Before that he served the seventh district in the house of representatives since 1976. We also welcome congressman joe kennedy. He served in 2013, and then as an assistant district attorney. There will be no opening or closing statements. The candidates will each get one minute to respond to the same question. After that, there will be rebuttald periods of known as debate. There are just three hard and filibustering, no talking over each other, and always obey your moderator. Thank you, gentlemen. Lets begin our debate. You will go in alphabetical order. Mr. Kennedy, you will take the first question first. Senator markey will take the second one. Throughout this campaign i heard questions from voters. What is the difference between the two of you . What is the most important difference between you and your opponent . Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. I believe you deserve more out of your senator. Government that is disconnected from its people. Economy that has made it impossible to be middle class, a Health Care System where the sick cannot afford care, a Justice System where black and brown lives are stolen, and politicians in washington think these problems are going to be solved in some back room, not in our communities at home. That is why i am running. Senator markey does not live here. He spent less time in the state then Elizabeth Warren did when she was running for president. He says he needs to be in washington voting for us, but he missed over 50 of the votes during this critical time of catastrophe. We need more out of this seat. I will give it to you. Same question, senator markey. Thank you. Votersso many of the sitting at home right now with the ballot to decide who to vote for. Are considering me because of my proven leadership and experience. Many are looking at congressman hisnedy through all of negative ads he has been running on television. He keeps using the word change. The people in massachusetts dont need to make a choice because i represent experience and change at the same time. I do both. Im inspiring a generation of young people to rise up on the Green New Deal and other issues to get into politics. Constant kennedy, when he uses the word change, he means something different. He has changed his position on medicare for all, changed his position on the issue of super pacs. He has changed his position on the racist fraternity, his own words, that he was in for 20 years. He left that fraternity onemonth for this campaign. It is a fraternity inspired by robert e lee. Lets go to our open rebuttal. You have known me my whole life. It is said to hear that you say those things. You are running on your record, so lets examine that record. You say that you stand for Racial Justice. You voted for three strikes youre out. You voted for mass incarceration. You opposed the integration of the boston Public Schools. When a mom and dad came to you to ask for justice for their murdered black son, you literally did nothing to help them. You say you stand for economic equity, one of the proudest you say you past was the telecommunications act, which led to thousands of people losing their jobs in massachusetts, and you would not even meet with them. You stand for the change that we bring. You voted for the iraq war, which continues to send young men and women to the middle east that did not begin until before they were born. On the issue of Racial Justice, in 1973, there was no black senate seat. In massachusetts. With bill owens and doris king to cast a vote to defy the democratic leadership that was not going to allow a black senate seat to be created in the state of massachusetts. I did so jeopardize in my own relationship with the leadership. On the issue that ensuring every child get the internet for learning, that is my program. Internet. D has the that is my program. With cory booker, i have introduced the next step act to overhaul the criminal Justice System. With kamala harris, i have Health Carehe justice act to make sure that people get the money they need to pay the bills every single month. That is my leadership on those issues. This is important. You to askad came to for justice for their murdered son. They came to you as their u. S. Senator, a position of power they thought could help them rectify what had happened to their young boy. When they asked for help, you did nothing. The only thing you did a month later is sign onto a letter that my office put together. I have stood by that family year after year since pushing on the june department of justice doing everything we can and continue to this day. It is great that you talk about the things you might have done or might have passed while fighting for that seat, you are proposing the integration of the boston Public Schools. The henry family deserves justice. Thennot fathom the pain henry family must feel for the loss of a child. , the pain is unimaginable. What congressman kennedy is saying is not true. Heree two letters right that commerce kennedy and i wrote in 2014 to eric holder, the attorney general of the for thetates, to ask opening of the case to provide justice for the henry family. In may 2014, we wrote to eric holder. Elizabethr with warren, we wrote to ensure there would be an opening of this case. When commerce and kennedy says i did nothing, he knows it is not true. He knows it is a falsehood. He keeps repeating it because