quickly, some headlines from the cdc, they say fully vaccinated people can now travel at low risk, and they also say they're withdrawing their guidance, that all americans should avoid nonessential travel. in other words, things are starting to open up and especially with regard to travel. that is some positive news. neil cavuto, it's yours. neil: can you imagine, ashley, if the stock market opened right now, how airline stocks would be responding to that -- ashley: oh, i know. exactly. neil: man, right in there's so many things that would have, should have, could have. thank you, my friend. so let's look at that. the markets are closed today for good friday. we are getting, you know, some trading in treasuries here. there had been a backup in the 10-year note which, of course o, based on that incredible employment report. new jobs swooned to 916,000, the

unemployment rate down to 6. the president indicating, as ashley told you, we still have a ways to go to make up the 8 million jobs we are till down since the pandemic began, but we could make up for that in no time. let's go to edward lawrence on these developments and where we go from here, because this jobs report does remind folks that the underlying economy is doing more than well, thank you very much. edward. >> reporter: yeah, you said is it, neil, a huge number. the last time the economy added more than 916,000 jobs was august of 2020. president joe biden saying the report is a reflection of what his administration is doing, spinning it as a pitch for the american jobs plan. listen. >> -- this great news, i need also to make this clear and direct statement to the american people: the progress we have worked so hard to achieve can be reversed. on the economic front, the benefits and the impacts of the

american rescue plan are temporary by design. it is a rescue plan. but as we get the economy back on its feet, we need to do the hard work of building back better. >> reporter: that was within the last hour. however, workers are making more in this report, the average hourly earnings increased 4.2% over the last 12 months. still, many of the jobs that need to be added back are in the service industry. two-thirds of the 280,000 people who got jobs in leisure and hospitality were this restaurants, 176,000 in food services and drinking places. construction rebounded after losing 56,000 jobs in february. march adding 110,000 jobs now that the severe weather went away. >> i don't think -- it's been a year now. the pandemic's been going on for a year. i think most people want to get back to some semblance of normal life. they want to get back to work, to their routines. i think the stimulus checks are

helping people pay rent, put food on the table, stay afloat. but i do think at the end of the day americans want to get back to work. we have to think about as we continue to, hopefully, see these numbers month after month -- we don't really see a trend yetment we still have a long way to go. >> reporter: not seeing a trend, but every jobs report that has come out in 2021 has shown some job growth. there is still 8.7 million people unemployed in this country, but still 4 million higher than february of 2020 when we were at full employment. back to you. neil: all right, edward, thank you very much. so here is the good news, the economy is humming. here is the bad news, with it a backup in interest rates. it's a little hard to judge today. last time i looked at the 10-year, it was at 1.73%. so it represented a bit of a backup of about 4 basis points. but that has been a trend. every good economic news we get is greeted with a backup in rates and the idea that the economy is humming along just

fine. can you imagine if the stock market were, indeed, open today, it would no doubt be building on gains yesterday. let's get the read on the implications going forward with mark hammer, bankrate senior economic analyst, ann berry joining us as well. ann, we begin with you then on what we are to make of this jobs report, because it's just more ammunition to those who think rates are going up. they are and they will. what do you think? >> that's right, but it's really important to look at exactly where those jobs are coming from not only by industry, neil, but also by geography. hospitality, we're hearing in these markets in florida hit very hard the restaurants and hotels to get labor in markets like florida right now through a combination of exceptionally high demand, in some case unemployment support has been a

little harder to get folks to come back to work and there's nervousness. individuals need to have a sevens of safety in their workplace -- sense of safety in their workplace, and not everyone is there yet. the recovery implied by this great data continues to come out, but there are some parts of the country that are really lagging behind. neil: so, mark, how grow see the rate situation going looking at it all? obviously, the wind at the economy's back is the improvement in the economy itself, and that will lead to higher rates. i'm just wondering whether those higher rates then dampen the very improvement on which they're based. what do you think? >> neil, one of the things that are at our back are the federal reserve, and the federal reserve is basically saying it is prioritizes the improvement in the labor market over the fear of a short-term blip in inflation as you know so well. so this is the price to be paid for the reopening of the economy. not only some of the supply

constraints whether it's the supply of materials or labor, but also, you know, some resetting back to some new normal with respect to rates. so, you know, as you get a modest increase, for example, in mortgage interest rates, they're still historically low. the housing market can certainly absorb that. what it needs is inevent story of homes for sale, whether new or existing, and the macro picture providing, you know, better tailwinds for prospective home purchasers. you know, we need the macro economy to do better, and today's news on the employment front was, obviously, you know, a lot of good news. obviously, we need more in that regard. neil: you know, ann, when i was looking at the employment report in much detail and saw the sectors that were soaring, leisure and hospitality together counted for 280,000 new jobs. construction, 310,000 new -- 110,000 new jobs.

manufacturing, 53,000. you could make a good argument that many of the titans in that business are the ones that will be targeted for higher taxes under an infrastructure plan. even the smaller players, those that would not necessarily, you know, be paying at the top corporate rate, but smaller businesses that do pay at the top individual rate. they would feel that. so is this maybe a signal that we should watch for, that this could be very short-lived if all of these increases, tax increases were to go into effect in. >> i still think there's going to be lag time, neil. and it comes back to the point you made at the top of the show which is there are still 8.4 million americans who remain unemployed. so i think the most important thing right now -- i don't think an increase in corporate taxes at least in the medium time is going to offset this repath that

we're seeing -- recovery path that we're seeing. but you implied there is a disconnect -- but the tax burden has been follow -- [inaudible] neil: you know, obviously the markets are closed today, mark, but if they are worried about these coming tax hikes, they're not really showing that. maybe that's based on the notion they don't think all of them go through, or that even if they do, they could absorb the body blows of that. or where are you on this and the potential impact of just i higher taxes period? >> well, neil, i think that -- i want to try to back away from the politics even though i'm sitting just miles away from washington, d.c., and typically i'd be talking to you close to capitol hill there from your studio under non-pandemic times. listen, the federal reserve's long-term outlook for growth is still 1.8% for the united states of america which is not going to

be, you know, sort of checking that box off with the level of growth we need to counter the aging of the population, not to mention our spending commitment es with respect to debt and deficit. so politics aside, we do need to have an adult, serious conversation about how to lift the long-term growth prospects of our economy. and investing in infrastructure, which has been so woefully ignored for so many years, is part of that conversation. and think about the fact that one of the things that propelled the previous to office, we're talking about the economy here, is that so many communities and individuals were left behind by the strong economy of the past decade. so if we're able to, for example, whether it's the private sector doing it alone or the government helping to encourage it, if we're able to get broadband in the communities of rural america, small america that haven't had broadband when they needed it most during this past year, there is going to be

a return on investment of some kind. how you pay for that? that is that proverbial devil in the details that's better left to the professional politicians to fight over. neil: all right. also a little later, guys, i want to pursue with you this expanded notion that the president is looking into the legalities of forgiving student loan debt. thanks, in the meantime, to both of you, mark hamrick and ann berry. i want to go to governor justice of west virginia. he's rattling things up in that beautiful state right now including the possibility of dumping the sales tax in the state. governor, always good to have you. explain what you want to do on that front. it sounds like you're going to become florida. update me. >> well, neil, it's not dumping the sales tax, this is dumping our state income tax and getting rid of that and everything. and i know that's what you were thinking.

