on saturday, we'll bring you campaign rallies in the special u.s. house race in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. first, former vice president joe biden at an event in support of democratic candidate connor lamb. and then president trump speaking for republican candidate rick ciccone. tuesday's special election will fill the seat left vacant by former republican congressman tim murphy who resigned late last year. you can watch both rallies beginning at 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. now republican candidate rick ciccone and democrat connor lam take part in a debate. this lasts about an hour. >> a local race on the national stage. >> a special house election drawing national attention. >> fascinating race. >> a special election for the

18th congressional district. >> i'm running for congress because i want to help the people of the 18th district. >> i just feel like i can go down there and be an asset. >> republican state representative rick ciccone, democrat and former federal prosecutor connor lamb. two military veterans spending time and money to win your vote. >> i hope the voters of the 18th district will look at my record and look at my family and my background. >> i'm running this campaign based on western pennsylvania values to solve western pennsylvania problems. >> tonight they go head to head in withtea studios. >> hello, i'm shannon perrine from pittsburgh's action news 4. on behalf of league of women voters and wtea channel 4, welcome to the debate for pennsylvania's 18th congressional seat. our candidates tonight,

four-term state representative in the 39th district, republican rick ciccone and a former federal prosecutor out of the u.s. attorney's office, democrat connor lamb. and welcome to our panelists, league of women voters representative kathleen clyman, bob mayo and freelance journalist elaine effort. candidates, you drew numbers to determine who will answer the first question, that will be mr. lamb so that means mr. ciccone, you will have the last word in the closing statements. gentlemen, here are the rules tonight. you will have one minute for everything. answer a question, it's 60 seconds, rebuttal, 60 seconds, closing statement, 60 seconds. if you have not answered the specific questions or there is more to follow up on, i will allow more time for follow-ups at my discretion as moderator. all right. so the very first question comes from me and it will address the elephant in the room, something we've been talking a lot about

over the past few months. we are here tonight because former congressman tim murphy made career-ending mistakes. after 15 years in the house of representatives, congressman murphy, who is pro-life and voted that way, reportedly asked his mistress to have an abortion when he thought she was pregnant. it was also reported that he was hosti hostile in his congressional offices and some staffers reported being afraid of mr. murphy citing impossible demands, personal insults and even threats. if you win, what specific steps will you take to simply be a man of your word. that means how would you model behavior that you would want to see from your staffers and other americans? this is not a question of will you, but how will you? mr. lamb, you're first. >> thank you. i learned to be a man of my word from my father and my grandfath grandfather. i had the privilege of growing up in a great family that has a

lot of fun but is also very demanding and when i became a little older, i also had the honor of the lifetime of becoming an officer in the united states marine corps. i didn't become an officer in the marines to change for anybody. when i took the oath the first time, i thought about the phrase "semper "semper fidelis." that means always. some things are non-negotiable, telling the truth, having integrity and treating people right are things we live by. we say officers eat last. we take it literally. when the whole group gets together for thanksgiving dinner, the highest-ranking officer goes to the end of the line and the junior ranking marine goes first. you always put your people first. >> representative ciccone, your rebuttal. >> thank you, i spent 18 years in the united states air force, i was a military commander, commanded troops that depended on me to be a man of my word, i've worked in the state legislature where every word you

say is picked apart and put on camera everyday and all my speeches and all my appearances are put up on my web site and so forth. so i'm always very much aware that your word matters. and people look at that. i think people in the 18th district know that i've kept my word from the very campaign promises i made eight years ago, i followed all of those campaign promises and i believe i've kept them all so i think i'm known as a man of integrity and i will continue that in the u.s. congress. >> all right. next question comes from kathleen kleinman. it goes to representative ciccone. >> town hall meetings have been traditionally held by members of congress to meet in an open forum with their constituents without restriction as to who may attend or what the questions are in advance. do you intend to hold traditional town hall events in your district wi? with what frequency and with what restrictions if any?

>> i'm one of the most accessible legislators in the statehouse. i've held more town halls than probably just about anybody. those town halls are open to just about everyone. i field any questions that people want to ask. i never ran away from that so i think if you look at my record, you'll see i've always been accessible. my wife and i do over 200 events a year. we're out at every scout presentation, every fireman's banquet, every 100th birthday party, we're in the grocery store people grab us. we're accessible and people can always ask us questions. >> mr. lamb? >> i believe anyone who wants to hold public office should hold regular town halls all the time. it's part of the job. if you're going to represent people, you have to be willing to answer their questions. i've started doing it during the campaign already and really i've learned the most from these town hall meetings, whether they're as small as in someone's living room or a large church or gymnasium, we've done them

everywhere and i've been lucky people have shared great stories with me, insights about the most important issues we have and it's something i'll keep going for a long time to come. >> next question comes from bob mayo and it's for mr. lamb. >> president trump says he's going to put tariffs on imported steel and imported aluminum. he also tweeted that trade wars are good and easy to win. so for both of you, do you agree with president trump's intentions to impose tariffs and are trade wars good and easy? >> i do agree that we have to take some action to level the playing field here. our steel workers have warmed hard for a long time and they make the best steel in the world. for too long china has been making cheap steel and they've been flooding the market with it. it's not fair and it's not right. so i think this is long overdue. we need to take a little time to see how the policy plays out. it's not really clear who it will apply to. i would follow the president of the steel workers leo girard. just yesterday he said we should

