Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141030

The strikes and the training that we are providing to this eerie and rebels is not a strategy over the long term thats going to succeed. There needs to be more. I would like to see, but i think the American Public deserves is a congress airing on this debate so that we know what we are going to be doing before we do it. Ever since the iraq he war started, we have much more coming out of the executive branch and congress has taken a backseat and i feel like there is less accountability as it relates to Foreign Policy. No matter what side you come down alternately on the vote, the American Public deserves to hear what we are doing and before we do it. This is not only a longterm investment militarily but when the troops come home we have to care for them and we need to look at this with a clear lens. When we first went to iraq we we had the lowest members of the veterans in congress ever and you have to wonder how he made all of these blunders. I think that we need a veterans perspective in congress and the folks that have served the nations uniform to inform that because it is one thing to say send someone elses kids over there but its another thing to do it yourself. In light of what is happening in the world and continuing to restrict the defense is that a good idea . In light of what the world looks like today. Look at the challenges that we have in the middle east. Heres the problem. The problem we have in washington, d. C. Right now is we are not even all trading under a budget. Its continuing resolution after continuing resolution because the house and the senate cannot come to an agreement on a budget and the president hasnt signed a budget and so all of a sudden we have all of these demands as a country and we are not even airing the issues that we need to speak about in order to make this budgeting priority. I think the question should be trimmed down into the military budget. Im looking forward to answering your questions and not speaking in the general platitudes and also talk about the specific policy that i support or dont support and i dont think that there is a lot of waste and abuse and excess in the department of defense and frankly i was the navy policy that was my last two are on active duty. So i saw some of that excess. There are frankly really a dollar and billiondollar weapon systems that will never see the light of day. The contractors that have their claws in the pentagon and a revolving door. Moderator because the time is so short if the percentage of the government outlays on defense alone but smaller than it was years ago and it continues in that direction is that the right way forward to go . Trivedi it is cutting the money that goes to these excess. But i was on a project building the new destroyer class class it was a tenyear project in five years in, they burned up all the money into and the contractor comes back and says we need more money. And we have half of have have a vision of what you think the government did they pay them double. Billions of dollars of waste is going to these contractors. We should make sure the troops are getting paid even more. We were cutting these Access Funding defense contractors that doesnt see the light of day. Moderator let me broaden this to the policy spending and so forth because that is where we are headed. Something is very broken in the economy and job creation is so poor and flat. The recovery seems weak and the participation is as low as it has been since 1978. Where do we begin . Trivedi theres a lot we need to do. The budget that of the republicans have is the part i am budget. Your review of the budget . Costello happy to. We need to balance the budget in a certain number of years. My opponent has offered nothing. About the paul ryan budget . Costello what i do at that level is quarterly. Look at what is coming in and what is going up. This month i will pass another budget in Chester County with a 0 tax increase. But i am not going to do is go back in time and look at a budget that made its way through the house that isnt being taken up by the senate on the democratic opponent who has offered nothing in terms of what kind of budget he would vote for that is a silly political stuff. Lets address the fact that our budget process is broken in washington . Lets work in a bipartisan manner that has an independent streak and that worked to find Commonsense Solutions to get everything done. Thats what ive done in every single level of government. And my opponent as is his third run for Congress Every two years he tries out more and more of the far left talking points than his criticism upon criticism not focused on actually solving the problems. So if mr. Trivedi wants to offer a budget that says it is going to balance in a certain number of years heres where the cuts are going to be an Economic Growth and im willing to look at it. Moderator trivedi holloway talks about it as taxes by 5 . I think it is my turn to speak. You raise taxes and modernize at the county. He cuts the open space funding. He cut the funding for children and families. Is there is a record that is not shiny. Let him talk and say his policies. You just talked about this as an open seat. The congressman said that he is voting for this budget and now that it is an open seat voters have a right to go how you will vote on the big budget issues so that is all we have ever asked for is a yes or no. Was into talks but never concrete. The partnership to build america is a bipartisan bill. 30 republicans, 30 democrats sponsored by the congressman in maryland and this bill doesnt raise a dollar in taxes. It takes a look of lot of the corporate money that is now overseas 700 million invest in infrastructure is. This is a bipartisan commonsense legislation and we can Fund Infrastructure projects. That is a good bill. Thats number one. Number two there was no washington talk coming out of this side of the table. You are the one that lives in the wash walks in washington, d. C. So to attack me on a budget that invests in libraries and open states that modernize. The reason why the Chester County fire chiefs and i have the endorsement in my county and Chester County is because im willing to make the difficult decisions to make sure that we are investing. Moderator what specifically are things that would be hard for you to do that you think would want to do to trim the federal budget deficit, something that is difficult. Nobody wants to talk about the third rail of the entitlement. Medicare Social Security at some point will thereafter be some kind of an adjustment as a means testing security. The budget he says he does it now would turn medicare into a Voucher Program and end of the medicare guaranteed. This isnt what we can afford. I know that we have patients. I know that you get excited sometimes but look the budget i would support to fix medicare we need people that understand health care, healthcare, not the politicians like my opponent. Lets talk about that. I will tell you i can talk about it until everybody is blue in the face but there is so much waste and inefficiency in health care it isnt marketbased solutions that going to Fix Health Care to these other guys like to talk about, but we need to get to the heart of the Health Care Problem which is so much of what we do doesnt make you any healthier but it does jack up the cost if we have smart people in congress who know how to make health care more efficient by incidents of rising best practices. Heres a perfect example. Anything that medicare does not distance advises the admissions of if you get admitted to the hospital for a diagnosis and you have to come back in after you discharge within 30 days they will not pay for it anymore and this is dramatically reduced because doctors and hospitals and clinics make sure they have a followup survey are not discharged. These are the innovations samets birthday some experts say thats how we get to the heart of the problem that we need people that are smart and have experience. Would you like to speak to the entitlement situation . The problem with our Healthcare Health care system right now is that the government has been between the patient and the doctor and my belief is that we need to get the government out between the patient and dr. My opponent wants more government which i think its just going to drive up the cost even more and reduce access. I notice on the website replacing obamacare. Is that the way that we ought to go versus the change . Costello obamacare is good to is great. We need good to be here and we need to fix it. I agree. Number one, the definition of employees should go to 40 hours, not 30 hours. Number two come if you like your Healthcare Plan you should be able to keep it that the president promised. My opponent bragged about it in 2009 and now we dont hear about it anymore because it has turned into a big problem in terms of the delivery of medical care. Do you have things that you would want to tweak . Costello and that the 25 employees that should go to 50. We need more options that employees can get which is a higher deductible over cost and we need to make sure that we are bringing costs down. The Affordable Care act is not sure. I know healthcare and i was asked to advise on these issues are caused i know what im doing and this is what we need in congress. Moderator everybody is climbing the political ladder. Costello the funny thing is i am a real estate lawyer born and raised in the area. I think we should have medical liability reform. I separate the medical Liability Form throughout my time in this campaign but the truth is if you know healthcare it isnt nearly enough and these are the talking points its been proven that if we address medical liability we will make a dent in the healthcare be needed or not. Moderator we have gone too near the ending so the endings of any task for closing comments. You can talk about either things we just talked about or Something Else you would like to kill people about why they should eat like you. Mr. Trivedi you go first. Trivedi thanks for coming. Look all i have to say to the voters who are making their choice here is look at both of us and we have done with what we have done with our lives. Look at our careers and look up what we stand for and made your decision. There is no doubt that there is a significant dysfunction in congress and we need to change the way washington works and the best way that we can change the way that it works is by changing the people that we send down there. So thanks for your time. Moderator a closing comment from mr. Costello. Costello thank you for the opportunity. But we need in washington, d. C. Is. And we need folks that want to get to yes and not find a way to say no. In every level of government that i have served at the township level than the county level ive worked with republicans and democrats to get results whether its investing in open space in our libraries, balancing budgets, making the difficult decisions, and as a Small Business lawyer where we have grown our firm i know how to create jobs. Ive done that and i want to work with others. Im the only person in the race that can vote for themselves. So i ask you to vote for me, ryan costello, and i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Thank you. I have so many more issues we need another half an hour. Thank you gentlemen