we are honored to be on the campus of rowan university tonight. we want to thank all of our partners who have made this possible. the candidates, they are here. democrat cory booker, mayor of newark, new jersey, and the republican, steve lonegan, former mayor of bogota. i will be asking questions tonight along with our panelists. a minuteidate will get to respond to these questions. we will give them a 15-second bell to let them know they are time.to run out of some of those questions have come from you, the viewers, and we really appreciate your help. your work is not quite done. we want to encourage you all to live tweet about tonight's debate using the #njsen. we will be busy up here. we will not be tweeting, gentlemen. encourage you to tweet about the debate. thead a coin toss, and first question will be going to

lonegan. lawn again -- we are now in the ninth day of the government shutdown with no agreement in sight. i would like you to give a great to the members of congress he would like to be joining. far, them on their work so and then without going negative, i want you to try to stay positive and not talk about what the opposing party has done wrong, but give us a concrete example of what you would do to try to break this impasse. thank rowan university, the audience, john and david, as well as my opponent, mayor booker, for being here today. i think the impasse in washington, d.c. is unfortunate. however, i think it is essential that we postpone the implementation of the obama health care plan for one year. >> what grade would you give? >> my grade for the two sides would be a big f for the president who refuses to compromise with the republicans, and they have offered many compromises.

>> a grade for the members of congress? >> migrates for the members of congress would be actually a b. i think they can do a better job in community and to the american people. the fact that under the 14th amendment the constitution says they simply cannot default on that debt. that is false. >> you have 15 more seconds. >> that is a false threat that threatens the economy and the stock markets today. it is something that i think is on acceptable. . >> mr. booker, your grade? >> the great has to be an aft. we send people to washington to work together to solve our problems. right now, we have a government in shutdown, really being shut down because of tea party extremists in washington that are stopping our government. my opponent is the leader of the tea party here in new jersey. he is somebody that has supported the shutdown. i believe we need to send people to washington that will bring people together to work together.

this is a chance for new jersey to send a message. thisirst election during shutdown, we can send a message directly to washington. do we want to send more tea party people down there who are so obsessed with obamacare that they want to shut down the entire government to stop the expansion of health care to more people in america? >> how would you break this impasse? >> one, all of us have to decide, what is new jersey going to do about it, send more tea party people to washington that was -- that will make washington worse, or send people down there like i have who have a record in newark, new jersey who have a record of bringing people together? >> a 32nd response. >> mayor, i know that your consultants and strategists and your acting coaches will tell you to use the word tea party is much as possible. please, keep it up. we can offset the millions of dollars you are getting from michael bloomberg to advance the left-wing bloomberg -- the left-

wing agenda. i'm not the head of the tea party. >> you have 15 seconds. organizationp an called americans for prosperity. it makes the case is -- the case for lower government and taxes. >> let's move on. we want to cover as many topics as we can. let's do that. the big sticking point on this shutdown is the affordable care act. mr. mayor, you have said you support the act, but you have said there are problems with it. we have not heard what you think those problems are specifically. can you name any issues that need to be resolved when it comes to the affordable care act, also known as obamacare? >> let's understand this is another clear distinction between me and my opponent. my opponent is not only against the affordable care act, but he would not have even voted for medicare. he said he would be as callous and doesn't carry as you can imagine. get cancer, that's your

problem, not mine. i believe you go to washington to make issues of cancer, issues of health care all of our problems. access.e has good right now, it helps families with children with pre-existing conditions actually not be at the whim of insurance companies to deny coverage. it helps young people in this audience today to stay on their parents insurance longer. the challenges with obamacare right now are in the implementation. we have to make sure it is implemented in a way that works for everyone, and on top of that, we've got to make sure that when we look at obamacare, we are also doing more to inc. -- control the incredible growth of health care costs in our country. i believe that we should have health care. the gentleman to my left believes we should not have government-provided health care in any way whatsoever. old of oceanar- county told me at a public meeting that she is going to lose her doctor because of obamacare. she is going to drop out of the

system. old, a retired nurse, has been told she would lose her health care coverage because of obamacare. obamacare is bringing chaos into the marketplace. it threatens the health care of millions of americans. 800,000 new jersey and the last two weeks of receipt letters they are being thrown off their health insurance. the system is simply not ready to be implemented. all we are asking -- it's very reasonable -- is that it be postponed for one year so obvious problems and issues can be addressed. in return, fund the government. ,orporations across america major corporate allies of president obama, have gotten special carveouts. others are getting special exemption print i'm only asking that the individuals in this audience get the same operation as the same corporations have. >> can i get a rebuttal? >> let's move to mr. usher. >> good evening to you both.

mr. booker, you've heard time and time again that your opponent says you're more concerned about what happens in hollywood versus new jersey. in recent days, even some of your supporters have expressed concern that there is unfinished business in newark. how can you assure voters of the garden state that you are interested in serving them and not your own image? >> i appreciate that. first and foremost, the city of newark has made undeniable progress. we are going through our biggest economic boom in the past 50 years. our first new office towers are being built in decades. companies are moving their headquarters to newark, from panasonic moving to newark to even companies like oracle.com. in addition to this, crime is down 27%. on top of all this, we have shrunk the size of our government, spending less money than when i came in, and laster, gave people a $1000 tax break. we are making tremendous progress in the city of newark. the challenges, we still have work to do. this is why we need help from washington.

