far-fetched hypothetical scenario. last year the administration [indiscernible] throughout the country. the exception of that is social security and veterans benefits [indiscernible] now there is evidence to say that -- [indiscernible] to compel the administration to do so. consideration to making a policy change to extend social security benefits? i will refer you to the department of justice. ahead.o the week

on monday the president will meet with the advanced manufacturing partnership steering committee at the white house. on tuesday the president will -- >> what is that? >> we will have more details. this is a steering committee interested on partnering with advanced manufacturing. [laughter] on tuesday the president will travel to milwaukee to attend a dnc roundtable. as you may know, ms. burke is running for governor. further details will be made available over the weekends. on wednesday the president will be here at the white house and will attend some meetings. thursday the president will travel to portland, maine, to campaign event for

maine democrats. additional details about the trip to maine will be available soon. after those activities in maine, the president will travel to road island -- to rhode island. on friday he will deliver remarks at rhode island college which will focus on the economy and the apartments of pursuing policies that help women proceed. details will be available in the coming days as well. the president will return to the after that on friday event. in the evening the president and first lady will local -- will welcome local children of military families to a trick-or-treat on the southport go of the white house. portico of the white house. this is next saturday, the president will travel to detroit to attend a campaign event for gary peters.

additional details will be available soon. mr. peters is a candidate for the senate. on sunday the president will travel to connecticut for an event with dan milloy. mr. milloy is the sitting governor. was was a trip that rescheduled for next weekend. after that the president will travel to philadelphia to attend a campaign event for tom wolfe and other pennsylvania democrats. mr. wolf is a democrat it candidate for governor. we will have details available soon. >> [indiscernible] yes, that is a good point, scott. the president's event in rhode island on friday is a rescheduled from the event that was campaigned -- that was

canceled last week. >> [indiscernible] a fair assessment >. >> we are looking forward to it next become and hopefully you will be able to join us as we travel. have a good weekend, everybody. up you heard several reporters pose questions whether it was safe for the president to meet with a former ebola patient. here is a picture tweeted out by a reporter by "the new york times." the two met earlier this afternoon. she held a briefing about 45 minutes go before meeting with the president. you are wondering if we are keeping our promise to show 100 political debates, here is your answer. andar we have shown 102, counting, and you are available

to see them online. over 100 debates for the control of congress. one of those happened last night in the most recent debate for the seat in iowa's fourth congressional district, steve r.ng and his opponent mowre here's a portion. [video clip] >> do you think that diversity we are seeing in iowa is something to be embraced or resisted, and how will you support that in congress? >> if one looks back on my record, we succeeded in establishing a bush as the official line which of the state of i will, and i'm a lead sponsor of this legislation in united states congress. when that moment comes, i am hopeful we will be able to move that through because a common language is the most powerful unifying force known to humanity throughout all history. it is a common language, the

light which of his success and achievement. i just congratulated a young man in a restroom who was an american citizen from somalia. i have been a great cheerleader for legal immigration, and i congratulate all people here . >> it is interesting to hit the congressman speak this way because we are used to hearing him talk about divisive and hateful in which. he does not have any plans to fix our broken immigration system. rightly, every time i hear him, very often, he uses in which to talk about immigration, i think of the friend of mine who served with me in iraq who received his citizenship in iraq. angressman king claims to be leader in congress, but i have few were to turn around, you would see no one is following. >> let me have you define "hateful language." >> most people have heard language.n king's

they have received national press. that does not move our conversation forward. have a broken immigration system in our country. i support the bill that passed the senate that would put an additional 20,000 troops on the border. it is supported by the farm bureau, jean brough commerce, and it would cut $1 trillion from our decade. an interviewnot question, i point out. it is clear, it is not the system that is broken, it is the administration that refuses to enforce existing law that we have. i have brought a number of pieces of legislation forward that improve this system we have. you have to have the will to enforce the law before you are going to have an effective immigration system. i am for building a fence along our southern builder, not the full 2000 miles, just build it until they stop going around the end.

i generated the idea and read the bill. it is called the new idea act which eliminates the federal tax the duct ability for wages and benefits paid to illegals. that shuts down the jobs magnet. these are ideas that all republican candidates have lastsed in the presidential election. we will see if they do here in iowa in the next one. >> even governor perry said building a wall is not the right approach. centuryfrankly a 20th solution to a 21st-century problem. >> walls work. that is why they are around the white house. >> that is a portion of one of the 102 debates we are shown you so far. you can see the others at www.c-span.org. rates thispolitics race as likely republican. debate coverage continues tonight 8:00 eastern, a new hampshire u.s. than a debate heen andjeanne sha

scott brown. oregon senate debate. antennat 10:00, you can see a fifth for the louisiana house district. >> be part of 2014 coverage. follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. to get to meet schedules, we do previews from the politics team, seems span is bringing you over 100 senate, house, and governor debates. the battle for control of congress, stay in touch and engaged by following us on @cspan.

>> and look now at the race for the open seat in use talk's fourth -- utah's fourth congressional district. owens met lastug week. both the rothenberg political report and rollcall rate this race a safer publican. -- this a safe republican. an hour.bout >> from the campus of the university of utah in salt lake city, the utah debate commission welcomes you to the 4th congressional district candidates' debate. ♪ >> good evening.

welcome to the studios on the campus of the university of utah for one of the most highly anticipated exchanges sponsored by the utah debate commission. we gather for a debate between candidates in utah's 4th congressional district. the seat is open. we will hear from the republican and democratic candidate. each has a two-minute opportunity for an opening statement. doug owens would have the first opportunity. mr. owens. >> thanks to the debate commission and thanks to my opponent. it's nice to be here on the university of utah campus, where i went to school. i'm doug owens. i'm a proud father of four, married to my wife of 26 years. but she's got the whole gang here in the room tonight. i am a sixth generation resident

of utah and have been a attorney for my entire professional career. some years ago when our boys were 5, 3 and 1, i took two years off to stay at home while my wife finished her residency in pediatrics. i love utah. i love the history. i love the people and the geography, and i want to make a difference for all of us. the most important issues that i want to work on in this campaign are helping hard-working middle-class families who are being squeezed. helping to improve the quality of life, and getting congress back to work again to find commonsense solutions. utah deserves a representative who will go to washington and remember where they come from and who they represent, not somebody who will go and represent another ideology or vote a party line.

i will go to washington and work across the aisle and take any good idea no matter what the party. our country needs nothing less than the best the republicans and democrats have to offer. my utah roots run deep, and i will always put the needs of utah families first as i think about those issues that come up in washington. >> now a two-minute opening statement from mia love. >> i would like to thank the utah debate commission and university of utah and my opponent for being here and for all the people watching. i'm the daughter of parents who emigrated to the united states legally with $10 in their pockets. my parents taught me the value of hard work, education, personal responsibility, and fiscal discipline. i have taken all of those principles and applied them both in the private sector and public sector.

as a mayor and city council member, we balance budgets every year. we ask ourselves, is it affordable? is it sustainable and is it our job? saratoga springs has the biggest bond rating. this is not about moving to washington but moving washington towards the principles we live by here in utah. rather than focusing on what happens in d.c., i want to focus on what is happening in your living rooms, especially at the kitchen table. i don't just see deficits and debt. i see my three children who ask how, will did we let this happen? i promised you that i would run a positive campaign and conduct myself in a way that is worthy of your support and your votes. you are going to see a contrast tonight, and what you are going

to see i'm cutting through the clutter of d.c. politics as usual, ending the dysfunction while representing your values, finding solutions and attacking problems, not people. thank you. >> utah debate commission has established a format that allows candidates 90 seconds for a response. these questions were drawn from voter input to the debate commission's website. mia love, you will have the first opportunity. at least one media outlet has identified educational views as the continental divide, what do you view as the proper role of the federal government in public education, and robert of salt lake city asks, do you oppose or favor national common core standards? 90-second opportunity. >> as a parent of three children, public school

education is important to me, and that is why i trust utah parents and teachers to do what's best. a lot of our funding is going into washington bureaucrats and too little funding is going into our classrooms. what we need to do is get that decision-making back into our states and classrooms. we need to eliminate the disparities between the education administrators and teachers. we need a one size fits all and innovative teachers and need to make sure we are getting as much local control of schools as possible. i want standards. i want high standards. but i want utah to be able to control them, tweak them, change them, make them better without feeling like we're being blackmailed by our own taxpayer dollars.

