We will get you live now to illinois. Tammy duckworth and her republican challenger, kathy salvi. Hosted by wt tv in chicago. I am tina with the suntimes. Tonight we focus on the race to the u. S. Senate here in illinois here please to welcome listeners and viewers around the state, on public radio, and television. Also joined by an audience, we are here we will hear from them a look a bit later in the hour. Answers will not be time, there are no opening and closing statements. They will not get all the same questions. I will moderate for fairness as our guide. We will ask the candidates from restraining from filibustering or campaign speeches. You can joinion online using the hashtag, il senate forum. Meet our candidates, Tammy Duckworth a democrat, she is finishing up her first term. And kathy salvi, a republican and attorney on private practice. Also on the ballot is libertarian, bill redpath. You can find out more about him on our wt tv voter guide. We are excited to have you. Lets start with the issue of gun violence. A persistent issue in chicago. We have the shootings in st. Louis this week, senator duckworth, republicans always say Mental Health, the democrats always say gun control. Can you name one policy that you support that would combat the problem, and asked wayne how it addresses something that is currently not being done. Sen. Duckworth thank you for having this form today. It is very important for the american people. It is an honor to work with those commonsense solutions. One of the things we have worked on is passed an act. We passed and made what mike still legal, people who are buying guns for people who cannot buy guns. What we need is a sensible gun control legislation. We need to pass an assault weapons ban and a highcapacity magazine ban. That would get those guns off the street. I know what these bullets will do to the human body. In addition to making sure that we find our police forces, which we did, and funding and supporting our Police Officers themselves, i actually wrote a task legislation that provides for posttraumatic stress treatment and care for our first responders. And so, we have to take care of the department, make sure these forces are funded. We need to take care of our first responders, officers who are out there every single day. I am proud of waiting for nra. She will never vote for an assault weapons ban. Kathy said, what specific policy i guess we should add in an assault weapons ban. Do you support that . Ms. Salvi you hit it on the head when you said Mental Health crisis. The Mental Health crisis back in 2018, i, as a professional attorney, i run a small practice. I saw in my clients and and their families, the Mental Health needs. I went through a one year quest through the National Alliance on Mental Illness in order to train as a professional. As a professional, in order to help people who have transitory chronic Mental Illness be able to live with their Mental Illness, and their families to be able to support them. I think that in the st. Louis and Highland Park tragedy, we see, i live a block behind that parade and Highland Park. It struck my team very profoundly. The team came to our house and unloaded the day and spoke about how they sheltered in place. I think that more than ever, i will focus on Mental Health treatment and how we can focus on this in our communities. Any gun restrictions . Ms. Salvi senator duckworth, you said yourself that had we implemented the newly passed Gun Legislation that the incident in Highland Park would never have happened. If you look at the last several years, you served 10 years in the congress, we have had many incidences of violence, both in our schools, our streets. The reason that i have the unanimous endorsement of the police is because of your soft on crime policies. I will let you respond to that. Sen. Duckworth would you vote for an assault weapons ban . That is the most common denominator in all of the Mass Shootings in this country. The amount of Mass Shootings in this country has tripled. She has an a rating for the nra. She will never vote for an assault weapons ban. I am really proud that we pass the safety or act in a broad partisan way. Also funding to make our schools safer and funding for Law Enforcement officers, and more funders to allow the different databases to overlap and share information with each other. Im really proud that i was able to vote for that piece of legislation, and i support it, but we definitely need an assault weapons ban and a highcapacity magazines ban, which she would never vote for. Can i quickly ask you, you mentioned your military experience in having use a gun before, do you personally own a gun . Sen. Duckworth i am not a gun owner. Ms. Salvi i do not own a gun. In our family, many of our children have what do they use them for . They use them for target practice and for protection. Moving on to the campaign, let us talk a little bit about your qualifications. Under duckworth, can you tell us what you are personally proud of and what you have done specifically that you think recommends you for reelection . Sen. Duckworth i am part of the bipartisan work i have done for commonsense solutions. I had a piece of legislation that cuts down redtape, i partnered with todd young of indiana. How we do Infrastructure Projects in this country. I followed up with making we supported our veterans. Under the trump ministration, i wrote and passed a bill that provides two Small Business owners. The Drinking Water and wastewater act, that is the core of the bipartisan infrastructure deal that is going to replace 100 of the lead Service Lines in this country. As well as working on sewer systems. I am so excited about cleaning up sewer systems that i have made this a component of what i do. All across this country, all across the state, if you see sewer systems being dug, i got that money out into the local communities. I am also very proud of the work i have done on the Public Safety officer support act, which provide for support