Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141015

From earlier tonight, the oregon kitrnors debate between solver and his republican challenger. Coming up wednesday, Michele Bachmann is the speaker of the Heritage Foundation where she will discuss the effect of the tea party and the political process. You can see that event live starting at 10 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Later, we will hear from defense secretary chuck hagel when he speaks before the association of the u. S. Army. Coverage of his remarks at 12 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Here a few of the comments we receive from our viewers. I am a nurse and i just watched your segment on cspan regarding troops going to liberia in regards to the ebola virus and helping out over there. I am ok with that. However, i really do believe that the only way to keep prevents safe is to anybody coming over from liberia to the United States. Have a vaccine for this ebola virus yet. If an american does become ill and dies because of it, it is not fair to the american people. It is not doing us a service. I am really tired a retired practitioner. Listening to the medical experts speak on tv to the american public, i am completely about inaccurate comment. The concern about contagious s is that some viruses before theytagious even show symptoms. Enough localh colleagues to find out no. That has not changed. People are confronting that misinformation. Thehe ebola virus Shows United States is not prepared to do with this inefficient way in an efficient way. Homeland security is not efficient. The Transportation Security Administration did not do its job. The hospital did not do its job. It seems to me that people from dangerous areas should be either not allowed to come to the United States or should be quarantined or should be put into a special camp or at least medicalo undergo a examination. Continue to let us know about the programs you are watching. You can email us or send us a tweet on twitter. Join the ceas cspan conversation. Wednesday, live coverage of the Kansas Senate debate between pat roberts and greg orman. We spoke with a reporter from the capital journal about the race. Here is a look. Lot of them. Host i want to go to kansas now. Joining us on the phone is tim carpenter. Talking about the Kansas Senate race. The two candidates are going to be squaring off in a debate and cspan will have that coverage of it on wednesday at 8 00 p. M. Between pat roberts and greg. Rman a guest good morning. I think we will see more of the same from two previous debates. Will go on the attack against the independent candidate, mr. Orman. Host is this debate more important for one of these candidates . Caller thats an interesting question. It is broadcast statewide. The previous debates one was in Johnson County for business executives. The first one was at the state fair. So far, the state fair debate gets the purple ribbon. The wednesday tv debate will be important because more people will have their eyes on these gentlemen. Undecidedshandful of out there and they will decide this election. Both have a lot at stake because polling shows its anybodys race. Host greg orman came out with an ad. Republicans for greg orman. [video clip] i grew up in a republican household we have seen such gridlock in washington. They wont work together. Im ready for a fresh face. Someone who will represent the best interests of kansas. Greg orman will find innovative ways to solve problems. Being an independent gives him the opportunity to find ways to work with both sides to end the gridlock. I will be voting for greg orman. Host a new greg orman at. He has not said whether he will caucus with democrats or republicans. Is he appealing to republicans in kansas . Caller of course he is. He cant win without winning a large number of moderate republican votes. Ad isdividual in the sandy kreger, the state insurance commissioner. She is endorsing the independent. Senator Roberts Campaign is centered on the train mr. Orman as a democrat. Orman as a mr. Democrat. This is opportunity for orman to get a republican out in front of him and show people that republicans can come to the orman camp as well. Host heres a piece in the Washington Times this morning. Senatety backs roberts bid in order to defeat greg orman. Folks had tea Party Campaigning with the incumbent republican. You had gop establishment of also campaigning for him. The key to this is winning the support of martin wolf, who has the tea party backed candidate that greg orman was able to beat heading into this one. What are you hearing about his endorsement . Caller he was a tea party against senator roberts. He was a very challenging primary for this senator. Senator roberts narrowly won. He was a troubled candidate. He had been posted to the internet he was a damaged candidate, but really dug into roberts on a couple of points. Winrder for roberts to coming he had to alienate a bunch of tea party people. The general election sometimes candidates drive to the middle towards victory. Roberts is pushing back to the outside to try to reclaim those tea party votes. Theyparty expressed endorsed roberts. Occur, i would be surprised. It is certainly possible. Host i want to show our viewers s recent ad against the greg orman, trying to president obama. [video clip] debt. Llions in new obamacare. Nearly 10 million americans unemployed. Ack obama says these policies are his candidate greg orman. A vote for greg orman is a vote for the obama agenda. Is that strategy working for pat roberts . Two people in kansas believe that . Caner a couple of points be made. The president is not very popular in a very conservative republican state like kansas. Senator roberts has done everything in his power to try to attach greg orman to the president. In debates and public appearances, roberts will speak more frequently of harry reid and barack obama then he will greg orman. Convince voters that greg orman is a clone of the president of the United States, senator roberts has a much better chance of victory. He doesnt really talk about policy issues or ideas. Its more of a labeling attack. It appears like that is working. The polls are narrowing. Host what is the latest . Caller the latest polling they came out yesterday said that orman was up 3 . That is within the margin of error. Its a tossup. Host we will be watching wednesday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time. Cspan will have live coverage of the Kansas Senate debate between pat roberts and greg orman. The live Kansas Senate debate airs wednesday night at 8 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Atnext, the second arKansas Senate debate between mark pryor and his republican challenger tom cotton. This race is listed as a tossup. From the university of arkansas in fayetteville this is one hour. Good evening. I am angela taylor. I would like to welcome our viewers all across arkansas across the river valley in those watching us in jonesboro. And those joining us across the country on cspan. Debatebring you this live from the university of arkansas global campus in fayetteville, arkansas. Our thanks to the university of arkansas for their help with the first and only live televised debate between the two u. S. Senate candidates. The first and only live televised debate between the two u. S. Senate candidates. The debate focuses on three topics education, transportation and economic development, and job creation. 60h candidate will have seconds to answer followed by a 32nd rebuttal. We will make time for a 92nd closing statement. Joining me on stage tonight are michael panelists are my copanelists. And the moderator from talk business and politics, rosie bronx. Our audience of more than 300 invited guests has been asked to remain silent during this debate. I know it will be difficult but i have total faith in our audience tonight to be able to do this. We will make an exception at this moment as we welcome the stage the candidates for the United States senate, tom cotton and mark pryor. [applause] mr. Pryor, mr. Cotton, it is to see this evening and have you in the same room at the same time for a change. Occasion thatrare we decided to invite the state of arkansas and the rest of the nation to file in here. I talked to both of your mothers to get the debate pointers of how to keep you guys under control should you get out of line tonight. I got a lot of recommendations from them. If i call you by your first, middle, and last name, you know you will be a little out of bounds. A drawing earlier today determine the order for opening and closing statements, how that would be and how the questions would be answered and mr. Pryor, you are up first with your opening statement. Thank you. When i talk about arkansas coming first, that is not a slogan for me. Arkansas is written on my heart. You know i love this estate. You know the most important thing i can do is listen. That is what i have done. I have taken your good ideas to washington and we have made a difference. Not so with congressman cotten. Two years ago when he was running for the house, by his own admission, he was down in his own polls and struggling. That changed one day when he got a fedex. He opened it up and looked in there and there were 300,000 in checks from outofstate billionaires. He mustve thought, this is easy. All i have to do is carry their water and they will keep writing checks. That is exactly what he has done. This year it is not 300,000. This year it is over 20 million from the outofstate billionaires that have written to try to buy the selection. Why . Because they know they can count on tom cotton. They know he was the only one in arkansas to increase the age of medicare and Social Security to age 70. He was the only one who made big cuts at arkansas childrens hospitals. Only one to was the vote to double the Interest Rate on Student Loans. That is the difference in this rate. I listen to you and he listen to the billionaires. That is what i mean when i say arkansas comes first. Mr. Cotton, you have 90 seconds to open. I spent the last year traveling around the state, speak to a truck driver, a farmer, a nurse. They are frustrated with washington and they should be. I have not been in washington very long, but i have been there long enough to know washington needs change. It could use more of the comments as i learned growing up on a farm. It could use leadership and courage. Washington simply is not working for arkansas families. Wages are down, prices are up, obamacare is a disaster it, and we are 18 trillion in debt. Parents are worried about their kids future. So am i. My wife and i are expecting our first child. We do not want her baby to have a future that is less prosperous and less safe. That is the future of obamas policies. Less prosperity, lesson safety and security. Senator pryor has voted with 93 of the time and he cast a deciding vote for obama care. There is a better way. Lets get the economy going. Lets for po obamacare. Lets balance the budget. Lets rebuild the military. Fors stop apologizing america. Cotton, the 188 Fighter Wings mission was previously changed. It may have been transferred out of state. The river valley was promised new jobs when drones were added to the mission. What will you do to ensure these jobs return to fort smith . Officerformer infantry who has been in combat, i can tell you there are few things that an infantryman love to hear better than the sound of an a10 warthog coming over the mountain. It is not sleek, it is not modern. It does save lives. Close support for information infantryman. I try to fight it from the very first day that i entered into office. We need a manned up flying mission in arkansas. As your next senator, i will work to restore that because we have some of the lowest cost, highest efficiency Training Facility in the river valley. Im going to work depend again work the pentagon day in day make sure they provide tools for soldiers overseas as well as jobs at home. Thank you. I love working alongside people in fort smith. I started working on the 188. R. A. Tl years ago when b came along. We were able to get that mission converted from f16s to a10s. That is converting from a10s to drones. To answer the question specifically, we need to get faa approval to have those drones fly over this particular airspace and i have been working on that. I dont have that done, but i do know that recently we have been working to save the fire trucks in the emergency vehicles at that airport and that is an important part of keeping the airport open. I love working for fort smith. I love working alongside fort smith it is a very patriotic community. The 188 is a very proud wing. They have a long history. They have done great things. We need to keep them flying and strong. Mr. Cotton, you are entitled to a 32nd rebuttal. 