in recess subject to the call of the chair. . tweet.

let's look at the provisions, the big ticket items in this $1.7 trillion spending bill. $772 billion for nondefense discretionary programs. $797 billion for the pentagon. ukraine will get an additional $45 billion in aid. there is $40 billion for disaster relief. breaking down that aid for ukraine, $12 billion for replenishing u.s. weapons stocks. $9 billion to train and support the ukrainian military. $7 billion to u.s.-european command support. $300 million for nuclear reactors and fuel.

many more provisions in this bill. 120 $6 million to prepare for potential nuclear incidents. many provisions in the bill. we will try to break them down for you throughout this first hour of today's washington journal. before the senate voted yesterday, the final vote which was 68-29, 18 republicans joining the democrats to approve the spending bill, senators were allowed to offer amendments. senator rand paul offered an amendment to try to control the spending that happens in washington. listen to his argument, along with bernie sanders the budget chair pushing back on his proposal. [video] >> moments ago i made a point of order against a 4155 page bill spending $1.7 trillion that was given to us in the middle of the night at 1:30 in the morning.

the point of order was waived, as it always has been by the senate. it has become far too easy for congress to escape its own rules designed to prevent reckless spending. there's been enough time for ace -- there has not been enough time for a single person to have read this bill. the building process ignores storing inflation, rising interest rates, and a ballooning debt of $31 trillion. enough is enough. i asked my colleagues to support my admin meant to raise the threshold to waive a budget point of order from 3/5 to two thirds. >> this amendment would require 67 senators to waive a budget point of order instead of 60. if this amendment were passed, a tiny minority of u.s. senators could prevent action on a national health care crisis, an economic crisis, or natural disaster.

that would put the people of this country in a very dangerous position. i urge my colleagues to vote no on the amendment. host: from the senate yesterday. the admin that failed. 18 republicans joined the democrats to approve the bill 68-29. tweeting out the names of those 18 republicans. they included senators blunt, collins, cornyn, kotten, lindsey graham, emhoff, mcconnell, portman, romney, brown's, shelby, wicker and young. the 18th senators who voted with the democrats to approve this spending bill and avoid a government shutdown. joseph from virginia, good morning. over 60. what is your reaction to some of the provisions in the bill? caller: thank you for letting me

come in. i can't give specifics right now. i read a lot in the last several days. a lot of excess spending. we have a $4000 people have it -- 4000 page bill people have not been able to read. i said $4000, not 4000 page. in the old days -- i'm old enough to remember committees actually reviewing what is supposed to be in a particular area. reviewing the budget, making recommendations. something called a 13 cardinals of the house, the 13 appropriation bills. today you don't have that anymore. nobody really knows what is in there except for a small minority of folks who put together the bill to be passed. i like to go back to regular order so we all understand what is in there. $1.7 trillion of discretionary funding.

there is nondiscretionary funding. the actual amount of spending for the fiscal year 2023 is more than $1.7 trillion. it will include social security, medicare, medicaid, other entitlement programs that might be increased. this is just too much debt we will have. we are $31 trillion already. there's a lot of wasteful spending in the bill, both on the defense side and nondefense side in terms of what occurs. i think this is just -- in terms of people being able to actually do what they are supposed to do. host: what stood out to you as wasteful spending? caller: off the top of my head i can't recall. there was a number of things that came through. the new york post and the wall street journal had a listing of items that were in the bill.

$15 billion i read about in terms of earmarks. to me it was a lot of money. in the old days earmarks were small items for particular senators. today they are larger. $15 billion. that would make the fortune 500 list. host: how do you respond to lawmakers who say we know our districts best? we should have earmarks. we know what our districts need. caller: having an earmark does not bother me so much as the dollar value of some of the earmarks. you have $600 million or $200 million. there is the hike trail in georgia, $3.6 million. there are a couple of others.

