Transcripts For CSPAN2 Campaign 2020 New Hampshire U.S. Senate Debate 20240712

Report has the race listed as solid democrat. The Granite State debate, tonight the candidates for u. S. Senate. Good evening thank you for joining us for the second hours Granite State debate im political director adam sexton present ring from the dim while, to represent you in the senate. The set up for this debate is a little different than usual. Our panels are here in the studio, to follow covid19 guidelines republican challenger corky is in a separate studio and because of several votes late today and the u. S. Senate and restrictions around travel related to covid19, democratic incumbents life from a studio in washington d. C. Before start of the questions lets get a look at the candidates background. From approving covid19 relief to Supreme Court nominees, the u. S. Senate plays a Critical Role in shaping american life. But New Hampshires interest in these extraordinary times represented best buy experience or a fresh voice in politics. Stomach we have to use more common sense. The Voters Decide whether they want to keep you or whether they want to throw you out right. Incumbent democrat was the first woman to be elected governor and u. S. Senator. Republican challenger corky is a firsttime candidate with a career in the law. Their own personal routes and records in New Hampshire have been a key issue in this race. We just moved to two years ago to run for the senate. Shes a career politician prayed she has been there far too long. Backlash on every thing from healthcare to campaignfinance reform. In the winter could play key role in developing a post pandemic america. Wm you are is nine evaluate all legally qualified candidates and selected those considered most newsworthy with its objective criteria too participate in this debate. The canids will get one minute to answer questions in 32nd rebuttals will be allowed at the moderators discretion. Thank you for joining us tonight from washington. One start opening question about the pandemic that has created this very unique set up that we are in right now. The president needed treatment at a hospital for covid19, covered cases are up in many places. Holidays are coming and people are concerned about missing their families, they are concerned about being out of work. Schools are also in flux. How are granite stators went too get to this constant crisis . Mr. Messer would begin with you. and be a good member of the community, be a good member of your church and your family and Work Together, we need to be compassionate now to each other, we need to care about each other and we need to make sure that we are taking care of everybody in our community, if someone needs some help, help them out, but do it safely, we can learn how to navigate this economy safely, we can learn how to navigate our schools safely, we can learn how to live our lives safely in the way were gonna do that is follow the science and be Good Neighbors and good family members and be Good Students in school kids. How are they going to get to the constant crisis. There is no doubt that the coronavirus has changed everyones lives in so many people are struggling, weve got to see Good Behavior models at the top levels of government, we do need to follow the science and follow mask wearing and social distancing and handwashing but we need consistent guidance at the federal level and a plan for more testing and Contact Tracing to invoke the defense protection act so were making what we need a home, unfortunately my opponent will he says follow the science if you listen to what he said throughout his campaign he question mask wearing during the primary, he said hospitals were in urgent need of funding, he has suggested to his supporters that they not follow the stayathome order, we need to be consistent and let people know that we can get through this if we Work Together and we follow the science and listen to the medical experts. With get into the questions we will start with the panel. Good evening to both of you, for Months Congress has been debating the second round of stimulus and response to the covid crisis, recently the president said he was done negotiating and we should wait till after the election but he sends changed his mind, senator shaheen hours ago you voted to move forward with the targeted bill allowing for another round of Paycheck Protection Program but the stalemate continues on the larger more comprehensive packages, their negotiations happening among the democratic leadership, the Republican Leadership in the white house but why havent the democrats and republicans still been unable to meet in the middle. We do need to continue to negotiate because people are hurting, they do need more help, Small Businesses need help, thats one reason i supported moving forward with the second round of ppp, unfortunately we have not seen Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans in the senate be willing to come to the table, the negotiating has been done with secretary mnuchin on behalf of the white house in nancy pelosi, we need Mitch Mcconnell to come to the table we need to work to get a new package done just like we did with the cares act, i was really proud of the buy bipartisan work that passed 96 0 we were able to get 1. 