there are clear things i support in washington to help power new jersey cities that my opponent doesn't. a violent crime -- i believe like the overwhelming majority of new jersey and that we should end the secondary markets, not doing background checks. my opponent is supported by the an array, has received money from the gun lobby, as in the -- and is against sensible background checks. >> my opponent talked about economic growth in newark. $443 million in the last seven years to the news or is -- to the new jersey transit hub. over $100 million to one company to move a block or two. hundreds of millions of dollars going to thellars folks he gets to meet in san francisco and those hollywood deals. from suburbanme, and rural taxpayers, this is being poured into newark so he can handed out to his corporate allies and corporate friends,

those funding his campaign today. unemployment has gone from 8% to 14%. that is not progress. that is a setback for the working people of newark, new jersey. >> i would like to respond. says insulting that steve to all the people who have come together in newark, new jersey. the state's of population. one third of all the development, commercial and multifamily, and the entire state is going on in newark. the ledger says that is undeniable. even more, steve's vision of cities is negative. he said the solution should be to level the whole city. we don't need united states senators who are going to talk down to the cities. we need a united states senator who was going to lift up our entire state, work together with people to make a difference. >> mr. lawn again, governor christie has heavily promoted the recovery on the jersey shore. you said you would have opposed the federal relief bill to sandy

victims. is it not the only -- the role of the federal government through fema to direct aid to those who have become victims of a natural disaster? >> the role of the federal government is perfectly fine. what i objected to with sandy is it was done in a rush. there were not proper controls put in place to ensure the money went to the real victims of hurricane sandy. we see that today. there are numerous reports of homeowners along the jersey shore who have been waiting all this time. the other thing i objected to was the fact that the money for sandy came out of nowhere. it was simple he printed out of thin air by the federal reserve bank. there were no corresponding cuts in any other part of the federal budget. i would like to see us take away foreign aid from countries that burn our flag and would like to see us killed. i asked for corresponding spending cuts, reasonable controls on how the money that would be used, not to simply become a major spending spree. i'm sure several hundred million of that money will go into

newark, new jersey to continue to subsidize cory booker's failed agenda in that city. sandy aid.iego. -- >> please listen to what he is saying. you would be a senator from new jersey when people are in urgent wait, don't give our families money. don't give our businesses money. let's work out these larger issues first. that is absolutely unacceptable to say that you would not accept san diego. that is exactly what the tea party has been doing. >> i'm not a tea party. >> i'm sure people are at home during king, he said -- at home drinking, he said tea party. he talks about hollywood folks. he has three tea party folks coming in. sarah palin endorsing him. rand paul endorsing him. who was that third person? oh yeah. rick perry endorsing him. this is the tea party that he would join down in washington. politics, don't

give sandy aid, cut the minimum wage, make abortion illegal in the state of new jersey. this is the extreme tea party agenda of which he has been running in the state of new jersey. >> i wanted to ask a follow-up to you. there was a published report this week that said that you did go to the then-democratic governor of new jersey, governor corzine, to ask for state aid for your town, that's ok? >> absolutely. the taxpayers in the suburbs and rural areas of the state have been ripped off for 30 years. they gave us a sales tax and said that would cut property taxes. and they pass an income tax. all that income tax and sales tax money gets poured into big black hole of new works -- the big black hole of newark. it goes to newark, new jersey. when the mayor of a small town fights to get the money back, which we were told we were going to have for property taxes, that is my job. every mayor and every councilman in the state knows that. >> may i respond? he was the mayor of the city that had plans for stability.

when he ran the budget into a ditch and had no way of balancing his budget, he ran to jon corzine for what we would call extraordinary aid, a bailout for his city. what i did was i inherited a budget, a$700 million huge budget deficit, and we not only cleaned our books and shrunk the size of our government, but we gave tax breaks of $1000 to each person. city intowho ran his a ditch ask for a bailout. another one cleaned up finances. >> let's get out of the ditch and move on to jonathan. dan from our, austin raises a question about crime in newark. early in your tenure, the number of murders fell dramatically, but they have's take -- have ticked steadily upwards. what makes you believe that you should be elected to higher office? >> i appreciate the question. let's talk facts. right now, crime statistics show

that shootings in newark since i've been elected are down 27%. murders are down over 15%. we've not only done that, but we've done it with less resources than my predecessor. tobrought people together drive down crime. republicans and democrats, even the conservative manhattan institute, rolled up their sleeves and join with us to help on prisoner reentry programs to help people who come out of prison not go right back. we were creative. we were innovative, doing more with less. my opponents solution is, let's level the city. he talks down to newark. we need a senator going down to washington who will do the things to lift up our entire state. we are one state with one destiny. critical federal issues are not solved yet, like back run checks and secondary markets that my opponents of -- my opponents opposes. should be backe run checks, rational federal legislation to empower safety, not just in newark, but all over

