>> senator grassley, would you continue to fight to repeal obama to our will you adjustments to make? >> it's the failure. it's the failure. all you got to do is look at 13 counties of iowa are going to have one choice under the exchange. just one choice. secondly, premiums are going up 28% over the next 10 years, the projected, 61% on top of that. we have been lied to about obamacare. member, your premiums were supposed to go down 2500. they have gone up 3500. remove it if you like your doctor you can keep it. millions have had to change the doctors. remember that we were promised to keep your insurance, and in turn then millions had to change their insurance. >> that's your time. thank you. >> do you have a rebuttal? >> i don't think that the more than a million people have insurance coverage today that

didn't have before the affordable care act, they don't think the young professionals have not yet established themselves in career and have insurance of their own that are now allowed to stay on their parents policies would call this a failure. this is a big step forward. it is not perfected. we need to again put the partisan politics down, quit playing games and find a way to make this work. >> senator grassley? >> a lot of small businesses around the country want, instead of providing insurance wanted to give people money to buy insurance. obamacare ruled that out. if you violate that law you are going to pay $200 every day for every employee that violates that. i have put in legislation to repeal that part of obamacare. we should encourage as many

small businesses that want other people to insurance anyway to get it. >> let's talk ethanol and the renewable fuel standard congress approved mandates in 2005 through the renewable fuel standard for iowans come ethanol of course means jobs and economic growth can not just replacing foreign oil with domestic plant-based fuel. now in congress and said the mandate should be phased out. where do you stand on this issue? >> i fully support the renewable fuel standard and the tax credits that go with cellulosic ethanol and the tax credits that go with biodiesel, until they get to be a mature industry and we can stop the tax credit likee whiddet of ethanol for grain. the renewable fuels standard is permanent law until 2020. i believe we have the votes in the senate to make sure that

that is not repealed, but we have a big problem with epa wanted to cut down on the amount that's supposed to be done. they don't have the authority to do it at this administration have said they were for ethanol and, have let them get away with it, and that's a big victory for big oil. big oil can't win in congress but they can when in this obama administration. and my opponent seems to like everything the epa does, epa is ruining us by not having the full gallon next with petroleum as it should be. >> mrs. judge speak with you not going to get a lot of argument between senator grassley and i on the imports of the renewable fuel standard, and the fact that ethanol is i was home-grown product and we're proud of it and we need that fuel standard

in place in order to make things work until the industry can mature. i would say that while people have criticized this, it is not as significant as the subsidies that big oil has received for years and years, which senator grassley has supported. >> response? >> it's not a response to that but it is a big job to defend ethanol in washington, d.c. because there are so many people ignorant of the. people from the midwest both republicans and democrats fight hard against epa. you could easily get 10 republicans and 10 democrats to meet with chief of staff of president obama, which we've had to do several times in order to beat, or get ahead of epa. but the reason there's a lot of ignorance is because so may people in washington, d.c. pronounce it ethanol.

spirit we will not pronounce it at the mall. will be quick to want to 15 seconds to respond to? >> that's fine. >> we are done with ethanol. i'm from iowa find out how to pronounce ethanol. the next question comes much of this country special duty policy is focused on two areas, immigration and security on the border. tackling threats like overseas threats like isis and al-qaeda. when it comes to national security should are focused on the secure at home, abroad, or both? mrs. judge, your first. >> that's a big question for a minute spent in custody, we can give you all the time that you need. >> you are correct, and as i was the homeland security officer for the state of iowa for four years, during that period of time i was briefed regularly on the threats both to was here in

the u.s. and overseas, and there is a threat both places. it has to be really has to be addressed both places. i think we are getting, there's lots of activity right now in the middle east and we are all reading about that. i think the obama administration is doing a good job of pushing back on the threat of crisis in the middle east. there is good surveillance going on here in the united states, but we have to be constantly vigilant. there is probably nothing more important than making certain that our families are safe here in the united states. >> senator, the question to you. >> my opponent said before this is city newspaper, board of editors or whatever you call it, that we were containing isis. isis is in 36 countries the you

only heard of the acronym isis for a few years now. it's very dangerous. they want to kill us. we got to make sure that they don't use our refugee program to bring people in under the umbrella of refugees, because we want to take refugees but we've got to make sure that our intelligence community and our fbi are adequately vetting and not move ahead until they say they can be vetted. >> you have 30 seconds for rebuttal if you would like. >> this country, and particularly the state of iowa, has been a welcoming haven for refugees going back to the time of barbary. we brought in tide on, the people from vietnam. we brought in bosnia and.

and now we have people in syria that are in danger of their lives. i believe that we need to find a way that they can be brought here just as other war refugees have been brought here your we do have accident surveillance. we do have a vetting process which is extremely rigorous. >> thank you. thatcher to the senator grassley, rebuttal,. >> we welcome refugees just like we welcome a million immigrants every year who come here legally. we just want to make sure that we don't have refugees coming here to kill us. >> we will address immigration in a few moments. i want to follow up, in respect to senator grassley's comments that isis isn't 36 countries. tonight there's a u.s.-backed coalition of iraqi and kurdish forces that are trying to retake mosul, the second largest city in iraq. idq is to know, th the senate wouldn't advise and consent up senate wouldn't advise and consent senate wouldn't advise and consent up on that action

can what you think about the action taken by the u.s. military. >> i think regarding the movement to retake the city of mosul from the hands of isis, this is appropriate. this is being led by iraqi forces. which is appropriate. we do have advisors in their. it really is quite a coalition that is pushing back and we taking that city. this is the way in my mind that we should operate, and get the support to our allies to make certain that this threat of isis is contained and eradicated. >> that's your time. senator grassley, your thoughts on the movement and mosul. >> considering the situation the president put us in by withdrawing troops in 2011, leaving a vacuum that isis filled, i think we are doing there is about the best we can

do. the president has all the information. it doesn't seem like we have a strategy. we need our constitutional commander-in-chief who is a president of united states with that responsibility to make sure that he has a strategy. we need a strategy. >> our next question is about immigration. senator grassley, we'll start with you tonight. led the effort reform the hb one the pros of program to protect american workers are often forced out of the jobs in place of less skilled foreign workers. does this prevent illegal immigrants from calling iowa home and in furthermore offering more growth to our state? >> definitely not. the h-1b program is a very legitimate program set up in 1990 so that when we didn't have enough people to educate in this country to do professional jobs, they can be brought in. what's wrong is a lot of companies bring them in and then

have their workers trained them and then fire their workers, like california con ed as i believe was the company, or orlando, down there. so here's where we are. we need to reform the system so that we make sure there's a good effort of corporations to find first workers in this country, then if they can't, use the h-1b program that if we can get that sort of a compromise which senator durbin, democrat of illinois and i are working on we will be able to then help the even more h-1b if they are needed and only if they are needed, and do some other things that will help the program actually works the way it's supposed to work. but it's wrong to bring people in and after workers trained in and then fire american workers. >> mrs. judge of enforcing it is

foolish to think about a mass deportation of all those people who are living in the u.s. illegally. do you endorse a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers are living curly in the u.s.? >> what i endorse is a comprehensive immigration reform bill. there was a bill that was passed two years ago. is sitting in the house of representatives. the republicans have refused to take that built up. my opponent voted against it in the senate. it addresses the issues surrounding immigration. it gives us a path to get people who are working in our country as undocumented workers documented. to get them out of the shadows, to get them on the tax rolls. we need to get this done. there is no reason not to do it. if there are portions of that bill that we are not in

agreement about, then we need to have that discussion. again, once more, this is the obstruction, the deliberate obstruction of the process that is so frustrating to us. and it has to stop. >> senator? >> yes, i voted against it because it did not secure the border. and we always talk about securing the border as if it's just a mexico problem. it's not just in mexico problem. is also a problem at our airports, exit into. we need a biometric system to track people coming and going. half of the people are here are overseeing their visas, not just crossing the border without papers. we need, we also need interior enforcement. online is we need to enforce the laws. >> there is provisions in this bill for border security, and i would ask senator grassley if,

in fact, it was not adequate or it was lacking in some way, why was there, why is there not an attempt to perfect the bill with why cannot we bring it up, have a decision, have a discussion and come to consensus on a way that we can deal with this problem, this door and problem of immigration in our country speak was like to ask a follow-up. you talked about bringing the people from out of the shadows. the green card process and the residency process is a lengthy process but what about the people of done it legally the right way from day one? what is your message to those people? >> i message to them is thank you. however, we cannot ignore the fact that we have millions of people in our country that are not documented. they are working here. they came there because they knew they had a job.

