we only have one half-hour left. this gives everybody a chance to ask. go ahead. bernstein, with sputnik international news. i've a question about the peace process and under the u.n. security council resolution -- i just forgot the number. the roadmap, the timeline set august as a deadline for a new constitution, transitional government, bodies to be formed. do you think you can meet that , and given the number is aayers in the country, unified syria a foregone conclusion at this time. i think the question should be addressed to -- whether there is a deadline.

the syrian government position has been absolutely cooperative on every step. many players in the region of the world, but it is 10,000 years old. it is the oldest continuously worldd city in the because the syrian people are resilient. syrian -- syria will again be the pride of the world. ahmad: thank you. >> yes, born and raised in lebanon. i can tell that you know what i am talking about. as said, the lebanese government found him guilty and charged him with four years in prison.

we have the phone calls. there is no houses zero, no phone cover. the lebanese government was right up by the syrian refugees. what do have to say about that? dr. shaaban: you know, i wish you could be constructive. there here to talk about global alliance against isis and al qaeda and al nusra. you're bringing up something that you think is embarrassing to me, but nothing is embarrassing to me, but is something irrelevant to me. thank you. excuse me. security. security. no, no. do not interrupt. just a second. no, no. you cannot interrupt. you have to respect -- just stop. stop. you have to respect -- >> i do.

no, no.o, >> can i say something please? .> good morning, dr. shaaban i am paul would. i covered syria for a number of years for the bbc. that syria does not want the international community from macaroni and 10 fruit. dr. shaaban: i'm sorry? regime's policy to surrender or starve? i said the syrian people have always lived on fresh fruits and fresh vegetables in the best thing we can do is to help them to feed terrorism so we can go back and grow our products and eat from our products. we are grateful to what the u.n. is giving our people now who are in need, not only in terrorist

areas, but in other areas where there is a lot of poverty after five years of war. but i think you need to take that as i meant it and as we said it. we want these people to come back to syria so we do not have to talk about humanitarian assistance and that will go to people who need that more than the syrian people. please try to be positive in understanding what i am laying, because i am saying it with a very positive -- to what i am saying because i'm saying it was a very positive attitude. thank you. >> thank you. please present yourself. >> i am with hispanic media. briefly, this meeting, as you stated, if they try to unify forces against terrorism, which involves the sylvian -- the civilian government, how useful

is it to have the united states involved when the ultimate goal of the united states is to overthrow bashar al-assad? nowshaaban: i don't think they had protests during the before syriado not think is and iraq in the region. a greatas developed deal from their attitude at the beginning of the crisis, because they can see what is happening in syria is very dangerous to the security of iraq, of the region, and therefore, we are with our russian partners and our russian partners are cooperating with

the united states and talking to the united states, hoping to find a solution to undermine terrorism and bring peace and security to iraq, god willing. thank you. >> thank you. ok, i have this gentleman and afterward we will come to you. please introduce yourself. o syria.s is happening in >> all of this is happening in syria because people came out on the streets demanding regime change in that led to the situation, where hundreds of thousands of syrians are now out of the country. have you ever, the regime there, regretted being in power that led to this position? thank you. dr. shaaban: thank you. i think the diagnosis you gave is the wrong one. if the syrian people -- again,

the government not to stay for ,ix years, i would remind you the syrian government put guns on the syrian-turkish border weeks before any civilians crossed the border. i don't for a moment regret being part of the syrian government because we are standing for people. we are standing against terrorism and standing for the future of syria. i would beg millions of dollars to save the syrian government. because we believe in our country, because we hate treason and because we hate to

be subject to any power in the world. thank you. >> hello. from "the washington post." there has been discussion of a from it on truce. does the government have any interest in that? could that stop the fighting, at least temporarily? certainly from the outside there have a lot of accusations against the government for its use of barrel bombs, in n indiscriminate has killed a lot of civilians. does the government think it might be a good idea to start that use of that particular weapon? ahmad: thank you. dr. shaaban: you know, honestly, i do not want to give up, but

you are forcing me to do so because i am amazed at how the questions are coming from completely distorted perspectives. they do not want to negotiate during ramadan because they are all islamists. the true islam is islam that fights for the people every day, every night because the lives of people are more important than anything else. the accusation for my government, you did not pay it any accusations of all of these being droppedombs on the people of aleppo. you did not say about the .orrible explosions that no one has done any terrorist act.