our state. to follow-up, you cite shootings, which is not a statistic cap by state police or the fbi. if you look at murders, there were 67 in 2008 and 95 last year. is that progress? >> again, use a 2008, when we let the nation in dropping down shootings and murders in our city. yes, we went back up, but nowhere near the city i inherited. we are down more than 15% of murders. the guns pouring into the streets of the city of newark do not come from new jersey. they come from other states that have lacks come laws, don't do back run checks, and we allow federal law to allow that to happen. this is what the gun lobby, why they are supporting the tea party leader in new jersey. we need to make sure we get real federal legislation to stop back run checks. talked about my $100,000 in state aid. that is once -- 1/6 of the money theot back as a payoff for

millions of dollars in contracts he sent over to his former law partners. dropped 30%crime while i was in office. i put more police on the streets. under cory booker, one month ago, 14-year-old allie henderson was shot to death in the streets of newark. he was on the "jimmy fallon show." that's not a great job. 10 people in a row, one a day for 10 days, while my opponent was running around hollywood and sentences go promoting himself. -- and san francisco promoting himself. >> public opinion polls show brought support for expanding background checks for gun purchases. would you support a law that closed the loophole at gun shows? >> i support national instant checks, which is supported by the nra. no gun dealers and no gun enthusiasts want criminals to buy guns. i don't believe any of the crimes and newark were committed

by illegal gun owners. in fact, in the last debate the mayor admitted that it is not legal gun owners who commit crimes, it is criminals. criminals don't pay attention to all of these laws. they don't pay attention to these roles. >> the system is in place right now. are you saying you would not accept any expansion? >> the problem with what you are talking about, the national background checks, meaning if i want to give my firearm to my daughter, a 29-year-old girl who works late and night, and she can't defend herself under new jersey law, but when she is home alone and wants to defend herself, if i were to give her a right to do that, i wouldn't be able to do it with a national back rent check. that is an intrusion into our privacy. >> what about at gun shows where it is not family? >> new jersey doesn't have gun shows. we don't sell guns at gun shows in new jersey. >> you would be making decisions on national legislation. >> i will not support any expansion or endangerment of our

second amendment right. i will stand up for our second amendment rightfully. >> thank you very much. >> we ask you not to applaud. >> please understand what he just said. he said he is against having background checks done at gun shows. which means now in the united states of america have -- america, after what happened in mumbai,eople in terrorism, it means if you are on a terrorist no-fly list and the united states, you can get drive to a-- you can gun show, fill up a trunk full of weapons, and drive them back into the cities of new jersey and use those. 90% of the american people, aleve and simple background checks at gun shows to stop these weapons that are coming into our city. we know they are coming from gun shows. this is common sense. it's common sense. we should be doing it. 84% of gun owners in america

agree with this. you are way on the extreme on this issue. onto another hot button issue which is same-sex marriage could a judge recently legalized it in new jersey, as you know. you have taken issue with that. you say that should be left to people to decide. a recent poll found more than half of new jersey and support same-sex marriage. we want to ask you, what rights do believe same-sex couples should have? >> first of all, it is not the role of the judiciary or one judge to make laws. that is up to the legislature and the people of the state to decide. >> the legislature did act on it. >> the legislature acted. the governor vetoed it. the legislature could not override that veto. while i support marriage between a man and woman, marriage between a man and woman is the greatest institution ever devised by the mind of man, to raise a child. it's about children. i'm going to support traditional marriage. however, i do believe in liberty and the rights of adults to live

their lives the way they choose. i do not want other groups forcing their new values systems down the throats houstonlic churches, churches, and overriding our institutional religious beliefs. >> it is a fundamental ideal in america of separation of church and state. we must respect churches and mosques and institutions. another fundamental bounds to that is this idea we are all ourl under the law, government treats all citizens, regardless of backgrounds and beliefs, equal. i would not be standing here right now if it were left to legislatures to say that we are going to treat all people regardless of their background or color equally. this is a fundamental principle in american law, equality under the law. the ability to have the same treatment by our government, to me, it is good that the majority of new jersey and believe in that. this is the problem. he says he supports liberty.

you cannot be free to marry who you want. who wants politicians getting between a woman and her doctor about making her own health care decisions? that is why he is against not only the liberty of women, but women having the right to choose what they do their own bodies, even if they are raped or a victim of. this is an extreme tea party view of my opponents. >> can i go back to one thing you mentioned when it came to the rights of same sex couples? you said this is about children. are you saying same-sex couples should not be allowed to have children? >> that would be a biological phenomenon. [laughter] >> there is adoption. there is artificial insemination. [applause] i think the decision should again be made by the legislature and by the people of new jersey. >> i'm asking you what you believe, should same-sex couples be allowed to use a surrogate or adopt children? >> i have a question about how healthy that will be in the long

