Good morning, everyone. Earlier today the federal open Market Committee announced a onehalf percentage point reduction in the target range for the federal funds rate, bringing that range to 1 to 1 1 4 percent. My colleagues and i took this action to help the u. S. Economy keep strong in the face of new risks to the Economic Outlook. The fundamentals of the u. S. Economy remain strong. The unemployment race has been near half century lows. The pace of job gains have been solid and wages have been rising, underpinning solid Household Spending which has been the key driver of Economic Growth over the last year. At the time of our meeting in january, prospects for continued Economic Growth remained favorable and we judged that Monetary Policy was wellpositioned to support that outlook. Since then, the spread of the coronavirus has brought new challenges and risks. The virus has afflicted many communities around the world and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been harmed. Th
Coronavirus. Well have live coverage here on cspan3 wednesday afternoon at 2 30 p. M. Eastern. It will also be online at cspan. Org and you can also listen live on the free cspan radio app. Today, federal Health Officials answered questions. Good morning. The committee on health, education, labor, and pensions will please come to order. I have one goal today and that is Accurate Information. Accurate information that can help americans understand what they should do about the coronavirus and Accurate Information to help members of congress to decide what else we ought to be doing about the coronavirus. Around the world, the spread of the Novel Coronavirus is alarming. 90,000 cases in 65 countries, 3,000 deaths according to the World Health Organization. But most people in the United States are at low risk. Here is what the New York Times said on its front page two days ago on sunday in describing the situation in our country. Quote, much about the coronavirus remains unclear and it is
Potential changes to the u. S. Political system which he writes about in his book. [video clip] for this for ready anything whether it is going to be a breakout of larger proportions or whether or not we are at that very low level and we want to keep it that way. Yesterdayident trump flanked by white house officials reassuring americans about the response to the coronavirus. We want to get your thoughts on that. Republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Ndependents, 2027488002 text us with your first name, city, and state at 2027488001 or you can go to twitter at cspanwj and facebook. Com cspan. Before we get to your calls, lets begin with more of that News Conference from yesterday. The president rom talking about the state of the coronavirus. [video clip] earlyhave through decisions, closed our borders to flights coming in from certain byas, areas that were hit the coronavirus and hit hard. We did it early. A lot of people thought we should not do it early and it turned out to
Point drop for the dow, biggest point draw for s p 500, they are in correct territoryy, off 10 from the most recent high. Traders tell me, there is no good news to have made this market pivot, there is nothing about vaccines that is conclusive, if you look at the dow, biggest, microsoft, and intel and you had apple. Apple and microsoft, saying they will be affected, their sales this quarter by the coronavirus. Microsoft gets 10 of its revenue from china and apple 17 , one bright spot on the dow, only stock higher today, 3m, they make face masks, they are telling we hear selling we hear on a dre market, boxes going for dollars 500, a company saying it reported 14 Million Dollars in sales, normally a box of masks should cost between 3 to 5 dollars. And if you look at groups on s p 500, all 11 closed lower, not one bright spot there. And a backdrop. 3 companies, canceledb biggest events ofs year, microsoft, facebook, epic games. They were supposed to have huge events in spring either in S
To have a discussion on such an important and wide ranging issues, we have assembled a Real Dream Team of diplomats with experience in the region. Im going to introduce them briefly. And trust me, introducing them in a time efficient manner requires a lot of distillation incredible accomplishments across decades of u. S. Foreign service. Im going to start on my left, your right with ambassador gerald federstein who a veteran in the u. S. Foreign service. Now retired. He was ambassador to yemen in the Obama Administration. Principal Death Penalty for near of state eastern affairs. Deputy chief of mission in pakistan as well as senior posts departments Counter Terrorism bureau. Hes Senior Vice President of the middle east institute which is a leading think tank in washington. Immediately to his right is ambassador patrick faros, who is president and executive director of the u. S. Qatar business council. He has a 35year Foreign Service career with many distinguished post including his u.