Everyone that this is the second most expensive house race in the nation right now. What is driving that is super pac funding, and that super pac funding from for Tyler Kistner is coming from big oil and big pharma. We read this quote for you, this is what big pharma said they would do if i voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. Medicare price negotiations, if i voted to make them compete they said those members that that vote for these bills will not get a free pass. We will do everything we can to hold them accountable. Tyler kistner and his funding from super pacs is an attempt to hold me accountable. I will never stop standing up to big pharma in sitting against and standing up for my constituents. Small business is the heartbeat of our local communities, with the looming recession, what opportunities and plans will you work for to ensure hours small are Small Businesses can thrive . Rep. Craig it is somebodys american dream. 92 of the businesses in this district are Small Businesses thats why it served on the committee of Small Businesses and thats why i worked so hard to get the the personal protection program. I have reduce the federal tax rate from 21 to 18 for Small Businesses. I know, input costs have gone up. I know that global inflation is challenging. I am so proud that we saved so many businesses and so many jobs across this district as a member of congress. Quite frankly most of that was done on a bipartisan basis. Thank you, angie, tyler. Mr. Kistner talking with a Small Business owners especially last week, a lot of the issues that weve been discussing our the completely discussing are the complete result from the workforce shortage. When you have supply chains let are so stretched because we rely on foreign entities we need to bring a better workforce to america invest back in American Business and shorten our supply chain. A short and reliable supply chain is the best of and do everything we can for our Small Businesses by giving them your tax credits and tax cuts. Rep. Craig i would mention that mr. Kistner just said we need to do exactly what the bill i introduced in congress would do. To reduce the tax rate for Small Businesses. I will stand by every day because mr. Kistner will talk about spending. We just went through a onceinalifetime pandemic. The government shut businesses down. The governments responsibility was to help you survive. Thats exactly what i did and mostly on a bipartisan basis. Thank you, angie. Tyler, youre up this one. A lot of political ads reference the rich are not paying their fair share. However rather than targeting the wells of elon musk or jeff bezos, the tax plans rolled out by the president and congress have raised income taxes on many on who many would consider Small Business owners and middle class already paying a 37 tax rate. In that context, what do you consider these taxpayers fair share of taxes . When i look at this, thats when, congresswoman craig and her democratic allies would say that we are voting in opposite ways. You need to help Small Business owners. When we increase Government Spending about also increasing while also increasing i digress agents, the last thing that Small Businesses need is irs auditing. They have showed as the last two years they are willing to spend everything they have and more and they are mortgaging our childrens future and your childrens future and the future of future generations. When you cut taxes on Small Businesses, going to ngs comment about how she helps Small Business, she helps less than 1 of Small Businesses in the second Congressional District. Start looking at the totality of Small Businesses and giving tax credits to all of them. Rep. Craig i introduced a second bill that would include selfemployed individuals. I will get you a copy of that after this discussion. I dont think its unreasonable to ask large corporations to pay a 15 minimum Corporate Tax rate. The tax breaks in this country that go to the local multinational companies, where you have the amazons of the world who are paying nothing. Its not fair to your Small Businesses. The deficit reduction act the Inflation Reduction Act will Lower Health Care costs in our country. It will also unleash Renewable Energy across our country helping us to become more Energy Independent as a nation. And, one more time, big pharma and big oil that is who is funding we may as well say that big pharma and big oil are running against me the cycle just as much as Tyler Kistner. I would say that the American People are running against you the cycle. What you see is the Inflation Reduction Act never invested in American Energy. If they did why are we begging opec to give us more, why are we selling our Strategic Reserves to china, why are we doing more biden and congresswoman craig capped the first day in congress in 2021. I serve on the energy and Commerce Committee in the u. S. Congress. I have supported additional federal leases for oil and gas. Why . I think we need to have been all of the above energy approach in our country. Why . Because we cant move to Renewable Energy overnight. But we need to start making that transition. And in fact, the Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits to transition to Renewable Energy, wind and solar. Those