And senator joni ernst challenger theresa greenfield. In true 2020 spirit, this debate will not be like others you have seen. Steve, myself, and our three moderators are here in person. Our candidates join us remotely. Senator ernst is in washington after several days of confirmation hearings for judge amy coney barrett. Miss greenfield is live from altoona. Moderators. T our we have the chief politics reporter for the des moines register. And ron steele is the evening news anchor at kwwl. Is anator joni ernst native of red oak, iowa, and served in the military for more than 23 years. Is the first female veteran elected to serve in the u. S. Senate. Democrat theresa greenfield hopes to unseat senator ernst. She was raised on a small farm in minnesota and moved to iowa to attend college. She has a background in urban planning. In 2018, she briefly ran for congress in iowas third district. She lives and oman with her husband. Now for the rules of tonights debate. Candidates get 60 seconds to answer a question. If a candidate is mentioned by name by her opponent, she will get 30 seconds to respond once. Time cues come from colored lights. The yellow light indicates 10 seconds remain. The red light means time is up. Candidates get 60 seconds at the end for closing statements. Your opponent supports a public option for health care that would compete with private Health Insurance plans. Republicans typically support competition in the market. Why do you oppose it here . Yes, the public option that my opponent supports is just really a truck stop on the road to a singlepayer system or a government takeover of health care. That public option, as done by a third party dependent study, could bankrupt up to 52 of our rural haricots Health Care Systems. I depend on one of those Rural Health Care systems. Certainly my family depends on those Rural Health Care systems. Very important to those who live in rural areas. What we do not want to see is putting a bureaucrat between our physicians and patients. And certainly a public option, again, is that truck stop on the road to a singlepayer system, and we certainly do not need that. But some of those proposals fora public option call higher reimbursement rates to rural hospitals. Couldnt that actually benefit . Sen. Ernst that could if we could get that done, and i would remind folks that, as we sit in the United States senate and in congress, certainly, there are fewer of us from those rural areas. And just trying to close that gap in medicare reimbursement is extremely difficult. Again, having that public option, while it sounds great to a lot of folks, it does provide a pathway into a medicare for all situation. And that is not what we want to see. We want to provide access to Affordable Health care, but we do that by lowering Prescription Drug costs, lowering the cost of overheads for health care allowingand certainly that competition. Allowing Insurance Products to state lines. There are many ways we can parity parityu and but a singlepayer type option is not the solution. We have a question for both of you what should the federal governments role be in ensuring affordable, highQuality Health care for all americans . Again, health care is the number one topic i hear from iowans on, and they are struggling with outofpocket expenses it does not matter where i travel of the state. The federal government sets those rules, and what i support is expanding and strengthening the Affordable Care act. You have a lot of tools in the toolbox. Then creating a public option that will create competition in the marketplace, level the playing field, and make sure every iowan has access to highquality, affordable coverage and make sure that we have competition and you do not have to rely on your employer. Who areked to folks entrepreneurs, and they want to get started, but the health of the cost of health care has kept them from doing that. Thank you. Senator ernst, same question. What should the federal governments role be in health care . That,rnst well, we know number one, we have to protect preexisting conditions. My brother and sister are both type one diabetics, so i really do understand how important this is. And there is a way that we can provide a backstop for those who have the most medically complex situations. Steele ofe, ali Dallas County who has a congenital disease who requires a number of surgeries. What we have to do is force Insurance Companies to make sure they are covering folks with preexisting conditions. But we also have to make sure old those premiums are an for those families. Since the inception of obamacare, when it went into effect, 2014 until today, for those that are purchasingpolicie doubled. The premiums have doubled. Obama care has driven the cause of our premiums up. We know those outofpocket costs have gone up. The deductibles have gone up. What we have out there are products through those Insurance Companies through obamacare that our arreola families our iowa families cannot afford. We are going to head over to ms. Theresa greenfield. What would you do to ensure rural iowans have access to the same level of health care as those living in urban and sbarro urban and rural areas . Ms. Greenfield i would not do what senator ernst is, which is devote repeatedly to end the Affordable Care act, gutting protections for preexisting conditions, gutting prescription care, Mental Health care and of course, threatening to end medicaid expansion, which has been a lifeline to our row hospitals. Easternst out in woodberry county and talk to a family who is already driving 25 miles to get groceries and to get to a clinic and hospital. Areave to make sure that we strengthening and enhancing the Affordable Care act, protecting medicaid expansion, which will