Modern tonight kobs phil casaus and Chris Ramirez and tessa mentus group for those of you watching on kob 4 tv the santa fe new new mexico. Com k. Or wgn las cruces or if youre listening from her network of Radio Partners across the not welcome. O we welcome editorinchief of the Santa Fe New Mexican for tonights modern team and we are delighted to haveo a candidate who will appear on your ballot running for the open u. S. Senate seat joining us tonight. Tonight the candidates are appearing from three locations. Mark ronchetti is with us in her studio and bob walsh is at his home in santa fe. Because of covid19 risk we gave candidates the option to appear from wherever they feel the safest. Smithers at crew from kob what thieves remote candidate to enforce rules and provide the Live Technology to broadcast out of their locations and the timekeeper has been provided to mr. Ronchetti her studio. Candidates will have one minute broque putting remarks or they will then have 90 seconds to answer questions and rebuttals are at the moderators discretion ands no more than 45 seconds. Candidates will also have 90 seconds for the closing remarks. As monitors may interrupt candidates who exceed time limits. We will take one break halfway through the debate and candidates agreed to come into this debate without any prepared notes or scripts. Late last week represents from the campaigns drew names for order of appearance for introductions and closing remarks. Bob walsh maaco first and you may begin your deduction. On behalf of myself and the other candidates and on behalf of theha viewers we very much appreciate kob giving us this opportunity to have an exchange of views so that the voters have Better Options that are understanding of what they are voting for. Three of us have appeared in another form last week and im sure you can look forward to a civilized and informative discussion. In the senate we have six years in office. We have ample time to discuss each matter carefully. As you can expect we will be thinking about everything carefully tonight and giving you our views. Mr. Walsh thank you. Mr. Ronchetti you drew second say you make begin your deductions. Start thanks toin kob the only studio i havent gone live for. We thought about getting involved in this race could my wife and i thought about our daughters ava and ella. A want them to grow up in country that we grew up in country where they can chase their dreams and that depends on how hard they are willing to work for them. In new mexico now thats getting harder and harder. We dontat educate our kids well enough. We dont have safefe enough streets and we dont have the Job Opportunities that so many of our families deserve. Whats happening in washington isnt working for new mexico. If we keep sending the same people back there going to get the same results. I will give my opponent credit in congress he is risen the latter put the question is this, did my opponent and up as nancy Nancy Pelosis assistant speaker because he was looking out for your best interest . That question answers itself and you deserve better and i hope to get your vote. Mr. Ronchetti thank you. Ben ray lujan you may begin your introductions. Senate good evening everyone thanks for tuning in tonight. I am Ben Ray Lujan warning race in new mexico. My dad was seen in worker and my mom retired from a local public schoolca district. I worked on a small farm where he learned from my parents and grandparents to value hard work and understand thatd no job is too big or too small. Covid19 is said and everyone of your lives very hard and thats why a fork tour deliver resourcs to help you rebuild to recover. Ive also worked to expand and increase coverage to get Quality Health care. Ive also been proud to make sure that i was protecting people with preexisting conditions because a cancer diagnosis should not lead to bankruptcy of losing your home. Im also proud that ive led an an initiative to invest in new mexicos economy and our National Labs and to deliver a structure like the Navajo NationWater Pipeline. My name n is Ben Ray Lujan i looked toward to the conversation tonight and i hope to earn your vote. Stick mr. Lujan thank you lets jump to their questions. As a bitter fighter right on the u. S. Senate about whether or not to confirm Supreme CourtJustice NomineeAmy Coney Barrett. Her confirmation possibility insights abortion activists who believe she may be the pivotal vote to reverse roe v. Wade. Heres the question. Do you believe roe v. Wade needs to be upheld or overturned and we will start this question with mr. Mark ronchetti. When you go with a blind thquestion and you save roe v. Wade right now its a difficult question to answer simply because you dont know what the ise will be at right now judged course which has said its currently settled law. Not knowing what comes next will have to be determined by the justices at the time. One thing its a been a key and that is now the Supreme Court has turned into such a bitter political battle where all this is as the two sides getting together and fighting it out with each other litmus test after litmus test and its gotten very ugly. We go back to ruth bader your member she needed votes to get onto the Supreme Court not because 96 senators agreed. What they agreed with was that she was qualified but thats no longer where we are. We start off with litmus test and then we get to the personal attacks and that so we are seeing with Amy Coney Barrett right now. Her faith is being attacked and everything is holed up to go after someone