back then i stood with him to fight to make sure that this case was opened. Lets get this very clear. It is not my words that said you did nothing. It is mr. Henry who said you did nothing. You signed a letter that my office put together after months of trying to get you on that letter. It is great that you signed it, but for those wondering the difference between myself and senator markey, this is it. When i say there is more to this job than the bills you file and the votes you cast, this is it. I pushed on the obama administration. I pushed on the authorities in new york and in washington, d. C. We filed legislation. I met with the family repeatedly. I attended their benefit almost. Very year im still in contact with some of your Senate Colleagues today pushing on this administration. Why . Conflict, and you are a senator. Go ahead. One at a time. Let him respond. It is just not true what congressman kennedy is saying. Not one letter, two letters, our names asking eric holder to open an investigation. When he says i did nothing, he knows it is not true. He knows it is a falsehood. He keeps making a false accusation that i did nothing. He keeps repeating it, knowing that is completely and totally not true. The evidence is right here, the letters are right here. We acted together as partners. That is right that we should do show. To say i did not partner with him is untrue. It is a misrepresentation. It is a falsehood. Child, ifarent of a you believe if your son was murdered, your young boy murdered by police officers, and you came to a u. S. Senator and asked for their help, and the response that you got was months letter to sign a letter, i ask you if you think that is sufficient. I do not. Apparently senator markey does. I will give you the final word on this. It is not one letter, it is two letters. Our status worked together. What he is saying is not true. It is a misrepresentation. I think he should stop it because otherwise the signatures of myself and him and Elizabeth Warren is something he is disrespecting terms of the partnership we created to get justice for the henry family. It is not my criticism you should be concerned about. Those words that you did nothing not mine. They are djs father, coming from the family. Congressman kennedy is making these charges. He knows they are not true. Since were talking about social justice and racial there has been lots of talk in democratic circles about empowering people of color politically. Joe biden did it today with his choice of kemal harris to be his running mate. Lets learn more about your commitment to that goal . For most of the last 20 years, boston has been a majority nonwhite city, and yet the city has yet to be run by a nonwhite mayor. It seems likely that a wellqualified person of color will make the runoff to challenge mayor marty walsh next year. Will you pledge to support that person of color . It is impossible to protect the future. It just is. You are asking a hypothetical. Maher walsh is doing a good job right now. Im in a race with congressman kennedy. I just want to go back to 1973 when i stood with the black caucus to ensure there would be a black senate seat in boston. I did stand with them. That is why they are endorsing me. Those people are there. I stood with them. I followed them. We won. That is why there is a black senate seat. Thank you. One minute. You referenced the work with that seat for senator owens. The majority of democrats voted to create that seat. While you were working on that, you opposed integration of the boston Public Schools. I dont think Racial Justice is something you can cherry pick. It is something you are committed to or not. With regards to your question, i think maher walsh is doing a good job. No one knows what will happen. We have seen extraordinary , aowerment of women of color number of talented members of city council. It is hard to predict who is going to jump into that race. Rebuttal. Just another correction of the congressman. It was not a majority of democrats who voted to create that black senate seat. It was a small minority of democrats in the house of representatives at that time. Host response . The fact is as you say you were advocating for that seat, though most searing one of the most searing moments in boston, for the integration of boston schools, you supported the continued segregation. The issue here isnt that it was just one choice. Bussing, you voted for three strikes, you still refuse to apologize for the consequences of the crime bill. You joined with republicans against the obama administration, democrats and where the only member of the House Democratic delegation to vote to maintain the number of immigration detention beds used to detain immigrants. When a mom and dad came to ask you for justice, this isnt this is a family in front of you. Laundry list a there. You take your time and respond. Bill wasy the crime supported by every member of the massachusetts delegation, nancy pelosi, joe biden, because it has provisions that created the violence against women act. It was a ban on assault weapons, the sentencing guidelines were clearly wrong. They needed to be corrected, and i do believe that is something that has to be done and i am partnering with cory or with the next step act to achieve. Immigration bed issue, let me say quite clearly congressman kennedy later on in the same year cast a vote for a bill