Arts auditorium at eastern wyoming college. Good evening and welcome to the wyoming 2020 general election u. S. Senate debate for the Fine Arts Center on the campus of eastern wyoming college. We will be asking questions of the candidates this evening and what we hope will be a thoughtful and civil exchange. We are utilizing social distancing practices this evening and there is no Live Audience for tonights debate. Candidates are with us this evening and with the assistance from the wyoming league of women voters, we have predetermined the order that the candidates will appear and take questions this evening. All the candidates have been briefed on the ground rules for tonights debate. In addition to questions from us, midway through the debate, we will have a segment where the candidates unscripted will discuss issues amongst themselves. The questions that we will ask have been drawn from questions submitting by wyoming public media listeners and staff. Also developed by craig and i. The candidates have not seen the questions. We want to get right to the debate. Each candidate is allowed an Opening Statement and questions will follow. If the candidates are ready, we are ready to begin. Thank you. Good evening. Andpreciate wyoming pbs wyoming public media hosting this event tonight. I want to thank eastern wyoming colleges well. There is no question that our nation and our state are at a critical juncture. These are trying times for wyoming families and for small businesses. I know that we as a state and as a nation can come through tough times just like this. I truly believe the Great American comeback is just around the corner. To get our economy back on track, we need to return manufacturing from china. We have learned that our supply chains have weaknesses that we need to correct. Manufacturing back from china. Active ingredients of prescription drugs back from china and other countries. They need to be made in the usa. We also need to continue to be a leader in the energy production. Thanks to President Trumps policies, the United States has become the world leader in energy production. Wyoming is an energy state. We have it all and we need to make sure we keep vibrant in that area. We need to reduce our debt and our deficit. I want to thank you all again. I look forward to this discussion this evening. Thanks everyone. , 40 during this debate americans will die of the coronavirus. One of the largest fires in wyomings history is nowhere near contained. In cheyenne, you cant step outside without breathing in the smoke. Years, ourhat, for young people have been forced to leave the state for opportunities they just dont have here. ,evastating budget cuts threatening our hospitals, schools, and states. None of this wouldve happened if career politicians like my opponent had just acknowledged some fundamental truths. Im not a career politician. Im an educator and a scientist at the university of wyoming. Like many of you watching from with they, im fed up endless gridlock in washington. Thats why am running for the u. S. Senate. You know how scientists get stuff done . We dont ignore the facts. We embrace them. We dont tune each other out. We listen. We dont have time for partisan politics, and neither do you. I look forward to sharing with you my plan to rescue, reimagine, and rebuild wyoming. Thank you, dr. Ben david. Representative lummis, i have come from a very smoky laramie, wyoming. You know, the Scientific Consensus is that dangerous fire conditions are likely to increase in coming years, making fires like the mullen fire more typical. What policy changes do you recommend to address Climate Change . Well, if you look at state forests and compare them to federal forests, state forests that have practiced fuel downloads by conservation logging and by controlled burns are much healthier than federal forests. That way, they can resist disease, they can resist fires, and be stronger and healthier. I sponsored legislation when i was in the house to have healthier forests, and that legislation was nixed by the obama white house. If we had policies at the federal level for our forests like we do for the state forests, we would have healthier forests that could better resist fire and better resist disease. Its important that we have conservation logging, so our forests are healthy, so there is not this growth of this understory that creates massive fuel loads when our winds kick up that cause fires like the mullen fire, 150,000 acres plus, and it still not contained. Dr. David i agree that we have mismanaged forests for a century basically to maximize the logging companies revenue. The question was actually about Climate Change, so let me point a few items. This september was the warmest on record. The previous record was set in september, 2019. The Arctic Sea Ice is at its Second Lowest level, and we have season in hurricane the gulf of mexico. There are multiple other indications of Climate Change. In siberia, we recorded the highest temperature ever. Those temperatures were projected to be occurring in the year 2100. So we definitely need to mitigate Climate Change and we need to do it now and effectively. Representative, you have 30 seconds to rebut. i thoughtive lummis the question was about what we can do about fires right now. We know how i say to manage