media. when you grow up in an environment like i did you need people to play a sort of heroic role for you to have a chance and luckily i had that and this is the story of how they impacted my life in a lot of positive ways. >> there wasn't this connection that now exists in my mind between education and opportunities because even the people who did pretty well in school didn't necessarily make a whole lot out of themselves. you saw so many people not making or having good opportunities but it was hard to believe school mattered that much.

>> virginia's tenth congressional district is a closely watched house race between republican incumbent barbara and luanne bennett. the district covers parts of fairfax and loudoun counties in northern virginia. the political report rates it a tossup. the northern virginia chamber of commerce hosted this debate. [applause] good morning everyone. i am honored to be with you today. it is my pleasure now to introduce the candidates for the 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 was elected in november to 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 on research technology and the house administration committee in the united states house of representatives. she served in the house of delegates from 2010 to 2015 where she served as the chairwoman of the science and technology committee. she also served on the commerce and labor committee and transportation committee. she earned her degree from georgetown university law center and graduated from middlebury college with a ba in political science. she's a 30 year resident and she and her husband a fairfax county public school assistant principal who continues to teach and raised their three children. please welcome. [applause]

bennett grew up in east of st. louis and they moved to fairfax county 35 years ago. together they started and grew a small real estate business until he was diagnosed with leukemia had passed away in 94. 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 a thousand workers and generated millions of dollars in economic development for the match region while promoting energy efficient and environmentally sustainable development. she earned her bachelor's degree in education from eastern illinois university and was married to the congressman from 2004 to 2011 while he represented the eighth congressional district and they remain friends today. she continues her work with a number of foundations working across the region and across virginia.

please welcome luanne bennett. [applause] >> we will also invite the audience to submit your questions to the candidates. there arthere are note cards the placed in the seat. please feel free to write a question down t down to the cans and a staff member will come by and bring it forward. please remember to keep your questions focused on business issues. all will be kept anonymous. another way for the audience to engage is to use the hash tag debate chamber on social media. now for the ground rules each candidate will receive up to two minutes for an opening statement. candidates will be provided with two minutes for a closing statement following the question and answer period. the order was predetermined.

during the question and answer period the candidate answering first is provided with one minute 30 seconds into the candidate answering second will receive one minute 30 seconds to provide an answer to the same question. the candidate answering first will be allowed one minutes for a rebuttal. it will alternate between answering first and second. the moderator may ask follow-up questions. but congresswoman will provide the first opening statement and for the first question to have the right to close out with her rebuttal time and ms. bennett will provide the opening statement to the last question of the debate first and have the right to close out with her rebuttal time. kevin mcnult mcnulty sitting upn front is our timekeeper and he is located at the front of the stage. for each statement we will show a green card with 30 seconds

remaining and a yellow card for ten seconds and a red card when the time is up. so the moderator will interrupt the candidate if they do not complete their sentence promptly. time limits will be strictly enforced. 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 committed to film the event. with that, let's begin the opening statements. congresswoman, you have two minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning northern virginia chamber. you know me. i've been a member of the chamber. i have a record of accomplishment. results already working for the district and i look forward to discussing my record for the vision in the future. my opponent has had little involvement in the community or the issues driving our diverse

innovation economy. my record of bipartisan results 600 billion in tax relief, stop the defense cut cuts him a, pasn reform including stem, data center growth, research and development, transportation solutions, 21st century cures, landmark legislation where is my opponent in on these issues not working for virginia and for the past decade but even living in the tenth district. she spent her career in the dc real estate and said she moved to washington, d.c. in 2014. i'm the only member of congress and a majority and the only chairwoman right now. the chamber and every leading business organization has endorsed me as half of our federahave otherfederal employee associations into the fairfax firefighters. my opponent included telling us

1 trillion in tax increases might create a would've jobs to support most if not all of the regulations hurting jobs but i know you oppose. she opposes my bidding legislation to chamber endorsed to cut the defense i of national security and our jobs and she thinks obamacare makes health care more affordable. i have a lifetime of experience and relationships working with the businesses, schools, charities and leaders of the community that makes the district the best place to live, work, start a business and raise a family. i am i a woman and i've used by strong voice for your priority and together we can build on a strong foundation. thank you. >> moderator: thank you. you have to minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning. i stand here as one of you. i've run a business for 35 years and share your frustrations with the do-nothing congress that

can't pass a budget. i am also here as a mother to three sons and a grandmother to my grandson. the decisions congress makes or more accurately doesn't make will impact all of our children and grandchildren. congress is broken and that must change. 35 years ago my husband and i moved to northern virginia. we raised our boys and started a real estate business. in 1994 we lost rick to cancer and i was left a single working mom running a business in the middle of a recession. it was tough but i never missed a table. one of the things i learned from this experience is that in challenging times there's always opportunities and i see tremendous opportunities right here in the tenth district.

