and with that job he was able to put himself through the university of utah. i know you students here at salt lake community college aren't able to do that. you are taking on heavy student loans. i am running because we need to keep college affordable and every other pathway that people follow to get into the kind of living wage jobs, the kind of jobs they can race their family on, it is critical to hang on to those pathways. that is college, job training, making sure everybody thrown out of work in middle age gets an opportunity to get back into a living wage job. that is why i am running, to fight for you, and i appreciate the chance to be here. >> mr. owens. and now a 90-second opportunity for representative mia love. >> thank you to all the students that are here today, and thank you to all of those watching there home today. i know it's easy to take in the doom and gloom of the daily news, but i want you to know that i have confidence in our nation.

i have been able to work with the fourth district, and i have worked with extraordinary people, people like gordon ewell, who is with me here today. he was severely injured in combat while serving in iraq. thank you, gordy for everything you have done for us. we owe you a great deal of gratitude. there are a lot of people that believe we can't solve our problems because we are too divided as a nation. although i disagree quite often with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, i think there is more actually that unites us than divides us. i have been able to host several of them here in our state to show what what we do in our community to help people strive fog a better life. we have been able to brek people. people like david scott, who has endorsed this campaign. that hasn't happeneds in a long time. david scott knows the issues we face aren't just left or right

issues. they are american family issues. i think it's time that we elevate the conversation past the politics to the solutions that are going to help our utah families. i hope that we can do that tonight. thank you. >> the utah debate commission has established a format that allows each candidate 90 seconds for an initial replay to a question. these questions were drawn from voter input to the debate commission web side. other questions will come from the audience. each candidate will have rebuttal time to speak directly to the views of their opponent on each question. let's begin.

>> i think there has been too

much focus there. i ran for congress not to play in the presidential race but do what i could 0 for utah. six generations of ply family call this place home, seven if you count my kids who are here. i am not participate negligence any race. i am trying to do what i can for utah. and so i don't look there for value. we take our values to washington. i think of people like firefighters who have endorsed my candidacy. those are guys who run to the problem. if we had more of those kind of values in congress, if we could roll up our sleeves and get the job done, that is the kind of values we need to take there. i think of teachers who are struggling. my mother was a teacher. she put her heart and soul into her job. she used her salary to help pay for the materials in her classroom. those are the kind of people who are populating our school

system and educating our system. those are values and the kinds of things i would want to take to washington. when you look at the presidential race, it is all the more important to pick the person who can go to washington and take our values there and do what is right to us. >> apparently i missed the distribution of 10-foot poles that occurred before. i have any of been with two candidates in a debate setting where neither candidate would publicly endorse the top of their national ticket in a presidential election year. representative love, i am going to come back to you one more time. what are we hearing about the american state of politics that you, too, feel you cannot endorse your own top of the ticket. >> well, i said i wouldn't endorse, and i am not going to vote for the two tom niese at the top -- the two nominees at the top of the ticket. when we say we are going to vote for somebody, especially as a member of congress, there are people looking to you, and

you become that example. i find it going that my opponent says he is voting for hillary clinton. this is a person that has lied to the person people. this is a person that took her e-mail servers and hid them. this is a person that left soldiers in benghazi on their own and did absolutely nothing. again, i am actually sticking with my district and sticking to the issues that my district is supporting, and i am not looking to washington as an example. we are looking right tear. >> doug owens, you get 45 seconds to respond. >> i have indicated how i am going to vote. what is more important is how i am going to vote when i get to washington. i can work with the president of either part in working for our state. i can hold them accountable when they are not doing what is right for this state. it has nothing to do with national party politics. i think people back in washington are entirely too stuck on party labels, the race to the bottom we have seen in the presidential. i was talking to one guy over the weekend who said it was

like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. it is all the more important you get focused on this race and what either of us can can do for utah. >> next topic. a series of national surveys by major print and broadcast entities revealed deep-seated concerns in the hearts and minds of average americans on two general topics. the economy and national security. we have

