representative walsh isn't his first time in congress and tammy duckworth was a blackhawk helicopter pad in the second iraq war. this the day courtesy of wttw-tv chicago is 35 minutes. >> moderator: the candidates we have with us are in one of the most watched and heated congressional races in the nation. congressman joe walsh and tammy duckworth have had spirited and at times acrimonious face-offs in a battle to win a read -- district redraw and my illinois

democrats. it includes west and northwest suburbs such as schomberg, bloomingdale, elgin, streamwood and a small portion of chicago. a couple of quick notes before we begin tonight. we are being streamed live on our web site wttw.com/-- and you can join a live chat. give a question for the candidates you can ask if there and note the format tonight. tonight. this is not a formal debate part of the candidates will not give opening or closing statements. their answers will not beat timed and they will not necessarily be asked the same questions. i will use fairness as my guide to move the discussion along and we asked the candidates to stay on topic and not give campaign speeches. now joining us us tonight seated in the order that they appear on the ballot are tammy duckworth, democrat who is the former director of the illinois department of veterans affairs

and former united states assistant secretary of veterans affairs. ms. duckworth previously ran for conversate 2006 and she also served in the iraq war receiving a purple heart and remains a lieutenant colonel in the illinois national guard. congressman joe walsh republican who was first elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 2010. prior to his election in congress mr. walsh worked with high school dropouts in chicago and later taught american history and government at community colleges in the area. we thank you both for being here and welcome to chicago tonight. as i mentioned this race has had its share of tense encounters women to have you been brought together. there have been some fireworks and it also has the dubious distinction of having made to let it go's 10 nastiest congressional races in the country but to start on a congenial note, i would like to ask each of you to say something that you respect and admire about your opponent that makes

them worthy to be in political office. tammy duckworth. duckworth i think he loves his country as much as any of us do and that will go a long way towards serving the people of this country and the people of the district and the job is about serving the folks in the district and your constituents. we can all go a long way with that. walsh. walsh: campaigns can get -- and we decide against who we are running with because of everything that happens. we do lose a connection. i have always respected tammy's service first and foremost and her sense of duty moving forward, which is why she wants to run for congress. i think that is incredibly noble. >> moderator: let's begin, and let's hope we can keep that congeniality going throughout this for them. at me start with you congressman

walsh. you have repeated during your freshman term that you did not go to washington to compromise, that your objective first and foremost was to quote stop this president. do you feel that you have met your goal? walsh: i think we have done a pretty decent job. maybe it's because i have taught american government and american history and they take a bit of a longer view. the country is going through something pretty tumultuous right now. we are having a grand debate and it's a fight and again i always want to be respectful about where we are is a country. i think when president president obama got elected, big chunk of the country sort of did a timeout, where are we going? our government is getting too big and it's doing things government didn't use to do and then the election in 2010 i think they sent folks like us to congress to join in that debate and one other point, to help

educate the american people. maybe this is something ms. duckworth and i can agree on. as a country we need to wake up because we really are not working in the economy is not growing. it's always easy to tear into the politicians but i think as a country we need to wake up and get educated. the last point, we have raised the debt ceiling a number of times. >> moderator: we will get to the specifics but before we get to that you said you weren't going to compromise and i'd like to follow. if you were reelected to a second term you would be willing to compromise. on what? walsh: depending on how the election shakes out again that next step in this country is coming together to figure out its problems and to help solve these problems. i have made clear i will never capitalize and lay one more dollar of debt on top of our kids and grandkids heads and i won't raise any taxes on america right now because we are all

taxed out. even having said that, there is plenty underneath that i think both parties can come together on and agree on. >> moderator: tammy duckworth do you have a bipartisan spirit going into washington if you are elected and if so what are you willing to oppose your own party on? duckworth: one of the things i've been clear on is the fact that the health care, the affordable care act has a very big flaw in it. kids with preexisting conditions are covered and we like it that people can't use their health insurance because they are seniors and most kids like they can cover their children up to age 26 but there are real issues. businesses that have a low profit margin, and like restaurants are really going to face higher costs. that is simply not acceptable. >> moderator: just a general

question because i want to get to that later on, you feel that is one of the priorities that will challenge the president? or challenge the party? duckworth: we need to fix the problems and we have to be honest about the fact that there are problems with the affordable care act and that is part of what needs to happen in washington. we need to visit the people of the district and the people in the district tell me it nisa be fixed on one to do that. >> moderator: congressman walsh let's talk about simple responsibility and questions about your voting record. among your first vote in congress was to reduce federal funding to the u.s. institute of peace which he described as a nonpartisan conflict center created by congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict. the very next day you quoted to continue federal funding for nascar sponsorship. can you explain that?

how is that fiscal responsibility? walsh: it's almost as if as as a country we not serious. we voted on 1000 things over the last couple of years in congress, real specific spending items and larger spending items. trying as best as we can to limit what government does but the country has got to get serious. we have 10,000 americans retiring every day in this country. we are living longer. there is so much more that needs to be cut and it almost goes beyond cuts. we need to reform what government does. >> moderator: to specific points that just happened to jump out with your record in the first weeks that you were there. was that something you knew you were voting on because you said you were voting on thousands of things. and so, how do you explain yes to nascar and no to an institute that promotes peace?

walsh: i tried to make a rule when i went to washington that i would try to cut government spending wherever i could. there are is a few notable exceptions. i voted to cut defense generally but the nascar amendment amendment or bill was to help recruit men and women who served in our armed services and is something our armed services asked for and i think it's important that we continue to try to make a great effort to recruit good men and women. that was probably part of that specific vote. >> moderator: tammy duckworth you don't have a voting record that we can site just yet but the opposition says that you have been a protége of former governor rod blagojevich as you were and then governor clans and president obama and eighth district most everyone generally agrees was drawn to get you elected perhaps and speaker mike madigan said that you were going to buck the trend in the affordable care act but what is to say you were not towing the

line on the democratic party and all these people that you might be beholden to? duckworth: take a look at my record. i'm proud of the work i did for the state of illinois. when i started illinois was -- in terms of access to veterans benefits by 1.2 million in this nation. by the time i left we were in the top five in the nation in the way i did that -- that was a tough time to be working in springfield. you had governor blagojevich and nothing was getting done and you know what i do to get things moving? i founded the first bipartisan caucus of legislators in springfield on veterans issues. i reached out to republicans, state senators and said we have to get this through because this infighting, nothing is happening here. with the help of a bipartisan legislature standing up to rod blagojevich and standing up to madigan we were able to pass the first programming in the nation that provided grants to groups

that help veterans across the nation and $10 million out of work so far in their many more programs besides that. we instituted the first post-traumatic stress hotline, 24-hour hotline in the nation even before the federal va did it. i did that with the help of the republican legislature. >> moderator: three quick points. ms. duckworth has been on record for a couple of years at the affordable care act, obamacare didn't go far enough. secondly, this district was drawn for her. it was not simply drawn by a democrat for a democrat and it was drawn by very powerful people named axelrod and durbin. and a final point tammy did do some good things when she ran the d.a. here in illinois. in illinois like a lot of states still has huge problems in the care they give to their veterans. >> moderator: let's move onto

some big issues facing the country. duckworth: i don't get to respond to that? >> moderator: we will hopefully get back to that. we have a lot of things to cover tonight. let's talk about social security and medicare. the medicare system has only 12 years left in its funding of social security could be bankrupted by 2033. specifics on how to reform and add longevity to these programs? duckworth: there are few things we need to do but i start from the point of where the district has told me they want to be on and that is they want to maintain the guarantee of social security and the ones once maintained a guarantee of medicare. and not once in the 18 months have i been campaigning has a single senior, to me and said tammy please do what joe walsh wants to do and please put me out on the street with a voucher and let me fight the insurance companies on my own. we need to be honest about the fraud and abuse in the program and here is where i agree with peter roskam. who knew i was going to agree

with peter roskam? it would go after the fraud, waste and abuse in medicare. we have to be honest that there is fraud and waste and i would also look at medicare being allowed to negotiate for lower drug prices. we were able to do that in the department of veterans affairs and you know the va by so much and prescription drugs and get a ball purchase price that is cheaper. >> moderator: is that be enough? duckworth: you don't cut medicare to save it. where you cut or places like the joint forces striker aircraft, $385 billion that we don't need right now. let's look at the oil and gas subsidies, $155 billion. >> moderator: mr. wasser proposals for reforming social security and medicare? walsh: the first is to get serious. medicare won't be here. it will disappear within about eight to 12 years and every

elected official in washington knows that. republicans and democrats. democrats don't say that publicly. there were only two things you can do. you can do what obamacare does and what ms. duckworth supports which is cut medicare. right now $716 billion will be cut out of medicare to fund obamacare. duckworth: that is an outright lie congressman. that is simply not true. aarp pointed out that is not an accurate statement and you can keep repeating it but it does not make it true. walsh: is part of obamacare to cut $716 billion another thing it will do is lead to rationing because the legislation puts in 15% bureaucratic panel of non-doctors in charge of medicaid decisions. >> moderator: under the affordable care act, how is it different from the same amount in the ryan budget? subform that romney proposes to

keep those funds in medicare and reform medicare. an important point and let me answer what needs to be done with medicare. even though republicans were so aware of how delicate it can be to touch medicare, if you are over 55 nothing changes but to keep this program around for folks younger than 55, the other way we have got to go is which is is what the ryan plan is, give seniors options. >> moderator: you support governor romney's proposal for vouchers and what you call options for -- walsh: i've never heard any other word than voucher for the romney ryan plan. is called premium support and what we currently do with medicare part d which we give seniors options and it's important to note even for people younger than 55 in the republican plan if you want to keep traditional medicare you can. you are either going to ration or you are going to give seniors options. ms. duckworth and president

obama want to ration care. duckworth: it's simply not true. he voted three times for the ryan budget. that is from "the wall street journal." he wants to put seniors out on the street with a voucher and even further than the ryan budget, he wants to eliminate the prescription drug benefit. do you really think eliminating the prescription drug benefit will save medicare. he wants seniors to pay more for medicare and want seniors to pay more for prescription drugs. >> moderator: congressman walsh respond. walsh: the "chicago tribune" and every other responsible in this country has said if we don't end as it is, it's going to and as we know it all by itself. you won't preserve it for future generations. we have to do that.

>> moderator: we need to move along. we have a trillion dollar deficit in this country. congressman walsh, governor romney famously said in the first debate that among the things he would target is the corporation for public drug testing and big bird which got a lot of attention but that is such a small fraction of the federal budget. give me some big-ticket items that you would cut. walsh: the big-ticket items are what we call this pile of mandatory spending. you basically break the federal budget into defense, non-defense discretionary spending and mandatory spending. when it comes to non-defense discretionary spending what we have tried to do in the last couple of years is reverse the direction that ms. pelosi and president obama were going in which the increased that by 28%. the specifics are to reform these entitlement programs. >> moderator: such as?

walsh: the biggest and fastest-growing piece of the federal budget, by far, is these health care costs and our aging population. i voted to cut defense. part of the ryan budget is to cut defense. everything needs to be cut. i've said publicly -- >> moderator: when you say defense would you referring to? walsh: we have bases around the world that we don't need and we have weapon systems that are fighting previous wars and ms. duckworth knows as well as i do in defense like any department of government, there is huge waste and abuse and there are huge inefficiencies. >> moderator: ms. duckworth? duckworth: it's not a guarantee of medicaid or social security. let me give you a trillion dollars in cuts right now. i mentioned the f. 33 for striker airplane. we don't need it. we have the f-18 and the f-22 that dominate the sky. we don't need it right now.

