Its my pleasure to welcome you all this morning to the second Congressional District hosted by the Kurdish Regional chamber of congress. In recognition of the importance of events like this to our democracy, we thought it appropriate to take a moment to recite the pledge of allegiance. Please join me. [ reciting pledge] thank you. We take seriously our responsibility to promote civic engagement. Our student leaders and employees have been working hard this year and both colleges earn gold standing in the all in democracy challenge sponsored by the Nonpartisan Group situation. They had the highest student voting rate in the country. We want to acknowledge there are Student Ambassadors here today. I want to take a moment, we had elected leaders, nice to see you. Thank you. Its my pleasure to introduce the moderator, president of the Dakota CountyRegional Chamber of congress. Good morning. Thank you. Those wristbands you are wearing, i was hoping the college would open up the brewery afterwards. We are all going to need a drink. Deeply appreciative of the colleges support for this event. The ctc and the Community College are great partners of the chamber and we are deeply appreciative of your leadership and partnership especially in the workforce issues for all of our communities in Dakota County. For all of you, again my name is maureen, and its an honor to serve as the president of the Dakota CountyRegional Chamber of congress. Thank you for joining us for the only debate that we have for the Congressional District twoseat. The Dakota CountyRegional Chamber is the voice that promotes the Business Environment cultivating regional and local communities. Before we began i would like to acknowledge the organizations that make this event happen, to our sponsors the amber Hills Community foundation. An velocity public affairs. I also want to give a special thanks to the townsquare tv and without these people, this event would not happen. Lets give them a round of applause. [applause] its also important to note that the dcr Chamber Partners in many ways with many partners throughout the metropolitan area. I am pleased to have our partners here today. We have the minneapolis regional, the shot the pierre area, and the st. Paul area chambers of commerce with us today. We deeply value our partnership. We are streaming this event live for those who were unable to attend. Please refrain please post and tweet on social media with the mo to mo2. We have the right to cast our vote for representatives that represent art interest. The leaders you elect to make the decisions that impact you. Your business, job, health care, taxes, economic security, our future workforce and more. Todays form is one opportunity to educate and engage voters from the minnesota congressional to strict to district two. We are glad to have with this representative angie craig and the challenger Tyler Kistner. [applause] i have the deepest regard for both of you for running for Public Office and your willingness to serve. Thank you for coming and participating in the important discussion. Dakota county is one of the Fastest Growing counties in the state of minnesota, it is important that our communities in cd2 continued the success of economic growth, Educational Opportunities and Overall Health and vibrant the. It was last in 2020 that the candidates meant to debate. We were over at egan tv and it was just the three of us. A little different. Now we are here for the rematch. Much has changed in our world, but a lot of the issues that are important to many are still the same. I would like to quickly go over the rules and code of conduct for the debate. A coin dos a coin toss determined which candidate would open the debate. Angie, i believe we are having gord your remarks first. Each candidate will have a 32nd rebuttal. I would like to acknowledge our timers. We have jared vanhorn and emily, let us give them a round of laws applause [applause] they are students here at ctg c. Emily, meet jared. They will come up and stop you. They will hold the yellow card at the Halfway Point and send the the mess and then the famous red stop. If you could be respectful of that that would be great. We will alternate questions. As your moderator i have the right to take a mistake. If i do that please say its their turn. At the end the candidates will have two minute closing remarks. Now i would like to review the code of conduct for the on for the audience. I appreciate you being respectful at this forum. We ask that you not hold up signs while in the room or on the premises. Refrain from applauding or demonstrating support or nonsupport for the candidate. Most importantly, everyone get out their phone and please silence it. Very important. I went and did that right away. There is no taping of the debate by audience members, please note again we are livestreaming. All questions have been prepared and vetted prior to the forum. Written questions were submitted in advance. Security will be stationed throughout the debate. If you cannot comply with the code of conduct you may be asked to leave. With that being said, lets get the party started. We will start with the opening remarks. Congresswoman. Rep. Craig thank you so much of, thank you to the Dakota CountyRegional Chamber of commerce. Let me extend my condolences to the friends and family of paula overby. It has been a pleasure to represent minnesota in these last two terms in congress. I ran for people like jody and dave who are paying thousands of dollars every month for her insulin. I ran for katies lythgoe whose son died after serving as a Police Officer and she could not get access to the benefits she deserved. I work for the lives of the people in these in this district. My opponent opposed efforts to lower drug prices. Big pharma thanked him for that. He opposed Renewable Energy and big oil thanked him for that. He refused to abortions at the federal level, and he was thanked for that. Im honored to represent the people of minnesota. Mr. Kistner i want to thank you for posting hosting the only debate in the second congressional eagle. Cycle. I am but one sitting here and suffering from the last two years of your voting record. Truly what may be run for congress again was that disastrous policies of joe biden and his democratic allies who have made it impossible for us to have an affordable living. Lets not forget, less than a year ago congressman craig set with President Biden promising to push that field agenda. Where has that gotten us over the last two years, i would ask you one simple question during this debate. Can we survive another two years under the field leadership of congressman craig. Thank you tyler. Into the questions. Here we go. All right, recent polls have shown the economy is the number one concern for americans. This is also true in Dakota County. What do you believe was the cause and what was the solution to our inflation . We will start with tyler. Mr. Kistner when you look at the cause of inflation you only need to look at the voting record of congresswoman craig and the nearly trillion dollars we spent to increase the cost of living. The stock market is about to drop again. It will only get worse. How do you make the cost of living affordable for people we start by reining in that Government Spending. We invest in American Energy dollars and tap into our own resources in the united states. Thats how you make it affordable, to make sure that if we go to the pump it not for 80 it is 4. 80 it is 1. 80. Rep. Craig inflation is a global serious issue. If you look across the world right now, the supply chain from a onceinalifetime pandemic have caused inflation. I think about mr. Kistners comments and the question i have, what about spending in this room would you not have done. 1. 7 billion dollars went to save businesses in the Second District of minnesota over the past two and a half years. 176,000 jobs in the Second District of minnesota were saved over the past two years. And my opponent has said that inflation is something that is helping republicans in the election. Ive had my head down doing everything to reduce drug cost, while mr. Kistner is being funded by big pharma. Ive had my head down fighting for supporting our family farmers, you cant just complain about it but you need to put your head down and do something about it. Thank you, angie. Tyler, 30 seconds. Mr. Kistner coming from the most special interest receiver the second most special interest receiver. I get my funding from grassroots efforts. I see almost all of them in this room right now, that is exactly who im fighting for. Every American Household is struggling with inflation we need to address it and make living affordable again. Thank you tyler. 30 seconds, i am sorry. Rep. Craig let me remind 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