communities. we simply ask for the tools and resources to make it happen. we're optimistic on the local level could become very very dark time in our city's history, but though we are optimistic, we know unless we continue to invest, must we continue to provide resources and continue to provide local control, local authority and decision-making, the future of our cities could be very, very tenuous. we are up to mystic, hopeful and we hope to get congress, the white house come the state government at all levels of governments work together for the future prosperity of our cities. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mayor coleman. at this point we will take a few questions from the audience before we move on to our panel. if there are any questions come if you want to come down to the microphone. if you would come down, please.

>> great presentation. i was interested in cities like detroit. the merchant the managers come in desperate straits. they've gone way beyond what they could afford to do and unfortunately they've got to come out of it. can you hear? okay, the key a guess for those cities and others that might fall into the team's type of situation is what is the next alternative. will it be more cities having to go through similar restructuring , some of those might not build a get it done quickly. but potholes, having basic services, police force. how did you envision that taking place this cities in desperate

straits? >> we know that although we put rented toward a good news, nasa goodness, optimistic ,-com,-com ma when the city's overall fare much more strongly coming out of the great recession. and the instances of bankruptcy are extremely rare amongst our municipalities. although that obviously see if they can earn for those going through it and we fell for them, again, the vast majority of cities are in a better fiscal position now than they have been. >> i would just say this. others say detroit is an extreme example of a city's fiscal condition that has turned sour. i was the result of a number back her's that are really outside the purview of this report. this speaks to the broader general conditions christie suggested that we are chimed in the right direction. any city might have a problem with was that two pension issues funded liabilities or challenges , but even in detroit,

while it is been a real struggle come you start to see detroit coming back, making tough decisions, making changes. by no means is that a result situation, but the fact of the matter is cities across this country particularly larger metropolitan areas are becoming revitalized and vibrant because people are investing. but if we continue to see that, if we continue to see people bringing businesses to communities, young people wanted to live in those communities come you have to invest in the things we just talked about, including transportation of structure. >> hi, guys. liz farmer from the magazine. i want to ask about general fund balances. i know not every city is required to have one and the carryover i imagine you said

there was an average of about 22%. i imagine that varies greatly depending what city we are talking about. can you talk about whether cities should have a mandated rainy day fund like a lot of states do and the special election in the future looks like revenues at the center stagnating. so in the face of increasing expense is. so can you talk about that whole picture of what city should be doing? >> generally speaking, as we mentioned, the high ending balances are 25% just before the recession. i cities through town, backing down and now we look at around 22%. generally speaking and this is most important in the rom of bond underwriters, they are really looking for cities to have on hand to mind those personnel wages. so that gets to you around 22%. in that context cities are there

right now, but there is busy mentioned great variation across the country and to your situation in st. paul. >> i think it is important for policies but a fund balance in what circumstances. some cities use their fund balances their cash flow account that allows them to meet their short-term obligations in anticipation of revenues coming in. but if you want to work with the rating agencies in terms of what they require, they are very clear that they want a stable policy, minimum threshold of what the balance would look like in order to receive the higher ratings that are obviously important to our costs going forward. suing the city of st. paul, we have a specific fun alan's policy. it allows us to go as low as 15% in terms of our overall reserve. but one of the important factors

is the fund balance to fund ongoing operations. it is specifically for emergency situations are as they say in some cases, as kind of your cash flow account. at the end of the day, if you are budgeting your permanent expenditures out of your fund balance, that is not a good fiscal policy. so what i'm hopeful is that the city financially stabilized him in the cities that don't have a solid fund balance and don't have the policy in place, it is easier to govern when you are not in crisis and get long-term structures in place. >> okay. any other questions? i think we have time for one more.

>> hi, i am with the bond buyer. you had mentioned her support for the market place and you hope that i can get past this fall. do you see that being passed along with the internet freedom act and do you guys support a pairing of those two bills? >> first of all we are hopeful because there is an broad bipartisan support. we saw that in the senate where it passed. we see that in the house when they meet with individual members on both sides of the aisle. there is clear support for this. it's a question of getting it done, so while we don't have the vehicle, we do feel this is a lame duck session coming out. there's been connecting it to the internet bills, but whether that's the vehicle or some vehicle will be supportive of however we can get this marketplace fairness act passed because it just means it is too

significant for revenue communities to be leaving it on the table and it's a way for local governments to get the additional revenue without federal government. as we like to say, it is not a new tax, an aide to collect and it's time we start collecting it for local subsidies. [applause] >> rai, thank you. next we will have our panel session. >> thank you, christine. after hearing from mayor coleman, mr. furman, we discussed cities conditional report. to my last day of dr. michael pagano who is the dean of the college planning a public affairs at the university of illinois chicago. mike is the city co-author and misled the condition survey on

report since the inception in 1986. to his left with ron green, the houston city controller and the second highest elected official and he and city government and its chief financial officer. comptroller green is on the national league of cities board of directors and brings a key local perspective to the conversation from the city cfo viewpoint. next to them we had dan white, senior economist and reduce analytics is responsible for covering state and local government fiscal issues. primarily focuses on work focuses on workforce, wages, pensions and infrastructure issues. to begin, mike, can you give us the context of this city fiscal position report and context of previous years reports? >> yes. this year as we learn from the presentation today, this was the first year we started to see cities begin to generate more revenue than they had in the past. what we have seen over the last number of years has been going into and out of recessions, there tends to be a moderating

effect of property tax collections because property tax collections usually lag an economic recession by one, two, three, sometimes five years based on the assessment practices of the municipalities for the counties. consequently, you don't see a strong fiscal effects of the recession immediately when an economic recession hit until year, two, three out. the last several years with the great recession, we have seen the decline of all the general tax bases for the first time probably since the first time since the great depression in which sales tax on income taxes and property tax received declined year-over-year for a long number of years beatifically they overlap each other. each other. internet sales taxes taxes drop immediately. property taxes don't and as the economy improves, sales and income taxes rebounds as the property taxes began to decline as liking the economy.

this is the first time we have seen this year to 2013 and 14 in the first time we've seen a bit of a rebound and the caveat of a little bit of a rebound is to note it is a rebound from a much lower base. so the increases in tax collections, property sales and income taxes is over a year-over-year decline for almost five years. >> ron, can you give us the local perspective of what is happening in houston and put it in the context? >> the city of houston is unlike many of the larger cities. we are saying that our sales taxes up, property taxes up from 2011 and arrest because we are in a very unique efficient and a lot of oil and gas activity is going on in another region, we see an uptake in employment. we had layoffs back in 2010, 2011 all over the city, not just

in municipal government, but we covered about 2.4 for every job lost were recovered about 2.4 jobs. so we are seeing the housing market has always been fairly stable in our area so that has been a major driver for us. we've seen attacks these grow horizontally as opposed to vertically. we are not so interested in raising tax rates, but getting more structures on the ground not just in the residential spot, but the commercial side. but we have also seen just this cutting back in government as well where we've been able to retool ourselves and we did have the biggest part of the recession we moved from a regular health insurance model to a self-insured model and we are starting to realize the savings they are. we are investing in infrastructure. we've been able to refinance the miscible bonds, which is very important for us all across the country, so we've realized savings there.

