Transcripts For CSPAN2 Campaign 2020 Kentucky U.S. Senate Debate 20240712

In america is happening here in kentucky. Mitch mcconnell versus amy mcgrath. While were not in front of a live aw audience, we know the race and issues are too important not to debate. Ill talk about everything from the covid19 pandemic to the u. S. Supreme court. Tonight Gray Television welcome you to the kentucky debate. Good evening live from the studios of wkyt in lexington, im bill bryant and im joined by u. S. Senator majority Mitch Mcconnell and retired lieutenant amy mcgrath. Were 20 feet apart and each candidate will have time to answer questions and rebuttals will be permitted. A draw to determine who goes first and lt. Colonel mcgrath, well start with you. Nothing impacts more than the covid19 pandemic. The two of you sparred if you should be tested. If comes to that, the president and first lady had had covid19 and the governor and his family are in quarantine for exposure. What should be done. Its impacted all of our lives. If you take a step back senator mcconnell as the Senate Majority leader has the highest briefings of any member of congress. He knew about the dangers of coronavirus in january. Did he tell us . Did he tell, we need to be prepared and get our president prepared for what was to be this crisis . He didnt. The first time he said the word coronavirus wasnt until the stock market crashed and all along hes playing these very partisan political games, even now when kentucky and America Needs more aid, thats not what youre going to get from me. I have a plan to get us through this coronavirus so that our schools are opened up safely, so that we get our economy back and stop playing these games. To this day senator mcconnell still doesnt have a plan, a National Testing and tracing plan and hes not going to do whats right for our country. Thats time. I want to start by congratulating colonel mcgrath for her service in the military. And nominated over a hundred people to have the opportunity she did and i was involved in making it able for women in the military to go into different jobs like being able to fly in combat. With regard to the question you asked, what i did was shepherd through the senate an almost 3 trillion Coronavirus Relief bill, which has provided 13 billion for kentucky. Over a billion dollars for hospitals and health care providers, and ive tried to be a good example, too. When we went back in session in the senate in may, i was the one who said we need to wear masks, practice social distancing. Dr. Fauci made it clear that coronavirus is not going away. And we need to practice distancing and masks until we finally get a vaccine and can put this in the rearview mirror. Times up, senator, and lt. Colonel mcgrath you have a rebuttal. Senator mcconnell, we have had that passed in march and here we, the house put it on his desk in may, and all summer long didnt see the urgency to do anything. We have a million kentuckiens, and 300,000 who dont have health care in the middle of coronavirus hes walking an i with an i away and even President Trump wants it to happen before the election, its irresponsible. Senator mcconnell. Well, what she supported after the cares act was the socalled heroes bill over in the house, a 3 trillion which included in it, by the way, tax cuts for rich people in new york and california, health care for illegal immigrants, and by the way, that bill that she supported, that they passed in the house after the cares act, provided more money for puerto rico than it did for kentucky. In spite of her best efforts, shes a national democrat. She is in line with schumer and pelosi and the rest on all of those issues. For kentuckians, President Trump and governor Andrew Bashir are the most two important voices they hear regarding covid19 and they are afr afrey frequently different. They did the best they could with an unknown disease trying their best to handle. Imagine the situation in early march when dr. Fauci recommended we shut down the economy in order to deal with the health care pandemic. We were confronted with problems. A Health Care Emergency and shut down economy at the same time. What to do . Well, the cares act began in my office, we drafted it, built it out. Appealed to the democrats and the administration, and literally flooded the zone with ultimately three trillion dollars to both deal with the health care pandemic and the economic crisis created by shutting down the government. Now, we learned some lessons. Dr. Faucis indicated were not going to shut the economy down and i agree with him. It created a whole different set of problems. In the meantime, what we have to do until we get a vaccine is to wear our masks, practice social distancing and try to prevent the spread. Thank you. Lt. Colonel mcgrath. Well, i give the president , the white house and this congress a f for handling of coronavirus. Look, we have 213,000 americans dead in nine months. Thats more americans dead than world war ii, korea, vietnam, persian gulf war, iraq and afghanistan wars combined. And senator mcconnell things weve done a good job . We have 5 of the worlds population, 25 of the worlds covid cases. And we still have a president in mixed messages from this white house on how to handle this virus. And senator mcconnell, his one job is to help america through this crisis right now in passing legislation to keep our economy afloat so that people can make ends meet. And instead of doing that, he is trying to ram through a Supreme Court nominee right now, instead of negotiating, which is what he should have been doing all summer long to make that happen. Senator, do you have an addition aresponse. [laughter] she wanted health care for illegals and tax cuts for the reach and for puerto rico. Weve been trying to put something together that attacks the problem. I laid out a bill in the senate about a month ago that provided Liability Protection so that people didnt get sued as a result of how they handled this, kids in school, jobs, health care, we couldnt get a single democrat to vote for it. So its pretty clear to me that her party doesnt want to get a solution. Senator, time. Lt. Colonel. Can i respond to that . Yes, please. Senator connell three years ago had no problem ramming through working overtime for a tax cut for wealthiest corporations, now when this comes to kentucky families, when it comes to putting food on the table. When it comes to renters that 40 of kentucky renters are facing eviction right now. He wont pass the 2 trillion, even President Trump wants done right now. I mean,ed 2 trillion for corporations, no problem. 