Suraj good evening. Welcome to the cuny tv studio. I am errol lewis. I am bridget bergen, senior Political Correspondent at the got messed. New yorkers will be headed to the polls to vote in the primaries for congress and state senate. Early voting comes even sooner. The primary calendar was redone and the redrawing Congressional Districts have led to some competitive primaries including the race we are focusing on tonight. The newly redrawn Fourth District stretches across several neighborhoods including the upper east side, upper west side, downtown. We are joined by the three leading democratic candidates. Carol maloney was elected to congress in 1992. Over the last decade, she helped parts of queens and brooklyn as well. Search patel is a businessman and professor. These are the rules for tonight past 90 minute debate. Each candidate will have 60 seconds to respond to questions and they will be given an opportunity to respond if they are addressed by his and her opponent. They will be a lightning round where answers have to be yes or no for a very short response. You can see this full debate on the Spectrum News app at any time or you can listen along on wnyc radio. For those of you at home, please join the conversation. We begin now with short opening statements. The order was different the order was determined. Quick i am the congresswoman for the 12 conditional 12 Congressional District of the city of new york. That is why i have been rated number three in the entire congress as being the most affected effective by republicans and democrats by two independent congressional rating organizations. Change does not come easily but it will come if you never quit. I do not quit on our First Responders and now they have health care for life. We need to protect women, we need to pass gun safety laws. We will succeed if we never quit. I work for you and i am asking for your support. Thank you, next up is jerrold nadler. Rep. Nadler thank you for inviting me. Our country stands at a crossroads with our democracy at stake and eliminating womens rights to choose and insurrectionist Republican Party try to stop the peaceful transfer of power. I am leaving the fight to stop this. I impeached bush twice. I passed the strongest gun control the strongest gun control legislation. I hope the voters on august 23 will vote for me so i can continue working for them. Thank you. Mr. Patel i am a lawyer, professor and obama democrat from whom i learned a new generation of leadership. The 1990s democrats have lost almost every major battle to Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans. Trumpism is on the rise and to defeat it, we need people with new ideas. You will hear two distinct arguments from three candidates. Two of them will be talking about the past and i will be talking about the future. I have copper has a plan for immigration, livability, the crisis that new york state faces. It is 2022. It is time to turn the page on 1992. I am running this race with the same energy, optimism, hope and vigor that brought my family here with nothing in their pockets and i do not even sleep on my own bed. Did not even sleep on my own bed. I slept on the floor. For the next 90 minutes, i encourage you to listen with your mind and then this august, vote with your hearts. Thank you very much rep. Maloney thank you very much. Bridget another health risk is of growing concern. There has been an emergency declared because of the spread of monkeypox. There been nearly 2 50 to 100 cases across the country with new york living with 1300. Here we go again. Critics say we should have learned more from the years we spent dealing with covid. My first question is to you. Do you agree with critics who say President Biden dropped the ball on monkeypox response and what changes do you propose at the federal level to prepare for the next Public Health emergency . We can always do better. All of us can do better. I have called and for him to declare a national emergency, that would release more resources, money and help in this direction. I have written several letters on this to the mayor, the city and others. We could open up the National Reserve and order them to produce more of it. We know 80,000 new doses came and some of them are coming to new york. We are looking at it, we are on top of it and we will keep working to get more vaccines here in the study so that everyone who wants a vaccine can get it. We should probably set up a commission to come out with a whole study and plan of how to be ready for the next attack of the next pandemic. We know we will have future pandemics. I have been trying to do that, to try to have insurance in place for Small Businesses going forward. We need a comprehensive approach. That is one area i have legislation that i hope to pass. Thank you. In what ways would you propose liking the cdc to focus more explicitly on containing outbreaks like this . I think the cdc can do the focusing. I dont think that is the problem. The problem is we dont have enough vaccines. We should have foreseen this. That is why i lead a denigration letter to the president urging him to immediately dedicate 100 million more dollars to Monkeypox Vaccines. Do you think the risk posed by monkeypox in this outbreak will fix the prices that we saw . This transmission seems to be by surface contact instead of by eversole. It is most likely aerosol. It is most likely not to spread as far. People have had difficult challenges getting those vaccine appointments. How would you work to ensure that people who needed vaccine can get it . I want to answer your question. The fda in the last three years has proven to have failed. It is in over 100 your organization that needs to be reformed. The europeans have separate food and Drug Administration is to safeguard food. There were one million doses of the Monkeypox Vaccine waiting in a danish laboratory. They have inspected those vaccines and that factory and approved it but the fda dragged their feet on that inspection and only recently give them approval. We have learned the science proves that the shot will give you about 70 protection. Lets not make the same mistake. Both of these agencies need to reform. We need reformers and authors that are willing to ask the tough questions. The fda does not need to be they are fully capable of cessation of smoking oversight the way it is. The cdc does not need to be doing that. Moving onto covid, for more than two years, the world has faced the covid19 pandemic. More than 40,000 lives lost here in new york city and while the virus remains ever present in our lives, vaccines have played a vital role in mitigating the rest outcomes. During your time in office, you raised questions about vaccines and autism. Given the ongoing challenge, did you spread misinformation about vaccines . Absolutely not. You are referring to something i said in a hearing roughly 20 years ago. I support the Science Behind vaccines. I have worked to bring over 5 million worth of vaccines to our city, free testing, free treatment. I am the only member of congress who has opened up to Vaccine Health care centers. This action has saved lives. Again, words, not actions. I supported vaccines. One of the first things i did was vote for the childrens Vaccine Program that came forward and we brought it to my neighbors that i represent. That is not my action. I believe i am the only congressperson in new york state for sure. They have taken the extraordinary step of opening up to Vaccine Health care centers in the district i am proud to represent. I lost them in redistricting. Just to be clear, you reintroduced legislation between 2015 and 2016. I never voted against vaccines. There was a bill i went on that studied vaccines. If we are a country that cant even study anything anymore, i regret i ever asked a question about vaccines or supported a study on whether or not they are effective or not. In washington dc, all Public School children under the age of 12 are required to be