focus on the bad actors, focus on china more so than our friends. but the important thing to me here is the steel worker. we need to stick up for our steel workers. if we're going to do that, we have to use the steel. i think it's time we get this infrastructure bill going that we've talked about. use the steel to rebuild our bridges. we need to get started on that right away and we've seen gridlock even though everyone agrees we need infrastructure. i want to get to work on that right away. >> representative ciccone. >> thank you, yes. i believe our steel workers can compete with anybody in the world as long as the playing field is level. unfortunately, many of our competitors around the world have slanted the playing field and their thumb has been on the scale and i think president trump is trying to even that scale back out. i've always supported the steel industry and my district protects jobs in western pennsylvania so i think it's important what he's doing. i think this is the first volley that president trump put out there. i'm sure there will be more negotiation and we'll see what happens but we should wait and

see. >> quick follow-up if i may. there are maul business owners, there are workers whose jobs depend on materials that are imported. what do you say to those small business owners, those workers whose livelihoods may be casualties in the trade war? >> representative ciccone, i'll have you answer this first. >> that's always the counterargument when you put tariffs on something. so you want trade to be free and fair and if you put tariffs on something people that use -- that consume the product may pay more but wh what we're being told right now that the initial volley is that that would be minuscu minuscule. the effect on the consumer would be minuscule and it's important for us to protect those jobs. >> mr. lamb? >> i agree that it's premature to know what will happen and we need to give time to see who's going to be affected and how. i think if we focus on the bad actors, if we focus on china, we can and we must protect our small business owners.

i will say i'm surprised to hear from my opponent how he's always stuck up for the steel industry because he's voted in harrisburg repeatedly to allow in our public construction projects the use of foreign steel instead of american steel. he's voted repeatedly against our steel workers who are in unions, people who rely on their union for a fair wage for the hard work that they do so when we say we stick up for our steel workers and steel industry, we need to vote that way. >> can i get a rebut toole that? >> i'll give you one. >> that's nonsense. i've always stood up for our workers. unfortunately the leaders of the democratic party, they support people who are against our workers. they're the ones driving jobs out of pennsylvania. and our workers, especially our union workers, they want to work. they want jobs. i've always been for bringing jobs to pennsylvania. the left and democratic party is for driving them out with overregulation and taxes so i've stood for the union workers. that's why they vote for me in droves. >> the next question will come from elaine effort and it will go to mr. lamb.

>> mr. lamb, the parkland, florida, school shooting that left 17 dead has renewed calls for a federal bam n on ar-15s, raise in the age requirement to buy rifles and a ban on bump stocks among other proposals. where do you stand on each of these proposals -- a ban on ar-15s, a raise in the minimum age to 21 to purchase rifles and a ban on bump stocks. >> i believe that what is happening right now is unacceptable. we have had too many tragedies with no action whatsoever from our congress afterward and right now what is happening is children are afraid to go to school. i had a mom the morning after the florida shooting tell me when she was in the dropoff line she became physically ill when it was time for them to get out of the car. we cannot accept that and i will not. we have to do everything it takes to make our children feel safe and make our parents feel safe sending their kids to

school. we know there is a wide middle ground now for us to act now and that's on the eschew of universal background checks. my opponent and i both support the second amendment, but the difference is he's called for the elimination of the background check system in pennsylvania, i support universal background checks. no loopholes period. as far as the proposals that you talked about, i think the most important thing for us to focus on is to act now. if we can get agreement on any proposal, bipartisan agreement, we should. but we're hearing agreement on one thing right now which is universal background check system. >> i'm going to ask you to actually answer her questions about raising the age limit to 21 on rifles. yes or no? >> i'm open to it but i don't support it right now. those of us running for congress should talk about the bills we know can pass -- universal background check systems can pass. we need to get it done. >> representative ciccone, if you can address elaine's question. >> yes, thank you. i want to focus on school safety at some point because i think that's the important point.

a ban on ar-15, we did that in 1994, we had a ban on assault style weapons for ten years including magazines -- high capacity magazines. for ten years we had that ban and it didn't work. the department of justice looked at it, it had absolutely no effect on crime. so we brought them back. so it's not a matter of banning those weapons because the left's argument is always to disarm law-abiding citizens but i believe that we should allow our people to exercise their second amendment rights, so banning a weapon is not the answer. as far as raising the age to 21, you only run into the argument of look, we send our 18, 19, 20-year-olds off to baghdad and affidavits afghanistan to our war, then they come home and they're not allowed to have a weapon. is that what you want? >> representative ciccone, time is up on that. kathleen is next and her

question goes to representative ciccone now. >> recent tax code legislation is poised to drastically reduced pennsylvania's access to medicaid funding. pennsylvania uses non-mandated options in the medicaid program to blow ride is home and community-based care to hundreds of pennsylvanians who are elderly and disabled who would otherwise be deprived of their liberty and confined to institutions. will you protect the current levels of medicaid funding to pennsylvania and will you protect the use of medicaid for optional community-based services. please explain your answer. >> yes. thank you. you know i've been to triple several times, i have always supported people with disabilities, especially those that want to stay in their own home. as a government we should be encouraging people to stay and function in their own home and not be institutionalized. i've always been an advocate for that and i'll do whatever i can to make that happen. it's good for the people themselves, it's good for the

