two big stories we are following, and the minute we are expecting to see the federal reserve will hold interest rates steady for a third time, we will bring you the decision and what this means for your wallet. >> lawmakers will vote on what are -- whether to formalize the impeachment inquiry into joe biden. it demands a public hearing, much more on the showdown on capitol hill straight ahead, we are following major developing stories and more coming in to cnn news central. >> wall street will learn of the federal reserve board will meet expectations by keeping interest rates steady for the third time in a row. they have not reached their target rate for inflation, but the treasury secretary thinks that can happen by the end of next year, analyst don't expect high interest rates to go anywhere, let's get straight to straight business correspondent, the chief economist. what is the fedde decision? >> we can call it a trend, this is the third straight meeting the federal reserve has decided to not raise rates so they will keep rates steady, they are already at a high level, i was reading through the report, it seems like we are seeing some differences in the statement, we will look at this closer but just to put this into perspective, they have raised rates 11 times since march of 2022 and anytime they pause, there is a reason why, there waiting to see how all these rate hikes you are seeing sort of play out in the real economy. how they impact people like you and me, and everyone watching, does it impact on employment or consumer spending, we know that there rate then impacts borrowing costs, it makes borrowing more expensive, i can tell you that this is the third meeting in a row the federal reserve has decided the best course of action is to do nothing. to just wait and see how this all plays out, i can tell you they have already indicated 2024 is going to be when we start to see rate cuts. the question is one, traders have priced at a 40% chance that perhaps the march meeting, we see our first rate cut, they would like it sooner than later. that's what we are waiting for and looking for in the press conference that starts in 28 minutes at 2:30, asking a lot of questions about rate cuts. we will get the summary of economic projections that did come out, i will take it ulcer look at that gives us a sense of what the committee ex-pats -- expects in terms of unemployment, gdp, inflation, interest rate so a lot to come, let's call it a trend, the federal reserve deciding for the third straight meeting the best course of action is to pause. >> inflation is cooling but talk to us about why so many americans still feel like the economy is not working for them, we see it reflected time and time again in the polling. >> because when we are talking about inflation cooling and price increases going up slower than they have been which is good news, but it does not mean prices or where they were a few years ago, i know they put out the research that suggests on average, i think we have mark who can speak to this closely, folks are spending about $1000 more a few years ago for the same basket of goods and services, that's what people are feeling. if you go out to try to buy a house, home prices are still high but so are mortgage rates, it costs a lot more to buy a home, people will credit card rate if you are carrying debt, it's more expensive to pay that back if you are taking out a student loan. even though we are seeing price increases cool, they are not going up as much as quickly, they are still not where they were a few years ago and people know that and feel that. >> we actually have numbers showing that americans are paying 436 more per month compared to two years ago when we break things down. we see prices for things like eggs, milk, ground beef are coming down. they remain stubbornly high. when do you think life might become more affordable for americans? >> it will take time. we are not going to see prices come down. some food prices may come in, generally businesses do not cut prices, they stop raising prices as aggressively or at all, we need to see his people's pages, their incomes rise and over time, that will allow for affordability to improve. that's only over time, that does not happen in a month or a quarter, that is something that will happen over the next year or two, to get a sense of that by my calculation. over the past three years, we go back three years ago, and compare it to today, the typical household is spending a little over $1000 a month for the same stuff they were buying three years ago, the bottom 20%, the middle 20%, the top 20% of people. the good news is that wages have been rising in all income groups. if you go back a year or two ago when we were coming out of the pandemic, the market was tight with significant shortages, low-wage workers did better. that is good news, but having said all that, it is clear that folks in the lower part of the income distribution. they are struggling and they are struggling. the resources, the inflation is hurting them. they turn to credit cards and consumer finance loans to supplement their income. the point of what you are saying is exactly right. it that has been up across all the board and income groups. >> that's how i want to -- i was going to add to his point about good news. a few things we can now see in the summary of economic projection. if i'm reading this correctly, the fed is predicting more rate cuts from the last time we heard from them in september when they released the last summary. they expect inflation to cool a bit faster. we did not get back to the 2% target until 2026, for folks waiting for weight -- rate cuts, waiting for borrowing cost to come back down, it looks like according to the most recent summary, they expect more rate cuts in 2024 than previously expected. >> you have to leave the conversation there, thanks so much for the update. we want to pivot to capitol hill were a heated debate wrapped ahead of the vote on biden impeachment inquiry. mike johnson thinks republicans have the numbers to do it, earlier, not too far from where those lawmakers are, the president's son, halter bearden -- hunter biden called them out and wanted to testify publicly. >> james comer, jim jordan, jason smith and their colleagues have distorted the facts. by cherry picking lines from a bank statement, manipulating texts i sent, editing the testimony of my friends and former business partners. misstating personal information that was stolen from me. republicans do not want an open process where americans can see their tactics. expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what