vaccinated against covid to go back to school. Should that be the case in new york city . It should. Covid19 is a very Communicable Disease that is spread by aerosols. That means it is very easy to spread. Much easier than monkeypox. Without vaccines, you have a lot of people dying, a lot of children dying. The purpose of the vaccine is vaccines dont prevent covid but they do guarantee that if you get a few if you get a case of covid, it will be mild, it will not result in an inability to breathe. We must have a mandate for vaccines. We still have a mask mandate on subways and buses. When do you think that should be lifted . I would like to address the vaccine thing because i think there is a factual issue at play. Congressman maloney introduced a vaccine bill with ron paul of all people. She introduced nine different bills. Even if we rent the simple idea that all we were doing is studying, the fact of the matter is these were proven decades ago. Republicans today tell us Climate Change is not real. They tell us it might be solar flares or the natural rhythm of the earth. We have a causal link between Climate Change and carbon dioxide. This the burden should shift to the other party. This is the classic prove a negative problem. In doing so, you can draw a Straight Line from men hearing those bills and people not getting vaccines. You should understand that it shifted. Rep. Maloney my opponent is dredging up charges in the last two elections he threw at me repeatedly, he spent millions on tv ads and i would say that it is not true. I did go on a bill that was for a study and that was 20 years ago. Look at my record, but have you done . Achievements speak louder than words. It is easy to attack people. It is much harder to open up Health Care Centers that actually help people. It is much harder to pass legislation bringing millions of dollars back to help our city deliver this to every neighborhood but some neighborhoods were not served and that is why i am proud of having opened up not one but two medical Health Care Centers, saving lives by bringing back vaccine treatment and testing to underserved communities that had a huge number of people dying from covid. I am proud of that achievement. Actions speak louder than words. I have never voted against vaccines. I have always voted for them. I supported funding, supported programs and actually did things to help people in our great city and country. Represented of nadler, you also have the opportunity to respond since you were mentioned. Rep. Nadler i will just say that i have always supported vaccines and i dont think misinformation is useful. Lets move on. We happen to be holding the debate tonight on the National Night out against crime which is fitting given the growing concerns about Public Safety in new york and other places around the country. Mr. Nadler, you and miss maloney both voted for and supported the 1994 Violent Crime control and Law Enforcement act. It was a major piece of legislation with many subchapters. This has led to enhanced sentencing and a bit more resins but that same law also included the assault weapons ban, included the violence against women act, it included mandatory federal reporting of death caused by police department. What part of that law do you consider successful or that you wish may be had never been included . Certainly the violence against women act has been very successful. I think all of the provisions have been successful. There is a debate on whether having more cops affects crime but with nobody debates is that to stop crime, we have to get the guns off our streets and i have led the fight in getting the guns off our streets. We have to stop Police Brutality because if people dont trust police officers, they are not going to deal with them. That is why we introduced the George Floyd Justice in policing act that was set up a registry of offices so that the bed officers cant be fired in milwaukee and hired in new york. It was stop qualified immunity. It bans noknock warrants and chokehold. Chokehold. S. What would your ideal crime bill look like today . I am the only candidate in this race that has the Public Safety website link on his website. It is measured by the magnitude of being caught for something. Multiplied by the probability the magnitude of the punishment. The 94 crime bill focused heavily on increasing penalties and unless you believe in reincarnation, this is enough. You dont get deterred because we had penalties for crimes. Last year, appallingly 45 of homicides in new york went unsolved. I support the probability of being caught. That would hire detectives and technologies to clear homicides and Violent Crime to the things that really matter. At the same time, we need to invest in say space interventions. If you go to 20th and 7th avenue just north of 10 south, you know exactly what i am talking about. It is difficult to walk around. We need to get the economy moving again. There is a 7. 5 Unemployment Rate in new york. We will get to the economy for we are done here tonight. Miss maloney, what would your anticrime bill look like today . Rep. Maloney what i am looking at is we have a crisis in new york with safety and we need our streets to be safer. Our mayor is trying to do that. There are two ways the federal government can help the city, help the mayor, help our people and make them safer. The first is Mental Health money from the federal government. When they were pushed in front of the train, i researched it and found that mr. Simon wanted to bet his doctors had notes that i will kill a woman, i will push her in front of a train if i dont have a bed. I called the hospital and said why dont we have beds . They said because they are not reimbursed with medicaid and there is a bill that passed in 1962 that limited that only 16 beds can be reimbursed. I put in the bill that would allow the federal dollars to flow to new york, create more beds. Half of the people in rikers and one report had Mental Health problems and many of the people that commit crimes. We need to have, close the Mental Health hospitals but nothing was put in its place. This bill was put in it face in its place. My Committee Just had a hearing on that. My time is up. You can go to my website and read more about it. I want to broaden the restructured the discussion. Theyll reform has it been a mistake or at a minimum needs to be changed specifically so that repeat offenders are detained before trial. Do you think we need more pretrial detention to keep the city safe . If not, what should be done . We need a system in which judges have the power to decide and judge which defendants poses the risk of danger. They must be held in jail. It should never be determined by cash. Whether you are in jail or not, pretrial should not be determined by how much money you can afford but it should be determined by the judge deciding based on history and everything he knows about you whether you are a threat pretrial or not. Mr. Patel i was a proud supporter of dale reform when it passed as an idea. I do see that we have to reform. I am not an ideologue. When it comes to specific types of crimes, it is quiet clear that they need to have a big discussion to make sure that i repeat recidivist does not get to come back out on the street. We have to get over the fact that criminal Justice Reform and Racial Justice are somehow a zerosum game were antithetical to one another. Only 60 of homicides are solved in the last year. This is one thing that we need to rebuild right off the bat in order to actually start solving Violent Crime and getting people off the streets that dont need to be there. I think we definitely need judicial discretion. We have judges that should be able to use their judgment and make determinations that are fair to both sides of it. I think they could look at the history and all kinds of areas. One thing we could do is pass meaningful gun reform. We should look at bills that are not going up against the Second Amendment. That