that had the very same provision in it. Increasingupport those beds. I was working hard and i was successful in putting a ban on knives on planes because of happened at logan airport, because of the hijacking, because of the murder of 150 thele of mohamed atta in nine other hijackers. I knew it was knives on planes, so i worked to successfully get that language in. Inthe issue of those beds, that one bill, yes. It was because i was successful in banning knives on planes. Later in the same year, congressman kennedy in another bill voted for the very same language. So, give me a break, congressman, you did the exact same thing in a different bill. Host go ahead. Sorry, everybody, but we have to correct this record again. You had a chance to vote whether we should lower the number of immigrant detention beds are not. You are the only member of the massachusetts delegation to side with republicans to pass that bill. The only one. Fact. You now claim it has something to do with knives on a plane. This was 12 years after 9 11. The issue on knives was worked out earlier. This amendment had nothing to do with it. Yet you still cast that vote. That was your choice. Because you joined with republicans and passed that bill, it got wrapped up in an overall government funding measure. You had the chance to stand with the immigrant community and the massachusetts delegation and president obama and the hispanic caucus and you chose not to to stand with republicans. When it came back to vote to Fund Government or not because they passed the bill you voted it toe had to swallow fund the government. Again, congressman kennedy, later on the same year cast the same vote. It was in a large package then. It was in a large package the time before. I think we both oppose increasing those beds. We both do. But to say he did not vote on a bill to increase those beds is absolutely wrong. Thank you. I voted against it, he voted for it. Host thank you. You will start here first, mr. Kennedy. President trump was criticized recently for warning voters that expandens pledged to and enforce the Fair Housing Act would mean an influx of crime and loss of Property Values for suburban home owners. Do you believe the government should do more to promote suburban racial and economic diversity, and if so, what should be done . Rep. Kennedy yes. Without question. What i think this moment has taught many, i think some of us have known before is the myriad ways in which there have been Structural Racism codified at every level of government, federal, state, local. One of the most lithic examples has been the Fair Housing Act in combination with local zoning laws. Median net worth of a household that is white is 12,000 dollars. For a black household, it is eight dollars. The inability to gain Housing Access to a housing market. If we are going to take on the Structural Racism to provide opportunity for every american, we need to be good to our promise and values and need to invest in additional Housing Stock and rectify the Fair Housing Act. Saysmarkey donald trump he wants to make America Great again. He really wants to make america hate again. Ist he is doing systematically trying to find ofues that can get folks out the suburbs. Its just racism, plain and simple. Hes the most racist president of all time in our countrys history. Down theave to break suburban barriers that make it more difficult for minority families to be able to move in. I live in malden. We have a very racially diverse committee. But every community in the suburbs should be similarly diverse and that has to be the goal of the federal government that year. We have to put justice on the ballot for housing policies to make sure this historic bias that goes all the way back to slavery, by the way, in terms of black families able to accumulate enough wealth to own homes in the suburbs so we can rectify that historic injustice tilt deeply into the fabric built deeply into the fabric of our countrys history. Host i would like more clarity from both of you on what exactly you would do to integrate the suburbs. Responding to senator markeys points i agree that we as a federal government need to do more to tackle the systemic structures. The differences at multiple points over senator markeys career, he has exacerbated those challenges. He has not tried to level those barriers. Voting for three strikes sent a generation of africanamerican men to jail. Opposing busing in our School System is not a way to break down structural barriers around race, it continues to codify and perpetuate them. Voting to detain more immigrants were keep immigration beds as high as you can, that is not a way you integrate immigrants into the community. Separate,way to exacerbate fear and exacerbate the vision. That is senator markeys vision. Host response . Sen. Markey i changed my position on busing 40 years ago and others. Ing 40 years ago. In terms of the suburbs, we need state laws that are passed that are tough. State laws that break down these discriminatory barriers that exist in suburban communities all across the state of massachusetts. We need federal policies that provide the funding for families who have historically not had the ability to be able to put down the deposit to be able to live in the suburbs. We need something that happens at the local level, statelevel level and federal level. We have to say we are about to have