And republican candidate scott held this seat after winning the Congressional Election in prior to serving in 2016. Congress, he represented Virginia Beach in the house of delegates. Taylor served overseas as a navy seal sniper. He received a bachelors and a masters degree in International Relations from harvard. Here to moderate the debate is National Political reporter joe st. George. He has covered National Politics for a number of years. Thank you for being here. Joe should be a fascinating hourlong discussion. My job is quite simple. Ask questions on the minds of voters as they vote. We know plenty of virginians are already voting. My second job, enforce the rules. 90 second answers, 62nd report goals report 60 second rebuttals. First, Opening Statements. Congresswoman luria, you won the coin toss. You get to go first. Rep. Luria thank you so much for hosting this important conversation tonight. My name is elaine luria. Im currently your representative in the virginia Second District. Im a 20 year navy veteran. I served in the office of nuclear engineer. I was a Small Business owner and im also a mother and im joined by my husband and my daughter. I look forward to an opportunity to continue to serve the Second District. We are currently in a pandemic. This is something that is unprecedented as far as our public health, as far as the economic repercussions of where we are today. When i travel around the district, the things i hear most from people is they are concerned. They are concerned about the health and their livelihood. My promise as a member of congress is to continue to fight for those things virginians and people in the virginia Second District need the most. I will fight to continue to protect Health Coverage and coverage for people with preexisting conditions and will continue to support legislation that helps to cut Prescription Drug costs. I will continue to support those programs that have helped so many businesses through the pandemic such as the Payroll Protection Program that has helped 11,000 businesses in Hampton Roads and saved roughly 10,000 jobs. One out of five people in the area impacted by this rod and sweeping Bipartisan Legislation we have been able to pass. I am diligently negotiating as part of the bipartisan congress. Most people wouldnt think we have a Bipartisan Group that works closely together today but the problem solvers, the frameworks for negotiations now between secretary mnuchin and leadership, and i understand each day we are getting closer to a new set of legislation to help during the coronavirus. I look forward to a substantive discussion tonight of the issues close to the voters watching and i thank my opponent mr. Taylor for joining in the discussion. Joe and that is time. Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor good evening. Great to be with everyone and i look forward to answering your questions. First some background on me, i am not from a wealthy or political family with millions of dollars in the bank. I was raised on the delmarva peninsula by a strong single mother who did her best to raise her four kids. I think about her often and how devastating it would be for her today during this pandemic and how tough it must be for most of you out there without millions of dollars in your own bank account. How you are struggling with kids at home with work, with your businesses. Also i served the nation as a u. S. Navy seal both in peace and combat. I have buried many of my friends in these wars and i have wept with her family their families. I know the sacrifices many of you have made for this great nation and im proud to be your neighbor. I also understand the issues that affect your family of the state level having gained valuable experience serving for two terms in the Virginia House of delegates. It was truly an honor to serve as your congressman for two years, helping thousands of constituents, passing numerous meaningful laws like accountability for the v. A. Or serving on the Appropriations Committee and bringing back over 300 million to this area. This evening at this race is about contrast and the choice is clear. My opponent supports nancy pelosi 90 of the time. She has voted to use our taxpayer dollars on her own campaign expenses. She has been silent and absent while the working people of the district and businesses have been severely harmed by politicians whose decisions didnt affect their own paycheck. She was silent and absent on violence and vandalism and businesses being busted up. She was silent and absent on the American Flag being taken down from our Commonwealth Capital because it might be a target for protesters. Her votes would harm police and make communities less safe. The choice is clear. I ask for your vote and i look forward to speaking with you tonight. Joe that is time. We will have plenty of time to get into these issues. Congresswoman luria, as you mentioned, we are in the middle of this pandemic. There are plenty of virginians, americans watching tonight, still struggling. Respectfully, since you voted in the spring to provide that 1200 stimulus check, that money is long spent. Earlier this money month you actually voted against a bill saying that it did not provide enough targeted relief. In washington, democrats and republicans cant seem to get together on relief for the american. So i ask this. Why cant you and your party agree to stimulus checks now and worry about other aid later . Rep. Luria what i would say about that legislation, the problem is that people in washington cant get together. My opponent likes to say im with nancy pelosi. I voted against her bill. I voted against it twice. The problem was the first bill was 3 trillion, made completely on a partisan basis with a lot of additional things that were not targeted towards covid relief. I strongly support the covid relief package that includes individual stimulus payments, continuing the unemployment assistance