we've certainly been able to start reinvesting and technology. for us, expenditures are up, but also we are cautiously optimistic. >> thank you, ron. dan, can you put this into the context of what you were all saying that moody's? >> sure, we have the unique view of things from people in this people in a sermon that would look at the way city fiscal conditions affect the overall economy. just a brief story, when we have new economist joining us, one of the first things we do with the economy housing to finance state and local government. when i bring the new economist in time i say is economist, why do we care what state and local governments? why do we care what the city fiscal conditions are? they always come up with a wide variety of answers such as they make a housing policy with the loss in tax policy. they forget about the fact that

states and local governments and city has a big part of that make up a huge part of the overall economy. if you like the percentage% and 15% of overall local government. do i get 12% to 14% in terms of the overall economy. if local government for an industry, would be a huge industry and is one of the reasons we've had such a slight recovery up to this point in the business cycle. if you look at past recoveries, stated local governments five years after the end of the recession have never been asked for in terms of the numbers jobs lost or changed and suspect far as we have record to the great recession. but one of the things going forward that we are going to see is we are going to continue see sluggishness in the job recovery. so if you look at jobs lost in the great recession, they are back to weigh about prerecession

levels. even high wage jobs we've recovered, they are actually back above the pre-recession levels. if you look at the middle ages, where we see the most economics rollover most of the time is well below and an overwhelming majority of, 500,000 jobs in local government does not come back since the investor session. federal government is only about 100,000 jobs below the end of the recession. if you compare that to many of the private sector industries, five times the jobs are still not back in local government. so we are tracking this very close and i think going forward, as everyone has said we are very cautiously optimistic. but at the same time, i don't think we will see cities, states are in a local government really spend in the past coming out of

the recovery. pensions are too big of a weight on their budgets. to the lesser extent the city level doesn't have to worry about medicaid. in terms of health care costs for their actual employees, that's continuing to be a pressure going forward. i would expect this to be around for quite some time. so even the cities in particular are going to be coming back, they won't be as big of a boost to the overall economy. we are happiest economist in our forecast for cities to feel that they are in a better fiscal position than they were last year. it ain't the national league of cities report does a good job of explaining sort of the lag in terms of why that is happening. but i think the lack will continue for a couple of years. >> thank you. picking up on something you said earlier, what kind of variations are you seeing across the country? >> yeah, so the report identifies the year-to-year change in revenues and changes.

also year-to-year changes in property tax receipts come the year-to-year changes in sales tax receipts in year-to-year changes in income tax receipts. it is important information to understand what a mythical city might look like, but there's no such thing as a city that matches all the measures we've identified. in fact, only somewhere in the neighborhood of 9% or 10%, 10% or 15% even have access to the income tax. if the media and in come wage earners are not coming back as they did prior to the recession, you will have a differential effect depending whether the city has had access of income tax or not. sales tax is also a r-romeo available to pass, 55% of cities have access to the sales tax. so as the economy or can zoom or rebounds in the economy as well, people are buying presumably

buying more goods for what your retail sales tax can be applied, which horse excludes a lot of services. as that increases, the receipt of sales tax collections will increase during that period of time. again, not all municipalities have access to that. almost all cities to have access to the property tax and the property tax depends on the collection of the property tax and a variety of things across the country. depends on what the allowable tax rate is her tax levy. it depends if there are expenditure attacks in limitations on those municipalities that can hold down property tax receipts, even if the property tax to the real estate industry is growing. same thing with cities that they operate under expenditure limitations for they can't grow any faster even than the rate of inflation or population growth. if you look at the 19 plus thousand municipalities across the municipalities, they don't all fit the one model we present

in the report, but they vary depending on a host of serpents and says, including constraints that the state imposes on the municipalities because municipalities can only tax with the states allow them to tax as well as the mix that the economic and industrial mix of the municipality. if there is a strong real estate industry and real estate sector in the municipality and it doesn't have access to the real estate tax or property tax or it becomes a minor part of the revenue portfolio, the growth in the property values won't have a huge impact on the budgets have municipality. so we need to think about municipalities that's been almost like people. we are very different and we have different characteristics and attributes. we at different possibilities and interested with an electorate that demands more lessons in certain areas. what i would like to underscore

about this report is that it's a good report about an average musicality of which there isn't one because there is such variation than 18,000 municipalities. >> thank you. that was very helpful. ron, one of the things we been hearing if there is a cautious optimism for the economy. we know your city is doing quite well over the last two years, but now you prepare for the future, what you see on the horizon? >> houston is a city where we have revenue caps in place. that will cause any elected official. you want to grow your city. but if your revenues are not rolling, you are bringing in for a 125 people friday in the city of houston. we are clearly growing, so that is a big issue for us, which will cause deficits down the road. so we are looking like any other city, user fees. that is one of those average things people can look at. we are also looking now but we

do when it comes to all of the expenditures. but our core services. that is used in an city council is what our core services? anyone would argue the city is doing it is a core service. typically the things you can do yourself. we also have an issue with tension and then i think every city across the country has a pension issue. one of the things i've been tracking a fair number of active employees versus retirees and not number is going down as we have an older workforce and that number of retirees is going now. that will put another driver drain on who pays in to the pension. so that is a major issue for us down the road and i don't buy into this whole idea that pensions are the whole reason cities should be concerned because people, as mike said, cities are like people. we buy gas. people think we make our own paper, around pens.

we are subjected to the same force as everyone else is that the consumer as well. for us, cautious optimism is the word of the day. certainly you have to build a city for the future. that is the biggest balancing act. how do you remain cautious, but how do you remain optimistic? >> in the national league of cities, city fiscal condition survey, we see infrastructure as they continually pressing issue. can you talk about what you are seeing with infrastructure issues? >> share a common infrastructure is enormously important topic right now not just at the local level, the state level and it's important to talk about this because there's so much overlap that goes on between the state and local government in terms of infrastructure. if you look at the amount of money being spent is states and local governments on infrastructure spending, wesley

looked through in the state and local government, investment in structures, you see in terms of real gdp, we are headed lower percentage as a share of total gdp than any point since world war ii. and one of the main issues we keep running into is that the cities, have more cooperation from the state and the federal government. there's a lot of mental issues that need to be worked out. at the very least, everybody is at least coming to the realization that this is an issue that needs to be addressed and it's nice to hear jason talking this morning about how this has come on the white house radar obviously. nice to hear the mayor talk about it as well. i think all three layers of government are really on this in order to get this improved over the next couple of years, even if we were just it, to let the average amount of state and local government spending on infrastructure was over the last 20 years as a share of gdp would be an increase of $800 billion relative to what we had dinner

they find or cast. if we're able to get back to the average of the last 20 years, not painted it a huge push to infrastructure, it would have huge economic consequences. >> at this point we have time for some audience questions. if anybody has a question, could you please come down to the microphone? [inaudible] >> i think she may have. if we don't have any questions from the audience, i will send it over to you three and ask if you have any closing comments. >> sure. to pick up on the comment raised at the end of the last q&a part, ending balances, two comments. ending balances are different from state rainy day funds in the same rainy day funds typically are satisfied with a trigger mechanism that allows spending to have been only if unemployment reaches a certain point or raven is don't meet a