will save the average American Family 1800 per year. All of the above energy approach means renewable fuels, wind, solar, and in the short run, if we have to tap into drilling for gas and oil, thats what we need to do. Thank you, angie. We are going to move on to another concern that keeps a lot of us up at night and that has to do with health care and prescription drugs. So, angie, you are going to start this one off. Medicare and medicaid will spend over 200 billion dollars this year on alzheimers disease and other dementia and on hundred thousand minnesotans live with this disease. And those numbers are expected to skyrocket as the baby boomers age. Do you support fully funding the National Institute of Health Research to help find a cure for this terrible disease and authorizing bipartisan bills to make this a priority for the federal government . Rep. Craig i have been a strong supporter of additional funding to the nih. I have voted to increase its funding or hunt for heartbreaking diseases like alzheimers. But i think we need to take a broader view of health care in our country. The bill, here is what it does, it allows medicare to negotiate drug pricing. It is procompetition, something that the Republican Party used to before. It is a bill thats going to save our country more than 100 billion in medicare cost. We are the largest purchaser of health care. It is silly to me that as iran a fortune 500 as i ran a fortune 500 company, we cannot negotiate drug costs. It is going to actually provide health care to minnesotans in america. In the last two years along, 14 million more americans have gained access to Health Insurance in our country. That is an important point. Tyler, you will get a few extra seconds. Mr. Kistner id like to say, the Republican Party has proposed how we will address stuff like this, how will we protect Social Security and medicare . We have a commitment to america, we released this to say exactly what we will do in regards to stuff like that to investing cures for the longevity and life of the American People. We also need to personalize care providers and also look for affordable option in and Better Options and better quality care pet also making sure that we have transparency in the Health Care Costs that we have. Thank you, angie, 30 seconds. Rep. Craig last week in Congress Republicans said that they would roll back the Inflation Reduction Act if they take back congress. Thats my bill, that would cap insulate costs at 35 a month for medicare and medicaid. What you didnt say in your answer, mr. Kistner, you have not said that you would be willing to stand up for big pharma because i dont believe you would be. Mr. Kistner i can tell you, that you are in tided to your view you are entitled to your view but not to your own facts. What matters the most is the middle class. I know exactly what everyone in this audience is struggling with and i always advocate to represent in congress. Thank you, tyler you will answer this question first. A recent study from the department of health and Human Services shows that the price of more than 1000 drugs increase then inflation from 2020 to 2021. Prescription drug pricing reform has been a political talking point for several years now. What will you do in congress to get Health Care Costs under control. Mr. Kistner it is not just Health Insurance with higher premiums and deductibles its also technology and prescription drugs. We have a plan exactly of what we will do. We will get Patient Centered Solutions but we also need to open our pharmaceutical markets to foreign markets like those of europe to create more competition to drive down costs and to also find solutions for drugs. Angie. Rep. Craig i have had jurisdiction over health care for the last two years. You are exactly right. Over 100 over 1000 drugs went up over inflation. It is egregious, Drug Companies have become so used two being able to raise the price to what they want to that they expect to win every battle in washington. Why do they expect to win . If you stand up to drugmakers in this country, they come after you if you are in elected office. I stood up to this administration, the biden administration, they were going to leave medicare negotiation out of the reconciliation bill. I led an effort to say no, thats free market and competition we need to allow medicare to negotiate drug prices. I believe that the commitment to america for republicans is is to roll back the progress that weve made. Thats what they focus on in health care. Mr. Kistner i would simply say that republicans are not looking to roll anything back but disastrous policies that have destroyed this economy that we truly had a great one to years ago. If you remember how wonderful the stock market was, and now look at it. You cannot say that republicans tried to roll it back weve tried to build a backup. The only ones rolling things back or democrats. Rep. Craig i honestly dont know how you can make that comment this morning. Two and a half years ago and unemployment was 10 in minnesota. Six. 1 when this president took office. It is great to look back in hindsight. But i am sincerely proud of the bipartisan work that we did. The bipartisan work to make sure that Small Businesses survived, to make sure that