one of the top two or three most difficult people i've ever interviewed. >> what you think nevada voters are looking for the presidential election? >> it's interesting i say this all the time to national interviewers as if when you asked that question we must be aliens. we all sprung from area 51 and we're not like most people in the country took the thing about that people forget and harry reid made this point when he made nevada and early state is that we are more reflective of america and you might think. forget about the gambling in sin city, but most people who live here don't think about that as much and we are a melting pop with the virgin asked-- hispanic population which is more than a quarter now, significant asian and african american population. it's a real cosmopolitan population out and nevada with hits the hardest, maybe proportionately of any state in the recession that we are just coming out of and so i think all of those issues combined to make as kind of a microcosm of america and so what are nevada

voters looking for? they are looking for an economic plan that makes sense and that is fair. they are looking for a healthcare system that looks-- makes sense. a lot of nevada is in the service industry. and they are spoiled by having a car lack health care plan from the unions which is another great contradiction about nevada, right to work state, but an incredibly strong labor presence in southern nevada, so i don't think the interest of nevada's much different from the interest of wisconsin or new york or floridians. >> c-span, crated by america's cable-television companies are brought to you as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. >> starting shortly here on c-span2 we will take you live to a conversation on money and politics including the impact on

millennial's, judicial elections and public financing. a live view here at the george washington law student conference center in this event is about to get started hosted by the american constitution society for law and public policy. again, the event should get started in a few minutes life here on c-span2. eight notes about our live coverage later this evening at 9:00 p.m. eastern it is the third presidential debate at the university of nevada las vegas with the third debate between hillary clinton and donald trump after that coverage of the spin room with candidates and their surrogates go after the debate to talk with reporters and that's a lot coming up tonight starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. of course, other waste watch the debate through c-span, you can watch on demand using your desktop, phone or tablets at c-span.org. you can also listen to the debate life if you can't watch you can listen live on your

phone with the free c-span radio at. you can download that at the app store or google play. again, the third presidential debate tonight and 9:00 p.m. eastern on the c-span networks. here, her conversation on money and politics should start shortly live on c-span2. >> while we wait for this event to get away, a discussion on get out the vote efforts from today's washington journal. >> now, back in our studio we are joined by melanie campbell who serves as president ceo of the national coalition of black participation and on the black women's roundtable. melanie campbell, in 2008 and 2012 voting rates among black women exceeded all of their race and gender groups. what expectations for the 2016 election? guest: we see it did not just

started 08. lakh women-- first of all, thank you for inviting me. thoroughly enjoy and appreciate you and your journalism. but, black women have been floating your q talk about the black vote when there was a surge in the black vote because black women not only turned out the vote, but we also are the influencers when it comes to encouraging our children to vote, our husbands, our significant others to vote and getting engaged in the community. a lot of the work is done around engaging when it comes to black vote especially many of us are led by black women, so we-- i have been into many states to count. from the primaries till now and so there is a high level of engagement with black women. the biggest challenge is making sure millennial's votes and that's our biggest concern.

host: speaking to that on the front page of today's "washington post" with the headline "among young black activist clinton can be a tough sell". why do you think that is correct this election has been very toxic. i been doing this longer than i want to admit, so -- i will give you my political analysis as opposed to my non- partisan analysis. >> acs is a national organization devoted to bring together top legal minds to articulate a progressive vision of the u.s. constitution am part of that suffers to mimic right and came at-- campaign finance reform and efforts to try to build a better democracy together. so, what we will talk about today as both attorneys and organizers and folks involved in the field is how millennial's are uniquely situated to tackle the issue of

money in politics. money and politics are always a problem in the united states. we have never had a perfect democracy, but with citizens united, recent supreme court has made it more difficult for volkswagen equal voice and vote in our democracy, so we are very lucky to be joined by the dream team of young millennial up and comers and democracy space. on the far left is brandon fisher associate counsel of the campaign legal center. next is austin the lawley, director of youth engagement for the democracy alliance and right next to me is allie counsel. so, a couple things programming wise to start off on. acs has a couple of events coming up next month and we are getting attorneys in the area who are able to volunteer their time on election day to do something called election protection where we manned the phones and try to answer

questions that folks from around the country has on election day to make sure everyone's vote is counted. we also have an event on the 17th of november, voting rights training with an organization, voting rights institute which is par campaign legal center apart american constitutional society and park georgetown university and we will have trained for how attorneys can help pro bono basis to make sure everyone's vote is counted. so, today we will talk about finding topics. we will talk about what the current legal landscape is, with the us supreme court has given us, how it got what's impossible under the current rules and current rubric. we are going to talk about looking at the big picture and how millennial's have engaged in other progressive movements, what kind of successes millennial's have been able to get behind in other areas of the lot and then we will take a look inward and talk about what the democracy field is good at doing and where it has deficiencies and how can we better position to

lead and especially have millennial's lead the next phase of the movement and finally we will end on it-- bit of optimism and talk about what's possible and now, we have a supreme court vacancy. so we will hear what a doomed-- new democracy agenda can mean not just were millennial's, but for folks around the country. let's start off-- my name is scott counsel with a group called free speech for people, a legal organization devoted to taking ideas into action to promote and reclaim our democracy and to go from defense to the offense in order to get initiatives moving to help build an inclusive democracy for all. speaking of a legal landscape and what we are looking at now i will turn to our resident attorneys on the panel, which is brendan and ally to give us an idea of where we are coming from, where we are at how we got

here. allie, if you want to start us off. >> sure. can you all hear me in room okay? so, first to scott and acs thank you for having the support conversation and great to be up here with these panelist. in terms of the legal landscape, probably the most well-known money and politics supreme court decision is citizens united decided in 2010, and citizens united really unleashed spending by corporations on our elections and the reasoning in that decision also paved the way for super pacs, which are other vehicles that wealthy interest can use to spend in elections. citizens united really made a lot of people mad and sparked a lot of great activism around the country that we will hear more about, but we see the problem in the legal landscape as actually going back further to a case called buckley versus valeo and that case was decided in 1976.

it was after the watergate scandal and around that time the congress had passed a fairly comprehensive package of money in politics reform. some of the provisions that package were challenged and where the subject of this buckley litigation. so, some of the provisions in that package were upheld and remain part of our legal landscape today and that includes contribution limits, so there are limits on the amount that individuals can give to particular candidate or party, but on the other hand the buckley court struck down limits on spending and that includes limits on how much individuals can spend on their own money on elections as long as they do so independently of candidates. so, we have never really got a chance to see how the comprehensive package would have worked together, but probably more problematic is the

reasoning that the buckley court gave us in that decision. so, the court said that the government has to have an important reason to pass campaign-finance reform. it told us that the only reason that is important enough to justify campaign-finance for form and limits on money is to prevent corruption or the parents of corruption. at the same time the buckley court says government cannot act to enhance political equality or level the playing field among candidates. so, since the 70s courts have been asking this really narrow question of whether a campaign finance or perform is prevent corruption and the effect of this framework is that we haven't really been allowed to address some of the biggest problems that we face in our political system and that includes things like barriers to entry, candidates are not taken seriously politically unless they can raise a lot of money and that leaves a lot of

