citing a new poll, showing the incumbent, portman, leading by are than a 2-1 margin in district that ted strickland used to represent during his years in congress before he became ohio's governor. live coverage here on c-span. >> ohio counts. sponsored by the city club of cleveland. media partners include tbs and the 9/11 0.3. -- 90.3. and wcpo cincinnati 9 on your ide. >> i'm the bureau chief of the ohio public radio and television state house news video. >> we welcome you to the final senate debate between rob

portman and ted strictland. this debate is sponsored by the city club of cleveland, which drafted tonight's format. the rules have been agreed to by the campaign. . dia partners we welcome those watching on abc stations as well as those tuning in to the ohio public radio or television station, watching on the ohio channel, or nationwide on c-span. and of course to those here in our studio audience. >> the 60-minute debate is dwight dwided into two segments, each 0 minutes long. the first half, karen and i will ask the candidates question and the second half the canled daylights respond to questions frlt audience. one of those questions will come from twitter. if you would like to submit a question, then use the #cityclub. candidate will have 90 seconds to respond to each question and the candidate rgerge --

originally asked each question will have an additional 30 seconds for rebuttal. the questions have not been shared with the campaigns. >> the audience here in the studio has agreed to remain silent so that we can focus on what the candidates are saying. however, we welcome you to applaud at this moment as we welcome the candidates. republican incumbent rob portman and democratic challenger ted strictland. [applause] >> we're now going to have opening remark. candidates, a remind that are you'll each have two minutes for your eaching stamingts. the order was determined by a coin flip and agreed to by both candidates. we begin with senator portman. mr. portman: thanks very much.

thank for the city club. good to be back in cleveland. believeland. first the calve, now the indians. you're going -- cavs, now the indians. you're going to hear a real contrast between the two of us. i've been an independent voice for ohio to deliver real results, for ohio families and ohio workers. i'm proud that 45 of my bills have been signed into law. one is a very important issue, the heroin and prescription drug epidemic that has torn families apart and devastated communitieses. including here in cleveland. my comprehensive addiction and recovery act will begin to turn the tide in that terrible epidemic. i'm running for shown dra, who i met today as a woman's shelt -- at a woman's shelter in cleveland who is a brave mom and recovering heroin addict who needs the help. i'm running for the many workers in ohio who are feeling the middle class squeeze. i've taken a lead on things like worker retaining, on things like ensuring infrastructure projects can get off the ground and create jobs, and ensuring that we have a level playing field for ohio workers.

that level playing field for ohio workers includes legislation that we passed that is helping workers begin to fight back against unfair imports from countries like china. i'm fighting for the 70 new workers right here in cleveland, ohio, who have a new job because of our legislation that enabled them to win their trade case. i'm proud of the fact that i've been endorsed by every major city, newspaper in ohio that's endorsed. the i've reached across the aisle and worked with republicans and democrats who achieved results for cleveland. they also said that they didn't think that ted strickland could be effective in the u.s. senate. i think they're right. he was not effective as a congressman. as governor, unfortunately, 350,000 jobs were lost. 48th in the country in job creation here in ohio. the 9/11 0,000 jobs lost -- 90,000 jobs lost here in cleveland. when the voters turned him out of office, he blamed cleveland. he said cleveland's biggest enemy is cleveland. i think cleveland's biggest

enemy was governor ted strickland's policies. we cannot afford to go back to ted strictland's ohio. >> thank you very much. now, governor strictland, you have two minutes for your opening remarks. mr. strickland: thank you. the great to be here in the city of champion. i gruebaur up in a family that had a lot of struggle. but we survived because we loved and we cared for each other. we lost our first home to a flood, our second to hard times. and when i was about 5, our third home burnt to the ground. dad was a steel worker. my mom raised nine kids and i have the first in my family to go to college. i learned at a very early age that one bad break can lead to real hardship. and that's why i've penalty is my life as a minister, a psychologist, a congressman and as your governor, fighting for working people. and that's who i'll fight for in the nat senate -- in the senate. then there's the rob portman story. it's a story of wealth, power

and privilege. a man who pretends to be nonpartisan, but he's always there when mitch mcconnell and the washington power brokers need him. and fact, he is spending his time and our tax dollars fighting president obama every step of the way. he said the auto rescue was a lousy deal for ohio. he's voted to keep us from cushing gun violence. and -- kurbing gun violence. and this man -- curbing gun violence. and this man has always opposed president obama. let me say, he's voted against president obama 92% of the time. 92% of the time. he even stood with donald trump after donald trump said that the president was not a citizen. so when you hear independents and bipartisanship,, just remember this, he is the great pretender.

