Transcripts For CSPAN Virginia 7th Congressional District Debate 20161022

To better help overhaul the federal acquisition process and recognizing that this might take more than a year or two, would you submit to remaining on the those committees long enough to see the job through to completion . Ive served, acquisition reform is largely in the government reform committee. I served as chief counsel in the 90s after i work for congresswoman wilkes even though im not on that committee, we have on all these issues, you do not need to be on a particular committee to work for your constituents so ive had roundtables where ive brought leadership to various committees to talk about acquisition reform and we need working, not at the seat of government but the seed of technology and we have the experts here in our region to help us do that. We are sitting down with john woods several years ago and going through on insider, how we need to work through this more quickly. We also need to create that ecosystem where we have a big company and we need to have our startups and we need to make sure where ive youre more the most complaints on acquisition reform is on the mediumsize businesses that have gotten on the startup but when they get into that midrange, thats when all regulations really hit. We are going to then asking them how can we help and change, we did have reform in the National Defense conversation ask, we are trying to work in a lot of different ways but having the relationships that i have, with the Contracting Community and with the experts on that, its been a great asset for me to go to my colleagues and get these changes put into action. Thank you. 90 seconds for you. I know in a very personal way how difficult the acquisition process is in the federal government. In my business, we competed for gfa releases over a period of 10 to 15 years. It requires that you hire people up front that you expend an awful lot of capital. Taking tremendous risks to compete for these users, we need to streamline this process. We need to make more predictable and easier and i am committed to doing that. And i think i understand it well enough having been through the process many times , understand exactly how to do that. One of the reasons the federal government is not able to be and move quickly is this continuing resolution process. That fails to adjust the amounts of spending that are allocated to each agency. When you have to fund the government at the same levels in the same proportion that you did the previous year, you are not able to fund the new things that, that are so critical so you end up following. Were basically, we have the same budget we had since 2010, thats got to change. We need a Better Process for working our government. Thank you. Again, ive already worked in this area, worked with so many of you leaders are dealing with this problem. I have an open door and i not only invite everyone, i go out to visit the companies. What do we need to change . What regulations do we need to change . If they are causing you problems and advancing technology and getting it into the field. This is something important for our military because we need to have the highest tech that they can in the field. I have a record of already doing this in terms of the budget. The house is often passing and ive only been there two years but i am working to get those budgets through and thats why ive always been one of those votes that they know im going to work , thats why im one of the 20 most bipartisan republicans. Moving on to our closing question with the first to miss bennett. Lets look to january 2017. Imagine youve been invited to dinner with the new president whos a member of your opposing party, what one issue would you bring to discuss during your dinner meeting that would benefit the tax district and that you could garner bipartisan support from. Investment in our economy. This is something that President Trump should understand. Education funding and infrastructure funding. Those are two of the critical things that we need to do not only in this district but in the country. I believe i could work with anyone and i would certainly reach across the aisle and work with the president to support this kind of thing. We need to rebalance our economy. We need any economy that works for everyone. We need , because we are seeing in this president ial election , there is a growing number of americans who believe they been left behind and theres some truth to that. Both parties are at fault. We need to start to address the inequities in the growth of the recession. We dont need to be dramatic and if we address it now it wont snap back and overshoot. I would work on rebounding the economy and really worked to address that in this country. Thank you. Congresswoman comstock, if you are going to dinner . I would like to see continuation of the cures bill that i talked about. That is the thing im most passionate about because i think its an area where we can really change the lives of people throughout our community and we have the technology, particularly in this area for technology, research and be able to change things over the next 10 years. With moon shot, the idea is to shorten the time to read recently i went to the cancer but that we had Childhood Cancer families and those families are passes and in someplace have several of them in districts working to make sure we have those resources put in for your Childhood Cancer. Youre going to find out so many other things in that area so i would work , thats an area where we already have bipartisan support. I think there are resources in investment that will end up saving us billions on the healthcare side if we can get it right. And bring us good highpaying jobs. In our region we have the center for Cancer Research that shes involved in , the president of shenandoah university, they started a new research tool. We can see all kinds of new jobs that help our economy and expand not only in virginia for our entire country and i will be thrilled to be part of that. Is bennett, 60 seconds. Is bennett, 60 seconds. I tell you what i would work with him on. Heres what i would fight. Heres what i would fight President Trump on. These are things my opponent agrees with him on. I would fight for Womens Health you and for paycheck fairness. Congresswoman has voted against paycheck fairness twice and attend district as the highest pay gap between men and women of all 11 Congressional Districts in virginia. That has to change. I would fight for comprehensive Immigration Reform and not to build some stupid wall that someone else is going to pay for it. We need to pass comprehensive Immigration Reform and get past this broken immigration system. I would fight him to invest in an energy economy. In and to knowledge Climate Change does exist. He has called it a hoax, my opponent has called it a minute. You we have to move forward, thank you. We dont have time for audience questions but were going to move right into here. Now were going to have hovers woman comstock go first and you will have to minutes. Thank you. Its been delightful to get together for so many friends and people that ive worked with for years back into the 90s when i worked with congresswoman wilke. You will you seen on his state theres only one person here who has a bipartisan record of working across the aisle to get numerous results for jobs, energy, education and a lifetime of experience working in the health field. Theres also one person on the stage that implemented equal pay. I not only for women , i pay them more than men. My opponent does not and she has paid women from what i can