back to "morning joe." it is 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west including there in the hazy los angeles, california. we have a lot to cover here in our fourth hour. including president biden's plea to congress to act on guns. saying, too many schools have become, quote, killing fields. and with the war in ukraine now entering day 100, the question is, where exactly does it go from here. we're going to ask ukraine's ambassador to the united states a little later this hour. plus we've got some breaking economic news. united states adding 390,000 jobs in may, as more experts sound the alarm about a

potential recession down the road. that is a good jobs number. and the president is expected to speak about that report in about 90 minutes. before he does that, we're going to get the latest from the white house when a key member of the president's economic team joins us live. and you thought warriors/celtics was good, history at the scripps national spelling bee. >> morehan. >> morhen. >> 14-year-old logan spelling an incredible 21 words in 90 seconds. and a clip you need to see to believe. we're going to get to that a little later here in the hour. but we're going to start with the fallout if fr the recent mass shooting thats have so rattled the kush. gunman who killed four people in

tulsa, oklahoma, targeted a doctor who performed a back surgery on him less than a month ago. and the suspect legally purchased an ar-15 style rifle around 2:00 p.m. the day of the shooting. before storming the hospital just three hours later. we're also learning more about the mass acer that killed 19 people in texas. one of the teachers that was killed, eva morales, she was on the phone with her husband as school police officer, while the attack was underway. she was inside of a classroom with her fourth grade students and her husband was outside of the school not allowed to go in. as the times notes, this suggested that at least one officer on the scene had information from inside of the classroom. it is unclear if he learned anything during his final conversation with his wife that informed the decision from the commanding officer to delay

entry. heartbreaking news out of texas. the slew of shootings, including the one in texas pushed president biden to deliver a major address yesterday evening. pleading with congress to take action on guns. the president urged lawmakers to ban assault style weapons and high-capacity magazine, expand background checks and also pass red flag laws. his 20-minute address came on the eve of this, today, national gun violence awareness day. the president also shared a message from the families of other communities he met with in the last few weeks and described his most recent trip to the scene of the massacre at that school in uvalde. >> we stood before 21 crosses for 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers. on each cross, a name. and nearby, a photo of each victim that jill and i reached out to touch. innocent victims, murdered in a

classroom that had been turned into a killing field. >> and then another shooting happened moments after the president wrapped up his speech. this one in iowa. the des moines register reported that a man shot and killd two women before turning the gun on himself. outside of a church in aims, the gunman's motive is not known at there time and police are still investigating what happened. the church had been holding an event involving college age students at time of the shooting. in washington it appears that legislation has stalled on gun reform. we're not sure where it is going to go yet. but there has been some made on the state level. some progress in new york state. the legislature tightened already trikt gun laws, banning anyone under 21 from buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle. new gun laws passed after an 18-year-old gunned down people at a grocery store in buffalo

and nancy pelosi said the house will vote next week on a large package of gun violence prevention bills. they passed the protecting our kids act that went along party lines. legislation is made up ever eight bills and it includes many of the measures that the president called for in his speech last night. for more on this, let's bring in nbc news ali vitali and from the north lawn, for "politico," eugene daniels. ali, let's start with you. there have been meeting over zoom, senator murphy has been the most outspoken about this. he suggested that he sees some progress. but said it is probably incremental. give us the update. where do things stand? >> as the president was speak, the house judicial committee was wrapping up an emergency session and they came back yesterday to mark up that the package of

bills that you just talked about. the protecting our kids act with the goal of the house being able to come back next week, put that legislation in front of the rules committee on tuesday and then of course put it to the house floor, our sources are telling us wednesday or thursday. of course, what happens to that package of legislation is largely dependent on what goes on in the senate and that is why we're watching those negotiations so closely. but really i think the thing that is important to note here is that as president biden was talking last night, many of the key pieces of what he mentioned he needed to see out of legislation are things that are in this house package of bills. things like clamping down on straw purchases, raising the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. this is low hanging fruit. but republicans if you listened to that judiciary hearing, it got fiery. it was tense and i think you could just see it in this short exchange that i could play for you now between the chairman of the committee jerry nadler and

one of the republican member jim jordan. listen. >> it is not even been 24 hours since the last mass shooting and who knows how long until the next one. too soon, my friends, what the hell are you waiting for? you say that none of the solutions proposed will stop gun violence in america. well there sadly agree. this bill will not alone save every life we will lose to gun violence this year. but it will save some. >> no one wants another tragedy. no one wants this to happen again that is why it is regretful that democrats have rushed to a markup today in what seems more like political theater than at a real attempt at improving public safety or finding solutions. this is another democrat attack on the second amendment and it is likely just the start. >> so, look, jonathan, you see there the way that republicans and democrats are so entrenched in their views here. that is on the house side anyway. but when you cross over to the

