this is cnn breaking news. hello, i'm victor blackwell. welcome to "cnn newsroom" alisyn is off. the federal reserve is expected to announce an interest rate hike. the question is by how much. the decision will affect millions of american families and businesses, and it comes as inflation stands at a 40-year high. earlier, president biden says his administration is on track to reduce the national deficit by what he called a record amount. he said that would combat inflation. cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz joins me now. the president wanted to fill out the economic picture ahead of this announcement. tell us more about what he said. >> reporter: president biden really has been leaning into this idea of deficit reduction in recent weeks. the president is very cognizant

of the fact that americans are looking for action be it on the economy or inflation, and that is why you see the president holding events like this one today where he is touting some of the progress the administration has made as the treasury department is estimating the federal deficit will fall by $1.5 trillion. now, the president is also making a play for senator joe manchin with all this talk about deficit reduction as joe manchin has repeatedly said that any economic agenda that passes through congress must reduce the deficit. take a listen to how president biden describes some of the progress that's been made and how he believes his economic agenda will ease some of those economic pressures. >> the bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor before the pandemic and during the pandemic, and it's gone down both years since i've been here, period. they're the facts and why is it important? because bringing down the deficit is one way to ease

inflationary pressures. >> reporter: notably president biden also tried to paint a contrast with republicans labeling their agenda as an extreme maga agenda, a rernferee to former president donald trump, the president showing some of the battle lines he is expected to draw heading into the midterm elections in november. >> thank you very much. the breaking news is in, the federal reserve will raise interest rates by 0.5%. cnn's matt eagan joins us now. as expected? >> reporter: this is as expected, and yet, victor this is historic. we haven't seen the fed do anything like this in almost exactly 22 years back when bill clinton was in the white house, and this means that borrowing costs are going to be going up for everyone. it means higher interest on credit cards, on car loans, mortgage rates are spiking by the most we've seen in four decades. normally the fed prefers to just gradually raise interest rates moving them up by a quarter of a percentage point every meeting. they'd sort of be tap ping the

brakes on the economy. the fed doesn't have that luxury because inflation is high. consumer prices are rising at the fastest pace we've seen in 40 years. families are facing sticker shock on everything from gasoline to used cars to food, and of course shelter, and so the fed is being forced to step in like the firefighter and try to put out this inflation fire right now, and they're really being forced to take more significant steps than normal. now, the fed deserves credit, i think, for, you know, helping to save the economy from covid. there was no covid financial crisis in part because the fed had all these emergency actions, and yet, the fed has come under some criticism for arguably being too late to take away that support. i mean, the economy doesn't need emergency support right now, and so that's where the fed finds itself in this really tricky place because they have to catch up to inflation. no one doubts they have the ability to do that. they could raise interest rates as high as they think is needed

to get inflation back down, but the higher rates go, the more economic pain that there's going to be. and so they find themselves in this tricky spot, you know, can they tame inflation without short circuiting this economy, without causing a recession in 2023 or 2024. the odds may be stacked against the fed, but they've got no choice but to try. >> let's bring in cnn economics and political commentator catherine rampell and mark stewart. let me get your quick reaction first. >> there's no question that the fed had to do something aggressive, i think for all of those reasons matt mentioned. i think it's important to keep in mind, victor, that this inflation equation isn't just about increased demand and a strained supply chain, not even the war in ukraine. there's a bigger issue that many economists feel, and that is labor. people are asking for more money, they are getting more

money. companies have no choice but to comply with that. that costs more. in addition, the number of baby boomers who have been retired, particularly in 2020 when the pandemic hit, that number has rapidly accelerated. that leaves companies with a need for more workers. that too increased costs. so there are many different layers to this, but there are some significant cost con conundrums, specifically when we look at labor, in addition to everything else. >> we'll get into the great resignation, record number of people leaving their jobs in just a moment. c jamie dimon says the fed waited too long to raise rates, what do you say? >> i think with the benefit of hindsight probably, even the fed would agree with that. basically they were much too optimistic like many of us last year about the pace of inflation going forward. they thought that it would be transitory. they thought that it would come down on its own as some of those supply chain problems unwound themselves, and that's not what