>> thank you very much, governor strictland. we're going to start our first question with you tonight. i'm addressing this to you. this has been an unusual election, with a survey of millennials by the university of massachusetts finding they'd rather have a lottery determine the winner than to vote for either hillary clinton or onald trump. and a pole found most voters think neither trump nor clinton is fit to be president. in light of these poles, how do you rationalize supporting your party's candidate for president? mr. strickland: there are big differents between hillary clinton and donald trump. i can assure you of that. donald trump is unfit to be president. he has spent years saying that president obama was not a citizen. he has mopped -- mock disabled people -- mocked disabled people. he's made fun of prisoners of war and gold star families and so on. he's called women pigs and

worse. we know that donald trump is not fit to be president. hillary clinton on the other hand has great experience, she's been a first lady, she's been a senator, she was our secretary of state. and she has answers to our problems. secretary clinton, working with barack obama and bernie sanders, they've come up with an education plan, just as an example. and this education plan says, if you make less than $125,000 a year, your child can go to a public college or university tuition-free. that includes about 80% of the people in of ohio. think of that. parents not having to worry about bloo -- whether or not their kid can go to college. senator portman's not going to support that kind of approach. because he's not taken the right kind of attitude toward ohio students. let me tell you. he opposes allowing ohio students to refinance their

student debt at a lower interest rate. he's tried to cut million of dollars out of pell grants. when he's had to choose between ohio students and the banks, he chooses the banks. danita: we're going to have to stop right there. senator portman, we know that it took you a while to withdraw your support from the republican nominee, donald trump. but i would like to get your take on the fact thatmy lenians -- millennials age 18 to 34, that age group sees the candidates as neither one of them being fit to be president. mr. portman: i think the sad. i do think that it would be nice if they could look up to their presidential candidates. i do think that in this campaign, we've seen some things said and done that have discouraged them. i have stood up, as you said, and i have consistently stood up and i -- when i thought something was said that was wrong. my opponent hasn't done that by the way. i believe that words matter.

words matter so much i took the extraordinary step not to be able to support my republican nominee for president. when hillary clinton called half of donald trump's supporters deplorable, said they were irredeemable, said ted were racist, strickland hasn't stood up to condemn those comments. words matter. this is a campaign between ted strickland and men me. the not a presidential campaign. although you'll hear my opponent continually talk about the presidential campaign. you think he wishes he was running with barack obama, so he should have run -- or against donald trump, he should have run in the presidential campaign. but during this campaign, he's the one who has used the word rape in an offensive way. somehow to connect rape to charter schools. he's the one who has said when justice antonin scalia died that it was a cause to celebrate. and did he so for political purposes. he celebrated the death of antonin scalia. he's the one who came here to cleveland during the convention and handed out fortune cookies

offending asian americans around ohio, never apologized for it, as a political gimmick. and he's the one who said to cleveland, cleveland, your worst enemy is yourself. as opposed to taking responsibility. danita: governor strictland, you have 30 seconds to rebut that statement. mr. strickland: my opponent can defend donald trump all he wants but the fact is he stood with and by donald trump after donald trump spent years saying that barack obama was not a citizen. he stood by donald trump when he called women pigs and worse. he stood by donald trump when he mocked a disabled person. and it wasn't until it was in his political calculation to try to disassociate himself that at the last minute, shortly before this election, he said, well, i can't vote for donald trump. karen: senator portman. my first question is to you. your colleague, senator john mccain, promised this week that senate republicans would be united against any supreme court nominee that hillary clinton would put forward if she were elected president.

