Alphabetical order, the incumbent conor lamb in Congress Since 2018. And the challenger, republican Shaun Parnell refired army ranger running for the first time. Weve posted the rules of the debates online and we flipped a coin to determine who goes first for Opening Statements. Congressman lamb, you won the toss, you have two minutes. Thank you, and good evening. At town Hall Meetings and your front doors i had a chance to ask thousands of you about what you want to see in your representatives. People have told me how divided we are, tired of the chaos, tired of the shutdowns, tired of feeling like nothing gets done. People want members of congress to stop attacking each other, and start dealing with the real problems we face and thats exactly how ive done this job. 80 of the votes ive cost have been bipartisan, and wrote and cowrote three bipartisan bills signed into law. I know how to work with others to get things done and right now we need that approach more than ever. This pandemic has take p more than 200,000 american lives and cost us millions of jobs. More than ever, people need to know if they get sick, theyre covered. That a trip to the hospital wont mean bills you just cant pay. This year alone, more than 5 million americans lost their Health Insurance. And this administration would take Health Insurance away from 20 million more if they succeed in overturning the Affordable Care act. Thats a law that protects you from being denied insurance or overcharged for your insurance, or having your insurance taken away, just because of a preexisting condition. Today, you are protected by that law. But tomorrow, you may not be. Ill continue working to keep that law in place and ill continue 0 working to strengthen your medicare and scattered showers, to save your pension, to build infrastructure and to allow you to join or stay in the union. If i have the honor of going back to congress ill work on each of those things with anyone until they get done. This is a serious time for our nation. And this job is about you and your family. I wont forget that. Mr. Parnell . Well, my name is sean parnell and i led an infantry platoon during the hunt for bin laden and my job was bringing people together and i was able to do it in one of the most hostile regions on the planet. Im sure as heck going to be able to do it here, right here in pennsylvanias 17th Congressional District. I had high hopes for conor lamb when he ran for congress in 2018. He said all the right things. But unfortunately, hes gone back on almost every promise that he made us. He posed with a rifle and said he was going to be pro gun. Today, two short years later conor lamb has an frating with the n. R. A. He said he was prolife. He voted against not once, but twice. One of the first things he said when he won, he looks forward to supporting President Trump and those who him in office and then a few months later vote today impeach our president. And that he opposed nancy pelosi and he did in a ceremonial vote and got her approval to do it, hes since voted with nancy pelosi and hes voted with ilhan omar and alexandria ocasiocortez, and he promised to be a moderate voice and he has not done that. Im running so you in pennsylvania have the independent voice and i will always stand with the people of western pennsylvania and not that of a Political Party. Thank you both. As we begin our questions, each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer and then the candidate who goes first will get a 30second rebuttal. Our first question i want to focus on the tone in d. C. , you both basically touched on it there and both parties declared that the gloves are off when it comes to the Supreme Court and the election in november. Will d. C. Ever get back to working together or are we too far apart in our beliefs to make it work. Mr. Parnell. Again, part of my job in afghanistan was to do everything i can to bring people together. You know, i served black next to white, christians next to atheists, democrats next to republicans in the same fox hole and it was my job as a leader to try to bring those people together and i was able to do that in one of the most hostile regions on the planet despite taking 85 casualty rate. I think im going to bring that leadership to washington and work across the aisle where i can and stand for the people here of western pennsylvania. This job is to be a representative by and for the people. If you misrepresent yourself to the people, like my opponent has, its disqualifying and we should absolutely disqualify him in november, i will never lie to you. Congressman, youre going to see a clear contrast on this stage tonight. All of these attempts to call people liars, call people names, talk about other candidates that arent even in this race, those are attempts to distract you from the issues that are affecting you and your family. Its an attempt to take this campaign away from you. Im going to do my best in this campaign, and in office every single day to talk about where i stand on the issues themselves. And where i differ from my opponent. That way you can make a decision on which candidate you think best reflects your values and we have no choice, but to try to change washington d. C. For the better and bring it back to the way it used to be. Mr. Parnell, 30 seconds. That sounds real nice, except your voting record speaks for itself. The American People and people of western pennsylvania. Why should we believe you . You said one thing and you did another. You dont deserve another shot in this job. To our next question now, we are seeing the new we are seeing new violence break out out in several cities this week, and have the months since the george floyd