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 stewards of the land

we live on. has is why clear path endorsed me. i support clean energy. i think we need to do everything we can to make sure we are getting people involved and really, talking about these issues. moderator: mr. allen's, your 90 seconds. owens, your 90 seconds. mr. owens: i appreciate you are about those red, yellow, and green lights. it reminds me about driving with my kids. i tell them the red light is not just a polite warning. i will try to be more observant. climate change -- there is evidence that climate is changing. there is strong evidence that humans are contributing to it. the tougher issue is what are we going to do about it? i look around the world and i see a need that whatever gets done, it gets done on an international basis. i would fight any effort just to handicap our economy to curb co2 emissions when china or some other country is growing at such a rapid rate that they are going to erase those gains immediately. so, i think it has got to be done on an international basis.

mint has got to be done cooperatively. it is a tough issue. we talked about jobs. my number one issue is wanting to make sure that families do not have to have three and for jobs between the parents just to keep the lights on. i see an opportunity to mash up the problems, climate change and jobs. we can put those together and make an opportunity to invest in a clean energy system that we can export all over the world. let's use our resources as a people to invest in education and industry that is developing clean energy technologies, and then we can export that and create good jobs at home. we need to lead on this issue. there are multiple reasons to do it. sometimes if you put together your two problems, you can see opportunity. moderator: we are passing the midpoint of our time, and i wanted to welcome you once again to this live debate between candidates in utah's fourth congressional district. we are on the miller campus of salt lake community college and

we think the campus and the student body for extending a warm welcome. this is the second election cycle served by the utah debate commission. int is a landmark effort voter information with media joining together with a citizen-based initiative to provide debate coverage for utah's federal and statewide offices. tonight's questions are drawn from those the minute to the utah debate commission at their website. all one word, utahdebatecommission.org. we encourage you to visit the site to learn more about the commission. we also invite your comments and feedback on the election-year efforts of the commission. do it all through the website. utahdebatecommission.org. the we welcome back to stage. we have a question from another student. >> according to a 2016 report by the joint economic committee of the u.s. congress, united states is not projected to close the gender pay gap for another 43 years. i will be 63 by then. how will you work to close that

gap sooner? going to: sydney, i am direct your question for an initial response to mr. owens, and ask you to be gentle with people in their 60's. [laughter] know, i wasou blessed with a very strong mother. i have got a very strong mother-in-law, who is here tonight. i have got a very strong headed wife and daughter. i strongly believe in making sure we respect women as people and make sure they have the opportunities to make the choices that everybody does. when i hads ago, first been practicing law for a few years, my wife and i realized she could not finish her training as a pediatrician if i did not take a couple of years off and stay home with my kids. we had than three little boys, ages five, three, and one.

i had an opportunity to take two years off from my law practice and a stay home with them. it was a life altering experience and it changed my world and the way i look at it. i have told you about these parents i see working three and four jobs between them, not saving for retirement or their kids' education, this is why i am running. this is what i want to go to work on. i have put two years of my life behind the idea that i strongly feel that women ought to have every opportunity they want to go seek. i will work to close that pay gap and work on any other issue that is going to help advance the cause. moderator: representative love, your 90 second opportunity on narrowing that gender pay gap. rep. love: narrowing the gender pay gap, thank you. thaty, thanky o you for question. i have an insight in this because i am a female in a very male dominated area. they are times when it is important for us to know we have

a voice out there. we should be out there. women, i believe, are a big part of running the economy. even though i am a member of congress, i am a mother, i am a utahan, and my first job is to make sure i am providing for my children and teaching them not to be victims, but to make sure they are getting the skills and education that they need. there is quite a few different people are trying to figure out what the wage gap is. there are some women who choose to stay home and that is their choice. but if a woman chooses to go out into the workforce, she should be paid the same amount of money as the male who does the same amount of work. there should be opportunities for women to become managers, to become ceo's, to be able to provide. some great innovative products that we have not seen before. those are the great opportunities that we have. i have joined the cte caucus,

which is the career technical education caucus and have promoted stem education for your young woman because my daughter wants to be a rocket scientist. , itme, as a congresswoman is my job to provide her the opportunities. moderator: do we leave into the good graces of the market forces that will eventually close this gap most efficiently and effectively in the private sector? or is there a role for a strict mandate from the federal government, ensuring there is no pay gap between genders? mr. owens, you have 30 seconds. mr. owens: the law does require there should be equal pay for equal work. and i think that should be enforced. i have strived to say that i put my money where my mouth is in terms of trying to support my own wife and my family. so, i hope people will see somebody who is personally invested in that issue. moderator: representative love, do we need further regulation?