taxpayer, it's much less expensive than trying to institutionalize him and it's morally sound because people want to help themselves, then the government should help them first. >> may i make my statement more clear. >> go ahead. >> it's an optional service and not a mandated service and that's the issue. will you fight for the optional programs? >> yes, i will. >> okay, all right, mr. lamb, same question. >> i think the most important thing right now is if there is a budget on the table in washington right now in front of the united states congress it cuts $1 trillion from our medicaid program over ten years. if you cut $1 trillion out of our medicaid program, all of these optional programs are going to suffer. it's going to make people sicker, it's going to make them get delayed treatment or no treatment at all. this is not right. it's no longer a chapter in paul ryan's book; it's not theory. this is the proposed budget the white house has sent to congress and it's awaiting a vote. i will vote against that. i will refuse to allow that cut

to our medicaid program on behalf of our seniors, on behalf of the disables, on behalf of the children. i hope mr. ciccone will tell us tonight that he would buck the leadership of his own party and also vote against that funding if he means what he says if he wants to stick up for these programs. >> this next question is from bob mayo and it's a two parter so you will each get a question and you will each get a chance at rebuttal. bob's first part of this question goes to mr. lamb. >> as attacking your record as a prosecutors they say you accepted plea bargains that got criminals off. what are you specific answers to the accusations? >> bob, there's not a person watching the debate tonight who hasn't seen the garbage that my opponent and the people on his side have put on television about me. they've lied about my record. they've run cartoon ads, it's like a comic book version of the campaign and people are laughing at you, rick, they're tired of it.

except this isn't a joke. the heroin epidemic is killing people all over the country and i was proud in the u.s. attorney's office to do my job, which is to take as many drug dealers off the streets as we could for as long as possible. in the specific case that's targeted in these ads, we put that dealer away for ten years, we took two of his houses, $200,000 in cash, a bmw, five luxury watches and he was one of five people that we took off the streets. when we went down to the police barracks in fayette county to announce those indictments people were telling us great catch, we've been after these guys for years. it was a great case, i'm proud of it. >> time's up. i'll cut you off. representative ciccone, your rebuttal. >> this is the nonsense and deception my opponent's campaign is about. i have put only positive ads out. his campaign has run negative ads. i only have three ads, the one that say i'm rick ciccone and i endorse this message. his ads are all negative against me. i haven't put a single ad out negative against him yet he

purports i'm the one doing the negative ad campaigning. i don't hold him accountable for outside groups that are doing those ads and -- but he's the one doing negative campaigning so i'm not buying it into and i hope the people back home will see it. >> what do you think about the ads that are being put out in your name that are attacking connor lamb? >> as far as i can see, if you look up the cases they're citing, he let drug dealers off. he let a drug kingpin off on a plea bargain. i don't think we should do that. i think we should give them the maximum sentence. that's what we should do in government, not let people off. >> the next part of bob's question -- >> can i rebuttal that, please. >> yes. >> bob, you're a good reporter, you've covered the courthouse, you know that's not true. ten years is a serious sentence, we're proud of it. when outside groups run ads that aren't true, their hand picked candidate should disavow them if he means what he says. rick, i think you should say these things aren't false. >> connor, i think you should say your ads are false. >> we'll get to bob's second part. >> you've been targeted in some

ads. there's an ad criticizing your spending as a state lawmaker that cites reports you paid several hundred thousand dollars over the course of seven years from your taxpayer-funded government expense accounts. why is that level of expenses for things like meals, reported lease payments to a political donor, why is that spending justified and would you be willing to pay it back? >> it's another deception. i've authorized so much money to run my office every year. i give back money every year. i spend less than i'm authorized. i have less employees than my predecessor. this is again a deception from the other side trying to make years of running offices look like overspending when, in fact, i've saved money. >> mr. lamb, you can rebut that. >> those are optional per diem payments, records from the office of the comptroller by our government. anyone can look that up and see that he took more money than

most legislators in harrisburg. at the same time, i was at an event with someone who talked about how mr. ciccone proposed bills to ban meals paid for by lobbyists, yet this person said, you'll never believe it, just recently i was at a meal with rick paid for by lobbyists and he's been at a lot of meals paid for by lobbyists in harrisburg. the first question in this debate was about the hypocrisy by tim murphy. we'll see more of the same with mr. ciccone and i don't think it's right. >> go ahead. >> thank you. i want to rebut that. this is the kind of nonsense the radical left puts out. a radical left reporter reported this. any night in harrisburg on any given night lobbyists and legislators have dinner. they've been doing it for years. many don't think there's anything wrong with it. when i got to harrisburg i saw this and i said there's something wrong with this and i said we need to change the culture in harrisburg. so i put in legislation to change to say these dinners would not be acceptable and it got bipartisan bicameral support. the only legislation that the government reform caucus actually endorsed.