target. for municipalities, what we refer to as the ending balance is very much like the end of your month but your checking account in your own household and not just what you haven't spent an mac gets rolled over into the next fiscal year asked -- that can be found to cover whatever services. typically, municipalities hold onto those reserves for emergencies as the mayor said and sometimes to build up the reserves so they can make a cash investment in the capital infrastructure to build a city hall or something like that and also to keep the bond rating agencies happy to demonstrate that they are good stewards of the fiscal resource. so if you notice the trend over time, it was much less than what we are now at about 22% of expenditures. some 25 or 30 years ago was much less. the cities have done is they've realize several things. one, you can't predict the

future as we all witnessed this last winter when salt reserves for at least the northern cities and some southern as well bring up very early and they had to dig into their race or survive more salt and snowplowing services. so preparing for these unexpected needs is one of the reasons that reserves tend to grow over time. the other is between the time we started monitoring, ending balances in the general fund is that the federal government has become a much smaller actor or player in the finances of municipalities. in the late 1970s, around 14%, 15% came the federal government. today it's about 3% to 4%. the cities have to rely on the road resources, their own understanding of what is financially smart of them to do and that means holding on to more and more resources in case there's an emergency to demonstrate, whether it's mother nature would say that or

emergency that, but because of other things such as water main breaks and those sorts of things that you can't always anticipate as i was holding up their bond rating so that they can demonstrate that they can borrow. not because they have the cash reserves in hand as well as collecting funds for investment in a i. said that they would have to borrow for, that they could use the cash. what we are seeing over time is cities adjusting to changes of what is required to bed and be much betters do us a favor and initial resources, much the same way household are financial stewards of their own resources. the >> that might provide a great segue, those of us in elected office at the municipal love was the federal government to solve the money. state government has all the power in the local government can solve the problems. at the end of the day, we have to get it done. there's no one to pass this onto.

the unfunded mandates to trickle down, whether we are in good economic times or bad economic times, the trash has to get it. the police and fire have to be able to respond. so for us, we are going to manage it one way or the other, that when we are doing better, which we are doing now, now is the time to plan for the cities to grow, to make those capital investments. i am a huge proponent of keeping our municipal bonds tax-free because it's the opportunity for us to make those major investments. money is cheap right now, so i'll cities across the country recognize that. as it relates to really saving and carried out our fund balance of freeport and two s. and thankfully most cities come especially houston have a profound balance so when it got ethereal to draw down. i will agree that it's not a good day to do all the time, but it's good to have a rainy day

fund from cities across the country the last few years. i think about its approach is the order of the day when you are at the municipal level, you have to remember you represent people. we are not like general motors. we can't raise the price of the cadillac when we need for money. we have to be very cognizant of the people who pay into the tax base and how its effect demand because it all is interrelated. if people don't have more money to spend, they to spend, to camp fiber washers and dryers and we don't get more sales tax. they can't i. homes, they don't get the property tax. it shows solid vicious cycle. but at the end of the day, cities will persevere, continue to provide services at the level you would expect, but we will also be fiscally responsible and i think everybody knows the taxpayer expects us to be

responsible. >> at risk of beating a dead horse, i'm going to do it anyway. one of the cutting-edge dance really in terms of data and local government finances right now is reserve balance this. not just the fact we were because everybody can say we need more. as ron said, not just more, they need to know exactly how much they need to have without choosing vital services. we've done a lot of research in terms of stress testing state alan sheets and state or school conditions. there's a lot of people working down to the local government level as well. pew has done some really good work on it as well. it is something that will have to be done now while we are cautious and optimistic because if we wait a few more years down the line, we are going to get caught. one of the biggest problems going into the great recession and one of the reasons we are so sluggish coming out is to say to

local governments in general didn't have enough reserve money put away it gets in the to local governments have been able to depend on the local governments and state governments did not enough reserve, so a lot of time to cities and townships and school districts got kind of left out. both levels of government need to be taken a better look at what the reserve policies are it may be implementing certain statutory requirements in place because as we talked about earlier, state, local governments all rolled downhill. without being able to take care of themselves, cities are really going to have to keep an eye out on the future because there's no guarantee the hope would be there. >> to close this out today, i would add fiscal conditions or strength inning gave economic downturn was so deep and so drawn out the polar cover is still on the horizon. positive indicators can be seen across a wide range of areas from property 2010 collections.

at the same time companies are tempered from increased cost of services, ongoing pension and health care costs, long-term infrastructure needs and decreased level of state and federal aid. overall with economic recovery and the centrality of cities were great nations economy, we will see solid fiscal growth well into the future. thank you all for joining us here today. [applause] >> tonight on the louisiana senate debate between incumbent democrat mary landrieu and republican congressman bill cassidy, retired colonel robin

>> i am mark pryor and approve this message. >> i'm the director of domestic violence shelter. we've got to do something to break the cycle of violence and tom cotton is not doing anything to house. cumbersome and cotton voted against protecting women and children from domestic violence. he was the only republican are democrat from the state of arkansas to vote that way. he voted because the funding shelters. there's a difference between mark pryor and tom cotton. one wants to protect women and children. the other doesn't. >> i am mark pryor and i approve this message. >> i'm courtney. i've never been political, but it's hard to read nor the race. the more i read, the moran

concerned about tom cotton. did you know he voted against equal pay for women and he thinks women should be charged more for health care than men. cotton was the only arkansas congressman to vote twice against helping women who were victims of domestic violence. it makes you wonder, what has cotton got against women? >> i am tom cotton and i approve this message. >> my husband and i started this business. we have everything from body shop guy to mechanics to cleaning crew, archery now a survival. obamacare authority raise the premium. it's already costing us a fortune. >> it's not only hurt our business year to turn our employees. it was supposed amid health care a lot more affordable. it has done everything but make health care affordable. next year we might not even to be able to afford coverage at all. our hands are tied and it's frustrating to realize that your own senator cast the deciding vote on obamacare.

we told him personally how this would affect their business. i wish senator pryor had listened to us when we told him how obamacare would affect her business and i wish he would've voted against it, but he didn't. >> recent polling has listed the arkansas senate race is a tossup. you can see tonight's debate live at 8:00 eastern overruns the span. right after that, south carolina governor nikki haley faces off with vicki shaheen. we will show you that at 9:00 p.m. eastern.