people out. it also means we cannot talk about the vastly unequal political power and lyrical voice in this country in these cases there queen no elected officials are a lot more responsive to wealthy interests in the donor class and that's a problem for many reasons, not least of which is at the donor classes disproportionally are very white and also mail, wealthy and frankly there aren't a lot of millennial's in the donor class either, given that we just don't control that much of the wealth and we are burdened by student debt. >> thank you. brendan. >> thank you for having me here. so, one point went to emphasize is that it's not only the supreme court that is to blame for the broken campaign finances that we are living in. it also rests in large part with the federal election commission, which is the federal agency charged with

administering and enforcing federal election law. six-member commission enacted after the watergate scandal, required for votes to take any action to require votes to promulgate new rules, for both to open enforcement actions and no more than three members can be part of the sample liquid party, so therethrough republican members, curly to democratic vendors and one independent and the problem is not so much that it's a partisan split. it's not the republicans who want to enforce the lot against democrats and democrats want to enforce audience republicans. isn't ideological split and currently the three republican members are ideologically opposed to the enforcement of campaign-finance laws, so even though laws that exist after are not currently in force. , for example as allie describes citizens

united said that because independent expenditures are independents there is little risk of those expenditures corrupting a candidate and therefore, spending by independent groups late super pacs cannot be limited. but, if spending is not independent it does pose a risk of corruption if treated under federal law as a contribution to a candidate subject to a $2700 limit and falls to the fec to preserve the independence and uphold the laws and regulations guaranteeing that independence, enforcing laws and regulation to finding corporation. the fec has interpreted this to allow candidates to appear at planning-- fundraisers. you have seen both presidential candidates this year hedging ever closer to their supportive super pack undermining the idea of any sort of independents.

again, citizens united the reason they rested on this notion that independent expenditures are generally independent and is the fault of the fec that we have single candidate super pacs. citizens united also endorsed disclosure of donations predicting the disclosure would help limit the opportunity for corruption from unlimited independent expenditures, but dark money, and disclose political spending has exploded in recent years and that is the fault of the fec undermining the existing disclosure laws by narrowly interpreting it to only apply to what a nonprofit expense on election that they'll have to disclose contributions made for the purpose of funding those ads. any nonprofit can assert that none of the contributions made to it were given for the purpose of funding those ads. therefore, we have no donor disclosure and we have dark money. so, the political system, campaign-finance system and not be great

after citizens united if the fec enforce the law, but it would be better than what we have now and also looking forward its import to keep in mind that critical elements in any campaign-finance system and any campaign-finance regime is that administration and enforcement of the law even if we successfully overturn citizens united and congress and asked to laws. those laws will really not be worth the paper they're written not if they are not effectively administered and enforced. so, this can seem disconcerting, but in some ways this is an opportunity because it is a lot easier than overturning citizens united. the commissioners to the fec are appointed by the president's pick the next president could appoint new commissioners. one of the things we have been calling for is for the president to appoint a blue-ribbon commission of nonpartisan retired judges, not partisan retired law-enforcement officers and they can

come up with a list of potential commissioners and the president could appoint commissioners from the list and we would actually see the laws that continue to exist after citizens united effectively enforced. that is one thing. there's also bipartisan legislation introducing congress to reform the fec and make it a more effective agency. so, that i think is one thing that could happen. legislatively or be at the injected-- it would make a big difference in improving our campaign-finance system. after citizens united there so plenty of room for proactive legislation in the realm of disclosure, in the realm of coordination, courtney rules and also public financing and i think we will talk more about that later, but you have seen congress is hopeless or congress will not pass the proactive legislation on these issues, but you have states and cities really advancing proactive legislation.

south dakota has a ballot initiative currently pending that would improve disclosure seattle recently enacted a really innovative democracy voucher program for every voter gets for that 25-dollar vouchers to give to a candidate of their choice. california has approved its coordination those are just a few things that still could happen even short of overturning citizens united or short of confirming a new justice on the supreme court. >> so, overall it's not good news, but there is reason for hope. we focused on the first two branches a lot, legislative branch, executive branch, but a lot of the work that the american constitution society has focused on is how our campaign-finance-- finance system is affecting our judges, so our judges are elected and 38 states across the country. 95% of all cases filed in the us originate in state court. state court judges hit on a ton of major policy issues in the environment, labor,

criminal justice voting rights and we will talk later about a report about who makes up those state court benches and are they reflecting the communities they serve, but it's important to keep in mind at the same time super pacs have come to dominate legislative elections and is the same sort for judicial elections with more spending in judicial elections than ever before a special interest groups are having a larger role than they ever have before. we will get into that later appeared so, let's turn to what has been possible, a bit of bright lining to this end we will go to austin with the democracy alliance. 70% of americans oppose citizens united. it's been a good rallying point especially for young people here can you give us a sense if there is good news what is the good news and what's possible? >> thank you, first of all for having me and to

acs and having all of us in the conversation. it will be rich because there were a couple points that was brought up and we could even have debate amongst friends, but i will say that it's kind of strange having someone from the democracy alliance, which is a network of wealthy liberal donors talk to you about getting money out of politics. [laughter] >> a little paradoxical, but the truth is there is a big difference between liberal donors right now conservative donors across the country and it's actually bit of good news to allie's point, which is that traditionally the donor class i spent pretty conservative in its views about some of these legislative issues, but you have millennial's who are inheriting a ton of wealth and enter the donor class and unlike their counterparts are spinning it a lot of-- spending their resources to figure how to get dark money out of our politics, which may seem like a self-defeating thing, but many know over the long haul the interest of the 1% and

of the 99% in terms of an inclusive economy and democracy networks rock there is a lot of intersecting, so that is one silver lining that i think people should think about and the issue of money and politics is front center for the community, so there are a time of movements that we have seen over the past few years, post- citizens united, which has been able to tap into the consciousness of a new generation of putting a lot of momentum at the legislative and other strategies that the money and politics folks have been working on for a long time and there are free-- three principles strategies or trends that you can see in these movements. movements like occupy wall street, which i think at the end of the century you will seal most historians talking about the era before and after occupy wall street when you think about the consciousness change or movement for black lives

rather movements, so here are the three trends that i think we should be excited about, but also look out carefully if we are talking about reinvigorating a democracy movement in the country with millennial's. the first is the movements i mention a second ago that are stepping into this gap in challenging the role of money, their national movements, not local movements took so, if you look at the way our news cycle, for example c-span is in the room and i'm sure the millennial's at home are watching right now. the reality is local news outlets have left of the landscape and most of the information that young millennial's are getting are coming from national news outlets and this is a big deal for the money in politics five because a lot of the narrative you share is national and that's what these movements have tapped into method an advantage for us as we look at this pic the second kind of trend that is happening amongst millennial's to give us hope and optimism and that the money out of

