priority status. that being said, i think mass deportation is a silly idea. it could not be discussed. it is not workable. we can do it in a humane manner that is becoming of american principles. moderator: thank you. mr. santarsiero: this is an important issue and one i feel very strongly about as the descendents of immigrants from both italy and ireland. i can tell you that, yes, we absolutely have to secure our borders. that we are going to deport 12 million people is one, not workable, and two, not humane. -- we have to do, our policy and the good news is we came very close a couple of years ago to a bipartisan deal that would in thelved this issue congress and it fell apart at the last minute.

i believe the next congress will have a great opportunity to get it done. those who are here now and play by the rules and pay their taxes, who do all the things that citizens need to do as citizens of this country, have the opportunity for legal citizenship. and those who commit crimes should be deported. but i think that should be the main cases for an immigration reform that we can pass in the united states that will keep families together and ultimately make our economy stronger because we are going to bring these folks of the shadows and into the economy. one of the greatest things about the united states, one of the things that sets us apart from other countries is our rich history of immigration and the fact that from many we have become one. stronger asso much

a people and that is something we should embrace. moderator: would you like to extend your comments? mr. fitzpatrick: no. moderator: thank you, gentlemen. a person who is 21 years old today would have been in middle school when the great recession hit in 2008. since then, they have known nothing but a sluggish economic growth, gridlock in congress, and a painful absence of civility from many public officials. it is not surprising if they are turned off by the two-party system. aboutan you say to them you, your candidacy, or your political party to perhaps renew their faith? with mr. santarsiero. when i wasiero:

teaching at ben salem high school, i saw the promise of that generation. say, as a former history teacher, we have faced challenges as a nation and we have overcome them when we come together to make that happen. when we divide ourselves into red and blue, into different it,ps either for or against it makes it nearly impossible to get those things done. that, frankly, is the thing that is so disturbing about this election on the presidential level with donald trump. -- his campaign has been all about division. if we are going to solve these problems, we need to do it together. and we can solve problems. we can invest in education. we can invest in infrastructure

and make our economy better. , whichreform government is something we need to do. whether it is campaign finance and taking money out of the system or gerrymandering reform so that politicians don't choose their voters, voters get to choose their elected officials. overturning the citizens united case, which is something i've thought or as a state legislator and will make a priority as a member of congress as well. all these things we can do and what i would say to them is, have faith. look at past generations. we are on the stage now. we must make sure we are doing when we passed the baton to the next generation, we are putting them in the best possible position to succeed. sounds likeick:

steve read a lot of that off my website. to the younger generation, don't lose faith. you're the future of our country and you are all we have right now. this election is about you. ,s far as fixing the system watching that presidential debate tells us all we need to know about our broken government. watching the gridlock in congress tells you all you need to know about the brokeness of our system. we have this great divide in congress that we have never seen before. part of the problem is decade after decade of gerrymandering where you have politicians drawing the district lines. --an preservation self-preservation is a strong human instinct. what you have is decade after decade of this politically motivated line drawing.

you have a situation where we congressional seats and that are about 15-20 left are legitimate seats. mikes thanks to my brother he wanted to keep the county whole. more districts need to be like this, where they are split evenly between parties. have 65%districts, you or 75% of one party registration or another in these congressional districts. when you have that, these representatives, their main election is in the primary. as a result, you have this inwing, cavernous divide congress. that is what needs to end as far as fixing the gridlock in washington. moderator: follow-up? mr. santarsiero: let's be clear.

i voted against those maps. i can tell you those who were opposed to them were really shut down. the northern part of montgomery county is more republican. the fact of the matter is it is still a pretty allen's district, but make no mistake, there was that attempt here too. have a nonpartisan commission to draw these maps, not elected officials like we had in pennsylvania. it is a serious problem. but so is campaign finance reform. citizens united has caused all this start money to enter into these races and has been a disaster for our democracy. overturnedeeds to be and we need to have campaign-finance reforms that take the money out of politics once and for all. moderator: thank you. i hope someday in the future we

can have a symposium devoted solely to congressional reapportionment and gerrymandering. -- we have to find a way to keep the audience awake, but it is an extremely important topic that shapes our congress. i get thesey before gentlemen an opportunity for their final questions or their final statements rather that i think we are very fortunate in this county to have outstanding individuals on this stage today conducting themselves in a professional matter, sharing issues, sharing their information, ring informed, and it is refreshing to see that and i wish you both the best of luck. i'm going to ask you before your final comments the question i always close our debate with, which is, if elected, will you return to this campus in 2018 for another debate? only if you are

the moderator, bill. i willtarsiero: absolutely be here and i hope you will be the moderator. i hope you in the audience today will be here as well. theseht to have more of debates and one of my real disappointments in this campaign so far is we have had those few debates. it is important for people to be able to hear where we stand on the issues and today, frankly, many issues we haven't talked about. we haven't talked about gun safety or the issue of choice. we haven't talked about what we are going to do by way of politicalorm -- reform. i think this is been a great debate, but i think the public needs to hear about other things and we need to be having more of them. moderator: save yourself the trouble of the things -- of

telling the moderator and he did not bring up today. he knows. veterans, job training, and education. statements, one minute, starting with mr. fitzpatrick. mr. fitzpatrick: thank you, bill. and you, steve for hating. and thank you, steve, for participating. your voices, let that voice be heard. you have been a fabulous moderator. there are so many issues and problems facing our world today. we all know what they are in this room. when we are selecting the next representative in this district, to me, there are critical issues. number one is who has the experience in the critical areas ,hat are facing our country

economic growth and national security. -- outsett the asset that my experience as a cpa will be helpful in growing our economy. fbi,dly, working with the working counterterrorism, counter intelligence and cyber security is critically important. second, i believe in my court that the only way we fix our problems as a country is for people to come outside of the system. our problems will not be fixed by career partisan politicians that represent more gridlock. we can fix our problems that we economic and national security standpoint, but we are running out of time. moderator: thank you. my dad used to: say talk is cheap. you can say anything when you

are a candidate, but what matters is what you have done. there is one candidate on the state to as broad jobs. one can't -- one candidate on this stage that has brought jobs. candidate on this state who has protected a woman's right to choose. the stage whoon time and again has spoken for our community, whether it is flooding, power outages, or even the problem with halfway houses. that is me. we can talk about career politicians and the like and he was a outsider into is a insider. the fact is, my opponent is as much of an insider as anyone else. he wouldn't be running in this race if he were not. brian name was not fitzpatrick, but brian wilson, he would be living in a beach house in california.