>> this is an nbc bay area news special presentation. decision 2014. the senate in district congressional debate. >> this is the art of innovation. what happens in the silicon valley not only influences the country in the world come out of the shadow technology has serious turns about a struggling middle class. tonight, two men lead the charge shaping policy for california's diverse 17th district. and, congressman mike honda and

challenger ro khanna. they're one and only debate before the november 4th election. >> at evening. thanks for being with us. welcome to her at nbc bay area studios. this is a special night. in a few minutes, both men will take their places behind his podiums. we believe this race and this debate transcends politics. this local congressional race is getting national attention. many representatives from these outlets are watching tonight. curious to see the future of the silicon valley. district 17 or nbc's studios are located among the most dynamic and powerful districts in the country. so here is what we're going to do. we will meet our panel and go over tonight's ground rules in a few minutes. let's begin with commerce and honda. >> a familiar face in the region, seeking his eighth term. his story didn't start on capitol hill. instead of a toddler. mr. honda and his family were forced to live in a japanese

internment camp during world war ii world war ii. the greater san jose state and a member of the peace corps, his distinguished career as a science teacher in school principal. some of its key operatives that the supervisors can the state assembly and currently one of the house democratic senior webs. he comes into tonight's debates with the endorsement of nearly every local state and national elected democrat. this includes senator feinstein and senator boxer, leader pelosi, governor brown and president obama. adding another layer to all of this, this election is between two democrats, the same party as we see tonight both candidates have clear differences. ro khanna once reviews a new direction or the silicon valley. the 38 road was born and raised in philadelphia and is the son of american immigrants. he relocated in 2011. he's looking to win his first elected public office.

khanna an attorney in palo alto as a part-time lecturer at stanford and an adjunct professor at santa clara university. his relationship with president obama dates back to 1996 while the university of chicago, khanna volunteered for mr. obama state senate campaign. many years later in 2009, president obama appointed ro khanna khanna at the u.s. commerce department. khanna is endorsed by all the bay area newspapers including the chronicles in mercury news. piazza supported dozens of executives. among them, yahoo!'s marissa mayer, google eric schmidt, sheryl sandberg or facebook and marc benioff of salesforce here so what should we expect to see tonight in what is really at stake? let's bring in jessica and kerry alongside her political analyst, larry gerstein. >> thank you, roche. you call this the race to watch in california. you've got icon.com a traditional liberal being

challenged by this moderate democrat, ro khanna who is a high-tech agenda. where do we go? >> you've got two generations separating the candidates. you've got the old who has nobody caring for him, the poor, the immigrants, all these people who are uneducated versus young guy who says it's time we look ahead. we look in the future and think about technology and how many ways we can use it. they each have an agenda that is good for the state. the question is which one is more important at this time? >> okay, nobody talk about the son of man, what does each one has to do tonight to pull away from the debate and make a mark? >> let's start with the economy. mike honda has to show he still has it. he's been under 13 years, 73 are sold. he has to show his experiences worthwhile because he still knows how to get it done. ro khanna has to show you know what it's done with experience. sometimes it youth, vibrance,

energy, all the things that people need to get moving. how to get it done, get things moving here they are both important qualities. one says he's been doing it, the other says he can do it. we will see which one comes ahead. >> oath many to bring it tonight. thank you, larry. let's start things back to roche mckay. >> we are alive and we are ready. a full house tonight inside the studio. mr. khanna and congressman honda at their podiums. not to use any electronics or previously written notes, they can however take notes during the debate. we are happy to be cohosting with the "washington "huffingtod kqed. we're looking forward to discussing important topics. let's meet our panel, the bureau chief of the "washington post." ryan is fairly painless to lamonte, the director of the next arnold harris at san jose state. she is a journal majoring in

advertising. two is a longtime bay or a list in the kqed new server group in san jose. finally, melinda jackson come associate professor put up a science at san jose state. here's some of the key guidelines and rules of this debate. 75 minutes in length, 92nd onset in its defect or a bottle. there the possibility of 302nd dollar question. we share the topics of the debate with those men, the specific questions have not been revealed he agreed and started the studio audience to hold all applause until the very end. no cheering, booing or any other reaction except for right now. we want to officially welcome congressman mike honda and ro khanna. [applause] night to see you and have you both insider studios. we've agreed prior to the debate based on the coin flip you the first question goes to

mr. khanna. this is a polarizing district you know so well. so much wealth and innovation. there are a lot of people and families struggling just to keep an -- make ends meet. if elected realistically, how can you serve both sides and what is number one on your goals? honda: thank you, roche, thank you for participating. the question of our time, income inequality. what we need is real solution about how we are going to create opportunity for folks to go to college or afford college and how we are going to bring jobs back to the bay area. as in economics and start there, i've had the opportunity to talk to many folks about the economy. i've talked to students who are working really hard, bald and all of these activities and are worried about the debt they have. i've talked to so many employees who have raised skills, but for everyone application online there are 150 applicants.

these folks don't get they are living in a global economy, changing intensely negative thing at congress they have no real leadership or ideas and is stuck in the past. this is functional, slow-moving. so tonight i ask, imagine if we had a new standard. imagine if our elected official were as hard-working and not purgatorial and the people in this district, that is the change we need. that is the new congress we need and that is why i aspire to recognize this area. >> moderator: mr. khanna, what is number one on your goals? khanna: how do we get people to compete in the new economy? you go down to tronics in milpitas and it's like being in

a science-fiction movie. the factory floor has changed. you have to know how to operate the machines and 3-d printing and robotics. even should drive a taxicab company need to to know how to operate programming. that is why it's called for specific skills, teaching coding in the classroom, helping women get opportunities in science that elegy. >> moderator: of answer the question, thank you. congressman honda coming your response. honda: thank you. i was a sharecropper and a cumbersome and so i understand. no one who works here full-time should live in poverty. they should have a living wage. they should have enough money to be able to put it on the table and put a shelter over their heads. so i think in the last few years i suffered minimal wage in the city since i was eight. 63% agreed with me. we've got $900 million of money to make sure we have a link between them. 13,000 permanent jobs.

the number one priority as jobs and the economy here in this valley. to make sure that youngsters are going to get their education at $8.6 billion in prekindergarten and a billion dollars. the youngsters having trouble can get the ged and continue a career. >> moderator: okay, thank you. a big topic around the country and right here is citizenship. we bring in brian graham with the question for ro khanna. >> thank you. congressman honda. if you manage to pass meaningful immigration reform, that does not include a pathway to citizenship for those without papers, would you vote against it and which you urge the president to veto a quiet honda: certainly what we have right now i work done for over 10 years now. what we have currently is a wonderful package of despair

communities who've come together, chamber of commerce, labor, agricultural workers, owners and all the folks that have a combined package is not the billy would've written, but it's much better according to president obama. he said it's better than what's going on for the 11 million people. the question as if we lose when the senate comes back with the package that has no citizenship, but they have a pathway towards legalization and there's no citizenship, i would be hard-pressed to vote for, but i look at the whole thing and see if they can get the first step and get the pass and work on the next step, which is legalization and citizenship for the undocumented. let's look at the dreamers. 40% of the dreamers in the state of california are region americans in there in the you see system and they need a

pathway to citizenship than they should have a shorter path to citizenship because they have accomplished everything we all expect citizens to be able to do. productive. being able to give back to the community. they should have citizenship while in my opinion the day was fine. khanna: i appreciate the question. the path for citizenship in dreamers and doesn't document, but the question was how were we going to actually get something done? one of the things i hear what i'm knocking on doors of frustration is congress adjourned after rate is in session, two months in recess to campaign. people talking about immigration reform for the last 10 years and nothing is getting done. here there is an honest effort with the congressman. i would work across the aisle in the republican mold of someone like tom campbell with the

piecemeal approach to getting something done on immigration because i get it is important for competitiveness. we may not give everything. we may not do something piecemeal, but we need to get something done and none is what people are so frustrated about it in washington. >> moderator: ride with follow-up. >> if you give everything they're looking for camille never get a pathway to citizenship. what would you state about? khanna: look at canada and australia. they both have economic rarities or immigration. it's crazy we have people coming to people coming to put a stamp or a santa clara. we get them engineering degrees and we have a shortage we say go back home and create jobs overseas. that is not how we grow the economy. let's get a deal and what is going to make this country competitive and then let's make a case that this is a nation of immigrants. most immigrants help strengthen the country that will create economic growth.

