well. go to our website, www.c-span.org. you will find our campaign 2014 coverage there. >> the subcommittee holds a hearing on the use of government credit cards. witnesses well testify as to what they are doing about the misuse of these cards.

our coverage of the campaign continues with debates. at any clock, the louisiana senate debate. that is live on c-span two. yesterday's debate lasted 90 minutes. we will show that to you in a few moments first some campaign ads. >> i am mark pryor and i approved this message. we've got to do something to break this cycle of violence.

congressman cotten voted against protecting women and children from domestic violence. he was the only republican or democrat to vote this way. he voted to cut the funding to shelters. one wants to protect women and children. >> i am mark pryor and i approved this message. it is hard to ignore this senate race. the more i am concerned about tom cotton. he voted against equal pay for women. he thinks women should be charge more for health care than men. towas the only congressman vote for women who are victims of violence. i am tom cotton and i approved this message. everything in this business. rival.am is to

obamacare is costing us a fortune. it has hurt our employees. it was supposed to make health care a lot more affordable. it has done everything but make health care affordable. next year, we may not be able to afford coverage at all. it is frustrating to realize that your own a senator cast the deciding vote on obama care. we told him how this would affect our business. i wish senator pryor had listened to us when we told him how it would affect our business. i wish he would've voted against it.

>> welcome to debate week. we are in the performance all at the university of central arkansas. at this hour the race for a seat in the united states senate. the contestants u.s. representative tom cotton, the republican nominee. mr. nathan lefrance, the green candidate. mr. pryor, the democratic nominee, and mr. swaney, the independent candidate. each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement. each will have 1:50 to respond to a question, while rebutals

are limited to one minute. at the conclusion, each will have an opportunity for a closing statement. opening and closing statements were determined prior to tonight by a drawing in which the candidates for their representatives participated. our timekeeper is elizabeth lewis. our first opening statement begins with mr. swaney. >> well, thank you for watching this gay. i'm with the green party. the green party is the only progressive political party in this senate race today. the green party has several characteristics that differentiate it from the other parties. i hear people say the green party is like the democratic party. it is not. we have guiding principles of

peace, social justice, and protecting the environment. early in his term, senator pryor was a strong supporter of the iraq war. he since then, we have added more than a trillion dollars to our national debt. the green party believes it is wrong to hire people to work and not pay them enough money to live during the time that they are working. because of that, we support a living wage. which is more than a minimum wage. but senator pryor can't even support $10.10 an hour, supports by his party. finally, the green party

believes climate change is the most serious problem facing the planet. we believe taxes is a necessary first step to stop this problem. senator pryor voted for a bill that would have prevented congress from even discussing a carbon tax. >> mr. pryor, two minutes. >> i want to thank you for allowing me to be your senator. you sent me to washington to get things done in a bipartisan way for arkansas and america. we have done a lot of good things together, from saving jobs in texarkana to funding research at arkansas state. from shrinking the federal government but at the same time honoring the commit mingts we've made to our veterans. i believe i represent the best state in the union and the best

people in america. i also believe we have a lot at stake in this election. i don't know if you heard the audio, but several months ago senator cotton went to california to spend time with his billionaire donors. it is a vote against arkansas. you can hear the ovation on the tape for voting against arkansas. folks, he's not listening to you. he's listening to them. that applause is still ringing in his ear, and those dollar signs are still in his eyes. congressman cotton has allowed his ambitions to get the best of him. he will vote however he can so he can get their money to win this race. he has his billionaire, but i have you. that's all i've ever had is you, the people of arkansas. you swr prayed for me, you have

set my course, you have given me direction. that's why tonight i am asking for your vote on november 4. i know together we can keep america strong and keep arkansas working. that's what i mean when i say arkansas comes first. >> thank you. mr. lafrance. i would like to say thank you for allowing me to be here among the other candidates. i think today you will find a distinct difference between myself and the libertarian candidate and the other candidates today. they have their own interest groups that influence how they vote in washington. all three parties have one common goal.

that is, grow the size of the federal government. it is to consolidate control and power over our lives in washington, d.c. because that control means more money for their campaigns. that is a cycle i think needs top end, and end now. the overarching goal of my platform is to take this consolidated power in washington, d.c. and diffuse it down to the state level, to the county level, to your communities, because this is america, and this is founded on local government and a limited federal government. so now we have a federal deficit of over $18 trillion. it is a federal deficit both republicans and democrats have controlled over the last 10 years. no matter which party was in power, we saw spending and the deficit grow. i think it needs to end now.

so what i will bring to arkansas and the rest of the country is a voice in washington of a true limited government. we will return that paur back to you and to the people of the country. >> as i've traveled around the state of arkansas i have listened to people. they are frustrated with washington. and they should be. i vice president been in washington very long, but i've been there long enough to know it needs to change. washington could use more of the common sense that i learned growing up on my parents' farm. washington could use more courage, as shown by our combat troops.

our national debt is almost $18 trillion. parents are worried about the kind of future we're going to leave our kids. so am i. anne and i were so excited last week to announce we're expecting our first child, a baby boy. we want to make sure our baby has the same kind of future that we-all had. not a country that's poor with less opportunity and less safe and secure. unfortunately, that's the kind of future that barack obama's policies promise. senator pryor has voted with barack obama 90% of the time. voting for every single penny of new deficit spending. mark pryor said barack obama doesn't offer a lot to rural america to states like arkansas. i agree. i just don't understand why he votes with him 90% of the time. barack obama's policies are on the budget. i agree with that. in arkansas those policies are called mark pryor.

i think you agree there is a better way. let's repeal obama care and get health care working again. let's stop terrorists before they attack us here again. if you are ready for change, i'm ready to serve. >> mr. cotton, thank you. our first question tonight goes to mr. pryor. >> mr. pryor, i think a lot of people are turned off by the negative campaigns, especially some of the groups, like citizens united. >> well, i'm turned off by the negative tone as well. you know, i wish that the >> you know, they set the done over 2020 months ago.

to get him out of the senate seat and get me in. and you have to ask why? here you have congressman cotton hanging out with his billionaire supporters in the resort. there is more on that audio tape i mentioned a few moments ago. there is a point in there where they say, tom, you are in a room full of investors. why should we invest in you? i think that sums up the race pretty well. they are investing in tom cotton just like they would invest in a company. why? they want to get a payback on this investment, and they will. what he will do is cut things like cut social security.

he will increase the age to 70 on medicare and social security. he will vote against farm bills and do things like that to find the so-called savings over here then turn around and give them enormous tax breaks over there. congressman goton is a good investment for them, and that's why they spent well over $20 million on television trying to buy the senate seat. ladies and gentlemen, guess what? this seat is not no sale. this seat belongs to you. i'm mark pryor, and if i have your vote, i will do this differently. >> i am here to say i have not aired a single ad in the state of arkansas. i'm sure a lot of television viewers here today will appreciate that. you can't turn on the tv without seeing a half dozen, dozen of these ads in a 30-minute program. that's a shame, because these negative ads are not informing

the voters of arkansas what senator pryor or representative do the cotton are going to do in washington. they are just attacking each other. whether it is an attack ad or a personal ad doing whatever, that's not telling you the voter what are they going to do for you in washington. because that's what matters in the end, what they are going to do for you. i can tell you i will vote for you, the arkansas -- the people of arkansas every day. the fact i don't have a lot of influence from outside parties, people that donate so's of thousands, hundreds of thousands to these -- these super powers, they are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

they are doing it for a return on their investment, just like a business. and they expect that return on investment through their votes and with a favor. there is no such influence on myself as a libertarian candidate. i will vote for you. you don't have to be a big-time donor to visit me in washington, because every citizen will have access to visiting me and giving your opinions. >> i think the last thing everybody wants to hear is a bunch of politicians l fighting. frankly, i have dodged literal bullets, so a few metaphorical bullets on the campaign trail are not a problem. i met some people on the campaign trail two weeks ago. they are two-income families, but they had to sell their

and move in with their parents because the price of health care had gone up so much. look where we have come in six years under barack obama. we have only dreated 28,000 full-time jobs in arkansas, yet we have added 88,000 people to the food stamp rolls. 60,000 people have dropped out of the work force all together because they are so discouraged they don't want to look for work. obama care has cost 2.5 million jobs. arkansas seniors, over 4,000, will see medicare plans canceled. i just saw one last week in arkansas. time and time again, mark pryor has rubber stamped barack

obama's big time agenda. a vote for mark pryor is a vote for more of barack obama's policies. >> mr. swaney. >> i'm glad you asked that question. it's a very good question. i'm not particularly disturbed by the negative content of these ads that come from out of state. but i am disturbed by the sense united decision that made them possible and inflated the huge sums of money that are now devoted to these campaigns we are very opposed to this decision by the supreme court of citizens united. it leaves two concepts of corporate personhood, the idea that a pile of paper is equal to an actual flesh and blood human being. this is something we very strongly oppose. as a result, we are in favor of and do support a constitutional

amendment that would change the constitution and define human beings to be national flesh and blood humans and nothing else therefore, we would like to see this decision overturned. the second opinion that should be overturned would be the hobby-lobby stigs, which we think is a bad decision and goes into the rehlm of imagination where they imagine a corporation can have religious feelings. this is simply in the relevant many -- rehlm of the ridiculous. if we add to this by giving them even more advantages, we are going to be building ourselves a bad place to live. we opposed the citizens united decision and support a constitutional amendment to repeal it.