we can talk about these labels and slogans, and at the end of the day, what matters is what our record is for fighting for people in this district. i have that record of accomplishment. i will continue it as a member of congress. i ask for your support. moderator: as for -- as agreed ton, if there is reference one candidate, the other candidate may have more time. mr. fitzpatrick: there is only one candidate on this stage who has put their life on the line for this country, and it is not you. i will also say that it is highly insulting to criticize someone who leaves their hometown to serve their country, the only time they are out of their hometown to serve their country in a national security -- toto suppress everyone protect everyone in this room, to criticize me for that is very important. mr. santarsiero: what i'm

criticizing you for is being system, and i can tell you, i have talked to many people who feel that it is rigged. there is one set of rules for one people and a different set of rules for people that are connected. the treatise, you wouldn't be running for this seat if your brother was not the congressman. that is the reality. it has nothing to do with your service. we all applaud your service. at the end of the day, he was been working in this community year after year after year? he was been living here and who knows people's feelings and the problems that they face? i think when people go into the voting booth on november 8, they have to think about who has been working for them and who has that record. moderator: we are going to get another 30 seconds each. mr. fitzpatrick?

if you want to: know the biggest difference between the two candidates on this stage, one is a career politician and the other spent his career arresting politicians. that is a big difference. and steve, i've seen the rhetoric throughout this campaign. i wish you would stick to the issues. my service. i was born and raised in this area. not only have i lived here longer than you, steve, i've lived here twice as long as you. i would love to serve everybody in this room. if there is ao: mark of who is a career politician, it is somebody who comes in to a district like this to run and then in the 11th gets rid of his

own residential candidate to save his skin. those comments that came out by donald trump were offensive. was attacking a gold star family. too was saying he was ok with not nuclear proliferation. rememberoters need to that. moderator: your time has expired. [applause] i would like to let that the pressow will be meeting with the candidates down the hall privately and they may want to pursue this discussion further. thank you very much for your attendance. please vote.

>> there's an open seat in new york 19 congressional district this year. are zephyrtes teachout and john fatso. faso.n this is just under an hour. winner of a new york state award for best political program. this is a special edition. the 19th congressional district debate. tonight's debate is brought whmt tv.-- by

we will to welcome our viewers and those watching our npr affiliate in binghamton. welcome ouro district candidates, zephyr teachout and john faso. you can clap now. it is the only time. [applause] asked our we have audience members to refrain from clapping during the debate so we can hear as much of the candidates as possible. i am your moderator and i am joined from the best reporters in the business. veteran political reporter joe mahoney. karen dewitt from new york state public radio. and the state editor for the times union. he will be taking your questions at home. we are allowing you to have an active role in tonight's debate.

if you want to ask the candidate something, all gone to our facebook page and ask away. #ny19. let's go over the rules. be given twoe will minutes for opening statements. after that, we will begin the formal questioning from our panel. each candidate will have 90 thends to answer, while other will have a 45 second rebuttal. needsanelist clarification, they will ask a follow-up. the individual have 30 seconds to clarify. before the debate, we flip a coin to determine the order for our opening and closing statement. zephyr teachout won the toss and elected to make the second opening statement. .irst is mr. john faso

all ino: thank you to our viewing audience and my opponent, zephyr teachout, for participating in this debate. i decided to run for congress because our nation is in crisis. we are facing a great, great economic crisis threatening the stability of our grandchildren and children. i have set forth some measures that will revitalize the state economy and our national economy. those measures are tax reforms that willtory reforms lift the burden from small business and help us create jobs in the private sector in upstate new york. are reformingrms the tax code so that we simplify it and reduce rates. we make it easier for businesses to invest. thatponent has suggested

small businesses should be able indepreciate any investment the year they make that investment. incentivize employment and create jobs. we need to allow businesses to bring home their profits without double taxation. that will encourage investment in america and bring more jobs at home. i'm very pleased i have lived in nderhook for many years. have raise our children here. i'm happy to have the strong support of congressman chris gibson, who is a model of how you work across party lines to get things done. it was a honor for me to run and serve in this capacity and if elected, i will do my very best

to uphold our constitution and abide by the rule of law. , yourtor: ms. teachout two minutes again. ms. teachout: thank you to all of you who are watching tonight and possibly asking us questions. congress because i love this country and i am worried about it. an economic patriot. i believe we have to bring jobs home. we have to support our environment and we can and should make things in america again. i'm also running because we have to protect our water from the big polluters. i support a model where we move away from the fossil fuel energy system and towards renewable energy. another reason i'm writing is we have to clean up congress. every district i go to, the blasphemy how we get congress working again for the people? not corporations or political insiders, but for the people.

you and i worked together for pushing for a fracking ban in new york state. that was one of the greatest environmental, economic, and health victories in history. i know some of you from fighting against high-stakes testing or taking against the big cable companies are fighting against anduption in albany washington. i am very independent. i've always been an independent fighter. i never have and never will follow the orders from local party bosses or big corporations or big donors. i look for to this debate and a real opportunity to have an outward exchange of ideas. moderator: we flip a coin to see who would get the first question. it goes to mr. john faso. a paul came out showing the race is a dead heat.