i think there employers need to be held somewhat responsible in this issue also. we need to find a way if we need them as the workforce in our state, which seems to me that we do, then we need to find a way to get them the proper documentation so that they are working here legally, and that is something very different than being a resident and eventually being a citizen. >> can ask you, does your question raised the issue of people that have come here legally being resentful for people that come here without papers speak with yes, senator. >> very definitely. i haven't heard, the last year or two i haven't heard much about immigration as it did in 13 and 14 when he came up practically every one of my town meetings that i have around iowa, the 99 and all the

in agriculture for the last few years, crop prices have been good. livestock prices have been good and so this issue of the farm safety net has not really been one of the but given a lot of thought. however, things are not nearly as robust as they were and definitely as in the farm bill will have to address what sort of a safety net is appropriate. we know that we now have a crop insurance safety net in place but we really haven't had to keep that up too much, and i

believe that whatever we do we have got to make certain that we've got a strong safety net under family farms. hundred people that actually lived on our farms in iowa. we need to protect them. we cannot lose another generation of farmers in iowa. we are to keep them there and that is one of the things that i believe that i want to do first in washington. >> senator, how do we protect our farmers? >> we should have a safety net and the crop insurance is what you're talking about and farmers pay into it. that's the way it should be done, plan ahead. we have other disasters like you can have in agriculture. you can have an earthquake. and we help 100% disaster relief. you can have a hurricane, and we help out. edged up 100% disaster relief. you can have floods, and if you do and you help them come it's

100% disaster. but when it comes to the farmers, they plan ahead. 95% of them are iowa, and they paid for the crop insurance along with the taxpayers. so it's a good deal for the taxpayers because if we didn't have it it would be 100% disaster relief like we had prior to 1990. >> mrs. judge, any additional comments? >> we have to be very, very certain that it works well. crop prices is will better today. corn was three, $3.13 today but that still is right on the adage of being a disaster for iowa farmers, and we've got as i said before, we have to make certain that those iowa family farmers, whether through this market downturn. >> senator, final comments? >> no. i just think that too often people don't stop to think about everything the farmer goes through.

uk what they charge you for input, when the price of corn is $3.10, if you want to sell it you take what they would give you. we have droughts. we have a lot of things and even international politics and war and grain embargoes. not that a farmer has control over and up to be able to have the crop insurance program that exhibited. >> a follow-up question to which a sport comprehensive tax lower effective tax rates for farmers increased from the tax policy that gives farmers any certainty for future years? >> and i think as we talk about tax reform we would have to talk about that broadly. i would not think that it would be wise to single out a particular industry, including farming.

we need to look at tax reform. we need to be looking at making it more fair, more equitable for all of us, for working families, for small businesses. we need to close loopholes at the top that are preventing large multibillion dollar corporations from paying any taxes whatsoever. we need to close loopholes to make certain that the wealthiest people in this country are, in fact, paying taxes. in blue have a presidential candidate that is openly bragging about not paying taxes, it's very concerning. we all need to pay taxes. we enjoy living in this country but we want those taxes to be fair and equitable across the board from those of us in the lower economic groups to the very wealthy. wealthy. >> senator, your viewpoint on comprehensive tax reform? >> i think the estate tax could be done away with the idea that

because i think that's passing on the farm from one to another. i don't think you can have tax reform just for farmers. you've got have tax reform for people across the board. and if she come if my opponent is talking about wealthy people and she's including that, farmers that have big inflation in their land prices, and you shouldn't tax inflation but it would be taxed under the existing law, we've got hillary clinton wanted to put 65% tax rate on it, and you also want to reduce the exemption down from fivfive plus million dollars don to $3.5 billion. this is going to cost farmers to split up their efficient operation and you won't have a farming operation that's economically run and that would be the worst thing to give young people into farming. >> mrs. judge? >> you know, i agree with hillary clinton on most issues.

i'm sure it doesn't surprise anyone too much, but the issue of the state tax and a plan she has put forward i do not agree with. i will be very clear about that. i think it is unfair to farmers. again. i've been secretary of agriculture industry the state for eight years. i do understand a bit about land prices, about fluctuation from about the fact that you may be wealthy one day and dead broke the next day if you're in agriculture. but the estate tax i would not ever vote to enact hillary's tax plan. >> senator? >> i don't think any to see anymore on the subject. it was just a young people. and really it wouldn't be taxation to it would be confiscation. >> interesting, think you the next question focuses on qualification for office. you both have lengthy political resume.

senator grassley given a lawmaker in washington for 40 years. mrs. judge user sixers in the iowa senate, eight years as he accepted it, for use at the state's lieutenant governor. senator grassley, how do you avoid it back and see our complacency which a position in washington, d.c. after four decades in the nation's capital? >> washington is an island surrounded by reality. get out of there. i come home every weekend. for 36 years in a row i've gone to every county to have a least one meeting in every county. polk county this year, 31 or 32 q&a with constituents in polk county just as one example. it's just not 99 county. keep in touch with people. representing government is a two-way street. i am one half of the process. when she was a state senator she was one half of the process. our constituency the other half. you've got to have dialogue. so i make sure that i'm on top of things by having dialogue with my constituents so i can

better represent them in washington, d.c. i think one thing to do with when you're campaigning don't overpromise. and when did you promise something, carry it out. and always tell the truth. because of enjoyment without what you told somebody else. thank you, senator. mrs. judge, eight years in elected office all of the state level. had expected a different approach when you go to washington, d.c. with exactly zero days of experience inside the beltway? >> well, i went to the state senate with zero experience as the state senate. years i was there i was able to work across party lines. did that very well. we were able to move a lot of important issues. i did work as a media for a number of years and that is a skill i think is very useful in bringing people to consensus. but you know, i really would, would like to point out that when my opponent talks about the

need to get out of there in washington after having been there for 42 years is almost humorous. i don't need to have 99 townhall meetings to know what's going on in iowa. i live here. i am here. i worked here my entire life. tried to show the people of his state as best of my ability, and i believe that washington doesn't change people, the money, the power that people enjoyed when they are there for a long time changes their views. and it is time for a breath of fresh air. >> is washington is now changing? >> my opponent, i don't think she would mean to imply that coming home on a regular basis and having all these meetings and making process of government work is something is wrong about washington. that's kind of what i heard

though. but i think that all you have to do is ask the people who know me and work with me and say that, that chuck grassley is the same chuck grassley that went to the senate beating senator john covert in 1980. >> mrs. judge khadijah meant to say that coming home was a bad thing as senator grassley see -- >> i think it's great that he comes over i just think that it's change that he talked about the need to get out of washington, and yet he has come back year after year, has become a fixture in washington, overly one of his commercials talks about being a big deal in washington these days. i'm just trying to point out that there is a difference between living and working in washington for over 40 years and living and working in iowa for the same period of time spent in a follow-up mrs. judge.

can't you did not just influence in congress after more than 42 years in washington? if elected how do you plan to make gains with no seniority? how do you plan to benefit iowa? >> when this seniority is used for the benefit of your political party, instead of the benefit of working families in iowa, that seniority really is of no great value. and this is what we've seen happen. there has been deliberate obstruction. we've already talked about the issue of the supreme court, but we also talked about immigration bill. we've also talked about many other issues that are being obstructed right now. on purpose. this is purposeful and it is wrong. and the people of this state and across this country know that. they want to see progress. and if you have been there for