or is it something that will be addressed in the market? rep. love: i did not see any answers from my opponent. but i can tell you where i stand on the issue. whenever government gets too involved in one issue, the same thing always happens. quality goes down and prices go up. the end of hurting those they vowed to protect. the issue need to face is allowing for people to be more in a bit of, create more opportunities for our young more education so they can compete in this world. moderator: i mentioned national surveys of voter concerns earlier. one concern is a strong, widespread distrust of the federal government in general, the congress of the united states specifically. the federal government is viewed as being tied into knots with partisan intransigence and it is being valued more important to stay loyal to party, rather than sharedge in

problem-solving. i assume you will not self identify as being part of the problem. please help me understand how you view yourself as an antidote to this toxic situation? representative love, first opportunity. i mentioned in my opening argument that it is important for us to get involved in this. when i ran for this office, i promised that i would bring people to come along with us. david scott, a democrat in the united states house of representatives, has endorsed our campaign. we have been able to go -- heaven knows how long that has been, but we have reached across party lines and said, forget what the party says, let's work on these issues. in terms of whether it is more loyal to ao stay party, i believe i have been pretty independent and making sure i have stuck with my district. especially when i did not go along with my party nominee just to get along. weis important to make sure

are doing everything we can to bring people along with us. i get to talk about utah and utah values every day in washington. i get to tell them what we are doing great in this state in the hopes that we can get people who really care about their communities to come along, and we have been able to do that. i know there was another question in there. i want to make sure i got the other part of it. moderator: discuss yhr elements partylements of loyalty, rather than shared problem-solving. i think you have addressed the question. i will reserve that time, should you choose to expand it. mr. owens, your opportunity to respond for 90 seconds. it is on the theme of toxic partisanship blocking shared problem-solving. mr. owens: i think this is the defining problem of our time. we have got a broken system, a system that will not work on any of the problems that we want it to. that will not fix immigration, that will not give us an energy policy, that will not go to work

on the president using armed forces around the world. congress will not even debate what to do in syria. we have ample trouble. we have problems that need solving. we need a congress that works again. i have put out an important ethics program that i hope you will give me the chance to go to work on. first of all, it requires congress to begin working five days a week again. right now they work two and a half days a week. i think they should be in washington five days a week. we should do away with automatic pay raises, luxury travel, the self-promotional use of taxpayer travel to fund mass mailers. there is a lot of stuff we can do to get congress working again. i have seen a better way. i have seen times when people got elected to congress and realized the elections ended and then went to work to solve problems. this is how you run your family. you don't steamroll your family.

you were together when you have different views. this is how you run the workplace. this is how we need to run the government. moderator: representative love, do you want to extend your comment? rep love: absolutely. there are a couple things i want to talk about because they have been brought up. first of all, i think that some people believe that the work, the most important work done is in washington. i can tell you in my experience, the most important work i do is right here in my district, from sitting across from other families that have issues, who are working through getting their benefits and social security, for working through being able to get their citizenship here legally. those are the people i represent . the most important work i do is right here and it is important for me to come home every single week and remember who it is i represent. and that is utah. not be in washington and stay there and forget who i represent. the other thing i wanted to

mention, the whole idea of the self promoting male is dishonest. both papers agreed it was dishonest and they rarely agree. this is a benefit that mr. o wens is absolutely using for his own purpose. he is using this benefit for his own purpose. he understands that this is part of an entire -- is this my extended time? moderator: you are into your extended time. i don't want to cut you short. rep. love: he did not mention that we have saved $110,000 in the budget. we are up on communications. we have actually decided to stay low on our employees to make sure that we are spending time communicating. and as a new member of congress, it is important for us to let people know where we are and how to reach us. that is how we were able to help mr. johnson received the

medals he has received. he is being dishonest, and i think we need to make sure that is recognized. moderator: in the context of time management, mr. owens, you get one minute to respond. mr. owens: congress has plenty of time to be home in the district. they get every fourth week off, multiple recesses. they should be in washington doing business in washington doing business and figuring out the problems that are not getting solved. i think they ought to work five days a week, again. i would do away with those mailers. i have -- no paper has said it is incorrect that my opponent has used $300,000 of taxpayer dollars for self-promotional mail. that is almost three times as much as every other member of congress from utah put together. got his first full-time job recently and he came to me with his paystub and he said, "what are these deductions, they are taking half of my paycheck?" you know that disappointment.