62 billion for New Hampshire, extended unemployment, help for hospital and frontline care workers, help for communities and the ppp program, double the amount of money that was first proposed, we need additional help and it needs to be a big package that can provide the help the people need. Was the president s inconsistency about this a mistake and what specific programs do you think needs to be funded right now and why. I think six weeks ago the senate had an opportunity to pass of 500 billion package to help people with enhanced unemployment and more ppp loans and senator shaheen followed the lead of Chuck Schumer in nancy pelosi and did nothing, voted no, that was six weeks ago, right now there could be more money for Small Businesses, right now there can be more money for enhanced unemployment and the senate can be negotiating these other things, now why people are receiving help, thats why we need new leadership in the senate, this idea of allowing people to suffer for six weeks because of inside the beltway, negotiation and holding that while people in no hampshire are suffering, thats why we need new leadership in the u. S. Senate, get it done and you can have negotiating other items right now. Senator shaheen you were invoked 30 seconds to respond. Its unfortunate which mcconnell took six weeks from the time the heroes got got to the senate before he was willing to consider a bill, the fact is the bill that Mitch Mcconnell put on the floor at the end of july does not provide the help that people need, we have a hospital in New Hampshire that went bankrupt this week, i was at Catholic Medical Center last week, they need financial help, we gotta help hospitals and schools and businesses and everyone who is hurting as a result of this pandemic and Mitch Mcconnell has not been willing to come to the table in my opponent is another rubberstamp for Mitch Mcconnell. How about 50 seconds on the rubberstamp. You got a lead senator sheehan, you should propose money for the hospitals in the 500. 000000000 package. People could receiving help right now. People would be receiving help right now. We reposed in the republican said no. You shouldve voted an issue the past and people in New Hampshire would be getting help today, Small Businesses are closing and they need help. Lets move on toward next question. Good evening, we begin with mr. Messner, as we continue to operate in a pandemic economy, new problems are arising for Granite State and American Workers in general, many who work in jobs where they rely on volume of business or tips to make a living, waitresses, waiters, bartenders, people who worked in salons who may be back on the job at running far less, what specifically can be done for them and those reentering the workforce who are underemployed. I think it starts with a Small Businesses receiving the guidelines that they need to open up their businesses proper enter profitably. I have visited so many businesses around New Hampshire and the innovation and creativity that the Small Business owners are implementing to make sure that their customers feel safe is really impressive, they know for their business to be successful, the customers must feel safe, ive been very impressed with whats going on out there in the Small Business community, having said that there are some businesses that can operate safely under the current guidelines and thats where we need help with the ppp loans and help should be there now, it is not there now and its not there because a lack of leadership by shaheen. She has been there too long, she follows Chuck Schumer in nancy pelosi and she needs to leave and get this done. Senator shaheen same question, response from you. Unfortunately my opponent has not been paying attention in washington or he would understand that the gridlock is there, Mitch Mcconnell has refused to come to the table i am proud that the work that i did on the ppp program we help 24000 Small Businesses in New Hampshire, they have been able to keep over 200,000 people employed as a result of the program. As you point out, theres a number of industries that still need help particular the Hospitality Industry and unfortunately the bill that we voted on did not include the help that they need we need to provide more work for them, we need to extend Unemployment Benefits that allows them to make it through this difficult. We need to help the travel and Tourism Industry New Hampshire. The ppp program has been great to help peoples like manchester and concord that Everybody Needs more help to get through this pandemic. Next question. Senator shaheen, the top of your ticket, joe biden has said we will never get our economy back on track and we will never get our kids safely back to school and never have our lives back until we deal with this virus, what do you think former Vice President means by this, do you think the u. S. Will need another widespread economic shutdown and are you willing to risk inflicting financial pain on some of the countries in order to potentially save the lives of others . Thats why we need a plan at the top levels of this government, the Trump Administration has not had a plan, that should include consistent guidance from the cdc for how businesses and schools and other sectors of the economy should operate, it is why we need more testing and Contact Tracing so we can isolate the hotspots so we dont have to shut down the rest of governme government, it is unfortunate my opponent has been defending this a administration and handling of the pandemic from the very beginning, he even defended donald trump when he says we should ingest bleach to get through the coronavirus. The fact is it is correct, we will not get through this pandemic and we will not get our lives back to normal until we get ahead of the pandemic and thats why we need a plan and we need to Work Together but it needs to allow allow us with testing and Contact Tracing so we can isolate those hotspots just like