thprident also renominated forr a higher prosecutor richard cordray as the president of the consumeral protection bureau. what is the message for wall street? >> it sends a message consistent withth the president has said, this is who i am, the the the ople that will best carry out the p policies in my judgment that i think are necessary to clean of this country and make sure we do not go tough it ain. challenging the senate to act and confirm richard cordray and mary jo white to dits constitutional duty. >> good choices, bad choioices colby, based on your banking experience? >> based on experience of my frie who was a former federal prosecutor in new york and those mary jo white, an excellent choice. she will faithfully enforced the law, you can bet on that. >> this is a woman thatt is it does n not slip, as far as i can tell. maybe threree hours a night. she ran this humonus prosecutor's office, a widely respected under both publican and democrats -- u.s. attorney forhe southern district of new york.. what we do not know about her is what kind of a regulator she is. wewe know she i

this isn't about richard cordray.self and how it was structured and a constitutional prerogative of the senate to advise consent over property nominated candidates. i believe there is ground to move forward. the two major concerns the republicans have and as you may recall there were 44, 45 of us who signed a letter to this affect the last congress and i expected to be that strong in this congress. are concerned by the agency has given all of its power to one individual, the director, no board, no commission, that needs to be corrected. secondly there is no congressional oversight wants the director is put into place over the budget and in fact there is not even any kind of requirement that the financing for that agency come from inside private sector funding or from the government. the requirement is simply the director has the ability to tap into the fed and take the necessary resources that he or she wants. if we can correct those two things and i think they should be correctable might see more willingness on the p

president obama also nominated richard cordray to the head of the consumer protection financial bureau. >> this is a message consistent with what the president has said, this is who i am, these are the people who will best carry out policies in my judgment that i think is necessary to clean up this country and make sure that we do not go through it again. challenging the senate to act and accept or confirm richard cordray and mary jo white to do its constitutional duty. >> good choices, bad choices, colby, a senior banking experience? >> based on my experience as a friend who was a former prosecutor in new york and knows mary jo white, an excellent choice. she will faithfully fulfilled a lot. >> as far as i can tell, this woman may be sleeps 3 hours a night. she ran this huge prosecutor's office, why the respected, under both republican and democrats -- u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. what we do not know about her is what kind of a regulator she is. we know she is a very tough and very sensible prosecutor. what we do not know is what kind of a regulator she is, and

the president also renominated prosecutor richard cordray as the head of the consumer protection financial bureau. what is the message for wall street? >> it is a message that is consistent with what the president has said. this is who i am, these are the people who will best carry out the policies, in my judgment, that i think are necessary to clean up this country and make sure that we do not go through it again, challenging the senate to act and confirm richard cordray and mary jo white to do its constitutional duty. >> good choices, bad choices, colby, based under banking spirits? >> based on experience of my friend who is a former federal prosecutor in new york and knows very jo white, an excellent choice. she will faithfully enforced the law, you can bet on that. >> this is a woman who basically does not sleep, as far as i can tell. maybe three hours a night. she ran this humongous prosecutor's office, a well- respected by both republicans and democrats. the u.s. attorney southern district of new york. but we do not know about her is what kind of a regulator she is. we know she is a

. >> richard cordray installed by the recess appointment on january 4, 2012.servatives say all of the work is null and void, the white house insists no precedent was set today. >> it has no bearing on richard cordray. as i said, we disagree with it. >> the republicans think the ramifications are massive in terms of the business world. they have expanded powers for unions to get information from employers and forcing them to take the union dues out of paycheck. february the collective bargaining agreement expired. the white house pushes back saying that president bush used the power more. the senate cannot stop the po power using session. >> push from immigration on both sides of the aisle. >> mike emanuel reporting that bipartisan group of senators, marco rubio leading an effort in the senate where they are coming around a bipartisan plan. we might see it come to fruition next week. it's important, the president we're told had a meeting today with hispanic caucus. tuesday he is going las vegas. big hispanic population there to give a speech laying out his prin