is how the republicans kill organ measures. I put in a bill that puts liability on guns, required it they were very upset about it. Guns are far more dangerous. We could also tax the more so it is harder for the young people to buy this. The gun of their choice, the ar15. It is so deadly needs to be removed. We are looking at holding the manufacturer is responsible manufacturers responsible. Track where these guns are going, how many people are being killed and they should have some response ability as other manufacturers have. Request the fact is that the fact is that under my leadership, we have already passed legislation to ban assault weapons like ar15s. We already passed legislation to reverse what republicans bid did back in 2005. We have already done that and i led the way in doing that. Mr. Patel i have a question for the audience which is what does blackrock have in common with representative maloney and representative nadler . It is the largest shareholder in the top work on manufacturers in the United States of america. Rather than grandstanding with a bill that isnt going to pass the u. S. Senate and not showing up to vote for on friday and instead of doing a media tour, you could go down to 53rd street and ask blackrock to talk to the gun manufacturers that they are lead shareholders in and figure out how to make these things safer. Rep. Maloney we did pass bills but the senate has announced that they are not passing. They will not pass in the senate. A large part of it is the Second Amendment argument they use. I am talking about liability for the gun owner, for that gun. You have a gun and you kill someone, you are personally liable for that gun. That is what i am talking about. I think that would be one way. I think we have to look at ways to get it through the senate. If you get away from the Second Amendment which you would with that one and also with taxation and the manufacturers and holding them accountable, those are bills you can actually pass with bipartisan support. I have passed over 70 bills that had president ial bill signings. I am thinking not only how to get it through the house but get it to the president s desk and into the street and into the lives, helping people. We are seeing two members of congress faced off against each other because a judge ordered a new primary after determining the Congressional District was gerrymandered. The court said the democrats went too far. That this was after the independent Redistricting Commission that failed at its own task of coming up with bipartisan ways. If you win, new york is poised to lose a Senior Member of the delegation. How is that good for new york . Voters in new york voted to elbow gerrymandering for the incumbents. Every time across the country, whether it is in a red state were here in new york, the voters are given the opportunity to choose their politician and not the other way around. That is pretty oldfashioned but that is the way it should be. The New York Times reported that young and latino voters were, out to save her election. There are multiple times that congressman nadler went along with us to give over part of his section. District. We lost the ability to draw our own maps because we adapted to gerrymander in a way that we always give republicans flack for. For race and age. That is one problem. I think it is important to remember why the three of us are on this stage in this district. I would like to respond to the gentleman. I am heartbroken that i am losing oakland and queens. Two districts that i love. I have a major housing develop ment that i have been working on in brooklyn. My two centers that i funded with millions of dollars, it was not easy to do, they are in queens. I would not have made those investments and the investments i have continued to make. What youre are saying is totally untrue. I love those neighborhoods. Let me tell you one thing. I did not want to run against my good friend, jerry nadler. We have been friends and allies for years. Unfortunately we were drawn into the same district. I would much prefer to have the old district that i had. This was reported by the New York Times with multiple stories and multiple sources. It was confirmed by kathy hooker herself. They specifically targeted areas that representative maloney lost two years ago. How would benefit new york to lose a Senior Member of the delegation . Mr. Patel seniority does not mean effectiveness. You need only look across the river to a president that was in office for significantly less time who has a significant amount of influence in the economic argument of the democrats and a new message to win more of this country back. That is hakeem jeffries. In 12 years, he is in house leadership. He is guiding policy. You also need to think about what you can do as a congressperson to affect change in the conversation across the country and there are significant numbers from congressman with less experience. Like mr. Torres or ms. Ocasiocortez. We will consistently hear that the senate is the problem with why their bells dont pass but only one of us is offering a new economic argument for democrats to try to win back the rest of this country. That is why seniority did not stop our vacancies. With seniority comes clout. That is the way that congress works. Seniority brings you clout, the ability to get things done. Some people use it more effectively than others but i think we have used that clout very effectively. The second question was the main differences between you and ms. Maloney. We have worked together on a lot of things. We have worked together on many Different Things. We have different voting records. I will give you three examples. I voted against the iraq war, she voted for it. I voted against the patriot act even though 9 11 occurred in my district. She voted for it. I voted for the iran deal and she voted against it. Rep. Maloney i would say in many ways, we are similar. Out of 18,000 votes, they ranked me the 33rd most liberal and progressive member of congress. They ranked him 30th. We are pretty close. When you get past the voting record, it is what have you done . Then you compare our records of a compliment and myspace for itself. I am rated the second Effective Member by go track govtrack. I have brought back to my district over 10 billion in infra structure money. I brought in a report for both of you that highlights 100 achievements i have accomplished since i have been in congress that would not have happened without me. I have over 12 of the bill signings that are reserved for transformational and important legislation. Most recently, the total reform of the postal service. I have a record to run on with great examples of what my work has done to come back to our city and our state. The funding formulas for cities, states and so forth came through my committee. I made one change. I said the money coming to my committee will not go through the state that was siphoned off wherever they want but directly to the city of new york. I would like to respond to seniority. I have never been more effective than i am now. Because i am the chair of a committee. Seniority is a plus, not a negative. It increases your ability to pass legislation. I used to work all year to get a bill in. This time i passed almost five of them. With the experience, you are better able to help the city to bring resources and we needed. We were the epicenter for covid. Our hospitals were hurt. They were getting ready to close down. And together with the delegation, we were able to deliver that money. Thank you. It brought me up again, that is ok. Both of my opponents voted for it. It go to the ability to operate by having a prefunded extension obligation. The bill that she is talking about. I have to say that is a complete and total lie and the republicans were in charge then and i did not write that bill. I was on the floor, there were other things in it. I did not vote for that bill. It saves over 50 billion for the post office