far ♪ ♪ welcome to "squawk alley" for a wednesday. john fortt, sarah eisen and myself watching the market creep a little higher. dow up 37. white house expected to unveil a tax plan later this afternoon. stev stev steven mnuchin gave us a sneak peek. >> reporter: big tax day here at the white house. here is what we know about what is in this plan according to a senior administration official that gave this tip sheet to our john harwood. starting with that 15% corporate tax rate, a big cut for corporations and also for pass-throughs. the top individual rate would end up between 33 and 39.6%. there is a revenue place-holder that could turn into the border tax. that place-holder is something to watch out for. there will be an expanded personal exemption or child care credit or possibly both. that would be important for the middle class. one issue on the pass-throughs is whether or not wealthy americans would use that to incorporate themselves and say, i'm only going to pay 15% in taxes. steven mnuchin sort of poo-pooed that idea and said that is not what is going to happen. >> what this is not going to be is a loophole to let rich people, who should be paying higher rates, pay 15%. this is going to be for small businesses that drive the economy. they will have the benefit of this. >> speaker of the house, paul ryan, also talking today, giving a little bit of insight to what his conversation was yesterday when mnuchin went up to capitol hill. here is what he said. >> we've been talking to them all along. we had a very good meeting yesterday. our commit it is, ways and means and the white house, are going to work regularly to make sure we get a bill that's unified. we have been briefed. it is basically along the same lines we want to go. we see this as progress being made, showing we are moving and getting on the same page. >> we wril sill see what the de are when gathey brief the press. they still feel like they have the opportunity to do the health care bill before they do taxes. if they do that, that makes the tax reform effort a lot easier for a lot of procedural reasons. they do think they are close to a health care deal here at the white house. no indication that is coming this week or next week or when exactly it is going to come. the sense is, if they have the votes, they will call the votes. >> back over to you guys. >> amen jabers. and former assistant treasury secretary, pam olson. good to see you. thanks for the time. >> whether the plan is smart or not, i wonder if you think the house and the white house are as closely aligned as they appear to be arguing today? >> i don't know. the basic premise of the house plan from the very beginning was revenue neutrality. in a lot of respects it is quite thoughtful. it took on some very controversial issues. you can debate either side. the presidential is a massive tax cut. those are two very different approaches. i don't know. >> so, the key features here, 15% corporate tax quut nachlt does include pass-throughs, we are hearing today which there is a lot of buzz about that. small businesses, law firm, et cetera, and 3% economic growth. does the math add up there? >> certainly, it is going to be difficult to cut rates all the way to 15% without some pretty big adjustments to make things up to make it revenue neutral or at least as dynamically scored taking into account the 3% growth rate revenue neutral. what's this supposed to be high-handed and balancing the budget? >> we both have to be realistic about what's achievable. we have to address. worldwide, so some are out of step with the rest of the world. those are issues that have to be tackled. clearly, we are going to have to do things on the spending side and that includes entitlements. the more we could do to get the economy growing faster, the less we would have to do on the tax side and entitlement reform as well. >> jason, you have done some tweeting about whether the plan should be dynamically scored and whether once you do that, it lowers growth and costs the budget over the long-term. what's your answer? >> i'm fine with dynamic scoring. i think it is important to understand how the policies affect the economy. it should be done by the nonpartisan analysts. they haven't scored this yet. a skim limilar model when it wa applied to the trump campaign plan found it would strengthen the economy by 4% over 20 years and that it would end up costing even more than the static score. that was all because the deficit ended up hurting the economy more than the rate cuts helped. everything i just told you was done by an economist from the bush administration. it is also a very serious, credible model. i think that's the question we should be asking. i don't think this will help growth. i think it will hurt it. we agree with pam. we need lower rates and we need to fix our broken international tax system. we need to pay for that and do it in a smart, sensible way, not this massive, massive rate cut that we can't afford. >> so the conversation, jason, after today, after we learned what the white house is prioritizing will be how is congress reacting? what do you think the democrats can sign on to? what sort of provisions will they be looking to and do you think it might be easier to get some of them than some of the fiscally conservative