among independent voters a difference is 1%. why should someone independent or undecided vote for you instead of your opponent? i understand the district and i have laid out a strategy for improving our economy and growing jobs here in the capital region. plan tolso laid out a finally end nelson rockefeller's hundred year mistake, which is withholding the burden of property taxes for medicaid. portion of your property taxes is going to pay for mandated medical costs and in other states, you don't have to bear that burden. get control of taxes and i have laid out a plan to do that. i've also laid out a plan to

continue the work on lyme disease. we need to focus on the chores that are essential for us to get a hold of this disease and prevent its spread. i have also laid out a strategy for protecting america, our national security. ourave to make sure military is second to none. we have to make sure our intelligence and our diplomatic presence is respected and well-known iraqi world. it is extraordinarily -- well known throughout the world. i asked democrats and republicans ms. teachout: i am pretty independent. iran against andrew cuomo. i have been critical of my own party leaders. i have built a campaign with an average can't of $19. not with egg donors.

i spent my life fighting against corruption. we have the shackles kind and the perfectly legal kind. when i talk to people throughout this district, there is an independent spirit. people are looking for someone who will fight for people in this district and not take orders from elsewhere. my opponent's campaign is funded in a different way. there are two donors who gave $500,000. new york city hedge fund or's who gave half $1 million each to fund the super pac. thehave probably seen attack ads. is a problem with money in politics where egg money is drowning out the money of mom-and-pop. big money and big lobbyists are drowning out the voices of the people. there is a lot more common sense the ground that there is among political elites. my opponent is a career politician.

he became a lobbyist and continues to take a pension of $40,000 a year while getting paid as a lobbyist. he is part of the system that is not working. i come from an independent background and i will keep that up when i am in congress. moderator: we will start with our panel. joe mahoney will lead it out. you have a record of taking a leaders. the top of your ticket is hillary clinton. in the past you have written a couple of critical articles of involvement with the clinton foundation and i believe that was a couple of months before you got into the race. more information has come out about foreign entities donating money to the clinton foundation, meetings being set up i clinton foundation staff when she was serving as the secretary of state. do you still have reservations about her at this point now that she is at the top of your

party's ticket? ms. teachout: i support hillary clinton. i'm going to vote for her. i have been critical. when i am in congress, i'm going to keep being critical on the things i disagree with. i have been concerned about foreign involvement in elections for a long time. i was writing about it in 2009. it is something we have to take very seriously. job of beingof the a representative is not paying attention to who is at the top of the ticket but saying what is the interest of the people? proud that some of the criticisms that i and others saised about asking the clinton more about overturning citizens united have come more to the four of her own campaign where farm -- campaign platform. there is a difference between myself and my opponent in our relationship to the top of the ticket.

i am clear where i stand. this past week you have seen donald trump boast about sexual assault. my opponent has not had the courage to denounce trump, still supports the ticket, and does not seem to trust voters enough to tell them who he is actually going to vote for on election day. i think you have to tell people where you stand. o, you havemr. fas 45 seconds. whofaso: ms. teachout, may, into the area in never pay property taxes. which he made that criticism she was a resident of brooklyn. her campaign has been built on deceit and deception. the ad she has in the motorboat is based on deception and not on truth. if you can't trust a candidate to tell the truth about the small things, how can you trust them to tell the truth about

things that matter? i have a voting record in the legislature of 97% and ms. teachout and her allies continue to misrepresent. the lack of clarity belies her statement. moderator: the next goes to karen witt. >> you said you do not endorse donald trump but you do support the republican ticket. you also said you are not sure who you're going to vote for. theare aware that controversy of accusations of sexual harassment seems to be growing by the day. what is your position on trump anti-eu back the gop slate? mr. faso: i said last year when i started to run when there were 17 gop candidates and i did not choose a candidate to support during that primary process. i would support the nominee of my party. that is still the case. i could not support mrs. clinton

because i have significant policy differences. on closer to mr. trump economics and policy. he has put forth a list of supreme court nominees, one of which i actually know. i am troubled by many of the things i have heard. the statements that were made on that 11 year old tape are reprehensible. they are horrible. i as a father and a husband are extremely disconcerted by those statements. the voters are intelligent enough to decide the race for president. the will decide for race for congress in the 19 district. do you want someone who has dedicated his life to someone to thisng for issues in district or someone who is parachuted in from brooklyn? do they want someone who wants a free market economy, that wants to grow the small business

sector, or someone who basically subscribes to socialistic points of view for the economy? my position has been clear from the start. i will support the republican ticket, but i do have qualms about many of the things that have been said. ms. teachout: you know, i actually have a lot of sympathy for principled republicans who are dealing with what donald trump has said. it is not just now. it has been clear for a wild. he called women takes and dogs, the description he had in the tape that we all heard is really disgusting. and the stories that have come out of women who are basically verifying that this posting of sexual assault was something that he himself did is more than distressing, more than qualm-causing. i believe he is not fit to be president and i do believe it is important stash we all have

policy differences. but there is a point where the country has to come first. it has to come before political party. moderator: we are out of time for that. next question. >> the 19th district's sprawling at the northern end. community of hoosier falls which has been dealing with the water contamination crisis. we have been getting questions about pfoa. what does government, state or federal, need to do for the people? this that include long-term by monitoring? would youed question, support congressional hearings to look at new york's response to the crisis? ms. teachout: for those of you who have not been following in who sick falls, please start paying attention. it is a real crisis. i've spent time at the hearings, recentlyburg there was

mothers of people in flint who came and met with mothers in hoosick falls and they talk about parenting and the shame when they cannot take care of their children the way they like to. one of the stories that got to me was a mother from hoosick falls saying i have been breast-feeding my child for the last two years because i thought that would be the most healthy and the best thing for him and now it turns out that tricking the water was actually poisoning him. with the state have been extremely frustrating. we have to move toward solution. i support biomonitoring. i think the companies have to pay for the health cost and i think we have to look hard at what epa can do so we can classify new chemicals that may actually be very similar to the ones that are happening, that exist in hoosick falls in petersburg.

