Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141103

We do not know who will vote on their. Hard to pull off their. The sec. A lot of experience in the state. Text georgia . I am still somewhat convinced that goes to a runoff. 50 of the vote. Popular vote covert get a runoff. I would not be surprised if we say that kind of momentum that republicans are carrying make its way through the weekend, tuesday. The republicans are already calling in the lawyers. They should. It is that close. Its a silly mama mobile i love georgia because it is a state we will be talking about money 16, 2018, 2020. We saw with virginia, North Carolina and now georgia. Read states that were once turning purple in some cases loop. A case of demographics, very good candidate and michelle nunn. It is problematic. A is quite remarkable even bad year for democrats. That goes to show you demographic infrastructure that is going to be benefits for democrats i think going forward. Abouthave now talked georgia and louisiana, the places where there is possibility of a runoff. Lets say it goes to runoff, any chance they do this migration executive order between now and those times . Wouldnt that erase any chances for democrats to win those states if you were to do an executive order on immigration in the middle of the runoffs. Then in an issue like kentucky we will dominate. I do not necessarily necessarily know that goes into the thinking process. They kick the can down the road initially. Bottom line, will veto Election Night who has control of the u. S. Senate . You come to Election Night and you are watching the exit polls in states and congressional districts. Does not have to be the senate races. As you see them start to break, it all breaks one way. You will can outlier one way but most of the closest rate one way or another. Iowa has been called. I think we will know by North Carolina. Those goes. Of if North Carolina goes, that is a very good indicator colorado will go. 5048 withit was runoff in louisiana and georgia, said that even if that was be 51. E, it would absolutely. Whatknows Mary Landrieu o not go down without a fight. Who has run the death campaign, who has had the Worst Campaign . Always easiest to be the Worst Campaign. The pat roberts campaign, up until the past two or three weeks has been terrible. Which is inampaign part the candidate as much the campaign. I think stu is exactly right when you look at the democratic races. I think has also done a fantastic job. That is someone who at the beginning of the year we would have put her at the top of the list most likely to lose on Election Night. A freshman, not very well known. I think she has done quite well. I echo pat roberts as the worst and tumescent. Cory gardner has run a terrific campaign. He is happy, upbeat and smiles. He is happy and refreshing. May i throw out my personal favorite . That is the Worst Campaign in america. The worst race in america. What i love about that race is both of them have such high unfavorables that the matter what happens in florida they would have to elect someone they cant stand. That is what it comes down to. A lot of animosity, personal this trust. Very recent stuff in the past few days. Ahead rick scott ahead. Charlie crist ahead. Unfortunate they do not have none of the above in florida. I want to pursue that. Of the races, kansas, when we have had a republican and democrat and independent jump in, that became none of the above. It is interesting that democrat chances for keeping control of the senate. This may depend on an independent turn in florida you obviously have an independent claim a role and until recently. North carolina. Talk about the independence, what you are seeing in terms of support for independent candidates in the election. More or the same . Know, i think of florida and North Carolina, largely a reflection of the major voters unhappy with the candidates. Otherwise, congress rating terrible, republican terrible. The democratic brand only slightly better. No thirdparty movement. He is doing well. You maysee the angst think there would be given the numbers . There is a group that elects millions in the president ial getting that third party onto bennett candidates millions of dollars invested and all spiders out. They have that much infrastructure brought into the senate races could they have found or men in kansas was on the board. Could they have actually played harder with independence during this particular cycle . I will just raise two points. The first is though we see the number of people they are independent continue to grow some of those people are not independent. Likeu break down something 42 , once you break him out to people who say they have leaned to one party or another, the core of true independence is about 10 . A small percentage. We also assume independent means moderate. That has been turned off either real partisanship to either party. In many cases they are either more conservative or more liberal than the Democratic Republican Party and feel like the party has lost me because they are not fighting hard enough, not liberal. I think we assume that we make assumptions about independence we have to be careful about. A midterm election, what makes it very difficult, it is not the weekend not the type of collection that attracts independent swing voters because the goal is to just turn out the base. You are sticking to the core group of voters. Hard to get them as not engaged voters to turn out when there is not a president at the top of the ticket. That would be a lot of work to go and run against the system and still running up against the fact that a lot of voters may not be. People do not want to throw the book away. You need someone like ross perot that has incredible personal theurces and can match Major Party Candidates in terms of visibility. That is very rare. You have alaska, maine where it said when there is a tradition. There is a possibility if there is a chance of going back to the 20th. This is the High Water Mark right now for republicans. I think where the democrats have been from the very beginning, they were playing defense in the same way democrats in the senate were. What seemed to happen in the past few weeks is i dont know if it is panic that concern on the part of democrats in states we do not traditionally think of being problematic for democrats, new york, california, illinois. Some of this is nirvana. Jerry brown having a very easy race from california. Places where there is not the localization from the campaign, the senate race there to get the turnout that you will see democrats losing in district they should be winning or woodwind in a president ial year. After the 2000 wealth 2012 we after frequently talk about the gender gap. What group of voters would we talk about after tuesday. Old white men. Like older and wider. It is about turnout. I remember going back to the democratic send campaign committee. We will have to compete in arkansas. They have a strategy in alaska. Is onesional democratic thing. Democrats understood from the beginning what the problem is with the cycle. Even without the president cycle you have the midterm, the turnout problem. They have made a major effort. If the democrats surprise us that they hold onto the senate. If on the other hand it is eight senate seats and 12 house seats, i think we will welcome the. Lectorate as older and wider they went strongly for the republicans. The democrats do not hold the margin on women. They do not win older women or married women. That wene indicator have to see how they are doing is early voting. How are they doing . Can i complain about early voting for a second act of the problem with trying to analyze early voting is that i do not have the voter file in the states and do not have the data the campaigns have. I can look at the independence but i do not any in do not know anything about them. The question has always been can democrats get the people who looked into vote in 2010 out to vote . The number Means Nothing to me if they are just simply voters that would have come out anyway. Folks on the ground and do have access in a place like colorado what they will tell you is we feel pretty good but we are not at the pace we need to be. And i what you are seeing that concern. If you look at the polling numbers, 41 approval rating, why is he so unpopular . Is there anything the white house could have done to change the dynamic . We have six years of administration. The president could have made numerous decisions that were controversial. Kind of scar tissue buildup after six years of resident. I happened to think the biggest problem is there are two things going on. It is not created by an the president is detached and has shown leadership that some people thought he showed. I think the mood of the country is very sour. There is wage growth and the like. Gdp numbers are up. Unemployment numbers are down. Since the Government Shutdown the of the launch of Government Health care websites, putin in isis and ebola the next thing is the martian invasion. It is a drumbeat of bad news. I think it has weighed on the american psyche and i think they tend to blame if you feel miserable you cannot feel good about good news because youre depressed about everything else. I think that is the white house biggest problem . Of his doubt some decisions and style contributed to that. I think it is bigger than that. Strategically, cut the white house have done anything differently act of i dont think they could. A new what the map was like. Struggles for democrats has always been they had to outperform the president , even at his highest performance in 2008 and 2012. Candidatess the that outperformed the president and does not help the nationalization of the race. Any time the mood is as bleak as it is. Would yougree agree the president s job approval is at 40 they would be in much