>> moderator: how much would that bring it down? duckworth: there are $24 billion being allowed to be negotiated for lower drug prices in $41 billion in oil and gas subsidies we should be going after. we also need to look at $155 million that is just for the loopholes that allow -- not to pay their fair taxes yet districts in my -- >> moderator: let me awesome quick questions just yes or no. we need to move forward. in terms of income tax deductions, mortgage interest. walsh: i would be very open to getting rid of it. duckworth: he has said that many times before. walsh: i would lower and look to eventually eliminate --

duckworth: i think we need to lower taxes on the middle class and raise taxes on those making more than cordova million dollars. >> moderator: which ones would you look at? walsh: we could get rid of a whole basket full of them. what we need to do in this country is moved towards a simple flat tax of americans can keep more of their money and so only the wealthy don't have -- they have all the money to pay accountants and lawyers to find every deduction in the books. if you want the wealthy to pay more, simplify the tax rate them make a more transparent. >> moderator: corporate loopholes. duckworth: general electric and corporations that ship their -- overseas so they don't have to pay any taxes. >> moderator: we have a question from of our -- one of her viewers and this goes back to the affordable care act. ms. duckworth have said repeatedly obamacare did not go far enough. what did you mean? duckworth: what i mean is i think that our businesses

experience an unfair burden when compared to businesses in other countries and they have told me they should not be in the business of providing health care. i don't think we we will get to a place where all americans have full coverage for health care, single-payer. its decades and decades away. in the meantime we need to get to work. we cannot get back to washington in january and vote for the 37th time to repeal the affordable care act which is what mr. walsh want to do. we need to fix it. walsh: i think this is what people don't like about politics. ms. duckworth has had a stance infectious at the affordable care didn't go far enough. i believe in universal health care. i wish he would you would stand by that because she said that proudly repeatedly. in the last point ms. duckworth talks about the fact that we should never get rid of the guaranteed benefit medicare. you understand that if we keep the guaranteed benefit in medicare it won't last another 10 to 12 years.

duckworth: i understand that perfectly well and here is the problem. you want to cut medicare in order to say that is not the solution. no senior has ever said to me tammy please get rid of medicare and put me out on the street. what they say is cut things like the f-35 joint striker aircraft and cut the oil and gas subsidies. >> moderator: congressman we have another question from a viewer that comes from scott. he is asking what is the role of the federal government in and the citizens daily life? walsh: do you know what the role of the federal government as? we are born with god-given rights and freedoms and their founders believed as we should all believe that the federal government is there to make sure that our god-given rights and god-given freedoms aren't trampled upon her taken away. >> moderator: what do you feel ms. duckworth? duckworth: i think it's important in our society that

americans have come together and decided that there is an important social safety net program so if you are in new nisa need help and you're not willing to give up we shouldn't give up on you there. you shouldn't stem them forever but they should be there for you. >> moderator: let me ask about your person public image. congressman obviously you have been the source of a lot of attention for your style. you have referred to it as passionate in what you believe in and others have used far more harsh words from root to confrontational. some say that you are sexist and racist. you to make your point sometimes quite loudly and sometimes in-your-face -- do you regret anything in the way you've handled yourself and your responses throughout your first term in congress? walsh: there are times when i've got ahead of myself and whenever it felt like i've stepped over the line have tried to apologize. understand i made a pledge to

myself when i got elected that i would be the most successful member of congress and i don't know another ember of congress that is held more open public town halls and i have. there are three or five cameras around and has elected official you have to make the decision are you going to keep doing that or are you going to cut back because you are worried about what you say? i think we are all sick of politicians who -- every single word that comes out of their mouth. this country is broke, this great country is dying right now. i am an odd duck in that i'm not driven by my re-election. >> moderator: youth told the tribune recently that you talk with responsible talk and rein yourself in. walsh: you always try to put understand when you're an elected official and you have made it a point to always be out there and to invite independent democrats and republicans to come at me and ask me anything and express any opinion, it held

two to 300 town halls in the last year and a half. hours of tape. there are clearly times where things got excited or passionate but this is a very important time in our country. duckworth. >> moderator: ms. duckworth let me ask you about your military service. you have served heroically in the military and he who have sustained serious wounds in iraq as we mentioned. some believe that you might be overplaying the military service and perhaps even your wounds. in order to get elected. hoddy respond? duckworth: i think my opponent is the one who planted that commented he has said many things that are responsible for a congressman to say whether it was attacks on veterans to speak about their military service or whether it is his discussions of latinos being dependent on government the way african-americans are or his attack on the president. i am proud of my military

service ended as part of who i am and it's how i conduct myself. i've i have served my nation honorably. the real heroes are the men who saved me and every day i get up and work every day to serve my nation because i've had to make sure that i make the most of the second chapter of the life i have and carry myself with the responsibility. the military is about the mission. it's about getting the job done and making sure we come together and this hyperpartisan vitriol that comes out, and my opponent is known for that. in fact the "chicago tribune" when they endorse me said he is a hyperpartisan make a mouth. we don't need that in washington. walsh: at the beginning of every town hall to recognize those who have served and i've called them heroes because they are and i have called ms. duckworth a hero. the point i voiced it to make is this great country struggling right now. to run for congress to need to tell voters what you believe and

where you stand on issues and not just talk about your -- >> moderator: let's talk about where you stand on issues and we would like to make this a lightning round of quick responses if you would please. in terms of foreign policy, do you agree with the president on the afghanistan withdrawal timetable? duckworth: i would like for them to come home sooner but for me the best is how quickly can we get them home without having to put people back again? walsh: we should come home tomorrow afternoon and not dictated timetable as i believe this president has. >> moderator: under what conditions would you support military action in iran? walsh: if need be, yes as a last option, yes. >> moderator: under what conditions? walsh: if sanctions don't work. if they are close to and about to have the ability to develop a nuclear bomb. we need every option possible as

will israel and that will be the last option we would have to use but we would have it ready to use. duckworth: we would stand with israel and not let iran develop a nuclear weapon. a military option should be on the table. >> moderator: under what conditions would you recommend? duckworth: at the end of the day, if that is what it needed, i will be the first -- i will be the first. >> moderator: should the u.s. become more involved in the situation in syria and how? duckworth: boy, think what happens in syria needs to be some of the responsibility of the people in the middle east and i think the u.s. is should get involved in terms of you manocherian a but the middle east needs to step up. >> moderator: any military action on the part of the u.s.? duckworth: not by ourselves.

walsh: we need to encourage the democratic forces there and we need to rally countries around the world to isolate syria. >> moderator: do you support the use of drones? walsh: yes, brought certainly as much as possible. we are in a war on terror. there are evil people around the world trying to kill us. we need to use every tool at our disposal to find them and kill them. >> moderator: ms. duckworth? duckworth: yes, drones are there and i would rather use a drum than an assault helicopter. bonn with the subject of immigration to support the d.r.e.a.m. act? duckworth: i do support the d.r.e.a.m. act. we need to be practical, fair and humane. i think we need to make sure that those who have broken the law pay fines and we need to make sure that people don't get moved to the front of the line in front of those who get here legally but we have to be practical. we can't simply put them in jail and i don't want these kids that

we invested literally millions of dollars on public education going abroad overseas and competing against ours. walsh: respectfully ms. duckworth that is an answer for five different ways. the d.r.e.a.m. act moves people to the front of the line. i want my government to secure its borders and i want my government to do that before we have any discussion of any immigration reform. the real unemployment rate in this country is 15 to 19%. that is a huge concern and i'm especially opposed to what the president did, where he just snapped his fingers and legalized a number of illegal immigrants when we have 15 to 19% unemployment in this country. >> moderator: let me ask you about a couple of your colleagues in congress, congressman jesse jackson jr. and senator mark -- they have both been out of commission for illnesses since the beginning of this year. jesse jackson jr. for the last several months.

how long could constituents give an elected official in congress before they asked him to resign or step aside? what do you think? walsh: that's an interesting question and our thoughts and prayers go out to both. we know the battle that senator kirk is going through and he is fighting valiantly every single day. clearly congressman jackson has his own issues that he is fighting with. i think the most important thing is for all of us as elected officials to be very open and transparent about what our situations are. and there seems to be some issues with that, with congressman jackson. >> moderator: ms. duckworth how do you feel about that? duckworth: i think we need to give senator jackson and kirk -- i think they are both fighting some important fights in their lives and as long as they're open about their recovery, i

actually think it's inspirational what senator kirk has done. i don't know if you've seen the videos of him in chicago could going through his rehab and thank goodness he has amazing health care that allowed him to get the care he needed and that's an inspiration. >> moderator: let me ask you about a couple of social issues. in manhattan they struck down the defense of marriage act. do you support that? walsh: i support the defense of marriage act. people in this country clearly signaled that marriage is a union between men and women and that is the best environment to raise her kids. duckworth: i don't support the defense of marriage act. my marriage is not written for -- and mr. walsh has criticized me. my position on this comes from my time in the hospital. my husband had to make decisions for me as next of kin. that countered what my mother wanted. my husband knew that i was going to struggle and learn to walk

again and i want every other person to have that ability and that is why don't think the defense of marriage act is appropriate. >> moderator: congressman there is currently an ad running against you concerning your stance on abortion that says you would not allow it, no exceptions at all. is that true? walsh: i'm pro-life without exception. when we talk about exceptions we talk about rape, and the life of the woman. there is nobody -- rape and are exceptions. they their violent horrific acts. i would counter my position on life and abortion with ms. duckworth's who supports no restrictions on abortion, late-term abortions and actually supports taxpayer funding of abortions which has always been a consensus between -- >> moderator: ms. duckworth your reaction and then we have to move on. duckworth: i'm pro-choice but

mr. walsh as he said not for rape, or life of the mother. he would let a woman died. talking about rape, he cosponsored mr. aiken's amendment that felt the need to define what forcible rape is. it's absolutely true. for years everybody knew what rape was whether it was the woman or law enforcement officer. you are out of touch. walsh: i would like to respond because that is not true. i voted for a bill on the floor that kept the brief language as his. duckworth: you added the word forcible. as if there is a need to define rate. that is what the bill said. >> moderator: we need to wrap

up very quickly but i want to ask you something about the human beings behind a politician and the candidate. congressman walsh you were born in upscale -- you were born there and your family may not have been but that was where you were born so you came to the inner city to work with high school dropouts. how did that inform the person you have become? walsh: i try to dedicate my life to helping those less fortunate than i. most of my life prior to running for two or three years ago was working with those less fortunate. i expect a good number of years working in the inner city trying to improve educational opportunities for young african-american, hispanic and white children. i taught american government and american history. >> moderator: i need to ask one final quick question. ms. duckworth you were born in thailand and american father who was in the military and your mother is tied.

you traveled around and eventually ended up in hawaii. duckworth: i ended up in hawaii because my dad lost his job. we ended up on food stamps. thank god for the programs that allowed me to go to college. if you talk about it, it's the hard work and that personal responsibility and that struggle. >> moderator: with that we have to bring this form to an end but thank you very much tammy duckworth and congressman joe walsh for being here tonight and for being so congenial to each other. and thanks to the club of chicago for support and all of our candidates.

>> what the just said is not true.

>> senator we need to do a better job of explaining or an record because you are really messing up my record. apparently you are looking at somebody else. and it is a shame. senator, the people of the state of florida are tired of you saying one thing to them and then going back to washington d.c. and voting with barack obama 90% of the time. they are tired of that. they want you to look them in the eye and tell them what you are going to do for them instead of what you are going to do for barack obama. >> the only line that you have memorized? let me tell you that violence against women, for you not to have reduced it in the house, where we were trying to produce it in the senate. here we are in 2012 and it is true, you voted for --

as forcible rape. it seems to me that rape is rape. spain now the delaware senate debate between incumbent senator tom carper and challenger republican kevin wade and alexander pires. this is courtesy of delaware first media. >> moderator: on behalf of delaware media wutb and the universe is self-aware center for vacation welcome you to delve their debate -- delaware debate made financial and the american cancer society action network.

i am nancy karibjanian in joining me is jason mycoff professor of political science and international relations and the candidates for the race for u.s. senate including the democrat, tom seven the incumbent -- tom carper and alex pires and republican kevin wade. gentleman thank you so much and jason thank you for joining me to moderate this. this is divided into three sections. following a one minute opening statement, jason and i've will -- responses are limited to one minute and 30 seconds each and then we will have three minutes follow-up sessions. the second part of the debate includes questions posed by students from the university of delaware and delaware state university. responses in the portions are one minute. each candidate will have one minute for closing statement. i live audience at mitchell hal understand that there will be no applause during tonight's debate. we held a coin toss to determine

order for this evening so we began with her first opening statement and for that senator tom carper. carper: thank you and good evening. what we need our bridge builders and that is what i do. i build ridges between democrats and republicans in washington get things like we do in delaware. in delaware we realize we we are all in this together. it's not my way or the highway. the values that i take with me everyday to washington d.c. on the trainer ones that i learned from my parents, my church and to figure out the right thing to do is a good steward and treat people the way we want to be treated, the golden rule and number three focus on excellence in everything we do. number four know your rights. don't give up. those are the values that have guided me throughout my life and if i'm fortunate enough to serve another term in the senate this will be the values that guide me. >> moderator: count opening

statement from kevin wade. wade: my name is kevin wade and it's a short name. it's easy to remember. i'm proud to be a republican candidate for the united states and is here so i'm not here for the republican party and certainly i'm not here for the leadership of the democratic party. i am here because i know that washington is broken, and that damage has come into our homes. i know career politicians have done more to secure their own political prospects than they have to secured the portions of americans families. i know that all of us need to go to washington because washington want change until we change the people in washington. >> moderator: mr. pires your opening statement. pires: i am here because i'm tired of the corruption in delaware. delaware's most corrupt state in the union.

