the montana television network stations. >> the montana television network, campaign 2014. the house debate. made possible thanks to support from the greater montana foundation, founded by montana broadcasting. it supports communications on issues, trends, and values of importance to montanans. debate night here. we thank you for tuning in.

i will be moderating tonight's debate. and john lewis re: this is a big week for this campaign. radio debatea earlier this week. we would like to welcome our audience statewide. we are coming to you statewide on montana pbs stations. we are going nationwide on c-span. wherever our viewers are tuning and we welcome you. ground rules to go over. no opening statements tonight. the candidates will be answering questions from our panelists. we will give them 60 seconds from those answers. they will have two minutes for a closing statement. then we will take a one minute break midway through. quick ground rules. we are here from bozeman with a

small group of campaign friends on both sides of the aisle. we are asking everyone to hold applause until the end. we are not one answer cell phones during this debate. let's do our first introduction for a republican nominee, ryan zinke. he is a third-generation montanan, a standout athlete at whitefish high school. he was a standout in several sports. he went to the university of oregon. he has had a 23 year career with in military in the u.s. navy 2008 he was elected to the montana state senate where he chaired the senate education committee. a couple of years ago he ran for lieutenant governor. he is the ceo of a consultant firm that specializes in aerospace and oil and gas. he and his wife have three children. welcome.

>> great to be here. >> we welcome john lewis, a n.urth-generation montana a magic city boy. most recently he served for senator max baucus. he supervised a staff of 20. -- in agraduate and an degree of political science. his achievements are helping men to the communities wait to your craddick -- bureaucratic red tape following floods in montana. it is my pleasure to introduce you to our panel will be asking our candidate questions. we will, donna kelley on this end of our panel. kbaz television.

she wanted me to tell you she had several overtures to work for fox during those years. career manyher decades ago at a small television station. good to see you tonight. allee from kt eax television. she is a six-time montana broadcaster of the year. good to see you. co-anchor, janel slade a two-time montana broadcaster of the year. years on theew dark side in communications and public relations. we welcome her back a couple of years ago. that is all panel tonight. i get the first question. we have one hour. john lewis, we flipped coins. you get the first question. speak, congress has an 8%

approval rating. is calling card of congress partisan gridlock. this is a new -- this is a do-nothing congress prayed why do you want to join this esteemed group? what do you bring to the table to change this culture that has our country stuck on hold? >> thank you. i want to thank montana new stations for hosting this debate. when i first got in this race i gave a speech, one of the and ist events i did, talk about my past experiences and things i learned while working on legislation while trying to help veterans. experiences i had fighting for montanans. someone said i respect your past experiences but i am interested in the future. ideas you have to get congress working for montana.

how you are going to be part of the solution. campaign ona montana ideas. we have released plans for accor culture. for energy prefer public land. that is what i want to see congress do. work on solutions to move montana forward. congress has a 9% approval rating. i read that cockroaches and wrote it -- root canals have a higher standing. i am a concerned father. i have two young kids. i'm concerned about their future. i want to see congress work together again on solutions. >> wine? you still want this job? 21st century will be the american century. we are going to have to earn it. tore is a saying you have win every single day. we have to relearn how to earn

our liberty and have an economy where we have jobs and obtained the american dream. it is about the american dream and families. our nation struggles. no one trusts the government, congress, the administration. we have to restore trust and make sure our economy is prosperous and today's debate will highlight different contrast between candidates and the choice will be clear. >> mr. lewis, any rebuttal? focusedi said i have this campaign on the future. ideas on the future. so far in the campaign i have heard very little about ideas. i have heard about what he was doing in 1988. this race is not about what we were doing in 1988. i heard he loves america. we all love america. and montana. i look forward to hearing his ideas about how we are going to strengthen public lands in this

country great if you want to see obama care, what is your plan for ensuring americans that don't have insurance in this country, including the 107,000 montanans? that is what i look forward to hearing tonight. >> let's talk about the debt. your plan about selling used cars and abandoned buildings and cutting congressional pay is a joke. it is not even around. if we want to get serious about america restoring america we have to address the debt. think balancing the budget in 10 years is attainable. there is a lot i don't agree with. we can do it without challenging and laminating medicare. we can do without cutting social security. i think we can do without cutting education. i do think we have to address the challenges not put our h

