the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 1437, an act making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2023, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 1 of house resolution 1230, the house stands adjourned until noon, tuesday, december 20, 2022. host: giving congress a week to get their work done on the omnibus spending bill. on washington journal it was open forum and a chance for you

to talk about issues you are following in the news, including the debate on capitol hill and the fentanyl crisis we just talked about. (202) 748-8001 is the line for republicans. for democrats, (202) 748-8000, and for independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. open forum for the next 25 minutes. in the new york times, twitter suspends the accounts of half a dozen journalists. twitter suspended the account of half a dozen prominent journalist under elon musk. the account suspended included ryan mac of the your times, true hollowell of the washington post. donie o'sullivan -- tony webster, independent journalist,

and the political journalist keith olbermann. it was unclear what the suspensions have in common. each user's twitter page contained a message that said it suspended accounts that violated twitter rules. the new york times writes the moves came after twitter suspended 25 accounts that attract the planes of government agencies, billionaires, and high-profile individuals, including elon musk. many of the accounts were operated by jack sweeney, 20-year-old college student and flight tracking enthusiast who used twitter to post updates about the location of elon musk's private plane using publicly available information. open forum, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. all others (202) 748-8002.

james in lebanon, pennsylvania. welcome. caller: we are tired of washington not taking the american people seriously. they are spending our money, our children's money and our grandchildren's money and they are going into debt without knowing what is in bill's and they are not doing work. they do not even show up for work, they virtually though tour have other people vote for them. as an american citizen in the heartland, i turned 70 this year. it is disgusting to watch the people in washington and conducting such business. we do not live like that in the heartland.

i expect as intelligent people they could understand budget and logic and spend money according to what we take in and what we give out. to me, whether you are republican, democrat, independent bank, there seems to be crooked people. the democrats seem to stick together light blue and republican seem to fight with each other. i am glad we never got a supermajority because it would have been as usual. we need to get rid of the old guard like mitch mcconnell and have new people in that stand up for american citizens rights. secure our border, secure our laws, secure our country, and hold joe biden accountable. he should be impeached for not following his civic duty and keeping americans safe. thank you very much. host: congrats on hitting the 70 year mark. mclean, virginia. kevin is next.

democrats line. caller: i was calling about the opioid crisis and the conversation you were just having. what i find ironic, and i heard this argument before, is that for decades opioids were being flooded into underserved communities, indigenous communities, african-american communities, there was no peep from local, state, or federal government. minorities were dying in droves from heroin and the only thing that was done was more prison sentences, more stringent sentences against users. now you have white folks who are dying in droves. it is on the front page of the post. five white people died because of fennel overdosed. that is a tragedy but is only a

tragedy because white folks are dying. i do not have a lot of sympathy because it is hypocrisy. there is a two tiered system when drug abuse and overdoses are occurring in the black community and brown community, no one would raise an eyebrow. now everyone is up in arms. host: do you think the fentanyl crisis is affecting the black community less than the white or hispanic community? caller: no. i think the data is clear. all communities are suffering. it is an epidemic in d.c. the thing is we have to have equity in our justice system. this is one further example of inequity. now all this money is coming in to try to protect white folks who are dying from this, whereas it has been a problem for decades. we need equity across the board.

host: to catherine on the independent line. frederick, maryland. caller: good morning. happy holidays. i have a question about the opioid epidemic and i hear opioid, fentanyl every day. i see it in the newspapers. my question is the pushers are working hard to sell this drug. fennel -- if fentanyl will be deadly, are these guys losing their customers? i do not understand this thing by selling fentanyl. it does not seem like it makes sense to sell a product that does that your customers. host: previous callers have asked that question, which we had nick miroff -- i wish we had

nick miroff around still. we will get him back on the program. woody is in paradise, california. republican line. caller: about the fentanyl problem and all the drug problems. we repeatedly hear about all of the different people that are picked up for selling the drugs and all of that. they do not do anything with them. they fine them or give them six months in jail. i think we ought to increase the penalty, possibly the death penalty, because they are killing people. maybe we ought to get rid of the people that are selling this stuff. don't coddle these people. that is the same with so many other problems with our justice system.