better shape . How could he have gone from 40 to 48 . What is the answer to that . Among theown not just older white voters but when you the groups we talked out of the obama coalition, younger voters, women, latinos, unmarried women, his numbers have all dropped precipitously. When your own base is not that excited about you, it is hard to turn them out, even if you the best ground game in the history of the world. It seems to me the naturalization of the midterm came very late. Isis and thenund ebola pushed it over the edge. Is that where you all see it . It started with the obamacare website and that became the issue. Encouragehink hope to and then start backing off of the argument. Moneyy have spent as much on obamacare now as they have. The single most important way theyre getting voters out to define the election. The issue is they will talk to swing voters. You have made up your mind on obamacare. The only way they are using it is in a very targeted way to say have to keep you angry based, come out and vote. How does that get the base to the polls . You cannot do it successfully anyway. A very good question. I always try to put myself in a place of the voter. Electiontion this was not nationalized. Pollster asked the questions what is your opinion, you will have an opinion. Making a decision does not kick in until later in the cycle. Maybe everyone is giving democrats credit in North Carolina. Talking about education. Everyone giving them a lot of credit about that. They are not talking education down there anymore. To list tilis one of the criticize the to president on isis. He did not stop and now it is nationalized. That is a good example. I think you bring up a very good republicans needed some way to nationalize this. How will you move the people on the fence better feeling bleak, do not really know why and not asling bad confident. Com these national and International Affairs started to happen, that was a great vehicle. Defensive early on and. Republicans have not had the resources there. The democrats introduced into the entire state and away they demonized him and him and him over the legislature, abortion and Voting Rights and the like. He was unable to get traction. Think it is relatively recent he has been able to say this election is more than about the state legislature. I want to ask you about another state, democrats vowing to make the push. He may be close to getting 50 of the hispanic vote. If they are poised to go purple very soon, is this the approved texas is still red . Questiona very good because of the focus on texas. I think that is more primed than texas. Exactf the reason is your point, that hispanic voters there a much more open to voting for republicans than they are in the eastern seaboard and western states. I think the republican governors, whether it is george w. Bush or rick perry actually made a report to push the hispanic vote to make them away. Has abbot has done that as well. That is how you are successful. You cannot deny the importance of the hispanic vote. White voters are much more important. It is even harder for democrats to get the coalition that you would be in a state like virginia. Delaware was a swing state. At dramatice can be time as West Virginia trained changed. They were slow to rail line. Therehere was a son was a move to be ahead of every curve. Georgia realigned. Texas to realign. Not on the next 46 years. People move around from state to state. Eventually they will come but not now. You about 2016. You mentioned earlier the way that has been run, leaving a lot of these folks without much chance. What are harry reid prospects for 2016 . Good one. We won and assume he wont run. Election tablet. Does run forhe reelection, what he has always done in the past is adds that he had to pass. Any candidate who gets in the race cannot raise money. I assume that will be his strategy. The republican had a good candidate who was wellfunded and will have another bird burner barnburner. It is not evenly divided. The former congressman said a warm mammal would have been harry reid in 2010. Share and angle turned out to be the one candidate who could not have pulled that race through. Either of the other two may have been able to. He is obviously very wellfunded. 2016u expect to see him in . I would bet against it because we would get a nasty phone call. Just how influential it has outside money been in the key swing senate races . Has set the table and the lot of the races. Inhink what it did is came and polarize the races earlier than ever. I do not know that i have the ability to swing the race one way or another but what it did is came in and took a state and turned it into the kind of state we would see in october in terms of where the red and blue lineup way back in march. Of an interesting question. I am not sure how to answer it. All the republican money that went into states that want with or did not come into play was wasted. They want to plan have the right to play. They want to play themselves to play. I think the money, when you look at it there is so much money out there. It does not move the numbers. Mutual assured destruction. I think it mostly cancels itself out. Table tummy you have mentioned some of these the states, what one site one state that will set the Election Night . Be the one state. Where it goes i think will tell us. Earlier in the night, North Carolina or New Hampshire, republicans. Scott brownxpected to get this close . Not a quick call for her. If we were to see the race fall there in one of the two New Hampshire democratic members of congress that would the senator and publisher. Amy walter of the Cook Political Report joining us for the questioning. And Jeanne Cummings of bloomberg politics. To all of you, thank you very much for being with us. Thank you. And be sure to watch our election day preview tonight we will have a look at the most recent debates from key races around the country. We will take your phone calls and get your reaction on facebook and twitter. There will be discussion of the latest headlines at 6 pm eastern here on cspan. Throughout campaign 2014, you more s brought than 130 candidate debates from across the country in races that will determine control of the next congress. Night, watch cspans live election coverage. At 8 00 pm e begins eastern with results and analysis. You will also see candidate victory and concession speeches in some of the most closely watched senate races across the country. Throughout the night and into the morning, we want to hear with your calls, facebook comments, and tweets. A look now at some of the debates that have happened during the election season. In the recent georgia u. S. Senate race, candidates were the question to ask the opportunity to ask each other questions. Michelle nunn asked the first question to david perdue, a question of pay equity. So david, during your tenure at dollar general, you made over 40 million. Yes there were 2000 women who sue the company during your they were they said paid less and it was found, by federal investigators, that they were paid less. Experience there, i wonder if you would join me supporting ctually the paycheck fairness act . Well, thank you, michelle. First of all, we have a law in the land. This new law would only serve the plaintiff lawyers of our country. Worked my entire life supporting equal pay for equal work. But this is, yet again, another false attack. When you look at the reason why she is trying to distract us away from the real issues of job creation, you understand why. The obama care law the of this president is killing 2. 5 million jobs are now. Yet she supports that law. She wants even expand that law. When 400,000 t georgians more georgians have gone on food stamps that the last en jobs in six years that is not the kind of law we need. The epas killing thousands of jobs are industries today. Why oh barack r obama wants her in senate. So, david, i do think that people of georgia want someone who will fight for them. And families of georgia should fight to make sure they are paid equally. Right now, georgia women are paid . 81 on the dollar to men. Action speak a lot louder than words, and frankly, your experience in history, i feel like you would be in a position to say that we must do better here. In fact, every time that we have the opportunity to talk sensitive issue like it to a u move conversation in which you decide you are running against the president. Families nk women and deserve pay equity. That we need parity, but i have not got you yet to talk about obama care. You bragged about earlier, yet it is killing 2. 