sent over possible slogan to some of her candidacy. neither change or continuity, the different way, the new way, mr. spens wrote, he went clear vision ith and grit, we will build, not the partisanship, but state flying the american dream flag. in n, some story you find the "new york times" this morning. that's it for our program today. another edition of the comes your way tomorrow. we'll see you then. ♪

>> c-span, created by america buses television companies and brought to you as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. >> after a member conference call with paul ryan yesterday during which he said he would not campaign on behalf of donald trump and told his members to do what they needed to do to in their own district races, mr. tweeted our weekend ineffective leader paul ryan at at that conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. despite winning the second , everyin a landslide poll, it is hard to do when paul ryan and others give zero support. paul ryan's's response -- today here on c-span, a former

egyptian foreign minister will share his thoughts on the ongoing conflict in the middle east. he will be speaking at the center for international studies live in about an hour. gorer vice president al will be campaigning today with live coverage of the stock in miami. posted by the american enterprise institute in washington, d.c., 5:30 this afternoon. c-span hosts a conversation with the third-party presidential candidate, gary johnson and jill stein will appear separately to talk about their campaigns and answer calls and tweets starting with gary johnson at 8:00 eastern followed by joel stein and her running mate at 9:00.

>> our campaign 2016 coverage continues on c-span. debatearolina's governor between pat mccurry and reich cooper. republican senator mike lee and the utahrat debate senate and thursday afternoon, the eighth district congressional debate with ryan fitzpatrick. richard burr and democrat friday night, 8:00 eastern, the wisconsin senator did take between ron johnson and former democrat senator russ feingold followed by the reports -- republican theressman debating for u.s. senate. watch for our complete 2016 campaign coverage on c-span and live on c-span.org and listen on the c-span radio app.

>> candidates in utah's fourth metressional district race for a debate hosted by the utah debate commission at salt lake immunity college. congressional ethics rules, the economy, climate change, and america's criminal justice system. >> from salt lake city, the utah debate commission welcomes you to the candidates debate. -- to the fourth congressional district candidate debate. [applause]

>> welcome to sell a community college, to one of the most anticipated exchanges sponsored by the utah debate commission. tonight, we gather for a debate between the fourth congressional district representatives, in a rematch of a debate that took place two years ago. tonight we are from the incumbent, representative mia love, and the democratic candidate, doug owens. it was determined he would have the first opportunity. rep. owens: good evening. i want to thank the debate commission and congresswoman love for being here. i want to thank sully community college. they educate 60,000 young utahans. i want to tell you why i'm running.

my dad came from a little town in southern utah. he was the youngest of nine children in a one-bedroom house. my grandfather lost his arm in the depression, so my dad grew up dirt poor. he did not have a toothbrush until he was 15. he believed in the american dream. at 18, he came to salt lake city and got a job at kentucky fried chicken. with that job, he was able to put himself through the university of utah. i know you students here at salt lake are not 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 people follow to get into the living wage job they can raise their family on. it is critical we hang on to everyone of those pathways. that is college, job training, making sure everyone gets worked, and the middle-age gets back into the opportunity to get a living wage. that is why i'm running, to fight for you. i appreciate the chance to be here. >> and now a 92nd opportunity for representative mia love. rep. love: thank you. thank you to all the students here today, and thank you to all of those watching from home today. i know it is 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 here today. he was severely injured in iraq. thank you for everything you have done for us. we know you a great deal of gratitude. there are a lot of people who believe we can't solve our

problems, because we are too divided. although i disagree quite often with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, i think there's more that actually unites us than divides us. i have been able to host several of them here to show them what we do in our community, to elevate people striving for a better life. we have made so much progress, and we have been able to bring people along. people like debit scott -- david scott, who has endorsed this campaign. he knows the issues we face are not just left or right. they are american family issues. i think it is time we elevate the conversation past the politics to the solutions that will help our utah families. i hope we can do that tonight. thank you. >> the utah debate commission has established a format that