we are turning people lose. look at what they are doing in chicago or what they are doing in the big cities? they are letting people go like crazy. host: the u.s. africa summit ended yesterday in the nation's capital. reporting from the associated press, their headline "biden pumps up africa relations, will visit next year." president biden said thursday he will visit sub-saharan africa next year, the first american president to travel there in a decade. he wrapped up the summit by stressing he is serious about u.s. attention to the growing comment. >> the united states is all in on africa and all in with africa. african voices, african leadership, african innovation,

are critical to addressing the most pressing global challenges and realizing the vision we all share, a world that is free, world that is open, prosperous, and secure. africa belongs at the table in every room where global challenges are being discussed and at every institution where discussions are taking place. that is why i announced in september at united nations general assembly that the united states fully supports reforming the u.n. security council to include permanent representation for africa. today i am also calling for the african union to join the g20 as a permanent member of the g20. [applause] it has been a long time coming but it is going to come. whether we are upholding or defending the foundation principles of global peace and security enshrined in the u.n.

charter and in the a.u.'s documents, we are meeting the challenges that impact every nation. the people of africa are indispensable partners, delivering the progress that benefits everyone, not just in africa in the united states but the whole world. the covid-19 pandemic followed by russia's unprovoked war against ukraine has roiled the global economy, erasing many of the development gains we work so hard together to achieve over the past two is co-decades. that does not change our shared goals. it only makes it more urgent for us to take decisive action. that is why over the next three years, working in cooperation with congress, we plan to commit $55 billion in africa to advance

the priorities we share and support the agenda 2063. that number represents a commitment from the united states to invest in africa's people, africa's infrastructure, africa's agriculture, africa's health system, africa's security, and more. host: good morning to jeffrey in mountain view, hawaii. democrat line. caller: welcome from the big island of hawaii. my comment is simple. i would like to see american stop bickering with each other. during the holidays, whether it is hanukkah or christmas or whatever you believe in, believe in each other, believe in america, believe in love. love is what we need to move forward and to truly make this a great place to live, whether it

is hawaii or boston or mississippi. that is all i have to say. love to all of your listeners. i enjoy your show very much. host: paul is up next in ohio. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i wanted to talk about tiktok and the senate proposal to ban it on government phones. what i hear and see in the general public is the chinese might be surveilling but the average parent allows tiktok on their kids phones where the kids that are using it, they are like so what? they look at the senate as killjoy's, the government as a killjoy. what needs to happen is ground roots, boots on the ground

explanation of the dangers of chinese surveillance, explain it to parents, to teens, what does the danger of chinese surveillance mean to teens as they move into adulthood. to parents who want to protect their kids but maybe are not being as careful, or even senior citizens who use it as entertainment sources and they do not know the dangers of it. maybe we need to spell out not just tiktok, but other privacy sharing and data gathering programs, maybe psa to help me explain the dangers. host: thanks for raising that. we talked about it briefly in our conversation about the omnibus spending package. here is the report from cnn.

"senate passes legislation to ban tiktok from u.s. government devices." they write the senate passed legislation wednesday evening in a move designed to limit security risks stemming from the social media app. the vote approved the note tiktok on government devices act , abyssal authored by missouri republican josh hawley. the move marks lawmakers latest step against the short firm -- the short form video app that has been popular with a billion users worldwide. the u.s. fears user data could wind up in the hands of the chinese government to to that governments influence over tiktok's parent, bite dance. a companion bill was introduced and has yet to be approved by members of the house oversight committee. nancy pelosi says thursday it is not clear whether the chamber will take up the tiktok bill in light of the senate passage, saint lawmakers were consulting

with white house officials on its language. back to your calls in san diego. let's hear from kevin on the independent line. caller: good morning. i tried to get through when the washington post journalists was on but unfortunately that got cut off by the pro forma session. i wanted to address some of the disinformation he was spreading. my first reaction to seeing the washington post coverage was surprised because they are basically -- they are a corrupt organization that is set up to promote the democratic party. two p points i want to address. the first thing is he tried to -- these are primary talking points of the democratic party to shield the biden administration from culpability. the first thing he said was the trump administration bears some responsibility because they

spent money on a border wall that did not stop the flow of fennel. the problem with that is that the border wall was not primarily focused on stopping fentanyl. it was to prevent immigration and also send a message to other countries about people not coming in. that is a red herring argument he is making. the second is he also said that the biden administration's open border immigration policy is not responsible because the fentanyl is primarily coming through the points of entry. the problem with that is when the biden administration implemented an open border policy and essentially handed over immigration system and border enforcement of the mexican cartels, that funneled billions of dollars into their organizations, which allow them to invest in building new labs and tunnels down here in san

