Along with other white house staffers so this is a relatively large group for this meeting you remember, last week they tried to have this meeting and the democrats didnt slow up we saw that visual of the president with the empty chairs on either side of him waiting for chuck and nancy, Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi, to attend the meeting they never came. Today theyll be here. We should see all these chairs filled today what theyre going to discuss, though, is a mystery weve seen a dampening of the tone going into this meeting both sides know theres a lot at stake here in terms of a potential Government Shutdown as early as tomorrow if they dont get a continuing resolution to kick the can down the road another two weeks in terms of government spending. So Sarah Huckabee sanders just briefed the press within the past hour or so, and laid out sort of her expectations from the white house perspective of what well see in the meeting. Heres what she said in terms of the Government Shutdown, look, we expect a clean cr to pass with democrat support, so we hope will happen, fu funding the government, particularly our military, our veterans affairs, are always important, but particularly now with so many threats that we face globally. This is certainly an important priority for the administration. We hope something that will be discussed and agreed to later today. Reporter so not a very p proprovocative statement from Sarah Huckabee sanders seem like theyre trying to turn down the volume ahead of the meeting. We should see pictures on that as you just pointed out, bill, momentarily. Well bring those to you when we have them. Another thing to update you on, two white house officials told me the white house will be releasing its infrastructure plan in january. That will tee up another legislative battle in 18. We have to get through the legislative battles of 2017 before we get to those, guys. In the next hour as eamon mentioned, were expected to get a vote on the shortterm measure to fund the government avoiding a Government Shutdown. Kale ra tausche has the latest. Reporter republicans are going to try and avert a Government Shutdown this afternoon with the house as you mentioned voting in just an hour or so, the senate aides tell me could vote after that. Theyll be voting to fund defense programs into the new year and Everything Else for the next two weeks as they try to tie up tax reform. Paul ryan and Mitch Mcconnell have been meeting regularly with the Freedom Caucus that has been stomping their feet as this cr as we call it on capitol hill has been working its way through caucus mark meadows says he believes his group will provide enough votes for it to pass this afternoon but its unclear exactly hoexac exactly how many its also unclear what the longer term spending package looks like come december 22nd when the shortterm package runs out. House conservatives want caps on nondefense spending. Democrats want that to increase. And Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi this morning said she expects President Trump today to make a counteroffer we were concerned when the president started pl eed mockine meeting and saying there would be no deal and all that, we thought, well, if youre not ready to talk, were not ready to come. Now he has made the overture for us to go hopefully that means hes more recepti receptive. I assume since he invited us, hell have an offer to make. Reporter we will see whether that offer was, in fact, put on the table. Worth noting, guys, as we await this vote, the house cans that this with just republican votes. The senate will need 60. Back to you. All right, thank you very much, kayla. Earlier today Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer addressed a big concern he has with the tax bill and what companies could end up doing with the extra cash. Tmobile has announced a 1. 5 billion in stock buybacks. Mastercard, 4 billion bank of america, 5 billion. Just this morning, three or more companies, three or four more Companies Announced hundreds of millions of dollars worth of buybacks these companies, i would say to President Trump, i would say to my republican colleagues, are not aflouncing nee announcing new investments in their workforce or wage increases like republicans promised they would. Theyre announcing stock repurchasing programs that benefit their wealthy investors. To discuss the latest on the tax bill and the potential sutdown situation, lets bring in jimmy from from the American Enterprise institute, and mattie from the National Taxpayers union. What do you say to what Chuck Schumer said there, do you think hes right the money wont be used for wage increases if and when its brought back, or say, what if they do more buybacks or pay higher dividends thats not a bad thing, is it . Look, weve got an economy where theres very little activity happening up until recently and should be looking at policy that encourages kbr sh not only in business profits but where they can invest and offers opportunity for more of that investment here at home. The question really for senator schumer, what is his alternative . Hes continuing to promote the current code which keeps investment overseas and doesnt allow businesses to repatriate profits at pull. Li if you listen to schumer, that money never comes back and we dont see benefit from it. Jimmy, thats on the tax bill but talking about the possible shutdown shutdown handicap it for us do you think were going to see a shutdown come saturday i dont think were going to see a shutdown, but remember that pushes us to late december. And theres going to have to be another shortterm resolution because theyre not going to be ready probably by late december for a longer term budget