over 10 years. The republicans were pushing to privatize. We know how important it was because of covid delivering medicines and papers and everything and helping us survive. I am proud of having written a bill that saves the post office. She is entirely right about the 2005 bill. It is not just that, she cosponsored it. We will go to the cross examination round. That is when each candidate gets to ask one question of one rival. Rep. Maloney can i ask the same question to both of my opponents . Pick one of them. Rep. Maloney i would love to ask both of them. We are in a really challenging time and particularly with this disastrous extreme Supreme Court cutting a womans right to choose and regulating womens bodies and deregulating guns going in the wrong direction and really gutting our Environmental Protection rules. We have a lot of challenges. It is a very difficult time. I know what jerrys answer would be. But i am just curious, would you support whoever wins the primary and help them work in washington to get the right results for the city of new york . I would support whoever wins the primary. I am just curious. You are so attacking all the time. I am wondering if you would support whoever wins the primary rep. Maloney the primary. Mr. Patel on the issue of abortion rights, Everything Else for the city, i think we all have our hearts in the right place. I will also add on that issue it is incredibly frustrating to lose. We had an eight week head start on the thing in order to protect a womans right to choose. They are saying that the fda once again, they should extend that to 10. We can do a lot of Different Things to make sure we spent a womans right to choose. We will fight for them. Rep. Nadler my question is to mr. Patel. Two weeks ago, the New York Times wrote a very flattering profile of you in which you were kind enough to say pay me the compliment of saying he respected my voting record so i was just wondering what you think of ms. Maloneys voting record. Mr. Patel i do respect it. But there are issues i have. The issues are with the plans for the next 10 years in the future. The word economy does not even appear on your website. But with regards to ms. Maloney, i think the biggest deal political blunder of the last 50 years was the iraq war and voting for it. That was my single Biggest Issue with her voting record. I will leave it there. You get to ask a question now, mr. Patel. Mr. Patel on your website there appears to be a red box that says i have sponsored nine different vaccine bills. Knowing that it is on your website and i agree with you that these things are facts, my fundamental question is why at the height of covid and frankly even a few months ago did you endorse her anyway customer anyway . I endorsed her despite her unfortunate record on vaccines because in a contest between you and hurt, i frankly thought she was a better candidate. Mr. Patel what about now . Rep. Nadler i still think so. It is time for a relating man. Each candidate will answer with a yes or no. Should President Biden one again run again in 2024 . Mr. Patel yes. Rep. Nadler too early to say. Rep. Maloney i dont believe he is running for reelection. When was the last time you dined indoors in a restaurant and where was it . Rep. Maloney i dont dined out very often so it has been a long time but at the island restaurant near my home. Rep. Nadler yesterday at the utopia diner near my home. Mr. Patel yesterday at a thai place near my home. When was the last time you took a crosstown bus, mr. Nether . Nadler . Mr. Patel about a week ago rep. Nadler about a week ago. Rep. Maloney about a week ago. Do you support a casino being opened in your district . Mr. Patel i think it is a really difficult topic. I typically dont like casinos because of the tax in places but being the torah city that we are, it would be a source of revenue for outsiders from europe and elsewhere. I would have to see the plan, where it is and what it is. Rep. Maloney i would have to see the plan. Personally i dont like casinos, i think it brings in bed element but it depends on where it is handled, where it is located and access to the general public. I dont see what is uplifting or good or helpful. Sometimes it brings in bad elements. You have to see what the plan is. It is hard to say. Maybe it would be on an island. Who knows . In some respects, i agree with mr. Patel. Casinos can generate huge revenue and that is very good but in any event, it is a seedy decision that congress has nothing to say about. Do you feel safe riding the subway . Rep. Nadler yes. Mr. Patel yes. Rep. Maloney yes. Would you support putting metal detectors and subway stations . Rep. Maloney no. Rep. Nadler now. Mr. Patel no. What is the last book you just read . Mr. Patel i just finished a hindu record. Rep. Nadler the biography of eleanor roosevelt. Rep. Maloney a biography of lyndon johnson. I want to talk about democracy and his defense. The impeachment of former President Trump and the january 6 direction stand out as evidence that our democratic system is being attacked in the case of the ride on january 6. What do you plan to do as a member of congress to help secure our democracy . How do you plan on working across the eye with republicans to make sure any changes actually stick . Mr. Patel liberal democracy is under attack across this world. It is under attack in the United States with rising trumpism using homophobia, antisemitism, and assault on womens rights but the meetings at which these things spread our new. We are looking at ukraine and talking about being in the beginning innings of a battle for liberal democracy across the world. We need to fight that battle and fight for limited government and separation of powers and individual rights. I think there are people you can work with. We have to go back to that source. Our democracy itself is broken. I think gerrymandering in all its forms is wrong. Voters should choose their politicians and not the other way around. I think Voter Suppression is a real issue. Two years ago, i went to court to fight in federal court and successfully got an injunction against andrew cuomo to get 1200 that were discarded by mail, recounted in my race and we hope to change vote by mail across the country. Accounting votes matter, standing on principle by not taking Corporate Tax money matters. I am the only candidate in this race who does not think does not take a dime of Corporate Tax money. There are republican challengers who are not taking Corporate Tax money. I cannot understand why my voters opponents take it. Rep. Nadler i have been fighting the battle for democracy, that is why i lead both impeachments against donald trump as you can see, the attack on democracy that he was launching. That is why i supported the hr for hr one that event gerrymandering laws. Those are some of the things i have already been doing to fight gerrymandering. Let me comment on what mr. Patel said about except incorporate back money accepting corporate tech money pac money. Unfortunately we have to restore that and i have been fighting to restore that. Meanwhile, as someone who is not wealthy, i have to get money where i can and i challenge anyone to show any vote that they could say was in any way affected by any campaign contribution. I think mr. Nether raised a very important point and Campaign Finance laws are extremely important and this was the First Campaign mother came to washington and working on the Campaign Finance laws and then came Citizens United which absolutely destroy the system. You dont even know what is coming at you because you dont have to disclose it. They can destroy you and you cant even fight back and you dont even know who is financing it. It is all secret so the amount of dark money has grown since i have been in congress. It has not gotten better. Campaign finance laws are one of the most important things we can do. We should at least have disclosure of who is trying to kill who in an election and often