reporter: hi, jamie, the same day in 2012, president obama use add reset appointment to reinstall richard cordray for the consumer financial protection bureau and used recess appointments for three spots on the national labor relations board and yesterday, the court ruled that the nlrb appointments were unconstitutional and said nothing about cordray and since his appointment runs out the end of this year, president obama renominated him this week. >> he's helped protect americans from predatory lenders, launched a campaign to help families make smart decisions about college and cracked down on credit card companies that charged hidden fees. >> the last year, 45 republicans said in a letter, they would never vote for anyone to head that bureau and republican senator mike crapo says until key structural changes are made to the bureau to ensure accountability and transparency, i will continue my objepposition to any nominee for director. not all of his nominees are encountering such opposition, senator john kerry received bipartisan support at his confirmation hearing on thursday. >> the airplane,

similar theme for richard cordray.ng and listening to the president, got an e-mail from the chairman of the house financial services committee. he talked about resuming the debate over the consumer protection agency and wanted to engage in debate with mary jo white about job measures passed bit congress but did not criticize either of the nominees. i think that is positive. >> scott, give us more of an illustration or a picture of exactly who this woman is and what her background is, as well. >> right. the emphasis and emphasis in the president's remarks is that this is a tough cop on the beat. former prosecutor. but remember she has been out of that for more than ten years. now the top litigator where she has represented big figures on wall street. ken lewis of bank of america. john mac at morgan stanley. she has seen both sides. as i have talked to people in the legal and regulatory communities, the word that comes up the most is that she is fair. ben law ski is new york's superintendent of financial institutions. sh

also today the president renominating richard cordray.hard cordray to be the head of the consumer financial protection bureau. he is a former federal prosecutor as well, former attorney general of ohio and for the last year he has been running the cfpb in a recess appointment, a controversial one. the president tried to get him through the senate. nominated him in 2011. senate republicans blocked his nomination because they want changes in the structure of the cfpb but the president going forward again. republicans initial response is, we still don't want him. so look for a fight on that one. david and sandra. sandra: peter is it looking more and more like richard cordray will make it through this time and they will try to reorganize the bureau itself or the idea of it? >> yeah. that's what republicans want. they want to try to use the nomination to force the president to the table to restructure. they want it to look like more like the sec right now it is just a director. they want a five-member sec. so if they can cut a deal on that, co

. >> richard cordray was also installed by recess appointment and january 4th, 2012. why conservatives a all of his work at the head of the consumer venture protection bureau is now null and void, the white house insists no precedent was set to take. >> it has no bearing on richard cordray, and we, as i said, strongly disagree. >> republicans also think is ruling is huge because of the fact that the nlrb has now issued over 200 decisions since january of 2012 when these recess appointments happened, including expanded powers for unions to get information from corporations and also a new rule that forces corporations to take out union dues from paychecks, even if a collective bargaining agreement has expired. the bottom line is, all of these issues now are up for review. lou: up for review, and if the supreme court does not take up this case, there will be afforded, will they not? >> there are some legal analysts who are saying that. charlie the white house believes that they are on firm legal ground. that has been questioned, no doubt, but this appeals court, but the

. >> i am not nating mary jo white to lead the security and exchange commission and richard cordray to continue leading the financial bureau. >> a fly landed right on the commander-in-chief's forehead. the president famously killed a fly during an interview with john harwood back in 2009. oh, it looks big when it's a still shot. and that was tat the white hous, too. second day of stingle digit rivers causing rivers to freeze in the boston area. check out the river in lawrence. despite the sunshine, it's completely frozen over with ice and snow. the low temperature today in the area, 1 degrees. the arctic blast made it feel like 5 below at times. so we do know it could be worse. >> pretty dramatic. turning now to our weather, more snow is our way. veronica johnson breaks it down to tell us when it's going to arrive. >> not so much the size of the system that will be problematic, but the time the snows into the area. so starting about 2:00 p.m. tomorrow we're going to see the snow develop to the west. it will stay with us through the afternoon and into the evening and wrapping up around

next is the bureau's director richard cordray.ichard cordray became the cfpb is first director a little over a year ago on january 4, 2012. director cordray. [applause] >> thank you. and let me say thank you to everyone, including our elected leaders, mayor rawlings blake, senator cardin, representative cummings. such a strong supporter of the consumer bureau and its work. i also wanted to acknowledge public officials, leading public officials who sent staff to represent in here today, key staff and report back. senator mikulski, represented with this burger and others, thank you so much for your interest in our work. we appreciate that you take a response was to fulfill the will of congress very seriously, as with the mortgage rules we are announcing today. so thank you for joining us today as we announced our ability to repay rule, a rule designed to ensure that lenders are offering mortgages that consumers can actually afford to pay back. this is a simple, obvious principle that needs to be reestablished in the american housing