program, the Payroll Protection Program, additional assistance to the airline industry. Our state and local government, schools and local Law Enforcement, and Public Safety officials are struggling. We need to make up for that. I set a few minutes ago that we are negotiating right now. I hear that negotiations are moving forward and we expect a deal by the end of the week. I fully expect that to include additional stimulus payments. The bill that is being negotiated now actually includes higher stimulus payments for children. What is holding it up is two things. Specifically the republicans and negotiations dont want to include tax credits. They dont want to include the earned income tax credit. They dont want to include a comprehensive, nationwide, orchestrated plan for tracking, tracing, and testing for covid. If we are going to get through this, we have to include the resources that will actually stop the spread of the virus. Joe mr. Taylor mr. Taylor i would joe joe like to she did not inject your name and im asking the question so you can respond right now. Some republicans are skeptical the city needs a major financial bailout. The major Reason Congress hasnt passed anything recently. Do you believe cities in virginia should get new Financial Assistance from congress to help pay the bills . Cities like Virginia Beach. Mr. Taylor thats a great question. Let me first say localities and cities, not the ones irresponsible and democrat states, but pensions, localities joe Virginia Beach. Mr. Taylor Virginia Beach definitely. No question they understand the need better locally further businesses and people, they know better than anybody, certainly better than washington. I dont agree with what she said. I think comprehensive is synonymous with a big liberal wish list. Rep. Luria thats why i didnt vote for it. Mr. Taylor she didnt vote for those two things, but she has voted with nancy pelosi over 90 of the time. The only people who didnt vote against those were democrats and swing districts. The reality is when i speak to Business Owners, they are hurting and she has been silent she has been silent when political democrat politicians like the governor for example who have shut down these businesses and their workers, the businesses themselves, they are scraping by, their rents are due, they are stressed out, their livelihood, their workers livelihood and lifes work has been called nonessential which is insane. Quite frankly, representatives and leaders should be fighting for their people, and elaine luria has remained silent did if you speak to businesses all of this district, theyll tell you the same thing. Where is the line . Joe yep a chance to respond. Rep. Luria ive visited hundreds of businesses just such as today, which is actually manufactured ppe and masks here in Virginia Beach. I have visited businesses that are struggling and that is why we need more help. Hotline at my office for businesses to call, to help a system with the Payroll Protection Program, for loans, and when i get those feedbacks from businesses to say the other reason my business is still open, the only reason i still claim these eight people who like my family is a Small Business owner, is because i recheck your office. I can tell you we are working for the people, the businesses, and we understand the additional need. Knowmr. Taylor, i politicians do not like yes or no questions, but this is my attempt, has President Trump done a good job handling this pandemic, yes or no . Has, ilor i think he will use my time of course, there are two things that she spoke about, ppe. When this pandemic happened, when she was using our taxpayer dollars for in empty impeachment, disgracefully using her uniform to justified before she saw any evidence was right when this pandemic started. I spoke to nurses who were reusing the disposable pe ppe masks and congress was nowhere, miss lori was nowhere. Into action, got tons of ppe delivered to supply all of our Hospital Systems here to include a as well as some of virginia. To make sure that virginia was taken care of because 80 of the ppe is manufactured in china, which she is personally invested in companies that leave shot here and go to work there. It is interesting she visited that businesses creating ppe right now which im grateful they are doing constituent services, she has the worst constituent services in virginia. Way,l record it the same congresswoman samberg or, far her ses lawyers we spoke to an africanamerican Business Owner who almost had to start shut down her business is that is the bread and butter of representation. She has failed. Rep. Luria what i had what i would say about that is when i came into office, my chief of staff asked to have a meeting, you and the navy understand turnovers to go over the case files youre supposed to finish case files and there is nothing rep. Luria can you ask him to please stop interrupting, i would like to have my time. Joe you have it. Mr. Taylor we got call after call after call from people who wanted to know what was going on because they were not closed and they were not resolved. As far as the woman you were mentioning, i cannot disclose the details, but i can tell you she reached out to our office with a claim that had to do with a particular federal agency, we helped her fill out the forms, we wrote a letter on her behalf, and have since contacted that agency and notified her four times. Scareso decided to do a tactic with china relative to this woman, the one thing i can tell you is this womans complaint had nothing to do with china and you are fear mongering with stupid political talking points. To, there is a lot to get mr. Taylor, we have seen the commercials and people know by now that former staffers of yours have been indicted and convicted for fraud asserted associated with the 2018 election. You have denied wrongdoing, if you cannot manage her own staff, how will you manage the affairs of people of