his office has backed off that a bit, issuing a statement that says he would thoroughly ext record of any supreme court nominee for the senate. it's been said that the senate has the constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent on the supreme court nominee, some scholers are saying there's nothing that requires that to happen. there's nothing that requires hearings. so regardless of who is elected, will you push for a fair hearing process for a nominee to the court, or will you join an attempt to block a nominee? mr. portman: a fair hearing process. absolutely. i believe that that's what i've done. many of barack obama's nominees who i found were not qualified for the court and couldn't support. but many i did support. including his appointments to executive offices, as well as to the court. i look at each one on the merits. that's what we have to do. i don't agree that we should automatically block nominees. we should be working together to figure out how to solve problems. and figure out how to ensure to get the best people to serve on

the court and in the executive branch. we should work together on that. and ensure that we do have buy-in from republicans and democrats alike, when the democrats took back the senate, you know, they took away the 60-vote margin and took it to 50 votes because they didn't want to have republican input. it would be a mistake for republicans to do that. i disagree with a lot of my colleagues on that. i think we should look at justices on the merits. i'll look at justices, as to whether they are faithful to the constitution, whether they're going to legislate from the bench, which i don't believe is the role of judges, and what their qualification and brounleds are. a that's what all of us ought to do. -- that's what all of us ought to do. karen: governor strictland. mr. strickland: mr. portman claims that he's independent and bipartisan. he wasn't bipartisan when it came to guns. he voted against an amendment r a bill that would allow -- disallowment ised terrorists from buying guns -- disallow suspected terrorists of buying guns.

he wasn't bipartisan when it came to the bipartisan bill on immigration. perhaps the most egregious action he's taken has been against judge garland. i'm going to read back the words that he just uttered. he said, i don't agree that we should automatically block a nominee. for months he has blocked judge garland. he said, this man should not have a hearing or get a vote. he has disrespected the president and he has failed to carry out his constitutional obligation. he has not done his job for months. and we have a 4-4 split on that court. he hasn't answered -- i mean, he needs to give us an answer. senator, every newspaper in this state has criticized you for this. and yet you refuse to allow the president's nominee to get a hearing and a vote. you got some answering to do to the people of ohio.

you're not answering -- you're not acting in a bipartisan manner. you're acting in a very hyperpartisan manner when it comes to the supreme court. and so he can claim to be independent, he can claim to be bipartisan, but on this very serious issue, he has not been bipartisan. karen: senator portman, you have 30 seconds to respond. mr. portman: i did answer your question. unlike governor strickland who did not answer it. i have voted for barack obama's nominees when i thought they were qualified. that's the record. it's a clear record. 45 of my bills that i wrote became law. that means that barack obama signed those laws. by definition, they were bipartisan. get through the senate, house and signed into law. not easy to do. washington is a dysfunctional place these days. one reason i'm running for re-election is i believe we need people in washington who know how to do that. because it's unfortunately something you see less and less in washington. we need to figure out how to work together as republicans and demeanors -- democrats and solve big problem.

i'm a conservative and i'm proud of that. karen: governor strictland, there's no denying the growing problem with drugs across the country and here in the state of ohio. danita: in our state alone, last year an average of eight people a day died from overdoses. many related to opioids like heroin and fentanyl. the epidemic has take an toll on communities that are struggling to cope with the emergency calls for overdoses, as well as to handle the number of addicts needing treatment. is this an issue that should be handled at the community level or is there a role for the federal government? mr. strickland: there certainly is a role for the federal government and you are right in describing the problem. it is a scourge. it is a scourge. and people are dying needlessly. in part because we don't have adequate treatment available for people who are seeking treatment. i know something about this. i just lost a very close relative to oxycontin overdose a few months ago.

it was a sad and a tragic event. a beautiful young man who should not have died. but the fact is that i was aware of this when i was governor and i started the prescription drug task force when i was governor. because so many of these addictions begin as a prescription use and then people get addicted and they don't -- no longer have the prescription or it's too costly so they go to the streets and they find heroin and other substitutes. communities need help. and i applaud my opponent for calling attention to this issue. but he has voted against the very resources that communities like cleveland need to fight this scourge. the omnibus bill he voted against. i'm not surprised because there were 14 other things in that omnibus bill that he took credit for. and he voted against. so, senator portman is good about describing the problem.

and he's even good about showing personal concern. but he won't bite the bullet and provide the resources. he let other senators cast the vote, carry the water, and then he takes credit. danita: senator portman, where should the weight lie? is this a community weight that should be carried by community leaders, or should the government, the federal government, step in and do something? mr. portman: i'ven the lead in washington on this because i believe the federal government does have a role to play. it's an epidemic. we spend emergency money on ebola or the zika virus. this is an epidemic. this is an emergency, in my view. that's why i pushed hard over the last few years to write the comprehensive addiction and ecovery act, brought in people from around the country. a woman here lost her daughter, holly, to a heroin overdose. now she's taken her loss and constructively channeled it into trying to help, including helping me write this legislation. she testified in washington, d.c., before the judiciary committee, to try to be sure

