the last comment on the budget and who is taking credit or not but also a criticism of you from the governor, you can respond in your 90 seconds. you're in the pockets of big oil, big insider, that's been a constant attack on you. >> yeah, first of all with the budget you want to talk about acting like washington, she vetoed a budget, delayed money to address our heroin epidemic, to address mental health beds that we needed at the time. basically blow a 90 million-dollar hole and eventually agreed to those reductions with overriden by own party and now takes credit for it. so this is just -- you want to talk about taking credit for something and double speak, that's been clear about the budget and that's why jay bradley is upset about it and

other leaders who worked hard to craft the budget that she vetoed. when it comes to medicare, i actually received an award by the work done by the aarp, work i've done on care giving, work i've done for seniors and in terms of medicare, we do need to preserve it, i voted to preserve and strengthen medicare part b, stop medicare strange -- advantage cuts and i wouldn't do anything to hurt my mother on medicare but for the younger generations, i have supported giving them choice on whether they want medicare as it is or they want to have other choices but not anyone at or near retirement but for her to say e we shouldn't look at different ways to address lower costs for medicare, i'm making sure have medicare so it doesn't have belly up. >> thank you.

governor, you time for rebuttal. >> okay, so frirs of all -- first of all on medicare and big corporation interest, senator ayotte has stand up to big pharma which is a big funder of her campaign to low medicaid to negotiate. she has voted to allow importation drugs from canada which would help us lower costs including in medicare and she has failed to -- i think she's voted against to allow generic drugs to get to markets more quickly. she also stood with wall street in voting closing tax loopholes for hedge fund managers. she stood with big oil over and over again so, you know, the record is there and i'm happy to talk more about it should your listeners want to. >> this is one of the governor's favorite talking points when there's -- you looked at your tv the hundreds of -- could be up

to $100 million in this race. i offered her the pledge and she didn't want to keep the money out. she talks about big pharma, first of all, that's not true that i don't want to get generic drugs to market. i've pushed for that and by the way, when it comes to big pharma, you know, she's actually raising money from lobbyist for big pharma and doesn't want to talk about that and raising money for lawyers that represent wall street. >> okay that was 30. real quick. >> two and a half million dollars from wall street to senator ayotte's campaign at this point voting with the cock -- koch brothers and fail to go stand up to pharma.

one more thing, jack, i support overturning citizens united which has allowed dark money to politics. i signed a pledge and the senator did not want to negotiate. >> let's talk about her favorite talking point the so-called koch brothers. they have stood up to me. what are running ads is liberal groups supported by harry re distribution, mark schumer, we could have kept -- >> money in politics a lot of people don't like. >> those are the special interest supporting her race. >> we could spend the rest of the hour and i would rather move onto other issues if i may. before i go to that, i don't want miss important topics, this is a quick one to both of you if you could. i will give you 30 seconds each.

second amendment and gun ownership and the right to bear guns. in general i think you both said you're prosecond amendment but if you want to characterize your opponent for a moment are there any differences whether it's on background checks, any additional gun control laws if you're elected, for example, governor or reelected senator that you would support that you feel are necessary that may come before you as a senator, any difference between you two on gun control and i will start with you governor very quickly. >> i fully support second amendment rights, right for responsible gun owners to hunt, recreate and protect homes. the biggest difference and i have supported gun safety laws that former governor melton thompson said worked pretty well. the biggest difference is senator ayotte has the opportunity to vote to expand

background checks so people who have gun can circumvent and it can be a big differee can be a big difference between us. >> thank you for the answer, senator. >> i spent my career focusing on keeping new hampshire safe, victims of violent crime. victims of violent crime. i strongly support the second amendment and there's a big reason in this race. governor hassan has an f from the nra, she vetoed bills to protect rights of gun owners in new hampshire, when it comes to enforcing law to keep us safe from criminals and terrorists not having laws, i've supported strengthening the prosecutions of violations of our laws, i've supported making sure that if you're a terrorist you can't have access to a firearm. i want to make sure that i protect the second amendment rights for people of new hampshire. >> can i move on? >> that's fine.

>> it has to do one of the subjects that's come up in your race, it's part of the story, if you look at the tabloid story but the iranian nuclear agreement. i would have to say a lot of people are confused by this because they hear secretary of state john kerry the president saying it's a good agreement, we had no choice, good long-term to keep the proliferation of nuclear weapons over time and iran down but then you hear stories that it's it's a bad agreement, we sold out that it could lead to iranian nation, if you will, enriching uranium outside of our control and producing a nuclear weapon. so you criticized governor hassan, good or bad agreement and what's your concern with it? >> very bad deal, bad deal because it's going to allow iran to keep basic nuclear infrastructure that will allow it to legitimately seek to have

nuclear weapon's capability at least within ten years if not sooner. what have we seen from the bad behavior of iran testing ballistic missiles, writing on the side of some of the missiles they are testing that they want to wipe israel out of the face of the earth. there's no reason why iran should be focusing on ballistic missiles unless they want to hit united states or allies with a nuclear weapon. think about the cash that they're supporting, money that they have gotten from the administration supporting terrorism. they are threatening naval vessels and supporting groups in yemen that are taking aggressive steps against us most recently. so this is a bad deal for our country and it is one that makes us less safe and our allies less safe and one that i've opposed. i think that we should have taken a much stronger position and not allowing them to keep

their nuclear infrastructure to address ballistic missile program and support for terrorism which has grown and continues with this deal in place. >> governor, you've been criticized by senator ayotte on the show of the iranian nuclear deal. good or bad deal? >> iran must never get a nuclear weapon and never will as long as i have anything to say about it like senator and foreign policy and national security experts in both political parties i think that this is imperfect and important agreement and it is the first step in many that we need to take to continue hold iran accountable and continue to protect israel among others. one of the things your listeners should know is israeli military chief of staff said that this deal removed the most -- the biggest threat to israel's existence and he and many military leaders in israel

support this deal, not because it's perfect but because as a result of the deal, iran has destroyed much of its nuclear infrastructure and is much farther away from getting a nuclear weapon than it was before the deal was made and that's the end of the day what this is about. we need to do more to help israel maintain its military superiority, we need to do more to hold iran accountable. i would support extending the iran sanction's act but at the end of the day when you listen to israeli military leaders this has removed the threat to israel's existence and it's a first step in many. >> you get a rebuttal. >> i would listen to the leader of israel, president netanyahu, and called a mistake. officials including defense minister continue to oppose this

agreement and are concerned when they know that their ballistic missile is being tested that are written in hebrew on the side that say we must wipe israel off the face of the earth and they have a regime that deny it is holocaust, that continues to promote aggression to israel by supporting groups like hamas and hezbollah. well, this agreement enables iran to have the infrastructure to have -- >> i'm going to stand on this quickly because i want to get to other foreign policy and real quickly both of you. the next president may ask for authorization if determined that iran is not living up to this agreement and they do have nuclear weapon ready to go and israel tell us it's verifiable, how far should we go in stopping them?