>> moderator: i know you wanted to interrupt. locate response in a moment. you will have appropriate time. we will talk about education now the rising cost of education. two major universities if you master the studio and will bring in lulu amonte with a question for mr. khanna. >> hello, mr. khanna. it's been tied to in recent years. the college remains affordable and accessible to low-income students. if elected, would you fight to increase, reduce or eliminate the program and wide? honda: thank you for the question. i would of course fight the poker program. this is not a theoretical issue for me. unfortunately, it still paying off my student loans. i have an opportunity most folks don't. i got to work for the president. i teach at stanford. i've had a lot of privilege, but i'm still paying student loans. we have a country where we are burning the next generation

almost $27,000 of debt for once doomed. 1.2 trillion is the federal debt on student loans. and i propose three things. we need a student interest rate first event that are the same as the banks. if we can be allowed wall street, we certainly can get student interest rates to pay back their 2% love. i see we made changes and fast. right now, a parent's home mortgage, home value is considered part of what they can pay. parents shouldn't be forced to choose between selling their home and paying for their kids education. three, encouraging massive online courses and we need to encourage that so the times dude and stay in college last intuitionist last. this is an issue that i feel so passionately about. our economic competitiveness is not based on a strong military. it's based on educating the next

generation and it's one of the reasons i'm so passionate about representing this area in congress. >> moderator: congressman honda, 60 seconds to respond. honda: thank you. i would ask her pal grant increase. as an appropriator, we need to make sure we increases significantly. let's go beyond that. we have to deal to make sure we change the bankruptcy law. student loans are one thing you cannot dismiss the bankruptcy. we have to change that for the students. now we can talk about better interest rates. let's be more specific. the federal reserve bank received $600 billion from the federal reserves in the banks received this loan at 0.7%. this is that we should be providing the students. that kind of loan that is going to be equivalent to what we are giving to the banks and there's a much better investment in the students because they will be

paying into much longer than the banks will be. >> moderator: congressman honda, is this something you want to propose? honda: we been talking about it. guess i would. >> moderator: the next issue really hits in the silicon valley with all these companies, perhaps more so than anywhere in the company is h. one b. and it's going to commerce and honda. >> commerce and honda, there's been much controversy over visas granted to foreign workers. supporters say it necessary to fill the need for skilled workers, critics, that many tech companies are actually using this as an excuse to hire foreign workers for life. where do you stand on the h1b visa program and what changes would you like to see? honda: h1b when it first was initiated didn't have problems. it was not affordable. people could not have access to

the pathway of getting green cards. today that's changed. in the immigration reform, we have a package that includes a generous h1b, including a trigger that can be pulled if needed more. so just about doubled the amount in the cir. the skills gap that we are lucky not has to be looked at two different ways. we need to invite and have our immigration law changed so we can invite foreign students to come here, and then invite them to stay longer through the easy process of getting green cards. want to get the green cards to go onto the citizens are your 25% of the ceos in this country, in this valley are foreign-born. why do you want to turn that around? we should embellish that and enhance that. we should not look at it as a bad thing. it treats all kind of jobs. on the other hand on education,

we have to do more on stem. that is why when president obama had the universal pre-k, i put in approximately $8.6 billion into universal pre-k so we could start generating the youngsters that we want to see get involved and stand in that kind of career. >> moderator: mr. khanna, your ratio on the h1b issue. khanna: we graduated 4000, but we also need to prepare folks for the next generation of jobs. the congressman, you know, i respect his career in public service and he talks a lot about things he's proposed in things he wants to do. the frustration people have this nothing is getting done. the congress record in the reason that the chronicle as they ascend the chronicle is they have said quote is irrelevant on the policy debate because earmarks no longer exist

and he has passed one bill in 14 years. that is in contrast to eric solow, young guy who said he can't get anything done. in one term he got two bills passed. now i respect the congressman's public service, but the question and from these major issues over time, who is going to lead and he was going to get the jobs done? >> moderator: mr. khanna, psychic step in. we hear a lot from congressmen. were going to work across the aisle. will be really together. they get there and realize they can appear but makes you different. khanna: one of the approaches this campaign. i sat down with the san jose chamber of commerce. congressman honda refused to meet with the san jose chamber. here is why. the san jose chamber oppose the release. i am supportive of the minimum wage increase. minimum wage should be indexed to inflation and hear the

congress and i share those. the difference is i'm prepared to meet locally with people who disagree and i'll take the same approach and a republican cosponsors when i get to the congress. >> moderator: 30 seconds for rebuttal if you choose. honda: in 2003 in a bipartisan basis i passed a $3.7 billion technology innovation bill producing results even today in technology. in 2011 we got $900 million for an extension and not in just a couple weeks ago, we passed a bill, bipartisan and it went on to the senate. be an appropriator, i can make sure that he'll will create excellence in research, write down the line that once it passes the process, it will be there to be able to prepare the

way to have that here in the valley, just think i did for the u.s. patent office. on top of that coming tarot i sat and myself past the data bill, the data act that requires government agencies to tell people where the dollars are spent, how much it is and be transparent about it. that is across the board were. >> moderator: next is immigration issue, which is always a big issue including across the country. we will bring in belinda jackson. the question goes to mr. khanna. ..

>> >> is being well spent.

when i got there at the gates and the process is in place. but though whole thing is overconfidence to allow us to fail or succeed there be much easier problems to deal with. >>moderator: i will ask the question now for the last few days with top about possible ethics violations on the staff. suggesting possible violations with campaign fund-raising. you have to acknowledge this. are you unethical

congressman and how can you prevent this from happening in the future if you are elected? honda: i am an ethical person might policies for may campaign whiz through my staff. i know we have had quite a bit of media attention but real people were talking about to be taking care of barrasso with the issues. the to work with the currently in the past to understand the mindset is a personnel matter of with like to not discussed at par but the high ethical standards for my staff has been reiterated it goes beyond though legal boundaries and expectation. but my chief of staff did not meet those expectations

and she had a misstep. i was disappointed but she apologize publicly and to me that this will not happen again. so this situation needs to be acknowledged and although legal complaints should be moved forward to let the process take its place i will cooperate in any way that i can't. >>moderator: you have 60 seconds to respond to. kanna: i think representative honda is a good man and i admire his life story but nobody is perfect. and there are serious allegations of ethics pay-to-play scandal is not personal to his integrity. echoes to the dysfunctional special interest. the allegations were the staff members traded on

public goods to raise funds for private gain. it is with the political process. the congressmen said the chief of staff apologize but i would hope here tonight the congressman would apologize for these ethical violations and assume accountability because ultimately he is responsible to the citizens and the office and the injured -- integrity that we expect from silicon valley. >>moderator: the next question from the "huffington post". >> one decade ago congress allowed congress to bring monies back to the u.s. tax free but it failed create the promise jobs. these companies are advocating for repatriation. promising disenable use the money to create new jobs.

apple and google and microsoft will benefit. but is it a smart business decision to hire a new worker why do they need access to tax-free money to do so? they have access to capital already. >> that is a great question. i wrote about repatriation in my book and i criticized it somebody got a free pass they brought the money back to into shareholders. we need to bring it back to extend the payroll for manufacturing. 1.9% trillion dollars overseas and talk about the valley they talk a lot of entrepreneurs who incorporates the coz they want to acquire that offshore cash. to invest to create jobs.

there is a problem with the campaign. i tried to articulate a position that is awful of the demagoguery in this issue. , the one hand he says he is for repatriation on another he has a whole website criticizing me for the position on repatriation. you cannot have it both ways. people space have all the answers just because i am the economics teacher but they want someone who will say these are tough problems with tough solutions. i promise if i get to congress i will give you what the new region needs to grow economically. honda: isobar repatriation of the corporate taxes overseas but that only to

make sure the wealthy and shareholders benefit also the national infrastructure to increase the minimum wage to have a more viable economy to increase salaries to make sure the middle-class is more vibrant. hands on his bill to repatriate the corporate taxes. people said why do you do this? i said it is not just to criticize it does not make the impact. so working across the aisle is the way to win. but with minimum wage teeeighteen obama talks about a minimum wage at length.