i invite all of you in this room to read think what you have been questioning, to rethink what you search foraying, and the right information. we need your voices against terrorism. it is not syria and iraq. thank you. >> if i can follow-up, actually we did write quite a bit about the attacks and let's talk you and we have talked quite a bit about what you call gas bottles. i'm asking a specific question about the government's actions and whether the government believes there is any advantage in stopping the use of this particular weapon. thank you. the government believes in stopping this war in

syria. is all what we are working for and this is what we live for. thank you. , i am one of the speakers. i want to ask questions. countries, aor 60 coalition. could they prevent transferring a terrorist? that is a question, and the ofond -- we hear that some the drop from the coalition went to isis, and they claim it was because of the wind or something like that. can you tell us about that, if you please. dr. shaaban: i do not think the

coalition is interested in stopping the terrorists from mosul to rock or otherwise. at aqq orm muscle to r otherwise. i think that we should fight it together. they cannot why join hands. this would be the best way. if everybody honestly believes terrorism. the problem i face and the and now itall face, is told to me by the questions of the respectable audience, the

re is no honesty and handling this issue. there are a lot of rumors. unfortunately, investigative journalism is no longer here and i can see that rumors are making up the minds of so many journalists, which is a shame. >> thank you. next question please. introduce yourself. >> i'm from d.o.a.. a couple questions. you mentioned the abilities the insians brought to syria terms of finding the terrorists. given those russian abilities, why are there so many reports of airstrikes, car bombs hitting hospitals and schools where innocent people would presumably be? why haven't those russian capabilities been used to avoid that? my second question -- and number of years -- weeks ago, the russians pulled out air power.

they said the reason they did that was they were upset and not satisfied with some of the things that president assad was .aying what is the relationship between syria and russia right now to what more is syria asking from russia to improve the situation. i did not get the second 1 -- can i sum up the second 1 -- what is syria asking russia to do? >> given that russia was unhappy assad,atements made by yes, what more is being asked by russia? ok.shaaban: before the russian army came, we do not have the russian air force. we do not have the sophisticated weapons.

we do not have the air force capability the russian population has. it seems like we did nothing before. when the russians came to help , we were able to liberate a huge amount of land in syria. reports that the russians know,happy -- you president aside here is that every day and i think you can judge those who are not happy with the russian-syrian relationships are always circulating rumors that russia is not happy with the syrian government or iran is not happy with the cooperation with russia. i can assure you the russian syrian relations are excellent.

the cooperation is fantastic. and by the way, the russian historian -- the russian historic relationship has been great. the russians are a people we can rely on and we can trust completely. it is a relationship of clarity and respect between us. ahmad: please introduce yourself. fromllo, my name is yara reuters. that there isort about to be an attack on isis held area, and what is your reaction to the latest u.s. military operation? dr. shaaban: i'm sorry.

i'm not a military officer. i have no clue. thank you. again, dr. shaaban. telegraph."e daily we do not want you to feel that this questioning is unfair and we have been doing reporting from both sides. it is great to get your responses to some of the questions we have been asking. ofre are in-depth studies bombing patterns by both syria and the regime -- sorry, the syrian regime and its russian allies -- could you save the syrian government? it is a government like this government. >> ok. the syrian government.