people had a job at the end of this. Of course there will be challenges, but i am not sitting here, say, that this is something that will help me politically, i have my head down, doing the work. Mr. Kistner this is how i can say i believe what i said. Look at the stock market today. Welcome for that positive note. I know that i will be retiring anytime soon. We will be back again. [laughter] we will move on, i think that congresswoman, you alluded to the so we will move on to the workforce employment issues. Angie, you will go first. We have seen businesses across the state and including in Dakota County, the struggle to attract and maintain employees. What are the workforce problems and what can be done to ensure a larger qualified candidate pool . Rep. Craig it is the major effect of having such a low Unemployment Rate we are 1. 9 unemployment in minnesota. We are record unemployment which creates a workforce challenge. This is part of the solution, this community college, we need to rethink our Education System in this country. We need to look at career skills, trade skills, trade education. I have four sons, 1925. And my son josh is a machinist. I think that in our Nations High School we can present this as a great alternative. I will and with this, the 21st century workforce act that i wrote and introduced into congress would create a program for publicprivate partnerships at schools like this. In other words, if i work for a med tech company, and i need quality engineers, lets create programs in schools like this to provide to produce more quality engineers in minnesota. Tyler. Mr. Kistner this is something that we agree on. My son is also a machinist. Ive never seen a kid break a toy so quickly. If we look at the workforce, we should be supporting careers in trades and manufacturing. This school is a great example of it. One way we can do that is public assistance programs to assist those that are looking to get incentive to join the workforce. We need to get the best and brightest from around the world and get the and have a reason for them to work here. We need a process for highly skilled workers to work here from across the country. In order to get people to work, you need to have a tax code that keeps them rightfully earning. We also need to make sure that we do not send our talent overseas and have a net talent lost it in cash talent loss in our country. Rep. Craig i dont need a rebuttal because i dont disagree. We will save some time. We agree. Mr. Kistner bipartisanship. This is a follow this is a followup question, tyler, i will give it to you. How does our broken immigration system interact with this . Mr. Kistner in regards to the workforce, when you look at the border it is something that the democrats have ignored for two years because it is not expedient for them. The best way to address the border is to secure it and then to hold the laws that we have in place. I personally hold congresswoman craig for the fentanyl that continues to flow into our border. We need to secure our border and stop the flow of the league jewel Illegal Drugs like sentinel from coming like fentanyl from coming into our country. We need a solid immigration process to get the best and brightest from around the world and to help fill the Critical Skills and jobs that we needed in this country. Angie. Rep. Craig i know that when i talked to economist they say to me that immigration reform, one of the most significant things to do if we wanted to grow our economy. It is sad that immigration has become a political wedge issue. I agree that we need to have a secure border. I agree to increase appropriation for Border Security under president trump. But we also need to have a working immigration system in america. Ive supported dhaka daca. The modernization act is a bill that would do just that, get more workers here in minnesota to help fill those workforce gaps. Mr. Kistner you need to incentivize people to come to this country and the legal way rather than incentivize them to come to this country and an illegal way. Rep. Craig do i get a rebuttal . You do, this is what happens. Rep. Craig i would make the point that we must have a Legal Immigration system but as long as our system is as broken as it is, people will continue to go around that system. If it takes seven years to get through this country legally. That is not incentive. What the government needs to do to solve the problem and these political parties, specifically the Republican Party needs to stop using this as a wedge issue. Unto the next question, angie, you will go first, this is regarding transit and Dakota CountyRegional Chamber of commerce has been advocating to expand and improve Transit Systems throughout Dakota County. The question is that, making sure that employees can get to work isnt is important to businesses in Dakota County in order to allow these businesses to grow, how would you leverage federal dollars for transit in Dakota County . Rep. Craig i voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill in this session of congress. That means that there are federal dollars that have been distributed both directly in terms of ranch programs right here in the Second District, i think about the ribboncutting for the transit improvements we made