senate, the fact that these conversations are bipartisan, the fact that mitch mcconnell has blessed them despite the fact that he's talking a lot in his recent remarks at home in kentucky, mentioning things like mental health and school safety, these are part of the conversation with the bipartisan group but they're also looking at things like universal background checks and senator murphy doesn't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good here but at same time he is determined, he said, to do something that will save lives so while it might bein kre. al in the larger extreme, he's determined to make sure that will stop future mass shootings like the ones we've seen over the last few days. >> mcconnell notably not talking about guns. but eugene, guns was of course where the president squarely had his attention last night. it was a emotional speech at times angry, at times sad, certainly frustrated, flanked by

candle, one candle representing a state where a mass shooting was included and there was 56 because they include territories. tell us where the president, what he's hoping to accomplish and i think it was notable that he called for a full out ban on assault rifles but then 30 seconds later said well that won't happen, and said well okay, just raise the age of purchase from 18 to 21, that would be a good step. is that sort of tipping the white house hand at look tlal take any kind of progress no matter how kind of incremental. >> that is right. they're hoping that something happens. right, exactly what chris murphy said. don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. that is how the white house feels. they are hearing from everyday americas say this is too much. you saw the president channeling the anger and frustration and sadness of the american people as this continues to plague our country. it is an issue that, like you said, hits every single state

and territory in this country whether that is a mass shooting, whether -- which is four or more, or whether that is three or less or suicide, all of these issues are something that this white house takes very seriously. and the white house felt like there were multiple audiences for the president, first members of members of congress when he was outlining the kind of things that he wants to see that you and ali just talked about, all of the things that he wants to see pass the in the country. there is a dose of realism knowing that while there is discussions happening on capitol hill about whether they could happen, may not make it into a final bill but hoping that if you crack the wall just a little bit, then you start to see some of the change happen with whatever kind of piece of legislation that may possibly end up at his desk is interesting, the list is kind of similar to what president biden, present vice president biden after the sandy hook massacre,

the same kind of things they wanted to see then. a lot of that has not changed. he was talking to the american people. speaking to their anger. giving examples about the kinds of different things that legislation that could have possibly changed the shootings and in a place like ft. hood, texas, where i went to high school, what could have happened if we put this piece of legislation forward. being pretty graphic when he was talking about some of the folks that he talked to, the families that he talked to in uvalde and across the country on this issue. and also and probably more important, at times to the voters saying you guys, we've heard from you over and over, the polling is clear, 88%, 70%, depending on the poll, americans want some of these things that he's outlined so we said we need more allies in washington, d.c. to do so. one thing you did not hear from the president which is obvious was executive orders that he is

going to put forth and sign. they have been looking at what they could do but there is a concern in this white house that from what they do with executive orders with the power of the pen, they may have already done everything. >> the focus solely on congress at this point. the president calling for courage and backbone. ali, before you go, i want to switch gears. we got news about the january 6 committee and those hearings. they're finally upon us. next week we have one in prime time. what do we know about what st it is going to look like? >> this is something that i've been talking with lawmakers on the hill about for months. this is something that the committee has been working towards ever since -- a year ago when it was first constituted last july. what we expect though is we'll have multiple hearings throughout the course of june. very, very busy time here for congress and the january 6 committee. and we'll see multiple different hearings, each likely with a different focus. for example, we know this first one is going to be in prime time and according to the release that we got from the committee last night, it is going to feature previously unseen materials, as well as witness

testimony and it is going to also preview the hearings that are still to come while providing a american people the summary of the coordinated multi step effort to over turn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power. some examples and ideas of the things that we could see in terms of previously unseen materials, we know that the national archives has sent over multiple tranches of information from the trump white house to the january 6 committee, among those things my sources have told me are official white house photographs which could really allow the committee to paint a picture of both what was happening in the halls of congress on a minute to minute basis while also contrasting that in realtime with photos from the official white house photographer. it was one example the way the committee might try to draw the narrative around this. we know they have access to minute-by-minute text messages even if some of the subpoenas haven't bourne fruit, in terms

people coming before the committee, they could still tell, they feel, a compelling story to the country about a day frankly that people in this body experienced firsthand, that still palpable in the memories of lawmakers and staffers who are here in this building every day but also for many americans. the challenge for the committee is can they change any minds of people or is everybody just so baked in on how they see that day already according to republican and democratic lines that this hearing or hearings won't change the opinions of the country but nevertheless we've heard the committee members led by liz cheney and adam kinzinger, the only republicans, making this is a not a point for partisanship and not the partisan that we see things evolve into here on capitol hill. >> and as committee members say, they have a compelling story to tell. prime time hearings next week. we're all over it.