New Hampshire in so many areas. Thank you, President Trump who has endorsed you and we have praise for his leadership tweeted when he was back at the white house after being hospitalized for covid19, dont be afraid of covid, dont let it dominate your life, governor christie ac reacted to that, im afraid of covid, i completely disagree with that sentiment that came out of the white house. He was white, the president or the governor and are you afraid of covid, yes, sir no and why or why not. Before i answer that question i would like my 30 seconds to respond to the attack that senator shaheen made on me, shes misrepresented what i said, you are entitled to your opinion but dont make up facts about me or fax about what i said because it is untrue, please stop it. You said it, i cant help that you said it. I did not say it senator shaheen, read the transcript, pay attention, this is not washington, d. C. , i am an outsider, i speak the truth, this pandemic is serious, heres the tragedy with this pandemic, 2009 2010 we had h1 in one pandemic and Vice President chief of staff said last year that it was a terribly mismanaged at the time and in ft he said the only reason there were not more deaths is pure luck that that virus was not deadly. Guess what happened since then the government did nothing. Obama did nothing, senator shaheen did nothing to prepare for this and we had a another warning with ebola situation and nothing was done by the Obama Administration in the National Stockpile was empty for this pandemic, we need to go back and hold the politicians accountable who dropped the ball and found us in this position, the institutions of government were not ready for this pandemic. Specifically are you afraid of covid. I am afraid of covid and i think we should all be afraid of covid, it is a virus, is deadly and we need to be careful. But we should not be frozen in fear, we must balance and live our lives, we should not be frozen in fear. Next question. Hospitals in New Hampshire are likely to face record losses in 2020 and will continue to need federal assistant for the immediate future, just yesterday the general healthcare said they were going to file for bankruptcy, when this pandemic is over, would you support continued direct aid specifically to prevent the closure of New Hampshires rural hospital, how much would be needed. I absolutely would support legislation to help the rural hospitals. I suppose with some of the executives from hospitals in the North Country to assess their situation, this is about six or eight weeks ago they were in pretty good shape, we need to make sure these hospital stay open and thats why targeted help is important, we must target who needs help and provide the help to those that are in need, not the blanket approach that the democrats want to take and spend trillions and trillions of dollars to bail out california, we in New Hampshire should not be bailing out california for their mismanagement prior to covid we should not be allowed new york because of their mismanagement prior to covid, we need to target the help to hospitals and communities that need it and not go on a spending spree because we can rationalize with the covid situation. Senator shaheen same question to you. There is no doubt that the hospitals in New Hampshire need help, i talked about cmc where i visited st. Josephs and they sadly went bankrupt this week, and i not only need help as were dealing with the pandemic and the healthcare people, they need help because they are also often the biggest employers in their community and so many people have been furloughed. My opponent in april said there was no urgent need for funding for hospitals and now he wants to support a package that has been on the floor in the senate that would have no funding to help hospitals, no funding to help healthcare workers, a limited amount of money to help testing and Contact Tracing, that is not the help that we need, we heard from jay powell the head of the Federal Reserve last week, he said we need a big package that helps all of those people who are hurting get through this pandemic. Sure, sure under the original cares act, it ended up being threepoint to trillion dollars and there was assistance in that package for hospitals and hospitals receive the help that they needed back then. Now some hospitals need more help in that help auto be provided, but the u. S. Senate needs to be nimble enough in a situation to provide help when needed and not get into the political negotiations that cause people to suffer even more than they need to. Next enter next question from john to cito. Now that we see in the response to the pandemic theres been criticism that the u. S. Government was not adequately prepared, with the single most Important Initiative that the members of the senate should discuss and work on now to prevent the next one senator shaheen. We need to be looking at our Public Health system throughout this country we need to look at the cdc, i had a very good conversation with doctor redfield where he talked about wanting to reform our Public Health system in this country when we get through this but as my opponent has talked about and criticized what happened in the Previous Administration the fact is the problem that we have is because of this administration, this is Donald Trumps america that we are in where we have seen 8 Million People who have contacted the coronavirus, weve seen 220,000 deaths nationally and New Hampshire weve had 470 people die, its a tragedy for those people and their family, this president continues to take a blodgett approach in my opponent will be with