for Police Officers, firefighters, who developed posttraumatic stress as a result of their services, so they dont lose benefits and can get the help they need. It has been so effective that the center for effective legislation named me the number one top democratic senator in my freshman class and has also called me a workhorse when it comes to passing legislation. Kathy salvi, he ran for congress in 2006, coincidently so year that can be won. What qualifies you to be a member of the u. S. Senate . Ms. Salvi in 2006, i would like to correct you on that. Ms. Duckworth was defeated by my former law partner. Congressman duckworth has served for 10 years and i dont believe we have heard an answer to her in the last question on her soft on crime defunding of the police. We are talking about violence in our streets, we do have a tragic issue with violence in the city of chicago in rural and suburban areas in the state. It was reckless for congress senator duckworth to support Lori Lightfoot for mayor of chicago and to suggest that she is doing a good job when she stripped 52 million from the Chicago Police budget. They are demoralized, undermanned, and the families of chicago are suffering as a result. This is a topic we can go on forever. We mentioned we have a live audience, have been watching and already with some questions of their own. We will go to wbzs Michael Puente was life. He is also the host of our latinos voices program. Where are you exactly and what questions do you have . We at at Vida Community church in Little Village here in chicago. We have a small but good crowd here on hand will ask the candidate some questions. We have our first question here. Good evening. I am with the neighborhood center. My question is, over the last few months, Many Organizations happens many of the [indiscernible] who have arrived in chicago. We are thankful that the city of chicago is a welcoming city reviewed what is your plan to continue to support them . Projecting about 3500 who have arrived, and many of them plan to make illinois home. Also, what is your land for finally passing comprehensive Immigration Reform . Sen. Duckworth well, we need comprehensive Immigration Reform, but it starts with making sure that we recognize that there is a crisis at the border. We need to certainly support our Border Patrol agents and also increase our protections along the border. That is why i supported the bipartisan infrastructure deal that passed the senate. It had a doubling of the size of the Border Patrol agent, significant money into it. Including Additional Border fencing. I think there should be more, also, electronic fencing and all those other technologies. I go by three things, it has to be practical, it has to be humane, and it has to be fair. For the folks who are here, we have to be practical about how we deal with the immigration issue in this country. We cant find 11 Million People who are undocumented and put them in detention centers. We have to be fair. We cant let people jump the line. If we are going to work on this and have a pathway to citizenship, i think we have to do things like make sure people pay fines and penalties for having broken the law to be here. Find a way for them to work and pay into Social Security and pay taxes so they are not taking advantage by paying under the table. And then, they need to go to the end of the line the asylumseekers sen. Duckworth this is the humane part, practical, fair, same. When you dont have practical, and when you dont have saying, what you are seeing now happening with the governor of florida and governor of texas. You are seeing these asylumseekers who are fleeing terrible conditions and using them as political ponds. That is inhumane. What do we do . We need to support them. Worker programs are an important thing. So that people can work, they have a status, they are paying taxes. They are not relying on government handouts, but working and being productive members of society. Some pathway that includes again, the question is, comprehensive Immigration Reform . What would you do about that in what would you do to support the asylumseekers sent to chicago . Ms. Salvi we have a humanitarian crisis at our border. 300 Million People have crossed the border and they are dying by the day. It is underreported. Just what happened in chicago and other parts of the country where some of these illegal border crossings have come is just a small taste of what the people on the border are dealing with. Tammy duckworth has voted against every single protection on the southern border. He voted against 18,000 new Border Patrol, which the Border Patrol begged for before he voted for 87,000 new irs agents to the funded to come after Middle American illinois is an american those earning 200,000 or less. You voted against a 300 million bill in order to allow port and screening detection centers cameras, drones, and other protections that the custom and Border Control wished for and asked for. You are part of the problem. President biden in this administrations open border policy is damaging our country, both domestically and it has allowed fentanyl to come across our border, one hundred thousand Americans Last year died of sentinel. In the small hospital right on the mississippi border not only that we have human sex trafficking. In my professional work, i have helped two of those people, one from congo in russia, escape human sex trafficking. We have more questions. Ms. Salvi because of the lack of results we see keep it brief. We have a lot to get to. Ms. Salvi we need to support the folks who are here. We have to be practical about how we do it, we have to be fair, and humane. For those folks who have been used as human ponds, lets support them, lets make sure they have a status, but lets work on passing comprehensive reform. Lets go back to michael. Thank you. These are really hot button issues. We have another Community Member standing next to me read whats your question . Hello. Good afternoon. I am a member of the Little