90% of airstrikes are not touching isis. 90% of this airstrikes were targeting smaller, less known groups that do not have the same reputation for extremism. i would like your response to that. ahmad: thank you. dr. shaaban: this is an absolutely unfounded report. spokespersonw, the of the department said it was very difficult for us to separate groups and say who is an extremist and who is not. i would like to remind you that when the russians and the truce or agreed on the the cessation of hostilities, john kerry himself said anyone who does not abide by this

heardion is going to be very strongly by us, the americans and the russians. they did not do that. i think you have to be on the people areee how being stolen, including the two christian clergyman. they ended up with very different groups. where the man's land terrorists are. it's very difficult. or largel you, isis issues. they are definitely all terrorist groups. destroyingting, institutions. i would like to make one clarification. these people at nothing to do with islam. i am a muslim woman. major objective

of this terrorism is to destroy the image of islam in the eyes of western people. islam like christianity like judaism is a religion of love. even the prophet muhammad was not given the authority to punish anybody for being -- for not being muslim. thank you. ahmad: thank you. yes? shana from voice of america persian tv. syrian government has enjoyed the support of its ally, the iranian government, for a long time, despite opposition. but they have suffered a lot of losses and the reigning government is sending ordinary army troops to help president

assad. has there been any discussion regarding future support of the military support from iran? dr. shaaban: if you will allow correct one more -- they are not fighting opposition. they are fighting terrorists. they are fighting terrorists on the ground. again, a relation with iran is an historic relation. i would like to remind you also -- when the war was started by saddam hussein, syria was the only country, the only arab country and the only country, when saddam hussein had weapons and armaments from the united states of america and the baltic states, we knew that was wrong.

so, our relation with iran is oned on a principle, and they are supporting us also. thank you. listen to use of again. chest it working? i'm from al jazeera. werewas the less time you here in the united states? have you been in the united states since 2011? and how old is your organization? ahmad: very good. the last time i was

in the united states is a good question. thank you for it. 2005. i arrived as a minister. it was two hours. i was in the room without knowing what i should do. received -- i was not ready to be humiliated. ahmad: i wonder as the last question, dr. shaaban, tell us about your nobel prize. tell us about it. of 1000ban: i was one women nominated for the nobel peace prize in 2005 read a very proud. we went a long way. we had over 50 arab women.

and many years they were in pursuit. this was the contradiction --ween the european union that they could consider me as a peace advocate. have been and always will be and i hope we will work -- we will live in a world where it is. i would like to thank you for allowing me this opportunity. this is the least thing that we should do, to communicate with one another. we can reach the truth. ahmad: thank you so much, dr. shaaban, and have a good night. the last comment from --

mr. al hussaini: let me make an official statement. asill be making a statement an american official. please give us your name, your title, so that way you can be headed to our team. the team will be a small committee to be in negotiation what will be the next step of terrorism in the middle east and here. thank you. >> and the last question -- in 2014 and i think it happened the same day that martin luther king was assassinated. thank you so much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> thursday marked 30 years of gavel-to-gavel senate floor coverage on c-span2. tomorrow we will air a special program featuring video going back to the first televised session. we will also have insider

analysis by historian emeritus donald richie and the senate house historian emeritus. here is a look. >> the senate is -- as i said, it's a 21st century institution conceived in the 18th century, and it is trying to make the best use of the technology in the 21st century germane to its 18th-century conception. it's really -- it's a difficult , to forgeo compromise. everybody has to give a little when you forge compromise and that's not photogenic. so, to a certain extent, the cameras both reveal the greatness of the senate, but not beingal it, by able to show these discussions taking place. senator daschle: this indeed is a humbling moment for me. i am honored to serve as

majority leader, but i also recognize the majority is slim. this is still one of the most in all divided senates of history and we of witnessed something that has never before happened in all of senate history -- a change of power during a session of congress. a look at 30 years of gavel to gavel senate floor coverage, tomorrow night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> book tv has 48 hour's of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. here are programs to watch for. saturday night at 10:00 eastern rds," mitch mcconnell discusses his life and politics : a memoir." game senator mcconnell: all