42 years and you have not been able to make the progress that needs to be made, then it's time to come home and have someone else give it a try. >> why should i would send you back to the senate speak with my friends say i don't smile enough and that makes me smile from the standpoint of just look at to get things done in washington you've got to work across party lines. and i think my record, just since i've been chairman of the judiciary committee, but many positions i felt before that, just think, 30 bills voted out of my committee. alall of them are bipartisan bis the 13th of them have been signed by democratic president i'm sponsoring criminal justice reform with the senate democratic whip. ..

i don't know if i need the full 30 seconds to say that the workload in the united states senate in the last year or two has been the lightest in years and years, probably since the eisenhower years. it's time to get back to work. let's start talking about moving the economy in dealing with student loan debt and prescription drugs and climate change. let's talk about clean air and clean water.

we need to talk about the issues that are important people today and they are not being addressed. >> tonight answer about the workload of the united states senate. >> compared 2014 and 2015, they basically shut down the senate. we had 18 roll calls on amendments. even democrats couldn't offer amendments. we set up we took over the senate where you have the senate work and perform and in not year we had 198 roll call votes on amendments. the first thing we passed in the united states senate was the excel pipeline bill to create 20,000 jobs. it was a bipartisan bill, 62 votes. the president vetoed and we couldn't override the veto. as a whole lot of other things we put on the president's desk that reed would never let go

there. >> talking about bipartisanship, and it its promise to work across party lines for the best interest of the voter. how can you reassure islands you will keep this promise if elected? senator, we will start with you. >> i just stated one record, let me go back to what i said in my opening statement. $48 billion back in the federal treasury. that was in 2006 for helping on medicaid for middle income people have high-cost children's care, special-needs cap red senator kennedy and i got the family opportunity act passed. congress had exempt itself from lots of legislation from 1938 and 1995. democrats and i got the congressional accountability act so those laws cover us now.

then title part d of medicare was worked out that senior citizens could get prescription drugs because they had never had it under medicare. those are just some of the pieces of the legislation that i worked across party lines to do real things to help real people or to abide by a principal that congress isn't different than the rest of the people. >> thank you. >> how will you reassure that you will keep that promise. >> i believe we need to be having discussion, whether we all agree or we don't is immaterial but you have to be willing to listen. you have to appreciate your counterpart point of view and

when you understand their point of view you can start looking for, ground where you can meet and start moving forward. we just heard putting a lot of history from the senate, i'm less concerned about history than i am about the issues that are on the mind of violence today. those are the issues i want to go to washington and talk about. the issue of getting the economy moving, creating jobs, making education affordable, prescription drug cost, the environment, clean water, clean air. these are the issues we have to talk about. let me just take ten seconds for the issues you folks have brought up here are the very same issues that come up in my q&a sessions so you are asking

what we are interested in and i don't think my opponent should say the issues are being discussed. >> i would say are they being discussed on the floor of the united states senate? i know they're being discussed in iowa. i have been there. i have lived here, i've also been on the campaign last march talking to people just as you have. i hear the same things you do. i also hear a lot of frustration about the fact that they are not being discussed, there is no action in washington. washington is broken, washington is gridlocked. >> we passed the highway bill and it could've been extended to first-year of the obama administration, but it wasn't. we passed, we reformed or did away with no child left behind

and that have been reauthorized year after year. i shouldn't take up all your time but this senate has produced. >> thank you senator. that will do it for the questions from our panel. when we return we get the last word from the candidates, their closing statements are straight ahead. you are watching the iowa u.s. senate debate. we now come to the conclusion from the campus of morningside college in sioux city. it's time for closing statements. each candidate will get two minutes. google in the same order as the open statement. the first closing statement comes from patty judge. you have two minutes. >> thank you very much. this time has just flown by. i've enjoyed being here and having the opportunity to answer

your questions and having the opportunity to have a discussion with senator grassley also. i think you heard very clearly, two points of view that we have been able to articulate. i think the conclusion is chuck grassley, in 42 years has not really changed washington. washington has probably changed him. today we see gridlock, great unhappiness with working families across this country and they know that their needs are not being addressed and we need to get out that work. we need to be talking about economic opportunity in our country. we went through a rough recession. we are rebounding from that but not as vigorously as we would like.

we need to raise the minimum wage over the next two years and put money back in the economy. we need to get student loan debt under control and allow students to refinance those debts. we need to be comfortable talking about social security and make certain it is there for people who retire. we need to be talking about the environment and climate change. we cannot deny. climate change is real and we have to take action. i want to thank you all. we have lots of issues. this is a spirited conversation and a spirited campaign. a gram, i am proud to stand before you. i asked for your vote and i say

god bless iowa and god bless united states of america. >> senator grassley, you have two minutes. >> thank you moderators thank you viewers. you've heard me say many time about my work for i went. that is my word. you've also heard a lot for my opponent. i think you heard a lot that represents an agreement of failed policies whether it's obamacare that she likes or its epa regulations or done a lot i work for islands on untran, as i told you, senators from the individual state have to work for their judgments. let me repeat. in three different ways.

one, creating jobs. i talk about wind energy because i never knew it would be the big thing that turned out to be when i got a pass in 1992. when i brought in $48 billion make sure the taxpayers money is responsibly handled. i didn't know that would bring in $48 billion, but a house. then the third sponsor billy is making sure you are safe. the number one responsibility of the federal government is national security. i have a responsibility to protect you as much as i can from isis or terrace whether it's over there or here domestically. there watching 900 people in the united states and at least one in every state. then an economic program that

will grow, not like the last eight years where everything stagnant. we need to create jobs. that's what i've done in my years and i will continue these things up and reelected. finally, i ask you for your vote >> thank you. unfortunately, that that is our time. we would like to thank her to guess senator charles grassley and patty judge for spirited debate would also like to thank quincy media for live streaming the event and televising a. >> it has been an informative debate. thank you to the staff at morningside college for hosting tonight's debate. finally, we want to thank you the viewers for watching. it is an important decision so please get out and vote everybody. [applause]

two u.s. senate debates are coming up tomorrow live at eight pm eastern. a number of candidates are running in louisiana to succeed republican including two republican congressmen. live coverage is that at 8:00 p.m. at 9:00 p.m., they pulled their final debate. state rates coverage all this because. >> in the race for illinois senate, incumbent republican and democratic congresswoman debate utterance issues, middle east policy, syrian refugees, immigration, healthcare, education and gun control. they apologized friday for comments he made during this debate about the congresswoman's heritage in military service. congresswoman duckworth is ahead by as much as ten points.

>> good evening. i am adam wright, moderator of tonight's debate. welcome to the 2016 illinois senate debate between our candidates mark kirk and tammy duckworth. we asked the audience gathered here today to stay silent throughout the debate as we want to give all the time and attention to the candidates. we begin with the incumbent. [applause] please welcome democratic congresswoman tammy duckworth. [applause] now let's meet our panelist.

bernie schellenberg, jim is the program director and jordan is a political news reporter for channel 20. but candidates have agreed to the following rules. we will alternate who speaks first for each question. the first candidate to respond will get 60 seconds. to begin our debate with 92nd opening statements and after the point tossed, senator kirk will go first. >> opening statement time. >> thank you, i would ask the people of illinois semi back for another six-year term so i can continue giving the thoughtful and bipartisan support to the

state. put together a bipartisan sanctions on a lot i would say i have made the proper making sure we have some of the best environmental protections not a lot to protect the source of the drinking water for 30 million americans. >> thank you senator. congresswoman duckworth, 90 seconds. >> thank you for allowing me to be here. i'm so proud to be here at this world-class university. as i've traveled the state, i see see so many working families that are like mine, my dad was laid off when he was in his 50s and there's so many working families that hear the economy is getting better but they don't see it in their hometown. what they see are still mills sitting down, auto plants shutting down, people, people getting laid off, struggling, trying to make ends meet.

