Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2020 South Carolina U.S. Senate Debate 20240712

The next minute is yours. Thank you, judy, and i want to thank everyone here on the campus of Allen University. While i breathe, i hope, that is the motto of this great state in South Carolina. But it might as well be the theme of my entire life. I am the son of a teen mom i was , raised by grandparents, with a fourth grade and eighth grade education. I went to yale, i went to georgetown law school. I work on capitol hill, i worked on private sectors, and now i am a candidate for the United States senate. Excuse me if i pinch myself. I have lived the American Dream and spend my entire life fighting for others to make sure they do the same thing. We have been divided for too long. To me folks here in South Carolina lack the opportunity to tonight live the American Dream themselves. Tonight, you will probably hear from Lindsey Graham and he will scare you to vote for him, i hope tonight to inspire you to vote for me. Thank you, sir. Senator graham, you have one minute. Thank you very much for tuning in, thank you to Allen University thank you to everybody who has got me here. We are in difficult times. 2020 is the most incredible year. We have been a like no other time. Coronavirus has turned our state and our nation upside down. Mr. Harrison lost an aunt. The president of United States is in the hospital as i speak. We are going to get through this. When i was 21, my mom died and 15 months later my dad died and i was in charge of a 13yearold i made it, we have drug therapies that are working, mortality rates are going down. The vaccine is around the corner. This is a big choice election between me and mr. Harrison. ,apitalism versus socialism conservative judges versus liberal judges, law and order versus chaos. Thank you very much, gentlemen, thank you both for being here this evening. It is our hope and expectation to give our nation and our children and example of what civil discourse looks like and how to engage in passionate, but respectful debate. Senator graham, the first question to you and we will have mr. Harrison answer as well. In the last 24 hours, the list of Public Officials infected by covid19 has grown. People of faith and goodwill across our country are praying for everyone infected to make a full recovery, but it cannot be ignored or that many of the people who are infected attended large gatherings and completely disregarded the protocols put out by the cdc. The question is, how has politicization of the virus damaged our response federally and here in our state . Got thedent wilson spanish flu right after world war i. We live in such unusual times, i doubt if anybody attacked him. All i can say is that of the virus is a problem that came out of china, not trump tower. We are getting vaccines ready i think any month now. The drug therapies are working, the one thing i want people to know is that the virus is serious, but we have to move on as a nation. When a military member gets infected you do not shut down the whole unit, we are going to have a hearing for Amy Coney Barrett, it will be in safely. Ive got a job to do and the one thing i find, nobody asked me how are you doing when 200 people showed up not my house and broke my window. My liberal friends never mentioned the virus when people are roaming around the streets rioting and burning down top cars and breaking windows. It is a problem, it is a problem for the nation. It is something we are going to get through, but i promise you, we are not going to stop doing our job in washington. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, i promise you, we are going to get judge barrett on the court safely. Thank you, mr. Harrison, same question. This question is about the coronavirus, not judge barrett, not the Supreme Court. This has impacted me personally. My grand aunt gladys passed away this july in a nursing home, by herself. That is the story that so Many Americans are experiencing right now. Part of why we are experiencing it, no, we are not going to blame the president , we should not blame the president or anybody for the inception of this disease. Where blame it should come is how we handled this disease, whether or not we take it seriously. Tonight i am taking it seriously, that is why put this plexiglass up, it is not just about me, it is about people in my life. That i mother 700 50,000 people unemployed in South Carolina. We have had 3000 people die, lets0,000 infected take this issue seriously and do all we can to not only take care of ourselves, but each other. I want to ask a followup about the coronavirus and the impact here in South Carolina. Has askedcmaster south your line of schools to resume facetoface and structure. I have talked to parents and teachers who want to do the same if it is done safely, here is a concern, senator graham you and your colleagues i know you had a coronavirus test yesterday or today, you get your result in a matter of hours. Here in South Carolina, people are waiting days or sometimes more than a week to get results. We know how critical that is in terms of containing the virus. The question is, should we ask our teachers to return to class for five days face to face instruction without having access to widespread, Rapid Testing to quickly identify and contain those cases in schools . I think we should allow our parents to make a decision about what is best for their children. If a teacher does not want to go back to the classroom, i will not make them. I have supported legislation that increased unappointed benefits because people lost their job at no fault of their own, ive been trying to get our gloves, they were all in china back in america. And let american test outcome please make it here at home. One thing we are not going to do is shut the country down. We are going to open up safely. We are now getting back to business in South Carolina, shutting the country down has an effect of its own. Alcoholism, domestic violence, we are going to handle this virus. This issue about how to rebuild america, who do you trust, donald trump who gave you the best economy for the virus . Or do you trust liberal democrats . Let me tell you, the nightmares for our state, if the keep the house, take over the senate, and biden is pregnant president , god help us all. The most liberal agenda in the history of all american politics is coming out of the house to the senate, medicare for all. Takes away your private health care. Theyre going to stack the Supreme Court. Thank you very much. Same question to you, should we ask our teachers to return to facetoface instruction without having first having access to widespread Rapid Testing . As a father of two boys and one there is that is in first grade for the first time, it is hard. Teaching your kids from home is very difficult. Nobody has in appreciation of teachers that did not before the coronavirus, they better have an appreciation now. We need a strategy. A 50 state strategy. The failure of leadership, we are not blame anybody for the inception of this, but the failure of leadership. The senate failed to act. The white house failed to act. The governors failed to act. We need leaders who are going to step up and asked, we need testing here in South Carolina, we need to make sure we have a mandate for folks to wear their masks so we can bring down the transmission of this virus and then open our economy back up. Right now so many families have so many issues that they are dealing with. Unemployed000 people. Senator graham said over our dead bodies would we allow an extension of the unappointed benefit. Folks need that money, the Small Businesses me that money, but we need leadership in order to get things so necessary for our families to open back up. You, you have 45 seconds if you would like a rebuttal. I supported phase 3, but i said then if you pay people more not to work been to work, youre going to have a problem and it turned out to be true. It cunningham understands, has been really hard on hotels and restaurants to get back into business when you are paying people more to be unemployed than to be employed. I want to help people, i want to be responsible, i want to go back to school. We have passed a robust package, i am willing to do more, but ladies and gentlemen, this virus is going to pass. What kind of country are you going to have it liberal democrats win in the house, senate, and take over the white house . They are going to do away with Electoral College for new york and california to take your president. They are going to back this up in court, that is what is at stake. Followup,sk you a you say this issue is about paying people more when they are not working versus what they earned by going to their job. The governor said protocols are being put in place at the department of employment and workforce to make sure that the benefits are terminated for anyone who refuses to return to work. A lot of people we heard from want to understand why you are taking that position if we are putting protocols into prevent your concern . To run aam it helps business, my family runs a restaurant, a bar, and a liquor store. When youre paying 23 an hour not to work, it is hard to get people to come back and they get mad when you ask them to come back to work for 18 an hour. I saw this coming, Joe Cunningham understands that what we have done is you paid for people not to work then work. I have run a business, i know what it is like to compete with government, the one thing i can tell you for businesses in South Carolina, we have got to be generous with people who have been unemployed through no fault of their own. You cannot pay them more do not work then to work. I am for making my democratic friends do not understand that, i do, my family ran a business. He did not mention you directly, if youd like to respond, we will come back to it in response. I need to get to our panelists, my colleague bill sharps head of ucsc at charleston. Thank you gentlemen, gaddafi both with us here live, mr. Harrison, senator graham, good to see both of you. Senator, your Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on Amy Coney Barrett, the present president s nominee for the Supreme Court and there is a good chance that she will be confirmed. That would give the Supreme Court a definite tilt toward the conservative side. If she is confirmed and it seems as if she will be a that conservative tilt there is talk, could do away with roe v. Wade, the 1973 law which gave as you know, women the right to an abortion. If it does not do away with that and overturn it completely and might chip away at it. Mr. Harrison, senator graham, my question is does a woman in this country have the right to control her own body . Even if she wants an abortion . Moderator mr. Harrison . Mr. Harrison i believe she does. Men have rights to control their bodies and women should have equal rights to control their bodies as well. At the end of the day this is a hard issue. I believe it is between a woman, her doctor and her god. Politician should not be anywhere in it. We need to make sure that abortions should be rare. We should look at how we expand adoptions. How we have contraception and educate our kids. But at the same time we should be safe. If it is the law of the land which is at this time. What we need to do is look at health care. And particularly health care for women. Here in South Carolina we have some of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. Two years ago here in South Carolina 14 of our 46 counties had no, zero obgyn. Many of our hospitals and some of our world committees are closing now. What are we going to do to tackle these disparities in health care that women and particularly minority women are experience in right now . Senator graham has a failed and 25 years to address these issues. Moderator senator graham . Mr. Harrison well, amy barrett is one of the most qualified people in the history of the nation to be nominated and she will get on the court as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee ive tried to be fair when it comes to judges and when president obama won, i recognize he won the election and i voted for sotomayor and kagan knowing that they were liberal justice. Heres what bothers me about this issue. My opponent, supported the filibuster of George Justice gorsuch and the [indiscernible] judge kavanaughs life. Amy barrett is going onto the court, she will decide roe v. Wade [inaudible] i am sponsoring a bill that would eliminate abortion on demand at 20 weeks. We are one of seven nations in the world that allows babies to be aborted at 20 weeks the fifth month of pregnancy and my opponent opposes that. This is a radical Democratic Party we are dealing with, amy barrett will be a thoughtful to liberalism and she will decide based on what the statute says and what the constitution says and she wont make things up. If you want conservative judges, i am your only bet in this race. Moderator from the state and Government Politics reporter, joe . Senator graham, you say youre moving forward with the confirmation because of how democrats treated justice kavanaugh. Mr. Harrison you said filling election. Previous norms for can firming previous norms for confirming judicial appointments, what should new rules be . 