happened. instead, they waited a while and, instead, inflation just continued going up on its own. so now they're in this position as matt laid out where they have to raise rates much more aggressively than they likely would have had to do had they begun this process earlier in order to get prices down. >> mark, the potential for this soft landing cooling things off just enough without triggering a recession, is that less likely now? >> it's very difficult. i think that the convention that will fee-- conventional feeling among economist ss that a recession may be inevitable. one way to think about this is a doctor treating a patient with a very serious condition. you do something aggressive, but there may be some unpleasant side effects in the aftermath. the economy may be the same way. raise interest rates, perhaps deal with a recession, but in the bigger picture of things it

may benefit because that will give the economy a shock, and therefore that will reduce inflation. >> if a recession comes, are you seeing great recession? are you seeing early 2000s, you know, short, shallow recession? >> the thing about a recession, the textbook example is when we see two quarters without economic growth. as we saw early on in the pandemic we went into a recession, but it only lasted a few months. i think that is the hope. you do something strong and sudden, have some hardship, but then we see a rebound. >> catherine, let me ask you, what do you think? is a recession inevitable now, and if so, how deep of a decline? >> i don't think a recession is inevitable. i do think that the risks of a recession have risen quite a bit in the past few months because we've gotten hit with a lot of unlucky events including these covid-related shutdowns in china, in major manufacturing hubs, including the war in ukraine whose main and critical

consequence of course is the loss of life, but that's also disrupted lots of other core commodity markets around the world, energy, food, metals, fertilizer, et cetera. all of those things suggest that the risk of recession is higher because it means that inflation is going up, the fed has to act much more aggressively as we've been discussing, and historically when the fed has raised rates in order to get inflation under control, it has accidentally tipped us into a recession. and because they have to raise rates even more today than perhaps they would have liked to had they begun this -- or they would have likely had to had they begun this process earlier, the risk of accidentally tipping us into a downturn just goes up. so you know, a series of unfortunate policy mistakes, again, with benefit of hindsight, plus a spell of bad luck means that the economic outo outlook has darkened. >> i don't know if you heard arlette's report at the top of

the show, certainly you heard the news from the white house about deficit reduction from this administration, and the president says that reducing the deficit takes the pressure off inflation. do you agree with that, and what should people see as that connection that the white house is saying is going to happen? >> look, the main reasons why the deficit has come down so much is that a lot of the stimulus has faded. you know, there was a lot of money pumped into the economy last year. relative to that, it does look like we're spending less because we're spending less. we had these one-time payments that went out, for example. beyond that, tax revenues are up because of inflation, so that makes the numbers look bigger. whether all of that means that inflation is going to come down i think is mostly irrelevant. what matters at this point is how strong is demand, and how easily can those supply chains accommodate that growing demand. can factories produce as much stuff as consumers are willing and eager to buy.

that's what will determine the pace of price increases going forward as well as expectations about all of that rather than government budgets in the next few months. >> mark, let's end where we started here, and you mentioned people quitting their jobs. 4.5, a little more than 4.5 million people in march, a new record tipping over what we saw in november 2020. here's the last six months we have on your screen, 5.6 million more job openings and available workers. place that piece into the puzzle, and how long is that expected to go on? we're seeing 4 million plus a month? >> it's an interesting phenomenon that we're seeing right now. people who participate in the great resignation, took another job, are also in many cases resigning from those new positions. i think what's happening right now is just a systematic redefinition of the work force. sometimes people would take jobs in, for example, let's focus on fast food, this gets a lot of attention. now there are new -- there are new careers that involve staying