a moment of justice for these families. Justice that ensures they get the health care, the education, they get the housing, they get the criminal justice they deserve. We are at a big moment in our countrys history. We can see it. The soul of our country is on fire in one of the things we have to do is put housing in the suburbs at the top of the list of things we are going to provide for those communities that have been historically excluded. Rep. Kennedy i actually agree with you that we are at this big moment and we have, out of this wreckage comes a reckoning for this country to address summary of the structural failures that have left us with this injustice that we see. The differences you are not going to bring that about just by voting the right way and filing the right bill. Those deals are not going to happen in the back rooms in washington dc you need a senator that is fully engaged in all aspects of that job. The revolutions we talk about tom the American Revolution womens suffrage to civil rights, it happens on our streets and its hard to be on our streets when you are living in washington dc. You spend less than a week a month the cycle in washington but you say you have to be there to vote but during this time of covid19 of economic and Public Health crisis, you missed over 50 of the votes. If you want to bring about the change you say we need, and 2018, 1 when republicans had the house, senate and presidency, you went nowhere. Massachusetts, you are not in washington and you are not in the front lines campaigning to bring about the change we need. I think massachusetts deserves more out of its senator. Host go ahead. Sen. Markey first of all, during the time we have served together, we have a 95 voting record in washington. 95 apiece. Just put that to rest. All this issue of change, i took on the oil industry and the auto industry, changed fuel economy standards and the reduction in greenhouse gases. That is my law. Havek on the nra to now 25 million being spent at the cdc to do research on the cause of gun violence in our society to make nra stand for not relevant anymore. That is my law. I have a 25 lien dollar to 30 Million Program to cure alzheimers by the year 2035. That is my law. I have a bill that the internet on the desk of every single child in our country and im fighting now to make sure they get it at home during this pandemic because 12 million children do not have it. That is my law. I have 500 laws on the book that have been signed by president s. The job of the senators to go to washington to pass laws, to get them signed to help the people back in your home state. That is what i do. The congressman himself has said he has 13 bills that have passed of in his own words, most them small and insignificant. The difference between us is that we have a job and it is to go to washington and it is to get bills passed. I do that. Int think dont think overhauling Manufacturing Policy to revitalize communities like fall river is insignificant. I dont think guaranteeing mental and Behavioral Health for pregnant women and new moms is insignificant. Putting Economic Opportunity is insignificant. Maybe you do. You use the words small and insignificant. I characterize my own record as small and insignificant. Taxes,hen we come back, jobs among the topics on the agenda at the Democratic Primary Senate debate here on wb easy. Ez. Wb welcome back to our debate between the incumbent senator ed markey and congressman joe kennedy. I have been remiss year. Some of these questions were submitted by voters via social media and we appreciate the input, including this one. Senator markey, you will go first on this. In the past, you have both boasted of your ability to perform productive working relationships with republican colleagues. But in this era of harsh partisanship, former Vice President eitan has drawn fire from within the Democratic Party if president g trump is defeated, democrats will have an epiphany and return to work in a bipartisan matter, a move he says he will welcome. His critics call that naive and out of touch with reality. Who is right, biden or his critics . Sen. Markey we hope that when donald trump is fumigated out of the white house in november and republicans lose control of the senate and are in the minority that they will see the light. Cooperateill begin to on a bipartisan basis. That is what we hope. But if they dont, there is a big agenda next year on health care. On the economy. On education. On criminal justice. Justice, justice, justice. It is on the ballot in november and it will be on the agenda in january. If the republicans continue to be obstinate, we will have to change the filibuster rules to get the agenda passed because america cannot wait. Justice must be delivered, especially to those essential workers who right now are running the risk of catching coronavirus and giving it to their own family. We can see who they are. They are poor, black, brown and immigrants and we to ensure we put an agenda on the board that republicans cannot stop it because they change the rule. Host senator kennedy, is it naive or out of touch . Rep. Kennedy i hope not, but i fear so. I would point you to the way i have gone about my job over the course of the past four terms in congress. The majority of those under republican control. The bills i referenced a moment ago all past under republican control of the