i see college students who don't know how they will afford to go to college. i'm running for the united states senate to fight for working families that are just trying to catch a break. trying to do what they can to get ahead to make sure their kids have a better life for themselves and that means we have to have affordable higher education. it means we must work to provide tax credit for companies that keep jobs here instead of overseas. we need to make sure that working families that are just trying to catch a break, if they're not willing to give up on themselves, we shouldn't give up on them either. that's why i am trying to get to the senate to fight for every day of hard-working families that just want to make sure that their children's lives are better than their own. i will work hard every single day for the working family of the state.

i know what it's like because my family went through it and i went through it. thank you. >> thank you. we now begin with questions from the panelist. >> political reality shows that hillary clinton or donald trump will be the next president. given factors like wiki leaks and access hollywood, which of those to do you think is better suited to be president and how would you work with the new president if you are elected. >> i think it's clear that sec. clinton is probably one of the most qualified nominees for the presidency of the united states and arm nations most's in history. i voted yesterday and i voted for her. regardless of who is president of the united states, we need to come together to work across the aisle. we need to do things like have a hearing at the supreme court nominee for the president. whether it is hillary clinton or donald trump, we need to work to make sure we bring jobs back here to the united states.

the reality is, government hasn't worked for the last two years. we need to make sure we put aside partisanship and put aside the anger and let's come together and work on the things that are most important to us which is each other and this great nation. remember that both hillary and donald truly do love america. >> i served as the glue between republicans and democrats. to be a very popular guy in the senate, if you're as partisan as my opponent, i worry that she will go to war with the 54 republicans in the senate. if you are at war with them, you cannot get anything done. i will make sure we criminalize gun trafficking.

this cannot be the headquarters. [inaudible] i need to make sure we reduce the toll of gun violence. >> 30 seconds of her of bottle. >> i let my record speaks for itself. the first bill that i passed was a bipartisan bill to help veterans with mental health issues. i intend to work together to get things done. >> senator kirk, in endorsing your opponent, they pointed to your 2012 and question whether you are still up to the job. the concern is not just the physical, but whether it may have contributed to controversial comments you made in recent years. can you explain where you are in your recovery physically and mentally and how you will handle the rigors of this demanding

job? >> i would say this has made me much stronger as a senator. when you conquer something as difficult as a stroke, you you get in there and you're gonna fight fight fight to make sure you deliver. >> congresswoman duckworth, is this a legitimate issue. >> i think they're perfectly capable of doing his job. >> i would say we both agree on one key point that we both think the next senator of illinois should use. [inaudible] >> congresswoman congo had. >> my back at 90 seconds? >> thank you. just checking. i think he's capable of doing his job, the concern i have is is that he is not doing his job. we talk with leadership on mayer called on him in march and nothing is happening. it's october. i also wonder about a senator who calls the president the drug

dealer in chief work, back in 2007 said that one of the best things we can do to combat illegal immigration is to send contraceptives free to mexico. these are not solutions that help. frankly, even his recent vote, he voted against the equal pay act and called it the most sexist legislation ever. he even traveled to china and told the chinese not to invest in america. these are not the hallmarks of the people of illinois. they deserve someone who will fight for them every single day. let me tell you something, when i was in granite city and i met with steel workers were laid off, they didn't want to hear their senator had gone to china and told him not to invest in america. what they wanted was a senator who would bite them every sigell day. i will be that person because i

have lived their life. i have been on student loans. i'm still paying off student loan debt. i know what it's like. i think that it's time to have a senator who does his job. >> 30 seconds. >> i would say when we talk about drug dealers that i have strongly opposed the 400 million-dollar ransom payment that the president made to the iranians, even after he certified they are the state answer of terror. those drug dealer wars are not mine. remember the european union canceled the printing of the 500-year-old note because they said most of the payment, 800 notes. [inaudible] they canceled it because the european said the note was too involved with drug dealing. our next question for congress

congresswoman duckworth. >> you are facing a lawsuit for people who worked under you at the department of veteran affairs. they claimed there was retaliation after abuse and corruption were brought to light you claim this was a motivated lawsuit. i do you think you can be an advocate for veterans after that. >> from the first day i woke up in my hospital bed, i have been working on veterans issues. in fact i got into politics because i met then senator barack obama who was on the veteran affairs committee. i was calling them saying we're not doing right by our vets and we need to do more. every day that i wake up, i look in that mere and i do what what i can for veterans. i will always honor the sacrifices my buddies made to save my life and that means i will continue work on the programs i've always worked on, ending veterans homeless, greatest outreach to female veterans.

i started the only mental health hotline in the entire nation. i was right here in illinois before the da had their sprint i opened it up to do outreach to young that's. veterans are my life's work work. i would never leave them behind because my undies didn't leave me behind. i'm not going to let a political stunt stop me from doing what i truly few is my calling. >> senator kirk you have 90 seconds. >> is this a political stunt? >> no. the record of my opponent and serving veterans is really questionable. we see right in the front row, several whistleblowers have been quite critical of you. not my words but their words. people who directly serve you. after 22 years of service, the

director the facility went down to the public assistance office to ask anybody here if they wanted to work for veterans and a convicted felon was invited in even after being convicted of elder abuse. then he reduced that sends and they said we cannot let this person into the va. these whistleblowers should be commended and applauded, not crushed. [inaudible] thirty seconds congresswoman. >> you know senator, you both know that's not true. it's been thrown out of court two times. >> the lawsuit has not been thrown out. they said they had rejected the

settlement. >> i'm sorry, do i get my my time now? >> i'm sorry when you when you're lying, you don't don't get the same time. >> congresswoman go ahead. i'm reclaiming my time. as i said, the lawsuit has been thrown out at least two times. it's important not to lie directly to these people. >> let's give her a chance and then we will hear from you in a moment. as i said, the lawsuit lawsuit has been thrown out of court two times. there was a common place complaint. as i said again, i am proud of my record for veterans. i will not let political stunts with the threat of lawsuit or political commercials stop me from doing what's right by

veterans. from the first day i woke up, i've been working with veterans. they they are my life's work. frankly, you can threaten to sue me as much as you want but if you don't do your job and your government employee, i will come after you. >> thank you very much. let's move on. senator kirk, you have admitted past mistakes on your military record and an overstatement of the case when you said you commanded the pentagon war room. as evidenced by your news conference today, veterans issues are an acute part of this. what you say to voters who may be concerned about your past statements or record. >> my past statements and records have only hurt myself.

they didn't hurt veterans like i opponent where they died waited in line. if you'd like to know about the people who witnessed that corruption on your part. [inaudible] >> i'm proud of the fact we added 80 beds. we have veterans waiting and perhaps those from chicago don't pay as much attention what happens in central illinois but it was really important to open those 80 beds to take care of the veterans here in central illinois. i think what the people of illinois need is a senator who will work for them and serve them and get up every single day and make sure that they have a

shot at the american dream and that we stand by our veterans. one of the problems we have is that when we send our troops to war we don't talk about the fact that we would cancel them for the next 60 years but that the cost of war that we should be talking about. if you sent me to the united states senate, i will be there every single day reminding my colleagues that when you go to war and you make these decisions, we are making a lifelong commitment to our vets. that means we have to make sure when they come home there are jobs for them which is why i passed this act. this is why we need to make sure they don't end up on the street to the various names street they defended. that's why we have to remember that women are veterans and we have to provide services to them. veterans are my life worked and as long as i am breathing i will advocate for my bet. >> senator 30 seconds if you choose. >> i would say in my work for veterans i am very honored to

have put together the pending legislation which is the largest spending bill bill in the history of the country. in my work for the veterans of the state, i was able to put together. because of the joint navy facility i would argue it's now the best in the country. if you look at that, when you look at all the corruption, i didn't have problems ever when the inspector general went up to her, when she wasted $5.1 million of a treatment program to make sure the outreach. [inaudible] >> senator that's your time. >> no showed up.

