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.

no other parish has that. i stood up to bobby gentle as a louisiana governor he did more harm than any other in the history of louisiana. i have been doing it all my life i a understand taking up for people. boustany: thanks for hosting this forum i want to urge your trust for the next united states senator as a surgeon had to earn the trust of my patients and as my career is over surgeon now head public-service i urge your trust in the third congressional district in with these endeavors with accountability. the real results not just talk but to solve problems ladies and gentlemen our country is facing serious challenges in and we have to be serious about these challenges the national security is some risk.

the economy is stalled. our values are being questioned around the world. it is time to get serious about solving these problems and that is what i would bring to the united states senate. or record of achievement and results ask for your support . '02 apply website you'll find out more about me. >> moderator: now be will go to the panel for the next question. 300,000 louisiana residents have been rolled in medicaid to to expanded eligibility under the affordable care act. the budget relies on savings of federal funds financing coverage. what specific changes would you make, if any, to the aca to make sure no problems are created back complex? >> the affordable care act

has been an abysmal failure. i would start over. americans deserve a patient sundered health care delivery system. this is what i would replace . we need more choice. we need more competition. we need more pay for performance not pay for value. we need to repeal the act of 1945 so we can buy health insurance across state lines. made to block grant the money from medicaid to the states. we need to start charging a co-pay to those on medicaid who want to go to the emergency room to be treated for a fever blister. able-bodied folks who are getting medicaid and free health care there should be. i wanted health care

delivery system that looks like it was designed on purpose. fayard: medicaid expansion has been good for the vienna in addition to over 300,000 working people that have health care coverage this saves the state money about over $1 million. but the state match was around 40 percent. it has fallen and will gradually raise over time that it is estimated this expansion numbers and with those economic drivers to make sure though working people in the b.c. and not bring those tax dollars home october is press cancer awareness month in at least 24 women have been diagnosed with breast cancer are now getting life-saving

treatment. we are literally saving lives to bring the tax dollars all. campbell: i have a son named peter to just move back and is a neurosurgeon. he went to lsu i said what to think of the affordable care act? he said let me tell you does more good than bad in the belief he is right. there is some things we need to fix for of first of all, attract younger people into the program to spread the risk, small-business is having problems but if you repeal the affordable can act it will never be put back on the books again. i am not willing to do that. 300,000 have insurance and will not turn them out of the street to. if that brings in 50,000,008 year when we are broke we get money out of it is good for us and the economy and 300,000 people i will keep the affordable care act and

the problems that come with it. boustany: the hallmark of my quality health care as a doctor is a doctor patient relationship you cannot reach high-quality and bring the lowest cost without giving every patient into a meaningful doctor patient relationship that they trust. that is with the system fails even with the primary care physicians to do with what the government would ask the governor was to do with it stanched - - expansion. we have to keep our eye on the balmy want high-quality health care to focus on quality, getting people to the doctor patient relationship to make sure everything is focused on true transparency of cost and quality can make good judgment calls on what is appropriate for them. we need competition and we need to put the family back

in control. not insurance bureaucrats or bureaucrats in washington but the decision makers and families. thoughts -- that is what we would be proud of. fleming: as a physician who has covered people i can tell you that being there during the obamacare debate i warned everybody your cost will go up you will not be able to keep your doctor. you cannot keep your insurance. but yet we see today in has failed here is what i don't understand but the congressmen boustany says he agrees 80% m. bailey he said like democrats a once to goal line by line to fix it. we cannot fix something that has a terrible foundation. also to remind my democratic friends to repeal $700 million from medicare.

medicare is going broke. we need to move into the 21st century and with the patience to make sure they have the options to the patients and doctors. not mandates from washington >> i never said allegre with 8% of obamacare. that is absolutely false. what i said we could find agreement talking in a bipartisan way. >> we have documented that he said that. you can run but you cannot hide. >> moderator: the next question comes from a "usa today" network. according to appaled

conducted by opinion research more than half of those surveyed thinks the country should be somewhat or very involved in foreign affairs. we learned this past weekend that u.s. is providing air and ground support to iraqi forces in the attempt to retake mosul from isis'. do support this action and will leave the united states has any obligation to be involved in a mobile complex ? fayard: i do believe in the effort to take back mosul and support those trips on the ground. we are doing so. mosul is important because it is a strategic city for oil and money and wait to destabilize isis. but whether the united states needs to be involved in foreign affairs, we are. the greatest country the world has ever known. they are coming to was with

access to terrorism based in jihadist ideology so we have to be prepared and support our allies on the ground to make sure hour national security stays strong and it increases airstrikes and supporting our allies in the abilities and other areas to promote. campbell: i do support that i am worried about russia's power and what they are doing in the world today and iran and their influence in this area of the world. i am ready to help but i want to see our allies help themselves. i want to make sure we are over there with our response i don't want us to be the only one to police the work. boustany: america is an

indispensable nation and be will have chaos. that is clear to me. we would not be going back to retake mosul from isis' if we had a strategy of the past eight years. the obama administration has waffled and flips from crisis to crisis because there is no strategy to deal with the aftermath. we need a strategy. i started advocating this three years ago when i saw all of this. we need a safe zone between the turkish and iraqi border . to put a rubber boots on the ground and provide air cover and intelligence. we can consolidate a working coalition not on paper to rollback basis for global back the financial side also the economic side with those oil transactions. this administration has no strategy we need a senator who would stay as the complexity to provide input

and guidance and leadership on the strategy for all fault -- foreign policy issues. fleming: serving in the military nobody on the stage has served in the military. also on the house armed services committee. i need with four-star generals privately all the time to talk about these problems. one of the things that concerns me is a disaster by john kerry and secretary of state. we have someone here tonight , a kennedy endorsed john kerry for president. that was his mentor so i hope that john has changed his view but he was a big supporter as a liberal democrat of john kerry. weedy to distresses and i fully support that. i eight don't want to have the troops on the fork -- the "frontline" but they do need to be there in the support role with eyes on the battlefield.

kennedy: when you are kick did the we are air usually means you are outside. i do support the american air strikes and mosul. we should go further and dolefully are none the pressure guts troops of the kurds to turn them loose. but with every international affairs vietnamese along for respect us and our friends along her trust us because of president obama policies to know who else is responsible? the united states congress. because they have sat there eight years and talked tough and they huff and puff and they do nothing about it. so as america as the strongest country in the history of the world we need to start acting like it.

>> follow-up? >> with boots on the ground not just there about what would it take in any foreign conflict to support that? fayard: it has to be a last resort of our most precious resource of american troops to send them into conflict without an exit strategy. i don't want to take any option off the table for what they may present but we do need to work can partnership with the occupant of the white house with this election cycle is over with the military intelligence to make the right decision. we need to support the troops that are on the ground to have airstrikes to

have a full coalition of printers and the united states. >> fees are 30-second responses. campbell: i would have to consult with all military leaders cia and fbi to see if this is something that had to happen as it would be hard for me to commit our men and women on the ground and i would have to know 100 percent of the allies are willing to do the same. i have to know that. i am very concerned about that. other people don't seem to help us as much as we help them and i will not commit our troops without that. boustany: understand the utility of force in what is appropriate and what is not. we have a clear objective.

the n say and the means have to match up and there has to be a strategy. you cannot commit troops on the ground, american lives about a strategy that is clear-cut and to be well thought out. in rome were to we had a clear strategy also make clear plan for the aftermath. that is what we're going back into mosul to put american lives at risk again . that needs to stop. we need strategy. >> we already have been some ground, almost 5,000 american troops. the whole problem that is clearly outlined is president obama and jerked all of the troops out at the inappropriate time and as a result there was a vacuum so now we have isis'.

