welcome to all of you. and thank you for participating in our debate tonight. names were drawn to determine the order of our opening statements. mr. wilend your name was drawn first. you have one minute, sir. >> over the past 18 months i have traveled to every town in south dakota listening and learning from the people of our state, hoping to earn the privilege to represent them in the united states senate. i got into this race because i believe, like many of the people i've talked to, that washington has been corrupted

and that we need to take back our government from the big money that controls it and put it back on our side again. fraverageely, both political parties are just beholden to big money. harry reid and mitch mcconnell have given us probably the most dysfunctional got in a generation and they need to step aside. i would like to chalingeng mike tonight to not vote for mitch mcconnell if he is elected because i believe they have both failed this country greatly and it is time for us to find some new leadership. the people of south dakota deserve more than bids as usual. >> out of time. >> i'm not one of them. >> thank you, sir. mr. pressler. it's your opportunity for an opening statement. >> i'm senator larry pressler, independent candidate for the united states senate. i run as an independent to end

the poisonous dispute between republicans and democrats. south dakota needs a powerful senator. and as an independent i could bring back my seniority to the united states senate. i have served three terms in the senate already and i can bring my seniority back and that would be great power to the state of south dakota. also independents will play a big role in the new sfat. it appears that there may be four independent united states senators and they could basically work to elect new leadership in a closely divided senate. we could also insist on having basic roll call votes on budgetary matters to help budget the ball -- balance the budget. i'm eager to serve as an independent in the united states senate and i think i could bring a great deal of power to south dakota. also, there are many issues for our senior citizens, farmers, in agriculture -- >> you're out of time. thank you, sir. mr. rounds you now have one

minute to share your thoughts with south dakota. >> thank you. president obama has said his policies are on the ballot. a vote for my competitors are a vote for his policies. both of us agree neither one be voting for harry reid. we want to rebuild our economy and reduce government, keep a limited got and keep our young kids in south dakota. washington truly is dysfunctional. i think washington needs a real dose of south dakota common sense and we need a lot less washington. there are two version of government you are going to hear, one which my competitors think that big government is ok and it's not the problem. i disagree. you will hear my vision tonight reducing government building the economy. but we also face something else. we face a real crisis when it comes to safety and security. another ebola patient today in the united states.

look, as governor i worked with people on crises. >> that is time. thank you, sir. and now you may now share your thoughts. >> thank you. and thank you for tuning in. one thing most agree on is that they are disappointed with the leadership of both the republican and democrat party in washington, d.c. and all you have to do is turn on the television today and you see the partisan rankor visiting south dakota. ommercials blast everywhere. these other candidates are bickering with one another already. south dakota deserves something different. i believe most of the people that we talk to say they want something different. more of the same doesn't take us in the right direction. we need a new representation, a new kind of leadership. and frankly that new kind of leadership needs to talk about vision and purpose and freedom.

and absent that, i believe south dakota once again loses. it is time for south dakota to win. and my conservative traditional values represent a win for south dakota. >> we will now move on to the question and answer portion of tonight's debate. names were again drawn to determine the order. after the first round of questions we'll then rotate who goes first. mr. rounds you'll get to begin with this first question as it comes up. again, these were all taken from south dakotaens. eb 5 is a federal program designed to improve rural economic development. if properly administered does this federal program have merit? should it continue, be overhauled or shut down? please explain. >> any federal has an opportunity to be g proved. this particular program in south dakota was a tool for

economic development. $600 million in investment opportunities to people in south dakota, dozens of projects from daries to power center entertainment and even processing. over 50,000 jobs created but it can be made better. as a united states senator i have a real interest in improving at the federal level. that means take these one step at a time. learn from what your experience is as a governor and do your best to improve those projects. and it is not just the immigration system in the united states. it's one project after another, one department after another that we have to go back through. the federal government truly is too big. the federal government is so big that literally it's about the size of the tenth largest economy in the world just in bureaucrats. this is something that we have to bring back under control. every single federal project can be made better than what it

is today. >> thank you, sir. mr. pressler, it's your turn. do you need me to repeat the question? we are talking about tench b 5 federal program. if properly administered, does this federal program have merit? should it continue, be overhauled or shut down? you may begin. >> well, i think the issue is not about the basic federal program. the issue is about the corruption that apparently occurred in south dakota. and let me say that today there is an f.b.i. agent in the state not to investigate this but i understand that this is under investigation by the f.b.i. but agent good who supervised the sting operation is here campaigning for me. we had a press conference this morning and we are going across the state. the point is he is the leading corruption fighter in the united states. he is in his late 70s and i am so proud to have his endorsement. other people have brought in other political figures but i'm proud to be endorsed by the leading corruption fighter in

the united states. he went much further because i have a plan to eliminate the money system among lobbyists in washington. i think people should be able to lobby but not in the money stream. that is lobbyists should not be able to give campaign contributions nor should they be able to give money. so i think there's a great deal of corruption both at the state level and federal level in our society. and i'm dedicated to fighting that. i am so proud that agent good the most senior united states f.b.i. agent is in south dakota today campaigning for me. >> thank you, sir. it is your turn. you may begin. >> well, i said from the very beginning when this thing blew up last year that i just didn't like the program, the policy of handing out green cards which become a pathway to citizenship to foreign millionaires and billionaires who can buy their way into the united states and

then cut to the front of the immigration line. i just don't think that's where mike's south dakota common sense values i don't think people appreciate because you've got the money you can cut to the front of the line. so i would vote to repeal the program. and not just that reason but that's my major reason. it has led to a -- and not just in south dakota but a culture of corruption because frankly -- and i know mike likes to beat on the bureaucrats -- there hasn't been enough oversight of the program. i think if we had a little bit more engagement here in south dakota, a little bit more oversight, we might not have more questions of what went wrong than answers. and i am really hoping over the course of the next couple of weeks that maybe more of these questions will get answered in the days ahead. but you know, cutting to the front of the immigration line buying your way in, you should

go through the process. just because you've got the money shouldn't give you the opportunity to cut in front of the line and get your citizenship. >> thank you, sir. again the question. the south dakota wants to know should eb 5 continue, be overhauled or shut down? >> the real problem is that we haven't had a clear opportunity of late to determine whether it is a good program, a bad program because we've heard so much about the bad. i just want to say governor rounds you brought this on yourself and you brought it on by skipping debates, refusing to answer questions. i've asked you to just simply testify under otes and get this whole mess behind us so we can talk about the real issues. i believe that even when you have been willing to answer a question or two, you've given us false information. and the people i'm talking to in south dakota frankly governor just don't trust you. i would implore you tonight to say that you will testify under

oath, answer all these questions for the sake of your state, your party, and this country. get this around your reputation. get this behind us and do it quickly so that the people of south dakota can begin to get on with the issues rather than having to deal with a scarnedle that sthinks more every day. is it a good program, a bad program? well, we may have seen some good in south dakota but we've certainly seen the fostering of crony capitalism and corruption, and that has got to stop. >> thank you, sir. it is now time for rebuttals. we'll go in the same order. mr. rounds you have 30 serkts. >> thank you. the program was created in 1990. it has had bipartisan support. senator pressler then a member of the house, senator dashle while rick was a senior staffer with him. i believe senator johnson has been in favor of the program as well. the plan behind it is to allow

for economic development similar to what canada did. to bring economic development into areas that wouldn't have had it. has it been good for us? yes. i believe it has. it's up for reauthorization in 2015. >> out of time. would you like a rebuttal? >> yes. and i'm having a little trouble figuring out which light is mine. there we go. thank you very much. well, governor rounds, i would dispute what you just said in terms of support for the program doesn't mean that we supported the corruption that came to surround it in south dakota. you can have a federal or state program. but what we're talking about is the death of mr. benda, the mysterious death of him and all the matters that surround it. you going back to saying that darble and i supported the program in the beginning -- >> out of time. mr. wilend you too have 30 seconds. >> just because it was popular back in 1990 doesn't mean to make it popular today. again, i don't think a lot of

people realized until mr. benda committed suicide that there was even an eb 5 visa program where we were selling citizenship to people for half a million dollars. i just again, i'm not going to get into the scandalous nature of what's going on right now. all the questions are out there. i don't like the program. i'm going to vote to repeal it. >> mr. howie. >> i think the fundamental issue has to do more with oversight than it does with whether the program is good or bad. how was it implemented in south dakota? and governor, i just have to say it seems a little bit disingenuous to suggest that we should send you to washington to make a program better when in fact the way you administered it in south dakota was replete with corruption and crony capitalism. i just think the whole thing smells and it is time to come clean with south dakota. >> all right. we are moving on to the second