30second rebuttal. It is one of the reasons we having to cut back on forces and arkansas. That is why soldiers deployed are being told when they return, they will not have a job. Mark pryor will not take National Security seriously because he is supported the radical military drawdown. One of the things i talk about to the military leaders in washington is the strategic important of the 188. They have great airspace. They are the crown jewel of this. It does not show up the first time you look at it. Fort chaffee is basically right off the runway. The fact that they can do joint training, the fact that the navy seals are there, the fact they can do close air support, drones, everything they need right there. The second question comes to you first. It is from scott inman. We reported last week that walmart is dropping its Health Insurance for parttime workers, following similar decisions by other Big Companies and they have raised premiums for fulltime workers because of an influx of workers required to buy Health Insurance under the federal Health Care Law. Do you believe this is an unintended consequence of the law was it expected and should the lobby changed . Let me say what i would say to those walmart employees. I dont know all the details about what they are doing and i dont know the inside details on everything. Let me tell you what i would say to walmart employees in arkansas. They now have an option. They have the private option. They can get private insurance, because the state legislature, democrats and republicans, came together to provide the private option. When it comes to the formal care act, the Affordable Care act, people in arkansas preexisting conditions were routinely denied access to coverage. They are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. The Insurance Companies had all the power. What we needed to do was to get patients back in charge of their health care. I do want to make changes in the law. I have already supported many of those. I dont want to go back to those days. I think that would be a mistake to go back to those days. Mr. Cotton. Lostose workers at walmart their insurance and their premiums went up because of obamacare. Because mark pryor cast the deciding vote for obama care. This is not an unintended consequence. This was the intended consequence of obamacare. They want people out of private insurance and onto government insurance. Those people at walmart or other companies do not want an option. They want their Health Insurance. Mark pryor and barack obama promised them that if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. They did not keep that promise. But so many others, they are feeling pain and stress of losing their insurance and trying to find a better option when they have an exact plan that suited their needs. They took that plan away from them so they could have governmentrun Health Insurance. I dont think that is good for arkansas workers, families, or businesses. 30second rebuttal. You to Pay Attention to what the congressman did not say. He did not say he had any solution for people with preexisting conditions. The reason he does not say that is because he really does not. In other context, he talks about the high risk rule. I am a cancer survivor, as you all know. I have been in the high risk pool. I have lived there. It is no place for any arkansan to be. If we go back to the high risk pool, it is like throwing sick people to the wolves. Arkansas, and think of that senator pryor survived his cancer. But many people were happy with their coverage under the high risk pool before was a limited. They should have been allowed to keep that choice, but obamacare eliminated the choice. Senator pryor enforced changes in the law, but why did he insist then . Barack obamas legislation. The next question is from diana davis. When we speak of entitlement programs, first and foremost this Election Year has been a discussion and focus on food stamps and they are being tied to the farm bill. How long have food stamp spent a part of the farm bill and white you vote against the farm bill . And why did you vote against the farm bill . I voted for the farm bill. Food stamps have been part of the farm bill for decades. It is one constituency working with another 48 deal that was not good for arkansas farmers. I grew up in a farm. My dad taught me that you cannot spend more money than you take in. We are 18 trillion in debt. The food stamp will, which is what i would call the farm bill, is a most a trillion dollars of new spending. Farmers can expect to get one half of 1 on the return on that built and 75 of arkansas farmers get no benefit. What we need is a farm bill that focuses on the needs of farmers and i supported that. And a food stamp reform bill that gets people food when they need it, but also eliminates waste and abuse and the institutionalized fraud that you see in states like massachusetts and illinois. Mark pryor insists on doing things the old way. If you like the status quo, mark pryor and barack obama are on your side. I did votehe reasons for it as well as all the other members of the arkansas delegation, except for congressman cotten, is because we did a billion dollars in food stamps reform. We addressed 8 billion in this bill. This is an example of congressman cotten says one thing in arkansas, for the farm bill, but does another in washington. He was the only member of the arkansas delegation to vote against it. If you want one insight into why, you can go online and there atan audio tape where he is a Luxury Resort in california with his billionaire backers and as they are introducing him, they say that he has voted against the farm bill and that that is a vote against arkansas and you hear a a huge over nation. That applause is still ringing in his ears. That is who he is listening to. He is not listening to you. He is listening to his megadonors. Im the only candidate on stage who grew up on arkansas on a farm. I am the only candidate who went to high school surrounded by so being fields. Soybean fields. I know what keeps farmers up at night and gets them up in the morning. We had a farm bill and the house of representatives and all four arkansas congressman voted for. President obama issued a veto because he wanted more food stamps. Mark pryor listened to who we always listen to, barack obama, and went along with him in the status quo. The rhetoric sounds good, but he is trying to further his political career and he is leaving arkansas behind. What you see with congressman cotten is a business transaction. He goes to california to meet with his billionaire backers. Other audio o we are in a room full of investors. Why should we invest in you . He turns around and gives him big tax breaks. They are going to get a big payday. They will get a return on their investment with congressman cotten. Theres a lot of talk about helping the middle class. What is your definition . Under law, there are a lot of different definitions. Middleclass, i think of most of arkansas. That is maybe up to 200,000. That is different ways to judge it. We need to focus on the middle class. We need good middleclass jobs. That is why i have the america made strong legislation. We focus on the middle class. Congressman cotton seems to want to build the economy from billionaires down. I want to build it from the middle class out. That is what we need in this country. That is what has made america great. We had a strong middle class but the middle class is hurting right now. We need to do everything we can. In washington, we should be able to agree on jobs and the economy. We need to focus on the middle class and that has been my focus. We need middleclass jobs here. We need to bring manufacturing jobs back to arkansas and to america. All the economists say the time is now. Mr. Cotton . When i think of middleclass arkansans, i think of people i have met on the campaign trail. We met a couple with a twoincome family. Because obamacare drove up the price of their Health Insurance, they had to sell their home and move in with her parents. That is the economy that mark pryor and barack obama created. In arkansas we have added 28,000 jobs in the last six years, even as the population is growing. Tohave added 88,000 people be foodstamp programs. I think that is a tragedy and has to stop. One way to stop it is to get government out of the private sector. Trusting arkansans and businesses and communities. We need to balance our budget. We need to repeal obama care. Youred to let you keep money in your pocket, rather than send it to washington dc and hope you get scraps back. I am not sure i have heard a definition from either one of you of what the middle classes. I said up to 200,000. There are different definitions, but that is my working definition. I talk about the americanmade jobs package. First part of that is to repeal that inexcusable provision in the tax code were corporations get a Tax Deduction for shipping jobs overseas. I want to repeal that. It is the first section of the bill. Congressman cotton has taken a pledge with these megadonors to not do that. I disagree. Be hangingpryor must around with billionaires of the things 200,000 is the middle class. A typical household makes 40,000 a year. That is down by omas 5 over the last six years because of the obama economy. They raise taxes on businesses and individuals. That is what is driving jobs overseas. That is what is making it harder for arkansans to get good jobs on arkansas. That has got to stop. I would like to pivot back to health care. We have certainly heard stories positive and negative about how the Health Care Law is affecting arkansans. What we do know is more than 200,000 of them have signed up for coverage on the newly created health care exchange. Many of them did not have insurance before. If we start over on Health Care Reform, what happens to those arkansans . I think we have to start over because obamacare has been a disaster. It has continually created harm. We know we had problems with the Health Care System in 2010 when mark pryor cast his decisive vote. People with preexisting conditions could not get coverage or it was not affordable. It has only gotten worse under obamacare. Premiums are up 138 . Got arkansas just cancellation notices of their Medicare Advantage plan because