that is a horrible waste of money and i would stop it. moderator: we are going to turn back to our student audience. the next question will be coming from connor hold. -- connor holt. he is interested in what comes after his college education. >> when i graduate with a degree in business in two years, i want to work a full-time job, but many young americans are currently underemployed, or stuck in part-time jobs. what is your plan to help grow the economy? moderator: mr. owens, you have the first 90 second opportunity. mr. owens: i appreciate that question. i strongly believe education is our number one pathway forward. we have got to invest in our people. i have been in the private sector my whole life. i have seen how business creates jobs. i know that sometimes government needs to get out of the way. other times, there are things to do to level the playing field. it does not bother me that the kid flipping burgers is not earning what the ceo of the

company is. what does bother me and everyone in this room is if that kid never has a shot at that job. let's make sure they have every pathway to the american dream. some people say the american dream is that you have got a shot at getting wealthy. that is not what it is. i have nothing against anybody getting wealthy, but the american dream is about how all of us are doing, whether an everyday person can get a house in a safe neighborhood and send their kids to a good school and can look forward to retirement with some dignity. this is a number one priority to me and education is a big part. i mentioned building education, deregulation, doing away with the corporate tax rate and the loopholes so nobody has an incentive to ship a job overseas. fair trade agreements is another thing we can work on. this is job number one. moderator: representative love. : i wanttative love

to get back to one thing. and then i will get back to your question. where you are being dishonest is the house admin actually scrutinizes every piece of mail that we send out, and it is signed by a republican and democrat to make sure it is nonpolitical in nature. i will also mention that he did not have a problem communicating more than the rest of the delegation. he did that very well. he communicated with his constituents, and i'm proud of the fact that i have used the budget to communicate as opposed to use the budget to have a massive amount of staff members. i continue to behave fiscally responsibly by returning money back to the treasury. to your answer, it is very clear what we need to do when it comes to job creation. there are four pillars. people talk about three, but there are four that need to happen. first of all, job creation through innovation, removing regulation that is stifling our small businesses. it is harder to open a small business today that it has ever been in our history.

two, we have to make sure we are producing energy. we have to be competitive on the global market. three, we have to make sure that we simplify the tax code. the tax code makes it so that it is easier for people at bigger businesses to get through those loopholes and more difficult for the smaller businesses. and four, we have to create liquidity, make sure people have access to credit, whether it is purchasing a house, car, or starting a business. you do those four, you will be able to grow the economy and the united states of america will be competitive on the global market again. we will bemr. owens, cutting back to you for rebuttal. you have the opportunity to respond to either mailing or the economy question. mr. owens: there is no issue with someone sending a mailer that announces a town meeting. those were self emotional campaign pieces that were paid for by the taxpayers.

myotonic just try to excuse that by saying both the republicans -- my opponent just tried to excuse that by saying both republicans and democrats do it. i would never do something just because everybody does it. moderator: representative, you have an additional 30 seconds. rep. love: there is no response, this is just something he is using to his own benefit to complain because he has got nothing else. i understand that he is got a problem, so it's ok, let it go. moderator: let's see how you respond to this question. weekly, our headlines -- you technically cannot because she waived her rebuttal time. you do not get a claimant. i regret that but your time will be coming. mr. owens: all right. moderator: weekly our headlines are stained with recordings of mass shootings. big cities, small towns, on community college campuses.

in 2015, more than 10,000 americans were fatally shot, more than 25,000 wounded. those figures do not include use of firearms in suicides. apart from going on social media and praying for the victims and their families, what is the role of congress in addressing this issue? representative love, you have the first 90 seconds. rep. love: it is important to recognize that there are people in their communities who feel like they do not have a shot. there are people that do feel like they are being targeted. it is important to recognize that. but i also believe that the role of any reader would be to unify, not to divide our country. i believe that we are more rigidly divided today than we have been in seven years. and i think it is a lack of leadership on the administration 's side. and, frankly, a lack of leadership in washington. as a mayor, what i did when we

realized that people were having an adverse type of relationship with our police officers, we decided that we were going to get our own police officers that live in our own community, so that the people they are enforcing the laws to other neighbors. -- so that the people enforcing the laws are their neighbors. their children are going to the same schools, the same parks, the same church. it creates an environment where that person now is not an enforcer, but a key immunity police officer -- not an enforcer, but a community police officer, a person who is going to help you in your neighborhood. it is incredibly important that we do everything we can to make sure we are trying to fix the problem at the end. we have to make sure that kids in the streets of baltimore, kids on the streets here in salt lake, actually have an education. that way, they can become police officers in their own community and be role models in their community. moderator: i have been informed by our timekeeper that we have enough time remaining for your full response to this, mr.