house. But i was able to find areas of overlap and push that legislation through. The difference between myself and senator markey is im not content to say that is enough. We need to have a big, bold agenda. The differences he will vote for it, i will fight for it. That big, bold agenda doesnt come about because we wish it to be so. You have to go out and make it so, go out in our streets and committees like chelsea, fall river, brockton and springfield, listening to the concerns our constituents. The difference is they are in every corner of the country fighting for that change and he has gone nowhere. Host rebuttal. Sen. Markey i introduced the Green New Deal with alexandria ocasiocortez so we would have as wEnvironmental Justice solve the problem of Climate Change for the planet, that we would save all of creation by engaging in massive job creation. But alexandria and i made sure in the Green New Deal, which was criticized, by the way not just by republicans and fox news, it was criticized by Many Democrats is going too far because we talked about intersectionality, we talked about frontline committees come we talked about people of color, we talked bout how those who are in the most polluted situations invariably are the poorest and immigrant families and we could see that during coronavirus. When i introduced that bill, it was poohpoohed in certain circumstances but it seems prescient today. Same thing is true for medicare for all. When i sat next to bernie in 2017 introducing medicare for all, congress and kennedy took two years to sign onto medicare for all. That now looks predictive of where we are right now. Millions of people have lost their health care. We are 47th in the world and life expectancy, 38 in health outcomes. Last year, two thirds of all bankruptcies were because of health care bills. Medicare for all now looks like a bill that has its time that has arrived, the same as the Green New Deal. That is the leadership i provide, building movements across our country so we can have the fundamental change which are country wants and needs. Host response . Rep. Kennedy it took you 40 years and office to show leadership on medicare for all, so lets get that record straight first. Second, the facts belie what you say because those movements are not built in washington. You are here less than a week a month, but you are not out there campaigning to drive that change. Bernie sanders is out there building a movement, whether thats on Racial Justice or social justice, and agree or disagree with that, you endorsed Hillary Clinton twice. You never endorsed senator sanders and his running for presidency. The idea that you are somehow leading that same movement that you now claim to hold is just not the case because you are not here in our communities and you are not out there in every corner of our country galvanizing those forces to actually bring this to pass because as your own campaign has said, when democrats were desperate for that change, when republicans had the house, senate and presidency, i traveled to dozens of districts to win the house and hold this Administration Accountable and pass progressive change. You, senator, went nowhere. Host go ahead. , alexandria look ocasiocortez and i created a movement of millions of young people. They are on every campus, high school, middle school in our country right now, young people rising up demanding that we solve that problem. It is at the grassroots in our country. It has changed the whole debate in the way that people view this issue. Biden has asked alexandria ocasiocortez to advise him and now says the Green New Deal is the framework of the Climate Change legislation that we will pass next year. That is a movement that came from the grassroots of our country. It is a movement that i built with alexandria ocasiocortez. Its why the Sunrise Movement is with me, the sierra club is with me, the National ResourcesDefense Council is with me because i built a movement that is going to change our country and our planet next year with wins in solar, all electric vehicles, plugin batteries, with an Energy Efficiency strategy that will create millions of jobs and do so with justice, not just jobs, but justice for every family, especially families of color. Now kennedy 47 years and we have this. If that is the movement we are building, why not go out and fight for it . Why not go out and actually build it . Your own Campaign Says you have been here and you havent then out there building it. Youwerent in washington, missed those votes for months on end. If that is where the fight is, why arent you fighting for it . That is the difference, folks. I support the Green New Deal. I was on it from day one. The differences i will fight for this. I have a twoyearold and a fouryearold. We need Environmental Justice in our country. The difference is that i know that is not just going to come to pass. Those fossil fuel interests will put up a fight for every last obstruction they can. At you are the guy that took donation from the chairman of exxon mobil, not me. If we are going to do that, we need to bring the fight to every corner of our country. Right now, there is a super pac run by the congressmans twin brother running negative ads against me. On television, all day long, every single day. There are media reports that his father, his father may be providing funding for that super pac. That