you heard about where michelle obama is campaigning. she plans to campaign with senator harry reid next week. this race is rated a toss up. you're watching live coverage on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] ♪ >> good evening and welcome to the 2010 nevada senate debate, sponsored by the nevada broadcasters foundation. i am mitch fox, and i will serve

as your moderator for this important political event. joining me this evening is the republican candidate for the united states senate sharron angle and senate majority leader harry reid. welcome to both of you. we want to thank each of the participating 60 nevada television and radio stations who are providing this important one hour block of time as a public service. but it goes beyond that, the broadcasters feel an obligation to engage the electorate. the format we will follow has been accepted and agreed to by both campaigns. each candidate will give a two minute opening statement. the candidates will then be passed a series of questions, some of which were submitted by youtube and beit tv viewers and radio listeners in the state of nevada -- and by tv to yours and radio listeners in the state

of nevada. the program concludes with one minute closing statements from each candidate. it was determined by a flip of the nevada quarter that the first opening statement would be offered by senator harry reid. >> thank you. thanks to the nevada broadcasters for or arranging this. growing up in searchlight, i had some interesting times. my dad was a big man, broad shoulders, weightlifter arms, but times were tough. the mines were not doing well at all. when he worked, sometimes he did not get paid. my mom took in wash from the brothels. so i have some idea what it is like to struggle. we work at the top of the economic food chain in nevada for 20 years.

when wall street collapse, we felt really hard. there was a big hole there. we've struggled. i believe my number one job is to create jobs as the united states senator. i worked hard to do just that. we reduced taxes for 95% of nevadans and all americans. we did tax reform for small businesses. 75% of all jobs are small businesses. we reduced tax for small business a eight times. wall street reform. we changed the law. mortgages. i understand houses are under water. i have three boys that have houses in of the. i have a home in nevada. that is why it worked hard to

$200 million into the state to help homeowners. we know about energy. we have a lot of jobs for renewable energy and i am glad we did. the economy. everything we talk about tonight is related to the economy, everything. social security, energy. i want you to look at my facebook, twitter to make sure that you check all the facts, because we will fact check them. >> thank you. >> good evening. thank you nevada broadcasters for sponsoring this event. tonight, we will see a contrast between me, sharron angle, and senator harry reid. the contrast will be what you will make your choice on when you are voting. the contrast begins. i am not a career politician. i am a mother and a grandmother. i was a teacher for 25 years. senator reid has been a

politician for 30 years. i live in a middle-class neighborhood. senator reid lives in the ritz carlton in washington. i voted over 100 times against tax increases. senator reid has voted over 300 times to raise taxes. he voted for stimulus and bailout. and he voted for unconstitutional bills like obama-care. these are not just policies. these are policies that have heard nevada. we have the highest rate of unemployment in the nation, the highest rate of foreclosure and the nation, the highest rate of bankruptcies in the nation, and these are not just numbers. these are real people. when i call my grown children and i say, how are doing, what i

am asking is, are you still able to make that mortgage payment and do you still have your job? our founding fathers knew that the best government was of limited government of the people, by the people and for the people. tonight, you'll see the difference between senator harry reid and the government and sharron angle and limited constitutional government. >> the next series of questions will focus on immigration. in the minds of many nevadans, your policies have allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to stream across the border because you have not made border security of priority. why is it only this year you have talked about securing the border when this problem has been going on for years, if not decades? >> immigration is a problem. we have a system in america that is broken and needs to be fixed.