Village community council. My question is regarding what is going to happen to daca recipients. I cannot participate because of my legal status in a program. Emts there is hundreds of people in my position who cannot work. I think she has a question about dhaka, how will you help them . She has a job and it is hard for her to hold onto her job . Kathy, lets start with you. When you vote to make dhaka permanent . Ms. Salvi we definitely need migration before. In our state, we are represented by a single party. If you examine senator duckworths record, she is a republican sponsored bill, she will vote all know only bipartisan bills will she vote on. Because she is a straight democrat vote, that doesnt serve the people of illinois. If we want to serve illinois well, we need to specifically on Immigration Reform, is it good for the people of illinois whether it is a Democrat Bill or Democrat Bill . I will whip in order to meet the needs of the people in illinois as they are being under met. After 10 years in congress, if she she has promises of what she plans to form. Look at her record. It is a straight democrat what about the issue of daca . Ms. Salvi what i plan to do his work across the aisle and find meaningful Immigration Reform. That is my promise. Another question sen. Duckworth absolutely what i vote yes on dhaka. I would also vote yes on a sensible Guest Worker Program so that people who want to come here and work can do that and pay taxes and do all those things. I have a bill right now that is very bipartisan, it has a lot of support. One person is stopping it. It would allow people to serve in the military and gain inquiry and current status from resident status. I cant think of a better way to show that you really love this country then to be willing to put on a [indiscernible] and defend this nation. Senator is keeping it from coming up for a vote. Yes, of course i would vote for dhaka. All the people that are working at our restaurants, in the agriculture department, meaning those workers. Practical, we will get two more questions in just a bit. We will come back to another hot button issue. A question for kathy, if under Lindsey Graham build out orson for 15 weeks across the country, ms. Salvi i believe the decision that was made this summer was good, because it took the issue of abortion out of the court and put it into the hands of representatives. That is my position that i support exceptions and regulation of big business abortions is my personal feeling. I am prolife, prowoman, prochild. My entire life, i have worked to support women. The only radical extremist out of the issue of abortion sits next to me. She wants and supported and voted this summer for nine month abortions, taxpayerfunded. Ninemonth abortion on demand. I would like to ask senator duckworth, would you vote for any restriction or regulation of the abortion altogether . We could all agree that abortion is a tragedy, and any woman who has had to face it knows that. In my practice, i have helped women who have received injuries at the hands of the original question. Did you say you believe in any exemptions to abortion . Ms. Salvi i believe with the majority of people with certain restrictions and regulation of abortion. For rape and incest. Would you vote in favor of a federal bill to ensure abortion is legal nationwide . Sen. Duckworth yes, with the restrictions which is with illinois law, the point of viability, 24 weeks. My daughters, i wont let them grow up in a world where [indiscernible]. We have had roe v. Wade for 50 years which has now been ripped away. Frankly, kathy salvi and republicans pushing for a band, she is on the record saying she does not support portion, even in cases of rape or incest, or the life of the mother she is on the record of saying that. Whether or not she would vote for Lindsey Grahams bill, i dont think she thinks it goes far enough. What is happening across this country is that state after state is outlawing abortion, so much so that illinois has not been a case where women are going as far as texas. As one of my colleagues have said, the Doctors Office is too small a room to have politicians inserting themselves into that space along with a woman and her doctor. Senator duckworths position on abortion is clear. She supports ninemonth election abortion on demand. That is radical and extreme. Over 80 of illinois ins and americans disagree with her. I am the one who has the moderate and reasonable sen. Duckworth no. I will say it again. Includes the restriction at the point of viability which is 24 weeks, which is consistent with illinois law. I voted for the womens Reproductive Health care act when it came up for a vote. On this point, senator duckworth, would you limit abortion on ninemonth . If a woman sought an abortion on nine months, what about the unborn fetus at nine months old . Would not give you any right to an unborn fetus at at gestation point, the [indiscernible] would you give any rights to the unborn fetus . 24 weeks is a lot earlier than we have to talk about the economy. Inflation is obviously an issue on everybodys mind. It is sitting at 8 . What about the federal level should be done to bring that level down . Sen. Duckworth there are two reasons we have inflation. One is the 1. 