tonight, we get the views of republican richard shelby of alabama, the ranking member on the banking committee, and he joins us from capitol hill. senator shelby, thank you for being with us. you have said that you and senator dodd are concept ally in agreement on i think 85 to 90% of the bill? do you think you'll eventually be able to sign on completely. >> i hope we will, judy. of course, when i say we're concept ally 85-90%, that doesn't mean that we've agreed on every word or every phrase. it has to be worked out. but we continue to talk. i think from too big to fail to derivatives, even a consumer finance products agency , i don't believe we're that far apart. we've got to tweak a few things. we can do this. i believe if the democrats and senator dodd really want a bill, we will more than meet them halfway. >> woodruff: what are the main things that are keeping you from agreement right now? >> well, a lot of things are just basically ... have not been worked out like we're still negotiating the language of derivatives. we're still looking at some of the language that's been propo

richard shelby says the air force competition is a sham. so in protest he did something drastic. he blocked most of president obama's nominees to an array of federal agencies that have nothing to do with his issue. blanket hold. nearly 50 nominees. >> 40 something. that's right. >> reporter: that's pretty extreme. why did you do that? >> i did it to get the attention of the administration. >> reporter: and did he ever. he made headlines and became a symbol of gridlock. but in his first tv interview on the subject he makes no apologies. what it sounds like you were trying to do, very upfront about it, is put money, put jobs back in your state of alabama. >> well, ultimately i'm a senator from alabama, but i wanted to make sure there was fairness. if there's fairness the jobs will go there. >> reporter: shelby eventually lifted hold on all but three nominees for senior air force positions. pentagon spokesman geoff morrell tells cnn, without the highly qualified professionals we're not firing on all sill zers. they're leveraged? >> that's part of the life up here. >> reporter: it is

i had positive initiative conversations with richard shelby over the last 24, 48 hours. bob corker has been willing to work on these matters and others. i know the republicans i serve in the senate that frankly don't want a just say no policy when it comes to major initiatives and they would like to be part of this debate and offer constructive ideas to this proposal. i am much more optimistic. health care, frankly, the outcome has strengthened our hand in reaching out to people who would like to be part of a solution. >> are there republicans outside of your committee? >> i haven't done that yet. sticking with the last two days with health care and the like and i'm interested in hearing what other republicans and democrats have to suggest and offer and become part of this effort so we can have a strong bill. what i'm determined to do is get a strong bill. exactly what barney said. we're going to end too big to fail and we'll have systemic risk and deal with exhaustic instruments and have a strong consumer protection agency bureau, however that works out. these are all g

just last month, another republican, richard shelby, employed a similar tactic. but that only held up a few dozen presidential appointments. >> when the victims in the middle of the debate are unemployed people, i don't think that's fair. >> reporter: and republicans blame democrats for not bringing up the bell much sooner. both sides are working together to try to restore benefits over the next two weeks, and by the way, michelle, bunning is not running for re-election. back to you. >> tara mergener in washington. thanks. >>> just ahead on the "morning news," the u.s. postal service proposes some big changes. >>> plus, jay leno gets back in the saddle as host of the tonight show. but first, katie couric has a preview of the "cbs evening news." >>> in a city where hundreds of thousands live in poverty, one surgeon is always on call. the incredible story of how he found his true passion. it's "the american spirit" tonight only on the "cbs evening news". (announcer) powering that fan is one little battery... and if you think all batteries are the same... consider t

senator richard shelby sent a letter to treasury secretary timothy geithner. he says it exposes taxpayers to bailouts for large financial firms and give the fed too much power. however, shelby says there's still room for bipartisan compromise. we'll talk to senator shelby at 8:35 eastern time. things change day-to-day. >> his letter is pretty strife, but if he's willing to make compromise, we'll see what happens. >>> this is the final hurdle, it cleared late last night. democrats approved a package of fixes that approved better benefits and low income housing for middle class familiars. the president is set to sign the fix-it bill early next week. >>> aimed at curbing the rate of foreclosures, it's the second initiatives announced in as many months to require lenders to lower payments for jobless workers. it will lower some principal debt for borrowers who owe more than their house is worth. a lot of these banks are taking the bull by the horn, b of a saying that we're going to work on the principal part ourselves. >> i'm surprised you're not hearing more outr

