prison. the parliament is trying to make that happen. we don't know whether this is going to be successful in stemming the protest and violence which have cost dozens of lives over the last couple days. the president is trying to see what he can do with vladimir putin to try to solidify and cement that deal and make sure that the violence doesn't flare again. of course, these two leaders don't get along all that well. president obama didn't go to the olympic games which are going on right now, in part because of vladimir putin's policies on gays and others. so we will see how successful this effort is.

our chief washington correspondent john harwood is on the hill. how did they do defending themselves? >> reporter: they did okay. it wasn't a very contentious hearing. most of the attention around this hearing was on the cloak and dagger methods that the investigations committee which is now adjourned for a couple hours, uncovered about how 22,000 secret accounts were maintained and fostered by credit suisse. you're talking about a full service office at the zurich airport to enable customers to go straight to the ski slopes and do their business after they got off the plane. you have a remote controlled elevator, you had cash hidden in pantyhose, you had bank statements stuffed in "sports illustrated" magazine, fake visa applications. all of this was used to conceal from taxation money from u.s. clients. now, the credit suisse people defended themselves, said they shut down that line of business. we had get to the part this afternoon where the senators are grilling the department of justice which they say has dragged their feet on enforcement and

. >>> let's go to the hill and john harwood is at the white house. we have been hearing the president in that news conference very far-ranging in terms of topic. >> reporter: yes, the president spent a lot of time talking about syria so there was enormous frustration at the stalemate there, the implosion and collapse of syria, but he reiterated that he has to be judicious about the use of military force. didn't hold out much hope on that front. in terms of domestic u.s. politics and the things, the hot buttons we have been watching, no question on the debt limit. remember, it's a short press conference, just two american reporters have been called on and i think we are about to wrap up. on health care, he did get a question about yesterday's delay of the employer mandate for those between 50 and 100 workers. he said this is an accommodation we made. we don't want to punish firms just like we don't want to punish individuals. we have had transitions for individuals as well. he was not asked about the cbo report and its effect on labor supply and jobs

john harwood stepping in with that story. john, what's going on?bill, secretary of state john kerry is just now doing a briefing with reporters, and we've seen one story come out of that which is that the united states is considering now that president yanukovych has left kiev, we're awaiting the formation of a new government. it's going to be more pro-western than president yanukovych's, secretary of satae kerry says the u.s. is considering a $1 billion loan guarantee to ukraine. no final decision made. the u.s. is considering that. but one sign that the united states is going to try to help fill that power vacuum in a constructive way that will benefit the west as well. bill? >> but, john, it's a billion dollars. a billion dollars will do nothing in this situation. >> well, i think it will do more than zero dollars would. i don't know how much a billion dollars can do. >> thank you, john harwood. >> good faith deposit or something. i don't know. okay. here we are heading towards the close. 30 minutes left in the trading session. the dow is up 19,

john harwood, we have the vote now, yes?bill, the united states senate is now passing the debt limit increase that the house passed yesterday. we've gone over 53 votes, don't have a final tally yet. there was some drama on the vote to end the filibuster because this is one of those deals where nobody really wants to vote yes but they all want it to pass. they had to figure out who was going to do it. the senate republicans ended up having kind of a buddy system and instead of just having the votes needed to get a filibuster, they had twice that many. so you had 12 republicans voting, including mitch mcconnell, who has a big primary fight. it was a bold move by mcconnell but that's part of the responsibility of leadership. now they're on final passage and it appears it will pass with all democratic votes to give the debt limit increase that treasury said we need in a couple weeks. this is what markets were expecting, what markets wanted to have happen, so it's now a fact. >> john harwood, any sense of the reaction yet from te

from your lips, john harwood. he joins us with a look into the future. find another way to get our pound of flesh, right? >> they will, bill. the u.s. first adopted the income tax 100 years ago. may not last another 100, at least in anything like its current form. a surtax on income may remain, one capitol hill veteran predicts. but over time, washington will be taxed toward taxing consumption. >> i think we'll be able to have a much more common sense consumption based tax where if you save your money and you invest your money, you'll be taxed on much less of it than if you go out and buy, you know, the latest car or the latest whatever. >> the growth of domestic energy sources like natural gas, which is keeping prices down, will make that shift easier to accomplish. so will some increase in the tax burden on american corporations, which helped turn tax reform into a reality under ronald reagan. the more pressure international competition places on american living standards, the more incentive politicians will have to overcome washington's current gridlo