him without wearing a mask, he was with him at his last super spreader event without wearing a mask. Same question. A couple things, the institution of government did not learn from the h1n1 pandemic in 2010, anybody in the u. S. Senate at that time including senator shaheen needs to be voted out of office because the institution of government were not prepared. Now we have much to learn from this pandemic and we need people in the u. S. Senate who are going to be open minded and get things done so we are prepared the next time that this happens. It does not help if you send the same people back over and over again who did not learn from the last pandemic and she wont learn from this pandemic. I dont know what super spreader event she is talking about and me not wearing a mask but i certainly was not at the white house. Again senator shaheen you are not entitled to your own facts. 30 seconds to respond. It was the event where President Trump was in New Hampshire in the fact is what we need is a consistent approach to the pandemic, we dont need what the Trump Administration has been doing where he refuses to wear a mask, where he brings people together at events in my opponent fails to condemn what the president has done, this is the Trump Administrations plan and what weve seen is 8 Million People contract the disease and 220,000 deaths, that is not going to get us ahead of the coronavirus. That is time and no cases contact traces to the trump event in august. Thank you, to you, lets look into the future when we eventually get past the pandem pandemic, what is the best way for the government to stimulate the economy and aid in its recovery from covid19, name one or two proposals that you would support. I would like to go back and point out that President Trump made a courageous decision at the end of january to stop travel from china and doctor chow she has testified in front of congress that that decision saved many, many lives, their estimates that to 2 million lives were saved grade what did the democrats do, condemn him, call him a racist and nancy pelosi went to chinatown and said things are safe. And i wish that senator shaheen and our last debate she said she did not criticize the president over that decision so i sure would like to see her say that was a good decision that President Trump made at the end of january because it saved a lot of lives according to dr. Fauci. What would i do specifically, i had the usa plan on my website, it lays out various proposals that we can make to bring this economy back. Now to you senator shaheen, same question. Is what i said we need additional funding for testing and Contact Tracing inconsistent guidance which we have not had at the federal level and we need to ensure that we provide additional help some people can get through this. In the fact is i was not critical to president travel ban to china and what i was critical of what was the 40000 people that came in during the travel ban and spread the coronavirus, it was not a very effective travel ban, what we need is an Effective Response to the coronavirus and we have not seen it from this president in my opponent continues to support this president s response to the coronavirus as i said, he even suggested that when the president said people should think about drinking bleach, his words were, that was just aspirational, that is not aspirational, that is downright dangerous. 30 seconds to respond. Shes misrepresenting my words yet again, senator shaheen, are you suggesting that wwe shouldve kept at the United States of 40000 american citizens that needed travel back here, is that what youre suggesting after the shutdown of the travel ban. That is on america. You said the 40000 people that were let back in, you wanted to keep americans out of this country, what kind of senator is that did not bring senators or their people back to the country. That was the problem. The problem was that people came in and there was no guarantee that they were not infected, one of the reasons that we saw the spread of the coronavirus was because there was not consistent measures put in place which is what we need in order to get ahead of the pandemic, thats what happened with the travel ban and thats what happened with the failure to ban people from coming from europe so we saw a spread and thats one of the reasons we have had 220,000 deaths in the United States. Next question from john to say so. Senator we have discussed the response to the covid19, the cures act alone cost trillions of dollars in lost revenue from the downturn and from unemployment and the deficit of the hole gets bigger, President Trump and Congress Passed one and half trillion dollar tax cut in 2017, these bills will come due and led to a discussion about repealing the tax cuts and raising others, first would you vote to repeal the trump tax cuts and second what if any taxes beyond that are you willing to raise and please be specific to an income level or the type of corporation that they would affect. I did not support the trump tax bill in 2017 because it gave 83 of the benefits to the biggest corporation, i support the middle class tax cut, that bill made those temporary and made the 83 of the benefits to the biggest corporations permanent. I think we got a look at closing loopholes in our tax laws, it does not make sense that amazon made 12 billion in 2018 and yet they paid 0 in taxes. We need to end subsidies to the oil and Gas Companies because they are operating and they dont need the subsidies, we need to look at things like our fuel efficiency in our government vehicles, its one of the pieces of legislation i