majorities are fleeting. depending on what the american people decide this november, i could be they minority leader next year. represents an opportunity, even in a body like the senate, which is difficult to make function. there are advantages to setting the agenda and what we call the right of first recognition to move the country in the direction it would like to go. with steve"in-depth" forbes. he will join us to talk about his life and career and his latest book, "reviving america," in which he argues for repealing obamacare, revising the tax code , and he will also talk about his books. we will take your phone calls, tweets, and e-mails live from

noon until 3 p.m. eastern. discussese stahl these science behind grandparenting in her book "the coming grandma," the joys and science -- go to c-span.org for the complete weekend schedule. announcer: the government says that hiring in may fell to the lowest in five years as employers added just 38,000 jobs, but the unemployment rate dropped to 4.7% at its lowest rate since november of 2007. federal reserve board member lae brainard outlines some of the considerations the federal

reserve board takes into account when deciding whether to raise interest rates. this is about an hour. >> we've got a wonderful crowd here. welcome, one and all. i am part of the council on foreign relations and i feel very privileged today to welcome our outstanding guest. to turnou've been told off your cell phones and so forth, so i will go in and just tell you some few facts about , whonor lael brainerd became a member of the board of governors federal reserve system in june of 2014, and her term

2026.nd in january for four years prior to her appointment of the board, she served as an undersecretary to the u.s. department of treasury and as counsel to the secretary of the treasury and in those roles, she was the u.s. representative to the g20 financial deputies and the g seven financial deputies and was a member of the financial stability board. she was awarded the alexander hamilton award for her splendid also served as deputy national economic adviser and deputy assistant to was hist clinton and personal are presented at the g7 and g-8 and prior to her government service, she served as vice president and as founding director of the global economic and development program at brookings institution where

she built a research program to address global economic challenges. she came90's, before to washington, she was assistant and associate professor of applied economics at the massachusetts institute of technology and she published a number of articles and edited a number of books that were extremely well-received. she earned her bachelor's from and her university master and her doctorate from harvard university in economics and she was a white house fellow. so it gives me great pleasure to give this very special guest of hours the podium, and so, lael brainerd. [applause]

lael: i want to thank the ambassador for that kind introduction. it is a real pleasure to be here at the council on foreign relations. in recent months, financial conditions have eased and are encouraging signs that domestic consumption has regained momentum, but today's tentative signs of labor market slowing remind us that we cannot take the resilience of our recovery for granted. in today's circumstances, prudent risk management implies we should wait for additional data to provide confidence that domestic activity has rebounded, and reinsurance that near-term international of this will not derail progress toward our goals. as we consider the appropriate posture of policy, the most immediate question is does the data provide confidence that

economic activity has strengthened notably? the labor market has slowed. nonfarm payroll employment increased of 115,000 over the last three months, well below the 220,000 per month average pace over the preceding 12 months. although the unemployment rate moved lower to 4.7%, and voluntary part-time employment increased and labor force participation declined. the recent news on inflation, the second leg of our mandate , has been mixed. the price of oil has rebounded significantly from the lows reached earlier in the year on expectations that supply and demand are likely to be in closer alignment. the dollar has receded a bit on net from its peak in january. so it's still about 15% above the level.

oil imports seem to stabilize. this quarter after a year and a half of declines. these developments coincided with the easing of financial conditions since mid february. the condition supporting further progress on inflation are likely due at least in part to expectations a more gradual u.s. monetary policy, and could diminish at those expectations are prematurely shifted. while there are signs that inflation will move higher over the medium-term, core inflation have yet to exceed the low levels that have prevailed over much of the recovery. the 12 month change in core pce prices were 1.6% in april, which is roughly equal to the average of the end of 2009 to 2014, which is noticeably below our target of 2%. this may have an effect on inflation expectations. market-based measures of

inflation compensation remain extremely low with a five year forward around 1.5%, which is one and a quarter percentage point below 2014. in addition, some survey-based measures, also remain below historical norms. so in short, although some developments point to a possible for me inflation, persistently low inflation with deterioration and expectations suggest that the risks are weighted to the downside. further progress towards our goals, which are full employment and 2% inflation, will depend importantly on a rebound of growth. following disappointing gdp growth that averaged only 1.1% over the past two quarters, i have been focused on incoming data, especially on conception,