run for those children. i have mixed feelings about that. i will admit. >> let's move to david with a question on jobs. >> mr. booker, we wanted to talk about something you already referenced, how you made development and urban renewal hot priority for you in newark. the unemployed rate in newark is at about 14%, nearly double the new jersey average of 8%. should voters? are you can handle -- should voters question whether you can handle the role of the senator? >> because new jersey had such a wave of development -- our percentage change was a lot less than the state of new jersey as a whole -- please understand, as i said before, newark is having such a boom in development that we represent one third of all the development, commercial and multifamily, in the entire state. my opponent might say, that's not enough. we say simply, we are continuing to do -- tomorrow, we're going to announce that whole foods is moving a major 29,000 square-

foot store into the middle of newark. it is yet another sign that people are coming, developers, businesses. our population is increasing for the first time in 60 years. that's why the "star-ledger" said that the city of newark's progress is unmistakable. the most common bird you see in newark right now is the crane, because there are so many cranes putting up steel with all the new buildings. >> some have complained that the tax breaks for those corporations came at the expense of property owners who had to pay a lot higher property taxes. >> that is actually not true at all. property taxes based on each individual town, when governor christie and i just left a week before last, we stood together millionnce a $139 project. the republican governor of adamic -- and democratic mayor stood together to enough system .lement we were doing it together to

decrease the tax base of our entire state. companies and businesses not in new jersey before are now coming to our biggest cities. newark was an economic driver for our entire state. >> the only birds in newark are the vultures. the political hacks that are picking away at the carcasses of the taxpayers of that city who are watching the real property taxes, the small businesses that you are destroying, while you hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate handouts, corporate subsidies to those that are connected to you. unemployment is at 14%, almost double the national average. that is a failure in anybody's book. all you need to do is to go into any small business, and they will tell you how they are being crushed by high taxes, overregulation, runaway crime, renton high school dropout rates. it's a complete mess. >> let's move onto foreign affairs for a moment. you both said it is not america's role to be a police force run the world.

this past weekend, navy seals try to capture leaders of the militant group responsible for the massacre at the mall in kenya that left at least 67 people dead. there were no americans among the dead. do you support this kind of deployment of u.s. military forces. this, i do not support deployment. as my opponent has said, he supports small interventions. we do not need to be involved in every small intervention. i will remind you that tomorrow the bodies of five u.s. military men, four soldiers and a marine, will be returning from afghanistan. the president is refusing to fund the death benefits for those soldiers. the president is refusing to pay for the families of those soldiers to go to the airport to meet with the bodies of these men who died unnecessarily in a war that this president said he was going to end. it has now gone on longer than it did under george bush could we need to put an end to the death of our american young people in these unnecessary

interventions. >> i don't know if my opponent is running as me or -- against me or barack obama, but the reality is -- >> you are one and the same. that theality is reason why those benefits aren't there for these folks coming home, don't you understand, it's because a fringe group of tea party people shut down our government. this is not the president's fault. is not even the republicans fault. it is tea party people like ted cruz who you say pete -- are you say our heroes to america. if you want more shutdown politics, if you send steve monaghan down to washington, it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. if you want more of making washington go wrong, steve monaghan is your guy. if you want to and the extremism and do the things our government should do, supporting veterans, children here in new jersey now suffering with the risk of losing their head start dollars -- this is a problem we have --

we sent people to washington to work together to do the residents work, as opposed to somebody going down there and supporting the shutdown. >> work together unless you want to take anybody in the world who says, stand up for american liberty. anybody that doesn't agree with you, you will work against. this is the same president who shut down the world war ii memorial to those great world war ii veterans who defended this country, but "all to an illegal immigration rally. members of your party in any way responsible for this impasse that has led to the situation? party, theof my republican party, have introduced a series of bills to provide funding for all of these issues. harry reid and barack obama have refused to negotiate because they want to jam obamacare down our throats at any expense. my opponent is only the hollywood stand in barack obama on this ballot. this election in new jersey as a referendum on obamacare, the

nsa, the irs abuse of power, the intrusion into our children's education, the destruction of our liberties. that's what's on the ballot. >> may i say one thing? listen to my opponents rhetoric. listen to his positions. it seems like he's doing more to try to run and replace rush limbaugh and then frank lautenberg. , that's the kind of rhetoric that is going to drive further gridlock and further divisiveness. we need to have leaders like myself who won't say, i won't work with anybody. please understand, governor christie and i have a lot of disagreements, from our sports teams to the fact that he is losing weight and i'm gaining weight -- he and i have worked together as partners on education, economic development. that he bashes of mine comes from a republican- democratic partnership to turn -- to turn newark around. every reporter is showing the progress of newark, standing

with republicans to open hole through the to newark. >> let's move to another issue. >> i need to address this. you've really given the edge to my opponent throughout the whole debate. >> what's on your mind? >> opponent has mentioned chris christie a number of times in this debate. although governor christie and i have the same position on abortion, marriage, he continues to hold the governor christie as if he is being endorsed. he never mentions his running mate barbara buono. you've got to wonder whose side he is on. who does he support? how does barbara 10 feel about being thrown under the bus? >> i'm not running with a running mate. i'm running for the united states senate. that electionand, is in november. ours is next wednesday. i'm running as cory booker, a guy who has brought people together (to work together. all you can do is condemn every single democrat that comes up.