myself, i am a successful businessman and a successful lawyer and a successful banker and i'm doing this because i want to bring an end to it. my parents didn't even go to high school let alone college. i'm self-made, put myself through law school and i have been successful at everything i've done. i can easily turn the senate around as an independent. bernie sanders from vermont and our party from delaware and we can bring this to an end. the rain of mr. carper will come to an end. >> moderator: the stage is set and we will move into the question portion of the debate. we will begin with you mr. mr. carper. the issues, the most critical is the ticking clock pushing the economy towards a so-called fiscal cliff which some economists they will plunge the economy back into deep recession. regardless of the outcome of the 2012 election and an 11th hour compromise in the swearing-in

ceremony what culpability if any does this congress have in putting the u.s. economy in such a state of uncertainty? carper: first of all let me say with respect -- i was the governor of delaware for six years and he was originally interviewed in "the washington post" and asked what caucus would you join and he declined to say. they said who is the century would first like to meet and he said i would like to meet with tom carper so we will see what happens there. with respect to the fiscal lesley of iran sponsored ability and the best way to make sure we don't go over is to follow the tenure of production plan put forward by the bowles-simpson deficit commission. basically $45 trillion over 10 years. the revenues, we wouldn't raise taxes but lowered lower the tax bracket and drive the that based on income. everything is on the table.

entitlement programs, we will make compromise reforms and republicans have to agree to make reforms on taxes. to generate additional revenue. i have seen a lot of blueprints have been laid out and as far as i'm concerned that's the best one we have seen so far. what we need are strong leadership and to govern from the middle. president obama i hope will be reelected as he is strong leadership to get us here. should it be governor romney he needs to provide leadership. our president has has to provide if you will -- [inaudible] >> moderator: i want to give the first you mr. wade that reliance on small business to film villaman is a need to restart the economy but if you look at the polls from "the wall street journal" the small-business community does not have faith that we will avoid a deep recession after falling off the fiscal cliff so they're not making any plans or

expansion or hiring for the final quarter this year going into the beginning of next year so how can small businesses be a part of that? wade: they will be a part of the solution was referring small business common sense to washington. the people who led us to this financial abyss will have no ability to lead us out of this financial abyss. i started a business on my kitchen table 30 years ago. i've had to balance the budget every month for 30 years and have to make tough decisions. i run an engineering business that requires i solve the toughest problems put before me by my customers around the country in the world. when you bring common sense to washington. that is what we lack. >> moderator: mr. pires if you look at what your opponents have said here and what you have said you are going to be someone who is not going to caucus with any major party so in effect though regardless of any independent that may be elected as we try to get out of this fiscal mess aren't regarding relegating

yourself to a sideline position? pires: is the exact opposite. they don't get along. new york city's most complex in the world run by an independent. maine will be run by an independent and rhode island is run by an independent. we work with everybody. he is only just been doing with senator reed wants them to do. he is the water boy for corporate interesting. time is never wrong about anything, ever. >> moderator: let me let him answer. pires: in change of command from clinton to bush we have balanced budget for as far as that could see. with the most productive workforce in eight years later we had none of that. we were in a holden syncing with the trillion dollar deficit and gm chrysler but to go under and the banks in trouble. that is where we were four years

ago. for the last four years we have been building our way out of that hole and reestablishing the 5 million jobs we lost in the last six months of 2008 in the first six months of 2009. those jobs have been re-created and can we do better than that? sure we can and the way we do that is number one invest in the workforce and number two invest in modern transportation infrastructure and invest in technology that will provide jobs for goods and services and sell them all over the world. >> moderator: i will post the next question to mr. pires. >> moving onto the national debt and number of tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year including the bush-era tax cuts, the alternative minimum tax, obama tax cuts for middle and lower orders and the payroll tax holiday. the effects would be felt by all across some levels.

an extension would cost the government have the chilean dollars a year. you say mr. pires the delawarians paid too much in taxes. can we afford further tax cuts and improve the national debt? pires: the last time we had debt -- no dead was 1836. we have had debt for 175 years. we had debt after world war ii. it is not going away. that's the way we live. even budgets under president clinton for a couple of years we still had a huge national debt and its going to continue. between now and january congress will need to look at the tax cuts. the biggest problem is this. we spend far too much and we have two wars we have not paid for and old money abroad. to end the wars is the first big

start. >> during a campaign you have called for an overhaul of tax goes well the same time arguing for debt reduction. how does your tax plan address the problems? wade: put people back to work. people who have better jobs will have overtime and people who work on saturday will get to keep what they earn up the overhaul the tax code. many people in audience know the two years ago general electric made $5 billion in profits. they paid zero corporate income tax. we have loopholes everywhere but not loopholes for we the people. we need to overhaul the tax code >> moderator: it's my understanding that the tax situation was clarified that is not actually accurate, correct? it appeared that they didn't pay any taxes but once it was

clarified it was estimated taxes etc. that tax money had been paid. i don't know the figure but i know it's not zero taxes. >> they paid 14 billion worldwide. what happened with the present tax code as you have enough tax attorneys that can pay a smaller climb out. if you can afford tax lobbyists you can pay a small amount. all the folks in this room and across the state don't have tax accountants and they don't have tax lobbyist. we are stuck paying the bill. we need to overhaul the tax code and start putting people back to work. >> moderator: we are in the discussion portion. carper: me to overhaul the tax code and our friends on the commission they have said we should lower tax rates. we should broaden the amount of income that will be tax. half of -- there something called tax expenditures.

tax expenditures are things we like. tax breaks and tax credits and tax loopholes and get them up within 10 years it adds up to $15 trillion. what bowles-simpson says is cut those in half and expand the base of the income that is attackable and lower the rates. 70,000 less that 12% for income between 70,000 in and 220,000, reza two raise it to 22%. >> which tax seductions would you support limiting? wade: i support a bunch of them already and we have had a number of expenditures tax cuts and breaks. here we were in august and they have not been extended. we got rid of a bunch of them. one of the ones i wouldn't -- would be the tax credit.

we need to work very hard to knock down trade barriers so we can sell them to countries and not just panama but a lot of other countries as well. >> senator carper it's a bit late in the campaign season. two years ago, in the midst of this great recession when 20,000 homes were being foreclosed upon in delaware senator carper proposed and i have a copy here, a 25 cents per gallon tax increase on gasoline. we have people who don't have jobs you can't find jobs to keep a roof over their head and you proposed a 25-cent per gallon tax increase? i believe this is the result of too many years in washington and too many years away from delaware. it's time to bring small business common sense in. >> moderator: do you have anything you would like to add?

pires: anything in this laugh country in the last 36 named -- he is the follower and the water boy for the corporate banks. the four biggest banks in delaware at a together our $7 trillion. you are never going to see a bill that helps anybody, any person or corporation in this room. my answer is, carper is essentially a bad man. >> moderator: we will continue that part of the conversation a moment that we need to move to next question in this question goes to you mr. wade. the pulling out the troops in afghanistan is complete and the reality of the post-2014 afghanistan is inside. considering recent incidents including the insider attacks on nato forces within afghanistan in the september attack on the u.s. consulate consulate in libya that killed four, and it's

now believed to be connected to al qaeda, should this alter the force of action? wade: of course it should alter the course of action. i am a small businessman. i've been in difficult situations and the one lesson i've taken away is that leadership counts. leadership counts all the time and leadership counts every time. we have basically an unwinnable situation under the current setup in afghanistan. we either have to make a decision to find quick success or bring our young men and women home but we cannot linger and have this weakness that is creating danger for us not only in afghanistan but our embassies. we lost an ambassador just a few weeks ago and three americans. all we heard from the white house was confusion and silence from senator carper. >> moderator: senator carper we are in the discussion part of

this form. carper: the republican party candidate for president as a political advantage in that. here's here is what is happening. if you will, a commission led by thomas pickering including admiral mullen the former chief of staff has been created. their job is to find out what went wrong. their job is to make sure we find out if we have a situation in other places where that can go wrong again and what can we learn from this tragic episode in what can we do to make sure doesn't happen again. not to look for political advantage but to look for the chicken make sure we act on the truth. it with respect to afghanistan if you go back to the history of afghanistan, it's a graveyard empire.

[inaudible] there is a lesson we need to learn. >> moderator: as award should be suspended? pires: i agree with tom about the strategy. i think we have the best in the world who try really hard and i don't like the republicans are the democrats making fun of them at all. with respect to afghanistan we have been there 11 years. we thought the taliban was controllable. it's a third world country at best and it's so gigantic, we can't ever get control of it and i agree with tom with respect of the british couldn't do it and the soviets couldn't do it and we can't do it. i want to bring our troops home. this is a backward nation and we are wasting billions of dollars. let's take care of our own people. students, their parents and families, bring the war to an end now. >> moderator: you said that,

believe you said we were make in front of the diplomatic corps. pires: the statement that mr. romney said in their response. i know kevin didn't mean it that i'm saying stop arguing over what happened. it was a tragedy. wade: i'm not here to discuss the mistakes of the republican party. i'm a father and a half grandchildren. i worry about the future of our country. this back-and-forth esta and. we have real problems. it we have problems military old and problems. pointing fingers and blaming one another in washington is the washington way. i've never gone to it job site for i could spend five minutes talking about who created it. leadership counts and counts every time in accounts all the time. we have got to take action now

and when the people who can bring small business common sense to the great problems that face our nation. >> moderator: let's move from the middle east and talk about china and how do you think we should be dealing with china moving forward as a nation? carper: we don't want to end up in an adversarial relationship with china. at at the end of the day we are better served and they are better served if we can be competitors but that includes making sure they do not keep our goods out there and have -- to make sure they are not manipulated their currency and it means making sure that the kind of cyberattacks going on every day not by kids trying to create mischief but by if you will by criminal organizations in sovereign nations trying to steal intellectual property. to defend their intellectual property rights --

[inaudible] .. anybody here got an ipod? it costs $299. it costs $144 to make. do you know how much china contributes? four dollars. there's a lot of myth about china. they just buy $60 million worth

of jobs because of industrialization full text worried about china and stop untruths are warned about ourselves. it's a myth. >> many delaware insurgents in the social security and medicare will not be there for them in their current form when they retire because of spiraling costs. mr. carper, mr. pires is privatizing social security. do you support privatization of this program? cheeseboard other changes that would affect the benefits? carper: at pure and simple, when george bush proposed in 2004 and again in 2005, don't try and do it. 2006 i vote against it, 2007 i vote against it again. the bull simpson proposal and what they say in terms of the

changes i like to talk about and generated revenues, working on the spending side, what they say with respect to social security exists. we should consider as much as an itv threes go to gradually raise the social security from 67 to 68 by 2050. and from 68 to 69 by 2075. we should make sure people working for state and locals should pay into social security. the amount of income on what you pay the fica taxes $110,000. everything about that, no tax paid. what are suggesting we raised that limit. that's pretty much it. if we do a handful of fairly simple and easy things, we can make social security secure for another 75 years. it doesn't hurt the people on social security now. it gives people perennial warnings, but we make sure it's going to be there for his grandchildren and nine sunday. >> moderator: here in the moderated discussion.

wade: none of that's true. and what approach you because you seem to forget. this is tom carper in 2005. 2004 -- let me finish, this is tom carper talking to mr. bush about working together to a private accounts. quotes come on it them halfway november 23rd, 2004. there's another article talking about thomas carper saying he's trying to work together to have a system which we can have private accounts. there's three examples. whoever talks to have last, whoever gives him the check command of his most recent statement. the bank was privatization of the city wants it. that is in front of you come at not going to happen. you're not telling the truth. you are a proponent for privatization for the big bang. this is a direct comment for the

record of mr. carper, so he gets an opportunity to exist. if people like to have an add-on benefit of private accounts, they can have that. i'm not opposed to doing that. the idea is not to do that in a way that undermines traditional social security. frankly, a lot of other people feel that way as well. >> moderator: i want to add something. senator carper an election season talks about train to come but you have a product to a vote in the senate in a year and half for two years. in fact come they haven't passed a budget, which is a constitutionally quiet night in three years. it's a day late and dollar short. this is an posturing for reelection. this is not leadership. this is not solving america's problems. you mention we have some easy steps to take. senator, why didn't we take the easy cents/share for social security or two years ago or eight years ago or 10 years ago?

who took them in 1983. you've been a senator for 12 years. carper: enacting the throughput of her benefit reductions and increased revenue. with still pay the bills. 2033 were going to have to begin reducing the amount of social security. why wait until 2033 to fix it? we can pray for simple things now. pires: 40 cents of every dollar washington since the series borrowed money. not 14, not four, 40 cents of every dollar is borrowed money. it can't continue. we need to have real solutions with real problems. the political gamesmanship is kicking the can down the road refers to blue ribbon commissions doesn't get the job done. people are suffering in this state. we need new leadership. we need common sense. transfer what is your solution?