times, special interests. If someone is trying to reform an industry, they can go and try to take that member of congress out. It really disrupted our system of government and it is a tragedy. In terms of january 6, it is the saddest day of my life and it is one of the things that i valued most. I could not believe what i was seeing, and insurrection of our own capital led by our president. That is something you would expect from some third world country, not from a great democracy like america. I am proud of the work of the january 6 committee. We have been working on several bills along with adam schiff to support our system of government. One of the areas is the Inspector General which trump really destroyed. If you started an investigation, you were fired, protecting them so they can do their job. One area where there is massive cooperation is cybersecurity. Republicans are willing to work with you on any bill. I passed a bill that you created. My time is up. You can go to my report cards i have on my website. I wanted to ask about that last part of the question about how you work with republicans to make sure that any reforms or changes in development have some longevity and dont just swing back and forward with control of congress. You cant work with republicans to guarantee the future. You cant guarantee the future in any event. With republicans, i found that i can work with them on certain patents like trademarks. Some issues like that. There are other issues like immigration and democracy that i cant work with them on. One thing i would say is one of the chief dangers of democracy now is a runaway Supreme Court. A Supreme Court that thruway 50 years of tradition, 50 years of precedent. Doing away with roe v. Wade. A Supreme Court that has thrown out and control legislation. A Supreme Court that was packed by Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump. I introduced the bill to change the problems that we have. Mr. Patel i support this. The population has increased. A lot of republicans support terms for Supreme Court justices. That way we dont have to wait for someone to retire or waiting for the right president to be there to retire. And while we are at it, if you need to walk the walk and get that done, perhaps they should be term limits for all, the u. S. Senate, the u. S. House entered the u. S. Supreme court so we get turnover. We will continue to make sure that we renew. I agree with mr. Patel. I likewise agree. In terms of bipartisan, i believe the best legislation is always bipartisan. If you dont work together, you have that swing back and forth. If you do just the democratic bill, it is hard to work out. I had to work for months. The best time in government was after 9 11. I created a bipartisan caucus. We started it and created a bill to create a commission to study what went wrong. Came back recommending left 50 reforms. They made our country safer. We were united and it was deep and strong at that point. If you dont work in a bipartisan way, it is not lasting. How can i pass 70 bills signed into law . It is because i have republican partners that helped me get through, even in the times we were in the minority. I would urge the president to prop up commodity production. Congress can act. Congress can empower sanctions but also to do constructive measures like propping up our allies and using the economic might of america for diplomacy. We need to wake up to the reality of the next few decades and start to have that fight. We want to spend some time talking about Abortion Access. As Abortion Access is restricted across the country, what is the single most important legislation that can be passed as a safeguard to health care for pregnant people now . We have already passed a federal law to restore roe v. Wade. One of the problems we had was this extreme does asterisk Supreme Court that can override legislation. It is a difficult time and it is a horrible time for women. I never thought i would ever see a law rolled back and that my daughters would have less protection then i have. I would say there is no democracy if women cannot determine their health care for their own bodies. The decision, 26 states have banned abortion now. We have seen the effect on Womens Health. It is not just the abortion, it affects economic help. It helps whether people can go to school. This 10yearold girl had to go out of state because she was raped. Just heartbreaking stories. I have focused on this issue when i became chair of the oversight committee. My first hearing was on abortion rights on misery and other states that were restricting it. I had a hearing when it looks like they were coming down and we had a hearing when women members of congress talked about their own abortions and their own tragedies in their own lives, showing it is a problem that everyone confronts. There are many things that are very important. It is not just a choice, they are going after Birth Control. Samesex marriage. I have another one that goes after pharmacies that are denying access to Birth Control and we have moved to protect what i wouldwe are calling it pr plan b. There is an effective abortion pill. Many large numbers of people have you die wrote letters to the fda with Ayanna Pressley and we got them to change their rules so that you could mail it and not have to get it in person. Moderator thank you. Rep. Maloney we have a battle and a half on our hands. We need strong women in Congress Know these issues and will fight like hell to protect womens rights to choose and to reverse these oppressive decisions against women. Moderator mr. Nadler . Rep. Nadler it is essential that we protect the right to choose. My record on womens issues has been so strong that, naral endorsed me, the only time they endorsed a person in the Democratic Party leadership election, endorsed me against the woman who is prochoice, no less. When the republicans set up their gazistyle their benghazistyle committee to defend planned parenthood, i was appointed with five women. At this point we had already passed the Womens Health act, which is a direct descendant of the freedom of choice act which i introduced 10 years ago to codify roe v. Wade. But it is not going to pass the senate. Elections have consequences and the fact of the matter is that, the only way that we will pass laws like that or other light skin, is a please hold the House Majority and elect two more Democratic Senators so that we can overcome the filibuster. If we do that, we can eliminate the filibuster, we can do all these things for Womens Health and for choice. That is what is necessary. Moderator thank you. Mr. Patel. Mr. Patel thank you for the question. I support a womans right to choose, to abortion and reproductive care across the board. But listen, we had 50 years to codify roe. After casey we were told the republicans pointed out their playbook and told us exactly what they would do. We fail to do it despite democratic president s with democratic majorities. We failed to codify griswold, obergefell. We have failed to codify loving, which would affect my own engagement, which is the right to an interracial marriage. The question is, why didnt we . Wherever our priorities for the 30 years . At this point, why dont we put these things to a vote in the u. S. Senate and put them on the record in opposing contraception, for example, and i know that you just did that. And passing these bills right now. There are executive actions the president could take right now to speed up the ability to get abortions, and not be penalized as doctors performing abortions across state lines. These do not require the republican vote. We need to ensure that we protect a womans right to choose. It is sacrosanct. Thank you, candidates. If youre just joining us at home, we are at the top of the hour and we have a half hour roughly to go. We are talking with the democratic primary leading candidates in the race the 12th Congressional District that covers i did an upper west side, down to most of much of lower manhattan. I want to talk about the economy now. While the nation as a whole has regained nearly all the jobs lost in the pandemic recession, new york city remains 206,000 positions behind where we were prepandemic. That translates into an Unemployment Rate of six point 2 , compared to 3. 