same thing over and over again and unemployment are young black men in this state is three times the rate of unemployment than anyone else. the answer to poverty is to get businesses to thrive and create jobs. >> anyone here at lsu would know that one of the answer to is racism.ion women sometimes couldn't teach schools if they were not married. not only do african-americans have a lower income but the average net worth is only $5000. for hispanic family it is only $6000. we have a lot of work to do. very back to sennett and let me create these energy jobs that can lift a whole new in america and

louisiana to a greater standard of living. >> under the obama economy there has been 38,000 more people in louisiana who have gone on to food stamps that have got jobs. >> one thing that create working family's energy jobs. if you vote for harry reid jobs will not occur if you let bill cassidy be your sennett. >> it is unbelievable let's get the facts right, of course we support equal pay for a fact the a matter of

facts. made e charge that he just is absolutely false, my first chief of staff was a female, my current chief of staff is the african-american chief of staff. he is using them for his own purpose because he does not support the equal pay law on the books which is what i am for. the y also voted against

lilly ledbetter law which get an equal pension if they have been paid less through their career. >> we have a final minute, let yes and no ut some questions wage yes or inimal no? >> yes. >> no. size fits nother one all solution. >> marriage for same-sex couples could be a problem if there is no nominee? >> i have said on record that i would support the state's constitution against same-sex marriage.

>> i believe it is a state but i believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. >> we have a pretty good idea where you stand on the issues, i'd like to take a minute to ask you a personal question has been your greatest -- your biggest setback in life and what did you do to overcome it? >> doctor cassidy will start with you. >> i have to think about that for just a little bit. greg, at the risk of sounding trite, my dad didn't go to we came to was eight years old.

although we struggle when i was a child, we overcame. not me, just we, it was life. i am living the american dream and that is the desire for everybody watching tonight that you and your children live the american dream. >> it is a great question greg, open into categories, one is professional and one is personal. there are times where i've had children nswers to my or my wife all the wrong answers at the time and i came it hurt them, but we have always led to trust god and overcome those challenges and continue to build our family. professionally when i failed of united states pilot

training, but i became a navigator instead and weapons systems officer. i was honoured to serve in the an ted states have forced lead americans finest the men and women. i wanted to be in the and stian advocacy world was very active and went to study and submitting my application and was rejected, it was a hard rejection but went on to do other good things. in my professional life, i guess my biggest setback was

when i flew over that levy and i had just been there the day before the president bush. i thought they were still there because i was gullible enough to believe that the president would try and do the flew thing and when i over that levy, kicking up a bed of sand. i said, i needed to grow up. >> we are out of time. >> we believe that the candidates should have the opportunity to talk to you the filter of us. lsu, again want to thank the moderators and have great respect for my opponents. i'm glad he showed up to talk about his very personal hopeful

record. i would want to continue to work on an energy policy that the build jobs throughout state and america. we can be self sufficient. now is not the time to slow down and it is not the time to change leadership and this is the time to move forward and create economic opportunity. we need to work across party lines regardless who is president i ask your vote and i thank you for that union tonight. >> thank you john, what i would like to say, ronald reagan would have been a tea party member in this environment. by the grace of god we have created a nation centred on the sacred nation of

life because that is where our equality liberty and and human dignity came from. but we live in a world with have to d those worlds be protected. people ask me why i am running, i am driven by my deep faith, i am galvanised by god. his freedom is his gift and it is up to us to protect it, our government is failing us. -- re i am, followed hearing volunteering to man the wall. >> thank you col.

>> there is a woman who cannot sleep and will be able to pay her bills. her wages have remained flat, she just got the health insurance premium that has risen by 20%, this is not despite what president obama it is because of what they have done. we were told that obama care would decrease premiums by $25 per family. it was all false. when you go to vote, think of that woman. if you want a senator who is going to stand up to barack 90% of nd not go with a and time, who will repeal replace obama care the something that works for you.

>> we thank you so much for watching, remember to vote. >> here is the secretary announcing the policy yesterday. >> let's start off with one bit of news, there is some ebola order that you find today. i signed this morning

memorandum to the chairman and chief of staff in response to the memorandum recommendation i've received from the chairman and the yesterday, to go forward with a policy of essentially 21 day incubation for our men and women who will be returning from west africa. that policy was put in place by the chief staff of the army couple of days ago for mr williams and 10 of his associates were back at their face yesterday's. me within id was give

15 days and i will give the operations of how that will work and i believe we should really knew that policy in 45 will the fact is military have more americans in liberia in any other department, that is number one, number to they eople are younger, is not volunteers and this also a policy that was discussed in great detail by by the munities, families, of the military men and women and they very much wanted a safety south on this. what , that essentially is the directive says. >> we will hear more.

we may hear more to on a large number of russian aircraft flying close to european air stations. in the past two days in unusual series of events have bombers as far fieldas portugal. >> tonight we will have illinois govs debate. new york govs the debate. and to new hampshire's senate race at 10 pm. small ation clean with a

leader most polls, that is the lineup tonight for debates, and next up the main u.s. senate debate marking the second time the incumbent susan collins and her challenger shana bellows. they have listed the race as solid republican. >> i am jennifer brooks, welcome to the mp bn. we are coming to you from the gracie theatre on the campus of hudson university in bangor.

it will last an hour. it will give a chance for the candidates to question each other. the republican candidate is susan collins she was first elected to the senate in 1996. candidate is shenna bellows. the first segment we are going to tackle broad topics. we had the each of you will be able to articulate your position as well as your differences with one another and we will determine the order shana will go first.

people are really concerned about maine's economy and dipping jobs, what is a us senator will you do to improve the economy and the types of jobs available in maine? >> thank you for hosting this and it is wonderful to be him so close to home so, as i walked across maine, the jobs and e issue is the economy. i walks and met and potato he has a business, selling places across the country but sometimes it takes minutes to get online so if we had universal access and business people like him could grow their businesses and people with good ideas to connect with the global economy