deficit hawks on the republican side. >> a month ago, right after the aca repeal failed, there were all these leaks coming out of the white house that they were going to reach out to the democrats, try to work with them and do something on tax and infrastructure combined. instead, what we have today doesn't have infrastructure. on taxes, it is to the right where house republicans are with a lower rate and a bigger increase in the deficit. this is not a promising way at all to get democrats on board. to do that, you would want to focus on the middle class, focus on revenue neutrality and infrastructure. all these of those are good for the economy too. that's the only way you could also get something permanent. if you do it republicans only, all you can do is a temporary tax cut. probably at most two years of corporate rate reduction. do we think a two-year rate reduction for corporations that expire would be good for our economy? >> this confuses me. this is not fiscally conservative. it is hard for me to see how it is fiscally responsible. is there no more a party banner of fiscal responsibility when it comes to this stuff. one side wants to spend a lot. the other side wants to cut taxes. nobody seems to want to balance the budget. >> i went back and looked at the first. >> clearly, we have to move in the direction of a system that's going to be sustainable. a sustainable system has a lot of different means. we can't do tax cuts that only run for two or three years. we have to have something that is permanent or looks long-term so that companies can make an investment. we also need a system that is sustainable and is not continuing to drive business out of the country. so we have got to really focus on that. that's the message that i think both republicans and democrats need to focus on. obviously, sustainability means we also have to generate enough revenue to cover the promises that we made and we have a whole lot of entitlement obligations out there. those things all have to be factored in. at the moment, what the president is focusing on is creating a system that is sustainable from an economic standpoint of being attractive to business such that the economy can get growing. if we can get the economy growing a lot faster, we can address a lot of the other issues a lot more easily. >> certainly, mnuchin said 3% is achievable. >> can it be done by year-end? >> it will be a challenge but not impossible. >> this man is way too far out there. nothing like this could pass by year-end. >> thank you. jason and pam. many thanks. when we come back this morning, the president has used some tough talk when it comes to u.s. drugmakers. we are going to hear what the executive chairman has to say about that. twitter up on the first quarter earnings adding more users than expected. what's next for the company? back to back records for the nasdaq. major averages go positive for the month. the russell adding an all-time high of its own. "squawk alley" continues in a moment. and now we take brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. we take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams... ...as it affects how well brilinta works. brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. in a clinical study brilinta worked better than plavix®. brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. or dying from one. don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor,... ...since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent,... ...heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily,... ...or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers,... ...a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. slow heart rhythm has been reported. tell your doctor about bleeding,... ...new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. if you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor about brilinta. my heart is worth brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca... ...may be able to help. president trump vowing to lower drug prices. for more, we are joined by celgene executive chairman, robert dwch robert gugin and meg smith. we know you met with president trump. he started out by saying drug prices are too high. what did you take away from that? >> a lot of work with health care reform. so important to our economy and citizens. >> the president was engaged, asked lots of questions and really wanted suggestions. after that meeting, we have had significant follow-up. action oriented. i think most of the people were very optimistic that we will have an engaged process as we go forward. >> at the same time, trump is saying even at the jpmorgan health care conference in january, saying the drug indoes sfri is getting away with murder when it comes to their prices. >> are you concerned about legislation on prices? >> you always have to be concerned. we live in a value-based world. we have so many systems that we receive fair value for what we do for patients. we're successful because of that. we want to make sure people recognize. we support value-based prices. we are willing to get paid for performances. we have specific recommendations to help refine our systems so we do have the kind of competition that produces lower costs over time but rewards innovation and access to patients