for being here. And thank you all for watching. Hang on just one second. We hope this helps your decision. Might call meant about ebola is we actually had ebola rightparen this country. Patients in the texas hospitals, nurses and so forth. People are just reacting to a very serious disease where we have to send teams of doctors and nurses waiting on you constantly. But be of the isis theater showing the beheadings over and over and all of the media channels. You have to worry about isis coming over to chop off your head and ebola. I think that the people in the area should be banned from entering into the nation and it is up to our leaders to do that. I would like to see cspan do a cluster of is this virus to prove that we need a National Healthcare system or are we just seeing what happened in texas with this capitalistic Healthcare System and now it is going to cost millions and millions to clean that up and thats what i was curious to see what we would get for the remarks on that and this is the proof that we need a National Healthcare system. Continue to let us know what you are what you. Call us at 6263400 or you can send a message of cspan hash tag comment. Join the conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on to other. More coverage now heres a debate in georgias 12th Congressional District where democratic congressman john barrow is up against challenger rick allen. The 12th Congressional District encompasses the eastern and southeastern part of the state and includes augusta and dublin. The report and rollcall rate their race as leaning democrat. This is a half an hour. The 2014 Atlanta Press club series brought to you from georgia public broadcasting. Now the race for the 12th Congressional District. Moderator good morning everybody. Im the co anchor of the speedy web and broadcast in augusta and we would like to welcome you into the audience to the press club debate series originating in the studios of georgia public broadcasting here in atlanta. This is where the 12th Congressional District. These are some of the larger counties that in richmond, include richmond, columbia, even Lawrence County the candidates are rick allen, the president and ceo of our Associates Construction corp. In augusta georgia. And john barrow serving the fourth term as the a congressman from Georgia School Congressional District. Walter jones is a political reporter and news analyst, and michelle is a reporter for 90. 1. This will consist of three rounds. For more information please visit the Atlanta Press club. Org. Now lets get started. The candidates will be asked one question from a panelist and one question will be posed to both candidates. Walter jones you get the first question. Good evening and thank you for participating. And if she were in this campaign has been the percentage in which you voted with the democratic leadership of your party. What is the correct percentage and more importantly, you said that independent, whats important to you is not telling a lot of either party but how can the voters be assured of that as long as there is a d. Behind your name one of them provide a reliable guide that you can cherry pick the statistics and for example when my opponent says that i support president obama 85 of the time come hes counting votes in some years and and not others. Hes treating the small points of agreement and thats why the people that watch Congress Never rely on this aggregate overall statistics because they know that its meaningless. Thats why the organizations like the chamber of commerce, the National Federation of independent business and the National Rifle association are endorsing the end if they agree the president would be endorsing him that they arent. They are endorsing me because they know with what im saying about my record isnt true. Allen i would like to respond to that if i could. There will be opportunities for statements and rebuttals as we go forward. Its your turn to ask rick a question. Please tell us what you think of what mr. Barrow said about the voting record. Barrow what we were referring to and what we put in the ad was a letter that he wrote two years ago in that cycle and he told his supporters that he did in fact vote with the president 85 of the time. I dont understand what you would write a letter telling your constituents that you were going to vote with them, you voted 85 of the time but then you tell something totally different. I could tell you this i will not be voting for the president. Moderator Meredith Anderson its your turn to ask a question for both candidates tonight. I worked for for wrdw in augusta and a lot of your voters in fact most of them are our viewers because we are from that area and i wanted to put out to them, to the people who will be voting for either one of you what do you want asked, and a whopping majority of those that reached out to me wanted to know about the ads. They say why he ended the wanted both of you to respond to that. Moderator you get to go first. Barrow i am not confident of the ads attacking my opponent. They are what i stand for and what ive accomplished. I share a lot of concerns. My opponent is the one that made his record as a private businessman for the sole qualification. So naturally people have a lot of concerns. When it turns out youve made a fortune dealing with a small number of the customers they are spending tax taxpayers money and people are more concerned set aside because they are even legally entered in the first place. Heres my level of concern when everything my opponent says about my record you can look up and say everything they questioned he wants folks to take his word for it and he says everything is on the up and up but everything about my record is demonstrably false. Im not buying it and i dont think anybody else is either. You get to respond to the negative ads. Allen they are out there raising money and the almost 7 million trying to trash my business. And the Biggest Issue isnt the ads. The Biggest Issue is jobs about the economy. Why in the world if that is the Biggest Issue would you try to take down a Small Business . Me were the most trusted businesses in the country. Im very proud of this fact that they havent been able to find one owner, one employee or one subcontractor they put up on television and talk about how bad we are. And furthermore, the added that hes talking about, we never did that project. The one hes talking about how, it was actually awarded the job. It is a lie and frankly yes im sick of it. All it is is a bunch of lies and we know why they are doing it because they want to stay in washington. Moderator that concludes the first round. The candidates now get to ask a question of each other and you will have 30 seconds to ask, 60 seconds to respond and 30 seconds for a rebuttal. Your question will lead this off. Youre a harvard educated attorney and i have to give you a lot of credit. You talk a good game. You even confused me a lot. But the bottom line is youve been in congress for a decade and the budget in this country has doubled. The deficit has more than doubled. We have got all kinds of security issues. You cant keep your doctor come you cant keep your health care plan. I would like for you to tell me when youre going to go to work. Barrow the congress can pass budgets that dont go anywhere and dont deserve to go anywhere. Thats why i support the legislation that would prevent congress from getting paid unless they do their most basic jobs, which is the act through congress and Spending Plans the next fiscal year that is the number one response ability as long as they fail to failed to do that and all the deficits pile up thats why i support a balanced Budget Amendment and why i support no budget and no pay but will make the congress do the job. Thats the reason things happen because youre too many people like me but its happening because there are few people like me. Nobody thinks the Reason Congress is on this path right now is because they have too many bipartisan folks on both sides of the i o but because they aisle but because they have too many folks like my opponent. Moderator your rebuttal to that . Allen its no politics as usual. We had our own no budget no pay bills and my opponent voted against that bill. So it is a terrible lack of consistency and thats very disturbing. But furthermore these are real issues. The jobs, the economy and the deficit. There are folks that are having a difficult time and they want a congressman that voted to work and create jobs and grow this economy and get things done. Barrow one ad criticizes me for the socalled no budgets no pay and it goes to accuse me of lying when i claimed to support it when i had the chance to do so. So my question to you is direct and simple and straightforward what you have voted for the law that you criticized me for voting, yes, no were present . The i would have voted yes for that. Im so glad we finally have a position because let me tell you what that bill did that we voted for, with that build it is allowed at the congress did not adopt a budget of about the congress to keep on getting paid and allowed the debt ceiling to increase. Thats what the bill was all about so you just endorsed the bill to raise the debt ceiling without anything to show. We need members of congress who are paying attention into our independent enough to do this in the best interest of the district. If if youre just joining this is between the candidates for the 12th Congressional District. We will now go to the third and final round and in this round of the panelists will question the candidates until we run out of time. You get the first question of this round. Moderator my question is for congressman barrow and this comes from david. One of the viewers reached out and said with a recent poll showing that 75 of americans support the term limit for the members of the house and senate why are you running again . Barrow i believe in the term limits that the framers gave us which is twoyear terms for the branch of government they want to be closest to the people. Heres the problem with arbitrary. You will not solve the problems making one is represented as it is. Congress isnt as unrepresented as it is because we have too many folks elected in the same place. They do a good job of representing their districts. Its their districts that dont do a good job of representing the country as a whole. Thats why i endorse and support the redistricting reform. We had more look at the rest of the country and members of congress who look at the National Interest when they deal with things nationally and thats what the framers intended. We need a system where the People Choose their leaders rather than politicians choosing their voters that has to be fixed and nothing will solve the problem held until we do that. It is now your turn to ask a question. Moderator your opponent was organized by the center and you refused to participate in that venue. Does that portray a religious bias or prejudice on your part . Barrow we never refused to participate in that debate. Moderator that you refuse to participate in that location. Barrow theres nothing that came from my mouth but refused to debate anywhere anytime. Moderator why did it happen at the Islamic Center that day . Barrow we got a call that said we are moving it and he said hes not going to be part of the debate so he said okay what do we do now