should it be taken out? >> that's hiet -- quite a hypothetical. everything is on the table to protect the united states of america, right? everything is on the table to protect israel because israel and the united states have an unshakennable alliance based not only on interest but values. we need to do everything we can to keep israel secure and to make sure that it preserves democratic and jewish character. that is for sure. before this agreement iran was under the cloak of darkness. this is an imperfect agreement but it keeps us safer and we have to keep working to do other things as well. >> senator, can we move on? >> i think this issue is far from imperfect. it's just a bad deal. >> next question for the

governor, syria is in the news a lot. isn't it refreshing for people that are listening to debate thanks to our friends at eastern bank commercial free but isn't it nice to hear issues, just a comment. governor, syria, very important situation and it is in complete and utter mess. assad killing children, civil war basically and we could go whole hour on this but what should our role be there and debated on the presidential side about this, did we by not getting involved in that civil war a few years created vacuum for isis to form, should we go in? should we go in and punish assad for what he is doing? should we stay out? a lot of people want to know and vef veterans on the line here. we have troops, there are troops fighting in an around this. it's big untalked about story. what do you think about -- i

know it's only 90 seconds. what should our role be in syria? >> first of all, we have to do anything we can to destroy isis and i have layed out a plan in national security plan to do that. we need to increase air strikes, we need to continue to serve our special operations, specially to go after command and control and surge intelligence in iraq. we are going to have to work with our international partners to allow them to arm moderate forces like the kurds in syria. it is long past time as well for the united states congress to take up debate and pass authorization of use of military force. so the american people actually understand what it's going to take to take isis out and i'm very disappointed that congress hasn't done that to date. now, we also know that in recent weeks russia's behavior in syria has been outrageous. i think it's appropriate that

secretary kerry called investigation for potential war crimes and going after assad's positions as well because the syrian regime has been brutal to its own people and it looks as if they may have committed war crimes as well. we are going to also have to work with the international community and this is why it's so important to have a strong international community to look at what a post assad stable syrian government would look like and, you know, it's one of the reasons that i'm so concerned about the republican topic ticket. >> syria, senator, you've been there, you've been in the region as a sitting senator. >> i've been to refugee camps in jordan that many of those murdered have been gone to and fled to. >> what should our role be? >> when you have a president that lay out red lines and

doesn't follow through then you have a situation where then allies feel that they can't count on you and enemy feel embolden, this is about strong american leadership, number one, to defeat isis and we have to understand that one of the things that during my time on the arm's services committee the military leaders wanted to keep a follow-on force in iraq because they were concerned that there would be a vacuum created. the president pull filling a campaign promise supported by secretary clinton who was secretary of state pulled troops out and syria where you have isis forming this caliphate, so absolutely we need to defeat isis, we need to destroy them because they are -- they represent this threat that we face from radical islamic terrorist that want to destroy the way of life. that being, we need a strong plan from this president and one of the reasons he went to the

congress with members on both sides of the aisle on the foreign relations committee couldn't put -- couldn't support it because there was no in my view a strong plan to destroy isis which does include more military strikes, giving our men and women in uniform, by the way, 4500 of our men and women on the ground right there and there's been increasing incrementalism but absolutely given the rules of engagement to take out isis, given the strong american leadership and engage our allies -- >> senator, thank you. governor, you get a rebuttal on this but one thing the senator touched upon is a quick question and i will let you get it out as well, we should not reduce force in iraq was a mistake. would you have kept more troops there to kind of stop that vacuum and then follow up on syria or anything you want as rebuttal? >> first of all, we were misled

into the war in iraq by president george bush and his administration and secondly it was president george bush who made the commitment to withdraw the troops. that is something i would have tried to do to change because the withdraw to create a vacuum but to say that this was president obama's fault when it was the bush administration that agreed to it because the iraqi government wouldn't agree to protect our troops is wrong. you know, at the end of the day, we do need to have strong american leadership and for over a year my opponent has supported donald trump who suggested we should weaken nato, who suggested we should have more nuclear weapons in the world and won't share a plan to defeat isis because he doesn't have one. >> if you want a quick comment there, senator, otherwise i would like to speed things up. >> i would like to comment. >> make it brief, please. >> first of all, my husband served in the iraq war. i'm proud of his service and i'm

very disappointed. i served on the arms services committee and i listened to military leaders, there is no status of forces agreement right now with 4500 troops that we have there. this was about fulfilling a campaign promise instead of making sure that we had the american leadership to put us in a better job so groups like isis would not become the danger and threat that they are. >> i would like to move on. drug crisis, number one problem facing the people of new hampshire according to most recent survey months ago. by my -- by this show and the experts we have had on, it's not getting better at least this year close to 500 new hampshire residents and if you look at the news each day and you both know this, i know you have families. the other day a stepfather was charged because of 19-month-old baby had access -- people being

stopped by the police and they're passed out. every day first responders responding in communities up in interville. 500 people. last year was 439. the governor has been on my show. she's taken special legislative session. she will have a moment there. senator, is it getting better or worse and, you know, you pushed for legislation on the opioid crisis, the governor was governor, but has the governor led well here and what needs to be done and is it getting worse or better? >> well, jack, i think this situation unfortunately we continue to lose people so it is getting worse in some ways because i know that i keep meeting parents that have lost someone that they love, lost a

son or daughter, a brother or a sister and it's devastating, so at the the national level i worked for three weeks on a bipartisan basis, two republicans and democrats came two together and put a bill focusing on the best programs and focus from the federal level but to focus on those programs and prevention, treatment and recovery and this issue is also about interdiction. it's coming our southern border from mexican drug cartels. $100million for more interdiction. >> is 2017 going to be better, just ten seconds? >> i hope so. we continue to lose people. i talk today first responders. been on ride-alongs, i think that there's still so much more work that needs to be done on

the people of new hampshire here. >> governor, the drug crisis. i have met so many granite staters that are suffering from the loss of a loved one because of terrible epidemic. i have visit the nicu in elliot hospital where you see babies with neonatal asbtinance syndrome. i have been fight for special medicaid, the emergency we got out the door and are getting out of the door now. on a federal level we need emergency funding. we need to work on prevention, treatment and recovery and supporting law enforcement including working at the

borders, both north border and southern border. >> i want to have time for closing remarks. based on coin toss i will let you know who it's going to be. very quickly, you both on my can bees have proactive on veterans care. i didn't want us to go without talking on the real heros. thank you both again because i may not have time at the end. real quickly, will you commit to try to make the choice program work? i'm still hearing from a veteran, the appointments aren't being approved, the paid is not being paid, things aren't getting approved. all i want is a commitment. will you continue to commit and the same thing for the governor to make program real? >> yes, nothing the more important to getting this right for those who defended this nation. >> thank you for the prompt answer because i appreciate your

answer. >> i'm a daughter of a veteran and i think this is something senator ayotte and i can agree on. >> let me thank you because we are at the time where we have a minute, minute and a half for each to close so can we get to it, am i right to do that? i believe governor, you're going first. >> that's correct. >> go ahead and close, your remarks. >> thank you, jack so much to you and listeners and senator ayotte for being here as well. as we are speaking of veterans, i think about the fact of my father who was a world war ii veteran would look at us at the breakfast table when i was growing up and said what are you doing for freedom today and that could be a daunting question but he was serious. we come to know him as the greatest generation who by believing in something in greater than himself saved the world from hitler and then built this country to the greatest economic and military force the

world had ever known. that is the spirit that i have brought and try today live by as governor. it is the spirit that should inform our work in washington, d.c. and ultimately, though, this election comes down to whether new hampshire is going to continue to have senator whose agenda is by special interest or senator fighting for the people. >> thank you, senator, your closing remark. ..

addressing the problems with the affordable care act, the higher deductible, the higher co-pays, the regulations that make it more difficult for them. getting our fiscal house in order, keeping the country safe in a dangerous world from countries like iran. this race is about who's going to stand up for new hampshire no matter what. governor has to has been recruited to run by power brokers like harry reid and chuck schumer. i stand up for the people of new hampshire. i will stand up no matter who is in the oval office to work to get results for the people in this state. >> i want to thank our entire team, our network of stations. i want to thank eastern bank and renaissance. i want to thank our listers who asked me to ask questions of substance. i received several messages thanking both candidates for being so substantive and getting issues talk about. i wish the national media would take note and get back to some important issues. monday -- thanks for joining us.