that is why, in august, of this year, i introduced legislation that was finally passed to do something about our borders. we now have on our border predator is flying over 24 hours a day. we have 45 for hundred border patrol agents. we have the national guard there. -- we have 4500 border patrol agents. i am frustrated. i believe we have to do comprehensive immigration reform. we cannot ignore. that is the reason we have to do something about the people that are here that are undocumented. have them pay taxes, pay penalties, and of course, by doing that, we will be able to not demagogue this but do something about it. we have to work together on the issue. >> thank you. ms. angle, your response? >> what we have is an illegal alien problem. the solution is simple -- secure

the borders. i think everyone should have a sharing like joe, and we should be supporting arizona instead of suing arizona light senator reid and the president have done. foreignllowed 11 countries to be included in that suit. they are dictating our immigration law. that is nuts. we need to get back to simple solutions to these problems. once we secure the borders, then we can deal with internal problems, but we have to stop incentivizing those folks that are coming here for jobs, for medical and for education free and also for social security benefits. those are for citizens. >> you can respond. >> thank you. the number one issue here is a comprehensive immigration reform. we have to do something to solve

the issue. we cannot keep talking about it. that is why our worked very hard in the last congress to work with john mccain. it was his legislation. it is the same legislation we are working on now. >> our next question, ms. angle, is on immigration. in a television advertisement you claimed that senator reid , voted to give tax breaks to illegal aliens and to give it illegal sources security benefits. most fact checkers have said this it is false, especially the line of all social security benefits. the advertisement was criticized by the chair of the republican caucus. would you like to denounce the advertisement or give voters a documented evidence about its accuracy? >> not at all. i am glad to give voters the opportunity to see that senator

harry reid has voted to give social security to immigrants. he voted to give it to them before they were citizens. he voted to give them the benefits of our social security. our social security system is one that needs to be addressed, and we are not addressing it. in fact, what we need to do is make sure that we keep our promise to our senior citizens and make sure that our younger folks have a personalized social security retirement account similar to the thrift plan that senator reid has. >> senator reid? >> mitch, my opponent did not answer the question. ever since she said in an advertisement -- everything she said in an advertisement was false. i never voted for social security benefits. that is not the law.

she needs to stop saying it. that is why she moved toward social security that had nothing to do with the question you asked. >> i think the question has everything to do with social security and what has gone wrong in our system because we have not secured the borders and enforced the laws. senator reid talks about comprehensive immigration law, but what he is talking about is something that did not work in 1986. i am a great fan of ronald reagan, but he had it wrong when he gave amnesty. we need to first to secure the border. >> on this next question i will ask for a simple yes or no and response. would you be in favor of a constitutional amendment establishing english as the official language of the united states? >> yes. >> english is already the official language. >> we will go on to the next

category and that has to do with health care reform. youtube has partnered with the nevada broadcasters' association. so far there have been 50,000 hits on youtube. by far, the biggest issue is our next one, which is health care. senator reid, you'll get this question. according to the medicare's catchword, the health care reform bill will increase costs, including $100 million to nevada's medicaid budget. in light of the backlash, why didn't you and president obama focus on jobs and the foreclosure crisis first, knowing how nevada has suffered more than any other state? >> for a long time in this country, insurance companies have dominated the health care delivery system. you pay your premiums, you get

sick or hurt and they walk away from you. we passed health insurance reform because we had no choice. i do not know where you got a question, but the facts are wrong. according to the congressional budget office, independent, we have been told that we will reduce the debt by $1.30 trillion. we allow people to have children who have pre-existing disabilities like diabetes to no longer be denied insurance by those folks. it is something that we had to do, including extend the life of medicare for 12 years,, fill the doughnut hole. we had to do health insurance reform to maintain competitiveness in the world economy. it creates thousands and thousands of jobs. presidentdn't you and obama focus on jobs and the foreclosure crisis first, knowing how nevada has suffered more than any other state? >> we did focus on foreclosure

first. one of the first bill we passed was mortgage fraud. we moved into that quickly to prevent this people who are taking advantage of folks in trouble with their homes. remember what i said earlier -- health insurance reform creates jobs. 500 new bringing alon people. as a result of what we have done, they will bring more people there. >> ms. angle? >> obama-care cut a half a trillion dollars out of medicare, right at the point where senior citizens in need to have that medicare advantage. that is where their choices are. it also cost as half a trillion dollars in new taxes. the solutions to the health care insurance cost problems are simple, and they reside with in

the free market. we need to get the government out so we can go across state lines to choose insurance companies. we need to get the government out of the process so that we can take off the mandated process these. we need to have tort reform. the solution to the health care cost of insurance are free market. >> senator reid? >> the facts are wronog. g. i read a letter from secretary sebelius, medicare recipients from the state of nevada will pay less rather than more. there'll be more medicare advantage people on the rolls daes now. she is against mammograms -- my opponent is against mammograms,call in of the colon.