supported and i also supported ending the tax write off for pharmaceutical companies on their advertising because i think they shouldnt be able to get double the write off for advertising and raising their prices. Mr. Mizner same question please. Joe biden wants to repeal the trump tax cuts, that means there will be a tax increase for the middle class, senator shaheen did not answer the question, she supports joe bidens position to repeal the trump tax cuts and therefore raise taxes on the middle class, it is very, very important that we bring this economy back vibrantly and we bring it back vibrantly by keeping taxes low and government out of the way and empower americans to work hard, use their ingenuity, get their businesses going, spark additional businesses and grow this economy vibrantly and when we grow the economy vibrantly, our tax revenues will increase as the economy grows. Senator 30 seconds to respond to you want to raise taxes. I gave you a number of areas where i think we should look at how we could address our tax code to produce revenue, i support tax cuts for middle income americans and i support tax cuts for Small Businesses, thats where i focus my attention from the time i was governor, we need to encourage Small Businesses to grow, thats why i worked with cory gardner, republican from colorado to repeal the Health Insurance tax and work to repeal the medical device tax so smith medical in keene could do the innovation that they need in order to produce additional medical devices with healthcare i think theres a number of areas we can cut now. We will do a lightning round to shake things up, what is the best place to stop and enjoy the view. I have been all of our in New Hampshire in every corner of the state, there are so many views, wonderful views of New Hampshire that it is hard for me too say which is the best. So i love it here, i will continue to go around the state and campaigning, thank you. 152nd answers. Senator shaheen, what is your favorite place to stop and enjoy your view. Right after you get on theres an old Covered Bridge that is no longer in operation, thats a beautiful spot over the creek and especially when the full age is at peak. Senator shaheen, who was when your political heroes. In history as moral ricker who is one of the first women in New Hampshire to run for governor and before women could get the right to vote and she consistently fought to try and help women to get the right to vote, there will be a new memorial to her and the seacoast and i think shes a great role model. Name what are your great political heroes. Ronald reagan, his policy, his peace and strength policy, economic policy, and resulted in the end of the cold war and that was an incredibly significant event. Will you be voting absentee or in person. I will be voting in person. Senator shaheen in person or absentee. In person. Senator shaheen puerto ricos holding a referendum on statehood, would you vote in favor in the u. S. Senate if they want to join the union, yes or no. Im not going to speculate on that, the same question in conversation we had earlier and we have to wait and see what puerto rico does and we have to see what legislation is brought to congress. But if they want to join the union should they not be. Again we need to see what the circumstances are around that, what requirements would be part of that, what contributions they might make, theres a number of things that we need to look at with respect that they would become another state. Would you support puerto rican statehood. The democrat nonanswers on these issues like joe biden refusing to answer whether the democrats will pack the court if they take the presidency and the senate, the same kind of answer, the democrats want to pack the senate by bringing in puerto rico and the District Of Columbia and theyre not answering the question, the selection is very important. Lets wrap up the lightning round and another lighter question, where you by your New Hampshire maple syrup. I buy it at the wolf borough food coop. Where is your favorite place to buy the New Hampshire syrup. Of farm. Lets get back to the policy question. Lets move to the Supreme Court, the senate votes to approve the Supreme Court nominee will likely take place in the next few days senator shaheen in before the debate begins in the full Senate University said you will vote against judge Amy Coney Barrett, thisll make three consecutive Supreme Court nominees you voted against all nominees of President Trump and you voted in favor of two judges nominated by president obama, have you decided youll never vote for another Supreme Court nominee put forth by republican president , is this because of the witness test that you have for that person in the same side as you over key issues. Sadly what we have watched under the Trump Administration is appointing and nominating nevermore judges with ever more extreme views on the issues important to the american peop people, we need to go back to look at judges who have a more mainstream perspective because what the Trump Administration is doing is packing the court, what we have seen with Amy Coney Barrett during her hearing, she doesnt support the Affordable Care act which is so important too so Many Americans in the Supreme Court is going to be taking up the issue next week or the week after the election, we saw this she opposes womens reproductive rights, she even endorsed the ad from a group that would criminalize in vitro fertilization, i think thats a view that is too extreme for the american people. With the way the u. S. Senate is working now in the partisan divide, voters