the fed s robert kaplan says he s not sure the u.s. economy can avoid a severe downturn. tim cook defends apple s decision to remove an app that tracks hong kong police. he says it was being used maliciously. shery: let s get you started with a quick check of the markets. we see u.s. futures gaining .2% after president trump said u.s. china trade talks were going very well. that optimism translated into the regular session and we saw the s&p 500 game .6 percent. as we finally had the first day of those two-day negotiations kickoff after we saw a lot of conflicting reports on if that would happen. we had banks and automakers leading the gains on the s&p 500. the semiconductor index also gaining about 1% for a second consecutive session. the nasdaq also rose .6%. we had a weaker than expected u.s. cpi print, which did little to discourage market excitations that we could perhaps be seeing more fed easing. energy was the best performer as well in today s session as we had wti re
amazon s decision to pull its proposed hq2 site out of new york city and the move by some states to re-examine financial incentives given so large corporations looking to relocate. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018]] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] host: good morning. it s thursday, february 21, 2019. members of congress remain back in their home states for the president s state recess week but the senate will gather in for a pro session today. we will be with you beginning with family leave laws in the united states. when it comes to paid sun and paid family leave and whether you think this family should expand its family national leave policies. if you think, the phone number, 202-748-8000. if you think we shouldn t, 202-748-8001 is the number to call. you can also catch us on social media. and a very good thursday morning to you. you can start ca
among the winners was the first podcast recipient. after the announcement, a panel of journalists talked about the important of the press with a focus on the rising world of audio. this is just under one hour. good morning, everyone, and welcome to the announcement of george polkk winners. i am privileged to be the president of long island university. this is our second year hosting this wonderful event in the first amendment lounge of the national press club. it is the 70th anniversary of the founding of this award. long island university created our journalism award in 1949 to carry on george polk s legacy of relentlessly pursuing truth. andas recognized original impactful and thought-provoking work by journalists across locations met mediums, and topics over the last 70 years. how thisnsely proud of award has remained relevant despite an entered changing and ever changing landscape. reason for the men and women who painstakingly journalism awards in the country. it
the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. the army, navy and air force secretaries spoke about the pentagon s spending priorities and strategies at the center for strategic and international studies. this is an hour. all right. good morning. i m kathleen hicks and direct the international security program here and it s my pleasure to welcome you to our second annual, said with hope there will be further, conversation with the service secretaries. and i should say secretaries of the military departments is actually the appropriate way to say that. and we re so pleased that they agreed to come back to the forum. it s a unique forum. i hope you all find it valuable for not just hearing the priorities are for each individual department, but also some of the ways in which they are working together for the nation. so let me briefly introduce who we have here. we have secretary of the army mark spencer to my immediate close. mark esper. i
the head of the u.s. military s central command testified recently before the senate armed services committee about military operations in the middle east. he answered questions about the planned u.s. troop withdrawal from syria and afghanistan, iranian influence in the regional, and combating isis. good morning. the committee today will receive testimony from the united states central command. i would like to welcome our witness, general joseph votel, commander of the united states central command. welcome here. general votel will hand over the central command at the end of march. and i want to thank him for his outstanding service to our country over his 38-year career. general, you have had a tough job at centcom, with the rise of isis and spread of proxies and the return of russia to the middle east you and the president have grappled with some of the hard decisions. thank you for all you ve done to keep america safe. the senate armed services committee s top priority i