nancy pelosi's district, $200 million being put there. i would like to see a dollar limit on the earmarks. if i congressperson wants to have an earmark, no more than $1 million. host: rory in california. also over 60. good morning to you. go ahead. caller: basically i would say they are kidding themselves. they are trying to spend more money at the border without closing it. from what i've heard -- i'm a republican. from what i'm hearing they may devote money -- maybe they will do a separate category for ins that takes care of people and lets the border patrol actually catch people. but what makes everybody think they will spend money for the

aliens, even if they are appropriated? from what i'm hearing from my republican people they will argue. they will not spend anything for any alien or anything else until the border is secure. everything is built. host: you are hearing from your republicans -- house republicans are going to try to fight this? caller: yeah. the republicans in the house. they have a few democrats that he pelosi. -- hate hello see who may vote against it. today is her last day effectively until then. a lot of people say they will not spend it on aliens. like in new york, they were spending money on aliens over vets. host: this does go to the house this morning. they will gavel in at 9:00 a.m. eastern to consider this $1.7

trillion spending package. they also have to pass a short-term cr. current funding expires at midnight. they need to give the president enough time to sign the bill as well. house republicans are opposed to this, led by kevin mccarthy, republican of california who wants to be the next speaker in the 118th congress when the gop takes over. from the washington post, as mccarthy vibes for the speakership, hoping to run the house in january, he has held out for weeks against any negotiations with democrats. he's even signaled support for blocking bills written by his republican counterparts in the senate who supported the spending package. a position first endorsed by the most conservative members, some of whom opposed mccarthy's bids for speaker -- bid for speaker. until january 3, they retain the

majority. the vote is likely to be sparsely attended as more than 220 members from both parties had indicated by thursday night they would be absent in part due to inclement weather, choosing instead to vote from afar by proxy. 220 members will vote by proxy on this $1.7 trillion spending bill. ron in texas, good morning to you. caller: good morning, greta. i am a 59-year-old. i'm disabled. i depend on social security. i don't understand -- i don't believe the senators understand the bill. i don't know what it means when someone says they will shut down the government. is that the military? social security?

to me there are all forms of terrorism. that is terrifying to hear the government will shut down. i don't know if it is more of a ploy to get their bills passed. i don't think the government can literally shut down. that is where i am at in the situation. i appreciate you letting me call in. host: as we talk about -- talked about with the first color, $15 billion in earmarks. 7200 earmarks for lawmakers in this bill. from the new york times reporting, lawmakers from both parties stuck earmarks into the bill, including republicans who secured funding for hometown projects. they will now not vote for the package.

the bill contains more than 7200 earmarks, up from 4962 in the last spending package, which passed in april. an increase that could be the result of congressional numbers learning how to navigate a practice that was resurrected earlier this year with the passage of the last spending bill after a decade in which funding for the projects often derided as pork was banned. it is no longer banned. i think it is a wonderful opportunity for members to get back to their states, said senator patty murray of washington, who secured over $280 million for her state. she will chair the appropriations committee in the senate and the 118th congress. molly reynolds at the booking institution set the process allows members to have a stake in a legislative process typically governed by senior leadership. the increase in the last spending bill could reflect the fact that many members have

never experienced the earmark process given they were elected after lawmakers concerned about the abuse of the practice put a moratorium on earmarks in 2011. jb from pop springs, arkansas. -- hot springs, arkansas. caller: how are you doing? i was going to comment on the money we are spending in ukraine. i noticed the speech when zelenskyy spoke. a lot of republicans just sat there. i thought that was kinda shameful. the way i see it, we are not sending money to ukraine. we are sending armaments, tanks, planes, whatever. these armaments are laid -- made right here in america. we are spending money on ourselves. we are not sending boatloads of money over there. we are sending things they can

use and are built by american workers here in america. so, i just kind of cringe every time i hear these republicans calling in here and talking about all the money we are giving ukraine. we are spending money here in this country and giving them arguments which they need. i heard this morning that north korea has kicked in with russia. they are starting to send things to russia. also helping with people, sending mercenaries in there. iran is giving them drones. it is getting into a bad situation. i've said it before. the best way ukraine can end this thing is if we would give them back their nuclear weapons that they gave up. if russia knew they had those weapons, they would not be doing what they are doing over

there. host: john and clarksville, arkansas. what is your reaction to some of these -- how congress is spending money in 2023? caller: good morning. i'm delighted to be the second caller in a row from arkansas. appreciate the comments from jb. proud to see the vote. it was somewhat close to being bipartisan. 18 republicans voted for the bill. i think that is a good indication the bill is moving in the right direction. very proud of senator cotton, senator bozeman. glad to see they both voted for it. they are our senators and arkansas. -- in arkansas. it's important we support ukraine. the united states needs to be a leader when it comes to leadership of this nature. we need ukraine to succeed. if ukraine fails, we will pay more in the long run and we will