i really do believe now's the time, now's the time in west virginia with the spotlight of the whole world on west virginia from the standpoint of how we've handled all the covid stuff and on and on. but what it really boils right down to, neil, at the end of the day west virginia is poised right now. our economy a's doing the right things in west virginia. we're absolutely open, you know, we've absolutely got all of our businesses percolating in west virginia, and it can only get better. so there's a real chance right now today to do it. neil: all right, governor. i i apologize for my confusion. but getting rid of the state income tax, you would join a very small group of states that don't have that. and i'm just wondering how you present that to west virginians who might just say, all right, the money's got to come from somewhere. how will you answer that? >> well, new york, the way this works -- neil, you know, the way this works in west virginia from my standpoint is just this: we

spread the pain out a little bit. we raised our consumer sales tax 1.99 %, we went to our natural resource people and tiered our cat on oil -- tax on oil and gas. we did a little bit of a luxury tax and everything. but with all of that, neil, without going play-by-play, the bottom line that we have done that is mandatory to me is we have made everybody all across the sector cash positive. and we have put back in the hands of west virginians $1,, 087,000,000, a 60% reduction right off the get go. now, we're going to get the rest of the way with growth, and it'll take two or three years to get us there to where we have no income tax, but with all this, neil, just imagine in the state of west virginia with $1,087,000,000 of annual cash back in the hands of the people, what are they going to do with

it? they're going to spend it. and our businesses are going to be stimulated like crazy. our small businesses will absolutely be on fire to the upside. and with all that being said, that doesn't count one person of additional growth. and they'll come to west virginia like you can't imagine if, because we'll be the most northerly and easterly state in the union that doesn't have a state income tax. neil: you know, i'm just wondering only headwinds you face are those that go beyond your state the, governor. i mean, the push on part of the biden administration on this infrastructure package that would raise taxes for a lot of folks and a lot of businesses and doesn't look too favorably on the coal industry that's vital, very successful in your state, some other fossil fuel industry concerns. so, you know, whatever you might be able to incentivize to get going, sparking with a cut in the state income tax you would lose with some of these other taxes and business sort of

targets, especially fossil fuels. how do you deal with that in. >> i don't think that's true, and the reason i don't think that's true, neil, is just this: in the state of west virginia -- and you couldn't possibly know this -- but we have the least contribution to our total revenue from our severance tax coal, oil and gas that we've had in the last 25 years. we've diversified. the state of west virginia is booming from high-tech, you know, medicine, tourism, on and on and on. and that's what we need to continue to do. we don't need to forget about our natural resources and how important they've been to us in the past and how important they still are. but with all this going forward and everything, west virginia's a different look today, neil. we got it going on down here right now. neil: so whatever the targeting of traditional energy, you could absorb that. you don't want that the, as you said, but you could absorb that. >> absolutely, neil. and at the end of the day, you

know, west virginia has tremendously high quality to coals that go to make steel. and with the infrastructure plan, you know, that may be out this if it gets passed, that's only going to drive our nation to a need for more and more and more steel. and from the standpoint of where, where have the calls been that enabled us -- coals been that enabled us to fuel the power to make our tanks and things like that, you know, sure, we may back up in thermal or electricity consumption from the standpoint of coal, but absolutely we'll be fine. we'll be just fine in west virginia. neil: a lot of your bold prom proclamations have come to pass, governor, so i doubt -- don't doubt you. thank you, governor, as always. as the governor was wrapping up this, do want to bring your attention to the fact that the stock market is closed for good friday.

it's ap anomaly because some markets are closed on friday, others close entirely on easter monday, as they like to call it, so it's going to be a tough time to pounce on the good news to see how you can play off of that. some people reflect the sentiment in bond market trading today although that is limited. rates are backing up a tad. the markets on the week had a strong week and a strong start to the second quarter after four quarters in a row of growth. keep in mind, during those four quarters the market increased by 50%. we have not seen that kind of a four-quarter stretch since 1936. i remember it well. [laughter] not personally, but i do remember it historically. we'll have more after this.

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act now. ♪♪ >> we aren't there yet. and so cases are going up again. the virus is spreading more rapidly in many places. deaths are going up in some states. so i ask, i plead with you, don't give back the progress we've all so, fought so hard to achieve. neil: all right. a cautionary warning from the

president of the united states amidst all of this improvement we've seen in cases in the united states regarding the covid virus. even anthony fauci saying we shouldn't get ahead of our proverbial syringes. keep wearing the mask, keep distancing, all that. i'll be speaking to dr. fauci at 4 p.m. eastern time on "your world" on fox news. ahead of that, to steve harrigan in atlanta on how these numbers are faring. the trend is still looking like our friend, steve. >> reporter: certainly9 with the vaccines, there's a lot of good news on that front. the cdc releasing new travel guidance today. within the u.s. for fully vaccinated people, it is low risk and no more need to quarantine before or after that trip. same as international, but if you are flying internationally into the u.s. and you are fully vaccinated, you should get a negative covid test before and after your flight. somed good news too for the airlines, many of them hiring.

united plans to hire hundreds of pilots next month alone, also adding new routes. moderna now saying it has approval from the fda to use larger vials, and pfizer now announcing it has had great success using a vaccine for children aged 12-15. if this vaccine is as successful as they expect it to be, there could be a vaccine in place for young people before the start of the next school year. neil, back to you. neil: thank you, my friend. steve harrigan in atlanta on all of that. want to go to dr. tom price, former health and human services secretary, congressman and doctor by training. he's the whole package, and he speaks his own mind. he doesn't play politics. i always admire that. doctor, good to have you the -- >> thanks, neil. good to be with you. neil: your take on this latest data and the comments from the cdc director saying those vaccinated can feel safe to travel, others just use some caution, but certainly more promising than her doomful

comments a week ago. what do you think? >> no, you're absolutely right. and i think there's wonderful news that's coming from the vaccine side. remember, this is a new disease. it's only been with us for a little over a year, and to consequently the vaccines didn't have the timeline in their trials to be able to determine how long the vaccines would be effective. and it appears they continue to be effective at least six months after their administration which is great news for folks as we move into the summer months. also as your report noted, the pfizer vaccine is effective in individuals from 12-15 years of age, so there's a great opportunity to get kids vaccinated and make certain that we can have a full in-person school year next year. so i think there's some very good news that's out there. and as long as we continue on the public health items that you mentioned -- wearing a mask, physical distancing, washing your hands, making certain that you don't go to work or associate with folks if you're feeling ill, i think that the

trends ought to be able to continue in a good direction. neil: you know, secretary, i've talked to a number of medical experts on this 90% efficacy rate that pfizer and others generally have with their vaccines. i don't mean to look at the empty portion of the glass, but for the 10% this might not be effective, what does that mean? say 100 million people that gett doses, potentially 10 million -- i worry about that. >> you remember that the incidence of disease in individuals that are exposed is in the 2-3% range. so consequently, you drop down markedly from that 10% level. is even though you don't have necessarily, get immunity from the vaccine itself, that doesn't mean that you're going to get infected. that does mean if, however, you need to continue with the common

sense public health items that we all know about to well. so well. also i think it's important to begin to talk about the importance of lineally getting a booster vaccine in the -- likely getting a booster vaccine in the fall. i think that will be recommended. it's likely to be the case. it'll include variants that have come online since the initial vaccine, but it will also be important so that individuals can continue to have that immunity and continue to be able to get out and return our living aspect to a relatively normal level. neil: secretary, dr. fauci has said the u.s. may not need this astrazeneca vaccine. there are a host of complications associated with it, maybe he was referring to the fact that we already have three solid ones that seem to be doing the trick. we don't need it. what do you think? >> well, i think that's possible. we're up to now about 2.5 million individuals getting vaccinated every single day or receiving a dose every single day. that's good news. there's no reason to believe that the pfizer, moderna and j&j

volume of vaccines coming online can't continue pace, so we ought to be able to continue to get folks vaccinated. remember there are other companies out there that are working on vaccines as well, so there will be new companies that come online. but i think that supply is going to be there when individuals are able to ten up -- to step up and get the vaccine. but they need to make certain they get in that line and receive their vaccine. that's incredibly important. neil: you know, secretary the, i'd be remiss, i mentioned dr. fauci. he seems to be getting a heap of criticism. peter navarro said the doctor was the father of covid and he's a fine one to deal with it now. mark meadows, former chief of staff for trump, that the fauci silence on the border crisis is deafening, especially the super-spreader event it could be right now for covid cases. what do you think of all of that? how do you think dr. fauci has