deal. Now were talking 2018 i think its important to remember that these Government Shutdowns, listen, there may be a political impact and there maw be a shortterm economic impact. But really beyond that, these things are negligible as far as affecting the economy. Again, heading to an election year, it looks bad if the public blames you for shutting down the government, but this is not going to this is not going to derail the economy no, it wont do that, but it comes at a critical time when theyre trying to reconcile the two tax bills. So that gets in the way. That complicates things greatly, right . Well, i think they would prefer to set this aside, not have a shutdown, have a couple continuing resolutions, back at it in january. And focus on getting this tax bill passed. Because, listen, the tax bill, everything weve heard, like over the past few days, is moving a little bit further from passing it everything weve heard is making it more expensive and harder to pass, not really coming together we had a problem with the amt, now were talking about raising the corporate rate from 20 to 22 . They still need to lock that thing down. Mattie, you have any concerns about all of the above yeah. Whether or not the taxes actually all of the above. Going to pass or whether theres going be a shutdown . As always, im kind of the Eternal Optimist when you compare me to jimmy p. I think were movinging in the right direction. The senate last night appointed conferees. There are a couple things that the senate when it was passing its bill added back in i think are of concern in particular putting the amt back thein there the question of whether or not s. A. L. T. Language stays. In principle these bills remain pretty much the same, the fact its going to make our businesses competitive again in particular by lowering the Corporate Tax rate, delivering a middle class tax cut are the two prerogatives i think the members of the conference here will be able to produce that in short order. Naive question, mattie, okay, maybe a little bit disingenuous, whats with the december 22nd deadline, whats the big hurry to get this thing done heres the thing about shutdowns, why were arguing about this, people might forget this is2011 budget control act, whether or not we allow relief in the spending caps implemented in that bill. Conservatives should once again be spiking the football on this. The budget control act is what basically erased the increases in spending that obama, nancy pelosi, harry reid, put into law. So these are skon strant constrn spending conservatives long have been able to protect this has been an exercise weve now been engaged in since the bca sequester started kicking in in 2013. So i think theres a path forward for republicans to be able to pass this in the house, and send it over to the senate and have a bill that moves forward. I dont think that will be all here on Christmas Eve wondering whether or not santas going to be delivering a Government Shutdown im looking for wood. Lets knock somewhere. Thank you. Knock, knock, wood, yes jimmy p. , mattie, good to have you. Knock on my head. Thats fine. Lets go to our closing bell exchange, were seeing another one of those days like yesterday, not much volatility, slightly lly higher for the ma averages joining our closing bell exchange, randy frederick, at post 9 and Rick Santelli joins us from chitown market doesnt seem too be concerned about anything thats going on in washington right now. Does that say to you they dont think theres going to be a shutdown, we will get this tax reform bill passed i mean that kind of seems it like thinks that far ahead sk the overall mentality for quite some time, the market doesnt react to much coming out of washington. Like jimmy p. Said before, when we talk about Government Shutdown, the market doesnt absorb that information, doesnt take it into consideration we have seen Government Shutdowns before in other administrations and the market brushes it off i dont think thats a priority here we continue to look at tax reform, how thats going to impact our markets and our economy. Clearly fomc next week is something weve had this date on our calendar for quite some time were finally getting there. Randy, Government Shutdown is high drama for washington, but for wall street it doesnt seem if we lad one, would it be negative for equities i would be very surprised if it has in fact, you can look at all the shutdowns weve had since world war ii, the worst one resulted in a very small percentage downturn the last three the market went up the most recent one in 2013 was the biggest bullish market for during a shutdown ever so history doesnt guarantee the future, but it certainly lays a pretty good roadmap. Maybe we should cheer one on, then. Is that coincidence or is there a reason the market would go up during a shutdown . You know, i dont think most investors think the government accomplished a whole lot of anything, anyway shutting it down doesnt necessarily seem all that bad for investors. Again, id be very surprised in a bull market, optimistic as most investors seem to be right now, if this shutdown would have an impact at all as far as tax reform goes, i dont think theres an enormous amount of urgency there. With the few exceptions of people who might want to get out of positions at the end of the year with lie bases before they fine forced in starting next year, all the impact doesnt kick in until next year. Fifo being first in, first out. One of the provisions theyre considering in the tax code. Rick santelli, i cant imagine you disagree with the discussion thats been going on up here about if the government shut down, who would really care when it comes to the investing community . Reporter well, i mean, listens