that we wrote legislation that really would help in term of prevention and education treatment and recovery. i was at the women's shelter today meeting with women who are recovering addicts. they need help. they need it now. cleveland lost about one person per day last year to heroin and prescription drug overdoses. this year we're on track to lose maybe as many as two people a day. we may see a doubling. and more people being lost not just to heroin but synthetic heroin, fentanyl. this is why my legislation is so important to get implemented. i got $37 million into the short-term budget between now and december 9. there were no other major exceptions to that legislation except mine. why? because i was able to convince my colleagues this is an emergency, something we must fund. what governor strickland is talking about is politics. what i'm talking about is how to solve this problem and how to address it in a way that uses best practices from all around the country. that's what the comprehensive addiction recovery act will do. danita: governor strictland,

you can respond to that. mr. strickland: i'm not talking about politics. i'm talking about his record. december of last year in the omnibus bill, there was money in there to provide communities like cleveland resources to fight this scourge. and he voted against it. then he spent months traveling around ohio, telling people how concerned he is and how much he's done. he didn't have the courage to actually cast the vote. he let other senators cast the vote. and then he's taken credit for what others have done. he doesn't carry the water, other senators had to carry the water for him. mr. strickland: can i respond to that? -- mr. portman: can i respond to that? karen: no, we have to move on. you called a halt to the settlement of syrian refugees into the united states. you had concerns about their background checks. you also called the persecution of christian and other minority religious groups in the middle east genocide and called on the u.s. to do more to protect them. most polls show americans are opposed to the u.s. accepting

more syrian refugees, the pictures from syria are haunting. such as the one of a young boy in the back of an ambulance covered in blood and dust from an air strike. what role if any do you think the u.s. should play with regard to the people of syria? mr. portman: i think we've let the people of syria down. sadly there are over 200,000 people who have been killed by their own government there. four million people or more have now fled the country as refugees. many have stayed in the area to be resettled. others have gone to europe, over a million. some have come here. my response to the question about bringing additional syrian refugees was because before the homeland security committee, the director of the f.b.i. said that we cannot figure out who these people are, what their intentions are, because we have no information on them. we don't have any contact with the syrian government or any people on the ground to be able to determine that. that to me is not a good thing for the united states to do. instead, what i've called for, since my first day of senate,

is to say, let's create in syria a safe zone, a no-fly zone. where they can stay in their own country. when these refugees have been interviewed and they're asked, would you rather go to the to europe, the united states, they say, we'd rather stay home. yet the united states continues to draw red lines to say, we're going to do this in syria to help, we're going to stop the chemical weapons, we're going to provide a safe zone, and they then we don't honor them. you see this in aleppo tonight, as we talk here tonight. the rush januarys -- the russians and the forces of assad are bombing civilians. he's been dumping these barrel bombs onto his civilians over the past several years. killing over 200,000 of his own people. the united states has not led. we lead from behind. which is what the obama administration promised they would do and that's exactly what they have done. it's what ted strickland supports -- supports and the led to tragic consequences. karen: governor strickland, what would you do, what do you think is the role of the u.s. regarding the people of syria? mr. strickland: let me say that

we have lost a brave american just recently in the fighting that's taken place near mosul. we all remember that. only 1% of the american people protect the 99% of us. and we ought to honor our men and women who serve us and never forget their sacrifice for us. syria is a very complex problem. to be honest with you, i think much of what we're experiencing in syria and that part of the world today today is a direct result of the fact that we went into iraq some 14, 15 years ago . but what's happening in syria is tragic. russia is complicating it. there are so many factions in syria. and just let me say that i believe our first obligation is to keep americans safe, and that's my intention, there are some things that we can do there. we can increase our use of air power, we can increase our use of drones. we can increase our intelligence gathering.

