After serving more than 40 years in the Senate, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will retire at the end of the year. All eyes are on Mitt Romney, who now has a clear path to the Senate, and the ambitions to get him there.
Jenna Browder, Correspondent at CBN, discusses the likelihood that Mitt Romney runs for Hatch's seat. Romney has been a critic of President Trump on a number of issues. A Senator Romney could make it even more difficult for the president to pass major legislation.
Browder also takes a look at Bannon's remaining influence in the Republican Party after the release of Michael Wolff's tell-all "Fire And Fury." Bannon has apologized for his comments on the Trump family, but is that enough?
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.