forest better at the state level than at the federal level. We could create things like charter forests that would allow was to show that the practices of the state foresters and State Government actually can improve the health of our forests and help them withstand these devastating wildfires that are hurting our air quality much worse than Climate Change. Dr. Ben david come of this question is for you. A sudden headline in a newspaper editorial said this. Donald trumps tax returns illustrate the profound inequities of the tax code and the symbolic state of federal enforcement. Is that accurate . Dr. David i would agree that we have a problem with our tax code. Loopholes. Many we dont share the burden of taxes equally among all people, all people in the United States. I believe that we need to address this if we are to face the challenges of the future. We have to deal with recovering our economy. That allo make sure americans have access to Affordable Health care, and we need to make sure that we have food on peoples tables. I think that we definitely need to revisit our tax code. . Representative lummis rep. Lummis the trump tax reform provided Household Income that increased. Household incomes surged. Poverty is at a 60 year low. We have a tax code that is so much better then it was four years ago. The advantages of keeping President Trump and his policies of low taxes and both regulation and a Strong Economy help us work out the challenges that we have faced due to covid and the results of covid. Dr. David income inequality was the cause of the great depression. It led to major changes in american lives. We are facing exactly the same condition right now with billionaires making billions within weeks during a pandemic. While millions of americans have lost their jobs and are standing in distribution lines to feed their families. Feelings of financial distress are known to raise the senses of suicide. As you know, unfortunately, wyoming has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. With wyoming fiscal challenging rep. Lummis when i was in the u. S. House, i cosponsored comprehensive Mental Health legislation that the Obama Administration did not take up. Or consider. I do think that there is a federal role here. I think that it is important that we address these issues at the state level, and local level. It is important that when we can identify people who are a danger to themselves or others, due to mental illness, that we provide the support mechanisms to deal with their problems. The timer did not show yellow, are you ok with your answer . Dr. Bendavid, your turn. Dr. Bendavid i am surprised that you said you sponsored the bill. Your record shows that you actually voted against providing Mental Health funding for veterans and for people suffering from ptsd. Im surprised youre bringing this up as something that you support. We definitely have a problem in wyoming. We need to make sure that health care because health care is a human right. Rep. Lummis when i hear people say that it is a human right. That means that they believe in federal mandates and federal funding. Quite frankly, i think that health care is an issue that does not function very well at the federal level. We saw that under obama care that serves urban areas, but not our rural, frontier state. I think it is much more important that we have policies the benefit those of us who need affordable, available, Accessible Health care at the wyoming level. Next question is for dr. Bendavid. You will be delighted that we can follow up on that point. Many people are terrified about losing their health care. Many are worried about the cost of insurance. How do we get out of this bind to make sure that people can get affordable insurance and access to Affordable Health care . Dr. Bendavid the Affordable Health care act is under threat from lawsuits that are trying to repeal it. The Affordable Care act did a lot of good things for americans and American Families. We had 20 Million People that were uninsured. We had Insurance Companies that were refusing to insure people with preexisting conditions. We had a lot of people who did not have access to health care. So, the Affordable Health care act is very good first step. We need to make sure that everyone has access to health care, including rural states and rural households. I support a universal, singlepayer Health Care System for the United States. Rep. Lummis obamacare does not work for wyoming. It was designed for urban areas, not rural areas. But the congress did not repeal and replace it. I would doo things first and foremost in the u. S. Senate. One, i would support senator bill cassidys bill to provide for transparency and cash pricing of Health Care Services and procedures. Secondly, i would support the ability of states to buy insurance across state lines. We only have one insurance provider left in the state because of obamacare. Thats got to change. Opportunity for rebuttal, dr. Bendavid. Dr. Bendavid the cost of health care will go down if everybody is part of the system. That was the original idea of the individual mandate. I agree that the Affordable Care act did not address some of the needs of wyoming. Therefore, the system that i envision would make sure that we have funding for rural hospitals and retaining health for professionals. Representative lummis, when the senator took on the challenge of Immigration Reform, he certainly had high hopes. 