allows each candidate 90 seconds for the initial reply to a question. these were drawn from the utah debate commission website, and other questions will come from the audience, including students from salt lake community college. each candidate will also have rebuttal times to speak directly to the opponents. how can we ignore this one? >> the last five days at represented a new level of intensity in this era did debate for the qualifications of candidates serving for president. people are beginning political conversations with i could never vote for, and they fill in the blank. what are the values you are looking for in the next president, and who best represents those values in 2016? representative love, the first 92nd opportunity. rep. love: being the only woman in the delegation, it is incredibly difficult to deal with the environment in a

male-dominated congress. but i'm from utah. comments of that sort roll off my back. however, past weekend has given us inside as to what is really at stake here in washington. let me give you an example. for too long, our members of congress have given their power away. our members of congress, people in utah and around the nation have been looking to washington for the answers. now is the time we need to look within. i sit very firm and have not endorsed donald trump, and i certainly have not endorsed hillary clinton. now is the time for us to make sure that we have a balance of powers to the administration. now is the time to make sure that nancy pelosi isn't the speaker of the house, to make sure we do everything we can to make sure there is balance.

it is time to restore utah's voice back in, and make sure we are concentrating on us and what we need to do to restore the people's voice into washington. >> i don't mean to be naive, but you seem to have injected none of the above. [laughter] i want to ask you once again, does a candidate represent your values in 2016? rep. love: i can tell you right now, hillary clinton does not represent my values. donald trump does not represent my values. i have been looking into the other candidates. i have not closed the door on the other candidates. but there is still some time left. i'm open. moderator: very well. mr. o wins, your response. rep. owens: i don't look to values for politics.

i look at home. i know many people have struggled with this it's -- issue. i ran for congress not to play in the presidential race, but to do it i could for utah. six generations of my family have called this place home. 7, 8 you count my children. i'm in this to do what i can for utah. i am voting for my parties nominee, but i have not endorsed any candidate, i am not dissipating in any race. i am trying to do what i can for utah. i don't look at values. i think we need to take our values to washington. i think of people like firefighters, who have endorsed my candidacy. they are guys who run to the problem. if we had those values in congress, if we could roll up our sleeves and get the job done, those are the values we need to take. i think of teachers, or struggling. my mother was a teacher. she put her heart and soul into our job.

she used her own salary to help pay for materials in the classroom. those are the kind of people who are educating our children. that is what i would look for, and that is what i would want to take to washington. i think it's important that when you look at the presidential race,, it is important to look at what is best for us. moderator: i've never 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 will come back to you one more time. what are we hearing about the american state of politics that you feel you cannot endorse your own top of the ticket? rep. love: i said i would not endorse, and i'm not going to vote for the two nominees at the top of the ticket. however, i think it is important when we say we will actually vote for somebody, especially as a member of congress, there are people looking to you. you become that example. i find it really interesting though, that my opponent says he's supporting hillary clinton. this is a person who has lied to the american people. this is a person who took e-mails and hid them. this is a person who left soldiers in benghazi. i am actually sticking to the issues my district is supporting and i'm not looking to washington as an example. moderator: mr. owens you get 45 seconds. rep. owens: i have indicated, how i will build. what is more important is how i vote for washington. i will hold them accountable no matter what party they are from. that's why i'm in the race. it has nothing to do with

national party politics. i think people back in washington are entirely too stuck on party labels, on the kind of nonsense, the race for 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. i think it is important you focus on the race, and what either of us can do for utah. moderator: let's move on. a series of recent national surveys by major entities revealed deep-seated concerns and minds of average americans, on to general topics. the economy, and national security. we have students standing by that will pepper you with questions on the economy. at this point, please turn your attention to national security.