2 trillion for kentucky in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a National Crisis that we havent seen in 100 years, no, thats too hard. Lets get in it. Youve made glancing references to the Economic Activity and the problem that we have right now and the trouble with getting a deal. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on our compli and were all well aware of that. 600 federal boost to Employment Benefits ended, and to small businesses, and airlines started mass layoffs and federal problems ended as well. This question from a university of kentucky student and were privileged off their perspective tonight. Where do you stand on negotiations on a second stimulus bill and we begin with lt. Colonel mcgrath. Well, as i said before, i think its an absolutely dereliction of duty to not be negotiating and working on this. You know, this is the first time in a century, in 100 years where we have a major interNational Crisis, where no one in the world is looking to the United States for leadership. Think about that. Its because we have such poor leaders right now. Cant get this coronavirus under control. And the one thing that our senate is supposed to do is to help people right now. And here is the problem, senator mcconnell built a senate that is so dysfunctional and so partisan that even in the middle of a National Crisis he cant get it done. Think about that. For that reason alone he should be voted out of office. Weve got to get our democracy back again. Weve got to get our democracy working because we have to get through this crisis right now. Thats your time. Senator mcconnell. Well, my opponents entitled to her opinion, but not to her own set of facts. I mean, here is the situation. Weve been in negotiation with the speaker. Shes been demanding we throw 3 trillion at this problem in a way that is largely in many respects unrelated to solving the problem. What weve been trying to do is to reach an agreement when you have divided government, you actually have to reach an agreement. And the speaker has been totally unreasonable and not interested in getting an outcome, as weve tried and tried and tried, as i just said a few minutes ago. I put a bill on the floor of a half a trillion dollars, a lot of money, about a month ago to tackle this problem in a highly targeted way, going after vaccines, treatment, testing, and we couldnt get a single democrat to vote for it. I think they dont want a solution prior to the election. Lt. Colonel mcgrath, 30 seconds. What i would just say all summer long senator mcconnell didnt see the urgency of doing anything and negotiating. He sits here and he says its too hard, too hard to negotiate, too hard to get it done. Basically saying, you know, thats too hard for him. Thats not hard to do whats right for america. Its not hard. Ill tell you whats hard. Strap on a 70 million jet to your back and landing it on an Aircraft Carrier 150 Miles Per Hour at night in bad weather with no navigation lights, thats hard. Doing whats right for the American Public in the middle of a National Crisis, not hard. Senator mcconnell, do you have additional response. When you have divided government there has to be a willingness on both sides to get an agreement. And the speaker of the house is clearly not been interested in getting an outcome. Thats why the talks have gone on for a while. She just chooses to blame the Republican Senate when obviously, the biggest part of the problem has been the democratic house. If im a viewer watching this debate im saying why cant you get get together . And i think the answer is, the proximity to the election has slowed the process and thats unfortunate for the country, its unacceptable, but she wants to pass all the blame on the senate. I mean. Go ahead. I am ill give you the house passed a bill in may, and the senate went on vacation. I mean. [laughter] you just dont do that. You negotiate, senator, it is a National Crisis, you into that the coronavirus wasnt going to end at the end of july. We knew this, i mean, i just think youve got to and here is the thing, if you want to call yourself a leader. The bill and those of us who served in the marines we dont just point fingers at the other side, we got the job done. Nobody went on vacation except the house was gone most of the time. We can do things like use telephones. We communicate with each other a lot. The challenge here was the speaker was simply unwilling to cooperate to the extent that we could get a reasonable proposal. The secretary of the treasury who is delegated by the president to talk to her went on and on and on and i think weve belabored this point pretty thoroughly, bill. It seems to think she thinks were the problem, i think theyre the problem. What we need is a solution. The way you get a solution is the way well i was going to say we know we have a problem and it is continuing. A lot of excuses. And so is the pandemic continuing. It appears that we have an escalation in many of our states. As the pandemic continues, winter and flu season are approaching, whats the appropriate balance between keeping the economy open, students in