and they said its going to be at Columbia County and i said okay we will do that. Moderator its your turn now to ask a question of one of the candidates. Moderator you are asking to repeal the Affordable Care act. What would you reveal and how would you improve the law . When my opponent tells folks that we are against 24 times, theres more than 50 votes for appeal in bits and pieces and parts of obamacare and they voted to repeal half of them. My policy is to repeal the parts that are not working in support of those that do work. For example i believe that we should end of end the employer mandate of the individual mandate and the provision that tells the irs to decide what its going to cost and what it has to cover. These are all provisions ive already voted to repeal. The parts i want to keep our those that do some good like the ban on the preexisting conditions. I dont think that we should go back to the days on the basis of the medical conditions. I would support a repeal of the bill if it could replace it if it keeps the reforms we all need and want even the one governor romney says we ought to keep. Thats been my policy all along and it hasnt changed one bit. Moderator Meredith Anderson it is your turn to ask a question. Moderator he wants to know what you would do to help veterans. Allen we have a very strong Veterans Committee and in fact i spoke at the Veterans Convention saturday morning. I had a briefing at both the augusta va and the va in dublin. They operate and the thing is all the government is top down and we needed the decisions to be made locally but number one is we need to give our veterans every option for good care because our government has a pretty system upside down. Moderator walter jones is your turn to ask another question. Congressman barrow that the Democratic Party of georgia sent out a mailer that essentially said if you dont vote, theres going to be another incident in georgia. A lot of observers said that is a blatant race card. What is your feeling about that and do you agree with that . Barrow i am disgusted with its implication. I do not condone it afterwards. I know how to talk to folks in such a way to bring people together but its on the issues that some folks have been culturally cajoling Immigration Reform and culturally and Immigration Reform and i have the ability to bring folks together. You can do that unless you can work in a bipartisan fashion. Thats why i dont approve of it and i dont condone. Moderator your chance for another question. Mr. Allen your opponent said that he can work across party lines. Are you willing to do the same and if so what are the issues that you can work with democrats on . Allen we know that its worked in the past and i believe that we need to be idea driven and if we are idea driven we can solve these problems in the country and the leave it or not, right now let me tell you what is happening in washington as far as bipartisanship there are 372 and 72 bills on harry reids desk. Thats the problem in the congress. These are the bills that we but we have worked on to help the economy and energy bills but stopped at the senate level. He knows that his own people are going to vote with us on those bills. Harry reid is a member of the Democratic Party and carefully he directly he has absolutely no influence over here he read if we get something done over there moderator this is from john in augusta he wants the position on average a quality. Allen i think that its a religious institution first. At the same time i agree with Ronald Reagan who doesnt believe in discriminating against anybody and it is the state for its purposes to borrow or make use of a religious institution for the governors purposes and they dont fit i think it is the obligation to accommodate itself to the community and not the other way around. I know that puts us at odds with a lot of democrats but its my job to tell them what i think and tell you what i think. Moderator mr. Allen, you put about a Million Dollars of your own money into this campaign and some of observers might say could end that benefit the district more if you had given it to a food shelter or even your church instead of what looks like an ego trip . Allen let me tell you about that and that is a great question because you know what, i have worked in the community and we are solving a lot of problems in the united way and Health Services into the Heritage School but you know what i found out . We cannot solve our problems in the community as fast as washington is creating them. Ive always be the have to go to the root of the problem and so i focused totally on trying to do something about washington leveled to stop this government from creating what we know how to solve in the local community. Moderator how about another question for the candidates. Moderator how would you reduce the nations debt . We should identify the wasteful spending and get our budget in balance. Thats why i supported and voted for the balanced Budget Amendment. I also think that we need tax reform of the kind thats recommended in this and symbols commission. They pointed out that if we had tax reform everybody on the same income bracket we could actually lower the rate for everyone. Thats one of the recommendations that i actually support. We have to make sure that the regulators regulators to me that the executive branch or the independent agencies are not sponsoring the private business with a bunch of highcost low benefit ratio regulations. We need to make sure the job creators are into being smothered by regulation to prevent them from growing or hiring. Rator my question isy questions for mr. Allen and this comes from andrea she wants to know what your views are on gun control concealed carry. Allen i and a lifetime member of the nra and i believe in the concealed carry. As citizens we must protect ourselves and it is a dangerous world. And i will work to continue to uphold the second amendment. Moderator moderator type requested from walter jones. Moderator beginning with a question about these ads a lot of them have been produced from groups outside of georgia. I would like to hear each of you talk about one of these ads but has been produced by a group making the claim that you repudiate that you dont stand by. Start with you mr. Barrow. Barrow i already said i dont approve the content of the messages put out that i cant say that i distance myself on my opponents Business Record since they raised questions on serving in congress. I dont know the message to be honest with you. Im responsible with the messages i put out where i said i approved this message. And i can say and you can verify the message is talked about what i stand for, what ive accomplished and the only exceptions are made by the opposition. And thats the way that about to be for everybody. If we didnt have have this outside money it would be much clearer who was running the campaign and who is not. After two months i mentioned my opponent wants in a single ad. The standard of deciding when a campaign is is used to run a positive campaign. Allen as far as the ad that basically was running the fact is john barrow only got one bill through and that was to rename a post office. I think that its shameful. Moderator that is all the time we have. Candidates have 60 seconds for a statement by random selection rick allen makes the First Closing statement. Allen thank you so much and i want to think the Atlanta Press club for having us again. Its been a great time to talk about the issues but i want to leave you with this. November 4 you have a date decision to make. If you like the direction of the country, vote for my opponent but if you want to change and job growth and you want to grow this economy vote for rick allen nnovember fourth. You may now give your closing remarks. In my time in congress i earned a reputation as someone that can work with anybody, republican or democrat to get things done. I worked in a bipartisan fashion to come up with solutions to be accomplished and im very proud of that. Im proudest of the fact ive been designated as the most bipartisan member of congress. And as far as this choice is concerned i think the last thing we need to do is replace him as the most bipartisan members of congress. I belief in creating jobs and accountability and accessibility if you want a congressman that will vote for you either party or both parties in washington then i ask for your vote and i would be proud to have your support. Moderator that concludes the debate and we would like to remind you that the election will be held tuesday november 4 and early voting is already underway. Thanks to the candidates and the panel tonight. Great questions from the journalists and we would also like to thank the press club for arranging this debate. For more information about the Atlanta Press club and all the debates that they are hosting this season please visit atlantapressclub. Org. It will also be available on demand at gptv. Org. Of the series the series is made possible by a donation from charles. Please stay with us for the debate among the candidates for the United States senate. Thanks for joining us from the press club debate. [applause] now a debate between the candidates to be texas senator. Incumbent republican john warner and being challenged by David Alameel. Senator cornyn was elected in 2002 and it sits on the finance judiciary committees. Hes also part of the Republican Leadership in the senate. This is courtesy of univision and it is about an hour. Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the debate. It is prohibited to applaud. The only exception is this moment when i ask you to please help me welcome the two candidates for the texas Senate Senator john cornyn and doctor David Alameel. [applause] [applause] the rest of the night it is prohibited to applaud or make any noise. Reporter and anchor for univision 23. Mountain view College Honors the students. The rules are the following. In the Opening Statements and there are two minutes for closing statements. Each answer and rebuttal will have a maximum duration of one minute. If the candidates pass the time this bill will bring. I hope i do not have to use it. Okay. Everybody ready we will start with mr. John cornyn introductory message. Mr. Cornyn. Cornyn thank you for being here tonight and Mountain View college for hosting us and univision for hosting this important discussion of the issues that confront the state and the nation. Thank you for the opportunity and privilege of representing the 26 Million People of this great state. Texas has become a model in so many ways for governments and the policies that promote strong job growth, booming economy and people seeking their dreams. We know by way of background for those of you that dont know me very well i was born in houston. My father served 31 years in the United States air force and grew up in san antonio and went to school in the san antonio and then ran for and was elected as a district judge as well. I later served on the Texas Supreme Court where we built with issues like Public Education and Public Access to data quality education for all of texas. I later served as attorney general where we dealt with many other important issues but also served as the chief Child Support enforcement officer for the state collecting 1. 