will likely assume that you would enter the senate and vote yes to a Trump Nominee and no to abide in nominee, why would they be wrong to think that you such a strong supporter of the president would break up the party. First of all i would like to say unlike Amy Coney Barrett i lovhave notes ive been taking,i said in the previous debate that i thought Merrick Garland shouldve got a hearing in the senate and the vote in the senate, i would evaluate the judges on their temperament, their accomplishments and i would look at each judge objectively, the huge mistake for u. S. Senators to try to predict what kind of decisions the Supreme Court justice would make in the future. I think these nominees should be evaluated on their abilities, Amy Coney Barrett is an amazing choice, she is brilliant, accomplished, a great role model for women and young girls and i think its a mistake, if you listen to the hearing you should listen to what she talks about the important of precedents in the Supreme Court and dont shes going to overturn things, a quick followup, senator shaheen if roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court, the issue of abortion is returned to the state how would you respond in the u. S. Senate. I think we need to look at National Legislation that would essentially put into law what is in the roe v. Wade decision. Unfortunately my opponent is not willing to let women make their own choices on reproductive rights, he supports Amy Coney Barretts extreme position on this issue and in fact he has an extreme position on reproductive rights, he would oppose abortion even in cases of rape and incest and he would jail doctors who performed abortion, i think that is the mainstream of the values of people in New Hampshire, unfortunately my opponent is not from New Hampshire, he does not know me, he does not know my record and he does not know the state and the way that we need to, he needs to represent the views of New Hampshire and work with people who on both sides of the aisle to make a difference for the state. Thats what ive done in my years in the senate. We will give you a few minutes to respond. Senator shaheen had the opportunity to vote to codify road broe v. Wade and she voted, the born alive act said if a baby survives an abortion that baby is entitled to the same medical standard care of anybody, she voted no, she is for passive infanticide, that is extreme, there was an opportunity, there is an opportunity for you to vote in a way that was consistent with roe v. Wade, united opportunity to vote in a way that is consistent with roe v. Wade. Senator let let him finish. Please finish your point. Make your point please. The born alive act, senator sheen voted no, the born alive act is designed to prevent passive infanticide, in roe v. Wade passive infanticide is not permitted. Senator shaheen 30 seconds to respond. The legislation he is talking about would have put into law what is already illegal and that is infanticide, it wouldve gone beyond that and jailed doctors who would perform abortions, again thats what my opponent supports, that is outside of the mainstream of New Hampshire values, theres a difference between my opponent and me, he thinks government should make decisions about what women do, i think women in consultation with their doctors and families should make decisions about the reproductive health, thats a very big difference between my opponent and me. We want to move on some other questions a foreignpolicy question from a student at the college. Lets take a listen. With the covid19 pandemic paper are questioning the origin and we all know the virus originated in china and china has been telling the world that they successfully controlled the virus although recent reports suggest china is lying as the facts are not leading up would you consider covid19 a National Security at the right created by china and how would you improve our National Security from chinese threats. First to you. I thank you so much of the Chinese Communist party does is a threat to our National Security, we need to hold them accountable for the covid19 crisis, during the Obama Shaheen years, they allowed our jobs to be exported to china, they allowed the chinese to steal our intellectual property, we need to recognize that the Chinese Communist party is intent on dominating the world economically in militarily, its time we have people u. S. Senate that will remember that and hold the Chinese Communist Party Accountable for the covid19 crisis. We do need to hold china accountable for covid that did not provide Accurate Information about what was going on, i dont think theyre still providing Accurate Information about what is happening with covid and what we need to do is put back in place a National Security team that the Trump Administration disassembled that can look for those kinds of threats when there happening around the wor world, i think china is not just a threat with respect to covid but a longterm threat economically and militarily, thats why signed on to legislation that would address and support the diplomatic an economic aid to counter what china is doing. My opponent keeps talking about the threat from china, yet he advertises a law firm as representing companies in china and represented Chinese Government backed company against an American Manufacturing firm, i dont think we should be doing that, that is not the policy towards china that we need. 30 seconds to respond. One i think senator shaheen should be as critical as joe biden and hunter biden and their corruption out of china and two, i wish they would look at their own husbands law firms and advertisements directly to represent sexual predators and bragging about getting pedophiles off the hook and wanting more sexual predators in the law firm to represent them and i might remind you, the bill shaheen is a politician, on the Democratic National committee. 