that is extreme. >> senator reid paraphrased my question. you voted in the state assembly to do away with mandated coverage of mammograms and colon cancer tests. you can out in favor of eliminating coverage for autism. is there anything you think the insurance companies should be forced to cover? >> america is a country of choices, not forcing people to buy something they do not need. what we want is a basic policy where we can and the coverage that we need. children.utisitic i know this is a biomedical disorder, and it needs to have its own insurance card so that families can get the right treatment and be covered. but the insurance mandate we passed in this state only cares

for 25% of the one out of 110 children that have autism. we need to stop making band-aid applications and look at real solutions when we talk about health care, and really, forcing someone to buy something they do not need is not the way to solve a problem. >> let me refreeze that question again. is there anything at all that you think the insurance companies should be mandated to cover, anything? >> anything at all? >> yes. >> what we have here is a choice between the free markets and americanism. america is about choices. the free market will weed out those companies that do not offer as many choices and do not have a cost-effective system. let the people decide where they want to buy their insurance. you do not have to force them to

buy anything or force anyone to offer a product no one wants. >> ok, so no insurance mandates. senator reid? >> mitch, insurance companies. insurance companies do not do things out of the goodness of their hearts. they do it all of the profit motive and they have almost destroyed our economy. 20% of all costs prior to health insurance reform was because of health care costs. if we did not change it, it would go up in less than 15 years to 36 cents of every dollar. it would break us. we needed them to be forced to do mammograms. that is why you see breast cancer awareness month. you see the baseball players wearing pink shoes and football players have aing pink helmets. people dread breast cancer. you detected if you do it mammograms.

colonoscopies. if you do them, then colon cancer does not come. it will save money and all long run to do this. >> pink ribbons are not going to make people have a better insurance plan. what makes them a better insurance plans is competition, and that is what high i have ben saying. they will cover the things that we want them to cover. that is all the free markets work. that is why our solutions reside in the free market. when we talk about what destroyed this economy, obama- care is destroying our economy. i know a company that laid off five people because of obama care. >> do you think the health care reform act should include coverage for abortions? >> no. >> we maintained the hyde

amendment. >> that would be yes or no. >> under the law, the hyde amendment is still there. >> nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the country. las vegas has the highest unemployment rate in the country. it has soared 5 percentage points since president obama took office. at what point, will you stop blaming president bush and start blaming the current president? >> there is plenty of blame to go around. the fact is, i have worked hard to help beleaguered nevada homeworkers. working on mortgages that are under water. 48,000 people in nevada now have houses as a result of the first-

time home buyers tax credit. as a result of my pressure on bank of america, we now have no more foreclosures by them. there is a moratorium there. we have to do more, but we have to understand that they will not be able to do to us again as i indicated earlier what they did to us before, because we passed wall street reform that will stop these greedy bankers on wall street from taking advantage of home waters. >> do you think president obama shares as much blame as president bush? >> of course not. when president bush took office, he had a surplus of over 10 years of $7 trillion. we were paying down debt during the clinton years. we paid down the debt by $600 billion. we lost 8 million jobs during the bush years. we created 3.5 million. no one is satisfied where we