40 yearsre almost later trying to solve the problem that has gotten worse. How do we address the challenges and finally find the solution to this problem . Rep. Lummis well, the beginning to Immigration Reform has got to be to secure our borders. We have to have secure orders before we can expand Legal Immigration and crackdown on ilLegal Immigration. We need to secure our borders and replace the lottery with a meritbased system. The lottery is one of the most unfair components of our immigration system. We should be able to help those who have been standing in line for years to try to get into this country illegally ahead of the lottery. Finally, we need to help temporary Seasonal Workers get their visas, so that they can continue in the pattern of work in which they have grown accustomed, and the people who employ them have grown accustomed. These are all important parts of conference reform that we have to have in order to have a better immigration system. Thank you. Dr. Bendavid . Dr. Bendavid immigration is one of the most important mechanisms to boost local communities. We have been losing residents in Rural Communities for a long time. Immigration is what boosts them. We have a 30 increase in populations in rural areas because of immigration. We are a country based on an on immigration. Im an immigrant. I came through here on the merit process and i am very proud of it. That we provide a path to citizenship for people who came here as children, because they are contributing quite a bit to our economy. And they have the ability to become productive citizens. Thank you very much. Rep. Lummis no rebuttal. We will move along. Dr. Bendavid, this question is for you. His carbon sechrist ration and other Carbon Capture technologies a way to save the call industry and jobs and two, the planet . Dr. Bendavid lets be clear. The demand for coal, and the Global Demand is declining. It has been declining for a long time. As the Global Demand goes, so does wyomings economy. We are seeing the effect of it right now. The reason why coal is going out, and the reason electric companies are moving away and trying to shut down the power plants, is because it is inefficient. It is an inefficient way to produce energy. It is inefficient and expensive. You are asking whether or not we should continue this procedure for carbon . I do not see a single freemarket company that would agree to take on the costs of burning coal and then capturing carbon from this process. I think that we need to find a different alternative resource. Rep. Lummis we have to have multiple sources of energy, and we want to produce them at a lower rate for carbon in our atmosphere. That is why wyomings integrated Testing Center at gillette, test carbon them to onpture and sequesterati technology is important. The enhanced Oil Recovery Institute is important. We need to figure out how to get as much oil of these as we can. The institute is helping with these matters. 30 more seconds, dr. Bendavid, if you would like. Dr. Bendavid the university of wyoming is playing an important and key role in research towards alternative energy resources. We have the potential in wyoming to develop new industries that would make us global leaders. We have the largest deposit of sodium by gillette. We can also develop the helium lithium plasma reactors. We have a very large deposit. Representative lummis, this question is for you. Jerome powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said tuesday that thecymakers should err on side of injecting too much money on the economy instead of too little. Too little support would lead to a slow recovery and unnecessary hardship on households and businesses. Do you agree with that . Rep. Lummis this is why the cares act made so much sense. It was somewhere between 2 trillion and 3 trillion. Its possible that we may need another effort to help individuals who are out of work and small businesses. Continue to survive until a vaccine is found. We are 27 trillion in debt. As soon we can, after the recovery from covid, we need to reduce that debt. I am one of those believers that pronged a two approach we need to protect the u. S. Dollar as the World Reserve currency, by making it strong and stable and having full faith and credit and the United States. We need to recognize that we are putting that in jeopardy. As t nofiat currencies fiateed to look at non and look at alternative currencies that will help keep the world strong and help keep the u. S. A world financial leader. Dr. Bendavid thank you. The one thing that got us into a Great Recession into thousand in 2008 was that we were not regulating the banks. The big banks caused mortgages that were not viable. On one hand, we have regulation of banks. Necessary. On the other hand, we are trying to develop a new currency. Or use new currency . To me, i know that wyoming has very strong banking regulations. We are looking right now into cryptocurrency and what we can do with it. I will hold judgment until i see exactly how these are implemented. Thank you. Rep. Lummis no rebuttal. Next question for dr. Bendavid. How are youavid, working to dismantle systemic racism . What steps are you willing to take to dismantle