been handling himself, has been addressing things especially post the trumped administration? >> well -- the trump administration? >> well, dr. a few is an individual who has committed his life to infectious diseases and preventing infectious diseases. he's somebody who's been working on behalf of the united states for decades. and the talents that go into that kind of activity don't necessarily translate into being a media star. the same thing is true for folks who go into politics. some individuals are able to relate to the media in a way that is productive, some have a difficult challenge with that, and some individuals have challenges sometimes and not other times. but i think dr. fauci's to be commended for the work he's done on behalf of the united states and on behalf of high quality health care for all of you our citizens across this country. neil: that was a very

gentlemanly response. [laughter] secretary, thank you very, very much. i appreciate that. dr. tom price, former health and human services secretary turned president trump. all right, we're talking about some of these cases going forward and where we stand the right now. we should say in europe they are having a lot of problems with covid-related cases and vaccinations that are stumbling in getting out if this countries like italy and france. they're being urged to stay in place and not go to church on easter sunday. they say it's voluntary, but it's going to be pushed. after this. if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions,

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♪ ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa neil: all right, it's easy to say housing is back and back with a vengeance. of course, we just had a report out earlier this week that showed overall housing prices jumped 11% in the year-over-year period or and, furthermore, we're seeing a big comeback in units that are being rent ld out and for sale in metropolitan the

areas across the cup. so it's easy to say now things are looking great. but what fascinates me about our next guest is what she was saying a little more than a year ago in the midst of the virus gripping the country, that there was underlying dynamics that favored a puck-up in -- pick-up in activity. she was telling multihousing news back then there are people that need to sell, buy or rent. there is a lot of uncertainty. lending restrictions are rising, unemployment numbers are up, and there's a lot of confusion around stimulusment i think right now people are prioritizing health over anything else. here's what caught my attention. once tests are available, the uncertainty factor will greatly diminish. she was right.

she was one of the few saying that. she joins us right now. bess friedman, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me, neil. it's a pleasure to be here. neil: you obviously saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and most assumed it was just oncoming traffic at the time. so you saw something here. so let me spin what you said then forward. are we overduing it now? what do you think? >> well, i think the first quarter showed us that people do believe in new york city, and, you know, i think a vaccine rollout has been incredibly helpful, so that's been great. but people are committing to the city like never before. and, you know, many people have written the obituary for new york city, but they've been wrong time and time again. but let's not mix things up. we do have some headwinds because we know we need new leadership in new york city. we have a mayor's race, a lot of city council seats that are up,

a comp comptroller's race, so sw yorkers really need to get involved and make their voices known so we have great leadership leading us into the future. neil: what difference would that leadership make though if there isn't as much demand for properties right now because so many will still be either telecommunicating -- telecommuting or some of them not coming into the city and cities at all? >> well, people are coming into the city. and as we know, look, restaurants are at 50% right now, but they will get back to 100%. broadway is temporarily closed down. as fran leibowitz said, broadway's not going to reopen this scars dale. it's going to reopen here in new york city, and things will get back to life. and it will be busy and better, but it's going to be different, that's for sure. and i think the pandemic served as a bit of a catalyst for people to decide do they want to reimagine their space, move

downtown, do they want to change a little bit. so i think, neil, we will get back to a city that has 60 million plus tourists a year, but it's going to take time. and it doesn't minimize the fact that a lot of people are still suffering from loss of jobs, businesses, they've lost loved ones in the very challenging time. that's all very real. but it's still -- this is new york city, and people believe in it bigtime. neil: 9/11 proved that, to your point, they thought it would be just a barren, voided land, sort of a chernobyl and, of course, anything but after that. but having said that, there are some dynamics that have changed even in the corporate leasing space, right? i mean, so many companies that are not expanding or just quitting on contracts that were all but signed and with so many of these companies apparently okay with a number of their workers staying at home, wouldn't that hurt the demand side of your wuation? i know i keep pounding that

negative there -- [laughter] hasn't the macro environment changed in that respect? this is not just a passing fad, that this could have some long-term sort of 506r7 to it? >> it's a good point, neil. and, you know, we don't want businesses to up and move to florida. some of them have. ing and so we're hoping that people will come back and stay. and part of that is also a tax challenge, you know? we don't want to have things like the field ya tear -- by yesterday da tear. we want people to stay here, but it has to be affordable. we want the wealthy to invest here. it helps all of us. is we have the some work to do -- neil: the trend toward higher taxes, whatever's going on in new york locally, but even nationally the push to raise taxes on wealthy, on businesses, could that put a crimp in this turn-around you see? >> it could, but i'm hoping because new york has gotten so

much money from washington that that is enough and now they legalize marijuana, that's spos supposed to bring in something like $350 million. there's plenty of money to that we don't need to bring taxes up. we've already paid our fair share. they need to stop coming to new york city or new york for taxes. i think it's just been overwhelming for all of us. neil: very good point. the good thing about legalizing pot, at the very least it can help you deal with what you're seeing with the higher taxes and everything else that come with that. [laughter] that's a separate show. bess freedman, good seeing you. >> thank you, neil. neil: thank you. an uncanny read of things, but when you think of what she was saying a year ago in the height of this, she was very much ahead of her time. all right, right now at the corner of wall and broad there's no activity because markets are closed, good friday. treasuries had a chance to respond briefly to the very good employment report, and yields

did predictably back up. the question is how much. we'll explore that after this. ♪ ♪ i'm still a rock star, i got my rock moves, and i don't need you. ♪ and guess what? ♪ i'm having more fun and now that we're done -- ♪ amy: you can spend your life in boxing or any other business, gone gone and it won't matter what hit you. what matters is you're down. and there's nothing down there with you but the choice that will define you. do you stay down? or. do you find, somewhere deep inside of you, the resilience to get up. ♪♪ [announcer] and this fight is a long way from over, leonard is coming back.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪ neil: the georgia voting law's gotten more attention, i think, than most states ever get on any initiative, probably in decades. but it is what it is, and the backlash now against that and the backlash over the backlash has our lydia hu sort of working double duty on this story. what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, the story just continues to unfold before with us. right now we're understanding that delta and coca-cola and apple, after they condemned this law in georgia following calls for boycotts, now lawmakers are pointing out that they say there's some hypocrisy in this

criticism because each of those companies has been silent about china's human rights violations, the oppression of the uighur muslim minority, even as those companies continued to do business in china and reap financial benefits. take, for example, delta. the ceo called the new law unaccessible, but meanwhile it's also calling itself, the company there, the, quote, most chinese-friendly u.s. airline on us web site and -- on its web site. and it actually added flights to china during the pandemic. apple ceo tim cook blasted the georgia voting law while its business has exploded in growth in china, clearing a 57% increase in sales in the last quarter. now apple and coca-cola also lobbied to water down legislation that prevented american companies from importing goods manufactured through forced labor in chinament coca-cola's greater china president said last year

that the company is in china, quote, for the long term while investing billions in china over previous years. now senator marco rubio took to twitter yesterday calling out these companies, and he used the hashtag woke corporate pip creates. listen. hypocrites. >> they make billions of dollars in a country that doesn't even have elections. they make billions of dollars working with a country that has no respect for anyone or anything. and they haven't said a word about it. but in america they're prepared to boycott a state and condemn they can publicly to prove how woke they are. they're hypocrites. complete and total hypocrites. >> reporter: and, neil, apple and coca-cola did not respond to our request for comment, and delta declined to comment. back to you. neil: lydia, thank you very much for that. lydia hu on all of that. in the meantime, the ongoing back and forth on this infrastructure package, democrats seem to think that they're got the votes to do

this. i talked to jim clyburn, house majority whip, yesterday on that very subject, and he said they're embracing a lot of changes that they hope to make permanent. some of those after this. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have one hundred thousand