but i'll tell you one thing that i will never support and that's ground troops being reintroduced into that part of the world. we cannot solve every problem. this war has gone on in that part of the world for some 15 years and i think americans are sick of the war. and they understand that there are some things that we can do. in terms of the refugees, i believe we need to honor our values and we need to bring in those who are properly vetted. it takes about a two-year period of time to vet syrian refugees. mr. portman: again, my concern with the way we have gone about the syrian situation is a much broader one which is america's role in the world has been diminished under this president and with the support of my opponent. when he moved to washington, d.c., to become a lobbyist for this group called center for american progress, he took on these positions of having america withdraw its strong leadership role around the world. you see the consequences. a void has occurred. look what's happening on the

eastern border of ukraine with russia tonight, what happened in crimea, what's happening in the south china sea with regard to china building military bases on a corral reef and what's happening sadly in syria and iraq, so many people losing their lives. america has pulled back in many respects. china and russia has taken our place. danita: governor strickland, as we look at the issue of criminal justice reform, we see that police brutality and the shooting of citizens have been in the headlines across the country and ohio is not immune. here in cleveland, the police department is implementing a consent decree with the justice department. but the problems extends far beyond the police and into the courts where according to politifact, minorities are more likely to be overcharged or face harsher sentences than white defendants. what's specific measures can senators take -- what specific measures can senators take to address the systemic problems within our judicial systems at the local level? mr. strickland: we have a problem, we need to face it, we needed to to deal with it.

too many young men of color are america.eir lives in the statistics don't lie. it's happening. in my judgment, tamir rice should be alive today. and the man who was in the wal-mart store holding a toy gun that wal-mart sold should be alive. so what should we do? we need to recognize that black lives do in fact matter. and that there is a disproportionate number of deaths occurring among the community of african-americans and other people of color. and i believe our government at every level has a responsibility to acknowledge it and to work to stop it. we've got to come together, but we can't solve the problem unless we recognize it. and admit it. and then come together and work to solve it. so there's a federal role. i'm glad the federal government is getting involved in many of these situations.

one of the things we shouldn't do is what senator portman has proposed to do. he has authored and introduced a national stop and frisk bill. that's not the approach we need. we need to pull communities together, not use issues that drive them apart. but the first thing we need to do is acknowledge the problem and then commit ourselves to finding solutions to that problem. danita: senator portman. mr. portman: you asked about criminal justice reform and some of the deeper problems. there is legislation, as you may know, in the senate, cory booker's legislation, that's bipartisan, to reform some of our criminal justice system, some of our laws, some of the disparate outcomes that have occurred. i'm in support of that legislation. i'm a co-sponsor of it. i've also taken the lead in washington over the years on this issue of ensuring people who are coming out of prisonthe opportunity to get their lives back on track. why? because it's good for everybody.

certainly it's good for them, achieving their god-given purpose in life. it's good for the community because you reduce crime. it's good for the taxpayer because right now more than half of those people are in a revolving door. they're back out of the prison system within two or three years, they're back into the prison system again. and i authored what's called the second chance act. to give people the opportunity to get the jobs skills they need, to get the drug treatment they need, to get the mental health help that they need. to be able to get a job, become productive citizens. there are some great examples of that here in northeast ohio. northeast ohio has taken full advantage of the second chance act. over 2ds million has gone in grants -- $2 million has gone into grants in just the last few years. tonight in the audience is brandon, he runs edwins, incredible story. it's a restaurant, but it's much more than that. everybody who works there is someone who has come out of the prison system. returning citizens and a lot of them have faced tough times. he teaches them a skill, over six months, which is a culinary skill, but also how to work and

show up on time. how to apply for a job. his placement rate is about 95%. i brought him to washington, d.c., and had him serve lunch to all of the republican senators, along with one of his colleagues, just to show off what he's doing. we need more second chance act. danita: we ask that the audience refrain from applause. governor strictland, you have 30 seconds. mr. strickland: i worked in maximum security prison as a psychologist for over 10 years. i've seen the results of the criminal justice system that is broken. we're sending too many people to jail for too long a period of time. and when they get out, they're in a situation where they can't earn a living because of their records. we need to change things fundamentaly. karen: final question is to you, senator portman. you're on record calling for the repeal of the affordable care act, also known as obamacare. in 2013 you co-sponsored a bill with your senate colleague and former republican presidential candidate ted cruz, that would defund obamacare. the a.c.a. has some components that americans have said they

like. do you still believe obamacare should be repealed and if so, with what specifically will you replace it? mr. strickland: i've never said repeal without replace -- mr. portman: i've never said repeal without replace. the liberal democratic governor of minnesota just said the affordable care act is anything but affordable. this is just in the last week. bill clinton just said in the last week, it's crazy. it's not working for middle class families. ted strickland supports it strongly. in fact, he's said the wonderful. he said, obamacare is something we should celebrate. well, a 91% increase, that's the average increase for families in ohio. the individual market in ohio. that's a $200 a month increase just since obamacare went into effect. think about that. think of all the small businesses that now are struggling to provide health care because the costs have skyrocketed. the exchanges aren't working. insurance companies are leaving. there are many counties now, 30% in america, in ohio, there's only one insurance