politics is that millennial's are not gravitating around organization per se, but network and so in the past you had people were a member of a local union or a church or a civic association that was placed based in geographically defined and i think that made it difficult at times to reach a scale in a way where you could take on some of these big problems like many politics and have large leaps of progress, but that is no longer the case because of the internet. now yet-- young people in particular are using networks to get to a scale and able to also mesh together the role of individuals and organizations. event, the third kind of trend happening that i think is an opportunity for us, but some people may see it as a challenge, which is the millennial's have been mobilizing post citizens united at the margins and not at the mainstream. that in some ways the

dissatisfaction at this burgess between rising inequality in the country and tricky political opportunity has led to a radicalization of our generation that cuts across party lines. we have seen it play out in the primaries, of course, with bernie sanders and his campaign, but i saw some recent polling that shows if you look at jill stein support base or hillary clinton support base across the board millennial's are saying they want radical social change and so the margins, not at the mainstream and so these three trends together, the national movement energy, the networks emerging and then this kind of radicalization of how people are thinking about their role in our democracy are great opportunities that should make us hopeful. the final thing i would say as we kind of think about how do we channel this energy and bringing into the democracy movement is, are we building a teddy bear or are we building a grizzly bear because what's millennial's are

saying and all of these movements i mentioned post citizens united is nato believe we can take on the problems we mentioned with the fec or supreme court with the presidency with a teddy bear with old incremental solutions with kid gloves on. they think we need a grizzly bear work they think we need to build a movement that's dangerous enough to shake up folks i think that's the kind of movement we need to support talk record today. >> wonderful. so, our fourth panelist is joining us and talking about their courts. if you take a look at things that have been successful while all around us other areas have been falling apart in the world campaign finance, not a lot of people realize that the us supreme court is three consecutive positive decisions when it comes to fair and impartial courts. the biggest one was in 2009 at that effectively said if someone spends too much money affecting a judicial election than that violates due

process and that's a constitutional principle that the legislative branch don't have in their inoperative framework and only applies to judicial branch. that was a victory. we had a victory couple years ago. the first time chief justice roberts has ever upheld a restriction on a candidate's ability to raise money and this is about judges going to people and saying, hey, give me $10000 i'm running for judge in the state of florida had a restriction. the supreme court upheld it then this summer there was a decision about whether or not a judge who oversaw the prosecution of a defendant when the decision came up to him as a member of the supreme court he had to recuse himself, so there is good news. i would say we are holding the line. perhaps you can speak to us about local movements that have seen some success or some areas where whether it's pushing back on citizens

united with resolution or local organizations that have they responded to the environment created around them. >> i apologize to everyone for being tardy. i was confused about where we were holding this event, so my apologies. i'm with public citizen may 455-year old organization committed to representing people's voices in the halls of congress and the halls of the supreme court in the halls of power. i want to briefly comments my experience working with peers, organizing to take back and stand up for our democracy and then drill down a bit if that's okay into how that's happening and how it can happen. so, folks are pretty frustrated and i'm sure we have talked about that because the game has shifted and we have not as many movement really succeed where people rise up and there's media coverage in the oxley's e-commerce pass laws to address the outrage, so i think a lot of millennial's feel like

so why move, how does that work and is that what we need to be doing then, there is another group of people who i think feel like maybe we just haven't had the right idea and if the right person with the right idea in the right way to market that idea would come forward then we could fix the problem. but come i think our perspective in the perspective i think we have seen a movements over the century in the united states is that we have to really shift power and reach people are quick have to be willing to get away from our phones and our desks and our beds and wherever we are engaging online it and also not to exclude those things, but also get out on the streets and talk to people with power and figure out strategically how to influence those people and if we don't have enough people working face to face with others to actually build stronger relationships, real face-to-face relationships.

so come i think part of the reason people are looking at ideas and marketing and said movements and i think there is a lot of millennial's i get movements. there is a big chunk of folks who are like if we just had an app than poor people in africa might be able to access water trick i have heard that from pierce. maybe if that is not the reason that people are lacking access to water. we have given power to corporate entities and we have seen a very intense attack on government as an institution. ..

>> >> they are supposed to make education accessible with equal opportunity as a reality not a dream. so when we break that government from enforcing those laws and reset it up to provide the status quo. congress and regulatory agencies are not doing their job than the appropriations of transportation and food doing what they're doing so they will keep that status quo. it is important for mellon deals to find their own ways of organizing and they're so many different ways to

communicate to build power through technology but also to take back our government in a need to represent everybody's voices in the fed isn't doing that we need to reclaim what is ours. said the democracy movement is making sure to get money out of politics we need a constitutional amendment for reasonable spending on elections all public donor financing replace privately funded elections that we have. if government is a dinner table election sets the table and the agenda they helped to write the laws we can get money on politics but then if we take away their right to vote and don't get to sit at the table at all so we do need both. how do we do that?

we had a sweeping movement all over-the-counter -- all over the country state and county legislators retired of money in politics we will take the action that we can take to pass a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united and 700 cities and towns have done that to be on the ballot in washington d.c. - - washington state and california that is exciting because people decided to get together to think about who has power as a collective also redoing public thing - - public campaign financing their is the petition you can sign if you are in the district the way that elections are funded in the district of

columbia those who find the government are contractors and people who have construction projects in the district for meyer is the biggest asphalts company to make so the road to do a decent job but the delegates $25,000 and millions of contracts in they are a monopoly actually so they make a small investment with millions of $4 if we have a different system once the candidate shows they're experienced then public funds could match those contributions the reward them for the public supports but also still has some of those biggest construction names ec oliver the district literally running our elections they are running our elections because they have for 24 percent of the funding you can bet there

will be careful and then the other it is howard county county, is hell dakota washington state also need transparency on the ballot if he is a sign that petitioned for will share the thunderclap that shows all the measures on the ballot for democracy on november 8 see you can help spread the word of interest friend democracy all over the country. >> so we talk about intersection nullity because millennial get certain issues we had then engaged five to recognize citizens united but it is difficult

to understand campaign finance reform at the other end of the spectrum position number one issue get money out of politics in can fix that financial interest so one of the issues we could provide a pathway to put the millennial on the radar to move from maybe just outraged to engaged to get them plugged in. >> just a couple things to say is that policy change is keeper'' but i also think it can be seen as the sole end goal how we evaluate progress and abraham lincoln has a quotation when he talks about the shaping of public sentiment fell as the

most important role and when we talk about the role of lead seals -- millennia else but if it is shifting the narrative. it may not and that in the local policy victory but it puts the wind of the reformers who were working at that local level. just examples is one is around the issue of transparency. there is questions of disclosure but who could go against the "pentagon papers" or 53 libertarians and progressives and conservatives see transparency as an issue front and center how they

think about in their democracy with our wikileaks e engage in them in second and is the tactic that think of what the more traditional campaigns are not as comfortable but it is important with wikileaks is a bird dogging it asa or familiar but if you follow a kennedy round of running for office and do a direct action aimed at the candidate and force them to respond so with the fossil fuel movement going after campaign fund-raisers for fossil fuel doing bird dogging actions against candidates to get them on record to say william o. undertake fossil fuel money in support of your campaign been so that lives up the conversation about money in politics than the second