are. let's realize where we were. that's no solace to someone who lost a job or a home. >> the housing bubble was caused a long time before the recent recession. it has to do with things that we have refused to deal with and are senate over the years. the first one is that we have a problem with the federal reserve. we need an audit of the federal reserve. secondly, freddie mae and fannie mack -- fannie mae and freddy mack, they keep sweeping that away. in this last finance reform bill, we could have dealt with freddie mac and fannie mae, but they said it was too big to deal with. we need to start looking at these and looking at true solutions. first, we have to investigate what caused the problem in the

first place. this problem has been going on ever since senator reid has been in leadership, and that was before the obama administration, but they failed to do with it in the obama administration as well. >> we do have a commission. to find out what really happened at the collapse. i called for a federal reserve audit in 1985 -- 1987. so i agree with my opponent on that. there should be an audit. we have not gotten that yet, but we have made some progress. fannie mae and freddie mac, all experts say it needs reform. but you cannot do away with them. we would have no way of sustaining the housing market we have today. our next question goes to, ms. angle, and it is on unemployment record. t.

you're quoted as saying we can make more on unemployment then getting a job. we have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry. two questions. do you the unemployed are spoiled? and what do you plan to do to fix the unemployment problem, especially if you believe getting jobs for nevadans is not your jobs? >> first of all, no, i do not think our unemployed are spoiled. that was mischaracterized by my opponent. he taught -- he called us you wanted to know the answers celtuce and childrselfish child. we need to encourage the private sector to do what they do best, with policies from the

government that they can do better. right now they are in a cloud of uncertainty and holding back $2 trillion that they would like to invest in jobs, , but they are holding back because of more taxation and regulation coming out of senator reid's administrative policies. follow-up.ask a do you believe that getting jobs for nevadans is not your job? >> my job is to create a policy is to encourage the private sector to create jobs. >> that would be no. >> yesterday, we had a company from china come here to create jobs. they have been building windmills. that is a result of tax policy that i put into a bill. we now have $2 billion worth of work going on in nevada.

that is a result of tax policy, incentives to have them do that. mccarren airport, as a result of tax policy, we have a $3 billion project going on there today. -- as a result of language in the bill, we save jobs at harrah's. my opponent is against that. my job is to create jobs. what she is talking about is extreme. we have to do this. we have been doing it since boulder dam was created years ago. >> once again, harry reid, it is not your job to create jobs. it is your job to create policies that create confidence for the private sector to create jobs. they have lost confidence because of things like obama- care. there is a business in reno, where he wanted to hire 25 more employees but laid off five just

because of the provisions in obama-care. we are seeing those kinds of policies crush our economy over the last 20 months. >> the next question goes to senator reid. this has to do with the supreme court. one of the most important duties and given a u.s. senator is the approval of an individual to a lifetime appointment to the u.s. supreme court. so we can get a sense on how he would vote, name are current or former supreme court justice you admire and why and name a current or former supreme court justice who should never have been approved by the senate. >> this may surprise everyone. don't agree with scalia's opinions, but he is a masterful mind. he does good things. scalia is an example to

anyone who appreciates the law. white, i like him because of his opinions and because he was an all-american football player. we can go back to the early days of the country. there were opinions written dealing with slavery that were wrong. my opponent keeps talking about obama-care. remember, 30,000 small businesses in nevada have the ability to get health insurance supplements. if they have an insurance policy that cost a certain amount of dollars, they can get reductions of 35% to 50% on that. she keeps talking about losing employment because of health care. that is not necessary. they should be able to do much better now because of health care. it does not understand the law. >> you have the supreme court question out. >> i admire clarence thomas because he understands his constitutional boundaries. we need justices that will sit on the supreme court and to do

their duty constitutionally, and not legislate from the bench. i would not have confirmed sonia sotomayor or elena kagan, because neither one understand the constitution. they said they would vote against our second amendment rights. those are things that are dear to us. our founding fathers wanted supreme court justice who would stand up for the constitution, a constitution that was created for we the people to be free. >> senator reid? >> i think we should stop running down the supreme court. i do not agree with all the opinions. take for example, and four versus bush -- gore versus bush. i believe in our constitution, which i have in my pocket. even though i agree with -- i disagree, when they made that