>> mr. swaney, thank you. mr. pryor for rebuttal. >> let me say, the negative ads in our view are bad for the system. they affect people's confidence in our government. i think the quality of information that these ads create is not good for the system. let me say, there are two things you never wavent to see in a political campaign when it comes to money. you don't want to see unlimited money and you don't want to see secret money. that's what you have with citizens united. i think money has a corosive event. this is the first election cycle we've seen in the state. it's been around three or four years. it is the first time, and it is a pretty ugly picture. i have already voted to change this system. i will continue to work to change this system. i think the fact that the supreme court has said citizens united can allow secret money and unlimited money, i think that's bad. what it does, it diminishes the voices of real citizens in arkansas, and that's not good for the system.

>> our first question goes to mr. lafrance. >> i feel badly for people that don't have dvr's because of these multiple ads. some of these are not from outside groups. some of these are from the candidates own campaign. so along the same lines, what is the responsibility that you as a candidate have for the tone of your ads, and are you responsible for making sure that your ads don't lead the voters misled about your position on issues that are really of critical importance in our lives. >> thank you. the citizens united decision was definitely a tumultuous one where we have all these situations in state after state

where they don't know who the money is coming from. they can air attack ads on whoever they want. personally, i think that the ads that we air, television, radio, should inform the voters of arkansas about what we would do while in office. the negative ads are usually just that. they are misleading people or take a single statistic and p.l.o. it out of proportion. it is just not right, and it is not fair to the voters who are trying to make an informed decision on election day. so unfortunately with the supreme court decision, right now there is not a lot that can be done about this. although, i can say as a candidate, and i would encourage my other candidates to do the same, i would come out publicly and specifically say i do not want this kind of support for my

campaign. i do not want attack ads running in my name or from my name. i don't think that's the right way to run a campaign and i don't think it is the right way to represent the american people. >> mr. lafrance. >> i don't think people want to hear us whining about attack ads. i think they want to hear solutions for america. quite frankly barack obama hasn't offered solutions. here's what we need to do to address the real problems facing the people of arkansas when you look at high wages, employment or unemployment. we need to get back to basics. we need to balance our budget. we need to pass a balanced budget amendment, which i support. >> are you answering my question about what your job as a candidate is, or are you just doing talking points? is it your responsibility as a candidate to make sure your ads

are not misleading? >> i also allowed him to go ahead, because we have no provision for a follow-up question. >> i can send whatever ads i want. i am proud of the campaign we have run. our campaign is about getting our economy going again so we can get more people back to work, not on the food stamp rolls, which is what has happened in the obama-pryor economy. fundamental you want to look at what's happened nationwide, the top 5%, people that live on assets and investments, they are actually seeing incomes go down. people who live off their labor, have to work to put food on the table, they have seen their incomes decline. because mark pryor always stands with barack obama well higher taxes and more spending like obama care and more big regulatory spending. i don't think that's right for arkansas.

that's why i don't think people in arkansas are ready to vote for mark pryor, because a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. >> go ahead mr. swaney. >> i believe that the candidate is responsible for every piece of material that is sent on tv in his name. i believe that candidate should be held to account if its media you is able to show those ads are misleading or untrue. that should be enough incentive for candidates not to lie and attack ads. i think that is a pretty direct answer to that question. i would like to say further, though, on a separate subject, if i'm allowed, that i'm opposed,

and the green party is opposed to the death penalty. this subject has not been discussed much in the senate race. will i want everybody to know that i am opposed to the death penalty. and when i am lucky enough to be a elected to the united states senate, i will work very hard to eliminate the death penalty in the federal system. i wanted to make that statement in case i didn't get a chance to say so otherwise. >> i want to thank you for that question, because i am responsible for the ads in my campaign. whenever we release an ad, we provide documentation to that ad, every fact that's in there. every vote, every statement. we put the context in there. this is something i sat down with my campaign team on day one, and and i said look, one of the things we want to show about this campaign is integrity. the people of the state of arkansas deserve that. they deserve honesty when it comes to campaigning. now one thing you heard about from my opponent and one thing

you see in his ad is his rhetoric is very clever. that's great for advancing his political career. that's going to help him climb the political ladder. the problem is, arkansans are smarter than that. time and again you will see -- in fact i can tell from experience in some of my races. back in 2002, i won the state very big and so did mike huckabee. you can chart this every election cycle. people here are very independent. they don't want to be told about a lot of misinformation and a bad information. most of the people i talk to, him when they see the ads come on television, they hit the mute button. i hear that over and over and

over. again, like i said in my previous answer, we need to change this. we need to get the supreme court to reverse citizens united or actually amend the constitution to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. >> mr. lafrance. >> thank you for the opportunity for rebuttal here. again i would just reiterate what i have already stated. the money being donated is not money being donated by people like you and i, but the money being donated by the large special interest groups, by the unions, by the wealthy individuals, wall street banks, big corporations across the country, that money is not being donated to these campaigns you because they have a strong political belief or because they think it is the right thing to do. they are making an investment in every candidate they throw money at. that's an investment you and i in and people across this country cannot afford to make.

so that's something that has to change. there is no special interest, and i will work for the people of arkansas and no one else. >> next question to mr. cotton. >> mr. cotton, there is open war in syria and iraq. there is something that looks a whole lot like undeclared war going on in the ukraine. our soldiers for a couple decades, our service personnel of all the branches of the service have been asked a lot, ranging from extended deployment and the giving of their lives rvings and it's all been very spencey. what strategies should we have to contain threats such as these ca that can be applied in a bipartisan manner over a long course of time that we can afford?

>> the fundamental responsibility of our government is to keep america safe. barack obama's indecision has made america face greater risks in the world. unfortunately, mark pryor has been rubber-stamping that foreign policy. if we look at what's happening in the islamic state, they are rampaging across the region. they are killing americans, they are burying people alive. this is happening because barack obama failed to take the advice of his generals in 2011 when they asked for a small stay-behind force. not like iraq in 2006 when we were fighting the precursor group, but trainers, planners, advisors. because of that decision, we lost our leverage with the iraqi government. we called into question the trustworthyness of the united

states among allies in the andstates among allies in the region, and we allowed al-qaeda in the area to regroup and move to syria and take advantage of the an vacuum there. they are not just a terrorist group, they are a terrorist army. if we don't stop them, they are going to continue to rampage across the middle east, and they could attack us here in the united states. their own leader when he was released from cap taste said "i will see you guys in new york." the president doesn't have a political strategy. what we need is to take it seriously. he no commander-in-chief would ever take any option on the ground, including troops on the ground. you because the islamic state certainly isn't taking any options off the table. if barack obama does that and mark pryor once again rubber stamps his failed policies. >> it is a very difficult

situation. you can go on and on about what inyou can go on and on about what caused the situation and why it -- how it should have been handled differently. i do not like warks but i personally am not a pacifist. i think we need to defend the united states from attack and you also put an end to mass human rights violations. it is my judgment that the situation in syria and iraq with isis meets both those criteria. i support military action to destroy isis. i think congressman cotton was correct when he listed vast in quantities of human rights a violations being reported from these people by independent eye witnesses from all over. i think congress needs to authorize it, and i think we

need to support from the united nations, and i think we need to seek support from other islamic countries. i think that support should also go to helping defray the cost of this because isis is a threat to the entire world, not merely the united states. briefly speaking about ukraine, we have no business messing around there. i have a strong suspicion that we initiated that problem. if the russians were trying to influence a group of people in mexico to overthrow the mexican government and put in a government in mexico hostile to the united states, i think we would be very upset. we have common enemies. i think we need to work constructively with them. and i think we should work constructively with the chinese. we have common enemies. >> thank you for your service. let me ask you about isis for a moment. my number one priority as your

senator is to compeep america safe from terrorism. isis is a terrorist group. we must meet threats like this head on. that's why i support the air strikes in order to damage isis i and we have to destroy their capability to harm america. whenever it comes to something like this, i have three criteria. this isn't new. this is not something i created a in the campaign. this is something i thought about probably my first month in the senate when president bush was in office. first, there must be a clear national security threat. second, there must be a clear mission with defineable and attainable goals, and means when we know when we hit an end, that means when the job is done, and and third, there must be a coalition with regional partners

in there that are bearing the burden along side americans and putting themselves at risk just like americans are in harm's way. i'm not sure what congressman cotton's criteria is when it comes to this, but it seems that he is arguing to a more open-ended commitment in iraq. one thing that has not come up, is he is in to nation building. he's also voted to cut schools, roads, and hospitals here in america. i believe for us to be strong abroad, we have to be strong at home. >> i would also like to thank mr. cotton for his service. it is very much appreciated. when it comes to isis, i think we need to take a pause and realize, a lot of this is our own doing.