incident and his death advanced the conversation about race in america or set it back and are there reforms that Congress Needs to support, congressman. I think theyve advanced the conversation because weve heard so many more voices from the black community, from all different walks of life, talking about what theyve gone through throughout their lives how many have had experiences with the Police Someone like me never had. Its a difficult conversation so i think you have to constantly try to separate between the people who protest peacefully, who have a positive message who want to change things for the good. That seems to be what you always hear from the family members. Victims themselves, whether its George Floyds family or jacob blakes family they dont want to see people looting buildings or setting anything on fire. Neither do i. Those people should be punished by the things theyve done. And our goal should be build trust between the police in the community and everywhere, looters, in the city ive put people in jail 20 years for committing violence against each other. We cant be blind to the fact we have a lot of problems in the cities and there is Police Violence and the community doesnt trust the response in many of the lays places. I have voted to improve that. And weve gotten republicans, and push it over the line. Mr. Parnell. You havent said anything about the violence in the street. We had a Pittsburgh Police officer hit with a brick and in the hospital in Critical Condition and you said nothing. I came out and said that should never happen in america and i hope George Floyds family gets justice. You didnt opine, you were silent until three or four days later. You cant say you care about building bridges and remain silent as left wing mobs rampage across our country and injury our police officers. In fact, in 2018 you gratefully accepted the endorsement of fop1 and you said that you always would defend the police. And now, just two short years later, youre out marching with defund the police radicals. As far as im concerned i find that reprehensible. Congressman. Ill say it again since you didnt hear is the first time. I dont believe that anybody shou commit violence, ive spent part of my life prosecuting those who commit violence. Ive denounced violence across the board. Thats my record, you can say what you want and call the names you want and make the statements. My votes are my votes. I support funding for the police, but i also support always trying to improve. Police themselves will tell you, they want the trust of the community. They want to earn that trust. And they dont want to be involved in violence when they dont have to be. We all have a job to do to try to improve policeening this country and the difference between the two of us is im willing to do that job. Im willing to work with republicans on their ideas to get these bills passed and changed. Im not going to politicize that feeds the countries. You say you do, but youre not. You like to talk about the prosecution mr. Lamb. I dont know how many times i have to say it were not going to get farther for people watching this debate by disrupting each other or ive given my life prosecuting criminals and put them in jail and following law and order that means for everybody, nobody is above the law, including this president , the community, anybody. Thank you, well continue in a moment and we have to pause for a break, but stay with us as we continue the debate for pa 17 here on channel 11. Welcome back to the district 17 congressional debate on channel 11. I want to start pie by talking about the virus and the economy now. You both talked about. And what should be in the deal and congressman, do you have any updates on progress . Mr. Parnell. Well, first ill say most people here in pennsylvania 17th Congressional District know that nancy pelosi, Speaker Pelosi has held up relief for the American People with the far left radical wish list thats untethered to Coronavirus Relief at all. Just in week on wednesday, you voted to block an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program through the end of the year that would have helped 11,000 Small Businesses here in pennsylvania 17 and the 100 plus thousand people and constituents in pa 17. So, youve been nothing, but a roadblock for relief for the American People with regard to the coronavirus. What we actually need to do is advocate for coronavirus that is directly tethered to the actual virus itself and get back on path of reopening this economy, letting people go back to work and go back to work safely so that people can start putting food on the table for their families again. I never thought in my lifetime that right here in my hometown that id see food lines, but i see them every week. People are really struggling, and congress has done nothing, but play politics with virus at the expense of the American People and i find that to be shameful because this job is about representing the people and not interest of a Political Party and my opponent has done nothing since time in congress, but represent the interest of his Political Party. Congressman. That just isnt true. I voted for the Paycheck Protection Program, and unlike my opponent, i spent the entire spring, summer, right up until now helping local businesses qualify for the funds and iron out problems they were having and we went back and fixed the program so he smaller businesses including minority owned businesses and veteran owned businesses get better access to it than they did the first time. Now, lets talk about a few things tethered to coronavirus in your words, unemployment. Here in our Congressional District you may not know this in Beaver County theres 