can have confidence they go to the closing table, they're not being set up to fail. >> warner: richard cordrayad of the consumer financial protection bureau, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: we turn now to venezuela, where president hugo chavez was supposed to be inaugurated for a new term today but was instead out of the country. ray suarez has more on the reason for and controversy surrounding his absence and the future of his political movement. >> reporter: thousands of supporters descended on the presidential palace in the venezuelan capital, caracas, today, chanting and waving flags in a show of support for their ailing, absent president. venezuela is a country of 29 million people, an oil exporter subsidizing energy-hungry poor countries, like cuba and haiti. and it sends 800,000 barrels of oil a day to the u.s.-- its number one customer. president hugo chavez has led the nation for 14 years. his third term expires today. he won re-election in october and was supposed to be sworn in again today for another six years, as the constitution requires. but chavez suffers from aggressiv

can have confidence they go to the closing table they're not being set up to fail. >> warner: richard cordrayof the consumer financial protection bureau thank you. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: we turn now to venezuela, where president hugo chavez was supposed to be inaugurated for a new term today but was instead out of the country. ray suarez has more on the reason for and controversy surrounding his absence and the future of his political movement. >> reporter: thousands of supporters descended on the presidential palace in the venezuelan capital, caracas today, chanting and waving flags in a show of support for their ailing, absent president. venezuela is a country of 29 million people an oil exporter subsidizing energy-hungry poor countries, like cuba and haiti. and it sends 800,000 barrels of oil a day to the u.s.-- its number one customer. president hugo chavez has led the nation for 14 years. his third term expires today. he won re-election in october and was supposed to be sworn in again today for another six years, as the constitution requires. but chavez suffers from aggressive, reo

low-rate mortgages th lloon payments later, interest-only mortgages and fees of more than 3% richard cordraythe director of the agency and he joins me now. mr. cordray, welcome. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> now banks and mortgage lenders have already very much tightened their lending standards. why are such specific regulations needed now? >> if you go back and remember ho wecame upon the financial crisis, it happened because of tremendous amounts of reckless lending in the mortgage market. you had many loans where are consumers were set up to fail. there was not careful attention to whether a borrower could repay a loan. that got us into trouble, it sank the economy and we want to make sure that does not happen again. >> warner: to what degree do you think these specific criteria you all have set up will get up to the heart of what led to the bubble and the bust? in other words how many of the sort of abuses do you think you're covering here? >> so we're taking on some of the very specific problems we know helped create the financial crisis. first of all no dock loans, where

three spots on the national labor relations board and richard cordray to run the new consumer financial protection bureau. but today a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in washington said that power can only be used between the end of one session of congress and the beginning of another, not during any congressional break. and the court said it can be used only to fill spots that become vacant during those recesses. presidents of both parties have made more than 300 recess appointments. thurgood marshall, earl warren and william brennan got on the supreme court that way before being confirmed. it's how john bolten was made u.n. ambassador. and larry eagleburger, secretary of state. so the obama administration seems certain to appeal this to the supreme court, brian. >> huge decision today. pete williams from our d.c. newsroom tonight. pete, thanks. >>> president filled a big job today that does not require congressional approval. he named a veteran of his own staff, his new chief of staff in the white house. denis mcdonough comes from the foreign policy shop. he has been de

the president also wants richard cordray to continue his role in leading up the consumer financial protection bureau. legislation that would dramatically change america's gun laws is now on the table. lawmakers have unveiled the assault weapons ban of 2013, a bill that would prohibit assault weapons and high- capacity ammunition magazines. if passed, the bill would also require background checks for the purchase of firearms. 150 semiautomatic rifles and pistols would fall under the umbrella of banned firearms. 2,250 firearms would remain legal. the deep depression in spain is driving unemployment to a record high. the unemployment rate reached 26.02% in the 4th quarter, with 5.9 million people out of work. that tops the great american depression of the 1930's, when unemployment peaked at 25%. closer to home, an index for manufacturing activity in the u.s. is showing encouraging signs this month. in our cover story, the preliminary flash purchasing managers index for manufacturing shows new orders at hundreds of companies across the u.s. at their highest level in more than 2.5 years. keith mcc