2 million lowincome children. We know that washington is broken. You dont need to be a Rocket Scientist to understand that and the dysfunction in washington doesnt serve the interest of the people of our state or that people of america. We need a new direction. We dont need people to go to washington and support the status quo. The obstruction of the majority leader and the policies of the president. The president has made it clear what this is about. He said his name may not be on the ballot that his policies will be. So i look forward to discussing with all of you the important challenges ahead and also the opportunities that lie ahead to pursue the dream once again. Moderator now we will hear mr. David alameel. You have two minutes starting now. Alameel friends come as, as a young man i thought of my career in working as a farm worker in the field. My wife and i struggled to make ends meet so after serving in the u. S. Army to go to college then we moved to dallas and started a Small Business that grew to 26 locations. We are able to achieve the american game. The education that i received was three and our economy was the envy of the world but today it is out of reach because wall street has taken over washington by spending billions in here to buy the whole Republican Party and the group of wall street democrats and over the last 35 years they shift all of the manufacturing jobs overseas with ccharlie charlie and of dollars into the safe havens and they destroyed the middle class. John cornyn is one of the leaders of the establishment who only care about themselves and whose policies have left our country broke and without jobs. Hes turning our country into a minimumwage nation and we say enough is enough we are going to send him to see how he survives on minimum wage. Friends, i know how to build business and create jobs. I know the value of hard work and educational opportunity. I know how to move our country forward and i would be honored to serve as your next u. S. Senator. We are going to move forward with the first question. Moderator good afternoon. The first question the records show the release that face serious charges such as kidnapping, Sexual Assault of a trafficking and homicide. To be re elected what would be your priority and getting them on the comprehensive Immigration Reform or finding an additional funding to capture and send back to the criminals that were released ideally there is no one regardless of their position on this sometimes contentious issue that the leave the immigration system is working the way you should. I it should. I support the system that reflects our values and also protects our interest as a nation. Right now our system is one of chaos largely controlled by the criminal organizations that get rich off of people in and out of the country. These are the same people that traffic drugs and human beings and basically the business is human misery. So we need to restore the system to the legal one because we are the most generous country in the world. We need to shut down the cartels that traffic and restore order to what is now chaos through the system that reflects our values and interests. Moderator the next question is from pedro. Go ahead. Moderator good evening, senator and mr. Alameel. The question is for you. Now that the immigration and Customs Enforcement are now in, known, the controversial release of the undocumented immigrants had some background. If you were elected as a senator with what you do to prevent this from happening again . Alameel although i am a supporter of Immigration Reform, it is for people that are hardworking and lawabiding who commit crimes should be deported immediately and should be sent back to their country and i dont belief that we should tolerate any criminal activity or any people who connect to the criminal act. Most of the latinos here are people that have been here for many years and who are hardworking and some of these people have been here for many years and are married and have children and grandchildren and ivy league that they need a path to citizenship and i believe that they deserve this same path to the American Dream as every other community and i would fight tooth and nail to let them have that. The next question. Moderator welcome senator cornyn and doctor alameel. This question goes to both. The immigration and nationality act for the United States to award 175,000 each year. Do you bb that increasing the amount would benefit the country and if so how many would you be willing to approve for these programs . Moderator mr. Cornyn will answer first. Cornyn we shouldnt set a hard cap on the number. It depends on how well our economy is doing and if our economy is doing well and we have full employment for the american citizens, then i think we could look at the more flexible cap that would reflect the demand for the legal workforce here in the United States, but we do have as i said earlier at the immigration system doesnt protect the National Interest but the colleges like Mountain View college and other colleges across the country people who have skills and talent that we need in the United States particularly those that have the kind of skills we cant currently find. M oderator next question is from [inaudible] thank you, wendy. This question dose to senator goes to senator cornyn. According to the new york times, about 200,000 [inaudible] of children who are american citizens were deported between 2010 and 2012. And 5,000 participantless children parentless children are now in foster care because their mother or father was detained or deported. Are you able to put yourself in those parents shoes . What would you do if you were one of them . Cornyn well, we know that people come to the United States for opportunity and for the American Dream that weve are referred to, weve spoken about before. What ive always said is we need a nobody supports a status quo on our immigration system. I dont think anyones happy with it. So the issue is how do we find some consensus, and i think the way we begin to do that is to find a way to break this down into smaller pieces. Because, frankly, theres so much distrust and division in washington, d. C. These days, its hard if not impossible to pass a comprehensive bill that does everything. And as we weve seen, the delayi think makes my point. If wed been able to do it, we would have already done it. I introduced a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill in 2005 is senator jon kyl of arizona. But like all of the other comprehensive bills, they havent gone anywhere. So thats why i think its so important. Lets find the parts that we agree on; the children moderator your time is up, sir. If mr. Alameel doesnt want rebuttal, were moving forward to the next question. Alameel no, i do. The only time he voted for Immigration Reform is when he knew that the house wasnt even going to consider it. It is inhuman and antichristian to separate kids from their parents. Thats why Immigration Reform is needed as of yesterday, as of last year, as of ten years ago. The only way to solve this problem is to stop deportation and keep these Families Together until we figure out exactly what Immigration Reform is going to look like. Moderator next question is from pedro row has. As a veteran of the u. S. Army, are you in favor of the deployment of the National Guard to the texas mexico border, and if so, could you explain why . Pale meehl well, i think its a joke because its just a political ploy. We need to secure our border for many reasons, but its not the National Guard who should take care of our border, the federal government who takes care of our border. Texans should not bear the cost of securing our countrys border, the federal government should. And i believe we should secure it because we have cartels, we have enemies around the world. It wont take very long before they start figuring out that our southern border is wide open for terrorists to come in. So is i do believe it needs to be secured, but you know what rick perry did was just a political ploy, its not going to work. They dont have any authority to arrest anybody, they dont have authority to do anything, and i think its time for our federal government to take care of our border. Cornyn well, given the fact that the president refused to even visit the Rio Grande Valley during this humanitarian crisis thats what he called it, and it really was a crisis. My visits down there show the Border Patrol and officials were overwhelmed by the flood of unaccompanied children, 62,000 since just october alone. They didnt have adequate detention facilities, and i remember one young man we asked, and he was being detained at the Border Patrol facilities there in squalid conditions, we asked him, i asked him how old he was, he said he was 13. I asked him where his parents were, and he said, theyre dead. That young man could qualify for an immigration visa in the United States if he was able to appear in front of an immigration judge on a timely basis and make that claim. I worked with Henry Cuellar, a democrat from laredo, texas, to try to offer a bipartisan solution to just this little piece of our broken immigration system, and we couldnt even get a vote from the majority leader, senator reid, in the United States senate. And the president said he would veto it if we sent it to him. Thats not a way to solve the problem. Moderator Jessica Hernandez has the next question. Senator cornyn, you have supported student loan reform. Do you future policies include federal aid for low income students that have benefited from the dream act . Cornyn well, i believe that, i believe that education is the way out, and ive indicated earlier that for children who came with their parents into the country and did not comply with our immigration laws, they are guilty of nothing other than coming with their family. And we ought to provide them an opportunity not only to go to school, but to eventually serve in the military or complete a College Education and earn a american citizenship. I believe that. And i believe in the process they should be treated just the same as we would any other student based on need. It makes so much more sense for us to have these young people here in texas and here in america as productive citizens. It makes absolutely no sense to condemn them to minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives when they could produce so much more, when they could be so much more, and they would benefit, their families would benefit, and our nation would benefit. Alameel our Federal Reserve has given wall street 32 trillion in the last 3. 