It also includes 85 billion in deficit reduction. When Congress Returns in january, lawmakers will need to approve the bill. It authorizes spending through the end of the fiscal year. That has been the case in recent years. From the New York Times, lawmakers say progress on budget near deadline. The next deadline is weeks away. Top Lawmakers Said that they have made significant progress negotiating a spending bill. It gives the appropriations committees an opportunity to reassert control of federal dollars. We have a chance to prove to the congress that we can produce bills. The past few years have proved frustrating for members of the spending panels. House republicans could not come to terms with senate democrats. It has been a real struggle and tough at times. Most members of congress have countered for the holidays. The bipartisan leadership has been assembling a 1 trillion money betweenit military and domestic needs. Talksers involved in the say both republicans and democrats are determined to get legislation through by the january 15 deadline. From the New York Post this morning, new obamacare fees are coming in 2014. The cost of the Massive Health care law will hit americans in 2014. New taxes pile up on insurance premiums and on their income tax bills. Most insurers are not advertising the taxes that are added onto previous opting to pass them to consumers, while quietly lobbying lawmakers for a break. The new taxes on one customers bill added up to 23 per month. Or 277 per year. This boosted the monthly premium. That is from the New York Post. To see more of the facts and figures, go there. Some 1. 3 million americans are set to lose their Unemployment Benefits on saturday. That will escalate the battle between proponents of smaller government. It will hurt the overall economy. Emergency benefits will end when funds run out. The cutoff will initially affect 1. 3 Million People. 1. 9 million more will lose benefits by mid2014. The is according to National Employment law project. Benefits average 300 per week. That is from the usa today article. Obamashington post signed a measure using detainee transfers. He signed a sweeping defense policy law in hawaii on thursday. It cracks down on Sexual Assault in the military and eases restrictions on transferring to thees from cuba custody of foreign countries. That is a step towards closing the facility. He released a statement Crediting Congress for relaxing regulations. That is the washington post. Front page of the denver post firing over illegal use is ok. Cannabis sales begin on january 1, one fact is sometimes overlooked. Employers still can fire users for using the drug on or off property. Legal for being adults to possess and consume in colorado. The usa today wrote a frontpage article a few days ago. Two weeks left to prepare for pot sales. That was the headline. What happens on january 1 in colorado . A series ofe are pop stores that will open up in colorado. Froman walk in and buy pot the salesman. It is a very interesting process. We have 100 or so stores that will be opening on january 1. Host what was the licensing process like . Caller we originally had a medical marijuana system. People to get the first crack at opening recreational pot shops. This process where it will be grown and tracked with chips, from seed to sale it is effectively being treated like alcohol. There are taxes and inspectors and a lot of paperwork. Trenddo you see this as a that will go nationwide or spread out . Caller we have been talking about this in colorado for a few years. We joke that we wondered if we would ever see medical marijuana legalized. It happened far faster in colorado than maneuverable expected. Many people expected. The sky did not fall. There are arguments about whether it has been attributed to a crime. Generally speaking, the sky has not fallen. There have not been major problems. It does seem like the advocates for Recreational Marijuana are knocking off states bit by bit. They have tested out the process. Medical marijuana has been recreational. What about tax revenue . Is there an estimate of how much this could raise . Caller a lot. The taxggle is that regulators do not want to have the tax to high. That will push people back into a black market. You cannot grow this in your home. That is illegal. Looked, theyre talking about taxes equivalent to seven dollars for 1 8 ounce. Host Trevor Hughes with usa today. Thank you for spending a few minutes with us today. Caller have a good morning. Host this poll came out in october. For the first time, americans support legalizing marijuana. We want to ask a broader question. We want to have a discussion with you on the war on drugs. Not just the legalization of pot , but other issues on the war on drug. Do you think it is succeeding . Start dialing. The numbers are on your screen. Host participate as well on social media. You can take a vote in the poll that we have there as well. Or send us an email. This from last week. Obama frees 21 jailed on unfair drug laws. He commuted the sentences of eight drug offenders. That sent the system him away for lengthy terms of unfair. An important step to restoring fundamental ideals of justice and fairness, he said. Each of the inmates, who sentences are being shortened, has served at least 15 years. They received mandatory minimum sentences. Obama signed a law for increased parity. From forbes, recently, earlier this month 80 years after prohibition, president obama continues a failed drug war. The war on drugs is an unmitigated failure. Those who support the war may recall prohibition. Paternalism, which was rightly repealed. Legal drugs are still relatively cheap and widely available. Prohibition has enriched a it has criminal past increased the crime rate. Drug prohibition has also created an enormous tax burden. Fight the war and keep a Million People in prison. The war on drugs cost about 80 billion per year. That is a significant amount even by federal standards. The war on drugs has destabilized foreign governments and created eight general disrespect for the law. Benefits, butth the government