>> minimum wages $7 and cents per hour but full-time wages earned $15,000 per year. obviously that will not go far for a college graduate and california's what should congress do to major to handle its nationwide? honda: i fought for here in san jose that $7.25 is not a salary to raise a family with. 63% of the citizens are. now they will take the federal minimum wage to increase to a $10.10. i see the posters on the billboards and it is fact. but that does not answer the terrible burden of financing your education. we have to find ways to

allow students to have larger pell grants and financial aid and a lower interest-rate. senator warren has a bill out to make sure the interest rates charged to the students are the same coming from the $600 billion. we should procure the loans for going into public service. my wife had a large loan but she went to schools that needed teachers like her and after five years they cut it in half then again in half. these are the incentives needed to provide.

>> regarding minimum-wage? >> there now endorsing congressman and honda working in san jose i believe the memo wages should be indexed to inflation. but the challenges when you talk to workers does congress have the same standards as us? asia love to work every day i know public-service is hard. everyone understands sometimes someone is sick or surgery or people need to take time off. but the reality is that the congressmen has missed 466 votes in his career that is one of the worst attendance records in the united states congress. one of the worst of the california delegation. the people in the district will meet someone who will be present and showing a

banding gauge because they have to do that every day. >>moderator: please respond in terms of your conduct -- your attendance record. honda: please recognize those deaths but i do have the of 95 percent voting record and i got results i am still there working to make sure we look at appropriations as a position to make u.s. patent office. that takes a lot of work and cooperation. >>moderator: talking about educating our children not everybody agrees moving forward? >> the national common core curriculum to a fully affecting california this year. focus on critical thinking and analysis but not all parents are learning about

this. among their concerns is timid to emphasis on testing math and reading standards are too low. what you think of the common core curriculum? and implementation so far in california? honda:. >>. kanna: it is an improvement of no child left behind although the congressmen would have voted for no child left behind that would increase testing but it is not perfect but it does need time to be implemented. we will need to increase the investment for teacher preparation and to be prepared for it. also when the cupertino school district they end up taking calculus because

common corps would not have allowed it so they needed the exception. it is not perfect. but it is a mark of innovation that sets us apart from india and china. we are creative thinking and i think it is a step in the right direction. talking to our reaching across the aisle but representative honda has one of the second most partisan record eighth in congress. i admired him for that after 9/11. he spoke up when people were being discriminated against. that is not who he is. but now we need someone who will work across the aisle because that is what we need at this time to move forward >>moderator: please begin with the issue of common core. honda: it is a positive step in the right direction.

the 50 states have resisted having a national standard. but with the governors coming up with the common core it comes@l pretty close to a national expectation. having said that, what we need to do is to reauthorize the no child left behind it is still push forward without reauthorization so we cannot make positive changes with that bill. but what obama has done this $300 million competitive with the issues around critical thinking. noti where it fell down. >>moderator: this goes to

representative honda talking about the polarizing forces of the district in terms of making money with in a quality. >> representative honda there is a lot of talk about the top 1 percent and as is mentioned silicon valley is where the income inequality is most apparent. day believe it contributes to this gap if reelected reforms to propose to federal income tax policy if any? honda: income tax reform is something we have to face. is a complicated problem but doing it comprehensively to make sure everybody pays their fair share. with the bush tax cuts not everybody paid their fair share. the president had to fight

three seasons to get the guarantee of unemployment insurance to be passed so those could support their kids. inequality will have to be addressed in a fair and comprehensive way where everybody pays their fair share. that is the american family value. even warren buffett said it is not fair mike executive secretary pays more in her income tax than i do because of the way we calculate income tax and don't include other portions of people's wealth. necessary function we have to face because of their life of the country depends upon it. i wrote the budget for all

with corporate loopholes and subsidies. we can do that is no question. kanna: itt and that is one of the biggest challenges to encounter a quality. absolutely we need to have those that make more money pay more taxes but i disagree with representative honda because his budget would increase taxes at the lower and middle class level at 50%. who also is the 1%? members of congress with extraordinary perks and benefits. that is why i said i will not take a single federal interest subsidy but

representative honda has taken 52 of them. but that needs to change. while i respect engines for teachers we cannot have double dipping. we need a new system a member8d of congress to live like everyone else. >>moderator: would you like to respond? honda: part of the 1%? i think what we're doing with the people's budget does not increase by 50 percent of the 28 percent went up 3%. it is a very balanced approach and it takes more than 10 years to do it to eliminate the deficit. >>moderator: talking about

climate here in the silicon valley this is what good shape in theory the national rules. with government surveillance it is saw hot topic with companies like google to condone and essays surveillance with emails could online privacy be better protected? kanna: add psyllium do not condone its that is why i and others have supported my campaign. in congress i would have spoken out against the president for mass1@ surveillance with the nsa. unfortunately we do have those speaking about criticizing our president. i have introduced an internet bill of rights to stand up not just to the government but also private companies. there are many components. first, a right to neutrality

they should not have special money for special access. and people said no what is happening to their data with google or facebook there should be a right of disclosure. this is the type of leadership that this district needs. it is not enough that is at the heart of innovation to just boat or goethe congress we need someone who will lead. i am very proud of the lhiu) campaign has put forward representative honda the issue of privacy? honda: i don't condone it. what they did was equivalent at 1942 looking to the sense this bill who.

to put the japanese americans to put them in the interbank camps and constitutionally. but i am vehemently against it that is why i voted against the patriot act in 2001. and then against the reauthorization. individuals is paramount it is the most foundational constitutional guarantees that we can have four individuals. to have a low bid of privacy for a little bit of security you have neither. and without going into private lives teeeighteen is this something that could happen realistically with in the year or two? >> we have a technology to do that. >> the corporate and version

goes to that companies makehn base and a foreign country. as long as they are legal or profitable companies will engage what should the white house do for those that engaged in this behavior un-american? >> clicking a president obama to direct the corporations better be incorporating to avoid paying their fair share. it is not a value that america condones. having said that we need to look at the uh reformation of public tax structures of fair and comprehensive andqoqá"d to big corporations, big business as well as small

business if we don't have a one-size-fits-all to pay more for a the staffing that they could afford. we need to be able to do that. to look at ways to go overseas to do this activity but they need a tax credit for their innovations and to give those tax credits on technology that is earth shattering or disruptive and to others they should incentivize to stay here. and do their business here spinning disk could negatively impact a lot of fun -- companies since the district.