to do that further in congress . Dr. Bendavid indeed, systemic racism has been a problem for quite a while. Not only are we seeing the effects of slavery 400 years ago, but also the treatment of Indigenous People in our country. Ive worked with members of students andtions, ive seen it expressed, racism, expressed against them. I would do everything in my power to make sure that we live through our commitments to the indigenous tribes. I will appoint a liaison with the leadership of the tribes and will center their voices when deciding on what we can do to help alleviate some of the issues such as housing shortages, access to health care and education. Thank you. Representative lummis . Rep. Lummis the wyoming constitution in article one, section two says that all members of the human race are equal. I believe that, and i believe that most americans believe that. I do not believe that racism is systemic. I think that there are pockets of racism that we need to continue to work on. And solve problems that are inherent in the differences in race. But to say that it is systemic, i think is to deny the basic fundamental american principles that all men are created equal and that we all have the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness equally. I believe that our Justice System enforces that. I believe that the works that we need to do in Law Enforcement is with a few small cops. Nobody hates bad cops more than good cups. And our justices can work to some peoplehat think is systemic racism throughout the years to come. A response. Dr. Bendavid i wish that the vision that representative lummis described to us was true. But even if you look at environmental pollution, you find that communities of people of color are more exposed to pollution. You look at black americans and people of color, and you look at the air that their children breathe, compared to what their caucasian neighbors do, and you see that we place polluting industries right next to full communities of people of color. Thank you very much. I hoping to beat that buzzer. We will continue on. The next question for representative lummis. Longterm care, especially the ability to live at home and receiving services, that is a huge challenge in wyoming. What is your plan for letting people age at home, especially for those who may not have a Family Member who can be a caregiver . Rep. Lummis my dad aged at home. He went from home to hospice to heaven in 10 days at age 91. I would hope that for every american. Older american. We need to make sure that longterm health care, and longterm Health Insurance are readily available, that our facilities in wyoming are adequate to assist Family Members, including hospice facilities, that provide inhome hospice services. Because of wyomings approach to nurses and the different nursing programs that we have around our state and at the Community Colleges and university, we have the opportunity to provide better levels of nursing care they can keep wyoming Elderly Population at home and happy and healthy so that they can live out their lives in their own homes. Dr. Bendavid . Dr. Bendavid home regulations have been rolled back. We seem a lot of cases of negligence. We need to make sure that we have laws in place that make sure that we care for our elderly people properly. I agree with representative lummis that we have to make sure that we provide the right Health Care Care for all americans. From birth to death. This includes at home services. To do this, we probably need to instate a singlepayer universal Health Care System, that would allow us to retain our health care professionals, including the nurses, and the health care providers, and ensure that all services are available in rural wyoming. Thank you very much. Representative lummis . Additional time if needed. Rep. Lummis no additional time needed. This question is for dr. Bendavid. What should congress do relative to the coronavirus . What does Congress Need to do relative to the congress . Dr. Bendavid so, the house has already passed the heroes act, which is absolutely necessary to ensure that we have enough food, i mean, people get money to feed their families and keep roofs over their head. We have to support small businesses. The cares act was very useful and helpful, although we didnt have enough oversight and a lot of the money went to some big donors of President Trump instead of to needy businesses and people. We also need to make sure we have support for states. For example, the state of wyoming right now is facing a 1. 