19 judges have been confirmed in an Election Year when the president of the party was the same as the senate and that is nothing unusual and we will have a airing beginning october 12 it will be done safely. Again, we can conduct a hearing safely but no democrat seems to say anything about a mom coming up into my yard and attacking republicans. Amy barrett will be treated respectfully i hope for following the norms of the community in terms of the opportunity to question her. I want to complement President Trump for sending over this virus and i hope she is not treated like this fine woman and i hope shes not treated like cavanaugh and yes yes seven children and all of that does not matter, what matters is will she apply the law to the facts and im looking forward to it. And one of my legacies as United States senator is that ive tried to be fair, not only to democrats when they appoint judges, ive been a leader on getting conservative judges on the screen court and the best is yet to come. Moderator thank you, sir mr. Harrison . Mr. Harrison sometimes listening to senator graham reminds me of playing monopoly with my son. He changes the rules every time he gets. Senator, you said use my words against me. You said it after the kavanaugh meetings. Not before the kavanaugh hearings. After the kavanaugh hearings. Your promise was that no judicial nominee should be considered or approved or what have you, in the last year of an election. And you even named President Trump when you said it. So this is my thing, my grandfather always taught me, a man is only as good as his word. Senator, how good is your word . You made a promise to the American People and you made a promise to the folks in South Carolina you would not be doing what youre doing right now, and that is the problem i have. I think the greatest heresy you could do as a Public Servant is to betray the trust of the people you took an oath to serve. And that is what you have done. Or the amount and stand up and say im going to do Something Else. But dont go and blame it on Something Else for flipflop youre making on yourself. Sen. Graham i said in august we will see what the market will bear. Miss barrett will be confirmed if the president has the 32bit. This is what i can say about judges, when president obama was president , i honor the fact that he won the election. I voted for two people i would not have chosen. And i watch as democrats try to destroy one conservative judge after another. Mr. Harrison encouraged the filibuster of judge the first filibuster in the United States senate. All i can say is amy barrett is highly qualified and im the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the president has every right to do this. If you are counting on mr. Harrison to vote for conservative judge or making mistake and you can count on me. Moderator he did mention your name, 45 seconds. Mr. Harrison listen, this is not about democrats versus republicans, it is about right versus wrong. If you establish a precedent, if youve established a standard, you should stick by it. One thing we have not seen with senator graham now and the Senate Republicans in control is this type of urgency to address the coronavirus. Covid19, right down right now theres a bill city on Mitch Mcconnells desk. This state is suffering, our businesses is suffering. There is not enough tests. The urgency is to push the Supreme Court justice even when they have two members of the committee who have covid. But they have not moved at all on addressing covid which is the number one issue right now. Moderator thank you, sir. Now to the anchor from myrtle beach. Good evening, i want to continue to talk about coronavirus. Tourism is the number one industry where i am from myrtle beach. The truth is we are coming off a bleak Summer Season and going into what looks to be a weak well fall and winter season as well. The bottom line is covid19 has Health Paralyzed our community. Restaurants, businesses, hotels you have closed, some permanently. My question to you is, as senator, what would you do to bring back our number one moneymaker . One, we cannot take a piecemeal approach. In new zealand right now it is a most covid free. L that is because the leader there along with local leaders took a direct approach to address this issue. They made sure yes there was a difficulty initially, but what they have now, you do not to the about spread of covid. In addition, when we think about we are in the situation we are in because we had feckless leadership, so how do we make it better . How do we address issues folks in myrtle beach are dealing with . You do not do it by blocking the unemployment relief. Because you know what . Theres a dignity of work in this state. It is not that people are sitting on thereabouts any bonbons or they wait for the federal benefit to come into their doors. When 750,000 of those folks lost their jobs, 400,000 also lost their their employerbased health insurance. Now they have to take care of kids and have to pay for internet, but they have to dig now deeper to figure out how to pay rent and how to pay health insurance. That is why we need a senator who is going to fight for us in our hard times, not fight against us. Moderator senator graham . Sen. Graham i think it would be family ran good to have a senator whose family ran a restaurant, a bar. Understand the service industry. I was in myrtle beach yesterday. Yesterday i want to help people i who have lost her job through no fault of their own. But the unemployment benefit package deters people going back back to work. We will come up with a package and make you whole but not give you a pay raise. Theres a 2. 