you and i know that in business we sold 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 have seen it coming where as a state delegate she voted against a bipartisan transportation bill. the very bill that brought the line to dulles airport and beyond. on top of that, my opponent recently said she can no longer support the candidate donald trump. unfortunately, she continues to support his agenda that would block the opaque block comprehensive immigration reform, block commonsense gun safety, denying climate change, punish women for making their own health care choices and an agenda that divides the country. thank you to all of the sponsors of today's date. i look forward to answering your

questions. >> i think we are going to come forward and try to adjust your microphone so that -- >> i think yours was working. let's just pause here. >> he would like you to redo your opening statement is that what you're saying? >> really? spinnaker did the people in the back of the really hear that okay? okay we are going to move forward. we are going to move onto the first question which goes to the congresswoman comstock. metro has often been in the news cycle for all the wrong reasons in the past few years. fortunately with the hiring of a

strong general manager this started to change but something remains an issue. they service the federal government. what responsibility does the federal government have in the funding operating capital. >> it's been one of our biggest challenges from the first day that i was elected when we had a tragic accident -- >> can somebody takes your microphone so that we are both heard? >> we need a microphone check. what stood out for one second. >> i apologize for this. we had several rounds of testing before hand.

it was about metro often in the news. what response ability does the government have in the operating capital for metro and how will you advocate for the fun in? >> thank you again. we've been working on this since i was elected to make sure we could get the silver lining going but after the accident in january of 2015, we brought people together on a bipartisan basis and made sure the safety culture was going to be the top priority and i commend the general manager for hiring new safety people and for clearing out some of the deadwood they had in management and putting the new practices in place.

$150 million a year that had already been in the system to be able to support metro car that was when my own party tried to cucut the topic of 75 million. i worked with the region to get it restored and having the majority member in my conference to push this was a very strong reason why we were able to get it restored. i also worked on the issue of crime we see the rising crime and we had incidences of rape at 10:00 in the morning but wasn't reported for over a month. so i asked this needs to be reported immediately and he changed the policy that very day. so i'm working everyday. i've been out to the control center. i'm talking about controlling cost and i do think there needs to be a federal role that you have recently when you have the governors and the mayor, there

is a lot of work to be done and resistance on that i am already working on for the bipartisan coalition. >> 90 seconds for you. >> our region and local economies depend on a safe and reliable metro system. metro system. 40% of the federal workforce takes the metro. we need safety and reliability that we do need to fund the improvements that need to be made. we need the system to be safe. i would point out that we wouldn't have a metro system going to dulles airport and to the county worth up to the congresswoman. then in the house of delegates, she voted against the funding for matrox and against the largest bipartisan transportation bill to come out of richmond and she did it because she had signed the grover norquist no tax pledge. this is political extremism

taken to the health. it's a perfect example of that. we need to fund metro. metro needs $18 billion in capital repairs. this is precisely why i support a federal infrastructure spending authority much along the lines of senator mark warner. there is a bipartisan bill in the senate. senator warner has signatures on both sides of the aisle and there is also a bill in the house that would provide infrastructure spending. that is the kind of spending and thinking that we need to fix our metro system and infrastructure across the country. many of my colleagues supported this on a bipartisan basis and the business community many of the former governors who were

democrats supported my bidding bill. we wouldn't have gotten the vote if we hadn't had that competitive bidding bill. my colleague here knows i did support it and you were not here, you were elsewhere not working in virginia. but i've already worked to restore the money and as well as mr. lipinski on the committee where i'd share the committee on research we have a bill that is going to be working on how we can deal with safety and terrorist threats. i am interested in this every day. i am meeting with the leadership team this summer when there were meetings this year firsthand.

>> thank you. ms. bennett the next question is for you. workforce education is a core priority for the chamber of commerce. what type of workforce education initiative would you propose that the federal level responsive to the business needs in northern virginia and how can you work with your counterparts in state and local governments to ensure the federal workforce education program achieves the maximum results? >> 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 and we have great

opportunities to do that in the community college systems. i think we have that infrastructure built out and we need to maximize the use of it. we have 37,000 unfilled technology jobs. in the short run, we need to increase the amount of high skilled visas available to companies to be able to fill those jobs. but in the long run, we need to re- educate our american workforce to fill those jobs. i will work hard to provide funding for education. my opponent, however, has cut public school funding and those of the house of representatives and in the congress. in the house she cut 620 million from the budget. they provide stem grants and

that is the kind of thing we simply cannot do if we are going to move forward into the 21st century. >> 90 seconds. >> i am the only one on this page that has been very involved in the virginia public schools and universities. i come from a family of educators. my husband is in the system, my mother is here today, teacher and librarian. i already worked with state and local officials, the school board member, the chair of the subcommittee on education, so i have those working relationships on education. on technical jobs, we've already passed the 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 and also, tom and i and others in richmond stopped the $120 million in cuts and one of the first things i dealt with when i became a delegate, we have a bipartisan coalition to stop that.