mark pryor voted to cut 700 billion from medicare to pay for obamacare. When we repeal it and start over, we will do things like patience, and, doctors, let you shop across state lines, give you tax treatment. It is not about replacing obamacare, it is about reforming broken programs like medicaid, cutting red tape, sending programs back to the state. The state can treat their own populations as they see fit, not how barack obama think they can under obamacare. Said, there reagan he goes again. Facts,ws all these fake George W Bush called it fuzzy math. I think that is charitable. Here is the bottom line. Overkansas, we have 200,000 people that have private insurance thanks to the private option. Lets give the state legislature, which is led by republicans and the governor who is a democrat, lets give them credit for coming together with a great bipartisan arkansas solution to get over 200,000 people private insurance. In addition, there are 40,000 people in the exchanges. That is close to most 250,000 arkansans that have try this have private insurance that have it today and not a year ago and commerce and cotton insists on taking that away from them. I would remind you that the question is specifically asking what happens to those arkansans if that is overturned . Senator pryor wants to talk about fake facts. I would encourage him to go see the arkansas seniors who just got cancellation notices that they were losing their Medicare Advantage plans because he voted for 700 billion in cuts to pay for obamacare. Part of Health Care Reform is performing all health care programs, including medicaid which is a broken entitlement system and running out of money. We can return that money to state governments and we can encourage them to make choices right for the population under obamacare programs. Let me respond to that very briefly. He talks about Medicare Advantage. There are many more arkansans that are on medical or vantage Medicare Advantage today than the day the Affordable Care act past. He has no answer for the people he would take off of these private insurance policies in arkansas. He has no answer on preexisting conditions. He has no answer on keeping your children on your health care until age 26. He has no answer on any of this but is insistent on repealing it. , shifting theor focus to education, on this University Campus as well as in northeast arkansas and Arkansas State university and around the state at various institutions of higher learning, we have students who are incurring a mountain of student debt. They are caring this burden with them into their professional lives and paying well into the years they should be saving for their own childrens education and higher learning. What you think is a fair Interest Rate for Student Loans and do you have a plan for helping students to pay back Student Loan Debt . Im a graduate of the university of arkansas, undergrad and loslaw school. This is a college town. Little rock is in some ways a college town. Great colleges and universities all over arkansas and we need to make education more affordable. I think a good student loan rate is 2. 3 . Congressman cotton has voted to double the Interest Rate on Student Loans. In addition, he says he wants to repeal the stafford Student Loan Program. Heres the problem. When he went to harvard, he used stafford Student Loans. Now he was to repeal the program. That is what climbing the ladder and then pulling it up behind you so no one else can find it. I can understand the struggles students face in higher education. I took Student Loans my cell. My dad is a farmer and my mom is a schoolteacher. , a mix the right choices of federal loans and private loans from our local bank. You dont get to make that choice anymore is a student because obamacare nationalized the student loan industry. Obamacare grabbed money to pay for its own programs and took that choice away from you so the bank where you have a Checking Account cant help initiate a loan for you. Can givet bureaucracy that service even when they had competition. When they are a monopoly, it is really bad and that is why the cost of education is going up so high. Under mark pryors 12 years in office, the cost of tuition has increased about 84 . Under the obama economy, people in their early 20s are seeing in unemployment rates increased by over 50 . That is bad for arkansas students and their families. , you look at congressman cotton, no solution. The reason he does not is because of his voting record. He went to harvard and we are proud of that. He did go to harvard, but one of the things you see over and over is thatgressman cotton he brags on the fact he went to harvard. He has used harvard to further his political career. That is ok. It is not ok to then turn around and say you want to eliminate the very same Student Loan Program that you used to get your education. I dont want to illuminate the Student Loan Program. I wanted to compete with your local bank. This goes to show the hubris of mark prior and barack obama. What did you think the student loan rate should be . He said 2. 3 . Where did he get that, thin air . Is mark pryor going to set your Mortgage Loan . Is he going to set a loan for your tractor . Washington politicians monkey around in the private sector and it hurts students. You can see it in the private tuition of the university of arkansas which has increased 84 in the last 12 years. The massive construction project to widen interstate 84 is underway in arkansas. We getn you do to ensure federal dollars for construction and quickly, and you support your marks for arkansas highway projects . I do not support your marks earmarks. It is the gateway to hire spending, which is what we have had under mark pryor. In the last six years, senator pryor has voted for every dime in new spending. It is an immoral burden for the next generation. We cant build an infrastructure we can build an infrastructure right here and all across the country but we should get bureaucrats out of the business. Why do we have to spend our money in arkansas to washington dc and hoping liberal politicians from around the country will send a few scraps back to us . I think we should keep more money ourselves and make our decisions or work with interstate compacts with states like missouri when we are building regional roads like i49. Best solution for arkansas, not to spend ourselves and 18 trillion in debt begging politicians for a few dollars for rose we can build at home. I will disagree with congressman cotton on this answer because i believe in infrastructure. I believe infrastructure is critical to jobs. It is not just immediate jobs. It is not just construction jobs. Americanmade steel and cement is good, but is the longterm benefit that we get from an investment in infrastructure. The congressman takes the position because he voted to cut infrastructure dollars in washington. Why . Because the billionaires who underwrite his campaign have told him to. They say jump, he says how high. He voted against Infrastructure Investment right here in arkansas. That is bad for our future. I talked to the mayor of war and if you weeks ago. Warren if you weasel. They got a poultry plant. He thanked me. They said you got infrastructure dollars on wastewater disposal. They would not have come here had they not had that. Infrastructure means jobs. It does mean jobs and we need more of it in arkansas. We do not need to go begging to washington politicians and bureaucrats, asking to send scraps back. It is a good revelation of his mindset. He thinks your money is his money and you should be grateful for him returning a few pennies of it. We need a highway bill that will build bridges right here in toansas, not send billions california for light rail. Pryor if senator focused on infrastructure, why did he vote for an 800 to must which is more about giving away money to corporate cronies and buildings in washington instead of roads in arkansas . I would remind you that the question addressed i49 and do you support earmarks . I do support i49 and i supported earmarks in the past. We do not do it anymore. I will say this if im elected to another six years, i want to finish i49. I want to finish i69. I want to finish i55. I want to deepen the Arkansas River to a 12foot channel. Every single one of those will add many, many jobs and help ,rkansas not just immediately but in the long term. All of those are good investments. You are doing a fine job of staying on time. Keep an eye on that red light. , the next question comes from scott inman. Budgetcongressional office announced last week that the federal deficit did shrink to a sixyear low in fiscal year 2014 but the projection for the deficit over the next decade is presumablytrillion, adding two more than a 17 trillion debt. What evidence can you provide that during your time in washington, you have had a commitment to cutting spending . If you look at my voting record in the last three years, i have cut 4 trillion in spending. In the last three years, i voted to cut 4 trillion in spending. Wait too high when they were a trillion dollars a year. It is good news they are going down, but they are still high. This is what we need to remember we can balance the budget. We balance the budget 20 years ago when president clinton was in office and we did it by using discipline and good old arkansas arithmetic. That is what we need to do. One of the things we can do to help balance the budget is grow the economy. Lets focus on jobs and the economy. Lets get our economy moving again. Lets build that middle class. That means more people paying taxes. Fewer people getting things like unemployment. That means it is good for the budget, good for the economy, good for america, and good for everybody. Mark pryor and barack obama simply have no credibility on reducing the deficit in the future because look at what is happening to the deficit over the last six years. 1 trillion on average every year. Mark pryor has voted for every penny of it. Look what is happened since he got the washington. 2. 1 train dollars in washington. 2. 1 trillion in spending. Now we are at a 3. 