6 for the u. S. As a whole. At the same time, food prices in new york are up 9 in the last 12 months. What should congress do to help revive the new york economy, mr. Nadler . Rep. Nadler congress should do what it can to revise the economy as a whole. We should increase taxes on the very rich, that will cut down on inflation by cutting down on the demand side of the equation. That is the main thing we should do. We should also invest heavily in Renewable Energy sources to replace the carbon sources we have now, because they are cheaper. They are much cheaper than the coalfired plants we use now, and that will bring down the supplyside of the equation. Taking these two steps together will greatly decrease inflation. Moderator mr. Patel . Mr. Patel i was a first candidate in the country to put a comprehensive plan in place. It starts with some of the shortterm basics. We should rescind all non pressurerelated tariffs. They did not work. We should end of chain backlogs. Our laws like the jones act do not allow cargo vessels from Foreign Countries to unload in u. S. Ports. We had sheep metal and plywood sitting in the chesapeake bay, unable to be unloaded, cultivating to the supply chain crisis and to inflation. Not just inflation, we have shortages. When i went to the Grocery Store with my sisterinlaw or my toddler nephew, we could not find baby formula. We ended up going to costco to get it. I did what i know best, i took my pen and i wrote my way out. I wrote an oped, calling for the president to invoke the defense production act to produce more baby formula. It landed in the New York Times earlier this year and two days later, the president used that defense production act more baby formula. In june, 60 more was produced. More can be done. 20 tariffs on baby formula still exists. Baby formula from abroad would be coming from the netherlands. What are we afraid of, a bunch of tall, happy babies . There is a lot of Things Congress and president can do to tackle inflation so does Jerome Powell does not hike this economy into a hard crash recession, hurting working and middleclass people across the country. Rep. Nadler let me just say that i did not write an oped, i urged the president over a year ago to invoke the defense production act for precisely that purpose. Moderator mrs. Maloney . Rep. Maloney i would like to respond. I likewise was endorsed by naral, planned parenthood, gloria steinem, every single womens organization. I also have strong support from the Womens Movement for my work on abortion and other rights for women. In terms of the economy, i think the democratic leadership has done a good job. The infrastructure bill is bringing 300 million to my district to build the 2nd avenue subway up to 125th street. The bill that will bring manufacturing back, including for our p. P. E. , so that nurses dont have to walk around in garbage bags if we have another pandemic. We will produce it here in this country. And the inflation bill is a very strong one that has come out. It is a scaleddown one from the build back better bill. It has a 15 tax on corporations, and the carried Interest Deduction is erased. 400 billion to reduce our deficit. But i am doing my own job on creating and helping inflation, my bill, the credit card bill of rights, according to the Consumer Financial protection bureau, saves consumers over 16 billion a year, keeping the money in their pockets and not going in excessive fees to banks. Also, this past thursday i passed a bill out of committee that would be an overdraft bill. They estimate it would save roughly 15 billion and keep that money in consumers pockets. I call it maloney, stimulus package keeping money in consumers pockets. We need bills like that. Mr. Patel i dont think adding money to consumers pockets would grow if not increase inflation at this point. And that bill is from 2009. There is something i want to respond to, which is that infrastructure costs in new york are astronomical. It costs 12 times that of paris just to build an automated subway line, to build the 2nd avenue subway line here. We have had incredible bipartisan infrastructure bills that came out of congress that i would have voted for too. To make sure they go far, we need to reform our red tape and laws including nipa, which one of my professors did say, i birthed a child and he became a demon. These bills are now being used for windmills, all kinds of things in this country. If we are going to ask more from people, we need to have audits. Make sure this money is spent wisely so we are not spending 12 times we are not spending as much as six kilometers of track in paris, for a single elevator. Rep. Nadler the reconciliation bill that the democrats have agreed on in the senate, it does precisely that. It reduces environmental bills so that our costs will not be that. Moderator lets talk about hotels. Before we get into that, i wanted to ask, what are your policies for your staff . Are you requiring staff to physically be in the office, mrs. Maloney . Rep. Maloney we are still somewhat flexible. But most of them are in the office. Moderator mr. Nadler . Rep. Nadler same. Moderator mr. Patel . Mr. Patel in the office. Moderator this question of conversion, do you think that is a sound strategy to try and deal with the commercial vacancies in the city . Mr. Patel let me be clear, i have experience in this exact thing in the private sector, the floor spaces in commercial buildings very extremely expensive to convert to housing. It would be cheaper to just build more housing. Decades of nimbyism have led to a crisis of availability in new york. 5000 dollars average rent per month, 4000 median rent in manhattan. We have lost 6 of our population since 2020. 9. 2 of our under five appalachian. So many families are under five population. So many families say we are trying to decide between having a child, and having a family in the city we love versus trying to move somewhere else. It is decades of saying no to upzoning. Saying no to a comprehensive ban on housing to allow more of it. You will have a homelessness rate that will be astronomical. For every 100 of median rent increase, there is a 9 increase of homelessness according to the washington post. We need a comprehensive solution to build more housing in the city. Moderator mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler we have to have elimination of niimbyism, and upper zoning, but that is a decision that can only be made at the state level. We must build i think we will find that people, because many businesses that are vacant have people working from home, i dont think it is going to come back entirely. We will have to convert a lot of our Office Buildings or parts of them into housing, which will also help the housing crisis. Moderator ms. Maloney. Rep. Maloney i have done my own part to create jobs and housing. I have put up seven 202 projects in my district, mainly in queens. Moderator Affordable Housing for seniors . Rep. Maloney that is Affordable Housing for seniors. Also working with st. Nicks in brooklyn where we are trying to build 500 units of new, Affordable Housing. I have brought back to my district over 10 billion in federal funds to invest in not only the eastside connector that will be opening up next year, but also, resiliency, setting up the tracks for highspeed rail between new york and boston. Connecting 63rd street through roosevelt island. Bringing federal dollars back. I love working on infrastructure. They are good jobs. I have also revitalized the waterfront of my district. We rehabbed it so that it is now a beautiful place to walk. It was billions of dollars that we put into it, working together. So