for medicines that make a difference in people's lives. >> do you think they are receptive to the drug industry suggestion? >> i think health care is such an important part of the xwhe. the whole biomedicine, ecosystem is so important to our economy. it is one of the great crown jewels of america. our industry and broader industry helps drive the economy. >> the follow-up from the administration after the meeting with the president was impressive. what specific types offul-up were they and what sort of action does that lead you to think is going to get taken? >> i think there are a number of areas. we need legislative reform and regulatory reform. we have to sfepeed up clinical trials and reduce regulatory burden to stop things in a cost effective, nonredundant way. we have to be innovative in how we pay for medicines. in other countries, you have different prices. a drug provides more value and less in other situations. you get paid differently. we can't do it with the u.s. system. we have specific proposals that can enhance the competition and fairness. we are willing to live by pay for performance, for value. we make a difference in people's lives. also, you have to remember, we are one of -- the number one industry in terms of investing in r&d. we are not going to deal with some of the most significant social problems we have with alzheimer's, metabolic disease, cancer, all diseases of aging. if we don't find solution for those, the underlying economic f fabric, there will be no discretionary spending. we are part of that solution. we want to work with the administration and congress and payers and everybody else to find creative solutions to deal with the here and now and protect the long-term benefit we can provide sxwchlt their how much is riding on who runs the fda and how much that affects the pay for trial. >> incredibly important job. >> we just learned that the vote leaving the senate health committee is being postponed since tomorrow. >> the news of the day is tax reform. this is really affecting your industry a lot. we have seen a lot of inversions, attempts to invert and move overseas. what is your perspective from the administration. >> i have listened to a lot of the conversation. we are supportive and appreciate the president and administration and congress moving forward on this critical issue. this is not a nice to have thing. we have a system today that is o outmoded, antiquated and puts the economy economy at disadvantage. it suppresses economic growth and restricts job creation and disincentivizes growth in the u.s. we are very supportive and appreciative of them bringing that tole table. we have to make sure it is a level-playing field. it has to be level. i'll give you an example why that is important to us. we are one of the most r&d intensive industry in the world. one that has great risk. our business is incredibly risky. patents go off. there is no revenue after that. we have to reinvent ourselves on a recurring basis. that's incredibly tough. scientifically challenging. without a level playing field, it is very difficult. the last few years, i think two-thirds of the acquisitions of the u.s. biopharma companies, over $1 billion, have been by foreign companies. if china wakes up and the european economy approves, they are going to realize our tax system is far and owned, domicile companies, an advantage over u.s. domicile companies. we need to make sure when the tax reform comes, it does all the great things, know innovation. we have to make sure it is a level playing field so we have the opportunity to do things the same way as foreign companies have, that we are not at a disadvantage. that's an issue we are going to watch very closely. we are very excited. we want to be engaged with this incredibly important social issue. >> thank you, bob and thank you, meg, for bringing that to us. executive chairman of celgene. >> we are watching this rally in technology with the nasdaq hitting yet another record high. it closes above 6,000. two stocks of note hitting all-time highs today, alphabet and facebook. we'll be right back. checking out your t off medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare 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to a friend. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. the rest is up to you. call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ if you are a business executive, we are telling you what the trends are. southwestern set to hire some 4,000 workers. the spotlight is on job because of president trump. he promised to bring jobs back to this country. people want to see if he is going to keep true to his promise. commerce department slapping new tariffs on canadian lumber. the president directing aids to direct a plan to cut the corporate tax rate at 15%. >> i think they can get a deal done on the business side in three or four months. >> they estimate that increased lumber costs will add about $1200 to the sale price of the average newly built home. >> if we do see more tariffs and protectionist policies from the administration, is that a big threat to your business? >> we are local everywhere. >> we take you to the department of interior where the president is about to sign an executive order looking at environmental protections for federal