ali vitali, thank you and morning joe senior contributor, eugene daniels, thank you to you as well. we just learned the united states economy added 390,000 jobs last month. better than expected. the unemployment rate remains at 3.6% for the third month in a row. this continues several months of steady job growth. joining you now to break it down is cnbc's dom chu. read into the numbers and tell us what they mean. >> so let's go into some of the layers here, jonathan. and we know that the devil's in the details. so average hourly or you mentioned the headline numbers for jobs created in the unploit rate. if you take a look at average hourly earning, that is what people are focused on because it adds to the inflation, on whether people are making enough money to keep pace with inflation. they are not. but they are still making more money than over the last several

years. average salaries increased by by .3%. meaning that at the same time last year, versus now, you're now likely earning about 5.2% more. the labor force participation rate which is being viewed by a lot of economists as being an indicator of whether the overall job market is getting better. well that ticked slightly higher to 62.3%. that is the number of people who are actually out there in the work force right now, compare that to the pre-covid participation rate among americans in the work force which was about 63.4%. so year not that far away from a work force standpoint from where we were pre-pandemic. i will also point out that the job gains were predominantly in certain key sectors. leisure and hospitality continues to lead the way higher. it created about 84,000 jobs. professional and business services, 75,000 jobs. transportation and warehousing,

logistics, that sort of thing, added another 47 and construction added 36,000. i will also say, jonathan, and this is going to be key here, we often talk about the strength of the american consumer, because consumer spending drives almost more than two-thirds of the u.s. economy, the retail industry actually lost 61,000 jobs in the previous month, so all of that on balance, this is still a positive jobs report enough so where interest rates are now on the rise because maybe that inflation narrative stays in tact, maybe the federal reserve could continue on its policy to raise interest rates, but all of that said, the markets are kind of lower, drifting lower this way heading into the opening bell because of this jobs report. >> cnbc's dom chu, we appreciate that analysis on the jobs report this morning. we'll have more on that later this hour. but right now, let's bring in white house editor and political contributor sam saens.

so good headline for the white house but this comes against the back drop of the rising inflation. give us your sense of the political moment for the jobs report and the economic picture as a whole? >> well, i find it inating. because you probably remember this too, but in the lead up to the 2010 midterms, where democrats were frankly about to take it on the chin, the big conversation item was could they get the unemployment rate down to below 10%. it was lingering at 9.5%. i just pulled up an article from october of 2010, where obama is fretting that he can't get unemployment below 9% and now it is at 3.6%. it is a remarkable statistics. there are a ton of job openings for people who want them. labor market is great. comparatively to the rest of the global, the u.s. economy is in a fantastic situation. and all of this talk is recession, data doesn't point

strongly at this juncture to a near term recession. and yet that being said, everything is being blotted out by inflation. the cost of goods, the cost of gasoline specifically as you know, jonathan, are preoccupying both the white house and dominating the political conversation. and so you have months where you create 390,000 jobs, unemployment stayed at 3.6% and wages tick up at a robust pace and yet none of that can overcome a narrative that frankly is crippling democrat and hurting biden and frustrating white house aides because they feel like they have very few tools at their disposal to deal with it. >> ron klain every morning starts his day by checking the price of the average gallon of gas certainly front of mind for this white house. but still 3.6 unemployment and almost return to the number of jobs since the start of the pandemic. sam, stick around.

we'll have more later in hour on the jobs report. and why the lower number might actually be a good thing. we'll speak with one of the president's top economic adviser. plus today marks 100 days of the war on ukraine. we'll get a live report from the country and speak with the ukraine ambassador to the united states. also ahead, the latest from day two of the queen's jubilee celebration in london. we'll be right back.