diego to bring in all of the fentanyl. that is why using the huge spike in the fentanyl coming in and the deaths because they have made so much money off of the human trafficking based on the biden administration's immigration policy. i think it is stating the obvious that the american people know the washington post is just spreading disinformation to shield the biden culpability on this. thank you. host: viewers and listeners can decide for themselves. an extensive series in the washington post, one of those looking at the government response. the cause of death, washington faltered as fentanyl gripped america. reporting continues online. georgetown, texas, is next. sam on the democrats line. caller: thanks for taking my call. the interaction of the united

states with africa and latin america is incredibly important because of the interconnectedness of our economies in the future of the world. it is so important for us to move forward with these relationships because our foreign policies help one another and will actually bring down problems on our very own border. the african confident is being influenced by china and its growing hegemony worldwide. the more we put a foothold, the more it will do for the cause of freedom. host: republican line, next. carry in north carolina. caller: how are you doing today? host: fine. caller: i did not realize i would be on so fast. host: do us a favor and make sure you volume. go ahead with your comment once you do. caller: is that better?

host: go ahead with your question or comment? caller: i was watching him make a speech and he was reading, he was not looking directly at the camera. he was reading what he was saying. i do not have to read what i am saying. this country is in a mess with a capital m. i have never seen the country in such a mess since i've been in this world. i am older senior but my mind is still good. you do not have a country if you have open borders. you have no country anymore. that border needs to be closed some way or the other. host: thanks for your comments. this is from "the hill." trump's major announcement is for the release of a digital card collection. former president trump announced the release of digital trading cards bearing his like biz after

teasing he would be making -- bearing his likeness after teasing he would be making "a major announcement." some speculated the announcement would be related to the speaker contest for his largely inactive 2024 presidential campaign, it was about commercial opportunity for the former president. trump boasted the cards feature amazing art and compare them to a baseball card. the cards are on sale for $99 each. alan, independent line. caller: i was calling to comment on the fentanyl. have you ever done a show on recreational drug use? we keep talking about the cardinals -- the cartels ringing fennel over here but why are they bringing so much in? i've not seen a show on that.

the recreational drug use of americans. host: someone did point that out in our conversation. thanks for raising that as a possible topic. we go to shayla. republican line. alabama. caller: how are you? host: fine. thank you. caller: i want to make a comment about the fentanyl. they have to close the border and limit it. we are fixing to be in crazy times. it is all political. they need to stop it. they need to let people do their business and close the border. people are getting abused and children are getting abused and god knows what else is going on. that is all i have to say. host: there was a last-minute

effort for immigration reform in congress. reporting on that, the headline "last-minute effort to push bipartisan immigration deal fails, dooming and reform effort." negotiations in the senate to a bipartisan compromise on immigration and border policy failed to get enough traction to pass before the end of the session. congress dooming another effort to reform a system that has not been updated in decades. senator kyrsten sinema of arizona and gop senator thom tillis of north carolina have been discussing a deal that would have acute it -- that would've included the legalization of millions of unauthorized immigrants in the u.s. as well as reducing illegal crossings across the u.s.-mexico border. up next is edna in chicago. caller: good morning.

host: good morning. caller: i am so grateful we have a president that i respect in the world respects. i want to say something about the person who called in earlier about the immigrants coming to this country. we need them. not all of them, but we need them. who picks your peppers and tomatoes in the groceries that grow on your table? your educated children will not do that medial labor. merry christmas to everybody and think for yourself, do not let somebody else thing for you. host: linda in spring hill, florida. independent line. caller: a couple of things. tobacco country. nobody wants to do it. they take immigrants with green cards to work and get paid.

they knew what they were dealing with. they have housing for them and they would do all of that work with the green card. he did not open up the border to terrorists. the other guys said that since it is all white people on fentanyl -- what is he talking about. they never mentioned white. it has always been around but now it has tripled because of all of these people coming in and we do not know anything about them. that was a stupid comment. one last thing. please bear with me. the date joe biden got in he cut off the oil we could support our allies with and now have to go with coal and dirty fuel and everything and we could have that to them and us. we are the cleanest manufacturers in oil. he is a communist. he is like vladimir putin.

he does everything for everybody else. everybody but his sun country and that's how i feel. ok. thank you for all your calls this morning. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern and we hope you are too. have a great day. ♪ >> this morning a panel discussion on the biden administration's foreign policy agenda and accomplishments hosted by the carnegie for international peace watch live coverage at 10:15 eastern on

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