senate republicans blocked a vote on richard cordray's nomination to be the first head of the consumer financial protection bureau. the president appointed him anyway, but that term ends this year and obama wants the senate to act this time. >> financial institutions have plenty of lobbyists looking out for their interests. the american people need richard to keep standing up for them. >> reporter: over the last year, cordray has put to rest many fears the c.f.p.b. would overreach. >> we approach this work with open minds, open ears and great determination. >> reporter: but republicans seem equally determined to block cordray. they want to change the c.f.p.b., replacing a single director with a board of commissioners. darren gersh, "n.b.r.," washington. >> susie: what really happened in the financial crisis, and what work still needs to be done, is the focus of a new book. "after the music stopped" is written by alan blinder, former vice chairman of the federal reserve, and now professor of economics at princeton. when i sat down with him today, i asked him if the financial system is s

senate republicans blocked a vote on richard cordray's nomination to be the first head of the consumer financial protection bureau. the president appointed him anyway, but that term ends this year and obama wants the senate to act this time. >> financial institutions have plenty of lobbyists looking out for their interests. the american people need richard to keep standing up for them. >> reporter: over the last year, cordray has put to rest many fears the c.f.p.b. would overreach. >> we approach this work with open minds, open ears and great determination. >> reporter: but republicans seem equally determined to block cordray. they want to change the c.f.p.b., replacing a single director with a board of commissioners. darren gersh, "n.b.r.," washington. >> susie: what really happened in the financial crisis, and what work still needs to be done, is the focus of a new book. "after the music stopped" is written by alan blinder, former vice chairman of the federal reserve, and now professor of economics at princeton. when i sat down with him today, i asked him if the financial system is s

that's why today i am nominating mary jo white to lead the security and exchange commission, and richard cordraycontinue leading the consumer financial protection bureau. this guy is bothering me here. >> the incident left us with this unfortunate still photo of the president. and while we presume secret service wrestled the offender to the ground, the president has a history with flies, famously dispatching one during an interview with our own john harwood. >>> the roar that could be heard for miles today around huntsville, alabama was the test-firing of a vintage rocket engine that was first built to take the apollo 11 mission to the moon. nasa's firing off old ones to learn lessons for the next generation of engines. one of the engineers on the project today, 27 years old, 13 years younger than the rocket they test-fired. >>> and attention all late-night tv and infomercial aficionados. tonight's "rock center" broadcast will feature a profile of the man who became the best-known pitch man of the tv era. maybe the best salesman of all-time. tonight we go inside the world and beverly hills home

president obama also announced the renomination of consumer financial protection bureau director richard cordray. >> richards appointment runs out at the end of the year and cannot stay on the job unless the senate finally gives them the vote he deserves. financial institutions have plenty of lobbyists looking out for their interests. the american people need richard keep standing up for them. there is no excuse for the senate to wait any longer to confirm. >> president obama gave cordray a recess appointment last year and a fine to republicans refused to confirm him after failing to stop the consumer protection bureau's creation in 2010. the pentagon official has removed the longstanding military ban on women in combat. defense secretary panetta formally announce the move in washington. >> it is clear to all of us that women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the military's mission of defending the nation. women represent 50% of the force, over 200,000. they are serving in a growing number of critical roles on and off the battlefield. the fact is, they have become integral part of our ab

and richard cordray for the consumer financial protection bureau... a job he currently holds.orked as a top federal prosecutor in new york in high profile cases... like the successful prosecution of reputed mafia godfather john gotti. the president wants cordray to continue serving in the same capacity. republicans called for senate democrats to draft and pass a budget. >> the last time they passed a budget the ipad did not exist... >> the government has operated on a series of temporary resolutions authorizing spending. the current one expires in march >> the civil insurrection in syria is sending thousands of people across the border to jordan as refugees. more than six-thousand syrians have fled to jordan over the past two days -- and jordan's monarch is pleading for more international aid. meantime -- the syrian government is urging refugees to return to their homes. but that is being met with broad skepticism among anti- government activists. more than 30-thousand syrians reached the jordan refugee camp this month -- mostly families led by women. >> flames shot up in the

he we nominated richard cordray -- re-nomicnated richard cordra. >> good afternoon, everybody. over the last four years, i've talked about how shared prosperity from wall street to main street depends on regulation to protect americans from the irresponsible actions of a few. that is why we have passed tougher reforms to protect our financial system from the abuse that nearly brought the economy to its knees. today there are rules to help responsible families buy a home or send their child to college without worrying about being tricked out of their life savings. there are rules to make sure that financial firms that do the right thing are not undermined by those that don't do the right thing. and there are rules to end taxpayer-funded wall street bailouts once and for all. but it is not enough to change the law. we need cops on the beat to enforce the law. that is why today i am nominating mary jo white to lead the securities and exchange commission and renominating richard cordray for the consumer financial protection bureau could this guy is bothering me here. as a young gir