and yet they tried to demonize me for bringing up to try to change the culture in harrisburg. >> next question from elaine effort for representative ciccone. >> mr. ciccone, do you support spending billions of dollars to build a wall along the u.s. border with mexico? if yes, how important is the border wall compared to spending on the opioid crisis, education, and roads and bridges infrastructure? please rank them in order of your spending priority. >> >> it's not an either/or in government. budgets are large and there are many, many priorities in there. yes, walls are important. walls work. i've been to israel. i've seen the wall they've built. i've seen the results of what they've done there. walls in other countries have worked. we need to secure our border. we need to do that for national security reasons. the opioid crisis, i want to spend more time on that because it's something i've spent a lot of time on and it's very important. we need to work on that, too.

it's a different answer to a different question so i would say we need to do both of those things. >> well, there are four things and just rank them in order of their importance. >> so there's infrastructure, opioids, education, and the border wall. can you rank those, please? >> again, i say they're all important. we'll get them all done. >> mr. lamb? >> to answer your question, i would vote for infrastructure first. people in both parties are telling us right now that we have probably $3 trillion worth of infrastructure programs that we're behind on. that's our roads, it's our bridges. here in pittsburgh it's our locks and dams. unfortunately my opponent is someone who has voted time and again against those very programs at the state level, even when they're backed by republicans so highways and bridges, everybody gets to ride on them, no matter what party they are, i think they're important. next for me would be the heroin epidemic. it's life or death. in the next five years, we could lose 300,000 people to the heroin epidemic. if we were losing that many in a war, we would stop at nothing to stop it. and i think that's the most

important. education would be next. we can't continue cutting our public schools because class sizes go up, we lose programs. the border wall is $25 billion, it's expensive. i've seen that it's our ports of entry that need the most investment. the number-one entry point for fentanyl in the united states is jfk airport. we need security there. >> that's it for that question. we're going to take a question from one of our viewers, from facebook tonight. bill lingis asks this question, name three specific issues where you see yourself voting outside the majority of your party lines. offer specific examples or say nothing at all. mr. lamb, this one goes to you first. >> one issue would be the issue of health care. many people in my party agree that health care premiums are too expensive. we need to have health care affordable for everybody. but there are a lot in my party who want to transition to a medicare for all type system, government-run medicine. i don't think that's a great idea. i think it would be very expensive and many people like the plans that they have.

another one would be natural gas drilling. it's good for our economy, it's great for our national security. we need to make sure it's being done right and safely. there are those in my party who are so far to the left they don't support it at all. the third would be on the issue of leadership itself. i've said from the beginning of this campaign that i didn't support nancy pelosi for any leadership position. i also don't support paul ryan, i think we need new leadership so to anyone watching tonight who's seen the negative ads, know i don't support nancy pelosi. >> i'm going ask you a quick question to follow up on that, mr. lamb. you talk about modern energy on your web site and the only thing you list in there is natural gas. is there room if you are going to have a seat in congress to talk about other sources of energy in western pennsylvania? >> there is. nationwide we need a manhattan project for clean energy. china is doing it already. they're making massive investments, paying their

scientists, subsidizing a solar panel. we're well poised if western pennsylvania to be a national leader. we have the scientists, we have the universities, we have the people that want to do the work. that's not a tradeoff. we can do that and have natural gas at the same time. >> representative ciccone, we'll have you rebut the question for mr. lingis on facebook. how would you vote outside of your party? >> unlike my opponent who has no experience or record, i have a long record of voting outside my party. my first bill in the state legislature was property tax reassessment reform. i had to fight to get that passed through and it was vetoed by a republican governor, his only veto in his four year term. i kept fighting. i didn't give up then. it took seven more years and you know because you voted through a constitutional amendment to change property tax and how we fund our schools and you voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. i voted outside my party, i kept

pushing from that and you voted for it. i know i'm in line with what you're thinking. taxes is another one i voted outside my party on and the other party, certainly, our governor tried to push a $5 billion tax increase and some in my party were going go along with it but i organized a group of people and we stopped that $5 billion tax increase and we made an on-time budget with no tax increase and funding the services that we need. >> representative ciccone, i'm going to add to mr. lingis's question from facebook and talk about your party a little bit more. if you get this seat, if you win, talk about korea and talk about the president and his approach to korea so far. you've said that you're an expert, you lived in north korea. what's the one thing you want to tell president trump about how to deal with that situation? >> so my purpose, if i were to get to washington, would be to advise the president on how to resolve this situation with north korea from wherever we are at that time. it does not good to criticize

from where we came or how we got there. it would be how to find our end point resolving the situation from wherever we are at that time. i'm the only one that has the skill set. my opponent doesn't know the difference between north korea and south korea. i've lived a year inside there, i've successfully negotiated with north koreans, i've written two books about it. that would be my purpose and that's how i would approach that. there's a path to dealing with north korea, it's narrow but i feel like i'm the only one that has a skill set to reach that path. >> mr. lamb, you can respond to that. i'm pretty sure you know the difference between north korea and south korea. you can respond. >> you and everyone watching knows that. thank you. it's amazing the lengths they'll go to on the other side to say things that aren't true. but i think we do agree that negotiation is necessary, that we need experienced diplomats over there. unfortunately, we've seen a lot of people leave the state department in this administration which makes it hard to get the basic work done. we don't need another vote against north korea in congress. what we need in congress are people who are willing to stand up to the leadership on both sides, oppose cuts in medicaid, oppose all of the other cuts