>> we all agree education is the best investment we can do for a path forward. it's the best way to help middle class families better educate their children for the future. i'm not satisfied that utah is dead last in expenditure per pupil, and i have an opponent who will make that worst by eliminating the department of education and 12% of funding that comes from federal sources. i meet on the campaign trail young people deciding not to go to college because they're afraid they won't be able to pay back student loans when they get out. i'm not satisfied that if you are from an advantaged economic background you're four times more likely to get a degree than from a disadvantaged background. my mother was a teacher, my great-grandfather the first teacher in our history.

big business today is demanding that we educate our children so that they can be driving forces in the global economy. i want to make sure we do that for utah. >> you're both leaving time on the clock and leaving unaddressed the specific question of robert of salt lake city. oppose or favor national common core standards? i want you each to take 30 seconds to speak right to common core standards. >> i oppose common core because i believe that we are being blackmailed with our own taxpayer dollars. utah's parents and utah's teachers should be able to have the decision-making when it comes to utah students. >> mr. owens? >> i favor local control. we know how to educate our children here in utah. it's a fact question whether or not no child left behind is a national standard or a state standard. the attorney general recently reported the results of his investigation and found that it was a locally agreed to standard, not a federally imposed standard.

i do not oppose the common core although if it was a federally imposed standard i would oppose that. i think here in utah we can educate our own children. >> our next question takes us to foreign policy. it's a virtual certainty that the new congress in january will find itself dealing with threats by forces of the islamic state referred to as isis or isil. already there are misgivings about the effectiveness of an air campaign to control isis' territorial ambitions. if seated in the next congress, what are the criteria you will need to support adding ground troops to our u.s. and allied strategy? >> we need to make sure that our borders are safe and that we are safe from terrorist threats. isis represents a new threat on the planet, a terrorist organization that has control of

the apparatus of government and that has control of territory, that has control of petro dollar income. we need to make sure that we address that. i watch it carefully. i hope that the plans with air strikes will be sufficient and that another ground war will not be necessary. i take that -- i would take that decision extremely seriously. i would listen to military advisors and others who are more expert than i am. but i would be cautious with american life, of course. i think we owe it to our vets. i want to thank them for putting themselves in harm's way in the last two years that we're trying to extricate ourselves from. i want to make sure we have the resources to take care of those veterans. i would watch it carefully and listen to the experts and make a careful judgment about it. >> mia love, your thoughts on the subject of military use in response to isis? >> understand that when we're dealing with terrorist groups, we're dealing with people who do not value human life the way we do. they've shown that they're willing to hurt their own women and children for what they

believe is a greater cause. when we are sending men and women to harm's way we are sending our neighbors. several things have to happen before we take military action. number one, we need to make sure it's approved by congress, not by just the president. number two, we need to make sure that there's a clear american threat, a threat to american lives. number three, we need to make sure that we have a clear objective, a mission, and number four, a way out. i have to tell you, i go to a lot of these events with gold star moms and people like jamie. i need to look her in the eye and say, your son cody did not die in vain, that he went in for the right reasons and he'll never be forgotten. we owe a great deal of gratitude and respect to those men and women in uniform. they have sacrificed quite a bit. we'll never be able to give them back what they've sacrificed,

and we owe a great deal of gratitude to the families of those who did not come home. i want to say thank you for your service. >> rebuttal time. you have the first opportunity, mr. owens. >> this is the middle east and the situation there, and we have to make peace with the core issue, the dispute between israel and palestinians. there's an opening, i see, for an avenue to make peace, help foster peace. it's going to be up to the israelis and palestinians. but the united states can foster peace, do things on the sideline to help that. one thing i want to do is help with humanitarian reconstruction in gaza to make sure that when there are -- that there are adequate controls in place to make sure that construction materials aren't diverted into war-making processes as they were in the past. we saw with the way the tunnels were built that construction materials had been diverted into that use. so i think that as a member of congress we can make sure that

when humanitarian aid is voted to gaza that very stringent requirements are put in place to make sure those resources are not diverted, and that can be an opening to help get rid of hamas and get a better government there that will be more likely and willing to make peace with israel. >> i'm not a very essential member of this exchange tonight, but one thing they have charged me with is keep an eye on the clock, and i admonish both candidates to do the same. mia, you have a one minute opportunity to speak to the subject as broadly defined now by mr. owens to include middle east peace. >> first of all, i think what we need is certainly better leadership in the white house. it's hard to flex your muscles when you haven't worked out. it's hard to continue to draw lines in the sand when you haven't shown that you can actually be strong with the first line you've drawn. i think that it's important to have a strong national defense. national defense doesn't just help us in times of war. it helps us prevent -- helps

prevent war. that's what we need to focus on, making sure we are strong. >> mia, you'll have the first opportunity respond to this question. you both alluded to it in one fashion or another in your opening statement. the partisan gridlock problem in washington is obvious to any observer. there are differing opinions on how to move forward. last year political differences led to a government shutdown. would you have supported the government shutdown, yes or no, the questioner asks. why or why not? you have the first 90-second opportunity. >> i'm going to be clear about this. i would not have supported the government shutdown. what i do support is defunding obamacare. i think a great indicator of what someone will do in the future is what they've done in the past. in saratoga springs, we didn't run around with r's and d's stamped on our foreheads. when we had tough things to deal

with, we had to deal with them. we had to have collaborative efforts to deal with them. we balanced our budgets every year. we made sure that saratoga springs as the highest bond rating available to a city of its class. i couldn't do this on my own. i want you to know that one of the things we do, that washington doesn't do, is live by the policies we create. so i'm going to make two promises right now in terms of ending the dysfunction. one is as a member of congress we should live by the policies we make. i will oppose any special exemptions from the law for members of congress. number two, i will get the decision-making as close to people as possible. when you get the decision-making close to people, you see party lines go away. i think that washington can learn a lesson from what we've done in saratoga springs. every member of congress should ask themselves, is it affordable, is it sustainable, and is it the job of government before make anything new decisions? >> mr. owens, your opportunity to respond to the subject of gridlock. >> i would have opposed the shutdown.

i have personally discussed this situation with business owners, hotel owners near national parks that were shut down, lost tens of thousands of dollars in booking fees. that was a $40 million hit to the utah tourism industry. i have personally discussed this issue with seniors. some with tears in their eyes telling me they were concerned about not getting their social security checks that was their sole means of livelihood. i believe it was a breakdown and politics at its worst. we're on the road to be the -- to have the least effective session of congress in the history of the republic. i would look to my father's example, who was a man named wayne owens, a member of congress from utah he work aid cross party lines to get things done for utah. he worked with orrin hatch to pass legislation to benefit those affected by aboveground nuclear testing and worked to fund the central utah project completion act. if you turn on a tap in salt lake county or utah county, one third of that water comes from a

bipartisan friendship between wayne owens and jay garn. it can yield tangible benefits for utah. we need to move the country forward based on commonsense, bipartisan solutions rather than going to washington to vote a party line. >> rebuttal opportunity for you, mia love. >> i would like to say that i too appreciate the work that jay garn has done. he has endorsed me in this campaign, and i'm happy to have that endorsement. i've worked with quite a few of the mayors in the past, and i've gotten the majority of their endorsement also, along with state legislators, county commissioners. we have done great work in the state of utah. my job is to make sure i represent you to washington, and not the other way around. >> doug owens, your 30-second opportunity. >> there are so many important issues now. reform of social security to stay in place for our seniors, reforming immigration, energy

policy. we have got to take the governance seriously. congress needs to become the deliberative body of our government. i have a native instinct as an attorney to to help people dig into details and reach common ground. if you look at our records you'll see a distinct difference between the candidates on our ability to work across party lines. i will put utah first, think about the hardworking middle class families, and will not go to washington to vote a party line. >> mr. owens, you have the first opportunity to respond to this next question which comes from michael in south jordan. comes from a small business own small business regulation is a significant challenge -- business owner who maintains that government regulation is a significant challenge. he asks each of you have you learned of a regulatory burden currently placed on businesses that you would like to see changed or repealed? what would you do to help small

business owners like me make it in this economy? >> that is a great question. i have been a business defense attorney for 25 years. i have made a living in part because business gets hit with regulations that you can see why somebody thought in washington that might have been a good idea, but by the time it hits the back of a business here it causes unnecessary consternation, waste of money and doesn't fulfill the point it was launched for. i believe in the free marget. i believe it's been the greatest engine in the history of the world for lifting people out of of poverty. i would have a great sense of humility as a legislator in washington in terms of when i would feel it appropriate to interfere with the free market. i strongly believe in education as the way to help people be full fledged participants in the free market. i would have -- i do encounter this situation with businesses who have met regulation. you know, dodd-frank, for example, calls for the writing of over 150 regulatory rules. only half of them have been written. i have personally talked to a bank president who said it is ruining his business with extra expense. i think that needs simplification. you've got parts of dodd-frank coming out of department of