9 trillion spending bill that senator duckworth and every single democrat senator voted for in march of 2021. All the money that we put into the system has singularly because the inflation that we now are afflicted. This is the number one reason, the predominant reason i am writing. We cant afford gas. We cant afford groceries. Every Single Family in illinois, every worker, our standard of living is affected because of the reckless bill that senator duckworth voted for, without one republican vote in march of 2021. In addition, when President Biden signed into law that these shut down the keystone pipeline, and we became energy dependent as opposed to energy independent, which we had been two years ago, that has driven down our economy and because the prices we have today. It is completely government cause. Tammy duckworth has been a 100 rubberstamp and vote 100 of the time for the failed joe biden agenda. I am running because we did not want to elect joe biden. You can elect Tammy Duckworth this november. We need to have a strong economy, become energy independent, liquefied natural gas. Those are the two reasons. Senator duckworth, President Biden said an executive order providing Student Debt Relief for those earning a certain sen. Duckworth thank you. The reason that gas prices have gone up is because large Oil Companies have stopped drilling. One of the biggest things in the last two years is that the large oil and Gas Companies have maximize their profits. Today, shell oil announced that they made 9 billion in profits in the last quarter, which is double what they made in the same time period last year. I am proud of the work i have done to go after big corporations to bring down gas prices. But also to go after big pharma as well. Oil and pharmaceuticals are the two areas where they have made record profits and continue to do so throughout the pandemic. It is why i voted for the Inflation Reduction Act that is bringing down pharmaceutical prices with a cap 35 a month for Senior Citizens who use insulin and a 2000 a year annual limit on outofpocket costs for seniors. And allow medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. I also introduce the price gouging act to go after those people who have stopped drilling who are driving up oil prices. The average person trying to put gas in their gas tank is [indiscernible] they are high because the Oil Companies are gouging. I gotta get to another issue. Quick issues on this. On the issue of loan forgiveness, it is on hold right now. 10,000, 20,000 if you have pell grants for people earning certain incomes. This go far enough . Ms. Salvi i think what we need to do is address the issue of the cost of college situation. I do support the president forgiveness of the Student Loans, but i think it should be a onetime thing. I think what we need to look at is, how do we bring down the high cost of tuition so that anybody can go to college and come out debtfree . It is why i introduced a bill that would allow people to gain money for College Tuition in exchange for national service. If i picked up a rifle and got a g. I. Bill money, i think you be able to pick up a spoon or a hammer or a piece of chalk and through different programs, earned for 18 months that you serve this country, you get two years of College Tuition. That would be a way that along with workstudy, like i had, i worked two jobs as a waitress to get my way through college, because young people should be able to graduate without debt. Yes, we do need to forgive the current Student Loans, i do support that, because it is important to reset. But lets talk about what are we going to do it doesnt seem like they have had momentum let me ask you. Do you agree with bidens executive order . Ms. Salvi absolutely not. Tammy duckworth, again, support something. The problem that we have is President Biden writes into law from his desk, and senator duckworth sits in the congress, a donothing congress, they are not a check and balance on the unbridled power of joe biden. This shows you the desperation that the president and democrats have in this midyear election. To settle saddle every american taxpayer with student loan forgiveness, it is worth nothing, the contract is nothing but also, it is going to drive tuition up. It is absolutely unfair to put that burden on the american taxpayer. Lets talk about education. The shutdown in education in our state, 70 of kids at their grade level cannot read and do math. I am sorry to cut you off. We will have some education questions from champagne. That is where we will go right now. W i ll television. Tanisha is with an audience of students and others. I know some of your guests are ready to weigh in on this. Absolutely. As you mention, we are live on the campus of the university of illinois. I am joined right now by one of those students who has a question. She will ask our first question of champagne. High. A School District in Mclean County recently voted on a state statute that allows schools to reject teacher resignations. How are you going to encourage people to [indiscernible] and how will you incentivize those already well start with you. Sen. Duckworth our Teachers Want to teach. And during the shutdown of the schools here in illinois and by the way, Tammy Duckworth supported the School Shutdowns and closures and any bill she had before her that would allow the schools to open she did not support. And weve seen what a disaster that has been here in illinois. 70 of kids at the third grade level cannot read or do math to standard. And teachers are behind the eight ball trying to teach the kids reading, math and science. And this is a first class problem. What i will support as the next u. S. Senator is a funding for the states and local districts to get reading and math specialists into the schools to help our kids catch up. This is what parents want. We want to have trust in our public educational system. And it has been eroded under the leadership or lack of leadership from Tammy Duckworth. Senator duckworth to that question of recruiting teachers and attracting them to the profession. Sen. Duckworth well, i do think that we should return to the program where teachers who certainly go into underserved communities are given tuition credit or have their loans revolved the way we do with doctors and in some School Districts already. I also support a piece of legislation that would allow teachers to take more off their taxes off of their taxes in exchange for the money that they buy, they use to buy School Supplies. But frank will he, teachers shouldnt have to be buying School Supplies ouch their pockets filiations and why i voted for the rescue plan which not a single republican vote for and a tremendous amount of money into our schools. So