i have called for hearings, including congressional hearings with subpoena power, so we can finally get to the bottom of what happened, but we also have to immediately bring real solutions to bear because these are communities in pain. i have been up to hoosick falls and to petersburg. i have spoken to many local residents and officials as well. i think that the companies responsible should be held accountable. the state's response was terrible. that state did not respond appropriately. i think that is a subject of oversight hearings. i think it is also important to note that the toxic substances act at the federal level has been modernized for the first time in 40 years. that would allow us to categorize so-called orphan chemicals that have not been tested satisfactorily. that is something that was done this last year in congress. it is important. i fully support it. we have to keep on monitoring

hoosick falls and petersburg. moderator: joe mahoney is next. concerns the economic problems we are having trouble of state region -- upstate region. many counties have lost population in the past decade. that have losts the most population percentagewise are here in the 19th and that would be delaware and scary county. we have also lost clout in washington having lost two members of congress because of the population trend that has big ongoing. what ideas can you offer to ring about economic recovery for this region, attract more people to it, and to keep young people here to give them opportunities that they are apparently not getting right now? mr. faso: tax reform at the federal level is vitally important. the incentives for small business about immediately

expensing new investments, plants, and equipment. that is critical to allow the private sector to grow. we need reference in the capital watershed area. i have been involved in that issue for months. in the years when i was in the legislature. we need to be able to revitalize the bluestone mining industry which is being regulated to death. they are being regulated as if they are giant entities when it is a very small, discrete, homemade kind of industry. vitally important that we more closely -- work closely to get new york city to be more cooperative in the catskill region. delaware county, part of all-star county, they are deeply impacted by the new york city watershed and i am involved. one thing i would not support which my opponent supports which will kill the economy is a carbon tax on energy. she wants to raise taxes on propane, heating oil, diesel,

and gasoline. this would be a disaster for our state and our economy, upstate in particular. she just moved here from brooklyn. she does not realize that people use home heating oil to heat their homes. those things they may not have in brooklyn. uses are carbon-intensive that will really hurt us with higher prices, with smith's teachout -- ms. teachout supports. ms. teachout: john faso has totally mischaracterized my position. the real difference between john faso and myself on fossil fuels is i don't believe that the big fossil fuel companies should be allowed to pollute our air and water for free. the proposal i support is called fair dividend. you can look it up online but i want to address your question. the heart and soul of our district is independent businesses. call the farmer

of the middle, that in between farm that isn't getting the support from the federal government that the big farms out westar. honestly, on independent businesses, all democrats and republicans have a lot of work to do. karen: ms. teachout anticipated my question because it is about farmers. many farmers are hurting financially. low milk prices have been putting dairy farmers out of business. steps wouldc you take to make family farms profitable? mr. faso: i grew up -- ms. teachout: i grew up in the terry community. my family had sheep and chickens but we had working dairy farms. i was a teenager during the dairy crisis of the 1980's, which had a huge impact on me. i talked to terry farmers every week. the prices are not high enough to stay in the business. it is a real issue.

what kills me is seeing california dairy products in our stores when we have extraordinary farmland right here. there are a few really important things. in the next farm bill, who was the farm bill really serving? the subsidies, they are going out west. there is a lot of research on this. are going subsidies to the top 10% of farms. it is not helping the farms that make up our communities. the second thing is dealing with the red tape, dealing with health care costs, which are really high. we have to address self-employment. also taking on the distributors that are pushing a lot of the prices down and you have more and more concentration, more monopolization in the farming industry, which makes it harder and harder for independent farmers to have real options when they're trying to get their stuff to market. what we have structurally is

proximity to a big market. there is incredible opportunities here. we have got to invest in them. agriculture is vitally important to this district. one thing that they don't want with ms. teachout supports is the 15 dollar minimum wage. the new york farms will be priced out of business. they don't need high energy taxes. diesel in your tractor, home heating oil, propane. the people that devised free and dividend said it is a carbon tax. fact that ms. teachout does not understand, because she has hardly lived here, what it means to people to winters ago had to pay four dollars a gallon for home heating oil. she does not get it. two john faso, one of the

issues that chris gibson, the incumbent in the district, has championed has been lyme disease treatment and research. the question i got on facebook asks what is your plan for helping new york coping with the limement issue with the disease epidemic? mr. faso: there is legislation right now which he is trying to get adopted in the final days of congress after the election which would address the need for treatment and long-term care for people with lyme disease and also open ourselves up to alternative treatments and to make sure there is proper peer-review from a variety of medical experts who are dealing with lyme disease patients to understand the various ways in used inugs can be various treatments that can be brought to bear. this is something that is

century,in the 21st which i hope is going to be enacted before the end of the congress and i will continue that effort. i think it is vitally important we expand medical research and other areas. cancer in a als, variety of forms. it is finally important that the federal government support medical research and this is a bipartisan consensus to do this. there's a bipartisan desire from constituents all across the country. it does not discriminate between democrats and republicans. we need to fight this and the federal government needs to fund basic research and we need to make sure we have alternative protocols available so diseases like lyme can be treated properly. ms. teachout: this is a huge crisis. we actually put out a video, which i encourage people to watch, about the real hidden

crisis and hidden epidemic of lyme disease. chris gibson has been an extraordinary leader on elevating lyme and pushing for research and funding, which there is way too little of. those who suffer from lyme disease know how little funding there is. i talked to a teacher in ulster fromy about her crawling her bed in gastric pain because of the treatment protocol. she was unable to have a child. i talked to parents worried about kids playing in the grass. we have to address this head on. moderator: the next question goes to joe mahoney. joe: how would you grapple with the issue of these millions of people living in the shadows in this country? -- theyarently got here can prove they got here illegally, so they could be deported. do you support a pathway to citizenship for these folks?