labor and the securities and exchange commission that are conflicting with each other. i want a predictable, sensible platform for businesses. congress, if it can get its act together on any number of fronts would give businesses a stable platform to work on and that would be a benefit to our economy. >> mia love, your opportunity address this. >> i can tell you right now, the improvement in the economy is not because of washington, it's in spite of washington. our paychecks aren't keeping pace with the rate of inflation. when we go into stores, see that the packages are getting smaller, the prices are getting -- prices are going up. when we go to the gas station we realize the dial won't stop turning when we're putting gas in our car. we need to do everything we can to make sure that businesses can thrive in the united states. and again, particularly what you asked about what we can do is

lower the unnecessary regulation that's killing jobs. we need to, when it comes to road, there's project labor agreements, davis-bacon laws, buy american laws that make the cost of building roads that much more expensive. we need to make sure we lower the federal corporate tax, the business tax, which is 35%. it's 14 percentage points higher than any industrialized nation that the world. we could do a better job. as you can see, burger king moving to canada, astrazeneca and pfizer moving to europe. we need to make sure we instill confidence back into the american economy, grow our economy. and we'll do a much better job with businesses that way. >> mr. owens, your opportunity for rebuttal. >> some addition reform that's needed is on obamacare. businesses told me they reduced

their employees' hours to 30 hours a week to not have to buy that insurance. i strongly believe in decoupling health insurance from employment. we have to be able to employee our people. we're the only western country that still does that. there are a host of other problems with the affordable care act, obamacare, i would like to fix. >> i do have to indicate time. mia love, your 30-second opportunity. >> that's an area where we agree. i would like to repeal obamacare. but more importantly than repeal obamacare, we need to know what we're going to replace it with. i think we need to replace it with broad, free market reforms, put the decision making back into the lands of people. again, we need to make sure we are supporting pro-growth ideas that give everyone opportunities to achieve the american dream if they're willing to work for it. >> i promise affordable care in the second half of our exchange. >> i'm sure there's lots to talk about. >> i have an interesting question that came from lincoln of salt lake city. the children's health insurance program, chip, has contributed

to reducing the number of uninsured children in utah and in the nation. funding for the program ends in 2015 and faces re-authorization by congress. do you support chip and its re-authorization? why or why not, and, mia love, you have the first 90-second opportunity. >> i do believe we have an obligation to care for those, especially our children, who cannot care for themselves. our own governor has stated that if you give us half the regulation with half the funding we would be able to do double as much. this is an area where we see health care reform has presented too much of an expense, so much so we needed the supreme court to come in and intervene because the federal government was force feeding our state with medicare, with medicaid -- excuse me -- and some of the chip programs. what we need to do is we need to allow the states to get these levers back. i believe the people that can do

a great job with providing for our children lies right there in our state legislators and right there in our governor. and so i would love to support them in making sure that they make the best decisions possible for our children. >> can you give me that clarification on the re-authorization, aye or nay from your standpoint? >> i would say aye, but give more of the decision making to the states, yes. >> doug owens, your opportunity to respond. >> i would say yes on the re-authorization of chip. there are a lot of needy kids out there. my wife is a pediatrician. we talk about health policy over dinner. there are a lot of needy kids who need that coverage. my understanding is that there is a bit of oa loophole, there's a gap in coverage. there's a bill pending in congress to fix that gap and re-authorize chip. i support that congress, again, needs to work on commonsense, bipartisan solutions and not get hung up because harry reid is mad at something mitch mcconnel did and mitch mcconnel is mad at

something harry reid did. elections end and people need to roll up their sleeves and go to work together especially for the middle class families that i think are increasingly pressed. i would say that -- i wish utah had simply taken the medicaid expansion. we are losing $800,000 a day in health insurance that would be paid out to benefit utahans who are economically disadvantaged. i would like to see that come back to utah. we paid that in taxes. having said that, if the governor isn't going to accept that, i'll go to work in washington to make sure that the governor's healthy utah initiative gets through congress. i can support that initiative. >> rebuttal opportunity. any further comment on public health care, child health care, and the chip program? >> we talked about the chip program and making sure we get the levers back to the state. again, i know the legislators personally, i know our governor,

we voted them in, and we can make sure we give them the levers so they can specifically take care of our kids in utah. >> doug owens, your 30-second opportunity. >> i don't have any further comment on chip, ken, but happy to wax on about health policy if anybody is interested. >> again, i promise a return to the theme in the second half. as we near the midpoint of our time tonight, i want to welcome you once again to this live debate between candidates for the fourth congressional district. we are in the studios of kued on the campus of the university of utah in salt lake city. this is the final debate in a landmark voter information with media joining together with the citizen based initiative to provide statewide debate coverage for utah's federal and statewide offices. tonight's questions are drawn from those submitted to the utah debate commission at their website, utahdebatecommission.org. we encourage you to visit the site to learn more about the commission and to sprueview the previous four debates presented

by this collaboration and we welcome your feedback on this inaugural season of the utah debate commission. so many of the questions that came into the debate commission had almost a plaintive quality about them, a sadness. here's another one that comes from a young man, and this is patrick in harriman. mr. owens, you'll have the first 90-second opportunity. as a college student, i'm concerned about rising tuition costs and the debt that students face to attend college. what's your plan to address this problem, and what do you believe is the federal government's role in assisting students who are interested and committed to pursuing higher education? >> first of all, i want to keep student loans in place and available to people. again, a big difference between me and my opponent on the availability of student loans and pell grants. 80% of utah students are going through college with one of those forms of assistance. we can't pull the rug out from under those people. i do strongly believe education is the best investment we can make in the future themselves best thing to work on as

democrats and republicans together, it should be common ground without reasonable people being able to disagree. i think that -- i support the governor's initiative on 2020, where 66% of utah students to have them have higher ed degrees by 2020. we could not possibly make that goal if we did away with student loans and pell grants. i went through law school on student loans and pell grans. i had a mother who is a teacher and a father who was a public servant. i benefited from those loans. i want to make sure they remain in place for those who can't afford education out of pocket. we do need to lower the cost of higher education. there's a great proposal that we take the senior year of high school and turn it into a free year of college. it wouldn't cost the state much money to do that. make that the first year of a two-year a.b. degree. there's a standard and poor's study out that says if every american in the work force had one year more of education, the

growth in our domestic product over the last six years since the recession would have been a half point greater. it is the best thing we can do to help hardworking middle class families and grow our economy. >> mia love, what would you say to patrick? >> i've never called to do away with student loans. i am convinced that an unlimited flow of federal dollars into colleges has caused the rate of tuition to rise far faster than the rate of inflationing, making it difficult for middle-income families and lower-income families to receive a higher education. i have taken student loans, i have paid them back, and i can tell you i understand the pain of paying those back. the school i went to was $20,000 a year. today, without the benefit of a better education at the same institution, it's $44,000 a year. how long is it going to take for a student going to that college to pay back those student loans today? better yet, those of us who are

sending our kids to school in the next five to 10 year, will we be able to afford college tuition when it's $80,000 to $100,000? i'm not the daughter of a congressman. i doubt that many of us are. but i can tell you right now, at this rate, higher education will become only available for the rich and the elite. and as a parent and a representative looking to represent this district, i cannot stand by and allow that to happen. >> both of you seem to allude to the fact that it's controlling the expense of attending college, not just the availability of funds. so how do we control the expense of our higher education which seems to be driven by market forces? >> well, i think i addressed one issue where i'd like to see experiments conducted, they have begun around the country, to turn the senior year of high school into the first year of college. but i don't see how you can pull the rug out from under people who need to pay for the expense right here and now before we figure out how to rein in the

expenses. i want to serve on the education committee. i'm anxious to figure out ways to reduce those costs. again you need to keep it available. it's the single best thing we can do to help people better their situations. >> mia love, how can you control market forces? >> i think if you are actually able to allow students to -- or allow colleges to compete for students, that will help bring down the cost of tuition. i think that we need to stop federal government from taking over those college loans. one of the things i allude to when i go and speak to some of the businesses, they would love to get involved in education and making sure that they can help out with programs, help out with grants, and help out with some of these -- some of the tuition costs so they can achieve, can get the skills they need from students graduating from college. >> mia love, you'll have the first 90-second opportunity to answer this question from jorge in bountiful. should there be a path to

citizenship for undocumented residents? do you think undocumented people who speak english, have no criminal record, pay taxes, and have lived in the usa for more than five years should be able to get a permanent legal work permit? mia love, the first 90-second opportunity on immigration. >> first of all, i want everyone to know i'm committed to immigration and legal immigration. i'm the daughter of parents who immigrated to this country. my father said his proudest moment was when he became a u.s. citizen he learned how to speak english. he studied american history and the american constitution. and he said that not only when he pledges allegiance to the american flag, not only did he know exactly what he was saying, meant every word of it. if we are going to fix legal immigration, there are three things we have to do. one, we have to secure the borders. not just for legal imdepration,