it is a big problem. the president has been quietly putting the troops back and that is fine but we have to continue to build to hopefully we can trade the iraqi troops and others but we have to provide support. >> we do have troops on the ground i am not sure we have 5,000 but troops are there. but it is primarily not our problem. the other problem is the only to groups that know-how to fight are isis and indeed peshmerga trips. where is saudi arabia? egypt? jordan? united arab emirates? it will help those who help themselves before i commit more trips i want to see those in the middle east for but it is their region they should put troops out. >> moderator: thank you

see our debate tonight comes from the campus of louisiana tech let's see what the students have to say about issues that our important to them. >> as part of coverage for the upcoming election louisiana public broadcasting sat down with some students from louisiana tech to see what issues are of their mind. the group had a diverse list of concerns they hope the next senator will address as the mechanism borne our senators focused on to the next president will nominate for the supreme court. >> what is important to me is our veterans. i am a military veteran myself and the mental health >> a senator who focuses on making louisiana estate i hope to live than we have to figure out how to make education competitive this still affordable. >> despite there very interest all shared a common desire for the louisiana next senator to work with members of the opposing

party winded victor makes it to washington. >> they have to be open to compromise i feel that in the past, especially the past generation, left or right or black or white, about which young people we are very gray so somebody who is open to compromise. to stand for that but also what is best for the country or the state of louisiana. >> moderator: as we learned colonials will see issues said shades of gray but from opinion research 50 percent of those surveys they would rather they stand up for their position rather than compromise with others is then through legislative action but that package released for south louisiana nearly at the last moment due to washington dysfunction.

woody be the type to stick to your guns or work to compromise and what is your past experience to demonstrate that? campbell: that's a great question for awhile to compromise? sometimes i am hard to compromise things that you believe you even. sometimes the baby to hardheaded but i have been very successful as a politician. we are all politicians but did not want to talk about it i have experience. i have done great things for a parisienne up. in the legislature, foster was the governor was a republican and did not want to sue the tobacco companies but we did and i got money that went to every classroom in the breezy and up. you have to know how to compromise for i serve with david vitter he had very few

friends in the united states senate. i don't want to do that i want to make friends and work with the people of louisiana like i work with the people. i know how to compromise and get things done i have been doing it for years. >> regardless of who is president i believe you have to have results and that is my record of public service from hurricane katrina to work across the aisle i can get those done. veterans clinics. i thought hard in their work very hard to get the veterans clinics for the veterans who are underserved . i had to take off my of leadership and the president but could get it done. i stick to the conservative principles. the latest episode was the

flood relief edit almost fell apart of the very day we voted to get it done in my actions in that delegation would in a bipartisan way could salvage the deal at the very end to make sure it came to the floor and we got a flood relief. have a record, don't compromise principles but i get results. fleming: i am always happy to compromise on pieces of legislation for the best of america but i would never compromise my values, the constitution or my principles. it is one paying to get things done and other to get the right things done and congressmen boustany did raise the debt limit and he voted for the bailout's and cash for clunkers for heaven sakes. very few republicans voted for that. get right and stand-up for

america with a $20 trillion national debt. when police stopped compromising on that? we need to gather together as a next u.s. senator that is exactly what i will do. kennedy: most of louisiana understands. i have been willing to stand up to politicians more powerful than me from both parties when i thought it was in the taxpayer's interest. having said that i am very proud of my record i convince the legislature to sell 60% and let me take that 1.2 billion dollars to put into a trust fund. they did not spend 1 penny it is protected in the constitution. i convince the legislature in the vienna to allow me to use the unclaimed property

program to leverage pollens to help finish i 49 north to make a meaningful start on the south. i convince the legislature to allow me to invest in israel bonds. wasn't easy had to explain what i was doing and the best investment that louisiana could ever make. i am very proud of my record >> i was in the legislature at the time we got the money for the tobacco settlement berger you did not vote on that you were not there berger you did not convince the legislature we voted. you had no vote. don't tell these people that the u.s. convinced legislature. you had no vote for you were the treasurer berger you might have suggested its or for its view did not vote for that because you don't have the votes. don't say you put that money away i put the money away

for the trust fund. campbell: you are wrong. with all due respect. we had a bill i don't even know if you bristol in the legislature to sell or securitized the tobacco settlement. we raised 1.2 billion dollars. we convinced not one of the legislator to touch a penny to put into my trust fund for you voted but i convince them along with other really good people to allow us to sell that. it was said easy sell but what was tough to put all of the of money into the trust fund. >> moderator: gentlemen i imagine fact checking will be all over this one and right now we will go to ms. fayard.

fayard: i will let everybody else point bankers and claim credit but really it is about the flood package and if you're willing to compromise. i will make a pledge to all of those soliciting. i will put louisiana families first. fight in the best interest of our state right now to make sure one of those parishes that have been affected by flooding in 2016 people get back into their homes and they have to compromise but i will say because i am one of 99 other people. to be pro-life and for caring about the american worker but i will not play politics to those set are not in their homes i will do

what is right for the family >> moderator: the next question. >> the stafford act is the primary statute. the recent disasters to increase credit for those tight restrictions on how money can be spent. there is concerns of vague criteria that end up costing the country millions. did you believe the stafford act needs to be before and how would you change that? >> we took one step after the 2005 hurricanes' instead of appropriating separate money at the time we created a separate fund of a disaster relief fund to have endless way to spend money but a really needs to be

reformed because i have dealt with this with four different hurricanes. there rotate people in and out so they have to start over half the time they don't know what is going on they get this information it cost alatas money that we have to go back to rectify that problem. yes the stafford act definitely needs reform we need much more flexibility and the state holders that they heard. and double do that as our next u.s. senator. >> i was in better research and then after words watching how people would get their homes every day they had out on the street

it is a bad situation working with my colleagues but there is more to be dead and we support all of that. a lot of people are affected but to go skyrocketing in the last few years. and leading the effort that we have free the for homeowners may supported however congressmen boustany did not vote for that to all get behind those important measures that our necessary. >> if i make it to have been the first question will last god is my bad things happen to good people. we have a lot of really bad day is happening to good people flooding was

devastating. our people need help and the stafford act can provide that. we need to require feed the to listen to windfall state in a local officials when they make these decisions were you can and cannot build if you have to elevate your home at all that is the biggest in the stafford act you have the bureaucrats to get a permission slip from them to do anything. >> we need to reform the stafford act.

working for the federal court at that time i under the hotel or motel program and feed mill was trying to push people another housing around christmas and i did other the rule at that time particularly when we're thinking about the recent flooding. renters are not addressed at all by the staff redact or tran13. and with the downturn in the housing crisis people are struggling to stay in their homes to have calmed leadership we need to make reforms that are addressed to that we need to reauthorize that and also to be to cut administrative cost. campbell: my house flooded

in march. i live on a farm all but one had 150 cows. i know all about it is a terrible situation and it is terrible because it causes all types of chaos if you don't have the money it is really bad flood insurance does not cover flood insurance we need every deprogram and innovation weekend get. i am the only one appear to have man-made global warming louisiana is not the same we have people in batterers who are not in the flood zone so our state and country is changing man-made global

warming. >> to follow-up with each of you with what being acceptable or traffic? did anything is number three has gotten better if we have same progressive improvement bill we have a long way to go. we still see the problems with fema with the rapid rotation of personnel and problems with what is put out there so you need to straighten that part out with continuity and better trained people. >> i would give that number to.

but the slowness of the of response was fiver six days. >> is number three so far. >> if you are a not back did your home doesn't matter what i give it a grade it? they could have done better but it is not enough and we have to keep fighting. >> to .5. [laughter] >> moderator: the next question. >> will and gas industry is rocky at best. energy executives here are talking about regulatory onslaught most of the key policies drafted or from the white house or federal agencies not the u.s. senate or of u.s. house there are

restrictions on offshore and onshore drilling with assurances as the next senator as a regulatory overreach. fleming: as a strong have proven conservative we serve vaughan natural resources committee and to deal with the issues and you are absolutely right. the federal government is strengthening our energy industry and they do that deliberately and shutting down the coal industry to save to natural-gas is a transitional fuel they want us to live off of i don't know, windmills and solar panels?

all the above made to let all of these compete in that marketplace getaway from the subsidies and get away from those strangulating regulations. kennedy: obama believes he can tax spend and regulate american prosperity. but including oil and gas and apparently a congress agrees that after eight years they have talked tough but they don't do anything about it. so if a bureaucracy proposes to have a $50 billion impact or more to pass say law that says the bureaucracy was to propose a rule with those three rules they would get rid of it.

