insight from them and there is an open comment period right now through june. and we can tell you the exact date. but based on this and the economic analysis, we will try to put a proposal together. i don't want to commit to a certain month. i'm just there for three weeks now, but to try to put a proposal together, and put that out for public comment based on what we have already heard this summer, and then that starts after that. >> along that line, the fec has also created a climate and efg task force within the division of enforcement to come i believe the phraseology is develop initiatives and proactively identify esg related misconduct. can you visit with us for a moment about that? do you envision that there will be enforcement actions prompted

by this guidance question mike i guess it's standard no matter how you put it. >> the task force is looking at the guidance that's already in place. the guidance was put out and climate in 2010. in two things, one is to see if companies are following that guidance and the overall disclosure regimes that are in place at this point in time. two, it helps us and informs the commission, all five of us as we move forward to consider any future rules. we could learn from what happens now. the division of corporate finance and examination, we could see was going on now. for folks complying with the rules and laws in place, it also helps inform us about what's going on and how we can have

more consistency and comparability in the future. rep. waters: thank you. the gentleman from texas, mr. green, also chair the subcommittee on oversight and investigations, now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you madam chair. and thank you to our witnesses. as you know from the genesis of this process, i have been concerned. you have called to our attention that the one company, the largest market maker executes approximately 50% of all u.s. retail volume. that's quite an amount for one firm to manage.

that causes a good deal of consternation. especially when the firm finds itself engaged in trading ahead there are penalties associated with trading ahead. but these are primarily civil penalty -- penalties. as a result, many times there's no acknowledgment of liability. in one case, $700,000 was paid. but it, while it seems like a lot, really isn't when we are dealing in billions. as a result, i have been concerned and i see there is a proposed piece of legislation that would amend the securities and exchange act of 1934 and prohibit trading ahead by market makers and for other purposes as well. this is something that i think

has reached a point where time has come. i would like to ask chair gansler -- gansler -- chair gansler -- chair gensler, should we not try to head and should we simply have -- >> i thank you for that question and look forward to working with you. i think our current rules, you are correct, they are civil, but the current rules are if you take a customer order and you trade ahead of that, that's out of bounds. that's not allowed. and i think that's the customer needs to come first, and in the market structure, that's what brokers are supposed to do. i look forward to working with you on your staff on any

proposed legislation. i'm not had a chance to look at it. >> thank you. as the chair indicated, the process is unfair to the persons who are making the purchase in the markets, who would like to become a participant but they don't have the advantage of the market maker. do you agree that this is a circumstance that we have to take a look at? we don't want people to think that we build into the cost to build -- the cost of doing business, the cost of trading ahead. >> thank you. we are not a direct regulator of the markets as the sec and finra are. i think the situation described is not something that any company would endorse. having criminal penalties he

does a cost of business is not something that any individual should be supportive of. your comments stand, but part of the market is trading size and not being regulated, there's not much i can do about that specifically. >> thank you that's one of the reasons i had think the legislation similar to what's being proposed is necessary. to penalize criminally require some creative prosecution. we don't have a definitive law that makes it a crime to do this, literally. i'm concerned that if you can simply make up the cost of doing business, you civilly continue to do business and build in that cost. this legislation would require due diligence on the part of the ceo. it would require the co2 -- the

ceo to certify that they have performed reasonable due diligence and ensuring that the market maker has not traded ahead and have some liability when this occurs. this is something that we cannot allow to continue as simply a pat on the back, to a certain extent. some would say slap on the wrist. but we have to do something about it. this legislation addresses this and i look forward to working with persons who are going to get this done. i yelled back. -- i healed back. rep. waters: the gentleman from florida is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you manager. chairman, some people believe that the current shortselling practices is below the fundamentals. what is your experience tell you? what can we do about this? >> i thank you for asking.