owens, but no further time. you have your 90 second opportunity. mr. owens: i do want to go back and address one other issue. it is important to talk about what a sitting member of congress has been doing for two years. i think it is perfectly fair to point out the use of taxpayer money, and i would do that any day of the week. i certainly have not been abusing this privilege myself, i have never had any taxpayer dollars in my control to use in that way. i think it is terribly inappropriate, and it is part of the ethics reform i would do if i got back to congress, to get congress working again, to do away with those mass mailers, self-promotion, luxury travel, and making sure congress works again. i think that is the bedrock of what we are going to be able to do to make this country move forward because we cannot make progress on these other issues and tilly improve the way congress operates. now to the issue of policing. my brother is in law enforcement.

i want to makes her every officer goes home saved to their kids every night. we need to give them the resources to have their training to stop the conduct we have seen sometimes too often here. but if we train them and work together -- i am all about solutions. i am all about trying to bring people together, rather than saying it is an us versus them scenario. we can work together to solve our problems, this is the united states and i believe that is how we are going to go forward. it is just like your family, just like your workplace. if you take account of other people who see things differently, you can work out your problems and find common ground. i have done that as a lawyer. i will take this skill to washington. moderator: while i sincerely wish i had additional time to redirect that question and hone in, we have reached the end of our allotted time. now we must move to the closing statements. prior to air time it was determined that representative mia love would have the first 60 second opportunity. representative? so muche: thank you

for being here. i have had the opportunity to represent the wonderful, diverse people of the fourth district for the past year and a half, almost two years, and it has been my honor in my privilege to do that. i have gotten to know you and your families. this is not just about a job for me. you have become my neighbors and friends. i want you to know that i believe we still live in the greatest country on earth. it is certainly worth fighting for and worth saving. we should never let anyone tell us any different. you know, we are going to be able to have an opportunity here, an opportunity to make sure nancy pelosi does not become the speaker of the house, an opportunity to hold onto a republican congress so we can be a check and balance to whoever is the president. an opportunity to look within, and sit of looking without. i think it is important for us to vote. i need all of you to be able to get out and vote. i ask you to vote.

please join me in making sure we provide this compan country witt opportunities. moderator: and our final one minute opportunity, afforded to doug owens. for comingthank you tonight. i want to say a special thanks to my family, most of whom are here tonight. they have sacrificed a lot to make this run possible. i want to thank the voters of the fourth congressional district. i have been meeting you, i've heard your dreams. i know you have seen better times, and i want to say they're coming back. every time i have gone into a voting booth, i have gotten tears in my eyes. they have welled up every single time. i think about all the history in the world, all the people who have lived without that right. it is such a basic right. i think about all the people who have shed their blood to bring us that right. i hope you all vote. you are all going to get ballots in the mail in salt lake county. i hope you watch your mail this week and get those ballots back and remember those people who have not had that right. thank you all very much. moderator: my thanks this

evening to republican representative mia love and democratic candidate doug owens. and a special appreciation to the administration, faculty, and students of salt lake in the college for their support of this exchange, and also to the utah debate commission for their efforts to ensure public debate in this pivotal election cycle. they are prominent in a long list of people behind the scenes who labored to bring to life the concept of commonly carried public debates to inform the voting process. whether you intend to vote by mail or in person, the utah debate commission reminds you election day is tuesday, november 8. if you have questions, please contact your county clerk's office. good evening. [applause]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> our look at state races continues tuesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. north carolina governor patrick rory faces democrat rory gruber. live on c-span 2, republican bill cole and jim justice debate in the governor's race. and first-term congressman brad #faceashburg faces down

n bacon. next, house gop chair cathy .cmorris rodgers fa >> c-span's "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning, the latest developments of the presidential campaign following the second debate. we also look at key senate and house races. we also look at media bias against the presidential candidates with tim grant from the media research center and

media matters. "washington journal," live, beginning at 7:00 eastern on tuesday morning. join the discussion. >> tuesday, former vice president al gore campaigns with hillary clinton in miami. we will be live from miami college at 3:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. next, a debate between cathy mcmorris-rodgers and her democratic challenger for washington's fifth congressional district, joe pakootas. this debate happened last thursday and congresswoman mcmorris rodgers has condemned remarks by donald trump, but not said whether or not she will vote for him. s public hosted by ksp television. >> for more than a decade, cathy mcmorris-rodgers has represented