land. the executive order calls into question the future of national monuments in this country, asking the department for a review of those monuments. as the press in the last couple of terms has issued broad protections for those lands. we will see what interior does with it. >> i did not know this was a controversial issue. really, there is some partisan divide over this issue when reading about it. the national monument in utah is what we can point to, something that was designated as a national monument by the obama administration, something that republicans have lobbied against. a lot of people pointing to that as an example. >> senator hatch, amen jabers joins us to watch a bunch of pots boiling, whether there is any action on the budget, any action on health care. obviously, taxes and now this. >> i always have time for the national monument. about 1 million square miles of land. it was designated as a national monument. the idea is the executive order will review the national monuments designation process. the president has the authority to designate national monuments but the idea of undesignating them is sort of legally untested here. so we will see whether this is something that the trump administration will be successful in fighting back. they will have to fight a court battle to figure out where the authority lies. this is the first step in something that has been controversial. >> why is that, amen? what was the republican problem with designating bears ears national monument in utah and some of the other. i think president barack obama designated 29 sites during his administration. >> in the west in particular, federal control over millions of acres of land is controversial, just how much land the federal government controls as opposed to the state government and private land holders. that's been a long-running debate going back a century or more in the west. th that's part of what this is about. the question is whether or not these lands could ultimately be used by the states for oil and gas exploration, minerals and other things. bears ears will be a test case for whether or not they can roll back some of those designations over time and allow the state to have more discretion in terms of how that land is actually used. if you are on the anti-designation side of this, you see this as a federal land grab and something that is appropriate and you would like the states to have the freedom and flexibility to do what they want. >> it fits in the pattern of the president using eos to roll back pryer eos. during the campaign, he was critical of the executive order as a concept. >> he was. he said he wasn't a big fan of the executive order. republicans criticized barack obama for using executive orders too often. president trump, himself, said, i believe in a tweet, that president barack obama had run out of his ability to convince people on capitol hill to do what he wants. so, therefore, he has to resort to these executive orders. there, you see the secretary of the interior beginning his remarks. that's been controversial among republicans. this administration comes into power. they like the idea of these executive orders particularly on deregulations. they would like to roll back a lot of regulations put in place by the obama administration. you have to start a lot of these ticking time clock toss do these reviews and make decisions on ultimately the regulation, itself. they have to trigger a lot of these things early on to roll them back in the months to come. >> amen, to what degree could something like this shift the political calculus in states like nevada which are often competitive between democrats and republicans? we saw that flare up just before the election with issues around federal land. >> i would leave it to local political analysts on the ground. certainly, nevada, wyoming and in this case utah, other states in the west, colorado, are areas where this is a hot issue. that's something that we will play out in the local political battles. we have seen this president be very savvy about some of the things he is doing. targeting those specific communities that have long-running die spells haven't been addressed including wisconsin dairy farmers. this week, you will see action taken here on canadian lumber coming in. they are american timber industry officials who feel like they have been given the short-end of the sfik tick on t timber issue. they are targeting these political issues that have very deep, political resonance in local communities that are feeling like they are ignored by the federal government. >> amen, stay close if you would. we are going to continue the conversation as we await the president at the interior department finding those executive orders. we also want to talk about the impact here on the market. we want to bring in dan morgan, a foportfolio manager and burns mckinney with nsj investment group. welcome to both of you. the president has ramped up the executive orders as we get to 100 days on saturday. is this helping fuel the confidence trade around the pro-growth policies, the orders that review certain regulations? >> i think it reinforces his pledge to deregulate after we had eight years of a lot of regulation. whether this particular order in regards to this land is really