that the republican party is known for right now and pass a budget that's for our people, that gets infrastructure done, that protects social security and medicare. that's what we need in congress. >> kathleen kleinmann has the next question for representative ciccone. >> health care. do you believe that health care is or should be a civil right of americans and do you have a personal vision of how health care or health insurance should operate in the united states. >> i don't think health care is a civil right but i think we should make every effort to make affordable health care available to everyone. i think there's a lot of reforms necessary right now in the health care system, buying across state lines is one of them. reforms to our health savings account system would be another. we also have a lot of free-market solutions to health care that haven't been tried. some have been tried, entrepreneurial answers, you're probably using them right now with med express and issues that have taken health care out of the emergency room and to a

clinic. i've used those clinics myself when i'm sick, keeps me out of the emergency room. there may not be a doctor there, there may be a nurse practitioner but those people can help us without eating up emergency room time and money because we know how expensive they are. there are more free market solutions to the health care problem. i'd like to be part of that discussion and debate. >> mr. lamb? >> i think when your child is sick or you get hurt on the job you should be able to go to the doctor and it shouldn't break your bank account. unfortunately, that's not happening for a lot of our people right now so we need to redouble our efforts. the affordable care act was making great progress at bringing more people on to the health insurance roles. we need to get back to that but we need do more to get the premiums down. i don't think the free market will do it. people on wall street have enough money already. i don't think it's in their interest to make our people's premiums go down. we need to look at things like reinsurance, we need to look at putting the teeth back into the affordable care act so people have health care they can afford. >> but yes or no. do you think that health care

should be a civil right. >> i think affordable health care is a civil right and everybody should have it. >> okay. next question, bob mayo for mr. lamb. >> do you believe social security is an unearned benefit or something earns have paid into and are owed and in the interest of entitlement reform, will you support or will you oppose any type of cut to anyone's social security benefits? >> bob, i know that social security is something people have paid into and they've earned. people are telling me everyday how insulted they are when they hear paul ryan refer to it as an entitlement. there was a man who came up to me a couple weeks ago, he started working when he was 12 years old and paying social security taxes. he's 77 today. still working to pay for his supplemental medical coverage. he took out his key ring when he told me this, he held it out, he had his dog tag on there from where he served in the u.s. army during korea. he asked me to hold it and when i did he said "don't break your

promise to me, stick up for these programs, we paid into them." i'll remember that guy for the rest of my life. social security a promise we made to our people. i'll keep promise. >> representative ciccone? >> yes, social security is a promise we've made to our people and in a couple years i'll be on it. i'm 60 years old. of course we'll keep it. my opponent has lied over and over in his commercials and his ads and he's said i plan to cut social security and medicare. it's a lie and i'll say it again to the people. i'll look right at you right now. i have no plans, i have never advocated and never would advocate cutting social security or medicare. unfortunately, these programs are going broke and we have to do some reforms, some of them we have to do maybe is we have to look at overpayments to drug companies and some of the fraud that's going on. we have to try to refine that so we can save these programs so they will be available for everybody. that's what i've advocated for, i've done it at the state level in other programs, i'll do it in the u.s. congress. >> can i respond, please? i think it's time for mr.

ciccone, if he believes that, to stand up and say that he opposes the $250 billion cut to medicare that is in president trump's budget right now. and the cuts to social security staffing that are in that budget. unfortunately, his votes in the past indicate otherwise. he's voted against programs like unemployment insurance for construction workers, that's also a program people pay into but tend to get cut by the other side. >> i'm going to cut you off and let representative ciccone respond to that. >> another deception. the biggest cut to medicare was obamacare. $715 billion drained out of that. he was for it. his party was for it. drained out of medicare to pay for obamacare. i'd never support that and i won't support -- i'll say it again in case they don't understand. i don't support cutting social security or medicare. >> we'll move on the a question from elaine effort to representative ciccone. >> mr. ciccone, marijuana is

legal for medical purposes in 29 states. recreational marijuana is legal in nine states. what's your best argument for or against congress legalizing recreational marijuana. >> the biggest argue is that people in the 18th district don't want that. i don't know how many hearings, maybe a dozen hearings are across the state listening to experts on medical marijuana and its tendency to turn into recreational marijuana, the people in our district don't want that and i'm connected with them so i would not vote for recreational marijuana. >> i support medical marijuana as it exists as long as it's carefully done and well regulated. too many doctors have told me their patients need it. too many parents have told me it's the cheapest and best treatment for their kids, especially kids who have seizures so i think that's where we start. people on both sides seem to

agree. that's a good way to take care of our people and i'm forit. >> next question is from kathleen kleinmann for mr. lamb. >> gender equality has been the subject of federal legislation since the 19th amendment giving women to vote. the 115th congress will have opportunities to impact policies. have you identified any changes that you would push forward related to gender equality issues where you have gender identity in the military or related issues? >> my first job in the military was to prosecute cases of rape and sexual assault. i stood up with victims, both men and women, who were afraid to speak up against their superiors in uniform but we did it and got justice in all those cases, i learned a lot from that. we have to listen to victims of sexual assault sexual harassment, wherever they come from. we have to oppose attempts by the legislature in harrisburg, by congress in washington, d.c. to cover up these settlements that they use taxpayer dollars