help keep those hospitals and Rural Health Clinics open. Again, making sure everyone has coverage for all of the essential services that were provided in that plan. Senator ernst again has voted repeatedly to end the Affordable Care act and end protections, taking away your health care. Thank you. We are going to head over to senator ernst. She did mention your name. You have 30 seconds to respond. Sen. Ernst yes. Thank you so much. Again, the Affordable Care act while it expanded access to insurance, it did absolutely nothing control the cost of health care, which is why i worked in a bipartisan manner to make sure those with preexisting conditions are covered providing that federal backstop for those that have the most medically concept medically complex situations. I am a huge supporter of our Committee Health centers and or Rural Health Care system shared it is very import and our World Health Care system. The public option ms. Greenfield keeps referencing would drive 52 of our iowa Hospital Systems out of business. Senator. You so much, lets move on to the economy. The federal minimum wage is 7. 25 an hour. It has been since 2009. Iowa is one of a handful of states that has not increased its minimum wage. At 7. 2 five an hour, the average minimum wage worker would make 16,240 in a year. You both worked minimum wage jobs. Minimum wage was roughly four dollars an hour, could you have supported a family at that way . Sen. Ernst i have right minimum wage jobs i have worked in of major jobs. I worked at i have worked minimum wage jobs. I worked at hardees. I did work my way through college. But no, you could not support a family on a memo wage job. Jobs are entrye points into our workforce. Issueelieve it is a local and there is no reason it could not be addressed by the state or local city or government. The federal government, we should be taking a look at that. Certainly, there are ways we can do that. Again, economies are so very different across the United States. What might be right for california or new york simply may not be right for our Rural Communities in iowa. A living wage in San Francisco would be very different than a living wage in red oak, iowa or waterloo, iowa. Ms. Greenfield, the same question to you. You were to minimum wage jobs as a young person. Could you have supported a family on minimum wage . Of course wed cannot support a family on that memo wage. You cannot support a family on 7. 25 an hour either. I support ways i support raising them in them wage. I will tell you what i am focused on. That is making sure everyone has an opportunity to earn a living wage. I am focused on one, making sure we invest like republican governor bob rated. Bob ray did. We couple that with investments in capital and credit for Small Businesses so they can grow and hire those workers. Also of course, provide for their families, have a shot at their american dream. We need to raise the minimum wage. Followup like to with both candidates, kind of a followup to matts economic question. The question is this. 7. 9 is the employment rate in america right now. That is down slightly. That is an improvement. Jobser, the growth in slowed considerably from august to september. My friend at randalls and hudson said he had to lay off some of his employees because of the pandemic. With iowa and many states still considered in the covid red zone, what is your specific plan to help get iowans back to work importantly,t all increase their spending power and give a boost to their economy . Ms. Greenfield, you go first. Ms. Greenfield yes. Of course, senator ernst has failed us. Support, she refused to expanding Unemployment Benefits and providing paid sick leave. It was a fight for her. For a been calling stimulus package for months. To your point, workers. We are in a crisis right now. We need to expand those Unemployment Benefits. Whether i am talking to bakeries, barbershops, Small Businesses are struggling. Cash full is down 60 or 80 . They are worried about keeping their lights on. We need to take care of our workers. We also need to expand the ppp and make sure our Small Business is no we and they can get through this crisis together. Much. Nk you very senator ernst, your name came up so you get a 32nd rebuttal if you choose before you answer this question. Rebuttal first. Absolutely. I do remember in 2009 when we went through the economic downturn during the obama administration, in montgomery county, my home county, saw the second highest on a plummet right across the state of iowa. I do understand the difficulties that are out there. Many of my philly members were actually lit many of my philly members were laid off during that time. Supporting the packages such as the cares package has been important. My opponent has opposed every single one of those packages. We really have to get that work done. I am here in d. C. Working on those packages. Senator, thank you. Excuse me . Im sorry. You went pretty long on your rebuttal. Do you want to give us 30 seconds . Certainly. So i have worked extensively on the covid packages that have gone through the congress and again, ppp was a project i worked on. Childcare supports to make sure moms and dads could get back to work safely has been very important. Providing ppe to those businesses and those hospitals that needed that support. All of that has been really important. We need to continue that. We do have a package will be voting on next week. We hope we can get that done without Senate Democrats blocking the way. Thank you, senator. Very concise answer. We appreciate it. The economy has regained more than half the jobs lost during the pandemic. That recovery has been uneven. Black americans, asian americans, hispanic men, and americans without a College