♪ ♪ >> coming up at 17 future in the ohio senate race with incumbent republican rob portman and former democratic governor ted strickland debating for the second time this week. c-span we'll have that live. said the department is had by average of 13 points. >> in virginia's tenth

congressional district income but barbara comstock and democrat the ryan bennett debate issues impacting businesses, infrastructure needs come immigration policy, workforce education and training and equal pay. several prominent political pollsters give barbara comstock a slim lead. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. i'm honored to be with you here today. it's my pleasure now to introduce the candidates for virginia's tenth congressional district. i'm going to provide a brief introduction of each of them, but please refer to your programs for more information. barbara comstock was elected in november 2014 represent virginia's tenth congressional district. barbara currently serves on the transportation and infrastructure committee, science, space and technology committee where she serves as

chairwoman of the subcommittee on research and technology, the house administration committee in the united states house of representatives. she served in the virginia house of delegates from 2010-2015 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 graduate from middlebury college with a ba in political science. she said 30 to resident of mclean, virginia. she and her husband, retired public schools -- please welcome congresswoman barbara comstock. [applause] >> lwin bennett grew up on her family's farm east of st. louis. she and her husband moved to fairfax county 35 years ago.

together they started and grew a small business, small real estate business in québec was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in 1994. left 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 in economic development for the metro region. while promoting energy efficiency and a financially sustainable development. ms. bennett earned her bachelor's degree in education from eastern illinois university. she was married to congressman jim durand from 2004-2011 while they represented the neighboring eighth congressional district, and they remain friends today. she continues her work with the number of foundation fighting for working families across the region and across virginia. please welcome luann bennett. [applause]

>> so we also invite the audience to submit your questions to the candidates. there are no cards that were placed -- notecards placed in your seat. please feel free to write a question down, and a staff member of the change 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 novadebates and at nova chamber on twitter each candidate will receive up to two but for an opening statement. candidates will be provided up to two minutes for a closing statement. following the question and answer period. the order was predetermined by drawing part to the debate. drink a question and answer period the candidate answering first this provide with one minute 30 seconds to respond.

the candidate patrick second will receive one minute 30 seconds to provide an answer to the same question. additionally, the candidate answering first will be a loud one minute for a rebuttal. candidates will alternate between answering first and second a moderator may ask follow-up questions. per the predebate drawing, congresswoman comstock will provide the first opening statement, and for the first question of the debate and have the right to close out that question with her rebuttal time. ms. bennett will provide the second opening statement, answer the last question of the debate first, have the right to close out that question with her rebuttal time. kevin mcnulty of the chamber sitting up front is our timekeeper, and is located at the front of the stage. for each statement of response the timekeeper will show a green card with 30 seconds remaining, yellow card for 10 seconds, and a red card when time is up. a moderator will interrupt the

candidate if they do not complete their sentence probably. time-limited will be strictly enforced. in order to be respectful of each candidate we asked the audience to refrain from applause after the answers are given. in addition let me mention only credentialed media, we have a lot of them here today, are permitted to film the event. the individual filling debate is not a credentialed member of the media will be asked to leave. with that, let's begin the opening statement. congresswoman comstock, you have two minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning, northern virginia chamber. you know me. i've been of this chamber are either record of real accomplishments, results that are already working for the 10th district another for discussing my record and my vision for the future. my opponent has a little involved in the virginia business community or the issues driving our diverse innovation economy. my record of real bipartisan result, 600 billion in tax

relief, stop defensive posture cuts, as education reform including stem, data center growth in research and develop a tax credits, transportation solutions, 20% to cures, landmark care when legislation request my opponent been on these issues? not working for virginia. and for the past decade not even living in addition. she spent her career in d.c. real estate and her office but make she said she moved to washington, d.c. in 2014. i am the only norther northern a member of congress in the majority. and the only chairwoman right now. this chamber endorsement would've serve as a delegate and have used the chamber and every leading business organization has endorsed me as have our federal employees, the employees benevolent association and the fairfax firefighters previously endorsed democrats. my opponents talking points include telling us that 1 trillion in tax increase of my create a lot of jobs. she supports most if not all of

the obama labor regulations hurting jobs and i know you oppose. she opposes my competitive bidding 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 the relations is working with the businesses, schools, charities and leaders of our community that makes the 10th district the best place to work, live, start a business and raise a family. i am my own woman. i it is my strong voice for your priorities. together we can build on this strong foundation. thank you. >> ms. bennett, you have two minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning. i stand here as one of you. i fronted 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 him or more accurately, doesn't make, wha impact all of our chin and our grandchildren. congress is broken and that must change. 35 years ago my husband rick and i moved to northern virginia. we raise our voice 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 that are always opportunities. and i see tremendous opportunities right here in the 10th district. you and i know that in business resolve problems every single day by working together, even

with people we don't agree with. barbara comstock went to washington and fit right into the obstructionist congress. we should've seen it coming. when as a state delegate -- delegate should vote against a bipartisan transportation bill, the very bill that brought the silver line to dulles airport and beyond. on top of that my opponent just recently said she could no longer support the candidate, donald trump. unfortunately, she continues to support his agenda, an agenda that would block equal pay, block comprehensive immigration reform, block commonsense gun safety, denies climate change, punishers women are 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 your questions. >> thank you. mike, i think will come forward and try and adjust your mic so

that -- i think yours was working well. let's just take a positive year -- a pause here. so mike is telling me he would like you to redo your opening statement, ms. bennett is that what you're saying? yes. >> really? >> jim, i'm sorry. >> we heard it. >> mike? >> of the people in the back of the room here that okay? >> okay. we will move forward. thank you for your statements. we will move on to the first question which goes to congresswoman comstock. metro, metro has often been in the news cycle are all the wrong reasons in the past few years here fortunately the hiring of a strong general manager, business start to change but funding

remains an issue. that metro system to a large extent a in this transportation system for federal government employees, and for employers whose companies service the federal government. what responsibility does the federal government have in funding operating and capital for metro? and how would you advocate for this funding? >> thank you. indeed, match was been one of our biggest challenges from the first days when i was elected and we had a tragic accident. i'm sorry, you're not hearing? could you maybe fix her microphone so we're both are speak with mike, could you coming you please? we need a microphone check. let's start out for one second. mike? i apologize for this. we have several rounds of testing beforehand. >> yes, we can do, congresswoman comstock.

we are going to go to the first question to congresswoman comstock again. it was about metro, often in the news now strong general manager what responsible is does the federal government have in funding operating and capital for metro and how will you advocate for that funding? comstock: thank you again. and we've been working on this since i was elected and actually before having worked on the competitive bidding legislation to make sure you get the silver line going but after the accident in january of 2015, we really brought people together on a bipartisan basis and nature the safety culture is going to be the top priority. i commend our new general manager for hiring new safety people, for clearing out some of the deadwood that in management and really putting new practices in place. the $150 million a year that it 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, i worked on a bipartisan basis with the region to get that restored. i believe having a majority member in their in my conference to push this was a very strong reason why we were able to get that restored in there. i also worked on the issue of crime that metro. we see rising crime. we had incidents of a rape at 10:00 in the morning that wasn't reported for over a month. so when we had a hearing as the general manager, this needs to be reported immediately. i'm happy to say she change the policy that very day. so i'm working every day. i have been out to the rock, the control center. i'm talking about controlling costs, and they do think the need to be a federal role in it but as you've recently, when you of the governors and the mayor here, there's still a lot of work to be done and resistance on that, but i am already working as part of a bipartisan

coalition of that. bennett: you know, i'll region at our local economy depend on a 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 find the improvements that need to be made. we need to make sure the system is safe. i would point out that we would not have the metro system going to dulles airport and into loudoun county were it 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. she did it the because she five -- she signed the grover norquist no tax pledge. this was a pledge taken to -- that's a perfect example of it. we need to find metro.