school, if they can be, and protecting the health of americans. Senator mcconnell. The single biggest thing, this is not going to be put in the review mirror until we get a vaccine. For those of you with world war ii history, the manhattan problem, the atom bomb as quick as we could to avoid invading japan. We have the Manhattan Project underway to get a vaccine. Some of our Major Pharmaceutical Companies are producing doses before the Clinical Trials are proved out. Were going to get a vaccine in the most rapid period of time that this has ever been done, without cutting any corners. And the honest answer, bill, is until we get a vaccine we cant entirely put this behind us. Weve got a resurgence here in kentucky, a resurgence around the country. The vaccine coronavirus is not going away until we can kill it and it will take the vaccine to do that. Lt. Colonel mcgrath. Certainly, the coronavirus is not going away until we get a vaccine, but, we still have the worst trajectory of first world countries when it comes to the coronavirus. And there are other countries that have been able to get this under control and theyve done it with National Testing and tracing plan that we still dont have in this country. This virus is so bungled at the federal level that we have cities and states fighting for personal protective equipment. No leadership at all. What do we need . We need immediate aid right now that unfortunately senator mcconnell doesnt want to work on, but we need Unemployment Insurance from those, an extension for for these people thrown off through nofault of their own, and we need ppp, a testing and tracing plan, i cant believe nine months into this thing im still saying that and frankly leadership at the very top to talk to us, to tell us the truth about the virus and how deadly it is. Senator, anything to add . Yeah, look, i know how to make deals, i had made three deals with joe biden during the obama era. What the problem here has been an unwillingness by the speaker to make a deal. We can spend the whole debate on this if we want to, but she wants to blame the Republican Senate, i think its been clearly the case that its the democratic speaker of the house, but there are some other issues going on here like a new Supreme Court justice. Were going to get to that. That we might want to cover at some point. We will. And Lieutenant Colonel mcgrath if you want yeah, sure, look, i was a United States marine for 20 years. When you go into combat, you dont make excuses, you get the job done, youre a Senate Majority leader, hes the Senate Majority leader and all he can do right now is make excuses in the middle of a National Crisis, he has built a senate, what was once the greate greatest deliberative body in the world cannot function in a National Crisis and thats why weve got to get rid of him. And this morning, the Senate Judiciary committee began an a hearing for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney barrett. This is on the minds of many people and turns out many u. K. Students when we asked them to submit their questions. And so, one of the students asked, should the confirmation hearings be happening this close to an election when early voting is already underway. Lt. Colonel mcgrath . No, thats the short answer. Nobody should be voting on a Supreme Court nominee right now. Four years ago, senator mcconnell said by the mcconnell rule during an Election Year, we dont vote on the nominee, let the people decide. Well, right now, with 22 days to an election, we should let the people decide. And whats really important is that we should be focusing on aid for kentucky as we just talked about and not a Supreme Court nominee, but lets be clear about what this is all about. Senator mcconnell for a decade tried to undermine and get rid of the Affordable Care act legislatively. He could not do it. So now hes trying to do it in the courts. The first case that the Supreme Court is going to hear after the election is going to be about the Affordable Care act. And that is something that we really cannot have in kentucky because the Affordable Care act did a lot of good for many, many kentuckians. So i dont want to throw it away. I want to fix it. Time an up. Senator mcconnell. Yeah, no one believes the Supreme Court is going to strike down the Affordable Care act. What this is really about is trying to change the subject away from this extraordinary nominee, who is before the senate. An outstanding woman, an accomplished scholar, a judge on the 7th circuit, a marvellous children, seven children, two adopted one with special needs, an absolute legal allstar and the Judiciary Committee she want they want to talk about anything other than the nominee. This is the progressive position. My opponent says shes the most progressive person in kentucky. What does that mean in they means they want to stack the Supreme Court, in other words, add numbers so they can get an outcome they like. She wants to make the district of columbia a state, puerto rico a state, get rid of the filibuster in the senate. In short, theres not an i am dimes worth of difference between my opponent and all the of the democrats youve watched. If you give them control of the government thats what theyll do. Lt. Colonel mcgrath, additional response. I want to do whats right for kentucky always. Thats what im about after 36 years in washington, this is what you get, a man who basically, his word means nothing, integrity means nothing, does one thing four years ago, and then changed his mind and makes an excuse the next four years, you know, its what everybody hates about washington. Folks, we cannot change washington until we change the people we send there period. Senator mcconnell, additional response js. Have you seen the ads she runs about the swamp, washington is the swamp . Well, she wants to give the swamp a place where there are