that's the kind of tea party approach in washington. mayor, i respect barbara buono, and she deserves more respect from you. >> let's move on to david with a question on education. >> education is an issue that cuts through the garden state. charter schools nationwide, the record is spotty. sometimes better than public schools, sometimes the same, sometimes worse. you both support charters, but in light of this evidence, how can you be so supportive? >> public education is the bedrock of our state. we need to do everything we can to continue to make new jersey public education the best in america. in newark, even though i have no formal authority over education under governor christie, i led and partnered with repugnance to do things. newark has one of the highest performing public charter school sectors in the country is we brought together philanthropists from all over the country. this traveling thing is bringing resources back to our city to improve our charter sector. my opponent and i made both

support charter schools, but we have very different views on public education. my opponent says he would get rid of the entire department of federal education could what would that mean for new jersey? that would mean we would lose out on resources from everything from kids with disadvantages to disadvantaged kids. it would also mean that something he doesn't support, making college more affordable for students -- he is against pell grants, the g.i. bill, and other things that make college in new jersey more affordable. i support public education from colleges to k-12. my opponent would take money away from public schools. >> it is a known fact that new jersey gets back only pennies on the dollar that we sent to washington, d.c. for every dollar we sent to the department of education, maybe we get back $.40. that is not a great deal. new jersey would be better off the federal department of education set up under jimmy carter. we had a much better education before then in the state.

in newark, one of the most expensive schools in the united states of america, where first student spending is almost double that in suburban a high school dropout rate of over 50%. this mayor has failed generations. thousands of children who will become part of poverty and crime without a high school degree. we, the taxpayers of new jersey, into hised billions failed public education system. no, the best education is funded by a parent or child and teacher, not by the federal department of education. your city proves that. >> let's move to jonathan with the question on the debt ceiling. >> i want to talk about an issue going on right now, and being debated at this moment. whoever wins this race will arrive in washington just as the federal government hits its borrowing limit. you vote for al bill that raises the debt ceiling and prevents a default even if it includes provisions that you oppose?

>> that's what compromise is. this is what we sent washington -- why we sent people to washington. in washington, we see this right now where people come including my opponent, are saying, we need debtt -- not raise the ceiling. my opponent has no reason to compromise. i love when you said that working together is nonsense. he said, winnie the pooh nonsense. i don't know what is more insulting. the reality is, we need people who will raise the debt ceiling and not play this shutdown politics that plays with the full faith and credit of the united states of america. this kind of brinkmanship has to stop in washington. it hurts our economy. it shrinks jobs. we need people that are going to go to washington, not be fire brands, flamethrowers, but are going to be bridge builders and find ways to make compromise between the parties. yes, i support compromise. yes, i support working together.

it's what i've done in newark and what i will do down in washington. >> sin question to you. >> as mayor of pagoda, i was headed democratic-republican counsel. i always had to work with the opposite party, unlike my opponent who has always had an all democratic council and managed to have one of his council meetings iraq into a pure riot -- erupt into a pure riot. raising the debt ceiling with corresponding spending cuts. we need to start cutting the size of government. it's simply too big, too intrusive. mayor booker wants to make it even bigger. we are spending too much. we are going to bankrupt this country. we are mortgaging our children's future. we are headed towards economic collapse if we don't start cutting spending. mayor booker does not know how to do that. president, senate democrats have said they would not negotiate over the debt ceiling. if they do not negotiate, would you then vote against raising

the debt ceiling despite the warnings of the consequences? >> the warnings of the consequences are clearly defined in the united states constitution, although under this administration, that does not carry much weight. the 14th amendment says you cannot default on the debt. my taxes.paying all all that revenue is still pouring into the federal government. they can pay their debt. his the president and administration says, we will not negotiate, that is not working together. that is a very clear message. it is, we will not negotiate. we will not compromise. sometimes, it is time to stand and fight. i'm proud that republicans are finally standing up to this tyrant. >> i wanted to ask you, you talked about deep cuts to the size of government. we've talked about the department of education. which agencies would you cut out specifically, if any? >> let's not talk in this broad talk. one u.s. senator is not going to cut entire agencies great >> which agencies do believe are necessary? >> we can cut the department of

education significantly. that is probably the biggest one. we can make cuts and the department of commerce, the department of energy. these are intrusive regulatory agencies. we need to cut regulations on small businesses. the environment protection agency is crushing businesses across the state, including in newark and every single community. we need to roll back these regulations. i propose sunsetting these regulatory bodies on a regular basis and re-examine the damage they are doing to america's competitiveness. it is time the government started living within its means of the way that we as americans have to do everyday. >> i just want to remind folks that as mayor of the city of newark we shrug our government dramatically. we are spending less money today than we were spending back in 2006. i agree, we need to make sure government lives within its means, but what the tea party really believes is really simple -- they want to get rid of regulations. that is code words for pulling