ead in the sand. i think we can work together. democrats, republicans, independents, two car got a better future. everyone knows we are in trouble. are we going to ignore the problems? or are we going to address them? i will talk about addressing the issues. let's get right to it. donna kelley. [inaudible question] it has been a firestorm over leon panetta's book that came out a day ago. everybody's talking about a democratic congressman who was a former cia director in the obama administration, a former secretary of defense, and he is laying this squarely at the feet of the administration for not getting in those negotiations with the iraqi prime minister so we had to leave. i will get to that question with

you. if malikcould we stay he was not willing to let us stay there? >> a good lashing. -- a good question. i was reluctant to enter iraq. my son-in-law as a navy seal. if you go to war you make sure you go to war to win. so get rules of engagement our troops will win. in iraq, leaving, we left without a sofa agreement, a status of forces agreement. that should not be overlooked. that allows our soldiers, they get prosecuted if they are allegedly conducted something wrong under our judicial system. without a status of forces agreement one of our soldiers could be prosecuted

under islamic law. if a pilot errors he could be executed for murder rather than our law. , look what isatus happening with isis today. we're going to fight isis. i would rather fight them in iraq than the streets of america. it is already here. from great falls. that is isis. -- [inaudible] there were multiple operations to stay. they would chose not to. they were multiple opportunities to check isis in the beginning and we chose not to preach this is what happens when you leave from the rear. it united states does not lead we will -- if the united states does not lead no one

else will. >> are we playing catch up in the game? fighting isis with airstrikes? trying to get back territory that we are ready spent blood and treasure on? >> the cd of americans is our number one. share our values. they have no regard for human life. we need to learn from the mistakes of the last 12 years. hear i would rather fight a war in the deserts of iraq than here at home, i think that is a simplistic way of looking at the problem. they estimate there are one billion muslims in this world. they are not all in that region. one billion muslims. out of that they say 15% are islamic extremist. , 150 million extremist. the idea that we can bomb our way out of this problem is not realistic to me.

bikes for both of you, airstrikes now to try and gain background? will there have to be boots on the ground? >> i support doing whatever we need to do to keep our americans safe. security is number one. we need to be thoughtful about our approach. number one, congress needs to debate this issue and authorize force, to fill their responsibility. how much is it going to cost? what is the budget? think the correct response is to instantly say we need to put troops on the ground. >> my opponent called for economic sanctions against isis. tell me how you economic sanctions against a non-nationstate. letter? should write a the issue is isis is a danger. you have to have a read wrong

approach read shut down our southern border. it is no longer an immigration issue. it is a security and immigration threat. can build the panama for now can build a fence on the 21st. unfortunately it is going to call for america to lead. you cannot control isis by air alone. conwaywords of general there is a snowball's chance in hell the air operations will work. to limit our ground forces to special forces, to supply and some warts, we make sure our coalition's that we choose our watched and trained. we limit our involvement, that make sure that isis is destroyed. >> a quick follow up. no one answered how we are paying for this. we have put two wars on the credit card. would you support a war tax to

support perpetual war? two clearly different approaches to this situation. i am saying we need to be thoughtful and responsible. a letter is not going to get the job done. this is somebody who called for invading mexico a few weeks ago because we have an american in jail in tijuana. that is not the judgment i want representing me in congress. instant reaction to the president's announcement that we would have airstrikes was let's send in more troops. he said a couple of years ago that when the president announced women should serve in combat roles, he said that is nearly certain to cause -- cost lives. that is not the judgment we need in congress. it is a good question. how much is the point to cost? it needs to be debated in

congress and authorize. >> had we pay for this? >> by having a strong economy. a navy costs money. bridges, schools. infrastructure. that costs money. we need a robust economy. henow you didn't serve, but is a marine languishing in a prison for six months. every man and woman, everybody that serves in this country is not sure the america has their back. when america doesn't have their back like benghazi or mexico, what happens is it sends a signal to every veteran fighting. america is not going to be there. i did not advocate invading mexico. i advocated the president doing his duty to get the marine back.