>> moderator: very quickly. i guess we'll table that for the moment and move on. the next question goes to mr. pires. the obama administration on immigration reform issue by calling for deportation of children of undocumented immigrants from one of the provisions of the so-called filter mac. this has a vote considerable debate where you reside, so should the agriculture industry in, which was upon the immigrant labor force. we should push for a provisions of the two nights in a path to citizenship for the undocumented residents of sussex county? pires: may answer is twofold. yes i would i don't like splitting up stalemates. i have a companies in sussex county. they were about 400 part-time employees, many hispanic to make sure they'll have the proper paperwork for social security and we provide those who came at came at the insurance come in the full-time people, but we

can't afford insurance for all of them, which is another issue. i don't like splitting up families. if we believe in anything in this country, we believe in family. the idea was that the map is not anything alliterative support for me on. i think the president not well. i supported him when he came out. it's not because there's things going on that are under the table in any way. i license, lawyers who help me do it. the people who work for a circuit people and family people. the idea we slip and not, their citizens. the idea was that the film itself, and i cannot get any support for me at all. not at all. >> moderator: the gallup poll says it's a nonstarter issue this election season. you think it's become about her problem? pires: i think we scare people. i think we scare people, i do. i'm just singing i can get for me to split up families.

that's not happening. >> moderator: let's open up the issue of immigration. carper: to go back a few years, george w. bush is our president, john mccain was thinking about writing for president and both of them teamed up with kennedy with a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. and came to the floor. we said no, it's not ready for prime time. instead what we did is focused on securing our borders. we made a decision before we do comprehensive immigration reform, what are we secure our borders? that salute to. but the most current and a pretty good job at it. in this election's over, we'll have an opportunity that the new president and new congress to revisit this issue. the president has used his power to say kids under the age of 16 brought here by their parents, if they stayed out of trouble, doing well in school, not guilty of crimes and are trying to get

an education, they can stay. they can stay. they can't become citizens, but they can stay for a period of time. pires: and the only one at this table who's worked in mexico. i've many mexican friends come and many of them across the border illegally, regularly, border security in northern mexico is considered a joke that mexicans. we don't have secure borders hear politicians say we do doesn't make a difference. we are a nation of immigrants. we need immigration that sees the american spirit. there's many bright ways to do it and there's a handful of wrong ways to do it. it's not hard to come here legally. >> moderator: what do you think i'm not? transcriber think it's a false

issue. let's be realistic at the borders almost two dozen miles, four states, six mexican state. it's enormous. i've been through all of mexico and texas. texas is the site of the bureau. the idea you blame the democrats and republicans. the sooner the better. in the meantime, let's protect our families. that's first and foremost, particularly those children were born i citizens as everyone in this room. they are citizens. >> moderator: we now move on to next topic. your question to propose to mr. wade. >> i want to move to another role a u.s. senator plays. the senator plays an important role in providing advice and consent to judicial appointees. which current supreme court justice comes closest to your ideal justice and why? wade: actually, it's not an

important role. it's a constitutional requirement that they provide us in. it's one of the most important roles for the u.s. senator. i like justice alito because he reads the constitution and he believes it. he interprets as it's written and i think that provides a stability in the path of judicial temperament and precedence in this country. we don't want to have an activist supreme court to offend our legal system, which then connects to our personal lives. >> moderator: as they develop these should be as well. pires: the respect and come to study that. editors jaroslav practice, so i don't make comments about judges. judges made comments about me and you may have been online to see see some of them, but in the end i don't take positions on them at all. >> moderator: could you share your feelings on philosophy?

transfer our supreme court justices are everyday people. they make mistakes. they said blacks were not equal to whites, but they made a mistake during world war ii with her japanese internment. they make steaks all the time. i think they made a couple recently. you know which ones they are. they're just human and they come in they go. people talk about the supreme court is at this and special talents. they don't. i've met a number of them. their average, intelligent most of them. i respect them for the work under the, so all my cases in one way or another are only a step and a half from them. so i like our supreme court. i have tremendous respect for them. carper: running for governor will get a lot transparent to. nobody ever asked what package

would you consider as governor? in nominating people serve. turns out it's a big deal in delaware. a lot of corporate laws. but as it turns out, it's a major joke. i developed a few will almost certainly checklist of things i look for. i won't go to the whole thing, but wanted to make sure people are nominated knew the law. i want to make sure they had to judicial temperament of the retreat everyone before them fairly and with respect. i wanted to make sure they had a strong work ethic, not just nominate and then kind of let them retire on the job. i wanted to nominate people who have reputations were making the judgment. when people are nominated by the president for the supreme court, they actually come and meet with guys like me.

when the command as new as john roberts. john roberts. sometime i'd like to say that john roberts story. he met his wife and a beach of so this years ago. >> moderator: will be shipped or focus for just a moment to political temperament as we talk about this. i have to put this to you, mr. pires, because you posted your health information on your website and investing comment to reveal his status. you haven't heard he's not not in good health. my question is very simple. i don't understand, why go there? why offer unsubstantiated information? pires: it's not unsubstantiated. can i address it? tom carper is emotionally and mentally help the period he would end up putting his health care. he won't because i've been with him and this is a difficult issue. we were at the jewish community center today.

bright metal, tom lost his lead had two s. which question applies. you have difficulty focusing, tom. it's a fact. i don't know what he sees her you have but it's not fair. this is a six-year term. what happened and if he down in the spring, get reelected and the governor -- i think it's wrong, undemocratic. >> moderator: as i could take this opportunity and clarify. carper: you can check my website. there is a letter therefrom a doctor has given me my physicals every other says this is the shape disguising. these are the medicines he takes and he's doing just fine. thought i'd invite you to take a look at that. >> moderator: i think we've given both the chance to say your piece. why don't we focus -- carper: when we focus on the overweight and obese.

pires: are you going to release your health workers? carper: no. >> moderator: i think we've given each of you the opportunity to address it. we're going to move on. carper: would need to focus on the health of our economy, finances. pires: this is like senator ross 12 years ago. >> moderator: i give the topic is moment and we now need to move on. record her first question that comes to the university of delaware. senior biomedical engineering major. >> with the recent increase in national attention regarding marriage, what is your stance on marriage equality? >> moderator: mr. carper, your first. carper: come as long as i can remember come with the two states in this country have the ability to decide who can marry and who can't, at what ages come

the first cousin, second cousin and so forth. states that the rule for property settlements, child custody, all those issues. states have also said that people of the same cannot marry in those states. and what the defense of marriage act does according to the course, for five federal courts have said it's unconstitutional and we cannot at the state and federal level do something that would treat people who are involved in same-sex relationships, that would disadvantage them come to be unfair, inequitable to them. the question is, whatever to repeal the defense of marriage act? i would hear when you got four or five federal court saying it's unconstitutional, i think we need to fix it. pires: i rest my case. you understand anything he said? panders the end gay marriage.

do you get that? is real simple. i support gay marriage. tom carper is nothing but double talk. that's as you get when you get the senator. i support gay marriage. transfer i believe everyone is treated equally. no one has the richest and on the back porch and stare to the screen door and make some approval jester for disapproval gesture popular than their look in their own home. my focus is not gay marriage. my focus on the children what their future is. it's the fringe issue today. today were folksiness of people. ask what's on my mind, what they worry about? jobs, homes come in this country in the future of the children and grandchildren. their concerns are my concerns. i'm not going often cite issues. i will state for the record i know that eric is between a man and woman and is a fundamental building block of any community and nation.

>> moderator: let's move onto her next question, uncertainty and the job market that comes this question from software political science major, andrew donnelly. >> what the unemployment rate is college graduates hovering around 40%, but if anyone thinks can the federal government do to get a return on their investment? >> moderator: mr. pires. pires: at a think the federal government creates jobs, but the small businesses do. what can the government do? i think we should do something about the deaths students are carrying. we subsidize everything else. we subsidize all tom carper's banks, why not the students? i think we should have a program helps students get out of this massive debt issue and has so much pressure if he didn't have all the stat on your back. over trillion dollars a student debt. >> moderator: now we have a chance to talk about the economy. for things we need to do. this is a four lane superhighway to prosperity.

this is how to make america shiny penny nail. overhaul the tax code. simple but difficult to do, but it needs to be done. rationalized regulatory system. depressor suit out of lebanon as an pages some federal regulations. that's too much. we need to reduce the size of the federal government. the deadly burden of this obese government is crushing this country. it needs to be smaller. way more miles per gallon for every dollar of revenue we put in. find the need to be serious about energy policy. there is a treasure of resources beneath her feet, oil and gas. we need to lift it up to keep our money at home, bring our troops home, rebuild its economy and frankly, nancy jason, if we claim to $15 a barrel royalty on the 1 trillion euros of oil beneath her feet over the next years, we could pay off the national debt.

that's how we make jobs. >> moderator: just a reminder, one minute for the responses. carper: the best is to enact the bowles/simpson. we be fiscally responsible? the answer is yes, yes, yes. guys like me, we don't create jobs in these jobs. governors, mayors, residents don't create jobs. we hope create access to credit, commonsense regulation, safety, public safety, trained workforce, infrastructure. the beaches are punished. clean environments so people want to come to places and provide transportation.

with all the work was done in infrastructure, even i can make money. >> moderator: we need to move on to annexed into question. the financial burden of a postgraduate degree tuition is the focus of our next question that comes from the lake foster, senior political science major at delaware state university. >> t. think cutting back assistantships are graduating classes, what are your plans to support lower to middle income americans for education beyond the undergraduate level? transfer first about, let me congratulate you for your aspirations. we have for showing at the moment the beauty and the bitter fruit of the bad harvest of so many years of failures and washing 10. the easy choices were overlooked years ago. for coming up on a of medicare, with social security come with

funding for higher education. we can't keep making cotton candy promises. when he took have practical commonsense solutions. we have an interest bill on the federal debt toasted over take the cost of medicare. we'll have to choose whether we pay interest to her chinese debt holders or honor commitments to our seniors. it's gone on too far. washington won't change until we change the people in washington. >> moderator: mr. carper, one moment. carper: what can we do for undergraduate? his delegates asking? i would just say my parents never went to college. they went to high school. they're part of that could expect my sister and me to go and to pay for it. i worked two jobs at ohio state, wash pots and pans. i worked in a bookstore in order to make ends meet. i bought a car in atacama to

southeast asia and sent money to my sister so she could go to school as well. part of response abilities that with the government can do for me, but what we can do for ourselves. there's something they can do for ourselves. we people calling from afghanistan, having served in afghanistan and iraq and make it free tuition. university of delaware, dell state, free tuition, free books. all that stuff, $1500 a month housing. we do all that because the server country. people looking for help, don't be afraid to do some work yourself. don't be afraid to serve in the military and take advantage of the g.i. bill. pires: there are problems and i'll try to answer your question this way. italicize wife in expensive. students are completely and that we pushed and pushed and everybody pushed for more scholarship help and it's a serious problem. our sciences come in the field

of science permanent the most outstanding engineering, it's a difficult, difficult problem. i think the federal government is strapped to support some, not the other. i don't think it's a problem with the simple solution. i don't want to give an answer that's disingenuous. i think in the end undergraduate student at is going to drive assistants at the graduate level. i think the government has to do some pain. we can't have $1.3 trillion of student data not do something about it. it is a serious, serious problem and i don't have the answer. >> moderator: annexed it a question comes from stefanie schmidt, junior public policy major at delaware poses our next question. >> how do you plan on ensuring teacher accountability? transcriber couldn't hear the first part. >> moderator: the achievement gap.