ruling, george bush became my president. we should leave the supreme court along and pick the best lawyers we can find. >> we will talk about don't ask don't tell. you get a first question, ms. angle. a federal judge's order to halt enforcement of the policy was hailed by gay activists as a landmark ruling in their struggle to expand their rights. don't you think it's time to end discrimination of gays and lesbians and our military? how you feel about republicans like dick cheney and laura bush coming out in favor of gay rights? >> the policies are under review right now. we should be waiting for the review of our military to make those decisions, not jumping ahead to making those decisions as senator reid tried to do by putting a provision in the

defense bill. we have been very careful to define a marriage between -- as between of man and a woman through to general elections. over 70% of the population has voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman. i support what nevada has done and i will represent our constituents on that basis. >> what do think about republicans such as the former vice president and first lady laura bush coming out in favor of dear rights? >> that is their personal opinion. every american has the freedom of speech, and they have the freedom to have an opinion. that is great. >> senator reid? >> i respectfully suggest to my apartment that she does not understand what went on in washington. the bill that -- i respectfully suggest to my opponent that she does not understand what went on in washington. the secretary of defense signed off on that, and the president

certified it would not hurt our defense. they can only do that after our report was issued as to whether or not it was good for the military. the legislation on the senate floor did not say we would get rid of don't ask don't tell. it said that a republican secretary of defense would have to certify that it would do no harm to our troops only after the report by the pentagon came down. >> ms. angle? >> i submit that is the wrong way to do legislation. just like when nancy pelosi said we should pass of bill and then read it. the review needs to come out first, and then the bill. i do know the process. the process is read the bill first and then pass it. >> we have a question on social security. earlier in the year, they announced that the social security will pay out more in benefits this year than it

receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until 2016. your opponent blames you for the shortfall. she claims you rated the social security trust fund to offset the deficit. what is your response? >> social security is a promise we have to keep. it takes care of seniors in their golden years. that is our -- that is why our work hard to protect it. i took on a president of the united states when he tried to privatize it. social security is an important program. the actuarials of social security and cbo said social security will pay out 100% of benefits for the next 30-40 years. even after that, there'll be a shortfall of 15% to 20%. we need to take care of that in 35 or 40 years from now.

do not frighten people about social security. the deal was made -- that was made by president reagan and tip o'neill is holding strong. it will take care of our folks for the next 35 years. >> man up, harry reid. you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. the problem was created because of government taking that money out of the social security trust fund. in 1990, you said it was stealing her to use social security for anything but social security, and then you voted to put that money into the general fund where it could be used for anything. when you did that, you left i.o.u's, that are fat -- kept in a filing cabinet in west virginia. what we need to do is keep our promises to our senior citizens by putting the money back and a

trust fund and allowing our workers to have the option of a personalized social security retirement plan and that becomes an asset to them, just like your savings plan is an asset to you. if it is good enough for you, it should be good enough for the rest of the. >> these ideas are really extreme. i said cob. bo. there is plenty of money and that trust fund account. during the clinton years, we did not use the trust fund money to offset the deficit. we were strengthening it by not using it to offset the deficit. >> you said during a primary election debate, " we need to phase social security and medicare out in favor of something privatized." before the primary, you used the

word privatize. now you use crystalize. and why did you change your position? >> because of the idea that personalized covers of both private and public. as i stated, harry reid and many government employees have a personalized retirement account. it is called the thrift savings plan. that is an account that is their personalized account. if it is good enough for harry reid, it should be good enough for the rest of us. when we talk about social security -- remember that the we'dsaid that by 2016 be in the red. if we do not do something to fix this by 2037, anyone under 40 will not receive the benefits of the money they paid in. >> senator reid? >> cbo, i repeat for the third time, i said for the next 35