individuals personally. so there are a lot of people that we have worked here in the state making sure that we give them the tools. in terms of minimum wage and what the department of labor of the doing in terms overtime rule, the knee jerk to ion for a regulator is create more regulation, and they end up hurting those that . ey have vowed to protect when you raise the minimum wage

d artifically raise that wage, it is very difficult for an employer who says i have a set amount of money. what am i going to do with that? often someone gets fired, often people end up losing their job. we should be doing what we do in this state, making sure that we are creating jobs, making are innovative, bring down the unemployment rate so naturally bring up the minimum wage. ens, your opportunity to address several key issues associated wit the economy. >> i appreciate your question. there is why i am running. i have looked around and seen way too many families, sometimes the parents working between e or four jobs them just to keep the lights on and food on the table. it is for those people that i am running for office. the jobs that were lost in the recession paid on average 22% more than the jobs that have been created since the recession. what that tells you is er icans are working hard than ever, more hours, more jobs, and they are not doing as

well. this is why i am running for congress. this is the biggest reason, i ilies have e sure fam the opportunity to make right choices for them. plan ow, i've got a job that i have introduced that i hope to get the chance to work ress. cong it's working on education, disderegulation. it is making sure we have a lower corporate tax rate. one should ever have an incentive to ship jobs overseas. it is rebuilding infrastructure. ess is so much take congr can do on this issue. that is really why i am running. i think you have to figure out which of us can most effectively work across the party line. i think that is the defining issue of our time. are we going to get hung up on these national issues over and over, or can we roll up our sleeves and go to work. has an opportunity, who voted 98% of the time with her party. i will tell you that no party the time. 8% of we do need to roll up our sleeves, work across the aisle

me of these problems. i am proud of my jobs plan. i hope you give me chance to effect. to >> in rebuttal time, i want you each to specifically respond to a question. one of gabe's concerns was your raising the federal minimum wage. you both talked about it in principle. let me put before you the direct question. increase to t an the federal minimum wage, why or why not? representative? >> actually i answered the question. i believe that art officially raising the minimum wage on the federal side is the wrong thing to do. the way we create jobs is by innovation. the way we create jobs is by free market principles, by de-regulating them. agrees my opponent with me on deregulation because i am part of the article one

that is doing it. we have to make sure that we the ringing down unemployment rates so that aturally people could bring unthe wages and allow people to thrive. >> mr. owens, i am going to ive you a 45-second opportunity as well. >> you know, the muscle of the american system is the private sector. i have been in the private sector my whole life. i have been in the real world bs. ing business create jo i have been a business attorney for 25 years. needs es the government to get out of the way. other times there are things the government can do to level the playing field. i have mentioned some of those important job opportunities i about. ngress can bring the minimum wage is a tough issue because i have seen the i iness perspective where know that business sometimes is unduly impacted by government regulation. it is a two-edged sword. it makes it harder to hire, but demand in creases the the economy. there is a lot of evidence to aid, p what mitt romney s

that it is time to consider raising the minimum wage, and that is what i want to do. o our student body salt lake community college. this is a representative of the student body. this is artura salazar. your question on the economy? >> my question is tuition costs have dramatically increased in the past 10 years, often two to ree titles the rate of inflation. yet education remains the hope for many americans to improve those and their families. do? would you first.owens, the >> let me speak generally about ttle tion and then get a li more specific. i do think of my father and other when it comes to education. i mentioned my dad coming out

of southern utah. he was very poor. he had a loving family, but they had no ability to help him get on in life. in pa the teachers in ich, utah, who invested him and helped him get on his way in life. o i strongly believe in public education. education is the number one pathway to help people. this is something the parties ought to be able to work together. let's invest in people, grow let's enable nd them to take care of the people and their families. important most issue in terms of job growth and the economy. i think also of my mother. my mother was a 5th great teacher in rose park. she put her heart and soul into that job. buy ed her own salary to classroom supplies. i know many teachers are doing that. a actually one time took 5th grade class to washington, d.c. for a field trip. red. is how much she ca i think we have a huche teacher