company. no competition. this is not working for ohio families. people tell me, a woman named joanne recently wrote from me saying, i've got health care but i don't have health care because now my deductible is so high, it's like i don't even have health care. because it's $6,000. out of pocket. before anything kicks in. this is not working for anybody. it has to be replaced. i think both candidates, know that. we have to know that. it's not working for ohio. we have to replace it with something that is patient-centered, that gets more competition into the system, that gives people more choice, that does keep some of the good part of the affordable care act, the best part i think is that pre-existing conditions. if you have a pre-existing condition you can't be denied health care coverage. douk that without throwing the health care system upside down as the affordable care act has done. mr. strickland: i celebrate the fact that over 800,000 ohioans have insurance coverage through obamacare. i celebrate that. i suppose it's easy for someone

like you who gets subsidized, government subsidized health care, to talk in such a cavalier, casual manner about people who before obamacare had no access to health care. that's not a perfect bill. but it's a good bill. it's one that we ought to fix and prove, but we you a -- and improve, but we ought to keep. what the senator is suggesting, if you repeal it, you allow insurance companies once again to charge women more than men for health care, you allow insurance companies to say if you've got a pre-existing condition, we're not going to ensure you -- insure you. that's a big problem. we need to improve it, we can do that, but the senator has voted to repeal it. and i've never seen any kind of replacement as a part of any vote that he's ever cast. so it's a good thing. i'm so proud of governor john kasich for having the wisdom to expand medicare coverage, only

possible because of obamacare. you couldn't expand medicare coverage without obamacare. so i'm very excited about the fact that we are moving toward a time in america where fewer people have to worry about whether or not their kids have access to care, whether or not they'll have care if they have a pre-existing condition, and so i support obamacare. a big difference between the two of us. mr. portman: i cabinet believe that governor strickland -- can't believe that governor strictland continues to support obamacare. this is not working. absolutely you can cover people with medicaid without having the affordable care act. by the way, 3/4 of the people he's talking about who get coverage, the medicaid. it's not the exchanges. we just found out that in ohio, there's going to be a 13% increase for people in the exchanges next year. one year, 13% increase. no one can afford that. i talked about the middle class earlier, the fact that wages are flat and expenses are up. you know what the biggest expense is for most families in ohio?

health care. danita: we want to remind you that you are tuned to ohio counts. a debate between rob portman and ted strickland. .e are coming to you live we are now going to transition to the second part of our debate where we take questions from the audience. these questions are submitted by audience members and vetted by the city club and the media partners to avoid duplication. they had not been shared with the candidates. and if you are following us on twitter tonight, we will be taking one question via twitter at #cityclub. #cityclub. so you can compete tweeth your question -- tweet your question. right now we're going to go to our first audience question.

welcome. questioner: good evening. my question is on foreign policy. with isis currently losing significant territory in iraq, what do each of you see as potential solutions to help with the long-term dismantling of fundamentalist teachings that have led to the creation of isis? mr. strickland: thank you for that question. as i said earlier, syria's a very complicated, complex problem. there are factions in syria, multiple factions, religious and national factions, russia is complicating the situation certainly. first thing we should do, and i'm glad that it looks as if we're moving into mosul and we will rid isis of iraq and the effective territory they may hold. so then we'll have to focus on syria, where isis will make their final holdout, i believe. we've got to work with our partners in the area, we've got to expect them to do more,

we've got to expect saudi arabia and others to help us more than they are helping us. we've got to continue to use our air power effectively. i support the use of drones to take out isis leadership. but the final solution cannot be one that america imposes. we have been at war for going on 15 years in that part of the world. we've sacrificed our wealth and the blood of our sons and daughters. and so the last thing we should do is involve ourselves in another ground war over there. and so we need to improve intelligence, we need to share intelligence, we need to expect more out of our partners, we eed to stand up to russia, and -- sorry. i ran out of time. mr. portman: i think your question was about isis, not syria. i think we're not doing enough.