[applause] >> the next question. talking about money. for takingzed zinke money out of state. got his money in the same vein. realize -- the reason i said 70% of the money i've raised is from montana, it is unusual. i am proud of that. i have worked very hard to raise and finance this campaign from montana. there is a huge difference between the way i have done and the way my opponent has done it. he has raised most money from california, texas, and florida. those three states combined half 116 were in congress. we have one representative.

i said from the beginning we are going to run a montana campaign, antenna ideas. i have worked hard with that. i'm very proud of that record. comparing it to the 2012 election is comparing apples and oranges. $50 million was spent in montana in the senate race alone. that is disgusting to most. we are going to keep doing what we are doing, focusing on montana ideas and focusing on running a montana race financed by montanans. [applause] >> i'm not going to apologize for having a national stage. i'm not one to apologize for having coalitions between different congressmen carry the facts are this. i have 18,000 donors. most of them are small donors. 3,000 donors compared to represents veterans and seniors.

america is exceptional. to reachact that you out of the state? no. max baucus had 90%. no one criticizes that. he backed the matter is having a national platform means you can do national things. you can reach and coalitions. we only have one congressman in the state of montana. you are going to need a big coalition, friendships, relationships. to hut question goes jintao. whereould like to address montana voters see you on television and political ads. you referenced your milestones in life versus john lewis and his age. as he is growing

up. can you help us with the message that you are trying to get across in this ad? >> more leadership among less politics. i have spent my life leading. i have an mba. i have that education. a naval officer is more than just leading trips into combat. it is looking at challenging problems and finding solutions that are real. i have set down with warlords and agreed back-and-forth on solutions. i concert we sit down between democrats and republicans as i did in the senate to find real solutions. >> you bring up his age. you believe that because you are older you make a better leader? >> no. lives. a comparison to it is a positive campaign. i've done a lot of things in my life. i have been more than a

washington staffer. i have been more than in politics. i have been a business guy. i understand the private side. i have been an educator. i know how to lead. i know how to solve problems. the problems in our country are large and daunting. but they are fixable. we created them. we can fix them. >> john lewis? >> h is arbitrary. -- ageu can for is not is arbitrary. what you stand for is not. i cannot do anything about the fact that i was born in 1978. my experience is very relevant to what we're trying to do here. i have worked on legislation in d.c. helping veterans. i have worked on issues here in montana. i had been to all 56 counties

helping seniors get social security. that experience is relevant. go back to what i said in the beginning. this election is about the future. what ideas you have for the future great not what you were doing in the 1980's and 1990's. [applause] >> a follow-up. , can we agreeut that john lewis did not write the affordable care act? didn't ing that he -- >> it was his job to make sure that values and interest were reflected in that bill. called,tana businesses what were they told? don't grow your business past 50. don't employee more than 30 hours. that hurts business, that hurts every family. as the state director that is your responsibility.

>> your ad says that he wrote it. that is not what you describe. >> on the typewriter. >> on the typewriter. [laughter] >> i don't think you broke it all. >> you say you want to cut congressional pay grade can we -- paid? take an act of congress to cut congressional pay. >> let me say something quickly about the health care ads. we have millions of uninsured americans in this country. what is the solution to ensure those americans? i would like -- there are tens of thousands of montanans benefiting. there are some in the audience he is a part-time teacher and lost his insurance in january. he signed on the exchange for insurance today.

he is paying half of what he paid before. there are thousands of montanans like that. ,f you want to repeal obamacare what are you want to tell his family and his kids? he would lose that insurance. >> we are not cutting congressional pay. >> congress has a 90% approval rating. they need to do their part. willis our deficit issues? no. if you cannot pass a budget you should get paid. congress hasn't passed a budget in 1000 days. this is about congress doing their part. montanansre 20,000 who have lost insurance. 20,000. yes there are. let me say this. do we need affordable health care? absolutely. can we do it better? absolutely. one-size-fits-all isn't the solution.

i understand there are good things about obama. we are going to see more and more people lose their insurance. what makes you think that if you couldn't afford insurance before that all of a sudden you magically get a subsidy and you have a $9,000 deductible? what makes you think you can pay that deductible if you can't afford insurance in the beginning? you can't. there are a lot of ways to make sure we have affordable health care. reform, individual health care accounts, a number of things that make a difference to montana, which is an aging population. >> next question, we have one more question that we go to break. >> as long as we have brought up age. some of us are approaching social security. others, we have done for decades and decades. it as thelked about

holy grail. for those of us getting close, and that is me raising my hand, the ball is moving down the field. 62, than 65, then 70. would you change it? can we keep it? can we make it better? >> i think we can keep our promises to social security. i sat down with the numbers. social security is actually healthy for those who earned it. if you work all your life and that was a promise made, that portion of social security can be healthy. what has happened is you have a lot of new people that are draining it. congress has told them multiple times. how are we going to afford these things?