but from terrorism, weapons, drugs that may come into the country. we also to track people not just people who are coming into the country but also people leaving the country so that we know effectively exactly what we're dealing with. how about a system that allows people to pay a small fee to come into the country and then they get the majority of that fee back. and last but not least, it is congress' job to create a uniform rule of naturalization under article 1, section 8, it is their job to make sure we have a front door in and close the back door. in order for us to fix it and give people opportunities, whether they want to become citizens or want to have just legal status, we have to fix those three first. >> doug owens, your opportunity, what should be the pathway for someone who is here who wants to contribute? >> let me address that in one second. one important thing about the debates is to understand where candidates are on position, to

get below the 30-second commercial tagline. i made a reference to my opponent's position on student loans, i hope people look it up, i think it's abundantly clear. on immigration, i support compassionate and fair reform on immigration. senator hatch voted for legislation that came out of the senate. i support that legislation of that kind. first of all, it secures the border. we need to have a secure border. i strongly feel we should not have an illegal immigration process, we should only have a legal immigration process. we also have a serious issue with drug trafficking that i think a better controlled border can do a lot to address, and i hope we get to talk about ebola, because i think there's another serious issue on that issue. but i do think that we do have an issue with 11.5 million undocumented people, we're beginning to have the makings of an underclass in our society. that's not the american way. it hurt ours economy because they can't be full participants in it. they can't access education the way i would like them to.

i would favor a system -- legislation that was voted out by the senate that allows people to pay a fine, get square with the line and in appropriate cases have a pathway to citizenship. >> mia love, you have a 30-second rebuttal opportunity. >> this is an area where we can show our compassion as americans and make sure we fix the problem permanently instead of band-aid solutions that cause more families more heartache. if we fix it permanently, we would make sure that our families don't have to go through some of the difficult situations they're going through and they don't know where to go right now. i find it interesting that my opponent claim he is wants to end the dysfunction, yet with the other hand he does everything he can to attack. i want you to know that i think you have a choice in what you want to do, whether you want to have somebody who is going to attack or have somebody that will find solutions for problems. >> and you'll both have extra time. right now, mr. owens, 30 seconds for rebuttal. >> i don't think it's an attack

to point out differences on issues. i have high respect for my opponent, anybody who would throw their hat in the ring, i have high respect. but i do feel it incumbent on me to point out differences on issues. some of these are extreme issues that i think do not reflect utah values. on immigration, this is congressional dysfunction. community, civic, and religious leaders are calling for reform. congress can't get itself together to do it. we need to return that control to sensible people who will work on a bipartisan basis. >> i promised an opportunity to return to a theme you'd each addressed in your own comments, the affordable care act, 2,100 pages of existing controversy in some people's opinion. it is the law of the land. so with that said, give me a specific element of the affordable care act that you take substantial issue with. if you find a part that is worthy of praise, can you identify the upside of the

affordable care act assuming that you can? mr. owens, the first opportunity to explain your stance. >> it is lamentable we had a major piece of legislation that rushed through congress on a one-party basis. every great change has come with a bipartisan effort. we did not get the benefit of both parties. it is a futile effort to continue to call for the repeal of obamacare. that is not realistic. the shutdown polarized the debate and actually moved the ball backward on getting reform in places we need. i do not like tying the

provision of health insurance to employment. i think that is a mistake. they cut and 40 hours to not have to meet the mandate. another thing hits utah unusually hard, the tax on sales of medical devices. we have a big medical devices industry in utah. i'm upset that harry reid would refute that amendment to that provision out of tax reform legislation. i would like to see that repealed. there are some things that we like, that parents can keep their children on their insurance policies, people can't be denied based on pre-existing conditions. some of these solutions, it seems obvious. let's keep the parts we like and work at what we don't like on a bipartisan basis and not have a polarized dialogue. >> your sharpest criticism of the affordable care act? >> the affordable care act is

not affordable. it is not sustainable. that is the biggest problem i have with it. it was meant to put as many people on insurance as possible. we have fewer people insured today than we did before. i actually got an e-mail from a lady who got kicked off of her insurance and had to be forced on to the exchange. she was elated to find out her cause were going to be $134 a month. then was dismayed when her deductible was $6,300. she realized she would not be able to afford to go to the doctor. we do need to repeal obamacare. but we need to know we are going to replace it with. my plan improves patient experience and outcomes. for us to do that, we need to make sure that we allow people to buy insurance across state lines. we want to remove the berlin

wall and put the decision-making in the hands of patients and doctors. we need broad free-market reforms to health care. we want to be able to align the incentives with the outcome. if we are able to do all of these things, it will give as many people access to health care as possible. >> your opportunity for rebuttal? >> we need to roll up our sleeves and go to work on a bipartisan basis. we had the polarization that resulted from a shutdown ended any discussion of reforming it. it is lamentable. there are many provisions we need to fix. i talk to my wife about this all the time. there are mandates on outcomes rather than processes. i believe strongly that we can leave it up to medicine to govern itself if we set those goals. we need to address

affordability. >> your opportunity? >> i agree we need to remove the medical devices tax. it is killing jobs. i want to address this notion of extremist. $17 trillion of debt, the hijacking of 20% of our economy through obamacare without bipartisan support. extreme is ignoring the rising cost of to wish in an attacking your opponent for trying to find solutions. >> let me take you to one of the more beautiful corners of the fourth congressional district. this question comes from carl who lives in spring city. he says the narrows project in central utah is important to the residence of the county. please tell me what your position is on the narrows

project. tell us what you would do in congress to advance or kill the project. >> i can tell you why it is such a long explanation. they have been fighting this for 90 years. it is a long time to fight for this project. i find it sad that you have a city that cannot have water for farming. they are actually rationing out their water. i find it disheartening. this project was held up in congress for the past few years and it started up again and they are having problems with the environmental process. i think we need to do everything we can to support these projects and understand that water and

transportation is a lifeline to any city. if you do not have water or transportation, it you cannot drive and continue to grow. i support the project. only my going to help get that project through i'm going to do everything i can to expedite that project. >> doug owens? >> it is a bucolic corner of the district. i have visited it several times. i support the project. it is time to get that water turned around. this is a function of congress is not being fulfilled. i will mention my father was heavily involved in the utah water project. i love the details. i am well suited to get into that and help the stakeholders come together and work on a solution. even things we couldn't disagree on.

it is broken, and i want to fix it. is in my nare to bring different parties together. a good example, the washington county wilderness bill where they brought stakeholders together, got a sensible compromise. so i think that we can -- it depends on your native outlook that puts the interest of utah hard-working families first and i'm going to go to work on those solutions that we need. >> let me exercise my prerogative and give you each one minute. if it is built in my district it is critical infrastructure. but if it is built in your state it is pork-barrel politics. how do you differentiate between the proper appropriation of

federal dollars to benefit your district as opposed to weighing the cost and benefit ratio in other locales? >> i can draw directly from my experience. in saratoga springs we had put on a priority level many projects. funds were coming back from our taxpayer dollars and those funds were going to a specific project that the federal government wanted to put in. the same project that would cost us $260,000 cost over $1 million for the federal government to put in that project. what i would like as a former mayor and as i speak to mayors across the district, they want to release the handcuffs. it is what government is stopping them from doing. stopping them from addressing

the issues that their constituents want. as i go to the district they have all specific issues. that is something i want to make sure i remove. sure i remove. >> investing in the public good and investing too much? >> it is part of the role of a congressman to look out for his district. three i favor into the investment in tracks extension. i support that. i will go to work on issues that will invest in business and growth in my district. you need to have the punch is public interest at heart and not engage in things that are wasteful. sometimes this is a sympton of congressional dysfunction where we see congress has to punt its functions because congress cannot extricate itself from the decision. sometimes that make sense to do that. i would rather see members of

congress be responsible, be willing to lost elections if their best judgment is not adequate for the district, if a congress member cannot explain it to the district. there is a larger public duty to take into account. part of it is helping your district with investments in the future. >> our final question, the realm of national security and surveillance. the question comes in several parts. to begin with, what is your view on the national security agency's surveillance activity? would you support a law that prohibits mobile phone manufacturers from producing phones that cannot be easily monitored by nsa surveillance programs? should the government be able to listen in? >> as an attorney, i appreciate the liberties enshrined in the constitution. i have litigated many of them.