>> senator collins what will you do to create more paying jobs? >> i chat with employers all over the states, i find there are jobs available but often they have a difficult time finding the employee unions that have the skills and education need for that job. about a third of the unemployment rate is due to in skills so, i would want to bring together employees and

educational institutions to identify the jobs of today and tomorrow and the skills in education that is needed to ensure that workers have the need. that is ey somewhere where the government could be very helpful. i have also found that asking for are certainty in the tax code and regulation. we have tax cuts in one year and not the next. we certainly do need transportation improvement in the state and unfortunately the on the republican

transportation subcommittee, and i have been able to secure million to help refurbish our railroads, our roads and bridges and our ports. i also would agree with my opponent that we do need to invest in broadband, that is really important in terms of to locate and grow. need to improve transportation and we need to get the heavier trucks onto the interstate and out of downtown and country roads. that will allow businesses to their products more efficiently. it reduces it admission. move onto energy

costs which named as you know is the most oil dependent state in the nation. it is very expensive for people to heat their homes. what policies will you pursue relieve the cost that overwhelms so many people in the states. one of the policies that i ollow is to make sure stay warm in winter.

this policy prevents the heating dollars go out leaking windows and an insulated doors and walls. i also believe that we need to get more natural gas into the states, there is a real bottleneck with the pipelines that we need to get gas from pennsylvania to help state of maine our manufacturers as well as our residential homes. finally, we need to pursue alternative energy and particularly interested in the deepwater offshore energy, wind the university of that have worked on, holds great promise.

it will help create thousands of good paying jobs and ultimately we could be a net exporter of the energy to the east coast. >> shenna bellows what is your idea' ? >> on climate change which is a real threat to our state and country, we should be investing in solar and geothermal and biomass. germany is example, the leader. maine could be a world leader in renewable energy and that would reduce energy costs which would improve national security and create jobs and confront climate change for the next generation.

>> the affordable care act has been a place for about a year now and we have seen exchanges that work and the supreme court decision affirming the legality of the affordable care act. do you have support the affordable care act? >> i do, and i support universal health care, we should strengthen and expand to cover more people. and we need expand to fit the provisions of the affordable care hacked that have created a purge of individuals and small can move s and we towards universal health care.

investing in primary care and prevention, that is key, we can do that with universal health care. >> you mentioned maine opting out of the expansion from medicaid. would you push that mandatorily to expand? further uld push expansion because we save money if we expand un primary health care access for all. >> susan collins to support changing the affordable care act? >> i think there were is a missed opportunity here, there are a lot of healthcare reforms and both republicans democrats can embrace, for example, both parties are up for prohibiting insurance companies from discrimination.

both parties are for tax credits for small businesses to make it easier for them to afford insurance, both parties after letting young people which comprise the largest group of the uninsured stay on policy until age 20. so i think it is am fortunate that it dissolved into such a bipartisan debate when there are many issues that we could have worked on together. there are some preventions of the affordable care act that are particularly problematic, in some cases it has led to fewer choices, i've heard some troy knees from maine who are no longer able to go to the have used hat they their own lives because it is

out of the network plan that is available under obama care. i higher premiums for small businesses.

not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars taken out of the underfunded medicare programme to fund obama care, there are two bills in particular that i have introduced to change the laws, both of them are bipartisan, one has to do with the definition of full-time workers, the definition of a full-time worker has always been 40 hours a week, under obama care it is 30 hours a week, the result has been seen by him bangor where this superintendent has told me she has two now the number of hours a week that substitute teachers can teach because otherwise they are going to have to come into the system and be covered care. think about that. i don't think that is good policy, it is going to create a lot of confusion. i have a bipartisan bill that would change the definition back to 40 hours a week, even the president has indicated there have been problems in that area. the other area is the mandate, an employer who has 50 or more employees have to comply with all of the provisions of obama care, now many of those employees are already providing healthcare for their employees but i can tell you if they are at 48 or 49 employees, they are

never going to hire 50 employees because they did not want to have to deal with all of the mandates, and the paperwork that comes with obama care. >> susan collins to support president's colourant policies with isis and other terrorist groups? >> i support some of the president's policies. where i have some concerns about

i think the president was too slow to come up with a policy to confront isis. and isis is not the only threat that we face. indeed, al qaeda in the averp rabian peninsula is considered to be most likely to launch an attack on our homeland. and that is very worry some. that is where al qaeda's chief bombmaker is. we also have another group in egypt. we have seen a proliferation of terrorist groups, so that they are now operating in some 20 countries. and i think the president's reassurances to us that he had decimated core al qaeda have turned out unfortunately not to

be the case. >> do you support president obama's current policies to deal with isis and other terrorist groups? and if not, what do you support and what do you not support about that? >> well, let's take a step back. isis did not exist in its current form prior to the invasion of iraq. under pass rush, which susan voted for. what we are seeing now is a product of a misguided policy, a war that cost us over a trillion dollars and sent over a hundred thousand troops in harms way. and arguably we are less safe today than we were a decade ago. and susan voted with the republicans and indeed it was a bipartisan effort, but it was wrong to send troops overseas to this war in iraq. and today unfortunately we do see the very dangerous and barbaric rise of isis. but i don't think the right approach is arming the syrian rebels, groups whose goals we do not share, who may be our opponents in five years or 10. and indeed, some of those groups

were groups that we were fighting during the iraq war. so i think it was wrong and indeed irresponsible for sue son to vote to allow the president to arm the syrian rebels, and the air strikes. those blanket air strikes are harming civilians and it's created a recruiting tool for isis. indeed, strengthening according to news reports the hand of the regime in syria which has not traditionally been an ally. i think we need a more strategic approach to our foreign policy. and president obama showed the y when he did what pass rush what president bush failed to do in two terms when hi killed bin laden and weaked al qaeda with special forces operation. that's the kind of foreign policy we need. i think we are on the wrong track and we are continuing down this path towards overseas work that we cannot afford that make our country less safe. >> senator would you like to

respond? >> you guessed crediblely that i would want to respond to that. first of all, isis is just al qaeda and iraq by another name. it has grown in size and sophistication and capability, but it is al qaeda and iraq, just because it changed its name doesn't mean that it didn't exist. violent ct, this islamic extremist ideology was reflected in the attacks on the world trade center in 1993. in the bombings in africa of two f our embassies. in 1998, and of course, in the horrendous terrorist attacks in 2001. which claimed nearly 3,000 lyes. all of those clearly preceded

the iraq war. islamic that this extremist ideology developed in the wake of the iraq war is simply wrong. >> and that's not what i said. what i said is it is a mistake to be arming the islamic extremist in the middle east and that what we see, the chaos in the middle east is a product of the wrong foreign policy. susan has been in office for 18 years, and she has backed overseas military interventions over and over again. which have cost the american taxpayers over a trillion dollars that we could have invested here at home in our local economy. >> ok, i think we know the difference in your positions on this. we'll move along. people are very nervous about the ebola outbreak in africa, whether it may spread to the united states and what kind of