funding could be coming from some of the fossil fuel money his father raised as a congressman because hes using that money to attack me. My question is if he wants to go to this issue, my question is is your father funding that super pac that is attacking me right now . Rep. Kennedy no clue, no idea. Lets be very clear about this, the only reason there is a super pac in this race is because you would not stay good to your word. You signed a pledge into any 13 to keep super pacs out. You to do you to ask the same thing. You refused to. Pute have been negative ads forward by your campaign for a long time. Your campaign, your super pac is funded by a telecom billionaire, a private equity billionaire and one of the folks that funded mitt romneys super pac when he ran for president. Fromave taken more money the Telecom Industry than any living number of congress. If we want to talk about Campaign Finance or form, i ask you multiple times to keep this money out. You said no. Here is the difference. Thisifference is this super pac is running relentless negative as. I challenge the congressman to say if any super pac gets in that it only be positive and that it be disclosed money. So right now, what the congressman is saying with all of these ads, i have no idea if my father, he saying i have no idea if my father is providing the funding for all of these negative ads being run. Because they should be positive. So heres what i would say to the congressman. Im sure your father is watching right now. Tell your father right now that you dont want money to go into a super pac that runs negative ads. Tell your twin brother and tell your father you dont want any money to be spent on negative ads in massachusetts in 2020 in the era of donald trump. Rep. Kennedy i have said that multiple times. Sen. Markey have you said it to your father . Rep. Kennedy publicly. Sen. Markey tell your father you dont want the money to be spent on negative ads. Host let him answer. Rep. Kennedy when i ask you back in february at a debate whether you would stand by your word and you said it need to be positive voices. You didnt have an answer of who was to judge this positive voices. Its because of those workers, the folks that end up losing their jobs because of your bill and you would not meet with them. Takehave a very different on some of your positive voices because of the economic devastation. Sen. Markey my campaign is people powered. Is now fossilaign fuels. All i want him to do is tell his father to stop spending money on negative commercials in massachusetts in the era of trump. We should all be positive with a big vision of where this country is going. Instead, the congressman is running a relentlessly negative campaign which i do not think is good for massachusetts and he should tell his brother and father to stop it. Your Campaign Supporters have put out tweets and have bullied my supporters, lee put out tweets saying harvey got the wrong kennedy, where is Lee Harvey Oswald and not a word coming from you. So cut the negative complaining. Not a word from you or your campaign. I would never at any time except anyone saying that about your family and no one affiliated with my campaign would ever say anything like that. Say to you that that is something completely unacceptable come should not be in politics and i make that a pledge to you. Host lets move on. I believe you will take this first, mr. Markey. Among the issues facing the next congress will be massive budget deficits. What specific tax hikes will you support to help dry up that red ink . There were massive, unjustified tax breaks given during the Bush Administration and during the trumpet ministration. All of them should be repealed. 80 of them went to the upper two cent tile. We need those revenues in order to make sure we have medicare for all, that we have a Green New Deal, that families get access to the education they need for their family memory. We have to make sure we provide the help for everyone who needs it. We have to think big and 2020 one and not only do we need to increase taxes, we also need to cut the Defense Budget. It is bloated. Trillionpwards of 1. 5 of Nuclear Weapons built into the Defense Budget over the next generation. We do not need any new Nuclear Weapons. We must cut those programs and transfer them to the health care , education and all the programs we need for the people in our country. Tax hikes you will support to dry up the deaf or the deficit . Rep. Kennedy we need to repeal the bush era tax cuts and trump tax cuts and thats where we should start, but thats not going to be enough to bring about the structural change i believe we need. In addition to those tax changes, we need to address the fact that workers have been exploited now for generations. We have seen an erosion of worker power taking place literally over the course of the past 50 years from the decreased percentage of Union Households to the flattening of wages to the economic ability of American Families to be able to meet their own needs. The fact is much of that has happened on a senator argies watch. That fight for economic dignity is why i got into office. It is why iran because central promise this country makes our people is that you are going to be able to make ends meet. We have to update that contract. When it comes to affordable childcare for every family, it is more expensive to send a ld questioney this is a of justice. In our country right now, there are 12 million children without the internet at home. To ais going to lead learning gap which will lead to an opportunity gap those children. 