5 million jobs right now. Bill would esty bring 15 million new workers into this country, in a time have fewer people working than any time since jimmy carter. It seems like to me that he wants to get you into the senate to be his rubberstamp. In georgia, the failed policies go by the name of michelle not. And that the entire debate is available on cspan. Org. Cook and rothenberg reports this race is a tossup. Was an economics professor the rothenberg political report rates this as satisfied. This is approximately 55 minutes. Thank you, mayor. To is now my pleasure introduce her candidates. Dr. David brat joined the faculty in 1996, serving with both passion and distinction as both an economics professor and chair of our economics business department. He created a highly successful ethics minor. Laura, live s wife, in glenallen and have two children. Dr. Jack trammell joined the 2000 as our director of Disability Services and also as an associate professor of psychology. Dr. Trammell has been an indispensable resource here at the college. Jack and his wife, audrey, reside near mineral, virginia and six of their seven children are in college. [laughter] i am also delighted to be stage this evening with heather sullivan, nbc 12s news anchor extraordinaire. And a very special thanks to 12, our media sponsor, for their generosity and support. I will now ask heather to review the format, ground rules, and the court for tonights debate. Thank you so much. Candidates ou to our for being here. Now candidates, you have artie the rules for our debate. Candidates of the will be given two minutes for an Opening Statement and two minutes for a closing statement. There was actually to coin tosses last week. The first coin n toss and he chose to speak first and to close last. Dr. Brat chose for dr. Trammell to ask the first question first. Then what we are going to do is reversed the order for each question. Now the candidates will both be asked the same question and they will each get two minutes respond to that question and, german, you may also use minutes to rebut anything that the other candidate has said. There are also some rules for the audience. We would like to ask you to silence or cell phones; however, we would like to invite you encourage you to tweet during the debate and we invite you to use the rmcdebate. We know youll want to burst out in applause from time to time, but we would like to ask apply until hat the end. We ask that you try and hold onto that until the end. Also ask that you do not so any signage do not show any signage. If there are any violations to to rules, you will be asked leave the auditorium, but i think we are in for a really active and interesting debates this evening. Lets go ahead and get started. Again, dr. Trammell, you won the coin toss and chose to speak first. Thank you. Well, how great to be here tonight. I love history and the history that got us here is a very interesting history. A few months ago, i was sitting in my office a few buildings away from here and i didnt be w that i was going to running for congress. A few months ago, i talked to dave on the phone and he said to in e thinks im going his primary he thinks he is to win the primary. A few months ago, people were affected by the primary. Anyone here remembers that that was nuts. There was quite a history that gets us to this point, but the amazing thing about history is up to this y gets us point. Is is not written yet what is to come. Thomas jefferson said that he loves history, but he loves the dreams of the future much better. So tonight, you will hear from both of us the alternate of the future how we are going to take your were going to fix great tion and the thing about this is that this is democracy in action. And i want to give a shout out to the students of the high school, by the way. They showed me the other day what democracy inaction was. I am really proud to be here tonight. Im proud to see all of you here. This is democracy in action and im proud to be a part of it. Thank you, as well, for hosting this debate tonight. Thank you also for hiring the 18 years ago. It is an honor to be here. Go jackets and now im going to get a business. Im running because government is broken. 250,000 virginians will lose their Health Insurance policies month november right after the election because of obama care. Trillion in excessive regulation is crushing our economy at present. IlLegal Immigration at our southern border has not only cut the humanitarian crisis, a t the border has now become National Security threat because of isis. The retirement programs that we promise to our seniors will be bankrupt in less than 20 years if we deny could work to preserve and protect those programs. Here ve taught economics for 18 years and i have never seen an economy or labor market were College Students 40 of College Students will not get jobs in the field of their choice. I believe we need to send an dc ist to washington to congress to solve these economic problems and restore trust in our vital american institutions and values. Her nt obama said of its very clearly the other day, his policies are on the ballot. You can vote for that, or he someone who knows that centralize government planning has failed every single time it has been tried. I want to go to congress to restore the American Free our et system, to restore economy, and to spur job creation. I am running because i believe believe we can i make tomorrow better and brighter than yesterday. And i would ask for your vote this coming tuesday. Thank you. Lets begin with our first question. Dr. Trammell, how should the federal government best respond to the ebola crisis . And do you support a proposed to the United States from affected west african countries . I think we have responded, in part, correctly. We have been trying to use processes that the cdc has put into place and we have tried to be proactive. Some of our congressional delegation here in virginia has should be that we more proactive. And i tend to feel that we of being r on the side too proactive; however, i am hesitant to act out of fear. And there is a fear factor in how we have been reporting on this and how we have been reacting to it. So i would urge caution and i would urge us to look at the we have in place and a couple of cases we do not follow those procedures and moreover, i would say that we use targeted flight bans and not bring our economy to a halt. I think in this case, we have responded and we can respond better. Dr. Brat. Thank you very much. And the comes to ebola challenges retrace, it is good to look at what the government has done. In the first place, they said it would never reach our borders. Then they said they gave instance after instance and the centers for Disease Control and the d. C. Not ers on this issue did contain the threat of disease. So i differ with jack on this. I think we should have quarantined the western african the flights coming in and i kind of like in it in the Financial Markets to a black swan event. Very ck swan event is a low probability event that has catastrophic consequences. That is what ebola is. It is a low probability events that has catastrophic for this entire nation if we do not treated properly. Mean by that as a conservative, if there is catastrophic event coming away, any conservative and your basic intuition is, hey, quarantined for 21 days that does not even to the n comparison catastrophic effect that could affect all of us and your children in the future. The basic conservative impulse is to and e down and be safe secure our border and safety at every point we can. This instant is not isolated. When it comes to president obama, our safety and security has not been well guarded. At our southern border, 50,000 come across the border 50,000 to 70,000 have they across a border have been in absolute catastrophe for those kids and for our country. I want to secure our borders and ebola as best we can. Our next question. There has been substantial the Affordable Care act, including several bills passed by the house of representatives, in that certain parts of the law. What changes, if any, would you make . I would repeal and replace obama care immediately. A federal, is topdown product with a mandate system that is artie failing. 250,000 virginians are arty going to lose their Health Insurance this month. That is not by consequence, that is by intent. They pushed that so that you and not to the consequences of obama care. The employer mandate will be equally troublesome, and the push that beyond the 2015 election date. The basic premise was that they were going to take care of the is a good and that thing, but guess what happened. On the 18 Million People were of. En care that is a federal government at work. And we didnt mention the biggest unintended consequence is disrupted the healthcare for 250,000 other americans, while trying to provide healthcare for 47 million and it for 80 ding million at 87,000 per person. Obama care was going to get rid of our emergency room problems, right . Hospitals are overcharging and their passing it on to you and your insurance policies. Data show that obama care has not solve that problem at all. Under obama care, we were promised that you can keep your relationship, t you can keep your insurance policy. That is no longer true. Instance after instance, obama care has not lived up to its promise. And the class, i have not even mentioned the Kitchen Table issues. Issues for every virginian and for every business, by the way, is obama care is crushing jobs along with the Regulatory Burden that the federal government has put on our economy. Thank you. Dr. Trammell. Okay, let me first of all to the previous session and to point of clarification. Number one, president obama is ballot in this district. I just want to make sure everyone knows that. Number two, i did see already that i was in favor of targeted quarantines. So i think david and i are actually in agreement at that point on that point. The major goal of the aca is to people who number of are uninsured and to increase the number of people who could access who could have access to basic air. Actually, we have added people. That was the original purpose of the act. To do with hing has cost and we know that Health Care Inflation in the past two lowest it has been in the modern era. Obama care, aca have actually the things they have sent out to do set out to do. A little story it is a business that has a lot of overhead. Andrew told me that he and his brother were going without they cannot because afford it. They took the plan under aca and he said that it was very good. That come at him, made the difference. That is what aca has meant to do. What ts not lose track of the original intention of the aca was. We need to fix things with aca . Of course we do. We need to help Small Businesses out who are struggling under the burden. There were also aspects that were not formulated correctly and we need to fix an iron out those details. But we cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater. Thank you. Dr. Trammell. A Bipartisan Group has introduced legislation to the status of