i have to say. >> we are joined by republican congressmen on the oversight and judiciary committees, russell fry of south carolina. thank you for being with us, the last hour, we heard you argue on the house floor that republicans have done more in 10 months than law enforcement has done in five years investigating hunter biden, if you believe that, why then have this formal vote on an impeachment inquiry, is it going to make that big of a difference in your investigation? >> i think it well if you look right now, there are people we are trying to have come in for depositions including hunter that will not come in, absent a formal vote, we have seen emails not be produced, absent a formal vote while a formal vote is not required, it is considered a best practice and so if the administration through their lawyers thinks we need a formal vote, let's have one. >> hunter biden is in d.c. right now and says he's ready to testify publicly, why not have them answer questions in front of the world? >> look, in the house, he can before the house of representatives in close testimony multiple times, subpoena has been issued for hunter to appear, if he wants to come in for public interview, that is fine. you don't go to a trial first before you have deposition in a court of law, we will not let hunter biden dictate the terms of a lawfully issued subpoena, he was supposed to be here today, he appeared on the senate side then kind of skipped off in a suburban somewhere, right now he has an obligation to appear before the house oversight committee for a transcribed interview. >> the chairman of the house judiciary committee, jim jordan did not follow a subpoena to testify before the january 6th special committee, do you not see some hypocrisy? >> i think jim jordan has been unequivocal, he said he was happy to do it, he wanted to know the parameters, we have had those parameters and we have been communicating with hunter biden lowers -- lawyers. he decided to show up on the senate side where he would be subject to the sergeant at arms to collect him, as soon as he was done, he did not answer questions, he said he was there to answer questions but not a single media outlet got an answer from and on any questions that they have or we have, he got into a suburban and skipped town, it was all kabuki theater, the american people deserve better. >> you alluded to millions of dollars the biden family received i want to do again, specifically how much of that money went to joe biden when he was vice president. >> what we know right now is that decisions, we have a $40,000 loan allegedly repayment directly from sarah biden and jim biden, his brother made in 2017 when mike pence was vice president, specifically when joe biden was vice president, how much money have you uncovered he received allegedly from his son's business dealings? >> you know 20 llcs have been open, many of them while joe biden was vice president, we have 12,000 million dollars that have floated throughout the family. >> specific to vice president joe biden or just the biden family in general? >> the biden family in general, we know hunter biden was put on the board and was not qualified to do so. we know that he was asked by devon archer to make a call to washington and we know hunter biden traveled with his father to ukraine for a special prosecutor be filed. at the end of the day, we continue to follow fax for 10 months, we have been doing that, what is important right now as we formalize the impeachment process and provide clarity. 70% of the american people think something is not right including 40% of democrats. >> it is possible they think something is not right because allegations are being made, at least from what i'm hearing. there is no legitimate obvious evidence that joe biden either received money when he was vice president from his family's business dealings nor that he abused power as vice president to enrich his family. you have evidence that joe biden abused power to make his son or anyone else rich? >> you can look at the ukraine example is the prime example. this is why we are formalizing an impeachment inquiry and it's so essential, these are not allegations out of thin air, this is evidence we have gained over months, still more to come but what is important are decisions made on the world stage that benefit his family, we have seen money flowing from china and energy companies, we see money from buries mall, ukraine, cause extend, and others. an impeachment inquiry doesn't mean impeachment, it means we are formalizing the process and we have a lot of questions, the american people have the same questions. >> there are many questions to answer. i am curious when you reference the ukraine dealings, what specifically are you talking about, ukrainian prosecutor that joe biden pushed to be fired? >> correct. the prosecutor, he said he fired him, we know he was being looked into by the prosecutor, we know money was being held up in the uk and frozen. it was not until that conversation in dubai with executives to call washington, d.c. that all of a sudden money was held under the color of u.s. law to get the prosecutor fired there is a legitimate question and i think the american people deserve an answer. >> i do want to point out the idea that joe biden singularly got this prosecutor fired has been debunked in part because there were republican senators that were pushing for this prosecutor to get fired. it was part of an effort to reform the judicial process in ukraine, he was widely seen as corrupt in a bipartisan way. not just by people in the united states but members of the european commission. have you uncovered evidence that contradicts people like senator chuck grassley who has looked into this and said there is no wrongdoing? >> you look at the facts, the state department was not firing the prosecutor. they had made statements he was doing a better job, all of a sudden, now we deviate from the state department itself, we hold up that money to get the prosecutor fired. i think it goes to where we are, i think the american people have these questions and they are deeply suspicious of what is going on with his family, the connections, the influence peddling going on, we have seen this not just in ukraine but a multiple -- multitude of ways, $25 million for what, for what services provided, what things were rendered, what was promised, we know based on the testimony of devon archer that biden was considered the brand, were they selling access or decisions being made, that is impartial to why this impeachment inquiry is so important that we can get these