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

and to loudoun if we have not had the competitive bidding bill. so that was my legislation. my colleague knows i do know support metro. the budget that was mentioned, you were not here, you were elsewhere, not working in virginia, but that was the medicaid issue that is concerned but in the budget but 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 who's on the science and technology committee where a chair a subcommittee on research. we have a bill that's going to be working on how we can do with safety and terrorist threats, on metro. i am immersed in this every day. when we emergency grants i was working with them. i meeting with paul and his leadership team this summer. i went to -- emergency meetings in august turning thank you so much. ms. bennett, the next question is for you. workforce 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, or the needs of the business community in northern virginia? how can you work with your counterparts in state and local government to ensure that the federal workforce education program achieved a maximum results in northern virginia? bennett: education is critical to our future and it's a subject i know quite a bit about because i've been working in my private capacity to provide educational opportunities for over two decades. our economic competitiveness, the success of our children, depends on high quality education. we do need to educate our workforce for 21st century jobs, and with great opportunities to do that in our community college systems. i think we have the 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 here but in the long run we need to we educate our american workforce to fill those jobs. i will work hard to provide funding for education. my opponent, however, has cut public school education funding both in the house not end in the congress. and how she got sick so 20 million from the public school budget, and in the congress she voted for an $800 million cut. she actually voted against an amendment that would provide stem grants for women, minorities and low income students. that's the kind of think we simply cannot do if we're going to move forward into the 21st century. >> moderator: thank you.

congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds kind of action on the only one on this stage that has been very involved in virginia public schools the virginia public universities. i come from a family of educators. my husband is in the fairfax system. my mom is a teacher and librarian. i've already worked with state and local officials, many of my colleagues, pat, stu, tom who chaired subcommittees on education so i have those were to relationships on education. on tech jobs we've already passed the s.t.e.m. education bill that was part of our education reform. we had a major education reform bill when we were in richmond and i was a delegate. also, we, tom and i and others enrichment stopped the $120 million in cuts in 2010, one of the first things i dealt with when i became a delegate. we had a bipartisan coalition to stop the. my apple it was not here working with us on the issues, but what she's talking about is what is

spent more money downstate while we're going to have increased taxes, right, tom? we fought together and restore the 120 million. i'm the one with relationships with the george mason. my built ongoing the regulations and researchers said they can really research. i have a stem bill for young women, i get myself on a bipartisan basis, already has passed the house and is now out of the senate committee. >> moderator: thank you. ms. bennett 60 seconds. bennett: budgets are about priorities. you know, joe biden has a great line he likes to use. he said, it's from his dad, he said joey, show me your budget and i'll 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 investment

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: thank you. congresswoman comstock, according to our friends at the north of virginia transportation alliance, currently more than half of the region's population lives outside the capital beltway. that pattern will continue as projections indicate that most of the 2040 growth will also occur in the outer portions of our region, particularly in northern virginia. for this reason the business kennedy has been calling for an upgrade or american -- and a new northwestern potomac river crossing. question, do you support the additional northwestern potomac river crossing?

and if so what would you do in congress to bring this project to fruition? and if not, why? comstock: for the first time in 10 years we've passed the transportation reform bill in congress without raising taxes and i was proud as an of of the transportation committee to the on that conference committee to get that work done. as you know from having i believe the chamber recently had a discussion here with virginia and maryland governor and the d.c. mayor, those are challenge issues and we also know from having worked with state and local officials we know we need to have more corridors but we have to work from the ground up. we cannot impose it, it's not like the '70s where you 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, group 70 we will talk to make sure we got that right. my state and local colleagues do all the time. i've told the business community and i told my state and local

colleagues i will sit down and work with you. i will go to these meetings and map these things out and work with them and 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 what 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, for people are going to come up with new technology which we have like a george washington university on how we can relieve congestion and find a better way to have our congestion relief get good transportation solutions. bennett: the congresswoman loves to talk about the legislation she was a part of passing the problem is this congress has to pass an appropriations process in six years. that's unbelievable. if that happened in your

business or my business, we would be out of business. we need a congress that will pass an appropriations bill. it doesn't matter how much authorization legislation you pass if you don't find it, it can happen. so 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 that's really an advantage. i have a long-standing relationship with people in maryland and in d.c. and in virginia. if the transportation solutions for this region are going to have to be negotiated regional regionally, with regional cooperation. those relations -- 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 our infrastructure 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 chess notation issues in order for the northern virginia region to continue to grow. thank you. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. comstock: as i mentioned i've worked with you on these issues over the seven years i've been in the legislative but also an award for august will as a senior a. i know to cut through the gridlock because i've been part of the bipartisan governing majority. there's only one person on the stage will be in the majority. we don't need another minority member of congress and you can't add to the region. my opponent hasn't worked, don't think she's been a member of this chamber or other virginia chambers at some of the i've worked with our melancholic. we know we're going to need to have that type of collaboration. that's why you had recent forum

to have that discussion and to get that done. that's what i provided work done five year long-term deal. the first time in 10 years we got a long-term transportation bill that i have a seat at the table and. we provide congestion relief provisions in there and i was proud when it went up to the george washington science and tech research center to see this young man who's working on drivers cars with my bill sitting on his desk saying how that will help our local area. >> moderator: ms. bennett, the next question is for you. the loudoun county parkway, excusing of loudon park he -- to the fastest-growing counties in the united states. but they lack robust interconnectivity. do you support the by county parkway? if so, what role can you play and bring it to fruition? and if not, how would you propose to bring about a much-needed north-south connection? lef..

transportation options seeming to do all of the above. we had bus service, bike trails, we need road improvements, we need a safe and reliable metro. i'm concerned with our silver livestock when they open in 2020. we have to connect to a healthy and reliable system. if we don't, a huge opportunity for growth is going to pass us by so i will work and to ensure that metro

gets the funding necessary to make this a safe and reliable system and that's going to take federal involvement. i have metro hearings and i've seen the congresswoman talk with metro officials and all i've seen is criticism, i've seen no solutions. in business you can't afford to be a critic. you have to find solutions. sometimes they're not perfect solutions but we have to move this forward. i look forward to being a part of the solution, thank you >> as i mentioned earlier from my work, our local officials hereto from prince william, the reason your effort to put them there did not work is the officials from the state level as in my

own party did not go and work with thelocal delegates, work with the local delegation . to find consensus to work that way. on route seven, i've already worked on that. both as a delegate and vince callahan was still there with us and we celebrated how we came together to work out those issues, there are a lot of issues notwithstanding. my opponent, talking about metro, she's been endorsed by a company that is being sued by the obama administration. how bad do you have to be as a union, this administration is suing you. this is a union that will work with our new general manager y worked with and i should mention we got the crime reporting phase. i can assure you we have a new general manager comes out and works with us weekly, monthly basis, appreciate i am engaged and involved.

we both are critics. we tell the critics what's going on on metro. if you're not a critic right now of safety at metro, and what's going on, you're not seeing reality but we're coming up with solutions and we had a hearing, i talked about having better, i'm not going to talk about that again. >> two. i'd like to address this issue of the fact that congresswoman comstock says she's going to be a member of the majority. first of all, that's a big assumption. i think it's kind of up for grabs whose going to be in the majority in the house but second of all, to be a member of a majority that works less than half the business phase in a session and gets less done, passes no appropriations bills doesn't have any significant or very little significant legislation, i don't know what that does for any of us.