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uhh yes. and your lucky jersey? oh, yeah. lauren, a cooler? it's hot. it's march. and jay, what's with all your screens? just checking in with my team... of colleagues. so you're all streaming on every device in the house, what?!! that was a foul. it's march... ...and you're definitely not watching basketball. no, no. i'm definitely not watching basketball. right... ( horn blaring )

♪ neil: all right, now comes the sell. the president recruiting at least five key cabinet members to make the capitol hill push to get his $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan through. hillary vaughn following these developments on capitol hill. hey, hillary. >> reporter: hey, neil. there is a push on capitol hill by democrats to try to make the expanded child tax credit permanent. this is something that was part of the american rescue package that was signed into law. but it was only approved on a temporary basis to help get families in poverty through recovery. but democrats now say they want these up-front payments that some families are going to get, to get those payments forever. that is something that the white house said they're open to looking at. it is also a key part of this rescue package that president biden proud of. he even talked about it this

morning. >> -- months ahead, a new childcare tax credit will cut taxes and provide help for millions of families. >> reporter: but the irs says, not so fast. a lot of people in poverty do not bother to file taxes, so the irs has no way to pay them. that's what they're trying to work out by setting up a portal that lets people in that threshold give the irs their information. but mean while, senators -- 41 democratic senators wrote a letter to president biden asking him to make the beefed-up child tax credit here to stay by including it in his next recovery package that they're expected to announce this month in addition to infrastructure. in anticipation of that, progressives have been hitting the ground in their home district to talk up the benefits. senator markey and congresswoman ayanna pressley were in massachusetts. senator markey tweeted this: i'm partnering with representative presley to make the child tax

credit permanent. doing that comes with a cost. the tax foundation estimates making this tax credit permanent would cost $3.6 trillion -- 1.6 trillion over next decade. and, neil, the key part of this that is different than the normal tax credit, these are up-front payments that reoccur monthly. andand the irs is scrambling to figure out how to get these monthly checks out to people. northerlyingly, you get -- normally, you get the credit when you file your tax returns. neil? neil: it does sound expensive. maybe very generous, but very expensive. hillary vaughn, thank you finish that. we've got mark hamrick with us, ann berry, financial expert. you know, looking at this there are a lot of good things, for example, in just infrastructure, right? i mean, there's even $400 billion set aside to help the elderly and the handicapped. no one would be against that on

the surface, of course, but included in an infrastructure package, it does raise a question, also making permanent child credits, how you sell that and still call it infrastructure. your thoughts. >> it's funny you're saying that, neil, because i was just reviewing a report on this measure in the break here that really does get to the notion that it's probably less than truthful to call this an infrastructure bill without saying infrastructure plus. and i do feel as if, you know, we know as we've discussed earlier that we're in a bit of a fix here. are we really committed to doing that job, or is this like other episodes in our history where it's, you know, let's brand this an infrastructure bill and throw a whole lot else in there. and i am worried about that. so, you know, leaving the debate

around that particular aspect of the legislation aside, there are some good things about it. obviously, cost is another huge aspect of that. i do wonder how committed the administration really is to infrastructure when there are so many components of this legislation that make it look a little like checking off boxes in part to fulfill desires of constituencies. neil: well, what i'm finding, ann, regardless of people's politics on this, is anyone looking at how, you know, we pay for all of this? or that, you know, good deeds know might be, someone's got to pay for them. we're told the administration is looking into the legal issues behind canceling up to $50,000 worth of student loan debt. let's say they get passed that and find, yes, they can do that. then what? you know, that's an expensive undertaking right there. the permanent childcare credit,

very, very expensive over the course of ten years, maybe $1.6 trillion expensive. is anyone looking for how this stuff is paid for? or is it all based on it will itself spur growth? that part i have a hard time reconciling. what do you think? >> i think those are all great questions. neil: ann, first, i'm sorry. >> yeah, i'm sorry. >> i think -- but i would also stress the bucket. i think the child tax credit is one policy component, neil, where i'd agree with you, i don't think there's a ton of philosophical debate over the merits of doing that, to make sure children who are at risk of growing up in poverty at least have a chance to avoid that through a policy like the tax credit. i think the path to student loan and debt is completely different because what that's really doing is picking a population that has

on average $18,000 a year -- [inaudible] allowing them to get more disposable income and taking the burden of doing that to a population that pays taxes but doesn't have the benefit of the higher income. so i think particularly when it comes to the student the loan are debt cancellation piece, neil, there's not enough debate and whether it's turning on its head the -- [inaudible] neil: all right. well, it's a proposal right now, we'll watch it very, very closely here. in the meantime, what florida's doing to get the cruise industry back online and start to see those lines. after this. ♪ ♪ it's game time, let's meet the defending champs. g. hargrave thomas, point guard. bryce matthias, forward. kim kietz, investor. oh, i invested in invesco qqq.

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florida lawmakers are trying get things moving and to get the cdc to allow the cruise industry to fully reopen. hello, phil. reporter: we are at the port of miami, slow day here, but windy with only two ships in port and basically for the past 12 months the only reason cruise ships had come into the area is to refuel and restock the food and drinks were the screws that are keeping the cruiser ships operating at a massive financial loss, i will add. at the end of october the cdc to a new requirements for the industry to start sailing, but it still has not added us supports an industry experts complain that rules cannot be met, too onerous, but cruising resumed in the south pacific and europe with a royal caribbean starting the first passenger cruise in a june out of nassau and

cozumel next a code. all crew and passengers must be vaccinated or top five cruise line executives met with florida's governor all of whom a great florida's economy is very hurt by the industry shutdown and cruising can resume this summer in other countries than why not florida. >> so, confused. we are a florida-based entity. we have a huge business. we carry 9 million, 10 million americans a year on vacation. and they love these vacations and a suddenly it stopped. reporter: miami-dade county's mayor met with the cdc and came out optimistic quote some may want to sue but we want to sail and we're ready to collaborate to make sure cruise capital of the world, miami, can lead the way in rebuild this critical industry. crystal cruises plans to cruise again in july and

a celebrity cruises is scheduled to resume cruising from saint maarten on june 5 clearly, one and not-- one of the new protocols was the cruise ship industry gets back up and sailing will be at only having passengers a show proof of a vaccine and if they are under 18 proof of a negative covid test. neil? neil: thank you. phil keating in miami. implications of all of this, just getting people back to business and getting businesses that have been stuck in port back in business as well. airing with us and john long ski. john, i wanted to get your take, with the jobs report today that is on fire and yet you hear development like this with the cruise industry still forced to slow go a come back. and in this case get

more ships that to see if you are in the cruise industries or host of others. could these improvements we have seen have short lives if we don't see this here? >> that could bear-- very well be the case. of the economic recovery proceeds at the mercy of covid-19. we surge in covid-19 if that were to occur could perhaps quickly bring an end to these many signs of improvements we see in terms of business activity. neil: so, when you see that stuff going on, aaron, the push and pull on getting businesses to be fully open for business, if it stays roughly at this level and doesn't improve markedly, due on these gains we have seen in jobs slow markedly? >> yeah, when you really

break out the jobs report, what's really driving the improvements is manufacturing and construction and they-- that really has been going on during the entire pandemic. they didn't have a big hit in the air actually above pandemic levels, but the areas hit the hardest, food service, accommodation, tourism, they really are coming back at intel we see that kind of growth and to those industries, back it's going to really hurt the economy and also when you look at basically education levels, they really haven't seen the gains that we have seen where people with bachelor's degrees or higher have really massively approved, there's only about 1% higher unemployment than pre-pandemic levels and a seven order to get a lot of the food service, you need to reopen and that's what's really going to hold us back.