virginia . A goodlor that is question, i have been upfront with us over two years. We just heard about fear mongering and scare tactics, if he had anything else other than scare tactics, you would have seen way more commercials that were positive for herself joe the question is about your you. Mr. Taylor i understand, ive said many times, i dont remember wrongdoing. There is zero evidence to show that. We made faulty decisions that are regrettable, ive taken responsibility for that. We have moved forward. This is just noise right now, the reality is there is a clear choice and a clear divergence of ideology, a clear divergence of before, and as i said she has voted with nancy pelosi 90 of the time and she will do anything to get away from talking about what she has voted for. Joe i want to move on to the environment rep. Luria i actually have an article from the virginia pilot, september eighth, 2020. Im surprised he did not die try to dodge us tonight because he had tried to say he is not under investigation. I want to remind people of this quote from john beamer, the special prosecutor overseeing the case who said for the tuesday preceding this article, that the investigation is not over yet and he expects to see at least one more indictment. He said that no one has been cleared, including taylor, this is quoted. Campaign, andthe the whole campaign is under investigation. Mr. Taylor what his last quote by the way, inappropriately he should not have said my name, of course, but the reality is he she in his last quote which has failed to recite, he would refer folks back to february. That said there is zero evidence that scott taylor knew of any wrongdoing and im beasley paraphrasing, but that is what his last quote was, not what she just read. Again, elaine luria will do anything to get away from her actual record, to get away from the fact who she told you she was last time that she baked herself into a moderate is not how she has represented you. Verynvironment is a important issue to the Second District, we have a lot of issues. The environment can become located, joe what is one simple change you would like fungus to mandate that may help improve the air and Water Quality in the Virginia Area . Rep. Luria what i think is important is that we move two types of Energy Sources that are greener and cleaner and reduce the o2 in nations emissions. My opponent now opposes it, i think a win is a huge advantage for virginia, we have the Program Going on joe did Congress Mandated . Not Luria Congress should mandate anything Nuclear Energy is important of the future of our green energy. I introduced the Green Energy Leadership act, a bipartisan bill. It has been included in the Senate Version as well as the house energy package, and this invests in the future of Nuclear Energy. New fuel for Nuclear Energy and a small modular reactors. We cannot get to greener, cleaner, and carbon free emissions without including nuclear i have been a leader on that in the house and working for my senate colleagues. Joe mr. Taylor, same question, what is one simple change you would like to see congress mandate that would help the air and water in virginia and the country . Conservative,am a conservationist by nature. I worked on a farm at age 11, working in a crab house, i live on the Chesapeake Bay. To be my want my son able to benefit from this, what i want to say is, she actually she said it was aspirational, the Green New Deal. That would be mandate by congress, severe mandates by congress which would stranglehold our energy sector. I agree with her on nuclear, but i would like to go to thorium which is more efficient and abundant. The problem is the regulations her party put in place would disallow for that to happen for years and years. Lets talk about for what i did in congress and the Appropriations Committee, i brought funding back up to 73 million for the Chesapeake Bay million got 65,000 65 for the Chesapeake Bay program. One of the things i did that put into law was the ability to allow the dod duke ordinate with the department of transportation forpend money on resilience defense access roads. Have eightiously we major installations in this district and on the appropriate Appropriations Committee, i am by far the best position to be in the best position to joe joe help this area. Do support the Green New Deal . It has no i do not, teeth. You are saying this would mandate things. Its aspirational to me we have a clean environment. Im a conservationist as well and im proud to say we got 85 million last year for the Chesapeake Bay funding and pass the fiveyear reauthorization plan, but its on the president s desk right now for signature. That was not done since 2005. You probably joe let her finish please. Mr. Taylor defense access, its a great program, but while you were in congress, it had no funding. The Defense CommunityInfrastructure Program mr. Taylor you didnt do it though. You didnt do it. You did not do that. You did not do that. Rep. Luria i would like to finish. The Defense CommunityInfrastructure Project program as well as new and we put 50 million behind that and one of the first country is being developed is right here in hampton. Joe question to congresswoman luria involves taxes. Would you like to see taxes increase over any specific income . And what would that threshold be . That is a very pointed question joe it is important though. Rep. Luria we are in a financial crisis, health crisis, if you want me to read between the lines of your question, youre probably trying to get what i think of the biden tax plan. It is just a plan. It is not legislation yet. I have to see it and reconsider it. Vice President Biden says he will not raise taxes on anyone less than 400,000. What we need to do is different from what mr. Taylor did. In 2017, he voted for the tax cuts and jobs act. It made temporary tax cuts for hardworking americans. It gave 83 of it to the top 1 of americans. Something i want to touch on for more, im sure ill have time later, it raised taxes on goldstar families. Families who lost a parent in combat. It raised taxes to 37 and he voted on that. He celebrated voting for this tax bill that created an additional 1. 