i believe that we need to work. i think congress should have a minimum number of days is required to work. you're required to teach 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 have people there that are going to change it. >> a question for you, in a report from the 2013, stephen fuller and george mason identified the following seven target industries for growth in our region. the question will be which of these sectors do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth in northern virginia and how can you support that growth in congress? the seven sectors are advocacy, information and communication technology services, science and technology services, biological health and

technology services, finance services, media and information services and business and leisure travel services. advocacy and consumer information services, technology and services, biology services. information, business and lose your travel. which of these sectors do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth in northern virginia and how would you expect it to be second? >> i work in all of those sectors with bob freer so i would not select just one. our region is growing in all these areas, that's why it has the potential for growth in the regional growth in our area thanks to the permanent research and development tax credit we passed in the $600

billion tax relief package last year is providing more innovation to this great economy that we have in all areas. information technology, cyber security. i've worked on my research and technology subjects where i've had cyber experts come in, tell us that we had john would come and testify for us and had him working with us on how we can use the expertise in our private sector and bring that into the government and he was a great advocate for us. on the science and technology area, we got to partner with our university, that's why having the kind of leadership we have, i have a lifetime of relationships in the public education system that my husband served in for 30 years and i've worked in technology, i'm so excited about what's going on with the center. knox singleton and another good leader for our area, partisan person todd

stottlemyre as you know here in the chamber and i would not select any of these out. we have growth in every area. >> thank you. >> bennett, 90 seconds. >> if were going to focus on any sectors i would focus on the sector we already have a good core growth first, core infrastructure in and certainly information technology and cyber are two areas that are going to be growth areas. information technology is a big sector, it's been thriving. cyber is a real opportunity. we need to in our military fund the wars of today and tomorrow and they are going to be fought in the technological space byand large. we are seeing that now . we need to fund that through our military budget and grow the cyber sector.

we have great cyber companies. tello's media and a new one, trench where located here in the district. this is a great opportunity for the tent district. biotech is a great area as well. we have the finale research center and in nova. we have great institutions, we need to make sure they get the proper funding. healthcare will be a growing sector going into the future, these create great opportunities. >> there's one you didn't mention that i would like to mention and that's a new alternative energy sector. we are in energy transition and supporting energy technology and manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels is a real opportunity. >> miss comstock, 60 seconds. >> in order to be able to get that pipeline to stem jobs in informationtechnology

, we've been working hard to support the education reform bill to both more local controls. we know we have tj and fairfax, monroe college and the special academies of science that are going to be in the actual school. you are talking about defense, she wants to cut defense. she's fundraising on the basis of cutting defense. cutting defense, you do not have that money for cyber that we need. i'd like to mention and i hope we discussed this, 21st century bill which is really about innovation and that's why with nih here locally, our research institutions, we can have an exclusion of biotechnology all through the region and i should look at it reasonably regionally as well as through virginia. >> nextquestion . despite promises that this

would be different, the house only approved five appropriations bills and only one was enacted into law up front. as a result the federal government is once again being funded almost entirely through consuming resolution this time until december 9. as continuing resolutions cannot provide long-term certainty, the companies need to do business with the federal government to invest in their work and grow their companies without blaming the other party , what would be your plan toapprove the bills ? what needs to change for these departments to work together and start developing and pass budget reputations and how would you reach across the aisle to the senate or on pennsylvania avenue to get this done and who would you work with? >> what needs to change, how would you go across the aisle and who could you work with?

>> these changes on leadership, if we need leaders 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 boats. this is because we are so driven by politics that's not good for the american people. we need leaders were willing to tell the truth to their constituents about the choices that have to be made area i will work with anybody. when you're in business sector, you have to work with anybody. to get solutions to problems and nine times out of 10, 10 times out of 10 you're working with someone you don't agree with. you don't solve problems by talking to your own caucus and your own friends. you solve problems by talking to the other side and you have to listen and you have to hear them. democratic representatives

don't have all the solutions but the republican party has some good ideas as well. we need to work together. we need to form public-private partnerships. i think the business community has lots of good ideas. the government and business community needs to work together, democrats and republicans, we need to work together. i intend to do just that when i go to congress after november 8. >> congressman comstock, 90 seconds. >> i was one of 75 republicans who did vote to keep our budget open from the very beginning and i have been part of that governing authority both within my caucus, within the congress. that's why i've been one of the 20 most bipartisan members of congress and the republican caucus and sandra, i think the top 100 because i have already established i have a working relationship. when i was in the statehouse,

bills were almost exclusively bipartisan bills. i had all the right to work legislation to work together on. the competitive bidding bill. the datacenter bills that we worked with: status providing tens of millions of dollars to our local economy. i've already demonstrated that ability to get good ideas, to go out and build coalitions for the economy and more so people who i've worked with on a bipartisan basis, with desmond lipinski, he's my minority member chairman on my college study. we work together in the medical community and research, he was a professor. we worked together on how we can get metro to technology using congestion relief solutions in terms of technology also so i'm the one, the only one on the record who actually has done what my opponent only talks about. i practice that and you have not heard any examples of how he has gotten results for northern virginia.

>> 60 seconds. >> our congress hasn't given us many results either to be quite honest. you know, you're not a bipartisan when you sign ideological pledges like the grover norquist bill. it causes you to take bad loans. it causes you to make commitments to the gun lobby which causes you to vote 25 times to block legislation from coming to the floor that would keep funds out of the hands of people on the kehrer watchlist. this is common sense. we need common sense in this country and be genuinely bipartisan. congresswoman won't even sign on to don byers freedom of religion act. freedom of religion, who can be against that? but she won't sign it. i don't buy it.

>> thank you. congresswoman, next question for you. would you be willing to put everything on the table, discretionary spending, entitlement spending and taxes to achieve a goal style long-term budget deal to provide greater stability to northern virginia businesses in a broader more equitable manner in the discretionary spending that we currently have under the budget control administration, 90 seconds. >> we've been doing that and i've already demonstrated a record of that. opposed as my top priority was opposing the defense bill which was not only depressing our local economy but devastating for our security so yes, i'm willing to work on all these things. we are already doing that. you talk about ideological things, my opponent has often said he supports 1 trillion in taxes and she has said

congress needs to do whatever hillary clinton wants. i don't think you need a congress that rubberstamps whatever hillary wants. i've already demonstrated several years worth being a member that works with you and i'm willing to stand up against my own party as i did when they were going after federal employees. i said i'm not going to vote for a budget if they're going after federal employees. they knew that they had to come and negotiate with me, i worked with my colleagues a bipartisan basis because i think it's important that our federal employees are part of the solution. we were in the statehouse, our state agency people who work with us to find savings and we said we will give you a bonus if you can find places to save money over several years, we were able to save all kinds of money, give our employees a bonus and let them be part of the solution so i've already had a demonstrated record of working to get everybody

together, get them to the table, that's why i've been part of that governing majority of nearly 75 republicans to get a budget passed. >> 90 seconds. >> i am for a plan to reduce our debt. we cannot pass on the level of national debt to our children and grandchildren. this is one of the reasons i am running. my candidacy is about the future. this is about the world we leave our children and one of the main things we are doing is leaving them a lot of debt. we have to fix it. i am for some symbols, what i'm not for is unix like sequestration that only come about when you can't pass it and when you play these zero-sum games. i'm also not for government shutdown.

bad for our economy, it's bad for business and it's especially bad for northern virginia. business needs certainty and what that means is they need the government to set the rules so they know how they can invest in their company. you and i understand that. unfortunately, the congresswoman just doesn't. the games that we are playing in congress are the worst thing for our businesses. we need certainty, we need to pass legislation like comprehensive immigration reform that will fix our broken immigration system. we need bills like major infrastructure funding source that will invest in our infrastructure, create jobs in the short run and then fund the infrastructure improvements and improve our economy. >> congresswoman comstock. >> we've already started on tax reform when we passed a 600 dollar tax relief package

that had that permanent tax credit and i should mention when i was in the statehouse, the last bill i had that governor mccullough's funded was a tax break for virginia, that helps our gross economy. we also need to have what we did and that tax bill to last september, it has permanent extension for small businesses. it has a permanent child tax . i introduced a bill to also double the tax credit. i also am cosponsoring a bill that would increase childcare tax credits that hasn't really been indexed since my children were young we need to do that and the trillion dollars in tax increases, that's not the way you apply it to businesses. when i visit all these businesses, a number of which i've already been there talking, i hear thank you for providing us certainty but you've got to give us more

and what democrats are coming and doing unfortunately this year, we have some work on the bipartisan basis for more tax increases. >> senator bennett, there are anestimated 872,000 virginians , 174,000 residents who are uninsured and health insurance continues to increase much faster than we do. what would you do in congress to address these issues? 90 seconds. >> one of the biggest things that would help immediately is for virginia to pass medicaid expansion. it would immediately address the uninsured 400,000 uninsured virginia and it would do this by taking back the money we are sending to washington. right now we have the worst of all worlds.the congresswoman voted against medicaid expansion. it shows a lack of understanding of budget and economics. the other thing that we now have the affordable care act.