neil: john, looking at this play out, the jobs the situation now, this report again as i said blue a lot of estimates with a lot of people hoping it is now a trend. is it in your eyes? >> well i hope so. it's well entrenched. if we don't have a disruptive covid-19 there's no question in my mind by the end of this year will-- we will be looking at an unemployment rate it's now 6% and it should be under 5% by december, 2021. if we get steady improvements, reopening of the economy we will see s&p 500 earnings per share growth by at least 25% annually with improved outlook for profitability, sales means more in terms of hiring activity and that itself will help to propel consumer spending higher.

neil: i don't want to interrupt you but we have more to best security issue outside the us capitol. ted, what is going on. reporter: away from the capital on the senate side and a few minutes ago over the intercom here the police security intercom came on the air and said the capital is locked down due to an external security threat. i should note a couple of weeks ago they removed the outer delimiter of the offensive up around the capital since the january 6, riot. they push the perimeter in and there's still a pretty good sense that is immediately around the us capitol itself. people are allowed to move around inside the us capitol complex between the house and senate office buildings and also the capital itself, but the fact that they have some external security threat , keep in mind this is significant because they still have national guard's persons here. they reduce the footprint significantly in the middle of march,

so this is the first time we have had something major going on a pure on capitol hill. the capital has mostly been abandoned so far over the past two weeks with the house out of session for two weeks and the senate when we can then both are out another week next week as well before they return in mid april, but it's a significant and you can imagine how high tensions are on capitol hill after the january 6, riot. that is the first time i've heard them break in over the air time system since they locked it down the capital and i try to get members out of the house chamber on the sixth of january. we don't hear that often in the fact that it happened till she would a lot maybe tell you how significant it could be and how concerned they are about security, but this is coming in in real time and this is really all we know is that the us capitol is locked down due to an external security threat. neil: and that's what they were saying on the intercom that are

decided it's a security threat and they left it at that. we don't know where the thread is, none of that? format that was the issue we had back in march, there was concern on march 4, that used to be the day they would not threat presidents up until the mid- 30s that there was some threat. there was some paperwork, something that rose to a bit of a level of concern with the house of representatives had finished its business the day before and said we don't really need to be here, let's get out of dodge in the senate continued with its activities, but again you have the full marshaling of forces around the capital. what i notice every day when i come to the capital is that you saw them take down the outer fencing. they reopened independence and constance avenue and take down the razor wire and you still see guardsman insists he-- guardsman in fatigues and rifles, but it's a

must different posture. sometimes you have local police incidents around washington dc and that was why the capital was so secure when they had the larger perimeter that pushed out to the north almost to union station which is the train station in washington dc, i mean, they really locked in this place. they have removed the outer fencing. there was an incident at union station couple years ago and we thought it was on capitol hill, it wasn't it was in union station, but it's only a stone's throw away from the russell center office building where a lot of senators have their offices. neil: so, how many congressmen, senators are in the capital now with of the holidays and everything else? i mean, how many are we talking about cracks. reporter: i have been here all week and i have not seen a seam-- a single number. you see some aides, that's natural, but i have not seen a single

member, house speaker nancy posey held her press conference yesterday it was done virtually. it's usually done here and as the podium behind me where she usually speaks, but she has held her press conference virtually at the last two weeks from san francisco. neil: ted, curious, the guardsman who are still in the capital, how many of them are stationed inside the capital? reporter: you don't really see the much inside the building. this is an exterior operation for the most part. you can see them walking around from time to time may be getting some food and you saw a lot of them in the capital when this started. i came in one morning in the studio next door where we have been doing live shots during the pandemic there were two or three cops and they would sleep in the room where we would come into our lives shots. over the past couple of weeks, we have noticed there's been a diminished footprint on capitol hill as to the

national guard presence. they cut that back significantly and there have been a lot of concern by lawmakers about keeping the national guard here. some have said we need to send them home permanently. they just appointed the new house sergeant at arms a couple of days ago, william walker who had been the head of the dc national guard and a testified at the senate hearing a couple years-- weeks ago that the security situation saying his troops were ready to go and it took forever even after the go order was given to communicate that to him to get his folks to capitol hill from the armory over by rfk stadium where the washington redskins used it to play a couple blocks from here, but he has not even taken office as far as we can tell. i noticed this morning on the house website timothy who is the acting sergeant at arms was still listed so we don't think walker has taken over. again, consider just how serious they will take of threat.

you might remember on the day before the inauguration, this would've in january 19, there was a large explosion underneath an interstate highway not far for the capital and they cleared the west front of the capital where they usually a dog up residence on the national mall side of the capital and they cleared that because they heard a big bang and didn't know what had transpired and they got everyone out right away. bear with me for a second, sometimes this information comes in here, just to see if there's anything happening. it's pretty vague, sometimes i get a hand signal our text message from someone, but that's all we know is there a sick-- external security threat and capitol police are saying no entry or exit is permitted at this time. you can move throughout the building but stay away from exterior windows and doors and if you are outside seek cover. neil: we separately heard

evidence of two stretchers outside the capital. don't know what that means, but when they talk about walking down the capital just get this correct, it doesn't mean walking down like union station like you referred to earlier. >> does not part of the capitol complex. we are talking about the capital itself, house and senate office building, grounds around the capital, library of congress, part of the national mall to the front and sometimes union station's-- a station if there's an episode they lock it down, that's not in direct jurisdiction of the capitol police. neil: ted, thank you very much for the update. obviously ted will follow up on this and all we know is a security threat outside the capital that essentially shut it down, locked it down with all member and all related buildings in the capital. this was on intercom a few minutes ago where they announced the lockdown. we don't know what

precipitated it, we don't know what the threat is. we know they are not taking any chances in the 2000 or so guardsman and women are on capitol grounds and they are handling this along with capitol police. we will keep you posted. you are watching fox business. before voltaren arthritis pain gel, my husband would have been on the sidelines. but not anymore! an alternative to pills voltaren

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neil: we are still following news of a lockdown on capitol hill that was put in place in the last 20 minutes or so. congress is not in session right now, so we don't believe congressman or senators are actually in the building. the capitol grounds include libraries of congress, other stuff we associate with the capital ground, not union station, a key transportation hub. that's about a block away from the capital. we know there were reports of stretchers seen outside the capital , a car that may have been involved outside the capitol grounds. not much more than that. i think we have hillary vaughn available for an update or no?

but it's good to darin a nypd lieutenant. i should express hillary is in the capital right now and she is sharing a lot of this information with us via text. darren, good to have you so much we don't know, but obviously this is the same capital posted january 6 writes everything else that ensued. there's a small force of a little more than 2000 guardsman and women working and coordinating with dc police, capitol police, what do you make of what you are hearing? >> i could it's troubling when we consider the narrative that occurred in january. we expected or we had the expectation of greater fortification to be deployed at the capital and with that said we recently heard of some level of dispute that's been introduced by the dc metro police on constitution avenue and a vehicle has crashed into the complex , but it goes back to what are we

doing, we have a gerst and meaning this is a standing troop order of 2000 plus national guardsmen and police officers a line in the perimeter to ensure safety. fortunately it's good friday so as you mentioned earlier congress is not in session so we have a skeleton crew so to speak in the capital so it begs the question was a coordinated attack against the capital or more of an operation leading to a car accident as a result. neil: you know lockdown, explain what authority tried to keep in place and how does a lockdown work, what are people inside the facilities told to do? >> when you have a lockdown you have basically no one can enter or exit and you can either sheltering place or evacuate, but based on a lockdown, evacuation is not in

place. this is a continuous plan in place that has been reaffirmed in the wake of what happened back in january, in connection with the assault on the capital, so we have people inside basically sheltering in place and they are allowing law enforcement and the national guardsmen to move forth towards the safety of the people in the complex. it's an arduous task because it's a massive complex. it requires tremendous resources to fortify the capitol complex as a result. this is ongoing or a should say it's unfolding as we speak and i'm interested to know myself in terms of what the final outcome is, if this accident was an aberration or a targeted attack as a result. neil: obviously, when you think about a given everything that transpired on capitol hill on january 6, so they are low to likely ignore issues that in the

past they might have or just localized to where they happen. it involves something more. is the response still the same, in other words does any report at the same across the capital lockdown response? >> well, we definitely have a heightened awareness and i believe that they are changing or re- fortifying how they protect that capitol complex. one things i've heard mention of the pass was they were looking to erect the presence of drones at the capital. it remains to be seen if the plan has come to fruition because as i look at the still photos and even videos, i don't see anything reflective of a drone of presidents -- presence at the capital. are there changes in place? sure there are. it needs to be a constant revolution of ancient in connection with the security of the capital.