back government from doing the things that you and i both rely on. he wants to get rid of medicare. he said social security is a ponzi scheme. when he talks about things like the epa, that means giving oil and gas companies free reign and doing what they want to do. knowing that i have a river running through my city and multiple towns in new jersey, seeing the kind of pollution and contaminants that won't allow people to go in there and swim, ruining industries like lambing and others, trust me, we need to make sure there is protection. the delaware river in south jersey, if we pull back on the epa and let fracking go on, it could pollute our waters. i believe in shrieking government responsibly. not pulling back the kind of protections that protect our food, our water, our air, and our safety. sighed.ide -- >> i think mayor booker's vision of newark is about as real as t- bone. you may not be able to swim in the river, but it's probably --

probably because of all the bodies floating around from shooting victims in your city -- >> oh my gosh. >> you use these words like tea party extremists. your coaches have done a really good job. if you raise a family, build a small business, stand up for this country, stand up for limited government, your idea of working together is to call people extremists. there is a lot of extremism sitting in this audience today. >> this is what you think of our city. >> please hold your applause. >> this is what he thinks of our cities. that there are bodies floating in the city of newark -- how insulting is that to the city of newark? this is insulting that he would talk about camden and say that my vision of what we should do in camden is leveling the city. that is unacceptable. we don't need a senator that is going to talk down to our new jersey cities. we need a senator who will lift up our whole state and make us understand that in new jersey, there is no north-south, urban- suburban. we are one state with one

destiny. mr. booker, you've talked about compromise. there has long been discussion in washington about a big budget deal that could solve some of these government by crisis issues. that would require both sides accepting something that they don't like. would you support raising the retirement age for social security or other changes to that program as part of a big deal on taxes and spending? >> that's how we are going to solve these large problems. , believe on social security something that my opponent has called the biggest threat to our democracy, a ponzi scheme, thinks we should privatize it -- not fix it, but privatize it -- i believe there are rational fixes we can do. we need to do them not to protect it. we need to raise the social security cap on payroll for the riches amongst us, so they pay a little bit more, and we preserve the system for everyone. it is a commonsense solution. your question was, would i sit at a table and compromise work together?

the answer is absolutely yes. take senator menendez for example, who just compromise on a bill for immigration. eight senators, the gang of eight, came together and didn't get everything they wanted, either side, but they compromised. my opponent rejects that compromise and thinks that is what not the solution we should have. we need to send people to washington will work together to solve our problems, not take extreme stances and say, no compromises. we are going to shut down government. >> you talk about raising the tax to save social security. would you make changes that would reduce benefits, either by raising the retirement age, changing the way inflation is copulated? would you reduce it if it was part of a cover my steel? >> you talk to seniors across the state and ask them, should we be reducing their benefits -- it is barely enough in a high- cost state like new jersey. it is hard for them to make weight with the social security checks they are getting now. i don't favor reducing benefits. we need to make sure that we are doing things to strengthen social security, commonsense

things around the table, republicans and democrats, working together to make sure our senior citizens are not in poverty but have security and have ways to make sure that they can enjoy the final years of their lives. >> should we privatize social security? what is your view? >> i have a mother who is now 80 years old who worked hard for 30 years after my dad died, paid into medicare, paid into social security. she deserves those benefits. toor booker supports a plan cut three quarters of $1 trillion out of medicare. those seniors have paid into that program all of their lives. you are going to see a rationing of those benefits for senior citizens under obamacare. social security needs to be reformed over the decades to come so that we don't have this constant problem with less and less people coming into a system and more and more retirees. everybody knows that. >> but your plan is to allow

those who are young to go into the private market. what that would do would be to take the rug out from people paying into the system and endanger the whole system. >> how would it work? >> if what mayor booker is saying is that you have these people on the top of the system collecting, but it relies on people coming in to pay for the people at the top, what you are describing is a pyramid skin. i certainly don't think that is the case, do we? social security is not supposed to be a pyramid scheme. people have paid for their social security. you are telling me we are relying on young people to fund seniors? >> i'm describing the system as it was designed by fdr and republicans. commonsense fixes are what we need, not telling people to go into the private market, let wall street decide your retirement is safe. >> here is the difference between me -- >> we believe, democrats and

republicans -- you are on the extreme -- even republicans say we can do commonsense things like the moderator asked us. that is where the negotiations should be, not throwing up a system. >> i want young people to have the opportunity to go into the social security system -- it needs to be maintained -- or had that same money go into their privately held investment fund. imagine the money they would have in the bank by the time they are 65 years old. imagine if you had all your money in the banks. that would make you wealthy. many people would be wealthy. the difference between me and cory booker is he doesn't trust people. you the't want to give ability to invest her own money. he wants the government to do every single thing for you. >> let's move onto david with a question on immigration. >> this issue has reemerged during the campaign. i want to give you a chance to clarify. back in 2007, there were reports in several newspapers that you hire to people in the united states illegally to put up lawn signs for your nonprofit organization.