-- how horrible it can get in africa. is the obama administration doing enough to combat the spread of the disease both in the united states and in africa. if not, what more should be done? >> first, i will say that i want to applaud sheila davis, who is a native of this area who is overseas in west africa now helping lead the fight to confront ebola. what we need to do is to stop the epidemic where it is, in west africa with an increase in aid to countries in west africa. what we do not need is the travel ban that my opponent has suggested. experts say that a travel ban would make us less safe by limiting the ability to depth relief to west africa. and by limiting the ability to monitor travel back to this country. additionally, the lack of preparedness now that the main state nurses association and nurses across the country are talking about, a group that's

endorsed me, that lack of preparedness is a direct result of republican votes for sequesteration. a bill that susan voted for that has undermined funding for the c.d.c. and the n.i.h. funding that the n.i.h. director said without that funding they have not been able to develop an ebola vaccine. and if they had had appropriate funding they might have been able to do so. so we need comprehensive, strategic thinking about the overall budget and we need to invest in emergency preparedness over the long term and invest in unfra structure. that's what republicans are blocking and it's making us less prepared. >> what's your response to the ebola outbreak? >> well, it has to be a comprehensive approach. excuse me. we do need to increase preparedness at our hospitals, and in fact the president requested additional funding, which i strongly supported.

and which we voted on right before we adjourned, and my opponent has said that she would have opposed the bill that included that funding that was essential to fight the ebola crisis. we also need to establish regional centers to treat people with ebola in this country. it's simply not feasible to expect to each one of the 5,000 hospitals in this country to have the resources, the expertise, the gear, the know how, to deal with this epidemic. i support a limited travel ban from the three african countries in western africa that are most affected, with an exception for health care workers and aid workers. we don't want to turn our back

on africa. we want to help them get a handle on it. but my first priority is to protect americans. and just yesterday the obama administration announced travel restrictions, saying that people whose travel originated in these three west african countries could only arrive at five american airports, where they would be carefully screened. and i want to tell you what the president said about this. the president's press secretary said that president obama changed his view on travel restrictions after hearing from scientists and other experts. so, the scientists and other experts recommended to the president that he put these restrictions in place, i'm glad he did. and today the administration

went even further and said individuals coming from these three countries should be closely monitored by the federal government for 21 days to make sure that they do not have this highly contagious disease. until this epidemic is under control, i think the steps that the president has taken makes sense, and i would go a bit further with this limited temporary travel restriction. >> senator, i'll let you quickly respond to the discussion about the bill that was passed before recess. >> so the american association of medical colleges wrote a letter to senators, just a few weeks ago, i'm not sure if you read it susan but what it said is we need to get away from crises and need to invest in the long term for health. the bill that passed just before session was an emergency bill to

arm the syrian rebels, to engage in air strikes in iraq, and i said that i am concerned about arming the syrian rebels. what i think we need instead is instead of a public, which bought us the sequester which is underfunded the c.d.c. and the n.i.h. overtime and made us less prepared, we need to be more strategic and visionary in our thinking about the budget and invest in a public health care system not just when we're in crisis but over time strategically. >> would you like to respond? >> i would. the bill that we passed included $88 million to fight this crisis, and she said very clearly on her website that she would have voted against this bill. in addition the administration has said that the funding that the c.d.c. had was adequate to deal with this crisis. there have not been huge cuts in the c.d.c., nor in the agency that is known as barta, which

was created in the wake of the anthrax attacks that occurred in 2001. and both have been adequately funded according to the administration's own experts. >> we're going to try to squeeze in one more question before our first break. susan collins, congress is likely to tackle immigration reform in the coming session. what are your views on whether the nation's immigration system needs to change? is r immigration system clearly broken. i support comprehensive immigration reform. right before the recess, angus king and i and several other senators went to the southern border where we talked with the teenagers and children who were coming across the border. more than 60,000 of them have arrived in this country from central america that clearly

shows that we do not have good control of our borders. so, we need to have strong border control, but we also need to have a plan to deal with the 12 million people who are here illegally. it is not practical to somehow round them up and ship them back to their home countries. i think what we need to do is to distinguish between those who stood in line and got here legally versus those who came here illegally, and that's why i supported the immigration reform bill that required them to be current in their taxes, to have worked, to pay a fine, to learn english, put a series of requirements before they would be allowed to stay in this country. and eventually work towards zip.

>> my grandparents were immigrants. they came here from france as a child, mother worked as a housekeeper. he went to college, he started his own business, became an entrepreneur employing others. my grandmother came here from scotland, and so i think it's so important, we are a nation of immigrants. i think we can all agree that our current immigration system is broken. and so we need comprehensive immigration reform to create a pathway to citizenship for people who come here for a better life to make america what it represents. >> all right, well that ends our first section and we will be ight back after a short break. and welcome back to 2014 your vote debate between the senate candidates. the candidates for u.s. senate susan collins. the next segment of the debate features your questions, these are questions for members of the public who sent them in by email and the first question will go to you first jenna, it's from

janet who lives in reidfield. specifically can you lay out what policy changes you would make to medicare and how you would propose making social security solve vent beyond 2033 so that my generation can have the same benefits our patients do and did. >> this is such an important question here in maine. we need to strengthen and expand medicare and social security. i have proposed scrapping the cap on social security because right now people making more than $117,000 stop paying into the system. that's not fair. if we scrap the cap, so that millionaires and bill anywheres pay their fair share then we'll have more revenue, so we can increase social security benefits now for our seniors and strengthen social security for the future. with medicare, we need to allow medicare to negotiate drug prices, and to lower costs. and we need to lower the eligibility age of medicare overtime to expand access to medicare for all. >> all right, susan collins,

janet in reidfield wants to know how you'll make social security solvent. >> social security is one of our most important social programs, it's made the difference between poverty and an adequate standard of living for so many americans. but the fact is that it's going broke. the disability trust fund will be out of money in just two years. by the year 2033, social security will only be able to pay about 75% of the benefits that are due. we have to take a comprehensive look at social security. i do not favor increasing the tax rate, which is 6.2% for the individual, 6.2% for the employer, because i think that would be very burdensome for working families and for small businesses. but i agree that we should take a look at the tax cap.