i know my opponent wasn't here working with us on those issues but what she's talking about is that it would have send more money downstate so we thought it back together and restored the 120 million i'm the one with relationships like how they can to justify other research and technology and on lowerin on whg the regulation so that they can really research. i have a bill for a young woman on a bipartisan basis that established the house and is now out of the committee. budgets are about priorities. joe biden has a great wine he likes to use. he said show me your budget and i will tell you the 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. >> according to our friends at the northern virginia transportation alliance, currently more than half the region's population were outside of the capital beltway. the pattern will continue as the projections indicate most of the 20-40 growth also occur in the outer portions of the region particularly northern virginia. for this reason, the business community has been calling for an upgraded american bridge and a new northwestern potomac river crossing.

question, do you support the additional northwestern potomac river crossing and if so what would you do to bring this project to fruition and if not, why? >> for the first time we passed a transportation reform bill in congress without raising taxes and i was proud as a member of the committee to be on the conference committee to get the work done. i do know from having the chamber recently they had a discussion here with the virginia governor, the maryland governor and dc mayor and we also know from having worked with the state and local officials we know we need to have more but we have to work from the ground up. we cannot impose tha it it's not like the days you could just draw a line and help people not include the public so i know when i went to the state delegate, i worked on different quarters to make sure we got the

right and that's what i know my colleagues do all the time so that's what i've told my state and local colleagues i will sit down and work with you and go to these meetings and map these out to make sure and we do have money in the budget to start that process. but we have to get agreement on the ground level and that's going to require the kind of collaboration and leadership when you work with the people that are the key players from the people that will come up with new technology which we have flake at george washington university and how we can relieve congestion and find a better way to have our congestion relief. >> the congresswoman wants to talk about the legislation she was a part of passing.

the problem is that congress hasn't passed the appropriations process in six years. that is 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 legislation you pass if you don't fund it it can't happen. i would say we need a big change in congress. she likes to talk about the fact that my business is located in washington, d.c. and works regionally. i think in this case that is an advantage. i have a long-standing relationship with people in maryland and dc and virginia. if the transportation solutions are going to have to be negotiated regionally, those relationships will be beneficial when it comes time to talk about

the hard questions that have to be answered. i am for upgrading. it's critically important and all of us know you cannot separate transportation from economic development. they are joined at the hip and we have to address the issues in order for the northern virginia region to continue to grow. >> i've worked with you on these issues. i know how to cut through the gridlock because i've been part of the governing majority. there's only one person on the stage that would be in the majority. we don't need another minority member of congress and who can't add to the region here. my opponent hasn't worked i don't think she's been a member of this chamber or others but similarly i've worked with our

colleagues. we know we need to have that type of cooperation. that's why you had the reason for him to hold a discussion and get that done and that's why i provided and worked on the long-term bill the first time we got a transportation bill that i had a seat at the table on. i was very proud when i went out to be research center to see this young man working saying that's how it is going to help our local area. >> the loudoun county parkway is the fastest growing in the united states but lack the robust interconnectivity. do you support the parkway and if so, what role can you play to wipay tobring that back to fruid if not, how would you propose to

bring about a much-needed north and south connection? >> i do support the parkway and also the widening of route seven. this is about to begin and i think that it will be a great move to continue moving traffic from loudoun county through the region. it's being supported from the transportation bill the congress did vote against. we need multimodal transportation options. we need busing services, bike trails, road improvements, we need a safe and reliable metro. my concern 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 to ensure they get the funding that is necessary to make this a safe and reliable system and that is going to take federal involvement. i have watched the hearings and i have seen the congresswoman question mature officials and i have seen criticisms but no solutions. in business you can't afford just to be a critic. you have to find solutions. we have to move this forward. so i look forward to being part of the solution. >> thank you. congresswoman, 90 seconds. >> as i mentioned this is something you have to work from the ground up. the reason the initial effort to

put this in defense work is ends because the officials from the state level didn't go into work with the local delegates and we have to do that. we can find consensus. i stood with my predecessor as a delegate and we celebrated how we came together and worked on those issues. again, she's been endorsed by a dysfunctional union. how bad do you have to be in the uniounion if the administrations suing you and they won't work with the new general manager i work with all the time. i mentioned we got the crime reported and changed. the new general manager that comes out and works with us on a weekly and monthly basis

appreciates that i'm engaged and involvei am engagedand involvedh critics. believe me he's a critic on what's going on in metro. if you are not a critic right now, you are not seeing reality that we are coming up with solutions. i talked about having better -- >> 60 seconds. >> i'd like to address the issue that the congresswoman says she will be a member of the majority. that is a big assumption at this point. i think that it's kind of up for grabs but second of all, to be a member of the majority that works less than half the business days in a session and get less done, passes no appropriation bills, doesn't pass any significant, or very