question. mr. pressler you will go first this time. here is the question. it was about a year ago the federal government shut down. in the event congress should have to consider a government shutdown again and you are elected, what will be your response and efforts? >> well, i would oppose that. i would hope we can make the united states senate work much better. now, the problem is that the senate doesn't really vote on anything any more. the senate hasn't passed a budget in as many years. that's why i'm running as an independent. in the new set in january 3, 2015 there may well be four independents and i want south dakota to elect me to join that group. there may well be an independent caucus. for the first time there would be a center force to work with both democrats and republicans. that central force could name the majority leader if the divide in the senate is 48-52 or smling like that. so we would finally start

getting some votes going. that's why the government almost shut down because there couldn't be agreement. now we have to give credit to bill clinton and newt gingrich for having a balanced budget. i'm critical of obama and republicans because they vote for higher deficits than democrats. but it's because most of the votes are consealed in the senate. you can't find out who voted for what. so the independents before i joined the caucus i want to be sure we have roll call votes and they will be up or down votes and we'll hold people responsible. but the way we he would up the deficit -- i would have voted for an increase in the gas tax. our roads are not being repaired meanwhile. >> that is time. do you need the question repeated? >> no, thank you. i'm fine. i sent out a pledge to all the

candidates that it announced back when this government was being shut down asking them to join me in pledging that will never shut down the federal government for reasons that we didn't get our way on a piece of legislation or default or threaten to default on the good faith and credit of our got. i never got a response from any of the candidates. i just don't think that's a way to run a government or run a rail road or a business. what we saw happen with that shutdown was at the end of the day it ended up costing the federal government $24 billion which is what they were shutting the government down for because of the food stamp program which they wanted to cut and there was a real fight going on. the fact of the matter is we didn't have a farm bill. so when that winter at lass hits west rirge, ranchers were left high and dried with dead

livestock no farm service agency to call -- bureaucrats, i might add -- there at the beck and call of our producers, and no government and no farm bill to turn to. it was a disaster. and when they tried to do it again, the extremists in the republican house of representatives tried to do it again. they were actually rebuffed by their own speaker. i will give john boehner credit for that. but he let it happen the first time. we can never do that. we should never do that. >> mr. howie you'll get to go now. the question is in the event congress should have to consider a government shutdown and you are elected what will be your response and efforts? >> well, i was watching with great interest when senator ted cruz courageously took a position and the mitch mcconnell style leadership in the republican party sabtadged his efforts. the media and the republican and the democrat leadership

alike have somehow demonized the fact that we can't put a lid on our debt and our government spending. and if we look back in history just the short distance we'll discover that ronald reagan actually held his ground and the government shut down on a number of occasions. just in case you happen to be on the other side of the aisle, bill clinton did the same thing. so why have we come to a place in american history where we think holding government accountable and putting them oba diet is a bad thing? i would not be someone who stands with senator mitch mcconnell. i not only wouldn't vote for him. i won't stand with him. i will be a friend to senators like ted cruz who are suggesting that america is at a pivotal point in its history and we simply have to become fiscally responsible. and in order to do that, we have to put a lid on our debt. we have to cap spending. we can't afford to send someone who has voted for barack obama

and his liberal agenda or frankly a governor who nearly doubled the state budget and left us with a deficit. we need fiscal responsibility and my campaign will be very clear i will be a representative of that. >> it is now your turn. >> this is where a dose of south dakota common sense comes in. i was in the legislature for ten years, six as the majority leader. i served as governor for eight years. we have never had a time in which we tried to shut down government at the state level and the reason is because we get our work done on time. we work side by side. occasionally we'll have our battles but we recognize that we have to get the job done. congress is truly dysfunctional but so is the leadership. a lot of this is because of the failed policies of barack obama. this is the case of where literally people get fed up because his leadership is not there. he is not making the deal, he is not setting it up. he is not working with both

sides. the house is passing budgets. the senate is not. harry reid has over 350 bills on his desk that he won't let come up for a vote. it is truly disfuverages. that has to stop. i would propose this. number one we pass a budget every single year and whether or not we are making it a balanced budget, you have to start out by passing the budget in the first place. you have to respect the fact that last year when we had the major ice storms and so forth, it is true that we were behind the times. we didn't have thing a bill. if it would have been there would have saved people a lot of time and effort. this is truly washington, d.c. at its worgs. the dysfunction has to stop. >> thank you. it's now time for rebuttal. mr. pressly. you have 30 seconds. >> i've been a professor mostly since i've left the senate. but we have a military industrial state and we've studied that.

we need to close some of our obsolete overseas world war ii bases. that doesn't mean we cut our defense but that would help us balance the budget so we wouldn't get into a government shutdown. in italy we still have 44 world war ii obsolete military installations. they should be relocated to the united states, put on the southern border. >> that is time. i apologize sir but mr. wildnd it's your turn now. >> thank you. mike was for that shutdown before he was against it. when i asked all the candidates running to join me in this pledge to never ever put the american people at risk like that again no one responded. we've got too many extremists in washington pulling both parties and we've got these two really dysfunctional leaders. now, i said i won't support harry reid. and mike hasn't yet answered my question whether or not if he is elected he will support

mitch mcconnell. but they're the problem. >> you have 30 seconds. >> well, a balanced budget is a wonderful thing if you balance it by limiting spending. but in south dakota the way the balanced budget has been promoted is that you just simply increase taxes or as some people would call them revenue enhancements. i was the only republican state senator to vote against then governor rounds 2010 budget because it continued to increase spending more than 10 million over the previous year and led to a $127 million deficit. we have to become fiscally responsible. >> mr. rounds. >> at a time like this in which we have safety and security of the upmost concern we have our men and women overseas, we are engaged in a bombing campaign, we need to make sure that the federal government is operating correctly. the dysfunction continues. we have to get back to the basic common sense that we have. >> thank you.

we're going to move on to the next question. mr. wylapped you will go first. sam from deadwood sent this to s regarding social security. i am a 52-year-old man. as i get closer to retirement i fear i will have to work longer before retirement can occur even though i've done my part to prepare. my biggest fear is for my children and grand children. what will you do to protect social security so that people like me and future generations can retire young enough to enjoy it? >> well, part of my career was spent as the state director for the aarp. and i had an opportunity, spent a lot of time with over 100,000 members talking about that issue. not only that issue but also medicare. two programs that were brought to this country that have lifted people out of poverty,

have given them financial security in their age, health security in their old age. and i will fight tooth and nail to make sure that we not only protect social security but i believe we can expand it. a lot of people don't realize that after you make $117 a year you stop paying into social security. now, mike right now saying i want to raise your taxes. i'm talking about making sure that bill gates pays his taxes so that we can actually make secured -- social security more solvent. and with the harkin bill that i support and tom harkin from iowa was just out here for me last week -- we can not only protect social security going forward but we can actually give people a little bit more each and every month by lifting the tax, the cap off that pay roll tax. i think that's fair. i think bill gates and warren buffet and a lot probably think

that's fair too. so that's what i'm for. you'll get a strong vote as the former aarp director and as someone who knows the value of those programs. >> thank you, sir. mr. howie it is now your turn. what will you do to protect social security? >> i think you only have to look back in history to find out what really derailed social security. it was politicians who dipped into the social security trust fund and made it insolvent. and you can't solve that problem with career politician whose are going to go and say we need to expand the government. we need to continue to increase spending. you have to do it with fiscal responsibility. and you do that by first cutting government spending, reducing the level of debt, and stopping government growth. now, the way social security will be protected is when we have a robust economy and an environment in america that is

conducive to job growth and healthy small businesses. democrats and republicans really do agree on some things. too great presidents agreed on how you stimulate the economy. i don't hear it talked about anywhere else in this campaign. john f. kennedy and ronald reagan both understood that if you reduce taxes you actually stimulate the economy, increase job growth, and protect small business. in the process, protect social security. raising taxes, expanding subsidies, and growing government is the wrock way and it will -- wrong way and it will ruin not only social security but the very security of our generations that are yet to come. >> thank you, sir. mr. rounds, your turn. >> thank you. during the time that i was governor and during the time i served in the legislature, i worked with the retirement law can hes. we wanted to make the system even stronger than when we

first started. we've succeeded. but you do it not by reducing benefits nor people counting on them moving into those benefits. you do it by making long term intelligent choices. you never quilt managing. you work it through on a caste by case bachese. you look at all of the options available to make the decisions. you use the actuaries correctly. the one thing that you don't do is stop job creation and economic growth. i know that some folks -- two of my competitors -- want to take the cap off the amount of tax dollars that businesses and employees put in. i think that's wrong. those are the job creators. if you're going to make social security stronger you have to have more people paying into the system which means you want more people employed. you want plers who are successful in adding dollars on an employer or employee or employee basis.