5 between dollars in spending. That is a terrible tragedy for the next generation. I think of a time when my consist once constituents came from the river valley. We were talking about issues and the debt. How much are we in debt . You are in debt over 50,000. He looked like the kid from home alone when he learned he was a wave from his parents at christmas time. We should not do that to the next generation. Mark pryor and barack obama have done it continuously because they are not serious about reducing the deficit. I will. Know me and you know i am serious about this. Ie in washington know watch this closely and we have to get spending under control. Cut is why i voted to spending by 4 trillion in the last three years. Where i focus is on the middle class and small businesses. Congressman cotton focuses on the top tier wealthy. I dont think you build the economy from the billionaires down. I think you build it from the middle class up. Over the last six years of the economy, if you make a living off of assets or investments like stocks or bonds, the top 5 of all income earners, you are doing ok. If you make a living by working, if labor is your means of putting food on your table, your incomes are down. Arkansas have seen a decline of 5 and theres in there house hold income. That is because mark pryor is a rubberstamp for Barack Obamas policies. , and core teaching has established standards all across the country that if a child moves from california to arkansas, they are on the same footing with their knowledge. At the same time, some teachers are saying that we have removed creativity and Critical Thinking skills by hearing to the common core standards. If we eliminate the opportunity to explore Critical Thinking, arent we turning our schools into Assembly Lines . I grew up the son of a schoolteacher. Make a Public School the best in the state. We need to have strong Public Schools. We do not need washington, d. C. Dictating educational standards to our schools. That is what happened with the common core. It started out as a voluntary, nonprofit idea, to try to establish general standards that could be adapted by states and local communities. And then barack obama and mark pryor hijacked it. Toy used it as a tool dictate how you get federal money for education. I dont think that is right. I dont think parents should have to struggle to help their kid do math homework. I dont think we should use a onesizefitsall method like, court to distribute your tax dollars back to local schools. That is Barack Obamas way. My ways to trust local communities. , and core is an important issue. I hear from teachers and parents about this. It started with the governors. It has largely been a state issue. It has passed the Arkansas State legislature. I dont support a federal color kill him i dont support a federal curriculum. I am a big supporter of Public Education. I went from first grade to law school in Public Schools and im proud of that. I think we need a firstrate Education System in the country. Children today in jonesboro and russelville, they are competing with children in china, and mexico. Superioro have that education to train our workforce, to get people ready to compete in the global economy. Isthe fact of the matter mark pryor does support a federal curriculum. It is called the common core as implemented by the department of federal education. Barack obama and posted on the state. You do not get the money if you do not use common core. Mark pryor went along with it and we have teachers who are frustrated that they do not know how to teach their students. Parents are frustrated because they cannot help their children do homework and i. Dore struggling homework at night. They are struggling already, often needing to go. I dont think we need mark pryor telling what curriculum should be. Again, education is very important and one reason congressman cotton is putting up this big smokescreen about education is he is trying to take your eye off the ball because he has voted to cut education. Those are his votes in the house. He has voted to cut education, and you ask why he does that. Billionaires,the the folks who have spent 20 million to try to buy this election for him have said to vote against it. If they vote against the, he votes against it, he turns running gives them a tax break. Gridlock in congress has caused one Government Shutdown which some say hurt the economy. Many blame that on purely partisan votes were members of each party vote only with their party. You voted against the party line and why . Lord. The partyed against line so many times, i am always criticize by democrats. The shutdown was terrible. I did not support that. Congressman condit. Cotton congressman did. When we reopened the government, i was part of the group that rocard that. We got the Government Back open. I have to give a lot of credit to susan collins. She called and said i have ideas. We you come to my office and talk about it . That was the beginning and we got the government open. One thing that people in washington know about me is i always try to work in a bipartisan way. That is leadership to me. That is getting things done for arkansas. It is something that you know about me. It is my trademark, if you will. The good news is i continue to work with republicans and i always will. Mark pryor says he votes in a bipartisan way. I guess that is true if you consider voting for barack 93 of the time. He has voted for 1 trillion of new get every single year. Innding up to big spenders washington is where i said i stood up to my party. Earlier this year, we passed a spending bill that broke through spending caps nine months old. How did they pay it . Obamar pryor and barack and too many republicans trying to balance budgets on the back of veterans. They extended spending caps out nine years. Big spenders in congress cant have some spending discipline for nine months. I dont think they can do it nine years out. Keeping with his record of rubberstamping the obama agenda. You say that you vote against your party. Which of the 93 of your post that you passed for Barack Obamas agenda did you regret . The question is when did you vote against the party line and white . I mentioned a few times and why and that is because i represent you. I am not there to oppose or support a president. I am there to represent you and i take that seriously. The people who watch the senate every your have ranked me, and this is folks that know the senate and kno how we vote, not all the rhetoric and spin you hear from the congressman here, they rank me every year as one of the most independent senators in washington. I am independent because i listen to you. Last rebuttal for you. When have you voted against wife . I did not hear many instances of senator pryor voting against barack obama and he only does it when barack obama gives him permission. If you want to go back to the voted for every spending bill to keep the government open, to reopening the government, and to open it. It is senator pryor who kept voting against arkansas. You did not have to pay a tax you could not afford. I guess senator pryor thinks that congressmen and senators have special perks, but you should have to follow obamacare and was will to shut down the government to do it. According to the Social Security administration, the trust fund will be depleted between 2033 and 2041. There are many proposals out there to avoid this and we have seen both of your campaigns highlight the unpopular ones. This problem is certainly unavoidable without congressional action. Which proposals would you support to strengthen the Financial Health of Social Security, and why . My mom and dad are on Social Security and medicare. Sorry, mom, you probably did not want me to reveal that. I would not do anything to hurt them or the arkansas seniors that depend on Social Security and medicare. That is why i voted for no changes for anyone approaching retirement. Senator pryor and barack obama cannot say the same. They robbed 700 million from medicare to pay for obama. If they did it once, they would be willing to do it again. Senator pryor is resorting to typical washington hypocrisy. He is trying to scare seniors and hang onto power. A few years ago, he said he save Social Security if he raised retirement age for teenagers today to 69. Now he is saying he did not say that. The most important thing we can do to promote Social Security solvency is get people back to work and paying into the system, not taking out. That is not happening in the economy. I would caution the audience to beware about what congressman cotton says in a debate of Social Security. When he was running for the house, he was asked a similar question and said he would never do anything to harm people on Social Security today. Guess what . It took him a grand total of five months after that election, five months, and he got the call from his billionaire backers. They told him to vote certain ways. When the aarp look at his voting record, they said his voting record would result in immediate benefit cuts. That means benefit cuts to seniors today. There are two lessons. You cannot trust what tom cotton says in a debate. You cannot trust tom cotton on Social Security. I will remind you the question is specifically which proposals would you support to strengthen the Financial Health of Social Security . Once again isor trying to confuse the matter because he wants to run from his record on cuts to medicare. 700 million in cuts of seniors benefiting from medicare today. I met a senior who said he had received his cancellation letter. That it was a result of senator pryor breaking his promises. If he did it once, he will do it again. We have to get people back to work. Grow our economy, get more money in the Social Security trust fund. Now, not save it right make the cuts that senator pryor did when he voted for obama care. I want to answer the question but i have to respond to the scurrilous charge about 700 billion cuts to medicare. Let me tell you. What i did is cut waste and overpayment to Insurance Companies in the Medicare Advantage program. More people on Medicare Advantage than there have ever been. It has been hurt the program at all. I saved 700 billion and i extended the lives of medicare by 13 years. Congressman cotton has taken the same budget votes where he takes and he givesion huge tax breaks to billionaires, the ones underwriting his campaign. That is the difference. Our next question comes from diana davis. Ands proud americans arkansans, we dont like to think these two issues go together, but sadly they do. What percentage of our military personnel are eligible to receive food stamps . How can we do better for our men and women who serve . It is true there is a surprisingly High Percentage of our enlisted men and women, mostly the very lowest rank with families, that also receive food stamps. It is just the way it is. , pay our men and women in uniform or a, and that is a start, but it underscores a problem that congressman cotton has. He continues to dance around the farm bill. He voted against the farm bill. His reason for that is he calls it a foodstamp bill. His analysis of that has been wholly debunked by anyone is look at it, but nonetheless when he voted against the farm bill, he was the only one in arkansas to do it and he voted against arkansass largest industry. Agriculture is 25 to the states economy. Devoted against it and he voted against 25 of the people in this state by doing it. One soldier is too many on food stamps. When i was a platoon leader at Arlington National cemetery, i had to help my soldiers. I had to help them in personal finances, learn how to make a budget. I did that with my staff sergeants and platoon sergeants. We worked together to help our privates make sure they could meet ends meet. I and my soldiers were the beneficiaries of your generosity , taxpayers that give us the best training, weapons, and equipment. I met a mom in jefferson county. Her son had died in the last decade of war. She has a son in active duty. She came up to me and urged me to make sure that he has the very best training and equipment and weapons so he will not die. Senator pryor and barack obama have gutted our military by 1 trillion. That means we are putting lies on the line overseas and we are putting our future at risk as well by cannibalizing our military forces, training, maintenance, and procurement. It is bad for america and that for arkansas. It is interesting to hear congressman cotton talk about this because when you look at his voting record when it comes to the middle class, guess what . He is actually voted to raise taxes on middleclass families by up to 3000 a year. He voted to raise taxes on middleclass families. That is going to work even more of a burden on our men and women in uniform. I on the other hand have a very strong record for standing up for the men and women in uniform and veterans. I think our men and women in uniform would wonder why senator pryor voted for the trillion dollar military