to propose a regulatory budget if we in this all 67,000 of those regulations of the oil and gas industry and try to pass a bill to require every rule and regulation to have a sunset provision. >> moderator: you can use your time later to respond. fayard: we feed and fuel the nation it is imperative the next senator calls on the champion of our people. we don't want to be left behind. but fortunately our state is beautiful with the abundant resources to take the lead as long as they have a part

of the coalition. i've also say with bp mitigation lost 11 men become as of negligence in chasing the wrong things. but to understand behalf to be a balance on these issues. that requires leadership and with those of louisiana values and those values that we to have. campbell: i appreciate the question. the rules can be too rigid and liberal. i am the only one up here that will say the oil companies damage the coast should pay for it not once sold out there listening to this broadcast tonight with the somebody tear up your

our / your yard but that is what we do because the big oil companies write checks to politicians. is the truth. they write the checks and the politicians to the tap dancing. andrea want the state to be treated fairly. and for them to pay their fair share. nothing more. boustany: leer all from the museum a mural in the oil and gas industry. we had the old label on the test taken steps in a positive way i stop the attempt by president obama the attacks on the expense

of operations. i also have legislation passed that is regulatory overreach made a senator to get this done. i pass legislation that will bankrupt the offshore companies. the senate needs to act that is what i would do the u.s. senate i am the only one appear mistaken the most important step with will and gas to vote to lift the ban i am proud of that why should we give ibm the ability anywhere to tell our energy producers they could only sell here in united states? that is wrong. >> moderator: we have reached the point where he will pose questions to other candidates for goodies were determined by a prior drawing the candidate basket

question of to 30 seconds the candidate being asked will have one minute to respond them their rebuttals will come from the questionnaire, 30 seconds. mr. boustany your of first and you have a question for ms. fayard. boustany: during my time the public service i have been a defender of the state's largest industry of oil and gas i stopped president obama play a new tax on a liquefied natural gas exports to pass bills in the house on these unnecessary regulations and most recently introduced legislation with a growing problem of the of legacy lawsuits. so clarify your position. fayard: i believe i am the only practicing lawyer on the stage so i am involved

often in large cases where they go after each other i would counsel everybody the way i counsel my clients that litigation is a means to an aunt. to when and. to manage expectations with the legacy lawsuits. time-consuming and costly expenses. oftentimes it seems the money is not directed where needs to go. but to hold together a coalition of growing partners. with the dollars and the restore at and taking care of the penalties to make sure they are directed that is based in science to help us feel the working coast.

boustany: i support your answer i support this industry good times and bad spy embattled but my opponent to raise a billion dollar tax on this industry went it is on its knees. looking for someone who was consistent with principles and has a proven track record to get things done. i fight for our say every single day that is my record of service will continue to be a champion. >>. campbell: add say dr. not as a politician, you are a physician i know you have a compassion for people. you like after the health of mental-health so the clashes in is simple now reported as

said ad that says i am rather drink weed killer. mental health is a big challenge and nothing to joke about very important to our family. diaz eight mr. kennedy should joke about suicide? i appreciate your views and mental health is not a joking matter for anyone. many people have been affected by a. we have taken steps to pass bills or co-sponsored bills and to put an on parity with have to take it seriously. i would agree that i do think mr. kennedy should apologize for making this a joking matter.

campbell: as say dad i am touchy about suicide. michael family is. we don't think it is funny and i have feelings for people of mental illness. dole family suffers. no disease like mental illness with a lot of sick people that need help. i did not like it at all the first time i heard that it made the hair on my neck stand up if i was sick to hear about somebody drinking poison i thought that was way out of line. >> moderator: t11 you have a question for mr. kennedy. >> can answer? >> moderator: you'll have your one-minute.

fayard: governor jindal ruin our finances but there was a bipartisan effort to try to fix it one of n was refinancing me a standing bond debt to and the duty provided cash savings of $82 billion to help hire education. as chairman of the state bond commission you have to vote and pass that set either despite the a top financial person and the state you don't know what you're doing. wishes it? >> governor jindal did a number of good things for the b.c. and of the finances was not one of them. of is the first person and battered ruche -- pated rouge to say that those decisions will be does close

to bankruptcy. the legislature with emi paid a big price for that i did not complain i kept going. i was the first to stand up to say governor you should not spend all $880 million with the medicaid trust fund. budgeted is wrong to take $400 million. such a put my record of both parties that our more powerful than me up against anyone. fayard: refinancing saved money and the interest-rate dropped substantially that helped to shore up so regardless of what the

treasurer says says the chief financial officer he made a poor political decision and a bad financial decision. we can afford these mistakes. as well as my colleagues here maybe we should dial back of the weed killer. >> sa trusted conservative i am 100 percent pro-life and also mayhew's a supporter of the second amendment for the right to bear arms. to pass the pro gun bill into law. but i am confused about your position you said i.m. scared of what worries me it is cold and callous not to have taxpayer funding of abortion. what is your answer quite. >> i will state it clear for everybody and especially you

dr. fleming. i am pro second amendment and i am pro-life and very simple. if you talk about guns you did not have as many shotguns as i do i have 36 if you have more than that i take my hat off. i may bird hunter and i had hunting days and legislature on the wildlife association. i take no second to anybody i have way too many i am pro-life pure and simple. fleming: that is a platitude you refuse to fill about the right-to-life survey and you support him a clinton -- hillary clinton that is anti-second amendment. >> moderator: mr. kennedy but is your question? kennedy: john, we have been

together in a lot of forums i have very few in a number of forums talk about the problems of medicare and social security and i was wondering if you could elaborate on the problems that uc m1 americans ought to do about it. >> as a proven conservative i want to protect social security. everybody who stays in it and is on it should have their benefits when they care bonds out of money. obamacare took $7 billion so they have to reform spending in washington.

>> everybody to pay for social security and if you want to save money i've made the federal budget like the state budget they spencer is massage john beni rabbits and spend with their mother's love dogs as much as kids. >> moderator: that ends this particular round in the next question comes from kelly. with the opportunity with

the oil and gas industry the breezy and workers are concerned about friday what which you do to help create the next generation of jobs in the b.c. hana? sinecure is what you need to do. stop illegal immigration to negotiate better trade agreements number three to have businesses to infest monday in machinery to create jobs. that will make wages go up. and with more profit-sharing.

but on behalf of the employees and number five in to do a lousy job for those who lost their jobs in terms of helping them but to help get the economy moving again. >> small businesses make up 97% and if we can ease that obligatory burden to stay in business my brother founded the original airline from other regional destinations. thirty-five jobs created and that is over the indirect jobs.

behalf to intestine small businesses. and to make that to tax credits with the if veritable care act or affordable to create a better quality of life in the louisiana. also will be to do for middle-class families such as equal pay for equal work. did they create demand and more jobs and opportunities. campbell: we need to cross train our people we have ups and downs in the business and we know that. . . accurate product, to help on educational programs.

it would not stop bad trade deals, i think nafta had problems. i would not have voted for it but i am not for the new trade deal. how will you pay for this? the way i do it is make these corporations give big taxes in louisiana, and see if they really create jobs or just get toxic. we have millions of dollars going to companies that don't produce any jobs, have a litmus test, if you don't produce jobs, take them away. >> thank you. >> small business startups, we have not seen this low level since the 70s. we need progrowth policy, economic growth at 1% is not satisfactory. we -- things we are talking

about, let's talk specifically louisiana. one of the bright spots, i believe in our country, look what is being done with fibersecurity, training right here, that is what we need to do more, create a tech core door that brings outside investment to louisiana. we need to continue to build on it stop the war on energy, stop it. we need to export more. i want chinese mothers buying shirts said say made in louisiana. that will market us producers and manufacturers, that will be key to getting growth and creating louisiana jobs. >> john fleming. >> a trusted conservative here tonight created jobs through the private sector.

