U. S. Senate debate between two leading candidates senator ron johnson and former senator Russ Feingold. Tonights event originates from green bay, wisconsin as wl u. K. Tv. At wluk t hymie is lambeau field, the symbol for excellence. Tonights debate continues the longstanding commitment to excellence and public service. The debate is underwritten by foundation and the Wisconsin Association of independent colleges and universities. Radiobeing broadcast on and television stations across wisconsin and on cspan. ,ets go to our moderator member of the wnba hall of fame and professor of integrity, joe geisler. Our goal tonight is a debate that helps voters make choices. Thatanelists ask questions are relevant, factbased, and fair. Candidates answer with specifics. No ducking, dodging, or changing the subject. The panelists have researched and done their part. We are incorporating a social so that we can pitch in on a topic or two. Viewers can do this via wbad ebate. Wbadebate. There counting on candidates to do their part. Lets welcome ron johnson and Russ Feingold. Gentlemen, let me remind you and the viewers of the rules of the road to which we have all agreed in advance. He will have 1 30 to respond to a panelist or social media question. We will alternate so each of you has the opportunity for the first and last word. If your responses dont really answer the question that was asked or you need context or theification, i will invoke moderators option and give you 30 seconds to give me a specific reply. Your opponent will also get 30 seconds as well. There is a countdown clock in the studio. It is big and we can all see it. If you go over your time or intrude on each others time, i will give you one warning. If you ignore it, your mike will cease to function. Withly, we will conclude two minute statements from each candidate. We flipped a coin. The first answer will go to Russ Feingold. The first question from tom no more in of wl u. K. Green bay wluk green bay. As it relates to a recent law showing 53 of likely wisconsin voters say they were uncomfortable with Hillary Clinton presidency and 60 said uncomfortable with a donald trump presidency. You have called trumps recently surfaced comments about women completely indefensible but you have not said you do not endorse him. You did not, endorse clinton until it was clear she would be the nominee and still have not said whether you voted for her in the wisconsin primary. With senator johnson, do you stand behind your partys nominee, 100 . Yes or no, and why . Ron johnson has the first answer. Been veryn i have consistent with how ive been dealing with our nominee. There are areas of agreement. On growing the economy and making sure realizes the full isis,ial, defeating securing our border. We have to doing that. Certainly, appointing judges as. Pposed to legislators someone wholl change washington. I have been supporting those areas of agreement and it has been i have not been shy about disagreeing with our candidate and our nominee. Im not going to defend the indefensible which is a different stream of self then senator feingold who might be the last american that thinks Hillary Clinton is trustworthy. He has completely supported her ofn though she has decades corruption, lying boldfaced to the american public, a dereliction of duty in benghazi, i believe it cost for americans their lives. Anduld call it negligent reckless behaviors regarding some of americas Top National Security secrets. It shows she is completely disqualified from being president. For areas of agreement and support those areas of agreement. That i will hold whoever is president accountable. I will work with whoever is president trying to solve the enormous challenges facing america. Beyondingold this is areas of agreement, its about being the leader of the United States and these most significant percent of the world. It is my view that supporting donald trump is completely irresponsible. And that no one should really do it after they have seen the fact that he simply isnt qualified to be president. He doesnt have the temperament to be president. Divisiveness, said horrible things about various ethnic groups and others in this country to get himself the nomination. Appears hes done a lot of other inappropriate things. This is no person to be the role model. I think it will be very frightening. He has the chance to follow the lead of other senators, his colleagues that have said no. Enough is enough. Im not going to support donald trump. This is one of those times you have to be an american first. An american who is worried about the future of our great country. I have supported Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both. I said all along that i would happily support either one and i am confident having worked with secretary clinton in a number of contexts that jill she will be a next will and president. Ats that she will be great president. Jill we will go to the next question. Panelist the pulse nightclub was the deadliest shooting in u. S. History. Then five officers and alice were killed in an ambush style shooting. We need to do something to reverse the problem. 