the report said the workers picked you up in an area where workers were known to be. at the same time, your campaign website says you oppose proposals to give amnesty and eventually citizenship to as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants. are you only ok with illegal immigrants working in the country when you directly benefit? >> i love biased reporting. i actually hired two men -- they never went to work with me, they never actually started work -- who said they were legal. if you check your facts, one of them actually was. you have to go by what somebody says. i know that immigration is an important part of this country. we will have immigrants come into this country. my grandparents were italian immigrants. they came here through italy, right through ellis island the old-fashioned way. they had a sponsor. they came here legally. we are not going to support 11.5 million people. every body knows that. we have to secure our borders. deport illegal alien

criminals. my opponent, cory booker, has actually made new work, new jersey a century state for illegal alien criminals. work, you canew commit vandalism. you can assault somebody. you will be protected from ice. you is the message -- if are an illegal immigrant, go to newark. that might explain his rising crime rates. >you have made it a century cit. words don't hurt me, but your policies hurt the people of new jersey. let's be very clear right now. engages and lots of hypocrisy. he said he is against san diego. says he is against having undocumented workers get amnesty, but when had a business and ran the business, he hired undocumented workers. this is the reality we have. again, americans for prosperity -- that sounds really good --

prosperity, sir? he got paid one quarter of $1 million last are to run a campaign against raising the minimum wage. in other words, he made about $100 an hour to stop people in new jersey for making $8.50. this kind of hypocrisy is not good policy. what we need to have his people working together to hammer out compromises to make us have an immigration system that still builds our country but also protects our borders. >> mr. booker, we want to get to -- >> one quarter of $1 million? >> let's get to an issue in how you portray yourself in some of your public speeches. there have been reports about a murder victim who supposedly died in your arms in newark one night. there are reports -- there is a police report that said you were on the scene assisting, but that the victim actually died in the arms of a woman who was on the front steps. what really happened that night? >> thank you very much. this is unfortunately another attack by my tea party friend

and his campaign saying that me arriving on the scene right after a person was shot, trying to address his injuries, trying to stop them from bleeding to death, and actually, he fell into cardiac arrest, which means his heart stopped. >> he died at the hospital. >> he was declared dead at the hospital. to what we are arguing over -- this is the kind of distraction that we have from my tea party opponent, trying to say, did he have a cardiac arrest? was a death? the reality is, we have too much violence and all of our inner cities in new jersey. what is the plan that we have to stop the violence? here is another case of gun violence in my city were i try desperately to save somebody's life, but unfortunately, they died. the result we see in the work, so many weapons pouring from out-of-state into our state. i believe that these gun shows should have background checks. my opponent doesn't think we should have back rent checks to stop criminals from getting guns. >> this whole issue really goes

to not about where he physically died, but about how you portray yourself in stories and speeches to the public as you go around the country, to your alma mater, other places. or is another story about a church or named t-bone who you reportedly admitted was a composite of people. here is your chance to set the record straight and to tell us whether it gets to the core of whether you are embellishing stories to prop yourself up. scenehave police on the that corroborated everything i said in the first story. we actually have my former director,the police who confirmed that there was indeed a t-bone. this was a common internet time i was living in one of the most dangerous areas of my state. was he in cardiac arrest, was he dead, was there a person named t-bone or what have you? these are two stories for my life.

i chose to live in one of the most violent neighborhoods my city. these kinds of stories are all too common. ,undreds of people in our state from camden to patterson, are victims of gun violence. the key is, what will we do as united states senators to stop help stop the violence? background checks is one thing. >> i've never brought up this young man in my campaign. it was exposed by a major news publication not related to me. >> this is the gentleman who died. >> the 19-year-old young man who apparently stumbled into the mayor's arms, which did not happen, did not die in his arms. i find it deeply disturbing when an elected official uses the death of somebody like that to parade around the country and build himself up. it is opportunism on a major scale. it really shows a lack of judgment in many ways. >> a lack of judgment is

somebody talking about bodies floating in rivers in my city. is condemningment cities and exaggerating the violence, as opposed to doing practical things that can support them. in judgment we need washington is judgment that agrees with 84% of gun owners to say, there is too much gun violence. we need to stop criminals from getting their hands on guns by putting in clearly needed background checks to stop terrorists and criminals from getting them at gun shows. >> it's really hard to exaggerate a violence. >> you are finding a way to do that, sir, in a way that is disrespectful to every city in our state. >> let's move to jonathan in our state about role models in washington. candidate, please name a sitting senator that you admire and tell us why. >> i admire mike lee. i admire ted cruz. i admire rand paul. i admire marco rubio.

-- a number of them, actually. those who have held the line. those who get up and advocate for liberty, who are standing up against the government, very much the way the founding fathers did. that's why i admire them. they are not afraid to stand on principle. upy are not afraid to stand for our constitution and bill of rights. they will take the hits from the media, from the opposition, and they stand tall. >> mr. booker? >> i admire a lot of senators on both sides of the aisle, in fact, people like the gang of eight senators who hammered out economize. there are actually people in both parties who are done in washington trying to work to get things done. a lot of republicans in the past, jack kemp, a congressman who supported me, to people like olympia snowe and luger -- the people he just named, they are all the far right people in the