tell on the campaign less than men. I am the person whos raised defense spending but still wants to cut it and not only wants to cut it but is raising money to subsidize our economy and our region. Our opponent also supported tax relief , 1 billion in tax increases and his projobs, i disagree and have already worked on tax reform. You i have already cast the relationship to work with the state, local community in all areas of our economy. We havent talked about our Nonprofit Sector, our Nonprofit Sector is so many of our Companies Come with nonprofits and thats why we have such a you great system here of getting things done and i have worked on leaders in every single area and my opponent , she hasnt had a that local involvement because shes been down in washington dc where shes been doing her entire career. For the congresswoman i will continue to be able to do my work as a chairwoman, on science and technology, on the economy, on research and the whole economy and im the only one on your this stage that already has a record of success. An we are just Getting Started and we will continue that. A miss bennett, twominute. Thank you catherine and thank you to the Northern Virginia chamber of commerce and to all the sponsors of the debate. On the campaign trail, my opponent likes to talk about payslips, thats thinking small. America is a country of big ideas. We can do this stuff. Weve done it our entire history. We can solve the problems facing our country , its not a question of ability, its a question of leadership. You we need the right leadership in with the courage to tackle the challenges head on. We need a congresswoman not only willing to do the hard work but in to take the hard votes. We can build an economy that will works for everyone and yes, you that includes equal pay for a women. We can pass comprehensive Immigration Reform , strengthen our infrastructure, and protect all of our citizens and expand education. Dont tell me we cant do this. Its what we in the Business Community do every day. As a businesswoman, i know how to find the opportunity in challenges, how to solve a problems and how to get results. I know that government isnt the answer to all of our problems but what we can do is strive to create equal opportunity for all the citizens and all of our businesses to compete. He businesses to compete. In Northern Virginia that means access to highquality education. Something that meets the needs of the 21stcentury economy. It means Infrastructure Improvements that will shorten our commute time and it means ensuring an open , welcoming environment that will affect all of our citizens. Thats why i ask for your vote i november 8, thank you. That concludes todays debate. Please join me in giving our and candidates a hand. [applause] on behalf of the Northern Virginia chamber of commerce, George Mason Universitys school of Public Policy and government and our sponsors , we thank you for joining us today, have a great day. Y i think its interesting that she likes to highlight that she pays women more than men and votes against other women making as much as men across the country. I think theres a little bit of conflict there. [inaudible] at the end i did outline many issues that they share and that i would push against. Much of a factor do you think mister trump is going to be in this race . I think hes a factor in the country and i think the fact that he is the person leading the Republican Party speaks volumes for aware our Republican Party is today. [inaudible] excuse me, he might not have the down ballot races as expected, can you explain your change in strategy . There is no change in strategy. Donald trump and Barbara Comstock share a very similar agenda and thats something that i think the voters in the country need to understand. Regardless of what she says, shes walking away from him, they share the same policies on Womens Health, on equal pay, on immigration, on the environment. They really have no solution so i think its very difficult. You talk about the race and not voting for him, should i turn it up for you . The agenda is whats important. This is an agenda she will take in congress so i think thats important for tent district voters to know. If you dont like Donald Trumps agenda , you shouldnt like Barbara Comstocks either. I believe shes out of touch and i think the voters will that on november 8. She did not mention donald trump that much during the debate. Not really. You talked about a lot of issues in the debate. If you could define one that i can point to you, what would it be . Creating an economy that works for everyone and i think one of the greatest challenges the next administration will have is fixing the terrible cost in this country, thats jut in defense in this country. So i think quick action to start to begin to have an economy that works for everyone, top and bottom is really critically important for whoever is in office. Whats your reaction to the fact that this is now being considered a close race. Ive on close races and ones a landslide a lot of times. What i think ive done is on the only one year thats not just for the Business Community whove endorsed me and are here today with people like the firefighters that work with the public groups in the Justice Department has a long serving relationship but also the leaders that we talked about today. I think people of the tent district focus on the issues that are important to them which has been an area where you have people who are independent voters and they look at accomplishment and im the only one on the record who actually has real results and the vision for the future. [inaudible]. [inaudible] ive made my statement there known but when i focus on the tent district and making sure the people in the tent district have independence on representation because im the only one of the two of us who has spoken out and has a record of speaking out against, whether its in my own party or not so ive made clear im going to be my own woman and i have a record of confidence. I have the priorities of the district. But do you think he should step down . Ive made my statement. What i can control , i dont think would be good for our region to have somebody whos in the minority. I think we need to have majority representation on all these issues that are important. Im the only one we didnt get to talk about and im the only one whos had a longstanding relationship that works with federal employees. In the time i worked in congress on those issues , theyve endorsed me. The National Association of retired federal employees and those are endorsements that are bipartisan endorsements. Not just voting with democrats but weve sat down with the firefighters, they looked at me and they know i have a record of working apart. We are talking about working, when we have our work. All through august, i worked every single day, there was only one time i had steady time off or minor medical procedures. You brought up paperwork today and that was information we hadnt heard before. What are you saying about your opponent . The votes shes referencing were not vote on issues, they were future votes and that is debunked in previous political records. Im working with my colleagues to have people pay but i think the first thing you need to do is preface it and why practice is women in positions, promoting them. Its all about getting Women Leaders in front and i know our records are public in terms of what we pay women and i pay women on average more than men. But my opponents website and she has four out of five employees are men. I have women in senior positions which i think is important to lead by example. She