for. we have to shine a light on all that. as far as gender equity in the workplace, i support measures that will correct the pay imbalance. we still have women earning less on average than men. that's not good enough. paid family leave is something i support. colleagues of mine in the u.s. attorney's office would have kids and have to take all their sick leave and unpaid time off just to raise their first kid, i don't think that's right. >> representative ciccone? >> thank you. i think it's important that we never discriminate against anyone, that everyone feels welcome when they come to work and they shouldn't be sexually harassed certainly. and we need to empower our people so that they feel that if they feel mistreated that they can step up and say something and their claim will be heard and investigated thoroughly. i like what's going on in the statehouse, they passed the bill to have a separate panel so that the people who have a complaint would have a disinterested party

listen to their complaints and make sure that it will be heard and investigated. look, i'm a father and a grant father, i've been surrounded by all my legislative staff for women. i've been a military commander dealing with all men and women's issues. that's my record. i have a record of doing that so i will be for policies that are supporting that. we want to empower people who feel at home and welcome in the workplace. >> i'm going to follow up on that. is there room for legislation? is there a legislative bill that you would put forward to advance that if you win? start with representative ciccone. >> i would look at what the house just passed because i think i haven't looked at it in-depth. i would be willing to look at those things but i haven't looked at additional legislation at this point. >> mr. lamb? >> i'd like to see legislation for paid family leave making that a right, especially for federal employees. it's not happening right now and i don't think that's fair.

>> next question comes from bob mayo for representative ciccone. >> do families whose loved ones are fighting opioid addiction deserve help through publicly supported programs or is the responsibility for dealing with that impact and those families on them alone? >> i'm uniquely qualified, i think, to answer this question. in the state legislature we've learned -- again, we've had hearings from washington county to lucerne county on this. we've heard experts and rehabilitation specialists, we've heard law enforcement, the addicts themselves. i've been actually doing ride alongs with our police and blangsz. i've been out to overdose and seen how it affects families up close. so this is an all hands on deck problem, it's not a legislative problem. and we've passed 12 bills in the state legislature dealing with opioid addiction so we're trying to do our part in the legislature. it's not just the law enforcement problem. we can't arrest our way out of

it. we have to have everybody. we have to have the industry become involved and they are becoming involved in looking at how we can prevent overprescribing of opioids. we have to have churches involved, we have to have schools involved, everybody has to be on deck to the solve this problem. it's a societal problem. >> okay. >> my question was is there a place for publicly supported programs for these families or are they own? understanding that law enforcement as their part, you said that and talking about others having their part but if you're a lawmaker, do you support taxpayer-funded programs to deal with the impact on families of the opioid crisis. >> yes, and i have supported that. there's a part to play for government but it's not just government. the whole society has to be involved to solve this problem. the government won't solve this problem for the people of pennsylvania. >> mr. lamb? >> there's a huge role for the government to play in saving our people. the first overdose death case i

ever worked on as a prosecutor was a young man who finally got into a 30-day rehab program after years of struggling with addiction. his parents worked so hard to get him in. he came out after 30 days and died on the 31st day. he relapsed and two bags of heroin killed him. the experts tell us it doesn't take 30 days, it takes 90 days. you have to have a place to go and a bed to sleep in. we don't have enough right now. a judge can send anyone to jail, it's very difficult for a judge to send people to rehab. only the government can build those facilities and fill them with beds and qualified staff and only the government can have the health insurance programs that these people need who are suffering from addiction for years afterward, that's medicaid. medicaid is our program that provides health insurance for those suffering from the disease of addiction. you have to oppose cuts like the current budget that cuts a trillion dollars from medicaid. that's who it's going to affect. the people are suffering here and at risk of dieing if we don't do something about it. >> this is a big issue and we're going to stay on it.

i'll let representative ciccone say something else about it. >> the left solution to everything is a big-government solution. we just had people testify before us on the judiciary committee about two weeks ago that the most effective treatments, better than methadone or the rehab programs we have are faith-based programs. 75% to 80% effective and they don't cost taxpayers a dime. we need to explore all aspects. it can't just be a big government solution to everything. >> i want to stay on this issue, too. when we talk about living in pittsburgh, we have what we call the best medical research minds in the world, how much government money should we be spending on researching ways to fight addiction? >> we should spend whatever it takes to solve the problem. we know from our treatment providers now that there is a gold standard here, 09 days in treatment, detox and rehabilitation and years of outpatient treatment after wards including medically assisted treatment including medications people can help take to change the brain back because heroin is a monster.