the formula is simple. we need to repeal obamacare, the biggest job killer we have today, dodd-frank is killing a community bank every day in this country and rollback regulations, we already have a bill called the rains act. i want to go to the senate to vote for it there. we need to reduce and simplify taxes. john kennedy read all of these, and thousand dollars a year with taxpayer money, 0 that you would pay, and also 300,000 in hard work you criticize governor bobby jindal for purchasing. >> you have 30 seconds. >> with respect to my friend

john what he said was true. congress also spent $400 million to study whether life can exist on jupiter's moons. i guess they gave up on mars, congress appropriated $370,000 to study whether mothers lift off as much as kids. congress gave $700,000 to the nation of vietnam to help them restore buddhist temple. congress appropriated $753 million for themselves to remodel under their bills. think we could build some roads in louisiana for that? >> didn't talk about you. let's wait until the next response. you will have an opportunity. >> next question with usa today. >> no matter who wins this

election louisiana will have one of the most junior delegations in dc. what kind of strategy would you have to overcome the weakness going in? how could you overcome that as a legislator in washington? >> i think that is a good point. how it works for the senate in washington dc, 38 years of age, when i bring that up, and to rebuild our seniority. relationships for the long haul, i have preexisting relationships of dc, some opponents like to make a lot of payouts to that but the truth is that will benefit louisiana. i will do what is right for the state and that my phone calls returned and be wherever i need to be 24 hours a day fighting on behalf of of our families and depending what happens we will

have a new congress in january and the new president and people may be happy or feel displaced about whoever that may be but i will work as hard as i can every day and continue to build new ones to benefit our people for the long haul. >> mister campbell. >> some people say i am too old. i am younger than donald trump, i am younger than bill clinton. the same age as hillary clinton born 1947. i know how to build consensus. i have done it in the legislature. i passed bills with republicans and democrats and i have been effective. no one has done more for working people than foster campbell and i am proud of my record. i can go to washington and shake hands. i can use good common sense

bringing that practice back to louisiana telling our story, getting -- i have done it for years and it is no big deal for me, i know how to get it done. >> charles boustany. >> results matter. in the most difficult political environment in many years in washington i have been able to get results, work with others on the other side of the aisle, when it didn't violate principles, i am able to stand up for things and find ways to get things done even when we were obstructed by our own leadership, case in point the veterans clinics where john weiner and paul ryan were trying to restrict my ability to do this, i found a way to get around it. what you need in the u.s. senate is somebody who is smart, will work hard, understand the issues and knows how to get results and also about the relationships. i have been able to build solid relationships, i hit the ground running as the united states

senator -- next united states senator and one thing that matters is results. i have a proven track record i will take to the senate and get results for you. >> john fleming. >> best way is to keep reelecting me. here is the problem in washington. it is no longer about seniority but the fourth branch of government, bureaucracy. jonathan hurley, liberal constitutional lawyer said congress has given up all the power to the executive branch so the decisions are being made in the executive branch, cofounder of the house freedom caucus, i have fought against that. i can't against john weiner who keeps selling out to president obama. we need to take the power back. our founding fathers said congress should jealously guard its power. congress has failed to do that. i will fight to take our power

back because that is your power, you speak through me, your representative. >> mister kennedy. >> seniority does matter in the united states congress would you can call me naïve but i think big ideas matter too. in recent years i watched a huge impact on this country. think of marco rubio and ted cruz, i don't agree with everything they have said or done but any reasonable person would agree they had a big impact on the discussion of where america ought to go. the first thing i do in the united states senate, i will call every one of my colleagues, democrat and republican and take them to lunch. i will buy. i just want to get to know them, what are their interests? why are they in the united states senate?

what do they hope to accomplish and i want to introduce myself and work with everybody, i won't sacrifice my principles. >> next question from elizabeth crisp. >> senate leader refused to move forward with confirmation proceedings for president obama's supreme court justice nominee merrick garland. leaving the high court vacancy to be filled by the next president and confirmed by incoming senate. and coming years, more on the supreme court vacancies, what issues would you prioritize when considering a supreme court justice. >> we will start with mister campbell. >> the senate out to do their job instead of holding up a nominee. if you don't like the guy vote against him. if he is a republican or democrat, he has a right to have his nominee vetted. i told you i was pro-life. i want to vote for chief justice

or supreme court justice who is pro-life. that is one of my main considerations was also i want to know he has experience and a heart, not coldhearted or completely owned by a corporation. interested in middle america. that is what i want to see. >> charles boustany. >> i pose merrick garland f nomination for two reasons. one, his judicial record so far is one where he has always expanded the regulatory state and week on the second amendment rights. those two reasons alone i would say no to his nomination. is the next united states senator, number one is to make sure whoever is nominated respects the constitution, understand the separation of powers in the constitution and understands the legislative branch makes law and the judges when presented with the case have to adjudicate based on the law and not create laws which i

do not want activists on the bench. that is important. and i want to pro-life judge. i am conservative, deeply believe in pro-life causes as a physician who dealt with life-and-death issues, and the second amendment is critical because that is the core of the founding of this country, second amendment rights. those are the key things i would look at in the next candidate to be on the supreme court. >> he or she must have the conversation. as a proven conservative i would only supported justice or federal judge with strict constructionist, we lost a wonderful judge in justice scalia. he stood up for the first amendment, the second amendment, that would be essential as a us senator, i would only vote to confirm someone who up the

constitution in full, not try to change or morph it in any way, metamorphosis over time. someone who respects life 100% and someone who will not take away our gun rights. >> john is right about justice scalia, can't vote for president obama's nominee, the judge is an activist judge, i had the honor the past 10 or 15 years of teaching at law school and the honor of being obamacare substitute teacher. and whether i am teaching law students or gradeschool students we have three branches of government. the legislature is supposed to make the law. the president is supposed to execute the law and a judge is supposed to interpret the law. they are not supposed to make

the law or execute the law. i want judges who will interpret the law in good faith through strict constructionist and not trying to promote liberal activist agenda. >> i can't tell you whether i would vote to confirm merrick garland because i don't know the man and the reason i don't is the senate hasn't done its job. the senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide a nominee. republican then wrong on this issue, the country is at a standstill. our court is stressed with we are missing a justice in the supreme court, apologies to any cowboys fans, you have to take a page from john payton and do your job. we have to hold hearings with that is why we have hearings, to get to know the heart and character of the nominees.

litmus test of not worked based on history of the court, people change their mind, the country changes and grows. what you have to do is prioritize first and foremost the safety and security of our country, that is the job of government, whatever branch it is, for juries that will apply the law, not legislate from the bench. >> final question from jeremy with politics, we only have 30 seconds. >> every student succeeds act is the federal education law, no child left behind, fewer mandates, but some requirements for testing, and disadvantage students, is this inconsistent with poor view of the federal government's role in public education? >> charles boustany. >> it was a move in the right direction, no child left behind but there are problems with

mandates, and downward on the local school system, let me tell you what i believe. standards should be at the highest level possible. they should be set i parents, teachers and principals. and they have full accountability. >> i am surprised to hear charles boustany actually dismiss no child left behind, he voted to expand it. from the federal government other than helping funding has no hope whatsoever, the local teachers, principals, community itself, making decisions about testing and curriculum the last thing in the world we need is more government mandate coming and telling you how to teach your children. >> i'm glad we got a question

about education. i believe in the life-changing power of education. no parents should have to send their child to a failing school. i support public schools. i support homeschools. i support finding out which of our teachers can teach and pay them like the professionals they are and i support higher standards, but not higher standards from washington dc. we are perfectly capable when you are in louisiana of developing standards for ourselves. >> quality education is the path to louisiana's success with some in this race run on the department of education. which i find ironic given we are next to last in every educational category if not last. we need to work in partnership and make sure schools are adequately funded. the federal government invests more than state governments in higher education. in louisiana students continue

to fall behind, it will take the next united states senate to prioritize education at all levels and work to make sure there are standards and accountability. >> thank you, mister campbell. >> i'm the only one who has done anything to improve education. when i got into legislature, and -- it is an average, people make better grace to play ball. the endowment funds that i created the money goes to the classroom, can't be spent on basketball or baseball or brick and mortar, goes to the classroom for classroom instruction in an ideal way to help education, put the money in the classroom. >> thank you all. we are moving to our last round, time for the lightning round. we ask our candidates to answer questions with one word