that those schools could reopen after the pandemic. Let me tell you, and teaching my daughters during the home schooling, for abigail in kipped garton and for abigail in kindergarten and have a ph. D. And a senator and i didnt do well as a Kindergarten Teacher and i have respect for teachers on the frontline every single day and we need to provide them with more resources so they can do their jobs. Thats one of the reasons i voted for the American Rescue plan so we could keep our schools safe and open them and give the schools resources they need in order to provide the education for our kids and the kids right now who have gone through the pandemic are going to take time to recover from that. And we need to continue to support those School Systems and make sure that we support the young people who want to go into the teaching profession. Clearly theres a lot of recovery going on from those and another question out there in champaign is this champaign . We certainly do. Weve got senior carson gordy here and he has another question also associated with Student Loans. Yes. So biden tried to forgive 10,000 in Student Loans but plenty of students still have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Are there any specific steps you would take as senator to try to lower the cost of tuition or kind of find alternative forms of education like trade schools or other aspects where people can still go to school and have a good career after college . And want to address this to you because senator, you did answer that question so kathy sahely what about that lowering the cost of tuition and trade schools examine more incentives . Ms. Salvi absolutely. I toured on friday this Great Program called lift illinois and an alternative high school. It serves seven counties and i think that its a model for teaching technical trades, to high school students, they dont even call it teachers teachers they are called facilitators and so impressed with the program and this is what we need statewide. And im also a big fan of Community Colleges where kids can go and determine what they like to do and pick up skills and leave college with a base. Our tuition is too high. And kids are being shortchanged in the classroom both in the elementary, the secondary, and this is this is a problem. If we do not build our workforce of the future, you know, were shortchanging our community, our business, etc. And senator duckworth, where have you been in 10 years . Ill tell you one thing you did with that 1. 9 trillion spending boondoggle. You said that it goes to the school. It doesnt. In fact, you had an opportunity to keep p. P. P. Funds from prisoners, probationers and parolees and you voted against that bill. You voted in favor of those who marauded Michigan Avenue and broke into businesses. There was a bill that came before the congress, before the senate that would disallow people who committed those crimes from receiving s. B. A. Loans. You voted against that. And so i dont know where the money went. Look at our schools. Our kids are behind the eight ball with you voted you voted in when you were given an opportunity to vote to open the schools, every single bill that came before you you voted against. And that he was not the leadership we deserve in illinois. You shortchanged the kids. You shortchanged taxpayers. You shortchanged Middle America with Inflation Reduction Act that you passed with 75 of new taxes to be taken out of those earning 200,000 or less. Thats insanity. And thats why im running. So were going to very quick response, senator duckworth. Sen. Duckworth 123. The p. P. C. Funds your law firms took those 200,000 worth and you applied for the forgiveness and never paid those back. I think it is hypocritical, i supported the p. P. P. Supported your law firm getting the funds and hypocritical to ask for lone foregeoffness for yourself and your law firm but not for students. And as far as as far as the Chicago Public schools, for example, got 1. 8 billion in the American Rescue plan money which is allowing them to allowed them to reopen and provide safety and security for their kids. I also want to note that she keeps mistaking what state decisions with federal decisions, and decisions to open state schools. Schools are state decisions and local decisions not federal. And bottom line, we need to make sure that whatever we do, its common sense. And the bills that i voted for got this country moving, got the economy moving again. And also the Inflation Reduction Act let me just make it clear reduced the budget deficit by 500 million. Lets move on to some other issues. We have a lot more to go and i just want to remind our viewers in case youre just joining us im perriers with tina of the chicago suntimes. And youre listening to and watching our u. S. Senate Candidate Forum a partnership with the chicago suntimes and we are joined by candidates democrat Tammy Duckworth and republican kathy salvi. So lets do a little talk about election nacrite. Ms. Salvi and i deserve a response to that. Because i think the hypocrisy we really have to switch to election integrity. Will each of you could be seed to the other if you lose well start with the senator. Sen. Duckworth absolutely. I wore the uniform for 23 years defending the constitution of the United States. And the hallmark of what makes us the great nobody race on the face of the earth is that when you lose an election, you concede it. And kathy salvi. Ms. Salvi oh, absolutely. As to payroll protection it is hypocritical to vote for a bill and on election integrity. Those who payrolls. Thank you. Senator duckworth, do you think the results of the 2020 president ial election were legitimate and i think i know your answer and kathy salvi do you believe the Election Results in 2020 were legitimate . Sen. Duckworth yes. Ms. Salvi joe biden is our president. As sad as it is im not running for office because donald trump lost. Im running because joe biden has failed us and Tammy Duckworth is a 100 rubber stamp for his failed