9 trillion deficit. He celebrated raising the taxes on gold star families and i had to go to washington and introduce legislation to fix it. Mr. Taylor first of all, shame on you for invoking goldstar families. Unlike yourself, i know tens of goldstar families. I buried some of my best friends over the years and i held those families at their worst moments. Shame on you for invoking that. You know better. The same goldstar families shes speaking about, here is the pointed answer. Yes, she wants to raise taxes. She wants to repeal what we did. Which is roughly about 1300 per family to afford on this district they save on their taxes. She doesnt want to make it permanent for middle american folks. Bidens tax plan, it just came out today there is an article that talked about an 18 in all incomes because of his health care plan, which cheer supports and 2500 increase in premiums. Im not like elaine luria. I dont have millions of dollars in the bank and neither do most people out there. Every bit of tax increase harms us. We are in a health care, economic crisis and a pandemic. The last thing they need is her tax increases. Joe mr. Taylor, it says about 400,000 virginians currently have health care through the Medicaid Expansion. In 2017 mr. Taylor can you start over . Joe in 2017, you voted for the American Health care act, which drastically reduced funding for Medicaid Expansion and some said it would phase out the program. Do you believe Medicaid Expansion in virginia should go away . Mr. Taylor so obamacare, right now it is in the Supreme Court when they talk about removing parts of it. 1. 8 trillion over the next decade. 1. 8 trillion over the next decade. Joe but the question is on medicaid. Mr. Taylor i will get to that. It narrows providers. Medicaid is the same way. I dont need to ask you to listen to a politician. Talk to providers and ask how much they take in medicaid. Ask if them taking medicaid reimbursements is less than the cost of their actual services. It crowds out the private sector. It will close rural hospitals at a time we dont need to. The reality is we can do better. We can do much better than putting more people on medicaid. Why are we defending mediocrity . Its an old program. We can use that 1. 8 trillion and get more people covered with Better Health care with more transparency. Health care is the only product that you buy that you dont know the price of until afterwards. Thats insane. We should be able to get more technology. Think about this. Telemedicine technology has been around for a long time. But these other government programs, onesizefitsall, disallows them to use that until mandated during a pandemic. There are algorithms able to recognize skin cancer better than a harvard trained doctor. It is difficult to get that into the health care because of these massive, ineffective programs that, like Medicaid Expansion, we can do better as a country. Joe well, health care is an important topic. He did not mention your name. We have a break. I think one of your commercials might be airing. My goodness, kirk and beverly, we have a heated debate on our hands. You got that right. We certainly do. Thank you. You are watching news threes coverage of the virginia second Congressional District debate between representative elaine luria and scott taylor. It has been feisty so far. When we return, hearing the candidates respond to some of the questions that you the viewers sent in. And the candidates will ask each other major questions. Stick around. We will be Live Streaming on facebook a discussion on how the candidate is performed and the standout moments. I will be joined by joe st. George and the new three political think tank members to discuss debates happening tonight. That is happening tonight just after 8 00 p. M. And we will be right back. Welcome back. Lets go back to our moderator joe st. George as we go to our viewer questions portion. A nice wide range of questions. Joe we can ask the questions we want. This is coming, our first question from ed from Virginia Beach. Do you believe the Defense Budget should increase above the rate of inflation, remain the same, or be reduced . What should we spend more on . What should be cut . Under the last administration, you had the decimation of our military. It was not properly funded. I think its important that we dont have forever wars. My opponent voted to hamstring the president to remove troops home. We need to rebuild our military, i am proud to have voted to properly fund the military, to give the biggest pay increase to our soldiers and sailors and airmen as well as disability both years in congress. The reality is, looking forward, we have to have different investments in the military. We have to understand where our peers are going in terms of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and have it integrated. We need the ability to cross different services, working together as opposed to being stoked like. We need more ships in our service, plenty of unmanned ships. We need to understand that our peers are doing things like investment and hypersonic missiles and space. We cant be fighting the past war. We have to fight the next war. We dont need a reduction in spending. Itlity we need to reallocate to meet any challenge that comes against us. Joe same question to you. Rep. Luria im proud to serve on the Armed Services committee. Im the chair of the subcommittee. You think about Hampton Roads, 42 of our economy is directly tied to the navy and dod. We build all the aircraft carriers, half the submarines. I was proud to vote on the highest defense bill ever. I voted for the higher version, the Senate Version. At a conference, we