i think the nsa should be entitled to surveil citizens if they get a warrant. i support that. i don't know that making a cell phone that could never be surveilled would be consistent with the need for government if a proper warrant is obtained to go after cell phones. i don't think i would support that legislation. >> your opportunity on the government conducting surveillance? >> i cannot support it. i do believe that you are willing -- one of our forefathers mentioned it -- if you're willing to give up freedom in the name of security you are worthy of neither. the things that makes this country great is the ability for people to make decisions, for them to have their privacy. without the government coming in and listening in on their conversations. privacy is incredibly important. if there is clear evidence that

there is someone threatening the lives of americans, it is important for us to be proactive. when it comes to privacy of every individual, we need to make sure we protect that. i am going to protect those individual rights and every other right that is enshrined in the constitution. >> our questioner had a distinct follow-up. i'm going to give you 30 seconds. do you consider edward snowden a hero or traitor? why do you think that? snowden release classified information about international surveillance programs involving the united states. mr. owens? >> according to the accounts i have read, he has committed

crimes. he has released government secrets to the public. he has released government . secrets to the public. i understand it has endangered particular individual. i don't want to use harsh terms but he sounds like the accusation that he has committed crimes against the country. >> your opinion on the high-profile case? >> one of the things that is unfortunate many americans do not have trust in the government. the trust in the administration is not there. it is hard to differentiate what information we are given is true and which isn't true. it is very difficult when you do not have a transparent government. i would say that i certainly hope if this person is just a whistleblower, that he is not -- we would be able to protect his rights and be able to bring him back home. i hope that we would be able to protect his individual rights. >> as frequently happens, we

have fallen into a gray area. not enough time for another question but perhaps enough to extend your closing comments. rather than just one note, i'm -- one minute, i am going to extend each of you a 92nd -- 90 second opportunity for a clothings -- closing statement. >> thank you. thank you for tuning in tonight and getting informed about the election. it has been a privilege to go out on the campaign trail and get acquainted by so many fine people and hear about their aspirations and hopes for the future of our state and country . we haven't had inherited a great -- we have inherited a great country. it is incumbent on us to improve , but that is hard because of congressional dysfunction. i want to go to work to fix issues. i want to end the gridlock in washington.

i will work with both parties to get things done. i think we have got to get congress working again in a way that works for all of us, commonsense bipartisan solutions. utah needs a representative who can go to washington and put utah first. not go vote a party line. i will seek out the best that each party has, and take those ideas no matter where i find them. i think strongly that we have got to have a sense of humility. take in account different viewpoints and find common sense solutions and bridge gaps between those who have different viewpoints that are trying to address issues hitting us every day like the social security reform, obamacare, immigration. i hope as an independent voice i will be suited to find those solutions and work together to change the attitude in congress. i'm not interested into playing

by the rules. i want to change the rules that are played there. i will be a strong and independent voice for utah. hard-working middle-class families. >> our final opportunity. >> do i believe that we have an obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves? i do. do i believe that if we have the resources to end our neighbor's suffering, we should do that? absolutely. i believe that if we need a federal government to force us to do so, we are not deserving of the title americans. this is a great country conceived in liberty and american exceptionalism were people all over the world are willing to risk their lives to come to. we have an opportunity to do something very special here in the state to represent utah's voice and bring people along with us. i am not going to washington to be one of 435. i'm going to washington to make

sure i represent your values. and bring people to come along with us. this is not about who i am running against. this is about what we are running for. we are running for our children's way of life. we are running for freedom. we are running for our state. we are running for the ability to make decisions in our home. i am not asking you to trust washington. i'm going to washington to tell them to trust you again. i believe this is a great state and we can be a great example in this i am asking for your state. support in representing our values. i'm asking for your vote on november 4. god bless you, god bless utah, god bless our independent united states of america. >> my thank you for your time this evening. special appreciation to the university of utah. since this is the final debate it is appropriate to thank all the media partners and television for printing support to these debates print it is a long list of people behind the scenes that labored to bring

these debates, specifically the governor, scott howell, they have all played important roles. none more important than the debate commission executive director. the utah commission reminds you election day is tuesday, november 4. good evening. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] morespan has brought you than 100 debates from across the country. you can find all of them online at c-span.org. 102 debates, and more are coming. tonight at 8:00 eastern, a new hampshire u.s. senate debate

between incumbent jeanne shaheen and republican challenger scott brown, who once represented massachusetts in the summit. at 9:00 eastern, the oregon u.s. senate debates with the democratic incumbent and republican challenger. at 10:00, you conceivable louisiana fifth u.s. house district debate. eight candidates running, including six republicans and one democrat. a member of the green party also participating in that debate. now, to a debate for west virginia's third congressional district seat, with democratic incumbent representative nick l, and challenger evan jenkins. the race is rated as a tossup. this is an hour and 20 minutes.

>> so much for that instruction. as we get to our opening statements and questions, please try to control that. thank you. i would first like to tell you a little bit about the candidates. on my right is nick joe rahal, the democratic candidate. he is serving his 19th term in the house. he was elected to the position first in 1976. he is the ranking member of the house transportation and infrastructure committee, which has jurisdiction over highways,

railways, airports, seaports, and bus lines, as well as the economic development them astray should, coast guard, army corps of engineers, and federal emergency management agency. before his election to congress, nick rahall was a businessman who served as a staff aide for robert c byrd. he is married and has three children and three grandchildren. on my left is state senator evan jenkins, the republican candidate. a huntington native. mr. jenkins has served in the west virginia legislature for two decades. he was first elected to the house of delegates in 1994 to represent cavill and wayne counties. he served three terms in the body. and 2002, he was elected to the state senate, where he is now serving his third term. his committee assignments and

the state senate include education, and roll bills, judiciary, military, and natural resources. in addition to serving on the legislature, mr. jenkins is executive director of the west virginia state medical association. it is a physician-based organization focused on public health issues. mr. jenkins and his wife elizabeth have three children. next i would like to talk a little bit about the format. i think the candidates are familiar. but i want to explain it to you out there. each candidate will have three minutes for an opening statement , then i will ask the candidates a series of questions that were developed with ideas from our readers. each candidate will have two minutes for an initial response to each question, and then one minute for rebuttal or clarification to each question. we will proceed through the questions in that manner, with candidates alternating and answering the questions first. after we have completed the questions, each candidate will have three minutes for a closing statement.

we have a timer to help us keep track of the time limits. we are trying to adhere to that this evening. our business reporter at the herald dispatch, shane, raise your hand. thank you. he has three signs in his position. one says one minute, 30 seconds, and timeout. he will flash the signs to indicate how much time they have left for their opening and closing statements, as well as their answer to the questions and the rebuttals. any questions? i think we're all set. ok. i want to remind the candidates that each of you has three minutes for your opening comments. we will begin with congressman rahall. >> thank you.

i want to thank the herald dispatch for sponsoring this. i want to thank each of you for your participation in our political process. too many of our veterans have fought and died for the many freedoms that we enjoy in this country, one of which is the right to vote. we all have a duty to vote. as i have been in congress working hard for you, i feel we also have a duty to work together. in this city and across southern west virginia, that is how you and i, together, have been able to progress on so many fronts. i working together, you and have been getting things done. there my leadership position on the house transportation committee, numerous projects across southern west virginia , the marshall university city of huntington, and throughout the southern coalfields. this race comes down to one thing, one thing, my friends, who can you trust to stand up for the working values of our families and west virginia? who can you trust, who will be on your side for our working men and women? i have always and will always be a fighter for west virginia

values. whether it is working with republicans in standing up to my party to stop the overreaching, overzealous, coal job-killing epa agenda or diversifying our economy, or working perfectly for you on problems you may have cutting through government red tape, social security checks, veterans benefits. i am proud of what we have been able to achieve in washington by working together, and willing and able to cross party lines. for example, i chair the house drug abuse caucus with my good friend from across the aisle, hal rogers, of the appropriations committee. we have been able to secure funding for drug prevention strategies and to fight drug abuse. another example, i have led the effort to secure funding for pullman square right here in huntington. the development of the heartland corridor. it provides jobs for our people. i could go on down the list.

whether it is a highway or loudoun county our top priority , will be to continue to finish route 35. we must create long-term solutions for our state. when we look at the loss of senator robert byrd and the pending retirement of senator rockefeller, and the fact that this president will not be an office in two years, we have to think beyond to the long-term best interest of our state and what it means for a small state like west virginia to have clout and seniority in the halls of congress, and be able to work across the party aisles. this election comes down to one thing, who can we trust to fight for our west virginia values in congress? i have and always will be a champion for our working family, our economy, and are independent mountaineer spirit way of life. you have honored me in the past. i'm asking for your vote again. thank you. >> thank you, mr. rahall. senator jenkins?