agenda and this is why i believe ill be lbted this november. I think we want to move on to some very quick hitter questions. So just like a couple word answers and we will start with you. Thursday the fun section. You can have fun with this. Kathy kathy, what republicans do you admire . Ms. Salvi National Republicans i admire, several. There are several leaders on both sides of the aisle. Could you name a couple. Ms. Salvi well, i think the first republican leader i love is president abraham lincoln. President ronald reagan. Those are two great republicans from the state of illinois. And i would i think we have great leadership leader from each of them. President grant was a great leader. What about current republicans . Ms. Salvi current republicans, theres a host of them. I think that our neighboring senators to the east have run the state ofey very well. And i think that they would be two senators that i would look to for direction and inasmuch as iowa is a state very much like illinois, its rich with and iowa is to the west of us. Quick hit, senator duckworth. Chicago bares, should they stay in sowedder field or Arlington Heights and build a brand new stadium . I do think they should go to arlington thirties and new people will get to it and a greater chance of having greater growth out there. And my old congressional district, too. It is and public subsidies, should there be any public help to build that stadium . Yes, with tremendous strings so that the taxpayers are compensated for any type of subsidies that they are provided with. And kathy as well. Yes. Chicago bears. Arlington heights. Soldier field. Ms. Salvi i would love to see the Chicago Bears in the Arlington Heights area. But we love dont you love Soldier Field . And iconic place. With a lot of history. We all agree on that. If they want to move to Arlington Heights lets keep the bares here in illinois. Thats for sure. Our next quick hit is stimulus. Should they be issued given a possible recession . No. Sen. Duckworth no. Ms. Salvi i touched on that before. Senator duckworth was geffen an opportunity to prevent prisoners, probationers and parolees from receiving stimulus checks. And she voted against a bill to disallow that. Ok. Quick hit for both of you, i think i know the answer, did you get the latest Covid Vaccine . Sen. Duckworth yes. Yes. I am fully vaccinated and boosterred. We call have you received the latest . Ms. Salvi theres another departure of senator duckworth is for mandated vaxes and masks. And i think that that was just bad policy. And its i think its wrong for anybody, particularly one in elected office to come between a doctor and the patient. Is that your mandated vaccines and masks . Sen. Duckworth thats not true. And those are again local issues. She is running for state office or maybe municipal office. Those are not those are not federal laws. Mandate for federal workers. But we have to clarify what those are. Sen. Duckworth let me say that masking and vaccines kept many people safe in the early days of the pandemic when our morgu civility were full and hospitals were collapsing. We needed to have masking before we had the vaccine. And the vaccines are helping to save lives every single day. Those were two quick hits and medium hits there. Lets go back to champaign and reporter tanisha spain where 3m questions about illinois agriculture. Tanisha. Absolutely. Im joined by roger sy. He lives in the area. Roger, tell us a little bit about where you farm and go ahead and ask your question. I farm here in east central, illinois. About 40 miles south of Champaign Urbana area. And i want to thank you both for being with us and giving us this opportunity this evening to ask you some questions and be with you. In 2023, were going to start ramping up our efforts to write a new farm bill. Crop insurance, conservation programs, export markets are all very important parts of it as well as many other items. And i wonder if both of you have any ideas on what really needs to be addressed or do you think needs to be changed when we Start Talking about the new farm bill . Kathy salvi, well start with you tonight farm bill. Ms. Salvi ill tell you, i often said when i went farmers for salvi coalition, they have my ear. And were going to lose people who are serving on the ago committee and i will ask to be on that committee as the next u. S. Senator. I could do a great deal of good. So why why accept crumbs from the democrat table when you could have a full course meal from satcheli . Thats my idea with farmers. What we need is farmers the government has to get out of the way of our farmers. Every business counts for one quarter of our economy here in illinois. And the democrat policies are hurting our farmers. From the death tax, theres not a tax that Tammy Duckworth hasnt voted for, that she hasnt wanted. What we need to do is we need to reduce the tax burden not only on our farms and agribusiness but all Small Business and all people in this state. And that is what youll get in the salvi senator. In addition to that, senator duckworth is for prop 12 which will basically put our pork farmers out of business. In addition to that, she is ok with redefining the waters of the u. S. A. And she would like e. P. A. Intervention on where drainage and runoff on our farms. Senator, we have to get you in here. A new ag bill. Sen. Duckworth ive already started negotiating with the Ag Committee Members on the new ag bill. A couple of things that are top of mind is making sure we reinstate Crop Insurance so that farmers have a way to help themselves. Crop insurance is one of the best things we can do for farmers. We also need to recognize that our ago sector is not just about food. Our ag sector is about energy for the future. And illinois is leading the nation when it comes to ethanol and biofuels production. Thats why i put into this years Defense Budget money to develop biofuels, biodiesel for aviation uses. And in fact in illinois, we can now provide net Carbon Neutral fuels because of