full of influence peddlers and lobbyists, two senators just like kentucky. Thats one of the things shes in favor of. Thats why shes one. Most, if not the most progressive person in kentucky. They want to completely change the rules in the senate to give them an advantage. Admit the district as a state, puerto rico as a state and four new senators for them and pack the courts so they can get the outcomes they want in the congress. You want to respond . I want to shea that senator mcconnell is lying to you about my stances and thats par for the course. Would you favor enlarging the court . I think we should work on unpacking the senate right now because he was polarized and made this partisan mess of the Supreme Court so bad that people were even saying they were going to for or against the nominee before they never had the name. And in my mind, thats not what we should be looking at. Im focused on kentucky. You notice she wont answer the question. And joe biden wont answer the question either. What biden said is ill tell you after the election whether or not hes going to pack the Supreme Court. Were entitled to know whether youre going to pack the Supreme Court. Ruth bader ginsburg, who we all revere, said in an interview last year, nine is the right number, nine is the right number according to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and its been nine since 1869. Except for the one year that you left eight all year long. But here is the thing, Ruth Bader Ginsburg also said that she didnt think that her seat should be filled until the next president. And it does come down to this, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was initially nominated and confirmed, she was confirmed 963 at the time. Think about that, you know, Mitch Mcconnell wasnt the Senate Majority leader then. We had regular order. Since hes become leader hes made this a partisan complete weapon of a mess that we have with the Supreme Court. Weve got to get rid of him. Senator. Every one of the Supreme Court controversies was started by her party. Borque, thomas, kavanaugh, look what they did to kavanaugh a year ago, tried to destroy his reputation. Look, under the constitution the president can nominate for a vacancy on the Supreme Court anytime he so chooses. And this president has for a vacancy during an Election Year just like a lot of other president s have over the years. All right. 19 times, 17 of the times theyve been confirmed when you had the party of the president also in control of the senate. Not going to leave this topic, the question is this, if judge barrett is confirmed, some believe that roe vs wade could be overturned, womans right to abortion. A student wants to know about that and where you stand on the womens reproductive issues. Im prolife myself, and enjoy the support of right to life and the susan b. Anthony list and others who worked on this issue over the years. But thats a different issue than whats before the Supreme Court. Every president has been surprised by how the Supreme Court nominees that theyve put up have voted. No one knows what may happen with any nominee. Every republican nominee has been projected to be a disaster for women and none of them have turned out that way, so we dont know how the court may rule. I suspect this nominee just like Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not answer any question about a case that might come before her. So we will not know. Thats one of the reasons judges have a lifetime opponent appointment. Theyre independent. Once they get on the court if theyre a strict constructionist, they follow the constitution and the law. Time an up. Lt. Colonel mcgrath. Well, im catholic and im the mother of three small children and this issue has been an important issue to me my whole life. Im somebody that believes that the government should not be legislating my religion or my religious belief on others and i believe we already have reasonable restrictions on abortion in this country as per outlined in roe vs wade. That said, as probably, well, i am the only woman up here on this stage today and the only mother, id like to point out that if youre talking about life issues, you have to talk about the fact that before the Affordable Care act in kentucky there was not a single insurer on the individual market that would cover Maternity Care and senator mcconnell has had a terrible record of trying to get rid of the Affordable Care act all along. 50 of children born in kentucky in rural kentucky are born on medicaid and senator mcconnell wants to cut that. Those are life programs and you know, as a mother, i always want to protect children and protect, you know, elk had for people. Senator additional response. Speaking of health care, what she really wants and came out for was a single payer system. That ens moo means the government is in aring cha charge of your health care. And waffled and said a public option. Theres not a dimes bit of difference. If you put all of our health care in the hands of the government. Think about it this way. If you went down to the department of Motor Vehicles and asked them to build you a corvette, do you think it would work out too well . Thats what were talking about here. You dont want the federal government to be entirely in charge of looking for testing, vaccines, treatments, and the long lines that will come as a result of the government taking over. Thats where they really want to go. Theyre disappointed in obamacare, think it didnt go far enough and go the whole way and put all of our health care in the hands of the government. Time, lieutenat. Colonel mcg. I dont know what hes talking about they. And i defeated opponents who were for the medicare for all system. Clearly we need to Fix Health Care we have. 300,000 kentuckians who dont have health care in the middle of a pandemic. Senator mcconnell 30 years ago ran an