i believe it's your first question. pires: have got to be honest. i don't understand the question. i taught in high school, college and law school. issue talking about the difference between -- >> moderator: those able to achieve and those are not raised upon the building blocks of their earlier education. pires: i have to be honest, i'm not interested in the federal government being involved like bayern in the programs. think of the local and regional associates talking about. but how to bring people up, particularly minorities, i don't like where were headed. were going to end up with private schools, public schools, charter schools, fulcher schools the number going up homeschooling that vouchers. so i don't like the way it's headed. we're going to have a fracture system in which the poor will be behind. if she's asked me if i should support that i'm not in favor. and the paper of universal

education for everyone an equal basis. i don't like where it's headed. >> moderator: mr. carper, my apologies. you're supposed to answer. your response to that. carper: for eight years i focused on environment, economy can education for raising student achievement. the key is not to wait until kids are in high school or middle-school or even elementary school. you are among yourselves. the key is getting involved early on so they walk in a kindergarten teacher five, the ready to be successful because they know their numbers, the alphabet, they've had prekindergarten training. it's to level the playing field from case to come from disadvantaged backgrounds. the federal government only funds half of head start. we need to do a hundred%. we took state money in foley funded head start so every kid was in poverty at the age of four would be a head start program. we need to make sure, and i'm exceedingly proud of what we did. the last 19 years, harvard and

stanford just released a study that in terms of the best improvement in student achievement in america, dollars the top three states, starting the years as governor. i'm proud of that. >> moderator: mr. wade. wade: read a story to your 2-year-old, talk to your 3-year-old about what the colors orange shapes and apples and oranges and be involved with their education so when they get too preachy and kindergarten they can count and that they know their colors and maybe they can spell their names. it begins at home. one example of failures in washington is about 30 years ago the federal department of education as a means to reduce the educational gap between our kids and kids overseas that our foreign competitors. that gap still exists after 40 years. this is what's wrong in washington. money is spent and there's no accountability. we don't have an education gap. we have a performance gap by a

professional demonstrators in the education system. >> moderator: we can't you get beyond the issues of politics tends to bring about argument. so what one statement, put this to you first, mr. carper come as one is your opponents made about shoot that his father did the most and why hasn't bothered you and how would you respond to a? carper: he says delaware is the most corrupt state and that i'm the most corrupt u.s. senator we have in the country. delaware is a second-class state. i'm so proud of this state i can't tell you, but i will. this is a state that went through the first credit rating in the country when i was elected to the best. this is a state that had the highest regard for judiciary on many state and nation. we recognize the year after year. this state has some of the best beaches, two of the best for america. the state has world-class beaches. so many companies want to incorporate.

it is built an excellent, excellent environment for job creation. this is the state that for the last 19 years, three states lead the pack in academic improvement. i helped on every one of those and i'm proud of them. >> moderator:.com and has bothered you the most and why? wade: i don't sweat the small stuff coming easy. i grew up in house of the poor -- i mean poor. i worked in a steel mill produced after high school. i began to go to college when i wasn't in that mill. i came to cover years never good in midlife is happening delaware. i don't sweat the small stuff, but as my grandchildren and i refuse to see this country broken and bankrupted the hands of professional politicians in washington. the best people in this country not in washington. the nursery, said across the lunch table from you. they're everyday americans and it's time for all of us, we the people, to go to washington.

it should've been done years ago. but he needs to be done now. not for republicans, not for democrats, but for children and grandchildren. pires: i don't know if you will know what i do for a living. i represent the people that no one wants to represent. johnnie cochran wouldn't take the case. i brought the complaint myself. i traveled the country for years with dill chestnut to represent martin luther king and i won the case my way, the roughly comatose way, over a billion dollars. the woman's case, native americans case, tobacco farmers face. through all that you get read up and made fun of in a altered to make into my house and broke my windows and all the things that happen. what i learned in the end it doesn't only matter. what really matters is that you try very hard to inspire others to do for those people who can't do for themselves. i have tough skin. it's probably nothing anyone can

say to me that hasn't been said before. >> moderator: gentlemen, thank you so much. i appreciate you addressing the many issues have had the opportunity to put on the table this evening in addition to hearing from the students at the university of delaware and delaware state university who brought also equally interesting issues for a table. as you know, now it's time for closing statements. you've each of one minute for a closing statement. mr. wade, your first step to transfer thank you come in and say, jason for hosting. but what you think the aarp in american cancer society and everyone for coming up this evening. i stand here and speak of an american shiny, tiny new combination that can finally find real energy independence, a nation that in the next decade can create tens of millions of jobs and a nation that can pay some bills, a nation that can pay down this mortal curse of this national data.

a nation that can bring our troops safely home. this only happens if we choose a new course. we can't stay gridlock to make congress that doesn't do the work he was made do. it's time to bring the real deal all american common sense, the engineers problem-solving ability to the great problems before us. i tell you now, it's okay to like tom carper. it's okay to like tom carper, but on november 6 you must love your children and grandchildren more. god bless all of you and god save united states of america. >> moderator: mr. pires. pires: thank you. thank you all for coming. i hope it wasn't too boring. but these discussions are difficult. i'm a very frank person. it happens when you're self-made, when you're in fact someone who brings along, isolated my parents, as i said

to go to high school. i'm a tough person. i did need this. i didn't want this. i tried to get someone to run against tom carper because i think tom carper was probably a good legislature 15, 20 years ago. and he's become what they all become for me they are too long, horribly corrupt. he's become rich. he's a stock trader come a day trader. he's everything i don't like about government and i think he should quietly stepped aside, but he doesn't want to, so i force myself to run. i don't want this job. so i force myself to run. i don't want this job. i think the country to run. i don't want this job. i think the country needs new faces. i think in these independent faces. i'm someone who inspires other people. i like to inspire you to run. thank you. >> moderator: mr. carper, one unit. carper: i don't know how he can say this after this great great nation. unbelievable. let me just say, thanks for joining us. thanks for letting me serve. for 23 years as a naval flight officer, service or state

treasurer, congressman and senator. the challenges we face a daunting. if i'm reelected all focus on three things. one, job creation. number two, deficit reduction at number three, changing to a culture. we need to do three things to pump up the economic recovery. one, invest in our workforce. number two, invest in modern transportation systems. number three can invest in technologies commercialized circus, products and service that we can follow up with the world. that's the reduction is bowles/simpson. it's a good roadmap and we should follow it. with respect to the culture which of these federal government, let's look in every nook and cranny of the federal government and mascot committed a better result for less money and do that. >> moderator: gentlemen, thank you so much. it's been an interesting conversation as we talk about the issues that voters will be thinking about when they go to polls on election day.

jason wyckoff, thank you for joining us and the university of delaware and pay these issues out here. we want to thank our witnesses and mitchell hall and those who attend and to hear about the issues and delaware debates 2012. i'm nancy karibjanian and on behalf of debut edp 91@and --

>> your watch net lies. 10,000 homes they are trying to get done in the next four years. these are houses that are never coming back. [inaudible] >> not right now, no. >> these houses are disappearing from the landscape. >> just recently actually 164 firefighters were laid off as part of this downsizing, as part of days after for mayor ratings to get the finance under control of the city. so firefighters from what she treaties because of god -- i think i must have the highest case of arson in the country, has laid off. about two weeks later, marcus at 100 guys are rehired. when you look to find out where the money came from, infection

of the department of homeland security has a fund for things like that. i don't want to overstate, but that's something you want to think about. the department of homeland security needed to step in to keep detroit as safe as it can be for the moment. it could be a lot safer. so were talking about i wonder i wondered making this film, we stand the industry bailout, the bank to allow. are we heading into an era of bailouts in the city? is there such a thing as a failed city? >> and outcome of the near 24th district debate between freshman representative ann marie buerkle and dan maffei and ursula roseanne. the 55 minute debate is courtesy

of wcny actual news. >> from the studios of wcny, this is in election 2012 debate. tonight a debate for the candidates for new york's 24th congressional district. here are season are better at not mulcahy. >> moderator: good evening from the studios in syracuse. we welcome you to this election 2012 debate. >> is being produced in syracuse. i'm not mulcahy, managing editor. >> and susan are better, director for wcny and host of the capital pressroom. we would have the 24th congressional debate with the issues together for the first time. >> we welcome candidates debate. candidate dan maffei, green party ursula roseanne and the incumbent, representative ann marie buerkle. welcome, everyone. questions will be asked by matt and me.

each candidate will have 60 seconds to provide an answer. after the third candidate to respond finishes can each will have the opportunity to provide a 32nd rebuttal. >> moderator: susan and i may add followed questions. they will deliver open and closing statements in that was determined by a drop of strauss earlier. we begin with opening remarks tonight from dan maffei. carper: thank you -- maffei: thank you offer cosponsoring this debate. now, i end dan maffei and i was born and raised in syracuse in the city, to public schools, graduated from nottingham high school and college were to make him a small business. it is similar to a plating factory. as in the middle-class struggle firsthand. i think in central new york we have what it takes to make it, but we just need a fair shot. that means we have to balance the budget, but way to balance the right way, the way president

clinton did when he was in office. we were there we cut tax breaks for companies in the jobs overseas. we need to take companies, subsidies and get rid of them. oil companies are making enough money. when our troops and treasuries over in afghanistan, instead of building bridges and schools, build bridges and schools here. we absolutely need to make social security for future generations. we can make our economy grow. we can make the modern investment in transportation infrastructure that will help central new york reach out. we can do it. we have to do in central new york. we just have to go and do it. >> moderator: ann marie buerkle. set to thank you matt and susan for hosting this important discussion. two years ago or three years ago when i decided to run for

congress, it is because i've lived upstate new york had lost its voice in washington and in fact our campaign. we've posted over 40 town halls, 60 mobile townhall units protected hundreds of people in the district. business owners, farmers, hospitals and the seniors, women's groups. you know what they did? they confirmed my instincts are correct. they dan maffei's policies have hurt real people in upstate new york hear they've hurt our economy. so when i hear them say they had to pay $3 million penalty because of a provision within the affordable care at were shown the sba 2.3% tax on small medical devices, or that a company like tracy's, because of the affordable care has to be a 38% tax on its passive incomes. i begin to see that upstate new york cannot afford to go back to

dan maffei's policy. we need policies that bring us forward, create jobs in upstate new york. i'm so glad to be here and i look forward to your questions in a robust debate i'm sure we're going to have. thank you. >> yes, good evening. i'm ursula, green party candidate for congress this year and my family came to syracuse in the 1980s. they thought the night season and 1840s and after world war ii and came to the united states believing this is a country where fewer card you can advocate by for your family. unfortunately, the american dream is just too far out of reach for most people. with the skyrocketing unemployment, strangling death for too many people. that's why i support positive, progressive solutions to the crisis. i support a public jobs program like during the wpa to get people back to work as soon as possible. i support health care to be human rights and i pay or die commodity. i'm running because my opponent

has suffered to sell policies that the corporate phone and policies. they get to washington and their business. so here to offer progressive solutions because their solutions can't wait. >> moderator: thank you, ursula rozum and to all of our candidates. is hard to be a candidate and his producer of the people and we appreciate all of you being here. so the first question is about the fiscal cliff. a fiscal cliff awaits this nation as the bush tax cuts and sequestration cuts break the impasse over the death on the crisis in august 2011 come due in december. both presidential candidates are recommending that we cut the deficit, get a partisan impasse remains. knowing the 75% of voters told an nbc "wall street journal" poll this week that they want congress to find a compromise in and that impact. what are you willing to offer on taxes and spending cuts to forge a deficit reduction compromise?