undocumented students. These efforts have become known as the dream act, which would repeal federal policies that discourage states from offering post secondary education benefits and provide legal permanent status. Do you support these efforts to legalize the status of undocumented immigrant students through the dream act . I do. And early in this campaign, i met students who are going to Virginia Tech and two other schools in their own state are in medical school. The soontobe dr. That i met. I met an engineer in the same program. These are people who are going to contribute to our prosperity here, so i support the dream act. But i also support comprehensive Immigration Reform. This is the only congress in history that has utterly failed at Immigration Reform. Think about it. My family immigrated here in 1671 through the port of alexandria. Immigration is, in part, what this great nation is built on, but we have never felt like this before. So you have to ask yourself the question. Is the problem immigration, or is the problem the donothing congress . We need to pass conference of immigration form with all the border security, visas, pathway to citizenship everything needs to be in it together. We have done it before, we can do it again. We know that the shelflife on Immigration Reform is usually 10 to 20 years. The world changes. It is not going to say the same. But we have never felt like we have this time. Thank you. Dr. Brat. Thank you for the question. The dream act, i oppose that in my primary. Jack mention the primary that ion reform sounds nice but what that and s is the house bill the senate bill favored 10 million illegals coming across our borders. So just to be clear, it is illegal. No one in the room is against immigration. We are a country of immigrants, but we need to get at what a truly compassionate policy is. I oppose the dream act. President obama and the congress were in favor of it. A result, president obama overwrote the congress and the rule of the people. He overrode the congress, put in place a policy, and the result is 50,000 orphans crossing the border. I love every Single Person. I taught Third World Economic Development here for the past 18 years. So it is nothing against the coming across the border, but lets ask ourselves what you compassion really looks like. To help these people, lets do what we did after world war ii. Take 7 billion people because it is a great country. The reason that the world was to come to this country is because we have the rule of law. That is why everybody wants to come here. We have the rule of law, we have private property rights, a free market system. We are the envy of the world. And that is why Everyone Wants to come here. Economist, i understand you do not want to ruin the pieces of the have put a that we place that have made us great. Few thousand a people that have to compassion and get the countries in latin america going. Lets get those countries going again. Compassion for hundreds of nations of people. Thank you. Our next question. Dr. Brat will begin. Do you support and increasing the federal minimum wage . Why or why not . I do not support raising the i am an wage because economist and if you just take lets sic case study look at seattle. They are raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Upon announcement of that what did restaurant start to do . They started firing people. What you usually look at is the minimum wage the increased wages for the people keep their jobs. That is a good thing. What is the bad part of the thing you dont see . The thing you dont see is that people get fired. So businesses are in business and Everybody Knows that in business, restaurants are already in a tough business. Now youre going to double the roughly 15 an hour, what do you think is going to happen . The businesses can make profit. They have to lay people off. They are arty laying people and the use of obama Regulatory Burden that the government has put on them. Businesses are suffering out there. You want to thing of is to raise the price labor and keep price and the economy. We have other policies in place that account is favor, but a raise their wage rate your wage rate is exactly the same thing as a productivity level. If you want to increase their in this country for real, instead of artificial productivity of our kids for can. Are competing in the world and our kids are at the bottom in mathematics. That is a competitive disadvantage. To increase wages by the way, the bottom 80 had their ns have wages flat, so we do need to work on that and we need an economist go to d. C. Dr. Trammell. From the rect quickly last section, i think immigration should be added to todays list of the institutions that have made this country great. In terms of minimum wage in these people, i was one of these people. I made two dollars an hour billing him putting it in the barn. At that time, the minimum wage was increased to Something Like 2. 12 per hour. With the farm ng and he said, boys, youre not really expecting me to pay you 2. 12 per hour are you . We kind of looked at each other and we didnt say anything. He tossed his hand and ended up paying us 2. 12 an hour for the rest of the summer. That . 12 may not sound like much, but working 40 or 50 for the entire summer, i was able to use that money to buy my first car. The minimum about wage you know, i can bring economist who bel have written for the new york the 10. 10 g that great economic advantage i would rather do say that i support the minimum seen the use i have evidence myself because it raises the middle class. That is the pathway to prosperity in this country. Thank you. Dr. Trammell. Expenditures, which include programs such as Social Security, medicare, and medicaid are consuming a growing share of the federal budget. The total nearly 60 of all federal spending. Managing the opose federal budget while meeting the promises that were made to generations of americans . Well i have never flipflopped on Social Security or some of the other programs that are so vital to our veterans. I have made the promise that we are not going to make cuts. Not want to react to a climate of fear. To tead, what i would like see us do is return to some basic concepts that as individuals we follow the time. I have to balance my checkbook, i have to pay down the credit card debt. We start with balancing the annual budget in this country. Looking to the past, when we had a series of years where we have balanced the and jewel budget, that enabled us to eat into the debt that we need to deal with. We are complicated here by the fact that we keep doing things, shooting ourselves in the foot we go to iraq once, we go a second time. Now were going to go a third time. What have we accomplished . Why are we going back again . We have spent trillions going there. It has not been in the budget. It comes back to some simple concepts that we need. A bipartisan effort on the hill to Work Together to balance our annual budget. We spread outwards from there. That is how we begin to tackle the issue. We did not get there overnight. It took years for us to get into this situation. We are not going to wave a magic wand or push that red button. We will have to work at it. We need to balance the annual budget. Thank you. First thing i want to say is that i have pledged when i started running my primary campaign to preserve and protect all the programs we have for seniors. He just talked about the National Debt. He did not mention the question asked. The question was asked about the unfunded liabilities, medicare, Social Security. The debt is approaching 18 trillion. What we are talking about is the unfunded liability, they approach 127 trillion. Jack said the other day that this is not a problem we need to worry about. Wrong. It is the number one issue i ran my campaign on. It is the most pressing economic problem. It is not a talking point. How serious is it . 127 trillion in those four programs will exhaust the entire federal budget by 2030. You want to know why our military policy is weak right now . The nondiscretionary part of the budget is taking all our money to pay for those four programs. Another way of looking at it is that both the Major Programs, Social Security and medicare, will be bankrupt by 2030. You did not hear an answer from my opponent on how to solve the question. There will be no programs. They will both be bankrupt by 2030. That is the problem we have to fix. I propose fixes. Jack talks until my stories and anecdotes, what he is leaving office he is running negative ads. Go look up the footnotes. They are false. He says im going to cancels Social Security for seniors. Senior citizens are scared out of their minds. And theyre going to lose a Major Program time. [laughter] our next question. American Energy Production continues to expand with hydraulic fracturing technologies and shale development, creating additional u. S. Jobs. Would you support exploring for oil and gas off the coast of virginia . Absolutely. We have two saudi arabias beneath the United States border that we should be taking advantage of. The Keystone Pipeline is essential for the next wave of u. S. Innovation. Our economy is growing at 1. 