shortselling has been part of the market structure for many decades. even before the securities laws. economists have many studies and there have been many debates on shortselling. your question is to something other than fundamentals. our remit is to make sure that the markets are fair, orderly, efficient, free of fraud and manipulation, but there are some times that individual securities might be in it, in a personal opinion, not aligned with fundamentals. but it might be sentiment is the other piece. i want to be careful that we stick to our important piece of it. we do think there's a need for greater transparency in the

shortselling side. and i have asked staff to propose under the authority that congress is already invested that we have greater transparency. i'm encouraged that there will be things done in that area. >> and could you share with us how you are working to move the settlement cycle to one-day wall preserving the benefits? >> thank you you for the question. shortening the sales cycle is the concept of time -- so by reducing the period that trades are open and reducing the potential impact of the default of one of our members means that we can collect lower levels of margin or collateral. one of the biggest components is volatility, what's happening in

the markets and how our prices moving. by shortening the period we can reduce that by 40%. i could be $6 billion of capital that could be used elsewhere. that's a significant amount for our members. >> i'm glad to hear that. chairman, tell us about what the fcc is doing to ensure -- doesn't mean that retail investors are subject to unfair trades. >> i asked the staff to take a close look at this in the context of the overall market structure. payment, which some brokers use and some don't is in essence a payment to the broker for that order flow. and it can be in conflict with the interest of that customer. that inherent conflict, we found in a case that was settled in december, where there was action communication between the

wholesaler and the broker saying i could give the customer more or you more, there's a trade-off between them. we need to take a closer look at that, but also in the context of the overall equity market structure. there's also payment for order flow on exchanges, so there's other pieces of this puzzle. >> do you believe that cooperation among retail investors in chat rooms for example could be leading to undesirable collusion in the equity market? >> we should always be vigorously enforcing our laws and ensuring others not fraud.

if somebody is trying to defraud another person, mislead another person, that's what our laws are, we should vigorously route that out. >> q1 said that transparency is costly, can you explain that in the context of financial markets? >> that i said transparency is -- >> transparency is costly. >> it at the heart of efficient markets. it does slow your regimes, and that's a form of transparency, but i think that's the heart of investors think -- taking risks. >> i yield back my time. rep. waters: thank you.

the gentleman from missouri, mr. cleaver, also chair the subcommittee on housing, community, and insurance is now recognized for five minutes. >> i think our guests for being here -- thank our guests for being here. chairman, thank you for the work you have done over the years. i appreciate your presence here today. my great grandpa died in 1980 at 103. he used to say, some new invention would come up. whether it was a toaster or microwave, he would say what are they going to do now? what are they going to do now? he was concerned. he thought that the people landing on the moon would create a bunch of weather problems in texas.

i never could get that out of his head. sometimes i'm tempted to join in with my grandfather. going back to mr. scott and his discussion with you earlier. i have to tell you, i have a lot of concerns and maybe it is something i will have to learn to deal with. let me give you an example. the shares and metro bank in the u.k. back in may. their shares fell over 10% before metro could get control of the fake news about their financial freefall they are fortunate that it tanaka further -- they are fortunate that it

did not go further. i'm concerned about what's going on with regulations and what we need to do to ensure that social media does not take control of our lives and take it in a direction that is detrimental. you share that concern, if so, what should we do? how do we address the issue that we just experienced with metro bank? >> to the best way we can, is to be technology neutral, but recognize that the technology in east generation -- and ishares and provides a new way to munich a. with the telephone came along there were debates whether to allow the first telephone on the floor of the new york stock exchange. this happened in the 1920's. technology has come along in the 20 20's and we have to ensure that we stick to our principles of investor protections and

capital formation. we have to learn so that we have free speech but if somebody trying to manipulate a market or scuba market or put fraudulent information into the social media channel, that we have protected investors against that. particularly in this new computer age. that's more challenging. i think the sec is up to the challenge. i have asked folks how we freshen up our rules in this environment. >> is their division that works on this? that thinks about this and plans for it? that goes through all kinds of scenarios around what we do when this happens, anticipating? >> know, and i'm only in my

third week, but i think with the trading markets and the economic unit and our examination, it's through those units. but i think we constantly have to be evaluating to the earlier question even about regulation and best interest. we will vigorously get the most out of the best interest but we will also evaluate. if it's not serving the purpose of investors, we will update and freshen that role, as we always have to be evaluating investors. first we have to align with our mission. >> let me congratulate you on your confirmation. i do recognize that you just got in and i do have some questions but you probably need a little more time to deal with this. but i hope when you get a peaceful night's rest that you remember the question raised by congressman cleaver about the

markets as paranoid, practicing paranoia. because i'm really afraid of bad stuff happening. i'm hoping i'm wrong, but i'm glad you are there. >> i wish i had met your grandfather and my mother would say that out of the space journey the best thing that came out [indiscernible] was -- that came out was [indiscernible] rep. waters: thank you. the gentleman from missouri is recognized for five minutes. >> welcome. mr. gensler, in september of 2018, the fed, ftse, ncua, occ and cfc be all had an agency --