cuts. It is part of the reason we lost our air wing at the 188. Senator pryor talked about the middle class and i guess that is his 200,000 a year income earners in arkansas. I think about the real middleclass where the wages have fallen by 5 . Radical cuts to the military and high taxes and excessive regulations, they are struggling to get by. The question is from angela taylor. Veterans in arkansas say they are enduring wait times that are too long in fayetteville and little rock. Can the v. A. System be rehabilitated . Inwe need massive reforms rva system. Earlier this year, veterans were literally dying waiting for appointments. I was one of the first congressman to insist on reform and the v. A. I was insistent that we give veterans choices so they did not have to wait too long or drive too far. They can use local caregivers in the private sector, just like private citizens. I demanded early that the president hold Eric Shinseki accountable and call for his resignation. Wait until the last day for Eric Shinseki resigned to say so. He only supports barack obama. Cannot trustply mark pryor to hold the president accountable, whether it is the v. A. Or any other government agency. The answer to your question is yes. We can reform the v. A. That me tell you something. I have marching orders from the people of arkansas. What they tell me is that when it comes to honoring the commitments we made to our veterans, that is nonnegotiable. That is what i will do. The first bill i ever passed in the senate, the first year i was there, dealt with men and women in uniform. So far i have had to 13 pieces of legislation to help our veterans and to help our military personnel. I put that record up against anybody. As soon as i heard about the terrible scandal out in arizona, i picked up the phone and set up meetings with the little rock fee eight and the fayetteville v. A. I wanted to make sure those same things were not happening here. Congressman cotton seems to think that the hard work is done when the press conference is over. The hard work is just beginning. Does not doryor much hard work in the senate. That is what veterans did while overseas. My dad was an infantry man in vietnam. He walked point for the fourth infantry division. I think about him when veterans get their care from the v. A. And i will alwasys hold the v. A. Accountable when they do not get their care. Unlike senator pryor, who voted for Barack Obamas budget which helped pay for the spending increases by giving unilateral cuts to veterans pensions. Last question i am told. Mr. Inman, you get to ask the last question. This is for congressman cotton, is at right . That is correct. I apologize. It is for senator pryor. There have been several claims in the advertising made about your opponents positions on changes to medicare and there have been claims made about your positions on changes to medicare. Would youfically change about the Current System, if anything . Medicare,ain with there have been these charges and they are just not true. The life ofxtend medicare by 13 years. That is all the savings, the overpayments we were making in the Medicare Advantage program and also some of the fraud that was going on. We took all those savings and we added, extended the life of medicare by 13 years. My opponent has voted for the very same 700 billion that he wants to criticize me for. He has voted for that same 700 billion except what he does is turns around and gives the billionaires who underwrite his campaign a massive tax breaks. I dont think that is good for our seniors. We have well over 500,000 seniors in arkansas who rely on medicare. They paid into it all their lives and they need to be there for them when the retire. The answer to your question is i will make no changes to the Current System for current retirees and anyone approaching retirement. Mark pryor cannot make that claim because he robbed 700 billion from medicare to pay for obama care. He calls it fraud or waste. Warren calledin it his Health Insurance. Obama promised that if you like your plan, you could keep it. They did not keep that promise. Now 4000 seniors are losing their Medicare Advantage plan. Senator pryor likes governmentrun health care. He wants more people to lose their plan, whether it is private plans and you have a choice or a plan at walmart for parttime workers or if you have a planet your small business. That does not mean that senator pryor should not have kept his promise that if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. He did not keep that promise when he voted for 700 billion dollars in medicare cuts. We are out of time for rebuttal so we will go straight to closing. Mr. Cotton, you get to close first. I was blessed to grow up on a farm in arkansas. My wife and i are excited to be expecting our first baby. We want our baby to have the same opportunities i did on that farm and i want your family to have those opportunities for a better life. Barack obamas policies are making that harder. Those policies are on the ballot, every single one of them. In arkansas, those policies are called mark pryor. A vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. Obamas faileded policies and cast the deciding vote for obama care, hurting workers in driving up because cost of Health Insurance. Mark pryor has voted for every penny for 6 trillion in new debt over the last six years, even as he cut 1 trillion from our military will be Islamic State is rampaging across the middle east, beheading americans. Stamppryor is a rubber for Barack Obamas policy of indecision. I think there is a better way. Get the economy moving. Get people back to work. Repeal obama care. Quist you and from our kids. Rebuild our military. That is the choice that you face in this election. If you are satisfied with barack obama, that is your guy. Your vote for mark pryor will be a vote for barack obama. If you are ready for a new direction and change that helps working arkansans, i would appreciate your vote. Thank you. What you heard tonight is that he is running against one man, but i am running for 3 million arkansans. I want to thank the audience tonight. I want to thank everyone who is watching on television. I want to thank the three tv stations and the panelists. You have done a great job. You all know me. You know that i am about hard work. I dont hold a lot of press conferences. Your after your, they rank me as one of the most independent senators in washington. I am proud of that because i represent you. I know that arkansans are stubbornly independent. When it comes to issues, we are very different. He voted to cut Student Loans. He voted to make big cuts in arkansas childrens hospital. He voted to make cuts in Social Security and medicare. He voted against the cal bill. He also voted against the release. It helps arkansans. It else people in mayflower and other communities that have gone through disaster. We have a clear choice here. Who listens to whom . I listen to you. Congressman cotton listens to his mega donors that are underwriting his campaign. If you talk to him anytime in the next six years, he is going to hit the mute button because he listens to them. Thank you very much. Early voting is october 20. I appreciate your vote. Thatinclude concludes tonights debate. You can see the debate again on www. Cspan. Org. Im the director of a 24 hour emergency Domestic Violence shelter. We have to do something to break the cycle of violence and tom cotton is not doing anything to help. Republican ory democrat from the state of arkansas to vote this way. He voted to cut the funding to shelters. There is a big difference between mark pryor and tom cotton. One wants to protect women and children. The other doesnt. I am mark pryor and i approve this message. Im courtney. It is hard to ignore the senate race. The more i read, the more i am concerned about tom cotton. Did you know he voted against equal pay for women and he thinks women should be charged more for health care than men . Onlyn was also the arkansas congressman to vote twice against women who are victim of Domestic Violence. It makes you wonder what does cotton have against women . I am tom cotton and i approve this message. My husband and i started this is this. We have everyone from the body shop guy to mechanics to the cleaning crew to the dispatch, the drivers. Our dream now is survival. Obamacare has already raised the premiums. It is already costing us a fortune. It has not heard our business, it is heard in our employees. But madene Everything Health care affordable. Next year we may not be able to afford coverage at all. Our hands are tied and it is frustrating to realize that your own senator cast the deciding vote on obamacare. We told him personally how this would affect our business and our employees. I wish senator pryor had lids how had listen to us obamacare wouldve affected our business and i wish he would have voted against it, but he didnt. Cspans campaign 2014 is bringing you more than 100 debates for the control of congress. Stay in touch with our coverage and engage. Follow us on twitter and like us at facebook. Com cspan. Cspans 2015 student cam competition is underway. The competition for middle and High School Students will award 150 prizes totaling 100,000. Create a 57 minute documentary on the topic the three branches and you. They need to show varying points byview and must he submitted january 20, 2015. Go to studentcam. Org for more information. Grab a camera and get started today. On the next washington journal, jean ross discusses the texas nurse who tested calls foror ebola and new standards to protect Health Care Workers from the disease. It look at the 2014 midterm elections with tim phillips. President of americans for pusherity and his groups to make the Affordable Care act the number one issue. Washington journal is applied every morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on seas and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. The reddish house of commons return wednesday morning after attending party conferences. Question time with british Prime Minister David Cameron starts at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 2. Here are a few of the comments we have recently received from our viewers. I am a nurse and i just watched something on cspan in regardsur troops to the ebola virus in helping out over there. I am ok with that. However, i really do believe that the only way to keep americans safe is to prevent anybody coming over from my. From liberia to the united. Tates we do not have a vaccine yet for the ebola virus. If an american does become ill and dies because of it, it is just not fair to the american people. It is not doing us a service and keeping us safe. I am a retired Nurse Practitioner and i must listening to the medical experts speak on tv to the shocked onblic, im completely inaccurate comments. Viruses, one can start as agious this as soon patient some viruses are the say the dayous before they even show symptoms. With a local colleague to find out, no, you are right. It sounds like even laypeople are confronting that misinformation. What has happened with the a bowl of virus proves that the United States is not prepared to do with this in an efficient way. Homeland security is not efficient, which we have known that, and the Transportation Security Administration did not do its job in the hospital to which this man went did not do its job. It seems to me that people from dangerous areas should be either not allowed to come to the United States or be corn teamed or be allowed to be put in a special