but once again you make long-term changes. you do not hurt the individuals. you protect those resources for those individuals that need the most. the ones counting on it right now and in the fear future. you protect those benefits -- in the near future. >> the question is what will you do to protect social security? >> well, i have always been a guardian of social security. i'm very proud of my record. however, there are a lot of attack adds running against me saying that i didn't vote to support social security. those adds are totally false and it's the oldest and perhaps ee cheapest tricks is to say somebody voted for social security. another appears very hard to know from the adds what they're talking about but it was a tabling motion and i voted for the dash el substitute. i've always been in favor of social security and i ask the

people of south dakota not to believe all these attack ads. i am the only candidate that is under attack by both parties because they're so afraid that an independent might break up their monopoly. and i think it's very important for all the citizens of south dakota to know that i only have about 1% as much money as either of my opponents. so i can't answer that but they're totally false. they're adds being put out by all my opponents but especially the democratic and republican parties which are 180 degree lies and especially about social security. those votes were cast in such a way to move something forward for social security either to help tom out when he was our leader or to help my colleague and my friend george mcgovern out when he was there. so i ask you to be very careful. >> we're out of time. thank you. we'll move to rebuttals. >> i would only point out that

i think both senator pressler and mike rounds are looking at reforming entitlement programs. they just aren't willing to quite give you the full story. i know the simple son bowls commission several years ago that i think senator pressler the pportive of to raise retirement age. i'm not sure what mike's plan to save it. i think you save it by taking the the tax gow up. >> i believe that america is at a pivotal point in her history. we are in a deep crisis. and if we don't do something different we're only going to propel this nation farther in the wrong direction. career politicians have placed us in the mess we're in and sending another one to washington, d.c. will only exacerbate that problem. >> thank you, sir. mr. rounds you too have 30

seconds. >> thank you. what mr. wilend is proposing is a a $100 billion per year tax increase on the american public. that's coming out of the economy that could be used for job creation. putting more people and paying social security taxes and strengthening the system. i disagree with a $100 billion tax increase per year. >> and mr. pressler you have 30 seconds. >> i would say that i support social security. i support leafing the retirement age where it is. and i would like to tie the cola for social security to the price of food because frequently the cola should be higher. but also i say mr. wilend please don't associate me with simpson-bowles or these other plans. i have studied them. i think they have done a good job about raising issues. at the end of the day our deficit is our biggest problem and we have to address that. but i've been talking about my own ideas, my own campaign

positively. >> time. thank you sir. we're going to move on to the next question. it's directed at leadership skills. due to a gridlock in washington there have been obstacles in securing funds for the lewis and clark water project and federal high waste trust fund money for south dakota roads. rather than blame the other party if you are elected how will you contributed and compromise for the good and the advancement of our state so that projects like these and others are funded? >> well, that's a great question. and frankly all you have to do is look in the rear view mirror to see how someone would approach the partisan rankor that we see creating the grid lock in our nation's capital. early in this campaign, i issued an invitation to all the candidates to sit down one-on-one, no moderator no rules except we would each take two minutes and have a civil

conversation about meaningful issues, important issues. my friend and adversary rick wyland took me up on that. and we had a very sism discussion that demonstrated our significant differences but brought us together. we realized that we have some things on which we agree. that's the formula for success. ronald reagan knew it when he was dealing with tip o'neal one of the most difficult speakers to ever grace the planet. i believe instead of saying we need to find a republican solution or a democrat solution, we need to find principled solutions. and while i believe that my friend rick wyland is wrong on most things, one thing i will say is he is genuinely wrong. he will tell it to you straight. and i believe that is commendable. that's a good starting point. we have to talk straight about issues even when we have deep differences and find those areas where we can move forward

and not compromise principle. compromising principle is a losing formula for america every time. >> mr. rounds, it is your turn. do you need the question repeated? due to a gridlock in washington there have been obstacles in securing funds for the lewis and clark water project and federal highway trust fund of money for south dakota roads. rather than blame the other party, if you are elected, how will you contribute and compromise for the good and advancement of our state so that projects like these and others are fund snd >> thank you. during the time that i was governor we actually prefunded south dakota's share of the the lewis and clark water project. we did it on a bipartisan basis, how critical clean water was both republicans and democrats. this is something i think we can both agree on if you have the appropriate leadership in washington, d.c. it's when you don't have someone in the white house who is prepared to sit down and

work through those that you run into problems like today. the dysfunction that is there will continue until such time as we have true leadership there. the policies right now are truly on the ballot this year. they are failed policies. the example? a lewis and clark water project is a great example of what happens when you don't have true leadership that recognizes the opportunities with economic development. along with that the highway trust fund there are folks take -- money out. if we leave the money in for those projects, bridges and highways. and if we get back to the point where we allow local units of government to utilize those more efficiently without all of the federal guidelines to go along with them we would be able to complete more projects. the other program i believe to talk about is a lot of those decisions need to be made at the local level. i would much rather see block

grant funding come in and make them work in advance so that we're not always way behind in getting the funding necessary. >> thank you. now you may begin mr. pressler. >> in specific answer to your question, i was the original sponsor of the louis wiss and clark water pipeline and also the original sponseor of three other water libes that have been successfully completed. i would work across the aisle as an independent. i would also work with the administration. now it's been said that i'm a personal friend of obama's. that is correct. that doesn't mean i agree with him all the time but i am capable of talking about south dakota projects and south dakota needs a senator who is not going there to impeach obama because you are going to be there for two more years. i don't agree with him on hardly anything but that doesn't mean p he is not going to be president for two more

years. we need help in the various other departments. a united states senator has to go to the agencies and work with them whether it's the forest service or whatever else. we also have to protect the water substraining. we don't have much pottable drinking water. most of it is polluted because of a variety of things in our state. so we need those for human beingses to have portable drinking water and i've been the main sponsor of all of those pipelines that do not exist to the the iglala water pipeline and i would continue to do so. the water is pottable so we need to use that in the future. so but i would bring great power to south dakota. >> mr. wyland it is now your turn. >> well, mike rounds supports paul ryan's budget. i'm going to start there because there is no money left over if the republican blueprint gets passed in the

house and over to the senate and it goes forward because that ryan budget would likely cut $6 trillion in taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy. we're talking average millionaires getting a $200 tax cut and big corporations having their taxes lowered. and they're going to pay for it at the end of pence of programs that affect the middle class. we're talking about cutting head start, talking about cutting pell grant programs, talking about going after medicare and medicaid. voucherizing and turning it into a cue upon program so you could take your check if it goes through and cash it frank ly to get your health insurance. and i don't think that's the direction we need to go. when you look at what we've seen in the last 15, 20 years where big money is calling the shots in washington and anybody that seems to be able to get

there is usually along that road that's paved with political contributions and lobbyists knocking on their door once they're sworn in. if mike wants to talk about a $100 billion tax increases, you tell me anybody out there if you're making $117,000 if you're worried about bill gates to worry about paying taxes. >> the project you refer to is a significant project and what we need to find in washington, .c. is effective leadership. sets priorities. we aren't setting priorities because there's no motivation for these senators to get sitting down at the table together. what will motivate them to set priorities is when we put a lid on spending and debt. so they are compelled to sit down at a table and make the hard choices we have to make to move this country in the right direction.