what should we be doing about immigration reform? ms. teachout: i do. basically the compromise version of the senate bill that came up a couple years ago. this is a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, which is really important. richard hanna, the farm bureau, business leaders, immunity leaders, farm leaders all came together and said we can work this out. we can come to a position where we address what is happening in this country in a comprehensive way. i think that is the way to go. talking to people throughout the -- district there is a general consensus that that is the way to go. what we have to addresses people ise donald trump -- address people like donald trump, who have a rash, irresponsible approach to immigration.

people are responding to a sense of desperation in this country and we have to address that economic desperation separately. there is a real crisis in middle-class america of looking for middle-class jobs. when i am in congress, i will be a voice for the people who have lost those middle-class jobs or are looking for middle-class jobs. i have to say that my opponent had made a choice himself after being in the assembly to be a lobbyist for the other guys, for the big money, for the big money interests, and i have always been a voice for the people who have been shut out. mr. faso: there she goes again with another -- an attack that has no basis. the last client that i represented before the state legislature was the primary client was autism speaks. i had the primary role in helped a state law that children get health insurance.

ms. teachout does not tell the truth. if you can't trust a candidate to tell you the truth about small things, how can you trust them to tell the truth about large things? i support immigration reform, secure the borders first, make sure we can satisfied the needs of agriculture in our district, but not a pathway to citizenship unless they get in line behind people who are already waiting in line. in the last presidential debate, donald trump disagreed with his running mate after penn said the u.s. should be prepared to use military forced to strike military targets at the assad regime in syria. should the u.s. have ground troops involved in syria? mr. faso: no. i would note that vitally important for us to have credibility in that region and the iran deal, with mitch

teachout supports, which is a disaster for peace in that region, is something that has empowered these primarily state-sponsored terrorists in the region, namely iran. a forcing get agreement in iraq was a failure. it meant men were able to fly material to men. also has block, a terrorist group. policies in the united states in the last years have reopened the door to the entrance of vladimir putin in russia in that region after they had been basically expelled for the last 45 years. the u.s. policy has been a mess. ms. teachout supports the deal with the rainy and, which cannot be trusted. , whichiranian state cannot be trusted. they are testing ballistic weapons to which they can mount

nuclear warheads on top. they won't allow u.s. and canadian inspectors inspect the nuclear facility in iran. the iranian regime cannot be trusted. the bottom line is we need to rebuild our defenses and make sure we have moderate arab troops on the ground. ms. teachout: thanks for the poo foreign-policy question. the first job of american foreign-policy is keeping our country safe. threats.hree major one is the threat of nuclear weapons. the second is a terrorist threat. the third is our shifting balance of power in the world. i believe in a tough but realistic approach to foreign-policy. this is an area where my opponent and i have differences in our background. i openly opposed the war in iraq.

my opponent openly praised george bush the way that he dealt the war in iraq. casey: at the halfway mark, i would encourage people to keep sending us questions using the hashtag ny19. on twitter, tom says i hope heryr teachout can clarify stance on the tax cap because that ad has gotten annoying. ms. teachout: do you think? i support more local control. i don't think albany politician should be telling local governments what to do. and will always fight to lower property taxes in new york state. property taxes are totally out of control.

i don't go a day without talking to somebody who was hurt and by property taxes. people playing over 10%, 20% of their income and property taxes. i support a circuit raker approach which has bipartisan support -- circuit breaker approach which has bipartisan support. new york state has the highest property taxes. why? when my opponent was in the assembly, property taxes went up 43%. they went up because in the 1990's, you saw a series of lobbyists from the big new york city corporations and wealthy interests pushing to basically get tax breaks for the wealthy and tax breaks for the big corporations. the result is new york state said to local government, look, it is on you. local government took on a greater share of paying for health, paying for education,

paying for transportation. onwe want to really take this real property tax crisis, and it is a crisis, we have to get to the root issue of what is happening between the state and big companies. say that i would just ms. teachout simply does not know what she is talking about. the property tax cap in massachusetts which went into effect in 1980 has been a real money saver for property tax payers there. that is the model for what new york state did. the reason property taxes go up mandates, often state out of control local spending, etc. the policy for new york state $4.5lso mandated and saved billion to tax breaker's. the circuit breaker just shifts the cost of the state level. it does not save tax

payers anything. she has never paid property taxes. maybe that is why. joe: this concerns college affordability. the total amount of student debt in this country stands at $1.3 trillion, with a t. of average student borrow 2016 was in debt to the tune of $37,000. that was a 6% increase from the previous year. what would you do to make college more affordable for families who are struggling to pay for their sons and daughters' education? mr. faso: the one thing that has happened contemporaneously with this explosion of student debt has been the greater availability of student lending. the federal government basically took over student lending and the problem has only gotten worse. a couple of things we have to do.

i think colleges need to be more forthright with students and parents as to what is the prospect of getting a job when you have a degree from this institution. right now i don't think people really understand the economic dynamic that can work. colleges should be more forthcoming in terms of disclosing that information to students. i also think the bottom line is we have allowed too many students to take on debt unwisely. this is why you had the explosion of student loan debt. colleges toof properly inform students and their parents as to what are their prospects of ever repaying this debt. we have got to be more forthcoming. college affordability is extremely important, but we also need to make sure we emphasize vocational training as well.