6 billion shortfall, and the heroes act that is lingering on Mitch Mcconnells desk has a lot of money that would be allocated to support State Governments, such that we dont need to fire state employees. Thank you very much. Representative lummis . Rep. Lummis well, the reason that the act is lingering on Mitch Mcconnells desk is it includes 1 trillion of funding unrelated to covid. What we need to do is target covid, so that means refill ppp, it means safe return to schools, it means getting money for vaccines so we can get this warp speed effort to get a vaccine broadly available to the American Public and indeed, to the world, on the market. The president has floated the idea of a 1200 payment to individuals. Thats actually something we should consider. Families and individuals are still suffering, as we are seeing a bit of a resurgence of coronavirus. So these are all the right areas coronavirus,ack not this profligate spending bill that nancy pelosi proposed that includes 1 trillion worth of noncovid related spending. Dr. Bendavid, 30 more seconds if you would like. Dr. Bendavid i would like to know what exactly is that 1 trillion is going to fund. My understanding is that it is supposed to support a lot of State Governments, including the state of wyoming. It includes money for families, it includes money for small businesses, and it includes money for State Government. That is why passing this bill as soon as possible is crucial for wyoming. Thank you. Candidates, we will take a pause from the question and answer portion and we will have what we call candidate engagement. What this means is that each of you will have an opportunity to discuss whatever you would like amongst each other. Once you start speaking, our timer has been instructed to give you 45 seconds of uninterrupted time. When you conclude, your opponent can visit about whatever it is she would like to visit about. We are going to draw to see who speaks first. I have a random note in front of me, and representative lummis, you can visit first for 45 seconds. Rep. Lummis thank you very much. Dr. Bendavid, congratulations on winning the democratic nomination for the senate. I noticed that just today or yesterday, you were endorsed by senator elizabeth warren. She supports the green new deal, as i understand. She supports medicare for all. And she supports higher taxes. I would like to know from you, which of those policies you also support, and why you think these are the right policies for wyoming. Dr. Bendavid thank you. Senator warren has done a lot to help American Families, and wyoming as well, in wyoming as well. She created the Consumer Financial protection bureau, which really helped us after the Great Recession of 2008. So, i am honored to be endorsed by senator warren. The policies that i support for wyoming are not medicare for all, but as i mentioned already, singlepayer universal Health Care System that will provide all americans the health care they need from birth to death, and that is something that many wyomingites dont have currently. Rep. Lummis i have 45 seconds . You sure do. Rep. Lummis ok. I want to talk about the president nominating Amy Coney Barrett to the u. S. Supreme court. I am proudly supporting her nomination. She is highly qualified to replace Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg on the court. She currently sits on the seventh Circuit Court of appeals. She is the mother of seven. She is a woman of devout faith. She was a law professor at notre dame law school. She is, i believe, the ideal person, because she is a constitutional conservative judge. She will be the person who looks at the founding fathers, at the federalist papers, at why our country was founded the way it was, in order to make judicial decisions. Dr. Bendavid thank you for bringing this issue up. I believe recently, you said that we shouldnt have prevented president obama from introducing judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, because now, the rush to nominate another Supreme Court justice looks bad. You yourself said that we americans can see through such political games. And yet, at the same time, you also said, tough luck, anybody who has power in washington can do what they want. Is this how you are going to work across the aisle . Rep. Lummis it is not a tough luck situation. The Amy Coney Barrett nomination was done by a republican president working with a republican u. S. Senate. We have a situation where right before an election, that may be contested, we need to have a full court, a full u. S. Supreme court. The difference here is that previously, president obama nominated and there was a republican u. S. Senate and honestly, elections really do have consequences. It really does make a difference. So, im not saying that we should all go along with each other all the time just because we are not in power or we are in power. Dr. Bendavid i get asked a lot, how am i going to work across the aisle . People are really concerned about the divisiveness and the lack of civility in washington. And i have to provide my answer, which is, i have experience working with multiple stakeholders from all walks of life. I have worked with ranchers, companies, environmental groups to come up with solutions. It seems like given the challenges we are going to face in the near future, we need to be able to find solutions together, so i am surprised that you, representative lummis, are taking the approach of tough luck. Rep. Lummis i served in the house of representatives with over a quarter of the sitting u. S. Senate now. That is democrats and republicans, and we worked together extremely well. I have sponsored lots of bipartisan legislation. One of the things i want to do as a new member of the u. S. Senate is to meet with every single senator in their offices and talk to them about, what are the areas where we can Work Together . There may be 20 or 5 with some, and 90 with others. But finding that sliver of how we can Work Together, and working together in good humor, and in comity, is tremendously important to me. I dont want to go to the