example is key right now the country is having a national conversation about race in america. and color of changes in nonprofit organization working around issues of race and inclusion to organize a campaign to bird dog the candidates overtaking private prison money than getting them to go on record to say we do not want private prison many was lifted up the conversation of money in politics. they did not leave out front with that as the issue that led out front with fossil fuel the investment climate change but really it is about money in politics and that is what we have to figure out is had we find those opportunities with a much deeper issue. >> s super pac accepted $150,000 contribution a lot

of folks are aware of the economy like wall street income inequality at the top of the agenda for the democratic candidates, is there a way to use this issue greg. >> absolutely. the economy and economic inequality for his very much linked with big money and politics. the economy that the money also are inheriting are those that favor the donor class. and we know in particular if the areas of economic policy have different views than the 99%. just one example is federal minimum-wage. we never general public

opinion support is very high for a federal minimum-wage that if you are working full-time you should not live in poverty. eighty% of the general public supports that belief. among the donor class the support for that level of minimum-wage at the federal level is much less, it is about half the yet we see congress me very stagnant on the federal minimum wage even though it's incredible high national support for increasing the minimum wage and other areas in our economy are also impacted think about student that bob and the burden to take on the student that compared to college like 70 percent of the general public think that the federal government should do more to make sure

colleges affordable yet we have seen congress be stagnant on these issues with. >> anybody else in quick. >> to echo both shots, one thing to emphasize the way they have approached this issue is citizens united has come to have symbolic value will be lined the actual decision and what it said it was about corporate independent expenditures to allow them to make expenditures independent of the candidates but it has taken on huge symbolic value want with recognition and acknowledgement of the growing economic inequality in the u.s. in the world as a whole and a broken campaign finance system that money that flooded into the election after citizens united really show that

economic inequality was transferred into political inequality to symbolize the much broader issues of corporate power. one and the people who have the power as a result of decisions x's and united are white, old, male then the country as a whole and in particular more than alleles - - wikileaks. candid is -- millenials because it is transferred into political equality is not a surprise government acts in the interest of the donor class and particularly not have an interest of the millenials. >> we think we're on the

right side of history. so that ties in with different issues with big sweeping values and the narratives and pro-soviet its talk about what holds the field that. with the work that the mayor can constitution society has for the first time in history we looked at courts all across the country looked at the racial and gender makeup when someone to prompt you with a few numbers nationally women of color make up $0.19 in u.s. population men of color it is 19% on the other hand white men 30 percent of the population is a 50 percent of all state court judges. they could trace where opportunity falls off law

school, a judge, what does this day about the field? we feel a mitt have women but the current break that is different this study was able to find. >> i do think that nonprofits power structure and a fundamentally racist background as a whole the type of people who get the education and the ability to have the unpaid internships in particular has access to the positions we have to pay people who are working their way to school taking on debt to gain the skills necessary to do the work professionally. on the other hand, it should

be a tiny minority for those working on this issue that ballot initiative 330,000 signatures gathered over nine months, 80 percent of those were by volunteers and doesn't need to be staffed but if we do want lower income folks of all races to be in the movement there needs to be offending aspect much bigger than we have now >> i would say in addition to the structural barriers and that gabble negative up there is a trust gap in particular that happens with communities of color, we although the preamble of the constitution starts we the people but yet generation after generation falling of social movements has been to expand that because the framers who looks like the

structure of today. so there has always benes psychological distance and the fundamental institutions of u.s. democracy including a representative civil society organization. so the trust gap with uh democracy or see those organizations of money and politics. they'll see it as a be but they. it is unjust more diversity he did have more diverse voices keeping the system as it is of. we need to move from diversity to equity and how do we build a more inclusive week -- coal mines.

they may not see the inside strategy at the local level to be the most productive way to get change can we listen to their voices and be in dialogue with them? of weekend close the trust gap we will get more than diversity. we will get a more influential movement. >> millenials we are the most indebted and the most educated and the most racially diverse so what can we do differently? so looking at models of reform under a more inclusive framework can coalition.

>> it is the allied air that we talked about with the donor class but they're only successful with the base of donors is the 20/20 fund or owners come together with wealthy individuals such as talk about that valid - - abolished but i recommend by david callahan called fortunes of change. be older book is a publisher version the updated copy but there is a fundamental demographic shift within the

donor class itself. donors on the west coast or in is in new york city. in and they have talks like this in their most formative years so that is an example of one of the strategies we should have with the donor class in particular with millenials. >> on the local level i think it is very specific with an affordable housing crisis nobody is very serious. they genuinely care but we don't see that level of serious policy introduction to change the up problem because of the funding system locally proposal that matters deeply with the beating edge of gentrification of the

district that is across the river so there's a lot of work to do their. that coalition is already a diverse group. were to have as many communications as possible. as mary tried to go in the dropped one negative democracy movement this spring naacp and other groups and they had 5,000 people in the district protesting for money and politics. up until that point is

grassroots based in working very hard for the maternity members it is a long journey for sure. >> can you name those high priority items crux of those coalitions been quite. >> how is that created how was that supported? bar there any trends with that? >> showing a percent with half american churches and to work with members of the community that way. and to go in person to talk to people to show that you are committed and willing to go anywhere in the district

it is not across crucial lines this still exists in the very segregated cities so that is one piece also the corruption is so blatant and then to build a new practice facility was a major donor that is not everyone to spend money with an affordable housing crisis for those who don't have to get internships and a chance to get some experience. >> one thing that is a highlight for me is some of the work that programming

from t11 to put research and studies and how the political system operates so talk to us about the working have been doing >> i recommended peabody checking out the report that talks about big money and politics with injustice in this country it is important to keep in mind we have the trust capital soleil racial wealth gap in the country because of the exclusion of colored people from our economy as well. and this matters because the entrenched donor class is a lot less likely to

prioritize them people of color because they are disproportionately white. and with the context of the trust gap we know khanates of color are less likely to run for office in the first plants -- the first place. and is a pattern set millennial session seek to interrupt. the week of the most diverse generation unit and in terms of fund-raising this is an area where white people have an extra responsibility to show up candidates of color in the way that we historically have not done the way that white mullein deals could be leaders. and with that inclusive democracy project and with the grass-roots

organizations around the country. and judicially was very white. and working on different issues like racial justice and immigrants rights. and tusis democracies reform and structural reforms of public financing for election or voter frustration or restore the right. that can facilitate the broader platform and the genius like racial justice. from the ibp cohort for

black lives policy platform. >> so now we move to the last part the optimistic brighter days tomorrow portion of the talk so the prompt is given that we have that opportunity with the u.s. supreme court with campaign finance what could be possible with of a different orientation? and to have an expansive appreciation. and to give the judge if you thousand dollars and then to

limit the amount the compromise and then to remain fair and impartial. and began going to residents so talk about your respective organization fission for the majority first of all, the strategy on the ground and everybody has just explained it is a real moment where people are engaged in the issue overwhelmingly bipartisan support that citizens united is out problem and historic feat the knock against campaign finance reform that

people voted about but that will change among younger people. also a question of the teddy bear? on the ground it shin beyond a grizzly bear with the broad dissatisfaction to have the supreme court even that the corps as a whole is concerned of the illegitimacy enable entirely reversed themselves so for the immediate term looking