there are many students who would do better who go to a vocational school rather than getting a four year degree that is not going to give them a job when they get out that they can pay off their loan. i hear about this every day. i hear about it from students. i hear about it from grandparents who are worried about their grandchildren and are trying to pitch in. it is holding back our entire economy because it is debt like a millstone around people's neck . we have got to support our public colleges and universities. we also have to make sure that the for-profit colleges don't continue to be as abusive as a have been. they see a pot of money and they are going after it any way they can. this is something that is extremely important. we also have to support the g.i. bill for veterans. we have tens of thousands of veterans throughout our district and it is important to support

them getting the chance to go to college. karen: in sticking with the education theme, the national common core learning standards have been controversial. the you think common core should be scrapped the reformed, and what is the government's role in education? it has traditionally been a local and state issue, right? ms. teachout: i think common core should be scrapped. common core has not worked for fundamental reasons. it has come along with high stakes testing. my first job out of college was a special ed teacher in a rural classroom. one of the kids i was working with was an eight-year-old who had been through five foster homes and he told me he had no imagination and wasn't smart.

i worked with him and the classroom teacher worked with him. by him discovering that he could write stories himself, he started doing really well in math because that gave him confidence in another area. this is true for all kids. every child is individual. i believe federal education policy has to start from a different starting point. not from common core. 's, one of the big $500,000 donors, pulsing or, is a big pusher of common core high-stakes testing. from the premise that every child is different, and honestly, every school district is different. we should have a priority on music and art and sports and social work. understanding that children aren't widgets, but rather unique individuals that can become the best adults they can be. mr. faso: i don't support common core. the problem here is that the

federal government unduly involve themselves in education. i never supported no child left behind when george w. bush in teddy kennedy pushed it. education k-12 should be a state and local function. the bottom line is -- i am really amazed and ms. teachout continually goes back to these a full set tax. you see her motoring down the hudson in her little boat. the hudson river is so much cleaner than it was generations ago. much cleaner than it was 30 to 40 years ago. the main source of pollution in the hudson today is sewer and storm water overflows. i supported the dredging of the hudson river when it was done properly. i did not supported when they were threatening to resuspended pcbs and float down the river. everyone was opposed to that

approach in the late 1990's. ms. teachout does not tell the truth. she may motor down the river, but she is trying to sell people down the river with her false arguments. zach lewis on facebook has a question about infrastructure which he terms crumbling. amtrak is an antiquated railroad system and half the district lacks adequate public transit options. the rest of the world has invested in environmentally friendly infrastructure improvements. what will you do to improve infrastructure? mr. faso: one of the main things we have to do is expedite the planning and approval process for projects. we have a project approval process that is too long, too cumbersome, and too expensive. they need to build a third tunnel to connect new jersey to

new york so those amtrak trains on the northeast car can,. the fact is the approval process will probably take eight or nine years to do that. they were built in the great depression, the empire state building, in 11 months. you could not even get through the approval process in quite that time. we need to have deadlines. you see this at belair mountain, where it took 15 years to get through the secret process, state and environmental quality review act. if we want to expedite projects, you have to have a much more delineated approval process for these things so it does not take endless amounts of time to get the projects done. i think infrastructure is vitally important in our state and in our country. you see crumbling infrastructure. the congress just renewed the highway bill. i think that is critical to our local community. imperative for our businesses

that they have a safe and reliable transportation infrastructure. as someone who takes amtrak to new york frequently, i understand the need for improved real service in this state. -- improved rail service in the state. mr. faso: we need to -- ms. teachout: we need to invest in our infrastructure now. it is an emergency level. that means investing in bridges, water structure. that means the federal government investing in infrastructure bank that would support local projects. infrastructure is important for independent businesses. being able to trust or water in your roadways and bridges is important for an open market economy, which is what i support. do want to briefly address, but i'd don't have time, some of the claims that john made earlier. this is on marijuana.

bernie sanders, who has endorsed you, said during the primary debates that he believes that marijuana prohibition should end in this country, that it should not be a crime to have marijuana on your person. some states have relaxed marijuana laws already, leaving us a patchwork quilt across the country. do you support marijuana legalization at the federal level? ms. teachout: i think marijuana should be regulated like alcohol. inks for asking a question about drugs. the issue that is really live throughout our district is what to do about the heroin crisis. joe: we are going to get to that. areteachout: but what we talking about is criminalizing addiction, which is a real issue. we have got to stop treating addiction like a crime. they are different issues.

to answer your question directly, that is the direction i think we should go. to address the larger issue of heroin, you know, the overdose deaths are up three times in the last 16 years. i was talking to a father whose son came to him asking, saying i'm ready for treatment. he spent a week on the phone with insurance companies looking for a bed. could not get it. his son relapsed and has since overdosed. i think there was great leadership by kirsten gillibrand on this. she endorsed me early. she has been a great advocate on this. i think it is important to support local efforts, the chatham police chief, friends of recovery in sullivan, other efforts that recognize we have to approach this with compassion if we are going to address the

crisis. on marijuana, i think we should wait and see what the results are of the experiments going on in places like colorado before we rush and at the federal level. have laid oute, i a plan of education, treatment, and enforcement that i think is vital. it raises the question in my of the the recent issue epipen. we have to reform the fda approval process so that if a drug comes from a country like denmark, germany, were the standards are the same as ours, we allow those drugs more freely available here. there is a danish version of the epipen that can be purchased for $75. competition will lower cost. karen: it is on gun control. you said that you oppose closing

the gun show loophole. maybe you can explain why that is, the reasoning. what about preventing people from the terrorist and no-fly list on buying guns? mr. faso: i am not in favor of people who were on the terror watch list for buying guns. i want to make sure that if someone is improperly placed on the watchlist, as senator teddy kennedy was years ago, and it took all of the force of his senatorial office to get him off that list, imagine the problem of a common citizen trying to deal with the bureaucracy. the issue becomes yes, terrorists should not be able to purchase firearms. we have to have to process protection so that an innocent citizen who is improperly placed on that list has a due process right to be able to get them self off that list on an expert ---- on a next indicted expedited basis.