because of acts of domestic terrorism, americans are expressing concern for their own safety in their home states, and home communities. short of declaring a police state, how do we fight terrorism on our own shores without trampling the principles of justice? mr. owens, you have the first opportunity. rep. owens: thank you. the highest priority is keeping americans safe at home. i think it is incumbent on congress to give the military, the fbi, the immigration authorities all the resources they use -- need to make sure the people coming into the country are safe. that is the absolute top priority for me. it is clear when you look around world and see expansionist russia and china, trouble in the middle east and domestically, it is all the more important that congress go to work to make sure

we are giving our military and police the resources they need to combat this. domestically, it is interesting. if you look at the last three incidents of domestic terror, all three of those guys had come up on law enforcement radar before the incident. why enforcement, for various reasons had not gone after them. it is incumbent on us to examine those and make sure the police and other authorities have the resources they need to keep us safe. that is congress' job. moderator: representative love, your response on keeping americans safe at home from acts of terror. rep. love: there is no question that we have a serious problem in our country. a poll published last year shows that 47% of americans are fearful that they will be the victim, or a loved one will be the victim of terrorist activities. for years, the administration has been gutting our military. i believe that the world will see peace when we are a beacon of strength. when you are gutting the military, as the administration has for the past seven years, it is difficult for the united states to be a beacon of strength. we have to make sure we are

providing resources for the military. when it comes to boots on the ground, there are certain values that have to happen before i agree to put boots on the ground. first of all, this can't be a decision unilaterally by a president. congress has to be involved. we have to make sure we have a clear mission as to how we will proceed. three, we have to make sure if there is a threat to american lives, not just american interests, we have to have a way out. it would also be to make sure that our men and women in uniform have all the tools they need in order to reach their missions. those are the things i would do to before i would be able to have boots on the ground. moderator: i will not ask you to quibble with each other, because you made very broad statements in general, but let me ask you specifically, why are you the

best person to represent the fourth district when it comes to making this nation safer from acts of terror on our home short? -- shores? rep. owens: i can tell you what my approach will be. every time i think of my decisions, those are the most serious decisions. i will never lose sight of the fact that those are our sons or daughters. i never used the phrase boots on the ground. those are your friends, your children going into harms way. i have been here at the veterans center, and i have seen there is assistance to take care of veterans when they come home. i will make sure to weigh those decisions as important, never losing sight of the fact that these are our people. rep. love: i can tell you that i

supported every vet bill in the house. we are supposed to keep the promises we have made to their families. i have voted to increase funding to the military, to make sure our men and women in uniform have the tools they need. i have voted every time against the president when he wanted to gut our military. there isn't a veteran out there in utah that understands the work we have done, that doesn't understand that we have been pro- vet and promilitary. moderator: thank you. i promised we would have student representation and turn our attention to the economy to the

students. let's go into the audience here at salt lake community college. >> good evening. my question is, nearly 12% of people in utah live in poverty. what measures do you support to reduce income inequality and food insecurity, such as increasing the federal minimum wage, expanding child nutrition programs, and boosting snap benefits? rep. love: well, this is an area where we have worked across the aisle. i am the only republican member in the congressional black

caucus hosting members on the other side of the aisle. we can talk about what we have done in utah to elevate those striving for their lives, to lift poverty. we have to understand the way washington does it has actually hurt the most vulnerable among this. there's a difference between intergenerational poverty and situational poverty. sometimes, the solution for one perpetuates the other. it is important for us to make sure in washington we give our local agencies the tools they need in order to take care of poverty, because they are the ones dealing with the issues over and over again. they know these individuals personally. there are a lot of people we have worked with in the state, making sure we give them the tools. in terms of minimum wage and what the department of labor has been doing, in terms of overtime, the knee-jerk reaction for regulators is to create more regulation. they end up hurting those they have vowed to protect.