to take advantage of the united states protection and i will stand up for that for any tech company or any company that is not willing to do that. and those tax increases are in effect that is why the president did not support a representative honda budget even to the ideology is not the ideology of the middle and lower class. but he did show leadership with the patriot act. that was almost 13 years ago. but to say irrelevant of the policy issues of their kind and is knowing the data and complex issues with the

internet. >>moderator: you said you would stand up to the tech companies be were supported by some of those leaders fromq sales force andy bey was to really stand up to that? there is concern you woodside in their favor with legislation. >> the rich people knew my store and went to public school. paying off my student loans. i am proud of the elevators in the world but one of the differences is i got the support from the innovators of of world from washington d.c. it don't apologize. but the reason is because of my agenda to have the opportunity to participate in the new economy. >>moderator: talk about k-12 education not necessarily college. >> many people say public schools are failing our students.

what role should the government play in the future of this policy? >> and i went to public-school i think is crazy to rely on charter schools i am supported by 93 percent of kids go to public schools. i went to the elementary school in san jose recently and the principal has programs you want to teach kids and she does not have the budget for basic computers just 2 miles away from apple computer's and the schools in this district you would not know you are in silicon valley if you went to some of the public schools. that needs to change to make sure the÷ federal government fully funds the special needs mandate that they put forward.

if you go to finland do know what they say? they don't have any because they teach and respect them and invest in them to make sure they have credentials to teach that are required. we have a slight disagreement i would be willing to shake up the system a little more to have the independent voice. i am not be holden i will build a coalition. but when every kid in this district to have a shot that i did with a good public school education so they can make it representative honda as a former teacher is k-12 failing our kids? honda: not every school is failing but the problem with the system we have 50 states, 50 standards, and the constitution that the

federal government has no role. we have to reinvent ourselves how we look at public education. but there is that enough resources is. but then the balance the budget on teachers. this is not about2s teachers' unions but the community understanding and step outside the box to look for each and every child. we know they have to change the system. look in terms of equity looking at education that is where we have to start. >>moderator: are you selling it to our community? doesn't know when needs to be done holistic three?

honda: yes. we have each and every child report it is from a commission. >>moderator:. >> representative honda there is no wage gap in this country. women make $0.77 to every dollar earned by a man and the federal government is in the process of have contractors report data. what about individual salaries should be reported and what would you do to help close the wage gap? honda: whenever i have done starting off with leader policy we are certain people understood the lee ledbetter issue she was not paid equally for equal work and had to sue for it. that is why worked with the senator from maryland to major that federal contracts

close allw the polls to deny equal pay for equal work. and to expand the timeline if a woman finds out she has been shortchanged. and then on pay equity and the concept of equal pay for equal work, that just -- disparity between genders has to stop. to make sure that people understand pay equity is necessary. i think more and more people say i work harder, i work longer but that seems to be getting ahead because looking at efficiency and technology has given us to be insured would has treated:8 with the people who create the wealth and we have to

revisit that whole aspect. >>moderator: what would you bring to the table? kanna: i am proud of the women in the workplace agenda it is not enough for equal pay we need to have paid that men need to take as much responsibility and other scandinavian countries have that. we need child-care tax credit so women don't have to choose i did not come up with these ideas i got them listening to constituents. these are one of the things i am so disappointed if your handlers to not let you do town house and have done more in the last two months than the representative honda has 10 in the entire

term there's so many brilliant people in this district these debates are not just academic. >> the first part of my question is a number of schools fill that aggregate reporting is not good enough you cannot do that until individual salaries are reported but should the government require contractors to do? honda: no. is)"ájjz we can work on it but if you know, what it is you cannot identify the culprit so it could be done and we can move forward. but those who have equal pay for equal work. >> with apple products and in this district this is

among the companies and that question is for mr. kanna. >> what the congress realistically do to bring manufacturing jobs back to the west? and to the companies like apple does manufacturing in china? >> i wrote a book about how we bring manufacturing jobs it did not sell lot of copies but i believe deeply in its. when i was that the department and the new plan was to close the recognize this area needs to be a hub site helped labor leaders to bring them back tofremont so there is not residential

housing so how can we get bipartisan support? the are some simple things we could do. the worker of today needs to be adept to understand 3-d printing and robotics we have eight times productivity advantage of 1.five over germany and japan. we need to partner with their colleges to get people in the field that they will need in 21st century. and to find reform for the tax cut so ge pays 0 percent tax and those who are making things in the united states that requires not taking special interest money because i wanted tax code that works for the american people of not for the washington lobbyist

teeeighteen representative honda at? honda: most of that is in manufacturing we're the number one manufacturi center in the country. i voted for with my democratic colleagues for a permanent tax credit. we also need to pass the bill on the floor that will allow our manufacturing centers across this country to replicate what we have here. with their regional centers for excellence to state universities and entrepreneurs to put them to gather to sit down to come up with the next disruptive technology to take this into the future. we also have two major we have the appropriate tax

credits for consumers who will be purchasing these types of technologies. >> you mentioned in the skills gap and it often do referred to the skills gap but is it the case that workers don't have the necessary skills or companies don't want to pay the necessary rages? but they paid by people are worth there might be more engineers? >> paul krugman makes this is complicated. in cupertino they will tell you the valley is filled with middle-age folks of high skill and they're not able to get a job not because they don't have the skills by hiring people and they are younker so it is not just a skill shortage but we need policies to have tax credits for apprenticeship programs to hire those middle age

workers to bring better rents back to work. >>moderator: user of the people in this area for decades in various capacities. some people do fear you may be burned out. how would you address thosesn concerns? honda: i am not burned out. there is a lot of gas in the tank. and i am not a hybrid. [laughter] the kinds of energy that does the kind of work comes from a deep-seated desire to make sure this country does the right thing. and our government had gone awry. i don't want to see that happen again to any group with my desires the youngster is the voice that

they need a wanted to do that as a teacher. to teach the youngsters to speak up to be critical consumers by thinking straight and critical. so they can choose their options in the future. kitten education with greater options. so what i a energy that i did into are the people i want to help the to see ed community to set aside with the constitutional guarantees set aside the look like a friend of the enemy but that will not happen on my watch. kanna: i don't think representative honda is burned out.

story to dedicate to politics and service is admirable but the question is about what we need for the future. my argument, the reason i decided to run and a theology that the congressman has opened the doors for asian-americans is to solve the issues for this district to feed for this bombing in time with a complex economy. with the republican controlled congress we will need someone to influence the debate:said that he is no longer relevant the earmarked system is no longer there. this is what great democracies are about somebody carries it then hands it often somebody else carries the ball. that is what makes the country move forward.