30 seconds to respond. My husband my opponent might to be running against my husband buddies not hes running against me and im happy to take responsibility for my record and what i have worked on in the senate, my opponent should take responsibility for what he has done with his law firm and representing china, he said he would not have done if he had been running for office, when its wrong when youre running for office, then its wrong before you run for office. , this should be about what you have done, what my opponent has done and what i have done. That is what my husband has do done. Just last month the u. S. Deployed radar, increase the frequency of u. S. Fighter patrol and fighting vehicles to forces in eastern syria, that means more involvement in that country in addition to thousands of troops in iraq and afghanistan. The u. S. Has fighting forces and the three countries in one way or another for about 20 years, at this point are you resigned have a permanent presence there. I disagreed with both president obama and President Trump on their handling of syr syria, i think we should have not withdrawn the troops from northeast syria that President Trump decided to do because now he put troops back into syria and we wouldve been better off and it wouldve cost less money for us to maintain the troops who were there providing stability in northeast syria and also providing balance to what russia was doing and i ran and what asad is doing in syria. I think what we need to do is work with the International Community to go back with iran and russia for the influence that they are doing in the middle east and what our policy is is really not clear at this point because the president has flipflopped on what were going to be doing their. Thank you, youve been critical of the number of troops in that region but considering the difficult nature of the war on terror, would withdrawing be every tree and dangerous to our National Security. First of all i think President Trump ought to be commended for bringing peace to the middle east, i think secondly, senator shaheen has been in the senate for 12 years during this war, when President Trump repositioned those soldiers on the Syrian Border with turkey, she made a comment to Andrea Mitchell that we can keep them there at a minor cost, senator shaheen said only a few soldiers getting killed i take that personally and because i have two sons that are serving, one at west point when that graduated in west point and we need to take care of her fighting soldiers in the moms and dads out there, you dont want a u. S. Senator who thinks losing a few u. S. Soldiers is okay to keep people somewhere. 30 seconds to respond. That is absolutely wrong, i would never say that losing soldiers was okay and in fact when it became clear that russia was putting bounties on american troops in afghanistan i spoke out and called on the president to Say Something to vladimir putin, my opponent did nothing on that, he did not, the president or state talk to vladimir putin, that is unacceptable, he is wrong, i would never that losing our troops was acceptable and he knows it. 15 seconds to respond. Senator shaheen, if you look at the tape and you see that you said weve only lost a few soldiers, would you withdraw from the race. What i said was the cost of keeping troops there in terms of dollars was about 200 million, it was something that was worth the expense. You are lying, you said weve only lost a few soldiers, thank goodness, that is what you said, thats what the tape said will you withdraw . Go ahead senator. My opponent is not accurate and that is the problem, he does not know me or my record and he does not know New Hampshire. Is disengaging from syria disrespectful or just honoring the memory of james foley. I dont think so, i think we need to move forward in a way that protects our allies in the middle east israel is so important, there are closest ally, we need to make sure theyre secured in jordan is an ally and we need to make sure theyre secured, it is time that we stop the endless wars, it is time that we focus on our friends who will help us, it is time that we bring the troops home, we cannot go on like this forever and ever and it is tragic what happened to james foley, i might say that President Trump defeated isis and hes held terrorist accountable and he killed soleimani and albaghdadi and those were good things and to rid the world of those terrorist. Senator sheen we know what happened to mr. Foley but how do you justify the continued presence of a foreign trip it doesnt want to start. I think in afghanistan we know why theyre there, because we want to ensure the terrorists no longer have a foothold to attack the United States, that is the reason that we went into syria and iraq so we can make sure terrorist cant attack the United States and we need to continue to work on that, we have thousands of isis detainees around the world and we need to ensure that the isis detainees go back to the countries that they came from because there is a hotbed there on the border between iraq and syria, i am proud that the work that i did with the fully foundation and the foley family to bring back to the United States the beatles who are accused of being responsible for the murder of james foley and three other americans i worked with the National Security advisor obrien