years, everyone will get all the money they want. even after that, it takes minor tinkering to take care of it. the arrangement that was made by president reagan and speaker of the house tip o'neill looked forward to today, recognizing that amount of money came in initially and as time went on, we would have to pay out more. she has talked about for years talked about getting rid of social security. this is not something just during the primary. i have heard her say, why don't we have a program like they had in chile or england. those countries went broke. you cannot put that money into the stock market. look what would have happened if you put the money into the stock market as was suggested by president bush. this is an extreme idea that would destroy it social security. >> there you go again trying to hedge on this idea that what is

going on is that our social security system has 2.5 trillion dollars, -- had $2.5 trillion and now it has i.o.u's. we need to keep the promise to our senior citizens to put that money back. >> our next question is on yuca mountain. last week, they directed agency scientists to stop work there. this is what ms. angle said. "harry reid has demonize the nuclear industry. there is a pot of money out there. we have potential for job creation and diversification. did we miss a golden opportunity to create jobs and receive benefits from the federal government during a time when we needed it?" >> we tried for 28 years to get

something from the federal government. nothing. yuca mountain is bad for nevada. the most poisonous substance known to man a few miles out of las vegas, no. we need to use it for something else. my opponents suggest using it for a nuclear reactor. there is not enough water and the state of nevada to build a nuclear reactor. the only nuclear generate -- that uses more water than coal is nuclear. i am not against nuclear power. i am opposed to try to bring all the garbage from it to our state. >> i always voted to making nevada the nuclear waste dump of the nation. but the science has outpaced the

need for a dump in nevada. we do not want a dump in nevada, but we need to quit demonizing the nuclear energy industry. what we have our submarines that use liquid metal to cool. it is not always water that is required for nuclear energy. we should look into the potential for nuclear energy. we should not be dependent upon foreign oil. we should develop all our resources. we should also allow coal-fired plants to be built in nevada, which harry reid killed. we need to stop with this extreme environmental out. look. we need to use those things to create jobs in nevada. >> i heard my opponent talk about these coal-fired plants. we have something much better. we have a power line that has

worked out between the owner of the power plants from north to south, all using renewable energy, except one in this heat -- in mesquite, that will use -- solar. we have made great progress. i appreciate what the energy company has done backing off the coal plants that have not worked. we have created a lot of jobs with renewable energy. >> the next topic is education. you said on multiple occasions, ms. angle, that you wanted to eliminate the department of education, which means, you favor eliminating funding to schools with low income students. you favor eliminating pell grants. you favor of limiting head start -- eliminating head start. and you want to zero out

funding for three-year-old children with disabilities. is that correct? >> totally incorrect. i was a teacher for 25 years. i served on a school board in my county and was on the education committee for eight years in the state assembly. what i know of the department of education at the federal level is that it is an agency that makes one size fits size policies that fits no one, like no child left behind. we send our money to washington to be skimmed off by bureaucrats. they sent it back to use in the form of underfunded mandates. and we need to keep that in the state, where parents and teachers are making policies. that is our 10th amendment right. >> mitch, the department of

energy does wonderful things for the states, to programs they have initiated. we've reduced the amount of interest that parents have to pay for their children's l oans. we have been able to do something with pell grants, $550 a year more. we have brought $400 million to the state to help k-12. this is initiated through the department of education, and we need to protect the department of education. ronald reagan had the idea -- maybe we should try to get rid of that. when he left, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. some of the best programs that we have were initiated by ronald reagan. >> the department of education has been around since the early and sinceate 1970's, then, the quality of our

education has diminished. we would be so much better off taking our 10th amendment rights, just the way that arizona did with illegal aliens and the way that missouri did with obama-care. we need to put at education as close to local level as possible where parents and teachers make the policies. >> our next question is on iraq. senator reid, you're quoted as saying the following "the war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extremist violence." do you believe that your statement demoralize the troops and that you were an accurate concerning the success of the surge? >> this statement i made was following the words from general petraeus that said the war could not be won militarily. he said that the war could only be one of militarily,