going to help the stock market, that's to be seen. i think it's more of a general trend. i think he has signed more executive orders in his first 100 days, almost 100 days than any president ever. he has been very active. he plenldged to do that. the market likes deregulation. this land thing may not be that critical for the market. >> of course. it is the signals that we get yesterday and he is trying to show the numbers on financial regulation and taxes. yesterday, it was about farmers. is the veg latiregulation, the deregulation a big part of this market climb on the day we are looking forward to the president's blueprint on tax policy, another potential big spin for corporate earnings and the economy? >> exactly. >> that was to burns. >> i think the deregulation is important for certain industries. the primary driver that's been pushing the market forward today and yesterday has probably been the anticipation of the tax cuts. that's what the markers has been looking for. if you look at what stocks have done over the last several months, they have really, almost entirely priced in these tax cuts in their anticipation. i think this should probably drive the markets forward and we should, as a result of that, see a continued rotation into some of the more cyclical value stocks that benefit from this boost in the economy, things like financial and industrials. >> if we argue that the market is almost entirely priced in the cuts, are you saying that there would nobody additional up side if we saw this legislation actually get signed? if you look at. consider how much the stock market went up after the election, the market did largely price that in. there is still room for up side when you talk about that. getting back to the points where we were making a few minutes ago as far as deregulation, as far as infrastructure spending that could drive the markets further. the market fundamentals are one of the key drivers of this. you have seen gdp growth a little ahead of the trend. earnings are coming in strongly. you don't need the president to fully succeed in these policies because you do have the fundamentals that are the primary underping of the stock market today. >> how much success do we need to see, though, legislatively from the trump administration in order to keep the market confidence going. >> i think that's the key, joe. obviously, the tax cuts we are talking about is huge. they kind of hunted the affordable care act. i think it would be a disappointment for the market if, in fact, they weren't able to come up with something even if it was something they were doing that only lasted ten years. there are arguments about going through the 51 vote versus the 60 and how long that is going to last and the impact that will have on capital spending by corporations. i think they need to get a big win. that would be huge. the only thing that's sbomewhat disturbing, projected gdp has been reduced drastically to 1%, 1.5%. it would be nice to get something to get things going. we had consumer confidence that wasn't very strong either. a big win on tax cuts would be huge for the market. >> indeed. guys, as we are saying all of this, we should point out, s&p 23.97 is three points from testing its all-time high. from a sentiment or a technical standpoint, dan, what would it mean if we cracked it and held it? >> that's huge. also, technology has done extremely well. the nasdaq is doing very well, the tech stock sector. if we break a new high, we'll continue to show that confidence. everything that trump is trying to do, from deregulation, tax reduction, your other guests mentioned the infrastrauk yuctu which is huge. if they can play out, we should continue to move higher. this reinforces the overall s d sentiment. >> thank you very much as we watch the president come into the department of interior about to sign these eeos. of course, not the lead story of the day. that's going to come in about two hours when the nec director and treasury secretary speak at the white house about the tax plan. let's listen to the president. >> thank you, mike. he has been a great vice-president, a great help and everybody loves mike pence. i just want to thank you for your service. incredible. it us a reis a real pleasure to the department of interior, where you help preserve the splendor and the beauty of america's natural resources. and i can tell you the group that's in here right now, they are really doing the job. right, lisa, they are doing a good job? we are going to take care of alaska too. don't worry about it. they protect the ability of the people to access and utilize the land which truly belongs to them and belongs to all of us. secretary ryan zinke, is doing an incredible job. he never overlooks the details. he is a detailed person. soon after he was confirmed, we had a snowstorm, a big one. he was out there on the steps of the lincoln memorial shoveling the snow all by himself. he is a strong guy. he did a good job. we're proud of him. the first 100 days, we have taken historic action to eliminate wasteful regulations. they are being eliminated like nobody has ever seen before. there has never been anything like it. sometimes i look at some of the things i'm signing and i say, maybe people won't like it but i'm doing the right thing. no regular