said she doesnt pay women less than men , where did you get that information . When the white house looks at it, when you look at women working for you versus men, on average if youre a Woman Working and you are getting paid more , thats the standard that they look at. Im going by their own standard as the highest paid people in her campaign are men. What metric are you getting from constituents to your indication of trump, are they reacting at all . I think these two candidates, i think people in the district know we have two flawed candidates and im willing to stand up and in other cases, youve not heard my opponent say one thing about a rubberstamp of Hillary Clinton. Shes going to mess everything she wants to do that shes advocated for tax increases, 1 billion in tax increases, but that would do justice to our area and the cuts in defense would be devastating. Weve been working to get that money so thats what im going to work on. You had all business organizations in the community not templeton, nova, as well as our education leaders in the chamber. What we do they disable the women accusing donald trump . Today, Hillary Clinton and kaine,ning mate, tim campaign them to spare. Live coverage begins at 4 45 eastern. Then, live at 7 00 eastern, donald trump and mike pence because a rally in cleveland. Live road to the white house coverage here on cspan. Cspan brings you more debates this week from key senate races. Sunday night, live coverage on cspan, democratic senator patty vance debateris for the Washington Senate seat. Then, the Pennsylvania Senate debate. Wednesday night at 10 00, a debate for the Florida Senate between marco rubio and patrick murphy. Sunday night, kelly ayotte and Maggie Hassan debate for the New Hampshire seat. Cspan. Org and on the cspan radio app. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. Now, a debate between the candidates for colorado six Congressional District seat. Mike coffman and democratic challenger Morgan Carroll. This is about 30 minutes. Through his district hoping he can wrestle away but republicans mike coffman proved a tougher match and i thought. Hes beaten to democratic challenger since then in his district at quitting a roar and the area around it. The last time he easily won by nine points. Now, state senator Morgan Carroll posted do what heard democrats could not. Just recently he called for the president ial nominee to quit. Right now coffman and carroll go headtohead in a race that could decide which Party Controls the house. This decision 2016, the race for congress. Now your hosts, nine news anchor kyle clark and nine news political reporter Brandon Ritter men. Moderator im kyle clark. Im brandon letterman. Thanks for joining us. No need to warn anybody about interruptions. We have chosen to nice questions. They have not been shared with the candidates in advance. Each candidate will have 40 seconds for each answer so we can cover more ground in the 30 minute live debate. Moderator everyone watching on channel 29 news. Com can weigh in on the issues as they are being discussed. The nine news. Comvote now and there will be live pulling at the bottom of your screen. The first one of those is happening now. You can weigh in on immigration as we continue our conversation. Again thats nine news. Comvote now and kyle youre the first question. Moderator senator carroll lets start with a clarification than a question. Area 50 week you told his people that enter the United States illegally remain here illegally havent done anything wrong. The lotteries disagrees with you on that. Do you stand by that statement . Carroll is that the reason people come here is the same reason my family came here and did the people came here for religious freedom and opportunity in this country. The process is itself broken. Moderator what you had son as they had done nothing wrong but the question is did that not confirm what your critics were saying which is that you dont respect the rule of law . Carroll sometimes the law is unjust and that was true during jim crow trick that was true while we have a broken immigration system so we must uphold the rule of law but the bigger and more important moral imperative for my perspective is to make sure that the law is just and right and its humane and its not hurting families. Immigrant rights are human rights and the laws part of the problem. Moderator congressman coffman he of reached out to the immigrant populations and minority populations that were added into your district and immigrants have a good idea of the different visions of the two major parties that it america has for migration reform. Senator carrolls party is allowing people to obtain legal status in our country. Your party uses amnesty as a dirty word in a lot of these debates. Why should voters believe that you will be the more compassionate candidate . Coffman the left says we there have have every thing or nothing is going to get done and its got to be in one balance got to get past in citizenship for everybody and on my side of the aisle i think they are wrong too by saying we are going to secure the border and we want a stepbystep process. I dont see them taking the first step. I think both parties have to come together and compromise that i believe Immigration Reform has to be about securing our borders. Has to be about having policies that help grow the economy and it has to be compassionate about keeping families together. Moderator would have you personally done done to the that dynamically you describe . Coffman i think after getting the district going out and meeting the families i really have sympathy for the children, not the adults alone but the children who were taken here when they were very young, grew up here and went to school here it sometimes no other country besides United States and i do think we should not treat them differently. I put forward legislation that would give them a legalized status immediately to give them a path to citizenship based on their work history, based on their education are based on there moderator congressman coffman another question for you. From your military career to your votes against Party Leadership your personal courage has figured prominently in the story that you like to tell to voters and i am curious do you feel that you have displayed personal courage in her handling of donald trump by for the longest time straddling the fence refusing to commit one way or the other end of abandoning when a bunch of republicans at did the same. Coffman i was the first one to put out an ad severing myself from donald trump. Then i was the first member of congress who asked donald trump to step aside. Ive been consistent on my positions on donald trump. I think both parties have lousy candidates quite frankly. I think the difference is i am willing to take on donald trump, but morgan carol is not willing to take on Hillary Clinton. Silent during the email scandal , silent when Hillary Clinton is giving speeches to wall street executives. Moderator congressman thank you thats her time. Its a rather unusual thing for Congress Person to reject their own nominee for president not all g. O. P. Members of done the same. You continue but you did take the stance before voters know about the ballots. Do you really think trump is dangerous and shouldnt you embrace the Republican Mike Coffman taking the stance he did hear . Carroll its too little too late. What we saw was dangerous and what we saw in trump was obvious and repeated for a long time. Donald trumps lighting in the polls and if donald trump were up in the polls it would be a different reaction. The moral take against