economically, and diplomatically. that is why after we made our statements, we did the surge then, not late. it was the right thing to do. it worked because we brought in the economy working with the sunni. the sunni awakening, so they started fighting the people causing the problem. general petraeus is my friend. i am supported the troops with wounded warrior legislation. i have been to afghanistan and iraq and see how courageous they are. that is why i have been in a vote -- endorsed by the veterans of foreign wars for they know what i have done for the trip. >> i do not have the access to special security briefings like the senator does, and i did not get to vote for either one of those wars, like the senator did, but i do know this -- that we needed to support our military with all our resources, not only our military service

right now but veterans and their families as well. that is one of the priorities in the enumerated powers of our constitution. we should be setting our priorities on our military. when you said this war was lost and that and general petraeus was a dishonest, that emboldened our enemies, demoralize our troops and endangered them. and you need to apologize to them, senator. >> i have been endorsed by the largest military organization in the country, the veterans of foreign wars. my opponent -- listen to this idea -- if she wants to privatize the veterans administration. think about that. i have worked hard. we have the veterans hospital that will be the finest in the world. it is a prototype for other hospitals. we had not had a new one in 15 years. i am glad i worked on that.

i am glad i worked on the g.i. bill of rights. >> on saturday, you have a political rally and referred to "favor-buying politicians, " referring to senator reid. people want to know that if you engage in favor-buying, would you provide political juice if scott -- dropped out of the race? >> they want to know that when they come to washington, d.c., they will be heard. when a request a town hall meeting, that they will be heard. i want to go back to the veterans administration. my father is a veteran of world war ii and the korean war.

he has an injury related to that. she is 88. he has social security cut medicare and the -- social security, medicare and the v.a., but he pays a lot. we need to do better. that's to be our top priority occurred . >> her dad should come to our office. he should nioot be doing this. my friend has berated healthcare, health-insurance reform. i have health insurance like 6 million other federal employees. i want others to have that same health insurance that i have, and that is one of the reasons we worked hard to get health insurance reform passed. .y opponent's husband

they have a pension from the federal government. they have health care just like i have. i want to help others to do not have what i have. that is where setting up exchanges with entry. five years, they will have that. >> 32nd. >> certainly, obama-care is nothing like the insurance policy that my husband and i have. every year there is a window and we make a choice. obama-care offers no choices, so it is not at all like what senator reid has. and what we really do need is something like what senator reid has, which is that we should all of the choices that we can pick our own insurance companies and insurance policy rather than having the government dictate and mandate the coverage we by. >-- we buy. >> the bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. without congressional action, the taxes americans pay will

rise. why do you want to raise taxes, even on the wealthy, in the midst of a recession? >> mitch mcconnell -- we agree on one thing. that we have to wait until after the election to find out what the economy will be. i guarantee there will be no increase for middle class people, no tax increase for middle-class america. we have to see what we are told by the experts, what we should do with the people that make more than that. i personally am not in favor of giving billionaire tax cuts right now. we will do that when we get back. my time is not up. i also want to say it. . my friend is talking about exchanges. exchanges, every year we had exchanges dislike people who will have it under the health care insurance that we pass. they will get choices just like we have. i repeat, i want everyone to

have the same choice as i have. she does not. she can pick and choose. i want 50 million other people to be able to do that, also. >> could you repeat the question? >> the bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year. i asked senator reid why he would want to raise taxes even on the wealthy in the midst of a recession. >> the tax cuts need to be made permanent. if they are not, we will experience the largest tax increase in the history of america. and with a voting for over 300 tax increases, senator, we cannot trust you with our taxes. you came to the senate with very little. now you are one of the richest