this began with the bush administration's decision to invade iraq and overthrow saddam hussein with no plans about what to do after that happened. that left a significant power vacuum that we are still 10 years later dealing with. we helped install a prime minister that was very discriminatory against certain fax factions in iraq that did not bring the country together. he was our guy, and he helped to divide that country even further. in fact, isis has gained such a stronghold there will because there is such division and because so many iraqis don't trust their own government. they would rather trust someone associated with their own religious secretary. so isis being what it is now is a threat. i think we have to take actions, but it should not be unilateral. this must be a multieye country effort to ensure we -- multi-country threat, and ensure we take care of these terrorists and allow windse wounds that have been taking

hold him for years and decades to finally heal. to finally have some self-control over their own future and their own governance. i think that's the way to approach this. now, representative cotton, i do degree with him on some foreign policy issues. one major wa one was his support of barack obama's effort overtime effort to interact with syria last year. barack obama wanted to bomb syrian rebels, even though a third were rebels. 1/3 of arkansans approved it. i think tom cotton is wrong. i will provide safety and security for americans. >> when you are in combat you

learn some basic lessons. when we go into a new sector in baghdad, we would dismount our weapons to be at the ready. if you look hard and tough, your enemies will think you are hard and tough. if you pull up, lollygag around, you will look weak and soft and people will be ready to take a strike at you. barack obama has made america look weak and soft in the world. senator pryor has been weak and unsteady when it comes to our safety and security. when i was a lonely voice calling for security in iraq. senator pryor voted no. he also voted forces in syria against isis. i don't know what's happened in the meantime. mr. barack obama said he needed senator pryor's vote. whenever he says he needs senator pryor's vote, he gets it.

>> ok. next question. >> there has been talk about food stamps today, and the farm bill passed this year includes funding for the subpoena -- supplemental nutritional program. with food stamps. should they be linked? >> yes, i think so. about $80 billion has been added to the food stamp program, and i support that food stamp program, and i believe the food stamp program should stay in the farm bill. the money goes to farmers that grow the food that feed americans. i actually find it a little offensive that people in congress who give away sometimes hundreds of billions of dollars of advantages to the richest people in this country, starving our federal government of needed revenue and don't care anything about the effect that it has on

our deficit on the other hand seem to think it is just terrible that some persons are getting food to eat and that the people that grew that food are getting paid money to do that. i think that is uncon shunnable -- unconscionable, i think it is wrong, and i do support the food stamp farming bill. there are some fundamentals differences. i think the remainder of that money goes to wealthy farmers and not enough to the less well off farmers. i also think it doesn't make the right priority choices for agrabusiness in terms of environmental choices the agra-business uses. so i do see issues, but i don't want to see it divorced from the farm bill. >> obviously the farm bill is an important piece of legislation for arkansas. i think you can argue, of any bill congress passes in a five-year period, the farm bill

is probably the most important to arkansas because it is about 20% of arkansas' economy because about 25% of our economy is ag-related. there is a difference between the two of us in this race because congressman cotton voted against the farm bill. he is the only member of the arkansas delegation to do that. every indicator i have ever seen says we should vote for this because it is good for arkansas. this is not just about the farmers. this is about rural farmers, rural broadband. all those things are in the farm bill. we need those to pass so we can help arkansas stay competive in the global economy. yes, specifically about the food stamp program.

my opponent, as we all know, has been talking about the food stamps and how the president has hijacked the food stamp bill. it is either in the "washington journal" or "new york times," i don't remember which one, where they gave out fake nobel prizes, and the one they gave to congressman cotton was for political fiction, ads that don't connect to the real issues in arkansas. his rhetoric is good, he talks a good game, but the truth is, that does not help arkansas' farmers, that doesn't help people in rural arkansas, rural america. >> mr. lafrance. >> nowhere in our constitution did our founding fathers give the federal government the authority to take income, to take wealthy, take earnings from one group of people and give it to

the other people at their own discretion. that is not freedom, and that's not an american quality. i believe issues such as helping out those struggling to make ends meet and have food on their tablese tables or helping people with housing, these kinds of issues should be dealt with in the private sector by private charitable organizations. let the american people keep their tax money. let us decide what causes are best to give to, not politicians in washington. this is what i spoke about in my opening statement. this consolidation of power and this continual power grab in washington is an attribute of all of my opponents. things like the food stamp and the food bill. they get dolled out to supporters, people that support

their campaigns, and it is wrong. the federal government and elected officials have no business taking our money and to give it to other people at their own discretion. we the american people are compassi. nate enough to help others. we can help the most people most efficiently, rather than having it con if i -- confiscated by washington politicians. it's wrong and if i am elected, i will work to fix it. >> i think we need a real farm bill that focuses on farmer. i voted for those bills in congress. senator pryor and barack obama insist on doing things the old way, keeping them combined. that's the status quo. if you are happy with the status quo and $18 trillion in deficit, then you probably want to keep the status quo. i worked on my parents small

farm from a very early age i learned a lot of lessons on that farm. one is you can't spend more money than you take in. and i learned it is not enough to live at your means, have you to live below your means because you have to save for a rainy day. that's what we need to do in washington. we need a farm bill to help farmers, but we also need a food stamp bill without the waste and abuse with the institutionalized fraud that gain the system so they can enroll more people on food stamps. we don't have that system here in arkansas but guess what? your tax bills are paying for it. the farm bill that passed was a bad adeal for arkansas farmers.

the food stamp program has grown under barack obama by almost 70%. arkansas farmers get about one half of one percent of that bill. i think that's a bad deal. that's why i think a vote for mark pryor is a vote for those failed barack obama policies. >> to mr. swaney. >> this is an interesting discussion. talking about the national debt and the cost of the federal government. i often believe the republican party exists for one reason and one reason only. that is to ensure that rich people pay the lowest possible tax. they do that by starving the federal government of revenue, thus driving up our national debt. they did that by reducing the capital gains tax. they did that by limiting the

inheritance tax. they did that by refusing to pass new taxes. that did that with bush tax cuts. they did that by allowing corporations to keep how many trillion dollars off shore so they didn't have to pay tax bringing it back to the united states. yet these same people find it unhappy that they need to reduce spending by taking money from the women's, infants, and children's program. these are people that don't care if babies starve. they love their ideology more than they love human beings. >> next question to mark pryor. >> if you are elected or in this case re-elected, what would you like to see happen with the affordable care act. please include in your answer what result your decision would have on those unploipped employed and those with employer-sponsored plans. >> thanks for that question. i do want to talk about some

specifics here in a moment. please remember, before the affordable care act passed, people in arkansas were routinely denied health insurance if they had a preexisting condition. in fact, they were one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. back then the insurance companies have all the power. we needed to put patients back in charge of their own health care. i do support changes in the law. i do. but i don't want to go back to those days. my opponent, congressman cotton rvings has already voted to go back to those days. he has voted to allow people with preexisting conditions to be denied health insurance. a few weeks ago i was in church and a guy came up to me and gave me a hug. he say thank you for voting for the affordable care act. he said i'm a die betic. i have not had private health

insurance in 15 years, but now i do. congressman cotton wants to take that away from him. i don't. some of the things specifically about the option could be the democratic cover it to work together. i hope we keep the private option. right now we have over 200,000 arkansans on the exchange. in that gathers about -- >> thank you. mr. lafrance. >> very succinctly, the affordable care act needs to be repealed in its entirety. it has been a disaster for the united states. health cares are skyrocketing. i talked with doctors throughout arkansas and the united

states. they have made one thing clear. they are focused on their computer screens when they are talking to patients making sure they put in the right key words and the right codes because of the mandates of the affordable care act. their focus has gone from patient care to dealing with the affordable care act and federal government regulations on health care. and it's wrong. so the first step is to repeal obama care. the second step is to get government out of the health care industry. a long time ago health care used to be affordable for americans, and it was an insurance product. today it is not affordable for a lot of people. it is a system that's out of control. part of that was the founding a system of medicare and medicaid. a lot of that is the drug companies that have driven up prices.