>> thank you, sir. mr. rounds, your turn. >> thank you. while i admire mr. ryan for doing his best to create budgetive never said i support it. but talking about the pipeline just shows what happens when people don't work side by side. i will work both sides of the we make the sure right decisions. >> i should have said i'm a friend of mitt romney also and contributed to his campaign and cohosted a fund raiser for him. i've seen letters saying he is personal friend of obama ma and mitt romney. that's why i'm running. for your k with and party but i believe in what i

believe in. so the idea of criticizing someone -- >> we're out of time. this might be our last question. it will -- mr. wyland you get your 30 seconds. go ahead. >> thank you. i do believe that there needs to be a partnership between the federal, state, and local units of government. but when you've got certain people that all they want to do is bash government and yet they want to go as an elected official in government to try to make things different i just don't buy it. people that continue to go after the federal government on programs yet at the same time have their hand out wanting the money so they can put it into whatever they think is in the best interest of what they want to get done doesn't make a lot of sense to me. >> now we are to our final question. going first here is mr. rounds. two years ago following the general election it looked like

congress may finally tackle immigration reform. here we are today still without a comprehensive immigrant policy in the united states. what is your plan for comprehensive immigrant legislation? >> thank you. it begins by securing our borders. nothing will happen on imdepration reform until we secure the borders. when we talk about our safety and our security and we look at what's happening right now with isis and we talk about ebola and the fact that we should have a travel plan in place right now we start to recognize how critical it is for the safety and security of our country that we actually have policies in effect that will protect our borders. that is not happening. i think both republicans and democrats in congress really question whether or not would honor any deal in which he secured our borders. and that has to happen first. in the meantime, you have a president who has talked a lot about whale do by the pen if

congress does not act. be prepared because what we believe will happen is that he will sign legislation or he will sign executive orders that will allow additional individuals here without documentation here illegally to stay here without having to report. without having to go back over it. people here without documentation that can staid here and allow other people the idea that if those folks can stay in here under an amnesty program that they should come as well. number one secure the borders before you do anything else. recognize the safety and security necessary. then you can talk about major immigration reform. but immigration good for our country and the jobs we need filled but start with securing our borders. >> thank you, sir. mr. pressler it is now your turn. again what is your plan for comprehensive immigrant legislation? >> yes. i have a three-point immigration plan lp. by the way, it's the george w. bush plan.

by the way, i run a very issues oriented campaign. about two years ago i started this campaign and i issued a press release almost every week on specific issues. my g immigration plan is to bring back some of our troops from obsolete foreign bases, and put them at the bord we are no additional cost. it would be very complicated background checks and perhaps fines and so forth. but maybe most importantly a real guest worker program that works. so i'm the only candidate who a has given a specific plan on immigration. everybody else is vague. i'm for the george w. bush plan. but in south dakota's interest a guest working plan that will really be thorough and that you would have to apply for it and we should enforce this, the problem with the president's immigration law is that it is

not enforced. so ink that there should be a two-part think. one two secure our border by relocating troops. there are 44 american military facilities still in italy this many years after the end of world war ii. i think we should bring them home put them on the southern border and also move forward with immigration reform. >> thank you, sir. the same question. >> well, i came out very early in support of a bill that's already passed in the united states senate. and it was one of the rare moments of bipartisanship where democrats and republicans did get together. they worked it out. they came up with a piece of legislation that basically said, you're for the republicans. we're going to bring some money into this legislation that allows us to secure the borders. and for the democrat whose are holding out for a pathway to

citizenship for some 12 million undocumented workers that was part of the legislation. it passed overwhelmingly and it went over to the house. this happened last year. but it's languished in the house because john boehner and a group of exr cream group of republicans have not wanted to bring it to the floor. the fact of the matter is if it came to the floor it would pass. we would have immigration reform. if that bill was brought to the floor. now, mike's already told you, he is saddling up with boehner and the extremists on this one. this is what i think makes the country so frustrated with the dysfunction in washington. he always talks about trying to get along with the other side. well, they got along on the other side in the united states senate. they passed a bill. it offered money for border security. it offered to pass the citizenship. my immigration reform is -- john boehner, take the bill to the floor of the house when they come back after this election and allow people to

vote on it so we can move forward. >> thank you. the same question. >> i'm reminded of president reagan's famous quote mr. good-bye tchovethear down that wall. i would say mitch mcconnell and harry reid build that wall. it's time we secure our national border. but are we going to really hit ourselves and think that someone from south dakota will represent us in the united states senate and insist on immigration reform that creates a border that secures our nation as job number one when in fact we've seen two administrations now in south dakota. governor rounds being the first that comes to mind that ignored illegal immigrants in south dakota. for several years i've been saying we have an illegal immigrant problem in south dakota. these folks are coming taking south dakota jobs. one of them even took the life of a south dakotaen. an illegal immigrant. but yet we see former governor

rounds and now the governor doing nothing about it. to we believe that they would behave any differently if we sept one of them to washington, d.c.? i think not. we need a new style of leadership in america. one that is not willing to compromise principle but one that is willing to sit down and talk with everybody. the reason that we don't have a border secure is because we lack the political will and republicans and democrats simply have nod had the spine to say secure the borders first. i wouldn't agree to any immigration reform prior to a secure border. >> thank you, sir. now time to move straight into rebuttals. mr. rounds. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, safety and security should be our first concern. sometimes in washington, d.c. they forget that. the primary responsibility of the federal government, the defense of our nation. and that means safe and security borders. safety and security is critical

now. it's going to be critical in the future. we have to secure our borders before we do anything else. >> thank you, sir. mr. pressler you may go. >> part of the reason is we've had this open border because congress is not doing its work. members of congress now spend over 50% of the time raising money. i've pledged to serve only one 6-year term limits. should i be elected i will have another election. this is my last election win or lose. but i will not have to raise any money while i'm in the united states senate. and i will be able to devote 100% of my time to working. that's what's wrong. that's why immigration has not passed. >> and mr. wyland. 30 seconds. >> well, our boffereders would be a lot more safe and security if we had passed that legislation in the house. but that hasn't heaped. i can only suspect the reason that speaker boehner hasn't brought it to the floor is it

would provide a pathway to citizenship for some 12 million undocuments workers that are here that are turning down our beds, in our fields, paying taxes. and we are a nailings of immigrants. im a fifth generation south dakotaens. >> that is time. thank you, sir. and mr. howie. >> this is not a new issue for me. i've been talking about it for years challenging administrations in south dakota to do something about the ill legal immigrants in our state taking our jobs and creating problems in this state. i believe that sending someone who has done nothing and expecting them to do something on this issue is just being fooled. and i believe it's time we have leaders that will not compromise on tham issue. secure the -- on that issue. secure the borders first. >> thank you very much. that time did go fast. it's now time for the

candidates to share their closing statements with us. each candidate will have up to one minute. names were drawn to determine who would go first. mr. wyland you may go first to share your thoughts. >> well, growing up in madison, working with my mom and dad in the family business, i learned the value of hard work, about caring for people and giving back to my town. i've had an incredible journey the last 18 months visiting every town in our state, talking with the people, listening as i said and learning. they're hungry. i see it in their eyes and i feel it when i talk to them about opportunity and an equal shot at a fair shake. they're not getting that right now because so much of our poll ticks is caught up in -- politics is caught up in big money. buying people on their way to washington, d.c. so that when they get there they own them.

now, i've come out for constitutional amendment to basically overturn citizens united, take our country back, hid it on the side of everyday folks again. that is the essence of my campaign. >> mr. howie you have one minute you may begin. >> well, people are suggesting to me they don't want more of the same. and if we send career politicians two of whom have twice voted for barack obama or one who nearly doubled the state budget gave us $127 million deficit and a scandal that continues to stink more every day we shouldn't expect different results. my conservative credentials have not been challenged. and there's a reason for that. because they can't be. i have demonstrated my commitment to conservative principles throughout my career in politics for six years and in the private sector. and my support for traditional

values is beyond question. i think it's time for a new style of leadership in america that focuses on principle and takes us back to the foundation our forefathers gave us faith, freedom, and purpose. we've lost our way and only leadership with a vision and purpose will take us in the right direction. >> thank you, sir. mr. pressler you have one minute to share your thoughts with south dakota. >> yes. in closing i would like to please with the citizens of south dakota to observe that i am the only candidate in the entire united states that is under attack by both the democratic and republican party. and those are massive television attacks and mailings. and i can not afford to respond. i only have 1% asen independent as much money as either two of my major party opponents. so i'm like the biblical david and i have at least two goliaths coming after me.

if you count the outside pac group there are also 10 of them. but i am armed with a sling shot of ideaism and i have the friendship of the people of south dakota but i want you to be very careful in this election that you sprend the word by word of mouth you will have to make home made signs. we don't have to enough money even nor quard signs but we're depending on a grass roots effort that this state has never seen before. >> thauven very much. mr. rounds. >> thank you. i will lead to keep south dakota safe and secure. it is true that president obama 's are opted ballot. if you vote for my competitors you are supporting president obama's policies. my vision for south dakota common sense in washington, d.c. includes eliminating obamacare replacing it section by section. passing the keystone pipeline getting it in so we can get our grain to market so we can

that y have a market to grain. common sense may not be real rare in south dakota but it clearly is very, very in washington, d.c. let's take that south dakota common sense to washington, d.c. and lets make america even better than what it is today for our children and our grand children. thank you. >> thank you. that is all the time we have. i would like to thank our candidates for joining us tonight. independent candidate howie, indnd candidate former united states senator pressler, republican candidate former governor, michael rounds, sue falls businessman rick wyland. if you missed part of tonight's broadcast you can listen tomorrow on our midday program. tonight's televised debate is

archived in its entirety on our website. be sure to join us next thursday as we zero in on the ballot issues plus the candidates. that's october 30th at 8:00 p.m. central 7:00 mth. until then on behalf of all of thank you for tuning in.