came up with a compromise between the house and Senate Version. The highest defense funding we never had. This year im very proud to be finding two virginia class submarines. We need to find efficiencies. We have need to get rid of and have better oversight. We are not getting our money out of our projects. We spent billion on the weve had failure due to poor design prior to construction. We need to do better. We need to build a navy that can meet the demand for presence in the western pacific. China is a threat. We need more presence in the western pacific and we need to adapt and better utilize and efficiently and maintain and deploy our carrier flipped fleet to counter the chinese threat. Joe the next question is from neil of Virginia Beach. There are wellfinanced efforts to restrict the right of americans to keep and bear arms, which unfortunately, some elected officials are supporting. What proactive actions are you taking, have taken, or do you support taking to ensure these efforts to restrict americans rights do not succeed. Rep. Luria i am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I am a gun owner myself. I grew up in alabama. My dad and i used to go shoot guns at targets. I served in the navy for 20 years, as a commanding officer, i had an armory for love weapons. Full of weapons. What i would say is that we do need responsible guardrails on gun ownership. My opponent doesnt even approve of universal background checks. Universal background checks are a very simple first step in order to protect people in our community. It was really tragic on may 31 of last year. I attended 11 funerals and wakes and vigils. I sat there and i watched family members cry and mourn. They grieved because of a senseless act of violence where the weapon was in the hands of someone who was willing to harm others and themselves. We truly need to do something about this epidemic of gun violence in our country. I was proud to vote for the universal background checks. I support red flag laws because there are people out there who are dangerous to themselves and red flag laws are a safe way for their family members to help them help themselves and keep them away from weapons when they are willing to do themselves harm. Weapons increase the chance of suicide, Domestic Violence injuries, i know my time has expired but i am passionate about this because that kind of lossoflife is happening around our communities every day and is excused inexcusable. Joe mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor this is going to sound graphic but it is a reality. We did have a tragedy in Virginia Beach. There were still bodies on the ground and blood on the floor when my opponent was tweeting about gun control, using that tragedy to advance her political agenda, which is disgusting in my opinion. Every policy that was put forth afterwards used as a promise to youth as a premise to get concerned that control, and you cant say you are a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment when you want to take peoples Constitutional Rights away and the ability to defend themselves away. You cannot say that, it is a lie. The reality is, every policy advanced would not have prevented our horrible tragedy. There havent been any policies that have advanced, looking at violent prone areas. All i can think about is a single mother. The reality is there have been more gun buyers that are females and africanamericans in the history of this nation than ever. Why is that . They see politicians who use words like common sense. But they have taken away your ability and then they watched politicians remain silent, they watch violence and vandalism on the streets and businesses being busted up and they have watched our politicians standing down Law Enforcement officers and not protecting them going against that social contract that the governments first duty is to protect their people. So i find it straight out like to say you are proSecond Amendment, she also invoked me so i have a couple more seconds joe time has expired. We will continue this conversation, the shooter in the Virginia Beach area used extended magazines and a gun suppressor. Would any of you legislate something might be banned or changed . Would you have done anything different or would Like Congress to do anything different . Rep. Luria i have to respond to what he said because the only thing he said in the answer was that was true is that we have real differences. Real differences about protecting people in the community. I know from someone i know personally in that building that because that man used a suppressor, they thought it was an electric stapler down the hall, they could not hear the gunshots. People did not hear the gunshots in a way they could have run to safety and more people couldve run area i will tell you, the families affected by that tragedy i think of pastor hawkes and his son, keith. Day, hes a hero that ran out into the office and he gathered some of his coworkers and took them into another room. Again and tried to gather more people. Doing that, he lost his own life. He lost his own life because people like mr. Taylor are not willing to do anything, anything about this epidemic of gun violence. You know what he says . He says that guns exist so people can create militias and rise up against the government. Why dont you say that to governors you said that in an interview about three years ago. Clarify,r i want to would you legislate a ban on suppressors . Rep. Luria i think that would be reasonable to consider, i dont have legislation in front of me but that is the kind of thing that can make it more dangerous area joe mr. Taylor, 12 were shot and killed. [indiscernible] 12 people were shot and killed, would you change any current gun laws . Mr. Taylor im going to answer what she just said to me, she said i am responsible for some crazy guy that went in and shot people. That is insane. That is insane. She didnt