responses and we begin with this question. what path would you emulate in your service? mister kennedy. >> probably senate. >> russell. >> russell long. >> who are you voting for for president? we will go down the line. >> i am voting for donald trump. >> donald trump. >> secretary clinton. >> democratic nominee. >> donald trump. >> what sitting world leader do you most admire? >> i would say benjamin netanyahu. be change i would list teresa

mack, the new prime minister of the uk, angela merkel of germany. >> angela merkel. >> without question pope francis. >> the president of argentina, president mccree, changing a socialist economy to a market based economy. it is earth shattering. >> this question will require more than one word with a brief response was what are the top three charities you gave to over the last year? >> i would include my church. i have given to other churches as well. i have given to several organizations, right to life organizations. >> i'm a founding member of the northcross united methodist church. i was raised presbyterian, methodist, when we got married we compromised and i became a methodist. i have given most of my money to

northcross united methodist church and gave money to child funding international and i give any to a charity i like to help homeless people. >> i believe it would be the louisiana children's museum, it is well as the leaders council training organization to encourage people to enter public service. >> freeport rescue mission. a great organization helped people. many churches. >> my church and several other churches, the wounded warriors program, supported that over the years, the community health clinic in latvia which shut its doors but there is something dedicated and helpful to its founding. >> finally, if you are not in the runoff, who will you

support? >> i will support the republican if a republican is in. >> the republican. >> the democrat. >> the same. i will support the republican. >> thank you. very enlightening. we are now going to our closing statement. >> thank you for your answer, really appreciate it. we moved to the closing statement and as before the order of the remarks were chosen by an earlier drawing, each candidate will have one minute, we begin with mister kennedy. >> i believe in god. i believe in protecting the unborn. i believe in more freedom, not more free stuff. i believe america doesn't have a

revenue problem, congress has a spending problem. every member of the united states congress should be required to substitute teach twice a year in public school in their district to learn a lot. i believe in one more thing. i believe america's best days lie ahead but not if we keep going the direction the president had a very quiet united states congress has taken this country. our country was founded by geniuses but it is run by idiots but i don't mean any disrespect. you can vote it out. >> as a tough trusted conservative i think you can see their is a distinct difference

here tonight, three folks, liberal democrats, and another that often votes for democrats. i am the trusted conservative and that is what i wanted to say. i created 500 louisiana jobs. i understand the economy, served in the military in uniform and i got to tell you it was such an honor, so proud to wear the uniform of the united states military, also been a physician for a number of years, i have lived my american dream. what i want to do is go to the united states senate, you can live your american dream. >> charles boustany. >> we had an interesting debate here. one question you have to ask yourself on november 8th is who do you trust to represent our state in the united states senate? i was a heart surgeon trusted by my patients for many years and have a record of achievement,

achieving results, conservative results in the united states congress. our next senator will be asked to make big decisions how we deal with national security. what do we do about a failing economy? how do we safeguard american values? my name is charles boustany, i ask for your trust and your vote on november 8th. >> thank you. is the only one on stage not being paid to be here it has been an honor to spend time with you. tonight you heard a lot from career politicians promising to make things better but they never do. they want a promotion, more of your tax dollars, they went you to believe what they haven't done before, these men talk a lot about themselves but they don't talk about you. here is what why once. i want you to pay for equal work, as a political outsider i will fight corrupt politics. being under 40, i know it is important to provide affordable college education and good jobs.

negative campaigning has become the norm, foster campbell attacked my family and in doing so denigrates me as an independent woman, claims nobody is talking but after 41 years in office, he is bought and paid for while your rates go up. enough is enough. politics can be a dirty business but you can fix it by choosing not to elect the same career insiders over and over again. my name is caroline fayard and i'm not one of the good old boys, honor me with your vote for the united states senate and let me go to work for you and your family. >> i want to thank you for putting on this event, thank my wife and children for staying with me through this campaign. i am a former teacher, small is this owner, foreigner, i want a better louisiana for all people. that is why i have been in public service all my life. i was endorsed by john edwards because he knows i have the courage to fight and help bring

things home to make louisiana a better state. after eight years of governor bobby jindal's destruction we have a lot of work to do, bring our tax dollars to help our people, raise the minimum wage to help our families, we need extra pay for women. an old saying there is no wrong way to do the right thing. i released my tax returns, nobody else here has i don't know why but they won't do it. you can see where my money goes and how much taxes i pay. i'm asking your vote for you to vote for me simply because i want to be a voice of the people like i have in the past, and other powerful. i am a voice for the people, not a powerful. .bless you, god bless the state of louisiana, god bless the united states of america. i appreciate your help so very much. >> we would like to thank the candidates for their participation in viewers for joining us at home. we thank louisiana tech and the wagner center for civic engagement and public policy for hosting us. early voting begins october 25th and runs through november 1st

election day across the country, tuesday, november 8th. >> there are many other decisions besides the senate race. we have to make this election season. check out govote.com for polling locations, sample ballots, things about your precinct and other information was on behalf of the council for better louisiana and louisiana public broadcasting i would like to thank all of you for joining us tonight and hope you have a great evening. >> may we have a round of applause for everyone, thank you. [applause] ♪ >> coming up at 7:00 pm eastern the ohio senate race with republican rob portman and

democratic governor ted strickland debating for the second time this week. c-span will have that debate live, corcoran is ahead in national polls, real clear politics. every four years the presidential candidates turn from politics to humor at the al smith memorial foundation dinner to raise money for catholic charities. at new york's historic waldorf-astoria hotel. >> i must say i have traveled the banquet circuit for many years, never quite understood the logistics of dinners like this and how the absence of one individual can cause three of us do not have seats. >> i'm glad to see you here tonight. you said many times in this campaign that you want to give america back to the little guy. mister vice president, i am that man.

>> an honor to share the dais with the great how smith. your great-grandfather with my favorite kind of governor. the kind who ran for president and lost. >> in the race for wisconsin's senate, incumbent republican ron johnson and former democratic senator russ feingold recently debated about the economy, student loans, health care,

trade, the supreme court, middle east policy and immigration. mr. feingold has a lead of about five points in five out of six polls gathered by real clear politics. >> tonight, a wifm-12 news commitment 2016 election special. the u.s. senate debate in pickup with marquette university law school. wisconsin's contest is one of the most watched in the nation. republican incumbent ron johnson -- >> that's what this election is about, this is about saving this country. >> -- fighting to win a second term. democratic challenger russ feingold -- >> they want us to get to work on a bipartisan basis. i intend to win this election, i intend to start doing that in january. >> -- trying to win back his old job. the outcome will help determine control of the senate. tonight, the candidates on health care, national security and the top of their ticket.

a 90-minute debate about the direction of the country. and now, live from the marquette university law school, here is tonight's moderator, wisn-12 news analyst mike boucher. [applause] >> moderator: and good evening, everyone, and welcome to our debate with the candidates for united states senate. we're joining you tonight from marquette university law school where i work as a fellow in law and public policy. during the next 90 minutes, we'll be hearing from the major party candidates for u.s. senate, republican senator ron johnson and his democratic challenger, former u.s. senator, russ feingold. our rules are pretty simple. it's a conversation. i'll be asking the candidates about their views on important issues facing the state and the country. we've asked them to answer questions directly and concisely and to stay on point. no filibusters.

the candidates can talk to one another, but i'll be managing the time on any given topic, and we'll have the freedom to move the conversation along. toward the end, each candidate will be asked to make a closing statement. so we have a lot to get to tonight, and the first question goes to senator johnson. senator, thanks very much for being with us tonight. and the same to mr. feingold. same question for both of you, and i think this is safe to say that this race as well as a number of races has been somewhat overshadowed by our presidential contest, so let's begin by giving the people at home and the people in this room your talk on what's at stake in this -- your take on what's at stake in this u.s. senate race. johnson: i want to thank marquette university and wisn for hosting this debate. it's literally the future of this country. literally, what haunts me is president obama, right before he got elected, he said in five days we're going to fundamentally transform this nation. i could depress the audience listing all the challenges, the problems, the threats that face this nation.