or decent compromise will undermine your commitment to voters? and we go to ann marie buerkle first. sent to thank you. you're absolutely right. this year was a fact 90% of the american people. so we have to do some team that will avoid the fiscal cliff. i have voted for the bowles/simpson budget. i think there's a lot of opportunity and room for us to make compromises and reach across the aisle. i was one of 38 members of the house who voted for bowles/simpson. it was a bipartisan effort, the own commission to put forth this plan. we are really on i believe, what were doing to our kids in the future of this country is in moral. they've got us pending them they cannot address the debt and deficit issue by increasing taxes. we have to put the progrowth economic agenda in place. we can't cut our way out of this debt. what we need to do is send a

message to businesses, job creators to you the solution to this problem. you're not the problem. >> moderator: ursula rozum. rozum: the fiscal cliff present fisheries. we can either balance the budget by cutting the kinds of spending that provides programs for working people rely on, or we can go in a new direction. i was super progressive tax reform to balance the budget and address the deficit. and when ann marie buerkle says we can't cut and spend our way out of this crisis, she has come out in favor of cutting things like food stamps, for example. so i'm not sure what she means when she says we can't cut our way out of this. i support progressive taxes. during the eisenhower era where the rich pay their taxes. and today can we say in the past 40 years, working people stagnate.

income taxes on the top 10% of income tax earners. i also support corporate tax rates. i support cutting the military budget by 50% ending corporate tax loopholes and giveaway fossil fuel industries and also the drug war. >> moderator: dan maffei. maffei: we need to balance the budget in the right way. not as ann marie subs tix when she voted to raise the retirement age of social security. i'm in the backs of middle-class. the funny thing about the budgets in washington is that they're either one of side or the other. you try to tax or riyadh or cut their way out. the question is about compromise and that's one of the central banks like an americanization station today. ann marie buerkle has kept the fund being from agreement. she talks about reducing debt, but the debt hasn't been reduced 1 penny since office. because her and her faction

won't work president obama. if he compromises, they say no when they move their position. we do need to work together across the aisle. democrats, republicans, independents together can find a solution to this problem. >> moderator: thank you, dan maffei. we'll begin with ann marie buerkle. according to the state budget crisis tax force, a bipartisan task force led by richard ravitch and formal fed chairman paul volcker. states depend on federal grants for 32% of the revenue. knowing that the cut flow downhill from the federal government to the state government to the local government and knowing that the city aspheric use in many other in new york may soon face financial insolvency, what would it take for you to get better either voting to raise taxes or voting to raise the debt ceiling if it would help the city?

buerkle: i think the burdens our city faces in many counties in state is because of the federal government, the mandates the federal faces on them whether it's education and medicaid here that is a shared responsibility and the more patients receiving medicare, medicaid, the higher the responsibility is for the municipalities and that adds to their debt. so a lot of the problems our city faces because of the birth of the federal government faces on them. i want to go back to this budget issue and the willingness to compromise. bowles/simpson was a place to start the discussion about how to get this country on a fiscally sound for us. it was bipartisan, the president's commission. dan maffei wants to call me tea party republican when i was only one of 38 who voted and was willing to stand up to my leadership and say there's a better way. let's do this bipartisan approach. let's do what's best for the people in this country.

>> moderator: thank you. ursula rozum come a follow-up for you. if there is a 10% across-the-board cut in all federal grants, new york would lose more than $36 billion. according to the ravitch. it should be on the table of federal reductions are debated. the overall impact, and the federal actions on state. if you're on this election, do you promise to support a mechanism for composing the states and their impact on state and local governments. rozum: consulting is key to legislation and no one wants bureaucrats in washington making decisions that are going to be affecting them. and that's what i support progressive taxation, like what we had during the eisenhower time when we had a balanced budget and we were talking about these kinds of deficits.

dan would say talks about compromise. compromise is important, but it's also important to take a position and not compromise before the fights even started. and he said that he would allow the bush tax cut to expire for those making over a million dollars, which is even more extreme than the president obama has proposed, which is the 250,000. we cannot balance the budget that way. that only raises 5% of what we need to cover the deficit. >> moderator: thank you,, dan maffei, calling out for relief of medicaid costs, the new health care love that you dan maffei, calling out for relief of medicaid costs, the new health care love that you support will increase the cost of dedicated even further. how do you justify that on top of the fiscal crisis that municipalities are facing due in part to unfunded mandates like pension and health care costs? maffei: we need to combat

unfunded mandates. we need to work closely with our counties. when i was in office i worked closely with county executive john mahoney to make sure we have first responders on environmental issues, et cetera. i do think it is important though that we do work together and compromise. i'd been criticized from a position same people who make over a million dollars should go back to the clinton era priests. they were doing just fine then. one of my opponents has a string position. i want to know is ann marie buerkle but except for. i what point will you stop putting tax cuts for small businesses and individual families hostage to tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires? >> moderator: certainly the big issue in this campaign and the economy has been jobs. although polls show a committee of fought out about it a lot. ursula rozum, but are your legislative priorities to increase jobs? what evidence do you have as

those will jobs? for you specifically, to have an idea outside the public sector creating these jobs? how would you do for the private sector? rozum: that's a great and important question. my platform models agree new deal, which puts people back to work in public jobs transitioning to renewable energy economy and also meeting community needs. so yesterday the campaign have been focusing on public jobs and that the court legislation nardi in the house presented by john conyers, 21st century full employment and training act that would put people back to work in public jobs along the lines of the wpa. the benefits of a public jobs program would be that it is money in the hands of working people, that they can then go out and spend in their communities, which is a stimulus to the private economy. so i support a program to have direct government employment and that would have an effect on the

private economy. because the people don't have money, they can't spend it in private business come as a private business have an incentive to produce it higher. >> moderator: dan maffei, what evidence do have from your prior term in the house that some of these programs could work? maffei: well, we do need to balance the budget. there's no question. you cannot spend and you cannot cut your way, but you need to balance in the right way. part of that is making sure you make investments that will create jobs. two areas. one, infrastructure come particular transportation. in central new york is difficult to fly anywhere because you have to transfer in various cities and be at the airport extreme and early in the morning, even to fly to another city and east coast. we need another discount airline. we can get it. and the long run but high-speed rail. we need to put us back on not just us 200 years ago our founders put us back in the mouth of the erie canal. the other area that will

increase business is research and education. we need to make sure we have the workforce that can be jobs necessary for the future. this is why education is to be a national priority and why i think it's very important do we make sure we have sufficient research funding. given that from the multiply the funny murder doing by something like fivefold. >> moderator: ann marie buerkle. buerkle: i would vote for a stimulus like the msa did. you know, in the coolidge administration, jfk, reagan and bush knew that she couldn't raise taxes if tax breaks help the economy, an economy is fragile as ours where it is to do that. in fact, dan maffei voted to extend the tax rates. we have repealed the affordable care act because we know here in this district have that affordable care act is going to have small producer, trace the

passive income. st. joseph state medical center will lose $18 million a year. it's going to hurt the economy, so he voted to repeal the affordable care act. beyond that, we voted for bipartisan support, three free trade agreements that will delete any upstate new york and increasing the number of experts from registered. >> moderator: dan maffei, we have time for rebuttal. do you regret your vote on that? maffei: first of all common about the tax cuts for small businesses and individual families that were absolutely essential to those families. secondly, it had police on the street, kept teachers are being laid off in it had firefighters. so we certainly had to do something. the thing i'm really confused about is that's bad, but then i did the right thing on the taxes apparently, but now some of the

economy started to emerge and it's fine for millionaires and billionaires. enter the wrong thing by asking them to pay their fair share, yet we need to balance the budget, but where's the money going to come from? none of the outset. >> moderator: ursula, your reactions to the congresswoman's remarks about the affordable care act for example. someone it would be immoral to repeal the affordable care act at this point. there's too many good price on each to move forward. repealing the brain that wouldn't get us to where we need to go, which is medicare. would make it much easier for employers to hire workers to provide health care because they would be paying a simple medicare payroll tax, for example. the provision in affordable care act was attacked from the medical access device is hasn't proven to be true because there's an increased demand for medical devices under the affordable care act. i'm not compelled by representatives buerkle is peer.

buerkle: is indicative of the affordable care act, how will affect jobs in the economy. our largest employers in our district, the affordable care act is going to dramatically impact inverse minster hospitals, physicians along with sequestration. and if our hospitals are delighted to welcome you can have the most comprehensive health care plan in the world, but if you don't have hospitals and physicians who will treat these patients, then our health care system is going to fail miserably. so i was made that absolutely we need to repeal the affordable care act for jobs and the economy sake. >> moderator: going back to ursula rozum share, did the obama try some thing with all the jobs pgc compares cincinnati compare the two? somewhat now, because the obama administration stimulus was not meant to be a permanent jobs program. the cost of jobs are sky high.

it cost almost a hundred billion, yet it only created 3 million. the numbers we talk about 800 million -- 800 billion come excuse me, but too creative or 10 million jobs. and so, direct public employment is a little bit different than giving tax breaks to companies to create jobs because the job creators should start getting it done. they're not creating jobs. >> moderator: dan maffei, do you think under the second obama administration or should he return to washington to create a more favorable tax environment for businesses or house built to grow so there could be more jobs clinics maffei: i think we need to lower rates, but get rid of a lot of loopholes. when the ships jobs overseas. these do exist. ann marie buerkle has voted to continue them. she's voted to continue big tax breaks for oil companies. because small businesses as well

as individuals, so that's. i think it changes any to be made in the affordable care act. i'm opposed to the device tax. i worked to try not have been the first place. i think we need to make those changes, and were never going to make any changes that were not willing to compromise. >> moderator: what repealing affordable care act affect jobs in any way? you see it affecting in way? buerkle: absolutely. this country needs health care reform. everybody knows that. i'm going to repeal it and put in place something that's bipartisan. this affordable care act is something the democrats sat down and shut down the throat of the american people. dan maffei never talk to the district. ..

>> obamacare did start the

process but we can do more. one thing we've pioneer is our central medical records to avoid repetition a different test. we can work with medical schools and positions to make sure there are more primary-care positions. we need a proposal from family physicians to make the home. >> now with all of the distortions and advertising of the campaigns anyone who voted for the affordable care act needs to take responsibility they cut medicare for current seniors by $716 billion to

dramatically affect services hospitals can give to our seniors. we should be worried about the at affordable care act. to lower health care cost you have to have to reform. he should be talking to the positions if you are a practitioner and the burden that puts on your practice. that did not have the appropriate parties. we can do better for the american people. >>moderator: thank you. >> we can. like can propose the most every year like by john conyers a jar 676 medicare for all legislation. we need malakar -- medicare for all.

that would transfer $650 billion we have now is that health care system but one that is focused on insurance companies that only go up when they deny us care. the best way to stabilize is to put into medicare for all system. i would recommend and read discusses with the gentleman from san francisco with the medical malpractice only contribute site -- slightly to health care costs. we would not have to rebound to reform because we would not have lawsuits. >>moderator: we have 20 seconds for a bottle. maffei: it is important and

marie talks about the 6. 7 billion. it was insurance companies cuts to provide services this has been proven wrong by the post standard even president clinton mentioned it. it is in the paul ryan budget. so when she talks about to do differently she has not. where is that change. >>moderator: ann marie buerkle. it cuts medicare by $700 billion that is a of a cut of medicare vantage by 250 billion the cbo estimates them to be more. medicare is a federal program cut to the services hospitals and doctors can

provide seniors. the impact will be real. year already hearing from constituents they cannot find a physician to treat patients. it is a real -- real consequence. >>moderator: they give. 302nd rebuttals. >> this debate over health care is indicative of the dysfunction macy and washington the affordable care act is modeled after romneycare in massachusetts and developed by executives with low point*. what i want to hear from my fellow candidates is how to get to medicare for all as a human right to lower health care cost. >>moderator: we have a follow-up. starting with dan maffei talk about the paul volcker

report, the reduction of future spending under the new health care law will cut medicare prices nursing facilities, home health aides and services over the next 75 years. according to the actuaries medicare payment rates inpatient rates will sink at 33% to private health insurance payment rates causing a withdrawal of providers bond-market and severe problems with beneficiary access to care. how do address that? maffei: there are a lot of opinions by the health care bill before the supreme court ruled. i am not sure if that is any more true than the opinions that hospitals will get more

patients and be in better shape. we have to keep working. the affordable care act is the lot of the land. things do need to be fixed. medicare should be able to negotiate for pharmaceutical prices. that would save a lot of money. we have to move forward. the trouble is we argue past issues. people don't get the care they need. even now they don't run out of the insurance or have the worst things happening. >>moderator: ann marie buerkle follow-up is for you. homeowner plan retains all of the medicare reduction of the health care law.