the affordable care act has addressed the access issue and in 2005 we had 47 million uninsured. we now have 20 million more insured. we need to do more work. we need to fix this bill. it's not perfect and it does need to be fixed and this is the kind of bipartisan work we need. not voting to repeal it without any replacement. 65 times, that is the total. not only are they working less than half the time, when they are there they are making votes like repealing a major piece of legislation rather than finding ways to make it better. >> congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds. >> it needs improvement, we are not hearing that obamacare has made healthcare

more affordable. the exchanges are collapsing around the country. we see the premiums are skyrocketing and deductions are skyrocketing. you have a $3000 deductible and you are somebody who's of modest income, you don't have in essence taxes so we need to change it. we do need to buy across state lines, we need to be able to have health savings accounts so they can save and put their money aside when they are young and have it there later for their families. he also should have this for community health centers. i've endorsed and supported and voted for more community health centers like we have throughout our community that provide one-stop shopping for the people. doctors like to come in and they are helping, fighting charitable care but it's a place when they can go not just for healthcare but also get family planning, also get packages and all kinds of primary services and that's what we've done. we need to have obamacare

that's partisan, not one republican voted for obama care. we need to have bipartisan support so we can sit down and work with people across the island get it done. we need a present at the time that will do that . >> 60 seconds. >> there's another health care issue here in northern virginia and that is the opioid and heroine epidemic. congress has passed a bill but they haven't funded it. the administration asked for 1.1 billion in funding to really address this crisis that we are seeing in the country. and i believe they passed 37 million finally in the resolution. this is the kind of legislating we need to stop doing. we need to and we have to,

with these prices are happening we need to address them quickly and get them the adequate funding may need to really solve the problem. zika was another one, it finally got funded but we have a zika crisis this summer and not only in this conference, they took five weeks and didn't address it. finally there was a bill passed this fall and something was put in the continuing resolution. inthe meantime, people were suffering . people were being infected. our congress has to be better than that. >> next question for you. i'm sorry. >> your response, that's right. >> i'd like to talk about advocacy because i've been working on that before. we just wanted to bipartisan hearing and we first saw some problems, now they spread around the district. i've worked with consumers task force and in loudoun county, here in fairfax

county and we've done our local great drug task force, right here in fairfax we are working hard. other agencies are not doing so well, we know baltimore is the main avenue for bringing heroine down here and that's why i want the congress and caucus to get this heroine bill passed. i have an amendment which is more funding for drug trafficking areas, we just got the area designated as a high area, we are here in the fairfax area and on a bipartisan basis worked with everyone and i have regular meetings with the commonwealth. without recovery system, everybody, this is going to be an integrated way. i'm going to fight for more money. i expect the lame-duck through to get more money there. >> thank you. >> we move on, did you want to have a response? >> congresswoman comstock, due to the presence of an a, maryland was initially is a

substantial amount of research dollars where virginia has lagged behind. with the emergence of george mason as a research units university and investment in the center forpersonalized health , plus the staff at georgetown in science and technology campuses, how can you help bring more research dollars into virginia, 90 seconds? >> as i have mentioned earlier i've been working as chairwoman of the research and guidance subcommittee, these are things we had hearings on all the time. i have the personalized medicine, we just had a women in bio event here locally where we were talking to all of them about what's needed in research. my bill which reduces the amount of paperwork means that some of these genius researchers were down at places like george mason where i visited, we got more money to do line disease

research, cancer research, and we are here now in that area. we have a woman there who's been named one of one of the top 40 brilliant scientists in the country or the world, he's working on nanotechnology which they are testing urine tests for line disease and for breast cancer. imagine how exciting that would be to have a breakthrough going on right here in our own region. that's why i for the george washington and we've had that infrastructure here and that's why the 21st century would be a great way to get more research here and i have already voted to have more funding to get back into this region. >> thank you. miss bennett, 90 seconds for a response. >> i'm a big believer in research, in the private sector one run businesses, how they know how important research and development is

for the growing of our businesses. this is for the growth of our country so we need to vote on research dollars. this congress has not voted, it is funding for nih to cut funding for all kinds of research facilities. we need to fund the research necessary. i also agree that we need to get our universities to work cooperatively and share information and work cooperatively that way. we need to prioritize this. it's something i will certainly do and thank you. >> thank you, congresswoman comstock, 30 seconds. >> all of us feel that cancer and diabetes andalzheimer's , that's why i am so passionate and i've made the top priority. i'm sick of getting those calls when your friends tell you the diagnosis with chronic and deadly disease like cancer.

it's also something, i have visited and worked with research, we've increased the funding of we've had those diseases, i think there could be more and we've mandated to ensure that bill is expected to pass in the house. hopefully the senate will take it up in the lame-duck. the president has already said he would sign it and the funding there will be intended for research and i supported that, my colleagues on my own side didn't. i thought it was critical and would help reduce the deficit , when you get those diseases that are costing us so much in medicare. >> are going to move on to you. what do you think our nation's energy policy, what do you think should be our nation's energy policy and how does it make a difference and what have you done or will you do specifically to advance that?>> we are in a

major energy transition in this country and in the world frankly. i acknowledge the experience to navigate this transition. i served on then governor tim keynes climate change commission here in virginia, a bipartisan commission looking for commonsense energy solutions. our own military considers climate change one of our greatest national security crisis and yes, the congresswoman recently voted not to affirm the climate change even exists. if we are going to move forward, first we have to recognize there's a problem and we definitely have a problem. climate change not only exists but presents a tremendous opportunity for our country. we should embrace the alternative energy economy. we should be a leader in the world in combating climate change.

i think we do need to be manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels right here. we shouldn't be buying them from china and india as we are now. so i see support, the energy transition is a transition and it will happen over time. and we need to retrain those workers in the 20th century and our energy economy to provide work in the 21st century. >> congresswoman, i think we have a glass of water for you. congresswoman comstock we will give you 90 seconds on the same question about our nation's energy policy. >> thank you and this is another area where i've already worked closely with the chamber but also all of the above energy communities.

that's why i've been supported by the chamber and all the business organizations because i understand you can do the all of the above solutions. when i was in the state house i drafted a bill that was incorporated on the offshore drilling bill that we have already passed in virginia which i know the chamber supported. my opponent opposes it. what that would do in the exciting thing about it, not only would provide a station a dedicated stream of money for transportation that we know we need, it also was going to provide 25 percent for research for alternative energy so you have our universal premium going to our own university. you have our universities getting this stream of funding coming in to research, develop the next generation of alternative energy . these are green tax credits and some in my own party attack me on that. i'm part of a coalition already in congress that is working alternative research but we can have carbon taxes like my opponent supports that commission she was onand wanted to have carbon tax .

