john harwood joining us from washington. there's been complaining about provisions in the massive deal. what are the complaints about? >> reporter: there's several provisions that have become controversial very late in the process, tyler. one of them has to do with green lighting certain cuts to multiemployer pension plans, divided liberal democrats, union. some are for it, some aren't. a finance provision that allows large donors to donate more money to political parties for the purpose of putting on their conventions and finally, a challenge to the dodd frank wall street regulation law and a provision negotiated by democrats and republicans. it's not all or nothing on both sides here but a provision that would allow banks to shield more of their -- some of the allegedly controversial trades, swaps in the insured side of the business by the fdic. all controversial. elizabeth warren on the left come out against the plan. you've got democrats in the house raising objections, not clear how serious those objections will ultimat

she's opposed to this bill. >> our john harwood this afternoon. john, thank you very much. part of the spending bill that john spoke of includes a whittling down of the dodd-frank financial regulations. to get her take on that and other bank news making headlines lately, i'm joined by former fdic chair sheila bair. good to have you back. welcome. i just want to begin with what's included in this spending bill potentially. this provision that would allow for the spinoff, if you will, of the swamps business, part of the dodd-frank financial reform. how significant in your view is it that this could go forward as written? >> well, i don't think it's a huge provision. it's an important provision. directionally it goes the right way in trying to take certain types of high-risk derivatives outside of an insured bank, force it into the broker affiliated. that's important, but it's only about 5% of the business. i guess you can argue it both ways. i guess i'm frustrated that wall street decided to make this big power play of a revision that will maybe help them a little on the marg

john harwood reports from the white house lawn tonight. are negotiations moving closer to a deal? >> reporter: they are, tyler. you can never underestimate the power of washington to mess things up at the end but they're on track to a resolution. house is nearing completion of its bill which essentially funds the entire government through negotiation between democrats and republics through the rest of the fiscal year except for the department of homeland security. that's in protest to the president's immigration action. republicans are willing to fund through february and the house will vote thursday. the question is whether the senate get it done by the weekend. >> will the house pass it, john? >> reporter: i think they will. originally, democrats said they would withhold their vote and require republicans against president obama's action to pass within their own votes. looks like both sides will pass it. there may have to be a temporary extension to the deadline as tyler mentioned for a couple of days because the senate may not act on thursday but perhaps as early as friday, may

john harwood joins us now from washington with more on all the important legislation in this lame duck session of congress that they've got to work on before they take yet another break for christmas. john, what about that big tax deal that was emerging last week that now or then apparently ran off the rails? >> we've learned by now, tyler, that big things are hard to impossible in today's washington so the big deals become small deal. instead of trying both the house ways and means chairman dave campos retiring, harry reid, the senate leader who will become the minority leader not the majority leader in the next congress they tried to broker a large deal, $450 billion over ten years to extend tax breaks like the resurgence development tax breaks that businesses get. they'll extend the so-called extenders that happen every year but only for 2014. that's the year that we're 11 months through already, then we'll go through this again in the next year. >> let's talk about the possibility of a government shutdown before the end of the year. there is a budget deadline, i think, in the secon

joined by sue herrera at the new york stock exchange and john harwood in washington where the president as john just pointed out lingered for almost two hours speaking with, talking to, taking questions from some of america's most prominent ceos. it was, john, a wide ranging two-hour conversation. i listened at the end there to the very pointed question from electric power executive about the level of regulation and answered basically by

chief corespondent for "the new york times," tom gjelten, national security respondant for npr, john harwood, chief washington correspondent for cnbc. and the national political competentant for "the washington post." -- expandant for "the washington post." >>s this "washington week" with gwen ifill. "washington week" is provided by -- >> how much money do you have in your pocket? >> $40. >> $20. >> could something that small make an impact on something big as your retirement? if you start putting money towards your retirement and let it grow over time for 20, 30 years, that retire the challenge might not seem to big after all. >> funding for "washington week" is also provided by -- the annenberg foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: gening. president obama and f.b.i. both pushed back at the north korean government today, elevating what had been a hollywood story of packing a terror threat into an international standoff. the spark improbably was a seth