we've got to address those. we have to admit we have them. we have to fix these problems. but fundamentally transform america? that's not what we need. what we need to do is return to our founding principles of a limited government, a government that's primarily designed to protect our individual liberty and freedom. return to the benefits of a free market competitive system that guarantees three things; the best possible price, the best possible quality, the best level of customer service. i come from the private sector. i had to compete. we have to understand what made this country great, it's the american people, the folks of wisconsin that wake up every day, work hard, create products and services we all value, and they need to be left alone as much as possible. they need to be able to keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible. that's what made this country great, not big government. >> moderator: mr. feingold, from your perspective. feingold: i'm going to listen to the people of the state, and they told me what's at stake. i really see it as their decision what we should be working on. and what i hear is that middle

income and working families are wondering when are they going to get a little fairness. they feel like they can't pay their bills. even though people at the top are doing extremely well, wall street's at, basically, the highest point they've ever been. they know that unemployment is lower, but their wages are stagnant, and they're wondering when are they going to get a minimum wage increase? when are they going to have paid family leaf? when -- leave? when is the cost of pharmaceutical medicines going to go down? what i see at stake is that i would stand with the people of this state who are concerned about that and, frankly, senator johnson has voted with the corporations and the billionaires and multimillionaires who don't see it that way. to me, that's a fair statement of the choice in this race. >> moderator: does the presidential contest, in your eyes, both of you, have any bearing on this race? johnson: first of all, i've got to refute what senator feingold just said. i've listened to the false attack ads saying that i'm in the pocket of big business, and i vote for corporate interests.

listen, mike, i started out in my working career $1.45 as a dishwasher at a walgreens grill. i'm proud of the fact that for the last 30 years i helped start, build and grow a very successful wisconsin family business. i not only installed the equipment working with the mill rights and the plumbers and electricians, i operated the equipment. i'm -- night shift, continuing shift operation. so the fact that senator feingold continues to attack me, and let's face9, his campaign is primarily false attacks. i understand what it's like to work. he says he's for the working men and women. i am the working man. i've worked hard all my life. so the bottom line is, to answer your question, sure. i think the presidential campaign will have an effect on this. but on the big issues -- growing our economy, strengthening our military, defeating isis, securing our borders, appointing judges to the supreme court that have the integrity and fidelity to the law and constitution -- i think we're on the right side of the issue.

>> moderator: my hope is, we're going to talk about a lot of what you just mentioned, but go ahead, yes. feingold: why would senator johnson respond to what i said this that way? all i said was we have different voting records in the past, and certainly his voting record is what i said. he votes with those corporations, and he votes for the big business interests, and he votes against the things i talked about. this wasn't a personal comment. it's something that the people of the state have a right to say. who is this guy going to vote with, you know? is he going to vote with me or somebody else? that's the fundamental issue, is who is the senator going to vote with. and i think i stand on firm ground that he votes for the big interests, and i doubt that i would. >> moderator: you have tried him, to tie him in some of your tweets on twitter to donald trump. is that important in this race, or is he his own man? feingold: it's not very hard. [laughter]

let's face it, senator johnson is going to vote for and supports a man for president of the united states who just about everybody in their hearts of hearts knows shouldn't be president of the united states. he's not qualified, he doesn't have the temperament. he's gotten where he is by dividing people against each other, saying unfortunate things about latinos and muslims. so his colleagues in the senate, some of whom are in some pretty tough races themselves, have said, you know, enough's enough. there comes a point. the senator from new hampshire, the senator from ohio, the senator from alaska have all withdrawn their support. but senator johnson continues to take the irresponsible step of supporting him. what we need to do here is what's best for america, and that means you put party aside, your own desire to get reelected aside and distance yourself from somebody like donald trump who certainly should not be president. >> moderator: let me give you a chance to respond to that. johnson: sure. every vote i've taken is always in the best interests of wisconsin and wisconsin workers. i'm beholden to no special interests.

i'm the one that's announced this will be my last term. when i first ran in 2010, i said i would always tell you the truth, never vote with my re-election in mind. i never intended to run for a second term, i was hoping to get a serious president to work with me, address these problems, let me take the tough votes to fix these problems. that didn't happen, so i'm running again. i put myself in a position as chairman of the senate committee on homeland security and government affairs to actually accomplish a lot. i want to finish out that term as chairman and address these problems. so, again, i don't know what senator finegold's talking about, nor does he, quite honestly. [laughter] but the fact of the matter is i've got a real record of being independent and voting with the best interests of wisconsin in mind. and by the way, coming from the private sector i know how hard business is, i know how much harder the federal government makes it with the overregulation and overtaxation. senator finegold voted 270 times, he's running for a fourth term. is he willing to say he's going to limit himself to four terms?

is it going to be five? six? come on. i'm the guy that is not worried about re-election. i'm the guy there that's seriously concerned about country and willing to vote -- >> moderator: hang on one second. two quick questions for each of you, and i want to follow up here. so in the most recent marquette law school poll, 70% of the people polled said that they did not believe that donald trump showed good judgment. so tonight do you think your party's nominee shows good judgmentsome johnson: well, certainly i'm not going to defend the indefensible. i've been very up front when i disagree with a candidate. i'm not sure the same thing can be said about senator feingold. he must be the only american who thinks senator clinton is trustworthy. we haven't even talked about her decadesover corruption and lying, her dereliction of duty in benghazi, and then when she welcomed the dead bodies back to the tarmac, she looked the surviving family members in the eye and lied bold-faced to them. take a look at her e-mail scandal.

put america's top national security secrets at risk because she's trying to avoid the foia laws. he has no problem supporting her. we should be asking him that question. >> moderator: well, he will get a question in a second. do you think your party's nominee, he says the election is rigged. do you think there's widespread fraud? johnson: go, i don't think the election's -- no, i don't think the election's rigged. i'm concerned about voter fraud, it does exist. i don't want to have any legitimate vote marginalized, and it's definitely a legitimate point to talk about the bias in the media concentrating on all his problems and completely ignoring, almost completely ignoring all the corruption, all the lies of secretary clinton. >> moderator: mr. feingold, let me ask you a question about your support of your party's nominee, hillary clinton. you have said that she's reliable and trustworthy, and yet the same poll that i referenced just a moment ago

showed 66% of the people many this state, two-thirds of the people in this state do not think she's honest. how can you support someone that the people of this state fundamentally don't believe is honest? feingold: well, senator johnson didn't talk about donald trump, so i'm going talk about him -- >> moderator: can you talk about your -- [inaudible] feingold: senator johnson completely pivoted away from talking about donald trump because he knows that it's wrong to support him for president of the united states. senator johnson is an excellent businessman. you know what? there's no way he would have ever hired donald trump at his business or ever let him run loose in his plastics manufacturing company. because he's an irresponsible person who you can't deal with. so let me first say that you can't have it both ways, you can't say i'm more this guy and distance yourself. he's refused to appear with donald trump, although he still pretends that he wants to be -- let me answer the question about hillary clinton.

i have had a number of experiences working with hillary clinton. unique opportunity. i worked with her when she was first lady. in fact, i remember being with her here in wisconsin a while back on a health care issue. i worked with her when she was in the senate. and i also worked with her when she was secretary of state. what i have said is that in each encounter i've had with her, she's been reliable and trustworthy. that's my experience, and i believe she'll be an excellent president. she's extremely well informed on both domestic and international issues. she has good judgment. she's tough. lord knows she's not perfect, but on balance, she's about as qualified to be president of united states -- >> moderator: so do you have any concerns about the way she's handled the e-mails? do you have any concerns when she speaks to a private group on wall street and says wall street reform should begin with wall street or that she favors open trade and worders? feingold: i've disagreed with secretary clinton on a number of occasions, issues on the iraq war.