15 unemployment. Theres almost 15 here in alleghe alleghe Allegheny County and one of the problems is the republicans and one of thes problems our School Districts are running out of money, they collect parking taxes fuel taxes, event taxes and theyre not coming know now that everybody is staying home. Theyre controlled by republicans, controlled by democrats, they run police departments. You want to talk about defunding the police, the bill has been held up because the republicans will not fund police departments, they will not fund local governments. These are all needed. The ppp is needed, too. Eviction protection for people facing eviction in the middle of a pandemic is absolutely needed and more stimulus checks are needed. So the fact is, you cant pick out one group, Small Businesses and say, oh, we have to do only for them, and leave everybody else in our society behind. Every hospital is struggling, theyre all in the red. Weve voted multiple homes in the house, different forms of these and amounts of money and Mitch Mcconnell will not take a vote. Its not like theyre voting the ideas down they wont show up and do the job. Thats where you need president ial leadership and thats what we dont have. Seven members of your own party, not you of course, wrote a letter to nancy pelosi asking for a clean coronavirus bill so they can help the American People and you failed to do it and, yeah, i do know about the unemployment in western pennsylvania. I want to know its high. Do you know why . Because of Governor Wolfs lockdown, not data driven at all by the way. You havent spoken out about it at all. You know what else you havent spoken out about, you havent spoken out about the disastrous policy of Governor Wolf to mandate that Nursing Homes one here in had your district, this Nursing Homes take covid positive patients. 70 of the deaths here in pennsylvania are because of that policy yet youve been silent on this, mr. Parnell. Thank you. I want to talk about health care now and since were doing well on time im going to give you extra time to hash things out. Both of you traded jabs this week on twitter about health care so i figured wed leave it kind of open here and let you continue that conversation. How do we fix health care, congressman. Here is an important fact where were starting from. Today as a matter of law, you have a preexisting condition, asthm asthma, cancer, diabetes, yes, covid19. If youre suffering pr them. If you have a history of acne, pregnant, a woman, you cannot be discriminated against because of a condition, they cant charge you more or kick you off of the rolls. Before 2010 that wasnt so and people were kicked off as a result. My opponent favors overturning that law that protects them. And youll hear from him, preexisting conditions. Its the law and i support it and he opposes it just like the president , its that simple. Mr. Parnell. I support preexisting conditions. In a couple of months ago in an interview with you, katherine. I said you should always protect people with preexisting conditions. This was important, i have a preexisting condition. I was blown up in afghanistan, and had a fracture and i was upset about obamacare, you know why i was upset because the democrats in Congress Lied to get it passed. The architect of obamacare, went in policy seminars across it country and said, yeah, sure, i lied to the American People because the ends justify the means. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Do you remember that . I sure as heck do. I have people that i love and i care about who lost their health care because of obamacare. Right now obamacare only covers 4 of the people in this country. Ive had family members i love lose their health care that have seen their premiums quadruple and now have to pay out of the pocket for health care and yeah, im upset the obamacare was passled im not comfortable lying to get the job done like you are. Ill always protect people with preexisting conditions. There is a bill in the senate right now thom tillis is working on now and i will cosponsor. Congressman. You dont get it, its not about you being upset. The law protects them now. All you hear is every everyone is a liar, and this is a pam. The pandemic. The last thing we should do is throw out the law that covers 33 million americans. There are 100,000 people in our Congressional District who have Health Insurance because of the aca and there are 20,000 more unsured, who should have it. That will get worse under your approach. You can say what you want, the law protects these people now. You cant get rid of this law. Im not listen, aim he going to protect people with preexisting conditions, c0. Connor, im always protect you if you have a preexisting condition, you know that, youre ad right now thats had a lie saying ill kick you off. You were saying its the candidates responsibility if they know an ad is false, a bald faced lie for at that ad to be pulled. Do you stand by those words or has your policy, and position shifted yet again . Ill answer it. Youre not going to you will about the ad because you do whatever you need to do to win elections and say whatever you need to say and again, i find that reprehensible. Congressman, you can answer. I guess hes got it figured out. If you want to see more of this in washington d. C. Or cable news. The ad says he youd rather be protected by an executive order that President Trump signs on the eve of the his election, and his words that hell always protect you, fine, but i think most people would prefer the force of law which exists. I have to wrap you there and move on, this is a very important one, voting and november. Theres been a lot of talk about whether the president ial ca