2 trillion dollar bill coming out of the house of dollars representatives that has to not had a billion dollars to bail out the blue states. I want to help the states but not bail them out for things unrelated to covid. We need another round of ppp, now 67,000 businesses received ppp loan and lets do it again for businesses 300 and under who lost revenue. The best way to get back to a good life is to get a vaccine and President Trump is doing warp speed vaccines coming forward and alighting rate. The mortality is down and im encouraged. Very the best way to get myrtle beach back and running is to have a president and senate who will not tax them into oblivion and regulate them to death. Moderator thank you, sir. Anchor at wtoc in savannah. President trump signed an executive order deferring payroll taxes for americans earning less than 1000 hours per year until the end of this year and he says he wants to make it permanent if reelected. We will the payroll tax pays for medicare and Social Security. Medicare and Social Security. The Social Security actuary says your that would be depleted three years from now if that one fourth. These are called entitlement programs which can give the perception people deserve these programs but the truth is the american American People have paid into these programs with every paycheck over the course of their lifetimes. What be our plan moving forward . Moderator senator graham . Sen. Graham let me take about me and Social Security. Im the first in my family to go here to college. Neither one of my parents finish high school. My dad was a world war ii veteran. We owned a liquor store and a bar. You cannot afford not to get stick because if you get if you dont work you do not get your wife paid. We were uninsured and got wiped out. 15 months later my dad died. If it was not for social we would makeif it was not for Social Security benefits, we will would not of gotten we we would not have made it. I am a republican, i get that, i do. What would i do to save Social Security . Whatever it takes. I have 175,000 dollars a year, i will take less in benefits to make sure somebody like my aunt who cannot afford to get less. I think cola for people like me you should get the same cola somebody on a fixed income. We have got to Work Together, we have to save Social Security. The way you save it is if you can afford to take a little bit less, do it. I can now, when i was 20 when i cannot and i would never ask anyone to give a benefits they cannot afford. Is not by mr. Harrison . Securiy illuminating the payroll tax during this time period. Mentioned, it would wreck this program. Social security is important to me. I remember when my grandfather passed away in 2004. My grandparents did not have a pension or a 401 k . All they had was Social Security. I remember sitting of the Social Security officer with my office with my grandma because i thought she would get her check and my grandfathers check. Woman said you will get a death benefit, which was 300. My grandmother said, when will i get willies check. The woman says, you wont. You will get the higher of the two. It was like somebody punched my grandmother in the gut, because she was thinking, how do i pay for all of these things . Full deserve the money they have put into the system. Lindsey graham said, he said that Social Security and medicare were promises that we cant keep. Senator, im sorry, but these are not promises. People have paid into the systems and deserve to get the money back that they put into it. That is the likelihood they have. Moderator thank you, sir. One, youam number have a problem, you can fix it. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient, we are down to three. In 20 years there will be too. Most of my family worked in the cotton mill, so thats all theyve got. I am of an income level where i could take more and i would to save Social Security. Ladies and gentlemen, it will while wertisanship, were working to save Social Security in 1993, im ready to work with democrats to save Social Security and medicare. Im ready to pay more for my prescription drugs because i cant and there are people who cannot. I will not turn america into a socialist nation. That is their agenda for your health care. Moderator our next question is about campaign ads from my colleague richard wallys. Take a listen. Safe to sayts people have been hammered by negative ads in this race. Why did you feel the need to go negative . Would you like to set the record straight on anything that might be a false claim in those ads . Moderator mr. Harrison, first to you. Been inison i have forming people and educating people about senator grahams record. In terms of negative and not true, senator graham is running and something that talks about me working for a company that foreclosed on folks in katrina and implied that i actually did that. When Hurricane Katrina hit was 2005, i was working for congressman jim clyburn until the end of 2008. I 2006 i led the delegation, put together the delegation of members in congress to go down to new orleans and mississippi in order to work and rebuild those areas because the Bush Administration failed to properly help the rebuilding effort. Thatwas part of the agenda jim clyburn and others had to get the majority back in the 2006 election. Then, as someone who personally has been homeless for a while, i took personal offense to this idea. Senator graham wants talk about foreclosures, we could talk he works for the guy thats the king of foreclosures. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin foreclosed on 17,000 homes over the course of a fiveyear period. Richard, your question was about ads and money, lets talk about money and politics. Where the hell is all this money coming from . What is it about South Carolina that has attracted 100 million into mr. Harrisons coffers . They hate me, this is not about mr. Harrison. This is about liberals hating my guts because i stood up for Brett Kavanaugh when he tried to destroy his life. The only good republican is one that tries to undercut trump. I lost a President Trump when i ran for president. If you dont remember me running for president , its not your fault. I accepted the fact that he won. He has done a good job as president. Ourebuilt the military, cut taxes. Hes getting trade deals in securing the border. The reason you are seeing these ads is because they are trying to take me out. They want the house, they want the senate, they want pelosi, schumer and biden are a they want harrison in the senate. They will change the Electoral College. They will do away with private health care, medicare for all takes away your health care. Coming decriminalize into the country. They will give you legal immigrants Free Health Care. Thats what they say, they mean it. This election is about taking me out. Moderator mike holley has our next question. A local reporter. Has our nextue question. A local reporter. Many have been calling for police to confront systematic racism and policies and procedures. You believe there is systematic racism in the system . Not believe i do our police are systematically racist. I do believe in police reform. Senator scott had a proposal to reform policing. More transparency, more people of color, more people from minority communities in the force. Wantemocratic colleagues the issue, not a solution. The cops need our support now more than ever. I have never known it to be this difficult to be a Police Officer. Police inthe order of South Carolina and my candidacy because the chairman as chairman i have had the cops back. Reform coming yes, defund, no. Would defundif he the police, he. Yet, now he is not for defunding the police. Most south carolinians want police reform, but we respect the cops. Cops are under siege. They are being assassinated. I will never, ever defund the police. If you need more money for social programs, i will work with you. But cutting the cops budget puts poor people at risk. To scott has tried his best find a solution. Unfortunately, my democratic colleagues stopped him because they want the issue not to solve the problem. Moderator mr. Harrison . Mr. Harrison let me be clear on this. Graham sometimes exaggerates. I have said clearly and i will say it clearly here, i do not believe in defunding the police. Senator graham, my grandpa braun served in the police force for over 30 years. He served in homicides, risking his life day in and day out. I understand that there are good police out there and they are working in order to protect and serve. At the same time, we also understand there are bad apples. There is an entire community that is fearful when the blue light comes behind them because they dont know whether or not they will have their lives after the interaction. Areave to admit there problems in some of our policing, and we have the work with our police and Community Members to bring them together in order to do that. Not to divide them, not to scare them, but to work on addressing the problem. One question i have for you, and you said you are not for defunding the police, in President Trumps budget, fy 2021, a cuts Community Policing by almost 500 million. Do you support that, senator graham . Sen. Graham i have been a good supporter of communities policing. I believe senator scott, above all others, understands this issue in the senate. He is an africanamerican republican. He tried to fix the problem, but mr. Harrisons campaign is coming from the most liberal people in the country. Agenda is tomain defund the police. Planned parenthood wants the police to apologize to africanamerican communities. What i want to do was make policing better for africanamerican communities and all the people in the nation that need good cops is for people and minority minority neighborhoods. If you have any doubt about where im going to be, i will be with the cops. Moderator our next question mr. Harrison you can ask him. He did. Moderator quickly. 45 seconds. Mr. Harrison senator graham loves to talk about all this money. When he was raising a ton of money it was ok. But anytime anybody else is raising money is problematic. Senator, let me say this. Senator scott is not the only black person one understands the interactions with police. I have had my interactions as well. I have always tried my best to follow the law because thats my grandfather taught me. There are problems right now. There are families who have lost loved ones as a result. All i am saying is, we should have had you should have had you with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a hearing on the bill. But you did not even have that. Sen. Graham allah i have to say is that senator scott has a proposal that he has tied tried to take before the senate. I do care. The First Step Act is an effort to get africanamerican males and hispanic males out of jail that were sentenced to long jail terms for nonviolent offenses. I was one of the leading sponsors of that. Everything i done know anybody can do to find common ground. His efforts were filibusters filibustered. Its sad and a shame. Order is on the ballot. I talked with the cops and they feel abandoned and like people dont care anymore. If you are a Police Officer out there, i will always have your back. Moderator our next question the 96 Student Government Association President at Allen University. I would like to say senator graham and mr. Harrison, thank you for attending Allen University. My question is, Allen University recently signed in mou with Nuclear River Solutions that would strengthen relationships and opportunities for minority students with the company. If elected, what is your plan to champion qualified minority homegrown counties emerging from institutions other than large states supported schools. . } mr. Harrison thank you for doing that and thank you for your leadership. A few weeks ago i announced my agenda. Its an agenda to rebuild and revitalize communities in South Carolina. To bring hope to these communities that have lost all sense of hope. Its a fivepart plan attacks about health care, education, infrastructure, economic education. Part of my Education Initiative talks about a partnership with historically black colleges and universities that focuses on creating a new stream of revenue for those universities. The focus is on having those universities partner with rural communities, and to provide them with technical assistance. To make sure there are incubators for new businesses, particularly for communities where young folks and minorities have not been represented. We have an agenda, a robust one comment to make sure we rebuild schools