it used to be that the tax cap covered 83% of wages, it covered 93% of wages. it now covers 83% of wages. but that's not going to do the whole job. that will only get us less than halfway there. >> we're out of time i have to move on. the second question from carmen, there has not been a congressional budget for five years or so. please tell us what you plan to do about this failure to take care of urgent business. and further, would you bring all parties together to work on a new revision of the tax code? susan collins. >> we finally did get a budget this past year, which was negotiated by democrats in the senate. patty murray and a republican in the house paul ryan. but, but it's been years since we had a budget and that's one reason why the debt has climbed to $17 trillion dollars. i think most people cannot

imagine our operating without a budget because we're not setting priorities. so i think that that is a real problem. i would bring people together, we should have a budget by march 15 of every year. and that would help to guide the appropriationses process, and that is the best way for us to set priorities and to make sure that we're keeping within the budget caps. >> all right, carmen in thomas wants to know if you would bring all parties together to work on a new revision of the tax code. >> yes. budget and tax policies in washington favor the wealthiest individuals and the wealthiest corporations at the expense of working families. in the last 18 years that susan's been in office the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer and the middle class is disappearing. we can build a bipartisan coalition, just as i did when i was in the american civils liberty union.

we can build this around common ground, around common principle, to create a tax code that is more fair to working families, to make sure that the wealthiest americans pay their fair share. and also to create a budget that we focus priorities on investing in local communities and jobs and education and health care and stop spending so much money on overseas wars, on surveillance programs we can't afford, and on the criminal justice system which is out of control. that's what i would do to bring our budget and tax priorities more in line with the needs of working families here in our state. >> third question is from sandra. she writes i would love to hear the candidates opinions on the millions of dollars being spent for both the senate race and the gube torell race by parties, especially when mainers are going hungry or without medication or without jobs. >> our campaign finance system is broken. we have a congress of millionaires and billionaires and people like me, the daughter

of a carpenter and a home health care nurse don't run for federal office very often. we need to overturn citizens united because corporations are not people, and susan was wrong when she voted against the constitutional amendment. we need a public financing system, just like we have here in maine, so that working people can run for office and lead in washington. and we need stronger disclosure laws, because right now a lot of those television ads, no one knows who's paying for them because of the flood of dark money into the system. and susan voted against the disclose act twice. those are three things we can do to reform the campaign finance system. and i will fight to reform the campaign finance system because it is broken, and in my campaign i'm proud that we haven't taken any corporate pack money. susan has taken over 1.9 million. and the majority of our contributions are from small dollar donors. >> thank you. susan collins wants to know your

opinions about the million of dollars being spent in this race, especially when so many people are having a tough time of it. >> well, there is too much money that's spent on campaigns, but you will notice in sharp contrast to jenna, that every single ad that i've run has been a positive ad. and i think that's what the people of this state deserve. not negative ads that distort my record. now, there's a certain irony here, and that is that jenna's brought up the constitutional amendment that i opposed and it is strongly opposed by her former boss, the american civil liberties union, because they warn that it would open the door toward government regulation of free speech and it would have many unintended consequences. similarly the aclu, while jenna was working for the aclu and i

did not hear her dissent also opposed the disclose act because it wasn't fair. it ex emed some organizations all together. that's not fair. >> thank you. >> i was a strong supporter of the mccain feingold bill. >> the fourth question is from clayton. maine has over a hundred weekly farmers markets where you can buy fresh, delicious locally grown food directly from those who grew it. when's the last time you shopped at one and what was one thing you bought? >> well, the last time i shopped september.in early and it was at the farmer's rket that is in downtown spangor, right across from the library. it's set up every sunday. it has wonderful fresh produce, and one of the things that i bought were multicolored carrots. i had never seen anything, other

than orange carrots before. and it was great fun to buy those as well as fresh beats and fresh lettuce. it was a lot of fun. coming from my county as i do, i have a real appreciation for our family farmers. i also bought some fresh blueberries, which i made a absolutely delicious blueberry buckle with, which i'd be happy to share the recipe. it's my mother's recipe. >> would you like me to repeat the question? >> no, it's when i last shopped at a farmers market. i joked that i ate may way across maine when i walked 350 miles, and we walked through farmers markets in waterville, we walked through farms and with farmers. and i love blueberries, and i also love cherry tomatoes. so those were my favorite purchases at farmer's markets. my husband and i shop regularly at farmers markets and also the apple orchard in manchester

where we live now, and in fact my husband was at the farmer's market last week. >> all right, well, we have a new section now. this is the chance for you to ask each other questions, we're going to try to control this, each of you has 20 seconds for a question, a minute for the answer, and there will be a chance for a short rebut thal. and so we're going to begin, you have a chance to ask susan collins. >> why have you co sponsored the obama repeel act? >> well, as you know, i voted against obama care and i've explained why. i think there are many other ways that we could have gotten to health care reform. but at this point, now that the law has been in place, i believe that we should try to fix the most egregious flaws. i don't think that outright repeel would go anywhere because obviously the president would veto it.

so rather than sending the president a bill that would surely be vetoed, i believe that we should try to fix the numerous problems with obama care. and contrary to what you've been saying, i have never been for just repeeling obama care. i have always said that it ould be replaced by a better approach. >> chance for a short response. >> i read the obama repeel act and it said that it shall be repeeled and you're an original co sponsor still. so have you removed your name in the last week? >> well, let me explain the way this works. i have a series of bills and proposals that i have put forth that i've advocated for for years, for example generous tax credits for people who are self employed, so that they could afford health insurance.