at home with far less intense labor, sometimes not even involving a commute. so that is part of this shift that we are seeing, and that, too, can impact how jobs are being filled. i mean, it will be interesting to look, especially on friday where the gaps are and where the needs are and who's really hiring, what jobs are really being filled. we'll see that on friday. >> we'll get that april report, mark, catherine, thank you both. there is heavy fighting right now in the city of mariupol, and the city's mayor says they have lost contact with ukrainian soldiers at that steel plant where civilians are still trapped. look at this video we've just gotten in. we'll have a live update next. former president trump's endorsement power proves strong in ohio's gop primaries, what this signals for the midterms. stay with us. in one easy appointment... ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> tech: ...we can replace yourur windshield and recalibrate your advanced safety system. >> dad: looks great. thanks. >> tecech: stay safe with safelite. schedule now. >> s singers: ♪ safelite repai, safelite replace. ♪

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the mariupol mayor says that the steel plant is under attack. we've got a new video, it shows the explosions -- look at this -- the smoke plumes, extensive damage at that complex. cnn's scott mclean is in lviv. we know that a new convoy of buses with civilians from mariupol is now on its way to zaporizhzhia today. get us up to speed on the fighting and the evacuations there. >> reporter: hey, victor, yeah, first on the evacuations. you mentioned that convoy that is being, according to a local official, organized with the help of the red cross and the united nations. that of course is good news because of that previously successful effort to get at least some people out from under the azostal steel plant. it is not entirely clear whether

or not there is anyone from the steel plant who was on that convoy en route to zaporizhzhia. it seems unlikely at this stage because of the heavy fighting there, so it's more likely that there are people from the wider mariupol city as part of that convoy rather than people from under the steel plant. ukrainians say there have been heavy bombardment today. the mayor says they're hitting them with tanks, artillery, air strikes. they've even moved a ship closer to the plant itself so that they can strike from closer distance. the ukrainians say that the russians for the second day in a row have attempted to storm the facility on the ground as well. earlier today, the mayor said that they had lost contact with the soldiers who are continuing to fight there. an adviser to the president has just said that that contact has now been reestablished, and they said that any russian efforts to actually get on the site of the plant have not been successful thus far. the russians had previously said

that the actual site of the plant and the boundary of it was completely sealed off, impossible for anyone to get in or out, but they deny any claims that they are trying to storm that facility. what they do say, though, is that they are suppressing militants' attempts to take new firing positions. again, they say that they have orders from vladimir putin not to storm the plant, and thus far, they are obeying them. the worrisome thing here, victor, is that of course there are civilians, they say, trapped still underneath accor. according to the mayor there are 30 children as well. while we know that you can get quite deep underground into some of these caverns, chambers underground, there have been instances where part of them have collapsed. there have been rubble according to the soldiers who have been sheltering there as well. there have been places where people have been trapped as well, and so none of this bodes well for the civilians there. by the way, two young women were

killed earlier this week. it is very likely that there will be more. >> scott mclean for us in lviv, just awful seeing those pictures. scott, thank you so much. president biden says that he is open to additional sanctions on russia. that's after the european union proposed a sixth round of sanctions against the kremlin including a ban on all russian oil imports by the end of the year. cnn's international diplomatic ed ed editor dick robertson joins me. specifically the oil imports, what's the significance there? >> it's significant because oil represents sort of a single biggest item that the european union spends money on and that money going into russia's pockets and funds the war, so oil is the big one. the aim is to end russian oil imports by the end of the year. there's a sort of get out clause for hungary and slovakia because they are so dependent on russian

oil at the moment, although we have heard that hungary is pushing back and saying it won't sign up to this as it stands right now. what in reality that means is that we heard from the european commission president outlining this today, it likely means that the debate over trying to agree the sixth round of sanctions will take longer, possibly pushing it towards the end of may when the european union leaders will get together to discuss it and even in that environment it becomes hard because leaders say something to cameras on the way in, viktor orban the hungarian prime minister maybe will speak to camera positions become harder and it's harder within the context of that meeting to get a deal fully signed off. the european union is targeting three russian banks. one of those three russian state banks, broadcasters will be banned from the european airway, and another significant item on that sixth round of sanctions,