>> thank you for this tremendous crowd turning out this evening. for those watching us on the webcast, hello, i hope you have an informed evening tonight. this is a great night. candidly i have been looking , forward to a debate. i want to talk about the issues. i issued a challenge to congressman rahallthe night of the primary. it has taken until now before he is willing to stand on the stage with me and talk about the importance of the issues of west virginia. i was born and raised here. in cabell county. i have represented cabell and wayne county in the state legislature for 18 years. i have my wife elizabeth and daughter olivia and son charles here. i have one off in college. it is about our future. it is about our children's future. why am i running for congress? i'm running for congress this november for because i think we

need a change of direction, not a change of pace. i am telling you, people are hurting in west virginia. it is the policies of barack obama, nancy pelosi, and their faithful soldier, nick rahall, who has caused us such despair. it is time for a change. we have somebody who has been in office 38 years. i've represented west virginia. we have done a lot of good things here. we brought autism coverage for children here in west virginia, and standing up to the insurance industries. we have fought the drug abuse crisis. i was the lead sponsor of the taxpayer's bill of rights that make sure you got your tax refund in a timely fashion, and if they did not, they have to pay you interest. i got an e-mail today from a gentleman. he said, you know, evan, there has been a lot of talk about coal and things that are critically important. he said, don't forget, this is

the house of representatives. he underscored representatives. that is what this is about. who will be your representative? i am proud of our record. -- my record. congressman rahall was a staunch supporter of president obama twice, voted for nancy pelosi for six times for speaker. he has cut veterans pensions. he has raised costs for our seniors. i am telling you, folks, west virginians are hurting. i am looking forward to the discussion tonight about those policies. about those votes. me close with my last 30 seconds. in an interview with keith overman, here is what congressman rahall said. i keep on with my endorsement of obama because i am looking at the long range view of what is best for our democratic party. he puts his party first. i want to put west virginia first. i want to put west virginians back to work. i want to stand up to barack obama.

i would be honored to have your vote. >> thank you, senator. our first question this evening. it will be addressed by mr. jenkins first. it has to do with energy. as you both are fully aware, coal has been a big topic in this campaign. you both have stated your commitment to supporting coal. i want to put that into context of overall energy policy. would you each please explain to us what kind of energy policy you think the nation should have and what specific steps you would take as a congressman to steer the nation towards that policy? senator jenkins. >> west virginia is an energy state. we are proud of our coal history. we have made the manufacturing base of this country based on coal-fired power plants. we have fueled america. we have 90% of the energy and west virginia that is coal-fired. we do have an oil and gas explosion as well.

we need to do both. have coal as well as oil and natural gas in west virginia. we have a unique opportunity to lead the country and energy -- in energy independence. we need to step up to the plate and free up our coal miners and make sure that they can mine the coal that god has given us and blessed us with. you can't be pro-coal and vote for nancy pelosi for speaker six times, who wants to kill coal. you can't be pro-caol and vote for a carbon tax, like nick rahall has. i am telling you folks these , policies are devastating to our coal industry. you know, he voted against the keystone pipeline. we can go on and on. he set up the first cap and trade initiative and our -- in our country. he gave the epa the biggest budget increase in their

history. with specific directions to come up with policies related to greenhouse gas regulations. guess what? those policies are coming home to roost. we can't continue in this direction. this is killing our jobs. it is limiting our ability to grow and prosper in the state. i will be 100% pro-coal. i will be pro-coal miner. i will make sure our coal communities get back on their feet and let people get back to work. >> thank you. congressman rahall. >> coal is a way of life in west virginia. it keeps our lights on. it is not just a business or job. it is who we are. it is in our veins. coal is everything to our state

of west virginia. i have always stood for coal, am standing for coal, and always will stand for coal. what is so important to keep in mind, my friends, is that we need the domestic -- energy policy that embraces all of the above, as long as they are domestic resources. yes, we have oil and gas and was -- in west virginia. we have other energy sources as well in this nation. as long as they are domestic, we need to stand up and use those resources. unfortunately, when you look at the facts in this race, the new york millionaires -- they did not make their money and coal, they made their money and -- in oil and gas. coal will always be with us. while coal is not generating 50% of our electricity anymore, it is still 35%. coal will be here. i don't care who the president

of the united states is. controlscare who either of the houses. i don't care which party controls either one. coal is not going away. and yet, coal is a viable natural resources that we have in west virginia. you know as well as i do, my friends, our coal miner is the most precious resource of all. i have stood and fought for lower dust levels in our coal mines. i stood with our coal miners and fought for their health and safety. and pension benefits i am proud . i am proud of my record. i work on behalf of coal. i don't think the koch brothers or don blankenship or karl rove are going to change west virginians knowledge of nick rahalll's ability to fight and work for coal. that is who we are. in a must -- in west virginia it , is our way of life. >> thank you. senator jenkins, any clarification or rebuttal? >> lets talk about the one vote in particular. nancy pelosi, long before obama came on the scene in 2007, said we need to green the capitol.

guess what? nick rahall introduced legislation, sponsored legislation, giving direction to the architect of the capitol to reduce carbon emissions. guess what, the united states capital was fueled with coal from west virginia. here is a guy who sponsored a legislation to say, no, we will stop using west virginia coal in ing theling -- fuel capital of our united states. >> congressman rahall. >> friends, you have never met johnny-come-lately until tonight. he is on stage with me. 20 years, he has been in the senate of west virginia. ask his colleagues. has he been at the pro-coal rallies, the anti-epa rallies i have been in our nations capital

, in charleston, west virginia, testifying before the epa and their efforts to revoke permits. mr. johnny-come-lately, welcome to the battle. evan, i am glad you recognize what coal means to our stately -- state. whatever vote it is you referenced, let's look at the facts. we used to be friendly and i hope we can be friends after this. i am happy to say that he is a past supporter of mine. he gave to my campaign in 2010 after barack obama was elected president, after the affordable care act was signed into law. after whatever vote it is he quoted back in 2007. after all that, he was a supporter of my campaign treat i -- my campaign, and i appreciate it. >> thank you. we will go on to the next question now. it also has to do with the coal mining industry. west virginia is the second leading coal producing state in the nation.

thousands of people are employed in what is a dangerous occupation. do you think steps taken by the federal government have been sufficient to keep miners safe and healthy? if not, what further steps should the federal government do to improve safety in the mines? as part of that, i would like you to address whether the government is doing enough to protect miners from black lung disease and to help those who suffer from it. congressman rahall, you're first. >> short answer, no, no, and no. we are not doing enough. i was the first official who showed up when that disastrous explosion happened in 2010. i was with those widows. soon to be widows. i was with them 24/7 waiting for word about their loved ones. we passed a mine safety bill, but it did not go far enough. we need to pass the robert c byrd mine safety legislation in the congress of the united

states that will provide additional protections for our coal miners. we need to ensure that they have a number that they can call an onymously to support unsafe conditions and not be afraid of losing their jobs. we also need to step up to the plate and protect the health and safety, as i said earlier, of our most precious resource in the state, i'll coal miners. -- our coal miners. i will continue to do that. i think -- you know we will not , be 100% safe. coal mining is a dangerous job. i have been in the coal mines. i just wish that my opponents 's billionaire backers would have taken up the invite to go into our coal mines and see what it is like. perhaps they would get there to hundred dollar -- their $200 dusty.e fingers a little at least they would learn what

coal mining is like. this is what it is about. being with our coal miners and whose side you are on. being with our working families in the state. whose side are you on? i am very proud of my record. that is why i have been endorsed by umwa. i am proud of senator joe manchin calling nick rahall a straight shooter. and saying just baloney -- with all due respect, i like to meet -- the meat. but that's what these ads are all about. outsiders running their own hidden agenda. >> thank you. senator jenkins. >> i wonder if nick rahall, when he was with those widows and first responders, that tragic incident, the day after the ubb explosion, while they were still in search and recovery, nick rahall went and sold his corporate ownership in massey.

the day after the ubb explosion, nick rahall, instead of consoling the widows, instead of helping the first responders, it must have been his first call, to sell his ownership interest in massey. this is the gentleman that in 1981, he cut, reduced, changed the criteria for black lung benefits. that the umwa official said the worst vote, the worst bill in the history of coal miners. it looks to me like we will have a fun night. with a lot of cute comments. a lot of funny gestures. that is not going to do a bit to help hard-working west virginia go back to work.