the many additional due taxes she wanted. we need to work with innovation. we had a great technology community here, we can take our technology and know-how, do the outdoor drilling, get new resources in alternative energy and that's a great way to create new high-paying jobs. >> miss bennett, 60 seconds. >> we need leadership in this area. we are in this ambitious on fossil fuels to clean energy. first we need to recognize the opportunities in innovation and manufacturing and we need to manage the challenges that any transition presents. i can do this. i've done it in my business several times and we need to do this in government as well. my response that i mentioned earlier, all three of them have started their own businesses so in our family we are a for business family. one of the businesses is an energy, technology company, core building intelligence

and it addresses conservation in commercial office buildings so i'm very proud of him as i am all my sons but he does work in this area. this won't happen overnight but make no mistake , it's got to happen. next stop fighting climate change and pretending that it doesn't exist congresswoman and let's embrace this opportunity to grow our economy by being a leader in green technology. >>thank you congresswoman comstock . >> she had the last. we're going to move on to a question for you. contractors believe the governance process for acquiring goods and services is in need of dramatic overhaul. for companies in northern virginia to cyber security and other high-tech fields, the time it takes from identifying any to awarding a final contract often doesn't keep up with the evolving

threats and challenges, much less the private sector innovation needed to meet them. often, what committees do you wish to serve on in the next congress that will position you to better help overhaul the federal acquisition process and recognizing that this might take more than a year or two, would you submit to remaining on the those committees long enough to see the job through to completion? >> i've served, acquisition reform is largely in the government reform committee. i served as chief counsel in the 90s after i work for congresswoman wilkes even though i'm not on that committee, we have on all these issues, you do not need to be on a particular committee to work for your constituents so i've had roundtables where i've brought leadership to various committees to talk about acquisition reform and we need working, not at the seat

of government but the seed of technology and we have the experts here in our region to help us do that. we are sitting down with john woods several years ago and going through on insider, how we need to work through this more quickly. we also need to create that ecosystem where we have a big company and we need to have our startups and we need to make sure where i've you're more the most complaints on acquisition reform is on the medium-size businesses that have gotten on the startup but when they get into that midrange, that's when all regulations really hit. we are going to then asking them how can we help and change, we did have reform in the national defense conversation ask, we are trying to work in a lot of different ways but having the relationships that i have, with the contracting community and with the experts on that, it's been a great asset for me to go to my colleagues and get these changes put into action. >> thank you. 90 seconds for you. >> i know in a very personal

way how difficult the acquisition process is in the federal government. in my business, we competed for gfa releases over a period of 10 to 15 years. it requires that you hire people up front that you expend an awful lot of capital. taking tremendous risks to compete for these users, we need to streamline this process. we need to make more predictable and easier and i am committed to doing that. and i think i understand it well enough having been through theprocess many times , understand exactly how to do that. one of the reasons the federal government is not able to be and move quickly is this continuing resolution process. that fails to adjust the amounts of spending that are allocated to each agency.

when you have to fund the government at the same levels in the same proportion that you did the previous year, you are not able to fund the new things that, that are so critical so you end up following. we're basically, we have the same budget we had since 2010, that's got to change. we need a better process for working our government. >> thank you. >> this comstock, 60 seconds. >> again, i've already worked in this area, worked with so many of you leaders are dealing with this problem. i have an open door and i not only invite everyone, i go out to visit the companies. what do we need to change? what rates need to be changed? if they are causing you problems and advancing technology and getting it into the field. this is something important for our military because we need to have the highest tech that they can in the field.

i have a record of already doing this in terms of the budget. the house is often passing and i've only been there two years but i am working to get those budgets through and that's why i've always been one of those votes that they know i'm going to work, that's why i'm one of the 20 most bipartisan republicans. i understand your federal government is working for you , they are using all the talent that we use, that's a detriment to the country. >> moving on to our closing question with the first to miss bennett. let's look to january 2017. imagine you've been invited to dinner with the new president who's a member of your opposing party, what one issue would you bring to discuss during your dinner meeting that would benefit the tax district and that you could garner bipartisan support for lexmark. >> investment in our economy.

this is something that president trump should understand. education funding and infrastructure funding. those are two of the critical things that we need to do not only in this district but in the country. i believe i could work with anyone and i would certainly reach across the aisle and work with the president to support this kind of thing. we need to rebalance our economy. we need any economy that works for everyone. we need, because we are seeing in this presidential election, there is a growing number of americans who believe they been left behind and there's some truth to that. both parties are at fault. we need to start to address the inequities in the growth of the recession. we don't need to be dramatic and if we address it now it won't snap back and overshoot . i would work on rebounding

the economy and really worked to address that in this country. >> thank you. congresswoman comstock, if you are going to dinner? >> i would like to see continuation of the cures bill that i talked about. that is the thing i'm most passionate about because i think it's an area where we can really change the lives of people throughout our community and we have the technology, particularly in this area for technology, research and be able to change things over the next 10 years. with moon shot, the idea is to shorten the time to read recently i went to the cancer but that we had childhood cancer families and those families are passes and in someplace have several of them in districts working to make sure we have those resources put in for your

childhood cancer. you're going to find out so many other things in that area so i would work, that's an area where we already have bipartisan support. i think there are resources in investment that will end up saving us billions on the healthcare side if we can get it right. and bring us good high-paying jobs. in our region we have the center for cancer research that she's involved in, the president of shenandoah university, they started a new research tool. we can see all kinds of new jobs that help our economy and expand not only in virginia for our entire country and i will be thrilled to be part of that. >> is bennett, 60 seconds. >> i tell you what i would work with him on. here's what i would fight. here's what i would fight president trump on. these are things my opponent agrees with him on.

i would fight for women's health and for paycheck fairness. congresswoman has voted against paycheck fairness twice and attend district as the highest pay gap between men and women of all 11 congressional districts in virginia. that has to change. i would fight for comprehensive immigration reform and not to build some stupid wall that someone else is going to pay for it. we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and get past this broken immigration system. i would fight him to invest in an energy economy. and to knowledge climate change does exist. he has called it a hoax, my opponent has called it a minute. we have to move forward, thank you. >> we don't have time for audience questions but were going to move right into here. now were going to have hovers

woman comstock go first and you will have to minutes. >> thank you. it's been delightful to get together for so many friends and people that i've worked with for years back into the 90s when i worked with congresswoman wilkes. you seen on his state there's only one person here who has a bipartisan record of working across the aisle to get numerous results for jobs, energy, education and a lifetime of experience working in the health field. there's also one person on the stage that implemented equal pay. not only for women, i pay them more than men. my opponent does not and she has paid women from what i can tell on the campaign less than men. i am the person who's raised defense spending but still wants to cut it and not only wants to cut it but is raising money to subsidize our economy and our region. our opponent also supported tax relief, $1 billion in tax increases and his pro-jobs, i

disagree and have already worked on tax reform. i have already cast the relationship to workwith the state, local community in all areas of our economy . we haven't talked about our nonprofit sector, our nonprofit sector is so many of our companies come with nonprofits and that's why we have such a great system here of getting things done and i have worked on leaders in every single area and my opponent, she hasn't had that local involvement because she's been down in washington dc where she's been doing her entire career. for the congresswoman i will continue to be able to do my work as a chairwoman, on science and technology, on the economy, on research and the whole economy and i'm the only one on this stage that already has a record of

success. we are just getting started and we will continue that. >> miss bennett, two-minute. >> thank you catherine and thank you to the northern virginia chamber of commerce and to all the sponsors of the debate. on the campaign trail, my opponent likes to talk about payslips, that's thinking small. america is a country of big ideas . we can do this stuff. we've done it our entire history. we can solve the problems facing our country, it's not a question of ability, it's a question of leadership. we need the right leadership with the courage to tackle the challenges head on. we need a congresswoman not only willing to do the hard work but to take the hard votes. we can build an economy that works for everyone and yes, that includes equal pay for women.we can pass comprehensive immigration reform, strengthen our infrastructure, protect all

of our citizens and expand education. don't tell me we can't do this. it's what we in the business community do every day. as a businesswoman, i know how to find the opportunity in challenges, how to solve problems and how to get results. i know that government isn't the answer to all of our problems but what we can do is strive to create equal opportunity for all the citizens and all of our businesses to compete. in northern virginia that means access tohigh-quality education . something that meets the needs of the 21st-century economy. it means infrastructure improvements that will shorten our commute time and it means ensuring an open, welcoming environment that will affect all of our citizens. that's why i ask for your

vote november 8, thank you. >> that concludes today's debate. please join me in giving our candidates ihad . [applause] >> on behalf of the northern virginia chamber of commerce, george mason university's school of public policy and government and our sponsors, we thank you for joining us today, have a great day. >>. [inaudible conversation]