interagency -- which clarified guidance. supervisory guidance does not have an effective law, and the regulations does. in january the financial regulators issued a final rule to confirm the difference by codifying a statement. i understand the sec operates things differently. but in many ways it's imperative that the fc -- sec distinguishes between guidance and rules of law. do you agree that distinguishing between guidance and rules is essential for sound regulation? chairman gensler: thank you for that question, i look forward to your -- to working with your office of general council to understand what bank regulators did. there is a difference between --

and staff guidance. that is something i am familiar with in my prior service to government. >> you can maybe answer this question but will you commit to issuing a final rule which clarifies the role of guidance and ensures the enforcement actions will only be based on the violations of rules of law? chairman gensler: i need to meet with staffed to understand what the sec has done in the past. and whether there is an appropriate need for such new rules. but i do understand, rules, as duly operating from congress, delegated to the agencies, are different than guidance. i would look to work with you and understand your concerns better. >> very good. thank you. chairman, the act of 1933

insecurity exchange act of 1934 established the sec to accept generally accepted accounting principles which have been established by a private entity. i believe that a private standard setter can help facilitate effective accounting principles and promote transparency for investors. recent actions, and an overall active oversight -- overall lack of oversight has raised serious concern regarding a standard-setting process and the ability to conduct proper analysis. in my opinion, since this has been given the authority to operate as a private --, the sec should ensure that its carrying out -- in an appropriate manner. can you tell me what the relationship is between the two is and should be? >> congress has been clear, as i understand it, the securities markets benefit by disclosure,

that includes accounting disclosure. the sec has that authority. and i believe that it was mike oxley from your committee who put in place exactly what you said, provision that there could be reliance on meeting certain goals. our office of chief accountant has an important role in communicating with these important accounting standards. and that the sec is at the top of that chain. >> my concern, quite frankly, as with their ability to implement something like cecil, which did not do any standard-setting studies about. they just arbitrarily went out and decided in their own wisdom that this was something that they should be doing. all the other government agencies has to it -- how we administer the rules and

regulations every day. we have to go through the administrative procedures act. they do not. would you support something along the line to rein them in, so to speak, so they would fall under the administrative procedures act and have to do the kind of qualitative and quantitative studies before they can issue a rule or regulation which would protect the economy, industry, consumers from a bad rule or regulation they might implement? chairman gensler: i like to meet with you and your staff and better understand your concerns. as i understand what congress decided some 20 years ago is that it was best to rely on and allow the sec to rely on an outside standard setter. and that helps set them apart. the concerns you are thinking about i would like to better understand and see how we could better address that. >> thank you for your answers

prayed i look forward to working with you on this at length. this is a very serious concern. with that, i yield back. rep. waters: thank you, the gentleman from new york, also the chair from house committee on oversight and reform, is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. chairman, it's great to have you before the committee once again and have you as the chair. i have a few questions. i want to ask about an important issue that i worked on for several years, force arbitration. a few years ago, some people were pushing public companies to include force arbitration provisions in their corporate governance documents heard which would prevent their own shareholders from suing them for securities fraud in federal court. if the sec allowed to this, it

would essentially be the end of all security fraud cases in federal court. and shareholders would not be able to hold companies accountable in court. so i put a letter in with chair lady waters with the then chairman which was signed by every democrat on this committee . strongly opposing this move. which would reverse the conditions long-standing position that such force arbitration provisions violates federal securities law. because this effort came so close to succeeding, i think it important to get you on record on this issue. my first question is do you believe it would violate federal security law with a public company to put this into bylaws? >> it's good to see you and to work with you again.