2 trillion in the last five years, and yet our children have the burden of student loans. And when Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill to reduce the Interest Payment on our students, john cornyn voted against it. If he really cares about education, he should tell the country that our education should be practically free, and our students should not have to have loans, much less pay 7 . At least they should pay only a quarter percent just like wall street corporations do. Moderator next question is from Angel Pedrero. Thank you, wendy. This question is for dr. Alameel. According to the dallas morning news, about ten years ago [inaudible] you gave money to senator cornyns campaign. What did senator corps man have cornyn have at the time that you would say he no longer has . Alameel well, he was only two years into his office and had no record. And of all the things that i have to live with in my life and i stand by all my mistakes this is one terrible mistake i have to live with. Cornyn well, i would say dr. Alameel was an enthusiastic supporter of mine and of governor perrys and Lieutenant Governor dewhurst up and down the ticket. He decided, for reasons im sure he can explain, to switch parties and run as a democrat. He ran in an 11person primary, he came in fourth. Hes decided to selffinance this race. I enjoy the support of 17,000 texans who have contributed to my campaign. Dr. Alameels primary Campaign Contributor is dr. Alameel. So he has that right, and im glad he is here tonight and making his case for election to the American People. But i would say that people can judge for themselves whether he is being consistent or inconsistent, his actions match his words. I would suggest they do not. Moderator next question is from pedro rojas. This question is for both. If elected, what would you do to secure the border and avoid the humanitarian crisis like the one that we saw in the summer, and how can we prevent those massive amount of children coming in by themselves and mothers with children . Moderator this time mr. Alameel will begin. Alameel okay. I already stated exactly how i would like to secure our border. A federal government job, and i will fight for that as your senator. These people are coming because they have strife in their country. Theyre killing their parents, theyre killing themthey join gangs. One of the things we have to do is when we give them Financial Aid, we have to put conditions on them. We cant allow the leaders of that country to squander the Financial Aid we give them. We can put pressure on them to stop the killing with the cartel in their country, to stop the abuse and the corruption in their government so they can provide a better life for their country. As far as the border is concerned, it has nothing to do with humanitarian crisis on the the border. It has to do with our national security. Moderator mr. Cornyn, you have one minute. Cornyn well, we know how to do this, we just havent had the political will to do it. This is one of the problems with a socalled comprehensive approach. Everything is connected to Everything Else, and when you insist on everything your way or nothing, most of the time you get nothing. So what we need to do is to make the commitment in terms of federal resources. Im talking about people, technology, but mainly its a matter of national will. We know how to do this. But we also need to separate the people who are cartels and the drug running and the Human Trafficking from the legitimate traffic and trade. We benefit to the tune of six million jobs in america from binational trade with mexico. But we havent funded our ports of entry, and we havent staff ised those port staffed those ports of industry in a way that would allow us to separate the illegal and the harmful from the legal and beneficial. Once we decide moderator your time is up, sur. Excuse me. Excuse me. Julia hernandez has the next question. If elected as a texas senator, what concrete action will you take to make your office more accessible to student population and to motivate those students to get involved and express their needs . Moderator this time mr. Cornyn will begin. You have one minute. Cornyn one reason im very happy to be at Mountain View College Tonight is i think a lot of students who perhaps havent been as involved in the political process get a chance to see firsthand what its like. And, hopefully, this will be the beginning of their active engagement over the course of their lives. Because we have a unique form of government, and because the government is us. Were the ones who decide who gets elected and what the policies will be based on how we vote and if we vote. And so i think students have a vested interest. Unfortunately, your generation has not been treated very well by the Current Office holders, and theres plenty of blame to go around. But right now theres absolutely no discussion about the 17 trillion in debt thats going to have to be paid back and the unsustainable Social Security and medicare systems that we know how to fix, we know how to keep those commitments to our seniors and future generations, but there seems to be absolutely no commitment under the current leadership to fix them. Moderator i would like to make a question to both of you, and this time mr. Alameel will answer first. We have been hearing a lot about ebola. What would do differently to deal with the legislation. Alameel well, the ebola problem is the same problem we have that he said there is no political will in washington to fix, retirement, education and Everything Else that we need. He doesnt have an open door policy, he didnt answer that question. The reason ebola is a big problem is because they keep cutting funding to every agency that we need. And cdc was not ready to handle an epidemic. Our hospitals were not ready to handle our epidemic, and we totally bungled that whole incident, and is we have doctors and nurses and patients going around with fluids infected, and theyre allowing them to fly, theyre allowing them to sit in rooms. Yes, we need to restrict flying. In any epidemic you have to restrict the flow in and out of that epidemic area. But i think start to fund our Emergency Health care ponce is more important response is more important than anything else, and making the screening more strict at airports help moderator your time is up, sir. Mr. Cornyn, what would you do . Cornyn i know we all celebrate with the family of nina pham, i saw that she was with the president. I think it was even this afternoon in the oval office. But, yes, ive called for a travel ban from those affected west african nations. Increased surveillance as we pursue a vaccine through wonderful institutions like the Galveston National lab and the utmb branch at galveston and other world class medical facilities that we have. Unfortunately, dallas was not prepared primarily because they were looking for guidance from the federal government. And the center for Disease Control was giving inconsistent or inadequate, incomplete advice on the protocol that the Health Care Providers were supposed to use to protect themselves. So thankfully, people who came in casual contact were not infected. The people we thought were at the lowest risk were, basically because there was no leadership from the white house and from the federal government. Moderator Angel Pedrero has the next question. Thank you, wendy. This question is for both. 2,000 children in texas are using Medicinal Marijuana to get better, but their parents get the cannabis out of texas. Would you support the legalization of Medicinal Marijuana in the country . Moderator mr. Cornyn. Cornyn i believe that it would be dangerous and risky for us to approve the use of marijuana for this purported medicinal reason. We see experimentation taking place all across our country in places like colorado where now marijuanas being openly sold as a recreational drug with no real knowledge of what the results of this exparty will be in d experiment will be in terms of Public Safety and public health. And as we know now, underage individuals, children, get access to alcohol even though we know its not legal for them to do so. So i dont think itd take a great speculation to say that this will, if approved for adults, will make its way to children who its impact on their growing and forming brains and their productivity is really unknown. So i do not support the legalization of marijuana. Moderator mr. Alameel. Alameel well, of course many christians thought alcohol was satan, and they had the psalm argument back when they the same argument back when they did alcohol prohibition era. First of all, the question was about medical marijuana, and i think medical marijuana should be available to patients who need it. Second, i think most of the people being arrest ared and going to prison arrested and going to prison are africanamerican and latino kids, disproto portion nately so even show the anglo population are using it much more than that community. So i believe its time to have those kids go back to their families and decriminalize marijuana and make it more like a civil fine, and i think that will go a long way to allow the Latino Community and the Africanamerican Community to unite with those young people who never committed any violent crime. And im sure we will have to deal with our young people the way we do with alcohol, but having prohibition like we tried before did not work. We wasted trillions of dollars on this drug war that doesnt work. And i think marijuana should be decriminalized so people either pay a fine or do a moderator your time is up, sir. Alameel thank you. Moderator pedro rogas rojas has the next question. Thank you, wendy. As we all know, this ebola crisis that we just have here originated at the texas Presbyterian Hospital here in dallas. Put on reality the Health Care System throughout the country. If any of you gets elected to the senate from the state of texas, would you promote any changes in the senate to make Hospital Management more accountable to their patients, their employees and the public . Moderator mr. Alameel, you will answer first. Alameel of course our hospitals, like Everything Else in our Health Care System, is for profit. And sometimes people go too far with profits. They start cutting corners. The dallas hospital that had this outbreak did not have proper. Even after their patient went to be treated, they still did not have the gear necessary to take care of him. And they tried to muzzle the staff from complaining. I think everything has to do with us having a plan. We have four centers in the country to handle ebola, and the total number in the country is nine beds. So if we have an epidemic, the first nine patients will be taken care of, and the other 100,000 will die. Yes, we need to take care of our response system, as i said before, and we need to fund it. Moderator mr. Cornyn, please. Cornyn well, i visited with judge jenkins and mayor rawlings as well as the chief medical officer for the state of texas about this, and what struck me is that they were waiting for guidance from the the white house, from the federal government. And it took the president three weeks before he appointed a Liaison Officer sometimes called a czar, what we needed was somebody to coordinate the care between the federal government, state and local government to make sure that the emergency resources we had were available and they were acting on the best possible information. So texas Presbyterian Hospital and the county did the best they could, but they were handicapped by a lack of help and useful guidance from the federal government. The center for Disease Control has world class epidemiologists and doctors, but they arent the kinds of boots on the ground needed to guide and to direct people who are trying to save the life of somebody like mr. Duncan who are real heroes. Moderator we have to move forward to next question. Hiewl ya hernandez, please. Senator cornyn, according to the use of the centers for Disease Control, 20 of young adults did not have Health Insurance in 2012. One of your efforts as senator has been to bring an end to obamacare. What would you instead implement to increase the percentage of Young Americans without insurance . Cornyn well, its true that the Affordable Care act, or obamacare, was sported by its supported by its advocates as a solution to our broken Health Care System. There were many people, like me, who were skeptical that the federal government had the competence or the ability to change the law, especially using the tools they did, that would actually cover more people. In fact, theres still today 42 Million People who lack Health Care Insurance even now four years into obamacares passage. And weve found all of the promises that were made if you like your doctor, you can keep him theyve proved not to be true. Because, unfortunately, what the federal government did is made Health Insurance more expensive, not less expensive and more affordable. So i have a plan to put in place an alternative that would let you choose your health care and would bring down prices primarily by increasing competition and making it more transparent. Alameel well, of course, obamacare is no different than romneycare which john cornyn did not have a problem with it. Its a good step in the right direction can. Its already helped five Million People to get insurance. It also changed our health care. For the fist time in history, Insurance Companies cannot drop a patient when he gets sick by not renewing his policy. For the first time in the history, when he moves from job to job, they cannot tell him you have preexisting condition, they have to cover him. For the first time, they allow kids to remain on their parents policy. Yes, its not perfect. We need to make it more affordable, but i think its a great step in, you know, the right direction. Its the law of the land, and republicans need to stop saying no and start figuring out how to help and fix it. Moderator were going to move forward to the next question. Angel. Thank you, wendy. Dr. Alameel alameel yes, sir. You say increasing the federal minimum wage to 10. 10 is a good proposal, and if so, would you be willing to apply that increase in your business before it becomes law . Alameel well, minimum wage in my company that i sold in 2009 was 10 an hour. We used to pay latina and latinos paid out of high School Straight out of high school 10 an hour. Of it was great for my business. They became good consumers for my neighbors business. They also became very loyal employees, they also became people who stayed there, and we didnt have to train other people. The more employees make, the more consumer makes. The more consumer make, the more Small Business will profit. And i think its a silly argument that minimum wage hurt business. Moderator next question from pedro. Senator cornyn, would you support changing gears here would you support the deployment of u. S. Troops to the ground in iraq to fight the terrorist group isil, and if so, how many soldiers should be deployed . Cornyn well, im waiting for the president to tell us what his strategy is to degrade and defeat the islamist state. He recognizes, and i think we all have to recognize, that it is a threat not only to the peace in the middle east, but as we have learned on september 11, 2001, what happens over there can have a very direct impact on our safety and security here. But i dont believe the president s current tactics of airstrikes alone are add quality. Adequate. Dont take my work for it, you can ask martin dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, former secretary of defense for president obama, lee nonpanetta, and both of them have said that. Ideally, if we could recruit allies like turkey, like the kurds, the peshmerga and others, iraqi soldiers for them to be the boots on the ground, we should do that. But the fact of the matter is we in america have capabilities that yo one else has. And that no one else has. And if we dont stop it there, we could be well defending ourselves here, and thats unacceptable. Moderator your time is up. Alameel of course, john cornyn has been saying he wants boots on this ground since this crisis started, and i say our president is doing right by bombing them to degrade them, and before we end up like another iraqi war, we need to have a Foreign Policy vision, we need to have a plan, we need to decide what our goals are in the middle east. Its a domino effect type of region, and we dont need to create another big war. But if we have a good vision and a plan, i will support our military to take care of them, because they are a threat to our country. Moderator next question is from julia hernandez. Dr. Al alameel, do you support funding for Higher Education . Alameel yes, maam. [laughter] [applause] moderator okay. Mr. Angel pedrero. Thank you, westernty. Senator corps wendy. Senator cornyn, from all the decisions that you have made in your 12 years in the senate, which one do you regret the most, or would you rather say that you have never made a mistake in your tenure . Corps corps well, i would never cornyn i would never say that i have not made any mistakes. My wife is in the audience, and she would disagree if i said that. So, of course, we all make mistakes in life, and hopefully we learn from them. One of the things i regret is that when we passed the Prescription Drug program for medicare to make Prescription Drugs available for seniors, that we didnt insist that it be paid for. And that was a mistake. Because what weve seen is a bipartisan tendency to want to do things, but not to pay for them. And this has happened over a period of time to where now we have 17 trillion in debt. And someone is going to have to pay that back. Unfortunately, its going to be the next generation is going to have to pay that back. And thats immoral, for us to be spending money today and giving them the bill to pay back in the future. Thats why i support a balanced Budget Amendment to the United States constitution to force the congress to do what states do moderator time is up. Cornyn and we all should do. Alameel of course, i learned more from my mistakes in life than i learned from my successes. Thats why im successful today. You have to turn every stumbling block, every stumbling stone into a steppingstone to reach higher. And i think i have made many mistakes. One of them was john cornyn. [laughter] but theres nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you learn from it. We all have to learn. I still learn. Im already 62 years old, and every day im learning something new. And its okay to make mistakes. Moderator mr. Pedro rojas has another question. This question is for dr. Alameel. You have traveled throughout the state promoting your political platform, and i was reading a little bit about it, and i found out you would like to obligate big banks to pay their fair share in taxes and create more jobs by doing that. Can you explain, please, more in detail about those ideas . Alameel remember what that establishment in washington . They passed special legislation so that companies can hide profits overseas for deferred profits, and they dont pay taxes until they bring it home. They have trillions and trillions of dollars that theyre hiding in overseas. They also gather the ability to do business in overseas like china, produce a product for 5, send it to Cayman Island for 95, and the subsidy will sell it to us for 100 and claim 5 profits. There are many ways that Big Corporations are cheating the system. Another one is they gather special privileges, special outsourcing tax incentives to pay them to take our jobs overseas. Its very simple, we reverse those policies, and we will get our jobs back. Senator cornyn, do you see this idea feasible . Youve within around congress for the been around congress for the past 12 years. Is it possible to overturn the status quo Big Corporation have in this country . Cornyn well, we need to change it because its hurting american jobs and investment here. We have the highest corporate rate in the world, and i was at the Dallas Hispanic Chamber today at lunch, a Small Businesswoman told me that shes at the 30 tax rate, but large Multinational Corporations have the lawyers and accountants and, basically, can manipulate the Current System and end up paying zero in effective tax rate. Thats a wrong, and we shouldnt be forcing her and her Small Business here in north to subsidize and affect the activities of in effect, the activities of a Multinational Corporation that has a team of accountants. I support a flatter, fairer tax system, i think that will create more jobs. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has told us that it will take about a trillion dollars in new taxes for them to agree to come to the table, and thats not acceptable. Moderator our student from the college has the next question. Hulij julia. Would you support an abortion law in. Moderator mr. Cornyn, you will answer first. Cornyn personally, i will tell you that im prolife, thats my view and those are my values, but i believe that Womens Health is important. If theyre seeking abortions lawfully and that the steps that texas took to improve the clinics to make sure that women did not suffer malpractice and poor treatment there was a step in the right direction. The problem we saw in pennsylvania, for example, is when dr. Kermit gosnell, basically, he was a human butcher, and women died seeking otherwise lawful abortions at his facility. We cant let that happen here, and i believe that the steps that the text Legislature Took were steps in the right direction. Moderator mr. Alameel, you have one minute to answer the question. Alameel in case you didnt notice, the first question last time he made my case about my economic platform. Second, his answer just now, he just declared hes prochoice. So im catholic, like him, and we dont believe in abortion, but we respect others, and we want them to have good facilities, like he said he would. So we agree on this. [laughter] [applause] moderator next question. Thank you, wendy. This question is for both. Can you explain your position about samesex marriage . Could you support a constitutional amendment to define what marriage is . Cornyn well, i believe the issue of marriage should be decided at the state level by the people of our state. And the people of texas have made that judgment, and we should not have unelected judges force different can policy other than that voluntarily chosen by the people of our state. I would say i am protraditional marriage. I believe thats good for families and good for the country, but i understand the Supreme Court has now basically said this matter should be decided at the state level, and i believe the verdict of the people of texas in favor of traditional marriage should be respected. Moderator pedro rojas. Do you want to add something, mr. Alameel . Alameel yes, if i have a rebuttal moderator remember, you cannot make any noise before we continue or applaud. Mr. Al meehl. Alameel yes, of course. Im catholic, and i believe god has told us love one another the way we love thee. And the constitution always said that everybody has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and i believe that lesbian and gays have the same right as everybody else, and we should move on from this divisive issue. Moderator next question, pedro. Please. This question is for both as well. Should english be declared the official language of the United States, and should oh languages be spoken other languages spoken by minorities be considered for documents and legal agreements . Moderator