our the strength of our farm sector in producing ethanol. And it is so powerful in fact that we just signed a deal with l. G. Industries which is the people who make your washing machines and your refrigerators. They are now in decatur, illinois, with producing bioplastics as a result of the excess waste that comes out of ethanol production which would now move our Energy Production to net carbon negative. Attacking more industries. Our ag sector is critically important not just for feeding our nation today but fueling our nation today and fueling the world tomorrow. We have another question in champaign. I think on that subject. Tanisha. May i respond to that . Im joined with firstyear master student alexei. Ok. Now im joined with firstyear masters student alexei nep studying agriculture here on the campus of the university of illinois and shes got a question. Hi. How do you think that the federal government should balance encouraging more Sustainable Farming practices with likelihood that this will increase food cost to the consumer . Kathy salvi, more Sustainable Farming practices. Ms. Salvi first of all, the Energy Drives our economy. And the fact that diesel fuel it 25,000 on unbudgeted diesel fuel costs and diesel fuel is in short supply. This administration and Tammy Duckworths war on liquified natural gas, Nuclear Energy, oil drilling, has imperiled our economy and it has put a huge burden on every single one of our farmers. The inputs to farmers is nearly double what it was two years ago. In addition to that, we became we were a 40 Nuclear Energy exporter two years ago and now a 40 Nuclear Energy importer. I believe in renewables. We need to work toward them. But you dont throw the baby away with the bath water. And our economy kart sustain itself cannot sustain itself. 12 to 15 dependent on renewables and the Energy Policy from joe biden and Tammy Duckworth completely irresponsible. And is whats driving up the cost of living both at the gas tank and in the grocery store. For east illinois and america. We have a related question on Energy Policy. We do have to move on. Sen. Duckworth the questioners question about the cost of ag increasing. Sustainable. Sen. Duckworth sustainable. And an all of the above Energy Policy. A twitter question, how can the federal government encourage more oil and Gas Production and increased Oil Refinery Capacity . Ill add to this question, senator duckworth. Should the federal government encourage Something Like that . Sen. Duckworth yes. So lets talk about all of the above Energy Policy. This is something ive supported. In fact, i have worked very hard to support fermi lab and National Laboratory in the development of better more Sustainable Nuclear fuel to make sure that it is cleaner and we can reuse some of the nuclear fuel. We in illinois are major energy state and we have the ability tt almost 2 million in Research Funding for Carbon Capture sequestration to look at taking the excess carbon thats being produced through natural gas, through traditional through coal and take that carbon and put it into and develop that technology for clean coal so that we can actually lead the world in that. I would rather develop that technology here and sell it overseas. Biodiesel. The cost of diesel fuel has gone up. Its almost 1 more than regular fuel. One of the ways that we can bring that cost down is more biodiesel because it stretches it stretches the diesel that is available. We also need to make sure that whatever we do in terms of setting a standard for the future, we do wer agnostic were agnostic in how we go forward. Carbon neutral, 2035 or 2040, whatever it is, subsidize wind where we now have 100,000 new jobs in wind and we should subsidize clean coal. Carbon capture sequestration and subsidize biodiesel and biofuel and similarly. So that let the marketplace do its job to get us to that Carbon Neutral future. You both said an all of the above strategy. We have to toss it to Little Village now because michael putina has one more question out there in Little Village. Michael, what do you got . Thank you, yes, we are back at the la vita area and criminal Justice Reform on the mind of some here and we have another questioner. Yes. My name is jose bazaro, director of Intervention Services for build inning corporated. My question is related to the Chicago Public school system. So my intervention and a half gators initially were in the schools mentoring young people in the space. And with the new policy, theyve basically been forced out because some of them cannot pass the intense background check that c. P. S. Currently has in place. So my question is, what are the solutions to this challenge and is there going to be some kind of exception to the rule for the background checks to allow these mentors back into the schools . Sen. Duckworth thats a city of chicago question. Thats more of a city of chicago question so the broader question is folks getting back into the workforce or getting back into jobs like schools that cant survive a background check. Ms. Salvi well, Tammy Duckworth has supported as i mentioned earlier Lori Lightfoot in her bid for reelection to the city of chicago. And we have seen under her leadership the Chicago Public schools are hurting. They were hurting with the lockdown. And theyre not safe places for the kids and the kids arent learning in the classroom and nicks the streets of chicago are unsafe which is one reason why i received the unanimous endorsement of the illinois fraternal order of police and every single endorsing police agency. We need to make chicago work again. And i for all of my adult life, have been working to make inner city kids have a better education. I served on the board of the midtown Educational Foundation for most of my adult life. I was a attitudor when i was at a College Student at loyola. And a law student. And im wedded to making sure that kids who are average kids from the city of chicago get their education. Our program midtown, both 98 pass rate through the Chicago