ad that said he was going to Fix Health Care. Now he says he needs another six years to do it, seriously . Thats like my eightyearold son saying, hey, mom, you know, i really am going to take out the trash, but i need another six years, and just not interested in fixing health care. Early voting starts in the commonwealth of kentucky tomorrow and more than 650,000 kentuckians have requested absentee ballots and there are questions and potential for fraud. Are you concerned about the integrity of this election . Lt. Colonel mcgrath . You know, i think that we have, here in kentucky we have a democratic governor who came together with a republican secretary of state and they came up with a very good plan for everybody to vote. And its wonderful. They actually came together and negotiated. Isnt that amazing . I wish we could do that at the federal level. But i think that kentucky has never made it easier to vote than this year. And thats incredible. Early voting starts tomorrow. I am very concerned about the u. S. Postal service. The Postal Service is such an Important Service that provides Prescription Medication to our seniors, to our veterans particularly in rural areas and needs to be helped through this coronavirus and im afraid senator mcconnell hasnt done enough for that and i would be helping our Postal Service, lets face it, if you can hand out 500 billion in slush funds for corporations you should be able to turn around and help everyday people. Your response . My opponent always likes to mention how long im in the senate. She doesnt seem to be troubled by the fact that joe biden has been there for 47 years. Under her proposal to limit terms, joe biden would have been leaving by the time i got there. Im amused for her advocacy for a position on term limits that would have eliminated joe bidens career before i even got to the sna it senate. The question is, who can be effective for kentucky . There are four congressional leaders. Im not only one not from new york or california. I allowed kentucky to punch above its weight. What does it mean for kentucky . Over my last term 17. 5 billion dollars for the commonwealth that would not have been there had i not been the majority leader of the senate. I give kentucky an opportunity to punch above its weight on national issues, and to bring home things for this state that would not otherwise get. Senator, thank you. And rebuttal from lt. Colonel. Senator mcconnell loves to talk about kentucky punching above its weight. We in kentucky feel like weve been sucker punched. Highest cancer rates and the economy hasnt been this bad since the great depression. Its just unbelievable and senator mcconnell would love to talk about term limits. I would love to talk about it, because President Trump is for congressional term limits, its top on his agenda and i agree with him on that, we should have them and get them right now. Senator mcconnell . Yeah, lets just take opioids, for example, 275 Million Dollars that i directly brought into kentucky for the opioid fight. 87 million of that was the largest grant the university of kentucky has ever gotten. All of that was the outgrowth of two bipartisan bills passed one of them back during the last two years of president obama that i negotiated with him called the 21st century cures act. And then the cares act came later and all of that i was deeply involved in negotiating that produced Extraordinary Results for the commonwealth. And meanwhile, you want to take away health care and Medicaid Expansion, which covers 50 of kentuckians who are addicted right now and giving them the treatment that they need. I mean, its just ridiculous. Ill give you a few seconds, senator, if you want to respond to that. That was a little bit out of order in time. You mean to her ridiculous comment . Yes. No. All right, well move on. Youre watching the kentucky debate. Were here with republican and Democratic Candidates for the senate and u. S. Senate majority Mitch Mcconnell and retired lt. Colonel amy mcgrath. Theyre answering questions for kentuckians and for around the countries. The death of Breonna Taylor and the grand jury decision sparked more than 100 nights of protests in louisville, questions about Racial Injustice and questions on minds of many kentucky students. In one uk student asks, do you think justice was done, senator mcdonnell . Well, i have great tolerance for peaceful demonstrations. Theyre a protected constitutional rights. I dont have much tolerance for violence and looting, for example, in portland just last night they went on a rampage again and tore down a statue of Teddy Roosevelt and abraham lincoln. With regard to the taylor case, the law sometimes does not, as judge barrett pointed out in her hearing this morning, the result that we all hope for. This was an incredible tragedy, botched job, a terrible outcome. But Law Enforcement has to apply the law and theyre doing the best they can. I dont have any advice to give them but i think in terms of justice in america, we have to follow the laws that were written. Im a strong supporter of Law Enforcement, i enjoy the support of the fraternal order of police in kentucky. I dont think its appropriate to condemn all Police Officers. Some of them are bad, but its not appropriate to defund the police or demonize Police Officers in general. Time. Lt. Colonel mcgrath. Well, first of all, as somebody who wore the uniform, i did three combat tours protecting our country, and the mother of three small children, i have to say that im never for looting or rioting or destruction of party or violence in any way and i do not want to defund the police. That all said, you know, the traagedy with Breonna Taylor was an absolute tragedy and i think leaders have to take a step back and realize that we need change in this country. That there is systemic racism. That we have to tackle issues of equity