54 building on my 54 Million Program, im in washington to make sure those children get the internet at home, otherwise we will have an educational tragedy in our country. Is true, we need to make sure there is paid sick leave, paid child leaf, that everyone gets the basic income they need in our country. We have to think big year. But in this coronavirus package, we have to protect those children, we have to protect our fishermen, we have to make sure there is an extension for Unemployment Benefits for all the workers in massachusetts. That is what i am fighting for. That our cities and towns get the funding they need so they dont have to lay off teachers. Being waged onht the floor of the United States senate and i am standing up and fighting for them in the same way the people of massachusetts would want their senator to fight. Host response. Rep. Kennedy much of the details senator markey related is in the heroes act. A bill that passed the house literally months ago. The reason we could pass it is because we won the house so we could set the terms of that debate. We passed legislation that supported our hospitals and First Responders and families and municipality so teachers could get to work and the additional 50 billion we provided for child care centers. Thats the difference in what happens when you have folks that will go out there and Campaign Across this country to deliver change. Senator markey has been in office for 47 years. He has had the chance to do that. When we needed him most, progressive voices to drive that change or flip the senate, he did not do that. We are seeing the consequences of it right now. Sen. Markey i have to correct the congressman once again. Back in march when the coronavirus hit, i crossed the aisle, went over to the delegation with elizabeth and we said we need 300 million for the fishermen. We got that passed. Its in the coronavirus package. That the workers come at 250,000 dollars would have no benefits, i was successful making sure they got 600 and that lasted until the end of this year. The administration did not want to provide 150 billion in health care assistance. They only wanted to give 100. I recommended, because of the leadership of our massachusetts hospital that we got that money. We got the money for testing as well. On the floor of the senate in this tough fight, i stood, i fight, and i one for the people of massachusetts. To interject another question from a 60yearold man who has been unemployed since december. He wrote in a lot of us over 60 wont be able to find jobs again. Would you support lowering the retirement age to 60 with full benefits and medicare . Mr. Kennedy . Rep. Kennedy that is deafly something that has to be considered. This is what happens when you have economic policies that end up hollowing out our middle class. You have folks coming up on retirement age for Social Security that are seeing those savings get wiped out. We are also seeing economic devastation for my generation, millennials, that are comingofage in the worst economic crisis after the work at worth after the worst economic crisis 10 years ago. I almost every statistic, they are worse off than their parents. Their tulare they are delaying marriage, delaying children, but that is what happens when you have leadership that is asleep at the switch to be able to provide economic dignity for our people and thats why we need change. Host lower the retirement age . Sen. Markey medicare for all is the answer. Hes afraid at 60 he wont be able to retire, that is what bernie, i, elizabeth thats what we tried to accomplish when we introduced it in 2017, to deal with this anxiety that exists in families across our country. This gentleman you are talking about feels it right now. Job innot easily find a massachusetts at 17. 4 unemployment, the highest in the United States. This anxiety is real. My father drove a truck for the hood mill company. My mother, because my grandmother died, had to raise her three younger sisters and i grew up in the house with a truck driver. I can see the anxiety at the Kitchen Table trying to pay the bills and that anxiety exists all across massachusetts and our country right now. Medicare for all, for this health care issue, goes right to the heart of ensuring no one has to worry that their health care will be in jeopardy because they are not getting the insurance they need. Host response . Rep. Kennedy im proud of the leadership i have shown on health care in this country in my time in office, trying to expand the fertile care act to the work protecting medicaid and Medicaid Expansion to my fight for a careful. What medicare for all. What we are seeing in this to pass it, the differences i am fighting for the change that will liver it. Host i want to squeeze in one more question. You will start here, mr. Kennedy. The pandemic appears to be widening the Education Access cap. Families with money are able to move their kids to private schools they believe are more protected from the virus or form learning pods where families pool their resources to hire private tutors. What, if anything, would you do to provide options for less affluent parents who do not feel safe sending their kids back