donald trump was there when he first called immigrants and criminals and called women pigs and slobs when he went after gold star families. What changed it the call to step down was after was was after was too late so its a symbolic gesture and its really an act of selfpreservation rather than political courage. Moderator would be like to respond . Coffman ive always put my Country First. I met combat veteran first. I was elected official and took an unpaid leave of absence for the first gulf war and saw how the first of illustration treated the gulf war veteran i challenge that administration and criticized george w. Bush about the iraq war even though i did volunteer to go to the iraq war and resign from the office of state treasury to do so. I believe once we were and we had to take it to adjust conclusion i stood up to my party to get money for the va hospital. I have a record of putting the Country First and morgan carol has no record. Moderator congressman carol you told me to not see a connection between donald trump entering the american political scene by promoting the birther lie about president obama and your own quotation with her tourism in 2012. You dont think that strength in trumps presence to have an elected republican like you promoting the same lie that he was promoting . Coffman i was a statement i made at one time. I was wrong for making the statement and i said so but to somehow infer in any way that it had an influence on donald trump is aptly ridiculous. Moderator let me ask you to see any issue with republicans like you criticizing Hillary Clinton and that she believes in having one public position and one private position and you saying what i said about president obama. Coffman i made it was a mistake moderator senator carroll you said you think Hillary Clinton is trustworthy. Why do you suppose so Many Democrats chose Bernie Sanders in this race because they think clinton can be trusted . Carroll i think we have a big hand in the Democratic Party and people have different parts of our platform and priorities that they would like to see going forward. We have had eight years under a very strong personality with obama and what i have seen is actually a remarkable showing of community following what could have been a very tough divisive primary. In fact Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were out here in the get out the Vote Movement for hillary as well. I think we have a lot of passionate vote to make sure we are on Climate Change state education will be saw them Work Together to get a new platform in putting people first we saw a lot of the party coming together. Moderator right now as we continue with the conversation you can weigh in on nine news. Com vote now and tell us how you are making your decision in the president ial race while we continue to talk about this. A lot of people are dissatisfied as you expressed earlier congressmen with the top two choices in the president ial race. What do you think these to change about how the parties pick their nominees . Coffman they need to reflect on how we got to this position that the vote that we will make whoever is elected to be the representative of this district the first vote that we will cast will be for nancy pelosi or paul ryan. Im going to vote for paul ryan. Nancy pelosi when she was speaker of the house she crammed obamacare through without a republican voter now we are seeing 20 to 40 increases in the Insurance Exchange for colorado. She said we will now after passes. Morgan carol will be there to vote for nancy pelosi. Moderator any changes to the primary process itself you would like to make . Coffman coffman there needs to be more of a vetting process. They shortened it and i think that was worse. Carroll i think both parties need to be honest about the fact that they need to reinvent themselves. We are seeing the collapse in some ways of the twoparty system and part of that is more in more come most of the folks that are registering or unaffiliated that those that are most active in either party they need to be small d democratic where its easier for rankin by people not just between people who have selfdeclared but in candidate recruitment and training and feeling like theres more to say about your candidate on the front end. I think it would be healthy for both parties to do a better job of reaching out to the rankandfile earlier in the stage in picking candidates. Moderator the candidates had a chance to ask questions of each other we will do that now. Senator carroll we will start with you. Carroll mike question for congressman Carroll Coffman is due respect except any responsible with the boondoggle of coffman carson had the district intel january 2013 at a copout of the National Resources committee and transferred over to the Veterans Committee to provide oversight on it. There was a gao report in april of 2013 that said there were hundreds of millions of dollars over budget years behind schedule. I put forward as legislation to strip the va another authority which is now the army corps but engineers has taken over the facility. Carroll do you take any responsibility . Coffman we would not be where we are today in terms of having the army corps of engineers take over the project and doing everything to trim costs without my leadership. You get to ask a question of senator carroll. Coffman you took a vote after representing the Hispanic Community for four years and the children wanted to get an education, Higher Education and oftentimes working. In the daca program you voted against it. You were the deciding vote against the trey trait do you regret that both . Carroll the trey repassed in colorado past under my leadership and like other bills sometimes it takes more than one year to get there. But im like you and your Congress Reaction at a time got a pass. Wheres your bill . Coffman 2090 did not pass. Carroll and it was delayed because of me . You have nothing to show. Coffman it was delayed for two years because of your lack of leadership. Moderator the vote pledge to be leaders in bipartisanship in congress so lets get bipartisan right now. I bike you each to name a legislative accomplishment of the other that you respect and the would have been happy to support if you were in the same body. Congressman coffman first to you and accomplishment of your part of the respect. Coffman ouch. I dont know of one. Moderator senator carroll. You are entitled to 40 seconds. Carroll let me say id Congress Managed to do bipartisan things. One was criminal Justice Reform and another was some changes to no child left behind people i cant say that thats singularly congressman coffman placed on that i would be happy to see bipartisan work there. Unfortunately the transportation bill that did have her present of coffman support a map of those are two examples and standing in stark contrast. Frankly congress hasnt been getting anything done and thats the problem. Moderator we might have included that in the shorter rounds that we do have short answer questions for you. The first one here is have you ever done government through your personal email . Carroll yeah because we dont get government emails. They are forwarded so they are not separate accounts. Moderator congressman coffman. Coffman sure. We dont do classified information. So there are times ive had a region that i have my blackberry or iphone with me and Company Emails from their account to my account but never classified information. Moderator we were just curious. Congressman coffman a question for you here. Based on the claims he is made to you through the donald trump is a sexual predator . Coffman i dont