for the current jurisprudence going back to the buckley decision that was mentioned earlier with campaign finance restrictions to be justified to combat corruption or the appearance of corruption it was not a fully developed very. justice briar in his dissent hell campaign finance laws can further the public entrance. with the campaign finance restrictions within the campaign finance laws is the supposed infringement and the legal strategy the

school desegregation we are not challenging existing laws to not down desegregation laws to defend the good laws. as a result to a challenge from any existing law as it is more likely to be upheld as it is nearly tailored to a strong localized record of corruption. plaza the principles of rethink about moving forward as we anticipate the jurisprudence changing with this new justice but what is happening on the ground. if you achieve the new jurisprudence that we are hoping for for new legislation that is the

importance to where we engage with these issues and that is where becomes so important. >> just picking up on that beach completely agree and looking at the longer-term to spark activism but we see that the chip on the expert about the core got wrong as early as buckley's to limit big money and politics we see what that looks like an occurrence system because spend as much as they want on their own campaign or spend as much as they can and they do so independently.

and more importantly allot of awesome potential candidates never bothered running for office because they cannot raise tens of money. but u.s. it is important about a jurisprudence and with a clean government some of millennial its seed that economic ecology it is time to interpret uh compline negative constitution that is what the current doctrine does. and all the while affording high end privilege to wealthy interests. we are optimistic that

things could get better of the court to make with the newest democracy simic there are local opportunities to challenge a ruling overtime. that is the serious in the trenches campaign that they are excited about that could lead to a challenge of citizens united. and salsa think to respect the institution of the corps and a confirmation improv says. we're at a point in general with the trust to fulfil those duties that the balance of power remains.

and is there any punishment for that at all? the big money is in the center raises there is a lot more that we could do but until there is political consequences it provides the incentive that they don't have a duty to confirm to consider who the president nominates army mobilized e.f. -- mobilized the death? >> it is time if you have a question we have a microphone. if you would tell us your name and the or are representing.

>> >> i am from the law firm. to be exposed at the republican base as a risk in a coalition like president clinton to take action? >> one problem that i think that you describe that this election has really demonstrated that the republican voters care about this issue a great deal but

those politicians block reform every turn. figure can see with the donald trump messaging saying clinton is corrupt but he has yet to put forward any actual policies solutions to address the broken system that he has correctly diagnosed. it is a question whether the republican voters can holy the politicians to account. so with that fec reform bill that they could have the chance to go somewhere and that is something of the question again if any officials will show that the republican voters actually want.

>> there has been a proposal certainly at the local level for of motion whether it is the tax credit for financing that they feel really good about. and for those waiting until they get that chapter to some extent but it is definitely ground zero for the question if we can get serious change on the ground. and with the public financing proposals with more support at the grass-roots level. >> there was the point to

get citizens united overturned or in this case they're not worried about the law but it is challenging battle lies. sojourn take the case to court and howled that gets overturned? >> can-do consistently seek the legal advocacy groups of campaign finance laws that have been on the books for a long time. so i think it is a question

of the center for competitive politics. that is a good question. >> can we pick your brain? i would echo everything that he said but that they cannot contain themselves. >> it is not unified structure there is that anti-democracy feel. >> and as the brief response there are the true strategies if and when that

is challenged? but their options as a failure to act and here is the case. >> anyone want to respond to that greg. >> i would say those of our pursuing both of those avenues. we have a complaint that the ftc that challenges this and their leading in the initiatives to provide that challenge with the citizens united.

we have a few more minutes. simic wonderful panel great to see you. with regards to engaging if we have billionaires' like warren buffett or the face book founders to give the majority of their wealth away what do you think it will take for some of that money to go towards democracy reforms? any number of things. of the concerns like colonials to trace back to that influence. >> data know if you can hear me. >> i would say that the short answer it is it will

take time but one reason it will take patience is unfortunately a lot of donors right now are emerging that is happening with the philanthropic landscape has not engaged at the level that they should up until this point around these bedrock issues. there is a massive transfer of wealth going to millennial s in the ballpark area of over $1 trillion. now was the time to take this time to cultivate some of them might be inheriting wealth in this room. to shape the world feel. so when they are in spaces like this.

into focus on us donors when they are young. that happens at the age of 18. and also will happen at the age of 40 so if you want them to change the issue you have to start young bird down the pipeline there is a resource generation focused on that and then others that do movements for the technical donors in the bay area trying to cultivate those relationships. second, a lot of direct action is changing public sentiment. back in 2011 people were 99% and 1% that polarizing action depending in your

perspective could draw a lot of young daughters to the side of the 99% where was through the heroic actions so as uts combination of donor education and the relationships that need to be billed and secondly sometimes it will take i net worth individuals and corporations feet to the fire. >> we have time for one more question. . .

in our campaign finance laws and is it necessary for us to change our methodology? >> is a great question and i think there is probably a degree to which they are intertwined or in a related. interrelated. the u.s. supreme court decisions like citizens united was entirely at detached from reality. i don't believe any of the

current adjust this is where elected officials. they don't know how the campaign finance comes out. their assumption in that case encases like that were entirely off-base and similarly the degree to which the justices are unrepresentative of the country as a whole there is going to be a lack of recognition about how their decisions impact the country as a whole. the two are very much interrelated. we will leave it at that. >> enough said. this is a part of the american constitution society d.c. lawyer chapter. we have our board members. put your hands up in the room. these are our chapter ambassadors. find them and engage them and buy them a drink at the bar. thank all of you for coming and being here with us. thank you c-span for providing

coverage of it. you are all now free to watch the third presidential debate. thank you all. [applause] >> if you guys didn't get food there is plenty left in the room right over there. the third debate between hillary clinton and donald trump's being held tonight coming up in about one hour and 15 minutes at 9:00 eastern live on c-span2. been coverage of the spin room or candidates and surrogates go after the debate to talk about about -- talk with reporters the debate at 9:00 eastern with the election coming up just under three weeks away. our live coverage here on c-span2 tonight.

the northern virginia chamber of commerce hosted a debate with candidates of virginia's tenth congressional district. incumbent representative barbara comstock a republican and democrat luanne bennet took questions on a range of topics. [applause] >> good morning everyone. i'm honored to be with you here today. it's my pleasure to introduce the candidates for virginia's tenth congressional district. i'm going to provide a brief introduction into each of them but please refer to your programs for more information. barbara comstock was elected in november of 2014 to represent virginia's tenth congressional district. harbor serves on the transportation and infrastructure committee, science space and technology committee where she serves as

chairwoman on research and technology and the house administration committee in the united states house of representatives. she served in the virginia house of delegates from 2010 to 2015 where she served as chairwoman of the science and technology committee. she also served on the commerce and labor committee and transportation committee. she earned her law degree from georgetown university law center and graduated from middlebury college with a b.a. in political science. she's a 30-year resident of mclean virginia. they have raised their three children in mclean. please welcome congresswoman barbara comstock. [applause] luanne bennet grew up on her family's farm east of st. louis. she and her husband rick moved