85 of registered voters in wisconsin say they support closing the private gun sale loophole. Mr. Feingold, you have been outspoken about expanding background checks and the possible use of an executive order. Votedr johnson, you against a bill that would have allowed the attorney general to bar people on the federal terrorism watch list from buying guns and voted against another bill requiring background checks for guns purchased at gun shows and online. The one thing you pledged to wisconsin tonight that you will do if elected to better protect our communities, and still protect our Constitutional Rights . Having grown up in wisconsin, i understand the importance of gun rights and the second amendment. I believe people have the right to have guns for the purposes of selfdefense and funding. Follow the common sense of the people of wisconsin. The one thing i would make sure of is that we follow the common sense of those that demand overwhelmingly that we have background checks at gun shows and on the internet. I would work extremely hard to make sure that actually occurred. Are republican senators that have been bipartisan on this issue. Senator johnson has not. Senator johnson does not follow the common sense of the people of wisconsin on this issue. He follows the rules and the edicts of the nra. He will not buck the nra and on anything on this. Something is common sense as background checks when you buy a gun. You want somebody who respects gun rights and believes an appropriate regulations, or someone who will only do with the nra permits him to do . That is the choice on november 8. Ron johnson there is no doubt about the fact that additional laws dont solve the problem. You would see the gun rates in chicago going lower. I have provisions to increase enforcement of purchases. The vast majority of gun purchases in gun shows go through background checks. The problem in orlando was not one of gun control. We have not achieved the goal against isis. President obama laid out the goal against isis. We have not defeated isis. Do, we have to lead. It will heal our economy. We have the leadership to actually accomplish the goal of the feeding isis. The type of loan wolf activity that was saw in orlando and san bernardino. Have you ever heard of Sammy Mohammed hamsa . We have the potential of an orlando sized terrorist attack right here in milwaukee. Buy a fullyg to automatic weapon on the black market. Jill specifically, what would you do for guns beyond isis . The guncontrol bill that would increase the enforcement of purchases and increased enforcement of the violate current background checks. It is to try to bridge the difference to keep people on the from getting guns, but the problem is the bills offered had no chance of passing through the house and were proposed by the nra and aclu. If we had more time, i think i wouldve been successful. He noted it was his action and proposing an nra proposed idea on this. Thatwas a bipartisan bill was going to try to solve this problem. Because senator johnson has no independence from the nra, this bipartisan effort failed. That is the actual story of what happened. Jill next question. Figuret the most recent shows 91 of people across the country have health insurance. At the same time, premiums continue to rise. In wisconsin, premiums will go up by an average of 16 next year. Tot solutions do you have reduce insurance costs . Russ feingold your way understating ron johnson you are way understating the problem with obama care. We really got hit the first year. Groups, thehic lowest price increase of those is 1. 8 times, the highest is three times. Or 300. Re paying 180 obamacare has been an unmitigated disaster. Yesterday, they asked, would you turn back the clock and go back to where we were . , because ofgo back obama, absolutely i would go back. Allow states to continue to regulate. Eliminate the individual mandate. Allow individuals to purchase across state lines. Those things actually worked. Feingold knew what was in the law and said if theres nothing that would prevent you from keeping the Health Care Plan, you eliminate the higher if you like your Health Care Plan and dr. , you can keep them. Premiums will decline. Those were the three promises. Those were lies. It never occurred. We have to go to free market patient centered reforms that put patients in control. Freedom of choice will work. Russ feingold fraud is pretending these problems didnt exist before the Affordable Care act and pretending it didnt make real progress. Senator johnson was very straightforward and said he would turn back the clock and take away all the things that have been accomplished. That means 20 Million People that have been covered under the Affordable Care act would lose their coverage. 20 Million People. Thats not just import and for those people, its important for hospitals and others that no longer have to see these people as charity cases. They couldnt get insurance. The Affordable Care act takes care of that. He would remove that. There are people with Mental Health issues, opiate addiction issues that are very serious and they are now covered because of the Affordable Care act. It is not perfect and i agree that the deductibles and others have got to come down. To beave the opportunity the senator, i would act on this instead of defending deductibles as senator johnson did on an interview. Panelist we have been hearing from citizens on this topic. Cracks some say it was put some say it was put in place to quickly. If you had to keep one part and dump one part, there would be one on each side that you would have to do . I would get rid of the tax. It was something i opposed at the time and effects perfectly legitimate policies and is one of those things i think would be a beginning step to improving it. We need bipartisan efforts to try to change this bill. There are other problems as well like the socalled family glitch. That means somebody that gets evaluated as an individual for the Affordable Care act, but not in a situation where they have a family. The premiums and to dr. Bowles are under control. Up andigning deductibles are under control. Insurance companies have indicated that they have dropped out or are thinking of dropping out because the mix of people a lot of people tend to be sicker as opposed to healthier. The better possibility that those will remain will be a better mix and will allow them to make the appropriate profit they need to make for this to make sense. They will work in a bipartisan basis. , a frivolouswsuit lawsuit. It was thrown out in the seventh Circuit Court because he has litigated instead of working with other members of the senate to try to say, how can we make this better . Ron johnson one thing i would keep is to allow kids under 26 to stay on their parents plan. The thing i would definitely eliminate would be the federal definition of health care. It has driven premiums through the roof. All of those things have not come true. Premiums have skyrocketed. Is not as bad as people are pretending it was. Went from 276 a month to 787 a month. To quit a parttime job, she is a mother she had to work fulltime because the premium went from 500 to 1200 a month. Millions of americans lost their health care. 20,000 in the high risk pool. You had to know what was going to happen because you said you knew what was in there. Access toosing doctors that they now and that they trusted. 