>> i think it's interesting that she likes to highlight that she pays women more than men and votes against other women making as much as men across the country. i think there's a little bit of conflict there. [inaudible] at the end i did outline many issues that they share and that i would push against. >> much of a factor do you think mister trump is going to be in this race? >> i think he's a factor in the country and i think the fact that he is the person leading the republican party speaks volumes for aware our republicanparty is . >>. [inaudible] >> excuse me, he might not

have the down ballot races as expected, can you explain your change in strategy? >> there is no change in strategy. donald trump and barbara comstock share a very similar agenda and that's something that i think the voters in the country need to understand. regardless of what she says, she's walking away from him, they share the same policies on women's health, on equal pay, on immigration,on the environment . they really have no solution so i think it'svery difficult . >> you talk about the race and not voting for him, should i turn it up for you? >> theagenda is what's important . this is an agenda she will take in congress so i think that's important for tent

district voters toknow. if you don't like donald trump's agenda , you shouldn't like barbara comstock's either. i believe she's out of touch and i think the voters will that on november 8 . >> she did not mention donald trump that much during the debate. >> not really. >> you talked about a lot of issues in the debate. if you could define one that i can point to you, what would it be? >> creating an economy that works for everyone and i think one of the greatest challenges the next administration will have is fixing the terrible cost in this country, that's just in defense in this country. so i think quick action to start to begin to have an economy that works for everyone, top and bottom is really critically important for whoever is in office. >> what's your reaction to

the fact that this is now being considered a close race. >> i've on close races and one's a landslide a lot of times. what i think i've done is on the only one year that's not just for the business community who've endorsed me and are here today with people like the firefighters that work with the public groups in the justice department has a long serving relationship but also the leaders that we talked about today. i think people of the tent district focus on the issues that are important to them which has been an area where you have people who are independent voters and they look ataccomplishment and i'm the only one on the record who actually has real results and the vision for the future . >>. [inaudible] >> i've made my statement there known but when i focus on the tent district and making sure the people in the

tent district have independence on representation because i'm the only one of the two of us who has spoken out and has a record of speaking out against, whether it's in my own party or not so i've made clear i'm goingto be my own woman and i have a record of confidence . i have the priorities of the district. >> but do you think he should step down? >> i've made my statement. what i can control, i don't think would be good for our region to have somebody who's in the minority. i think we need to have majority representation on all these issues that are important. i'm the only one we didn't get to talk about and i'm the only one who's had a long-standing relationship that works with federal employees. in thetime i worked in congress on those issues , they've endorsed me. the national association of retired federal employees and those are endorsements that are bipartisan endorsements . not just voting with democrats but we've sat down

with the firefighters, they looked at me and they know i have a record of working apart. we are talking about working, when we have our work. all through august, i worked every single day, there was only one time i had steady time off or minor medical procedures. >> you brought up paperwork today and that was information we hadn't heard before. what are you saying about your opponent? >> the votes she's referencing were not vote on issues, they were future votes and that is debunked in previous political records. i'm working with my colleagues to have people pay but i think the first thing you need to do is preface it and why practice is women in positions, promoting them. it's all about getting women leaders in front and i know our records are public in terms of what we pay women and i pay women on average

more than men. but my opponents website and she has four out of five employees are men. i have women in senior positions which i think is important to lead by example. >> she said she doesn't pay women less than men, where did you get that information? >> when the white house looks at it, when you look at women working for you versus men, on average if you're a woman working and you are getting paid more , that's the standard that they look at. i'm going by their own standard as the highest paid people inher campaign are men . >> what metric are you getting from constituents to your indication of trump, are they reacting at all? >> i think these two candidates, i think people in the district know we have two flawed candidates and i'm willing to stand up and in other cases, you've not heard my opponent say one thing

about a rubberstamp of hillary clinton. she's going to mess everything she wants to do that she's advocated for tax increases, $1 billion in tax increases, but that would do justice to our area and the cuts in defense would be devastating. we've been working to get that money so that's what i'm going to work on. you had all business organizations in the community not templeton, nova, as well as our education leaders in the chamber. >> what would you say to women accusing donald trump? >> coming up at 7 pm eastern the ohio senate race as the incumbent ralph orton and former democratic governor ted strickland will go at it for the second time this week. c-span will air that debate live.

senator bennett is and 13 points in the national polls gathered by real clear politics . >> in my travels overseas this year, i've been taken aback by the intensity in this campaign. people everywhere on every word area and by the way, some try to do more than just listen in. we should both, secretary jay johnson and i are saying that recent compromises and emails directed by the government help police on sites like wikileaks and wikileaks by the grace of her two persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of russian directed efforts. after us political organizations is a new aggressive stance on the political cycle. regardless, this election

will happen on november 8. also by the way, it's very difficult for someone, anyone to alter ballots or election results, particularly since voting machines are connected to the internet. then on january 20, 92 days with whose common, we will have a new president. the us intelligence committee will be heavily involved in making sure that president is informed about our world and will make decisions that we can help with. >> c-span, aided by america's television companies and brought to you as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. >> in the race for louisiana senate, republicans charles mckinney, john fleming and the state treasurer john kennedy and democrats foster campbell debate the

affordable careact, america's role in global conflicts, federal disaster management reform and filling the vacancy on the supreme court area . >> this year louisiana voters will not only choose a new president but also a new senator as well. tonight, the five major candidates line to fill the seat will state face national and state issues head on. live from the university's decision to thousand 16. the race for the senate. >> good evening i'm courtney, president of the louisiana public broadcasting. thanks for joining us tonight at the debate at louisiana university featuring the top candidates for the state open u.s. senate seat. she has a 40 year history of contributing to democratic process and tonight we

continue that tradition with this program. >> i'm buried or when, president of the council for a better louisiana. we want to start by thanking louisiana tech university and the waggoner center for the citizens engagement and public policy for hosting us here at this venue tonight. >>

>> >> passion i want my country

back. i believe america's best its days are ahead but not a figure with the direction that washington d.c. is taking us. it is destroying the oil and gas industry. washington d.c. will try to raise the flood insurance rates. fakes to washington d.c. tried now russia i ran, isis now make the rules. i want to be in the senate to try to change that. when i say washington d.c. of course, refer to president obama and secretary clinton but i am also referring to the democrats said the big government republicans in the united states congress. they talk tough but the president and secretary to editing they want to do.

they should be issued of the cells. how many disrespect. i am not a part of the club and i will not be a part of the club in washington d.c. fayard: good evening board and raised in the wee cns there are three formative experiences of like to talk about tonight that have prepared me to be the next united states senator from louisiana. 9/11. as a recent college graduate eyewitnesses second plane hit the tower for the second experience is working for the federal court in the aftermath of hurricane katrina either did is important to respond and when it was every had active court system to make sure people could stay in their homes to get the relief that they needed. the third is the aftermath of the oil spill rye worked on behalf of victims of the

negligence of bp to make sure that i understood there was a point where government can intersect and to make compromises that they can get back to work. thank you. campbell: i started off teachings school in a small place the auditorium is named after the man. i have never been a politician but the worst thing i have seen since i have been impolitic all these politicians tell me what they are going to do but tell me what you have done. i am the only one of fear that has ever created billion dollar educational trust fund that we still have today. in my parish i made the school board's save the money we have a $45 million trust fund.