it's more of a way to see because i think they are in essence trying to build the plane is a learn how to fly it based on what happened in january. neil: darren, would you mind to hang on. i would like to go back to you, but i would love to pick your brain on other developments we are learning. for those of you just tuning in, the capital is in the middle of a lockdown due an external security threat. we don't know what that is, but we know hillary vaughn is in the capital and she might be able to share some new information. what can you tell us? reporter: i actually have a birds eye view from the russell rotunda on the senate side of the capital of what's going on. i was walking down the hallway and heard a page say there's an external security threat in the capital was a you can move within the building , but you can't go outside so i looked through the window that shows the actual capitol rotunda and right there, there's abuse-- blue sedan that crashed into

a barrier that essentially comes up out of the ground to prevent vehicles from driving right onto the front of the capitol steps. that vehicle remains they are. it's crashed and smashed into the barrier. i also saw a person lying on the ground. there were capitol police tending to the unidentified individual. there were also national guard around. there were two ambulances and out of those were two stretchers rolled out. one's thresher went to the person that was lying on the ground. that person was loaded onto the stretcher. the second stretcher went further beyond my viewpoint to another individual that i could not see pic of the stretcher came back in my viewpoint with the person on the stretcher and they were loaded into the ambulances. the ambulances have left and i went to put this into context because there was a lot of talk about this surrounding the capital that remains in place since january 6.

that offense recently came down, so for the first time in recent days cars have been able , public vehicles have been able to get access to closer to the capital than the hammer for the past several months, but it's important to note there are several national guard troops still here on the capital and they were also responding to the scene that remains very active. the dark blue sedan that crashed into that barrier remains there . there is still a flurry of capitol police, national guard with fire truck and ambulance still here. we don't have details of what went down into these people are that were taken on the stretchers, but it is a rapidly evolving theme and it really speaks to the importance and the heightened measure of security measures of that are still in place. audit people may be wondering if the fence should not have gone down because that car

would not have been able to get this close to the capital if the offense was still appeared neil? neil: hillary, i understand the announcement to state the lockdown. did you hear it at the time? what did they say? reporter: i don't have the announcement memorized, but it played twice as i was walking down the hall and up at the video of that and i think we are working to get it to play it out, but essentially there were some loud beeps before the voice message played and the voice message essentially indicated to all personnel in the capital that there's an external security threat and people inside the building, press, offices, staff should not leave the building, not go outside, not go to any balconies either, so essentially we are sheltering in place inside the capital, but because there are windows in the

russell rotunda where i am that looks directly towards the capitol dome come out we had a shot video that we are working to get fed in when we are done talking to showcase exactly what we saw on what happened, so we will have the video to play shortly as well. neil: hillary, i don't want to stop you from doing that. i appreciate that. a few years back a woman was driving crazily around the various circles of the capital and they shut things down back and then, no sinister plot but it got out of hand in their response was to lock everything down and make sure it was localized to this woman. we don't know the details here or incidents about the driver into your point we do know a couple of stretchers were required were those hit or where those in the car? reporter: we don't know. when i went to the window, the crash had already occurred and that the person, the

individual whether or not they were in the car was already on the ground several yards away from the vehicle, but what's interesting is where the barrier is, it is yards from the front steps of the capitol. it's a barrier that comes up out of the ground, a barrier that stays up pretty much at all times unless there are members vehicles that need to access that front of the capital. it's not something the public ever has access to, to drive onto the front driveway area on the steps of the capitol and also there's a station there were capitol police are set up kind of like a tollbooth next to the barrier to check credentials if someone needs access, but also the barrier says: stop. so, there's no confusion for a driver to assume that they could proceed towards that. it says to stop and that barrier, the little hut

of capitol police there to check credentials to see if the person actually needs access to the capital. it's interesting and i'm sure we will learn more from the capitol police on how the crash occurred and what led up to it. if they tried to stop the vehicle, if the vehicle then instead charged towards the barrier, we don't have those details, but the person did drive their car into that barrier, whoever the person is. neil? neil: we are also looking at video of the scene in particular we are working in coordination with our sister network on that. hillary, this is vacation time in the capital, so it senators, most are not there; right? reporter: right, this is spring recess, so about the house and senate are out. a lot of members are in their home districts. a lot of staff is not here as well, but that's not necessarily something that is widely known to the public.

a lotta people are not aware of the senate or house a schedule, so you have to move the ford with the assumption however the person who would have believed or assumed that congress was here and there were senators that there were how spammers on the hill conducting business as normal, but thankfully because it is spring recess there are most senate offices are doing work in their home districts and not physically here on the capital. neil: hillary, thank you. thank you for keeping your comment you always do. in the meantime i went to go to howard, former police honcho in the great city of new york. what do you make of what you have been hearing right now? >> well, what i make of it is that the capital powers to stop a vehicle and that's apparently what happened here.

neil: so, if a vehicle is out of control, it doesn't necessarily mean anything nefarious, but it is something they have to address immediately and so the lockdown response is just what they do in these events or is it a post january 6, heightened urgency and this is how they respond? >> well, i think it's heightened by the fact is that there have been all kinds of studies and critiques and going over previous operational plans to see what broke down on january 6. i'm sure this is probably now one of the safest places to be is at the capital. neil: you know, eventually they had been winding down the number of guardsmen in the district and i think at the height it was 20000 and now, we are little

over 2000. i could be off, but there had been some criticism about taking down some fencing around the immediate perimeter of the capital. others is that it should have come down sooner. your thoughts? >> my thoughts are that the stronger you can make a perimeter, the better off you are. of the further away you keep adversaries, the longer reaction time you have to safeguard both property and people, so from a security standpoint we would like to have big walls all over the place. on the other hand the government does have to work and i do know that they put a lot of contingency plans in place after they took the fence down, so it's a balance. it's a balance of governments operating in making something look like fort knox and you don't want our capital to look like fort knox. neil: all right, howard i hope you can stay with us on the line.