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today marks 100 days since russia launched its invasion of ukraine and volodymyr zelenskyy said russian forces now control about 20% of his country. let's bring in nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter.

molly, 20%, it is a big number. we know there are fierce fighting in the donbas, but put this in perspective at day 100. the early days of the war there was the sense that kyiv could fall within days. instead ukraine resistance has been extraordinary. >> reporter: yeah, jonathan, absolutely extraordinary. i'm standing in one of the places that the russian forces moved in really quickly, hit really hard and occupied very quickly. but it is not -- no longer part of the 20% of the country that president zelenskyy said it occupied. i want to give you a sense of what this looks like. arrived a couple of days after the rurp left this town. this is to the northwest of kyiv. in the first couple of days of april, fact that traffic is going both ways is shocking. we spoke with bucha, but this is trashed. you see the destruction over

there. and behind me this is an apartment building and right next to it completely gone. last time i was here in the first week of april, there were first responders still digging through the rubble. there were family members out here waiting to see if bodies were found and now it is cleaned up. sidewalk is swept and it is completely clean and it is clean down to the city center where we went and outside we had no idea that was happening today but there are about 15 kids playing jump rope in front of another apartment building that was completely destroyed. we asked one of the moms what it was like to be back and she came back today on day 100 to restart their life. and the reason we came is to visit a woman that i met two months ago who buried her son in her garden like so many people here. she's now moved her son to a cemetery and we talked about how you possibly move on. but this is a city that is actively moving on. it couldn't look more different than the donbas and that is where the fighting is the

fiercest and the update that we have from that area and again hard to get communication out, journalists are no longer get close to that city, it is in the luhansk and the donbas, the pocket seen the fiercest fighting. 70% of the city, so there wasn't much gained overnight, 70% is under russian control. it is fierce urban combat. street by street. there is say no-man's-land and there are still fighting for part of the city and i've been reiterating this all week, there are still civilians, older people, infirm, people who cannot readily evacuate and they are in there whether they are in any kind of shelter and more houses were destroyed overnight. people are there without heat and water and without electricity. no humanitarian aid could get in and if nothing could get in, excuse me, it means that the civilians in donetsk right now don't have a safe way out. jonathan. >> the regions around kyiv,

wounded by recovering but it could continue for months to come. molly hunter, thank you for joining us this morning. and in just a few moments, we'll speak live with ukraine's ambassador to the united states to get her sense of day 100 of the war. also ahead, day two of the jubilee celebrations are underway in london but the queen is sitting on the side line this is morning. nbc's stephanie gosk joins us from england for all of the latest after we take a quick break. your projects done right

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back to london now. where day two of the four-day jubilee celebration is underway. the queen watched this morning's church service at st. paul's from windsor castle due to discomfort during yesterday's festivities. meanwhile prince harry and meghan are set to have a bigger role today. and let's go to stephanie gosk. she's in london. it is the early afternoon there.

what is happening now in this celebration, four day celebration of a remarkable 70 years of the queen's service? >> reporter: hey, there, jonathan. so after the service this morning there was a reception, a number of the royals and the royal family attended. notably, harry and meghan were not but they were front ant center in a way that we haven't seen them so far this weekend. we saw them enter the cathedral and they made their way down the center aisle all by themselves and royal experts looked at that moment and said it was carefully choreographed and the queen certainly knew about it and it was a nod of sorts at the importance that prince harry still has within the royal family and an opportunity to demonstrate that by allowing them to have that moment. as you could imagine there were a lot of people with craned heads trying to get a good look at them.

obviously notably absent, the queen herself. she had said that she wanted to attend the service it was a thanks for her 70 years on the throne and she continued to suffer from mobility and discomfort and we've known throughout the jubilee she would not be able to attend a lot of the events, standing in for her, prince charles who has been waiting for quite sometime to become the monarch himself. he was four years old when his mother was crowned the queen. and so, you know, he is now stepping up in a way that he never has before. and the queen in some respects getting a glimpse of the future, what it will be when he becomes king charles. >> certainly the queen not present today. those images of her on the balcony will be the ones of this 70th platinum jubilee. stephanie gosk, thank you so much. here in the united states, we saw history of another sort at last night's scripps national

spelling bee. >> are you ready? >> yes. your first word is speel bone. >> speelbone. >> -- [ spelling words ] [ spelling words ]

[ applause ] >> are you kidding me? that is 14-year-old harino logan spelling 21 words in 90 seconds in the first ever championship spelloff tiebreaker. that is one of the most impressive things i've ever seen. that was enough to defeat