senate to just have a pin on my lapel. I want to go to the senate to get work done. We have about three more minutes. Continue. Dr. Bendavid lets talk about your record in congress, representative lummis. During eight years, in which six where the Republican Party controlled the house, you were able to pass one bill, and i commend you for that. And you missed the most important vote on the ml legislation that cost wyoming 700 million. I would like to know what has changed since you left the house and how you can improve on your record, should you be elected to the senate . Rep. Lummis first of all, i dont know what you are talking about, the 700 million. You will have to tell me what you mean there. I will tell you that the bill i got past, working with democrats, congressman tim walz, now the governor of minnesota, was to make our forests healthier. It was an important measure, and it was tough as a republican to get legislation to president obamas desk, but we did it because we stuck with it. And in so many ways, when you are in the minority, you have to work to prevent bad things from happening, which is something i also did. And i was willing to fight my own partys leadership to try to get more fiscally conservative legislation passed. Dr. Bendavid if you cant work with your own party, and you had a difficult time passing legislation when your party was in power, what new skills have you acquired since leaving congress that will allow you to pass legislation that will help us face the big challenges that we are facing today, and we are going to face in the near future, five years, 10 years . We are facing covid19, which is unprecedented pandemic that we havent seen in 100 years. We are going to see more negative effects from the climate crisis. What legislation, how are you going to work with others to help us solve these problems . Go ahead. Rep. Lummis i have the endorsement of President Trump. I have the support of senators mike yancey and john barrasso. And 27 other members of the senate. When elected to the senate i get to take my house seniority of eight years with me to the u. S. Senate, so if i win on november 3, i will be the most senior freshman in the u. S. Senate. That will give me opportunities on committees that might not be available to people who are more junior. I can tell you i have been on the phone with Mitch Mcconnell and i have told him i am going to work him over behind the scenes on spending, but when i go to the floor, it is going to be a team effort. I do work with both parties. Thank you. That was engaging and i appreciate both of you conducting yourselves civilly. We will resume the question and Response Time of the debate. Representative lummis, this is for you from me. In retrograde terms, the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2017 gave americas infrastructure a d , describing investment as woefully inadequate. It put a total price tag on an overhaul at 2 trillion. Is that a top priority of yours, and how would it be paid for . Rep. Lummis well, i am very supportive of john barrassos infrastructure bill. Our highways, our ports and other infrastructure does need attention, including the infrastructure in some of our national parks. So i am supportive of infrastructure legislation. We paid for it by reducing duplication within the federal government and honestly, if you look at Environmental Programs for an example, there is a tremendous number of Environmental Programs across all agencies. It is a tangled web, and if we would consolidate even the Environmental Programs and find out where the duplication is, that in itself will help a lot. We can also reduce spending, even by using acrosstheboard cuts. That is something governor gordon has had to use, something Marsha Blackburn, u. S. Senator from tennessee, has always done. I have supported her efforts to do that. That is where we find the money. Dr. Bendavid. Dr. Bendavid we cannot cut our way out of this situation we find ourselves in. We need to provide American Families with enough resources so that they can weather this pandemic. And the financial crisis that is associated with it. So i will be different. What i would like to do is to see us invest. That is how we got out of the great depression, how fdr got us out of the great depression, by investing in innovation, in technology, in infrastructure, in building schools and hospitals. If we invest in our innovation, we are still the leading nation in the world in terms of technological and other innovation. If we invest in that, we will be able to recoup a lot of the debt we are facing right now, because the products that we make here will be purchased by the rest of the world. Representative lummis, you can rebut if you would like. Rep. Lummis with regard to innovation we have to be able to be transparent around it and share it. For example in the endangered species act implementation, the science that is sometimes used to determine whether species will be classified as threatened or endangered is proprietary. The American People cant look at it. We cant thirdparty vet that science to find out if it is accurate or not. That is secret science that is being used to implement the endangered species act. That kind of thing shouldnt go on anymore. That is why we need reforms to agencies that implement legislation like the endangered species act. Thank you. The next question is for dr. Bendavid. Many women continue to battle for equal pay for equal work. Do you agree this is an issue and what do you plan to do about it in congress . Dr. Bendavid i think that is a very important issue. If we close the wage gap, we are the equality state. I cant believe that we dont have protections for peoples wages, that women get . 