politician would do this. i don't know about you folks but i will tell you literally some politicians have said, you are doing the right thing. i don't know if i would have had the courage to do some of these things. we are doing them because it is the right thing to do. it is for the good of the nation. we're returning power back to the people. we have eliminated job-destroying regulations on farmers, ranchers and coal miners, on autoworkers and so many other american workers and businesses. today, i'm signing a new executive order to end another egregious abuse of federal power to give the power back to the states and to the people where it belongs. the previous administration used a 100-year-old law known as the antiquities act to unilaterally put millions of acres of land and water under strict federal control. have you heard about that? eliminating the ability of the people who actually live in those states to decide how best to use that land. today, we are putting the states back in charge. it is a big thing. i'm pleased to be joined by so many members of congress and governor whose have been waiting for this moment including governor herbert of utah. thank you, thank you, governor. governor lepage of maine, who, by the way, has lost a lot of weight. i knew him when he was heavy and now i know him when he was thin. i like him both ways. he has done a great job. governor calvo of guam, thank you. governor torres from the northern marianna islands. thank you, governor. i also want to recognize senator orrin hatch, who, believe me, he is tough. he would call me and call me and say you have to do this. is that right, orrin? you didn't stop. he doesn't give up. he is shocked that i'm doing it but i'm doing it because it is the right thing to do. i really have to point you out. you didn't stop. mike, the same thing. so many people, mike lee, feel so strongly about this. i appreciate your support and your prodding and your never-ending prodding, i should say. we are now getting something done that many people thought would never, ever get done. i'm very proud to be doing it in honor of you guys. thank you. all together, the previous administration bypassed the states to place over 265 million acres. that's a lot of land. 1 million acres. 265 million acres of land and water under federal control through the abuse of the monument designation that's larger than the entire state of texas. in december of last year alone, the federal government asserted this power over 1.35 million acres of land in utah, known as bears ears. i have heard a lot about bears ears. i hear it is beautiful. over the profound objections of the citizens of utah. the antiquities act does not give the federal government unlimited power to lock up millions of acres of land and water. it is time we ended this abusive practice. i have spoken with many state and local leaders, a number of them here today, who care very much about preserving our land and who are gravely concerned about this massive federal land grab. it has gotten worse and worse and worse. now, we're going to free it up, which is what should have map d happened in the first place. this should never have happened. that's why today i'm signing this order and directing secretary zinke to end these abuses and return control to the people, the people of utah, the people of all of the states, the people of the united states. every day, we are going to continue pushing ahead with our reform agenda to put the american people back in charge of their government and their lives. i want to congratulate the secretary. i want to congratulate orrin and mike and all of the people that worked so hard on bringing it to this point. tremendously positive things are going to happen on that incredible land, the likes of which there is nothing more beautiful anywhere in the world. now, tremendously positive things will happen. so i want to thank you. i want to thank everybody for being here. god bless you all and god bless america. thank you. thank you very much. p [ applause ] >> thank you, everybody. >> were you surprised by the ninth court ruling? >> i'm never surprised by the ninth court. >> as i said, we'll see them in the supreme court. the president of the united states signing the executive order, fitting with a .tepatterf amen jabers. returning some of these so-called federal rights back to states. >> that's right, carl. it goes exactly to the point we were discussing just before this ceremony when you talk about the president's deregulation efforts. take a look at the three groups he cited when he talked about his efforts to roll back federal regulations. we are doing that for farmers, ranchers and coal miners. this one piece would affect ranchers. obviously, those three groups are important industries. they are also representative of a big piece of the trump presidential election win coalition. there is political attention being paid to groups that felt they were not getting attention paid to them under the obama administration. you saw the president there at the end of that ceremony, handing that pen, the ceremonial signing pen to orrin hatch shall the senator from utah. this clearly got some resonance in those communities. >> i wonder what the historical precedent is here that would be set if you are able to take