mr. Alameel. Alameel im always leery went somebody starts to Say Something ought to be the official language. In a way it is the official language, but were allowing people to have time to learn the establish language. I think nobody can become successful in america unless they learn the english language. Every immigrant, every undocumented person should learn english, their kids should, and they will become successful like i became successful, and i will encourage everybody to learn english. Until they do, we ought to help them and gear them toward that path. Moderator mr. Cornyn. Cornyn i agree with dr. Alameel. [laughter] now, should english then should other languages being used for documents, for, lets say, a lease agreement, that sort of thing or not . Alameel in places where its needed, sure. We dont want to abandon millions of people and their right to participate just because they havent learned the language yet. Weve always had that problem. We had it with the irish, the germans, the italians, and now we have it with the latinos x its up to us to help them learn to appreciate. Cornyn i dont agree with that statement because we have to understand that we are a Common People with a common language, and we can all come from different places, we can speak other languages too. I know governor at the time george w. Bush used to talk about english plus as being good policy. But every immigrant family understands, as the doctor said, that in order to be successful in america, english is the language you need to learn and need to speak. That doesnt mean we disrespect people who come from other countries who also speak other languages, but we encourage them to ais simulate. Assimilate. Americas really not just a place, really its an idea. It is a place, its a place where people come from many different backgrounds, different parts of the world, and we become americans. And english is our common language. But that doesnt mean we forget about who we are or where we came from, and we have to show due respect to that but also acknowledge that english is the language in which business is ne is done and the language people need to learn in order to be successful. Moderator you have 60 seconds. Alameel ive said what i need to say. Its not how much you say, its what you say. I say what i mean, and i mean what i say. [laughter] moderator okay, were going to move on to the next question, and this question is for both of you. Assuming you are really interested in a comprehensive Immigration Reform, why should we believe that you will be the one able to break the deadlock surrounding it in congress . The time, mr. Alameel, you will answer first. Alameel well, of course, my wife, marthas, family is from mexico. Im an immigrant. My children are children of immigrants. Ive been living in the latino communities all my life, and i know that this is very important to them and very important to me. Its very important for us to recognize that immigrants make our country stronger, and i will, like i said is, i will fight tooth and nail for inflation reform. And i Immigration Reform. And i can tell you one thing, that the republicans are never going to do Immigration Reform because they have their base that tells them, tell them to go home. And i have talked to republicans many times when i used to help them about Immigration Reform, and each and every one of them say send them home and make them stand in line. Thank you. Moderator mr. Cornyn . Cornyn i dont agree with the presentation about my position or the position of most republicans, but i support as i said earlier Immigration Reform. But i think we do have a crisis of confidence in washington, and primarily thats because of the promises that have been made by thed administration on the economy, on national security, on so many fronts, and people are really beginning to wonder can we believe what you say . Will you actually, if we pass a law, will you actually enforce the law the way Congress Passes . This president has taken extraordinary liberties at saying i have a pen and a phone, and im going to do to it myself to do it myself, and im going to go around congress, im not going to work with congress. Thats not the way our constitution was written. It was written to force us to Work Together on a bipartisan basis to build consensus. So it cant be my way or the highway. That kind of attitude will yield absolutely zero. Moderator [inaudible] alameel john cornyn voted against the dream act and Immigration Reform. John cornyn never stood up to his republican friends when they demeaned, ridiculed and bashed the Latino Community on a constant basis. I dont recall him defending the Latino Community when they said that latinos have big cash because theyre drug mules. I wouldnt hold my breath for republicans to offer you any Immigration Reform. Moderator okay. This question is for both of you. Should the term limit be reduced for members of the senate as much as the house members that have to be elected every two years . This time mr. Cornyn will answer first. Cornyn well, the reason why senators are elected statewide and for a sixyear term is presumably to give us the opportunity to make longerrange decisions and policies for the American People. I think it serves the American People well. Every six years we get to vote on our candidates for office. We can vote for them or kick them out of office if we dont think theyre doing a good job. I think the term limits that are provided by elections are the best kinds of term limits. I wouldnt do something that would empower the lobbyists or the staff, the permanent staff because that would not they would not be responsive to the will of my constituents, the 26. 5 Million People that live here. I am because i work for them. I work for you. And thats the reason why i believe that sixyear terms are appropriate. Ers you can have senators scurrying around the state every two years, theyd never have time for anything else. Moderator mr. Alameel, youd have 60 seconds. Alameel i agree that election is a term limit process. But unfortunately, im beginning to realize more and more that the longer people stay in washington, the more beholden they are to big lobbyists who spend so many billions of dollars a year to buy our government. And if we cannot get this big money out of washington, we ought to make term limits. Moderator i would like to make another question, and its for both of you. How will you address the need for undocumented immigrants who are not qualified to receive benefits the opportunity to receive affordable Health Insurance . This time mr. Alameel will answer first. Alameel well, we have to do Immigration Reform. Its one of the best ways to solve most of the problems the Latino Community have, because every Latino Community has either a relative or a friend that they care about whos suffering from not having their documentation. But unless we do that, i dont think there is a way to really legally help them, and thats why i believe that as long as republicans are obstructing Immigration Reform, theyre hurting the Latino Community. Its about their families, its about their health, about putting food on the table, its about the education. We have to do Immigration Reform. It solves most of the Latino Community problem that theyre suffering from. Moderator mr. Cornyn. Cornyn i agree we need to deal with the issue of Immigration Reform and that that would be the best approach to this particular problem of access to health care. Right now anyone who goes to a emergency room of a hospital is entitled to be treated basically without any compensation. But we all know thats not the best way for people to receive care. Many times they wait too long or get too sick and, indeed, theyre far more expensive to treat than they would have been if condition had been addressed earlier. But i think that is going to require us to come to grips with this broken immigration system, something im willing to do. You know, i hear the doctor talk about doing this, but and he lambastes the other party, but the fact is you cant get anything done in washington unless you do it on a bipartisan basis. Its impossible. Thats the way our system is constructed. So i would look to work with democrats, people like Henry Cuellar who i mentioned earlier, and we need to get some things done to fix that. Moderator we are approaching to the end of the program and, therefore, i ask for candidate David Alameel to give us your closing statement. You have two minutes, sir. Alameel okay. The san Antonio Express news recently wrote that john cornyn has never led as a senator. The Houston Chronicle added that john cornyn could not cite a single accomplishment in all his 12 years in the senate. Wow. Talking about a donothing senator. Our country burns while cornyn fiddles. We need to provide a first class education for all our children, not just the privileges few. Privileged few. We need to rebuild our own industrial economy right here in america, not in china. We need to make wall street corporations pay taxes on those trillions and trillions of dollars they hide in offshore accounts. We have to eliminate unfair trade agreements that punish the american economy. We have to eliminate the outsourcing tax incentives so we can finally bring our manufacturing jobs back home from overseas. Its time to put America First and put our own families back to work. And if john trickledown cornyn loves his wall street factories in china so much, then maybe he and his wall street buddies ought to move to china and leave us alone to rebuild our own economy for the benefit of the people of these United States of america. Our party, our party, Democratic Party, has pulled us out of the great depression, gave us 50 years of the best education, the best economy and the best middle class in the world. Need to distance itself from wall street and go back to its roots so we can restore the american treatment. The american the American Dream. The American Dream for all people. Its time for change in america, and as your senator, i will lead that change. Im David Alameel, and tonight i humbly ask for your support. Thank you. Moderator thank you, sir. Mr. Cornyn, you have two minutes for your closing statement. Cornyn well, thank you, wendy, to you and our panel and univision for sponsoring this exchange of views and Mountain View college for providing us the venue and this wonderful opportunity. And i hope those listening online and who will watch the univision broadcast tomorrow night or the cspan replay next week will get useful information out of this. Its been an honor and privilege for me to serve in the United States senate representing all texans whether they voted for me or not. Its my responsibility and privilege to do so. And i think that dr. Alameels exactly wrong when he says that the American Dream is out of reach. He is an example of the American Dream working. Somebody coming to this country with nothing, working hard and becoming very wealthy in the process and creating jobs. I think that American Dream should be available to everyone. But right now on the path that were on in washington, d. C. , nothing seems to be working the way it should. Thats the reason why congress and the president s Approval Ratings are in the tank, because nothing is getting involved. I believe we need a new direction, we need new management, we need new leadership, and i think the American