also banking market ranking member senator richard shelby, he sent a letter to treasury secretary geithner with his objections to the reform bill. he's going to talk to us today about the changes that he would like to see made with the changes. plus we take a trip to six flags. the ceo of the amoouz amusement park operator. "squawk box" is coming up at the top of the hour. it all starts in just a few minutes. ross, you did a very good job as a wax figure. i liked it. >> i can do that. thank you, becky. >> it was good. sure. >> he did very good. ahead of today's trading, ben lichtenstein, president of tradersaudio.com joins us again from the cme. what do you think it's going to be like, brief into eu politics? >> yeah. well, there's a couple i think. we're looking into any developing news from greece and the situation developing there. i also think that we're focused on the gdp data scheduled for release this morning, in addition to a couple of key textual levels to the down side. we're talking about roughly where we're trading right now in the s&ps. down to about that 50 level in the s&ps.

. >> there's still room for negotiations between republicans like bob corker, richard shelby, and chris dodd and other democrats on the floor, but the one thing that both sides seem to agree on now is that financial regulation reform is going to happen. the only question is does it happen with just a few republican votes or a whole lot of them, larry? >> thank you very much. by the way, i want to say the chamber of commerce is a slaver negative force on this. absolutely negative and wrong in my humble opinion. let's talk to robert albertson, one of the best banking bankers and strategists i know. number one, you heard barney frank. this was a nice turn of the phrase. their bill, he says, is beth panels for too big to fail big banks. i like that. i have supported the dodd approach. i know the language may not be 100%, but the language looks pretty tight to me. the end of too big to fail bailout nation. what is your take? >> there's a lot in that bill, as you know. i think we have a problem with too big to fail. i think the perception will be we have ended it, and everyone will be happy u

richard shelby has worked with us on a number of bills. i think he wants to work on this one, too. >> thank you for your time and congratulations on this historic health care victory. pass on my congratulations to all the committee staff and the senate floor staff involved in getting that through the senate. >> that is a true senate staffer that made that comment. i'll do it as well. thanks, lawrence. >>> coming up, the final front in the health care fight. the reconciliation fix is being debated in the senate at this hour. can the democrats beat back every republican challenge to change the bill? >>> and sarah palin's latest tweet. urging followers to reload on the health care fight. reload what, sarah? any coincidence that in her list of house democrats to target she actually uses cross-hairs? she needs: omnaris. (troops) omnaris! to the nose. (general) omnaris works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris fights nasal allergy symptoms that occur from allergic inflammation... relieve those symptoms with omnaris. side eff

richard shelby, the ranking republican is using the fdic. the administration is more inclined to house that with treasury if it's want going to be a stand alone agency. >> probably some time next week the come they will mark this thing up in two weeks and we expect it to go to the senate floor and then things will percolate because the action within the senate banking committee is not going to be the last word on this. a long way to go, larry. >> so, john, in terms of insightful news analysis who's going to win this? you mentioned treasury. you mentioned stand alone and you mentioned the fed. what are you betting on? >> interesting question, larry. at some level the white house and chris dodd in particular, since as you know, he's retiring from the senate, they just want to get a bill. how do we get republicans and make republicans cooperate or induce a larger number of republicans to cooperate? and so they'll get some pushback from the left if the regulator is made too week in that process, so i would bet that the thing ends up at treasury.