Degree have struggled the most to regain employment. What can the federal government do to target its response to ensure the recovery benefits all americans . Ms. Greenfield, your response first. Ms. Greenfield you are correct. Minority communities have been hit the hardest as part of this pandemic and this economic crisis. We have to address the kind of systemic racism throughout all of our systems. Health care, housing, education, policing to ensure we are creating those opportunities for our minority communities to grow and to succeed. I will tell you what, right now we are in crisis. We need to make sure we extend those expanded Unemployment Benefits at the full 600. Direct relief for our workers. We need to invest in our businesses so that they can rehire or keep their staff on, keep their lights on. As someone who has worked most of my career in Small Businesses, i know how hard it is to keep the lights on and how much pride we have in providing paychecks on a friday afternoon. Thank you, ms. Greenfield. Senator ernst, the same question to you. How can the federal government target its Recovery Efforts to make sure all americans prosper . Sen. Ernst i think that is really important and something i have been working on. Even before the covid pandemic is making sure that our minority communities, our communities of color have that opportunity. We passed of the tax cuts we passed of the tax cuts and jobs added, which made way for the opportunity zones, which did and if it our minority communities. I do support pell grants for those that are incarcerated so that when they are out of prison, they do have opportunity to move right into a career field that will benefit them and their families. Thus of course lowering recidivism. Those are important steps forward. I have been a huge proponent. I helped craft the paycheck protection program, which does enable our Small Businesses to remain up and going during covid19. I have also crafted the next package, which will allow the second pass for those businesses that are hardest hit. I have also done that with the minority members of the Senate Working together. Thank you, senator ernst. We are going to move forward to the next question. We want to start this with a straightforward question. Most people of color in this country have no doubt that systemic racism exists here. Do you agree . Senator ernst, we will start with you. Are ernst i believe there many challenges we have in various systems, but i would not say broadly that we have systemic racism across the board. Certainly, we have good people that are working in all career fields. I think it is important to stress that. My opponent has stated she believes are Law Enforcement iowa, they are systemically racist. I do not believe that. I believe in the goodness of the people that are out there protecting and defending our communities. So, do we have opportunity to do better . Absolutely, we do. That is why i did sit down with those africanamerican leaders in the city of des moines and listening to those voices all across the great state of iowa, understanding those challenges and where we can provide greater opportunity. Again, it is not a republican or democratic issue. It is an issue we need to work on together. To be clear, do you believe systemic racism exists here . No, i do not. I do believe you will find racist individuals in those systems, and i do not believe entire systems of people, of people are racist. There are racists out there. Thank you for answering that question. We are going to go over to ms. Greenfield. The same question. Most people of color in this country have no doubt that systemic racism exists. Do you agree . I want to take 30 seconds to rebut because the senator did call me by name. Her comments are misleading. I have not called the police racist. That is further insulting. I will tell you this. Discussing systemic racism does not mean that any one individual is a racist but rather that we have to take a look at the discrimination across our system. Housing, health care, education, finance and so many other things to ensure we are doing everything we can to end that kind of racism. To your question, black and brown communities have faced discrimination and systemic racism for generations. Taylor andd, breonna others, they should be alive today. Their families deserve justice and so we need to work on ending that kind of systemic racism in policing for example. We have done a great job to get started on that led by our black legislative caucus members, black lives matter leaders and in a bipartisan manager at our state house where they passed the plan for a more perfect union. Deescalation training, meaning chokeholds, transparency. These are the kind of reforms that support our Law Enforcement systems. We need to look at those reforms in every system so we can bring an end to systemic racism and make sure our minority communities can succeed. Opponent does, my not qualify a rebuttal moving forward. We are now going to head over to matt. I want to bring up the specific quotes referenced by both candidates in the iowa pbs debate. I think it is clear we need to hear what they both said in context. Senator ernst, you said the following. Ouresa greenfield stated Law Enforcement system is systemically racist, meaning our Law Enforcement officers are racist. Theresa greenfield, you said quote, we have systemic racism in all of our systems and have for generations including our policing system. That is not saying our Police Officers are racist. I went to to make sure you had that quote clear so i could ask a followup question. Where does change start . We begin with theresa greenfield. Ms. Greenfield thank you for that question. I think change starts with each of us. It certainly s