i am a supporter of the second amendment. i think the safe act was a travesty. it has been nothing to improve safety. the major problem with crime and gun violence in our country are handguns. handguns are strictly regulated, as they should be. the new lawsne is on the law-abiding people are not by definition going to improve their ability to combat violent criminals who use guns in the commission of a crime. i think the bottom line is these efforts are going to fail because they are targeted at the wrong people, the law-abiding people rather than the criminals. ms. teachout: i have been a consistent critic of the safe act. it was passed in the middle of the night without engaging people in the process. i have spent my entire life raising up people's voices, saying people need to be engaged in the process, that we have to have politics that has room for

all of us. the other thing that keeps people shut out of the political process is big money. we have a real crisis right now of big companies with well-paid lobbyists coming in, writing legislation that people are not engaged in writing. when i'm in congress, i will always be about everybody's voice, making sure everyone has an equal voice. moderator: casey will have a brief question. casey: i am synthesizing a couple we received on facebook and twitter about what you mentioned, big money in politics. you are in opponent of it, but you have accepted money from sources of great wealth. someone said that is hypocritical. is it? ms. teachout: my campaign is funded with an average contribution of $19. we have over 60,000 donors. it is grassroots up.

it is powered by grassroots door-to-door, people meeting and local communities, by teenagers. we have these wonderful teenagers who are coming into our offices to volunteer. it has always been about the low dollar grassroots. my opponent's campaign has been funded by a handful of super pac's. all those attack ads you see? there have been $2.3 million ment on attack ads against funded by the new york city ers who think they found some a to do their bidding in washington. i asked john to join a pledge to keep super pac's out of this race. in massachusetts, scott brown and elizabeth warren came

together, had a pledge. they enforced it. they kept super pac spending out of the race. he turned me down because he thinks citizen united is the right decision. i have stood for overturning citizen united. i have stood for reducing the power of lobbyists. i will always be an independent voice against those things. mr. faso: it really does amaze me. ms. teachout started her campaign with false, negative ads against me. i have a 97% attendance record. missing, i was on business or with my wife who is being operated on. she attacked me for my attendance record. -- teachout is very hit of very hypocritical. she said falsehoods about my record and my business career right from the start. her campaign is funded by people

who don't even live in this district. they are all over the country. very few of them are from here. moderator: we are approaching the end of our broadcast. the formal questioning is now over. each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement. ms. teachout: thank you for listening. between a real choice two very different candidates on november 8. i want to briefly address some things that did not, in this debate but might be important in making your decision. john fast so and i are different on protecting social security. i think we have to protect and expand it. he has written an op-ed saying we should privatize it. we are really different on protecting our water. he talked about ge earlier. he wrote letters to the epa saying ge should not have to fund the full cleanup. i will fight to protect our

water and make sure the big polluters pay. the fundamental differences i will always tell you where i stand and m independent. he does not trust the voters enough to tell you who he will vote for a november 8. i will answer only to you and continue to be an independent fighter in congress. thank you. mr. faso: good evening, and thank you again, all of the viewers out there and the people in the audience here tonight, for coming. i appreciate the opportunity to present my credentials. our nation is in crisis. we have to fix this economy. we are perilously about to go over the cliff financially unless we do that. we have to rebuild our defenses because it is vitally important that america remains strong. weis vitally important that have a future for our children and grandchildren. that is why i'm running. i'm from here. i have lived and worked here for 33 years.

my opponent has never voted in a general election in this district. she only bought a house in this district this year. i stand for the constitution. i stand for the rule of law. i stand for individual responsibility and equal opportunity for all americans. that is my platform. that is what i will run on. that is how i will serve. moderator: i want to thank you both for participating in this debate. i want to thank our panel, joe mahoney, karen dewitt, and casey siler. you can watch this whole debate all over again from now until election day. had to our website nynow.org. we will get you up on all the news at 7:30 on the weekly version of "new york now." from all of us here, thanks so much for watching.

have a good night and do not forget to vote on november 8. [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] >> before the final debate, we are looking back to past presidential debates. eastern, the00 1984 debate between president ronald reagan and former vice president walter mondale. >> we must understand that we are a democracy. we are a government by the people and when we moved, it should be for very severe and extreme reasons that serve our national interest and and up with a stronger country behind us. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i will not exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [laughter] presidential988 debate. >> you have a president that

will work with the congress and the american people. deficit down that steady, build economic growth, build a strong future for america. invest in those things which we must invest in, economic developer, good jobs. in awish you would join me americanbudget for the public. i would like to have the line veto for the president because i think that would be helpful. >> and the 2008 debate. >> the situation today cries out for bipartisanship. never taken onas the leaders of his party on a single issue. we need to reform. let's look at our records as well as our rhetoric. that is really part of your mistrust here. >> we are going to have to make

some investments but we also have to make spending cuts. you heard senator mccain say he is proposing a bunch of new spending, but i am cutting more than i am spending. there will be a net spending cuts. the key is whether or not we've got priorities that are working for you. >> watch past presidential debates tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. watch anytime on www.c-span.org and listen at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the c-span radio app. as the nation elects a new president in november, will america have its first foreign-born first lady since the wii's adam, or will we have a former president as first gentleman? c-span's "first ladies" gives readers a look into the impact of every first lady in american history. it is a companion to c-span's well regarded biography series

and features interviews with leading historians. briefhapter is offering a biography. "first ladies" in paperback is now available at your favorite oak seller and also as an e-book. in his weekly address, the president talks about a white house initiative to promote science and technology. representative kevin cramer onivers the gop address energy and the economy. pres. obama: hi, everybody. on thursday, i traveled to pittsburgh for the white house frontiers conference, where some of america's leading minds came together to talk about how we can empower our people through science to lead our communities, our country, and our world into tomorrow. plus, we had some fun. i had a chance to fly a space flight simulator where i docked