we need a robust economy. how do you get that? you have to look at making sure that government goes back so american can innovate and think out-of-the-box again. the regulatory environment and burden on business and one year was $3.6 trillion. one year. and you look at that amount of overburden regulation that doesn't involve clean air and clean water, it is stifling innovation. energy independence. i'm an optimist. if we focus on those things that we can keep the promises dream we can make sure we honor our veterans. they are expenses out there. $18 trillion, 10 years to balance the budget is reasonable. we can accelerate our economy to have a prosperous economy. we can fix it. i am positive we can. >> when this gets to zero that is 60 seconds.

>> your bottle? answer aboutear an social security. today socialing security trust fund will be solvent until 2033. we do need to do something and keep it solvent for many years. byupport an idea endorsed aarp, to raise the payroll tax cap. for people who make over $117,000, they need to continue to pay into that trust fund so we can keep it solvent. >> for how long? >> be more specific? >> if they're making over 100 grand. for how long? >> we should all do our part, absolutely. with the goal of making that trust fund solvent for many

years beyond 2033. >> on the retirement age do you support raising the retirement age? is that something he would look at? >> i do not at this time. people work their lives for these benefits. they need the assurance that it is going to be there for them when they retire. let's not keep moving the goalposts for retirees. i don't support that. >> i don't think it is necessary. i would not support it. the social security program itself, if you look at those who have earned it, and mostly montanans have earned it over their lives, it is solvent if you look at that. it should go back and make social security what it was. for those people who have earned

it over time. it will be there. we have to make sure we keep our promises. i'm the guy trying to save it. i'm trying to make sure we are financing and, save social security so the check clears. >> we are halfway through the bakery we will invite you back and take a one minute break. >> our live coverage of the debate continues in a moment. a look at our other programming tomorrow. with then journal latest on the 2014 house reduces. predictions for see changes. then a roundtable discussion on politics with pollsters. we will take your calls. join the conversation on facebook and twitter. the centers for disease control will hold the briefing tomorrow

to provide an update on the investigation into the first ebola case diagnosed. that is expected at noon. live coverage on c-span. our coverage of campaign 2014 continues with this live debate. john lewis and ryan zinke debate. >> of the house debate on montana pbs. here welcome you back where we are listening to the u.s. house debate between andblican ryan zinke democrat john lewis. and when the throw questions of personality. i want to give you guys an opportunity to tell us about yourselves.

what inspires you? what is your greatest accomplishment so far? get behind the façade and tell us about ryan zinke. >> i love to fly fish. my greatest compliment is marrying up. i love my kids and my grandkids. i am proud of my daughter, who i told two things pre-don't join the navy and don't join -- don't marry a navy seal. she did both. my sons are doing well. i care about working families in montana. making sure -- i'm a blue-collar kid. what matters to me as making sure our kids have the same legacy and opportunities that i had. i had a wonderful childhood. i want to make sure our kids and your kids have the same experience. >> maybe you can put those skills to work in washington.

[laughter] >> my family inspires me as well. after you get on the campaign trail you go back and do the real job. we have an eight-year-old and a six-year-old. we coached two games of soccer. my wife is the head coach. i am the assistant. my daughter is eight years old. soccer is getting to that serious level. serious harris. the game a week ago and people were tailgating. [laughter] soccer is serious. i want them to have what i had growing up in miami -- montana. a waywhat we have, a whal of life. i worry about the future. crisis to crisis. i am a solution oriented person. that is what i want to do in

congress. >> back to the issues. >> we are going to go back to obamacare. a question from a business owner, he says in 25 years as a business owner he paid a lot of medical insurance. he didn't get any payback rate this is the first year he has had it. he says it is the first reliable health insurance is working life. he is worried about your campaign ad to eliminate that. specifically to we -- to reassure him, that is what he needs to survive and function. >> he is one of the few. i agree that it does work for some. i use the term abandonment. when a ship is sinking, and i think it is sinking, when a naval officer abandons a ship he doesn't jump into the ocean.