health insurance isn't really safe anymore. think about your auto insurance. if you took the current policy with your l auto insurance, if you took your car to the gas station, insurance would pay for your gas. that's not what insurance is for. insurance is to protect us from cat sfrosk illnesses. right now it is just a transfer of wealth from healthy people people to ill people. it has gotten worse under obama care. we need to restructure it -- repeal it and restructure the entire system. >> mark pryor casts a decisive vote for obama care. he is responsible for that law. i think of all the people i met across the state of arkansas, is one story i want to tell is of a man that runs a dental office. they lost their health insurance because their office wasn't obama care compliant.

it didn't have pediatric care and neo-natural care. some companies obviously need and want those provisions. anne and i need those provisions in our health insurance. this couple is in their late 50's. they have grand kids. they don't have kids. yet they lost their health insurance because barack obama and mark pryor thinks government-run health insurance is better than you and your family making those decisions. look at all the problems obama care has caused. 2.5 million jobs lost. 700 million in cuts to pay for obama care. arkansas citizens just got over 400,000 cancellations despite barack obama's promises you can keep your plan if you like your plan. and billions of dollars wasteoned a broken web site. we can do better.

we can repeal obama care and trust patients and doctors. let you shop across state lines. let small businesses pool their resources together so they can negotiate better resources. it is not just obama care. when we start in health care reform, we can take a program like medicare and let the states make decisions for all their populations. mark pryor said he wants fixes on obama care but he never proposed any. and mark pryor always puts barack obama first, not arkansas. >> mr. swaney. >> the affordable care act is better than nothing. i have friends of mine, family members, that have been unable to visit a doctor for serious illness for years who have now been able to go to the doctor. so i don't want to say that i think the affordable care act is a bad thing.

it's a step, but only a step in the right direction. for those who have very low incomes, it is affordable and possible then for the first time to see a doctor. this is a good thing. but there are many people that have a moderate income and are far from wealthy and can't afford the premiums for the affordable care act. not only that, the affordable care act does nothing about the cost of medicine. without some price discipline, you can expect that medical costs will continue to increase. therefore we will continue to put more and more burdens on the citizens and the government. therefore the green party calls for a national health insurance and take the insurance industry out of medicine and remove the profits. we believe, in the green party, that basic medical care is a huge u human right, and that denial for any reason is

basically a violation of human rights, and in some cases might be moralally equivalent to murder. other nations have done this and have done a good job, and they get better outcomes for half the cost because they have national health insurance. we are addicted to the idea that capitalism like a religion must always be right and must always be the only solution for every problem. it is not. it does not work in the case of the medical industry, and we need national health insurance. >> thank you for that question. let me give you an idea of things i do support. contrary to what representative goton says, i don't support changes. i'm a democratic sponsor on a bill that would fix the exchanges for pastors and ministers. it is a technical fix. nonetheless, an important one. and i'm also supportive of

repealing the medical tax. there are three things right there. let me also get back to congressman cotton's answer on the affordable care act. he had no answer at all for people with preexisting conditions. none. in other contexts, what he talks about, is reestablishing the high-risk pool. let me tell you something. i'm a cancer survivor. i've been in the high-risk pool. it is not a good place to be. when we had the high-risk pool in arkansas we had over 20% of the people that did not have insurance. if we resh reflish establish the high-risk pool, we are just throwing sick people to the wolves, and i don't support it. >> next question goes to mr. lafrance. >> mr. lafrance has two years left in his last term. he is a lame duck. he is blocked by a hostile majority in the house. he has a senate that at best is going to be pretty evenly and bitterly divided.

this is a six-year term you are running for. would you please tell us what you would hope to accomplish in that six years, most of which will not be with president obama. and please don't mention obama, if you can give me an answer like that. [laughter] >> i will try to. >> if elected, i want to leave office six years from now or be re-elected for another term potentially, with the federal government smaller than it is today. with the budget deficit gone, and a balanced budget amendment in place. i'd like to see the income tax system be completely over-hauled. we have a 75,000 will have plus page of income tax system. companies have to hire accountants, c.p.a.'s just to deal with. it's ridiculous. our laws made in washington are supposed to be laws made for

the american people. people should be able to read and understand these laws. in fact, most of the republicans and democrats in washington don't bother reading them themselves, and most don't understand what's in them. with the income tax system, i would like to scrap it. put the whole thing in a shredder, 85,000 pages, probably a big mess. i would like to replace it with the fair tax where americans pay a sales tax to the federal government on final consumer goods. this can almost eliminate the i.r.s., tremendous cost savings for americans, and i think it will be a big boost to our economy. in addition, like i said, i want to strengthen the federal government. we have agencies sizz that are tremendously bloated that need to be cut down to size. we need to balance the budget. at the same time i would like to cut your tax burden as well,

because the middle glass is just under tremendous strain from the income tax they are facing, and it is hurting families all across america. >> mr. cotton. >> well, barack obama can do a lot of damage in two years. he's already done a lot of damage in six years. that is one of the reasons why the arkansans are so disappointed with mark pryor for voting with him. we need to get our economy moving again, because arkansans and hurting. we have headed -- added 88,000 people to food stamps. we have fewer than 30,000 new jobs. wages are down almost 5%. how can we do that? well, we need to start with tax reform. we need to reform our tax code. we now have some of the highest taxes in the industrialized world. that makes arkansas and our country less competitive for jobs right here at home. we need to reform our regulatory laws, so you can hold congress accountable for every rule or

legacy that comes out of those places so we do not have them point their finger at nameless and faceless democrats. -- bureaucrats. energy a untapped our attentional -- potential. look what this is doing in places like north dakota or out midland odessa in the basin. we can have gas prices that are falling, diesel prices that are falling. and we need to untap the potential for clean coal for holding the potential for lowering prices for every arkansasn, every american. those are just a few of the things that i hope to get to work on, but in these last two years, the president can still do a lot of damage, and some of that damage could last for generations. if he continues to get supreme court justice nomination or continues to pack the lower courts, that will be an obama echo that will last for decades. if they had your way, you wouldn't have a second amendment right to keep and bear arms. our marriage laws would be over-turned. we would not be able to protect unbhorn life.

that is why a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. >> mr. swaney. >> good question, but i fear i will not have time to cover all the ground. the first thing i would like to see at the end of my six years in my first term as senator from arkansas would be to solve the problem of climate change. i know we don't hear a lot about it, and i read a lot about it. i care about the future and i care about the future of my children and grandchildren. if we do not care about it, we are not good human beings, and we better get busy on it now. i believe we need to institute a carbon tax. refundable to lower and middle income persons. this would eliminate the economic advantage that burning fossil fuels has over cleaner energy, thereby moving us away in stages from a carbon-based economy. the second thing i would like to do is tax wall street.

i studied about this, and i found some tremendous numbers. i will try to say this fast. $1 trillion a day, $1 trillion a day just in america just stocks and bonds. $383 trillion worth of financial transactions by wall street every year. not one penny of it is taxed. that needs to change. i want to see a minimum wage increased to a living wage and put more money in the hands of the working people because that will bring jobs by reviving the economy, it is the only way it can be revived, and that is increasing consumer spending. i want to see a balanced budget and social security saved. both of those things happen by restoring the tax cuts, the revenue taken from the federal government by these tax cuts by those people who only care about the interests of the rich. and last, i would cut off aid to israel. they don't need it. and i would seek better relations with china and russia. >> thank you, sir. mr. pryor?

>> thank you for asking that question on president obama, because as you all noticed, when you ask questions about negative ads congressman cotton talks about obama. when you ask a question about i.s.i.s., he talks about obama. you talk about the farm bill, he talks about obama. you see a pattern? yes. clearly he is running against one man but i am running for 3 million arkansans. that is what this race is all about, and that is the difference in this race. i'm on your side. when i look at you and travel the state and hear what is on your mind, that's when i go to work. congressman cotton loves to throw out these phony about -- phony statistics about how much i have agreed with president obama. you all know me. you know i don't agree with president obama on a whole

variety of things. just take the keystone pipeline. take his epa regs on carbon. take the cuts to social security. i disagreed with him last year on gun control, so much so that when i voted no on his legislation, mayor bloomberg of new york city ran ads in arkansas criticizing me . i want to see more money in the -- i disagree with obama plenty and yes i've been disappointed in him. i am not going to sugar coat it. my philosophy is this. if you look at the rankings of the people in the senate and how we vote not the tv ads and all the rhetoric and spin, every year i've been in the senate, every year, they have ranked me as the most or one of the most independent senators in washington. that's because i listen to you. you know, when president bush was in office, there were times i agreed with him. there were times i took heat from my party for agreeing with president bush. arkansas comes first and that's what i mean. >> rebuttal?