12-year-old who spelled 15 words in that same amount of time. logan spoke about her incredible accomplishments this morning on "today" and what she plans to do with that $50,000 grand prize she certainly earned. >> i'm definitely going to save it toward college. but i do -- i have an interest in investing in the stock market so i'll probably put a bit aside for that and i definitely want to give back to the community. not just the spelling community but also my home town of san antonio and the larger community. so i definitely want to use some of that to give back. >> extraordinarily impressive. sam stein, you're still here. my question for you, can you spell at all? >> no. >> cat, c-a-t. >> let's be honest. was it that impressive. you should watch me handle a remote control with multiple sporting events on a sunday.

i could do just as quickly as she can. but i don't get money for it. i don't get $50,000 prizes. no one is playing clips of me doing that. >> game two, celtics/warriors sunday night, impressive last night. winning are a barrage. we're he soog that night. >> what a transition. >> look, i'm a paid broadcaster, sam, we could do this. the celtics down double-digits into the fourth quarter, set a nba finals record for largest turn around in a final frame of the finals game. >> incredible. >> they already, mission accomplished. they won a road game out west and if they win sunday it is gravely. greet start to the series. what do you think, sam, they were the underdogs but couldn't have started a better way. >> i was pretty despondent at the end of the third quarter, they were down 12, didn't imagine big al and marcus smart carrying the team like they did

in the fourth. it is gravy. game one, i didn't not expect them to go into san francisco and take any of the games. i'm shocked, it is a stunning fourth quarter. i'm feeling a little bit jubilant. i'm going to get my hopes at bay. don't want to jinx it or anything like that. >> and loyal "morning joe" viewers are stunning. we turn back to the war in ukraine which has now hit the 100th day. this was the message from one ukraine to our nbc reporter based outside of kharkiv. quote, of course we want peace, but we also want our territories back. if not, then what are we suffering for? we're going to speak to the ukrainian ambassador to the u.s. about the last 100 days and what the road ahead to look like. "morning joe" will be back in a moment.

a shot of white house here at 9:43 a.m. on the east coast. joining us now is the ukrainian ambassador to the united states, oksana markarova, thank you for joining us again this morning. it is day 100 of the war. since russian invaded ukraine. and certainly there is fierce fighting in the east. but the ukrainian resistance has been truly reparkable as captured the global imagination. but there is a lot of questions now and we don't know when it will be but how this war will end. whether it is months from now or longer. is there any scenario and this is a growing question in many european capitals where they would be willing to trade peace by giving up some territory to the russians? >> good morning, thank you for having me. although good morning is the -- that we rarely use in ukraine. yesterday was 100 days of the war which lasted for eight years and russian attacked us for the

first time in 2014 and illegally occupy and for eight years they have been preparing for this. now for 100 days, the full fledged brutal war crimes with unmanageable destruction returned to ukraine and we resist for 100 days and not only our great armed forces, our brave president, who from the day one led the nation into this war to defend our homes, ow loved ones, our identify, our freedom, our democracy, all the values that america is built on, values that are very important for us, for ukrainians. and even though it has been very hard, even though this battle had a we have now is more difficult than even the battles for kyiv or the battles that we saw at beginning, we will not surrender and this calls for giving up the territories to

reach peace, those are calls for sur render. we do not hear in the united states, and you ask everybody from administration to congress, to ordinary americans, and they understand that you cannot trade values and principles for illusion of peace. because, again, if we do not win, peace will not return to ukraine. in the territories which russia will occupy, they will be torturing, murdering people, killing ukraine and they will simply be preparing for another attack. so we will fight. >> so madam ambassador, just in recent days washington approved yet another military aid package which includes some longer range missiles, right now is ukraine getting what it needs to the rest of the west? >> well we're very grateful to the u.s. and i mean the support that u.s. has been able to quickly deliver from the beginning of this

phase, for this 100 days, but before that because we have cooperation with the u.s. and strategic partnership before this 100 days. and you know everyone from administration to pentagon, to department of state, to congress, that was able to adopt supplemental budgets due in this 100 days has been very much needed and very appreciated by ukrainians. so do we have everything that we have -- no. because we are facing a very, you know, strong and the enemy which outnumbers us. but we have a lot from the united states and also you have other allies. we see how u.s. put together this coalition of more than 40 countries that -- that meet regularly and discuss. it is not only weapons but it is sanctions and financial support to us. everything is important. >> madam ambassador, sam stein, he has the next question for