to local Public Schools . Ap. Kennedy i have got twoyearold and fouryearold. This question about what to do for schooling and daycare is a topic every night. As of now, there is not a good decision. Educationalde the opportunity and social Emotional Learning our kids need . Do you risk the health of parents and teachers and family numbers . What we are seeing is what we need is that money from the heroes act to provide resources so that we can in fact try to reopen schools appropriately. Number two, its a consequence of literally decades of underfunding basic social services from childcare to internet to schooling to health care. That is the problem we have to confront in the challenge before us, whether we will be bold enough and relentless enough to deliver on that . Host Educational Options . Big question. Back when i was drafting the telecommute occasions act, i was trying to break down all the monopoly so we would release the broadband revolution. We did and it created trillions of dollars in new investment and millions of jobs. But i also did Something Else and that was because of my cousin mary who was a teacher, a math teacher. I was in her classroom and she had one computer and 25 kids. I asked the kids how any of you have computers at home . I said how many would like them . All of the kids raise their hands. That is why the internet is on the desk of every sigel child in america because of my law that i got past, 54 billion. Where we are right now is theres going to be a huge gap that opens up if we dont get the internet at home so they can learn, the poorest children, black, brown, all across our country, immigrant kids, there will be a huge problem that we will have to live with for generations if we dont get them to help. That is what i am going to fight and win on the senate floor over the next 10 days to make sure funding is there for every poor family in our country. Host theres two mitts left. You each get half of it, go. Still 18edy there are towns in our commonwealth that dont have access to broadband. Talk to folks in western massachusetts and you will see folks literally crowded outside the library to get highspeed internet access. That is still the challenge we confront, but look, you have all heard an awful lot of back and forth from us tonight stop but let me symbol phi this debate and make it clear. This is about our future and the future of our commonwealth and our country. We have a choice to make because so many families are hurting and the last several months have been brutal. We have a chance to go big and make sure out of this wreckage comes reckoning. Or we can choose to do more of the same. I hope to have the chance to serve you in the senate to make sure we continue to build on this change. Host thank you. Mr. Markey, equal time. Sen. Markey we still have not heard from congressman kennedy on his fathers funding of the super pac running negative ads. The agenda for our country has to be justice, environment of justice, health care justice, educational justice, criminal justice. That has to be what is on the ballot. That is what the agenda is next year. Martin luther king said all of our hands must be on the ark of justice to ensure everyone has access to it in our country. I pledge to the voters of massachusetts and i ask for their vote that i am given the honor to continue to fight for justice for every person in our state and the entire United States america. Host gentlemen, thank you. Good debate. Primary day is just three weeks away on september 1. If you have not done so, you still have time to vote early by mail. Call your city or town hall or check the secretary of states website for more details. Early voting in person runs from august 22 two the 28 and of course, you can still go to the polls on tuesday, temer first. Make your voice heard and watch your vote count with full alexion cover on wb ez. And thank you very much for watching. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the contenders series continues its look at the men who ran for the presidency but lost and changed political history. A third term in office, his republican opponent in the general election was attorney and Corporate Executive wendell wilkie. Thats today at 4 10 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Tonight on q and a a journalist on her book the womans hour about the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920 which granted women the right to vote. It passes the house by a margin very small. It passes the senate with only two vote margin. There are senators who are sitting on it after the house takes it in 1918 and it them until june of 1919 before it passes both houses. Then the senate knew they were sending it out for ratification in the states and what is called an off year, when most state legislatures were not going to be in session. Tot was sort of purposeful, make it more difficult. So the suffragists had to convince 30 governors to call their legislators back into special session to consider the amendment. Thats tonight at 8 00. Rn on cspans q a the role of the u. S. Postal service in the november election was the main topic on some of the sunday news programs. Here is reaction from the white house chief of staff and senator bernie sanders. The president doesnt have a problem with anybody voting by mail. If you would look at it in terms of may be a no excuse absentee ballot