©  The Hill/Greg Nash

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee joined together Wednesday in holding social media companies responsible for what they described as harms the platforms are causing to children — as CEOs of some of those companies testified before them.

The hearing, nominally focused on child sexual exploitation on major tech platforms, also highlighted lawmakers’ concerns about social media’s impact on children’s mental health, access to drugs and more.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron testified. 

Powerful moment: Amid a tense exchange with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Zuckerberg stood up and turned to address the parents of children who were harmed by or died after abuse on social media.

While he wasn’t on microphone, Zuckerberg was heard saying he was sorry, and a Meta spokesperson told The Hill that Zuckerberg added:

“The things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer.”

Spiegel also apologized to families, CNN reported, and detailed steps Snap has taken.

Some remarks from the CEOs:

• Zuckerberg said his company has made “industry-leading” efforts to mitigate risks of harm to children.
  
  
• Yaccarino framed X (formerly Twitter) as an “entirely new company” with a low percentage of users under 18.
  
  
• Chew said TikTok’s livestream service is only for people 18 and over and that the company has taken action to remove underage users.

Read more on the hearing here.

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• Former President Trump met with the Teamsters union Wednesday — “the latest indication he is hoping to peel away support from President Biden among organized labor,” The Hill’s Brett Samuels wrote. 
  
  

• The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to interview James Biden, the president’s brother, on Feb. 21 as part of its inquiry into the Biden family’s financial dealings.
  
  
• GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley‘s campaign is releasing a series of videos and digital ads themed “Grumpy Old Men,” saying President Biden and former President Trump as their parties’ nominees would bring “[m]ore chaos, confusion, drama, and a refusal to debate.”

© AP/ Andrew Harnik

The Federal Open Market Committee decided on Wednesday to keep the baseline interest rate range at 5.25 to 5.5 percent.

“Top Fed officials have signaled rate cuts are coming in 2024 as long as inflation continues to fall,” The Hill’s Taylor Giorno reported, noting December’s 3.4 percent inflation rate was down significantly from the peak of 9 percent in June 2022. Read more here.

The Biden administration is preparing a response to an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members over the weekend, which the Pentagon said was carried out by an Iran-backed militia group. Iran denied involvement in the attack.

We asked experts what they’re looking for in Biden’s Iran response: 

📣 “The evidence makes clear that it is Iran— not the Houthis, not the Iraqis, not any of the proxies— that is the money, the arms, and the planning behind the more than 150 attacks on the US in recent months. So it is Iran that must be the target of any retaliation.“ — Danielle Pletka, distinguished senior fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute

📣 “I’m watching to see: Does President Biden play it safe, with measures that are primarily symbolic, in an effort to minimize the prospects for further escalation in the Middle East? Or will the administration seek to impose meaningful costs on Tehran by hitting assets with real strategic value as a means of deterring Iran and its proxies?” — Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of the Foreign Policy program at The Brookings Institution

📣  “Biden must deter Iran. He must do two things: take from its leaders something that that they hold dear; and convince them that, if they persist to enable attacks against Americans and their allies, they will inevitably suffer even greater losses. It is impossible to achieve that aim with just one military operation. Deterrence results from a process not a single event. But by choosing targets that Iran values, Biden can signal that the process has indeed begun. That he is determined to win the race up the escalation ladder.” — Michael Doran, director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute

📣 “There is no question that the United States military can destroy any target on the planet. The challenge is embedding in the military action an unavoidable political choice for the Iranians that encourages them to behave differently.” — Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

📣 “The military response should target Iranian assets and Iranian proxies where it most advances U.S. strategic interests, not in a theater of Iran’s choosing. Tehran’s goal is to push the U.S. out of the Middle East, and above all President Biden must demonstrate, through his words and actions, that the U.S. isn’t going anywhere.“ —  Will Wechsler, senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council

House Speaker  Mike Johnson (R-La.) focused his first floor speech as Speaker on the current border debate, saying, “President Biden and Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas have designed this catastrophe.”

Johnson’s speech comes less than a day after a House committee advanced impeachment articles against Mayorkas. 

The White House has been working with Senate negotiators on a border policy deal. Johnson accused Biden of trying to “shift the blame to Congress” and said, “If he wants our House Republican conference to view him as a good-faith negotiator, he can start with a stroke of a pen,” pushing Biden to use executive action to secure the border.

“The White House has disputed Republican claims that the president can do more through executive action to stem the flow on the border,” The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reported. 

Read the full report here.

© AP Photo/Victoria Will, File

“Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” read a post from the Sesame Street puppet’s account on X, formerly Twitter. Thousands of responses poured in, ranging from expressions of existential dread to football-related disappointments. The thread garnered attention from some elected officials, including President Biden. Read more here.

The White House announced Wednesday President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio, about one year after a major train derailment in the town. Former President Trump criticized Biden’s delayed visit, noting that he himself visited shortly after the derailment.

The White House announced Wednesday that advisor John Podesta will take the role of senior advisor to the president for international climate policy, replacing John Kerry as the leading U.S. climate diplomat.

“Despite the election, Congress can still make bipartisan progress on energy”

“We have the tools to prevent nearly all HPV-related cancers. We need the will.”

Upcoming nominating contests:

3 days until South Carolina’s Democratic primary

6 days until Nevada’s Democratic primary and GOP primary  (Trump is running in the caucuses two days later instead; more on that here)

8 days until Nevada’s and the Virgin Islands’ Republican caucuses

24 days until South Carolina’s  Republican primary

You’re all caught up! Stay with TheHill.com for the latest and recommend this newsletter to others: TheHill.com/Evening. See you tomorrow!