>> congresswoman is first respond. >> i want to move from veteran issues to active duty military. the islamic state group is requiring the enforced use of troops on the ground in iraq and syria. if not, what would your strategy be? >> first and foremost, you must destroy aces. they are an enemy of the united states. they are butchers and criminals. they support the use of drones and i support airstrikes. i do not support further sending american troops to foreign lands unless the american people have isolated it. americans don't even know about, do you know there are 5000 troops on on the ground in iraq right now supporting the iraqis fight to take over mosul. the american people need to know that. more portly, our men and women in uniform deserve to have the

full support of the american people behind them and they can't do that if we don't know who's there. while i support the u.s. taking a lead, i want to make sure we are doing our part. their policies is what created aces in the first place. we need to take the lead and that is the focus of my policy. >> the best way to defeat isis is to use iraqi troops on the ground. i hope the united states air force can take care of it with islamic troops who speak arabic who are from the area. i think the current policies are the right way to do it.

>> my concern is that having been a downed aviator behind enemy lines fighting for my life, i know you need pathfinders on the ground and additional logistics. if we are going to do that the people deserve to have an understanding and it's not something they make on their own decision. we need to follow the american people and that's the decision we need to do. >> congresswoman, i'm sorry, i slipped slipped up. part of me. this will be senator kirk. >> last weekend in army sergeant from fairfield illinois was killed by enemy forces in kabul. it's a reminder that form policy in the middle east does continue

to have critical consequences for american and american families. isis isn't our only problem. do you have long-term policy for what you think american policy should be in the middle east. >> is a long-term policy to support the government in iraq to make sure we deal with boots over ground. i understand you need people that can hit the right target. i think that's the best way to do it. [inaudible] >> i think the u.s. does need to have a role in a leadership role in the middle east and that means we must forge our allies to do their job.

leading the fight in mosul is incredibly important but we also have other allies that need to step up. some of them are fighting isis on one front and turkey is attacking them from the rear. we need to hold our allies accountable and assert influence and we don't need to send troops over there right away. any activity we participate in means that we need to remove ashad, he is a butcher and has killed and murdered scores of innocent. we can't do it on our own. my family has served this nation in uniform. i'm the daughter of an american revolution. i still want to be there in the senate when the drums of war sound because people are too

quick to sound the drums of war and i want to be there to say this is what it costs and this is what you're asking us to do. if that's the case, i will go. families like mine are the ones that lead first. we just need to make sure we understand what we are engaging in. >> i've forgotten that you came all way from thailand to serve george washington. >> let's move onto the next question. we will start with congresswoman duckworth, first respond. >> welcome to take some time if you want to respond to that. >> sure, there has has been members of my family serving in uniform on my father's side, going back to the revolution. if you go to mount vernon illinois, you will see a statue of me put up by the daughters the american revolution next to.

[inaudible] i'm proud of both my father and my mother present in immigrant. she became an american citizen in her 50. >> let's get to one last question here. >> the u.s. allowed more than 12000 syrian refugees into the country in the past year. during your campaign you have asked what is the correct number if any. jordan has been suggested as a alternative location. there was some regret after world war ii that more refugees from the nazis were not let into the united states. should that history color how we look at refugees now? >> what should color how we look at refugees now are the values we are supposed to represent as a nation, our bills of right and what we stand for. frankly, we are not a nation that turns her back on children

drowning in the mediterranean. we are not a nation that turns her back on families that are fleeing butchers. we need to do with the directors of the fbi, cia, homeland security and safety department says we need to do which is invest more money in their ability to bet the refugees that are coming here, but once they are here we should embrace them because what makes america great is our diversity. i recognize doing right by the viet enemies people. more importantly, i'm not going to lead people to drop in refugee camps will be the next insurgents who shot down american helicopters. we are endangering americans when we send out the message that we hate islam and would turn our back and not uphold the very values that we have. >> i would say there's a big

difference between congress woman and i on the syrian refugees. i would note the director of the fbi, james comey, said things he cannot support. the director has also said there is no database to check these people. they want to tell you some things how their. [inaudible] they have said there is no database to check against the syrian refugees. remember the policy that i recommend, similar to the policy they adopted the president

wisely decided to delay the program to find out more about these people. there's a basic common sense. we should know who's entering the united states and we should not admit those. [inaudible] >> i will just quote where the senator is misquoting the f ti director who said we can fully bet that syrian refugees. i would suggest more funding for vetting refugees. more importantly, one of isis's biggest tool is propaganda on the internet that tells the world that america hates islam and we will turn our back on people from islamic country. we simply cannot feed into that by turning our back on people just because. we can't turn our back on people as a nation. >> thank you, thank you to both candidates. we preach the first breaking point in the debate.

we will be back in just a moment stay with us. >> welcome back to the 2016 senate debate. we begin our second segment with a block of questions from students who have written these question themselves. we begin with will new here. he's a political science major and a student ambassador. your question. >> as a young african-american myself, i'm confronted day with problems between the black community and the officers that serve and protect our community. what do you think you can do to help resolve this problem. >> thank you so much. i was first candidate, including

the current one to put out a criminal justice reform. i think we need to include a multitude of things including getting rid of mandatory sentencing for nonviolent first-time offenders. let's take a look at those. they are unfairly used to intimidate people and plea bargains that they get for the rest of their life that they don't deserve. they need a second chance. i also think we need to work on gun violence legislation. we need to work on economic justice. when you're in that kind of despair, it's hard to look ahead i just want to say, this will take a lot of work from all aspects. it's not a single issue problem. we have to look for the community itself to improve relationships within the community.

>> i would say i've been quite critical of the ferguson police department. i think they are too militarized i would hope that we've always remind the police in america that the people on the other side of the street, our voters and taxpayers and they are not the enemy. >> congresswoman, your rebuttal. >> my opponent recently met with about 20 police officers and said that his senate office lacks the capability to improve police community relationships. i think that is really the wrong position. i think we need to build up the capacity. there are things you can do as a senator. i promise you, not only will i make sure we have the capability

but we will make sure we take a leadership role in improving these relationships across the country. >> thank you. our next question will be answered by senator kirk. it comes from breanne rodriguez. she is also a member of the leadership for life organization >> my grandparents immigrated illegally 42 years ago. as a child i soon became worried that we were not documented. they studied and dreamed along my side. they are the dreamers, the one that love this great nation as i, the, the ones that are either to create a future for themselves that my parents have felt so hard for. what is your position on immigration reform as it relates

>> i will answer in spanish. [speaking in native tongue] >> i voted for comprehensive immigration reform and i also wrote the kirk amendment. the kirk amendment is part of a comprehensive immigration reform that says if you are in the military and you get combat infantry that shows you have been under fire, you automatically become a united states to send that after you fight alongside us you are one of us. that is not just a pathway to citizenship, it is a rocket sled that key provision is necessary to build bipartisan space to expand the sport of immigration reform to lay down permanent roots and make sure they can build a new life for their

family knowing they're not going to be deported. >> senator will give you a chance to rebut. you need to make sure it's practical and fair and that it is humane. separating families the way my family was separated when we moved back to the states when i was 16, my mom couldn't come with us. my dad, my brother and i were. we were separated for six months. it was a really tough time. can imagine what it's like. it has to be practical. it has to be fair.