5 percent. Chinas growing at 7 rate we have to do something to revitalize the economy. Energy is a resource that is sitting there, waiting for use. On the other side of the spectrum, the obamacare philosophy is lets regulate everything and put business out of business. When it comes to the epa, lets book a lot of business. The Obama Administration is against parts of liquefied natural gas and fracking. They say its too dangerous and want to shut that down. You are against 80 of the Energy Consumption in this country. When you go home tonight, you will use ipads, refrigerator, air conditioner, that is what were talking about. The future of this country is at stake. Our administration is going down the wrong road. We need an allin approach. I do not want the crony capitalists deciding who the winners and losers are. I ran against that. I want the free market choosing the Lowest Cost Energy innovators come up with. We wasted billions of dollars on failed investments by the government for folks who have crony relationships on wall street or fancy lawyers, or special relationships to congress. That is not fair to the people competing. All of the above on energy on resources. That is why i think you should send an economist to washington to fix the economy and restore confidence in our basic values. Thank you. Since you term limited yourself to 12 years, you will be out before the true Social Security crisis hits. [laughter] you were the one who has talked to seniors about being ready for bad medicine. All i said was i would keep my promise to seniors. In terms of energy i want to tell a quick story. I own a farm. I have a creek that runs along the back. An environmentalist said to me your farm animals are polluting this water. I am sensitive to this, what do i need to do . He says plant the kind of plants that prevent erosion, that will help. I did this and went 60 feet on average from where the creek was. This friend came back out and said this isnt enough. It needs to be 200 yards out. I said my form is only 25 acres. I wont have a farm left. My point, energy is a shared responsibility. We need an epa looking out for environmental safety but not getting in the way of profitable business and expanding energy options. When it comes to offshore drilling, controversial issues, we cant turn the lights off based on what we are dependent on. It becomes shared responsibility. We have to bear that burden. Like me, putting up this zone, i voluntarily did that. Thank you. Dr. Trammell, there is disagreement about whether congressional approval is necessary for current military actions in syria and iraq. Do you think Congressional Authority is required for military action against isis . Would you vote in support of the resolution authorizing these actions . I believe senator kaine and others are correct that this conversation should be taking place in congress. We have been to iraq once. We have been to iraq twice, we are on the verge to go a third time. At what point does that begin to say more about us than it does about what is happening in iraq . We need to have more clarity about what our purpose is there. Given the human cost and the economic cost, that conversation is best taking place in congress itself. I support senator kaines initiative and believe the conversation should take place. I have a stepson who came back wounded. He is a marine from afghanistan. Im hesitant to put men and women into harms way. We need to have a good reason and justification for them being there. We have a better shot of that justification being sound if we are having that conversation in congress where we have the ideas and representation of viewpoints about the process. Thank you. I agree with my opponent. Senator kaine has it right. In the constitution it is the role of congress to give the final goahead on war. That is what is called for. I am for that. It is more interesting to look at the context in which this question arises. When you have to answer the question for the president , because what we are lacking is any strategic sensibility is with respect to Foreign Policy and military strategy overall. We are in crisis around the world and the president has not enunciated a Foreign Policy or Strategic Vision at all. Out of the white house we have heard phrases like leading from behind. That has failed. We have heard about red lines, starting in syria. The president drew red lines. There was no consequence whatsoever. We have failed policy after failed policy. You know it is getting bad, and you dont have a Strategic Vision or military policy when jimmy carter comes out and criticizes president obama for having a week Foreign Policy. You know you are in trouble. The consequences for this country are not humorous. The threats coming are real. Isis is already coming in about the threat of isis. We need to act appropriately. Most of these debates are about tactics. The real issue is we dont have a strategy. Going back, you go back to truman or eisenhower, we have had one Foreign Policy that matched up with the republican creed. Peace is preserved through a Strong National defense. Thank you. Our next question, a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. The u. S. House chose not to take action. It has been reported the Obama Administration is going to act unilaterally on the issue. If elected would you support passage of a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill . Thank you. I do not support a comprehensive immigration bill because that is a pathway for 10 million illegal folks to come in on a pathway to citizenship. I discussed the humanitarian crisis we already have them place at the border because of poor policy. When it comes to comprehensive Immigration Reform, the piece that has been missing ever since Ronald Reagan tried in good faith to negotiate across the aisle to put a policy like that in place is a secure border. That is what we are always missing. We do not have a secure border. Comprehensive Immigration Reform is code language to go beyond having a secure border into the crony capitalists that i ran against in the primary. Our labor markets doing . Terrible. It is the one part that is not mending. In the face of a financial crisis, the economy is not growing and poorly performing. Crony capitalists want to bring in cheap labor. Of course they do. It improves their profit. Pick up the unintended cost. Guess who it is bad for and who has to pick up the unintended cost. You, the taxpayer. That is why it is a 95 issue in the 7th district. People are opposed to picking up the tab, not because they dont like people but because they are having a hard time making ends meet. When it comes to Immigration Reform, if you are negotiating in good faith for the other side they should absolutely be in favor of securing the border. Once we get that behind us, if we can pass legislation and work across the aisle to get a secure border in place, then i am open to listening to ideas. I dont think the president should act you are laterally in this situation. I think that is an admission in evidence that this donothing congress has failed. The conversation about immigration does belong in congress. It needs to be bipartisan. As dave alluded to, i think there is a hole in the middle where these conversations are not taking place. We need to elect people who are willing to reach across the aisle and work in a bipartisan manner. Dave and i have worked together 15 years. That gives us some bipartisan experience. [laughter] i do support comprehensive Immigration Reform. I think without all the moving pieces in place it is not libel to function correctly. That includes border security. If we are going to make rules about the border we should enforce them. We shouldnt have any rules we are not intending to enforce. It needs expanded visas and other types of visas. It needs a clear path to citizenship. We need to have those pieces together. We can have them again. As an aside, i think it is interesting my opponent doesnt apply freemarket economics to the labor force. The libertarian candidate would have something to say about this. I however believe that we need to have a border policy and all these other policies in a comprehensive package. Thank you. Our next question, Labor Participation is that i love is at a low going back to the 1970s. Does congress have a role in changing the decline . Can you clarify . Workers in the workforce, employment. Employment levels. One way we can improve this is by going back to what i call a 21st century version of henry clays american system. In his day he focused on infrastructure. 85 of this district people do not have Broadband Access our highspeed internet access. How can you do business without that . That is the way i do business in the 21st century. It means infrastructure with transportation. Right here we have two major interstates intersecting. We have two of the five Major Railroad corporations. We have access to a deep water port. This is a natural area we should be experiencing job growth and we are not. We are discussing tonight some of the reasons why that may be. Underparticipation is related to the way we are not equipping students when they come out of school. This in my communication skills i use in my work more than anything i can think of. Can you show me a multiplechoice test that measures those skills . We are testing our children to death and not creating a workforce that is viable for the 21st century. In Northern Virginia there are apprenticeship programs. We are not being smart in how we help our young people get into the workforce. Sometimes this doesnt mean a pathway to college. Some people want to go into these and we need to invigorate our programs. I think educational reform is key to getting our labor force back to where it needs to be. Thank you. The Labor Force Participation rate is at its postworld war ii low for understandable reasons. Chief among them is obamacare. As ive gone around the district, nine counties in the city, two issues are on the front burner for every virginian i know and especially everyone that runs a business. They are having a hard time hiring and staying in business. Number one is obamacare. It is crushing small business. Two, 1. 