only he diverts the savings to his medicare overhaul. is in a misleading to say these are cuts that hurt beneficiaries now while failing to notify voters it incorporates the same reduction? ann marie buerkle because he had to start at the baseline he put those cuts back into the medicare program to strengthen for seniors. number two. and says he has to read the study he just has to talk to cardiologists amok chiropractors, skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, physicians who feel the direct impact. they are so concerned how they will move forward with these cuts with the affordable care act. all parts of this campaign

so disturbing is the fear tactics against seniors we don't want to make medicare stronger. i have of an 91 year-old mother. that is important to hurt. >>moderator: the president attempted to provide single-payer government option and failed. how to do you propose to do what the president could not? >> i am not sure that is fair to say there is a single-payer option. he campaigned and gathered support the progressive voters that did want it. that was not actually even on the table in 2009. we need more progress to stand up and fight for what we need. health care and medicare for all to bring yen health care

costs. the u.s. spends two times per capita on health care than other countries and we are between 30 and 40th with the quality of care we provide. it should not be that way. we have some of the most skilled doctors and researchers here and allow patients to choose doctors and hospitals than rehab true choice for doctors and nurses compete to be better and not worry about the insurance bureaucracy. >>moderator: today and then news murdoch apologize for offending anyone pregnancies from rate is what god intended to have been even said his comments were distorted but even with the economy the number one issue but this race were there is $6 million spent on

television focusing on abortion, route women's reproductive rights. why is this issue so important? ann marie buerkle? buerkle: dan said don't look back and he does not hold themselves accountable whether cap and trade, a stimulus bill, dodd/frank, affordable care act, to distort and distract. it is with the democratic party nationally. i spent 16 years as a volunteer. i anders and domestic violence and the victors -- victims and how they suffer. i have four granddaughters i would not do anything, anything to weaken the statue. his ads word deceptive, a distorted and he lied to stand behind the skirts of

those victims of rape and that is reprehensible. >>moderator: your response to this being a primary issue the way it has been handled with public television advertising? >> an issue of focus because it is a very emotional record. i am pro-choice for the record for i think how to deal with rape is a woman's personal decision. we need to focus on issues like real solutions and a focus has been an attempt to discuss real solutions to the economic crisis how to get people back to work for avoiding topics of progressive taxation it is hard to take on policies

solutions to turnaround the economy. maffei: these are issues people are not comfortable talking about. i am sorry. it is the 14 record that is important. rape is rape and should not be parsed for any reason. she co-sponsored a bill that did that. this was a three page bill. her staff said they try to get rid of it. it is not an ufr but what you do. this is the first full day of session because it was on a social agenda. rape is rape. she is pro-life. that is fine. that is her right.

but you should not parse it not to deny some victims benefits and others not. it was my responsibility to make sure ann marie buerkle record is seen. >>moderator: did it reflect your record? buerkle: no. forcible rape has been used that language for a long time. hillary clinton, chuck schumer all voted for that language. we said that is not acceptable. here is the thing. that entire h.r. three hasted to whether the federal government will fund abortion with the exception of rape and incest. he knows that. he has destroyed my vision and those in apology to

every woman in the district as of victim of rape. >>moderator: are you willing to apologize? maffei: i brought up the issue because women from the district came to me and said ann marie buerkle is not doing the job with the economy. but in washington she follows the social issue agenda. is a three page bill. every bill you co-sponsor you should read. she knew the language was in there. she is against abortion but even with rape and incest. that is reposition. she saw the opportunity so some women could not get an abortion. that is not what she says now. >> we have heard this

play out the back and forth on rape and abortion and as a woman it is important to realize lots of issues of fact when men. not just reproductive rights. i want to talk about climate change, the drug war leading the u.s. to have more prisoners than any other world. we have more african-americans now than before the civil war. we need to talk about issues that affect everyone. >>moderator: the next issue is about energy. governor cuomo wants to shut down the nuclear plant that supplies one-third of the power to new york city. do you support him? >> baidu. i hope he will take up a similar effort to shut down

the nuclear power plant along lake ontario. it is an energy source of the past it is expensive not to rely and federal subsidies national academy of sciences have said any level of radiation is dangerous. we need to move forward. across his socialized i do support the governor's efforts and the transition to a renewable clean energy economy that does not rely on fossil fuels nuclear-powered. >>moderator: dan maffei would you support the governor? maffei: no question we have to work toward mclean energy economy.

or at the clean techs center in terms of nuclear power we do need to make sure it is safe and sound environmentally am not sure we have done that but i would not get rid of that until we get rid of coal and oil first. we are beholden to other countries. coal is so damaging. there are some priorities. i am not representing indian point* i do think we have to ask the constituents what they want. i talk to people they do have power plants and they are comfortable. there are jobs there. at indian point am i be a different situation. we have to ask the people there. i presume the governor is doing that. >>moderator: ann marie

buerkle. day you agree with what the governor wants to do? buerkle: no. dan did not answer the question. the country needs a comprehensive policy that several administrations have failed. it needs to be all sources of energy to do them safely and carefully but we have oil reserves, natural guest reserves, may should be encouraging the development of nuclear power. those communities embrace nuclear power as safe and clean energy source and a great source of jobs. i am in favor behest to be reasonable, rational will pit -- rational, us sitting

down verses banned during to the agenda. some are emotion all but we owe it to the american people to have the sound energy policy. >>moderator: touching on and climate change, ann marie buerkle is there a global warming? buerkle: i do think there is climate change but i do not agree there is a consensus if man contributes to global warming. to pass captain trade legislation and would paralyze the business and increased cost and decrease availability of energy. it is the wrong way to go. we have to do it in a reasonable manner that does not pander to either extreme but find the ground in the middle to give all that is in the middle east to become

energy independent. rican do what is right for the american people. >>moderator: you are not sure it is man's interference but you do agree? buerkle: correct. >>moderator: how do you feel about climate change and decisions in washington? rozum: is the most serious threat. even the pentagon and knowledge to it is a problem. that humanity is contributing to. of the panel on climate change that conservative countries have agreed humans are causing climate change. as soon as we admit that with the fossil fuels and 30 energy cool, offshore oil drilling, the sooner we

accept the realities we can sprint -- transition to a renewable energy economy. the sun is free. the wind is free. there are four times as many jobs in the renewable energy sector as the dirty energy according to the amherst betty. we need to move forward. mind opponents need to embrace the leadership of all of the above that is not acceptable. >>moderator: is there such a thing as global warming? maffei: many to get off foreign oil, phase out cool for future generations for the cod screener is. yes. ann marie buerkle used to say ask the scientist. they said yes. it is man-made.

she did not like that answer so i guess being in congress made to the authority on science. we do that right here in central new york where i taught for one year in the environmental studies department, and our mental excellence, frankly the legislation i supported the national republican party but out about it will increase energy costs the two that it lowers them is the york and california. where is she from? if she is from central york should go to clean energy but instead voted to protect the coal industry. ann marie buerkle we don't have any coal mines here. >>moderator: what is your position to move ahead with hydro fraking?

>> we do need to released until it is under the federal clean water act. but i don't think we should never have hydro fracking in upstate new york. people say it creates jobs. maybe temporary jobs but it will disrupt the tourism that is approaching up, the farming conventional like terry and organic farming. we have the clean water e economy. our future is because of our clean water. politicians says we have gold under our murphy i think it is the clean water not the national -- natural gas. >>moderator: ann marie buerkle same question.

buerkle: captain trade that dan voted for that this day would be affected by energy cost. his position on nuclear power with the local government make the decision but with hydro fracking it is federal policy. you cannot have it both ways. it needs to be well thought out approach. the epa will have a study at the end of the year to embrace new testing. i have a panel of people that are opposed, of four fracking and they say it is a game changer. we have to do with thoughtfully and not pander to the extremes. protect our environment. with the energy policy we have to make it green ended -- energy policy for

the american people. rozum: it is the wrong thing for the american people. protecting our air, water and climate is pandering. it is a responsible approach to protecting central new york. it is heartening to say and say he personally opposes an alibi pan am to support me with the federal ban on hydro fracking just like they have done in france and bulgaria. people of pennsylvania have had the well polluted in definitely and the result of death of livestock in their area due to fracking. there is no way to do hydro fracking is the oxymoron. the green party presidential candidate is the only one that supports banning

hydro-fracking and the obama administration and continues to support hydro-fracking. >>moderator: a rebuttal dan maffei? maffei: let's talk but what she supported under way at of congress to protect the coal industry. it is not even in central new york. there are no jobs here. it is the most polluting, more radiation comes out of a coal mine in a nuclear plant. but she voted to weekend the clean water act. this makes sense she says we should not regulate anything. hydro-fracking for or against everybody would agree to do with the right way with regulation and. >>moderator: robo. buerkle: he thinks because coal is not in our district

it does not affect gas prices. the cost of energy is national, international, we need to develop as a nation, not state-by-state and it -- and energy policy. green energy on the accounts 2% of electricity generated. we have to move forward with compromise. >>moderator: ursula rozum. rozum: her comments may have been correct but no longer now we get 14% of energy from three energy four or electricity. the cost of grenoble's continues to go down but also feels goes up two to the high-risk thomas bills bills, accidents that will happen if we hydro-fracking and continue now and talk

removal coal mining. >>moderator: that ends the question and response. we now turn to closing statements turning first to dan maffei. maffei: i want to thank everybody for participating in this debate. it has been rough and tumble campaign. i admire my opponents. the bereday ann marie buerkle and i were addressing constituents. ann marie buerkle told them no to raise minimum wage and food stamps. it would take more courage to tell heard tea party no. or her coal industry friends.

we just need our fair shot. >> moderator:. rozum: thank you for the opportunity. i'm the only progressive in the race here and i'm the only person that will work for real solutions for public job's program to us back to work right now, not down the road when the job creators decide that they want to create jobs for us. i'm the only candidate who that's going to fight for medicare systems to create health care is a human right. the only candidate that supports

funding for education, free public education, and i think we need progressive leadership. we also need progressive taxes. neither of my opponent tax plans would reduce the deficit. we can raise the 1.2 trying dollars for progressive taxation like we had in the eisenhower yours. i'll close by saying that our people and our planet need actions and commitments and not as fun asked voters to vote for me at november 6 because real solutions can't wait. >> moderator: ann marie subs tix. buerkle: we caught a compact 25. it will now become compact 24. he promised to be accessible, responsible, accountable and independent. we've had 40 plus town hall meetings, six e. mobile time home business. we've met with hundreds of people, farmers, business people, women, seniors and we

have been accessible and accountable to people. we been responsible with taxpayer dollars. we cut our budget and are in office by 5% and 6% this year. we gave back at the end of 2011 of $100,000 of taxpayer money back to the general budget. we've been responsible with taxpayer dollars to have been independent. either the courage to stand up and say no that wasn't good for my district. i voted for the budget control act. i voted for bowles/simpson to do with this budget and debt crisis. we can't go back in this district to do a representative who has extreme liberal value, who is disconnected from the districts like dan maffei was. i've been honored by being a representative from this district. i respectfully asked for the listeners both on november 6th 0 i can continue to be the voice for upstate new york and washington. thank you so much for this opportunity. >> moderator: we want to thank the candidates for the time and willingness to share their ideas.

we also want to thank you for watching this election 2012 debate. goodnight.

>> drawing contrasts between president obama and mitt romney on taxes, health care, energy and other issues. his comments on legal reform r&r. >> if i could have your attention, please, we'd like to start the program.