senior military officers and other top level officials will be believed to be responsible for the alleged war crimes in bucha will also hit the sanctions list. it's a big raft of sanctions, but there's a lot of talk needed to get it over the line. >> nic, pope francis, he spoke with the leaders of the russian orthodox church. he told him to not become putin's altar boy. we also know, according to sources that the leader of the russian orthodox church is included in the eu's latest sanctions proposal. why include that figure? >> reporter: yeah, and there's been heavy pushback from the leadership of the russian orthodox church today as well on both those accounts. the reason being that the perception is and the words of the russian orthodox patriarch have been supportive of president putin, have been supportive of the war, and the pope, like other religious leaders around the world, doesn't mean that another religious leader should be

engaged in essentially, you know, helping president putin have this war, that he should be speaking out against it. now, the russian orthodox church said today that the comments by the pope were not helpful because they weren't conducive to having a reasonable dialogue or conversation, and they also said that the european union was out of touch with common sense, and it didn't understand what it was doing. but it's a very clear perception that the russian patriarch is very much behind putin on this, and that -- and that is not a good thing because it does help push forward some people who might not otherwise, you know, take up arms. >> one more for you here, nic. new threats from russia against nato countries continuing to supply weapons to ukraine. what are they saying? >> yeah, again, we've heard this coming from this time the defense minister sergei shoygu saying that, again, any nato

weapons that across over the border into ukraine, then they are legitimate targets for the russian military. we continue to hear the russian leadership, president putin on down complaining, criticizing nato for this, and what we've seen the russians do in the past few days is really step up their attacks on ukraine's ability to move those weapons from the borders to the front line, targeting as we saw in lviv electrical substations that are connected to the rail network way in the west of ukraine, and this really represents some very significant specific targeting by putin to send missiles, cruise missiles to hit those precise locations. they want to take down these supply routes. victor. >> nic robertson for us in finland, thank you, nic. in his most forceful pushback yet of the leaked draft opinions that would strike down roe v. wade, president biden calls out, quote, the maga crowd as extremists, and there was more.

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donald trump gave a big boost to some ohio gop candidates. the republicans who strongly support the former president got more votes than the non-trump republicans. author j.d. vance, the senate candidate who scored trump's endorsement is the projected winner of that primary. >> i have absolutely got to think thank the 45th president

of the united states, donald j. trump. ladies and gentlemen, wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of donald trump's america first agenda, ladies and gentlemen, it ain't the death of the america first agenda. >> with me now cnn senior political analyst john avlon and cnn political commentator margaret hoover. welcome to you both. let's get into it. margaret, you're first. you're first, so how big of a win is this for trump? our reporting is that he was relieved that vance won, maybe some concerns before that. what's it mean for him? >> he should be relieved because the weekend before in a rally in another state he screwed up the endorsement, he said it was for j.d. mandell. he merged the two candidates. look, no, this is a win for trump and for j.d. vance, but don't read into too much. i mean, trump owns the ohio gop sort of, dewine won, the

incumbent republican governor on the other side, the flip side is that the trump adjacent gop gubernatorial candidates did not win. trump is going to do best when he endorses in multicandidate scramble primaries. that's where his candidate can stand out and emerge to get the guy up to 30%, 32%. but winning a majority like in georgia, for example, where brian kemp is running comfortably ahead of david pe perdue, the trump-endorsed candidate, trump isn't going to fly. so it's a state by state and really, multiprimary versus incumbent primary issue at play. >> let me break down the wonk and put a -- bring a little more perspective. j.d. vance, did, he was propelled from third place, 11% in march up to a third of the vote. that's great. but he won around 350,000 votes. there are nearly 6 million