c-span campaign 2014 nor than 100 debates for the control of congress. >> here are a few of the comments we've received on our ebola virus. >> my comment is we actually had ebola right here in this country. doctors coming back with ebola, patients in texas hospitals nurses and so foshtsdz, and it's not histteria. people are just reacting to a

very serious disease where you have to have teams of doctors and nurses waiting on you constantly. but we have the isis fear too. they show the behe haddings over and over on all the media channels. i suppose we should have got hyped up about isis coming over to chop o off your head but not ebola that's actually here. >> i think the people who are in the area of the ebola should be band from any of the nation. it is up to our leaders to do the that. >> i would like to see a question about is this ebola virus the proof that we need a national one-payer health care system? are we just seeing what appened in texas with this capitalistic health care system. and what now it's going to cost us millions and millions to clean that mess up.

and that's what i was kind of curious to see what we get from out there for remarks on that that this is the proof that we need a national health care system. >> continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. >> now to louisiana where voters next week will choose between democratic senator mary land rue and two republican challengers. congressman bill cassidy and maness. olonel rob current polls show that a runoff is likely in this race. the three candidates met on the campus of louisiana state university for the final debate

of the campaign. and just six days, louisiana voters head to the polls. tonight, the major candidates face off in the race for the u.s. senate. -- the final debate. now, live from lsu, here is tonight's moderator. >> good evening. welcome to our debate tonight, sponsored by lsu. welcome to the candidates. they are senator mary landrieu congressman bill cassidy, and , colonel rob maness. each candidate has one minute to respond to questions with a follow-up and some discretion of the moderator.

the order of the questioning was predetermined by random drawing. we will introduce our panel of questioners as we go along beginning with great meriwether. -- greg meriwether. >> good evening. americans are worried about the threat from isis. and what point would you support american troops on the ground in the middle east? >> thank you for that question, and thank you for moderating. thank you for showing up again. it is good to see you facing the voters finally for this hour. we look forward to talking about your record. i believe that isis is a very serious threat, and i believe that we have to do everything we can to eliminate that threat. we have air strikes now to work with our partners to take out that threat. i would be open to other measures if necessary to do that

and to make sure that we are as firm as we can be and that we may no mistake that this threat is real. >> with those other measures include american ground troops? >> i have said before that i would keep that option open. we've got to be careful am a because we've already put a lot of troops on the ground in iraq and afghanistan. what i would be open, and i think it is a mistake to take these options off the table, honestly. our enemies need to believe that we are serious and we will take what measures necessary to eliminate them. >> the president was told a year and a half ago that isis was on the rise.

when they begin to make advances, he called them the jv team. it allowed isis to disburse those weapons across iraq and syria. if the commander in chief as opposed to keep us safe and secure, he has failed. he has not presented a strategy or a plan. he has merely presented first steps. i will reserve judgment as to whether i will commit our young men and women until i see a strategy. i don't trust this president. i think he is a terrible commander-in-chief. i'm not about to commit our young men and women, when he presents a strategy that is credible i will consider all , options. until then, i will reserve judgment. >> senator, congressman am a both of you should be in washington right now, but you are both here. both of you are ducking responsibility for our new incremental and potentially endless war against isis. our president can't be trusted with national security, and it appears that neither can you. this president has failed in

every job in national security that he has attempted and senator landrieu has been a rubber stamp for every one of his feckless polities. he needs a definition of success and an exit plan. congress has the responsibility, a valid responsibility to debate whether we should be at all out war and how we are going to pay for it instead of putting this war on a credit card. the young and women that wear our uniforms, and their parents and families, deserves that our congress should be in session now. instead of giving the president a blank check. >> the question, would you support american ground troops on the ground? >> once the president brings a strategy and the definition of success and an exit plan and congress debates it and decides whether we can pay for it or not and how were going to pay for it, as a senator i will be able

to entertain that option, but we would have to be looking at ground forces. >> if the joint chiefs came out and said this is necessary, with that move any of you? >> it's interesting for these two to claim great support of the military, and i have always been a strong supporter of the military, i believe we need to listen to our generals. isis is a real threat. it is frightening to the people of our state and our country. i support our allies and i'm not going to take any options off the table. >> i will listen to the generals, but the commander-in-chief has been feckless, totally incompetent when it comes to keeping us safe and secure.

it begs the question of why senator landrieu supports him 97% of the time. >> i need to respond to that, john. nobody is arguing that isis is not a threat. it is a threat, absolutely. and nobody is not listening to the joint chiefs except for one person and that is president obama and the democratic party. he's got to get his act together and start listening to the joint chiefs carried then maybe we can get the job done without extra lives lost. >> the next round of questions a slightly different. pacific league for one candidate. -- specifically for one candidate -- let's go to cynthia from k plc. >> senator landrieu, you admitted you miss used $33,000 in taxpayer money for air travel for charter flights tom and you paid it back. but walk us through why you need charter flights in the first place for senate business.

>> thank you, cynthia, for that question. first of all, i take full responsibility for that error. it was a bookkeeping error. we did a thorough and independent review and found the $33,000 and has been fully repaid. i used charter flights to move around the state more quickly and efficiently. others travel differently. sometimes i travel by car. sometimes i travel by plane. it was within the budget and within the rules. i take full responsibility for the errors that were made in that. >> are you move at all by $17 trillion in debt? >> actually, john, the budget i receive every year, the 18 years i have been proud to serve the people of this state, i have returned money to the treasurer. every senator has discretion as to how to use money in their own budget, but i return money every year and have lived within the budget. >> this question for congressman cassidy.

>> we begin first by thanking you for being here tonight. with that said, can you explain to us why you have declined several debates? how would you respond to critics who say your strategy was to limit your exposure close to her runoff? >> i'm debating tonight. this is the second debate. how many times do we have to ask senator landrieu why she supports the president 97% of the time? the vast majority of people in louisiana have been punished i obamacare. why did she support a president who is hostile to our oil and gas jobs? there was a recent debate on the day you folks were preparing, i spoke to the verde rotary club, toured va hospital, that with pastors, veterans, went to a manufacturing plant, and then drove to rustin and was at a meet and greet the next morning.

that would not have happened if one more time we were discussing senator landrieu's vote for obama care one more time. >> would you address the part of the question, there are people who believe your strategy has been to kind of coast toward a runoff? >> people are always going to ascribe motives to you. my motive is to meet as many voters as possible. frankly reporters are the people i meet the most often. you actually meet people in different settings. we have limited time, and these debates have been great. i think it's adequate time to discuss the issues. >> a question for colonel maness. you say you only serve two terms. since there's no such limit

across the country, louisiana would never gain the influence that comes with the majority. why would this be an issue? >> first of all, we don't need senators with the seniority and clout that enables you to have a staff that spends $33,000 in tax dollars to fly yourself to campaign events, breaking the law. that's not the kind of clout we need. our first president was a military leader. if two terms were good enough for general washington, they are certainly good enough for a retired colonel. our government is designed to be run by citizen legislators, not the citizen class that we have allowed to be created over the last several decades. we need to eliminate it, and that is why i am the one conservative in this race, and that's why i am running. >> the part of the question that deals with, that may be a

wonderful idea that would work for the country, that is the other 49 states don't do it, are we at a disadvantage? >> we are not at a disadvantage because i support and advocate putting term limits into law. that is why the issues i'm going to fight for. >> another round of questions for all the candidates, beginning this time with congressman cassidy. >> the social security trustees say the trust funds will be so depleted that about 20 years that it will only be able to pay out about 75% of benefits. should congress and to restore that to 100%, or should people my age -- i'm 35 -- should we start planning for lower benefits? >> my commitment to the people of louisiana is that if you are on social security, nothing changes. the age of eligibility and your benefits remain the same. the problem is medicare and social security trust funds are

going bankrupt. senator landrieu past obamacare that took $700 billion out of the medicare trust fund to spend on obamacare. the social security disability trust fund is going bankrupt in two years. if this is personal. my mom is 91 and lives with us. the only thing we have is social and medicare. bankruptcy means an 85-year-old will see her benefits decreased by 25%. we can fix this. if you take someone who is 30, she would become eligible for benefits one-month later than she ordinarily would. by doing that we can fulfill the promise that if they are currently on social security nothing changes. the cost of doing nothing is that your security is destroyed. >> republicans make frequently

what may be the valid argument that when it comes to increases in the budget, the cuts that democrats often complain about, is really a cut in the growth of spending. it is really money that was taken out of the growth in what medicare would have had otherwise. it wasn't a real cut. is it inconsistent for you to suggest that they cut $750 million, which would imply that they went and grabbed $750 million? >> anyone who's out of pocket is greater for their own medicare benefits is finding those cuts are real. it wasn't just a change in the growth of spending. it was actually taking money from the trust fund that we knew would be spent and instead has decided to spend it on obamacare. i can take it that's not the way to save medicare. >> your thoughts on social security, how do we fix it?