and equality. I actually have a plan to do that called equality for all and we put it together not just with me, but leaders all around kentucky. Thats what youre supposed to do as a leader to tackle these issues. Senator mcconnell is not interested in that. The George Floyd Justice and policing act as is the john lewis Voting Rights act on his desk. Violence against women act sitting on his desk, i could go on and on. Can we move on to issue of Police Reform . Lets do that. Taylors death and other cases like george floyd in minnesota have Many Americans demanding Police Reform some in some way, some are going as far as asking for defunding of Police Departments. And youve both gone on record as against that. What reforms do you think should happen within Police Departments that should be led on a National Level. Lt. Colonel mcgrath . Welcome, i think that we should provide on a National Level body cameras to all police. I think thats important. We have the technology to do that i think there should be a National Data base for Police Officers that, in other words, if you get dismissed from one police department, you do ent get to go into the other one. Another one without people knowing your record and knowing about the fact that you dont get kicked out of the u. S. Army and then roll into the u. S. Navy. These are common sense reforms that we need to do. In addition to, you know, banning no knock search warrants at the federal level for federal drug case, i think these are all things we can do. And to me, i think it comes down to, lets get our senate back again so that we can actually debate these things. You know, the George Floyd Justice in policing act. Senator mcconnell wouldnt even allow debate on it. We can make change in this country and we have to. Senator mcconnell do you respond. Theres a role for the federal government. I put on the floor of the senate the justice act which was drafted largely by tim scott, my republican colleague from south carolina, an africanamerican himself who has experienced the kind of extra suspicion that africanamericans are frequently given. He craft add bill that we thought made a lot of sense. I put it on the floor of the senate. We couldnt get a single democrat to even let us take it up and debate it and amend it. So, here was another example of how democrats in the congress, the last few months have not wanted anything to succeed. Theyve been slow walking everything that comes up either by the house, putting up totally outrageous proposals, or Senate Democrats slow walking efforts to get an outcome. Election, our democratic friends simply dont want anything to occur that gets an actual outcome and a president ial signature. Bill time. Lt. Col. Mcgrath you are hearing it all night long. More excuses. Thes not just a member of hes not just a member of the senate. Hes the Senate Majority leader and he still cant get it done. We know we need reforms and i also want to work on not just criminal Justice Reform but the real inequities in this country. We have 20 billion gap between majority white schools and majority nonwhite schools. Inma kentucky with 2. 5 times the rate of black kentuckians dined at 2. 5 times the rate of white kentuckians. Weve got to fix these things, be serious about them. Im glad you brought up the fact im the majority leader. If goes to washington, the first vote she will cast in the senate is to make Chuck Schumer from new york the majority leader, transferring the influence and power that kentucky has now because t im one of the four leaders not from new york or california to new york, further degrading kentuckys influence in washington making it less likely kentucky gets preferential treatment like it frequently does as result of my being in the position i am in. Thats what voting for a means. Takes a majority leader title with them kentucky and giving it to new york. We in kentucky know better, okay . Senator mcconnell like to talk about his clout and power. Meanwhile, copays are up. The price of Prescription Medication has gone up inn the price of insurance is got up, the price of house has got up. It with preexisting conditions are about ready to be thrown off their health care right now. We have the worst economy since the great depression. The worst job losses since the great recession. We had the highest cancer rates in the country come highest rates of diabetes. His clout is literally killing us in kentucky. Additional response . I use my clout to open our state. Lets take call for example. Barack obama destroyed the coal industry. Completely destroyed it. I dated with the Collateral Damage. As the Cecil Roberts head of ud mine workers, iea produce both guaranteed Health Care Benefits and pension benefits from coal miners and in delivering retraining dollars so they could get new jobs to be employed once again. Thats how i use the clout i have to help kentucky. We will try to get an additional coal question in it before we are through but funding for Higher Education has consistently been reduced here in kentucky, especially its placed a higher burden of students and families. Currently the federal government owns 90 per 92 of all student loan. That mounting, how can colleges make college more accessible and more affordable . We begin with senator mcconnell. I started by producing, by creating a program at the university of louisville for undergraduate scholars at no cost to the government. The 40 best and brightest kids at any given time, then freshman, ten sophomores, ten juniors and ten seniors. The goal is for them to get an ivy league type education in the hopes they will stay here most of them have. Mo lets take the cares act for example. Out of the cures act theres almost 475 million forr kentucy education k12 and colleges and universities. In addition to that at uk i have produced over 300 million for uk for uk, 200 million for u