back these des i go nations. a couple of the first sites are devils tower and the grand canyon. could conceivably be the grand canyon, no longer a national monument. give it back to arizona and let them do what they want with it. >> that's what's going to have to be litigated. my understanding is that has never been an undesignation. i'll have to go back and triple check that. what they are going to figure out is where the undesignation power lice within the federal government, whether the president can do that with the stroke of a pen or not. that is something the obama administration was hopeful they might be able to take this land and protect and preserve it from being used by the states and businesses. they thought they might be able to put that in a semi-permanent or permanent category. that's what's being hatched out right now. >> thank you. joining us cnbc contributor, bill george. quite a busy week in washington with implications for the market. bill, let's talk about tax reform and tax plans. 15%, a lot of people don't expect that to be the final number. how important is it that the trump administration put that out as the first volley? >> john, let me say first of all i'm really shocked by what i just heard about the national monuments. this is a national treasure. i visited many of those in the past year. i think it would be a disgrace to try to do all kinds of developments, mineral rights on that land. we have to preserve this. i am shocked for another reason. i think, john, the problem with this president is he gets distracted. he should be today announcing his tax plan. instead, he is tell gaitidelega secretary mnuchin and gary cohen. i love steve and gary but he has to get behind these. if he keeps going for trade wars, he is going to create a lot of opposition. i will say this about the president. he is very good at supporting his base. he is in wisconsin making all kind of promises about jobs and promising coal miners more. he is supporting his base. can he govern, john? >> do you think he is repeating the ahca mistakes. some people say he didn't get into the fight over health reform soon enough. is that your argument? some might say he is multitasking, he has a lot of people doing a lot of things. >> he lacks focus. ronald reagan had focus. he got things done. tax reform is going to be the toughest thing we have. tax reform, we haven't done in 30 years. he is going to have to focus on that. he can't get distracted. he is filling all kind of ideas in the first 100 days. he hasn't gotten anything done. on tax reform, you asked about the 15%. let me say that is strictly a bargaining chip. maybe he wants to get to 25. he is a good enough mathematician he splits it between 15 and 35. is that going to get us there? you saw how shocked secretary mnuchin was. he is going to announce it today. they aren't ready to announce it. they are working on a very serious plan. if we go to a territorial tax, which i strongly advocate, that's a huge steal. it changes the whole tax code and brings more work back to the u.s. if we repay tree eight the $2.6 trillion of cash corporations have overseas and we insist that they reinvest, that's a big deal. i'ven to get it to a competitive rate, we have to focus on that. i would separate the corporate tax from the individual. >> i was going to say, a lot of people accuse the president of trying to look busy for the sake of looking busy. it is not like he has been alone in this. the congress has been a roadblock for him. >> yes, it has, carl. he made a huge mistake in turning over health care to paul ryan. if he wanted to get it done, ryan came up with an etiological plan. eventually, it fell. i don't think it would have gotten through the senate. he failed on that test. if he wants to get tax done, he shouldn't repeat that same error. he has to focus on getting growth going and jobs going. i think the key is that we need to correct these problems. >> i want to push back on the growth. what he is doing in most of the executive order, a record number of them, afrm"a," he is showing congress, i can get things done on my own and the american public with no major legislation, he is showing he has done more than 30 executive order. number two, on the growth plan, a lot of them have to do with deregulation. he made it a core pillar of his growth plans in which he is talking about ceos as they come into the white house and directly taking their advice and implementing them in some of these executive orders. >> he is doing a very good job of listening to ceos, taking their advice. we have to govern. we have a congress for a reason, a judiciary for a reason. you can't do everything by executive order. you saw what happened to sanctuary cities and the travel ban. i think he really puts at risk if taxes are not going to be done by executive order. taxes have to be done with the congress and we have to have a reasonable plan. i want to get corporate taxes done desperately, because i see how much work is going overseas because of it. i want to see our economy grow. it is going to grow at less than 1.5%. he has accelerated the growth rate overall. carrier didn't accelerate the growth rate. trust me. >> jpmorgan takes the estimate for q-1 to .5. we a we are going to find out that number on friday. bill george. we