john harwood has that in washington. john? >> hey, carl.both sides of the obamacare debate. for the critics of obamacare, what they project, congressional budget office, is that in 2017 there will be 2 million fewer workers than there would otherwise have been. they say that decline in labor supply will slow economic growth. they didn't break out exactly how much it will slow economic growth. for the supporters of obamacare, they will point out that the decline in work, the 2 million fewer workers i just mentioned, is almost entirely because workers will choose to work less, not because employers will hire less. why will they choose to work less that's because the subsidies under obamacare phase out as you make more money so it reduces your incentive to keep working if you're going to lose your subsidies. on the other hand, premiums came in, have come in 15% lower than cbo previously estimated. they also find no compelling evidence that the obamacare law has increased part-time work. so it's going to reduce the debate on both sides and cont

john harwood has the latest on that part of the story. john?ll, president obama is in mexico meeting with his mexican and canadian counterparts to talk about trade, but he couldn't get away from the images of that spreading violence in ukraine, so he came out just a while ago and made a statement trying to warn authorities in the ukraine from persistent crackdown on these protests. >> we'll be monitoring very carefully the situation, recognizing that along with our european partners and the international community, there will be consequences if people step over the line. that includes making sure that the ukrainian military does not step in to what should be a set of issues that can be resolved by civilians. >> but, of course, words are about all the united states can offer right now. there's no ep tigappetite for p boots on the ground. we have no idea how effective sanctions will be in a set of circumstances like this and vladimir putin and the russian authorities are working hand in hand with the ukrainian authorities to support them. we'll h

let's go to john harwood. >> reporter: good evening the answer to your question is no, but it is troublesome for chris christie. what we saw this evening is that david wildstein his former classmate who oversaw the lane closures at the george washington bridge he's been seeking reimbursement for lawyer spends and he countered by putting out a statement from his lawyer saying he has evidence contradicting christie's statement when is he found out about the lane closure. he says he has evidence that governor christie knew about the lane closure while they were going on at a press conference after this was revelation this was political payback. governor christie has put out a statement which we've got on the full screen here saying that david wildstein's statements confirm what the governor has said all along. the reason why this is not depositive, governor christie has been damaged by this and damaged with respect to any potential run for president, perhaps against the two gechts you're following up with. but, wildstein has not indicated the governor knew about the motivation behind these lane

here this morning with a preview and cnbc's own john harwood. it. take a look at what dave camp is putting out in what he calls a discussion draft. it is very similar to the rosten cow ski reagan tax reform of the 1980s. he collapses the current seven rates down to two, ten percent and 25 percent. a surveillance tax on 10 percent on earned income $450,000. at the top that would be effectively a 15% rate down from the current 20%. but there's going to be controversy because we haven't seen the pay fors. one of them that wall street is bracing for, larry, a bank tax similar to president obama's financial responsibility fee. we still have to learn about how they're going to pay for getting these rates down. all the things that could be on the table, marortgage interest, employer's health care expenses, chair itable deductions. mitch mcconnell said we're not doing tax reform this year. having said that, dave camp has been working on this for years. his partner went over to china to be the ambassador and dave camp is laying down his marker in a discu

you heard the news from john harwood right at the top. american president barack obama calling russian president vladimir putin about the deteriorating situation in ukraine. i know there has also been an economic impact. remember, russia is heavily invested financially and politically into ukraine. ukrainian bonds have been hit. the entire region is on edge economically and in fact, while it has not necessarily cast a pall over the olympic games, there certainly has been a discussion about ukraine. in fact, after the meets and after the events are over, when people gather, you do hear people discussing some of the sports but also talking about what is happening in kiev. there is fear, at least some of the folks we have talked to, expressing concern that it could grow and escalate. a lot of people here, a few thousand nbc employees, obviously, need to get home. so there is some personal concern as well about sort of an escalation in the general region. still, though, lot of reason to celebrate here in sochi. the olympic games are nearly ov