People are ready to give republicans a chance to lead because, clearly, under the status quo under the two years under majority leader harry reid and president obama, the country is not better off. We are worse off. But were only a few decisions away from, i think, the sort of opportunity and growth in our economy and jobs that we need in this country to keep the American Dream alive. Unfortunately, washington has gotten in the way, and its time for washington to get out of the way, and they need to look no further than the state of texas for the sorts of policies and the type of governance which has created prosperity which will cause people to vote with their feet and to come in here at the rate of more than a thousand a day. So thank you very much. Moderator thank you to both of you. And, ladies and gentlemen, this marks the conclusion of [inaudible] i would like to invite the candidates families to come on stage. And thank you so much. Have a good night. [applause] cspans campaign 2014 coverage is bringing you more than 100 debates for the control of congress. Stay in touch with our coverage and engage. Follow us on twitter cspan and like us at facebook. Com cspan. As campaign 2014 heads into the home stretch, here at cspan we are continuing to show you debates from around the country. Join us tonight for more. Here on cspan2 at eight, its the New Hampshire governors debate. At 9 00 youll hear from the candidates to be oregons next governor, and at ten a south dakota u. S. Senate debate. In the meantime, over on cspan tonight, well kick things off agent eight at eight. At nine its a new york governors debate and at ten the candidates to be New Hampshires next senator square off. Bringing you more than 100 debates for control of congress. Follow us on twitter cspan and like us at facebook. Com cspan. This weekend on the cspan networks, friday night starting at eight eastern on cspan our campaign 2014 debate coverage continues in prime time. On saturday night at eight the funeral for former Washington Post editor ben bradlee, and sunday evening at eight on q a, author Harold Holzer on his newest book, lincoln and the power of the press. And friday night at eight on cspan2, author Chris Tomlinson on the story of two families, one white, one black, and the slave plantation that bears their name. Saturday night at ten on booktvs after words, James Mcpherson on the confederacys president , jefferson davis. And sunday at noon, in depth is michael korda, former editorinchief at Simon Schuster publishers. One of the first africanamerican labor unions, the brotherhood of sleeping carporters, and saturday night at eight on lectures and history, propaganda and americas view of the japanese during world war ii. And sunday afternoon at four on real america, a 1936 film on tuberculosis in america. Find our Television Schedule at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400. Email us at comments cspan. Org or send us a tweet at cspan comments. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Here are a few of the comments weve received on our ebola virus coverage. My comment about ebola is we actually have ebola right here in this country, doctors coming back with ebola, patients in texas hospitals, nurses and so forth. And its not hysteria, people are just reacting to a very serious disease where you have to have teams of doctors and nurses waiting on you constantly. But we had the isis fear too. They showed the beheadings over and over on all the media channels, over and over. I suppose we should have got hyped up about isis coming over to chop off your head but not ebola thats actually here. I think the people who are in the area of the ebola should be banned from entering any other nation. And it is up to our leaders to do that. I would like to see cspan do a question about is this ebola virus the proof that we need a national onepayer Health Care System . Weve just seen what happened in texas with this capitalistic Health Care System and what it now its going to cost us millions and millions to clean that mess up. And thats what i was kind of curious, see what wed get from out there for remarks on that, if this is the proof that we need a national Health Care System. And continue to let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400, email us at comments cspan. Org, or send us a tweet at cspan comments. Like us on facebook, follow usen twitter. Follow us on twitter. Last month a panel of state and federal officials from texas discussed the security of the southern border, the recent surges of undocumented immigrants and what resources are necessary to prevent violence, crime and possible terrorism. This discussion was part of the Fourth Annual Texas Tribune festival at the university of texas in austin. Its just under an hour. Let me get started with some brief introductions for our panelists that were gracious enough to take the time today to be here. Ill start with Lieutenant Governor david dewhurst, he began his Public Service career with the u. S. Air force where he served as an intelligence officer. He speaks better spanish than i do which is, you know, pretty impressive there. And before he served as Lieutenant Governor, he was elected texas land commissioner. And last week, Lieutenant Governor, you wrote a letter to the Mexican Government that was highly critical of what you deemed their create system criticism of the deployment of the National Guard, especially on the anniversary of 9 11. And i think you said mexicos response was a call on texas to throw open our international border, so this is definitely something well get to. Congressman Henry Cuellar, hes the only Texas Democrat to serve on the powerful House Appropriations committee. He also served on the subcommittees for Homeland Security and state foreign operations and related programs, and congressman way car recently he was the only democrat to vote with the republicans on a controversial measure actually, they voted with me. [laughter] yeah, exactly. I want you to know that, they voted with me. He couldnt even wait until i was finished with the introductions. And this would have rolled back a provision to a 2008 trafficking law that would have, congressman cuellar says its important to have hearings for a lot of these Central American minors which have come over the border. Of course well get to that. To his left is agriculture commissioner todd staples who was first elect today that post in 2007. He and the congressman are good friends, and before that he was in the texas house and the senate as well on the palestine city council, and he was congratulations, commissioner, recently named next president of the texas oil and gas association. And hell start that this winter. In 2011 the commissioner, he launched a web site called protectthetexasborder. Com which caron to cls events from farmers and ranchers, and hes got a great news aggregate site where its got everything thats going on on the border. Whether you agree or not to, its there for you to look, and that was a topic of controversy and probably still is for folks down there in the valley, sir. Congressman Robert Francis beso [laughter] he currently sits on the Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security committee i dont thinkman, behave yourself. [laughter] congressman, behave yourself. [laughter] its so much more relaxed now compared to last year. Before that he served on the el paso city council, and in 2011 you coauthored a book called dealing death and drugs which wasnt for a repeal of marijuana prohibition, what the congressman said is he wants to have a new dialogue on what changing marijuana laws would do for the violence on the border, the car els that were cartels that were battling each other and law enforcement. Obviously, whether that was going to spill over into el paso and texas was a big point of controversy. Thankfully, its a bit more calm now, but its always something to look at. And last but not least, i have Lieutenant Colonel steve mcgraw, served for more than two decades in the fbi. And he was also governor rick perrys chief of Homeland Security where he oversaw efforts to increase Border Security and curb violence related to the drugtrafficking cartels. Earlier this summer your Organization Began a 1. 3 million perweek operation that continued something that you, your leadership had started, Lieutenant Governor, where theres a surge of troopers on the border. I dont know how many you you guys have been down there lately, but you cant drive can without seeing at least 50, 15 or 20 call them smokies, call them troop is, whatever you troopers, but theres a lot of black and whites out there. Contrary to what the National Guard represents, most people are on the board of the eps, but the National Guard is a different story. And well get to that as well. A round of applause for our imagine, well get going. [applause] colonel, i want to start with you. Obviously, the border surge has been in the news a lot. You recently, your office recently released some statistics on how thats going. If you could give a brief recap, but i think thats something you would like to know about. Especially your party is the party of government responsibility, so i think people want to know whats going on specifically in the rio brand valley with eps. Yet. Week 11, were into week 11 right now. When we started, it was week one when the speaker and governor and Lieutenant Governor directed us to begin this. Were talking about a surge operation. For those in law enforcement, really its hot spot policing. Its just, you know, saturation patrols, okay . In high crime areas. And the crime were looking at right now, obviously, is smuggling, organized smuggling. The first week there was in the area of operations, zone 113, there were 6,606 undocumented aliens apprehended and detained. Of course, there was concern about the continued, within that population, 17 was unaccompanied children, but the other concern was the organized crime as it relates to the cartels, cartel operate toives and criminal alienings. That number from 6,606 has dropped to 1,997 in week 11. It decreased 20 since last week. The important part of this is not, you know, the numbers you know, all those numbers matter, except the numbers dropped at a time when we saturated the area. When we increased our apprehension capability. And the point is deterrence. You know, if we dont have if we can drive down one of the direct is were given, its to do something about the felony pursuit, the home invasions that are being expressed in the Rio Grande Valley. Also the stash houses. When im talking about stash houses, human and drug stashes. When i talk about human drug houses, or apartment of the Business Model to cartel is once you pay your money to get here, oh, by the way, youre not going anywhere. What is the National Guards role specifically . I think theres been some question about if they have policing power, Immigration Enforcement powers, its been well documented their doing a lot of surveillance. If you could tell us exactly, i know there are sensitivities within specific operations, but if you could just let the public know, because i think people ought to know what theyre getting what theyre doing is direct support of civilian authority, and when they were called up, and which means what weve done is weve looked at, you know, with our local and federal partners, specifiy