and that there is a pipeline of young talent, particularly from our hbcus that have been left out historically. Giving them opportunities so that the rest of the country can see them shine. Hbcus are a blessing to our state. A lot of dunes that go to historically black colleges and universities are the first and their families to go to college. I can relate that. The goal is to make sure our best and brightest dont leave the state. Nobody has been more supportive than i have. I have done job fairs for hbcu military, with the with the fbi, with boeing and michelin to make sure that talent does not leave our state. A lot the bottom line is the schools have been a blessing. The programs you are talking about is very exciting. South carolina state has an engineering program. They have one of the best asphalt management programs in the entire country. My sister has a masters degree from South Carolina state. O bulldogs. Socal me in. Im so glad President Trump made per minutefundings not temporary. I can tell everybody in South Carolina the schools are a blessing. What i want to do as a senator is what ive done in the past, make sure the graduates of these universities dont have to leave our state. The best and the brightest day here and i am fully committed. God bless you. Moderator this question is when i have received from a number of your constituents. I promised i would ask it. Supportt to know if you term limits, and what would be an appropriate one for a senator and representative . Sen. Graham i would leave that up to the voters. You can limit my term on november the third if youd like. We have a history in South Carolina. Jim clyburn. I think im on the top of my game. But its up to you to decide. My voice is the strongest it has ever been. I have been to iraq and afghanistan 57 times to make sure the war stays over there and never comes back here. I had the military members back. I know more about National Security the most people in the senate. We have a Strong Department of defense footprint. I understand the needs of our base. I want them to grow, not shrink. I understand what the military needs in terms of modern weapons. Quite frankly, i think i am in a good position to help our state. Its up for you to see if you want me. I will always be conservative, but i will reach across the aisle to fix the broken immigration system, but i am not for Illegal Immigrants getting Free Health Care and open borders. It will ruin our country. The bottom line here is i have been leading the charge for 250 conservative judges. When it comes to Lindsey Graham, the best is yet to come. Mr. Harrison i think the question was about term limits. I mentioned what my grandpa said. A man is only as good as his word. Ofs is another example senator graham going back on his word to the people here in South Carolina. Running forator was congress, he said and he ran on april on a pledge of term limits. He said he would term limit himself. If you dont believe me, google it. Google Lindsey Graham and term limits. He said he would term limit himself. He said 12 years, he is now 13 years later and he is still running. Listen, i do believe the ultimate term limit is in the power of the people here in South Carolina. But i also believe it is incumbent upon us to keep our promises. And if we change our minds, just admit, i changed my mind. Dont and dodge. This is what i promised the folks of South Carolina, i will never, never, never lie to you. You may not agree with everything i say all the time, but you will always know where i stand. I will not go back on my word. Moderator our next question. Gentleman, i think neither of you has to worry about Health Care Coverage. Goodness knows, senator, you got the cadillac of Health Care Coverage as the u. S. Senator. And mr. Harris and i suspect you have to worry about Health Care Coverage either. But thousands of people in South Carolina do. And guess what they are on, the Affordable Care act called obamacare. Preexisting conditions covered, senator, mr. Harrison, with the Affordable Care act. We have an opportunity in South Carolina to expand medicaid as part of the Affordable Care act. But, have we done it . No, no. We are one of 14 states and the entire country that refuses to expand medicaid. So, mr. Harrison, senator graham, my question to you is, is the Affordable Care act worth it . Do you want to do away with the Affordable Care act . Or do you want to keep it and expand medicaid to help poor people in South Carolina . Thank you, gentlemen. Mr. Harrison thank you for this question. This is yet another personal one. My grandfather, who worked all of his life ended up 50 hours a construction on the roads in South Carolina and never had health care until he found out he had undiagnosed diabetes. He eventually had to lose his leg, some toes and he died because of complications for diabetes. There are so me people in South Carolina right now suffering in silence. Correction, South Carolina is now one of 12 states that still have refused to expand medicaid. They have not done it because they cant pay, the federal government would pay for the first five years one had to percent, and in the state had a pick up 10 after that. Tois because it was tied barack obama. Let me tell you something. Part of the reason we have had ral rur four rua hospitals close, and if you have complications and it takes you 50 minutes ago to the hospital, that is a death sentence. We need a senator who understands, puts policies aside and puts people first. Senator graham has a horrible bill. Moderator thank you, sir, your time is up. Hear theam when you word health care, and you hear a democrat talk about it, they want to put all health care under government control. They want to eliminate your ability to have health care to work. About 60 of the people, below 65 get the health care at work. Obamacare is a placeholder for bernie care. They believe in socialized medicine. Obamacare was a disaster for South Carolina. It started with five choices and we are down to one. Premiums have gone up 30 . Try getting less service, your call may bit your copayments are going up and premiums are going up. Three states under obamacare gets 35 of all the money. California, new york and maryland. Andbill would block grants send that money back to South Carolina with a formula that would