>> thank you. it is pretty simple what i'd like to do with my first six-year term as your u.s. senator. i'd like to take arkansas's senate seat that is up for election this year and give it back to you, the voters, and the citizens of arkansas. right now, 100 out of 100 seats in the senate are controlled by interest groups of an array of areas and backgrounds. one thing that associates them all is big money, big donations, big campaigns, big influence in washington, d.c. you are going to influence my decisions in washington. what is best for you? what is best for americans and america? that will be what guides my decisions. one big issue i'd like to focus on is term limits. for all members of the united states congress. that would help end this perpetual cycle of fund raising, doling out benefits to big donors, fund raising again.

i think we have to make big structural changes in washington, and with your support i will work to make it happen. >> next question from mr. hedlund goes first for mr. cotton. >> congressman cotton, for those who have served in washington, you and senator pryor, which key pieces of legislation have you helped with that you are most proud of if you can name one and also name one that you perhaps would like to take back? and for those of you who haven't served, maybe what is your key priority if elected? >> well, i haven't been in washington very long, less than a year. but i've been there long enough to know as calvin cooledge said that it's just as important to to stop bad laws as it is to pass good laws. frankly we've been stymied a lot over the last two years in trying to pass good laws, trying to reform obama care, by preventing you from having to pay a tax if you can't afford a

plan from obama care that you don't like. trying to stop businesses from having to pay a tax because they don't provide obama care compliant employees. trying to stop obama care from turning our country into a part-time economy. unfortunately, we have been stymied in that effort because mark pryor and barack obama have let almost 400 bills from the house of representatives pile up on the desks of the senate. they won't even take an up or down vote on it. look what's happening. 4,000 seniors just got cancellation notices of their medicare advantage plan here in arkansas just a few days ago. look at what happened at walmart just last week. they announced 30,000 part-time workers are going to lose health insurance because of obama care because of the cost it imposes on all workers at walmart, following other companies like target or home depot. look what's happening to companies like u.p.s. i've met many u.p.s. employees all around the state of arkansas who are losing coverage for their spouses because u.p.s. had to cut spousal coverage for

certain employees because of the cost obama care is imposing. this is very frustrating to me. it is very frustrating to arkansans because they know that washington is causing them this kind of pain, this kind of stress and dislocation. yet we can't move forward because the senate is in the hands of liberal democrats like mark pryor, who are always going to protect barack obama's legacy and enforce his policies. that's why a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. >> well, one of the very important things i would put at the top of my agenda, something we haven't heard from tonight, and that is a law passed dictating equal pay for equal work for working women of america. i also will support strongly passage of the equal rights amendment, long overdue. i studied and found there have been 135 pieces of legislation passed by state legislators in recent years, mostly dominated by republicans that provide negative restrictions on women's rights to choose their own -- make their own decisions about reproductive issues.

this qualifies rightly as a war against women. and i think it needs to be stopped. women have never been treated equally in this country and its history so far to this day. and it's long pastime that we remedy that and an equal pay for equal work job bill would be on the top of my agenda. additionally, something i've already mentioned once and will mention again because it is very important, i think we need a tax on wall street. i think we need to restore revenue to the government. the government has been starved of revenue contributing to national debt. i want to see a tax on wall street and i want to see restoration of these revenues that have been removed from the government over the past 10, 15, 20 years by republicans whose agenda is only to make life easier for the wealthiest people in the country, which, by the way, 1% of our country now owns

90% of all the wealth. >> mr. pryor? >> yes, thank you. i would say that my probably largest -- hard to single this out -- but my hardest single legislative accomplishment was the passage of the consumer product safety improvement act that kept lead out of toys and made toys safe. there is no doubt that that act has saved lives. it's worked. we worked with business. we worked with consumer groups. we also worked it through the process by the book exactly like you learn in eighth grade civics where we had conferences. we had full amendments on the floor and in the commitees and it worked just perfectly. it's a good example of how bipartisanship works and how we should do things. in addition to that, i passed about 70 pieces of legislation, almost all of it bipartisan.

that's the way i work. in fact, 13 of those bills were for men and women in uniform and our veterans and i'm proud of that. but also, i'm proud of the nonlegislative accomplishments i've had where i picked up the phone and called the ceo and asked him to do a plant expansion or bring their business to arkansas and they've done that. i'm proud to do that. you know what, ladies and gentlemen? you just heard congressman cotton basically admit that he hasn't passed anything since he's been in the house. even though he was there for one month, and he ran a poll on the senate race, did he know where the bathrooms were but nonetheless now he thinks he is entitled to be in the senate. his approach is my way or the highway that's dead end politics that leads to fiscal cliffs and shutting down the government. let me say this. leadership in washington involves walking across the aisle. congressman, you don't have the reputation, ability, or the desire to walk across the aisle

to get things done in washington. >> mr. la france? >> i can tell you i feel no entitlement to this united states senate seat. but you are entitled to this senate seat. you the voters, you the people of arkansas, this is your seat and i want to help you take it back. my key item, my key project will be to get washington out of our lives as much as possible. when this country was founded, they did not want a society where every decision you make, every turn you take you have to think about what the federal government is restricting, what regulations are here, what regulations are there. this is not a free society where we can own our own lives and our own future. freedom is hard. it's hard work. it takes sacrifice. politicians in washington today, they try to make everything better for everybody, taking money from one person, giving it to the other. wealth transfers, provide

favors, you know, it's got to stop. we as individuals, as families and communities, are the owners of our own destiny. if i go to washington for you, i'm going to make sure that you have the opportunity to own your future. a couple of key other items real quick, term limits as i mentioned, that goes along with my desire to get the influence of money in washington as limited as possible. term limits will be a big help as the days of the career politician are long gone, and i think a significant reduction in federal spending will go a long way. right now we're spending $3 trillion. you know there are people that are trying to get influence and get access to that money. people rob convenience stores for a hundred dollars. what are people doing for $3 trillion? i'm going to remove this influence as much as possible and bring a senate seat back to you. >> rebuttal, mr. cotton? >> senator pryor, i'd like to talk about leadership in washington. i learned leadership in the

streets of baghdad and t mountains of afghanistan. you can learn a little more there than in the halls of congress. leadership requires toughness, courage. senator pryor simply isn't tough enough to stand up to barack obama and put arkansas first. he cast a decisive vote for obama care. if it wasn't for his vote, it wouldn't have become law. he can claim to make fixes now but why didn't he demand them then? he had the power to protect arkansas from all the harms of that law. senator pryor likes to talk about how he is led on epa -- he has led on epa regulations yet we passed legislation and he can't get a vote on it. he likes to talk about the keystone pipeline. we passed legislation to permit the pipeline. he can't get a vote on that. why is that? because he likes to talk one way in arkansas but votes like a liberal when he gets to washington, d.c. that's why a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. >> next question from mr. thompson and goes first to mr. swainy.