lose in the long run. we need ukraine to be successful. happy to see the spending bill move in that direction. host: rick from sioux city, iowa. over 60. caller: good morning. hi. i don't have a lot on this. i'm looking at this reaction to what is in the bill. i have heard several politicians say they are not certain what is in the bill. i don't know how you can go through $1.7 trillion worth of stuff in the meta-time they had -- and the amount of time they had and cast a vote on it. that concerns me. i can't get my head around that. i don't know how we run a country that way where it has such a short fuse to spend that kind of money. that is pretty much my reaction. i -- like i said, to go through everything they are spending would take a lot more than a few days to do that.

host: it is 4155 pages for late-night reading if you're interested. you can find it on a website, c-span.org. david in north carolina. caller: hi. they are so much garbage in this bill. i heard yesterday where they got a million and a half dollars over a $2.5 million michelle obama trail. what do you need something like that for? you'll need to focus on -- we can't even get into hospitals because that got people like that. freaking democrats. i have a right to be mad, ma'am. host: from the debate on the senate floor yesterday, senator ron johnson attempted to pass an amendment that would take all the earmarks out of the omnibus

bill. here is a portion of that debate, including a response from the appropriations committee chair patrick lakey of vermont who is retiring -- patrick lahey of vermont. [video] >> report issued says we are sitting on a surplus of $250 billion. in addition, they have rainy day funds approaching over $130 billion. that totals about $380 billion. this omnibus is going to spend somewhere around $1.7 trillion. it is still not enough. here is the 625 pages of earmarks. almost 10 alien dollars worth of additional money going to the states when they're sitting on close to $400 billion of surpluses. this is grotesque. earmarks are the gateway drug to

the morgue in our children's future. my minute eliminates all the -- my amendment eliminates all the earmarks from this grotesque bill. >> senator johnson one sister cede the power of the purse to the public servants and exec new branch. they are unaccountable to the voters. we are asking we should be able to reflect the borders of our state. the senator from vermont, i speak with community members, business owners across my state everyday. i have done this for 48 years. i understand what they need. i try to reflect it. under rule xliv, rule 44, additional rules by established last year, we have unprecedented

transparency and accountability in the congressionally directed spending bill. far more transparency than they've had at any time in my 48 years in the senate. i asked the rest of the remarks be included in the record. i oppose the johnson eminent. host: from yesterday. the senate approving the bill with bipartisan support, 68-29. it now goes to the house. they gavel and at 9:00 a.m. here on c-span to the package. we want to know what your thoughts are on these spending provisions. also included in this legislation is proposals like the electoral cap act that sent -- count act that senators have been working on. congress poised to overhaul the electoral count act. the new legislation would make it clear the vice president's

role is merely to count the votes publicly and he or she has no power to alter the results. it would dramatically raise the threshold to sustain an objection to a state's electors to 1/5 of both chambers, up from one house member and one senator now. the proposal would provide for an expedited federal court challenge if the state attempt to delay or tamper with election results. this comes on the heels of the january 6 committee in the house making their final report public yesterday. in it it included one recommendation to pass the electoral count act. it also recommended that the former president should be barred from holding office again, pointing to the 14th amendment. there's a headline in the washington post on that. we will talk about that in the second hour of today's washington journal. back to this discussion about

the spending bill. we divided the lines by age this morning. rich in danvers, massachusetts. ov 60. caller: how are you doing today? i like your red for christmas. i called my congress meant and they could not tell me have any zeros are and $1.7 trillion. -- in 1.7 trillion. host: you are opposed? caller: we will be borrowing money from other countries in 10 years. yes. they call it a depression. host: what stands out as the most egregious spending in your opinion? caller: all these earmarks and things like that. joe biden can't count to 10. he's absolutely gone. he does not care about anything. we are spending so much money on the border and so forth. the guy is a complete failure. host: brenda from pendergrass,

georgia. good morning to you. do you want to share hold you are this morning? caller: i have an opinion. i think the white house is a -- mitch mcconnell needs to be thrown out. host: because he voted for this? caller: they don't want to help our border. like that man said, they killed us. they are killing our people. they want to kill our babies. they want us all dead this year. i don't understand that. host: what you mean -- caller: i don't believe in that, ma'am. we need god back in our lives. host: what do you mean about the border, that they do with the help on the border? caller: they need to have the border closed. they keep coming over. they are waiting on it to be open. joe biden don't care. mitch mcconnell don't care.