that was a another detail we learned on the call that was quite significant. >> john harwood, michelle mentions rubio, me nends. >> it is likely to happen to lift the embargo in my view. but this is a case where the democratic party and the president are positions themselves as in tune with the future and putting republicans in position of defending a policy of the fast. interesting that rubio said the geopolitical nature of this is not large. he was down playing the stakes here. but hillary clinton who's been an advocate in lifting the embargo. i think this is a sign of where things are going. and i just got a message from one of the the most astute latino u.s. politics analysts in the country. he made the point, he advised mi hillary clinton in 2008. said this is a great day for u.s. elections broadly. and the number of people who shared that is shrinking by the day as you get passage of generations. and so many people in florida t cuban community and non latinos look at this embargo as archaic and unsuccessful. and one additional note is i got a message from a lobbyist in washington

joined by sue herrera at the new york stock exchange and john harwood in washington where the president as john just pointed out lingered for almost two hours speaking with, talking to, taking questions from some of america's most prominent ceos. it was, john, a wide ranging two-hour conversation. i listened at the end there to the very pointed question from electric power executive about the level of regulation and answered basically by saying i'm sympathetic in principle that the are regulations we need to do away with but on balance the common good has often benefitted from some of the regulations that have made business more expensive to do. he cited the former pollution in the chicago river, his hometown. >> exactly, tyler. the president tried to make the ceos understand the limitations on him as a political figure. at one point i believe it was fred smith of fed ex said why don't you just by the end of the year pass an infrastructure bill to raise the gas tax and provide a solid foundation for infrastructure funding. the president made the argument that it sounds great but very, v

we want to bring in john harwood. michelle caruso cabrera.lle, the easy plays have already been made. carnival, price line, the airlines, looking forward to more travel. what else is being said. >> first i'm not sure those moves might be over done. they haven't lifted had travel restrictions completely. you still have to go through the department that issues the visas. so there may not be a big increase in flights etc. if and when we really do see it. consensus is always it's going to be the cruise lines that are the number one beneficiaries early on because in cuba they don't have enough capacity in hotels and the level of service that if they suddenly got a huge influx of visitors they wouldn't be able to handle it and americans would be disappointed. but on a cruise ship you can pull in, it is easy to construct a port. you can leave the same day and you don't have to put people up for the night. that is the first thing when people talk about the travel industry. we heard from what's also significant is we're hearing from businesses for the

still ahead on "squawk box," three years after the oops moment, john harwood and texas governor rickry got together for some barbecue. is he gearing up for another run for the white house? and did they completely forget the barbecue sauce? that's next right here on squawk. will that be all, sir? thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. >>> welcome back, everybody. we were talking about lululemon. the price target she has is $62. the stock price is just below that. it was under review and she wasn't sure if she could say it or not, so she had to get approval. >>> it's been three years since john harwood and rick perry had an oops moment. they sat down with some texas barbecue to

joining us now is chief washington correspondent john harwood. john, we've got about 48 hours?> this is a christmas miracle. >> is it really going to happen? >> yes. there will not be a government shutdown. i think they were always on track to work this out. there remains a question about whether or not once the house passes this on thursday, which is what i would expect to happen, whether the senate can act immediately by that deadline or whether they have to do a bridge of a temporary funding bill for two or three days while the senate works out its process for the senate to remove that quickly requires unanimous consent. and the idea of getting all senators to agree on something is hard to imagine. although the prospect of getting out of town and going home for the holidays might mike that happen. >> does this say anything larger about the way folks may act in washington over the next year? >> nothing at all. it says that we've had an election, democrats wanted to cement some of their spending priorities and so did republicans for the rest of this year, but it doesn't chart

. >> john harwood in washington, have a good weekend. >> you bet. you too. >>> coming up on the program, it's nice that gas prices are low, but there's a downside to cheap oil. we'll tell you which states are losing out and which ones are benefitting the most from oil. >>> many minimum wage workers get a post-holiday gift in the new year, especially if they live in washington state. according to the seattle times, a cost of living escalator will push the minimum pay to $9.47 an hour come january 1st. that will be the highest in the nation and in neighboring oregon, the minimum wage bumps up to $9.25, the second highest in the country. 18 other states are hiking their minimum wages as well. full-time washington state workers will make a total of $312 more annually without overtime. >>> lower gasoline prices are great for consumers, but hard on the oil and oil services companies and not at all good for many states where budgets depend on high gas taxes. scott cohn joins us now from california. scott, over to you. >> reporter: hi, susie. first, the win