tax cuts, tax credits for small businesses. the bills that i mentioned on the 30 hour work week. on the employer mandate. so, you have to look at the whole record and that, i'd be happy to provide you with more information on those or you can go back and read my floor statement that i made in 2008 when the obama care bill passed. >> all right. susan collins, you have a chance to ask a question now. >> i'd be glad to. you've endured increased spending in at least 15 programs that already add up to trillions of dollars in spending over the next five years. you've proposed major expansions, we heard it again tonight, in the medicare program despite the fact that that program has severe financial

problems. you've also proposed increases in programs like nst nasa, which you said are a priority. so you seem to be telling the people of maine that your approach will be to ask the taxpayers to foot the bill as the federal government tries to spend its way out of most problems. we're already saddling the next generation with an enormous debt of $17 trillion, we're on our way to having a half a trillion dollar debt for this fiscal year, deficit -- >> i'm going to let her answer the question. >> how are you going to pay for all this? >> in 18 years it is this congress with a war in iraq costing over a trillion dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest americans that have left us with this debt. that has mortgaged our young people's future. and i have proposed a 200 plus billion investment in universal

broadband that we could pay for if we cut defense spending and cut surveillance systems to spy on order americans and reduce spending on incarceration. i have proposed scrapping the cap so the wealthiest americas pay their fair share so that we can increase social security benefits for seniors at home right now. i proposed reducing the interest rates on student loans for students and paying for it with a financial transaction tax for people who are currently making money on wall street and not paying anything in taxes. so everything that i have proposed i have also suggested how we pay for it. we need a different approach. don't say that this congress or your leadership has been fiscally responsible. quick chance. >> if you confiscated all of the income that everyone who makes a million dollars or more in this -- we took every penny,

not just increased their tax, but took every penny. that does not begin to cover the increased spending that you are proposing. and cuts in military spending at a time when the obama administration has already cut spending by $800 billion in this dangerous world would be fool hearty. >> you can ask susan collins a question. >> susan, you have said that you voted against raise minimum wage because $21,000 a year is too much. you have proposed $9 an hour or $18,000 a year. how would you feed a family on $18,000 a year? >> well, clearly that is not a liveable wage and i'm curious what you think a liveable wage would be if you think that a minimum wage should produce a liveable wage.

it would have to be far higher than $10.10. this is the situation that we're in. first of all, i support an increase in the minimum wage. proposed an increase to $9 an hour because the independent congressional budget office says that if we go with a 40% increase to $10.10 that it would cost our economy some 500,000 jobs, and those are largely going to be jobs held by low income people. so, i don't think that that's the answer. she mentioned the other night that 13 states had increased their minimum wage. ot one of them has gone to $10.10. rhode island increased it by 25 cents. >> thank you, would you like to rebutt? >> 13 states did raise the minimum wage this year, and saw job growth more than states that did not raise the minimum wage.

so the scare tactics suggests that jobs might be lost if the minimum wage were increased are simply not born out by the evidence. and there is something deeply wrong when members of congress who make >> i have spoken to a lot of businesses are made because they pay more than minimum wage their employers. collins.k you susan make 25% f those who are teenagers.

in northern and eastern maine we see canadians coming here the cancer treatment or mr eyes for other medical care is because in canada you have to months for rage, two an mri, a whole month for a cat scan, 4 1/2 months for necessary treatment after you referred to a specialist, nine months for a senior to get a joint replacement. canada ranks far higher for and the united states. my question is, why do support single-payer government run top-down washington system when we see people from canada coming here for treatment? health upport universal care for all.

if we invest in health care and prevention in primary care then we will see better long care health outcomes, we will see less disease and less mortality. countries like canada and europe have better health care are spending less money. the inflation of healthcare is out of his country control, how many medical banks say in canada, zero because there is basic health care for all. we have a system right now, called medicare and it is working quite well. >> first of all there is a difference between the universal acts for health care which is the goal we all embrace and having a government system which yer

is what she has endorsed and i think we have to be very clear about what that means in terms of care. there is a reason that in great britain and individuals who is diagnosed with prostate cancer has a 5050% chance of surviving. >> we have to take a break, we will be right back. >> welcome back to mp bn vote. the next round is our lightning round and these are questions meant to be answered once with one or two words, yes or no, maybe a whole sentence. >> would you support the no tax pledge?

>> no. >> no. >> are you talking about the main of montréal? >> i believe there needs to be a full environmental study in order to answer that question. >> no. >> climate changes threatens our. >> to support federal funding for amtrak? >> yes. >> yes. >> should local law enforcement agencies be allowed to use drones?

>> again i think that is a local and state issue but what i can tell you i could have done at the federal level is to require justification. >> okay get a whole sentence. coalition t of the here in maine we want to drones that use of surveillance purposes. i allow them to be used for search and rescue. >> sued the united states reduce its military bases? >> no. >> no. >> grants for the federal government for higher education? >> absolutely. >> yes.

>> for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes? >> further medical purposes only. >> yes. >> do you support the proposal that would allow internet access based on ability to pay, we're told about the net neutrality legislation? >> i support no. >> susan collins. >> we should not be allowing internet providers to have content over others. >> we have the closing statements now, each candidate will have one minute to speak directly to our audience. susan collins you will go

first. >> thursday of just over 1 million people, named have elected remarkable senators. they have represented different parties but they have in common a commitment to civil honest debate to progress based on bipartisan compromise and to a better life to the people of this state. i have worked hard each and every day since i was elected to uphold this proud tradition. government shutdown last year i put together a coalition of seven red publications and and we hammered

out a compromise that led to the reopening of government, that is how government can and should work and that is the approach that i would want to continue today. i ask your vote on december 4. >> this race is just more than policy differences between susan and i. this is about two different visions for the future. my sister is putting her three kids to bed while their father overseas in kuwait. i think about the danger my brother-in-law faces overseas, what kind of world are we leading them, we cannot afford the republican gridlock in washington or to pretend that things are okay. things and not locate when are without people jobs tonight. things and not okay when climate change is hurting our farms and fisheries.

of votes is susan is a vote for republican control. you share my concerns and share my hope that we can do better and must do better, i asked for your vote on december 4. >> thank you very much for both candidates were taking part in this debate. thank you for joining us. be l of our debates will rebroadcast on tv and radio between now and election day. course joy mp bn radio election night coverage on november 4. we hope you take time to vote.

thank you for joining us. >> reporting this afternoon the president of the largest employee union expressed deep concern over the lack of guidelines the pentagon civilians deployed to west africa. defence secretary chat handle ordered wednesday that troops returning from west africa be quarantined for 21 days but that does not apply to civilian employees.