>> mr. swaney, as recently as 2011 the president was willing to cut a deal. he was willing to raise the eligibility age on medicare. he was willing to make changes to social security. to the frustration of much of his party's del quation in washington -- delegation in washington, but conservatives balked because it included tax increases. he insisted on that. in hindsight, was conservative inflexibility on this matter a mistake? >> yes. yes, it was. social security is one of the most successful programs of legislation that's ever been enacted in the united states of america. and it's not really in trouble. they want you to think that it is, but it's not. it needs a little bit of help. probably all we really need to do is to remove the cap on payroll taxes, people that make

more than $117,000 a year are not paying into the social security system. i think that ought to be removed. that may do the job by itself. but if not, what would be left would be a very small percent increase in the payroll tax, which according to the government's figures would solve the problem for the united states government for 75 years. $5 trillion of the national debt is because the federal government borrowed the money from the social security trust fund and the medicare trust fund. if we enact small taxes now, that would be very easy to do, we could eliminate over that time period $5 trillion of the national debt and put the social security system back on a good foot. and put the medicare system in a solid position. and so i do support tax increases to save the social security system, to replenish the social security trust fund

and the medicare trust fund so that that excellent benefit is available for all americans from now on. >> mr. pryor? >> thank you. i think your question was about a global deal to get everything on the table, medicare, social security taxes, entitlements, everything on the table to talk about it. i support getting to a balanced budget. it's hard. don't kid yourself, folks. this is hard but this is why we run for these offices. we run for these offices to get things done. this is something i've been pushing for for years and i haven't been successful yet but i haven't stopped trying. the difference in congressman cotton and i when it comes to these issues is i want to do it responsibly so for example in the last three years i voted to

cut $4 trillion out of spending. in the last three years i voted to cut $4 trillion out of spending. we had the trillion dollar deficit. those are completely unsustainable. if there is good news this year when it comes to the budget it would be that we're now somewhere down in the range of $400 billion a year. so it is going in the right direction. it's still too much. here is the key to really getting our budget back ontrack. we need to work together in a bipartisan way to get this done, and everybody has to agree and hold hands and do it together like back in the old days when ted -- excuse me. tip o'neill and president reagan worked out social security, we need that same kind of leadership but we need to get the economy rolling again. if we can get the economy rolling again, a lot of the

budget problems start to take care of themselves because the revenues come in. that's why i support the american made strong package of jobs legislation. we need to focus on the middle class. we need to focus on manufacturing jobs. one of the differences in congressman cotton and i if you look at his votes, he wants to build the economy from the billionaires down. i want to build it from the middle class out. >> mr. la france? >> thank you. these entitlement issues don't have to be hard. it's not the 1930's or the 1940's anymore. we have an opportunity to scale these back, save these programs out, and return these tax dollars to the american people, have the money in their pockets and let them decide what to do with it. for social security, my plan is pretty straight forward. for retirees, people near retirement, they're going to see their full benefits. for mid career workers they're going to see partial benefits but also a phase out of their social security tax. for younger workers, they're not going to have social security benefits.

however, the social security tax is going to be eliminated for them over the next several years. in addition to what we pay, as working arkansans, our employers also have to pay 7.5 social security tax. these taxes, these regulations are what are restraining our economy today. it's not that america doesn't have the potential to grow and grow strongly, it's that our businesses can't cope with the regulation, can't cope with the tax burden. i want to change that and i want to get our economy growing again. when it comes to programs like medicare and medicaid, as i mentioned earlier these are programs that the government needs to be taking money out of one person's pocket and giving it to another. we can have private, charitable organizations set up to assist those that are clearly in need, get the medical services that they need. same thing with the welfare program and the foodstamp program. government is inefficient. government is messy. government is often corrupted. they don't need to have control over this kind of money. it shouldn't be their decision

where it goes. the american people are compassionate. we care for each other. we're capable of helping each other out in times of need. >> mr. cotton? >> the last thing our economy needs is tax increases and mark pryor has voted for every one of barack obama's tax increases. when i think about taxes i think about campaigning down in arkansas and i was shaking hands as the shift was coming out. it was dark. i tried to shake everyone's hand as they came out. a woman said when i asked for her vote are you a republican or democrat? here we go. the county has been kind of democratic like most of the state for a long time. i said, well, ma'am, i'm a republican. she said, good. because i can't work enough hours to pay all the taxes that they're putting on me. she's right. working families in arkansas are suffering from higher taxes. day in and day out. we don't have a taxing problem in this country. in fact, last year the federal government had the highest tax collections that we've ever had in the history of our country.

we still have deficits because we have a spending problem. mark pryor's solution is to keep increasing taxes. he's never voted against one of barack obama's tax increases. in fact, he's voted to raise taxes on wages, on savings, on health care plans, on medical devices. he even voted to raise taxes on indoor tanning salons. and then he says he wants to cut spending, that he's voted for $4 trillion in spending cuts? and that the deficits are unsustainable? i agree. but mark pryor has voted for every single penny of barack obama's trillion dollars a year in deficits on average every single year time and time again. that's bad for our economy. it's bad for the next generation of americans as well. it's not something that i'll stand for when i'm your next united states senator. we have to keep taxes low, simple, and fair. we have to control spending to get our budget back to balance. that's what i'll do. mark pryor won't because mark pryor will represent barack

obama's policies. >> mr. swaney, rebuttal . i began the subject of the question began with social security. i want to say that i'm a strong supporter of social security in its current form, that i believe that a small increase in tax now is am pleasely justified to put social security and medicare on a strong footing for 75 years. i think that sometimes i wonder whether or not people think it's a good thing to have old people living under bridges, which is probably what would happen if we eliminated social security. so i'm a very strong proponent of retaining that program and i think we do need a slight tax increase. perhaps it wouldn't even have to happen if we removed the cap on payroll learning for the upper class earners. that might do the job all by itself. but if not, what was left will be very small and easy to accommodate. i know people that are worried about their social security. i'm one of them. i'm only five years away from my full benefits.

i want it. >> with that, we want to thank our panel of journalists for their questions and time now in our broadcast for closing statements. again, as was the selection prior to the broadcast, mr. lafrance goes first. two minutes, sir. >> thank you very much. i am running for the united states senate for one simple reason, because i have six daughters of my own, and i do not want them to inherit a country with less freedom and less opportunity than the country that we have been blessed with. we're messing it up right now in our economy is stagnant. our taxes are too high. federal control over daily matters just continues to grow and grow. our tax is too high at the state and local level as well. whenever spending goes up too much, they just raise taxes again. enough is enough. i will not vote for tax increase of any kind.

in fact, i will fight for tax cuts for every american during my term in the u.s. senate. all i can say as a closing is that this is your country. it is not mine, not tom cotton's, mark swaney's, or mark pryor's. it's your country. this senate seat is your seat. whoever you elect should be voting in your best interests not in their own. career politicians, their days need to be numbered. i want term limits and i want an end to career politicians. i want to reduce the amount of influence money has in washington and its corruptive -- corruptive influence on everything that's done there in town. i want to bring control of your life, of your finances, of your children's education back to you. the federal government doesn't

need to be involved. the federal government can protect the country with a strong, defensive military and do some other functions, interstate commerce, interstate highways, things like that, that's fine. but they don't need to do wealth transfers. they don't need to take your money and my money and give it to whoever they want, whatever groups they want. i'm going to bring real, structural change to washington. that's something that none of the other three gentlemen up here can say. thank you very much. >> thank you. mr. swaney, you're next. >> i want to talk now about something to the audience both out there in the world and today in the auditorium here. thank you for attending and being interested. i want to talk about voting. you know, we have a peculiar idea in america sometimes. sometimes people think you can vote against a candidate. this is really not true. the ballot doesn't have a category that says which candidate do i hate the most? you can only vote for a candidate and when you vote for

a candidate you need to take some responsibility for that vote after you cast it. sometimes people will have you believe that you are responsible for candidates you didn't vote for. make you feel guilty. you didn't vote this way and so this other guy got in the office. if you don't vote for a candidate, you are not responsible for that candidate if that candidate gets elected but if you do vote for a candidate, you think he's a bad one but you vote for him anyway because you think another guy is worse and that bad candidate gets elected, you have some personal responsibility for everything that bad candidate does. in this election you're lucky if you're progressive because you have a progressive choice in this race. if you don't want to throw your vote away, doing the same things you've been doing for decades and seeing the country go more and more and more conservative, then i urge you to vote green. you won't be sorry about it. you won't have to feel guilty about it later. we have an excellent candidate for the green party for

governor. his name is josh drake. i urge all of you to vote for him. we need to get 3% for josh so that the green party can guarantee that you'll have candidates to vote for in 2016. i urge you to vote green. vote for your lives. thanks very much. >> mr. swaney, thank you. mr. pryor? >> thank you. steve, thank you for moderating this. i want to give a special thanks to aetm. you guys do great things. i want to thank the three candidates i'm up here tonight with, these fine candidates. i also want to thank university of central arkansas for hosting tonight and the journalists but most of all i want to thank you, the people of the state of arkansas. before i go on with my closing statement, i have to go back for just a minute because congressman cotton just told a whopper. when he said that i have voted for every single one of barack obama's taxes, it's not even close. in fact, i voted against every budget that president obama has offered. my real record on taxes is i voted to cut taxes by $5.5

trillion since i've been in the senate. cut taxes by $5.5 trillion. and i'm a big believer in tax reform. we need to simplify the tax code. this is more of this fog of misinformation and this rhetoric that congressman cotton has gotten so good at doing over the course of this campaign. but again, if you look at his real voting record, which you see in his voting record, is these investors, these people who are investing in him and want the big return on his investment, that's who he is listening to. that's who he is carrying the water for since he's been in the house and that is exactly what he's going to do if he gets elected to the senate. listen, he is not listening to you. he is listening to those out-of- state billionaires who are writing those checks paying for his campaign. in my office i have a plaque on my desk, and many of you all have been there.