even answer your question because of course she would ban it. She may have been in the navy, but a navy officer a gun expert does not make, period. The reality is who is ms. Luria to tell us american citizens how many rounds they can have in a magazine to protect themselves or their families or their businesses . Areow there are folks that first gunowners watching tonight, who is she to tell us what type of gun that we can use to protect ourselves, our property especially when all of us watch the violence on the streets, all of us watched our governor tweeting about social justice as richmond literally burned. Human beings went from tribes to societies because it is better organized to protect us, period. Like her have failed to protect us. She uses this story, which is indeed a tragedy for all of us, but none of the proposals, not one would have prevented that. The notion that she would say because of folks like me who want to protect your right to defend yourself when the government has failed to do so, that it is our fault, it is insane. Joe i was listening to your answer, i do not hear you say you would pass any new law. Mr. Taylor that is an observation lets move on to a question from chris of norfork, in light of the criticism from other than trump regarding dr. Fauci, what is your view on wearing a mask in public and what should dr. Fauci you have done differently in your opinion . It in public,ere wear the mask. I know there is a commercial against me now all the scare tactics all that is out there. It was in a restaurant that was, according to the governors executive order, i think you should wear a mask. As i said before, during the beginning of the pandemic, when virginia could not get masks from anywhere. When congress was doing nothing except for a taxpayer funded impeachment, wasting time. When they were doing nothing, i was working hard with businesses and securing foreign air flights to be able to get masks here so we can protect our First Responders and other folks out there. I say wear the mask. If it protects you one of the problems with this pandemic has been misinformation and it is unfortunately people have fallen back on their political sides. The reality is i trust you, individuals, i trust you to be able to once you have the correct information from experts, from scientists, all of that, that you will do best and protect yourself and your family. I do not think some of these politicians, some of the orders they have mandated on you, some of the lockdowns that have been much more harmful than the pandemic itself. I do not trust them, but i trust you. Joe congresswoman. Mr. Taylor i think the rep. Luria i think people should wear masks, it is common sense. We learned how the virus spreads. The cdc director said himself that it is the most important thing. That can be more important than the vaccine if the vaccine is fully implement it. I would like to respond to mr. Taylors, the congress did nothing. We have passed four major coronavirus leaf packages, four. Byher unanimous, or broadly partisan in both the house bipartisan in both the house and senate. That led to the Payroll Protection Program, funding for hospitals, funding for testing, funding for state and local governments response to the pandemic. That led to the pandemic on assistance program, it provided additional unemployment assistance for money for agriculture, provided additional food relief, that provided a lot of Different Things in a time of great need in this country. For him to say congress did nothing is just wrong. The truth is, what happened is from the top the administration did not make a consistent plan, they did not make a plan to acquire and distribute ppe. Everyone was fighting and going on around trying to get ppe from different places with a limited supply and bidding against each other. That is what we are lacking, we need a consistent plan, we need live leadership from the top to fight this virus, to improvement the right measures. Joe yes or no really quickly . Should there be a National Mask order mandate from the federal level . Rep. Luria i dont think there needs to be a mandate. I think people use common sense and respect health of other people around them and wear a mask. Joe mr. Taylor your name was invoked. Here is the reality with ppe, there does need to be leadership. I know federal government was 80 of the critical manufacturer supplies are manufactured in china. The reality is policies joe biden supports created that. Elaine luria is personally invested in companies that benefit from manufacturing in china. Turing in china. We need to get back we will talk about china. He invoked my name. And you will get a chance to talk about it now. Nicholas marshall from Virginia Beach asked, what action should be taken for the virus in terms of china and how will it be in legislation . He took time to write in and listen right now. I thought he would appear on the screen. Sorry. [laughter] thank you nicholas for the question. It is very troubling that this virus spread and spread around the world at such an alarming rate. If i understand the question, he asked what are we going to do about it . I mention some of the things we have done in the covid packages we have done. One thing that is truly the barrier to getting the package done is having agreement across the aisle and from the administration that it is important to put the right amount of funds into developing a vaccine. That is one of the sticking points. It is unfathomable to me that we are still unable to come to an agreement about the fact that we need adequate resources for testing. I recall the president saying, dont test so many people because you wont know if there are positive cases. It is truly absurd. Lets be blind and not test people so they dont know they are sick and keep spreading . That is the kind of leadership we have had which is no leadership at the top. I am dedicated in congress to working on this bipartisan package. I was on part of the problem solvers package to put together the framework for negotiations and i am optimistic we will have a package by the end of the week to provide resources toward tracking, tracing, testing and a vaccine and getting it distribute it to everyone including you, nicholas. Mr. Taylor. I think there has been a lack of leadership in washington for quite some time that predates both of our times. I think the question was very good. Number one, this country should never be beholden to china or any country in terms of ppe, critical medical supplies. 