john harwood thanks very much.to monitor the health of the economy, speaking specifically retail and online shopping. let's bring back jay with the new data on online shopping. i asked you how this year stacks up to last year? >> throughout the year ibm works with over 8,000 brands as part of our smarter commerce business. this time of year we narrow that down to 800 u.s. retailers to bring some of these statistics. i think the good news is holiday shopping is up across each of the key shopping dates. as well as all the days in between. >> what we are seeing is consumers are turning online and really driving a lot of strong growth in online shopping this year. >> i know you're looking specifically at mobile. who is buying more, who spends more, tablets or their smart phones? >> we've seen tremendous growth over the last few years for mobile shopping. on thanksgiving day, more than 50% all online traffic came from mobile devices. more than 1/3 online purchases came from mobile devices. the new thanksgiving tradition

john harwood was monitoring things and joins us now with the details. kelly. the president spent a lot of time with the business roundtable executives and topic they're especially interested in, corporate tax reform. the president repeated what he's been saying for a couple of years now which is that he's interested in doing it but only if it doesn't cost the government money. >> what we're not willing to do is to -- to structure a tax deal in which either it blows up the deficit or alternatively that you get tax shifting from businesses to middle class and working families. >> reporter: now, of course, that makes it controversial within the business community because some executives would benefit of lower ratds and others to cost them through the loss of deductions. >> in the short term, there are going to be some winners and losers including in this room. the question then becomes, are folks willing and ready to go ahead and make that move for the sake of a simpler, more streamlined, more sensible tax system? >> reporter: and of course, this's aside f

john harwood has details as he follows the story. john. >> the white house said that it stands fully behind the right of free expression by artists like seth rogan and james franco, who starred in that movie "the interview" but it was more than just standing by because as you mentioned, josh earnest confirmed today that the white house staff had actually screened the video, which now will not be released. >> administration officials were consulted about the film prior to its release at the request of officials from the company that was producing the movie. not been in a position of dictating an outcome or dictating changes to a film. we did so at the request of the company. >> now, one thing the administration is in the position to dictate is how it responds to this provocation from the north core yean. josh earnest says the white house regards this as a serious national security matter and the administration was considering a range of option, didn't announce any steps to be taken today yet. >> all right, our john harwood in washingto

i'm john harwood in washington.bama at the white house a few moments ago in a meeting with aides on response to the ebola crisis in west africa. spoke about the budget bill that passed the house last night but divided fellow democrats on capitol hill. the president justified the compromise saying it includes many priorities he shares. some provisions he doesn't like but that's what americans voted for with divided government. herein the president. >> this, by definition, was a compromise bill. this is what's produced when you have the divided government that the american people voted for. there are a bunch of provisions in this bill that i really do not like. on the other hand, there are provisions in this bill and the basic funding within this bill that allows us to make sure that we continue on the progress in providing health insurance to all americans, to make sure that we continue with our efforts to combat private change, that you're able to expand childhood education, making a meaningful difference in communi

john harwood is live in washington with some of the details on that for us. >> the president reversing a policy that was set in place 50 years ago during the time of john f. kennedy. this is another indication that this president meant it when he said he was going to make big changes in office. this is something he can do with the stroke of his pen. here is the president. >> though the policy has been rooted in the best of intentions no other nation joins us in imposing these sanctions and it has had little effect beyond providing the cuban government with rationale on restrictions. today cuba is still governed by the castros. neither the american nor cuban people are well served by a ridged policy rooted in events that took place before most of us were born. >> reporter: now, the president cannot with this action lift the embargo. that is embodied in a statute. white house officials are realistic about the unlikelihood that would happen anytime soon during his presidency. the president began long term effort with statement of outreach with those opposed to the plan. >> to those who op

john harwood joins us from washington, d.c. >> tyler was talking about whip lash tuesday. the obama administration is confident it has played a part in some of the whiplash for vladimir putin. the head of council for economic advisers came into the white house briefing room and said vladimir putin was in a very difficult economic position. >> if i was chairman of president putin's economic advisers i would be concerned. they are between a rock and a hard place in economic policy, the combination of our sanctions, the uncertainty they have created for themselves with their international actions and the falling price of oil has put their economy on the brink of crisis. >> later in that same briefing josh earnest, white house press secretary said president obama will sign new sanctions legislation passed by congress not because he intends to implement the sanctions. the reason the white house wants flexibility, guys, is because it hasn't yet achieved its goal in the sanctions which is to roll back the russian invasion of ukraine. >>> thank you very much. a little bit of histo