to fairfax county 35 years ago. they started and grew a small real estate business and the wreck was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in 1994. she's a single working mother of three boys running a business. today her small business has worked on projects that help create job opportunities for more than 1000 workers and generated millions of dollars to economic development for the metro region. while promoting energy efficiency and environmentally sustainable development. ms. bennet earned her bachelor's degree in education from eastern illinois university. she was married to congressman jim durand from 2004 to 211 while he represented the neighboring eighth congressional district and they remain friends today. she continues to work with a number of foundations providing for working families across the region and across virginia. please welcome luanne bennet. [applause]

we also invite the audience to submit your questions to the candidates. there are no cards in your seats. please feel free to write a question down for the candidate and a member of the chamber will come by and bring it forward. please remember to keep your questions focused on business issues. all questions will be kept anonymous. another way for the audience to engage is to use hashtag nova debate and add nova chamber constitutional media. now for the ground rules. each candidate will receive up to two minutes for an opening statement. the candidates will be provided up to two minutes for closing statement. following the question and answer period. the order will be determined by a drawing prey to the debate. during a the question-and-answer. at the candidate answering wrist

is provided with one minute and 30 seconds to respond. the candidate answering second bow receive one minute and 30 seconds to provide an answer the same question. additionally the candidate answering first will be allowed one minute for a rebuttal. candidates will alternate between answering first and second. the moderator may ask follow-up questions. through the predebate drawing congresswoman comstock who provide the first opening statement and the first question of the debate and have the right to close out the question with her rebuttal time. ms. bennett will provide a second opening statement and for the last question of the debate and have the right to close out the question with her rebuttal time. kevin mcnulty of the chamber city upfront as their timekeeper and he is located at the front of the stage. for each state in a response to timekeeper will show a green card with 30 seconds remaining, a yellow card for 10 seconds and a red card when the time is up.

the moderator will interrupt the candidate if they do not complete their sentence properly. time and it -- limits will be strictly enforced. in order to be successful we asked the audience refrain from applause after answers are given. in addition let me mention only credentialed media. we have a lot of them here today, the permitted to the event and the individual filming date debate who is not a credentialed member of the media will be asked to leave. with that let's begin the opening statements. congresswoman comstock you have two minutes per your opening statement. comstock: good morning northern virginia chamber. you know me. then a member of this chamber. at the record of real accomplishments, results that are are ready working for the district and look forward to discussing my record and my vision for the future. my opponent has had little involvement in the virginia business community are the issues driving our diverse innovation economy through my record of real bipartisan result

, 600 billion in tax relief, stopping the sequester cuts pass education reform including s.t.e.m. data center growth research and development tax credits transportation solutions, 21st century cures, landmark legislation. where has my opponent on these issues? not working for virginia in the past decade not even living in the tenth district to sheep and spent her career in real estate and honor on facebook page she said she had moved to washington d.c. and 2014 but i'm the only northern virginia member of congress in the majority and the only chairwoman. this chamber endorsed me when i served as a delegate and now the u.s. chamber and every leading business organization has endorsed me as have federal employees, the police benevolent association and the fairfax firefighters who usually endorsed democrats. my opponent resided at the last debate including tell us $1 trillion in tax might create

a lot of jobs to sheep supports most of not all the obama job regulations that she opposes my competitive hitting legislation that the chamber endorsed to cut defense which would harm our national security and our jobs and she thinks obamacare makes health care more affordable. i have a lifetime of experience and relationships working with businesses charities and leaders of our community which makes the district the best place to live work and start a business. i am my own woman i have a strong voice for your priorities. together we can build on the strong foundation. thank you. >> thank you. ms. bennett you have two minutes for your opening statement. bennett: good morning. i stand here as one of you. i have run a business for 35 years and shared your frustrations with the do-nothing congress that can't pass a budget. i'm also here as a mother to

three sons and a grandmother to my grandson, sam. the decisions congress makes or more accurately doesn't make will impact all of our children and our grandchildren. congress is broken and that must change. 35 years ago my husband rick and i moved to northern virginia. we raised our boys and started a real estate business. in 1994 we lost rick to cancer and i was left a single working mom running a business in the middle of a recession. it was tough but i never missed a payroll. one of the things that i learned from this experience is that in challenging times there are always opportunities and i see tremendous opportunities right here in the tenth district. you and i know that in business we solve problems every single day by working together even

with people we don't agree with. barbara comstock went to washington and fit right in to the obstructionist congress. we should have seen it coming when the state delegate she voted against a bipartisan transportation bill, the very bill that brought the silver line to dulles airport. top of that my opponent just recently said she can no longer support the candidate, donald trump. unfortunately she continues to support his agenda, an agenda that would block equal pay, lock comprehensive immigration reform , block commonsense gun safety, denies climate change, punishes women for making their own health care choices and an agenda that divides the country. thank you to all the sponsors of today's debate. i look forward to answering their questions. >> moderator: i think we will come forward and try to adjust your mic.

i think yours was working well. let's just take a pause here. mike is telling me he would like you leave the opening statement. is that what you are saying? i'm sorry. [inaudible] >> moderator: thank you for your statements. we will move on to the first question which goes to congresswoman comstock. metro, metro has often been the news cycle for all the wrong reasons in the past few years. fortunately it was the hiring of a strong general manager things started to change the funding

remains an issue. the metro system to a large extent is the transportation system for federal government employees and for employees whose companies service the federal government. what responsibility is the federal government have in funding operating and capital for natural and how will you advocate for this funding? congresswoman comstock. comstock: thank you. indeed mr. has been one of our biggest challenges from the first day are selected and we have a tragic accident. i'm sorry you are not hearing? >> moderator: mike, can you come in here please. we need a microphone check. let's step up for one second. i apologize for this. we had several rounds of testing beforehand. [inaudible conversations] we can hear you congresswoman comstock.

we are going to go to the first question for congresswoman comstock. it was about metro often in the news and now the general manager. what responsibility does the federal government have been thundering operating and capital for metro and how will you advocate for that funding? >> thank you again and we have been working on this since i was elected and when i worked on the competitive legislation to make sure we get the silver line going. after the accident in january of 2015 we really brought people together on a bipartisan basis to make sure the safety culture is going to be the top priorities and i commend our new general manager for hiring new safety people, for clearing out some of the management and putting their new practices in place.

the $150 million a year that have already been in the system to be able to support metro when my own party tried to cut that out they cut out 75 million per guy works on a bipartisan basis for the region to get that restored and believe me having a majority member and their in my conference to push this was a very strong reason why we are able to get that in there. i also worked on the issue of crime at metro. we see rising crime there. we have incidents of a rape at 10:00 in the morning that wasn't reported for over one month so when we had a hearing i asked the general manager this needs to be reported immediately. i'm happy to say he changed the policy that very day. i'm working every day. i've been out to the control center. i'm talking about controlling costs and i do think there needs to be a federal role in it but if you have recently, when you have the governors and the mayor here, there is still a lot of work to be done in resistance on that.