i need to get more fully briefed on the law, and the spirit and where the sec has been true the sec has been consistent to issuers, as i understand it. that it would be best to not put the sin to court -- to put this in to corporate charters. the american public needs to be able to have redress. that's a fundamental piece, being able to go straight to the courts. that's been true in terms of issuers for a decade. >> that's great to hear. it's an important signal to investors and your confidence in the u.s. capital markets. i thank you for that position. next i want to talk about gamestop. in the initial hearing, i

question whether capital markets were working for all investors or just for some? i emphasized the need to have rules that are consistent, protectable, and enforceable. what struck me the most about robinhood's behavior regarding the gamestop frenzy was the seemingly arbitrary nature of its trading and the lack of transparency. on the backend of how and why robinhood and other broker-dealers has imposed these restrictions. so not speaking specifically to robinhood's situation, but broadly, do you believe broker-dealers should improve their transparency with their customers about how and when they impose trading halts? what role do you believe the sec should play in -- and ensuring that trading halts are integrated into mismanagement plans? >> probably what we could all agree on is access to markets,

whether you are an individual and dress -- investor trading one share or a big institution, asset markets as they move that access to markets is a critical piece to capital markets free what happened on january 27 was not good for millions of investors. so the transparency that you mentioned is important between broker-dealers and their customers. i think robert cook has said that they are looking at this as well, with what that transparency is and under what circumstances. and secondly, to each of the dealers have enough liquidity to meet their requirements with the clearinghouse which michael was talking about earlier. >> i would like to turn to the topic of corporate or diversity. -- corporate board diversity. i've made finding for women the

hallmark of my time in public service, getting equal pay for equal work to bring in more family policies to the 21st century ending the -- any equal rights amendment. we've also strongly advocated for measures to diversify the ethnic, racial, and gender composition of corporate boards and executive ranks. leaders set the tone and the priority. from your perspective does improving diversity >> i can speak in terms of what we are doing at the agency. i do believe a diverse background helps in decision-making. >> the gentleman from michigan is now recognized for five and

it -- five minutes. >> thank you madam chair. for i go into this, i would like to submit a record to the committee. mr. cook, my colleague from new york was talking at little bit about arbitration and what that would mean. i am curious if arbitration clauses were banned in customer contracts, do you foresee negative consequences on that and what do you think they would be? >> thank you for that question. i believe the current status of the clauses in -- requiring arbitration, that is not something we currently impose. that is something that happened as a matter of contract.

it's something that the sec happened to already address. >> i understand it does provide faster, less expensive ways to resolve the be -- to resolve disputes, correct? >> we've worked hard to have a program that is fair to investors. >> but you're not willing to say whether there would be a negative impact. i'm going to move on. >> mr. ginsberg, good having back -- good to have you back. going to ask a simple question. is market participation a kin to gambling in a casino? >> i think market participation is investing and it takes risk. it's important to protect against fraud and manipulation.

i would consider it part of our capital formation and part of risk taking. >> i don't want to put was in your mouth -- words in your mouth, so it is not akin to gambling in a casino? >> it is risk-taking, and risk taking can be indifferent forms. i want to choose my words carefully. >> i understand, we have some people who are trying to portray this as walking in and letting chance decide if you are a winner. that is very different from taking a calculated risk. very quickly i want to touch on bbc's and funds.

will the commission prioritize trying to fix the requirements their hearing virtually? >> maybe it's because i am in my third week and you newsletters i am not familiar with. >> bdc's our business development companies. -- are business development companies. >> we are happy to keep that information and i want to continue that conversation. earlier in the hearing, you had talked regarding cryptocurrencies in crypto exchanges -- and crypto exchanges.

i'm curious if congress is needed for crypto exchanges, why would it not be necessary for congress to be involved in specific rags when we are talking about the environment, social issues and government? it seems to me those may not be appropriate just for the sec to be doing on its own. does not need congressional involvement. >> at the heart of our securities laws is disclosure. the sec has a robust authority to ensure investors had the disclosures that investors wish to have to make their investments. in that regard, i do think there's the authorities to move forward. >> reclaiming my last moment.

-- they securities liability and sec enforcement. i would hope that would not be the attitude of the sec. but that i yield back and look forward to continuing the conversation. >> >> thank you very much. the gentleman from colorado. is now recognized for five minutes. >> i've to specific questions. one involves delisting what would be penny stocks and the second involves diversity, inclusion, and gets into general questions.