80 of pharmaceuticals and active ingredients come from china. Most americans dont know that. They dont understand those lifesaving pills every day we take are made in china. We dont have the resources or authority with the fda to inspect all those factories. I dont trust that and i certainly dont trust chinas timeline. I think they withheld information. They had millions of people that were in wuhan at Chinese New Year that traveled all around the world to spread this thing. They were not responsible actors on the international stage. I think they should be held accountable and there should be legislation that allows to them to be sued, at least by nations that have caused crazy damage to the country. Again, i am from the delmar peninsula. I remember growing up when a factory closed and went to china and grown men were picking corn next to me on the farm because their jobs went to china. We need new leadership that has not been the same for the past decade so we can never rely on any nation for critical medical supplies. It has been a fascinating debate here at the wtkr studios. Certainly is. You are watching the debate between virginia second congressional candidates scott taylor and elaine luria. It has been spirited so far. When we come back, the candidates will ask questions of each other. Stay with us. This is about to be much more spirited. The candidates have a chance to ask each other a question. I appreciate it. First i want to say i have been endorsed by every sheriff, the fraternal order of police, the highest score of any candidate because they understand my policies make our community more safe. That being said come over there is an issue with our Black Brothers and sisters we are looking for a question. Its coming. The reality is neither one of us can look through the lens of a black experience. You meet and listen with everyone. My question is to you, why is it you have not met with a black lives matter group you have talked about for two years and say you are passionate, but you failed to meet with them . Mr. Taylor, there you go again with the lies. Thats from them, not from me. I have met with the black lives matter group. I have met with the leader of the group and set up a forum with other elected officials including myself, congresswoman bobby scott, several local officials, state senators and delegates to listen to his concerns. It was a zoom meeting that lasted over an hour. I have definitely met with that group and attended numerous prayer vigils in the light of the tragic murder of george floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor with our Faith Community in norfolk, and Virginia Beach, and williamsburg. I just cant understand its not from me. It is them. They say you have not met with them. Its not me saying this. You asked your question. My answer is that was false. I have met with them. I met with numerous other groups in the Community Working hard on these issues. The National Ministers conference in Virginia Beach, the tidewater ministers conference, i met with the urban league, the naacp. Mr. Taylor wanted to make a big fuss about the fact that he think i want to refuse debate. In fact, the interdenomiNational Ministers conference requested a debate and he never answered the invitation. I just dont understand where he gets his information. Do i got to respond to that . You are getting a question. Congresswoman, you can ask. Ok. Mr. Taylor, since you chose this topic, i will continue in that vein. Recent events such as the murder of george floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have shown light on policing practices and systemic racism in the country. I have listed some of your comments and online stream to vent about these issues about race and equality. One of your comments stood out. I will just quote something you said on labor day on a livestream. You said racism against exists against white people, too. You know . Theres no such thing as white privilege. I want to understand from your perspective as a white man in america, if you can give us and viewers an example of how you have experienced racism yourself. Let me say that neither elaine luria nor myself have experienced life through the lens a black person does. Period. We can listen. We can look for inequalities and systems and try to solve problems and make them more fair. What i want to say is elaine luria, it is all rhetoric. Theres not one accomplishment for inequalities and inequities in the system. Let me tell you what i have done. When i was a delegate, i worked on criminal Justice Reform to get folks, the records expunged, after 25 years old. In congress, i passed the ashanti alert act which would save lives and give parity and attention for minority women who get less attention than white women when they go missing. I passed a Community Policing bill endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus and Law Enforcement. I also had my language signed into law and the first setback, which has set many people free to ban the shackling of pregnant women. While ms. Luria will continue to use this as a campaign rhetoric, my reality is you have still not answer the question. I think shes tried to do a followup. The question is, have you felt racism at all . I dont. I have not felt racism, no. Ok. We got an answer. I would like a followup as well. Everybody