i went to check with more news we are learning at the capital. chad? reporter: this is a statement from the us capitol police and some of this might be just a house versus a senate thing here, but they are billing this according to the us capitol police as a critical incident saying the north barricade vehicle access point which is the senate side of the capital and they refer to independence avenue, but that's the wrong street they mean constitution, someone rammed a vehicle into two us capitol police officers, so when you come into the capital if you show your id and you are allowed to be there there's a series of officers who were there along with national guardsmen and police cruisers and other vehicles checking ids and making sure they are supposed to be fair, but you can come right off of constitution avenue and turn in there and actually hit them and that's apparently what happened, so us capitol police said two officers were hit. a suspect is in custody and both officers are injured and three, saw

three, the suspect and a two officers hit by the blue sedan have been transported to the hospital. we do not know the extent of their injuries, neil. neil: doing anything about the suspect? reporter: knowing what is remarkable, this is the push and shove debate that's been going on on capitol hill since january 6, and even further back. i have spoken over the years with multiple sergeants at arms who say if you want to make the capital secure, the entire perimeter of the capital, the entire footprint should be pushed back. this is where security experts will probably tell you security worked. you people out from the building and that was the problem on the sixth of january, but here they condensed that a couple of weeks ago. remember the interim perimeter was further out after january 6. that it's the edge of the primitive. you can come up or down constitution avenue like no one's business and if

you want to make a hard left or right turn to the capital, you will hit the barricade and that's apparently what happened and that's how these two officers got injured as a someone rammed their car into the barricade, but that shows you how close it is and this is the push and shove debate that's gone on for years between security officials at the capital and the lawmakers themselves the same a perimeter should be further out. that's what security officials say, lawmakers say we are afraid we will turn the capital into a citadel and the public won't have access to this is the capital of the united states, but as they proved on january 6, too much access was a bad thing. i was always told for years talking with former sergeant at arms, former us capitol police chiefs that their mantra was keep the fight outside so this is why this appears to have worked today, but the idea didn't work january 6, because people were allowed to get too close to the skin of the building and then break into the

building are we on the what happened there. that is why they have the double redundancy, but there has been debate as to whether or not they should have constitution and independence avenue's open because you can drive right up and down them and again they closed off a lot of the streets between house and senate office building because of concerns about truck bombs after oklahoma city in 1995, and some said maybe constitution avenue should be closed because it does get very close to the russell and senate-- russell, dirksen office building and you probably have about 35 to maybe 100 yards between the street the capital once you get past constitution avenue. neil: you think about it, they used it to say the same about closing off traffic in front of the white house and i believe that might've dated back to 911 where they did close it off and now pedestrian traffic only. every incident like this whether it warrants the

response he gets or not will hasten the day, want it? reporter: a couple of weeks ago but for the recess you had bipartisan lawmakers, chris van hollen did, democratic senator from maryland, royal want, but top republican on the rules committee from missouri and elinor holmes morton, the nonvoting delegate to congress saying we are introducing legislation to prohibit them from putting a permanent fence around the capital. one of the things that has been proposed is offense that they built into the ground that could be raised or lowered. here's the other thing i think it's interesting. i was talking to a former senior the official yesterday and they said to me that they all knew that january 6, would happen at some point. maybe not then but some incident like that would probably happen at some point, but what stuck with me from the conversation and others have said this to me is that it's not over meaning this connected

to the events of january 6, we don't know is this a low wall, we don't know. you had the incident back in 2013, miriam kerry who the us capitol police actually shot and killed by the senate office building. she drove wildly to the white house, hit a uniformed secret service officer there and drove wildly to the capital and they chased her around the capital, pursued by us capitol police and finally crashed and they had shot her, but again they locked the capital down during the government shutdown of 2013. anytime you see that the haiti around capital, they will act pretty drastically and that's apparently what they did today. neil: do we know whether the driver intentionally targeted these officers? or was it an accident time someone comes up--

any time a car comes up and you see them turn if they are essentially this would be west and constitutional avenue ne see them approach approaches slowly, but what appears to have happened here is that the barricade at a high rate of speed and again the barricades are constantly up if there's no cars coming through. they aren't waving someone through rate than, but this will be at night and probably amplify this entire conversation about what they should be doing about the capital because again you have lawmakers that say you want to make the capital campus as open as possible for a lot of people here say they don't know they can do so. if you look at the ritz in the statement not long after january 6, from acting us capitol police chief, she told lawmakers she didn't think they could protect the first amendment rights of a peaceful demonstrators who came to the capital on the sixth of january, and protect the building. the only way to maybe make it completely safe

and this is what you are alluding to, what they did at the white house, closing off pennsylvania avenue after the oklahoma city bombing and i mentioned how that precipitated changes here on capitol hill, but the interesting thing bill clinton during the end of his term was talking about and initiated a process to reopen pennsylvania avenue and then what happened after he was out of office, 9/11 and never will be open pennsylvania avenue again. neil: i wondering what type of financing exist now, chad, in or around the capital? i know they were quickly taking it down including the one right outside the capital building itself, but what type of fencing is still in place of any? reporter: this is a higher fence about 10 or 12 feet tall. they took the razor wire off the couple of weeks ago. it's probably pretty flimsy in the sense that if you wanted to ram it with a car you probably could but it's all locked together, but inside they have the

permanent dollars-- dollars, but that is the fencing that remains up around capitol square right now. again, they have similar fencing with two layers and maybe this is what will initiate the conversation about do they need to layers because you had to come in, you would be checked , you have probably about an eighth of a mile depending on where you are coming in from the street a couple of weeks ago and you could not have gotten this close. you would have officers there and even around the time of an operation and certainly march 4, when they thought there was a security threat because that was the old day we would not great presence. they had big army vehicles you know as cement trucks and things like that parked at those gates so people could not get in if someone intended to do what apparently happened today. neil: obviously, cherry blossom time in washington and a lot of people expected to descend on

the nation's capital this, easter weekend. where are the average folks within the city? do they have to stay clear of this area? i know there's a locked down in, but it those went to get beyond the lockdown area? reporter: they don't allow you into the capitol complex right now unless you have a hard pass meaning you work here, you are made, as senator, some official business, some people coming in to have meetings, but there's not been much of that going on with the pandemic. you cannot get in here. we have not had tours in a year. we shot the digester day that the gifts shop still has things up for the cherry blossom festival from last year because that's when they started to walk everything down and know it's been to the gift shop in 13 months. i have noticed there is more tours here because it's the cherry blossom season, but again to get to the capital, it's a

pretty lockdown overall. neil: all right. chad, thank you for the update and i look forward to getting another one from you as the things develop, but thank you. for those of you wondering what's going on on this good friday with the stock markets closed, well apparently tensions are high in the nation's capital. there's a lockdown in effect in and outside the us capitol due to what they are calling a security threat. we have seen us capitol police confirming that two officers were injured after a car apparently rammed into them. one of those officers broken said on the scene we just shot someone presumably that would be the driver of this vehicle. we just don't know and then there was an announcement made for the capital facilities quoting due to exterior security threat entry or exit is not permitted at this time in any building in the capitol

complex and went on to say you may move around the building, but stay away from exterior windows and doors. normally as i learn in the event of a lockdown you cannot leave or enter any of these facilities. many of the capitol police watching and working with the guardsmen and women who are still there. i'm told a little more than 2000 are still in place at or around the capital. as they were seen earlier tending to at least one person on the ground, two stretchers were seen rolled out and a growing balance of the law enforcement and first responders that have grown as you can see substantially in that time. two people were put on separate stretchers, two separate ambulances including the driver of the vehicle. we do not know if the driver deliberately targeted capitol police. often times you hear things happening in new york where someone rides onto a sidewalk and here she could be having a heart attack or

something and there's nothing deliberate we just don't know. we know that particular driver essentially mowed down or tried to mow down or accidentally hit to capital officers treated at a nearby hospital as is the driver of the vehicle. with all of that, back to howard, former new york chief of police. howard, as we are trying to put this together invariably what will come up is are we still to open around the capital? should record and it off more to say pedestrians as we now have outside the white house, certainly right outside pennsylvania on the north end of the white house, pennsylvania avenue i should say. your thoughts? >> the ultimate is to have a security perimeter as far away from the building and people as possible. you can also do architectural things with cement planters and

additional further out. i remember after 9/11 they had portable ballots all over the perimeter of the capital neil: so, the suspect who is in custody, we don't know if it was his or her, we don't know the gender of the driver, to target the capitol police, he worse she could have been having health issues, but we do know that the two police officers as well as the driver are at a hospital right now. we don't know their conditions. others are reporting that it seemed a very deliberate, that the driver targeted the officers. in the case of the latter than, what are we looking at, howard? >> i think we are probably looking at a deranged individual. of the investigative agency, fbi and others will find out who this is and will do a complete background on