voters in ohio in the last general election, and so it speaks to the fact that even with trump's endorsement he just gets a third, and you're talking about a very small percentage of the total electorate. trump is incredibly powerful in closed party primaries. a quarter of voters voted for the never trump guy. that is the distorting effect of trump and hyperpartisanship on our pliolitics. >> i was going to bring up, you talked about the never trump candidate who's in third place, but josh mandel, who you mentioned half of his name, he's also someone who buys into the big lie just like j.d. vance, so there appears to be no consequence for these voters, especially in a primary. you think there will be one in november? >> well -- >> yes. >> republican primary voters, many of them do believe the big lie. right? they still believe that if there weren't election regularities the whole thing was stolen and very few of them are willing to

say donald trump won fair and square, and we'll see what happens -- i mean, donald trump lost fair and square, joe biden won fair and square, so what happens in november is entirely a separate question. the republican closed partisan primaries, the big lie is big at play. >> margaret, let me stay with you on the leaked opinion on roe. where is the republican jubilance? i mean, this for decades has been what republicans have been selling as the goal for their base and when we have them on, we're seeing the statements, it's kind of like, oh, well, we'll let the states staten island. where's the celebration? >> i want to be clear. you know i'm a center right person and also pro-choice. i like you am sort of in awe at how muted the jubilance is. i suspect talking to my republican colleagues and friends and operatives, it's that, a, this was a draft, so this is not a done deal. nobody knows if that can change. and b, i think they don't want to jinx it. i think they don't want to jinx

it, right? like and so it would just be -- it would be too soon. >> i think they also -- this is a careful what you wish for. they're trying to make the issue the leak, not this, you know, achievement that they've been working for in part because it's incredibly unpopular from a national standpoint. this is a case of special interests seeding the judiciary to try to achieve an outcome that opposed by 70% of the american people. the other thing you hear from republicans could this mess up the midterm elections. now all of a sudden you're going to see a much more motivated democratic base and independent voters because something's being taken away for the first time. you've got a double problem. that's the reality they're confronting. this is a problem of their own creation. they can treat it as a moral victory for some folks and good people can disagree on abortion, but when you take precedent upon precedent that all these judicial nominees said -- and you say they weren't telling the

truth, that's another big one lie. >> i just have to tell you, h though, what republicans are telling themselves is this is not going to be an election issue. it is inflation. it is economic issues. it is ukraine. it is gas. it's all the other things, and by the way, joe manchin's saying the same thing. all of them are really believing it. i think everybody's reading into the fact that there's really been silence in the room on this question about what's going to happen to the court. >> the head of the democratic campaign committee says this is the central issue of 2022 above inflation. do you buy that? >> it very well could be. if this draft opinion holds and there is an overturning of roe. everybody needs to caption that. this is about taking away a right that's been established in the u.s. constitution for 50 years. this is about state laws that will go into effect that some which are passed that do not include exceptions for rape or incest. that is not common sense. that is not compassionate. that is not pursuit of common ground. and that's just the reality. >> let me get your reaction to

what we heard from president biden today in this deficit reduction event. he mentioned what he called the maga -- i guess he mispronounced it, moga is what he said crowd. let's watch. >> this is about a lot more than abortion. what happens if you have changes in the laws saying that children who are lgbtq can't be this classrooms with other children, is that legit under the way the decision's written? what are the next things that are going to be attacked? because this maga crowd is really the most extreme political organization that's existed in american history, in recent american history. >> sharpening attacks heading into the midterms. do you think it will work? >> look, i just -- i kind of have to do a head fake because this was the president who said unity 20 plus times in his inaugural address.