>> the important thing to remember is that the issue with the social security trust fund dollars that are available gives us some time, about 15 years before anybody needs to look at a change in benefits. so we have some time to work and sit down and come to the table and find solutions that will work. we've got to stop politicizing this issue and scaring people have to death. half toto death. -- death. that's what these two folks over here represent, that hyper partisan extremism that doesn't get americans to the table to find solutions. we have the time to get that done. we need to find solutions. everything needs to be on the table. it's a valid proposal. >> simpson bowles has frequently pointed out that the longer we wait, the worst pain. -- worse the pain. i have heard to address this several times and i am not sure where you stand. are you willing to cut benefits? are you open to higher taxes down the road, lifting the income limit?

>> i am open to any valid ideas to be put on the table, for us to come together to find solutions. the sooner the better. we shouldn't wait that long. however we do have plenty of time to do that. >> what about anything specifically? >> we have to consider any specifics in a broader context. to get down to a specific, like health savings accounts, and considering that in isolation is the wrong thing to do. yes, that could be the fixing the issue, but it needs to be part of a larger issue. i want to work from a constitutional perspective. those are the principles that i will start with. >> the rules are you are not supposed to bring props but i don't know if anyone objects to the constitution. >> i really respect his work in

service in the air force but he has no plan for social security. the greatest difference between my opponent and myself is on this issue. my opponent has voted four times to raise the social security age to 70. in man he doubled down and says he doesn't think it is going to hurt anybody in louisiana. i want to remind you, congressman, that the life expectancy of a person, an african-american, is 70 years old. you expect them to work their whole life, pay into social security and earn benefits and get nothing back? that is not a solution and i will never vote to raise the age. there are solutions. let me offer one. people don't pay into social security after hundred $16,000. -- $116,000. people that earn over a million dollars per year could pay a little more.

>> your time has expired but let me follow up. your argument has been that the congressman, if we follow his path, gets everybody 60% of the benefits unless they retire at age 70. explain to me, because right now the trustees say that in 19 years everybody gets 75. everybody gets 75% of their benefits. one day a woman gets $.75 on the dollar out of nowhere. how is this past different from his? -- path different from his? >> there is a big difference in our policies and what he is voted for. i will not vote to raise the social security age to 70.

i will vote to add money to fund. i will not vote to cut social security to 70 and i will note vote for coupons for medicare. he wants to change medicare as we know it and i don't think that is right. >> we will make it to medicare later -- a rebuttal? >> you can still retire at 62, that doesn't change. the difference between us is that her path doesn't work. if you look at the actuaries, it doesn't work. your benefits will be cut by 25% because -- senator landrieu will not make it a priority. >> let me get a final word. >> thank you. senator, you are becoming like the president. you keep saying things that are just not true. we do have a plan but we want to talk visible in this discussion so people of louisiana and america can understand our principles. i will not talk from a legislative perspective.

neither one of these plans work. neither one of these plans work. >> i am not sure what your plan is -- what is your plan? >> the plan needs to be that we come to the table and find solutions that will work because neither one of these plans work because the people sitting in this audience that have paid into social security deserve to get the benefits that they have paid for and neither one of those work. >> let's go back to our next .>> let's go back to our next question. >> there are millions of illegal immigrants already in our country. outside of the debate on border defense and security what do we do with the folks that are already here? >> thanks for the question. i will say it again. secure the border, secure the border, secure the border. no amnesty and no pathway to citizenship. both of the folks to my left -- one of the folks agrees with amnesty and one think there should be a pathway to citizenship. my answer to that is not a pathway to citizenship but to go

home. they need to be repatriated. those dollars are in the federal budget. we need to take care of and respect the american citizens and the legal immigrants that are here going through the process now before we do anything else like give welfare housing to illegal aliens. >> send them home? >> we need to repatriate them. >> i support a strong border and have for many years. i have increased the number of border agents from 15,000 to 20,000. i have joined john mccain, friend of my opponent, and passing comprehensive immigration bills to double it from 20,000 to 40,000. i also support a fence 700 miles long. they can tell the difference between a dear or a person -- a dear and a person.

-- between whether a deer crosses or a person so we can allocate our resources effectively. those that say i'm not for secure border are false. for the people that are here, yes, i support a copper hands of -- a comprehensive bill supported by the catholic church, the chamber of commerce, voted on by 67 or 70 members. they do find a path forward. it is important to for our economy. after finds, after english, getting to the back of the line. behind legal applicants. >> the president has responsibility is to keep -- the president is responsible he has clearly failed. if you come here legally there should not be a pathway to citizenship. by the way, the good thing about video -- she says she is all for the fence. we have a club for saying she

will never again vote for a dumb fence. in terms of what we do with the folks that are here, it depends on how long it takes to secure the border. if it takes 30 years to secure the border they will have to dig some people up to move them out. if we can secure within three months it is a totally different situation. it depends on how long it takes. as long as obama is president he will not secure the border. as long as harry reid has the senate they were not secure the border. -- and will not secure the border. we will have this discussion about what to do about those who are here once we secure the border. >> in the interest of time -- senator, you have tried and >> -- senator, you have tried and failed. nobody is saying you didn't support border security measures. the evidence is clear. two deputies out on the west coast were killed in the last few days by an illegal alien that had been deported twice and the law is not being enforced. our border is not secure and they are dead. we need to respect the american

citizens. the legal immigrants that are here going through the process and those are visiting legally. we must secure the border. >> senator, your response? >> i am for building a smart fence that can tell the difference between a deer and a person and so did taxpayers. they don't want to waste money on things that don't work. i have been to the border. i have seen the tunnels. i have seen people crawl over them. we need to have a smart technology using everything. i would put my record up against securing the border. against those of there is any day. >> let me get a final word. from congressman cassidy. have you been to the border? >> no. >> i have commanded the united states air force base -- of 53,000 acres in southwestern states north of the border. >> on the border? >> north of the border.

our primary concern was border security. >> let's go to the next question. >> how do you feel about governor bobby jindal's refusal to accept medicaid dollars when so many working poor could have benefited? >> thank you. both of my opponents agree with jindal that we should not expand medicaid. i think it is tragic. 200 52,000 people that wake up and go to work every day could be benefiting from health insurance. they talk a lot about a workforce -- it is hard to have a strong workforce of it is not healthy. i believe that -- it would have brought $16 billion. -- it would've cost the state

nothing in the first three years. this is three times the amount of jobs that will be brought here. i oppose the governor's actions. i sent letters and showed up, asking him to say yes to 250 2000 people in our state and that is part of why i am proud to run against them. >> a doctor who has been working for 25 years treating the uninsured -- you might ask, if it is so good, why does it go to a charity hospital? it is so far beneath the dr.'s cost she cannot afford to receive a large number of medicaid patients. medicaid is the illusion of coverage without the power of access. and for this meant that it wouldn't -- for this myth that it went cost taxpayers anything. it would cost louisiana taxpayers $600 million. says they are urban institute. along the way, we find those

states that have done medicaid expansion, there has been increased visits to emergency rooms, people dropping private insurance, and outcomes are no better than among the uninsured. it is a broken system and we should not expand it. >> governor jindal is right. we shouldn't accept the medicaid expansion because louisiana taxpayers get left holding the bag. the costs are quite high. the other thing is that we need to the outcome based. if we want to help those that need it, we have to have outcomes that are better than what the medicaid system provides and that is the issue we need to address. >> any follow-up. -- let me follow up. there is an estimate that $1.65 billion in the year 2022 -- but

it does cost $230 million. everybody here -- walk me through why do you think that is or isn't because there are those who argue that you should take the money while it is available. >> one of the big differences here -- this is stark to me. bill cassidy is a doctor that has been paid a salary from medicaid. he has earned a living from medicaid but it is not good enough for people that work to get health care. i didn't say that it didn't cost anything, i said it didn't cost the state of louisiana for the first three years. it is the best investment we could make. the state would put up $.10 and get $.90 back. that's a great investment. especially if you are in business. we need to support working people for health care.

one more point -- and the states -- in the states where medicaid has been expanded, the cost of insurance has gone down for everyone. >> limited the others to weigh in. >> she is arguing that it is worth -- you take the money because it is offered. >> 60% of the people that joint medicaid and medicaid expansion drop private insurance, which means the taxpayers are responsible. that could cost $600 million to our taxpayers. the only place we get that $600 million is either raising taxes or taking an institution to hire. working as a teacher for 25 years means that medicaid has paid by salary. i say -- look at one of my bosses. that is related to us, not expanding a broken system.