i think there is a lot we can do as members of congress, just bringing resources back to our district, in addition to supporting the reconciliation plan. It is a very exciting plan. I am excited that one of my bills was put into it, and that was to convert the post office to electric vehicles. This is a way to combat Climate Change, because the biggest polluter is fossil fuels. We need to get off of fossil fuels. The genius of it is you can use the post offices as charging centers and help move the whole country towards electric cars. So there are a lot of things i am working on for a healthy environment, help the jobs, and help new yorkers. Mr. Patel specifically on housing, we cant do all of our Affordable Housing projects to be at the end of subway lines or via gentrification of our black and brown communities in queens and elsewhere. It makes economic sense to do more upper zoning and mixeduse zoning in places like soho which both of my friends proposed, where the market rate price of a house or rental is so much higher that it takes significantly less units to subsidize a larger number of housing units. Therefore, manhattan is trying in a lot of places, including midtown east and soho, to take on a larger share of Affordable Housing in the city and make sure that the city and diversity doesnt change, that it doesnt become impossible for people to build these tracks that actually work in these buildings. That people who do the work to make the city run live in manhattan too. Moderator we will move on to more conversation about the environment. This year is the 10th Year Anniversary of hurricane sandy. Even when we dont see hurricanelevel storms, flooding is a devastating issue in the city. What more can congress do to address the citys resiliency needs specifically related to the flooding of the infrastructure, and make sure Solutions Reach communities in an equitable manner . Rep. Nadler well, these increased floods which we seek not only in new york but also to the south right now and in places in europe are part of Climate Change. They are caused by Climate Change, and we have to tackle Climate Change. To tackle Climate Change, we have to pass the Green New Deal, of which i am an original cosponsor, which would incentivize through tax credits, the conversion of the replacement, i should say, of coalfired plants with renewable plants. That is what we have to do. As to making sure that it specifically is tied to new york, we have to examine, because we are not going to stop it. The seas are going to continue to rise, no matter what we do for the, next 10 or 20 years which means things are only going to get bad. What we have to do is study the idea which has been seriously proposed, that i think is a good idea, of establishing seawalls between sandy hook and long island, between long island and connecticut. That is the only way that those walls could be opened when necessary, but to make sure that you have the ability when the seas are rising, that is what you need to do. Moderator would you also support additional funding for asking people to retreat from certain developments from certain parts of the city, a managed retreat incentive . Rep. Nadler if we did the seawalls, we would not need to do that. Moderator ms. Maloney . Rep. Maloney i am also a cosponsor of the Green New Deal, original sponsor, but i am not waiting for that bill to pass. I am already working to help the environment. In my district in queens, we have the most polluting power plant in the whole state. The state keeps coming and wanting to put in more power plants there. I have fought that. We are now transferring big alice into hydro water. It is going to be a green plant. In addition, in my district in queens, and alexandria ocasiocortezs together, we have 28 power in two miles. One polluting stack per mile. But also a bill to change the way that they permit. The way that they permit now, is they look at the fumes from one stack and they say, well circuits not going to hurt the environment. My bill says you dont look at that one stack, you look at the cumulative effect of all the 28 others before you move. Because of my bill, we have stopped them coming in and trying to put more polluting power plants. My bill stopped them from coming in to establishment town step percent that already had many powerplants, and adding more. I dont know why they go to one place. In my queens district, it is called asthma alley because of the polluting air there. I have stopped others from coming in and i am converting big alice to green. We dont have to wait for the Green New Deal to pass, we can take projects in our district and bring in money, experts, and people and make a change. I did that with the 2nd avenue subway. Moderator mr. Patel. Mr. Patel this is a perfect encapsulation of what outofthebox fresh thinking looked like. I had a plan called the dynamic society. 2 of our federal budget on research and development that helps you get across the investment hurdle, that the private sector will not do. I am calling for the same type of investment to get a per kilowatt hour of Energy Resources below that of fossil fuels. That is the only way to get the economy to take it on across the entire developing and developed world, and replace coal plants and natural gasfired plants. That is one. Innovating our way out of Climate Change. Number two, i disagree with the idea that building seawalls is the only solution. I wrote a plan called living shoreline. In new york city harbor, if you have ever gone after the world trade and seen the led show, the harbor used to be filled with salt marshes and reads, oyster beds, things like that. Those things act as a natural sponge. If you look at insurance rates for homes across coastal South Carolina or florida where people have put up concrete walls, by the way, which contribute to Climate Change in a significant way, they have higher insurance bills and Flood Insurance bills than than people whose homes are in front of marshes. New york harbor, which doesnt unload large cargo anymore, could be returned to ba living shoreline in a significantly cheaper way than building two giant walls. Think of the concept. Moderator thank you. Moderator i want to let the candidates know that we are coming down the home stretch. I will ask for shorter and refer answers. We have about 10 minutes left. Lets talk infrastructure. There are Major Projects underway throughout the district , some have been alluded to tonight, including the transformation of penn station from the gateway tunnel, the Commuter Rail project, the extension of the 2nd avenue subway. Each comes with critics and concerns, including cost concerns. I want to ask each of you to select one of these Major Projects in the district and describe how you would plan to bring it to a successful conclusion as a member of congress. That start with you, mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler well, first of all i think of these projects are necessary and have worked on these projects. As a democrat on the Transportation Committee in 2005, i got funding for the 2nd avenue subway, ending the gateway, funding for the tunnel which is so necessary to decarbonize our planet. I dont think you can pick and choose among these. Moderator which do you think will be the number one priority going forward, starting next year . Rep. Nadler i would say the rail freight eternal, which Governor Hochul just endorsed for the first time in the state of the state message. That, which would go from the ridge to bayonne, new york is only major city in north america where everything comes in by truck. 