95 was obamacare, covered by insurance. , it hasnt had an impact other than people who lost health care they can afford. Premiums have doubled and tripled. We are out of time. We will go to our next question. We would like to stay on this topic a long time but we also have other important topics. Panelist u. S. Troops are advising iraqi forces as they plan to capture more from isis fighters. News broke just a couple hours ago about the milwaukee mended been charged with trying to help isis. A recent Research Poll shows 87 of people questioned say terrorism is their top concern. But lets focus on isis overseas. You both served and have similar backgrounds. There are Different Solutions that deal with this threat. Starting with you, tell us about your specific plans for shutting isis down in the middle east. The first is the hollowing out of the military. The democrats insist on more domestics and bending domestic spending before we fight isis the way we should. York, theren new were ambassadors. They are begging for american leadership. We need to lead. America is begging for leadership and we have not been doing so. After two years, the cia director said despite our efforts, isis remains a formidable and resilient enemy. And the global reach, thats pretty sad. Against the elements. He voted against authorizing the finest. Now it is part of his plan. Hes the only senator to do so preventing Law Enforcement from having those tools. He also wanted to close down guantanamo bay. Senators, a strategic blunder. Russ feingold its not a time for listing things people have done wrong that have nothing to do with it. Its beyond politics. Do to destroy this organization . What you just heard was no plan at all. First of all, we have to knock off their leaders. We have to kill them. There is a special force and they got the number two guy, they think. It needs to be intensified. Increase human intelligence. The chairman of the Homeland Security hasnt lifted a finger. Recently, there was a tragedy but we didnt have the right information and killed syrian troops. We need to cut off their oil supplies. It is producing oil and transported. I have served on the Intelligence Committee for five years and worked on that. Tough. To be in some cases, they are exporting a radical idea of islam, hobby is him that is that a colliding them around the world. These are the elements of an actual plan. Jill we will move on. Panelist lets move domestically. We have seen the videos of body cams, dash cams, showing us shootings of africanamerican men. Some of the demonstrations have been violent. Research by gallup and others indicates distrust of the justice system. Police leaders like green bays chief acknowledgment the deterioration of Community Relations across the country. The u. S. Justice department pledging to undertake its most ambitious project to date. The tracting the use of force by Police Officers. Rebuild theou do to trust in our communities . Be specific. We have to recognize that nobody wants to be in this position. The africanamericans i met with feel very uncomfortable. Many friends of mine are Police Officers that feel uncomfortable and worried. It can be a scary time when they leave work leave home for work in the morning. Had you do that . Specifically, Community Policing. Reinvigorate the funding for Community Policing started in 1994 and was very beneficial for communities. People in the neighborhood know the Police Officers. There is a problem with institutional bias. They dont have the normal elements you would expect from a community. You have to properly fund public schools. We have to stop discrimination in lending for housing. We have to make sure that there are actually businesses in the neighborhood, a real neighborhood where people get to know each other and protect each other. Does not enough contact. There shouldnt just be a presence in milwaukee at the time of the tragedy. The should be a presence there all the time. The u. S. Senator should go out and listen to people. And throughout ones term so that you can constantly be part make sure thato the tension is reduced. Ron johnson you need to be involved. I have been involved with the community and i have shown up. I have done far more than show up and talk and call for more Government Spending and taxes. What i have done is i have acted. I am very proud of is my involvement with the joseph project. Theres not one manufacturer that can hire enough people. And you have all this high level of unemployment. How can we make those connections . The Greater Church of christ that identifies people in that situation, formerly incarcerated, we go in with just one week. We provide soft skills, training, interview skills, training. 20 companies. It is transforming peoples lives. My nineyearold daughter is finally proud of me. You finally engage, you act, and you turn peoples a lot peoples lives around one at a time. The United States is the only industrialized nation without National Paid family leave according to political fact. Of 41 countrie