the defense secretary continues his remarks in washington, our chief washington correspondent john harwood the d.c. reaction. it seems as though this might be setting us up for an election year fight with congress over the defense priorities. >> reporter: yes. i think it will be a limited fight, though. remember, these cuts reflect the spending levels that both parties agreed to in that recent ryan-murray budget deal that passed the congress, sort of put to rest the fiscal wars. will there be fights over priorities, yes. but will that change the overall amount of money going into the defense? probably not. because then you would have to open up that agreement. it's clear that some changes can be made. we saw that from the recent very rapid repeal of the one military c.o.l.a., retirees under 65 who had retired, were getting pension benefits and they reduced the cost of living increases, and congress immediately after protests from veterans, rescinded that, both parties did. so that suggests that some things may be vulnerable but the overall spending levels for defense are really set by the

john harwood there on the credit suisse investigations. >>> colorado's marijuana business is growing have more on marijuana in america right after this break. i always say be the man with the plan but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while slee

john harwood joining us with the latest details.ny chance of this moving forward and democrats signing on? >> no. and there's not very good chance of republicans sign on either in terms of the entire party. just a little reality check on this. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader, came out from a party before losing that chairmanship. here's what's in that draft. first of all, just like the reagan tax reform in the 1980s, it collapses to two rates and they're lower than reagan's. they're 10 and 25 rather than the 15 and 28 that ronald regan had. there is a 10% surtax on income over $250,000 -- over $450,000, rather, the plan is expected to have the tax rates at 10 or 25 for 99% of taxpayers. 40% of capital gains tax would be excluded from taxation. there's also a bank tax, this gives you one of the reasons why, kelly, this will be controversial among republicans as well. in order to get those rates down to 25%, you've got to do an awful lot in terms of raising revenue elsewhere. so there's going to be a version of the finan

some republican sources in a house republican meeting that's going on right now are telling our john harwoodhe house john boehner has just told his fellow republicans inside that meeting that they're going to bring up a clean debt limit bill tomorrow. there had been some talk about attaching some conditions to a debt limit increase by republicans floating a military retirement provision among other options. that apparently does not have the support that the republicans would like it to have. so now the leadership is telling rank-and-file members of the republican party in the house of representatives they will bring up that clean bill tomorrow for a vote. the speaker's also saying that he's going to rely on republican votes but he's going to need democratic votes to get this passed, so that's an interesting strategic choice here by the speaker of the house but a very closely watched debt limit bill tomorrow. it will be a clean vote. back to you. >> all right. thanks for that. >>> we want to get more on the fed and janet yellen from steve liesman. you've had a chance to pore through the testi

john harwood joins us now.t were you hanging out with the president last night and the president of the france by any chance? did this who will minimum wage thing, is that how we got here? >> no steak dinner for me, pal. i was -- but i was paying attention to the house of representatives, what was raising the debt limits that the markets rb happy about today. >> that's a huge piece. i think we'll be focused more on that ultimately than we will be the minimum wage or is it the other way? >> everybody is making the jokes, too, john, that there was a meeting between the capitalist and a socialist in washington, d.c. and then they always make the capitalist hollande and -- you know, you've heard that one, right? >> you've heard hollande is going to head to silicone valley today. >> is it? >> yeah. but his approval rating makes that -- the president's approval rating is probably double what hollande's is. hollande has a bump with the new girlfriend, right? >> not yet. >> he's got some problems. >> which one? >> well

here with more is our chief washington correspondent who goes by the name of john harwood. you been on sabbatical? >> no love. we haven't seen you in way too long. >> no love from "squawk box." >> i've been covering the nonaction in washington. >> do you follow the duke blue devils around? they're like five or six now. >> it's a young team. we're in the process of learning -- >> we? we? >> we could go deep in the tournament. >> you might. >> we're getting good at the right time. >> i'm told you have a package you need to introduce. i was just trying to rub you all over -- having you here it's nice, because you're a sight for sore eyes. >> i appreciate that. >> it's nice, isn't it? >> that's very kind. we're peering into the future, now that we're into the 25-year anniversary of cnbc we're looking ahead 25 years. the one thing everybody is washington recognizes is that no politician targets voters any better than corporate america targets consumers. >> for the future of american communities look to coca-cola. ♪ to cheerios. >> you know how our family has daddy and mommy. >>