if we pass immigration reform, the studies show that is much as a trillion dollars will be the benefit of immigration reform. i've also written immigration, as it is a list in the military they get permanent status and when they serve a full enlistment they get permanent residency status and they enter into the citizenship process. the problem is that it's only available infantry. women were not allowed. they were leaving out 50% of the population >> thank you. thirty seconds to rebut >> one of the reasons he endorsed donald trump is when he

said the mexican-american judge that was in charge of the trump university case could not possibly render a fair decision because he is x can american heritage. that showed he did not understand the basic idea. we see people in our military. donald trump did not even understand that and that's why i can't endorse him for president >> our next question comes from anna. she is a senior at high school and an intern. >> since illinois adopted the common core in 2010 that fall behind a meeting this standard common core. what you think the government can do to improve public education >> i think there is a lot the federal government can do. i voted for a change that came under no child left behind it i think one of the problems we have with common core is there is not enough local input from a local educator and local

parents. it cuts out that portion. it's important to have the standard across the nation. i want someone graduating from louisiana to have a good of opportunity as breanna is graduating from my hometown but we need to make sure there's local input. i feel at the federal level we need to lead by example. when i heard our schools were going to cut a .3% across the board in terms of funding, i cut my own state. pay. i was the first member of congress to do that for there was only a handful of us that did it. i can tell you the senator did not do that. it doesn't matter. it's about making sure we do what we say were going to do a >> thank you. sixty-second >> senator kirk, you have 92nd >> i do not support common core

and i do support funding under the idea act. i want to encourage schools that want to go to all your schedules in the state of illinois, we have a number of all your schools that are in chicagoland. those schools with the same number of minority kids would outperform other schools. within all your schedule you can expand the academic calendar so we have just as many days as others >> investment in our education is just as important as investment in our military. in fact, i think our competitors on a global scale, germany, japan, south korea, they are making these investments and were not doing it. were not even investing in the buildings, let alone our children. we can do better. that's why i think we have

problems with common core, we need to change the things we need to change. let's make sure sure we get more parental input and more input from the educators so there is some flexibility there as we educate our kids >> our final student question comes from nathan. he is a senior and a particle science major. he's also the student trustee >> how best to the federal government work with families to pursue a postsecondary education more affordable. also, do you support bills that would afford private sector graduates the same opportunity that current congressional staff has and paying off their loan >> is a key difference between me and my opponent. my opponent, her primary spending plan is free stuff like free college brittleness chicago

tribune asked her three times how much the plan would cost she did not know it would cost $60 million >> i think investment in affordable college education is critically important to our nations future and global competitiveness. i went to college on student loans and pell grants and a lot of waitressing. i think we people behind. it doesn't cost a dime to allow students to refinance their loans and yet were making them start off their career with 40, 50, 50, $60000 in debt. my opponent voted against allowing students to refinance student loan debt. that's just a giveaway to the big banks. i also am working toward free community college. i don't think of it as a giveaway.

we will pay for by closing top tax loopholes and making sure. when i travel around the state, it doesn't matter where i am, families are worried about whether or not they can send their families twos cool. what is the one thing that's keeping you from expanding your market share, many say lack of a trained workforce. we can't afford to mortgage our future. i disagree. i don't think it's a giveaway or handout or entitlement. i think it's investment in america to allow students to be able to afford to go to college >> the difference between the two of us, she wants to spend more and tax more and borrow more. i want to spend less and tax last.

when you don't even know how much your signature spending program costs, and exit example of everything that's wrong in washington. we have a duty to protect people from the economics and we need to make sure we run our government in a way so there is no financial collapse >> thank you senator, time is up >> thank you to the students for questions but we move on to the panels questions in section two. the obama administration generated controversy with federal rules requiring students who are transgender to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. what policy should we have >> i think we should expand all protection for transgender individuals. this is something i've been

working on. we have a young transgender student who wanted to change in the girls locker room and she was afraid to change in the boys locker room because she was being bullied. the department of education set clear guidelines and came to an agreement to resolve the situation. the situation is, there are some out there and their kids are vulnerable. we should provide equal protection under the law regardless of their race, gender, religion, orientation. let's live together and invest together and understand that were all people and we all deserve protection >> senator kirk, you have 90 seconds >> i'm very proud of my record on gay rights that i was endorsed by the human rights

campaign over my opponent who is a democrat. that's very unusual for republican to get that kind of endorsement. the equality act with the senator from oregon to make sure we equalize the equal opportunity act of our time >> you know what election year politics are right. i have 100% voting record with hrc. my opponent has a 76% voting record, just barely passing. the year before, when he wasn't up for election, he actually had voting record in the 30s.

>> she is so arrogant >> let's wait for the next question, please >> you can use that time however you want. the affordable care act is going through growing pains according to president obama. premiums for plans on the marketplace are expected to increase in the double digits, but millions of people now have health insurance and popular are things like allowing dependence to stay on their coverage until you're 26 and covering those with pre-existing conditions. what you think needs to be done with the affordable care act and if you want to race place that, please explain with what >> i think think we should replace the apa with making sure we have lawsuit reform. if we have that we will dramatically lower the cost of healthcare. you should be allowed to buy health insurance from any state in the union. if you can buy car insurance

from a green gecko, you should be able to buy insurance anywhere in the u.s. >> i don't agree with my opponent who just said he wanted to end the affordable care act. there problems with that we need to fix it and i voted to fix it. i voted to end the medical device tax. i think also we need to look at the bipartisan solutions on the table right now. there are folks who can drop during the grace period of having major surgery and people are finding out that they need call bladder surgery, having a 90 day grace period and then dropping it. one of the common things you can do is to actually say if you have a procedure you can just keep insurance for the whole year. what i'm not willing to do is put people out on the street to spend for -- fend for themselves with health insurance companies.

i think women should have to pay more, i think people with a pre-existing condition, i have a pre-existing condition, they, they should have to fight to get coverage. they put my mom on the street with a $600 voucher to go find her own insurance. that didn't fix the problem. there are bipartisan solutions to do it. i will work in a bipartisan way to fix it because i've already done so in the house. :

has been a point of content in this race please tell us your opinion of the deal and why your position would help the security of the country. >> from the evidence that was shown to me iran was a pre-nuclear state within just a few months of gaining nuclear power, nuclear capability and the iran nuclear deal stop that. i think we have to watch out for the increased funding that iran now has an bulk of our support to include our greatest ally in the middle east, which is israel i think this is where we had to come up with a bipartisan solution and i voted to increase voting for the dome program in israel. this is where my opponent has not made decisions that have made sense. i mean, he signed the letter to the ayatollah to undermine our own nation as we engaged in the

negotiation and said the letter would bounce off their determines. these are not the words of the sitting of a united states senator at a time of potential nuclear crisis soon i senator kirk, you have 90 seconds. >> one of my proudest achievements have been building the bipartisan-- i got the votes of every single democrat including bernie sanders. without those sanctions there would have been no reason for the iranian to come to the table to negotiate. the worst thing we could do is condemn the next generation of combat-- americans to cleaning up this. when we see what happened when the president sent over over 30 billion-dollar in sanction relief to the iranians the first thing they did was announce their allegiance to destabilize yemen and lebanon and iraq. when we look at the future of

our policy we look at a resurgence of a dangerous iraq and iran and when you see the state department of until the money showed up they issued a warning to american citizens to be aware that some iranians might want to take us and we should run our policy in a way that there will never be a price on the head of that americans. you should be allowed to travel to any country you want to see my congresswoman, yet 30 seconds to rebut if you choose. >> i don't understand the incumbents, my opponent's policies because he said does not want a nuclear war, but he voted against allowing iran to become a nuclear state. he tried to introduce legislation that preventing iran -- [inaudible] >> we are talking about someone who said he was to get rid of nuclear weapons in iran, but does everything he can to make sure they maintains the capabilities and that's not the

best sisters-- interest of the united states. >> gym, your questions will be answered by senator kirk first. >> what steps should be taken to ensure the solvency of programs like social security and medicare? >> the plan out there for the federal budget comes from the budgets commission and i believe when i read the plan that senator durbin worked so hard and michael pointed to the decision to the far left and said durbin voted incorrectly. when you look at the whole plan, it comes across as a plan written by real republicans and real democrats that can pass real policy and once we get this plan in place we could remove the 19 trillion-dollar debt that we have. >> 90 seconds. >> you have to understand that this plan raises the age for social security and when i travel around illinois and when

i'm in auto plants, in southern illinois gracie eight: minor, they can afford social security age raised. the best way we can make sure we preserve social security is to raise the payroll tax. that means right now people who make a million dollars only pay social security tax on 10% of their income, but if you make $40000 you pay on one-- 100%. let's make sure we raise social security not by raising the age of people who need it most, but that the top 1% of this nation paid their fair share. my opponent has also voted to make medicare into a voucher program. i think we need to go after the waste and fraud in medicare. medicare waste about $60 billion a year and that's why i pro sponsored a bipartisan piece of legislation that goes after the waste and fraud and abuse in medicare.

we can do it in a bipartisan way parts of the bill have passed and i went to get to the senate to make sure we pass more to make sure medicare is therefore the long term. my mom and probably your grandparents rely on social security. let's not abandon our senior citizens. >> 30 seconds if you choose. >> my mothers also on social security and medicare and i think the whole reason for being a fiscal conservative is to make sure we honor the process-- promises we made to american seniors. every senior in america knows when we overspend we threaten their long-term economic viability. we got to adopt policy like i have been advocating. spend less, tax less and get us out of the red. >> that concludes our second segment of tonight's debate here we will be back in a moment with our final half-hour. stay with us.