i am already working on that. >> moderator: ms. bennett 90 seconds for you. bennett: our region and our local economy depends on the safe and reliable metro system. 40% of our federal workforce takes the metro. we need safety and we need reliability but we do need to fund the improvements that need to be made. we need the system to be safe. i would point out that we wouldn't have the metro system going to dulles airport and into lowden county word up to the congresswoman. when she was in the house of delegates she voted against the funding for metro, against the largest bipartisan transportation bill to come out of richmond and she did it because she assigns big grover norquist no tax code pledge. the perfect example.

we need to fund metro. metro needs $18 billion in capital repairs. this is precisely why i support a federal infrastructure spending authority much along the lines of senator mark warner's bridge bridge act. there's a bipartisan bill in the senate. senator warner has signatures on both sides of the aisle. there is also a bill in the house. john delaney has a bill that would provide infrastructure spending. that is the kind of spending and thinking that we need to fix our metro system and fix our infrastructure across the country. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. comstock: the competitive bidding bill that we worked on together with many of my colleagues and supported it on a bipartisan basis by this chamber in the business community and many of our former governors who were democrats supported my competitive bidding bill. we would not have gotten the

vote to get metro to dulles if we hadn't had the competitive bidding bill that you supported. that was my legislation. my colleague here knows i did always support metro. the budget that was mentioned when you weren't here blue when you were elsewhere working in virginia but i did cover the medicaid issue. i have already worked to restore the money. i've worked with my colleague john delaney on legislation regarding metro as well as congressman dan lipinski was on the science and technology committee where i chair the subcommittee and research. we have a bill working on how we can deal with safety and terrorist threats on metro cell we have emergency drills and i was there working with them. i'm meeting with paul and his leadership this summer. >> moderator: thank you. thank you so much. ms. bennett the next question is for you. work worse education is a core

priority for the northern virginia chamber of commerce. what type of workforce education initiative would you propose at the federal level that are responsive to the business needs for the needs of the business community in northern virginia and how would you work with your counterparts in state and local government to ensure that the federal workforce education program achieves the maximum results? bennett -- bennett: education is critical. it's something i know quite a bit about because i've been working in my private capacity to provide educational issues for two decades. competitiveness, the success of our children depends on high-quality education. we do need to educate our workforce for 21st century jobs and we have great opportunities to do that in our community college system. i think we have that

infrastructure buildout. we need to maximize the use of it. right here in virginia we have 37,000 unfilled technology jobs. in the short-run we need to increase the amount of high-skilled visas available to companies to be able to fill those jobs but in the long run we need to reeducate our american workforce did build those jobs. i will work hard to provide funding for education. my opponent however has cut public school education funding both in the house of representatives and in the congress. how she cut $620 million from the public school budget and in the congress she voted for an 800 million-dollar cut. she actually voted against an amendment that would provide s.t.e.m. grants for women, minorities and low-income students. that's the kind of thing we simply cannot do if we are going to move forward in the first

century. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds. comstock: on the on the one on the stage that has been involved with virginia public schools in virginia public universities. i come from a family of educators. my husband is in the fairfax center and my mom who is here today is a librarian. i've worked with state and local officials. many of my colleagues here, tom ross i chaired subcommittees and education have those working relationships on education. on jobs we have already passed the s.t.e.m. bill part of our education reform. a major education reform bill. we were in richmond and i was a delegate. also tom and i and others in richmond stop the $120 million in cuts and one of the first thing that dealt with when i became a delegate be a bipartisan bill and it was to stop that. my opponent was not here working with us on those issues but what

she is talking about is spending more money downstate while we would have increased taxes. we fought that we fight together. we restored at 120 million. on lowering the regulations for researchers so they can research i have the s.t.e.m. will. get myself on a bipartisan basis and already passed the house and senate committee. >> moderator: thank you. ms. bennett 60 seconds. bennett: budgets are about priorities. joe biden has a great line he likes to use from his dad. he said joey, show me your budget and i will tell you your priorities. democrats prioritize education and we need to do that in congress today. education is an investment. you and i coming from the

business community we know the difference between investments and spending. education, infrastructure, these are investments in our country. we need to invest in our country just like you and i invest in our businesses to grow. education will make us more competitive. we need to fund these programs. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock according to reference at the northern virginia transportation alliance currently more than half of the region's population is outside the capital beltway. the pattern will continue as projections indicate that most of the 2040 growth will occur and the outer portions of our region particularly northern virginia. for this reason the business community has been calling for an upgraded american new northwestern potomac river crossing. question, do you support the additional potomac river

crossing and if so what would you do to bring this project to bring this to fruition and if not, why? comstock: for the first time in years we have passed the transportation bill in congress about raising taxes and i was a proud member of the transportation committee to be on that conference committee to get that work done. as you know from having chamber recently had a discussion here with virginia and maryland governor and the mayor. we know from having worked with state and local officials who know we need to have more and get to work from the ground up. it's not like the 70s where you can come in and draw lines and have people not include the public. i know when i was a state delegate i worked on different quarters. row seven we were done to make sure we got that right. my state and local colleagues do all the time. i've told the business community

in my state and local college i will sit and work with you. i will go to meetings and work with them to make sure we get those corridors that we know we still need and we do have money in the current transportation budget to start that process. that was something we did but we have to get agreement on the ground level and that's going to require the kind of collaboration and leadership you have when you work with the people who are the key players in all of these things from the business community, from the state and local officials, from people who are going to come up with new technology which we have at george washington university on how we can find a better way to have our congestion relief didn't get good transportation solutions. >> moderator: ms. bennett, 90 seconds. bennett: the congressman loves to talk about the legislation she was a part of passing. the problem is this congress hasn't passed an appropriations process in six years.

that is unbelievable. if that happens in your business or my business we would be out of it. we need a congress that will pass an appropriations bill. doesn't matter how much authorization legislation he passed. if you don't find that it can't happen. i would say we need a big change in congress. she likes to talk about the fact that my business is located in washington d.c. and works regionally. i think in this case it's really an advantage. i have a long-standing relationship with people in maryland and in d.c. and virginia. get the transportation solutions for this region are going to have to be negotiated regionally with regional cooperation those relationships will be hugely beneficial when it comes time to really talk about the hard questions that have to be answered. i am for upgrading or the

structure here locally. it's critically important. all of us know you cannot separate transportation from economic development. they are joined at the hip and we have to address our transportation issues in order for the northern virginia region to continue to grow. thank you. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds. comstock: as i mentioned i have worked with you on these issues. also when i worked for congress. there's only one person on other virginia chambers have that

forum to have that discussion to get that work on a long-term bill. the i was very proud when i went out. >> moderator: ms. -- they parkway and if so what role can you play in bringing that the

bi- bi- county park winner also support the widening of traffic that whitening, we need a safe and reliable metro we have to connect growth is available.

that's going to metro hearings effort in there did not work is because the officials from the

state level in my own party did not go to work with the local delegates or the local delegation and we have to do that. we can find incidents where we can work that way. on the widening of route 7 i party work on that. i sat with my predecessor and vince callahan was there with us we celebrated how we came together working out those issues. again my opponent talking about metro she has been endorsed by a dysfunctional union and is being sued by the obama administration. how bad do you need a union if this administration is doing you. this is a union that won't work with their new general manager who i've worked with all the time. i mention we got the crime report change. i can assure you poll we do filled a is a general manager who works with us on a weekly and monthly basis and appreciates that i made gaetz in a ball. we both are critics.