all the republicans and democrats, they don't care. host: i think she's referring to the debate over title 42. washington times front page. migrants gathered to wait for foreign policy's to end. title 42 allowed the government to send migrants back into mexico, back to their home countries. it is set to expire next week. this became part of the debate over the $1.7 trillion spending bill in the spent yesterday. listen to republican mike lee attending to add an immigration related amendment to the bill. here's a portion from what he said and the opposing view from judiciary committee chair dick durbin. [video] >> during the recent border crisis title 42 began the only sustain control we have over illegal immigration. an 2022, this year alone we've had over 2.7 million

undocumented immigrants at our southern border. that doesn't include those who came across, sneaking through undetected. the biden administration is expelling people from the border exclusively under title 42. that's it. that is always got. it's been used help expel 2.5 million illegal immigrants. in the last seven days alone the border patrol in arizona showed it is not just the people coming across illegally. it's also dangerous drugs. in the last seven days alone, porter patrol agents have confiscated one point 5 million fentanyl tablets. more than 14,000 pounds in total was intercepted at the border in 2022. that's enough to kill america's entire population nine times over. we have no business passing this bill unless it is in here. >> the logic of title 42 is a public health response to a

crisis. it was determined for coming into the u.s. could be turned away under title 42. more than a million were last year. what has happened to the public health crisis? in june of this year our government announced it would no longer require covid tests for foreigners entering the united states. we have 22 million international visitors each year. now there is no longer a requirement for testing. let's be honest. this is not about public health anymore. it's our excuse for not tackling the very real challenge of coming up with a border policy on a bipartisan basis. host: you can watch more of the senate debate on c-span.org, or wait for the house to take up this $1.7 trillion spending bill when they gavel in this morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. they are up against the clock. current funding expires at midnight tonight. they will have to take of a short-term continuing resolution

to allow time for them to debate and vote on the spending bill. we are taking phone calls on what is in this package. we are taking your text messages, facebook posts, and tweets as well. here is john, 75 years old. $1.7 trillion equals higher inflation. that will be the real crisis. past the cr without the bill and let republicans fix the mess, he says. gail in rockville center, new york. how old are you? caller: good morning. 60. this bill is an outrage. the reason why it is, you have 21 republicans that promised to get our financial business in order and they just threw it out the window. as far as the border, we are

protecting -- in this bill we are giving egypt and tunisia money for their borders in africa. for the united states the only thing we are given is to help the border is to process the people. not to build a wall. not to make people go out. i am stuck in new york. i am stuck with chuck schumer. people that have republican senators that voted for this should have been calling all week. i wish c-span would have gotten rid of january 6 and put this on at the beginning of the week. today they are voting for it. so people would know and they could call their elected senators and say this is an outrage. really, guys. c-span, you have to do better than that. the day they are voting on it? thank you very much. host: the senate already voted on it.

jason in a tweet. the outrage by the gop and their constituents might be more convincing if they were not totally five with massive federal spending while cutting taxes when they were in power. on the domestic front, the washington post breaks down this $1.7 trillion spending bill. it raises the maximum pell grant and awards for lower income college students. it includes the first budget increase for the national labor relations board, how labor watchdog in more than a decade. it provides $800 million for shelter and other emergency services provide grants, with additional sums for improving refugee processing. it boosts funding for for our programs and tack and security for members of -- tech and security from evers a congress. the fda received $3.5 billion. lawmaker sought to adjust supply chain safety issues that caused the shortage of baby formula

this year. the department of veterans affairs received more than $134 billion, which includes a significant about of money for former service members health care. the justice department received nearly $39 billion. $3.5 billion increase with more federal grants for state and local law enforcement and the fbi to investigate violent extremism and domestic terrorism. you can read more in the washington post, the wall street journal, the usa today. they all have breakdowns of what is in this $1.7 trillion spending bill. doug from forks, washington. caller: good morning, greta. i want to inform some of the callers when they say the government will shut down, if it did not pass in the government shut down social security, medicare, all that stuff is paid. the military stays.