stableto a safer more vessel. there are a lot of ways to make sure montana is represented. tort reform is one of them. business pulls. individual health reforms pretax deductions. what we want is quality health care. we want access and affordability. i think one size does not fit all. montana is an aging population. what makes sense sometimes in washington dc or washington doesn't make sense in montana. it will continue to hurt. packagethe obamacare hasn't even been implemented yet. wait until the whole thing. i am concerned. i think the challenge to congress is to quickly come up with a better solution articulated, and make sure montana is represented. ship,n i hear abandoned

it is jump ship. there is no plan to get people to sure. we had 50 votes in the u.s. the affordable care act. to go to what? come back to millions of uninsured. we have yet to hear a plan of what we are going to do about that. many of those folks get health care. you can go down to emergency rooms and get the care that you need. that costs are spread around to everyone else. ensuring answer is more americans, insuring millions of americans. every industrialized country in this world has ask themselves the question, is health care a right? every single one of them has answered in the affirmative except the united states. we need to continue to improve the health care system. [applause] not jump ship when there is no plan to insure more americans.

point two whatth you think is not going right? side, aon the business intended by design, when you penalize a business for going over 50 people and growing your business over 50 people, when you penalize employment , you needurs, montana 40 hours and benefits. when you have a system that penalizes over 30 hours, penalizes medical innovation, you look at what has happened. what has happened to families. when you can't get a 40 hour job because you are penalized for it that means you are one to have to-three part-time jobs. when you have part-time jobs, one is going to be just for making the payments for insurance. what happens when you have erratic hours? who is at home?

it is affecting working families and businesses in montana. can we do it better? yes. should we work together? absolutely. [applause] i will tell you what is affecting working families prayed not having insurance -- working families prayed not having insurance. scare tactic that businesses are going to pay the huge price isn't true. , read an op-ed the other day competition in the insurance marketplace. three companies offering insurance through the exchange. blue cross, pacific source, and the montana co-op providing competition amongst each other. companies that have over 100 employees, they currently may blueapproved plan through

cross blue shield. rates are going through the roof. here are their options for you get a new group plan through one of those other can't zanies -- companies, or sending people in the insurance market where the company is going to pay less. states that don't have competition like wyoming, one insurance company, the highest insurance rates in the country. businesses in the long run are going to benefit from ensuring more americans. >> are there some areas where we could tweak it? he is saying there are areas that maybe we could do better here. are there a couple of places? >> absolutely greeted did the law fix our health care system? absolutely not. we need flexibility in the system. innovation. we have one of the co-ops. 22 states have a co-op. let's do more of that provide competition in the 22 states

that have the co-op. individuals are paying 8% less for insurance rates in those 22 states. i hear from small businesses, there is too much paperwork. let's reduce the paperwork to make it less complicated. this is a long-term problem. we are not going to solve it overnight. we need to keep doing things to make the law flexible and fix things that aren't working. >> what about the woman on this panel who has a pre-existing condition. what about that? would you do anything with that? to cover folks who have a pre-existing condition? >> i agree on pre-existing conditions. there are a lot of people who have pre-existing conditions that could leave a job because if they did they could get insurance on the next. i agree. that is a big part. what happens when obamacare in a few years when 14% get a raise in home health care?

what happens when medicare payments are reduced? what happens to our urgent care facilities we don't happy premium on medicare? montanae issues in that don't fit a model of a large urban state. .ontana is rural the power base of this country is on the west and east coast. what about montana and wyoming? south and north dakota? we are rural. we have to protect our interest rate we can do a better grade there wasn't one republican vote on obamacare. it was done at night. nancy pelosi was right. we don't know what is in it until we vote on it. we passed it. that is not right. we can do better. i don't view life through a red lens or a blue lens. i view it through a red white and blue lens. i think we can [applause]

>> there were no solutions there about health care. [applause] i did hear one idea about solving the health care crisis in this country. i am someone who is solution oriented, focused on that if i'm fortunate enough to serve. >> let's move onto another issue. >> let's talk energy. are you in favor of developing proposed export terminals in the state of washington to deliver montana and wyoming coal overseas? >> it is a complicated situation. one, montanans deserve and need markets to send products where there it is coal, whether it is a product, whether they're