71 on the dollar in wyoming. If we equalize the wages of women, we will allow them to feed their families for 133 days. We will give them freedom to pursue whatever they can do. So yes, absolutely, that is a very important issue, and i was surprised that representative lummis in her time in congress voted against a bill that will close the wage gap between men and women. Rep. Lummis when i was state treasurer, i worked closely with Judy Catchpole to point out that the wage gap is higher in wyoming than any other state in the nation. This is important to me. I cochaired the womens caucus in the u. S. House of representatives, and made this the centerpiece of my agenda in the womens caucus. So this is an important issue to me, but this is not something that the federal government dictates to private business. This is something we make private business aware of and raise their consciousness about, and make sure to the extent that we can, that there is equal pay certainly for equal work. Dr. Bendavid, 30 more seconds. Dr. Bendavid unfortunately, what we see when we give liberties to businesses to conduct themselves as they wish, we see them do things like take a bonus of 14 million and a week later, announce bankruptcy. Laying off all the workers, it happened to the coal miners recently, and take away their health benefits, their retirement benefits, and they couldnt even catch their paychecks for which they already worked. I dont know that we can leave companies to regulate themselves. Thank you. The next question from bob. Representative lummis, the Trump Administration, we talked a little bit about immigration and i want to specifically talk about refugees. The Trump Administration has dramatically lowered the number of asylumseekers the u. S. Will continue taking in, abandoning the idea that this is a nation of immigrants where anyone can come to make a better life. What can we do to reverse that, especially when we look at some of the various challenges facing some of these refugees who probably do need a place to go . Rep. Lummis we have to figure out whether this is a legitimate asylumseekers or someone who is just seeking to come to a first world country that has a history of being very welcoming, and that indeed, takes in more immigrants than any other country in the world. We have proven ourselves to be a very welcoming place for immigrants. Refugees should stay as close to the country that they are fleeing as they possibly can, so when whatever civil unrest or danger that they are in subsides, that they can go back to their country of origin. I toured a refugee camp that was just over the border from syria in jordan, and it was bigger than the city of cheyenne. They set up a culture there just waiting to go back to their homeland. I think those are better solutions. So that is something we should be helping with, with our dollars through the state department. Dr. Bendavid. Dr. Bendavid what we need to recognize is, many refugees that we see around the world right now, they are climate refugees. They are fleeing their homes because they have no resources, no resources during a conflict. Naturally, people who are starving, whose kids are dying, arent going to stay where they are. And they cant stay in nearby countries that also suffer from the same climate effects. We are going to see large human migrations across the globe unless we address the issue of Climate Change. To do that, we need to really engage with the world. You cant lead the world by abandoning it. We need to come together, rejoin the paris climate accord, rejoin world health organization, and make sure that we mitigate the effects of Climate Change globally, such that we dont have to deal with immigrants that are fleeing climate effects. Thank you. Representative lummis, 30 more seconds if youd like. Rep. Lummis no rebuttal. The final question of the debate. This is for dr. Bendavid. To what extent do you believe foreign interference in our elections is a problem . Dr. Bendavid i do indeed. I think we have platforms nowadays that allow foreign interference and also, internal strife and misinformation, such as social media platforms, and all these groups and platforms really make us vulnerable to conduct elections. I think that we need to identify where the foreign interference comes from, and we know what happened in 2016, when the russians interfered on behalf of one candidate. We need to make sure that doesnt happen again, because this is the biggest risk to our democracy. Representative lummis. Rep. Lummis i am really proud of wyomings secretary of state buchanan who is from right here in torrington. He has assured that our mailin Ballots Program in wyoming has integrity, that these ballots are checked for their validity, and i would encourage other states to take a look at what our secretary of state has done to ensure the integrity of elections here. States are the incubators of