i think we ought to do three things much more effectively. one is go after them where they are. and i think the fact that we have pulled back in terms of our role in syria has given isis more breathing room. i think we need to be more aggressive in terms of using u.s. air power against isis. both in iraq and in syria. but they've spread to 20 other countries. the not going to be effective just to do that. we have to do a better job protecting our own country. as you know, a lot of foreign fighters are expected now to go back home. there was a warning issued day before yesterday by the european security officials saying that as mosul falls, which i believe it will at some point, a lot of foreign fighters are going to go back to europe. a lot of those european countries have a visa waiver program with us. where they can come back to the united states also without going through the normal procedure you would have to go for a visa. there are also foreign fighters from the united states, we don't know how many, but probably in the hundreds. so when you do a better job of screening those who are coming back into our country -- we need to do a better job of screening those who are coming

back into our country. we need to do a much better job of dealing with homegrown terrorism. including those who are isis-inspired. like san bernardino. the tragedy that occurred in orlando. and this i think is the most difficult and perhaps the most important part of this. number one, we need to work better with the muslim community here in this country. better cooperation. working together to solve this problem. because the vast ma jofert muss lims in this country -- majority of muslims in this country want to solve this problem. there is but only one example in ohio, it was the first one in the country, of a foreign fight who are came back and was arrested on terrorist charges. that was because the muslim community worked with us. danita: your time is up. we have to give governor strickland 30 seconds to respond. mr. strickland: i met with some muslim citizens recently. i heard tragic stories of how they feel as a result of what donald trump and some of his supporters are saying and

doing. i talked with two sisters who he said they went to the mosque to -- who said they went to the mosque to pray and they said, we were wondering whether or not we both should be there because if something happened to us, there would be no one left to care for our 92-year-old mother. that's the tragic situation that results from people like donald trump and their language. danita: we now go back to the audience for another he question. senator portman, you'll get this question. questioner: good evening. my question's about climate change. which is a real and present threat to the people, wildlife and ecosystems here in ohio. public health agencies are preparing for more heat-related deaths and new insect-borne diseases, water infrastructure agencies are expecting damage for more and intense rain storms and flooding, experts are concerned about water levels and algal blooms in our great lake erie, and increased smog during heat waves as well. our native species might not be able to adapt.

the national autobahn society has found that half of all the north american bird species are at risk for climate change. what are your plans to protect the people, wildlife and natural areas of ohio from the current and potential threats of a changing climate? mr. portman: thank you for the question. as you know, i've taken the lead on this issue of energy efficiency, crafted legislation with my partner from new hampshire. we have two bills signed into law about the i -- by the president. we have a third bill. the combination of the bills would be the equivalent of taking 20 million cars off the road in 15 years. what's important to me is it also creates jobs about. 200,000 additional jobs, so it's a way to do two thing. one, deal with the carbon emissions and help to create a cleaner environment. but second, to do so in a way that creates more economic growth and opportunity. i think both are important. i think they can be complimentary. that's a good example of it. i'm also the author of the tropical force conservation act which has saved 86 million acres of tropical forests around the world. not by losing any jobs here in

ohio. but by instead actually helping those countries to be able to do debt to nature swaps they call them with u.s. debt. that's been a huge savings because it's viewed as the third or fourth largest cause of carbon emissions, is the burning of these tropical forests. so i use these of examples i've done. being an vice president voice for ohio, getting things done, working across the aisle and making a concrete difference in both of those cases in terms of emissions and in both of those cases, not hurting ohio jobs. there's another approach to. this it sports the ted strickland takingest. didn't used to take it. he did move to washington, he joined up with a group there, a lobbying group, he was their chief lobbyists and that group took on our ohio interest, energy interests, coal interests, natural gas interests, and put in place and supported overregulation that makes it impossible to create jobs in ohio. for some reason there was a poll showing him -- [inaudible] karen: your time is up.

thank you. governor strictland. mr. strickland: there's only one of the two of us standing before this audience that's ever been a registered lobbyists and that's you, senator. your first job as a lobbyist was with the chinese-based firm. you were a registered foreign agent and your client was iti, at a time when the baby doc, who was a dispit, was killing people. i believe in science. thank you for the question. i believe in science. science tells us that our climate is changing. and science tells us that our climate is changing in large part because of human activity. and i believe that and i accept it. my opponent does not. he concurs that the science is changing but he's been unwilling to say that human activity is littlesy -- is significantly involved in climate change. you mentioned lake erie. obviously lake erie is being affected by climate change. that's why i support the president's clean power plan.