it changes the brain so i would support further government research in which particular medications can get this done. i don't disagree there's a role for the faith community to play here, there is. but we who are running for congress, running for jobs in the government, we have to do 2 t job. the job for the government is to stick up for these programs, to fund them and do whatever it takes to save our people. >> representative ciccone, talk about research and government funding for research. >> government funding for research is a legitimate expense of government and we're doing that now bewe also need to look at the private sector. highmark had a seminar where they're looking at how to curb the overprescription of opioids, express scrips has a great program where they're doing the same thing so if we cut back on overprescribing of opioids, we can do this without expense to the government and taxpayers. i'm for exploring all of those things. i always have been. >> next question is from elaine effort for mr. lamb. >> mr. lamb, what's the one thing you admire about your

campaign opponent? >> i admire a bill that i'm aware he pushed in harrisburg that would help people get driver's licenses after they've committed -- i believe it was certain drug offenses and that was something i saw as a prosecutor all the time, you'd have people serve their time, pay their debt to society and when they came out it can be hard to find a job even if they want to. i remember like it was yesterday one of them telling me it's not hard for a felon to get a job and keep a job, it's hard for somebody that doesn't have a driver's license to get a job and keep a job. i'm aware that representative ciccone along with my state representative dan miller have pushed that legislation and i think it's a great thing and sorely needed. >> representative ciccone? >> i like the fact that conor is young and idealistic. i think it's great. it's like fresh blood coming in. i understand that. of course he doesn't have a record and he doesn't have any experience in carrying out any of these things so that's the contrast between us.

>> one thing that -- you can't find one thing you admire. >> i just said i admire that he's young and idealistic and still has the hope he can change the world. >> okay. we're going go to a a facebook question now and from colleen miger, she would like to hear your views on the congressional map. this impacts all of us here. we'll go to mr. saccone. >> i was a victim of gerrymandering. in a 76% democrat district that was gerrymandered to keep a democrat in power. i ran and won. when i hear about it and complaining they can't win because they have been gerrymandered out. it makes it difficult. we need to make sure the system that the lines are drawn as effectively as we can. we put forth a great plan that improved the district in

pennsylvania. but the supreme court stepped in and over stepped and vetoed the maps and drew their own which was far worst than what they were complaining b. we have a great system in pennsylvania. a five-person commission. i voted on the current maps. those maps come to the legislature. it was a bipartisan vote in the legislation tur. 139 of us voted, 39 democrats and 100 republicans. >> i have to cut you off. >> the supreme court vetoed them. >> we're going to go to mr. lamb on this. >> i made a promise to the voters in the 18th district that we didn't have a voice in washington and i would give us the voice. i have campaigned for the voters in the 18th district. that's who i want to serve. i don't care where they draw the lines coming up. i'm aware of the current lines which we have and i think everybody degrees they are strangely shaped.

it was drawn by a computer program called red map in harrisburg. i'm happy the court stepped in and took a look at it and we need the let the courts do their job and finish the redrawing of the lines. >> we have a question from kathleen for mr. lamb. >> the first amendment say the congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. what is your personal interpretation of this prohibition and how do you intend to apply it in congress. >> my personal interpretation is that when we decide any bill, we have to think about the public interest. not just what one religion thinks. for me the issue that comes up a lot is the issue of a woman's right to choose. i support it under the law even though i'm a catholic and i oppose abortion, i believe that live begins at conception ch we have one law in this country and it is for everybody no matter

the religion. there's a place for faith and religion in the public square. when it m cos to law making, we have to get down to the facts and figures and figure out what is best for everybody. >> representative saccone. >> i wrote a book about this. the establishment clause was meant to prevent from one denomination to be named as a state religion. god has always been part of the public life. he was there when george washington swore his oath on the bible, and he was there when president trump swore his oath on the bible making him the chief executive of the nation. god was there in the beginning and right now. leviticus 25: 10. so god was apart of the founding fathers and apart of the icon of the heritage and history. over 50 biblical scriptures throughout the state capital.

in god we trust is chizleed in the front steps in the capital of harrisburg. we don't make one denomination over another and the supreme court ruled that. in god we trust is our national motto weshl celebrate that. >> you have spent time and energy making sure that argument was made in your time in the state. in the sate government. how much time would you spend moving forward if you do win this seat to promote issues like that, in god we trust as the national motto. >> i will always promote things that encourage family values and celebrate our godly heritage n. a culture of selfishness and greed, positive messages that come from the godly heritages are worth celebrating. if i have a chance to did it i will always. it doesn't have an e affect on

legislation. >> your critics said it takes away time from other kinds of legislation that might be more important what do you say about that? >> we do a lot of things at once, we're multitaskers. it helps our society. >> mr. saccone has been successful in harrisburg like passing things like loyalty day and talking about in god we trust. it is harder to do the real stuff. social security, medicare, our infrastructure, thing that is take bipartisan agreement and com compromise. his meals paid for lobbyist and he didn't get it passed, and kept taking things from them those are the hard things. one of the few representatives to vote against the mistreatment of animals. that's what people need us to focus on is things that go straight to our desen si and

looking out for each other and i'm running for congress, not cardinal. >> you need to let our viewers now, lib ra's law is about toughening the laws for those who abuse animals in the state of pennsylvania. it got a lot of attention. >> i'm not glad he is not running for cardinal, right to life is part of that basic catholic catechism. i had three balls sign into law last year. he never had a bill and never wren a bill or read one. i have a lot of legislation going through. signed into law. to say one or another i can't get things passed. you don't get everything you put in passed. three just passed, last year. >> on the investigation of russian efforts to interfere

with american elections, do you support or oppose legislation to prevent robert mueller from being fired and special counsel. >> i don't think that's a legislati legislative problem. we need to be on guard against them. cyber attacks are growing. it is not just russia, china and north korea are attacking. it is not legislation to determine whether or not that the president decides to fire mueller. >> i mean, there are sign that is maybe the president's intent, do you view that investigation as something that lawmakers should keep independent as it has been in certain past history or does there need to be a mechanism there to ensure that the investigation will not be short circuited.