we will hear from secretary of the nd the chairman joint chiefs at 130 eastern time. also reports of russian aircrafts have been flying near european airspace for the last couple of days. that news conference in about 20 minutes. we tend meantime conversation and from the washington journal. > >> for those who may not know what your publication is about tellers a bit about it? >> it is an independent white house news service. we have overseas clients, i

write magazine columns and those sort of things, we've been at the white house for about six years. the president's role in campaign 2014. >> he has been absent on the past week or the so. today he is going up to maine, he was in with cost than the other day but a very few campaign of event and the ones that he has gone have been further governors, he is really saying away from the senate is es, he is not wanted, he perceived as toxic. from s really been awol

the senate campaign, even in the governor's races it has only been the past week and a half that he has parachuted into the states, so a very low him, except for this, he was out raising cash for the boatload. we don't want you, but we will take your cash, that is what he is doing. i don't think he is the greatest retail politician sadly not in the bill clinton sense, he is privately relieved have to go out and do the gladhanding and kissing babies thing but, i think he is probably is -- i he has thick skin -- are maybe not thick-skinned but i think he is hurt that he is recorded as toxic. he is simply unwanted so his problem happy to stay at home but is properly hurt at the same time that nobody is asking

him to come out. >> what you think if we head towards election day about the end result? everybody talked condition of the senator, what are your thoughts on that? the conventional wisdom is, there is the six-year itch, in the sixth year of a second term the party in opposition gains on average about 30 house seats and six senate seats. there is no question that the republicans are not going to many in the house, i think to forecast is they will get anywhere from 6 to 9 seats, there have been forecast that could get 10 or 11, a very solid case for them.

on the senate side properly fighter eight seats and of course a magic number is six in order to win control. i think at this point it is a reasonable bet that the republicans are going to take the senate and assuming mitch mcconnell wins in kentucky, he will be the next senate majority leader. >> go back to obama, should that happen what remains for his two years of presidency? >> i think we have already seen that. i think the president will turn to more of these executive actions, it's important to remember on a lot of these key issues he has really kicked the can down the road on a ton of things simply because he doesn't want them to come up in this election season for example.

immigration, we don't know what these premium increases are going to be on obama care, all of these things have been delayed until after the election even though the president himself says he wants to be more forceful and take action on these things. in immigration for example, he said i'm tired of these republicans are obstructing me to act ything, i'm going right now and then a couple of weeks later he said well we will push this off until election day, so he has opened himself up to criticism by delaying these things until after december 4. >> paul is here as our guest to talk about the president's in the campaign 2014. to send us emails

or post at our twitter page and you can post on our facebook as well if you want to make thoughts and comments on this conversation@facebook.com/c-span . the average for elective president in the 23rd quarter at 47%, george w bush was 37% and bill clinton was 65% and was 63% and n president obama was ranking in the 30s right now? >> correct. that not re looking the real clear politics average would aggregate numbers together it is 42%. he has been despite all of the has had this year,

his numbers have gerally hovered in the 40 to 45 range pretty much since last christmas despite all of these things that have come his way, suggests that know matter what he has support of about 40% any hasn't really gone below that. it is interesting when you talk about his comparisons about other presidents. did two most popular presidents of the last half and bill ronald reagan clinton, at this point would have been mid-60s. hand clinton on the other his numbers went up as he was impeached.

obama is way down in terms of the list of popularity. >> will that stay consistent follows two years of presidency? >> if you extrapolate the data, it is fair to suggest that he will stay around there for the next two years. i think there is going to be nothing but gridlock he is not going to be able to get a lot done other than what he can do on his own through these

executive actions, i think it is reasonable to say he is no bill clinton he is no ronald reagan will in terms of popularity and will stay under 50% the next two years. >> minnesota is up first, marie on democrats line. >> yes sir, i would like to say one thing to this not leman, the president is an insurance commissioner, he has got law through to help us with healthcare and that is to bring the price down as health care. is the best e person and i hope hillary clinton follows right in his footsteps, thank you very much. no question there thing about obama care it is sort of like social security, there are all kinds of opponents that are going to affect the economy.

as anything i think it is possible that obama care over the next couple of years if it continues to set routes, there are few republicans now that the campaigning against it this as i that being said mentioned before, if they delay after election date the size of what these premium increases are going to be, there are be 12, 13, could 15%, pretty hefty increases that you don't want to talk on the campaign trail. on the other hand there are a lot of people the first time in who have health insurance so they can be thankful that they have insurance but again the question is at what price, it depends on how you look at it. >> has anybody touted its virtues? >> democrats are distancing themselves from the president much as they can. so the answer to that is no.

it is so controversial and a of these states where these are on the emocrats cusp, anything that reminds voters of obama and obama care oversee the biggest remind you can get, it is something that they generally do not want to mention. for taking my call, i generally have been a a lot of years but i am totally disgusted with both parties. problem with the leadership in the republican i also have a problem

with my president standing up in front of the nation and staying you guys do what you have to do to get elected which lie your says to me, teeth off and trying get elected and we will do what we want to do and the americans will probably get no say at all. i'm very concerned about that. my question is, what am i supposed to follow? have found that apparently they are teaching us to lie about everything you can do what you want. what ell i can't tell you to do separate it does speak to go ch does ssue

beyond the trust issue. they have succeeded in making the selection all about obama but at some point the republicans are going to assuming they win the senate they are going to have to stop saying what they are against which is everything that obama does and telling people what they asked for, and that is one thing they have not done a very good job of.

do what you have to do to get elected, that is nothing new but the disturbing tone of his question is something that bothers me and that is the rising level of distrust and scepticism in washington, a distrust of our elected officials, even if we keep on re-electing them, people are saying the house should be held in contempt after what they have done yet 95% of them tend to be re-elected. >> here is tyler from new york, on the independent nine. for taking my call, if i could just common on the last point you made about house thinking the should be held on contempt, i couldn't agree more. criminal it is especially the stagnation they have got. it is not very surprising to me that they are sitting back and letting things happen. i think they think barack obama is a cursed with campaign but one more thing i might want to talk about is you mentioned possibility of

republicans taking control and i can tell you that is disturbing to me especially as you said republicans do not like to offer up their opinions of what like to e done, they say that we don't like the way democrats have recommended this and that but they never come out with their own opinions and tell you how they would like to make things better. >> again it is a messaging problem that they have. assuming that republicans take the senate they have already laid out there to do list of keystone, things, better border control, how many dozen times they are trying to appeal obama care, these all anti-obama tone to it.