the only thing that is usually shut down is like park service and some nonessential offices. they all get their pay when they go back to work. nobody loses anything. that is one thing. the second thing was when the other caller was saying that they build the stuff in america, the bombs at the machinery we ship over, the guns and all that, that is true. it does, but the money is still spent even though they get the weapons. but there is also $12 billion going to prop up their economy. we don't know where all that $12 billion is going to go. there is a couple -- the money is getting spent no matter what it goes to. it doesn't matter if they are made here or not.

it is going out the window. i am ashamed. i'm a republican. i am ashamed of the republican senators. i will never vote for republicans again. the only republican i will ever vote for would be of donald trump wins the nomination. i will not vote for any party. that is how i feel about them sinking us into the debt we are in. i don't understand how. when you say that earmarks are great and they get to take some thing home for their constituents or their state, but we don't have the money. it is all going on to national debt. i don't know when we will ever decide -- i don't know what will happen. you know what i mean.

host: i was not saying that. that is the argument i lawmakers and i was asking a caller how they respond to that argument. caller: ok. thank you very much. host: here is george in highland, michigan. wouldn't it be nice of americans can write allow that says every time congress mutters the word government shut down that politicians don't get paid until the bill is passed? it will only change when they get money taken out of their own pockets. this is from the committee for a responsible federal budget. essential services, many related to public safety continue to operate. payments covering any obligations incurred only when appropriations are enacted. prior shutdowns, border patrol, law enforcement, power grid maintenance is classified as essential. some staff is also been largely protected. mandatory spending not subject to annual appropriations such as

social security, medicare and medicaid also continued. other examples are those funded by permit user fees not subject to appropriations such as immigration services funded by visa fees. many programs exempt. the public is likely to feel the impact of a shut down in several ways. in a full shutdown, social security and medicare checks are sent up it verification and card issuance would cease. environmental and food inspection is impacted. national parks. air travel. health and human services, irs services, and the supplemental nutrition assistance program are some of them. nick in ann arbor, michigan. good morning to you. congress -- good morning. congress is on its way to avoid a government shutdown. what you think about this $1.7 trillion spending bill? caller: it is horrible news. terrible news. this is the fault of congress

and especially the republicans. democrats don't expect anything better from them. that is what they do, bribe their voters. republicans did not need to do that. they have a republican house. for the life of me i don't understand why the republicans colluded with the democrats to sign the shameful bill. this totally shameful, disgusting bill. $1.7 trillion. i agree with the other callers. how many zeros? people don't understand how much money that is. $15 billion or earmarks. disgusting earmarks that should be taboo, like pedophilia. they are the definition of corruption. i thought we were past those things. i thought earmarks were a thing of the past. now they are back. it is horrible.

i usually disagree with rand paul when he rants about the vaccines in covid, but he's right. his speech was excellent. rand paul's speech castigated republicans and democrats for the bill. it was excellent. they spend money like a drunken sailor. these guys are worse. a drunken sailor spends his own money. they are spending your money that they steal from your pockets. host: nick, i will go to rose in north carolina. how old are you? caller: born in 1961. i'm disgusted with the omnibus. the quid pro quo did matter. we never should have put nih biowarfare labs in putin's backyard. there was a fundraiser for adam schiff in 2013. pasternak is an arms dealer. i'm looking at his picture in syria right now on my laptop.

dnc operative alexandria -- related to the fake steel dossier. the world economic forum, hunter biden's laptop, they are all tied together. we refuse to put the puzzle together so here are things i want you to look up online. first of all, look up uge tube.com, hunter biden connected to ukraine biolab. there's a wonderful video. look up grand-jury.net, planned genocide by democrats, rhino's the nih, the cdc, the who, in the world economic forum. host: cynthia says i'm grateful for senate republicans on this bill. finally remembered they worked for the people and other gop. thankful the government is

funded through 2023. now is not the time for the haters to be holding us hostage to politically damage the president. the former president on his truth social platform putting out this video in opposition to the spending package. [video] >> the bill provides $1.9 billion for so-called order management to process illegal aliens and release them into our country. but it incredibly prohibits those funds are never being used for border security. to prevent illegal aliens from coming in in the first place. most importantly, we are giving $500 million to other countries for border security and for the building of walls. can you believe this? we are not allowed to use any money for border security or the building of walls. this bill will make the border worse. it will make crime worse.