back in 2005 in response to market structure in technology, the sec adopted amendments to the penny stock rule which requires a stop to have a minimum bid price of four dollars a share listed on a national exchange. initially the sec classified penny stocks essex dirty trading with a value less than five dollars -- stocks as security trading with a value less than five dollars. it began to tick up and skyrocketing starting mid-january. colorado seems to be penny stock capital of the world. a lot of abuses occurred during that timeframe. would you agree with my concerns about the potential to

manipulate low-priced stocks? >> there is been a long history. the lower the price and also the lower of the aggregate market value, fraudsters find that more appealing. earlier this year, the sec took action to deal with 30 entities that fell into these various categories. >> with so many were investors coming to the market through mass platforms like reddit, do you think it would be timely for the commission to examine the moves around the stocks needs to be updated? >> i think you raise a good set of concerns and now i've got more work to ask the staff to work at -- to look at. what are the current roles, how

did they affect what happened in the spring or late winter, and even how it relates to a broader subject in the market? >> thanks. my second question, and primarily -- a primarily goes to mr. gensler -- it primarily goes to mr. gensler. they question raised to me by a friend of mine so i am going to ask it as he presented it to me. when you are chair, you did not have any black division directors at that agency. will you commit to doing better at your core role at the sec -- your current role at the sec? >> i just hired the first chief operating officer in the history of the sec.

the answer is yes or -- yes sir. >> thank you. i am perplexed by this whole gamestop thing. in 19 and 20 we had four dollars, february 9 it was a 50 and now it is bouncing around at 30. 62. i'm concerned about the unfair advantage in order flow, and i am concerned about the potential harm from short sales. mr. cook, i will start with you. if you were to look at those three things, which bothers you the most, or do any of them? >> those are all valid areas of

concern. we are all -- we are looking at all of those areas. we look forward to working with the s -- s ec on this is the expanded use of online trading forms. they create better access to our markets and are very good for investors, but how do we make sure that at the same time they are being protected and we are making sure as we go to war complex products that it is being properly overseen? >> i would like to talk about dropping down to t1. do you think that takes some of the potential for fraud out of the system? >> while we support the cycle, i'm not sure if that will

address both concerns you arranged -- he raised -- that you raised. >> the gentleman from kentucky, mr. barr. >> let me start on gamestop specifically. as you noted in your testimony, the temporary restrictions by trading -- on trading by robinhood and the additional collateral, those were extraordinary circumstances in an exceptionally volatile market with the sake of retail investors, forced we don't want to see halts in trading to happen prudently or ever again. i do appreciate your testimony that moving to an accelerated settlement can reduce

requirements above to 40% -- requirements up to 40%. are there ways to improve that communication or otherwise increase transparency to mitigate the risk of repeating this surprise margin call and what happened in january? >> our process for computing the margin and communicating as such goes into our rules. we have a portal they can use to estimate their margin. the calculation works overnight. it's right at the end of the trading day. it takes into consideration market volatility. what you saw in gamestop, -- it

could be a hundred and times normal ball you. -- normal volume. the margin calculation reflects the risk that the firm is presenting to us. that calculation is done overnight and is communicated the next day. in the case of robinhood, there was an additional charge which was a result of the fact that the margin requirement was in excess of the capital. indicating -- that chart was laid away, but the core morgan -- margin charge -- we believe that we do provide those tools.

>> we look forward to working with you. let me revisit -- the esg and disclosure question, we don't want to see regulation by enforcement, on march 4, the sec announced a task force. it was not until march or feet we issued a request for public comment. chairman gensler, can you explain the secrets, and otherwise why is the announcement coming before market participants know the

rules, and we commit to the requirements under the administrative procedures act? >> i think the market investors do want to bring some consistency and comparability to the client displeasure and human capital disclosure -- there are rules of the road that are already in place. , our overall security laws, we are going to be vigorously enforcing the laws and rules that are in place as they are in place. but yes we are committed to using four new rules, but we still have to enforce the old guidance and rules.

>> i represent the horse racing industry we want to democratize ownership and the board to working with you at issue. -- i look forward to working with you on that issue. >> we just finished the derby so it is a timely issue. >> gentleman from connecticut. >> they hear the house committee on financial services talking to robert cook and gary gensler about a number of financial market issues from shortselling to stop frenzies caused by social media, robinhood, gamestop a huge part of that. i want to quickly look at what is going on in the markets.

we have seen some interesting market moves. and gain of a quarter and 1%, 4177. the u.s. 10 year yield coming down as investors are buying bonds right now. the most interesting and most important for a wide swath of market assets is the bloomberg dollar index. it continues to come down. gold jumping 1.6% up over $1800 now. however, we have not seen gains in crude. crude down to $64 and eight cents a barrel. let's get back on the hearing, what have you listening to.