it says arkansas comes first. this is what i mean by that. i listen to the people of the state of arkansas. i work hard year after year. i'm ranked as the most independent or one of the most independent senators in washington. i would very much appreciate your vote. early voting starts on october 20. election day is november 4. let's go out and win this one and let's keep this seat for the people of arkansas. thank you. >> mr. cotton. >> i was very blessed to grow up on the cotton farm in yell county and very blessed that ann and i are expecting our first child a baby boy. we want our babey to have the same opportunities we did and i want you and your family to have those same opportunities as well, to have a chance for a better life. barack obama's policies are making that hard are, though. president obama said his policies are in the ballot, every single one of them. in arkansas the name on those policies is mark pryor because mark pryor votes with barack obama 93% of the time. that's why a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama's failed policies. mark pryor supports barack

obama's failed economic policies which are costing jobs in arkansas and driving down wages. mark pryor cast a decisive vote for obamacare which is driving up the cost of health insurance and hurting arkansas seniors with its cuts to medicare. mark pryor has voted for every single penny of new debt, a trillion dollars on the year on average every year under barack obama's six years. even while we're cutting a trillion dollars from our military. mark pryor is a rubber stamp for barack obama's failed foreign policy of weakness, hesitation, and indecision. senator pryor won't even hold president obama accountable for not protecting our country and our families from ebola. there is a different way. there is the arkansas way. let's get our economy moving again. let's put people back to work so we can have people achieving their dreams. let's repeal obamacare and start over in health care reform, trusting arkansans, patients, doctors, families. let's balance our budget, quit stealing from our kids. rebuild our military. and keep your families safe and secure whether the threat is

terrorism or disease. this is the choice you face. barack obama said his policies are on the ballot, and they are. here in arkansas they go by the name of mark pryor. if you're happy with barack obama's policies, if you're happy with the status quo, then your vote for mark pryor would be a vote for barack obama. but if you want change, if you want a new direction for arkansas and for our country, then i would appreciate your vote. >> we want to thank our four candidates for the united states senate for their appearance tonight. thank you for being here, thanks to our panelists. most of you thanks to our audience, the voters. see you next time. and markr tom cotton pryor will debate tonight at 8:00 eastern. c-span2, the

louisiana senate debate. state law mandates a december runoff of the top two vote getters if none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote. there's a preview. joining us is cole avery. the two candidates are going to be squaring off on thursday. we will have coverage on c-span. give us a preview of that debate. what do you expect? morning.ood it will be the first time they will be on the debate stage. senator landrieu is excited on it. she was fired up because she is frustrated that she has not had an opportunity to face him in public. we can expect her to really go

after him. she was reserved in the first debate with the tea party candidate. this time she is going to really let loose on him. for cassidy, he is going to be attacked and he has to stand his ground. cassidy is going to have to fend off attacks from both sides. he is winning right now because of his party and the toxic nature of being a democrat in the south. cassidy doesn't need to say anything that will give his opponents ammunition to use in the home stretch. host: explain what three candidates on the ballot means for november 4.

guest: you are going to have two conservatives and a democrat. i don't think the polling numbers show that senator landrieu can win this outright. we are going to go to a runoff. louisiana will be the last state to pick its senator. depending on how the ballot ships out on november 4, there could be an awful lot of attention on our state if the senate rests in whoever wins our december runoff. host: the louisiana debate is tonight? guest: it is tonight. it will be broadcast on louisiana public broadcasting. host: we will bring it to our viewers tonight on c-span2 at 8:00 p.m. eastern time.

tell us about how louisiana structure works. you said senator landrieu want when this out right. she has to get more than 50%. guest: correct. we have a unique primary system. everybody is running in the same election. the top two vote getters move on to the runoff. if it's two republicans, it's to -- two republicans. i think it's going to be senator landrieu and probably representative cassidy. the other candidate has not gotten close to cassidy. i really expect it to be landrieu and cassidy. host: that debate is tonight

live on c-span2, 8:00 p.m. eastern. last week, senator landrieu decided to replace her campaign manager. why? guest: there are a couple different ways you can look at it. the republicans and say it's a sign of desperation. on the surface, it looks that way. you change your top manager of your campaign with just a few days to go before the election. landrieu after the debate last week likened it to a baseball game where she is bringing in her closer. ryan burnie is somebody she has worked with in the past. it's somebody that has worked for her brother, mitch landrieu, the mayor of new orleans. he is a specialist at getting out the vote. that is what democrats need where democrats are not all that excited to go out and vote.

landrieu needs to get those people to the polls. it's a combination of the two theories, really. she has done all she can do with tv and she does need to make sure her voters get to the polls, but on the other hand, if you think your guy can go the distance all nine innings, you leave him in and she obviously doesn't think adam sullivan can do that. avery is a reporter yune."\e times pica >> here is some of the wisconsin governor's debate. >> i am pro life, but can only

imagine who is going through the difficult decision of whether to end a redundancy -- end a pregnancy or not. that's specific the bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor. for this specific request you made, that issue has been resolved. that was decided by the supreme court more than 40 years ago, and that does not have bearing on this debate. the larger issue about a seeking to protect the health and safety of wisconsin citizens does. >> i believe it should be up to a woman, in consultation with her family and her doctors to make that decision on her and. when governor walker talks about decisions and passing this legislation that stands in the way of women being able to make their own health care choices, making politicians in madison the deciders on this is ridiculous. to talk about safety at the same

time you have cuts in funding that have resulted in the closure of five clinics throughout the state of neededin that provided health care, such as cancer screenings, birth control, and family planning services, along with and dating invasive procedures that are against -- with mandating invasive dures is wrong. moved -- the winnebago county public health department, we moved it from one area to another, in areas that are highly respected. we have added funding. we increased funding for the university of wisconsin cancer acrossto help citizens the state. we added $15 million more. we have done more to help victims of other issues across the state. when you look at what we are talking about, we have added to

that in the last budget. >> governor walker is trying to have it is ways. he talks about health and safety as if it is pretty reasonable. his position is anything but reasonable. he believes even in extreme cases of rape nude at that is not a woman's choice, but politicians aside that. that is wrong. aching that decision away from women is not something i would do as governor. kentucky, mitch grimes metnd alison in their only debate. political reports list this race a tossup. the complete debate coming up and a moment. before that, a look at some of the campaign ads. grimes'refusal to say who she voted for president is now the non-answer around the country. answer.efused to

>> kentuckians expect her to cast a tough vote on anything? is she ever going to answer tough question on anything? >> i am mitch mcconnell and i approve this message. >> i think she disqualified herself. >> when i was in the senate, democrats and republicans worked together. mitch mcconnell does not understand the problems. he has been against anything. he is mr. no. alison will not vote to send jobs overseas like mitch mcconnell did. i believe in alison. she is the right person at the right time. grimes, and i am honored to approve this message. >> welcome to "kentucky tonight." i am bill goodman.

tonight we will discuss issues in kentucky's u.s. senate race. our guests are kentucky secretary of state alison lundergan grimes of the democratic party and u.s. senator mitch mcconnell of the republican party. we invite questions from kentucky viewers to send questions on twitter. use the web form, click on contact us, or you may call. please include your first and last name, town or county, on all messages. to the both of you, thanks very much for being here tonight on "kentucky tonight." secretary grimes, you have labeled senator mcconnell as senator gridlock and stated in a press release that his message is clear, six more years of brinksmanship and partisan gains in gridlock, washington, d.c. senator mcconnell, in turn you

have said of ms. grimes that she is an experienced obama liberal with a gun. secretary grimes, what can you say tonight that would convince kentucky voters that you would be an independent voice in washington and would not support the president's agenda for the next two years? >> kentuckians know my record. i want to thank you, bill, and ket. they know the record that i have a secretary of state is one of putting the people of kentucky first, setting aside partisanship. i have my disagreements with the president. his energy philosophy, wrongly ruling by executive order. the president is not on the ballot this year. it is myself and senator mcconnell. he does not want to take responsibility for all that is wrong in washington, d.c. washington is not working for the people of kentucky, and it is due to the gridlock and the partisanship that he champions.

it has severe consequences for kentucky from infrastructure to education to agriculture -- the lack of the ability to make those investments is hurting kentucky. i am in this race to give hard-working kentuckians a fighting chance to earn a good wage and having a good quality of life, making sure that we grow the middle class the right way, something that has not been a priority for senator mcconnell, whether you call him senator gridlock, senator no-show, or senator shutdown. the only person that he has been working for his senator mcconnell. >> senator mcconnell, what can you say that convinces kentucky voters you will not side with washington over kentucky issues and that this race is not about your ascension to the top spot in the senate in blocking the obama agenda, but you have kentucky issues first? >> let me first just say that my opponent has been trying to deceive everybody about her own views.