>> much of congress agrees that corporate tax code needs to be reformed. you and others have suggested lowering the overall rate but closing the loopholes to simplify the code of raising revenue but now corporations are keeping the system paying no where near they're fair share. close as o% so if they kept revenue levels the same dislike making bank robbery legalizing it? or what about big companies pay more than they do today? kanna: the reason for corporate tax reform is not just revenue but competitiveness. the problem right now is you have special interestpo on the tax codes were some companies pay o% their incentivize to go offshore and small businesses who set up shop here are penalized. it is not just understanding

the economics. but it is not because they're nodding of smart people in washington but because they are bought and sold. their lobbyist. the reality by a the lobbyist who write the exemptions into the tax code that is why i want to try something different. was inspired and i took a pledge from started the campaign i would not take one single dollar from a lobbyist, not the single dollar from a pact. id wanted job he will not be popular you'll want to come back. but we have to try something different. people say you are naive if turkey will swallow the line when you get there but it is time to get the special interests out and take a stand that is the only way to get meaningful corporate tax reform.

honda: corporate tax reform is a necessity. it has to be comprehensive and fair and understandable. it is about gathering more revenue for the federal government to support the obligations we have in this country. but where we say we want reform to be returned and shared overseas and to be part of a larger picture with these revenues to the revenue structure to make sure people get a fair living wage and the middle-class5u is okay then we take care of them. i am not saying shareholders should not get rich but

share with those who create the wealth. >>moderator: we are partnering off here in silicon valley we have some questions from the facebook. thanks to everyone on our site for submitting hundreds of questions. what is your stand on the recent demonstrations taking place in hong kong? honda: i think is a phenomenon coming because the people of hong kong's lived under british rule that you make your own decisions it is more of a democracy but then be absorbed into the prc but over time is starts to mix and rise above to the

surface for i think it has. the united states has a role to facilitate with hong kong with those youngsters and the people of hong kong and their government leaders to democratic society doesn't have to be the same kind that we have been those to have more self-determination to live of life of less oversight. on the other hand, we have the same kinds of issues. and some understanding some people shrug their shoulders to say we could do better still make you believe that prc will budge on their

stanceemkyk4rk? >> since the revolution we have seen china become our partners to keep an eye on but our attitudes have gone a long ways. >> your response? >> i am very sympathetic to the demonstrators while i am proud of those entrepreneurs from my grandfather he spent four years in jail fighting for human rights and freedom. one of the remarkable thing is is people from around the world in india or pakistan or china or vietnam or the philippines who have a shot

with this district not to be bogged down with cold war thinking or communism or democracy but to stand up for human rights and a more integrated world that is what leadership is the most important in the country. >>moderator: just a few more questions. we will jump around the fourth time expires. -- before time expires. >> mr. kanna the landmark decision last year denounced the state's teacher layoffs system as a violation of the constitutional rights. do you think the policies protect bad teachers and what would you do to address

that? kanna: and we have an honest disagreement here i supported the decision when he took to writing an op-ed to put students at war with teachers. so-called down the rhetoric. i love and respect teachers i teach at santa clara and stanford i have talked in -- and have talked to so many ends even those that watch and teach and here is what i would do. and other cultures teachers are creek treated with respect but we don't do that in this country. there is no reason lawyers or doctors should make more money than a great teacher. require someone teaching calculus to actually

understand have a master's degree in calculus. and have some accountability some see cannot evaluate teachers you cannot do test scores by the comprehensive evaluation. because the good teachers do not want any effective teachers in the classroom just like politicians don't want that politicians and gives them a bad name so let them more collaborative sessions to do right by the students and take the politics out of this. >>moderator: said teachers union was against this as you know, . honda: the supreme court prohibits to process for teachers in terms of assessments, retention and evaluation. but they want a good assessment so teachers need

to find another job can do that. this is something that needed to be tweet a long time ago. it is an opportunity for us with this straightforward code with the process of good instructors for our kids. it is an opportunity and we should take that. >>moderator: the last question of the eveningdmbç representative honda. >> a recent poll found 75 percent of voters disapproved of the job congress is doing. why do think that congress hold such a low of you right now? why you want to be reelected to such an unpopular group?

[laughter] if reelected what would you do to improve the public trust and confidence? honda: 75% are judging because of the word congress if we can disaggregate into different parties and how people voted so that they understand each and every person the same question it would be different because had deal like your current congressperson it is a different story. but the way we report these needs to be desegregated. i think congress is a job that i can take all my experiences to put it right into policy making and phil and anticipates and fill that and work with people to

make sure the policies that we have in this country are 100 percent focused and accurate and hit the points we need to hit. what do i do when i go back? to make a difference? said town hall meetings the word reinvent. i had over telephone town hall meetings and at the end 300 and 600 people that is a good way to connect with people and be present using technology. >>moderator: your response is the dim view of congress. kanna: but when i knocked on 5,000 doors that does not take the place of facebook or electronic communications

why do i want the job is what i asked. but the reality is he has the greatest of intentions but is part of problem. but people 150 or 100 new members because they want those who will be effective and not just pass one bill in 14 years to get republican co-sponsors when introduced legislation but they want them to work as hard as they are. and they want someone who is answerable to a real-life question that is a lie will be from day number one when i get there. >>moderator: thanks for your responses as we come to

a close this is your final opportunity for your remarks will begin in closing statements. two minutes for each of you. kanna: thanks to the panelists and two representative honda for participating. when i grew up as an immigrant going to public school my parents told me that if i worked hard, and made good grades i would have the job and great opportunities. in this campaign one of the things i am proud of is i have gone to almost every high-school in this district and i ask, are you concerned about getting a job when you graduate? eighty% raise their hands. the first economy country's history is the american

dream going to be alive for the next-generation? and at this time, unfortunately we have a washington politics that is so disconnected, a congress that is broken. the economist has an article that says the turnover rate in the united states congress is less than european monarchies families we fought a revolution of there. thomas jefferson said members of congress ought to return to their communities to live under the laws they pass. tonight and ask not just for your vote but to join the campaign for change to invigorate politics with the vision to bring something different because we have gotten so far2ajú astray from our founding ideals among to help make the american dream

possible that inspired my parents to emigrate to this country in the 1960's. thank you. >>moderator: you have two minutes. honda: thanks to the panelists and also nbc and our audience and the viewership for it to any into less rather than monday night football. [laughter] i would like to leave this impression my history and experience is a pattern of the way at work and think and behave. in 1942 i said before the government turned the backs on us nobody stood up to say no when they took away our constitutional rights. nobody said this is wrong. under my watch for those to make that choice.

passion was developed as i was growing up but to serve my country to learn another language and culture but i also learned about myself. the things that i experience can be turned into positive energy so a lot of youngsters need to be critical thinkers to be passionate about their constitutional rights to be a knowledgeable to speak up so as a teacher and administrator over 20 years the direction i went until i hit the direct politics than it did this experience turning into a policy-making as a nation as a city and

the county that is the important thing to share the people of there. and i would be very humble and appreciative of your vote and your support. >>moderatiájñ speak for lot of people here from wherever they're watching regardless of the outcome we appreciate your public service. we asked our audience to hold their applause but think it is a good opportunity now. [applause] thanks to those watching at home listening on the radio election day november 4th or at the post office to mail in your ballot. for the anti-your panel our

coverage continues after this break with our political analyst. . .

>> this program was provided in part by aarp the foundation for excellence in louisiana public broadcast and by viewers like you. ♪ >> good evening. welcome to the campus of centenary college in shreveport louisiana. for the first statewide televised u.s. senate debate with the top three candidates. this debate is present by louisiana public broadcasting in the council for a better louisiana. we thank