i think they really do have intends of brandy messaging, they have to do a better job is going to the american people what they are in favour of. one thing i've noticed, the republicans have used these social issues as a kind of wage the democrats ee are using, and latching on in terms of gay marriage, said there has been a bit of a turn about that but i think my own opinion is the republican party far better suited using a back to basics approach and explaining to the american people about what they are going to do. the number one issue which continues to be the economy. and lower taxes, getting people back to work, getting this back to base his approach and dismissing these social issues that they tend to keep

focusing on. >> the possibility of the turning, and the headline the white house ponders life without republican senate. >> they deny publicly but of course that is their job, their job is to put a positive spin on things and i think he just said yesterday, "well we continue to think that democrats are going to hang onto the senate", frankly the number of people who believe that you could fit into a phone birth --booth. the best scenario would be a 50-50 senate. that is the best scenario people would get to. nobody thinks they're

thinks they're going to get 5150 but you never know what is going to happen but the data at this point suggests that the republicans are certainly going to take the senate. >> if the turnout is the main factor in that? main think turnout is a factor, the hold dynamic of mid-term elections is so different from the presidential elections, in 2010 when you had the house gop wave turnout was about 45%, then you had the presidential cycle in 2012 where turnout was 61%. in at is a huge number general, the lower the figure the better it tends to benefit republicans and i think that is what we are going to see now. you're going to have the republicans, they're going to house it's ts in the a strong chance they are going

to take the senate. as bad as the senate maths look for democrats now it is equally bad for republicans in 2016, they have to defend 24 of 34 seats, it is really bad for them in 2016 as it is fit democrats and of course in 2016, you're going to have all these voting blocs, hispanics, blacks and so forth who tend to vote in very large majority for obama. anybody wants to extrapolate on tuesday, i say do so at your own peril. >> we are talking with paul, here is tony from the democrats line. >> i think the poll numbers for a second term president are

always low, the problem is we electing these individuals are go from year to year from one generation to the next and not put in a new breed of now my thinking is who folds? what social issues are and blicans concerned with? when he's says obama is kicking the can down the street, i want to know what he means? does it mean the senate is preventing him from doing his job? >> i've already answered a lot of those questions. i said the republicans are

edging away from that, from guns, god's comic gaze that has worked well for them in the past, those of the wedge issues. i would dispute her point that again she said that most presidents aren't that popular in the second term, we just talked about reagan and clinton at this point and they were in idents who their 60s so it doesn't necessarily depend on the president but also at the time. i forget what her other point can down the the road? >> in june he said he was going to address immigration, then he came out later and said later we can delay that until after election. until laying these things after election day. the president is between a rock place here, does he

want to alienate the environmental form or does he want to alienate people who say we need these jobs to build a pipeline and so forth really win with that. >> ruth houston texas and she is on the republican line. >> i lead through c-span maybe six or eight months ago that mr out to the brotherhood, and it has become very clear when he went over to cairo, eejit, he made a commitment, he was threatened they said we would take you and your family and you will die stand has now taken the

for the brotherhood, it is very quiet and that's why he cannot support our country and support our people and our troops and people on the planet who have made a commitment to freedom and liberty and justice that ll and the killings kept taking place -- >> good afternoon, let me make comments about the against isil. i will ask for comments and questions. from natives internationally security to the afghan nation security forces, that was significant and i want to thank,

especially our marines who over the many years, the contributions they have made and all our forces who have served in afghanistan who are still serving in afghanistan and i also want to thank our what they have afghan n particular the nation security forces as they have continued to make progress in defending their country. as you know last week i spoke with the new iraqi defence minister, and we discussed the i preparations to take offences against isil. week we have senior iraqi forces do that.

their initial progress is are just ng but these first steps in what we have said would be a long and difficult multi-year effort against isil by iraqi forces on the ground and support from the us as well as our coalition partners. commands the first will take place in iraq. choking off its resources and delegitimising d its murderous ideology is just as our prime minister says about building an iraqi government and we must end the trust of the iraqi the bowler virus

issue, we are continuing to work on additional cases met with doctor geoffrey, from the medical centre which has successfully treated to ebola patients. i am proud and appreciative of the efforts of him and his team at the nebraska medical centre. it is focused on containing the disease at its source. there are some 5000 deaths in so far, stopping the most d of ebola is effective way of protecting the american people. to provide ooking

4000 troops to help with logistic support, about 1100 dod personnel have already deployed to west africa and they are making progress despite difficult weather progress and rough terrain. are making a difference with up to 17 treatment units first which will be completed over the weekend, the second is on track to be completed in mid-november and the third and fourth units being completed before thanksgiving. this will double their lab tory capacity going from three laps to a total of seven. they have started training health-care workers in monrovia this week. hospital they have been building on will be fully operational next week.

throughout these deployments to war remain vigilant protect its troops, and their families and their communities, that is why in response to a recommendation from the joint chiefs i directed that all military personnel returning from the ebola responsive efforts undergo a 21 day control monitoring regiments, i of e this decision in light the unique role and responsibilities of our scale of their deployments and dod's responsibility of the help of the service members and their families. we will continue to review this policy. as a request of the department of health, dod has also taking set to be prepared in case federal health officials request our help in responding to ebola cases here in the united states.

here this week our 30 person finished training in euston, if needed they are ready to be deployed in 72 hours. i want to thank the men and women who serve our country all over the world in so many capacities and their families for their sacrifices. just before coming over here i spent some time with the war commemoration advisory committee, i issued the first vietnam's veteran pins as you know, we have since world war ii, pins recognising veterans of the world war ii career in vietnam's that their service, i want to take this opportunity to recognise vietnam veterans families over the

years for their service and the sacrifices they have made that this country in a long-ago war. before i ask gen dempsey for his comments i want to be the first to wish you all a happy halloween. >> thank you for that mr secretary, as you know i recently met with my counterparts from 21 nations to discuss coalition efforts in our ongoing campaign against of a l, this is part continuing dialogue and validation of our long-term can commitment to stand against this group of terrorists, meanwhile the third of our ground y forces on the in west africa executing the mission as part of the us and international response to the ebola outbreak. the team right

here, trained military experts who we have in standby in the to assist are needed civilian professionals. as we work together to stem the tide of this crisis we take seriously the obligation to protect our men and women and their families. of our 50+ thank all coalition commitments to the south asian

region. last friday service members within the washington dc member work side-by-side with athletes from the washington wizards to prepare more than 1000 meals local families in need. this was just the first of many service activities that will be part of this commitment to service this campaign. this is to help create stronger bonds between communities and to determine what we can do together for our nation. with that rule will be glad to take your questions. >> secretary, currently you have some complaints about the policy, do you think the us should be more aggressive to ough sanctions in order we more pressure or should