which points to a pickup on growth. consumer expenditures rose strongly. auto sales edged higher in may. nonetheless, the data relevant for gauging second quarter focus are still relatively sparse. in general, demand growth in recent quarters have been added from relatively strong household who are buoyed by strong employment. they had been pulled down by week business investments and exports. accounts for a more than 2% gdp in the last four quarters, business and exports together subtracted on net percentage point. of course, the rise in the dollar and the line in foreign growth reduced demand for american exports, as well as profits and invest in and u.s. firms along with the declines the price of oil. so if we look at the 12 months, ending in april, manual output

increased only 0.4% while total industrial production fell 1.1%. which of course, also includes drilling and extraction of oil and gas. of course, if the easing of financial conditions since mid february and affirming of oil prices and the stabilization of the dollar were to continue, business investment and exporters would benefit. of course, there are risks to the projection that future gdp growth will be strong enough to deliver further progress on inflation and employment. most immediately, there is material uncertainty surrounding june 23ed kingdom's brexit referendum. it could unsettle financial markets and critic or a bowl of uncertainty was the relationship - -- while the relationship between the u.k. and the eu is renegotiated. although it is there a difficult to forecast the economic effect, we can't rule out a significant

adverse reaction in the near in riskuch as a jump premiums. because international financial markets are tightly linked an adverse reaction in european financial markets could affect u.s. financial markets, and of course, through them, economic activity here. we also cannot dismiss the possible reemergence of risk surrounding china, and emerging markets more broadly. in recent months, capital outflows in china have moderated. as the dollar has stabilized in pressures on china's exchange rate has eased. should pressure through the exchange rate reemerge, we cannot will allow an recurrence of financial stress, which could affect not only china, but again, other emerging markets that are linked to china via supply chains or commodity is boards, and ultimately conditions here. china is making a challenging transition from export to two domestic led growth and the cost

of reallocating resources to a more dynamic sector could impair growth in the near term. while china has taken steps to limit the extent of the slowdown, there is an evident tension and policy between reform and stimulus and the effects of the stimulus may already be waning. vulnerabilities such as an excess capacity, debt, and risks in shadow banking sectors appear to be building and could pose continued risks over the medium-term. the broader fragility of the global economic environment is unlikely to resolve any time soon. growth in advance economies remains dependent on extraordinary, unconventional policy accommodations, while conventional policy continues to be constrained by the zero lower bound. conventional policies' efficacy are tested and better understood than a conventional policy and it can respond readily to any upside, but presently, it has

become constrained in adjusting to downside surprises. this asymmetry and the ability of policy effectively skews risks to the outlook of the downside and make amplify the sensitivity of the exchange rate. the evidence suggests that over the past year, dollar exchange rate movements has been more sensitive in response to monetary surprises than they were previously. that is consistent with recent research that suggests cross order financial transmission is likely to be amplified at near where therest rates ability to provide additional support to domestic channels is limited. in this environment, markets have been quite sensitive to the possibility of a prolonged period of low growth, low inflation, and economic underperformance, as we can see in the current negative turn

premium for the 10-year treasury note, or the difference between the yield on the 10-year treasury and expected risk rates over the next 10 years. that is a big change from the period prior to the great recession. so, as we look across conditions, with all of the easing conditions in financial condition since mid-february is very welcome, it is important to recognize that some of the conditions underlying recent bouts of turmoil largely remain in place. an important recent is the expectation of more gradual u.s. monetary policy. should an event triggered renewed fears about global growth or a reassessment of the policy reaction function in the u.s., financial stress could well return. recognizing that the data we have on hand for the second quarter is quite mixed and still limited, and there is important year-term uncertainty, it would appear to be an advantage to waiting until developments