>> we have to move on. >> you brought up obamacare and i have got to say it is an abomination and we need to pull it out by the roots. in addition to trying to fix a system that is broken, it is not going to work. why not take the money, as some are looking governors have, and under the argument that it's a good investment? -- >> the louisiana taxpayers of the person that is going to be holding the bag. that is so we are in elected office. we owe it to them not to take their tax dollars. >> in the university president .>> in the university president wants his -- urban institute's show that is not the case. we need to be honest. >> i have got to move on. >> keeping it in the medical arena, the global concern with the ebola virus. a nurse was quarantined against her will.

just today, president obama spoke from the white house surrounded by medical members who had returned from west africa, many within their 21 day incubation. given that health experts are contagious only when showing symptoms, should americans suspected of having ebola be forced into quarantine? >> the president has failed to keep us safe and secure. we know how to control ebola. there was an outbreak in 1976. they issued travel restrictions, they taught nationals how to treat disease, they taught the people of the country how to avoid infection. let it but at this way. -- they control the infection within a month but let me put it this way -- if somebody gets on the plane and she doesn't have symptoms, but it is a 36 hour flight and she develops her symptoms halfway across the atlantic, she potentially infects an entire plane. i am not making this up. this is how it works.

the president may surround himself with people who are asymptomatic but the reality is that one of them could be symptomatic the day they leave. they could go on the subway and potentially infect others. we need to restrict travels and teach nationals how to treat the disease. teach infection control. but keep the disease and apricot and not allow it to come to the u.s. >> the disconnect between the cdc and what it thinks it knows and what is reality has become surreal. our lives are in the hands of an agency full of politicized academics and 90 professors. -- and nutty professors. we need some common sense applied. a doctor came from west africa that had been affected with ebola. he went riding on the subway,

went bowling -- what kind of arrogance is that? we have got a travel ban on the western african nations. we have got to do screening at every port of entry. we have got to do quarantines where is it -- it is appropriate. we have got to protect our medical folks, nurses and doctors, in the same way we protect them at emory university and other specialized units. but most of all, the cdc has got to learn to admit when it doesn't know something. >> thank you. >> thank you. i do support a 21 day quarantine and i know the presidents has said he will not. but i do believe that this is very fearful for many people in america. i think a 21 day quarantine is a minimum that we should do for doctors and nurses and health care professionals that are going to these three countries and treating a bowl of patients.

-- ebola patients. yes, it is an inconvenience, but i think it is necessary so this disease does not start breaking out in america. number two -- my opponent voted to cut cdc funding by $600 million. you can't criticize the cdc and then cut their budget and when they fail to stand up criticize them. >> your response? >> the washington post has made it clear that the cdc budget has been cut -- that. -- to where they cannot respond is false. let's be honest with the american people. that is not true. it is a false narrative. >> the congressman has a little less time. i'm going to move on.

>> these two folks in washington both voted for a continuing resolution that gave the president the ability to deploy 4000 americans into these ebola hot zones. they are willing military uniforms and they are going to get infected. they need to start taking responsibility, both of them, and all of their colleagues, to what this president is doing and holding him in check to keep him from hurting the american people. >> thank you. all right. let's move on. next question. >> i am part of the first generation of americans who may not achieve the same standard of living as their parents. that is a very frightening concept will stop what is the role of government in ensuring economic prosperity for my generation and future generations? >> the first real gaffe of the

night. >> it's senator landrieu first. >> first of all, that is a legitimate concern. that is one of the things i will work hardest on, trying to lift the economic power of our country. as chair of the energy committee i am in a great position on behalf of the people of louisiana to help create millions of high-paying jobs that your generation can benefit. i am excited to be here, where we have science, technology, engineering, and math. two, i also think access to education is important. my opponent refuses to sign onto a bill to lower interest rates on student loans. he has refused to do that and he won't sign on a bill to double

the opportunity for poor students who want to work but they come from families that simply can't afford the cost of education. >> i can tell you -- governm doesn'ten create permanent jobs and if they don't want toh ave. -- to have. benefits. the greatness of our american economy comes in the american people, not the government. if the president will allow the keystone accel pipeline would create 40,000 jobs with benefits. she said her first priority has become becoming chair -- has becoming chair of the energy committee. if she has done everything in her power it must mean she is not very powerful. the law is a damper on the economy. -- the health care law is a damper on the economy. if you look at income earners

you will find -- 400 custodial and food service workers had their hours reduced because they could not afford the obamacare law. get government out of the way and get creativity going and you will have better jobs. >> the main thing he has been -- senator landrieu has been able to accomplish on energy is the push through obama up off anti-energy appointees and we don't need that kind of clout. what we need to do is pull of obamacare out by the roots. i have been in all 64 parishes and talked to small business owners all over. everyone of them gave me the same message -- sir, you have got to do away with obamacare, we cannot afford the restrictions, we cannot afford the new fees, we cannot afford the taxes and we are not creating the jobs we could. that is hurting the economic spectrum, exactly what it was supposed to help. we need to unleash our energy

sector in this state so we can lead america to energy independence. that is what we should be doing here in louisiana. drill, baby, drill. >> let me go back to this issue of clout. an $8 billion investment was announced. there is a threat, it is thought, from the ozone rules that would threaten to damper this explosion of growth. what would you say to those who argue that whether your chairmanship is a good idea or not, the crowd you are hanging with, those who are more proenvironment, together with an administration that can be anti-energy and anti-fossil fuels, is it worth it?

it is about voting. you can look at my record. i opposed the rule for air control. i support the keystone pipeline. i moved it out of my committee as quickly as i could after six years of stalling. we are going to get a vote. we are going to continue to work on it. more importantly, i have already passed a bill that has 8.5 million acres, for drilling in the gulf of mexico. i have worked with three presidents and for majority leader's. i have worked with governors. i have been able to move an energy agenda forward regardless of who was there. >> to congressman cassidy you , spoke to the louisiana chemical association and acknowledged that many of the people in the room, including

the head, are with your opponent. they must be with your opponent for some reason. they are not doing it just out of friendship. >> he told me that it was a personal relationship. it is not about a personal relationship, it is about the future of our country. the biggest threat is the obama appointee who can regulate it to death. she might be for a keystone pipeline, but her first vote will be for harry reid. harry reid will never allow a vote on the keystone xl pipeline. then he will play barbara boxer as head of the environment and public works committee to make sure that there is a stranglehold. she has clout which uses it from barack obama.

-- clout but she uses it for barack obama. there is a picture of her holding hands with obama. she has clout but she uses it for barack obama. >> the follow-up questions are a little more open-ended. i want to make sure everybody gets their shot. colonel, they used to joke that republicans in louisiana -- why do you suppose that is if it joke about republicans and louisiana is that they can fit into a phone booth. why do you suppose that is if it

doesn't involve jobs? >> they have the lowest unemployment rate down there. that is the way the entire state of louisiana ought to be. her clout is being used for things like funneling money to political candidates that fight against oil and gas companies that should be helped here in louisiana. and of course boise bollinger is going to love her because she incorporates things like coast guard cutters they didn't ask for. those dollars should be around the state of louisiana for competition and free market because that is what government is about. that is the way government should be. >> now he has done a little too far. let me talk about the coast guard. the coast guard is one of the most popular federal agencies in the country. the coast guard showed up when our people were 14 feet underwater, colonel. i support the coast guard. they need those boats.

they need to intercept drugs coming across the border. if you want to secure the border you should support the coast guard. i am very proud that we are building coast guard boats here in louisiana. the more we can support these federal agencies you can count on me. you cannot count on the others. >> i will let everybody have a quick final word. >> to even imply that i don't support the united states coast guard or any other military members or their families is absolutely silly and ridiculous. i do believe that we are almost $18 trillion in debt in this country and if the united states coast guard commandant only asks to build two cutters than that of the amounts they should be appropriated when the request comes to the u.s. senate.