denies those benefits and keeps cannabis in a restricted category. Nothing has prompted the federal government to call a truce. A recent poll found that 75 of adults think that the war is a failure and they have a strong case. Adams writes that no tendency is quite so strong as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people. Government does that because it can. Dealers and users of prohibited sus this is wheeled no political clout. We begin with a call with ed in tennessee. Independent line. Caller that kind of sums up the failure. The war on drugs will go down as one of the biggest mistakes, along with alcohol prohibition. The war on drugs is devastating the black communities. Everybody wonders why the blacks are shooting. Their families have been destroyed. Taking the mail out of the family. They are locking up women. We are locking up more children. We are insane with this commercialization of everything. As the quote from taft mark twain had one. Other peoples problems or vices this is insanity. Host what would be a solution in your view . Caller legalize all drugs. You do not have to advertise them. Why are we putting human beings in cages . Host youre talking about all drugs . Caller right. Methamphetamines were the most prescribed drugs in the 50s. The most drug addicted segment of American Society is middleaged women. Look at the blacks who go to jail. They make up 13 of the population. 13 of illegal drug users. 74 are incarcerated. You can look at the 2010 act 52 of crack users are white. 38 are black. 88 of those incarcerated are black. Host you seem to have a good knowledge of this. Is this a topic that has been of interest . Caller i have been studying it for years. The stat that got me was the one i just told you about the blacks. Host margie is in leavenworth, kansas. Caller good morning and happy new year. Im glad you asked this question. I think that the war on drugs succeeded greatly. They got what they wanted. Capitalized punishment in our country. Just like other things they are attacking. It is legal and wonderful. They can drag up your drugged up your kids from day one. Make up diseases. They can do anything. Then, control the other drugs that people could get that they want. And punish them. I worked in a clinic. It was such a disgusting thing. All drugs should be decriminalized. Get off peoples backs. The prisons are profiting. All of these drugs are advertised on tv. It is really a shame of the money that is being made. Host thank you that it very much. There is a chart from the federal bureau of prisons. These are the folks who are incarcerated. And purple is for drug offenses. The sheriff of king county in we covered a hearing for him in september. Heres what he had to say. [video clip] the top Law Enforcement official in the largest jurisdiction in the country that has legalized marijuana. I have been a Police Officer for 37 years. I was elected as chair of last year. During my career, i have investigated everything from shoplifts two homicides. I have been a narcotics detective. The war on drugs has been a failure. We have not significantly reduced the demand over time. We have incarcerated generations of individuals. The highest incarceration rate in the world. The citizens of the state of washington decided it was time to try something new. In november 2012, they passed an initiative to legalize recreational amounts of marijuana. At the same time, they created strict rules and laws. I was a strong supporter of this initiative and remain a strong supporter today. There are several reasons for that support. Most of all, that is what the people want. They voted for legalized marijuana. The government has failed the people. They want to try something else. Too often, the attitude of the places that we are the cops and youre not. Do not tell us how to do our job. That is the wrong attitude. I will not fall into that trap. Paul lis from st. Tragically, politicians frame it as a health issue. It should be framed focused on economics. Napolis, what do you think . Caller it is a complete failure. A good part of my generation there was the article in usa today, one in four people are convicted felons. Old, i was18 years incarcerated for marijuana usage. I graduated from college and started a business and raised a family. It has been something that plagued my life completely. Something that is legal not even five miles away. At the end of the day, it just made it harder on life. You see a lot of people who see these things. It is not what you see on television. You see the bus with the cartels. There are millions of citizens getting disenfranchised off of something that is not even criminal. Host thank you. Gary in virginia. Good morning. Caller how are you doing . I willat we republican usually. The last few times i voted for obama. He said change and i thought i did not think it would be change out of my pocket. I think that the mandatory minimum should be gone. There should be medical uses for marijuana. For people who are in pain like me. In,ar as the call is coming maybe he will do it. That is heroin bad. That should never be legalized. Thank you. From our facebook page, someone who posted Pragmatic Party for america you are missing the point. It is not about drugs at all. It is taking us 40 years to realize that. The war on drugs is about warehousing poor were nonwhite people for profit. Someone else says hsbc bank was caught laundering 850 million of drug cartel money. They are still in business, what a joke. Next call is from ralph in delaware. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Host war on drugs succeeding . Caller no it is not, sir. I had a daughter who had a drug problem for 20 years. She was arrested. The policeman gave her drugs. He took her to a drug dealer. She handed the money to the drug dealer, got the drugs, and they drove around the corner. They did the same thing and the cops handed her the money. She handed the money to the drug dealer. She was charged with a drug dealer. This was in pennsylvania. When she went to trial, i went there. It was when bush was running for election. They had chairs and stuff set up on the courthouse lawn. I knew my daughter would not get justice. Sent was a gentleman who half 1 million from arizona to the county. The cops arrested him. Host thank you for telling your personal story. Bring it to a conclusion. Waser that gentleman arrested and spent two years in prison. My daughter was sentenced to 24 years. Thank you. Host michael in new york city. Good morning. Caller i think it is an absolute failure. You look at the position of president obama. You have afghanistan, which is Prime Minister blair said 91 of the heroin worldwide. If we were to take it from a biblical point of view, this is 91 of the heroin. That is right in front of us. We have troops walking by it. Why dont we bring the oil fields . We have troops in there. Why dont we give that to minorities in the black community for scholarships . You will solve the heroin problem. You will solve the educational problem for minorities. Thank you very much. By the way, the president has gone into sudan. Why dont we give him a picture of detroit . It needs the money. Were going all over the world and starting this money spreading this money. Host thank you very much. Monti tweets in that the war on drugs starts in elementary schools, where kids are talked to and told not to resort to drugs. Books and tvs to watch for in 2014. We want to show you some of these that are coming out in 2014. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has an as yet to be titled memoir. It will focus on Foreign Policy. That will hit the shelves in june. Greenwalds book about Edward Snowden will come out in april. Memoirs of the secretary of war will be about robert gates is time as defense secretary. Senator,exas state wendy davis, has a book coming out in the fall. She filibustered in texas on the abortion bill. Gabriel sherman has a new book. That will come out in may. Elizabeth warren has a book coming out in the spring. As does glenn beck. His next book is tentatively titled controlling education. Robin roberts has a book coming out. Those are some of the books coming out and went to 14. Also, plans are underway for or the white house is looking for to a big day in 2014. Michelle obamas 50th birthday. That will be on january 17. There will be a party the following day, snacks and sips and dancing and dessert. The date emails are already being sent. Guests will wear comfortable shoes, eat before you come, and practiced in shoes. Eric in pittsburgh, republican line. Caller i think that we live in a culture that fantasizes war. You cannot look at a later without seeing an image of war. Look at our national anthem. It is about war. It is a war in them. Host is the war on drugs succeeding . War any kind of for proves the point, and then the flags are put down. Everybody moves on. Host that was eric in pittsburgh. Milton, West Virginia caller sorry about my boys. It is not succeeding. In drugan increase addiction and West Virginia. It is tremendous. It heroine and oxycodone should be a health care issue. The problem is that you have your Treatment Centers and stuff. The money is so expensive. You can go to the treatment center, but there is medication now. They help people to get off of it. They are so expensive that the average person cannot afford it. Host should they be legalized . Caller i do not know how we will do this. The increase in crime trying to get the drugs i think the incarceration is the problem. What we have to do is, instead of incarceration, when a person is known to be addicted, they go through the court system. Into aould be put mandatory rehab program. That really watches what theyre doing. Give them the tools to stay away from the drugs. They cannot. It becomes a lifestyle. They are so caught up in the whole system of it. Have always felt that marijuana should be legal. It is a plant. Host thank you for calling in. Limo driver tweets in that if we take the profit out of drugs, we win the war. From the front page of the wall street journal, the government pulls the reins on disability judges. They are smarting from recent scandals in the Social Security administration. Theyre working to ensure the disability benefits are awarded consistently. There will be more latitude to crack down on judges who are awarding benefits outside of the norm. A few weeks ago, the administration notified judges of these changes. That is the front page of the wall street journal. Brooklyn,call from what is your opinion on the war on drugs . Caller i think what we need is a much more Scientific Development and how we research. You cannot really get decent studies. It is dangerous. Also, to get marijuana legalized, the biggest damages to your lungs. You have a way of making it into a medication. We would have less sickness from the drugs. I do not think all drugs should be legalized. I have a friend who works in the hospital er. He said that the worst drug addictions that he sees our alcohol and heroin. Heroine brings the people close to death. It slows down their heart rate. Probably one of the worst drug addictions you could find and it is perfectly legal. How many deaths you have from alcohol . The war on drugs is a failure. People are dying from a we have that is legal. Be lesser drugs should studied first trip people should have access to the studies. We should have a vote on whether it should be legalized. If you do not study the issue, you will probably not make a good decision. Host thank you. Harley says heck no. Have theirericans lives ruined over committing a socalled felony. Employers will not hire anyone with a criminal record. Especially in wirral areas, where jobs are scarce. Bill says the cure is worse than the disease. This has cost americans more freedom than the war on terror. Brenda in texas. What do you think . Caller i think that being a recovering drug addict from 23 years old, and being around a drug rehabilitation, i think that we all have our choices to make. Whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. When people start bringing in religion, they are trying to put fear into people. That can make it worse. I think that