Public school system. Its a winning program. And insofar as helping kids, a great idea and a plan, we need to have congressional dollars put into our schools so that we could have reading and math specialists help our kids catch up. Were going to leave were going to leave Little Village for now, mike, thank you very much. We have some nationaloriented questions. You quickly sen. Duckworth i would love to answer that question. I think she is running for mayor of chicago and municipal elections next year not for senate. We are here to talk about november. I did vote for a bill that put money back into our School Systems called the American Rescue plan. But i think its important to talk about our recidivism and making sure that we allow ways for prisoners who are leaving our correctional institutions to have a path so that they dont go back in in jail again, right . So some of the things that we can do is provide them with training while theyre incarcerated and make sure they have an i. D. Card. So many of them are left out let out of prison and no i. D. Card. When i worked very hard to make sure that veterans when veterans are incarcerated at the very least they get a veterans i. D. Card so that when they leave they have some proof, some identification so that they can start applying for jobs. And we need to provide more training and more support for those folks. I dont support lowering any type of a background Check Standard but i do think that there are ways to help formally formerly incarcerated individuals have members of society and we have to start helping them while theyre incarcerated. We have some quick questions about national politics. Kathy salvi, do you believe that former President Donald Trump should run for president in 2024 . Ms. Salvi i have to respond. Two out of every three American Families in illinois families are hurting. And you make you paint such a rosy picture. Im running because the economy is in the tank and youre part of the cause of that. Thats not the question, though. Ms. Salvi crime is out of the control and youre part of the cause for that. As for donald trump. Ms. Salvi i am so focused on november and winning in november that i will support whomever the republican nominee is in 202 should joe biden run in 2024. Sen. Duckworth if he decides to run i will support him. Lets move on to some International Issues obviously ukraine has been an issue ongoing there talks of nuclear threats. Russian forces conducted nuclear exercises. What if anything should the u. S. Do if indeed this threshold is crossed . If some kind of nuke or dirty bomb is used by Vladimir Putin . Sen. Duckworth well not so much what we should do but what we have to do. Because if putin does use a dirty bomb or some sort of nuclear or biological weapon the fallout from that will actually blow into nato countries like poland. And that means that the article five of the nato treaty would be activated to which requires for mutual defense which would then pull in the United States the United States into that conflict. So what we need to do is do everything we can to keep those weapons from being used. And you should know we in illinois should be very proud it ukrainians are doing because we actually had Illinois National guardsmen in the ukraine up until just a few weeks before the russians invaded a few months before the russians invaded training the Ukrainian Military because we have this great ukrainian American Community in chicago and polish speakers in the Illinois National guard and i knew because i was with them for all those years. So understand that this is really about the fact that if he does do this, we will have a choice we wont have a choice and be pulled into the conflict. This is why its so important to keep russia constrained and to make sure that they dont they dont use these weapons. Kathy salvi, you said before you dont think the u. S. Should be sending any more aid to ukraine, what do you think the u. S. Policy should be . Ms. Salvi i said that i would have supported the aid that we sent. And i thought that before additional aid should be sent, we needed to make sure that the money that was spent, that the 40 billion that we allocated was spent for the reason that we sent it to support the brave and wonderful ukraine yab fighters. But senator duckworth, you 0 an answer to all of us. Because you sit on the Armed Services committee and in august of 2021 when all of our hearts were broken watching the failed afghanistan withdrawal, after committing to that country for 20 years, and securing their freedom you sat silent on that committee. And yet youre one of 100 senators. And that was an embarrassment to our country. It enabled our enemies and it showed that sthoad our allies that we have no senator response to that. Sen. Duckworth the commitment to withdraw from afghanistan was done by actually president trump. As part of the doha courts which committed us to that withdrawal. It was done poorly. And i came right out and said so. I said so on the floor of the United States senate. And ive done everything that i can to support our afghan allies. That is all the time we have and we thank both of you. Thank you to candidate Tammy Duckworth and kathy salvi for inning us. Me, tina fondelas. Tanisha spain and our colleagues at illinois public media and will in urbana, champaign and studio audience and wbezs michael puenta and our audience in Little Village. Thank you for joining us this evening. And stay healthy and safe. Tina, thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. Thank you, candidates. Have a great night. We have more campaign 2022 debate coverage here tonight on cspan. Coming up from anchorage, alaska, congresswoman mary paltoa who won a special recollection faces sara palin. And libertarian chris bye for the states only u. S. Thousands seat. And at 10 00 eastern democratic seto maggy hassan and her repuic challenger don bolduc debate for new hampshires state senate seat. 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