innovation in this country. When you see a state doing things right, it should become the example for other states. And in some instances, for the u. S. Military to ensure the integrity and availability of our u. S. Military who are voting from overseas. We always need to be vigilant about the possibility of interference from foreign countries, especially as the technology changes. That is why it is so dangerous to be so reliant on technology to china. Dr. Bendavid, 30 more seconds if youd like. Dr. Bendavid i agree with representative lummis that the wyoming mailin ballots, in general, and the wyoming election procedures, is safe and innovative. We have sameday voter registration, and you can walk in and register and vote right away, which is not what other people experience in other states. So i commend our secretary of state. They have been excellent and very helpful. Indeed, we have very secure elections in wyoming. What i dont like to see is what has been done to the u. S. Postal service and the threats to voting machines. Bendavid. U, dr. It is time for closing statements. We will have these a minute each long. Dr. Bendavid, you are first. Dr. Bendavid friends and neighbors, tonight you heard two visions for wyomings future. The lummis vision, which is sticking to leading us off a cliff, and my vision, one of innovation and prosperity, not fantasy. One in which wyoming drives the economic train instead of running after it. In my vision, each of you deserves good health care, regardless of preexisting conditions. In my vision, we create stable, highpaying jobs that keep young people right here at home. In my vision, we keep our public lands in public hands. Tonight, i make you this promise. I will always put evidence over ideology. I will always tell you the truth, and i will always be loyal to the people of wyoming. If you are ready for honest, competent leadership, vote for me on november 3 or before. Representative lummis. Rep. Lummis thank you for providing this forum. We are still struggling with covid19, and will be for several months to come. So it is more important than ever that we have proven, effective leadership in the United States senate. During my eight years in the u. S. House, i earned a reputation as a no nonsense conservative and principled policymaker. I have the endorsement of President Trump, and im proud of it. I have the support of mike yancey and john barrasso, and about 25 other u. S. Senators, as well as leaders all over wyoming in all 23 counties. But the most important endorsement will come from you. If you vote for Cynthia Lummis on november 3, i can tell you the leadership skills i developed in the house will be deployed to your benefit in the u. S. Senate. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you this evening, and thank you again, wyoming Public Television and wyoming public radio, for providing this forum for discussion. Candidates, thank you very much for attending tonights debate. I think the discussion was thoughtful and good for wyoming voters. Thanks also for our debate timekeeper, and my thanks to bob for serving with me on the panel. Absentee voting is underway in wyoming and if you are not voting via absentee ballot, we encourage you to vote in the general election on november 3. We want to thank you for watching and listening and we thank our simulcasting partners, cspan and wyoming public media. Thanks to easter wyoming college. If i parked in the wrong place, certainly forgive that. A reminder, you can see this debate again online at the wyoming pbs youtube page. We encourage you to stay tuned for our next u. S. House debate in just a couple of minutes. Thank you very much and we will see you in just a few minutes. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal. Every day, we take your phone calls every day and will discuss policy issues that impacted. Coming up this morning, author and political analyst Bradford Kane will be with us to talk about his book examining President Trumps brand of populism. We will talk about law and order issues and campaign 2020 with Law Enforcement education president and former congressman bob bart. An Marsha Blackburn will discuss the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings for judge Amy Coney Barrett. Live washington journal at 7 00 eastern this morning, and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets. This afternoon, candidates to takessouris next governor part in a televised debate. The Missouri Press association 8 tv sponsoring the event. , online at cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. Evening, cory gardner and his democratic challenger, john hickenlooper, participate in a televised debate. The event hosted by denver seven, the denver post and cpr news. Watch live 7 00 eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. All 435 house seats are up for election in 2020. According to the cook political report, only 91 of the races are competitive. In wyomings at large district, liz cheney is running for her third term against democrat linnea grable and Constitution Party candidate jeff hey get. This debate is just under an hour. Pbs and wyoming public media presents election 2020, the debate for u. S. House alive from the fine arts auditorium at eastern wyoming college. And welcome back to the beautiful campus of