camp or at least forced to undergo a medical examination upon getting off the plane if they will not be prevented for coming. Whatntinue to let us know you think of the programs you are watching. The only debate between idaho Republican Center jim risch and his democratic opponent, attorney Nels Mitchell. Reports issue this as solidly republican. Democrat and longtime attorney Nels Mitchell takes on the republican incumbent senator jim risch seeking his second term. The two will debate the issues facetoface in their only scheduled debate before the november 4 election. What will it take to win your vote . Decision 2014 starts now. Here is mark johnson. Hello and welcome to the debate for the u. S. Senate. I am mark johnson alongside all the candidates. We begin with democratic challenger Nels Mitchell. He has been a practicing attorney for more than 30 years. He has worked as the associate regional director and regional climate counsel for the securities and exchange commission. Alongside republican senator jim asch,s previously served idahos governor and lieutenant governor. He sets on five committees, including intelligence, and ethics. Thank you for agreeing to participate in this gathering. Jim weatherby is here, along justin ford. Drew for thete, we order of one minute statements and we begin with senator risch. The floor is your. I thank you very much. Hank you for watching today i am sure you are watching because you want to make a choice as to who you should vote for in this important race. It is going to be really easy because the choices going to be crystal clear. We are very different people. If you want a liberal democrat, you have my opponent, mr. Metro. If you want a conservative person, i am your person. I will tell you everything you need to know about the two of us. And i, fought to keep barack obama from opposing his fundamental cultural changing agenda on the United States. While we were doing that, this gentleman was funding the other side. What he actually did was contribute thousands of dollars of his own money in that effort. First trying to elect Hillary Clinton as president , and then working to elect barack obama and putting a lot of money into it. If you are happy with the way the president obama is trying to take this country, this is your guy. I have every confidence he will and assistingc the president over the next few days. The choice is clear. We are very different people. I will yield the floor to the gentleman from california. Thank you. I was raised in boise. Attended oyster high school. Waited from the university of idaho law school. I love my state in my country. I am running for the u. S. Senate to replace a career politician with someone wholl represent idaho values of honesty, responsibility, and hard work. As your u. S. Senator, i will work hard to create economic opportunity, goodpaying jobs for people in idaho. I wont waste your money by shutting down the government, as senator risch did last year. Also says one thing in idaho and votes another way in washington. I will vote the same way in washington that i talk in idaho. Like you, i am sick and tired of the dysfunction in washington. We can do better. Thank you. Lets begin with education. Senator risch, we will begin with you. What should the role of the federal government be when it comes to the state School System . One of the primary topics on capitol hill and in idaho. You know, i have teachers from idaho, the Parents Teachers Association from idaho, and a lot of people have different interest in education. They come back to washington and meet will with me. I hear from them over and over again. The biggest challenge they have as far as washington ec is concerned is that every time washington, d. C. Does something by giving them money or something else, they attach federal strings to it. I could not agree with them more. The iea is very adamant that they do not want the strings attached. Teachers believe in idaho people. We can run these School District ourselves right here in idaho. The legislature can do this. They dont need washington, d. C. Tying strings to it. The auto Public School system needs help no question. , we spent less per state than any other state per pupil, less than even mississippi. I agree that we need to minimize regulations and strings that are attached to the money that comes from the federal government. The programs are well intended, but oftentimes with the federal government there are excessive regulations. One of the things i bring to the table is having worked inside the federal government and having worked at the sec, i have an understanding of these one runaway bureaucracies and agencies and how we need to keep them in check and not let them over regulate various aspects of our lives, including education. Lets go to the panel now. Dr. Wetherbee. You will director question beginning with mr. Mitchell. You . At kind of democrat answer, tell us someone in the senate you identify with philosophically and ideologically . I am an idaho democrat. I do not necessarily subscribe to any california or massachusetts agenda. I will represent the values of people in idaho. I think the people of idaho do tend to be conservative, but we are also most importantly, independentminded. And we dont want people from massachusetts or california, those types of liberals, telling us how we should live our lives. In terms of the people i admire in the u. S. Senate, two of my heroes growing up were william mara as well as frank church. I think they both served our state well and represented the interest and i use of the people of idaho. Your followup . Ideologically, where do you stand on the political spectrum . Senator risch has provided a prompt saying you are a liberal democrat. What are you . That is silly. Im not a liberal democrat. And oftentimes the labels are a substitute for actual discussion of the issues. By calling me a liberal democrat, i have not been called that since i was probably 19 years old. Its interesting to hear that today. I would characterize myself as an idaho democrat and someone who is an independent and represents the values that we hold important here in idaho. You have an opportunity to respond. Thank you very much. Oh, yes he is. Go to the website and compare what he says to what harry reid says and what Barbara Boxer says. I work with these people everyday. I know them and i listen to them. I know what their core and fiber is. You compare what they write compared to what hes written and there is no question. Everybody sits at home and says no, im a moderate. , im not liberal, this or that. The fact of the matter is, the way hes talking about the issues is exactly what i hear every day from these farleft liberal organizations running , our country today in the u. S. Senate. Could i have just a quick followup . Survey,ational journal it identifies you two years running as the most conservative United States senator. I think many people or member in idaho you are viewed as a pragmatic conservative. Now you have appeared to have evolved into an ideologue. What has happened . I would disagree with that appearance. I do vote very conservatively. There are about a dozen of us that vote conservatively, and this will come as a great shock, but we are from conservative states. I represent arguably the most conservative state in the United States. Those of us to come from conservative state, whether its utah, wyoming, oklahoma, texas, South Carolina we vote conservatively. Whenever they do these polls, i am lined up at the conservative end of the spectrum. If i am reelected to the United States senate i will continue , voting conservatively to represent the conservative values. And remember 60 of idaho ends, as you know, identify themselves as either very conservative or somewhat conservative. I feel like im giving exactly what idahoans want. From ideology to the issues could i respond just briefly . 15 seconds. Thank you. The conservative ratings, i think, are just goofy. I dont know whether it is National Review or who is putting this label as conservative. Conservative should not include someone who participated in shutting down the government, wasting 24 billion of taxpayer money. That is not conservative. Thats just goofy. Well get to that in a moment but more on the issues with justin. Both campaigns sent along questions for the other candidate. Well send with a question from Nels Mitchell for senator risch. It goes like this. Why did you vote against the federal legislation cosponsored by senator crapo ended at reducing Domestic Violence . Thats a really good question. First of all, everybody in this room agrees that Domestic Violence is a despicable act. I heard all the speeches and i sit on the senate floor and hear lots of speeches. Ive done something about Domestic Violence. I started my Public Service as a prosecutor. I participated in the north side rapist case. I personally put Michael Hightower in prison. I put lots and lots of people in prison for Domestic Violence. Its a terrible thing. I think every one of us agree with that this is not a federal issue. This is a state issue. And the constitution, article 1, section 8, is very clear that the Central Government is supposed to be a very, very limited authority. I hate Domestic Violence, everyone hates Domestic Violence. Ive done something about it. But the federal government has no business taking over this issue from the states. It belongs to the states. And this is why weve got this bloated large federal government that we have today. Mr. Mitchell. If i was in the senate i would have been a cosponsor of the extension of the violence against women act with senator crapo. Domestic violence that weve seen with the recent n. F. L. Scandal still remains a serious problem. The violence against women act has a number of good features that have helped reduce Domestic Violence. In fact, it actually has funds some of our prosecutor positions here in idaho. So i think it is a serious problem. I would have worked with senator crapo to cosponsor the extension of the act. And in terms of this tenth amendment argument thats just silly once again because my opponent is cosponsoring legislation that would federalize idahos gun carry permit law. You know, you cant have it both ways. You cant hide behind the tenth amendment and vote against extension of the violence against women act and then try to federalize the carry permit law. A response. Thank you very much. I started my legislative career one of the reasons was because of violence against women. I was putting them in the front door and the parole board was letting them out as fast as i was putting them in. When i went to the legislature back in the 19720s that was the biggest push i had, i got rid of the entire parole board eeter fire them or they quit. Now we have commonsense keeping these people locked up that should be locked up. Dove tailing on your gridlock comment from a moment ago. Excluding schools, which we opened the debate with today, what is the Biggest Issue facing idaho . And dove tailing on the gridlock reference, can congress do something about it . Yes. Congress can do spg about it. But first of all, in congress we have to get past the shrilling partisanship that we currently have in the senate and in the house. We must move beyond that. We must have people back in congress who are willing to work across the aisle to try and address the problems that we face here in idaho as well as in the country. In terms of the major problem we face in idaho, its jobs and the economy. It simply is jobs and the economy. We have the lowest income per person in the entire country. Once again in the race to the bottom weve passed mississippi and arkansas. We need somebody back in washington, somebody in the senate, who is going to work to promote jobs and the economy of idaho. Simple solution. I mean, one example was this summer when the senate and my opponent voted to block the bring the jobs home act. Idaho has lost 18,000 jobs to china since year 2000. All we need to do is eliminate that tax break that weve been giving to companies for shipping jobs overseas. Senator. Well, the specific question regarding the biggest challenge facing idaho idaho families and for that matter america is something that really every american should be focused on. And that is the National Debt and the deficit spending. The federal government spends about 11 billion a day 11 billion a day. The first four years i was there they were borrowing 4. 