as kurt volker has just told us.nd it's very important, as we look ahead to syria, that we look at the initiatives that are now in the offing. can we help spread the ceasefire? can we help built a new government for syria? can we in the process bring on board those who have supported assad? i think a no-fly zone is an extremely important idea. it will begin to cut the supply relationship by air, to assad's forces from russia and iran and they need to know that assad isn't going to win. and if they have a future for themselves in syria it has to be with a new, different and obviously open syrian government. >> ambassador volker that much more muscular approach will what the republicans will be listening for. the framework of his foreign policies and his statements to the american people that the americans are not going to get bogged down on the ground in either iraq or syria. >> you just laid that down. that is the more muscular approach that is warranted in the situation that we have. what i think president obama wil

here's what paul volker said.t's striking that the world's leading investment bankers noted for their cleverness and agility in advising clients on how to restructure companies. and even industries, however complicated, apparently can't manage the orderly reorganization of their own activities in more than five years. what's your response if any to mr. volker. >> it's one thing when you have to restructure your activities in a business due to market forces. whether energy prices go up or changes in supplies or what have you, that's natural and should occur on a timely basis. it's another thing when that restructuring comes about through governmental intervention. what would be the impact of that? this is, as i said, there was hearings on this, this information did come out i give you an example. according to the lfta, which is the trade association, says u.s. banks hold an estimated $80 billion of cl notes which would have to be diverted before the deadline even the thread -- even just the threat of such a divesti

you look at the volker rule, the derivatives title. it begs the question of what this is for. i know what it is for. it's a lot more about the politics than it is economics of growth and opportunity and financial security. we have to help middle income americans. the great irony is that all the president's rhetoric is aimed at the wealthy, yet all his policies have helped the wealthy. they are the ones who have gotten ahead. as the president declares victory on the economy, i think that's going to come as news to a lot of hard-working american taxpayers who haven't felt victory in this economy. and we need a regulatory burden that doesn't hurt our small businesses. we need to make sure that middle income families have rising paychecks. we need to make sure they have great career opportunities. we need to make sure that they have competitive, transparent, innovative credit markets, vigorously policed for fraud and deception. regrettably, dodd-frank has institutionalized too big to fail. there is a lot of work to be done. >> chairman, the white house says this is a bipartisan id

they have already voted -- actually, all of congress has voted to delay a piece of the volker rule.ay just be beginning now the republicans are running the house and senate. we do have a subject matter expert in part sheldon. on the hill, you will know randy from giving jon corzine a very hard time when he was chairman of the house oversight committee. he is responsible for pretty much all of the major banks and consumer lending as subcommittee chairman as well. congressman, thank you very much for joining us. we have seen small changes move through. the size and scope of the changes will be debated, but we have seen changes on certain vehicles. is that how changes to dodd-frank are going to move forward if you map it out? >> i think so because if you look at the oversight hearings we had in the past congress, what you saw was bipartisan support to do away with unintended consequences. dodd-frank was a big flag we flew over the entire financial market. it hurt main street. the large banks got larger and main street banks have been shrieking. it hurt access to credit. even my friends

>> taken away their own account trading, volker rule.a water balloon -- use scurries the balloon, it will go somewhere else. >> robert at nyu was looking at contributions, a systemic risk of large institutions, they have jp morgan chase at top, then bank of america. >> jpmorgan is a large over-the-counter derivatives market with a bank attached. that is how you should look at it. >> that is our quote of the day. >> the op-ed last week about the breakup of the big banks -- i mean, it is nice cocktail conversation, but there is no validity to it, is there? >> over time, that is exact we what will not be a germanic breakout -- a dramatic breakup -- >> over five years -- >> they will have to shed assets. >> utility banking with partnership? >> in part. they are trying to use capital. the best performer in the top five is u.s. bancorp by far. >> what is your return on equity hurdle? >> usb as well as a double digits. >> major banks -- >> they are still single digits. if you do real risk i done adjusted returns, tom, they are negative. >> comi

spending for the president's executive order on immigration, and a possible delay to part of the volker rule on certain speculative investments. that gets under way live at 5:00 p.m. eastern. >>> coming up, energy secretary ernest moniz and the ceo of southern energy, thomas fanning. they were interviewed as part of the atlantic washington ideas forum. this is 25 minutes. >>> welcome, mr. secretary. you have a tough act to follow there with secretary kerry, but i'm sure we can do it. let me start with what i think are questions you probably get a lot, and secretary kerry i think gets a lot, which is what's the harm in doing keystone? >> as secretary kerry as said as the responsible oyfficial, he is hoping to decide that question soon. >> fair enough. something else i wanted to get into with you a little bit is tax reform the question of corporate tax reform. i know this is something you probably don't deal with or think about a whole lot, but there are a lot of incentives in the energy market the energy world that are affected by that question of whether corporate tax rates should come

it -- volker rule. this is the "washington times" on that. hattie in houston texas democrat.hat you think about your party leaders? caller: i think president obama is doing all that he can. but just like the other, i think harry reid and nancy pelosi, i think they're holding back when they're talking. and the republicans just talk so bold like boehner and mitch mcconnell. and they say stuff that they know is wrong. just like the gentleman said a few minutes ago, about the jobs and everything. we have more jobs since president obama has been in. he is doing everything he can do. and they cut it down and everything. the democrats, when they were in they did not step up and do what they were supposed to. they were holding back. they were trying to be equal but they didn't do that. host: let me ask you what do you want from these democratic leaders now that they are in the minority? do you want them to fight tooth and nail or cooperate? caller: i want them to fight tooth and nail because everything they are trying to -- just like the pipeline. this is harmful to the environment.