a capsule on the international space station. i met a young man who'd been paralyzed for more than a decade but thanks to breakthrough brain implants, today, he can not only move a prosthetic arm, but actually feel with the fingers. it's awe-inspiring stuff. and it shows how investing in science and technology spurs our country towards new jobs and new industries -- new discoveries that improve and save lives. that's always been our country's story, from a founding father with an idea to fly a kite in a thunderstorm, to the women who solved the equations to take us into space, to the engineers who brought us the internet. innovation is in our dna. and today, we need it more than ever to solve the challenges we face. only through science can we cure diseases, and save the only planet we've got, and ensure that america keeps its competitive advantages as the world's most innovative economy. that's why it's so backward when some folks choose to stick their

heads in the sand about basic scientific facts. it's not just that they're saying that climate change a hoax or trotting out a snowball on the senate floor. it's that they're also doing everything they can to gut funding for research and development, the kinds of investments that brought us breakthroughs like gps, and mris, and put siri on our smartphones. that's not who we are. remember, 60 years ago, when the russians beat us into space, we didn't deny sputnik was up there. we didn't haggle over the facts or shrink our r&d budget. no, we built a space program almost overnight and beat them to the moon. and then we kept going, becoming the first country to take an up-close look at every planet in the solar system, too. that's who we are. and that's why, in my first inaugural address, i vowed to return science to its rightful place. it's why in our first few months, we made the largest

single investment in basic research in our history. and it's why, over the last eight years, we've modernized the government's approach to innovation for the 21st century. we've jumpstarted a clean energy revolution and unleashed the potential of precision medicine. we've partnered with the private sector and academia, and launched moonshots for cancer, brain research, and solar energy. we've harnessed big data to foster social innovation and invested in stem education and computer science so that every young person, no matter where they come from or what they look like, can reach their potential and help us win the future. that's what this is about -- making sure that america is the nation that leads the world into the next frontier. and that's why i've been so committed to science and innovation -- because i'll always believe that with the right investments, and the brilliance and ingenuity of the american people, there's nothing we cannot do. thanks, everybody. have a great weekend.

rep. cramer: hi, i'm kevin cramer. you know, everyone loves to celebrate success. and that's what i am doing today as i speak to you from grand forks, north dakota, where the university of north dakota college of engineering and mines has just dedicated a cutting-edge collaborative energy research complex. this center will bring students, faculty, and industry professionals together to develop better strategies for the next level of energy production in oil, natural gas, coal, wind, and biofuels. our state's "all of the above" energy policy has elevated north dakota's economy to the top in the nation. at the same time, we enjoy the cleanest ambient air quality in the country. and we've proven that a strong economy and responsible environmental stewardship can go hand-in-hand. and with this same approach, other states can achieve north dakota's economic success. yet as i travel around our state, i hear from people frustrated with how needless regulations out of washington are making things tougher -- for their farms, their ranches, and their small businesses. people feel the system is

working against them, no matter how hard they work, no matter how much they plan. this is always my cue to hold up this better way booklet and share the bold agenda that republicans have for a more confident america. it contains more than 100 ideas to get our economy back on track, many that have worked for us right here in north dakota. our plan is based on the notion that the best way to restore our prosperity is to tap into the talents and aspirations of our people and then get out of their way and let them be successful. we will cut down on needless regulations. to do this, we want to require a vote in congress before any major regulation can take effect. unelected bureaucrats should not have the final say -- the people and their representatives should. and we believe that there should be a cap on the amount of regulatory costs washington can impose each year. our plan promotes reliable and affordable american energy, enhancing our global competitiveness. north dakota has been a leader

in our country's energy boom. let's continue to connect this success to the consumers and workers who benefit from it most. and no more keystones -- no more of these endless delays that hold up jobs and projects indefinitely. this is truly a better way -- far better than the path our country is on now. you know, over the last eight years, president obama has led a regulatory onslaught the likes of which we have never seen. in fact, this administration is on pace to make this the busiest regulatory year in history, and it won't even be close. in the works are everything from regulating overtime pay to retirement planning. and what do we have to show for this? this has been the slowest economic recovery since the great depression. people are working longer hours for less. we are not bouncing back because big government is in our way. our plan offers a better path -- an inspiring path -- so we can have more success stories and more comebacks. i encourage you to learn more about these better way ideas by visiting better.gop. >> initially when i was trying

to come up with my documentary for studentcam, i was a little bit daunted because there were so many different elements that i was trying to put into it and a lot of information to try to communicate in seven minutes. realizedepped back and that it is like a visual essay. i have been writing essays all throughout high school. it was something that became a little bit less daunting as i looked at it from a perspective of gathering information and instead of writing that information, filming it. i am urging anyone who would think about it to reach out to as many people as they could. experts that you can. there are experts that are more knowledgeable about the subject that you are. as many of those people as you can get in your piece, the more

credibility it will have. it will not just be a high school student trying to solve a massive problem. areurns into you contributing useful information by compiling all of this. what is the most urgent issue for the new president and congress to address in 2017? to competition is open middle school and high school students grades six through 12 with $100,000 in cash and prizes. ofdents can work into groups three to produce a 5-7 minute documentary. the $100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded and shared between 150 students and 53 teachers and the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. deadline is january 20, 2017. mark your calendars and help us spread the word to student filmmakers.

for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. >> here on c-span, "the communicators" is next. maller with the sentencing project talks about voting rights for felons this election cycle. look at past presidential debates continues with walter mondale in ronald reagan's debate in 1984, followed by george h w bush and michael dukakis in 1988. >> c-span. created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. week, "the communicators" goes to the university of michigan your detroit, where car companies are using a test site called m city.

carmakers are experimenting with technology that allows cars to talk with each other and roads and traffic light so there will be fewer accidents. we spoke with a transportation analyst two studies this technology and with the director of the university of michigan's mobility information center. we are at the university of michigan. specifically to test and develop automated vehicles. >> this is a fake storefront. >> it can create different scenarios for both connected and automated vehicles. test and be able to repeat. when you are out on the street, it is hard to be able to repeat consistently. behind us is a facade.