witnesses in that can testify and we let the fax guide us on where we need to go. >> i do want to point out that were officials at the state department going back to the ukrainian prosecutor that actually said he was not investigating at the time. replacing him could have meant a deeper investigation you alluded to. secondly, the question of the 25 million -- to the biden family. perhaps the appearance of wrongdoing or the question of whether hunter biden was appropriate or not. there's still a gap between his actions and the actual former vice president joe biden when he was in office doing things that were in abuse of power. you seem confident if you get the impeachment inquiry formalized, you will come up with that evidence, are you sure about that, are you sure it's not going to backfire on your conference? >> i think what is important is we follow constitutional framework, we don't take this lightly. we've already been instructed, you can see this in letters that we need a formal vote, we will give it to them if they want a formal vote, we will provide that and we will get to the bottom, as these witnesses one of the -- relevant questions. again, much like the entire investigation and this entire year, let the fax guide us, we don't have a preconceived idea but it is really critical for the process to make sure that we are not allowing a president or president's family to dictate policies of the united states because it enriches their family. >> i hope for the american people the fax guide of this inquiry and any other investigation you decide to open. russell fry, thank you for sharing your time. still ahead, border talks getting momentum on capitol hill, senators weighing whether to stay in washington and worked through the christmas holiday, new details when we come back. >> lawmakers are divided over whether the senate should stay in session and try to press ahead on a border package as negotiators signal progress. lauren fox joins us, what are you hearing? >> these talks have been going on for weeks and yet it seems like last night in a private meeting behind closed doors, negotiators really did start to make some progress. the argument right now from some of those negotiators including chris murphy is that in order to keep working through this and in order to try to get a deal on the border, a piece of this which would then unlock more funding for ukraine the argument is maybe it's worth sticking around washington despite the fact lawmakers were expected to leave at the end of the week, you heard that from senator thom tillis, a republican also involved in these talks, there are other republicans who push back and say this agreement or at least the prospects of coming to an agreement, they are not that close. it there is not a major breakthrough that is on the horizon to this point, despite the fact they have had talks. they have not gotten there and therefore, it is worth just going home, giving them a break and returning in the new year, the senator bows out at this point, he's a member of republican leadership, someone who knows the issue of immigration well given where he hails from, the state of texas. this is a really pivotal moment for the senate because yesterday, president of ukraine, zelenskyy was here on capitol hill making his plea in a bipartisan briefing urging them to get behind additional hunting for ukraine, he cannot deal with this issue of the southern border which has been vexing members for the last several weeks, there was real momentum and there is a real push to try to find an agreement but at this point, given the fact lawmakers were expected to leave at the end of this week, it's not clear if there is enough time to clinch this deal before the holidays. >> thanks for the update, family members met with president biden, of americans still being held captive, they say the administration has been unwavering in their support to get hostages home. >> president biden's support is showing cracks, public cracks, israel is losing support over its quote indiscriminate bombing campaign, cnn is at the white house for us. tell us what happened in this meeting with these hostage families. >> you can imagine how emotional this meeting would have been when you think this is the first time president biden was able to meet face to face with these family members of the remaining american hostages and there are eight americans who remain held hostage, seven men and one woman, this was president biden's opportunity to hear from them about their loved ones in about the ordeal that they are going through. you can only imagine the anguish and agony when you think about a lot of these families do not even know the conditions of their relatives who were held hostage, they don't know if they are alive, what we have just heard from john kirby is that the president was moved as he heard these family stories and promise to keep them informed of his efforts to secure the release of their family members when we do see these family members come out to talk after this meeting, they were very grateful to president biden. they said they were grateful the president viewed their loved ones not just as hostages but as men, women, daughters. listen to what one father of a hostage, jonathan said after this meeting wrapped. >> what we do know, we have seen the u.s. administration from the previous round of negotiations in hostage release, the administration is completely committed to getting the hostages out, the eight americans who remain there and the other nearly 130. we have no doubt about that. today, the meeting with president biden and the secretary only reinforced that. >> certainly of president biden's objective was to demonstrate he is doing everything he can to get these hostages released, when you talk to american officials, they say these attempts to discuss with thomas the conditions of any release or at something of a standstill, you will remember, they are adding somewhat of a broker, qatar with several ideas. they have not heard back, officials are not calling this a negotiation but certainly, families remain optimistic, one saying they hope for a christmas miracle. >> kevin, thank you so much. still ahead, a little over a month until the iowa caucus and republican presidential candidate nikki haley says she has momentum and competes with donald trump in the hawkeye state. >> they are paying attention now and things are starting to move, we will do everything he have. does he have a strong hold? of course he has, do people support trump? they do. >> we have more with nikki haley, and chris sununu who just endorsed nikki haley's 202