in other words, when you raise the minimum wage and artificially raise it, it is 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. people and up losing their jobs. we should be doing what we do in this state, making sure we are creating jobs, making sure we are innovative. bring down the unemployment rate, so we can naturally bring up the minimum wage. moderator: mr. owens, your opportunity to respond with several key issues about the economy. rep. owens: this is why i'm running. i have looked around and seen way too many damaged families, sometimes the parents working 3, 4 jobs just to keep food on the table. it is for those people that i am running. 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 americans are working harder than ever, more hours, more job, and not going as well. this is why i'm running for congress. this is the biggest reason. i want to make sure families have the opportunity to make the right choices for them. i have a jobs plan that i have introduced, that i hoped it get the chance to work on in congress. it is working on education, it is deregulation. making sure we have a lower corporate tax rate. no one should ever have an incentive to ship jobs overseas. it is rebuilding infrastructure. there's so much that congress can do. this is why i'm 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 our sleeves? i have an opponent who has voted 98% of the time with her party. i will tell you no party is right 98% of the time. we do need to work across the aisle. moderator: i want to thank you for your question. in rebuttal, i want you to specifically respond to a question. one of his concerns was your position on raising the federal minimum wage. you both talked about in principle. let me put before you the direct question. do you support an increase to the federal minimum wage, why or why not? rep. love: actually, i answered the question. i believe that artificially raising the minimum wage on the federal side is the wrong thing to do. the way that we create jobs is by innovation. the way we create jobs is by free market principles, by deregulating.

i'm glad my opponent agrees with me on deregulating, because i'm part of the article one project that is part of deregulating congress. we know free market has taken more people out of poverty than any thing else in the world. we have to make sure we are bringing down unemployment, so people can naturally bring up wages. moderator: mr. owens, a 45 second opportunity as well. rep. owens: 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, helping businesses. i have been a business attorney for 25 years. sometimes, the government needs 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 the opportunities i think congress can bring. the minimum wage is a tough issue. i have seen the business perspective, where i know business sometimes is unduly impacted by government

regulation, but it is a double-edged sword. it makes it harder to higher, but it increases demand in the economy. there's a lot of evidence to back up what mitt romney said, that it is time to consider raising the minimum wage. moderator: back to the student body here at salt lake community college, it is a diverse audience we have here, but this is a representative of the student body. arturo, your question on the economy? >> thank you. my question is, tuition has dramatically increased, yet education remains the best hope for many low income americans to improve their lives and those of their families. what would you do to either increase the fafsa award amount, or instate a year-round

financial award? moderator: mr. owens, you have the first opportunity. rep. owens: let me speak generally about education and then get more specific. i do think of my father and mother when it comes to education. i mentioned my dad coming out of a small town in utah. he was very poor. it was a very loving family, but they had no ability to help him get on in life. it was the teachers in utah that saw in him something special, invested in him, and helped him get somewhere in life. i strongly believe in public education. education is the number one pathway to help people. this is something the parties ought to be worked -- working together on. let's enable these people to take care of themselves and or families. this is critical for job growth in the economy. it is also critical in getting congress to work again. i also think of my mother. my mother was a fifth-grade teacher in rose park. she put her heart and soul into that job, and she used her on salary to buy classroom surprise -- supplies. i know many teachers do that.

she actually took a fifth-grade class although it washington dc for a class trip. that is how much she cares. i think we have a teacher retention problem in this state. we lose almost 40% of teachers in the first five years. my job going to washington will be to get every dollar i can into the education system. that is the number one pathway to get people out of poverty. being full-fledged participants in the private enterprise system, which is our great strength. we need to tap everyone to make sure they are fully able to participate in the economy. that is my number one goal. moderator:moderator: representative love, your 92nd opportunity. rep. love: i want you to know that i have thought about this, and this has been a concern about mine. i understand what students are

going through. when i went to school, college tuition at my school was $20,000 a year. i actually, at the age of 35, paid back all of my student loans. think of this. today at the same school, college education is $44,000 a year. how long is it going to take a student graduating today to pay back those loans? the problem we had when we have these unlimited flow of federal dollars going into higher education, is causing the rate of higher education to rise far faster than the rate of inflation. it is making it difficult for middle income families and poor families to be able to go to school. i want you to know that i know that education is a great equalizer. i also believe family is a great stabilizer. we have to do everything we can to put money back into the hands of families, and put free market principles into our college education, so that way the schools can compete for title iv funding. i have introduced three bills to do that.