will talk to you soon. we are keeping our eyes on the markets. got fairly close to the intra-day high of today on the halftime report, what the trump tax plan means for stocks. see which companies will be the bigs winners. plus, the steel sector is supposed to benefit from the trump administration, but today, is sector is getting crusheded with u.s. steel down 25%. is this your chance the to buy? twitter moving the other way, up 11%. is is it a sign it's safe to get in and a ton of big movers. we'll hit them all and much more on the half. carl, back to you. >> thank you. santel santelli exchange. >> good morning carl and peter. >> thanks. >> all right, so, i see your note. time to sell high yield. i look at stocks. they've had a heck of a two-day run going and they're holding on to gains today. rates have come back into the zone they were trading at before the fren election. explain your call the sell high yield. >> i think this is a time where you want someone to manage your high yield portfolio. the spreads have compressed, so there's little upside. oil, which has been a supporter is rolling up and finally, the index self, the composition has become a little bit weird in that 25% of the indices now telecom. do you want that much exposure to one sector? sell in general and into managers. >> now, i know you've given me specifics and i understand that, you're not looking at a macro market necessarily, but embedded in there, how can you, you must not be really bullish stocks, because the correlation of better ek quity pricing is usuay a stable high yield market. >> yeah, i'm bearish on stocks. we're almost done this phase of the rally. we're rallying into the proposed tax plan. i think we'll sell off there. i think credit might lead the way. as people see the credit markets falling, the first that will be hit will be the russell 2000. that will work o up to the nasdaq and s&p. >> i like this direction. let's stay on this. so, basically, you expect yields to move back down and prices to move back up when the equities get slippery in the future. at least that's your hypothesis, correct? >> that's my view, that we'll see little bit of a risk off trade. that's one of the big differences everyone's looking at right now. treasuries are not buying into this story right now, where as equities still seem to have that bias. i think that's fading and will fade quickly once we're through this tax plan proposal. zpl zbl so, if all things being equal then, if i'm a credit spread observer, you're expegtiexpegt i pechting them to widen. >> yes, i think they'll widen and that will be a drag on economy and stocks in the short-term. >> excellent. thank you for your insights. not sure i agree, but that's what makes a market. carl, back to you. >> thank you very much. dow east up 33. when we come back, latest from amazon at the moment. just like the marines did. at one point, i did change to a different company with car insurance, and i was not happy with the customer service. we have switched back over and we feel like we're back home now. the process through usaa is so effortless, that you feel like you're a part of the family. i love that i can pass the membership to my children, and that they can be protected. we're the williams family, and we're usaa members for life. call usaa today to talk about your insurance needs. get ready to ask jeff if your wbutt looks big in those jeans. amazon unveiling an artificially intelligent style assistant. >> a first of its kind echo with a hands free camera. it takes fphotos using your voice. its built in lighting lets you blur the backgrounds to make sure your outfits pop, givining clean, full length photos that are easy to share with friend, plus, take videos to see yourself from every angle. >> carl, so i've been an echo skeptic, but this feature might be enough to win me over. >> really? >> you need help in you have the best outfit. >> i dread the question from my wife about certain outfits. sometimes, can you back me up? >> sometimes, when you walk in here, you're like, whoa, yeah, i guess you could say that. >> there are some people who ask me the question and there's no good answer, so i'd like to turn to an artificially intelligence. >> i think this shows that amazon is getting serious about fashion. we know they've been making moves on this front to sell their own lines. this seems like a direct fit with that. especially if they can figure out a way to connect it the with prime and their stores and their own fashion lines. >> amazon coming back to the flat line as far as the price action today. although we have seen new highs today. alphabet. adobe. facebook and microsoft on this incredibly busy earnings week. >> 1:30 press briefing. let's get to melissa and the half. welcome to the halftime report. i'm melissa lee in for scott. taxing america. the trader rs steve, john and courtney, president of luke capital. we start off with what we know about president trump's tax plan. john harwood standing by with the chance of it getting through congress. robert frank is in new york with what it will mean for your personal taxes. what the plan means for the all important tax rate. eamon. >> this is some reporting from john harwood. a senior administration official telling him some of the details that will be in thi