he will renominate richard cordray to lead the consumer financial protection bureau. he came into that position through a recess employment last year. the president will also named mary jo white, attorney from new york 1993 to 2002, to head the securities and exchange commission. we will take you there live when it does start, which should be about 20 minutes or so, 2:30 eastern. at this hour, a news conference at the pentagon is looking at the issue -- talking about the issue of women serving on the frontline in combat roles. they are announcing the lifting of that ban and a way forward. a little bit of what they had to say within the hour at the pentagon. [video clip] >> one of my priorities as secretary of defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform. our nation was billed on the premise of the citizen soldier. our democracy, i believe it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the nation, and every citizen who can meet the qualifications of service could have that op

president focused on his nominations of mary joe white to the securities & exchange commission and richard cordrays the continuing leader of the consumer financial protection bureau. the president said both are former prosecutors who will help protection american consumers and enforce the law. >>> iowa senate tom harkin announced he will not seek a sixth term. the democratic is 73-yards and said his age did play a role in his decision. president obama released a statement thank youing harkin for his service. >> today former republican vice-presidential candidate paul ryan called on members of his party to stick together and pick its fights carefully. the congressman perfect wisconsin says republicans should be prepared for president obama to try to delegitimize them during his second term. ryan said it's important that the g.o.p. does not allow itself to be vilified, but rather provide better ideas than democrats. >> we'll need to use every tool at our disposal. sometimes we will have to reject the president's proposals. that time might come more than once. and sometimes we'll have to make them be

richard cordray was not part of the case, but he was appointed director of the consumer protection bureaue day that these other two were. what could that mean for him? >> so it looked very much like congress is on this 20-day christmas holiday recess and they would have these very quick sessions. on january 4, 2011 the appointment made three recess appointments to the nrb and appointed mr. cordray. now it looks like he may not an legitimate appointment to head the finance board bureau. so there is a separate case challenging his appointment. meanwhile president obama last thursday renominated and said senate, we want you to stop dragging your feet, and american homeowners need a working functioning bureau to protect them. >> jennifer: into the meantime, whatever the decisions were, and whatever decisions the nlrb has made in this interim period, what does this mean for those decisions? could it be abrogated as a result of not having people appointed that were not official. >> they could be totally nullified. over the past year the nlrb has issued 300 decisions and i suspect the losers of

richard cordray as head of the consumer protection financial bureau in jeopardy.nd seeing this during the flight. that's the engine and caught on fire after lightning struck the plane in turkey, as you can see the lights inside the plane were flickering on and off during the incident and caught on cell phone video and passengers you can imagine were scared, but the plane landed safely. no one was hurt. so we told you about that south carolina high school teacher that threw an american flag on the ground and stomped it during class to demonstrate freedom, he said. scott compton was fired and asking for his job back. and here is what some of had to say, annette from connecticut, maybe the english teacher should teach the students about the men and women who gave their lives so we may have the freedom. he was actually trying to teach that. terry from amarillo, texas wrote this teacher should never have been fired in the first place. i will stand my right and his to free speech to the death. and marcus from kentucky, the teacher is a fool. there are several other ways

. >> the other nomination today was a re-nomination, richard cordray to run the consumer protection bureauthe consumer watchdog that came out of the dodd-frank financial reform legislation. as you recall, the president tried to get cordray confirmed by the senate in 20 # 11, but the nomination was blocked by republicans who opposed the structure of the cfpb. the president reappointedded him last january and trying to now make that a permanent assignment for him. we'll see if he gets it through this time. republicans appear to have the same issue with the structure. we'll see how it plays out. cheryl? cheryl: plan to report on that. peter, thank you. >> you bet. cheryl: closing bell will ring, 52 minutes to go. southwest airlines, quarterly earnings topping analysts' estimates. bookings not too shabby with a 52-week high. the business traveler coming back? a conversation with gary kelly is next. plus, liz claman on the scene in switzerland, liz? >> it's in full swing, and we are too on fox business. coming up on this hour of "countdown to the closing bell" heavy hitters from coca-cola ceo t