know but i do know this. I have worked very hard as a member of the Armed Services committee in a bipartisan basis to work on preventing Sexual Assault. Moderator senator carroll do you believe Donald Trumps on his remarks as a sexual predator . Carroll yes. The definition of grabbing people without their consent is the definition of sexual harassment. His words, not mine. Do you support the Ballot Initiative to move to a primary system senator carroll . Carroll i support moving to primary system. I have problems with both measures on the ballot right now for details and other written. Moderator because of the unaffiliated voters . Carroll right now at elevates affiliates over those who choose not to affiliate. Coffman i support i think the president ial president ial primary as supporting the other one i dont feel comfortable with. I think people ought to affiliate to vote in a congressional or state elected office. Moderator congressman coffman can you name a democrat in the u. S. House for me deeply respect . Coffman certainly i mentioned jackie spears from the state of california on the Armed Services committee who i worked with very hard on the issue of Sexual Assault in our military and preventing those. Tim walz from the state of minnesota. We worked jointly on Mental Health for veterans. He is retired military as well. Moderator senator carroll or republican in u. S. House that you deeply respect . Carroll republicans in congress the world would include for me a little bit bob dole and john mccain. This is talking about the way the congressman and government unction. Democrats are hoping that your win in the sixth congressional colorado will be part of a nationwide way that would give them a slim majority in u. S. House coupled with a likely Senate Senate majority and a president Clinton White house with her for Supreme Court justice confirmed and then there would be liberal controlled Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in the white house and both houses of congress. The last time america saw that was during jimmy carters administration. Is that good for america . Carroll i think having a mix that reflects the country as a whole is good for america. I think for a while what we have seen though in contrast is just obstructions of the two things we need to balance our problems with one Party Controlling that what we have seen right now is basically nothing more dedicated than trying to obstruct president obama every step and the American People lose under gridlock as well. The only way whether you are divided are unified in one party controlled the only way that works is if everybodys first up is to represent the people next minute he which will have different views on a lot of different issues. Otherwise you either have one party railroading or paralysis and obstruction likely have right now. Moderator congressman coffman you have voted several times to repeal obamacare. It has helped a lot of people get coverage who didnt get it because of costs or preexisting conditions. How do explain the vote you have taken on repealing twoperson they got coverage because of this law . Most of them are under the medicaid expansion. It is her people and lets talk about the consumer protection. A lot of them existed in colorado law because i right now. Introduced it to the state legislature in a small group market, preexisting conditions affordability and am blocking the ability of the insurance carrier to discriminate on the basis of gender. I think we still need to reform our health care system. Obamacare hasnt done what its promise to do. We are looking at 20 to 40 in creases in colorado in the Insurance Exchange and its punitive. Which is a good segue to my next question. Do you think we will ultimately need some form of public option or universal coverage and either way whats the solution to those price hikes he just referenced on the individual marker placed . Carroll no question we are paying too much for too Little Health care. I do support a public option. I think health care is a right and people should have access. I think we need to realistically take on negotiating drug prices through medicare. We need to redo our antitrust laws for pro Market Health care. Congress has a role to make sure that we arent getting price gouged and people arent bankrupt. Moderator senator carroll that question. You have committed for nancy pelosi as speaker of the house presented by the agenda that you cannot support and that he would vote against . Carroll i think the piece that needs to be addressed is within the universal background check well where we are looking at making sure we are adding the terror watch list to universal back and checks. But there are concerns about who is on the list. Is the current come as accurate and as their due process if you dont belong on there so it needs to be twostep. Adding that when it is an imperfect database isnt the solution we are looking for. Moderator so straight up vote on universal background checks on a terror watch list . He would have to be a no vote at this point . Carroll i would support a universal back and check was that we need to clean up the terror watch list in the process before thats handed in and we know we are screening correctly. Congressman coffman a recent poll found that 59 of trump voters say they might not vote for a republican who comes out against rome. You try to position yourself as a check on Hillary Clinton but why should those voters care about that when they feel like they are handing the presidency to hillary . Coffman i cant bring myself to vote for donald trump but i believe that the end of the day they are going to look at who do they want to be speaker of the houses . Do they want to return to what Morgan Carroll would call the good old days where you have Hillary Clinton the white house essentially a democraticallycontrolled senate and nancy pelosi at democraticallycontrolled house where they just cram things through without a single republican vote and there are no checks and balances. I think at the end of the day i will secure the vote. Moderator senator carroll you said you dont support any restrictions on a womans right to an abortion at any point during her pregnancy. There a lot of Constitutional Rights are in free speech to gun rights that are subject to restrictions. Which other rights other than abortion do believe our absolute . Carroll well i think theyre right to due process to equal protection under the law and cruel and unusual punishment. To me its partly the constitution and partly its a moral question. I dont think any third party or any government has the right to force anything on a woman or her body without her consent, ever. Thats a moral position as much as a constitutional one for me. Moderator thank you. Question for you congressman coffman. He told us earlier this week we need to move to a system of tough Immigration Enforcement review set to make if you were here illegally you will be deported. That sounds like less like a weaver from yet more like doldrums mass deportation plan. Coffman the fact is we have had these amnesties for a long time. Their people have been in this country who havent violated any laws other than immigration laws here is my view. Obviously i stated before what i feel about young people that were taken here not by their own choosing but for the adults who knowingly broke the law they have to have the opportunity to come out of the shadows and have a legalize status. Whether its 90 days or 180 days to come out of the shadows but i would like to see his us move to a tougher system after that point in time. We have to get control of our