personally. Thats part of my problem and one of the reasons im running of that is we have to take this partisanship out of this process. We cannot turn the courts into something that is a political battle constantly, constantly constantly whether things that disturbs me when you end up with these fights and neither side people get left behind. We. Will go to Ben Ray Lujan to answer the same question. Cc thank you for this important question but i support roe v. Wade. Falafel landed it should not be overturned. Thats an important part of the conversation during these upcoming confirmation hearings but look make no mistake President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell have tried to ram through the Supreme Court nomination so they can repeal the affordable kerik. President trump senate and House Republicans filed a lawsuit to to overturn the Affordable Care act and heres the truth and here are the facts and the reality. The u. S. Supreme court would repeal the Affordable Care act protections for those of you that have cancer or diabetes those are preexisting conditions put all thosest protections would go way. All thosee protections were buit into the Affordable Care act would be repealed and thats just a travesty. The other thingstst thats impot is i thank all of you saw the polling across america where people across new mexico and the United States they want h. Mcconnell and Senate Republicans to have the same urgency and coming together with the deal to provide relief to the American People before they move forward with their confirmation in the Supreme Court justice. I certainly am hopeful that Mitch Mcconnell will be listening to the American People and we can do whats right to get a deal and get it over the finish line. Smit lets go ahead and go to mr. Bob walsh for the same question. C the basis for the decision on row v. Wade was the right of privacy. Its an absolute right of privacy with patients and their Health Care Worker and no Health Care Treatment can be made illegal unless that right to privacy is violated so i have every confidence that the Supreme Court nominee will uphold roe v. Su wade. As for the Affordable Care act thats a law. The federal government was never given authority over health care. When iy was young i was taught n my civics class that health care was an example data power not given to congress was reserved for the so libertarians believe that we should have a free marketli in health care, tt everyone should he able to choose the level of insurance they want and the treatments they want. The very existence of the health and humanh Services Department s ridiculous because it does not provide health. What it does is takes that money keeps some of it and returns the rest of hospitals in states with rules. C there was no opportunity there for rebuttal so i will go to my comoderator tessa mentus. Millions of americans continue to need help during this covid19 pandemic so if you are crafting a relief package what are your top two priorities to be added into the legislation and also what will you refuse to include and we were start with this question with representative lujan. Covid19 has hit every family across new mexico and across america. 0,000 people have died, many here at home. Thats why its been to make sure there wasas suppot direct payments for the American People which i supported and there should be another round, 1200. Its important theres more support for people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own with unemployment insurance. Inclusion of investments for Small Businesses and grant. How about the businesses they didnt qualify before . They need to be included in thats why i advocate for pewter Community Banks and Credit Bureaus to be included so they can help those they are closest to which is the smallest businesses in our communities. There needs to be infusion of support to every School District across the country to help them as well. Hospitals need help, theres not support for testing, more needed for the delivery of ppe because President Trump failed to provide a National Plan andnd tt response and last, the needs to be support for people across the country and thats why this should be inclusion of investments like infrastructure and ideas to provide support for everyone in the communities and mexico and local governments like albuquerque in every corner of the state. Thank you. Mr. Walsh. The response of the federal government has been atrocious. It needs to get out of the way. The food and Drug Administration is not approving whats needed. This is the food and Drug Administration obstructing healthcare for people with diseases and not able to get treatment until they have extensive and expensive testing. Similarly, the cdc obstructed people, labs from developing tests for covid19. As for the money, where is the money coming from . It is our money. Look at your withholding and pay stubs, its their money being taken to washington where they are keeping some of it and returning some to buy yourur vo. Thank you. Finally, go ahead. First of all, we have to be able to provide help for the targeted businesses that did not receive help during the original cares act and there are a tremendous amount so we can definitely do that right out of the chute. Also, we need Liability Protection forio businesses doig it safely and doing it right, they shouldnt have to feary. Frivolous lawsuits and all this and we have to start bringing manufacturing back to the state in the country. Covid laid bare the chinese have a great