of l come 75 million for western kentucky university. Of attention to trying to help kentucky Higher Education. At the other end of the scale the Southeast Community and Technical College im going to be down there tomorrow, they go outterally about to of business and i intervene with the secretary of education and literally saved them from going out of business. Lieutenant colonel mcgrath. In the last 15 Years College debt has gone up about 540 . Here in kentucky with some of the highest levels of college debt in the country. All of that happened on his watch. The first thing i would do is hold betsy devos accountable. Because we have a program already in place to relieve people of the college of debt but 9 of the applicants are denied. I would be jumping up and down in the senate right now finding out why is that, why do have a a program were 99 of the applicants are denied . Ed some other things we need company things like universal prek. Maybe its because i am the only mom up here but if we have more months in the senate we wouldnt universal prek yesterday. For kentucky schools sitting on his desk right now. They have been sitting there for six months. He is not interested in helping schools and public education. We will move on. 502018, a dozen of the top force counties were in Eastern Kentucky. U. K. Student is asking. Here is the coal question, how would you address the losses left behind from the dwindling coal industry that feels more in helping and communities . We begin with lt. Col. Mcgrath. Recognize thath six years ago, senator mcconnell sat here and said you have to vote for me. All of your coal jobs will come back. Last six years, we lost 60 of those jobs. Toused you and our state bicker with the other side and he has not planned for the future. Coal powered this country. I want to go to the senate to make sure that our cocommunity get whatommunities they deserve for powering our country. Getting infrastructure for broadband and cell phone coverage. No business will come to a county in kentucky that cant talk to the modern world. It means investing in education and health care. Those are the types of things we have to do to rebuild for the economy of the future. We have to. Senator mcconnell has not done it. He let the coal industry guy with no plan for the last 36 years. Died with no plan for the last 36 years. Bill time. Sen. Mcconnell kentuckians are not confused about who fights the war on call. At the beginning of the obama administration, 50 of the electricity in america was provided by coal. It read havoc all across coal country and particularly in Eastern Kentucky. We were then left to clean up the mess. The Collateral Damage from the war on coal. What i did is ensure Health Care Benefits and pension benefits for coal miners so they did not lose what was almost wiped out by the administration. Could getning so they another job. Unfortunately, some of them have had to leave the area to do it but they love Eastern Kentucky so much they will drive all the way up to the toyota plant every day in order to attend to their new job. That is why we are in the situation we are in Eastern Kentucky. There is no mistake about who caused it. I thick itgrath starts with being honest with people. The decline of coal is a energyn of renewable being cheaper. It is a function of automation. It is a function of franking fracking. We have to have a plan for the future. Act isow, the reclaim sitting on senator mcconnells desk. This is an act that is bipartisan. It was put up by hal rogers. Good,ld give kentuckians clean jobs. That is also introduced in the senate by senator joe mansion. Why is it sitting on the senators desk . Sen. Mcconnell what is that plan that you have that will produce jobs in kentucky . Laid out for us right now. Lt. Col. Mcgrath all right, what the reclaim would act reclaim act would do is it would provide 100 million to clean up the environmental hazards we have seen from the coal industry for many years and allow people to clean up the environmental hazards with good, quality jobs in the transition to the future. That has to include infrastructure. We badly needed. We have Water Systems in Martin County that dont have clean water. We have sewer systems in Anderson County that need to be fixed. We have to get into the 21st century. I know you have been in washington dc for 36 years but i have served all around the world. I have to tell you, no business is going to want to come to a county in kentucky that cannot talk to the modern mobilize world. Sen. Mcconnell everything she is talking about is already being done. Lt. Col. Mcgrath tell to the people in kentucky. Sen. Mcconnell i think her entire campaign is she is a marine, she is a mom and i have been there too long. Our we need to see specifics about what she has in mind to fix the issues that she thinks need fixing. I can tell you what she has in mind. She will go to washington, she will make Chuck Schumer the majority leader. Senator, youath have been there for 36 years. How is it looking, kentucky . That we fixed of the stuff . Sen. Mcconnell what that 36 years has produced in the last term alone is 75 billion for kentucky that we would not have had if she had been there on the back bench, having made Chuck Schumer from new york the majority leader of the senate. There is a very specific question. Kentucky has a real problem with drug addition. We know that. Drug addiction. We know that. It has increased since the pandemic started. How do we turn the tide on this horrible Opioid Crisis . Lets get a more detailed response. Senator mcconnell. Sen. Mcconnell good question. It has been a devastating issue. Not just for us but around the world. Around the country. The 21stve done is century cures act in the last two years of barack obama. The cares act after that produced a total of 275 Million Dollars for kentucky. In that 200 sunday five Million Dollars is the single largest grant in u. K. History. 