7 trillion in Regulatory Burdens that comes in all sizes and shapes. It is hard to discuss quickly. If youre in the banking sector, doddfrank was 1200 pages of financial reform. They are still filling in the blanks. It is hard to make future plans and business when you dont know what the law says. Obamacare was three feet of legislation. So much for working across the aisle. I wish we had bipartisanship on that. Getting back to the Labor Force Participation rate, education is the way to solve that problem. We are not competing on a global level. Math and science is not where they ought to be. The one solution which stands out above all others that we need to do to solve all of these problems is to get our economy growing again. Ive served two governors in virginia. I did my phd on Economic Growth. That is why we need to send an economist to congress. You sense a recurring theme here . [laughter] the way you hire people is through business creation. Hillary clinton said companies dont create jobs. Unbelievable. Your final question tonight, according to the American Values survey, half of americans who once believed in the American Dream defined as the belief that if you worked hard you will get ahead think it no longer exists. Similarly, close to half of all americans over 18 years old think their generation is better off financially than their childrens will be. As educators, and Aspiring National leaders, what do you tell our students in the audience about to enter this challenging world and workforce to convince them that such a gloomy outlook is wrong . Thank you. This would have been my 19th year at randolphmacon, i ran a program here called the moral foundations of capitalism. Lets work on the moral foundations of capitalism and get this economy going again. The logic in this answer is the same as in the past. The American Dream is in question. We need to send an economist up to washington to congress to do what . Restore confidence in our basic american institutions and principles, and values. Ive done research on this for the past 20 years. One of the economists i follow has a simple thesis, if you want growth you better speak in moral terms that are positive. Say business is good. I dont see that theme coming out of our administration. Hillary clinton just said this week businesses dont create jobs. I dont know. Business is not the bad guy. Business is the good guy. The first Economic Growth took off in modern history, the usual answers are not correct. It is not capital accumulation, not private property rights. It is when for the first time in Human History we started calling businesspeople morally good. That is a shocking thesis. I think she is correct. She has nobel friends that say she is on the right path. I would say the American Dream is within reach. We have to end the policies that are in place right now. Obama does not seem to be friendly towards business. He wants to shut them down in policy after policy. Thats time. Point of clarification. Hillary is not on the ballot. [laughter] for the record, i disagreed with what she said. I agree with you in the general sense. In terms of answering this for our students, let me answer a specific way first and then in a general way. In the specific way, part of a how we have two addresses your furture is through student loan reform. I met with doctors last week and they told me many of them will come out of med school with more than 300,000 in Student Loans. Theyll be 29 years old. I asked when they will pay that off. The plan that we are on you pay it off when you are 60. I thought about my own Student Loans coming out of grad school which i havent paid off yet. Obama and Michelle Obama didnt pay them off until the year before they went to the white house. We are shackling young people with an enormous amount of debt. We are charging them higher Interest Rates. Im paying 7. 5 . My mortgage is at 3. 87 . Why are we doing this . Addressing the student loan and the rising cost of tuition is key. We need to start designing our communities for your generation. Some towns and communities are already doing this. Danville is trying to do this. They are trying to the internet free in all the businesses, design culdesac with bike trails behind the roads so you can ride to work. They are trying to design their communities for the twentysomething so that after you go to college you come back to your community and become a productive member of the economy. I think there is some Community Engineering we can do to help make this a world where youre going to be interested to be in the seventh district after you graduate. Thank you. That was our last question. We will move on to closing statements. Dr. Trammell, you won the coin toss on that. You elected to speak last. Thank you for hosting. What a great night. Students, thank you for coming out and playing a part in the political process. It is important if you want the American Dream to vote for me next tuesday. You will get it. [laughter] history has proven free markets can turn economies around and produce the American Dream. Our president continues to turn to policies that have failed over the course of history and of the last six years. Jack wants to distance himself and says that these people are not on the ticket. That is not the point. Their policies are on the ticket. Jack does not want to announce on his signs, but he is running as a democrat, he is taking democrat money, and he has democrat consultants. They should get an ethics paper for doing so. If i were tied to president obamas policies, i ran against them. IlLegal Immigration is a disaster. I think you ought to send an economist to dc to fix the economy and provide confidence once again in our core american institutions and values. Let me go into detail on one example. Jack says he doesnt want more taxes. Obamacare is a trillion dollar tax hike, 1 trillion tax hike on americans. You can set you dont like taxes but he is for a program which is a trillion dollar tax hike. That problem is kicking virginians off their policies. These are not unintended consequences. This is how the law was written. I want to repeal and defund obamacare. I support a fair or flat tax. I want i pledge to secure programs for seniors going forward. That is time. Dr. Trammell . Let me echo that and say thank you for having us here today. I look around the room and i see so many familiar faces. I miss this place. I am hoping im not coming back. [laughter] i thank you for being a part of this participatory democracy tonight. I would encourage us not to act out of fear, not to act out of a sense of crisis. I think we should go back to what i said initially, that we need to acknowledge our history, acknowledge where we are, and there are challenges there. We need to have the dreams of the future, to have the vision. That means two years from now i can come back and talk to you about comprehensive Immigration Reform. In two years i can come back and visit you and talk to about these cool climate improvement and special educators getting a break. Maybe somebody will hold the department of education accountable. In two years i would like to come back and say a donothing congress has turned into a do something congress. In two years i would like to come back and say that we have made Health Care Work better. I would like to come back and say we are doing better for veterans. We didnt talk about them much tonight. We need to reform the veterans affairs. I would like to come back and tell you we have jobs that we didnt have two years ago. I would like to tell you that we live in a safer world and be able to tell you young people that we are starting to rearrange the way we live in our community so you will come back and be a part of our community. The seventh District Needs you here. I thank you for being here tonight and being a part of this shared vision. I ask for your vote. Thank you. [applause] well, gentlemen, they appreciated you so much that they did not even wait to ask to open law at. You made us proud, and we wish you the best of luck in the coming week, and i would hate to see both of you actually, i really do not want to ce there of you come back, so [laughter] we are going to welcome you back with very open arms. For those of you interested in more discussion, please join us in the pavilion and Birdsong Hall for a Town Hall Panel give ourn, and lets candidates another round of applause. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] day isourse, election tomorrow, and tonight, we will review the candidate recent debates, and we will take your phone calls and reaction on facebook and twitter and also look at some of the latest headlines. It is our Election Night preview that starts tonight, and then tomorrow night, Election Night on cspan as our live 2014 coverage starts at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, and we will show you the winners and losers and which party will control congress, and you can find this online, at cspan. Org, and more. The 2014 cspan student camp competition is underway, leaving it to students to create a fiveminute to sevenminute documentary showing how policy, legislation, or action has affected you or your community. Are 200 cash prizes for students and teachers, and for a list of rules and how to get started, go to student cam. Org. Night last thursdays Alaska Senate debate, they asked the candidates about Sexual Assault in the military. Answered first, and then the democrat answered last. Sullivan. The military has been struggling to deal with Sexual Assault with in the ranks print do you support senator gillibrand . It puts a lot of power in the hands of the suspects. If it is sensible. We had, you know, lives, a discussion on this last night, and as someone who is very focused on this issue as a u. S. Senator, i will be very focused on it. The one thing i have of concerned about the gillibrand proposal is that what we really need is more accountability with regard to the commanders of these units, of all units, and one thing i fear about that proposal is that it takes accountability away, so let me give you an example. If there was a soldier that was assaulted, normally you would want to have the culture of that