it listen, its fun for the media, fun for the politicos. Always stories about coupons not coming and defaults. I completely agree with our guests you know, its a kabuki dance. Everybody is really figuring it out. On the issue of the marketplace, it does have one little itty bitty effect sometimes, and it has, watch the onemonth bill auctions. You know, theres a little volatility in that regard. I think that todays stock market actually made a difference in bond trading and its going to be interesting to see how it pans out. Earlier today, the close for the bunds continued to mark clo closed we saw the long end reverse a little bit as the stock markets regain their sea legs its going to be interesting as we go into year end, whos going to win the battle of Interest Rates is it going to be the economy and stocks effects on the fixed income market and the yield curve or be overseas because it certainly looks like overseas rates are going to drift lower right into year end. I think thats fascinating then all bets are off at the beginning of next year, whether its because of potential tax changes, or its because of mario draghi and less qe thats going to be fascinating. One other thing, dollar index is crawling up here to an important level at 94, which would mean its only down 6 on the year. Yeah. Here weve got 13 19 without mentioning the jobs report that comes out tomorrow once upon a time, that would be in the first 30 seconds of the show what are you guys expecting tomorrow expecting nothing right . I dont think its going to really be outside the lines. I think thats when investors are looking for and the pattern weve seen over time from that point of view, its not going to make an effect on the market i think thats probably true. Imiean, weed ha elad a great wy jobs report claim. Those four will feed into this one. Odds are pretty good were going to see a very good number. Thats probably going to continue into the first part of next year. The labor market is in incredible shape. You know what i thought we were going to say i think were going to see a big number. I thought you were going to say bitcoin. Thats coming. Dont worry. Please, no. Thank you, guys. No, no, i know. Well get to the tulips later. Thank you, all see you later. Good to see you, randy, thanks for joining us today. Good to see you. So 46 minutes left in the trading session here the dow was up i didnt realize it was up 120 i knew it was up 100 at one time we have come back from those highs. Everybody is positive, though, right now. S p is higher by almost six points. At t in court today as the department of justice attempts to stop the countrys number two wireless companys 85 billion purchase of time warner. Up next a bull and a bear size up this deal and the telecom sector. Visa has taken branding to a new level in its search to stand out in the retail and mobile payment space. Ahead, you will hear literally what they came up with. I cannot wait. And we want to hear from you, you can reach out to the show on twitter, facebook, send n ma iyowau nt youre watching cnbc, first in business worldwide is the monolithic view of emerging markets obsolete . At pgim, we see alpa in the trends, driving specific sectors of out performance. Where a rising middle class powers a booming auto industry. A leap into the digital era draws youthful populations to mobile banking and ecommerce. Trade and travel surge between emerging markets. Everyday our 1,100 investment professionals around the world search out opportunities for alpha. Partner with pgim, the Global Investment management businesses of prudential. [ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Welcome back to the closing bell. Doesnt fell like its been a volatile day but the dow had a range of 16 0 points right now were higher by 64 points shares of lululemon higher today after the retail reported an earnings and revenue beat after the bell today Company Also Announced a 200 million buyback. That stock is trading as you can see higher by more than 6. 5 , gain of 4. 57 a share. Meantime at t and the department of justice have been meeting today during a Pretrial Hearing in the antitrust suit over its pending time warner merger the judge hearing that case has just set a trial date of march 19th for next year. So not exactly the imminent trial date that Randall Stephenson was hoping for. They asked for february. Right they said on cnbc, Randall Stephenson said immediately and in court they asked for february the judge gave them march. Yeah. Meantime, Telecom Stocks are lower as you can see so far this year tmobile is the exception, theyre up almost 8 . Joining us, Craig Moffitt who remains bullish on telecom, and jonathan from Newstreet Research whos a bit more cautious. Thank you. Is there any reason why youre paying attention to this case and what it means to the rest of the sector in terms of what you would buy or not buyjo . So i think you dont want to touch any of the wireless carriers with the exception of maybe tmobile, tmobile has benefit of being sort of the best house in the bad neighborhood in this environment, what you really want to own is the cable stocks and the driver there is, you know, i think people have been buying wireless stocks on the expectation that the tax plan is going to be really beneficial for these big taxpayers. What nobody has in their numbers for next year is the fact by this Time Next Year the Cable Companies are going to take 3 million, 4 million ads a year in wireless taking customers from these wireless currently existing Wireless Companies and instead bringing them over as people who buy their wireless from their Cable Company is what youre saying thats exactly right. Its not in peoples expectations. Craig, why are you bullish