deal of our supply chains under their control. That has to stop and those jobs can come here to i new mexico so the group that can help most would be congress. They can step in right now thats not happening. We watched two months of fighting between the house and senate on both sides and its leaving everybody here at home out to dry and you mentioned, what are two things c you wouldt include . The house has included letting violent criminals out of prison as part of a covert relief bill. That doesnt belongl. There not only that, they included tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires in california and new york. I have no idea what its doing in a covert relief bill. Congress is in the middle of this. He can go to nancy pelosi and get this out, get it done. Lets work across the aisle but when politics comes first, everybody else stands and watches, even in a pandemic and it doesnt have to be this way. Thank you. I want to give rebuttal opportunity. You have 45 seconds. Mark cant seem to tell the truth. Nowhere in the heroes act which he points to and he just included, was there ever a vote or language to release violent criminals . Accusing the language included in the relief, hes wrong and he continues to mislead voters across new mexico and its important everyone of you back to check him all night. Last, Mitch Mcconnell has been absent when it comes to negotiations, he has not been at the table. On the first five bills we passed, president signed, hes been in negotiations. He needs to leave the room and am happy to tell you i believe progress is being made andqu i look forward to getting back before the election so we can get something across the finish line. Thank you. This question comes from the editor in chief. The department of energy has plans to increase production to 30 by 2026. Do you believe it creates safety issues for northern mexico and state and federal . Our national lab in new mexico helped change the world. They create opportunities for people all across the state, people like my dad. My dad was a union ironworker. We had a roof over his head because of him. N ive been proud to move legislation making investments when it comes to workforce resource and communities as well partnering with the doe as well as Community CollegesLike Northern mexico college. Helps fund the initiatives. A lot of the work that takes place in the area of nonproliferation compartment wission, asking about that as well so ive been proud to support the budgets with investments with los alamos and am willing to make sure im putting in the work to make surn we are driving investments here at home, not just with our labs but also our basis. New mexico is home to three incredible laboratories. We need to continue to drive science. I was proud to be on a call with senator udall and heinrich as well as deb hall and the secretary barrett to make sure we are putting in a fight to get the space force located right here in new mexico. We know how to make investments in our state and people deliver to make a difference when it comes to national security. I often say the something bad happening in the world, they are figuring out whats happening with theres something good, rest assured, someone is making sure it gets done. I think our labs are a critical part of our investment in our communities here and theres no doubt there are critical parts of our Nuclear Mission and will continue. We do that as well as anybody in the world here and that needs to be supported. Not only do we need to support that, we need to make sure the channels that bring innovation out of the labs and into ourha communities need to be bolstered here. We have two of the very best labs in the world here in new mexico and we have some avenues to help people out in the process to get jobs and take the technology and move it to the private sector but we dont have enough and we need to continue to do that. While i appreciate congressmans support he mentioned here, it supports, its spotty at best. Collected 2018 and resolution 1625, he voted to cut true pay while voting to raise his own pay. I do understand when we listen to these answers, we hear the d. C. With the actual record, there was an nda, National Defense authorization he voted against. That took money away. You cant have it both ways, you cant support everybody and then when you actually look at the real hard vote, it doesnt show the same thing. We do need to give an opportunity to answer this question andue then an opportuny to rebuttal. Bob walsh. I have spent a career working on nuclear safety. Ive been involved with contracts and all. The great fear of Nuclear Industry collusion is greatly exaggerated. On the other hand, we have no need for those weapons. We use atomic weapons, it is unbeatable. We should never contemplate using them. You should unilaterally get rid of nuclear weapons. As for the great shrink, both of those people are like i was getting welfare and most of those people, like me get referred to have physicians werent good enough to get them. We saw representative raising his hand for opportunity for rebuttal and we will give that tog you. Thank you. This is a time to fact check on two, three and four. Ive never voted for a pay raise for myself. Second, i consistently vote for pay raises for the military including the 3 pay raise this year alone and lasting, ive been proud to be cochair of our caucus. Democrats and rodents working together, we have been with mexico even when President Trumps budget tried to get theu cleanup budgets for our national s.