borders. Right now moderator thats her time congressman. We have time for you to ask each other one more question so congress and coffman you can start with that. Coffman at least give your opinion on the fact that Hillary Clinton received a subpoena to turn over her emails and decided what she was going to turn over in which he didnt turn over in a private email server to evade public scrutiny. Tell me what you think about that. Carroll i think a couple of things. She said its a mistake and i think its a mistake. I dont defend it. I think the folks who did the criminal investigation coffman is that an investigation . Carroll i think its been investigated repeatedly. I do think what is curious is when transparency is obviously very important when Something Like that is coming forward and its a reminder for everybody on security protocol that is something that Everyone Needs to Pay Attention to. I talk to the people doing investigation to figure out whether there was wrongdoing. What i do find curious is that congress and people such as yourself are exempted from your version of the attack. One of the things that has troubled me as a double standard here is when we are pushing for more transparency in government at every other corner. Why live under a law where you give yourself a blank or privacy protections or inability to get out of moderator congressman answer that quick. Coffman members of congress should be subject to all the laws regulations and rules that they impose upon the American People and thats why when obamacare was found i put out a congressional plan available to all federal employees. I found that my deductible went from 200 to 4500 or cement to 6200. I pay 40 of that, 100 below 4500 but if every member of congress had done what i did obamacare would not be standing today. Moderator congressman coffman thank you. I appreciate you both sticking to the times of diligently in this spirited and civil conversation. There didnt be near favre 30 minutes. We decided to have a time by coin toss and represent a coffman the floor is yours. Coffman yankees so much for doing this. Thank you so much. Thank you for doing this. As a combat veteran i have led the fight against the va who has failed to meet my nations obligations to the men and women who serve this country in terms of giving them the Health Care Health care that they need and deserve. Ive taken my military experience and challenge the department of defense on wasteful spending. I believe that every dollar wasted by the pentagon is a dollar not spent defending this country. I believe fundamentally the greatest threat to the security of this country is our rising debt. I will continue to work for balanced budget requirements to stop washingtons spending of money we do not have to have worked with republicans and democrats to find Common Ground to get things done in washington and i will stand up to whoevers in the white house whether republican or democrat when their actions dont reflect the values and priorities of colorado in their country. Moderator senator carroll your closing statement. Carroll congress is broken. Before there was a donald trump there was an embarrassment to this country were refusal to work with each other to get hardly anything done. The major problems of our day remained unaddressed because because folks have been more interested in pointing fingers and obstructing than getting things done. To me, we cannot afford to have congress not work if we must take up issues like student at reform now, Immigration Reform now, lobbying reform now. We need to take time to change seriously and move to renewable energy. We should be passing the equality act. We to fix a hole that got blown and the Voting Rights act. We should be be supporting policies like daca but we need a congress thats going to get back to work and work for the people and its for that reason i would respectfully ask for the vote of the people in this Congressional District. Moderator senator Morgan Carroll and congressman mike coffman thank you both so much for your time. We appreciate you participating today. Congressional debate is over. Stay here for a special live edition. A few minutes our experts will be there in the seats to talk about how this debate land and we will dive into the president ial race as well. Well talk about Donald Trumps impact on the colorado Republican Party with republicans for it against. The election week is less than three weeks away. Stay with us. Today, democratic president ial nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate tim kaine, campaign and pittsburgh. Live coverage begins at 4 45 p. M. Eastern. 7 00 eastern, watch donald trump and his running mate, mike pence, speak in cleveland. Live road to the white house coverage here on cspan. This weekend, on American History tv on cspan3, this evening, just before 7 00, achael les benedict talks at Supreme Court case where the court ruled it unconstitutional try military and civilian courts. This was designed to improve to the public that the danger was real, and therefore, the military trials were justified. Know, it worked. Lincoln won the election of 1864. At 8 00, a George Washington University Professor on the origins of the gay rights movement. Ofit is billy on the lessons the whole array of the cultural and social movements of this were developing. The antiwar movement, the black power movement, the womens liberation movement. They are taking the best aspects and building upon them. Sunday evening at 6 00, we take a tour of the Woodrow Wilson house and washington, d. C. With the executive director where the president died and retired and died three years later. The remaining people were very grateful. They were raising money for our armenian charity. They presented this painting to president wilson. At 8 00 neil oxman talks about the history of president ial campaign ads, beginning with joy eisenhowers tv jingles. For the complete schedule go to cspan. Org. The rights for race for a u. S. Senate seat in ohio. A debatedates met for on thursday. It is just under one hour. Issues that matter to you. Ohio counts. The race for the u. S. Senate. Wvix news cleveland. Abc nine on your side. Playoff square in cleveland, ohio. I and Danielle Harris of news five in cleveland. Welcome to the final Senate Debate between rob portman and Ted Strickland. This is sponsored by the city club of cleveland, who drafted tonights formats. The rules have been agreed to by the campaign. We welcome those watching on abc stations as well as those tuning and on the radio or nationwide on cspan. And of course, to those in the studio audience. The 60 minute debate is divided into two segments, each, 30 minutes long. In the first half, carol and i will ask questions. In the second half, the candidates will answer questions from the audience. One of those questions will come from twitter. Candidates will have 90 seconds to respond to each question. Askedndidate originally the question will have 30 seconds for rebuttal. The questions have not been shared with the campaign. The audience has agreed to remain silent so we can focus on what the candidates are saying. We welcome you to applied at this moment as we welcome the candidates. Karen were now going to have opening remark. Candidates, a reminder that youll each have two minutes for your opening statement. The order was determined by a coin flip and agreed to by both candidates. We begin with senator portman. Mr. Portman thanks very much. Thank for the city club. Good to be back in cleveland. Believeland. First the cavs, now the indians. Youre going to hear a real contrast between the two of us. Ive