men in the senate. on behalf of the taxpayers, we would like to know, how did you become so wealthy on the government payroll? >> that is a low blow. i think most everyone knows i was a very successful lawyer. i did a good job in investing. i have been on a fixed income since i went to washington. i lived off of what i made in the private sector. i trip -- i put my five kids through school and paid for every penny of it. her suggestion that i made money being a senator is false and i am disappointed she suggests that. i would further say that if she wants the tax cuts made permanent, we have a deficit problem to worry about, also. $4 trillion it would cost to have these tax cuts extended to the future. that's quite a load. >> continue along those line. we are talking about the bush tax cuts. it would cost the federal government $4 trillion over the

next decade and almost double the deficit. are you concerned that these tax cuts place an unfair burden on our children and grandchildren? >> first of all, let's really talk about whose money that is. it is not the federal government money. it is our money. when he says we are squandering the federal government's money, it is really squandering our money. those tax cuts will create that confidence that businesses need to go forward and provide those jobs. right now, as i said before, they are holding back because they can only see a climate of taxation and regulation. we needed to give them that confidence by making those tax cuts permanent. if we do, then a business like the one in reno, where the senior partner is 82. if he should die, 55% of their business will go away and 33 employees will lose their jobs.

we need to make the tax cuts permanent. >> we reduced the load of debt on the american people during the clinton years. we had a pay-go system. as a result of that, we had the most successful economic splurge and the history of this country. we created 22 million jobs and reduce the debt by going on -- $1 trillion. we can do this. when president bush came into office, he had a surplus. that was squandered with two wars, taxes on paid for, and now we have an $11 trillion debt. we have to meet the demands of this country and pay down that debt. we need to reestablish the pay- ago rules and we have done that. we did that together. >> we are going to go to closing

statements. senator reid, you will have about 45 seconds. >> got to find my notes. a lot of paper here. thank you very much, mitch, for what you have done here. first of all, i think we found tonight that my opponent favors big banks. she is against wall street reform, oil companies, she said bp had too much regulation. insurance companies -- it is obvious from the discussion on health care how much she cares for them. i am for the middle class. what we talk about tonight is jobs. we need to create more jobs. renewable energy jobs? she mocks them. i am a fighter. i will continue to fight for what i believe is best for the american people. we have a long ways to go, but i will continue to do everything i

can for the people of nevada. >> people often ask me why i smile so much. it is because i am an optimist. like ronald reagan, i believe in american essentialism. i believe that with god's help we have the solution for economic problems. they are as simple as cut back spending, payback the dead, and take back our economy by repealing obama-care. we have the right contract with america. that is our constitution and bill of rights. we have the right message -- lower taxes, less government regulation, more individual freedom, and stop the spending. we have the right angle for the u.s. senate. i am asking for your vote. >> once again, thank you to senator reid and ms. angle. thank you for being part of this event. do not forget to vote occurred early voting begins this saturday and election day is november 2.

>> that was the only schedule debate between harry reid and sharron angle. here are a couple of ads that the candidates are appearing to route the data. >> i approved this message. >> you are looking at every time harry reid voted to raise taxes. taxes on small businesses, even the death tax. 300 times where he voted to raise taxes. now reid and pelosi are planning to raise taxes on 34 million people after the election.

let's stop reid from raising our taxes again. >> i have worked with kids who have been abused. when the assembly created background checks on volunteers. it passed with only two members voting no. she voted to protect the privacy of sex offenders instead of the privacy of our kids. >> sharron angle, ideas that are so extreme they are dangerous. >> i am harry reid, and i approved this message. >> we are showing key debates across the country. in a few moments, the senate candidates in washington. incumbent senator patty murray challenger dino rossi. in an hour, will be back in

nevada for the third congressional district debate, dina titus and joe heck. at midnight eastern, tennesee's candidates for governor meet in their final debate. candidates, it's the for the house seat in ohio's ninth district. tonight, we have campaign coverage from tennessee, ohio, nevada, and washington, which is up next. if you are looking for ads from your home state, go to c- span.org/politics. sarah palin began a three day swing through california today, as she appeared in san francisco at a forum offered by the conservative liberty and freedom foundation. the former vices