wants followups. Remember that at your next press conference. [laughter] i will take control here. We only have a few moments left. Really quickly, in a few short seconds, Police Reform. What would you like to see congress due in january . I was in support of the justice and policing act. That should allow Police Officers to be held liable in court . That ends noknock warrants, it banned chokehold, and provides additional funding to police to prevent racial profiling. Since we are talking about this, theres only one person on this stage, because im sure hes going to bring it up, i do not support defunding the police. Theres only one person who has voted to do that. These are the Appropriations Bills mr. Taylor passed in congress. Community orienting policing, he voted to cut it by 275 million. Mr. Taylor, what Police Reform would you like to see . What shes not saying as it would reduce the penalty that assault on Law Enforcement officers to misdemeanor. Thats dangerous. If you assault her or her family, thats a felony. Its very hypocritical. Ok, it is time now for closing statements. You get to keep talking, mr. Taylor. Let me first say, im endorsed by every Law Enforcement agency here. Ms. Luria has not been endorsed by any of them. Her policies would make our community and you less safe. This evening and this race is about contrast. It is a myth my opponent is a moderate. Sure, both of us support veterans and the military, but its easy. There is difference in our actual votes. That is why she ran the nastiest Smear Campaign in virginia and continues to do so to hide from that, to hide from her own record. The choice is clear. My opponent supports nancy pelosi over 90 of the time. She voted to use taxpayer dollars for her own campaign expenses. She has been silent and absent as the working people of the district and businesses have been severely harmed by politicians whose decisions affect their own paychecks. She was silent and absent on violence and vandalism and businesses busted up. She was silent when the American Flag was ordered down from the Commonwealth Capital the day before Independence Day because it might be a target for protesters. That is disqualifying in itself. I will never be silent, i will always fight for us. I want you to ask for us, who would you rather have fighting for you, for this community and commonwealth and the country. Am asking for your vote november 3. Congresswoman. Thank you so much. This is a great opportunity for many issues. I want to point out more about the hard work we have done with my team. I introduced 19 pieces of legislation and 11 of those were passed by the house and six are signed into law. Two of them are on the president s desk including their reauthorization for cleanup funding. I will tell you theres a clear contrast between the two of us. What ive done is i have worked to protect your health care and coverage for people with preexisting conditions. My opponent voted for legislation that would remove that coverage thats false. When that didnt work because senator john mccain showed up very ill himself and made sure it did not pass in the senate, in 2017 he went back and voted for the tax cuts and jobs act which remove the penalty for the individual mandate which opens the door to the court in the case we will see in the Supreme Court november 10. He couldnt do it by voting for it and voted for something to take your health care away. There are 23 million americans who could lose their health care and he very clearly said he doesnt believe in Medicaid Expansion so the 380,000 who have health today during a pandemic, it is disgraceful. And we dont have time to talk about more of the issues but i truly it is an honor to have served you and ask for your vote again. Candidates, thank you. It has been a spirited debate. Everyone at home, now you get to go vote. Fascinating discussion. Thank you so much joe and the candidates of course. Coming up in a few minutes on the Facebook Page, news 3 political analysts will weigh in on this debate. Head on over to the Facebook Page and check out the analysis of the debate coming up in a matter of minutes. We thank joe st. George for moderating. Tonight, cspan will have live coverage of to campaign events. First, the former president , barack obama, is campaigning in philadelphia on behalf of his Vice President , joe biden. Watch at 5 45 p. M. Eastern here at cspan. In7 00 p. M. , cspans live north relented, where President Trump is hosting a campaign rally. Watch Live Campaign 2020 coverage on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen with the free cspan radio app. The Senate JudiciaryCommittee Votes thursday on the confirmation of judge, amy coney barrett, to be associate justice of the u. S. Supreme court, filling the seat held by the late justice, ruth bader ginsburg. The vote is set for 1 00 p. M. Announcer the competition is on. Be a part of this years cspan video competition. Middle and High School Students can be the start of a National Conversation by making a 56 minute documentary exposing the issues you want the president and congress to express and 2021. Show opposing points of view and include cspan videos. 100,000 in total cash prices including a grand prize of 5,000. Be informed. For tips and more information on how to get started, visit our website, studentcam. Org. All 430 five house seats are up for election, and republicans need to pick up 21 to gain control of the next congress. In the texas 32nd commercial district, colin allred faces genevieve collins. Before we get started, i just want to review the rules a bit. Its fairly simple. We have two minutes for Opening Statements from the candidates. And then for the questions that i will pose to them. Secondill be a 90 response for each candidate and a 45 second rebuttal for each candidate. Also, any further response or followup will be up to me. As for the timekeeping, there will be about four boxes on the