been an independent voice for ohio to deliver real results, for ohio families and ohio workers. Im proud that 45 of my bills have been signed into law. One is a very important issue, the heroin and Prescription Drug epidemic that has torn families apart and devastated communities. Including here in cleveland. My comprehensive addiction and recovery act will begin to turn the tide in that terrible epidemic. Im running for shondra, who i met today at a womans shelter in cleveland who is a brave mom and recovering heroin addict who needs the help. Im running for the many workers in ohio who are feeling the middle class squeeze. Ive taken a lead on things like worker retaining, on things like ensuring Infrastructure Projects can get off the ground and create jobs, and ensuring that we have a level Playing Field for ohio workers. That level Playing Field for ohio workers includes legislation that we passed that is helping workers begin to fight back against unfair imports from countries like china. Im fighting for the 70 new workers right here in cleveland, ohio, who have a new job because of our legislation that enabled them to win their trade case. Im proud of the fact that ive been endorsed by every major city, newspaper in ohio thats endorsed. The ive reached across the aisle and worked with republicans and democrats who achieved results for cleveland. They also said that they didnt think that Ted Strickland could be effective in the u. S. Senate. I think theyre right. He was not effective as a congressman. As governor, unfortunately, 350,000 jobs were lost. 48th in the country in job creation here in ohio. The 90,000 jobs lost here in cleveland. When the voters turned him out of office, he blamed cleveland. He said clevelands biggest enemy is cleveland. I think clevelands biggest enemy was governor Ted Stricklands policies. We cannot afford to go back to ted strictlands ohio. Thank you very much. Now, governor strictland, you have two minutes for your opening remarks. Mr. Strickland thank you. The great to be here in the city of champion. I grew up in a family that had a lot of struggle. But we survived because we loved and we cared for each other. We lost our first home to a flood, our second to hard times. And when i was about 5, our third home burnt to the ground. Dad was a steel worker. My mom raised nine kids and i have the first in my family to go to college. I learned at a very early age that one bad break can lead to real hardship. And thats why ive penalty is my life as a minister, a psychologist, a congressman and as your governor, fighting for working people. And thats who ill fight for in the senate. Then theres the rob portman story. Its a story of wealth, power and privilege. A man who pretends to be nonpartisan, but hes always there when Mitch Mcconnell and the washington power brokers need him. And fact, he is spending his time and our tax dollars fighting president obama every step of the way. He said the auto rescue was a lousy deal for ohio. Hes voted to keep us from curbing gun violence. And this man has always opposed president obama. Let me say, hes voted against president obama 92 of the time. 92 of the time. He even stood with donald trump after donald trump said that the president was not a citizen. So when you hear independents and bipartisanship, just remember this, he is the great pretender. Thank you very much, governor strictland. Were going to start our first question with you tonight. Im addressing this to you. This has been an unusual election, with a survey of millennials by the university of massachusetts finding theyd rather have a lottery determine the winner than to vote for either Hillary Clinton or donald trump. And a pole found most voters think neither trump nor clinton is fit to be president. In light of these poles, how do you rationalize supporting your partys candidate for president . Mr. Strickland there are big differences between Hillary Clinton and donald trump. I can assure you of that. Donald trump is unfit to be president. He has spent years saying that president obama was not a citizen. He has mocked disabled people. Hes made fun of prisoners of war and gold star families and so on. Hes called women pigs and worse. We know that donald trump is not fit to be president. Hillary clinton on the other hand has great experience, shes been a first lady, shes been a senator, she was our secretary of state. And she has answers to our problems. Secretary clinton, working with barack obama and Bernie Sanders, theyve come up with an Education Plan, just as an example. And this Education Plan says, if you make less than 125,000 a year, your child can go to a Public College or university tuitionfree. That includes about 80 of the people in of ohio. Think of that. Parents not having to worry about whether or not their kid can go to college. Senator portmans not going to support that kind of approach. Because hes not taken the right kind of attitude toward ohio students. Let me tell you. He opposes allowing ohio students to refinance their student debt at a lower interest rate. Hes tried to cut million of dollars out of pell grants. When hes had to choose between ohio students and the banks, he chooses the banks. Danita were going to have to stop right there. Senator portman, we know that it took you a while to withdraw your support from the republican nominee, donald trump. But i would like to get your take on the fact that millennials age 18 to 34, that age group sees the candidates as neither one of them being fit to be president. Mr. Portman i think the sad. I do think that it would be nice if they could look up to their president ial candidates. I do think that in this campaign, weve seen some things said and done that have discouraged them. I have stood up, as you said, and i have consistently stood up and i when i thought something was said that was wrong. My opponent hasnt done that by the way. I believe that words matter. Words matter so much i took the extraordinary step not to be able to support my republican nominee for president. When Hillary Clinton called half of Donald Trumps supporters deplorable, said they were irredeemable, said they were racist, Ted Strickland hasnt stood up to condemn those comments. Words matter. This is a campaign between Ted Strickland and men me. The not a president ial campaign. Although youll hear my opponent continually talk about the president ial campaign. You think he wishes he was running with barack obama, so he should have run or against donald trump, he should have run in the president ial campaign. But during this campaign, hes the one who has used the word rape in an offensive way. Somehow to connect rape to charter schools. Hes the one who has said when Justice Antonin Scalia died that it was a cause to celebrate. And did he so for political purposes. He celebrated the death of antonin scalia. Hes the one who came here to cleveland during the convention and handed out fortune cookies offending Asian Americans around ohio, never apologized for it, as a political gimmick. And hes the one who said to cleveland, cleveland, your worst enemy is yourself. As opposed to taking responsibility. Danita governor strictland, you have 30 seconds to rebut that statement. Mr. Strickland my opponent can defend donald trump all he wants but the fact is he stood with and by donald trump after donald trump spent years saying that barack obama was not a citizen. He stood by donald trump when he called women pigs and worse. He stood by donald trump when he mocked a disabled person. And it wasnt until it was in his political calculation to try to disassociate himself that at the last minute, shortly