i opposed the iraq war, she was for it. i disagreed with her on campaign finance reform. we had different views. and i certainly think her presidency should be one that's as open and transparent as possible. she regrets some of the things she did with regard to this issue, and she's been open about i. she's not perfect, but she's so much better than donald trump who, frankly, i think will destabilize the world. if they see this person become president, it will be very frightening to the world, because they won't know want to expect from the united states. and that's sort of trump's everything, if you will. >> moderator: i'll give you just a few seconds, yes, sir. johnson: first of all, do you realize secretary clinton probably could not get a security clearance based on her unbelievably reckless behavior with those e-mails? i doubt if she was just a normal person, of course, we have a two-tiered system of justice right now, that's obvious by the fact that james comey decided not to recommend indictment. do you also realize that i don't

think she could be confirmed for any position from the united states senate based on what she did on those e-mail scandals and yet senator feingold supports her for president of the united states? what the american people ought to be suspicious of is a former first lady who leaves the white house and says she's dead broke and a few years later she and her husband are worth tens, maybe millions of dollars. a former united states senator who called himself mr. campaign finance reform was all for, you know, campaign -- clean campaigns and yet tried to outlaw political action committees there being involved in elections back in 1995. that's the first thing he did when he left office, he set up three political action committees, raised $10 million. quite honestly, fraudulently tried to raise money, said he was going to spend that on candidates. he spent about 5% on candidates, the rest he spent on himself setting up a little money-making machine. he's raised all kinds of money primarily outside of the state of wisconsin.

okay? used that to attack me falsely, relentlessly. you know, it might be successful. let's hope not. let's hope wisconsin actually understands how incredibly phony he has been on campaign finance reform. and remember -- >> moderator: let's have him respond. johnson: okay, thanks. feingold: everything you just heard is simply false. the people of the state know me, they know i'm an ethical perp. but we're talking about the presidency here. i don't know how we got off on. we're talking about who should be president of the united states. if you care about your family, if you care about your kids, if your care about unity within this country, if you care about the world being a stable place, the only choice is to elect hillary clinton. and the idea that you would actually cause the leaders of china and india and france and britain to say what are we supposed to do with somebody that changes his mind every five minutes and has no qualifications, who actually enables vladimir putin? senator johnson is a supporter

of somebody who is basically inviting vladimir putin to mess with our domestic elections. this is far greater than any specific issue involving an individual. it has to do with the security of the world. >> moderator: do you want to respond to what he said on whether or not you changed your position on campaign finance reform? feingold: sure. i believe the entire system was gunpointed and changed by the citizens -- gutted and changed by the citizens united decision. that allowed special interests to hide and use huge campaign contributions to overwhelm the political process. senator johnson loves that system. he actually has four times more outside independent ads in his campaign than i do. so in the past, i was able to maintain a majority of my campaign contributions from wisconsin. now that is not the case because i believe the entire deal has changed. but ask yourself two questions. who has more support from wisconsin? i do. i have 50,000 wisconsin

contributors or people from wisconsin and over 110,000 contributions. he has said that he has 80,000 contributions from wisconsin. he hasn't even revealed it. so let me finish. that's the first thing. that, for the support, is far greater for me. who has more support from outside? senator johnson has close to $11-$12 million for attack ads, four times more than my campaign. finish clearly, i am more wisconsin-based. johnson: back in 1992 during the debate, he said he wasn't going to go to washington and look for those pacs of outside money. he said he was always going to raise, you know, the majority of his campaign funds right here in wisconsin. he said that was a pledge for the future. and then earlier year when you pressed him on that point, he said, no, that was a pledge for this term. what was it, a pledge for the future or for this term? let's face it, he raised $10 million, spent it on himself, paid his campaign staff, his senate staff, paid himself a

salary, bought leather bound books out of that, didn't spend it on candidates. you know, so those -- he set up that exact, those pacs that he actually tried to outlaw. but, you know, what we're really talking about between senator feingold and hillary clinton, i think the american people are looking for dramatic change. certainly, our nominee is a change agent. i'm a change agent. if you want the status quo, if you think everything's just wonderful in washington, d.c., you know, then you're probably going to support a 34-year career politician like senator feingold. if you actually want dramatic change, if you want to get our economy realize aring its full -- realizing its full potential, you'll actually elect people that come from the private sector and change washington. feingold: senator johnson is saying things he knows not to be true. the fact is that the groups he's talking about, progressives united, was created to fight the political system that senator johnson supports. it did many things. yes, it gave contributions to other candidates, but that

wasn't main purpose. the main purpose was to try to raise contributions through e-mails indirectly for candidates which was very successful. and even more importantly, it was to make sure that tens of thousands of e-mails could go in, for example, when social security was on the chopping block in washington, progressives united was successful in raising the alarm. when interests of the type that senator johnson supports were trying to take away net neutrality on the internet, this organization was effective. it was 100% ethical and effective, and all of the things he said about the personal benefit of it are completely false. but here's the point. he's trying to change the subject from what really matters here which is that the families of this state want a senator who's going to vote for things like raising the minimum wage and doing something about the cost of pharmaceutical medicine. but instead, he wants to engage in these -- >> moderator: 15 seconds. johnson: i can quickly close this out. his pacs were basically a money-making machine developing a donor list which then

progressives united sold -- check this out -- to the feingold campaign, which is why he's been able to raise all outside money. his last report, 70% of his contributions coming from outside of the astronaut. you can be the judge. >> moderator: do you favor any changes in the way campaigns are run? johnson: oh, we should certainly get back to a system where campaign donations flow into a campaign where they're accountable. this is one of his plans that simply didn't work at all. a lot of it's been ruled up constitutional. i know he's got a lot of plans, but they simply don't work. it was a spectacular failure. finegold: the senator's been in office for almost six years, he has not lifted a finger whatsoever to change the system. he loves it the way it is. he is benefiting enormously from this corrupt system, from these hidden contributions that aren't reported. he doesn't want to change it. otherwise he would have done something to do it. i worked on a bipartisan basis with john mccain to do

something about it. and by way, that law still stands. the main provision is politicians like senator johnson can't call up special interests directly and ask them for direct contributions. if we can overturn citizens united -- which i believe we'll be able to in the next few years -- the law will have the effect of preventing these corrupt contributions, and i think we should demand and i think congress should pass a law requiring these disclose you ares -- disclosures. see, the supreme court said we should know where these are coming from. senator johnson compares it to the need of the naacp to not have their membership lists revealed. the people of this country and of this state deserve to know where all this money that's supporting senator johnson coming from. it wouldn't be pretty. >> moderator: i want to move on to topics that both of you mentioned in your introductory remarks in answer to the first question, and it seems like there's a theme we're going to the talk about, and it's a theme about security. there's national security, foreign policy, but there's also

economic security. so let's walk i through a number of these issues. i want to begin by talking about economic security. and this is interesting. six years ago we sat in this same room at about this same time. the unemployment rate was 7.8%. today it's 4.2%, so clearly the economy has improved from what it was in 2010. and yet we see a recent survey by marketplace and edison research says that people feel a growing sense of economic anxiety. we see marquette law school poll that says 53% of the people feel they're either just getting by or struggling. i'll begin with you, senator johnson. give us a couple examples of things you think people in the senate can do to better the lives of those people. johnson: first of all, they're feeling reality. wages have stagnated. we are still at a median household income that's below 2006-2007 levels.

so they're right to feel the pinch. yes, unemployment's lower, but so many people dropped out of the work force. economic growth is the number one component of solution for all these problems, and let me show you why. if we go from 2% to 3% -- by the way, this is the slowest recovery from the recession post-world war ii. last quarter was 1.4 economic growth. first quarter was .8%. on average, the american economy has grown 3.2%. that's $14 trillion of added economic activity in just ten years. 2 to 4% is $29 trillion. even with the mighter economic growth we've had -- meager economic growth, federal revenue has increased by $1.3 trillion. all of our public policy ought to be directed toward unleashing the innovation, the creativity of americans. >> moderator: examples. johnson: we have to reduce the regulatory burden. in my committee -- by the way, we released a mission statement to enhance the economic and

national security of america. it costs about $2 trillion per year to comply with federal regulation. divided by the number of households, that's $14,800 per year, per household to comply with federal regulation ares. there's a big reason, we need to reduce that regulatory burden. i'd ask the listeners in the audience would you rather have that $14,800 feeding a massive, inefficient, ineffective government bureaucracy or feeding and providing for your family? senator feingold supports the growth of those regulatory agencies,. >> manager like the waters of the united states which would put the epa in charge of 92% of wisconsin land mass that would be devastating for our economy. he wants to grow government which is going to require more taxes out of your paycheck. i want to grow the private sector by reducing the size of government. i want to make sure that wisconsinites get to keep more of their hard-earned money. >> moderator: what would you do? feingold. i think you deserve an answer. if we just grow the economy for