gensler is good at his job almost every answer includes, i've got to check on the rules, i am not sure about the law, i have to check on my staff. it must be very difficult for companies to do business in this economy. >> it is so funny mentioned that. the biggest concern i have among my sources is when you look at the sec, there is a bit of an arbitrage. he was fairly explicit and when he can and cannot do. he asked congress to take a look at cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges around the disclosures and protections that exist saying that the market could

really benefit from that. he also said that they really don't have a lot over them, which is so interesting because weeks ago we had morgan family ceo james gorman saying that was an area that certainly needed more transparency, especially after -- what we had. he said his staff was working on a report about what happened in january, something we can expect this summer. he also said he is asking staff to review market-making and broke ridge concentration, so think securities. that industry will be getting a closer look under this sec and you can be sure that when we hear from gary gensler, there were explicit concerns around payment for order flow and the relationship the brokerages have with their wholesalers. >> fascinating stuff.

he wants to basically provide more transparency, that is what we heard from both of them, especially in terms of shortselling. i think it is so interesting that for someone who worked at goldman sachs, worked at the department of treasury, randy cftc, and is a professor at the school of management, if he has to double check on the rules so much, it has to make your job as a clients officer difficult. >> -- compliance officer difficult. >> he is hamstrung in some of these areas. the sec cannot fix all of your problems. this was not a gamestop hearing, this was a gary gensler hearing. he was asked to talk about climate change and forced arbitration among financial

firms and companies at large. those are well beyond what happened in january, in your hearing a push about social media, the way the sec can start to get into technology, he is not going to start doing that alone. let's see if washington can put things aside and work together when it comes to reforms the industry is actually looking for. citadel securities actually put out a paper on monday for proposals to the sec. >> i feel like wall street working together, there's probably a better chance of that there washington working together, but i admire the optimism. i do think he did incredibly good job with dealing with the questions. often people in congress don't know exactly what they are talking about, and it can be

very frustrating for an expert in these areas. he was incredibly congenial, collaborative. he has worked with many of these officials before. they seem to like him. >> that something he said a lot, nice to work with you again. it hearkened back to his days in 2008 when he was in charge of the sec. very meaningful changes there. wall street is looking for better collaboration when it comes to these new rules set -- rule sets. for him to say that by this summer, you will hear from us more, is a big change. >> it does move slowly because this happened in january. you would think happy years enough time to get your arms around what happened. we trust that your experience in

these matters. let's talk now about kathy wood, her -- her flagship fund is under pressure as her high beta slips for the sixth straight day. tell us, what is going on here. we saw a lot of sales, drops in small caps that were pretty big, and even the major equity indexes. but now we are seeing a little bit of a return on the markets. >> in the case of kathy wood, what was really interesting, and i came across this chart. -- what he did was compare the share price with the index that goldman sachs compiled. look how close those lines are. it is not just two lines on the

chart either. if you are in the mathematical correlation of the two, you get numbers close to one, which basically says the tech indexed and etf are moving in lockstep. it goes to show you how much of a bet you are making for companies to be able to turn a profit when you own shares of particular funds. >> i do want to ask about david benson, he passed away far too young after a long battle with cancer. this man was a game changer when it comes to college endowments. he did things differently and change the way everyone does things -- changed the way

everyone does things. in real estate, farmland, all kinds of assets -- and he was able to produce above average returns as a result, who were arguably the one the endowments perhaps should have the alien all along. gail's endowment was fired by a whole lot of investment managers. individual investors can go that route to areas of the market

that otherwise would have been closed to them. the whole idea that if you are just in stocks and bonds you are missing out, there is a lot of money to be made over time. >> david swanson, a pioneer, was 67.

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>> i am mark crumpton with bloomberg first word news.

amber merkel is weighing in against the u.s. proposal for patent protection. the plan would create severe complications for the production of vaccines. the form suitable industry has argued that the incentive of profits, drugmakers might not move as aggressively to make vaccines in the future. the new poll shows the number of americans who have not gotten a covid-19 shot, but played you is at 9%. the national survey indicates that reaching widespread immunity in the u.s. is becoming increasingly challenging, and with federal authorization of the pfizer vaccine age -- for kids age 12 to 15 soon, some parents are reluctant to get their children vaccinated. united states is boosting security assistance to the ukraine to counter russia's aggressive