the know before you go act. that allows schools to post a data matrix of how much it costs, how money people have been able to go into their area of study, and have there been jobs waiting for them? we also introduced a college affordability act and hero act, so we can bring down the cost, so you are not spending your whole life paying back the federal government. moderator: let's turn to the rebuttal. rep. owens: thank you again for that question. it is a very important one. there are important things that can be done to bring down the cost of higher education. for starters, if we have enough money sitting in the capital markets to lend the banks to 0%, student loans should be at 0%. we ought to go after these predatory private schools that load up the debt on schools and don't let them have any opportunities to pay that off, ever. there's an awesome idea that came out of taylorsville, where they made the senior year of high school the first year of community college at no expense to the students. there are great ideas out there.

there are no shortage of good ideas to make college affordable. what there is is a lack of goodwill in congress. i'm tired of people sitting in washington just looking out for themselves, forgetting to send them there and are not getting the work done. moderator: the timing devices around you are not just ornamental, they do indicate the allotment of time, and the fact that it is expired. i will give you 45 seconds to respond on the subject of education. rep. love: there's a clear difference here between my opponent and i, and i think it is ok. this is your choice. there is a monopoly right now with the federal government, and they are the only ones providing student loans. i think we should be able to open up those markets.

i think colleges should compete for title iv funding, and think about the institutions, that college institutions should also be held accountable. they should have some skin in the game to make sure students that are graduating are able to get a job when they graduate. it's also important to realize that four-year colleges are not the only options. we have skills training. there is online training. there's accreditations that states can work with. we want to open up the options and give people as many options as possible. moderator: representative, you will have the first response of the next question. do you believe there is conclusive scientific evidence that human activity substantially contributes to climate change? help us understand your reasoning on the subject and what you believe is the appropriate role for the federal government and congress on environmental issues. rep. love: the first town hall meeting that i held as a new member of congress was in -- the number one issue, we had residents come from all over. a lot of the residents came from south salt lake area. climate change was one of the biggest issues.

so much so that we decided we would do a town hall on that issue alone. we got a lot of local groups involved. what we did, instead of bantering back and forth, we focused on solutions. we had four guests there talking about innovative technology, so we can make sure we are taking vehicles off the road, that are emitting pollutants. 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. i don't think we should do it at the expense of coal, of some of

our other energy producers. i think this is a false choice when you have to have one or the other. i think the solutions can be found right here in the fourth district. i think we can get all the players involved, and find a solution. it is important for us to be good stewards of the land we live on. i think that is likely your path has endorsed me -- clear path has 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. owens. mr. owens: i appreciate your reminder 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 looked around the world, and i see a need that whatever gets done 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. i think it has got to be done on an international basis cooperatively, so 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 four jobs 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. sometimes if you put together your two problems, you can see opportunities. 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 thank the college and the student body for extending a warm welcome and joining us here tonight. this is the second election cycle served by the utah debate commission, and that is a landmark effort in 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 submitted to the utah debate commission at their website. 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. back to our exchange, 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? moderator: i'm going to direct your question for initial response to doug owens. mr. owens: i was blessed with a very strong mother. i have got a very strong mother-in-law who is here tonight, i've 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 had been practicing law for a few years, my wife and i were looking at our circumstances. we realized she could not be in training as a pediatrician if i did not take a couple of years