>> we continue with questions from our panelists for jordan will start this and congressman duckworth will respond first. >> republican leadership has refused to hold hearing on the supreme court nominee until after president obama leaves office. what kind of jurist would you advocate for? >> i think that any juror that gets nominated you have a brilliant legal mind, a broad work that we can evaluate. i would love to see someone that looks more like america. there are great justices who are asian-american. there is jacqueline when was always one of the finalists and she came to this country as a hit me-- as a baby. regardless of who is nominated the senate needs to do its job and have a hearing and then have

a vote. this is where michael pointed checked the box for political pictures and had a meeting with merrick garland, but never said hold the hearing i won't vote for you, senate majority leader. he said he sent a letter to his colleagues and demand a hearing, but at no point did he organize his colleagues to send a letter to chuck grassley and say have a hearing. >> thank you congressman. >> 60 seconds is up here 90 seconds. >> i would say i was the first republican senator to meet with merrick garland. i met with him and urge my colleagues to meet with them and i led that republican conference after i had my meaning. 12 republican senators also met with him and i have said that it would be a good thing for the country to have the current nominee asking questions as a great way to explore and the outlines of the constitution. i was in that unlike my opponent

who has been rated as one of the most ineffective congresswomen in the house that when i lead this effort i actually had 12 of my republican colleagues meet with merrick garland. he was a interesting man. this man, outstanding legal scholar from lincoln, illinois came in and i asked him about the gang problem in that chicago area and he immediately got down to it answering questions and we had a good academic discussion. >> congresswoman coming up 30 seconds. >> not much leadership if you have a meeting with merrick garland in march and there's still no hearing and it's october, so i would say he failed in those efforts. bottom line, the senate needs to do its job and frankly my opponent even on a radio interview after he took the pictures and told his colleagues

to meet and take pictures he said later that he knew hearings would never happen and so again -- [inaudible] >> we move onto the next question. senator kirk will respond first. >> senator kirk, marketwatch reported that as of 2013, the latest figures, the median working age couple had just $5000 put aside for retirement. what policy or policies which advocate to ensure regular working people can retire with dignity? >> the best program i put forward is the new brunswick legislation that i've written myself. it would allow every new mom and dad in america to start a tax-deferred 4o1k account for saving for college and make sure it would be for the state of the kid so the government could never take or borrow from it.

i went to revolutionize the financial education of the next generation coming in so dad can sit down with daughter, i will use my sister's name, robin, and said this is what we had in stocks and bonds, so she would see how successful a policy and disciplined investing could be, so we could get our savings rate up by revolutionizing our savings rate i think it would really help the retirement issue coming up. >> congresswomen duckworth coming up 90 seconds. >> you know, my family had savings when i was 13 and 14 and my dad lost his job and we lasted on those savings for about six years until he had nothing and you have never seen the despair until you looked into my dad size the day he came to me and asked me for my $300 left in my savings account the cause that birthday money and tooth fairy money was on the

family had. franco, a 4o1k plan is not the way to go because you think about what happened in 2008 when we had the crash and all of those for one case as their value. it's why we must save social security and we must preserve medicare. let's raise the payroll tax limit on social security to make sure the wealthiest 1%, the people who make a million dollars p.m. 100% of their income like everyone else paying into social security. we need to make sure medicare remains a program available for senior citizens and not turn into a voucher program and turn them out on the streets. yes, we should make college more affordable and have savings programs. i have a savings program for my daughter. she's 23 months old. i'm also going to make sure that there is affordable college education, free community college, free technical

education program and that students should be able to refinance their student loans that. >> senator kirk, your 30 seconds rebuttal. >> i think we should get away from our racial and gender politics, finding out who should be a justice. can't we just get away from race in america and pick the person regardless. if they claim to be from a certain race i would ask what do you plan to do if someone hits the exact spot. let's just have the best judge possible forward regardless of racial politics. >> this will be answered by congresswomen duckworth first. >> both presidential candidates have come out against the transpacific partnership. where do you stand on ttp and what principles should govern us trade agreements? >> i oppose ttp for several reasons. i think it's good for our agricultural policy and hope we can fix ttp, but right now i

cannot vote for it for several reasons. it allows our trading partners to unfairly treat american businesses. the wording in ttp is that you should not engage in currency manipulation as opposed to you shall not. go down to granite city, talk to those 50 year old steel workers who are getting flooding out of their jobs as the chinese is dumping cheap chinese steel and pushing american manufacturers out of business. my opponent is a free trader. i think we should put america first and american free businesses first. if you make it a fair trade program i will take a good hard look at it and probably vote for , but as long as it puts america at a disadvantage i cannot vote for it. >> senator kirk, you have 90 seconds. >> my opponent has said she

supports illinois manufacturers, but ignores illinois manufacturers that says tpa in ttp are responsible for sponsoring over 500,000 families we want to make sure we are always exporting. exporting out of your area. exporting out of john deere in the quad cities and when you drive the highways and byways and listen to the farmers of the state, they will tell you that the court in stocks that are planned or for export markets. illinois farmers no 95% of all humans on this planet are not american citizens and they went to feed those hungry mouth. i would say that the widespread unemployment that has been caused by disagreeing with the president obama who is for ttp and even your nominee hillary clinton is for ttp and we would lose a lot of jobs with the duckworth plan and cut off foreign markets from our state.

>> congresswomen duckworth, you have 30 seconds if you choose. >> since my opponent has been in office illinois has lost over 270,000 manufacturing jobs. caterpillar just build a new production facility in malaysia, in anticipation of ttp and that will be about 1500 jobs potentially that will leave illinois. my opponent calls himself an ardent free trader even went to china and told the chinese not to invest into america because we were not a good bet. i say america is the best that. made in america is the gold standard and if you send me to the united state senate i will fight every day for americans. >> this will be answered by senator kirk, first. >> senator, the most recent poll measured congress approval rating at 20%-- with 70 sixers and the people approving of the job congress is doing. each of you currently holds a seat in congress, so what specifically will you do to

improve the trust that people need to have in their lawmakers and what will you do to improve working relationships in the senate? >> i will service the glue between the house and senate and i would say that after my stroke i sat for a lot of times thinking about my job and representing the state. if i could analogize to you that it would say that senate is like one big national corral to give you an analogy that corral was built with 50 different wagons, one named after each estate in each wagon is pulled by two horses in illinois wagon pulled by portioning kirk and durbin. if kirk in durban are always nipping at each other then the illinois wagon won't very far. i insist i have a good relationship with dick durbin and build that relationship so we have a good policy going forward. i would say one of the things my opponent has talked about-- last train of thought there. >> we will move on to congresswomen duckworth.

you have 90 seconds. >> i think the american people need to know that their representatives in washington used in the struggle in their daily lives and have it perhaps lived the same challenges they have lived and that's why i think that numbers of congress should lead by example. that's why voted for low budget no pay. if you can't do your job you should get paid. i think we should increase transparency in government's and i have always supported that. i think with the people need is to understand the members of congress understand their challenges and when i traveled the state talk to families and i talk about what it was like to be on food stands and what it was like to have a high school english teacher buy me dinner because i wasn't going to eat when the food stance or not at the end of the month, they get it that i know what it means to be hungry and to struggle and they just want to know that the people fighting for them understand that even though they

are on their knees, they're not giving up there fighting every single day to put bread on the table, to send their kids to college, to pay the mortgage and pay their taxes and contribute to this great nation, this great state that is illinois. but, they can to trust in the representative if they see we are disassociated from them and i would just say this, that the people of illinois can count on me to fight for them every single day because i know what it's like. i have been there. i know what it's like to think, my gosh, how will i pay out that student loan debt. >> thank you. 30 seconds, senator kirk if you choose. >> i would pick up on that train of thought that i just lost. the reason we lost some a jobs i would say it's probably because we had a criminal like rob who my opponent served as governor. we got to make sure we elect honest people as governor and not people like your old boss who go to jail.