used in washington in congress. the republican is seeking her seventh term. to return to washington dc, she pakootas.e he is back, hoping to unseat the incumbent. join us for the fifth district congressional debate. moderator: good evening and welcome to this ksbs election cycle. this is washington's fifth district. the fifth district is washington's second-largest district and includes the following counties. fairy, stevens, spokane, whitman, garfield. the candidates are cathy mcmorris-rodgers and joe pakootas. republican incumbent cathy

mcmorris-rodgers is serving her sixth term in the u.s. house of representatives. she served at the state level for 10 years. he grew up in kettle falls and is married with three children. democrat joe pakootas is the chief executive officer for the spokane tribe. he has also served on the tribal council as chairman. he grew up in inchelium. he is married with four children and seven grandchildren. for this debate, the candidates have degree to follow our debate rules. the reporter panel will ask the same questions to both candidates, or we could direct a question to just one candidate. answers will be limited to one minute. rebuttals will be limited to 30 seconds. the debate candidates will answer questions from panelists. they are from the "spokane re

view," kip hill. anchor whitney ward. and anchor of good morning north west, derek dice. each candidate will have one minute. representative mcmorris rodgers, you go first. >> thank you everyone for taking the time to be involved. it is an honor for me to represent you in congress. i work hard every day to 'svocate for you in the people house. i know people are angry with congress. i have tried to take that frustration and turn it into smart solutions working in a bipartisan fashion, whether it is taking action on the wildfires we have seen in eastern washington recently, the passage of the able act that protects free savings accounts for those with disabilities, or important legislation to counter those that wanted to take away

amazing technology for those who have lost the ability to speak. but this legislation underscored a larger problem. hy is the federal agency making that decision to begin with? i introduced legislation to review and rethink and eliminate programs currently running on autopilot. my goal is to serve the people and restore the voice in our government. moderator: thank you. mr. pakootas. rep. mcmorris-rodgers: thank you to ksbs for hosting tonight. i have lived in eastern washington most of my life. 34have been married for years. i have four children and seven grandchildren. congress has serious issues today with an approval rating of only 9%. the american people are fed up with their ineffectiveness and gridlock. we need new representation, better leadership, and a elected

officials that are willing to work more than 112 days of the year. the only way to change that is to change congress. i am qualified and willing to take on this challenge. my goal is not to gain political power. my goal is to make congress work for you. tonight, i hope to gain your trust and prove why we need new representation in congress. moderator: thank you to both of you. oddt might seem like an place to start in a congressional debate, but a lot of people are focused on the top of the ticket. who are you voting for in the presidential campaign? mr. pakootas: i would vote for hillary clinton and i think the reasons are obvious. looking at the rhetoric happening today in the election. some of the rhetoric is promoting racism, bigotry, and you look at the misogynistic attitudes and things from one of the candidates and you just

wonder why he can generate so much support. hillary clinton has the ability, the background, the experience to lead this country forward. i think she has proven that. she has been in congress and in public view for over 30 years. there are concerns with her that many people have, maybe her untrustworthiness. but most of that is projected through the media and on tv. i would like to see the facts of that before i will be changing my mind. i will be casting my vote for hillary clinton. moderator: representative mcmorris rodgers. rep. mcmorris-rodgers: i will be voting for donald trump. i believe he's going to bring the positive disruption that we need to see in our government, challenging the status quo and bringing genuine accountability. unfortunately, i see hillary

clinton is somebody who is not trustworthy. she misled the american people. i don't think she would bring the change to the status quo. she believes in top down, government knows best approaches that i believe you to be changed. -- that i believe need to be changed. we need to see people's voices reflected in our government. >> there have been recent reports that donald trump avoided paying income taxes for two decades. do any of those concerns give you pause as you cast your vote? rep. mcmorris-rodgers: i have made it very clear that there are things donald trump has said and done that i don't agree with. i believe in being very transparent. what i see in him is somebody who can bring the change that we the at the top, challenge status quo. i see him as a businessman that knows how to generate jobs for our economy. unfortunately, in hillary

clinton, i see somebody who is not proven herself trustworthy and i think that will be the status quo, top-down government approach that is not trustworthy. representative mcmorris rodgers, you will answer this one first. thatstart your response to first question, how are you both prepared to work under a president if your candidate does not win? and what could be done to end much of the partisan gridlock that that first keeps things are getting done on both sides of the aisle? rep. mcmorris-rodgers: that is a great question. i lead by example. you look at my record and i is m somebody who has worked across the aisle. i have worked on issues important to eastern washington, in a bipartisan way. whether it is the catastrophic wildfires we've been facing. and working with senator maria cantwell right now on legislation that will