to point out the maga crowd and say everything who sort of associates loosely with maga is divisive and partisan and part of the proba, you wrote a whole about political extremes in american history, the maga crowd can count from everyone, you can ko count the proud boys as maga crowd. this is not unifying language. i expect better of the poft united states. can i just say one more quick thing. this is a one ticket ride for a social issue, okay? alito was very clear, this is not transferable to other social issues and i have spoken to folks in the lgbt crowd. >> last word, the danger is where is the role of privacy? and what are the implications of that, for rights that aren't enumerated in the original constitution, that's the stake, and look, you want to blame joe biden for not being able to unite the country, he's talking about the authoritarian wing of the republican party that is refusing to accept or continue to back the people --

>> we got to wrap it there. clearly we could do this for another 40 minutes. we gop to wrap it, margaret hoover, john avlon, thank you. >> thank you, victor. >> let's go to the alabama where the manhunt intensifies. we've got new video that shows the moment the corrections officer escorted the inmate out of jail, and now the sheriff has an urgent message for that officer. we have that for you next.

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we're just getting this in to cnn, the judge overseeing derrick chauvin's federal trial just accepted the terms of chauvin's guilty plea and will sentence the ex-officer to 20 to 25 years in prison for violating george floyd's civil rights. now, this would be served concurrently with the 22.5 year criminal sentence tied to the murder conviction at the state level, though chauvin has appealed that conviction. it's day six in the manhunt for the alabama inmate and the corrections officer accused of helping him escape from jail. new security footage shows the very moment that vicky white escorted casey white from the detention center last friday. according to the sheriff there in lauderdale county, the two had a special relationship that may date back to 2020. and one of casey white's victims has an urgent message for the officer. >> if she is still alive, get

the hell out, run, run, run as far as you can and turn yourself in and contact somebody. like do the right thing before you lose your life or before somebody else does. >> cnn national correspondent ryan young has been following this search. ryan, investigators, they are painting a clearer picture of how much planning went into this. what have they found? >> reporter: yeah, they are. victor, when you think about that, first of all, that audio from that victim is chilling. she moved out of the state to get away from that, and you can understand why her and her family are sort of scared about this guy being on the loose. but when you talk about the updates, i've talked to the sheriff today and he says, look, they're getting phone calls in, a lot of tips, and the u.s. marshal service is tracking all these tips down. nothing significant for them to report to us right now, but there's bits and pieces that are coming out slowly. when you think about this, you're talking about a very tall individual who's still on the run. just this afternoon they released some new video from a

gas station that you can see that patrol car moving away, and one of the reasons why i'm standing in this parking lot is because that patrol car was headed to this parking lot and down behind me there, on the last parking space, was a car that was parked there so they could exchange the cars. once they got in that car, they took off, and they haven't been seen since. this afternoon i actually talked to a city council member who said she -- who said he saw vicky drive by, and they waved at each other. he thought nothing of it until later. take a listen to what he told us today about someone he trusted throwing away their life. >> most criminals in his capacity are just great conmen. that's how you make a living, and i think he conned her, and she sold her soul to the devil. i just hope she's safe and i just -- i'm sorry that she traded 25 years of protecting for probably 25 years of serving. >> reporter: victor, when you

think about this in talking to the sheriff as well, when he's talking about the fact that she sold her house. she retired, her last day was supposed to be last friday. they believe there's extra weapons in her car. they consider casey armed and dangerous. they are concerned about vicky's safety as well. you can understand when you put all this together, this entire area is talking about this situation. we're only about an eight-minute drive away from that jail, and the fact that they met in 2020 and then kept in contact, even when he was transferred to another jail, there are so many questions surrounding this right now. there are a lot of jokes around this community about this, but at the same time, people are wondering and waiting to see where these two ended up, especially after the six days they've been on the run. victor. >> the sheriff says they could be anywhere, potentially even out of the country. that search continues. ryan young for us, thank you so much. it may be a matter of weeks until children under 5 in the u.s. can get their covid vaccine, but there are new surveys that signal that the majority of parents may not be excited to get in line.