>> that's a little question than the first one. i think this whole thing has been politicized. we have to make sure that the investigations are not prolight sized. we should let them alone and try to invest zbigate and ensure th are doing their job properly. >> robert mueller is a war hero. he has the respect of people on both sides, he needs the independence, time and space to interview witnesses, review the documents, figure out what happened here and figure out how we can protect our people. i apose -- >> to protect robert mueller investigation? >> yes. it i would support any legislation to make sure he has the time and space to do what he

needs to do. >> we are coming up to our final question and it is coming from elaine effort and we'll go to mr. lamb first. >> you as intelligence officials say there's strong evidence that russians meddled in the 2016 american presidential election. do you agree, what should congress do in reaction to russian interference in one of our most sacred democratic institutions? >> we heard from the national security adviser appointed by the president that the evidence is -- that russia interfered. we heard the same thing from the intelligence community and law enforcement. we need to do what it takes to protect our electoral system. people in washington are talking about new funding for more cyber agents, more technology. we need to be aggressive about this. this is a new domain of warfare

and i believe we should dominate like we have all others. i'll do what it takes. >> we need to make sure we do everything we can to prevent russi anybody to interfere. we need to investigate where we are vulnerable and weak and take action. if it means sanctioning our country to do that, i'm for it. >> okay. gentleman, thank you so much. so that concludes the question and answer portion of tonight's debate. now each candidate will have one minute to make closing statements and we'll begin with mr. lamb. >> i think it helps to remember what we're doing here right now. we're hear because the people of the 18th district have been without a vote and voice in congress for far too long. i've listened to you and learned a lot during this campaign. number one thing i heard is people are sick of the bickering in washington. they want someone to go down

there and get the job done. i've had the privilege and honor in my life to stand up multiple times and raise my right hand and take an oath. i did it as a marine, as a prosecutor and overseas and home. i would like to take the oath again. there is nothing in there about democrats or republicans or anyone's agenda. we've had enough of agendas. we need somebody to get to work and do the job. i will work hard and with anyone who wants to help. and i'll know who i'm working for, i'll work for you, thank you very much. >> representative saccone. >> i want to thank the viewers for tuning in. i want to thank you the moderators for coming and my partner. all of the more reason we need to send the most qualified and experienced person to washington to handle the pressing problems facing our nation. i have a diverse program n

diplomacy, education, military, government and international business. five key areas over 40 years of life experience that i can bring to bear to solve these pressing problems in our country. i have pasted bipartisan legislation in our house to show that i can reach across the isle and get things done. i'm endorsed by the nra, foe act, national right for life. i'm battle tested and ready to sever. i'm asking for your vote t. is important because we have a country to save. >> gentleman, thank you so much. the recent redistricting debate means the future of the 18th district in pennsylvania is influx. no matter the end result, the 18th will be different than now. consider the different counties and towns. upper saint claire to greensburg. many of the same concerns. a district that has not had a representative in congress since october.

we know that the political landscape is different than it was a year ago. whatever the winner of this election does in congress, the people who live in the 18th district will be following more closely than they ever have before and the stakes have never been higher. a big part of the mission is hosting nonpartisan political debates like this one and hosting them is one of the most important things we do here. watching the debates that's one of the most important things voters can do to make an informed choice when you go to the polls. remember to get out and vote, tuesday, march 13th for this special election. it is a right and a privilege. remember, you can stay up-to-date on elections on the wtae mobile app and rewatch the debate on the app. so you can watch it closely and thank you so much for being here. i want to say a thank you for the panel for their great

questions and a special thanks to our candidates tonight. i'm shannon, good night. ♪ on saturday, we'll bring you campaign rallies in the special u.s. house race in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. former vice president joe biden had an event in support of conor lamb and president trump for rick saccone. tuesday's special election filling the seat left vacant by tim murphy. you can watch it 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. a look now at some of the "american history tv" programming coming up this weekend. on saturday, house majority leader, kevin mccarthy --

honoring frederick douglas, and richmond and a douglas descende descendent gives remark. beginning at 7:05 p.m. eastern. and sunday night at night, charles calhoun. reevaluates his presidency. he explains why president grant was considered an unsuccessful chief executive despite the foreign policy achievements. he was an influential president dogged by political enemies and scandal. sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern, on "american history tv's" american artifacts. political cartoon nis, herbert block. his career spans 72 years covering presidents from herbert hoover to george w bush. see the largest collection

housed at the library of congress. >> one of the missions of the library of congress is to document the creativity and intelligence of the american people and preserve it for future yen rags. >> i think it's a mark of a free society that we can gather opinions with which we don't agree and collect them and preserve them for future generations. there are a lot of countries in the world where nobody will dare do that. and here we are steps from the u.s. capital and we have a variety of opinions and cartoonists and mr. block is a great example of one of the artists we have collected. >> watch american artifacts, sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on "american history tv" on c-span 3. new