off and stay home with my kids. we had three little boys, and i had the chance to take two years off from my law practice and 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. i have put two years of my life behind the idea that i strongly feel that women ought to have every opportunity, and 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 the gender pay gap. rep. love: thank you for that question. i have an insight in this because i am a female in a very male-dominated area, and there

are times when it is important for us to know that 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're getting the skills and education they need. there is quite a few different ideas when people are trying to figure out what the wage gap is. there are some women that choose to stay home, and that is their choice. but if a woman chooses to go into the workforce, she should be paid the same amount of money as a male gets paid for the same amount of work. i think there should be opportunities for women to be able to become managers, to

become ceo's, to be able to provide some great innovative products that maybe we have not seen before. those are the great opportunities that we have. i have joined the cte caucus, the career technical education caucus, and have promoted stem education for our young women, because my daughter wants to be a rocket scientist. as a congresswoman, it is my job to provide her the opportunities to do just that. moderator: should we leave it to 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: the law should require -- and it does require -- that there be equal pay for equal work, and i think that ought to be enforced. i believe in that, and i have put my money where my mouth is in terms of trying to support my own wife and my family. i hope people will see in me

somebody who is personally invested in that issue. moderator: representative love, do we need further regulation, or will that be addressed in the market? rep. love: i did not hear any answers from my opponent, so it is hard for me to see where he stands. i can tell you where i stand. whenever government gets too involved in one issue, the same thing happens -- quality goes down, prices go up. they hurt those they want to protect. the issue we need to face is allowing for people to be innovative, create more jobs, create more opportunities for young women to be able to get an education in all areas of technology so that 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 specifically. the federal government is viewed as being tied into knots with partisan intransigence, and it is being viewed as more important to stay loyal to party rather than engage in shared problem-solving. i assume you will not self-identify as being part of a problem, so please help me understand how you view yourself as an antidote to this toxic situation? representative love. rep. love: i mentioned in my opening argument that it is important for us to bring people to come along with us. when i ran for this office, i promised that i would bring people to come along with us. david scott, a democrat in the 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, and we have been able to do that. in terms of whether it is more important to stay loyal to a party, i believe i have been pretty independent in making sure i stuck with my district, especially when i did not go along with my party nominee just to get along. it is important for us to make sure we are doing absolutely 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 the element

of party 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 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 to have 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. it does away -- it requires congress to begin working five days a week again, right now they work two and a half. i think they should be in washington five days a week, working together to solve these problems. we should do away with automatic pay raises, luxury travel, the self-promotional use of taxpayer funds to fund mass mailers. there is a lot of stuff we can do to get congress working

again. i hope i get the chance to do it, because it is the defining problem of our time. i have seen a better way. i have seen times when people got elected to congress and realized that the election had ended and went to work to solve problems. this is how you run your family. you don't steamroll or roadblock people, you work together when you have different views. this is how you run the workplace. this is how we need to run the government -- get back to work solving problems together. moderator: returning to you for an opportunity, do you want to extend your comment? rep. love: there are a couple of things i really want to talk about, because they have been brought up. first of all, i think that some

people believe that 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 the district, where i am sitting with other families that have issues, that are working through, whether it is a v.a. problem or benefits in social security, or working through being able to get citizenship 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 i represent, and that is utah. not be in washington and forget who i represent. the other thing i want to mention - the idea of the self-promoting mail is dishonest. both papers agreed it was dishonest. this is a benefit that mr. owens is using for his own purpose. he understands that this is part of an entire -- moderator: you are into your extended time, and i don't want to cut you short -- rep. love: i just want to bring

up the fact that he did not mention this is part of a big budget. we have saved $110,000 in the budget. we have actually decided to stay low on our employees to make sure that we are spending time communicating. as a new member of congress, it is important to let people know who we are and how to reach us. that is why we have been able to help mr. johnson receive the medals he has received. he is being dishonest, and i think we need to make sure that is recognized. moderator: 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 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, almost three times as much as every other member of congress from utah put together. i think that is a waste of money. my son got his first full-time