she has been an active partisan democrat all along, a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 democratic conventions. a congressman did not go to the convention in 2012. senator manchin didn't go. senator mccaskill did not go. she has made efforts to deceive the people of kentucky about her own views and where she is likely to go if she were to get there. with regard to my own record, there have been three major bipartisan agreements during the obama years between republicans and democrats. the vice president and i have negotiated every one of them. the december 2010 two-year extension to the bush tax cuts, the fiscal cliff deal on new year's eve of 2012, which made 99% of the bush tax cuts permanent and also got a $5 million per person estate tax

exemption, which is really significant for family farms and small businesses in kentucky. 99% of them will not have to be sold in order to get them down to the next generation. so i am prepared to negotiate with the other side when we can find areas of agreement, but i do not share the president's agenda. it is an agenda that i think has been demonstrably bad for america and for kentucky. >> if the senate remains democratic majority, how would it be different? >> the three major deals i just mentioned are the only major deals during these obama years, all of them either reducing spending or keeping taxes low. >> you would work with the president -- >> those were areas we agreed on. i was willing to negotiate, and they were good agreements that ended up being passed by a larger majority. >> you would work with the president and senator reid?

>> look, the president has said we should do comprehensive tax reform. we now have the highest corporate tax rate in the world among industrialized countries. it is a great way to export jobs. i agree with the president on that. unlike my opponent, who said that she is opposed to trade agreements, apparently. the president said we ought to be negotiating trade agreements. i and most of my members think that america is a winner when it comes to international trade. i will demonstrated again in the future. >> secretary grimes, i also want to ask you about endorsing or working on the democratic agenda ? can you address those two points? >> first what you just heard senator mcconnell say is a complete departure from what he said to his family, the koch brothers in california. when they went to help him buy

his way back to washington, d.c., he said he would have nothing to do with giving a debate level and vote to increasing the minimum wage or extending unemployment insurance benefits or helping our students go to college, all common sense bipartisan proposals that the majority of kentuckians need and deserve, because he said he has had enough of those gosh darn proposals. you have yet to hear anything he would work on because senator mcconnell's 30-year record is gridlock, obstruction. it is extreme partisanship that has cost this nation a 16 day government shutdown. kentucky, $127 million. my record speaks for itself. i am an independent thinker that does what i do for the people of kentucky. i am not bought and paid for by the koch brothers or any others. >> senator mcconnell? >> speaking of what we say in private meetings, secretary

grimes said she would go to a fundraiser harry reid sponsored for her in washington and tell him how important it was to -- >> and i did that. >> she went to the meeting, never mentioned a word about coal to harry reid. this is the harry reid she will vote for to make majority leader of the senate if she goes there. that will be her first vote. he is the guy who said coal makes you sick. she will enable him to be the leader in the senate which will guarantee we will have no votes on coal. >> senator grimes, did you mention coal in that meeting? >> senator mcconnell, you and your henchmen, the koch brothers, can put out $16 million in nasty ads, but i can speak for myself. i have strong words regarding senator reid on an energy philosophy i believe that he is misguided on as well as the president.

coal keeps the lights on in kentucky. my record is consistent. senator mcconnell fought against the coal-fired plant as a county judge. he has accepted over $600,000, his family has, from anti-coal interests. it is on his watch that we have lost thousands of coal jobs. when it comes to the trade bill -- when it comes to trade, my record is consistent. i am for free and open and fair trade, especially for our workers. it is needed if we have a strong economy. but we cannot continue to turn a blind eye. as senator mcconnell has, to letting china cheat. we have to hold china accountable. >> we will talk about issues, coal, later in the program. do you want to respond to that? >> well, look, i have not said anything in any private meeting that i have not said publicly. i have been entirely consistent both privately and publicly.

secretary grimes' whole campaign has been designed to deceive people into thinking she is something she is not. it is pretty obvious, given where her support comes from, all the anti-coal activists in the country, that she is going to do their bidding. look, the issue of -- the outrageous issue that somehow my wife and i profited from anti-coal activists was given a four pinocchios by "the washington post." the only larger was the president, who said, if you like your policy you can keep it. >> a voter said "the winner of this election will be in office until 2020. if you are elected by 2020, what

would be your signature complement in office and why will it matter? >> thank you very much for that question. i have in this race because i believe a senator was to help put hard-working kentuckians back to work. i believe that it is a senator's priority to bring jobs back here to kentucky. and i hope you have already requested i'll -- working across the aisle. i decided to things that is what has been missing. we have not had anyone to reach across the aisle to enact the jobs plan. i am the only senator in this race with a jobs plan. it begins by closing the loopholes and ending the tax breaks that senator mcconnell has done to ship our jobs overseas. it continues with strengthening the middle class, and we do that by increasing the minimum wage. senator mcconnell has said no to

increasing the minimum wage. >> so jobs are going to be the signature accomplishment? >> putting hard-working kentuckians back to work, yes. >> there is a great likelihood i will be the leader of the majority in the senate next year. the majority leader gets to set the agenda not only for the country, but to look out for kentucky's interests. one of the basic questions is, who can do the most for kentucky over the next six years? we have had an anti-jobs agenda during this administration. virtually everything the president has tried to do has been a job destroyer -- the spending, borrowing, taxing, the overregulating. if we had a chance to have a new agenda in the senate to take america in a different direction, we would vote on things like approving the keystone pipeline, which would enable that 20,000 people to go to work very quickly. we would be voting on things like pushing back against the environmental protection agency

and its war on coal. it has cost us 7000 coal mining jobs during the obama years. 7000 coal mining jobs, and for every coal mining job, you lose three more employees. >> so your signature accomplishment would be? >> create jobs. get america going again in a different direction. >> there have been a number of media reports on voting and who voted for which president and what year it happens to be in. secretary grimes, you made news across the state and the nation about that question. the first question to you is, why are you reluctant to give an answer on whether or not you voted for president obama? >> there is no reluctance. this is a matter of principle. our constitution grants in kentucky the constitutional right for privacy at the ballot box for a secret ballot. you have that right, senator

mcconnell has the right, every kentuckian has that right. i am tasked with overseeing and making sure we are enforcing all of our election laws, and i have worked very closely, especially with our members of the military, to ensure privacy at the ballot box. >> so your reluctance is a matter of principle? >> i am not going to compromise a constitutional right provided here in kentucky in order to curry favor on one or other side or for members of the media. >> you will not answer the question tonight? >> again, you have that right, senator mcconnell has that right. every kentuckian has the right for privacy at the ballot box. if i do not stand up for that right, who in kentucky will? >> when you responded to the question during the campaign, you said you were a clinton democrat.

i am curious about what in your mind separates a clinton democrat from an obama democrat. >> well, from my work in kentucky and in this campaign, is one that is based on growing the middle class. as we saw under president clinton's tenure, especially when you increase the minimum wage, you help to expand the middle class. we saw the largest growth under president clinton's tenure than ever before. we have not seen that. it is because not just of who sits in the white house, but congress has a role. your united states senator plays a huge role. you have yet to hear from senator mcconnell how he would help kentucky get more jobs. he does not even think it is his job to bring jobs to kentucky. that is his words to the folks in lee county, kentucky. >> so the difference between a clinton and obama democrat is? >> it is growing the middle class in the right way.

that is by making sure we build from the foundation up. >> may i respond? there is no difference. the clintons support, for example, what the epa is doing in the war on coal. there is not a difference between a clinton democrat and an obama democrat. there is no sacred right to not announce how we vote. i voted for mitt romney proudly. i voted for john mccain. by the way, in 2012, 116 out of 120 kentucky counties agreed with my judgment that we might be in better shape now had mitt romney been elected. with regard to the minimum wage -- it was said that raising the minimum wage would cost half a million to one million jobs in our country. an economist in the

"courier-journal" sunday said the city of louisville is thinking of doing it by itself. it would cost 1400 jobs in the city of louisville. 50% of these jobs come from young people who, in the obama economy, or having a heck of a time finding work. i cannot think of a worse time for killing jobs. there are times when an increase in the minimum wage would be appropriate, but not in this kind of a time with jobs recovery. >> i have not heard whether the senator was for or against the minimum wage. when he went to california, he was against it. suddenly he is for it. you were consistently against helping people in kentucky actually earn a living wage. let me respond to the false allegations regarding the study the ha