it will make the economy worse. it will make inflation worse. they will make every single one of joe biden's total catastrophes even more ruinous and damaging to our country. our country is going to hell because of what they have done in the last two years. passing a spending bill now before republicans take control of congress on january 3 would squander our best chance to hold biden fully accountable and forced him to secure the border in the new year. mitch mcconnell, who was an absolute disaster, by the way, must not be allowed to waste his golden opportunity. is more of a democrat than a republican. what he is doing to this party is incredible and what he is doing to our nation's incredible. host: reporting on this $1.7 trillion bill, it includes lawmakers agreeing to spend more than 58 point $7 billion to carry out work to implement the

$1.2 trillion infrastructure law, i bipartisan measure adopted last year to improve the nation's roads, bridges, pipes, and internet connection. that includes more than $10 billion to improve the nation's water, $347 million increase from the previous year. there's an additional $1.8 billion to carry a key elements of the chips and science active 2022, much of which would flow through the defense department. the bill, suppose the best of manufacturing of tiny powerful computer chips known as as semiconductors. christopher and grass valley, california. good morning to you. thank you for waking up early. . what do you think of the spending package? caller: i think that -- i'm not sure about the part so far as barring donald trump for being president of the united states. i'm familiar with impeachment going through -- host: that's a recommendation by

the january 6 committee and they report the issue last night, not part of the spending bill. caller: ok. i was curious as to how that might work. i do not want to see him become president again. i think it is a fair punishment. i wonder from the criticism he's given so many -- about so many people and everything else in the whole thing against him. why he has not gone ahead -- what he doesn't have a case ready to prosecute. there is no prosecution against him. it seems like he has an opportunity to do that and he's not taking it. i am grateful to hear that ukraine is being given a robust package. i think ukraine's role in the future through that will be secured. i think that is very important for them, especially for what

they have meant agriculturally to the world and what impact the wars is having on borders and locations in africa and other countries in terms of the agriculture they received and the small arms going on the battlefield -- i'm not sure if it is nigeria -- going into terrorist activities there. that is good news. i was listening to the brief bit that trump was putting forward to criticize and condemning and drawing lines are blurring them as to republicans and democrats. i had some thoughts but they are kind of escaping me on that. host: i will go to connie in highland, california. over 60. good morning. caller: so glad to talk to you. you know all the spending and everything? i heard this hospital in yuma, arizona, cochise, they are

taking over $20 million in debt. they are taking immigrants going in with chronic disease and illness. they are released and they don't know where they are heading. ok. the reporter said what if i went. i'm an american. if i did not have the funds to pay and the doctor said, well, we know where you are. you have a house. we will put a lien on it if you don't pay it. is that fair? we americans are paying all this money for illegal immigrants to come in and take over our hospitals. that is not fair to us. also, i hope the hospitals don't start closing or anything happening like that. host: that was part of the debate on the senate floor yesterday.

you will probably hear that again in the debate over immigration and title 42 when the house takes it up today. you can tune in on c-span, on a website, c-span.org, and you can listen and watch with our free mobile app. it is called c-span now. more from the washington post on what is in this bill. it will require most businesses to enroll employees automatically in 401(k) retirement savings plans, increasing contributions annually. workers making less than $71,000 a year will get a federally funded match for their first $2000 of savings. basil in ohio, over 60. what is your reaction to this bill? caller: i am 92 years old. i served as a medic during the korean war. what i'm seeing now is a provoking the american public in the revolution. george bush called her a one

world government. -- called for a one world government. that will be controlled by the banking system. you have to destroy the constitution to control it. we will have come january on this the irs out with guns, you will see a revolution in this country. the american public and former military people will not put up with this crap. i love this country. god bless america. i hope everyone wakes up. you young people better wake up to see what they are doing to destroy your country. host: kathy and warren, massachusetts. double d? -- how will you? caller: 60. host: what do you think about the spending bill? caller: i think the spending bill probably is not enough. the tax breaks republicans passed for the big businesses years ago left the smaller