5 billion to pay their bills that night. The past couple of years because of the tax increases obamas been able to get through theyre only borrowing 2. 5 billion a day. Tomorrow it will be 20 trillion when barack obama leaves aufments im dying to compromise on this issue, i want to talk to people who compromise on this issue. It is compromise that got into this 3. 8 trillion a year spending, it is compromise to get us out of this. But when we talk about cutting back on washington, d. C. They look at you like youve got three heads. This nonsense has got to stop. Real quick. Such a popular topic i wanted to chime in about the debt real quick. First with the senator considering what the federal budget is for Social Security, medicare, defense, once you pay for that theres no room if any to cut what would you cut and is this a problem the federal debt where the ceiling continues to rise that you can cut away . You can cut. The first thing, lets talk about what we wont cut and that is i promised you when i ran for the United States senate i would not cust benefits that youve earned. Social security, medicare, and veterans benefits. I will not cut that. Indeed, i dont believe congress is going to cut that. But there is plenty of room in the rest of the federal budget to start cutting and we need to start cutting. That will get us to where we need to be. But we cant just turn our head and look the other way. Im unhappy to report that we dont get the discussion we need on this in washington, d. C. Three or four years ago everybody was talking about it. Nobody did anything about it. Weve just moved on and the debt continues to pile up. Do you have an opportunity to respond . I agree that the federal debt is a problem but weve also got to look at where the problems started. The problems started in the Bush Administration with the two unfunded wars. I think we cant simply blame it on the president and the current administration. Theyre still trying to pay off the two unfunded wars started by president bush. In terms of dealing with the debt, yes, it is something that we need to address. But by going back to washington and just voting no against everything, thats not going to help solve the problem. We need to come together and have a bipartisan solution in order to get the debt down. Any ideas on the way to increase the money coming in to the federal government . Certainly. I mean, its very easy. We need to close the loopholes. We need to reform our current tax laws. Close the loop holes that are benefiting the special interests. And we can make Great Strides in terms of reducing the debt. Senator. Thanks. Did you hear that enthusiastic . Oh, certaintly. Thats what we get from democrats back there all the time. Let me translate for that. Tax increases. Thats what they want. I promised you that i wouldnt do that. Im not going to raise your taxes. Americas got a spending problem. Thats what americas got and thats what we need to focus on. I begin with senator risch. You begin with senator risch. Correct. Back to 2006, senator risch, the tax shift legislation that you pushed through the legislature that shifted the funding of education from the property tax to the sales tax, theres been a lot of commentary recently about the negative effects that shift has had on Public Education affecting the flow of the Revenue Source to Public Schools, as well as unequalized tax levees. What is your response to where that legislation is today and its impacts on idaho . Thats a really good question. I know theres been some discussion on that. In 2006, when i became governor, i had lived through three or four decades of fighting against property tax. I called a special session of the legislature. You used the word push. I think and you know better than when you try to push something in the legislature. It is finesse when something goes through the legislature. Two thirds voted for that. We took the millage off of the property tax for maintenance and operation. What that did is reduced property taxes 20 . We also put a penny on the sales tax. We also put millions in a rainy day fund, which incidently helped us through the very difficult times we had. I said we are werent going to do that unless the people were going to sign off. 72 of idahoans every precinct in this state voted for that. Heres another clear example. If im reelected i promise you i will use the influence of this office to see that your property taxes are not increased. This gentleman, along with the fellow running on the democratic side for governor, has promised you he will work to increase your property taxes 20 . Really, if you want higher property taxes, if you want a 20 increase, go back to 2006, this is your guy. Mr. Mitchell. First of all, its a lawyer trick what the senator is doing. He blames me for things that other people are doing. He tries to link me with other people because he does not want to address the issues. In terms of the tax shift that decimated our public Education System in idaho, i think the senator owes the students in this state and the parents in this state an apology. As ive traveled around the state this year, it has devastated Public Education. A lot of our School Districts can only afford to stay open four days a week. A lot of the programs have been cut because of that. It created a hole that our Public Schools have never fully recovered from. We do need to improve our Education System. That is clear. But as a u. S. Senator im not going to be focusing on raising property taxes. Thats just silly. But it is something that i agree. We do need to focus on education in this state because right now were spending once again the lowest amount per pupil in the country and its a legacy of the senators short term as governor. Response. I listen to the gentleman talk about blaming me for funding education. Ive had nothing to do with funding education since 2006. Every january, february, march, the legislature meets. They decide what theyre going to tax and what theyre going to spend. What weve said to the legislature in 2006 is, you can use income tax, you can use sales tax, you can use income from public lands, you can use liquor funds, lottery funds but you cant use property tax. They do that every year. Its a difficult job. I did it for a long time. You have to balance. Thats got nothing to do with the whining theyve been doing about lowering property taxes. We actually lowered property taxes. If i can just have one moment. In terms of lowering property taxes once again thats a false issue. The property taxes for the average person in idaho were not lowered. They were only low because we have the home owners exemption. They were only lowered for people with large land holdings. It did not have a positive impact on most of the people in idaho. And it is the single reason why our Public Schools are in the sad condition that they are in today. Thats simply not true. All right. Justin. This is a question from the risch campaign for mr. Nels mitchell. They write jim rich wrote the rule to protect 9. 3 million acres and became a model in the rule making process. Do you agree with this or how would you change it . I have no argument with that collaborative process. My disappointment with the senator is that he has blocked the collaborative process that representative simpson started in connection with attempting to protect Boulder White clouds. Once again, the proposal was the result of a collaborative process. Its my understanding that when the senator was running he said that he would support representative simpsons proposal. But since he has been back in washington, he has been the reason that the protection of the bolder white clouds has not gone forward. Senator. Well thank you very much. And thank you for the question since i gave it. We did a really good job, and it is a model all over the country being followed. It was a collaborative method. With his criticism, i know you havent been here very long and i know youre relatively new here so let me explain what happened. When i was governor you are absolutely right, i embraced the plan that mike simpson put together. When i was running for the u. S. Senate i embraced that plan. I got back there. The collaborative process that mike had used and it is a difficult process. But they had people on both sides come to the table and agree. It was a great plan that mike had put together. Guess what. It went back to washington, d. C. And the radical environmentalists the democrats in Congress Took what mike had put together and dismantled it and it was no longerives plan. I said we need to have a public hearing. People said we wanted this. But not the way they have changed this in washington, d. C. It was no longer an idaho plan. I know you dont know anything about this because you werent here at the time. But those are the facts. I still support what mike simpson did here in the collaborative process. Its a good plan. Just real briefly. Once again, were playing lawyer tricks. Youre blaming other people that arent in the room without names for things. Youve been back there for six years. Six years is plenty of time to sit down with representative simpson and work out the issues and not just simply blame some unnamed liberals back in washington. I mean, we need to move beyond just blaming the liberal bogiemen and actually try to solve these problems so we can protect places in idaho like the bolder white clouds. You need to give that speech to the democrats in washington, d. C. Lets move to Foreign Policy and the Ripple Effect sometimes can be felt many times felt right here in idaho. What Foreign Policy issue other than isis and the conflicts in iraq and syria should americans, idahoans and congress be paying close attention to right now . Senator well begin with you. Well, i think obviously youve just mentioned some of them. I spent most of tuesday and thursday afternoons in intelligence meetings dealing with this stuff. Other days im in Foreign Relations committee with this stuff. There are challenges all over the world. The world is a dangerous place. The challenges continue to rise. But the important thing is that we as americans continue to lead. We are americans. We are the best country on the face of this planet. We are the strongest country on the face of this planet. And the world looked to us. We have been deteriorating on the National Stage since president obama did his apology tour, which started in cairo, egypt, not long after he took office. We need to talk about american exceptionalism. We need to project american exceptionalism. And if we do that, the rest of the world will follow. We cant be the worlds policemen in all these little fights that go on. As you