we are both critics of what's going on with metro. if you are not a critic of the safety of matter and what's going on you or not seeing reality that we are coming up with solutions. i talked about having, i'd be happy to talk about that again. >> moderator: ms. bennett, 60 seconds. bennett: i would like to address the issue, the fact that congressman comstock says she is going to be a member of the majority. first of all that's a big assumption at this point. i think it's kind of up for grabs who's going to be a majority in the house the second of all to be a member of the majority that works less than half the business in a session and gets less done, passes no proof appropriations bill doesn't have or very little significant legislation legislation, i don't know what that does for any of us.

i believe that we need to work. i think congress should have the minimum number of days that it's required to work. we require schools to teach children a minimum number of days. congress should go to work and congress needs to get the work done for the american people. this republican-led congress is simply not doing that. it's got to change we need need people there who are going to catch it. >> moderator: congressman comstock the next questions for you. in a report from the tourney third group dr. stephen fuller from george mason identified the following seven sec or z. target institutes for growth in our region. the question will be which of these factors do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth in northern virginia and how can you support that in congress? the seven sectors or advocacy, information and communication technology services, science and technology services, biological

health and technology services, business and financial services, media and information services and business and leisure travel businesses. so advocacy, information and communication technology services, scientific knowledge he services, biological and health to knowledge he, business and financial information business and travel. which of these sectors do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth in northern virginia and how do you support them in congress, 90 seconds. comstock: i've worked throughout my career so i could not just select one. our region is so talented and that's why we are going in all of these areas and why we identified those seven for growth. the regional areas have done the permanent tax credit for the past a 600 billion-dollar tax relief bill that we passed last

year providing great information to the economy that we have. information technology and cyber technology. i've worked on my subcommittee ride had cyber experts come in. we had john wood testify and i'm proud to have his support and have them working with us on how we can use expertise in the private sector to bring that into the government. he was a great advocate or us. the science and tech area we have to partner with their universities. that's why having the kind of leadership we have been having those relationships, i have a lifetime of relationships in the public education system. but my husband served in for 3030 years and i have worked with these leaders. on biology i'm so excited about what's going on with the new campus center. another good leader for our area supporting me.

todd who has been a leader in the business community. and all of the above. >> moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, 90 seconds. bennett: if we are going to focus on any sector i would focus on the sector as we have a good core infrastructure in. certainly information technology and cyber or two areas that are going to be growth areas. information technology is a big sector. cyber is a real opportunity. we need to in our military fund the wars of the day and tomorrow they are going to be fought in the technology space by and large. we are seeing that now. hacked by state players. we need to fund that through our military budget and grow our

cyber sector. we have great cyber companies. tell us, and a new one trench where located right here in the tenth district. this is a great opportunity for the tenth district. biotech is a great area as well. we have the research center and nova. we have great institutions. we need to make sure they get the proper funding. health care will be a growing sector in the future. these are great opportunities. the one opportunity and mention that the opportunity and a new alternative energy or. we are in an energy transition and supporting energy technology and supporting wind turbines and solar panels. it's a real opportunity for us. comstock: in order to get that pipeline to help ring jobs

information technology we have been working hard to support the education reform bill. we have a great -- we have fairfax and lowden the monroe technology center and now they are expanding it through the central academies in the actual schools. my opponent wants to cut defense. she is fund-raising on the basis of cutting defense. you are not going to have that money for cyber. i would also like to mention health care in general. that's why we get that with nih locally. our research institutions we can have an implosion of biotechnology. i think we should look at it regionally. >> moderator: ms. bennett the next questions for you. despite promises that this you

would be different the house only approved five of 12 appropriations bills and only one was enacted into law on time as a result the federal government is once again being funded almost entirely through continuing resolution until december 9. as continuing resolution to not provide long-term certainty that many of the companies in the region need would you expect the federal government to invest in the workforce and whether companies? without blaming for the house's failure to approve the bills the question, what needs to change for the two parties to work together and start developing and passing appropriations bills on time and how could you reach across the aisle, across the hill from the senate or on pennsylvania avenue to get this done and who would you work with? so what needs to change, how would you reach across the island who could you work with

on a bipartisan basis? bennett: with what he's to changes in leadership we need leaders in congress who actually want to get something done. we don't have that right now. we have leaders who want to obstruct and not take any hard votes. this is because we are so driven by politics, not what is good for the american people. we need leaders who are willing to tell the truth to their constituents about the choices that have to be made. i will work with anybody. we are you or are in the business sector you and i all know you have to work with anybody to get solutions to problems. nine times out of 10 maybe 10 times out of 10 you are working with someone you don't agree with. don't solve problems by talking to your own caucus. you solve problems by talking to the other side and you have to listen and you have to hear them.

the democratic party doesn't have all the solutions but the republican party has some good ideas as well. we need to work together. we need to warm public rabbit harker ships. i think the business community has lots of good ideas. the government in the business community need to work together. democrats and republicans need to work together. i intend to do just that when i go to congress after november 8. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds. comstock: i was one of the leaders from the beginning i've been part of the governing majority. that's why i've been named one of the 20 most bipartisan members of congress and a republican congress and the top 100 of congress in general because i have far to established i have that working relationship. when i was in the statehouse my

bills were almost exclusively bipartisan bills. i had all of the right to work legislation to get it that we work together on. the competitive bidding bill in the data center bill. the data centers are providing tens of millions of dollars to our local economy. what you do is you get good ideas come you go out and build coalitions and seminaries in the economy and more. people i've worked with on a bipartisan basis i mentioned congressman lipinski. he's my minority chairman on the technology committee. we work with the medical community. we worked together on how we can get met metro solutions using technology using congestion solutions in terms of technology also. i am the only one on the record who actually has done what my opponent only talks about. we have not heard any examples of how she has gotten results for northern virginia.

>> moderator: ms. bennett, 60 seconds. bennett: are congress haven't given us many results either to be quite honest. you are not a bipartisan when you sign ideological pledges like the grover norquist note tax pledge. it causes you to take bad votes. when you make commitments to the gun lobby which cause you to vote 25 times to block legislation from coming to the floor that would keep guns out of the hands of people under the watch list. this is common sense. we need to use common sense in this country and be genuinely bipartisan not just in name. the congresswoman won't even sign on john mayer's freedom of religion bill. freedom of religion, who can be against that, but she won't sign it. i don't buy it.

>> moderator: congresswoman comstock the next questions for you. would you be willing to put everything on the table, discretionary spending, entitlement spending and taxes to achieve a sensible style long-term budget that provides greater stability to northern virginia businesses and reduces deficits in the broader more equitable manner than the discretionary spending caps we currently have under the budget control act or sequestration. 90 seconds. comstock: we have been doing that and i have demonstrated direct of that. i posed as one of my top produces the posting that it sequester cuts. i am willing to work on all of these things. we are already doing this. you talk about ideological things.