little said the camp legislation. i don't know what that does for any of us. i think that congress should have a minimum number of days that it's required to work and we require schools to teach a minimum number of days. congress should go to work in needs to get the work done for the american people. this republican-led congress is simply not doing that. it's got to change and you need people that are going to change it. >> in a report from the 2030 group, doctor stephen from george mason identifies the following seven sectors as target industries for growth in the region. so, the question will be which of these do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth and how can you support that in congress? they are advocacy, information and communication technology

services, science and technology services, biological health and technology services, business and financial services, media and information services and business and leisure travel services. so, advocacy, information and community technology services, science and technology services, biological and health technology services, business and financial media information and travel. which of these do you view as the biggest opportunity and how can you support that in congress, 90 seconds. >> i work in all o and all of te sectors and throughout my career so i wouldn't select just one. the region is so talented and that is why we are growing in these areas and he identified the seven. the regional growth in the area thanks to the permanent research development tax credit that we

passed in the $600 billion package that we passed last year is providing more innovation for the innovation economy that we have in these areas information technology, cybersecurity, i worked at the five hearings on the research technology subcommittee where i'd have cyber experts come in and tell us we had john come and testify so i'm proud to have his support and working on how we can use the expertise that's in the private sector and bring that into the government and he was a great advocate for us. at the science and technical area we have to partner with our universities. that's why having the kind of leadership we have, i have a lifetime of relationships in the public education system my husband served in for 30 years and i worked with all these leaders. i am so excited about what's going on at the new cancer

center. another good leader for the area supporting me on a bipartisan person, todd has been a leader in the business community as you know here in the chamber and i wouldn't select any of these. ms. bennett, 90 seconds. >> if we are going to focus on any sector i would focus on the sector that we already have, the good core infrastructure and certainly information technology and cyber are two areas information and technology is a big sector and it's been thriving. cyber is a real opportunity. we need to find the war of today and tomorrow and if they are going to be fought in the technology space by and large. we are seeing that now, hacking

bistate players. we need to find that through the military budget and we have great cyber companies located right here in the tenth district. this is a great opportunity for the tenth district. biotech is another great area as well. we have the research center and great institutions we need to make sure they get the proper funding. healthcare will be a growing sector in the future. these are great opportunities. there is one that you didn't mention and that is the opportunity in the alternative energy sector. supporting energy technology and manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels is a real opportunity for us.

>> in order to get that pipeline, we've been working hard to support the bill that puts more local control. we have a great place in fairfax and now they are expanding and are going to be in the actual schools. my opponent is fund raising on the basis of cutting defense. you won't have that money for cyber as they mentioned and i would also like to mention i tht i hope that we discussed this the 21st century bill that is about innovation and that's why if we get that here locally we can have an explosion all throughout the region and i think that we should look at a

regionally. >> the next question is for you. >> despite the promises that would be different the house only approved five of the 12 appropriations bills and only one was enacted into the wall on time. as a result of federal government is being funded almost entirely through the continuing resolution. as continuing resolutions do not provide long-term certainty that many need to do business with the federal government to invest in the workforce and grow their companies without blaming the other party or the senate, what needs to change for the parties to work together and start developing and testing budgets on time and how could you reach across the aisle to the senate for pennsylvania avenue to get this done and who would you work with?

what needs to change, how would you reach across the aisle and who could do wor you work with a bipartisan basis? >> what needs to change as our leadership. we need leaders who actually want to get something done. we don't have that right now. we have leaders that want to obstruct and not take any hard votes. this is because we are so driven by politics and not what's good for the american people. we need leaders that are willing to tell the truth about the choices that have to be made. i will work with anybody. when you are in the business sector, you have to work with anybody to get solutions to problems and nine times out of ten you are working with someone you don't agree with. you don't solve problems by talking to your own friends.

useful problems by talking to the other side and you have to listen and hear them. the democratic party doesn't have all the solutions but the republican party has 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 need to work together democrats and republicans we need to work together and i intend to do that when i go to congress after november. >> congresswoman. >> i was one of the 75 that did vote to keep it open from the beginning and i've been part of the governing majority in my caucus and in my party and that's why i've been named one of the bipartisan members of congress in the republican caucus because the top 100 in general because they already

established i have this working relationship. in that state house my bills were almost exclusively bipartisan. i had all the right to work legislation that we worked on. the competitive bidding bill to make the data centers that are now providing tens of millions to the local economy so i've already demonstrated that ability. you get a good ideas and go out and build coalitions to those areas in the economy and more. he's my minority member chairman and we worked together with the medical community he was a professor. we worked together on how we can get these solutions in terms of technology also so i'm the only one on the record who actually has done what my opponent only talks