Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) Brings Special Guest To SOTU In Protest Of Immigration Policies
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan's twelfth district. She invited Cindy Garcia as her guest to President Trump's first State of the Union. Due to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, Garcia's husband Jorge was deported to Mexico after living in America for 30 years.
Congresswoman Dingell brought Garcia in order to place a human face on families torn apart by Trump administration policies. She says now, more than ever, comprehensive immigration reform is a necessity.
"It's a living nightmare," Garcia said of her husband's deportation. "It's like dealing with death, except you never get to bury a body." She understands America's immigration system is broken, but is urging reform so no more families are torn apart like hers. Garcia's message to other immigrants struggling: stay strong, stay positive, there is a solution on the horizon.
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - ended the session with a new record. Akshata Bailkeri, Equity Analyst at Bruderman Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is a consensus for robust consumer spreading in 2022, especially as the Omicron variant is proving to be milder than other COVID-19 strains.
John Quelch, Dean of Miami Herbert Business School, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the retail giant is acting in accordance to President Biden's new law banning goods from China's Xinjiang region. Quelch also elaborates on the importance of China in Walmart's overall strategy.
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.