-- whatever it is. we have congestion on route rose. is,question we have to ask do we want washington to come in and solve this for us? do we need to figure out a solution between our states? i don't think it is fair that one stick and tell us that we can't sell through that state. we have commodities coming from the west coast that travels through montana. what if we said that can't come through montana anymore? it is a complicated question. we need a solution. i think it needs to come from montana and washington states so we can get products brought. think it is -- i don't think it is complicated at all. we need them. notenergy plan, your did have oil and gas. if you do not have an plan that supports oil and gas in montana it isn't an energy plan

for montana. we can do it better. in this plan country is enormous. is $300,000 of revenue to montana. 24% of the tax goes to k12. if we want new schools in montana, which we should have, roads, highways, infrastructure, how are we going to do it? we have to use our energy resources wisely, which we can. we don't have to take north dakota as a model of excellence. we can do it better. we need to develop our resources wisely and develop them now. we can be energy dependent -- we can be energy independent in five years. alreadyail lines are crazy busy for lack of a better term.

we are pushing through oil and coal and pushing wheat off of our rail lines. with these export terminals increasing the coal heading to the west coast, how are we going to handle it? what are you going to tell communities? rose.id talk to matt it is an issue that we need to build pipelines. the keystone pipeline is one of many. opponent in the last debate talked about trucking. we are not going to try oil. we need pipelines. whether you sit on the left or right of global warning -- three and a half million barrels is flared every day. it is wrong to waste it. infrastructures to export montana commodities and shore up our transportation system with a railroad to make

sure that the factory in sydney has trains going out. are we and commodities, we need to make sure we have the rail system to provide products. >> it is not true that oil and gas is not my energy plan. i called for investing in all anms of energy that we have abundance of. i heard him say whatever you say on global warming. that is accurate of what his position is. there is somebody that was endorsed by the ontario conservation voters running for the legislature, sent a letter to president obama calling on him to do something about climate change, and now all of a sudden is a denier. we shouldn't invest in renewable energy. which is it? let's have consistency on this issue. i am calling for investing in the long-term future. not just traditional coal, oil,

and gas. those support thousands of jobs. let's invest in the long-term future. i would like to see my opponent share those positions that he once had, but today he does not. [applause] >> on the subject of global warming, do you believe it is a human caused event? >> there was an article recently that everyone should read. it was by a former obama administrator. it had three points. his climate changing? yes. is man and influence? yes. what is the influence? ist is not what science settled on. the last 16 years there is no shows doom and gloom. inventors have not been rising

significantly. temperatures have not been rising significantly. it is not a hoax. but it is not proven science. you don't dismantle america's power and energy on a maybe. we need to be energy independent first. we need to do it better. it is not a settled science. for the president to say that hurricane sandy was a result of climate change is simply a false claim. [applause] again, signed a letter to president obama asking for him to do something about climate change. a few years later, saying a to addc explosion greenhouse gases in the world than any man-made cause. i read an article a few months manthat now it wasn't any cause things, and it is the rising of the ocean levels and

the warming of the temperature that is causing global warming. he said that. i want to see consistency on this issue. above all, we need people in oriented,re solution and want to be a part of the solution. the debate is not going away. when you put your head in the sand and say it is not true that is not helpful. you can ask whole companies for is not helpful to the debate. both i have a question for candidates. student loans. i watched news last night. billionsates is making off of student loans. it is obscene. would you support reducing the interest rate on these loans? or back legislation to have them renegotiated? >> absolutely. i would support being able to refinance those student loans.

debt replaced credit card as the highest amount of debt and young people starting out in the world. and starts montana out with $27,000 in debt. we need to start with that. more pell grants pretty we need students to refinance student loans. in the ryan budget intercuts pell grants. -- it costs held grants. half of the students receive pell grants. i heard criticism about my debt plan. it is not just about selling used cars. but he supports the ryan budget that says certain things in there he doesn't like, like privatizing medicare and selling off public lands. that is a rounding error. if you're not in favor of that, how does the ryan budget work?