senate. if you want to send another tea party person who are responsible right now for shutting down our american government, if you want to send another extremist onto washington who believes playing roulette with our full faith and credit, send him. i admire people on both sides of the aisle. able to put aside their differences and find ways to work together to get the things done for the people of the united states of america. that is what we elect people to do, not to stop government or shut government down, not to contribute to gridlock, but to work together to do the work of the working people. >> we are almost out of time. this next question, 30 seconds each. what is the biggest change that you hope to make in the senate? >> i would like to introduce a bill that would repeal every regulatory -- sunset every regulatory body onto regular basis, re-examine them, roll them back, free up american enterprise. we need to create real jobs through the private sector, not

through massive corporate subsidies, government programs, like the ones we see in newark that cost the taxpayers millions and billions and result in a 14% unemployment rate. >> what he means is he west repeal the clean water and clean air act. he wants to repeal regulations that keep our food safe and clean. my biggest goal is to go down to washington and do things to create jobs. do the things that america should be doing come investing in infrastructure so we can have great projects like the one in this region, extending that rail line, to help create is mrs. all along the light rail. we need to make higher education more affordable for more students, because in a knowledge-based economy, the greatest thing we can do is to help young people today. fornvestment is a code word higher taxes. mayor, we don't need the government to create jobs. we need our freedom. >> i would love it if you would give freedom to women -- [applause] if you wouldit give freedom to women to make

their own health care decisions instead of saying, i want to close planned parenthood and i want to make abortion illegal, even in the cases of rape and. you cannot have it both ways. if you want liberty, give it to a gay america. if you want liberty, give it to women to make their own health care decisions. >> i need to respond -- he's that he has attacked me on this abortion issue because i'm pro-life, but this man supports taxpayer-funded forded -- abortions. what abortion would you been? >> under a happy -- >> tell the people what abortions you would ban, >> i will tell the american people exactly what i will stand for. i believe in roe v wade. it was decided by the supreme court. i will stand by defending it from people like him that want to repeal roe v wade. if a woman is a victim of rape or, he thinks abortion should be illegal. what i'm saying to you is, if

you believe in liberty, give liberty back to women and let them make their own health care decisions. fund things like planned parenthood that help us detect problems. >> the follow-up to that is the mayor is scored to death of nara l antiabortion lobby because he -- he tookpport safe, legal, and rare out of the democrats but from. you can see it on cokie roberts show. >> i will tell you right now. i believe a woman's health care decisions should be between her and her doctor. we should defend roe v wade against people that want to get rid of roe v wade and make criminal abortions even in the case of rape and incest. that's where i stand. you don't need to go to cokie roberts. you heard it right here, right now. >> unimagined aborting a baby in the eighth month of pregnancy pretty supports that. >> that's not true.

that's unfortunate. >> do you support partial-birth abortions? >> my views on this are very distinct and clear. you want to make abortion illegal in the cases of rape and incest. i want to protect roe v wade. >> i am pro-life. you will abort the baby. >> gentlemen, we are out of time. we don't have time for closing statements. thisnt to thank you for lively debate and for taking part tonight. we want to thank our panelists for taking part as well with some great questions. thanks to rowan university for hosting us tonight. this conversation continues now on nbc10.com. don't forget to vote one week from today. thanks for being here. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> on the next "washington

journal," steve bell reviews the options of where the treasury department for meeting its obligations of the united states defaults. as her health is correspondent julie appleby looks at the number of people signed up on the health care exchanges since they opened. amtrak president and ceo joseph boardman talks about ridership and the impact of the shutdown and sequestration. atshington journal" live 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. both the house and senate will gavel back in on monday. this was the week they were scheduled to be working back in their districts. since there is no agreement on funding the federal government, with the october 17 deadline on the debt ceiling, they will be in session. the house returns at noon eastern. the first roll call votes are expected after 6:30 p.m. the senate is in at 2:00 p.m. eastern they will take up to judicial

nominations. watch live coverage of the house on c-span, the senate, on c-span 2, or online at c-span.org. >> tonight, part two of our conversation with josh bolten. >> start out by giving us what you saw with the press, the media, that world. how did you view them? >> usually with some hostility. it is the natural state of affairs between the white house and the press corps. that's just the nature of what the press needs to do. they need to try to catch the white house. bush administration chief of staff josh bolten tonight at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a."

the loop henry hoover house here on the campus of stanford university. it is significant because this was the primary residence of the hoovers. it is significant as it relates to lou hoover because she is the one who designed it. she had such a strong grasp of design and how she wanted the house to look, even though she was not an architect. we are lucky to have a lot of the original drawings, documents, correspondence related to the design and construction of how she wanted the house to look. came from her travels in the southwest of the united states, pueblo architecture. also from her travels in north africa when she traveled with herbert hoover. it is a great legacy of lou henry because she designed the house, she created it, it was inspired by her ideas. she had very close involvement in all aspects of the house's creation. >> meet first lady lou hoover

monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span 3. also on c-span radio and c- span.org. followed by some the debate from the u.s. senate session as the shuts down continues. the discussion with two former members of congress who served on the 1995 government shutdown. >> as we move beyond the debt assuming issue and budget debate we want to focus on foreign policy. a senior writer for foreign .olicy egypted to ask you by