you. >> first of all, thanks for joining us. we're on the precipice of a global food crisis that is owed in part to russia's blockade of ukrainian wheat export in the black sea. i'm wondering two questions. one, is there a separate dil diplomatic track to resolve the blockade and allow those exports and if not are there alternate routes to get that wheat out of ukraine to potentially prevent this global food crisis from occurring? >> thank you for this excellent question. yes, russia creates a lot of crisis and it is a source of stress only to ukraine but now to food security because they have blocked our ports, because they're stealing our grain. so many countries that relies on grain and sunflower, and ukraine

is a bread basket and we're peaceful bread grewers. and so right now we're doing everything possible and impossible to a., hit of shift as much as we can through other alternative routes but unfortunately they will not be able to replace fully what we could do through our black sea ports. we're also talking to pretty much everyone to see if any diplomatic solution or any hybrid solution will be possible. anyone who be willing to put pressure on russia if not for the sake of ukraine, but for the sake of the world to unblock what they're doing in the black sea and allow this food to be shipped. but also, with all of the weapons that we're receiving and that is why we ask for more weapons. we will be not only willing, but very glad to unblock the black sea like with the flagship

moskva so there are to russian ships there and we could return to shipping our grain so people could have food. >> and that foot shortage about to become a dominant story line out of this war. there is no question there. ambassador, oksana being with u. we really appreciate it. coming up, the united states added 390,000 jobs in may, but concerns over inflation still remain. one of the members of the white house council of economic advisers will join us next to discuss what the president calls his, quote, top economic priority. "morning joe" will be right back. "morning joe" will be right back it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue.

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back now to this morning's breaking economic news. the u.s. economy adding 390,000 jobs in may which is better than expected. president joe biden is set to speak about the latest numbers less than an hour from now. before that, member of the white house council of economic advisers joins us from the north lawn right now. good morning, and thanks for being here. let's start with that job number. it's better than expected -- expectations, but of course still comes against a backdrop of high inflation. what's the white house response,

and what's your reaction to what you saw this morning? >> well, certainly it's good news for workers when you see an unemployment rate of 3.6% and having seen 8.7 million jobs added since the president took office. so there's a lot of really strong labor market news in this report. what we also see is that the pace of job gains has slowed a little bit, so for the past three months we've seen job gains to the tune of about 400,000 a month. and the previous six -- three months before that, there were about 600,000 jobs a month. so that is a sign that we're starting to get back to that right pace that the president talked about in his op-ed this week. we want to see continued gains in the labor market, but we don't want to see that kind of sprint of job gains that we saw earlier in this year and in last year because we've done a lot of that recovering from the pandemic. we still have a ways to go, so we want to continue to see strong, steady pace of job gains. i think there's a lot of good

news here in this report. >> heather, sam stine, the white house editor for "politico," is here and has the next question. >> thanks. you know, obviously everything is colored by inflation, even the strong job numbers. the white house has made a big show of tackling inflation the last couple of weeks. we've had a couple -- from the president himself. underlying it is the sense that there's very few tools at the president's disposal. i'm wondering if you had carte blanche, if you were given sort of dictatorial powers over the economy, what's one policy that you would pursue with no restraint, that you think could help get average costs for the consumer under control? >> well, let me be very clear. you know, the reason that we see inflation today is because we're recovering from this historic global pandemic. so the president has outlined a number of steps that he is taking to make sure that we contain inflation. one of them is letting the

federal reserve do their job. but another set of them is making sure that he does what he can and what the administration can do working with congress to lower the costs facing families. so everything from, you know, looking at all the different ways that we can lower costs for families. so everything from the work that he's done with allies to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to really asking congress to partner with him to lower key costs for prescription drugs, for energy, for childcare, for other things that are really pinching family budgets in this time of high inflation. i mean, we don't have a magic wand to fix it. the fed will do its job. part of what we need to do is to recognize that recovering from a historic pandemic was never going to be easy. we are not the only country facing inflation. and so focusing on the supply side issues, focusing on how we can help families is the most important thing. >> we're going to hear from the president a little later this morning live from delaware on these jobs numbers. member of the white house

council of economic advisers, heather boushay, thank you for joining us. that does it for us this morning. we appreciate you watching. have a great weekend, everybody. we have coverage in just two minutes. minutes. your projects done right

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good to see everybody, good morning. it is 10:00 a.m. in the east, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm yasmin vossoughian in for jose diaz-balart. today marking national gun violence awareness day. families continuing to grieve for their loved ones murdered in a string of mass shootings, sending shock waves across this country. the president urging lawmakers to act. >> my fellow americans, enough, enough. it's time for each of us to do our part. it's time to act. >> we are looking at what the president is proposing and bring you the latest details in the