job recently. he comes to me with his paystub and says, dad, what are these deductions? they are taking half of my paycheck. i know you know that disappointment. i think tax dollars are sacred and that is a horrible waste of money, and i will stop it as soon as i get to washington. moderator: back to our student audience once again. the next question will be coming from connor holt. he is interested in what comes after his college education. >> when i graduate with a degree in business in two years, i wanted 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. 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 is. what does bother me, and everyone in this room, is that kid never has a shot at that job. let's invest in people and make sure they have got every pathway into 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 look forward to a retirement with dignity. this is the number one priority for me, education is the biggest

part. i have mentioned rebuilding infrastructure, deregulation, lowering the corporate tax rate and doing away with loopholes so that no one has got an incentive to ship jobs overseas, fair trade agreements are another thing -- this is job one, and i will get to work on it. rep. love: i want to make sure that i get back to one more thing, and then i will answer your question very quickly. 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 when matheson communicated more than the rest of the delegation. he did 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. tax code makes it so that it is easier for people at bigger businesses to get through those loopholes and more difficult for smaller businesses. and four, we have to create liquidity, make sure people have access to credit, purchasing a house, a car, or being able to start a business. you do those three -- those four, and you will be able to grow the economy and the united states will be competitive on a global market.

moderator: mr. owens, we will go back to you for rebuttal. you have the opportunity to respond to either the mailing issue or the economy question. mr. owens: there is no issue with someone sending a mailer that announces a town meeting. those were self-promotional campaign pieces that were paid for by the taxpayers. 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 love, 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 has got a problem, so it's ok, let it go. moderator: let's see how you respond to this question -- you technically cannot, because she waived her rebuttal time. more time will be coming. mr. owens: all right. moderator: weekly our headlines are stained with recordings of mass shootings.

big cities, small towns, 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 leader 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 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 are their neighbors. these are the same people -- 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 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. that is the bedrock of what we are going to be able to do to

move this country forward, because we cannot make progress on these other issues until we reform the way congress operates. now, to the issue of policing, my brother is in law enforcement. i want to make sure every officer goes home safe to their kids at night. we need to get them the resources to do their job. we need to get them the resources to have the training to stop the conduct that sometimes we have seen too often. but if we train them, if we work together -- i am all about solutions. i'm all about trying to bring people together rather than saying it is us versus them. 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: i sincerely wish i had additional time to redirect that question and hone in. we have reached the end of our allotted time. we must move to closing statements. prior to air time, it was determined that representative mia love would have the first 60 second opportunity. rep. love: thank you so much 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 and privilege to do that. i have gotten to know you and your families, and 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 it is certainly worth saving. and 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 instead of without. i think it is important for us

to be able to vote. i ask you all to get out and vote. please join me in making sure we provide this country with great opportunities. moderator: the final one minute opportunity afforded to doug owens. mr. owens: thank you all for coming tonight. i want to give 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 every single time. i think about all the people in the world who have lived without that right, 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. moderator: my thanks this evening to republican representative mia love and democratic candidate doug owens. a special appreciation to the administration, faculty, and students of salt lake community 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 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] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] >> our campaign 2016 coverage continues on c-span with live

debates for u.s. house, senate and governor's races. today at 7:00 p.m., the north carolina governor debate between pat mccrory and democrat roy cooper. on wednesday evening, republican senator mike lee and democrat misty snow debate for the u.s. senate. on thursday, just afternoon, the pennsylvania eight district congressional debate between brian fitzpatrick and steve sent a zero. deborahhard burr and ross debate for the north carolina u.s. senate. on friday night, wisconsin u.s. senate debate between senator ron johnson and former democrat senator russ feingold. that is followed at 10 with republican joe heck and catherine cortez musto debating for the nevada u.s. senate. watch our complete campaign 2016 coverage on c-span and sees that -- c-span.org.