90 of everything comes in by truck. That dilutes the air. It is why celebrex has the highest asthma rates in the world. It is tremendously carbongenerating, which we dont want. That rail freight tunnel which is being completed right now would do more than any other project on this whole thing. Moderator ms. Maloney . Rep. Maloney i would just say, when jerry and i went to congress, we both went and projects. I wanted to build the 2nd avenue subway. The first stage is built. He wanted to build the freight eternal and it is still not built. So when he claims credit for getting the money for the 2nd avenue subway, i wonder what he did not get money for the freight terminal that was in his district. I am used to people claiming credit for my work. It was truman who said, you can accomplish a great deal increased dont claim any credit. You can claim all the credit you want. I have now 100 projects that i have completed you can claim credit for that, too, but the one i think is important, i agree with jerry that they are all important and they all have to move forward. And there are plans for them to move forward. The two in my district at one time were the two largest Construction Projects in the entire country, that is the 2nd avenue subway. We are working on an agreement. Is not a money issue, it is an agreement on the government to pledge to fund it. We are moving very fast on the socalled eastside connector that will be opening up next year. It will benefit Grand Central and the whole area there. They are two of the largest Construction Projects in the whole country, and i am proud of having worked on both of them the entire time in my career. Almost every day, every week, to get them done. Moderator if elected, mr. Patel, which would be your purdy . Mr. Patel as a person who takes the subway every day, the north end of the platform on the union square line, narrowed significantly. If you go to penn station, or the 123 line, which my father walked on, at 28th and 7th avenue, you go there and you see how narrow the platforms are, i cannot fathom why anyone would prioritize a rail freight eternal would also require an intermodal on the other side. The assumption that rail freight would be unloaded in brooklyn but then somehow tracked into manhattan anyway. I would prioritize the penn station project, knowing full well that it is an incredibly crowded and congested and important thing for us to increase capacity. I know there is a redevelopment plan but that is not thought up to anyone who ever worked in the private sector. What we had just done is give new york state the power to rezone this thing, take eminent domain. In exchange for payment for the next 60 years. We know that new york city and new york governors relationship. 10 years from now it may be a republican governor. You have just given away your number one source of income, which is property tax revenue. So i would upzone the areas around penn station and make sure i would borrow against those revenues. I would pay back those bonds with the increased Property Value of the surrounding area, are well keeping complete local control over penn station and the line. That is the difference between having outside the box thinking, and just going with everyone else not asking the tough questions. Moderator ok. I want to switch to foreign relations. As we meet tonight, speaker of the house pelosi is in taiwan, over the objections of the state department, on the trip that leaders in beijing are calling, quote, very dangerous. I am wondering if you think the trip was a good idea, if you would have gone with her. And i have a followup. Rep. Maloney well, i think nancy is making a statement that our country will stand with a day one. They have been cutting off a lot of activity in the south china sea, threatening taiwan. I think she feels strongly about not letting china bully as around, and she is a very strong leader, something that i relate to, a strong, female leader. I am tracking where her plane is going, like everybody else. And i am proud of her. Moderator any concerns that this is increasing tensions, mr. Nadler . Rep. Nadler i agree with carolyn. Nancy is standing up for democracy. We cannot let ourselves be bullied by china. We know what china is and we know what taiwan is. We have to stand up for democracy in taiwan and nancy is doing exactly that. Mr. Patel i agree, i would not give an inch. Democracy is under assault across the world, and we need to stand and defend it. We will have to do that for the next few decades. Moderator a similar question, in europe, billions of dollars in military aid have already been sent to ukraine. The u. S. Is watching as the russian dictator, vladimir putin, prepares to annex part of ukraine, and he remains a threat to neighboring nato allies. Do you think congress should consider sending more powers to contain the situation there . Rep. Maloney that has to be a pentagon decision. I certainly support President Biden and his efforts to really organize the European Union and our allies in asia to stand up to putin and to democracy. We are fighting and standing there. I am proud that i recently passed a bill to help ukraine. The lansky when he came to the country, he said, zelenskyy, when he came to the country, he said, look for loopholes. I was inspired by his speech and i found one. Billions of dollars in private money, going in private contracts from our government. A lot of it was going to companies doing business with russia. So i put in a bill that said either do business with america or russia, but you cannot do both. It has stopped the flow of money going to moderator mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler i agree that we have to stand up to boudin. That the president is doing exactly the right thing in getting aid to russia. Russias invasion of ukraine, they talk about annexing, it means nothing. They are justifying their illegal conquest of part of ukraine. This poses a fundamental threat to the world order we have had since world war ii that you dont change borders by force of arms. If our country is under attack and we spend hundreds of billions of dollars, we must do the same here to stop this. So i think the president is doing the right thing. Mr. Patel i completely agree. We cannot give an inch out of crimea or donbas, we dont know where the line is except in history. And we have seen this exact history in this region. So we are not going to give an inch to putin. But i think we can do more. The sites military aid like i said congress should authorized military aid to prop up the burgeoning Commodities Industries like textiles from egypt or wheat exports from india, where we can shoulder the blow of the commodities shocks happening across the world and start to get more allies into the coalition. I would Hope Congress does that in the next few weeks. Moderator that brings us to the end of our time. Thank you, candidates. Id like to thank the candidates for participating. And for hosting this event on behalf of new york one. Thanks for watching and remember to tune in august 10 for the race for that 10th Congressional District which includes parts of manhattan and brooklyn. Dont forget to vote. Early voting begins august 13, senators joe manchin and Susan Collins testified on the need to revisit the electoral counteract. Watch tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Listening to programs on cspan through cspan radio just got easier. Tell your Smart Speaker play cspan radio and listen to wasnt washington journal daily. Weekdays at 5 p. M. And 9 p. M. Eastern, catch washington today. Listen to cspan anytime. Tell your Smart Speaker listen to cspan radio app. The fbi director Christopher Wray appears before the senate to sherry committee for an oversight hearing. Watch live. You can also watch on our free mobile video app. Or online at the span. Org. Cspan. Org. President biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting access to reproductive care. Members of the cabinet joined him. Pres. Biden thank you. Vice president harris for meeting todays meeting and thanks to you, all of you, especially health and Human Services secretary researcher and director of the gender policy council, jan klein for co chairing this task force, an attorney general, garland, Homeland Security secretary, mayorkas and Veterans Affairs secretary mcdo