did you tell the people that you sold your corporate ownership the day after the disaster? i bet not. he likes to talk about this money. he talked about a $500 contribution i made to him. guess what? he tried to make a $2000 illegal contribution to me. what i did with the maximum limits in west virginia, i sent $1000 back and kept the thousand he sent. [applause] >> congressman rahall? >> if he had been in that area, he would have known that cell phones don't work in that area. the contribution he gave me was $500. i don't know that the money

shenanigans he is talking about -- since he brought up the issue of money, all we have to do is follow the money. follow the money, my friends. look who the big backers of his campaign are. don blankenship, the koch brothers, they and their wives have maxed out to him to follow the money. that will tell you who sigh he -- whose side he is on. and who you can expect him to respond to after the election. let's look at the facts of this race. let's decide who is in the best interest of west virginia. who is there fighting for our west virginia values, for the working men and women, to make sure, who is fighting for our coal miners. i am proud to have the umwa endorsement. i'm proud of that fact. you think they would endorse me if i was against black lung

benefits? i don't think so. >> senator jenkins. >> you notice he did not deny selling his corporate ownership. you notice that? a little deception there. 38 years in congress apparently teaches you a lot of tricks. i am telling you, what an outrage. before he took a personal financial hit, he ran. he got out of it. we are going to talk about the koch brothers. he likes to talk about little histories. he has not told you that he took money from koch industries. that was several years ago. long before they were ever involved in running ads for the americans for prosperity. nick rahall took money from the kochs. don blankenship does not like me. he worked against me. in the number of my campaigns. he made one contribution back in

2000, in another race. it's 14 years since then. he has worked against me and does not support me. >> thank you. we will go on to our next question. it has to do with health reform. the affordable care act has been the subject of much debate since it was passed in 2010, and it continues to be so after its of -- its implementation. about a million people have been enrolled to the program. what is your position on the affordable care act? should it be repealed? if so, would you propose something in its place? if you think it should be kept in force, do you think there should be some adjustments to the program? senator jenkins, you're first. >> my day job is in the health care industry. and i am passionate about care. i get up every day, working to bring accessible, affordable care to west virginia and spare -- west virginians. that is what i do for a living. it is a passion of mine. obamacare was the wrong recipe.

our health care system is broken. we need a true health care system that is actually promoting access, does improve access to care and reduce costs. obamacare, come on folks, this is a boondoggle. this raised prices on small businesses. it caused coverage to decrease. the congress has tried to make changes. in fact nick rahall has voted , for a repeal of many provisions. is it not unbelievable that you have a 2700 page bill that does not get a single republican vote that nancy pelosi says you , got to pass it before you can it, that barack obama dozens of times has delayed, deferred -- we have not seen the tip of the negative consequences. what we have seen is hurting our seniors.

$700 billion out of medicare -- thank you, congressman rahall. home health care's slashed. thank you, congressman rahall. obamacare is broken. it was not the right recipe. we do need to expand coverage and access. i hope we have a hearty discussion about health care reform tonight. it is critical. i have made it perfectly clear that the byrd amendment, related to black lung benefits, i will fight tooth and nail to make sure that our coal miners and our widows -- the 1981 vote that nick rahall made that raise the eligibility and cut benefits -- i will make sure that is preserved. because we owe it to our coal miners. >> thank you. congressman rahall? >> i have been in congress a

long time. you point that out. i have never seen a perfect law passed in congress. the affordable health care act is not perfect. does it need tweaking, yes. you better believe it needs tweaking. i have voted numerous times to make the amendments necessary. we need to put the politics aside on this bill and make it work for the american people. yes, it has language in there that makes it easier and expedites the process for black lung claims. the affordable care act, you repeal that provision. you repeal the affordable health care act, you repeal the fact that insurance companies can no longer discriminate against one because of a pre-existing condition.

you repeal the fact that they can no longer limit coverage of annual caps or lifelong caps, and you would eliminate the fact that they closed the hole for our senior citizens, made up for -- more portable under part d medicare. we have close the doughnut hole. we eliminated waste, fraud, abuse, and duplications. those were the reforms we made in the affordable care act. all of those savings, we put it right back into medicare. we went to ensure the solvency of the medicare trust fund for another 13 years. the rollout was atrocious. i said that the president should be held responsible. if he did not know about it, then heads should have rolled quicker than they finally did. i voted to extend the employer mandate, the individual mandate. the employer mandate, the president did finally allow that to be extended. as i said, it is time to put the politics aside on this issue. do you think the billionaire backers of my opponent are worried about health care? i don't think so.

>> senator jenkins. your rebuttal. >> here is the gentleman who lie of the12 or 13 year. if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. that is what president obama said. that is what nick rahall said. he went on the radio last year, after we had 9000 people in west virginia having their insurance policies canceled, and what did he say? you know what, maybe having their insurance canceled was in their best interest. it's outstanding to me that you can be that out of touch. to think that you know what is best for the people. $892 billion in new taxes in

obamacare. each and every person in here is paying for it. and our seniors are hit up particularly hard in the cuts to medicare and medicare advantage programs. it's an outrage. >> congressman rahall. >> we have to look back at what the situation was when the affordable care act was passed. insurance companies were raising premiums through the ceiling and cancelling policies at will. they had that right. and they were exercising it to the cruelest degree on so many people. health care costs were going through the ceiling and certainly something needed to be done. the status quo was unacceptable. the new law was designed in part to prevent that sort of thing and to give consumers new rights to protect themselves. for example, the new law forces insurance companies to publicly justify unreasonable premium increases, and in many cases, the insurance commissioner of the state has to justify exorbitant premium increases by insurance companies.

my opponent, who has been nothing but a shill for the insurance companies, would have us go back to the old days where insurance companies can force you off because of pre-existing conditions and children can no longer remain on their parents' insurance policies. that is another positive impact. >> thank you. next question has to do with education. educational achievement has fallen below most other states in the nation and the nation falls below the performance of many other countries. what steps, if any, should the federal government take to improve the educational achievement in k-12 and the common core standards be improved to improve standards in learning? >> our federal government needs to be a partner with the states in promoting and improving our educational system, our teachers.

thank god for our teachers. i can recall who my teachers were for the most part, but i can't recall who my congressman was. teachers affect children's lives for an eternity. we must provide for student loan interest at a reasonable level and not exorbitant rates. we must provide perkins loans and pell grants. this is what our young people need. we should make education affordable and accessible for any child, for any student, as long as he or she wants to go to school, regardless of their financial wherewithal, not just open for the wealthy. the teachers deserve to have the tools with which to do their job. and they have not had the proper tools and it's because of the efforts in washington to slash our budget, to cut and gut, to cut and gut so many programs.

like the tea party, the right wing the ryan budget that my , opponent has not said yes or no. how would you vote on the ryan budget? it would cut the department of education. it would gut programs for our seniors, our veterans. transportation would take a tremendous slash in this cut and gut ryan budget, the same gentleman that has came down here and campaigned on my opponent's behalf. let's look at what is best for west virginia values. education is right up there at the very top. as far the core curriculum, it is up to the states to decide what the teachers teach. there is no cookie cutter that fits all. each state is different. we tried under no child left behind under the bush administration and it didn't work. >> thank you. senator jenkins. >> he likes to talk about who

contributes and suggesting somehow we are supportive of their positions. and i have made it clear, i would not support the ryan budget. i will not express for any budget i have not had an opportunity to participate in. nick rahall voted for the progressive budget and we can talk about that, i suspect in a little bit. i don't support common core. i'm concerned what is happening in this national socialized one-size-fits-all driven policy. i don't support that. you know, big government, big washington, you know, he mentions no child left behind, race to the top. we could go through all of the history of these different mega, big idea, washington, d.c., give you a little money and then all of the strings are attached.

we have to get washington out of our lives. yes, we need to address the student loan debt problem. this is a crisis. there are things we can do on that front. but this big government mentality that we know what's best in washington for education, let's put a big bill out there, but it's all the strings attached. let's free up our teachers. i'm for new research into school choice. i'm a product. i went to the lab school here in huntington for a couple of years. there are huge opportunities, free up our teachers. let's get education down to the classroom and in the neighborhood to try to empower our teachers and our parents and our local administrators. i was chair of the pensions committee, a word about our teachers. during my oversight for our

teachers, i increased the solvency of our teacher retirement program significantly. our teachers are important. we wanted to make sure they also had a safe financial retirement future. >> thank you. congressman rahall, rebuttal. >> i'm proud to have the backing of teachers in this state that have endorsed my campaign. i'm proud to fight for our pre-school kids, the head start program, the wic program, k-12 program, other programs so vital to getting our children off on the right foot so we don't have , to pay higher costs later on in life. i have also worked and brought in the drug czar into this state of ours, to work with our teachers, our educators, our law enforcement, so we can provide proper education at an early level, which begins with the parents in the home, number one and extends our teachers in the