john harwood, this is an amazing story on so many levels. not just for what politicians or what hollywood is saying, but this is really a cyber terrorism attack on the united states we lost. >> the idea that a movie of that kind could all of a sudden become a significant u.s. foreign policy issue is mind benning, but it has. it is an attack on a major american company that requires a u.s. response of some kind. and we're going to see once the american government officially announces its belief that north korea is behind the attack what that response is going to be. is it going to be some sort of sanction? we have a sanction regime in place against the north koreans. hasn't been very successful in deterring the nuclear program. but there will be a response. we just don't know whether it's something that we're going to be able to see, whether they're going to talk about it or whether it will be something pro-vert, but the it's government has to do something. >> we know they probably got help from outside places. is someone willing to say where

we have john harwood to talk about it next. don't miss "squawk box" tomorrow we will be there in d.c. with a huge lineup of ceos from the business round table. among the highlights, exxon mobil, caterpillar, blackstone, blackrock and honey well. it all starts at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. >>> you're looking at the tree which will be lighted tomorrow. check that out then. welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. steve carson joins us from the weather channel. he has today's national forecast. i'm wondering what we should expect tomorrow when we do have that tree lighting. >> you know what? i think we're in good shape. by the way, i didn't realize we were on yet. i thought i was listening to the music in my break for entertainment. >> dancing to yourself, right? >> it was very cheery. today, a little messy in the northeast and the mid-atlantic. here is a live look at the radar. showing a little bit of snow. most of the snow is staying to the west of 95. so it's a cold rain in d.c. philadelphia, sitting at 39. doesn't look like a big

john harwood at the white house with the latest. hi, john. >> reporter: hi, kelly. the decision to reverse the 50-year policy criticized by republicans and the democrats who said that the president did not secure democratic reforms in return for lifting the isolation imposed in 1961. but the president said at some point you simply have to change when a policy doesn't work. here's president obama. >> this is still a regime that represses its people. and as i said, when i made the announcement, i don't anticipate overnight changes. but what i know deep in my bones is that if you've done the same thing for 50 years and nothing's changed you should try something different if you want a different outcome. >> reporter: the president said there's speculation about whether or not he himself would visit cuba in the wake of this change. and he indicated that was not likely. he said there's no target for a presidential visit before he leaves office. although he noted that i'm a young man and some point before it's all said and done i would expect to visit there but not probabl

john harwood will join us from washington later this hour. overnight in asia, chinese stocks rallying to recoup nearly half of yesterday's losses. this despite worse than expected inflation numbers that added to worries about a cooling economy there. so we will take it. however, stocks dropping sharply in tokyo. main reason? a government survey that showed big japanese manufacturers are becoming less optimistic and predict conditions worsening in the coming months. >>>pe

john harwood is at the white house with details. maybe more surprising than the news the news that it wasn't leaked first. >> reporter: exactly, kelly. you know, he may be a lame duck president, the party may have just been walloped in the 2014 midterm elections but president obama today was able to announce three things. the release of a u.s. contractor alan gross held for five years in cuba. a swap of spies who were imprisoned in both the u.s. and in cuba. and his decision to fully normalize diplomatic relations overturning a 50-year policy that began with president john f. kennedy. >> though this policy has been rooted in the best of intentions, no other nation joins us in imposing these sanctions and it's had little effect. beyond providing the cuban government with a rational for restrictions on its people. today, cuba is still governed by the castros and the communist party that came to power half a century ago. neither the american nor cuban people are well served by 0 rigid policy rooted in events that took place before most

texas governor telling cnbc john harwood he is the guy that asked that debate question that caused perryo arrogant as a candidate back in 2012. add all of this up and it's clorely time to introduce rick perry as the newest member of the field. that is our recurring look at the growing list of would-be contenders for the white house. will the changes that rick perry now making help see him in a new light. since the governor isn't mentioned until nearly the end of the article in "the times" about who the establishment really wants to run, what would republican donors have to do to convince perry to stay out? here to talk about that is casey hunt, msnbc political correspondent who spent time inert viewing rick perry. before i go to you, i want to play a clip from your interview with rick perry. a lot of interesting stuff and one of the questions you asked him, basically, when people ask you about this, what do you tell them, rick perry, about why you're ready for 2016. >> how are you going to convince people that you are are ready to do this in 2016? >> well, i think the last two years have