[inaudible conversations] >> wow, that was fast. that's better than in my own kitchen. good afternoon. we're running a little behind, so we wanted to get dirty. please continue with your meals while we start our programs. the man i'm about to introduce, we have a keynote speaker and mayor giuliani, but we had the pleasure of having tom donohue this morning, who needs no introduction whatsoever. so i'm going to turn the microphone over to him immediately. he has led the chamber well to make us one of the most effect to for the most effective business organization in the world over the course of the last 15 years. and with that, please join me in welcoming tom. [applause]

>> thank you very much and good afternoon i think, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for being here. we are going to operate under the simple rules that we learned in our own homes and that is eat quietly and will speak quickly. i want to thank lisa and our whole gang for a wonderful event here, but more particularly for an extraordinary program that morning, noon and night works on the fundamental issues of protecting the good thing about our system of justice in dealing with those issues that are giving it greater problems. and before introduce the mayor, i just saw them, were both new yorkers, quiet people come easy to get along with. when he was the mayor, there were so many great things he did. but he did to overwriting

things. he stopped the crime and clean up the streets and from that day forward he was saying the spirit were honored to have you here, mr. mayor. all in traduce you in just a moment. what i'd like to do and i'll also cut this short a little and say a few words about how the whole issue of the legal system is fundamental to our economic recovery, our global competitiveness and our way of life. while every responsible party of any political persuasion of america shiftiness probably singularly focused on one thing, jobs and economic growth. a handful of these lawyers are pursuing their own activities and they're pursuing an agenda that increases lawsuits and tries to get them an advantage to put the money in their own pocket. let me give you -- there's a million lawyers in the united states? there were 2500 of them involved in this business that were

talking about. and they are the ones we have to deal with. by the way, the idea of a class-action is not a bad thing if it done appropriately, except no fair giving up on the bypass the building in the last 23 years. so what we're looking for is a little common sense. a very interesting thing for us that we been very successful on his dealing with the state legal systems. you're all familiar with the harris polls that found that seven in 10 senior corporate attorneys say that a state's lawsuit client is a significant factor in where they're going to choose to expand growth, put up factories can't employ people. now that seems pretty simple, doesn't it? if you look at the state that chose to let that run rampant, then they have economic problems. if you look at the states that have protected companies and assure them of a fair legal

system, they have a lot of growth and jobs. and i give you just one example. in california you can save more than five and dollars in tort costs and create almost 300,000 jobs simply by the legal environment. that makes sense to me. i would rather put my thoughts to be a sheep in businesses. we'll never have a sustainable recovery if we don't get a recovery in small business. look, you can go to a big pharmaceutical company or a big oil company and you can have a great big lawsuit and they're going to survive while it's going to be difficult and expensive, but you go after a small company and they don't survive. it is fundamentally important to us, not only to see what happened in this state as to what's going to happen in the

big companies, was going to happen to big job growth, but to understand that small guys work in an interdependent way with large companies, the many, many jobs come from the do we need to always keep in our mind was happening with small companies. now one of my new things coming mayor, you've got to get onto this deal in your talks. every time we have a merger and acquisition in this country, just enter one. i've been on a board for 20 some years. and i bet a cheeseburger at napier and i won. so you want to notice the very highest tapes. i said to chairman, the founder, we made this deal. and i said well, we'll have the lawsuits by early next week. zero no, it's a different kind of a company. he didn't take three days and i've got it up to a cheeseburger and two beers. if we get another lawsuit, i

might get to go to a real dinner. and we just put out a report today. every single merger and acquisition in this country with the exception of the two or three day minutes is a lawsuit. and it's simple. here it is. lots of times, by the way camile hine misprints because they've got names from the last seat they just did. and the whole idea is you want to close the deal in an orderly fashion. both companies get together. if you ever make them go to court, they have a heart attack. were going to work really, really hard on embarrassing people want to sappiness and pressing companies into standing up and say you're not going to do this anymore because there's ellingson billions of dollars changing hands here for no practical purpose. i want to thank lisa and her folks are getting behind this issue. i want to tell all of you who support us that this is another step forward in broadening art

dignity while we keep our focus very strong and very narrow. what you ought to think about as we go forward is that as we expand the regulatory process in this country, as we had regulation and regulation in the state and on the federal level, this is not intended to expand the suits that can be brought against companies. it's a very calculated system in many quarters and we need to keep that in mind because we are going to be spending all of our money and all of our time pursuing this issue. and that brings us to the issue of third-party finance team. i think that's sort of interesting. now, you can sort of go and sell a share of the lawsuits are going to bring. i've caught a few of our good member secondarily involved in this issue.

i give them a few days to figure how to sort it out before i give them my next speech. but the bottom line is we can't let this happen and i want to congratulate the attorney general center here in particular the ones that stood up and say, we're not doing this. were not going to hire guys to do the lawsuits in addition to the people who comment and fund our elections. we're going to do it in a straight up in no if were going to hire outside lawyers, vote at this time effectively. i have lots of other things to say, but i'll sum it up a list. we put this organization together almost 15 years ago i would've cut a track record that speaks for itself all around the world and it's very simple. we deeply respect the rule law. we respect the right to sue. we respect people that have been injured to be compensated, but

we don't see this as an industry for those who believe they can leech themselves onto every transaction and to every problem and make tons of money on it. we support the free enterprise system. this doesn't quite measure up to the ladies and gentlemen, i want to thank you very much for coming and i'm very anxious to take a moment to introduce a great leader and a great character. and character is important to not going to define terror or in a minute. as you know, rudy giuliani is affectionately known as america's mayor for masterminding the revitalization of one of the world's great cities and his outstanding leadership during the 9/11 tragedy. and during his tenure, he reduce the crime in new york that more than half in the cleanup

streets. i keep adding that on my own deal. he reduce the welfare rolls by 60% thereby reducing welfare? no, and during the the nation's most trying time, he stood up as a man of great character and great strength. president reagan maintained associate attorney general at age 36 just a few years ago and that was the third most powerful position in the justice department. the u.s. attorney in the southern district. this prosecution rate was 99%. and throughout his public career, he has recognized the importance of the legal system and the fact that we were protected. i told you he's a man of great character and he's a character. rudy giuliani, you see what you get. when he tells you something, he

believes it and he's a man of his word is absolutely good. it is also a character. you know, somebody once told me that president give press conferences every two or three months. governors give press conferences every month and mayors of big cities give press conferences four times a day. and you can't do that without a sense of humor, without a sense of being a little pushback and without creating a circumstance in people's minds that you're an honorable man or woman and you're trying really hard to do this. but if you can't read, i may step on you. and you have the strength to do that job, the courage to do that job, the characters to do that job in others have followed all over this country and around the world and regularly ask them how to do that job. mr. mayor, i'm glad you're here and i'm honored to to introduce

you. [applause] >> thank you very, very much, tom. i'm glad that i could make it here. i had to get myself out of bed. i've been in it since the yankees lost trying to recover. i'm in the state of total depression and i may say need the help of a psychiatrist. i'm not sure. this time of year is reserved for me to be at yankee stadium, nokia talks like this, so it's really hard. but as tom said, i've been a mayor and i'm a partner at a law firm and had a security consulting firm and in aramco might have done a lot of things in my life. the thing i probably enjoyed the most is being a united states attorney in the southern district of new york and been an assistant u.s. attorney because it gives you a chance to do justice. it gives you a chance to do only

what's right. of course you acoma series is probably your best years. so i really admire what the chamber does for legal reform because our legal system needs checks and balances on it to make sure it's equitable and that it's fair. i also appreciate tremendously all the work you've done on tort reform. as the mayor of new york city, i was in charge of the hospital system after the second largest system in the country could the new york city health and hospital. we have 17 hospital. and therefore, new york city insurers all of them were self-insured for all of their problems. you know what my tort bill was almost every year? $300 million for my hospitals. about $6 million from a city, the $300 million from the hospitals because of all the

this lawsuit. i would have to say without even worrying about being contradicted that half of that and more was just absolutely phony claims because we have a tort system in new york but is completely unfair, completely biased. what i said about 300 million, to me what that meant as a cost me about 30, $40 million to build a school. you think about how many schools that could have built if i didn't have to pay out even half of the $300 million or how much i could've done in tax relief so that businesses can grow, or how much i could've done to make my police department or fire department even better. i mean, incredible amounts of wasted money. because when it jury sees new york is the defendant, they forget that they're really the defendant, that they're picking up their money and they pay out money in huge quantities.

so i worked tirelessly for tort reform in new york. i would illustrate all of our worst cases. outside of the worse when before we talk about the election. this young man who is 28 years old running tripped in a pothole. probably the pothole was fair. my predecessor probably put it there. [laughter] i'm learning from president obama how you blame everything on your predecessor. i did know that when i was the mayor, but it's really very convenient. and he became paralyzed, which of course is tragic. he became paralyzed and he brought a lawsuit against new york city and he recovered $70 million from the jury. now let me play the rest of the facts. the reason he was running, he was running out of the subway station. the reason he was running out of the subway station is here just

for the men over the head, stole his wallet and run away in the police were chasing him. and the course of being chased by the police, he tripped and became paralyzed. he was sentenced to jail for 20 years, said he was obviously -- obviously the richest 1% or in sing sing prison. we finally got that reduced after battling in the court of appeals to $4 million, which made him the richest prisoner in things in. this is how absurd our legal system is the new york and because of the whole that the trial lawyers have on the democrats in our state legislature and a few selected republican, we can't do the tort reform that she been able to accomplish in so many states. my law firm has big offices in texas. a single one of the things that happen in texas in texas from tora reform, how the number of doctors there has increased by 20%.

the cost of health care has gone down. so if you ever need an outline to tell you about, i've got about 24 stories that i just told you about how new york city had to pay for claims they were totally frivolous and did nothing to improve my hospitals. all they did was make my doctors paranoid that every single decision was made because second guess and make them practice, much worse medicine than they would've practice if they would have just type normally. so were the middle of an election. did you know that? and this is -- this is really interesting. i described this as a fork in the road election. now this is a fork in the road from which a november 6 will do a little differently than my biggest hero in my most famous philosopher, yogi berra, how he

describes a fork in the road. if you come to a fork in the road, take it. wow, were going to come to a fork in the road on november 6 while going to take it in one direction or another. i can't think of a time, not even 1880, or the country will be very different a year from now depending on the choice they make on november 6. it could be a different country you're from now one way or the other, depending whatever side you're on, which you can escape is certainly with regard to her domestic policy, our economy, health care, energy energy policy. this country is going to be headed by one of two diametrically opposed directions so let's look at -- i'm going to give a talk later on taxes and what's going on with regard to tax reform. but you just look at taxes. if you elect or reelect president obama, president obama will be pushing that direction

to raise taxes on the top percentage, whatever that percentage he decides it's going to be, probably 250 or more. the reality is that's not going to give them any money, so he's going to have to raise taxes on a much larger percentage of americans if he really wants to get deficit reduction out of raising taxes. president romney will go in exactly the opposite direction. how do i feel about that? when i became mayor of new york city, i had a city that had a deficit of about $3 billion. read 10.5% unemployment. with 1.1 million people on welfare. we were coming to what was described as probably one of the reasons that i like it. i got elected because our economy was horrible and we just had 2000 murders in the two years before i ran for mayor.

so i got elected as the first republican in 25 years in the first one to remain a republican and 50. [laughter] i got elected with a very, very simple and direct campaign slogan. you can't do any worse. [laughter] tommy how i can make things worse. could we go to 3000 murders? could unemployment put a 15%? a set of 500,000, 600,000 will move out. so just give me a a shot and let's see what can happen. so my predecessor had done what a lot of people who should never be executives do. he appointed a commission to tell them how to straighten out the economy, but the commission is going to report after the election. a month after while i was getting ready to get sworn in he presented me with their report.

and here's a report. if you close a $3 billion gap come effect to raise taxes by about 20% or 25%. when you raise taxes in new york city, that means 40 different taxes you can raise. there's endless number of taxes. so i had a little ceremony when they presented it to me. people came in a presented to me. the prices there. they handed me the report. i looked at it very, very quickly in the press said to me, what are you going to do with the report? this is how my tenure began. i said this is what i'm going to do with the report. there's a little garbage pail right there and i tossed it into the garbage pail in front of the press. i said that's where it belongs because this is the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen. i have a city that people are moving out is because taxes are too high. now you want to raise taxes again, which ministers are now i'll have to raise taxes again.

and this has been going on under democratic mayors in new york city for 30 years. it's an endless cycle of raising taxes. i'm going to do it differently. i'm going to cut spending. i'm going to cut it this year by 10% come in next year 10%. and that i'm going to take some of the savings for spending and put it to lowering taxes. the first year i can't cortexes very much, but i'll do something. so the first year by lower taxes by what amounted to only about 2%. i was really embarrassed about it because i wanted to reduce taxes even more. the deputy mayor, who was also my campaign manager and accountant and tax lawyer walked in and congratulated me with the budget got passed. and he said come you just passed the biggest tax cut in the city. it is a paltry little $70 million. i said peter, this is like ridiculous.