allow us to get 60 more usn obamacare would give because we stop sending money to new york, california and maryland. Here is my belief with health care. Lets get it out of washington and put it in the hands of doctors those to you. Politicianontrol of to control for. Have accountability at the ballot box. Moderator thank you, sir. Your time has expired. You both said you agree humans have contributed to Climate Change and you both oppose the Green New Deal. Whato you oppose it and concrete policies should the u. S. Pursue to curb global warning while not leading to job losses . Sen. Graham i opposed the Green New Deal because its crazy. Eliminate carbon fuels is multiple trillion dollars. You will do away with cars, cows in the name of saving the environment. You will destroy the economy. Climate change is real. I believe in private Sector Solutions and the government working with the private sector. We lowered our carbon emissions. My solution to the environment is not to destroy the economy. My solution is not to take away from work and give it free to Illegal Immigrants. This agenda is coming out of the house and it will change the rules of the senate if they get in charge and it will be a disaster. You will crush our economy because the Green New Deal and medicare for all our hundreds of trillions of dollars of new spending we cannot afford. This is the reshaping of america that i think is incredibly dangerous. Climate change is real. We are in the path of lower emissions. I will never, ever destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. Its a problem, but not a religion. I can tell you that aoc, who endorsed my opponent last week, has a plan for our nation it you cant afford and will destroy our economy and not save our environment. Mr. Harrison the greatest gift the lord gave us is the planet. The legacy we have for our kids is a planet that we hand over to them in the next generation. Senator graham has mentioned that he believes Climate Change is real, thats not good enough. Inwe dont do something order to address the issue of the climate. I agree with the senator, i think the Green New Deal is too expensive and has become too partisan and we have to figure out a way because we have to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. That is something all of the scientists have said. We are seeing bigger storms. We know a big storm, we have seen tstorms i have hit other places. We also know that the greatest threat to cities like trust in an hilton head is the sea level is what are we going to do about it . Carolina do the south offshore drilling act, which allows drilling off the coast of South Carolina. Threatening our economy and the environment. We have to be affirmative in terms of focusing on this issue because again, it is the legacy we pass on to our kids. Moderator our next question. Lets talk about bike 73. It is an idea that would bring a direct link to the grand strand. Many are convinced the businesses and industry would transform our area. At this point, its just that. Its an idea. Its the road to nowhere. Mr. Harrison, as the senator do you support and understand the significance of i73 . What would you do to give it the green light . I support i73 endeavor structure in South Carolina. Sometimesends who come to South Carolina and say its a beautiful place with beautiful people. They say, i love South Carolina, the food is amazing, i love going to myrtle beach and charleston, but what is wrong with your roads . That is a problem. Our infrastructure in the state, and i will use a technical word, sucks, because we have had leaders who have not done anything for 25 years. Senator graham is one of them. Every debate senator graham gets this question about i73. Every time he says, im for it. You know what, theyre something the kids in my classroom used to tell me. Way said, the most powerful you can to persuade someone is to show and not tell. People are tired of hearing sayticians time after time that they will do something and go to washington, d. C. And then they get some type of amnesia. Senator graham is suffering from that amnesia. He said he is for it and have not seen it happen yet. Sen. Graham lets talk about what it is. Its going to be an interstate highway the comes up 95 and goes to the grandstand. I have secured funding from the department of transportation through the South Carolina department of transportation through the Environmental Impact study. They have increased taxes. This thing is going to happen. Said weit that came and would lose the port of charleston. I worked with a delegation to make sure the port of charleston had the funding it needed to get to 52 feet to be the premier port on the east coast. When our back was against the wall i went to harry reid to get 150,000 to do a study so that we would not miss a year. I put my record up against anybody working for the people of South Carolina. Got 35 million from the federal department of transportation to get the panthers headquarters located in york county out of charlotte. Work andare going to get the billiondollar project. I am foreign infrastructure build of multiple trillions. Rhodes, bridges. But when it comes to infrastructure, senator graham has been there and will be there for you. Attackedf you has been as being extensions of your partys leadership. Ebook that you will represent the people of South Carolina. What National Issues will you dissent with your party when taking votes . Sen. Graham how long do you have . Worked with democrats for over a decade to get a solution to give the 11 million here illegally a chance to learn our language and secure our border, increased Legal Immigration so people dont have to cheat. I have been the Climate Change Solutions Caucus with democrats and republicans. I voted for sotomayor and kagan beatot the krapp crap out of me by republicans. I want to solve problems and save Social Security. When talking about working with the other side, its not just talk with me and i have the political scars to prove it. But i want you to understand that your grandparents Democratic Party is no longer around. The people running the Democratic Party today are nuts. They want to give Illegal Immigrants Free Health Care and have open borders. That is not solving our immigration problem. It wants socialized prop medicare. They