the individual, associates and try to determine if he or she has any relation to any terrorist group. initially it doesn't sound like that to me. it sounds like someone as you said either had an illness or was intentionally as an individual going after these people. if it was a good terrorist organization number one they would know that short of a very, very, very large truck you are going to get through, so initially sounds to me like either a drenched individual or medical incident. based on the fact officers were injured, they may have been targeted is probably a deranged individual but we will have to wait and see. neil: i'm glad you mentioned that. howard, if you could stick with us. you have been very patient. other news organizations are referring to this as

an attack and we don't feel we have enough information to say that. we know a car rammed through capitol police officers. whether that was intentional, deliberate or result of a health incident, we just don't know so we aren't going to make any such leaps. henry, former hud secretary under bill clinton and we have booked henry on other issues here and he was kind enough to stay with us and maybe provide insight here. i'm thinking henry, from the time you're in the nation's capital, it's a different place even since that time. and a security is extra tight following the developments on january 6, extra sensitive to any incident. when do you make of all of this? >> well, i think it's the right thing to do to have security. it has advanced considerably since i was there in the 1990s. we have watched it step-by-step increase after 9/11 and more recently, but i would

say we cannot be negligent with respect to 2435 members of congress, 100 members of the senate or the president and his team at the white house or even for that matter the cabinet agencies in jeopardy. at this time when emotions are so high in our country and whether it's a large group as on january 6, or whether it's an individual we don't know if that was the case today, but we have to have security in place and i would argue in favor of the necessary security measures. yes, we have to give it up some individual freedoms just as we do when we fly or other things and not get up right next to the capital as a tourists or even visitors, but i would argue it is imperative that we not only protect those people who have been charged with those responsibilities, members of congress, the administration, but also the process of

government. of the process of government that congress needed to pass support legislation. the administration gathering in conference as they do daily and if we have to give up a few freedoms like eating immediately up to the capital building, it's understandable. neil: we are mixing some video we are getting from the scene and went our own hillary von shot inside the capital as issue with getting a view of this accident or at whatever you want to call it. people were being carried away on stretchers including the driver and we are getting other reports that the driver had a knife. again, we don't know much more on that whether he and it looked like a key being carried out on a stretcher here, whether he did anything else. you know, henry, i was

thinking of you during your days of bill clinton and in those days pennsylvania avenue right outside the north end of the white house was open to vehicular traffic and people don't realize how close it was, 100 feet or so from the white house actual structure of the white house. it was open to pedestrian traffic and i think it's the same thing you touched on in the beginning about what they might consider at the capital where every time this pops up they raise the issue again, but it's a little bit more of problematic undertaking when you're doing something like that around capital, is the net? >> you know, neil, i remember during the time i was secretary that someone took a shot at the white house. the president was not there. it was in the evening and an airplane flew into the white house. you may remember that. neil: i remember that very well. >> i was secretary of the head at the time.

in oklahoma city in my department lost more lives in that building than any other department. i went there, so i could only tell you about in era when we have to guard against, not just large group actions that can be followed, predicted, but into a-- individual bone will actions and it appears this person today from what you said may have had an individual commitment to try to do damage to hurt someone, we have to have these security measures because even though we give up some freedoms, we have to protect against about one person who could break through and do a lot of damage and as many security people will tell you, all they have to do is fail once. they deal with hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, all they have to do is fail one time, one gets through and can kill a lot of people and we have seen that you know with what we saw with

the baseball game with the congressional baseball practice session, a bunch of people were hurt that day. it's unfortunate that we live in that year at took its unfortunate there is that availability of guns. it's unfortunate that we have people who may be not well who are on the street and taking deranged views of events in our world, but it is what it is and we have to prepare for and we have to protect against. neil: as you were saying that we are getting some more details. those of you looking from home and wondering what's going on in the nation's capital again, this is nothing like what happened january 6, the concern enough for them to lock down and hold the ground including a number of museums and a number of various senate and house offices. congress is not in session so very few congressmen, women or senators on stat-- açai, but the staff is there.

of the capital is on lockdown. you cannot get in or out they have urged people to stay away from windows and this all started with reports of a car that hit the barrier which seemed to chase down to capital police officers. we say scene because we are getting just reports whether it was intentional or accidental. we know the driver of the vehicle was also placed on a stretcher and took to a hospital as well as the two officers. no word on their respective conditions. we do know that we are getting confirmation that the driver had a knife. whether the driver was targeting the officers with the knife or just had it on his person, we don't know. i can't say his because all indications i saw is what appeared to be a man on a stretcher, not a capital police officer they would be very obvious to identify, but again some video footage we are getting at the scene seems to show

right now that they are taking on abundance of caution and shutting down a large swaths of area in and around the capital including all senate and house offices and even pedestrians in the area are being told to stay away, not only from structures, but stay as far back as the washington mall butts up against the capital connecting to the white house and points south, you will not see just travelers of those visiting the city this time of year. very very popular destination, people want to see the cherry blossoms, easter weekend when otherwise nothing else is going on, but again we know very very little the on that that. who do we have with us right now, melinda cracks? tom we don't know much more than i've just said, but they're taking a -- >> sure.

absolutely. neil: what do you make of what you're seeing? >>neil, they're correct in taking an abundance of caution, of course, in these situations, as always. the key thing to note about washington, d.c. in particular is the ongoing working relationship between the fbi washington field office, wfo, and the washington metropolitan police and the capitol police. they usually work in very close cooperation and close concert, and i think that's something we can count on in this situation. neil: you know, tom, they're revisiting the issue of, you know, maybe cordoned off vehicular traffic much as we've done around the white house, they said this after january 6th. they've said this after incidents involving cars including a woman who was driving erratically around the capitol. that was a couple of years ago. it seems to be just a matter of time before they do just that. i'm not saying whether that's a

good or bad thing, but it seems to be an ineverett bl thing. -- inevitable thing. your thoughts. >> well, i would not advocate that personally. just a week or so ago i was up on capitol hill. it was shocking to see the high black chain-link fence barriers all around. we are a democracy, we're a representative democracy. there's a certain amount of risk we have to assume. i think the metal detectors getting into the building is quite appropriate. i think the capitol police are highly trained and the washington metropolitan police as well. and as i said before, i think their close coordinate a nation with the washington field office of the fbi -- which is quite near capitol hill, in fact -- i think all that goes, is a positive. and i'd hate to see, personally, in a democracy any further shutdowns. neil: so, tom, a lockdown is this effect, it has been since

around 1:15 p.m., close to 45 minutes. what is the course of that? how long do you think this lockdown remains in effect, til they can ascertain what the individual was up to or what? >> well, it could be minutes, and it could be several hours. that's exactly the thing the, they have to make the -- secure the area, identify the threat, neutralize the threat -- which in this case could be one individual or individuals -- and arresting them, getting them in handcuffs and then making sure they haven't left behind any explosives. i don't want to be alarmist, but that's always a problem, looking for what someone may have left behind. even searching people like this can take time because they're going to do a thorough search when they get people in custody. they're going -- in the proper environment, they completely strep them down so d strip them down so there's no further improvised explosive devices on

them. neil: all right. just make sure everything's okay. tom baker, thank you very much. the president has been alerted to these developments. he's at camp david for the weekend, left a little bit earlier. he is safe. most on capitol hill are off, but for people in there, the lockdown is on. now to charles payne. charles: good afternoon. i'm charles payne, this is "making money." breaking right now, we continue to follow the scene that's unfolding outside the capitol right at this moment. a suspect shot after ramming a car into officers. let's go to hillary vaughn who is inside the capitol for the very latest. >> reporter: charles, the scene remains really active here. for perspective, i'm here in the russell rotunda, and just to my left outside the window is the capitol dome. beneath that on the sidewalk in the driveway outside of those capitol steps is where this scene unfolded just about