richard shelby who held up something like seven obama appointments because he was not getting enoughk in alabama. he has ranted against budget deficits. these guys and gals say one thing and do another thing. the hypocrisy is blatant. the other point is transparency point it is a good thing but it has led to more gridlock. things like c-span. the fact that the nebraska deal that was cut for ben nelson was instantly recognizable and out there on the internet. the average american is far more aware of this closed door meetings and it has made it more difficult to get things done. >> thank you. >> we started to talk about something out in the hall. maybe you could comment. we are going to appoint governors. the of vetting them inside. the board delayed because of ben bernanke in the financial reform bill. could this become an issue? the scrutiny of what to say about bond vigilantes' and deficit being what they are? >> i think that is a real loss because you are now down to only one macro economist on the fed board, ben bernanke. they have to get another one or two macro economists. i di

i have had positive initial conversations with richard shelby, the ranking republican on the banking committee, and barred corker -- and bob corker has wanted to work on this. there are republicans in the senate who want to be part of this debate and offer constructive ideas to this proposal. i am more optimistic, in light of what happened in health care. the outcome has strengthened our aim in reaching out to people who want to be part of the solution. >> are the republicans outside of your committee who have committed? >> i have not done that, but i am interested in hearing what other republicans and democrats outside of the committee have to suggest, and offering to become part of this effort. what i am determined to do is get a strong bill. we are going to end too big to fail. we're going to have systemic risk, we're going to deal with consumer protection. these are all going to be part of that bill that the president will have on his bill -- have on his desk for a signature. we look and the purchase a patient who want to help craft this. the door has been open in the past and st

i've had some very positive initial conversations with richard shelby. the ranking republican of the banking committee. bob corker has been working on these matters. i don't think the republicans who do not want a just say no policy when it comes to major legislative initiatives, that like to be part of this debate and offer constructive ideas. i am much more optimistic, in light of what happened on health care. the outcome there has strengthened our hands and in reaching out to people who want to be part of the solution. [inaudible] >> i'm not done that yet. the last few days had been tied up with health care but i am clearly entered it in hearing what republicans and democrats on the committee have to say and becoming part of the solution so that we can have a strong bill. i am determined to get a strong bill. exactly what barney said, we are going in too big to fail and we're going have systemic risk and deal with exotic ever -- derivatives. we're going have a an agency in the bill. this is all going to be part of the bill that the president will have

on the other side, you see richard shelby of alabama who held up something like 70 obama appointmentscause he wasn't getting enough pork in alabama. and he's been one who has been ranting against budget deficits. these guys and gals say one thing and do another on the deficit. and the hypocrisy. it's led to more gridlock and more partisanship. things like c-span. the fact that the nebraska deal that was cut for ben nelson was instantly recognizable and out there on the internet. the average american is far more aware of all of these closed door meetings and it's made it more difficult to get things done. >> thanks, craig. turn to dave. why don't you go ahead? >> thank you. greg, we started to talk about something in the hall. we're going to appoint three governors, they're vetting them inside now, they delayed because of bernanke, they're delaying because of the financial reform bill. could this become an issue, the scrutiny given what you say about bond vigilantes? >> i think losing don is a real loss, you're down to one macroeconomist on the board, ben bernanke, and they have to get

senator richard shelby is my rank member, former chairman of the committee, i might point out. i would finished our work in the committee last monday, in a rather abbreviated mark jurntion i might note, not that i planned it to be that way. but we ended up with a pretty short markup of a fairly complicated bill. a week ago today, at about this time, a little after this, we had received aamendments -- had almost 400 amendments that had been filed, so i anticipate add rather elongated markup. but members decided this they weren't going to offer their amendments in the committee, which is their right. i had a responsibility as chairman of the committee to consider those amendments if they were offered, and we were prepared to either accept some, modify some, or reject others. but the conclusion of the committee was to take what changes we had made and move forward. so it is my hope that shortly after our return on the second week of april that we will -- we will come to the floor of the united states senate to debate hopefully in a full-throated debate about how we reform the fina