know, a year ago i led the charge to stop us from going into syria which would have been a horrible mess if we had done that probably one of the most important things i did while i was in the senate. Mr. Mitchell. I agree that the United States is the best and greatest country in the world. But we need to use our power wisely. Unfortunately, we did not starting with the Bush Administration and the approach that we took to the middle east. We do face challenges around the world and the United States does need to be a leader. But in terms of being a leader, we need to be able to look around the corner not just react to todays problem. We need to be focusing on whats around the corner. Whats the longterm impact of our involvement such as in iraq. You dont just invade a country like iraq. You need to have an end game. Unfortunately, with the Bush Administration we did not. We do face these challenges. But one of the things that i find disappointing is the slilness and partisanship in the senate. We need to have a bipartisan approach to Foreign Policy and as we face these challenges we need to make sure that were working collaboratively with the neighboring countries such as in the middle east. 30second followup. Again, im really focused on trying to keep us out of these things. I voted against the most recent proposal to arm and train the socalled rebels in syria. I think that was a really bad idea. I met with those people. I dont have any confidence. Syria is made up of 200 very complex tribes combined religious ethnic views. Their fights have been going on for a thousand years. Theres no way that were going to settle that. Weve got to protect ourselves. Question for mr. Mitchell. You stated early on in your campaign that if elected you would serve only one term. Saying that six years is a long time. Why would you volunteer to be a lame duck the moment youre sworn into office . Six years is a long time. I think one of the primary problems we have in Politics Today are career politicians. They get back in washington and all theyre worried about is running for reelection, raising money for their next election campaign, not actually leading. Six years once again, you can accomplish a lot in six years. I think we need more people back in washington who have had other careers, who understand the issues that are actually faced in their states. And will spend full time focusing on those issues as opposed to being worrying about their next election. Followup . Well, briefly. Let me just say that everything in the United States senate is based on seniority. Im very fortunate to have gotten there when i did. When i got there, mike crapeo had been there ten years and he was 77th in seniority. Im either in the low 60s or actually into the 50s now. But seniority makes a tremendous amount of difference. I was actually surprised. As you know ive been in Public Service most of my adult life and very little surprises me in washington, d. C. One is their attitude about money. The other is how complex the United States senate is and how important seniority is. Talk about the Affordable Care act. Should it be fixed, repealed . Now we have our own state exchange. The Affordable Care act, there are a number of good features. The fact that children can stay on their parents policies until theyre 26, the fact that it covers preexisting conditions, the lifting of the lifetime caps. Unfortunately, the implementation has been a disaster. What we need back in washington is we need leaders who are going to focus on how do we fix this, how do we make it better . Here in idaho we have over 75,000 people who now have Health Insurance because of the Affordable Care act. So its not simply you cant just repeal it because that would mean were putting 75,000 people out on the street without coverage. So what we need to focus on are its good features and how we can make it better. Senator. Well, thank you. Ive lived with this disaster since i went to the United States. Its no it is no secret that i voted against it. Indeed, every single republican voted against it. Every single democrat voted for it. And it has been a disaster. Ive got a minute here. Ive got a minute here. You cant talk about this complex subject. The bill they gave us was 3,000 pages and they handed it to us 45 minutes before harry reid called a vote on that bill. Im going to refer you to the internet and if you look up the Patient Choice affordable responsibility and empowerment act, that is a legislative proposal by the Senate Republicans which talks about how we would fix this. Of course it starts with the repeal. But then it replaces it with a lot of things that i think would be very good for the american people. This thing has been an unmitigated disaster. It cannot goen the way that it is. The administration, what they were trying to do is get more people insured. 84 of americans were insured 87 were insured at the time they brought this on board. They were supposed to get 7 more. They didnt even get that. We have paid a horrible price and had the government essentially nationalize this industry in order to get that additional people insured. They should have just pass it had bill and given them insurance. Lets maybe get into specifics. I know were limited time somewhat. But senator can you talk about maybe some of the high points of that and then mr. Mitchell if you can respond to that. It will not surprise you that we republicans view it like this. This is the sixth largest industry in america. It is arguably the most personal matter of our life. It is arguably one of the most complex things that we deal with in our life. What happens . The politicians came in and took this on and said were going to dump this and redo this. What could possibly go wrong here . Everything has gone wrong here. Our proposal brings back the market system into this with some sideboards that needed to be added before obamacare was enacted. Your response . Well, a couple of things. First of all, the idea of a 3,000 page bill that devers regulations to Government Agencies i agree, i think thats stupid. This is one of the reasons that where congress has abdicated its role for enacting legislation. Both the aca as well as the dodd frank act. We need people in the congress who are actually going to vote on laws that they have read and understanding and that will work for the people. In terms of the a. C. A. And the republican proposal, well, ive looked at the republican proposal. Some of the criticisms are it doesnt cover preexisting conditions. And dumping things back into the free market would be a disaster for the people here in idaho as well as the american people. Lets jump to Immigration Reform. Obviously a hot topic here in idaho in our rural areas it is crucial for many of our farmers, ranchers. Lets begin with you mr. Mitchell. If you were elected and you had an opportunity to affect Immigration Reform, what would you do . Immigration reform everybody agrees we need Immigration Reform. But we also need leaders back in washington who are willing to tackle the problems. I agree with the president of the lds church who has called for commonsense Immigration Reform. And what he has said is we need a just and caring law balanced with the principles that we love our neighbors, that families stay together, and enforce just and compassionate laws. Now, part of that is under the Senate Proposal that mr. Risch voted against, we do need a program, a Guest Worker Program which is supported by idahos agal industry. In addition we need a path to citizenship for these young people who came to this country and have lived their entire lives in this country. We do need a sensible path to citizenship. I think those are the two primary components that were in the original Senate Proposal that was passed over my opponents objection. This is something that just breaks your heart. We could do immigration so easy in this country. If you broke this into its Component Parts and started by what is the problem not a problem. The fact that there are 11 Million People here illegally is a problem but it is not the problem. The problem is that people are entering this country illegally. There are 200 plus countries on the face of this earth. You cant walk into any country on the face of this earth without going through the requirements that they have for whether you can get in or whether you cant get in. We really need first of all to secure the borders. Now, that sounds trite but every other country does it. The United States, the most sophisticated country on the face of this earth, should be able to secure the borders. At the same time, we do need a Guest Worker Program for idaho, for every other state. Our High Tech Industries need it badly, industries, dairy industry. Look at what president obama did. This is a chart of unaccompanied children entering the United States illegally. In 2012 when he legalized essentially tens of thousands of people here with the stroke of a pen this is opening the borders even more. The numbers have sky rocketed since 2012 with people pouring in here. This has got to stop before we talk about other parts of the problem. For fair play senator went over his time by 30. Ok. Just a few comments. Immigration reform is not the problem is the shrill partisanship. It is not just raising the walls on the border. It is working together and coming together because we have shared and common values. And thats why we need sensible Immigration Reform and we need people back in washington who arent going to just demagogue the issue but are actually going to try to solve the problem. All right. Youll point this first to senator risch. Real quick. Sorry, a couple quick followups for the senator and then if mr. Mitchell can respond as well. On immigration you talked about securing the border more. Any specific ideas . Would it be a wall . Would it be more personnel for Border Patrol . And then also, what would your position be on amnesty considering president reagan i guess did it. Twopart question. First part. Its all of the above. When youre dealing with security on a border as israel does as every other country does you use all of the above to secure your border. But you stop people from coming in here illegally. And if they do come across the border immediately you take them back to the border and put them back across where they came from. Youve got to stop this. Weve got to stop this. Were on track for 100,000 unaccompanied children to come in this year. We have got to stop this. And its an all of the above approach. And we can do it. On amnesty i am not going to vote for amnesty. I am opposed to amnesty. Mr. Mitchell. The unaccompanied minor problem at the border i agree with pope francis is a humanitarian problem. Im not going to its unfortunate when i hear people like the senator trying to demonize the children that are coming across the border. We need sensible Immigration Reform to address these issues to address the humanitarian crisis with these unaccompanied minors. And at the same time, in terms of what it comes down to is we need people in washington who are willing to address the issues. And as far as amnesty goes, whats your position . Amnesty is a misloading label because when youre talking about the 18yearold down who has lived here all of his or her life except for six months were not really talking about amnesty. Were talking about a path to citizenship. So its a misleading label. I begin with senator risch. Correct. There is been a lot of talk in idaho about the takeover of federal lands. Is this a legitimate Public Policy issue or just political