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the cdc forecast shows that covid deaths and hospitalizations are likely going to increase over the next four weeks. and a new survey founds most parents with kids under 5 are not planning on vaccinating them against covid-19 when the

vaccine becomes available, at least not right away. cnn correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now. hello to you, what are parents saying? >> parents seem a little bit hesitant about getting the vaccine overall. some parents want it like right now, others are like, no, not so much. let's take a look at what the kaiser family foundation survey found. as soon as available, that was 18%. wait and see, 40%. 11% said only if i have to, like, for example, to send them to school, and 21% said they definitely won't, and it's that 21%, or 27%, rather, that you really worry about. but victor, i will tell you, let's keep in mind, not all the data is out there. maybe it's wise to say i'm not sure yet. the data is not all out. we should be seeing it in the coming weeks. to take a look at what's happening with covid, there has been some interesting work by looking at whether or not we are in a new wave of covid.

k kaiser, the same folks, are we in a new way. the answer depends on what political party you were aligned with. for democrats, 53% of them say yes, we are in a new covid wave, and for republicans, 15% said, yes, we are in a new covid wave so just to let you know, cases and hospitalizations are ticking up slightly. we don't know if that means that we are officially in a new wave now. what we do know is that the cdc is forecasting that we will see more deaths in the coming weeks than we have seen in the past. so if you look at this forecast for may 4th through 28th, 432 deaths per day. currently there's about 391 deaths per day. so the forecast is for, you know, not a huge lead, not many more, but still, even one death is too many. victor. >> small up tick but in the wrong direction there. >> right. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you. >> thanks. family members of americans who are being held illegally

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helen knew exercise could help her diabetes. but she didn't know what was right for her. no. nope. no way. but then helen went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now she knows what activity helps lower her glucose. and can see what works best for her. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. freestyle libre 2. now covered by medicare for those who qualify. this morning, dozens of people with family members being detained overseas protested outside the white house. they want a meeting with president biden to talk about bringing their loved ones home. the protest organizers say the recent release of american trevor reed was the lighter fluid that families needed to act.

cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood has more on the message from these families. kylie, trevor reed's family, paul whelan's family, they were also there. their first public appearance together. what did they say? >> they were there. there were also family members of dozens of americans who are also wrongfully detained abroad. their message today was very clear, first and foremost it was that they want the biden administration to do everything in they're power to bring home their loved ones, no matter where they are detained abroad. syria, iran, venezuela, russia, just to name a few countries. the other things they were explicit about, these families want to meet with president biden. they saw how a meeting between trevor reed's family and president biden was one of the things that appeared to speed up the release of trevor reed who is detained in russia and was returned here to the united states last week, so they made it very clear that they too want to meet with president biden, and they think that he would

understand the plight, the challenge, the pain that they are facing if they sit down and speak with him face to face, and elizabeth whelan, she is the sister of another american, paul whelan, who was wrongfully detained in russia. listen to what she had to say about navigating this labyrinth trying to get her brother home. >> you have no idea how to get out, you don't know who your loved one is, who is going to help you and hurt you along the way. every one of us is waiting, stuck in the labyrinth, for that same moment, for that one door to open and our loved one to walk through. i call on the administration to meet with us all, to use every tool at their disposal and reunite our families. >> now, we should note that earlier this week, austin tice's

parents, an american detained in syria in 2012, they did meet with president biden, and they told cnn yesterday that that meeting itself demonstrated some progress. they said that president biden demonstrated a willingness for sustained engagement on this issue. of course, it's a challenge because the united states and syria don't have normal diplomatic relations but what they are saying is there needs to be negotiations to get their son out of the country. >> kylie atwood at the state department. thank you, kylie. it's the top of the hour on cnn newsroom, good to have you with me. i'm victor blackwell. get ready to pay more if you or your business needs to borrow money. last hour the federal reserve made a historic announcement, they will hike interest rates by a half percent, that's the highest rate in 22 years. the goal is to reduce inflation. fed chairman jerome powell spoke directly to the american people. >>