people waiting for the trickle down. instead we got inflation. where were these republicans when they passed the huge tax cut for the big businesses? host: james in new orleans, good morning to you. caller: how are you doing? i'm here. host: we are listening. caller: i think all these drug dealers that are coming across the border with all this fentanyl that can kill all the americans, i think they should set an example for these drug dealers. they should be executed on the border, just like in thailand in bangkok. they have a the up or this is all drug dealers will be hung. these politicians in washington, democrats and republicans, they can sit and talk and have all the meetings they want and all the hearings. yet they cannot get anything straight. they know what is wrong. there are too many people coming

across the border. they don't want to stop it. i think the governors of each state should have the right to stop the people coming across the border illegally. that is about all i have to say. host: another james next in the work, new jersey. caller: very serious now. new york city housing authority. no heat, no hot water. it's ok. [indiscernible] that's ok. $1.7 trillion for whatever. host: dylan in

clarkston, washington. caller: my number one problem with this in some of the people i heard calling earlier, honestly, this is an aside but i think the american population is lost. you go back to our country about 100 years ago, people talk about the education of the young people. comedy people know about the history of the labor movement? americans need to understand our power lies in our labor and our ability to withdraw that labor. host: tie that to this $1.7 trillion spending bill. caller: the $1.7 trillion spending bill, right now -- why are we spending so much money to support ukraine when nato should not even be trying to push into other countries in the first place? i'm not saying that justifies what russia did, but i think it is an unpopular position to have. i think that so many people are

lost and somebody people don't understand what is really happening with our government as far as those things go. host: how old are you? caller: 31. host: are you saying incredibly unpopular with your age group? caller: from what i've seen generally unpopular. we were in iraq -- how long were we in the middle east for? 20 years. host: did you listen to the ukrainian president's address to congress earlier this week? caller: i missed that. i have been working all week. host: you can watch it if you go to c-span.org. i'm curious. you made the argument saying this is not charity. this is not charity, the money you are giving us. their victory is america's victory, was his argument. caller: i really don't agree with that. the only people that lose in war are the working people.

working people have no business fighting average person's war, which is what this is about between nato, russia and ukraine. ukraine being a proxy of about a between nato and u.s. allies in russia. host: from usa today, larger child tax credits were nixed. despite being a top priority for democrats, a child tax credit expansion that started in the pandemic was not included in the sweeping bill. the equal act legislation to limit federal sentencing disparities for drug offenses, crack cocaine versus powder cocaine, failed to make the final cut. the safe banking act which the cannabis industry has thought failed to make it. it would give businesses access to additional financial services. big tech regulation. despite the bipartisan support

to restrict the power of corporations, a string of antitrust reform legislation was also left out of the spending package. the open app markets act to impose regulation on app stores was left on the chopping block. terry in winter springs, florida. caller: good morning. there are a lot of things like it but the bill but a ton of things i don't like either. you keep going through all the things that are perfect that i refer. some of the things like $200 billion for some transgender thing, is a shopping list for the democrats. i'm a republican. have been all my life. i remember the old at is that if you are not a democratic 20, you have no heart. if you're not a republican by 40, you have no brain. i can't understand some of these things that they put through.

ukraine, i want to take care of ukraine. that's important but so many republicans have just got off the rail with this thing and voted for it just to get it done. i am sick and tired of it. there should be regular order. both leak the republicans will bring that in that year. we have been continually doing these resolutions and passing these omnibus bills. it is not the way it is supposed to work. we need to go back to regular order. it has to happen. we cannot put all this highway stuff in. it's crazy. host: rich in marion, ohio. caller: great conversations. it seems like we have the $1.7 trillion trying to be spent. who is the source of causing this problem? we have the federal reserve. if they spent that money that would lay off 2 million people to bring it under control.

they don't want runaway inflation because it will cause real problems in the country. the real source of that is people who are passing bills that they don't know what is in them. we could pass it temporary bill to cover the expenses and get it in. we have people authorized to have this money. we have ftx spending money they didn't have. this is way beyond that. a major league beyond that. the source is i don't know what's causing this inflation. we are passing it on to a generation -- ben franklin says don't push things onto other generations. we are doing it in spades. other people have solutions but we cannot pass this bill. host: the house will gather to consider this $1.7 trillion