provide greater confidence. prudent risk management would suggest the risks from waiting until the totality of the data provides greater confidence in a rebound and domestic activity and there is greater certainty regarding the brexit vote, seem lower than the risks associated than heading over the developments. in light of that amplified feedback loop, when conditions are appropriate for a policy move, it will be important that any subsequent moves will be conditions and further evidence confirming continue progress and objectives and not ineffable steps on a preset course. the appropriate path to return monetary policy to a neutral stance could turn out to be quite shallow and gradual in the medium-term because it appears likely that the medium-term, neutral rate, or the real

federal funds rate that would be consistent with the economy remaining a full employment and 2% inflation, may be quite low. recovery seems like the low level of the natural rate was largely due to cyclical factors such as tight credit, weak consumer confidence, and the loss of wealth from the crisis. however, the recovery is now well into its seventh year. credit, most markets is lightly available while consumer confidence and household net worth are at high levels. as a result, it now appears more likely that much of the decline in the neutral rate is likely to improve persistent -- consistent with a variety of estimates. this inflationary pressures abroad and less favorable to him demographics, and today's federal

funds rate is closer to neutral than previously expected. of course, one likely explanation for the persistence of the low neutral rate is the sharp drop-off in potential role since the great recession. if you look at the period from 1953 to 2003, potential output growth varied between 2% and 4.5% with a brief exception. one contributor to this decline is been a reduction in the labor force participation rate due to aging. but another has been a market slowdown in productivity growth. over the six years from the end of 2009 to the end of 2015, productivity grew only one half percent per year compared to average growth of 2.25% prior to the great recession. the reasons for this dramatic slowing are still not clear.

so in summary, in this environment, prudent risk management suggest there is a it winning move with additional data to provide confidence that domestic activity has rebounded strongly and international events will not derail progress. because of the depressed event of the neutral rate of interest , the appropriate path of policy will likely to remain quite shallow for several years. thank you. [applause]

>> well, that was a wonderful presentation. and you raised a lot of questions that i want to ask you and i am going to start by taking a few minutes to talk about some of the issues and then turn it over to all of you to come up with questions. and let me start with saying, talk a little bit about how you factor in exchange rates into policy recommendations. lael: so the international environment has been extremely failing over the last really now two years in particular. the united states economy is tightly linked to the rest of the world. obviously through trade, but also through financial linkages. and some of that transmission takes place through changes in the exchange rate.

what we have seen since the middle of 2014 is a better a very significant increase in the u.s. dollar exchange rate, in part reflecting expectations the conditions would want a bigger convergence in the policy between the united states and some of our one partners, but of course, that change in the exchange rate, that tightening and financial conditions then affects our exporters, import prices, which affects core inflation here, so in turn, it has a crisscrossing effect on u.s. economic activity which front runs u.s. monetary policy. >> i was reading that an economist, dr. bill klein, calculates that a 10% appreciation of the dollar worsened the u.s. account

position by 1.7%. and the trade-weighted average of the dollar has appreciated 25% in the last three years alone. how do you see the current account deficit as a factor in the fed's thinking? lael: well, we definitely do see that net exports have a drag on the economy since june of 2014 when we started to see that expectation of policy diversion showing up. you see that in a way that is particularly evident in manufacturing. but you see that it net exports more generally that continue to

be a drag today if you look at the data. of course, that is part of the reason that we have to be very, very careful in protecting and preserving the progress we are making here at home. because here in the united states, while consumption makes up a very large portion of the overall growth, it is not enough in a world where global demands are quite weak. >> you know, you mentioned in your remarks, i would paraphrase them by saying, take it step-by-step. and yet some economists are arguing quite vehemently that we should raise interest rates last est we create a bubble and a problem of tomorrow. and give some information about how we would respond to those economists. lael: i think if you look across