those at the top it's going to trickle down to those at the bottom, that isn't what's happened. no matter be you're in milwaukee or up in superior, they're telling me that hasn't happened. so what do we need to do? we need to do the opposite of what senator johnson has proposed. we need to increase that minimum wage substantially. it is at $7.25 which, actually, be you have a family of more than one, if it's two or four family members, that's below poverty level. senator johnson doesn't even support raising it from $7.25. in fact, he has said in the past that he doesn't even think we really should have a federal minimum wage. secondly, you asked for specifics. we need to have paid family leave for families. we need to make sure that when you have a child, you have an opportunity to have a few weeks off to bond with that child. i think that's better for the employer. we can join the rest of the countries in the world that do sort of thing. that would make a measurable difference in a lot of young families' lives. another specific. you know how worried the people of this state are, the older

people many this state whether you're talking to them in eau claire or here this milwaukee, they're worried about the cost of these pharmaceutical medicines. it's overwhelming. sometimes people have a $400 dose, and a person is tempted to cut that pill in half in order to make sure they can pay their food and rent. senator johnson stood against and he stands with the pharmaceutical industry. and i believe we should pass a law allowing the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices under medicare. that would save the country $123 billion on all of these measures. you see he has zero specifics because he will only stand for those things that the corporations won't allow. johnson: let me give you a specific. on your show when you asked about the minimum wage, you know, there are a number of studies that saw that would cost the economy 6-7 million jobs. and senator feingold says, oh, yeah, there'd be some dislowuations. -- dislocations. that's a nice little euphemism. there's some very serious, negative unintended consequences.

and to your allowing medicare to negotiate prices, we already have part d where you have a single-payer health care system like senator feingold wants for all of the american people. like the v.a. health care system, they only have access to about 82% of drugs. medicare at least has access the about 95% of drugs because they allow different providers of medicare part d to negotiate those prices. cbo director says that negotiation by medicare would save negligible amounts of money. senator feingold's proposing more government, more plans that sum my don't pan out -- simply don't pap -- don't pan out. some dislocations, i mean, that's unbelievably callous. >> moderator: i'll give you a couple of quick sentences. feingold: a senator that says

medicare negotiated at the federal level doesn't save money, it's an official estimate. $123 billion, it would save. and by the way, the senator has also voted to open up that doughnut hole again. you know, we fought so hard to make sure that seniors wouldn't have their gap in their coverage on their prescription medicine. he's voted to open that up again. what do you tell a senior in this state who's desperately scared about their prescription be medicine? he just says, well, there's really nothing we can do about it. johnson: so, mike, let's talk about how we need to grow the economy. i've grown a business. i've provided good paying jobs. he seems to have a problem with that. i don't think anybody should apologize for working hard and succeeding. and how you succeed and how you grow an economy is, again, reduce that massive regulatory burden. we have to have a competitive tax system. right now we do not. and senator feingold supports the policies of president obama who as a candidate said because of his policies rates wouldn't

skyrocket. he couldn't pass those laws, so now he's passing them through regulation, circumventing congress. that's what we need to do, reduce the regulatory burden and utilize our god-given energy resources to keep wisconsin workers competitive. we all want to maintain a clean environment, but fact of the matter is the policies that senator feingold promotes, that makes wisconsin workers less competitive. that's what, in effect, makes global competitors more competitive and costs us jobs overseas. >> moderator: very, very quickly. feingold: let's be clear, this is a simple statement. senator johnson paid himself $700,000 for ten years for his time at his company after he went to the senate. and he described that as reasonable. he doesn't think raising the minimum wage from $7.25 is reasonable. every wisconsinite should see that. >> moderator: let me ask you -- johnson: i do need to respond to that. again, nobody should apologize more working hard and succeeding

in the american economy. i'm proud of the fact that i worked with some great people at my company, built a great business that provided all those good paying jobs. and that's just a fact. that was 13 years where i didn't take a salary. i let the money build in the business so it would build, so it would create some additional jobs. i don't -- it's sad that senator feingold, he says he's fighting for the middle class. well, my business provided great paying jobs, careers, some of those people are still with me after 30 years. i don't know why he has a problem with a successful, family manufacturer that exports all kinds of different countries. again, i don't think anybody should have to apologize for working hard and succeeding. he apparently seems to do that. by the way, i have never suggested we do away with the minimum wage. i would be happy for looking at proposals to index for inflation. i'm just not supportive of dramatic increases that actually cost families jobs and opportunities, and he's for that, and he calls that dislocations. finegold: nobody said anything about your business or who you hired.

all i said is you won't even raise the minimum wage one nickel -- johnson. i just said i'd be willing to do it on an indexing basis, i'm just not willing to go to $15 an hour. finegold: well, you have voted consistently against raising it at all. that's the record, that's the fact. that's what the people of wisconsin need to know. >> moderator: i want to ask a question that's, i think, of interest to some of our students in the audience tonight. it is about the affordability of college. mr. fine imold, you've talked about free tuition for families making under $125,000. briefly, the first question. why do the student loans need to be tackled? feingold: well, it's a crisis. everywhere you go in the state if you want to hear one issue within the context of cost of living, the problems of making a

living, the thing you hear most is the frightening aspect of student loans. the average student coming out of the university of wisconsin-madison with student loans is about $28,000 in debt. >> moderator: so half of them come out with no debt, and half of them come out with an average of $28,000. feingold: this is very expensive. and be i have held town meetings and round tables with students all over the state who tell me this is very disturbing. senator johnson says they think this is free money. no, they don't. it's terrible way to have to start their life. one of the young women here actually said to me, senator -- [audio difficulty] this is what you talk about. [laughter] i like to say it's a better icebreaker. senator johnson doesn't respond to that. when elizabeth warren had a straightforward bill that would allow the renegotiation of interest rates like you can do

on a mortgage, he voted no. it was very close. i think they were within a couple of votes. he prevented it. i also do believe that we should have a goal of making it that people can graduate from college at least debt-free when it comes to tuition. and that is something that i'd like to see -- >> moderator: how do we pay for that? we've got a $19 trillion debt, we've got increasing pressure because of our aging demographics on social security and medicare, how do we pay for free college tuition? feingold: i've offered a federal fiscal fitness plan that has up to the a trillion dollars in pay-fors. >> moderator: explain what a pay-for is. pinegold: where you close a loophole like the carried interest and use it for something like student loans or to reduce the deficit. senator johnson doesn't do sort of thing. what he does is talk about how much the debt's going to be in 30 years. i've offered a specific plan that's all about closing the kind of corporate loopholes that he's voted for, cutting spending as we did on prescription medicines. the job of a senator isn't just

to say the system's bad or to propose spending. it's to say, okay, this is how we should pay for it. i've done the work of specifically proposing what we would do. >> moderator: let me give you a chance to respond. [inaudible] johnson: it's all about college afford to be about, and, of course, senator feingold's exhibit a on why it's so unaffordable. he was paid $150,000 for 19 lectures, lecturing stanford out in california. so when colleges have that much money to pay a guest lecturer, you understand why the cost of college has increased at 2.6 times the rate of inflation. what is so different about what college educations spend their money on that the cost would increase 3.6 times -- 2.6 times? the federal government poured money into higher education, into a limited supply. for every dollar the federal government poured in in student loans and grants, tuition increased by 65 and 55 cents. do the math on that, it was about $2.1 trillion.

that's, you know, times about 60%, that's $1.3 trillion which just happens to be the amount of student debt that's outstanding. so the federal government, with the best of intentions, had the very negative, unintended consequences of making college much less affordable, making it much less accessible. so solution is, is drive competition and drive productivity into education. we are still largely -- >> moderator: what does that look like? johnson: utilizing technology. we're still operating basically on a 19th century model. we have an explosion of the information age, of computers, of technology, of best practices. and we simply don't utilize it. before i became a a senator, i was really involved as a volunteer in education in oshkosh. we did something with the catholic school system called the academic excellence niche i. how do you teach more, better, easier. at the time, i typed into my yahoo! search educational productivity. i didn't misspell it. i got zero results.