unit make sure that that does not happen, and if it does, there is accountability. The chain ofy from command could bring up the prospect of the soldier could go to their commander, and that person, the commander would say, hey, lawyers are going to deal with it. Now, what i have been supportive of is that haskell and kelly in authorization and 2014 to make it so commanders cannot overturn convictions and to make it so an assigned jag officer to them. This one is not a silver bullet. Thank you. Begich, what about that units can deal with bad soldiers more effectively or that where victims have been ignored or worse, it is because of bad commanders, not a dad system . I think the gillibrand bill has all of what is needed, but it takes it outside of the command structure when it deals with these victims and perpetrators, so you can still deal with these commanders that are dealing with the troops. But the victims who have been in want totary, what they be able to wrap is a process where they do not feel threatened by their commanders or their perception of being threatened or the potential of tong promoted, and they want have a separate situation, a separate plan on how they can go after and deal with this issue. That the not mean commanders are not going to be held accountable, because clearly if you have someone who is a victim of Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault, clearly that is going to have to be dealt with also. Outsidevictim should be the command structure, because i do believe there is a fear among people in the military i hear it. I have had several meetings here and in washington. Take the right approach to it outside of the command structure. A look at the portion of the final debate between the candidates, and it was listed a toss up. And now, the only joint appearance between Lindsey Graham and his challenger, brad huffo. This is about one hour. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is chris william, and i am honored to be on this dais, and i would like to thank otis thejudy and others from South Carolina chamber for inviting me down here and also, scott middleton, wherever you are, thank you for hosting us, thank you. I also thank you for the words of wisdom about whispering in the back may be something that will not be appropriate. We might hear it appear, because that will happen. Thesem going to introduce two gentlemen who really do not need any introduction, that have been Exceptional Public Service servants, but prior to that, i want to read something about teddy roosevelt. It happens in the election certainly ash, and acute as some of the attack ads have been, maybe in South Carolina, and maybe nationally, maybe in other states, but it is important to remember this, but i want to quote it. It is a little bit long. Teddy roosevelt says it is not the critic who counts, it is not the ready to point out where the strong man stumbles, the credit belongs to the man in the arena dust ande is marred by blood who strives valiantly, who knows the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who knows best in the end that the triumph of best achievement and who at times fails, but at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known either victory or defeat, and i think that says it about those who put themselves out to run for public office, whether it is at the highest level in this land or if it is in the lowest Public Servant position in a municipality, so having said that, i would like to introduce our guest. Time intorney, he spent the congressional delegation from South Carolina in the third district. I know you know that well. Senior senator from South Carolina, but importantly before i say his name, he sits on committees like appropriations, on armed services, on budget, judiciary. Please welcome the honorable Lindsey Graham. [applause] another favorite son of south an eagle scout, also a usc alum, so i guess i am not going to be able to needle you two, and i am disappointed about that to some degree, but just to some degree. He also sits on committees in the state come medical affairs, fish, game, 4th street, a member of the joint legislative committee on children and the public utility review committee, and it is also important to know that his Senate District 40 is the only district that has a six county seats. A lot of driving. A lot of driving, senator. Welcome the honorable huffo. Ad huff oho. So how this is going to work, we need you to cancel your cell phones, and also cspan, who will be broadcasting this later on, the important thing is to make sure to please remain seated if it all possible, that there will be Live Streaming but also cameras, and we need to minimize your movement throughout the room, so senator, lets start with you. We have got three minutes. Show you theseto red and yellow warning and stop and go, and thank you for doing that. You have three minute opening segments. What is the priority for you, senator . Well, number one, i want to thank the chamber for doing this. This is a chance to talk and interact, and i think it is going to be conducive to a good discussion. If elected, i would like to take of home, making sure the port of charleston gets to completion. Right steps for the port. The corps of engineers study recommended 52 feet. To all of those in the statehouse of South Carolina, you included, my friend, a very good decision of putting the 300 million fund aside, telling the federal government that we are ready to deepen the port, and that is going to help us a lot. Now, how do you get the money for the port . Fix hours without fixing theirs, so the number one priority is to come up with a conference of effort to modernize the port. This is deteriorating. On the west coast, they need more infrastructure. Working with Lamar Alexander and diane fan stein Dianne Feinstein to come up with a way to modernize our ports. We need to take some of the onerous regulations and see if file 13, like the epa carbon reg, do something with obamacare, and to set aside sequestration. The defense cuts we have in place is going to lead to the Smallest Army since 1940, the Smallest Navy since 1915, the Smallest Air Force in modern times. The is insanely given threats we face, and then sequestration cuts which are blind, acrosstheboard cuts, that will reduce cdc spending by about 30 and nih spending by about 30 , and i think we all know that maybe that is the place where we should up our game. To do that, you have to get democrats and republicans in the room to find alternatives. I am willing to find revenue for closing the loopholes for the of many andxpense asked my democratic colleagues to find a way to make some entitlement reform changes. That is where the real money is at. To go back, i will continue to do what i have been doing, trying to find Common Ground where possible, being a strong voice for conservatives and a practical way, and above all else, making sure the men and women have what they need to keep the rest of us safe. Senator, same question. To everybody who has made this possible. Husband, father, son, buyer, state senator. I grew up on my familys dairy farm, and on that farm, i learned the values of hard work, and it is those values that i went to take to washington. I have known senator Lindsey Graham most of my political career. I respect him. I like him. He is a good man, but we just have disagreements on some things, and that is why i am offering to give you a choice. Being on television, being the junior secretary of state, that is what the focus has been every time you see him on state. He is talking about foreign that is the if senator you want, and then you would vote for senator graham. But if you want a senator who will focus on our education, our focusfor jobs, but the needs to be on improving South Carolina. Education is a national and education is a national priority. Jobs is a national priority. Infrastructure is a national priority, and those are the things i might focus on in my time in washington. Senator Lindsey Graham has repeatedly said on television about what to do with infrastructure in places like afghanistan. It here. Do i think it is time we invest in South Carolina. It is time we invest in our future. You know, there is a time i look around the room, and i know many of you know this. This was a time when place where people worked and lived and prospered, and kilo walker now, we drive through those same little towns, and things are boarded up, and people are not working. There are no jobs. Timeis how i will focus my in washington, improving the lives of those in South Carolina. Very credible priorities. Not after poll, and it is just this election year, but poll after poll says that to jobs andssues include gridlock. The transportation infrastructures on. This questionwer about building jobs . And what about the gridlock that is more of a cultural issue than an acute argument that we here . I guess one of the reasons i have six opponents is i will on occasion reach across the aisle. Some people condemn me for that. I cannot Reach Agreement without talking to democrats. Senator, we all have to defend the nation. If we do not do that, you are all going to regret it. 9 11, it was done by a few people, and look at the damage they did to our country. These peoplet getting weapons of mass destruction, so, yes, i am very much worried about what happens over there. September 10, two thousand one, brad, we had no ambassador in afghanistan, not one soldier, not one penny of a that did not work out well for us. I will never repeat that danger, because the dangers are real. Gridlock. Solving to make problems better for politicians than just saying no. Lets start with the Highway Trust Fund. Presents a new opportunity. How many of you drive a hybrid car . Not many. 10 years from now, a lot of people will raise their hand. How far you travel on one gallon of gas