, school. and right on up the line every , one has the responsibility to join together and help improve and fight drugs regardless of what that drug is in west virginia. these efforts help our education system. too many kids have been going in west virginia not to learn, but to eat, because the parents have given away money to drugs over the weekend. >> thank you. senator jenkins? >> i was in a county this summer and a middle school came up to me and said, you know what? earlier this spring, the principal came on the intercome and said any parent who lost -- any kids who had a parent who lost their jobs with the layoffs announced that morning in the county, come on down and sign up for the free lunch program. that's the policies of barack obama and nancy pelosi and nick rahall. the best education policy, the

best jobs policy is getting our people back to work. let's build our families. i have got -- as i look at here with my stickers on, we have a school principal, we've got school teachers. i'm proud to be supported by teachers and administrators caring about the future and they are here to support me. and i appreciate that. thank you all. >> the next question also is related to education. a growing issue faced by many people across the country, especially in university towns such as huntington, cost of higher education and increase of debt of students as they pursue their degrees. what strategies do you think the federal government should implement to control higher education costs and help students manage the burden of loan debt? mr. jenkins. >> as i said, loan debt is a very troubling concern. we all know about the mortgage crisis. loans in the real estate

business. we know what has happened to our country financially as a result. every financial prognosticator says the next big crisis the student loan debt. we must roll up our sleeves. we don't need to bring our nation's economy down again like we saw in 2008 as a result of this. we need to step up. we need to address this. we must do it in a bipartisan way. we must do it to make sure that our children, our students, are not shouldered with this absolutely unacceptable debt. now, in west virginia, we have fought tooth and nail to try to put money into marshall university. i was right there when our medical school was having

trouble and we got an extra million dollars for marshall. i voted against the budget this year because it had cuts to education. so, we must do better about supporting education in our state. and i have a record of supporting and making sure our higher ed institutions to the extent possible, but candidly when you see this war on coal, sorry to bring it back, but i'm not apologizing for saying when this economy goes down, it's real trouble. and i have been a staunch advocate and been there throughout the entire time for the promise scholarship and making the promise by keeping it fully funded. >> congressman rahall. >> a good example is reconnect in mcdowell county.

that's an effort by the private sector, providing free laptop computers to all the students along with our teachers' union, along with the local government, along with state government. it's headed up by former first lady manchin. and it is going to be something that will catch on in other counties as well, the private sector has come on board and they have an important role to play. you have not heard me advocating that the federal government is the cure-all. it's not. the federal government has to be a partner with us in so many areas. but it's not a cut and gut type of philosophy that is going to solve our education problems. and that's all we have seen from the so-called ryan budget in washington that would devastate our programs to elementary and

secondary education and higher education. i have been proud what i have been able to do for marshall university. the federal grants because of my seniority, have come to marshal l's way. the earmark that established the rahall transportation institute, gave incentives to our young people to get involved in the engineering field, to work with the army corps of engineers that i fought so hard here in huntington. these are the type of efforts that our federal government has a role. i hooked up colleges through tapping the federal communications fund and that we have been able to secure funding from that fund to help our higher education in southern west virginia. and with the technology, students can learn from their

home. >> thank you. senator jenkins. >> oftentimes, nick rahall talks about all this money. he is just doing his job in congress. let's talk about the stimulus bill. one-shot wonder. $800 billion. let's talk about that seniority and help for marshall and other shovel-ready initiatetives. -- initiatives. stunningly, west virginia 3 under nick rahall's leadership got $100 million less than the first congressional district. west virginia 3, thank you, nick rahall, got a billion dollars less than west virginia 2. folks, the job's not getting

done and he can talk about five million there or five thousand there and interesting, i heard that the rahall institute has been laying off people recently. just not getting the job done. i would be interested in knowing how many people you let go, laid off as a result of not being able to bring home sufficient money to even handle the project with your name on it. >> congressman rahall. >> my opponent, and i'm not new at this game and been around and every two years you hear bad-mouthing. about west virginia from those inside our state. this gentleman has been in the state senate and was a democrat. as a democrat in the state senate until he switched to the republican party. what party he will be next year, i'm not sure. but nevertheless, where he has been the 20 years he has been in the state senate as a democrat? where has he been?

come on, friends. this nay saying that occurs every two years, doesn't get us anywhere. number two, it doesn't work. and number three, it's destroying the morale and the faith that so many hard-working men and women who hold our values dear have in our state. candidates like this are trying to erode that confidence and faith in our future. i believe we have the ball rolling. we are going in the right direction. coal is in the a slump right now. but coal's going to come back. [laughter] >> thank you. we are going to our next question. >> do i have my 30? i can't remember where we are. >> we are done with that question. >> another issue that touches the lives of many has to do with the abuse of drugs, prescription

drugs, heroin, meth. what strategies would you advocate to rein this destructive epidemic? >> i work across party aisles and this issue is a perfect example of it. i co-chaired the prescription drug abuse caucus in congress along with my friend across the river and across the aisle hal , rogers. we brought in millions of dollars to fight prescription drug abuse and other types of drug abuse and prevention strategies. this summer, i brought the head of national drug policy into west virginia. mike botticelli. i have had the head of the cdc in west virginia and the head of sampsha discussing with law enforcement, including the judicial system and faith-based organizations that are working with us on the drug-abuse problem to try to address this issue.

there is no one silver bullet that is going to solve the drug abuse problem. don't kid yourself. no one person, no legislation, no one level of government. we are all in this together and it's going to take all of us. as i said earlier, from the parents, to the educators, to the law enforcement, to the pharmacies and to our doctors and perhaps there is a lot of work that needs to be done there so our doctors understand what these prescriptions are that they are prescribing their patients and scream and want a little pill for any little thing and doctors satisfy them and get them out of the door quickly. that's the type of thing we have to review, all of us together, including our pharmacies. i led the effort in the congress to restore and increase the high intensity drug trafficking initiative. it brings in law enforcement,

and federal resources for counties along the state lines -- the huntington area, detroit is a big supplier of drugs and because of that we need increased federal resources. i announced a million dollar grant for this type of federal effort. we have more federal officials interfacing with local officials and providing the technologies to track down the bad guys. >> thank you. senator jenkins. >> this crisis is at an epidemic. it is ravaging our communities , ravaging our state and we are , working very hard and the congressman would like to say , what have i done? let me say what i have done. i was the lead sponsor of a new law in west virginia establishing the tampering -- tamper-resistant prescription pad in west virginia. my bill. i was the lead sponsor of a bill that is now the law in west virginia that closes a loophole that allows prosecutors to go

after doctor shoppers. lead sponsor of the bill in west virginia to go after pill-mill doctors and make sure we shut them down. just a few blocks from here tonight, there are three or four babies at lilly's place that me, sarah, and rhonda, and mary, and countless number of other people brought to a reality, a first of its kind in the nation. and these babies are there being taken care of because they are drug-withdrawing babies. they were exposed to drugs during pregnancy. this is an epidemic. and there has been nobody that has fought harder to eradicate this ravage. i was the one who led the charge to stop the synthetic cocaine

and marijuana, bath salts being sold in retail stores. i could go on and on. we have all been affected personally by this in some tragic ways. we can do a lot. it is job one. >> congressman rahall? any further to say? >> this is not a political issue. there is a lot which my opponent just said which i agree. who can disagree? certainly we are at ground zero , in southern west virginia when it comes to the drug epidemic. we curtail prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse jumps up. it is an effort that is needed and i'm talking about not only education, treatment and prevention, but i'm talking about all levels of government as well and all political parties. doesn't matter if you are republican or democrat or rich

or poor or 9 or 90. this is something that cuts across all lines and we need to address it together. my opponent has been to drug summits i have called here in huntington in the past. i appreciate that. we worked together on this issue. why shouldn't we continue to work together to try to address this drain on our economy, drain on peoples' lives. >> senator jenkins, further comment? >> but votes matter. votes matter. right before they took their recess, congress put up two immigration bills. it's a hot topic. and one of the bills, nick rahall voted against. guess what was in that bill? what was in that bill was a provision that said if you were a drug dealer, drug thug, somebody from another country that has been dealing drugs, you can't come to this country and be eligible for asylum.

you know, look at our border to mexico. look what's happening in central america. these people are coming across the border. yes, i feel for the children, but we have some bad apples and some drug dealers coming into >> thank you.and he voted we'll go on to our next question, it's about another kind of threat. the militant group known as the islamic state is wreaking havoc in the united states and views the united states as an enemy. has the u.s. response to this threat been so far efficient in your opinion? if not, what further steps do

you think should be taken? senator jenkins. >> we have all been moved obviously in profound ways with the beheadings and what has happened. and every discussion always starts with, why did we wait so long. the president called it the j.b. crew. he didn't take it seriously. back when assad in syria a couple of years ago horrifically used chemical weapons against his citizens, and was just trying to figure out what to do, nick rahall said, i want to give the president of the doubt. we need leadership. our country is not respected around the world. we are a johnny-come-lately -- [laughter] >> it seems like to ever