the set of economic conditions that we take into account as we assess what the appropriate stance of monetary policy is, we have very specific goals of full employment and percent inflation. while we have made considerable progress on the employee leg of our mandate, as we have seen from data, and on the inflation. -- inflation leg of our mandate, we are still and have been persistently short of our 2% target. under those circumstances, given the very weak aggregate demand

globally, the appropriate path of policy has been to continue to be very supportive of demand growth here in the u.s. looking forward, again, this is my take on it, current circumstances which dictate a risk management approach. there are important risks in the international environment, most immediately brexit, but also risks associated with china and other emerging market complexes, and there is also a fairly incomplete and mixed picture to give us a sense of how strong the second quarter is. in that context, prudence suggests the risks of waiting are lower than the risks of moving ahead preemptively. carla: you mentioned brexit and china, and then europe is slow. give me some good news that makes you think that the future

picture could be brighter. [laughter] lael: american consumers are still relatively confidence. their incomes have been improving. and the consumer confidence indicators are still relatively positive. so that is a very important bright spot that we want to carefully support and protect. and again, we have seen an easing on financial conditions that are more supportive, likely to be more supportive of our manufactures and exporters and a business investment. certainly conditions are better than they were earlier this year. carla: you mention the jobs report today, 38,000 jobs were a disappointment.

their first quarter and they are -- the u.s. banks reported their first quarter and they are down. is that something that causes you concern? lael: in taking into account this sort of strength of likely business investment and in the business sector, corporate earnings are very important. obviously, there has been evidence that relatively elevated level of exchange rate were elevated relative to where they were in 2014, on top of very sharp decline in energy prices that we have seen together, have depressed corporate earnings. that is a very important indicator for business investment going forward. business investment is important, not just for growth, but for productivity. the numbers there are disappointingly

very low. carla: there are vacancies. is that a concern? lael: it would be great if we we were false train at 7%, rather than 5%. that would be vary welcome. -- very welcome. carla: explain a little bit about, you have 12 regional federal reserve boards. talk about a bit about their role and how they fit in -- your responsibilities dealing with inflation and employment looking at those. lael: yeah, so the way the federal reserve system is set up, federal open market s committee, which is a committee that meets periodically to adjust and assess monetary policy, includes 12 regional presidents and it should include seven board members here in washington. and the 12 board presidents are

supposed to, and do, bring their own independent assessments of economic conditions, probably when the federal reserve was created, and you know, people had to travel across the country from the 12 district slowly than -- more slowly than they do today. it was not widely available of national conditions. they were probably focused on their own districts, which was important for assessing the economy. today they bring really important information from their district, but they also -- we all look at the same data. so that set of deliberations, i verynk -- i think is a rich set of deliberations among the board members, who each have their own assessment as well. and the board is led by the chair. carla: well, you can see that we are very fortunate to have the governor where she is today, and we are very fortunate to have

her on the podium. let me turn it over to you. to ask questions, and i would ask to state your name, and state your question. >> thank you for being here. i am in the financial services for the bill and melinda gates foundation. curious about if it is on the radar of the issue of de-risking. we have in looking at cross-border flows. the unintended consequences when outflows are being cut off when the cost of capital is race. -- is raised. i'm just curious, we have been collecting stories from central banks and some are considering filling in their role for the correspondence relations for the central banks. we are also seeing banks figuring out what the willingness is to pay.

any thoughts on what the role before the fed, or any other high-level thoughts on this issue? lael: the question of how banks can continue to maintain their international correspondent banking relationship while also fulfilling their obligations under bfa-aml and doing so very fully is an for an issue. we want to see those international relationships being able to provide the it is an area we have had conversations with some of the banks that we supervise, but in -- hope we are in close communication with the treasury department that set some of those rules.

our hope is that the environment supportive a more environment going forward. thanks can do what they need to do for bfa and maintain those relationships. there are also developments in the technology space that hold some promise of making those linkages, perhaps cheaper, real-time, and safe. >> upfront here. >> hi. it has been reported that the largest technology companies are getting over on $500 billion on cash on balance sheets. what does that look like from your perspective and what do you