87 million, the single biggest grant of the ever got. In addition to that, there are lawenforcement areas called high intensity Drug Trafficking areas. I have gotten a number of those for kentucky. Roughly half of our state is covered. This combination of lawenforcement and social workers working together to go very intense Drug Trafficking areas. We are still fighting the battle. Not over yet. My cloud has made a big difference in providing funds for kentucky on this big problem. Bill thank you. Lt. Col. Mcgrath senator mcconnells clout has allowed billions of Prescription Medication pills to flood into kentucky. The first thing we need to do is hold big farm accountable for that. He is incapable of doing that. He is incapable of doing it because he gets the most money from big pharma than any member of congress. That is why. He is basically bought off. But what we really need in addition is more resources for treatment and prevention to include making sure that we dont take away the Affordable Care act. What senator mcconnell would do is take that away, take away the Medicaid Expansion worth 50 of our fellow kentuckians who are addicted, they get their treatment through medicaid. He wants to undermine that. I dont. I want to make health care easier to obtain so that people can get the treatment prevention treatment they need. Sen. Mcconnell next topic. Bill we will do that. You then have earned a few extra s. Conds for closing statement thent instead of traditional speech at the end, we thought we would know to this closing statement. Senator mcconnell, you have often said that your leadership position and seniority pay big dividends for kentucky. Lt. Col. Mcgrath, you have turned the senators 36 years in washington against him with much of what you said tonight, saying he is out of touch with kentucky and out of ideas. Who is right . We will begin with lt. Col. Mcgrath. Dont thinkrath i this race is about Mitch Mcconnell. I dont think it is about amy mcgrath. I thick it is about kentucky. Kentucky deserves a senator who sees you, listens to you and who will serve you. Along timee marines ago to serve my country, to make a difference for my country. Every single combat mission that i did, no matter how high i flew, no matter where i was in afghanistan or iraq, i never forgot who sent me there. Who i was that i was serving. Senator mcconnell stop serving you a long time ago. Six times in my life to defend the constitution of this country, to defend our country. To build a better america for American Families and for my family. Kids, teddy,young george and eleanor. I want to do the same. I want to be your senator because you deserve better. I ask for your vote, i want to remind everybody that early voting starts tomorrow. This is the most important election of our lifetime. It would be my privilege to serve you. Thank you. Thank you. Sen. Mcconnell our opponent seems to not be bothered by the fact that joe biden has been in washington 47 years. He was there 12 years before i got there. It is important to not be confused about what this election is about. Number one, if my opponent replaces me, her first vote in the senate will to will make Chuck Schumer the majority leader of the senate. That includes changing the rules of the senate to make it easier for liberals to win. Make the ultimate columbiae district of estate. They will do that for puerto rico as well. Fourfor new liberal senators. The reason that joe biden wont say whether he will pack the Supreme Court is because he is. That is what they intend to do so that the courts dont get in the way of any of their leftwing proposals. She will be a part of all that. She will enable all of that. Vote you castgest in the senate is the first vote, who is going to determine the agenda. She will make Chuck Schumer the agenda setter. This is 2020. Surprise, we have 30 seconds left for each of you. Senator mcgrath, we will give you lt. Col. Mcgrath, we will give you 30 seconds and cut you off. Lt. Col. Mcgrath how was kentucky working out for you right now . Are you better off than you were six years ago . Are you better off than you were 36 years ago . The Senate Leader of right now that is so dysfunctional and so partisan that even in the middle of a National Crisis, he cant get things done for kentucky. You want more of that . I dont. I want change. I know our country is better than this. Bill thank you. Sen. Mcconnell it is not complicated. Do you want somebody from new york setting the agenda for america and not terribly interested in kentucky or do you want to continue to have one of the four congressional leaders from our state looking out for kentucky, giving kentucky the opportunity to punch above its weight, providing extra assistance for kentucky . That is the question. She will transfer all of that to new york. I will keep it in kentucky. Bill that is our time. Candidates, thank you very much. Everybody getting a chance to hear from you this evening. Getting a chance to hear from you this evening. We would like to thank our sponsors the university of kentucky Student Government association. Early voting begins across kentucky tomorrow. Th the election is tuesday, november 3. Polls on day will be open 6 a. M. 6 p. M. Be sure to vote. Thank you for joining us and have a good night. Today joe biden speaks in florida on his campaigns policy proposals that affect senior citizens. Watch live on cspan2, cspan2t cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Democrats need to win four republican held senate seats to take control of the upper chamber. Democrat john also of Media Executive is running against senator david perdue seeking a second term. The candidates are different locations for this debate. The first of three scheduled before election election day. It includes libertarian shane