retention problem in this state. we lose almost 40% of teachers in the first five years. my job going to washington is to get every federal dollar i can into our education system. umber one pathway to get people out of poverty and being full-fledged participants nterprise vate e system in this country, which is our great strength. and d to tap everybody make sure they are fully enabled to participate in the economy. l. t is my number one goa >> representative love, your 90-second opportunity? rturo, i want you to know i have thought about this, and this has been a concern of myself. i understand what the students are going through. when i went to school, college ition at my school was $20,000 a year. i actually at the age of 35 nt d back all of my stude loans. so think about this. today at the same school, $44,000 a ation is year. how long is it going to take a to pay graduating today back those student loans?

when oblem that we have we have these unlimited flow of federal dollars going into higher education, it is causing the rate of higher education to he rate faster than t of inflation, and it is making it difficult for middle income milies and the poorest families to be able to go to school. now i want you to know that i ow that education is a great equalizer. i also believe that family is a great stabilizer, and we have can to put hing we money back into the hands of families and put free market o our college education so that way the those can compete for title four fundings. what i have done is introduced exactly ls that do that. the know about you go act, hich allows the schools to give us the matrix of how much it costs, how many times people have been able to graduate in their area of study and if there are jobs -- have there been jobs waiting for them. we have introduced the college

affordability action and the hero ack, so that we can bring down the cost of higher education so that you are not spending all of your life paying back the federal government. to rebuttal time balls i heard some difference, mr. owens, the first opportunity iment >> arturo, thank you for the question. it is a very important one. i will say there are things that can be done to bring down education. higher we have enough to lend banks at should be nt loans at zero percent. people investing in their future and family, we ought to do that. we ought to go to the predatory ivate schools that load up the dead on kids and have no off.tunity to pay it there was an opportunity in made their senior year of high school the first ommunity college. there are a lot of ideas. what there is a lack of

goodwill in congress to get anything done. i am tired of sending people to washington who are just looking out for themselves and forget who sent them there and aren't getting the work done. >> a reminder to both candidates that the timing vices are not just for ornamental purposes. they do indicate the lotment of me and the fact it has expired. i am going to give you 45 seconds, representative love to ject of n this sub education. >> there is a clear difference here between my opponent and i, nd i think that is ok. this is your choice. there is a monopoly right now government, al and they are the only ones thatter providing these student loans. at we should be able to open up those markets. compete colleges should for the title iv funding, and the college institutions should accountable. they have to have some sort of skin in the game to make sure that students that are grads waiting are able to get a job when they graduate.

to realize important that for-year college is not ere.only option out th that we have skills training. there is online training. accreditations that our states can work with. we want to open up the options options people as many as president. >> representative, you have the first response of the next question. do you believe there is conclusive scientific evidence human activity bstantially contributes to climate change? help us understand your reasoning on this subject, and role o you think is the for federal government and congress on these issues? ll ell, the first town ha meeting i had as a new member of congress was in west jordan. -- we had ne issue residents come from all over. a lot of the residence came from south salt lake and mill creek area, and climate change was one of their biggest issues. so much so that we decided we were going to do a town hall

based on that issue alone. we got a lot of local groups involved. we focused on solutions. 6 c1ad four guests there that we talked about educating on climate. i will tell you right now that a lot of my colleagues on my side of the aisle refuse to recognize that there may be a problem. any time you look at salt lake, at certain times of the year, you can tell there is a problem with air quality. i think we need to focus on the solutions. now, i don't think that we should do it at the expense of of some ofe expense our other energy producers. i think this is a false choice when you have to have one or the other. the solutions can be found right here in the fourth district. i think we can get all the players involved and find a solution. i think it is important for us to be good