is dramatically different than it was 20 years ago. The trust fund is moving out of money. People go for a gallon of gas, and they drive hybrid cars. We are not 1 billion short this year. We have got the same problem in South Carolina. How would i start to break gridlock . Get democrats and republicans in the room and say the following. There are trillions and corporate earnings overseas that will not come in at 35 , so i am working with Barbara Boxer for a onetime good deal for 10 and apply the revenue to the Highway Trust Fund to replenish it, at least in the short run. Immigration, Highway Trust Fund, working on the margins of obamacare, that would help. Senator, thank you. Same question. Jobs and gridlock. I believe jobs is the biggest issue. I would support an increase in the minimum wage. I would support equal pay for equal work. You know, gridlock is something that can be worked on. I have been seen by most people as a pragmatic problem solver, somebody who is going to put policy ahead of politics, and lets find a solution. I do not believe that compromise is a bad word, and i think that is how we have to go about solving issues. You know, i look back on the actually hady debates and took votes, and it was not just getting harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell together, and the two of them get together and having just two peoples voices heard. We are all unelected. Representatives of all of the states so that we are collectively heard. I think the process in washington is broken. I am not tell you i am going to change it like that, but i think it is going to take a new and different kind of senator, but washington is broken. If you keep sending the same people back year after year after year, you are not going to change anything. Senator graham has been there 20 years. The fact that he has voted like a democrat, we all like what he has done, so i am here to offer a clear alternative to him, and i look forward to going to washington and helping to change it. One of the things that you both kind of inferred, the issue of foreignpolicy and National Security. Little reticent to ask you about ebola, not because it is not a deadly disease, but it seems that ebola has taken at least the crisis of ebola in the United States, has taken a different turn. Does it represent mismanagement, or does it represent a broader National Security dialogue . I think ebola and radical islam have to double your things in common. They are dangerous, and we do not want it over here. The thing is to deal with that in western africa, and i have been there a lot. A greatafrica is opportunity and also a great danger. The chinese are all over africa, but they have a very different view of the u. S. George bush put money out to deal with the aids crisis and save the whole generation of african children. Ebola has to be contained, and it will not be contained unless we put people on the ground, healthcare workers, and i support as building facilities. Day, somebodythe comes back having been exposed to ebola, i want to make sure that they are saved to mingle with the population, but my view about ebola and radical islam are very similar. You deal with it at the source of the problem. A smallve got just housekeeping. There is a switch that says on right on top there, senator. This is one of the many talents that we have appear. So the same question, senator. Does the ebola crisis, does that ac dc andcertainly help challenge to the United States, but is it a National Security issue, or is it a broader dialogue . Does it represent a broader dialogue . It is a Broader Health issue, and to the extent that it affects the United States, i think over the long term, we are that to see that that is more people are dying in the United States then people will die of ebola. Not bet does not need to concerned about it. It is a scary thing. I agree. We need to keep it over there. We have the best Public Health officials in the world. We do need to have our troops over there building facilities and hospitals, but when it comes to ebola in this country, i think there is a lot of scary things that are just going on that people do not understand, and it is something we dont know about, but we have Health Care Professionals who know how to deal with it. I think they will probably properly contain it. To eradicate it, which is something we need to do, we will have to deal with that in africa. When we talk about the National Debt, it goes to two issues, gridlock and bipartisan as him, but is it still a looming crisis . And i think i want to ask the question this way. With Interest Rates as low as they have been, has that saved us of feeling the pain . That is the first part. If simpson and goals bowles were not able to reach across the aisle and get something done, how could any Single Person do summit . They did get something done. Boomers,llion baby 46 and 64. N anybody born after 1964 . We want our money. Work hard. [laughter] so what if Simpson Bowles do . That 80 million baby boomers are coming into Social Security and medicare and other types of programs. There were 16 workers for every retiree, and today there is three, and in 20 years, there is going to be two. So honesty requires us to tell young people these trust funds are going to go broke unless we adjust or delay the eligibility retirement by a couple of years. If 80 million baby boomers are going to retire, and unless you start having four kids, any volunteers . We had better have a rational immigration system, so the National Debt is riven by entitlement spending. 20 42, medicare and Social Security combined will take up all of the revenue we collect today to run the government, so Simpson Bowles requires us to generate revenue, not by raising tax rates but by limiting deductions and closing loopholes. If i couldd do that find a democrat to make the structural changes in retirement , i just the age for retirement slowly but surely for younger people. Means. Someone at my income does not mean a subsidy to pay a Prescription Drug bill. Over 250,000 dollars in retirement, the governmentsubsidized your drug bill. 11 eight that. Age adjustment. Needs test benefit, and i will lose loopholes in the tax code to generate revenue to go pay down the debt, even if that is ideological. I think that day is coming in washington, like reagan, and here is the question. You know ine people politics, who is most likely to be in that room doing that bill if it is not Lindsey Graham . Senator, same question. Lets ask it this way. How do you fix National Debt, and how do you do it in a highly charged partisan environment . I think you start off with a balanced budget, something we do in our state government, and Lindsey Graham has been there 20 years. Focusou know, we need to on what our priorities are in spending and make sure that our taxation is fair. I do not think anybody likes paying taxes, but they are willing to pay it if they believe those taxes are being spent fairly. We have faced crises before with Social Security and with medicare, and we will have to deal with them again, and i dont know that i know all of the answers sitting here. I do not know if he knows all of the ant are sitting here, but i do know this. We have made a commitment to our Senior Citizens would set you are going to be entitled to medicare at a social certain age create certain age. Entitled to to be Social Security at a certain age. I do not know that it needs to be privatized. Something that people of goodwill are going to have to sit in a room together and hammer out, and i am convinced we have done it before as a country, and we can do it again. I would like to be part of that conversation. I want to drill down just a little bit, and i want to drill down with interparty relations, and senator graham, you have reached across the aisle, and i would like you both to talk about a little bit more, and, senator, same question, how do you really reach across the aisle not so much worrying about arrows backs and home, but how do you get policy done when everyone is so polarized . Is there a secret to it . Ronald reagan did it. If you do not know what to do, do not go. In and taking less out. Somebody has to go to the young people of america and say you have to work a couple of years toger, and i am willing eliminate the deduction and not just cutting taxes but paying down the debt. Democrat looking for a who does not just talk around this stuff and talk happy talk. Democrats that will say you have to extend the life of the trust fund so people work a couple of years longer. There are people believe there should be a means test, because you do not have the money to honor the obligation. The key to bipartisanship is finding a reliable partner who is willing to tell people in their hearty something they do not want to hear, and if you do not want your senator to tell you were are going to save Social Security and medicare and retirementthe age of and means test, you dont send me back, because i think that is just a bunch of garbage, and if youre looking for a republican to tell someone on the right youre going to have to violate some of your ideological principles to get a democrat on board, sign me up. I believe after this election, there will be a desire by americans in general to elect people to give them the political cover. As to the chamber, you were there for immigration, and i will never forget it. How did we do immigration . Room, andple in the we got the chamber in the room, and we found a way to come up with the Guestworker Program to border,e problem on increase Legal Immigration and actually deal with 11 million. When i talk about these things, it is just not talk. I have been in the room where hardheaded people were able to introduce an immigration bill from the left or the right, and the way you do it is you find reliable partners who are willing to take a few arrows