in our military to ensure that they could come back to stand trial in civilian court so we can hold them accountable into the rest of the terrorist in the world that they should not mess with the United States. Mask enter nex enter next qu. One that protects people preexisting conditions from being denied Health Insurance. That the Affordable Care act is dismantled, what would that bill look like, would there be a cap on the amount and Insurance Company could charge somebody with a preexisting condition, would there be a list of conditions. I would include several things in that bill, one is, nobody should be denied Health Insurance because of a preexisting condition, nobody. We have time here to deal with this, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments for the Affordable Care act on novembe november 10 in the way that the Supreme Court operates, there will not be a decision on that case until next may or june, we have time to provide legislative fixes in case the Supreme Court overturns aca, i happen to believe the Supreme Court will not overturn it, youve heard talk about severability during the Amy Coney Barrett hearings and i do not believe they will overturn but we need to have legislation in case they do protecting people, we need to allow Insurance Companies to sell insurance across the state line, senator shaheen when she was governor, the Health Insurance companies in New Hampshire went from 26 3 because of the legislation that she passed which resulted in various high healthcare cost. In 2017 you were in favor of the medicare for all bill sponsored by bernie sanders, in 2019 you oppose the bill saying the faster ways to reach universal coverage by building on the progress of the Affordable Care act, if aca is gone what would be your alternative, would that be medicare for all. No, i think theres faster ways to cover people than to put in a whole new system, i think private insurance has worked but its working because of the Affordable Care act that says to Insurance Companies, you cannot deny people coverage with preexisting conditions. My opponent listened to the people with preexisting condition and at our first debate he denied that we had hundreds of thousands of people in New Hampshire with preexisting conditions, he listened to somebody like dan from swansea who had cancer and heart condition who but before the Affordable Care act could not get Health Insurance or Chelsea Lewis his daughter has two brucellosiand she wouldve r lifetime cap along time ago under Health Insurance before the Affordable Care act, that is the system that my opponent wants us to go back to. We want to get to one last question before we hit our closing statements, tell us about one specific person you talked with during your campaign that you truly touched. In fact the other day i was in court smith and the woman drove from claremont to portsmouth to see me and she said to me simply i wanted to come meet you, i want you to know that im praying for you and we have a prayer group in claremont and were praying for you, that was very touching to me. Senator shaheen name one person who has touched you during this campaign season. A woman in berlin who i dont want to give her name but she handed me a note after town hall to say i in my staff had literally saved her life because she needed healthcare, she could not get it we helped put her in touch with the healthcare. What the Affordable Care act is so important too so many people in New Hampshire, we cannot let that get overturned, thats what my opponent would support. Weve been given both candidate one minute each. Senator shaheen you go first. Thank you for wmu are for hosting us, what listeners have heard is two different visions of what a United States senator should support from New Hampshire, i believe we need to make sure that all people get access to healthcare, thats what the Affordable Care act has allowed to happen we also need to lower Prescription Drug cost thats what ive been working on and will continue to work on, we need to make sure women have access to reproductive rights, we need to ensure that we invest in infrastructure and things like downtown where i worked with steve dupree and the mayor to ensure that they could get a bill grant to rebuild the downtown because thats what our Small Businesses need to be successful. My opponent has a very different vision of all of those issues. I hope people look at my record and decide they can support me on november the third, i ask for your vote. Thank you, senator of final statement. I grew up in a bluecollar family, we did not have much, i went to west point, i serve, im a veteran, i started a successful business with hard work and luck i grew the business, its time that we get someone in the u. S. Senate who knows how to get things done who will serve only you and not be loyal to progressives in washington, d. C. , i am running because Jeanne Shaheen has been there too long, her time is up, shes a career politician and does not care about you. She does what Chuck Schumer, nancy pelosi and aoc tells her to do. Thats what she does. And it is time that she go away, that her career is done, she could retire in york maine and get new blood in the u. S. Sena senate, i will do the harder right instead the easier wrong, please vote for me, corky for senate. Com, my phone number is 603 5156542, give me a call. Thank you to you both and thank you to all of your home for watching the debate, if you missed any part of this you can catch it on our digital platforms, join us tomorrow evening for the candidates for the first congressional district. Have a great night