want to take your Health Care Away at the worksite. They want to do away with Electoral College. They want to pack the judges with liberals. In harrison the first step terms of working with the other side is not to call the other side nuts. Senatorthe thing, graham. I have a sixyearold i often teach in terms of how to conduct himself. I said, sometimes people come from different backgrounds and they see the world differently, but that does not make them bad because of it. Even though democrats and republicans may take different paths, hopefully our destination is the same. How can we make South Carolina a better place for all of us. Not just democrats and republicans are progressives versus conservative or liberals and whatever other term, we are south carolinians first and americans for us. How will we Work Together . When i was a chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, like best friend in politics was the republican chair, matt moore. Writtens even a story about how we were the odd couple because we worked together and respected each other. That is the foundation for how you getting stunned. Years. Ington for 25 he was the Climate Change in immigration, those are issues that have not been addressed. Billsve only past three in 25 years. We can do better. That we have to change the solution. Moderator our question we are running tight on time. As the coronavirus pandemic has exposed, Educational Equity has room for improvement in our state. What are your plans to bridge the gap and create equitable Educational Opportunity for minority k12 students and students living in rural areas to further ensure college is a viable option for them so they choose to pursue it . Mr. Harrison college has to be affordable and accessible. One of the jobs i had was running a nonprofit that work to help low income kids get an opportunity to go to college and live the American Dream. I am a testament that that works. Powerful. Education is the gateway to the American Dream. We need to make sure we can do Everything Possible in order to do that. Seeing andl we are witnessing something we have never witnessed here in america before. Young people have 1. 6 trillion of debt. There is more Student Loan Debt in this country then there is credit card debt. Thats the first time it has ever happened. When you are a young person and you have to hundred 50,000 of debt to start off life, no other generation have that type of generation this does. I am still paying it off, 20 years after graduating from college. That is a burden for so many young folks. I want to work to make sure we reduced to wish for our kids so they dont have to be settled and that we work on the Student Loan Debt crisis so they dont have to be burdened with such debts to start off their lives. Sen. Graham number one, mr. Harrison, pay off your Student Loans so somebody owes can go to school, you are a multimillionaire. You work for pelosi for three years and congressman clyburn. Ive given you 11 years of my tax returns. Last year you made almost half 1 million. How much money did you make as a lobbyist . Why are you still pain on your Student Loans . Youre a multimillionaire and cashed in on politics. Let me talk about broadband for rural South Carolina. We need to have highspeed internet so your schools can get the best and brightest minds of our time. South carolinae passed my bill with senator warner from virginia, thats a 10 billion grant. Rural South Carolina and rural america. He is running an ad accusing me. He is calling me a racist. Thats the worst thing thats ever been said about me and politics. I can tell you is that is not who we are. An africanamerican male can be a senator, just ask tim scott. You just have to have the right idea. A dot or of immigrants from india can be our governor. Ask nikki haley. This is a wonderful state and we can do better. Moderator your time is up. Mr. Harrison what you just saw his lynsey taking all of his talking points and dumping all to you. You are worried about everybody elses paycheck other than your own. When you said over our dead bodies will we allow an extension of Unemployment Benefits for folks who are right now just to make ends meet, what about the fact you everys your salary three times. I wish many of us have raised our salaries, but you raise stores three times. You are worried more about my bills and i am. To my household, i have two boys i have to take care of, along with my wife and a grandmother who is elderly. I also have a mom who was foreclosed on out on her home and i helped her. I appreciate that thoughtfulness that you are so concerned. But senator i pay them on time. Moderator thank you. I give you twice i can still respond. Sen. Graham thank you for the job i have. I make 175,000 plus as a senator and i never thought i would make this much money. I play my i pay my answer payment and help my niece with her Student Loans. Thats what we are supposed to do. Moderator that is our time for tonight. That concludes this evening. We want to thank you both in our panelists. We want to thank Allen University. That in person absentee ballots are starting in South Carolina this monday. Thank you for watching. Good night. Several republican senators have announced they have contracted the coronavirus. Graham, Judiciary Committee chair issued a statement about the timing of the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearing saying, we will proceed with the consideration of the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the associate justice on the u. S. Supreme court on october 12. Republicanveral senators announced that they had tested positive for the coronavirus, send it minority leader Chuck Schumer expressed concern that the Judiciary Committee planned to move ahead with the confirmation process for judge Amy Coney Barrett. Saying, leader mcconnell and chairman grahams decision to move full steam ahead with the turningcourt nominee is an illegitimate process into a reckless and dangerous one. Coverage of the Senate Confirmation hearings for judge Amy Coney Barrett starting monday, october 12 with Opening Statements by Judiciary Committee members and judge barrett. Live coverage on cspan and cspan. Org. Listen live on the cspan radio app. Be sure to visit cspan. Org to view a playlist of Amy Coney Barretts legal views