be more aggressive in backing them out in our position and mr chairman view can you give us an update on when the training the ion stands for monastery in opposition, whether that has been done or not? answering your question, all t, the inner agency, of the agencies related to national security are working on this syria, heysel, middle east issue. certainly the department of defence is a key part of that, but, the syrian equation of this bigger issue of stability the he middle east as president has said is going to

require a diplomatic, political solution, that said the reality what isi are doing vast areas of us in are forcing all of our coalition of over 60 countries to come together to with this immediate the future of syria middle he nations of the east have significant is estment in that stability going to require all elements, not just our government but all of the countries in the middle east and that is working together to find a solution to peace in syria, stabilise that region of the world and we are constantly assessing and we are constantly adapting and we working through

different options, it is complicated, it is long term there are no short-term answers to it so, your question about should we be more aggressive, well we look at every option, we meet so often on this issue and this is why we build and continue to build an effective coalition in the middle east to deal with these issues. >> on the training, the a process is in place and this dates have been selected and reconnaissance conducted to determine what infrastructure is needed to accomplish the mission. coalition partners are beginning to contribute trainers to the efforts, the recruiting investing has not yet begun. >> there is a recent article ride with limousine the president suggested that was the only way you could get the weeks go by

without having a face-to-face with the president. how often do you have face-to-face meetings with the president and in that case which did occur, how close was as real to the american consulate. >> the limousine was not that comfortable, it was a rough ride. i don't know where that came from that i don't have access to the president, in fact i think in the last three weeks i spent more weeks with the secretary and the president have with my family. on that particular occasion, i to ride with him in

the limousine because i was an african conference with him and we were going to walk into a meeting, and he wanted me to share my thoughts with him prior to the meeting. difficulty ve any accessing the president when i need it. it was close, there was one defensible feature, the distance doesn't matter it is what you can do in the distance between the threat or the enemy and the facilities so there was a river in which the kurdish defending and if that river had been breached then the issue would have been much more difficult to resolve, so in a sense they were pressing on the river it did have urgency. >> was there as sense it had been left to go to long?

>> you were late to the game on defending that river? being at river was adequately defended. they gave us an indication when they believe they are about to fall. discount syria for a syria , the situation in at the moment, the modern rebels want ammunition and the kurds want more training and they want a straight against assad. assad is in a better position than he has ever been in. you talk about diplomatic

solutions why should he, why should even talk with you, what leveraged do you have for him the table and talk? >> well, the complications of you have just noticed, in particular as we in the coalition go after isi el to help the iraqis secure their government but also with the east, yes, as sad does benefit from that of course barked, we're talking about a is ger term strategy that effective and doing what we of the nd the people middle east are required to stabilise and secure that side of the world and the fighting onto years and years to what end? how does that bring a to the objective of

the people, the government's of of the world needs, it is in our interest not have not nstable middle east and to have countries end up where unately like some in libya is in almost ungovernable state so, we have to manage through the realities of what we have in front of us with some longer term strategies and objectives as to how we eventually get to where we need to go. policy of this administration. i'm sure there will be more on this. >> mr secretary how concerned are you about prisoners showing battlefields on syria

and is is causing them to closing the policy of guantánamo bay. >> we think that overall the getting to close guantánamo is clearly in the of the united states, when i was in the united states senate i supported it, it is a dangerous world. that's why we pay so much attention to getting commitments from host countries in securing those commitments and doing everything we can do ensure that ower to those commitments, not to allow knees to go ing

beyond what is required in order to secure in these different host countries, but we do know that some have joined the fight. >> does this concern you? of course it does. >> we believe that this is a small fraction of those detainees which have been conditions where their risk is mitigated. i provide my advice in every case to the secretary of defence who as you know is the and the ng official, assessed ber is being inside and i cannot comment on that. under the circumstances as

they have been defined that, pose low risk to our security and their ability to become fighters are mitigated. been some have reports that iranians personnel battle of south-west baghdad -- state looks to be executing people in iraq, how is that going to work towards tribal uprising? i on the first question cannot confirm that information but, on the second question, this is the reality of what we're dealing with, which is not new.

systematic execution of we are en, that is what dealing with and this is why together, coalition this is why engaging with semi-tribesmen in a reformed iraqi security force where they have some confidence in that security force and they have some confidence in the government of iraq, all of that has to come together. yes, these things are happening, yes it is difficult, yes we are dealing with it. but i think progress is being made.

we had a briefing on what was seen and as i said in my comments and i know the chairman did as well, progress is being made but it is just the beginning as again i noted today, this is a long-term but rt but it is difficult the senior tribes are going to have to be part of this as we think through short-term, long-term national guard concept allowing the tribes to have more say in their own government, their own areas, but security is critical and we have to stabilise and let them areas with some security. or there will be no government. >> as to the presence of a i read the same open statement, i cannot that but the ny president of iranians advisers

was documented in the back sment we did, going several months ago so, it is not surprising to me that in the south of baghdad you will see the presence of iranians advisers increase. speaking about the tribe, tribal leaders say 400 of their in addition killed to 45 isis. as i am told, requested military support to protect this tribe which has up against sis. are you aware of any aware by forces to take military action to protect this tribe that is facing massacre? >> look, the iraqi security are in defensive

unlikely , it would be to respond to assistance. i am not aware they made a request to ask but i can say need to expand the training of five meant mission into our province but the precondition of that is the government of iraq is willing to arm the tribes. >> they were facing massacre, there was a massive effort to you have a n here group that is literally risking way that the n a coalition is desperate for, and came to their aid

except an air drop of meals. >> there was an embargo on top of the mountain. i have said all along it gets more more difficult when forces are going to mingle. one of s is just another many daily die mentions of what is going on over there. we are dealing with all of it s and working way through as we said g it but of isil he brutality and what they are doing needs

to be stopped but in order to do that we have to do as much as we can with as many different components in syria and it goes back to some of the complications, it is all interconnected. it is as complicated a set of directions then we have dealt with for a long time. >> can you talk about specific items when the chiefs talked about the 21-day quarantine, and doesn't medical science ever factor into the fact that the majority of workers down there are not going to be into contact with the bola? -- with ebola? process, tell you that first and welcome of the men and women we have deployed over there are in larger numbers than any other group. the anticipated we would reach 4000.