we are in a crisis in our debt. to people in louisiana deserve it so they can have long-term sustainability. >> thank you. >> his first photo will be for harry reid. -- senator landrieu's first vote will be for harry reid, the senate majority leader. harry reid has turned the senate into a rubber stamp for barack obama. >> we are $17 trillion in debt. should we be shoving coast guard cutters down there for? >> i am the chair of the committee and the fact of the matter is the coast guard is desperate for these boats. the president of the united states undercut the coast guard budget and i restored the money on the condition of the

-- over the wishes of the president because sometimes i don't agree with him. i have tried to represent louisiana's interests 100% of the time. try to read the coast guard budget. they need to capitalize on the fleet that is an average of 50 years old. >> the next question -- it will be for congressman cassidy. >> keeping with the economic opportunity -- the median income for an african-american household in the united states is roughly 60% of the median for a white household. it is even worse in louisiana. what do you think is the cause of this disparity? is it something that needs to be addressed now? >> income inequality has increased over president -- under president obama. you have been hammered. if you own stock and property you have done well. we will start our website -- you can see that, because of obamacare, the lowest fifth of income earners have seen their

salaries of tougher -- seen their salaries suffer because of obamacare. it is explicitly because of obamacare. not just louisiana. philadelphia and atlanta this. it was known that this would happen. it was known that if you passed this mandate employers are going to lay people off and lower their hours. she said she would vote for obamacare again tomorrow. she is really saying that she doesn't care that they just took 400 lower paid workers and took them from full to part time. i care. i would repeal and replace obamacare. >> repeal, replace, bought out by the roots. -- it is un-american when you and pull it out by the roots. start to destroy jobs through a law that is supposed to be helping people. that is not the role of government.

the role of government is to create the environment so jobs can be created and that is what we do when we unleash our energy sector. that is what we do when we get out of the way of our commercial fisherman and let them do their jobs the way they know. we create jobs. that is the answer to poverty. we have a poverty rate of near 20% and that is only 50% less than what it was when we started the war on poverty back in the 1960's and we spent over $23 trillion on it. we are not doing the right thing, we are only doing the same thing. unemployment for young, black men in this state is three times the rate of anybody else. the answer to poverty is to get his this is to be able to thrive -- to get businesses to be able to thrive and create jobs, not destroy them. with laws like obamacare. >> anyone here and any student of history would know that one of the answers to the question is racism.

the african-american community has been kept out, shuts down, cap back. that is part of what we try to do for communities that have been left out. women as a class sometimes couldn't even teach schools. if they were married. my opponents don't support equal pay for women. not only do african-americans have a lower income but their average net worth is only $5,000. for hispanic families it is only $6,000. we have a lot of work to do. jobs, economic opportunity -- send me back to the senate and let me help create these energy jobs that can help lift a whole new generation in america and in louisiana up to a greater standard of living. >> i see the kernel shaking his head. >> under the obama economy there have been 78,000 more people in louisiana who have gone on to get new jobs.

-- who have gone onto food stamps instead of getting new jobs. the economy discourages the use of america's natural resources. one thing that can create prosperity is energy jobs. the senator may be for them personally but when she votes for harry reid and barack obama appointees those jobs will not occur the same as they would. >> colonel? >> it is unbelievable. let us get the facts right. of course we support equal pay for women. the facts are that the senator's office staff -- women are underpaid and those are the facts. let's get to the facts and really understand what is wrong and what is going on. the federal government is interfering with the state of louisiana and destroying jobs on the economic spectrum that they are trying to help. we need to turn that around. that is why i have sponsored

acts like the redeemed act to help the unemployment and incarceration rates in the state so that we can forgive minor, nonviolent offenses. >> the charged that he just made you has made every day and it is absolutely false. my first chief of staff was a female. my current chief of staff is the only african-american chief of staff in the senate. she is looking at statistics and -- he is looking at statistics and using them for his own purposes. he does not support equal pay laws on the books. they both voted against the lily ledbetter law. i was very proud to support that law so women can get an equal pension when they have been unjustly paid less. >> we have about a minute before we get to our final round of question. when you throw some yes or

knows. -- let me throw out some yes or no questions. higher federal minimum wage? >> i support it. >> that kills 500,000 jobs. no. >> higher federal minimum wage is just another one-size-fits-all solution and i believe people should have the opportunity. >> marriage for same-sex couples could be a national issue. very quickly. >> ? my personal views have evolved quite a bit but i have said i will support the state constitutional ban. against same-sex marriage. >> i am for traditional marriage. >> i believe it is a state issue and should be decided by the states, but i believe marriage be between one man dead and one -- one man and one woman. >> final question. >> we have a picket idea of

where you guys stand on the issues. let me ask each of your personal question. what has been your greatest, the biggest setback in life, and what you do to overcome it -- wha did you do to overcome it? >> i have to think about that. craig, at the risk of sounding trite, my dad didn't go to college. we moved to louisiana when i was eight months old. my dad was struggling. we had moved, trying to gain traction. we are living the american dream. i didn't come from royalty. i would say i came from two great parents. although he struggled and i was a child, my family and we overcame, in the sense that it wasn't an obstacle -- it was just life.

but through incredible love of family and support for my parents, i am living the american dream. that is my desire for everybody tonight. >> colonel? >> a great question. i have put it into categories. the personal 1 -- my greatest has been those times, i have had to give answers to my wife and children when i came up short and it hurt them. we have always learned to trust god and overcome those challenges and continue to build our family strong. professionally it is when i failed out of pilot training and i wanted to be the pilot of a supersonic large aircraft that could fly at the edge of space. i failed out of pilot training that i became a navigator.

i flew a supersonic aircraft. i was honored to serve in the united states air force. >> in my personal life, it would be when i was here and wanted to be in the christian advocacy world. from lsu. i went to a bible study and submitted my application and was rejected. it was a very hard rejection. i went on to do other good things. in my professional life -- my biggest setback was when i flew over that levy that broke. i had just been there the day before. i thought they were still there -- it may be believe the

president was trying to do the right thing. when i flew over that levy and there was nothing there, i thought, you better grow up and figure this out quickly. >> we are out of time. we believe that each candidate should have the opportunity to talk to you without a filter. one minute closing remarks. >> i again want to thank the moderators. i have got great respect for the kernel. -- the colonel. he would be one more voice for the tea party. i am glad he showed up to talk about his hurtful record. , from congressman cassidy. i want to go back to washington and represent the good people of the state, continue to work on an energy policy that gets jobs here at home. we can be energy self-sufficient. we have 200 years of natural gas.

now is not the time to slow down, to change leadership, this is the time to move forward and create economic opportunity. i have worked across party lines, regardless of who has been president. i ask for your vote and thank you for tuning in tonight. >> thank you. i believe that ronald reagan would have been a tea party member and i am proud to say that i am a lifelong ronald reagan republican. by the grace of god we have created the nation centered on the sacred nature of human life. that is where our ideas of liberty, you quality, and human -- equality and human dignity came from. as colonel nathan jessup famously said, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be protected.

we built this ago walls to -- we build physical walls to protect ourselves from worldly enemies. at home we have built walls of faith, custom, and law. people ask me why i am running. i am driven by my deep faith. i am galvanized by god, who has taught me that while freedom is his gift, it is up to us to protect it. our government is failing us and abandoning our walls abroad and trampling them at home. here i am, volunteering to man the wall. i am asking for your vote in order to bring about a government that is once again worthy of the american people. >> in louisiana there is a woman who will not be able to go to sleep, not sure she can pay her bills. groceries and utilities have risen, but wages remain flat. she just got a health insurance premium that has risen by 20%. we are told that obamacare has decreased premiums by $2500 per

family. you could have kept your doctors. it was all false. when you go to vote, think of that woman. six more years of the same policy. if you think that will help, vote for senator landrieu. if you want a senator who is going to stand up to barack obama, who passes -- flood insurance -- >> we are out of time. >> we will repeal and replace obamacare. >> thank you so much. candidates, thank you for your participation. thank you so much for watching, and her member to vote. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

visit ncicap.org] >> c-span's campaign 2014 is bringing you more than 100 debates for the control of congress. stay in touch with our coverage by following us on twitter and liking us on facebook. >> today, "washington journal" is next. tonight, campaign debates into governor races -- the illinois followed by the new york islanders debate. -- the new york governor's debate. in about 45 minutes, a look at the role of president obama has played in this year's midterm elections.

>> give us a sense of what you think the tone has been. if y