>> thank you. are next question is from bernie. congresswomen duckworth will respond first. >> congresswoman, each of you have had outside groups run ads on your behalf. there was a democratic leading committee that aired ads questioning military funding votes by senator kirk in a group called independent voice for illinois, which has a big republican donor has done ads attacking representative duckworth. can or should anything be done to limit campaign or outside spending in politics and how do you get that done? >> i went public financing with all money out of politics and i think in the short term what we can do to support the disclose act that would actually force folks giving money to super pacs to disclose who those people are we don't know who they are. its dark money.

my opponent is supporting making it darker and less transparent and i think american people deserve to know. we deserved to get rid of citizens united. i fully support moved to amend, but in the meantime i think it's best to get rid of citizens united and actually have a functioning supreme court. bring another case to the supreme court so the individual person's voice is just as important as that of a large corporation. trust me, no one wants money out of politics more than i do it that way i can spend more time talking to people. my average campaign contribution is about $40 and 90% is less than 70 bucks. we are supported by a grassroots campaign in this campaign and i would like to-- >> thank you, congresswoman. time is up. >> on the issue of campaign finance reform, as a congressman -- commerce meant i support new regulation in place and wanted to make sure we got rid of dark money and move to

the current system. i was one of the only republicans in the house to break from my party even when the majority leader said this is the end of us. kirk, if you break from the party. i broke from the party and got the reforms through and made sure the current reforms we have -- the reform we need is to make sure we have instant disclosure. with the contribution is made you should be able to put it on the internet. >> commerce woman, 30 seconds. >> well, he does not support it for super pacs and i would say the current system does not work and it's why we have the problems that we do and frankly, i am running a grassroots campaign and we need to make sure individual voices are just as important. it's why, you know,-- [inaudible] >> they are supporting the likes

of ted griffin that wrote millions of dollars in checks to that super pacs in i think he. your 30 seconds is up. >> everyone would love to see lower taxes, but we must also be concerned about the nations rising debts. what tax policies do you favor to promote fairness and economic growth while jenny-- generating enough revenue for government expenditures? >> with regard to tax policy come i think we should have a pair tax. we have about 72 special interests groups that should be wiped out to make sure people with the best lawyers to pay the lowest taxes. i think a fairer tax would be a way to go and the big checks-- change i would want to do is to lower the corporate tax rate so we can re- preacher he the hundreds of million dollars like the tutor billion dollars that apple has overseas and bring that $400 billion and 10% of

that reprint-- repatriated money for the congress. >> congresswoman, you have 90 seconds. >> i think compress it tax reform and i know my opponent is worried about apple being profitable, but i think if we are going to allow apple a lower tax rate and to repatriate those dollars that's give a tax break to small and medium businesses that keep jobs here in illinois. small and medium businesses in this state pay almost 30% tax rate and that's not acceptable. if we are going to lower taxes for the top 1% and we should lower taxes for lower income families as well. my opponent called himself a fiscal conservative. he's no fiscal conservative. in just two years our national debt will be upwards of the $16 trillion, 50% will be the result of the war in iraq and the bush tax cuts, both 04. he went around committing other

members of congress to vote for in those are the things we can afford to spend money on. my tax policies involve closing loopholes for the top 1% and closing loopholes for companies avoiding paying taxes in the us and making sure we have competence of tax reform, which we need to make sure small and medium businesses and working families also get tax benefits as well. >> 30 seconds. >> i would say right now that my opponent supported bush tax cuts before she was against them, so i have no idea what you philosophy is. my philosophy is basic, frugal republican to make sure we tax less than spend less and get us out of debt and that would be the way to go. >> first to respond will be congresswomen duckworth. >> the climate agreement goes in effect a few days before the election. do you think climate change is

real and that it's a man-made problem and what would you support in order to help combat climate change? >> well, i am-- climate change is real and i supported all of the above approach into attacking climate change, everything from moving our country towards being carbon neutral, in our country towards clean energy. illinois is uniquely positioned to lead the clean energy revolution and yet we have not taken advantage of it. it's why went to invest in illinois manufacturing especially comes to clean energy. we here in illinois produce windmill towers and yet we'll get 5% of our energy from wind power and islet gets 30%. with corn and soybean farmers and we should lead the world in the nation when it comes to biofuels. we need to lead the world in clean energy and also need to make sure that we provide a

consistent policy when it comes to global carbon emissions and getting to the carbon neutral. >> thank you. >> i have voted that climate change is happening and it's also caused by man. before i was elected i was elected to public office i was congressional staffer that went to climate change negotiations and i learned that most emissions will be from developing countries and that we should-- the best thing we can do is to make sure china converts to a more nuclear fusion to limit those-- [inaudible] >> the principle is all that matters is the zip code of the polluter and i would say mother nature does not care what the pollution comes from. we need to work cooperatively with developing countries. that's the best way to go and that's white i voted for the

clean climate-- [inaudible] >> congresswomen duckworth, 30 seconds if you choose. >> my opponent is not been consistent and voted, depending on whether or not he is up for election from the house to the senate or reelection he is either voted for the clean power plant or against the clean power switching back and forth multiple times. it seems when it's coming up for him, that's what he votes for and those investing in the technology and research need consistency in their senator. one of the head scratching moments, one of many things my opponent has said that he believes-- >> thank you congresswoman your time is up. bernie asked the next question and senator kirk will answer first. >> gun violence remains a problem across our state and nation. what additional federal laws if any are needed to reduce gun violence? >> i am proud of the effort

minus record i currently have from the nra and that's unusual for a republican and shows how independent im. we criminalize gun trafficking, to criminal organizations. relationship between-- [inaudible] >> if we criminalize that relationship, when i was at the f-- atf they briefed me a couple of gun shops in mississippi seem to have a relation with gangsters in chicago. , to make sure we can shut down the supply weaponry weaponry. >> congressman. >> welcome i just participated and the sit in in the house of representatives with the great john lewis demanding a vote on gun violence legislation and quite a few senators supported as unfortunately my opponent did

not care guy think we need universal background checks. close the loophole for people who can-- if you cannot pass a background check and a gun store then you should not be able to go on the internet or a gun show to buy a gun without background checks. that's currently happy. i don't think you should be able to buy armor piercing bullets. they are not needed to go hunting. they are to pierce body armor. i think that we can get rid of the high-capacity magazines. again, i'm a marksman. i fire expert in the army at least once or twice here there and i come from a marksman family. but, you don't need a high-capacity magazine to go hunting. if you need a high-capacity magazine to go hunting you are a really bad hunter. there are basic things you can do and i cosponsor legislation to close one of these loopholes that if you go out of business as a gun store owner and luger

license you can convert your entire gun store inventory to personal use and sell it without background checks. we need to close that loophole. >> you have 30 seconds. >> i believe if you are too dangerous to fly on an aircraft in america than your two dangerous to buy a firearm. that no-fly know by was a voted on and i was the only republican to vote for no-fly know by. if you are too dangerous to be added aircraft and you are too dangerous to buy a farm in america. that kind of independence is what we need from our congressman. in the case of my opponent she voted 94% of the time with nancy pelosi, so near perfect of voting record with the people of california that sent nancy to congress. >> we move on now to closing statements. congresswomen duckworth, you go first. >> just want to thank everyone for participating in our democracy today. it's why i served in the military and why we have many women serviner