before this election, he said, well, i cant vote for donald trump. Karen senator portman. My first question is to you. Your colleague, senator john mccain, promised this week that Senate Republicans would be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton would put forward if she were elected president. His office has backed off that a bit, issuing a statement that says he would thoroughly ext record of any Supreme Court nominee for the senate. Its been said that the senate has the constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent on the Supreme Court nominee, some scholars are saying theres nothing that requires that to happen. Theres nothing that requires hearings. So regardless of who is elected, will you push for a fair hearing process for a nominee to the court, or will you join an attempt to block a nominee . Mr. Portman a fair hearing process. Absolutely. I believe that thats what ive done. Many of Barack Obamas nominees who i found were not qualified for the court and couldnt support. But many i did support. Including his appointments to executive offices, as well as to the court. I look at each one on the merits. Thats what we have to do. I dont agree that we should automatically block nominees. We should be working together to figure out how to solve problems. And figure out how to ensure to get the best people to serve on the court and in the executive branch. We should Work Together on that. And ensure that we do have buyin from republicans and democrats alike, when the democrats took back the senate, you know, they took away the 60vote margin and took it to 50 votes because they didnt want to have republican input. It would be a mistake for republicans to do that. I disagree with a lot of my colleagues on that. I think we should look at justices on the merits. Ill look at justices, as to whether they are faithful to the constitution, whether theyre going to legislate from the bench, which i dont believe is the role of judges, and what their qualification and backgrounds are. Thats what all of us ought to do. Karen governor strictland. Mr. Strickland mr. Portman claims that hes independent and bipartisan. He wasnt bipartisan when it came to guns. He voted against an amendment or a bill that would allow disallow suspected terrorists of buying guns. He wasnt bipartisan when it came to the bipartisan bill on immigration. Perhaps the most egregious action hes taken has been against judge garland. Im going to read back the words that he just uttered. He said, i dont agree that we should automatically block a nominee. For months he has blocked judge garland. He said, this man should not have a hearing or get a vote. He has disrespected the president and he has failed to carry out his constitutional obligation. He has not done his job for months. And we have a 44 split on that court. He hasnt answered i mean, he needs to give us an answer. Senator, every newspaper in this state has criticized you for this. And yet you refuse to allow the president s nominee to get a hearing and a vote. You got some answering to do to the people of ohio. Youre not answering youre not acting in a bipartisan manner. Youre acting in a very hyperpartisan manner when it comes to the Supreme Court. And so he can claim to be independent, he can claim to be bipartisan, but on this very serious issue, he has not been bipartisan. Karen senator portman, you have 30 seconds to respond. Mr. Portman i did answer your question. Unlike governor strickland who did not answer it. I have voted for Barack Obamas nominees when i thought they were qualified. Thats the record. Its a clear record. 45 of my bills that i wrote became law. That means that barack obama signed those laws. By definition, they were bipartisan. Get through the senate, house and signed into law. Not easy to do. Washington is a dysfunctional place these days. One reason im running for reelection is i believe we need people in washington who know how to do that. Because its unfortunately something you see less and less in washington. We need to figure out how to Work Together as republicans and democrats and solve big problem. Im a conservative and im proud of that. Karen governor strictland, theres no denying the growing problem with drugs across the country and here in the state of ohio. Danita in our state alone, last year an average of eight people a day died from overdoses. Many related to opioids like heroin and fentanyl. The epidemic has take an toll on communities that are struggling to cope with the emergency calls for overdoses, as well as to handle the number of addicts needing treatment. Is this an issue that should be handled at the Community Level or is there a role for the federal government . Mr. Strickland there certainly is a role for the federal government and you are right in describing the problem. It is a scourge. It is a scourge. And people are dying needlessly. In part because we dont have adequate treatment available for people who are seeking treatment. I know something about this. I just lost a very close relative to oxycontin overdose a few months ago. It was a sad and a tragic event. A beautiful young man who should not have died. But the fact is that i was aware of this when i was governor and i started the Prescription Drug task force when i was governor. Because so many of these addictions begin as a prescription use and then people get addicted and they dont no longer have the prescription or its too costly so they go to the streets and they find heroin and other substitutes. Communities need help. And i applaud my opponent for calling attention to this issue. But he has voted against the very resources that communities like cleveland need to fight this scourge. The omnibus bill he voted against. Im not surprised because there were 14 other things in that omnibus bill that he took credit for. And he voted against. So, senator portman is good about describing the problem. And hes even good about showing personal concern. But he wont bite the bullet and provide the resources. He let other senators cast the vote, carry the water, and then he takes credit. Danita senator portman, where should the weight lie . Is this a Community Weight that should be carried by community leaders, or should the government, the federal government, step in and do something . Mr. Portman iv been the lead in washington on this because i believe the federal government does have a role to play. Its an epidemic. We spend emergency money on ebola or the zika virus. This is an epidemic. This is an emergency, in my view. Thats why i pushed hard over the last few years to write the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, brought in people from around the country. A woman here lost her daughter, holly, to a heroin overdose. Now shes taken her loss and constructively channeled it into trying to help, including helping me write this legislation. She testified in washington, d. C. , before the judiciary committee, to try to be sure that we wrote legislation that really would help in term of prevention and education treatment and recovery. I was at the womens shelter today meeting with women who are recovering addicts. They need help. They need it now. Cleveland lost about one person per day last year to heroin and Prescription Drug overdoses. This year were on track to lose maybe as many as two people a day. We may see a doubling. And more people being lost not just to heroin but synthetic heroin, fentanyl. This is why my legislation is so important to get implemented. I got 37 million into the shortterm budget between now and december 9. There were no other major exceptions to that legislation