[applause] >> it is not the ryan zinke budget. i do support balancing the budget in 10 years. i set as a chairman on the montana senate education committee for a reason. the link between education and a good job. education is an investment, not an expense. if the government is making backs of our students trying to better themselves, it is wrong. we should prosecute those for doing it. throughave incentives grants. our skills we need in america. they are not being filled. everyone complains about jobs going overseas because there are engineers overseas. how about training engineers here? so we don't have to look overseas for software development. if we need to demand skill in

america, make those funds available for students to fill those high demand jobs. there doesn't have to be a four year degree. there are welding jobs in montana. three dollars an hour. show up on time. government is making money on these loans, the wall street journal, $60 billion since 2006. >> probably the only thing they're making money on. [applause] [laughter] that welding job his high and that. a personality question. --you win, who do you think who will you think? >> i'm going to thank my family and my wife.

my wife has been through a lot. spouse, was a service my daughter and myself and my son-in-law were deployed together. that takes an enormous amount of sacrifice. if we lose, i'm going to blame john lewis. [laughter] >> if we win on one thing my family, my wife and my kids. it is a huge sacrifice to do this and run for public office. my wife has been there for me through thick and thin. i can't thank her enough. i'm going to thank the people of montana who have funded this campaign. the vast majority of the money i raised is from montana. i believe in what we're trying to do here. if i come up short, that is tough. i know we will give it

everything we've got. maybe try harder next time. >> with that our our is mostly up. we have you scheduled for a closing statement. we did flip a coin. gon lewis decided you get to first. , and int to thank you want to thank you ryan for doing this again. and our panelists. tonight, throughout this election, we have seen a clearer choice in this race. it approaches we would take in congress. horse, --t a sure show horse, he is your guy. if you want a workhorse, i'm your guy. [applause] i promise that i'm fortunate enough to serve i will work as hard as i can on montana issues,

remembering who we serve. bestcomes back to the vision for montana. we need somebody that is going to be a champion for protecting public lands and furthering access. let's be proactive. let's get better access. somebody will be a champion for medicare and social security, not support proposals that would privatize them and take away benefits from seniors. if you were a woman making it difficult health care decision, we need people who think we should let women make those decisions. [applause] is proud of his service. i think we all him a credit -- debt of gratitude. we do not owe him our vote. i respectfully ask for your vote. i thank you for the opportunity. thank you. [applause] i am an optimist.

i think the problems facing our country can and will be fixed. i think the 21st century will be an american century, but we have to earn it and work together. this is not about republicans or democrats. it is about americans. i have always viewed life about being an american first. n, then antana republican. i tried to persuade you that maybe the republican side is better. it is not always better. my voting record was clear great i voted on the merits of the bill and not who sponsored it. i will do the same in washington dc. to pressure. i have been wrong, as we all have. that is part of the leadership, that corrects your course if you are wrong, get better fast, and

learn from your mistakes. our president, you may like or not, but he is our president. yesterday, he made a couple of remarks that are interesting. he said while i am not running for office, make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot. every one of them. election means is this is about whether you think the policies of barack hussein obama are correct. i don't believe they are correct. i will stand on a better vision, and i will stand on a better legacy giving to my children of freedom, liberty, and making sure we earn it. opponent is a vote

for the policies of this president. if you agree with them, great. if you don't, i'm going to ask for your vote. thank you, god bless america, god bless all those who defend her. did not. [applause] >> thank you for all of you. he is in your attention tonight. for those of you watching, we invite you to stay tuned in the next half-hour. we will join our panel and a political science professor as we analyze the debate. pbs is going to, on montana immediately following. we want to thank you for joining us. don't forget absentee ballots will be arriving in the mailbox soon near you starting monday. it is up to the voters to decide. i hope you enjoy our debate

tonight. reminder, our special will be replayed tomorrow morning on face to face. we would like to thank our panel. [applause] >> here are some of the campaign as airing in montana for this district race. >> i could tell you all about my montana roots. i think it is more important to tell you where i stand. in congress i worked to balance the budget the right way. cut congress' pay and perks, keep promises to veterans and seniors. my opponent wants to cut education and medicare, get more tax breaks to millionaires. i am john lewis. i approved this message to make

congress for montana. isin 1988 ryan zinke assigned as seal commander. john lewis enters fifth grade. commanderes as acting of special forces in iraq. one ready to lead in congress. zinke . >> i'm ryan zinke and a proved this message. >> wait, hold on. with us, what you see is what you get. unlike my opponent, i don't have my own super pac trying to buy me a seat in congressional. -- congress. but i do have a plan to cut costs and get rid of congress' gold-plated