senator portman opposes president obama's clean power plan. i arks governor, passed an -- i, as governor, passed an energy bill that had efficiency standards and renewable standards and we were seeing major investments being made in ohio in wind and solar. and so i have taken action on this issue. senator portman opposes the most significant thing that can be done to improve our climate in this country and that's to support the president's clean power plan. he refuses to do so. he can talk about the forests somewhere else. but when it comes to what's important here in this country, he's on the wrong side. karen: senator portman. mr. portman: a lot of false claims there that we don't have time to go through. you must be desperate, governor. let me just say this about lake erie. because you mentioned it. i've been proud to take the lead there. i'm co-chair of the lake erie caucus and i've taken the lead on addressing these algal blooms, but also get rid of the

microbeads that are in lake erie. one of the huge problems here. cleveland, this area particularly. my legislation actually requires exe companies to phase out microbeads altogether. again, i worked with democrats and republicans alike, brought environmentalists in. we solved a big problem. karen: thank you. let's go now to our next audience question. welcome. questioner: my name is nancy. my question is about guns. would you explain how your stance regarding gun violence and gun registration -- regulation has either solidified or evolved in the past few years? danita: governor strickland, we'll start with you. mr. strickland: thank you for the question. my position has changed or evolved over the last several years. people ask me why. i say, well, i've got eyes and ears. i've got a head and a heart. and i see what's happening in our country and in our

communities. 33,000 americans lose their lives to gun violence each year. about 2/3 of those as a result of suicide. we can't solve the entire problem and i do believe and support the second amendment, always have and always will. but i also believe that we can have commonsense solutions to this very difficult problem. so here's what i support. i support comprehensive background checks for gun sales. including internet sales and gun show sales. that makes sense. most gun owners support that as well. in fact, the n.r.a. used to support background checks. i also support keeping those who arement ised of terrorism from being able to go into a gun store and buy a semi-automatic weapon. senator portman on the other hand voted against a bipartisan bill put forth by a republican

senate colleague that would have stoppedtivities -- terrorists from having access to guns -- stopped terrorist from having access to guns. danita: you can respond. mr. portman: in this campaign, governor strickland bragged about his a-plus rating with the n.r. a not years ago, in this campaign. he said he has a mixed and spotty record on this issue and he can be criticized for it. those are his words, not mine. i don't know where he is on this issue. i will tell where you i am, which is i do support the second amendment. i also support tightening up background checks. in particular to get mental health records into the background checks. i also do support someone who is on a no-fly list not being able to get a gun. but we need to be sure people are properly on the no-fly list. the famous example is that ted kennedy was on the no-fly list. and the legislation that i supported actually got the most votes, it was a bipartisan bill, to be able to solve that problem. i think it got 56 or 57 vote

out of 60. this is one of the thing that, again, working together we should be able to solve. the n.r.a. did not support that particular bill. but i did support it. i think that's one that, again, regards to who wins this election, regards to who wins the majority, we should figure out a way to come together because i think there's a consensus about this. if you're tonight in-fly list, you shouldn't be able to get a gun. these are important issues. and these are issues that we have to address. we have to address the deeper issue of gun violence. when i talk to police officers here in cleveland about the gun violence in this city, they say it's related to gangs and drugs. another reason for us to get at this heroin-prescription drug issue and other drug issues. mr. strickland: i'm i'll try to main -- i'll try to maintain my 30 seconds. fact is, a bill was put forth. it was written by republican senator collins of maine and it would have prevented people who were on the terrorist suspect watch list from buying guns. the world was watching.

the country was watching. senator portman voted no. he has sold his soul to the n.r.a. and that's why they have spent nearly $2 million trying to defeat me in this senate race. and i'm proud of their opposition. danita: thank you. unfortunately we're already on our last audience question. karen: this one comes from twitter. let's hear it. questioner: good evening. this question is from twitter. and from cindy and focuses on education. testing students' i.d. problems but takes away from teaching time. what changes would you make? mr. portman: it's a great question. for teachers out there who are listening, they all feel this way. maybe some a little more strongly than others. but they don't want to teach the tests. they want to teach students. so i support legislation called the every child zeeds -- succeeds act. it was bipartisan legislation. it was worked on with

republicans and democrats alike. it actually passed the united states senate a couple months ago. the president signed it into law. it did change the law. so that there aren't as many students who are being focused on the tests, not actual learning. i think that's important. i also think it's important to support our students all the way through the process. so i support allowing students who are in high school to be able to get college credit and to be able to get pell grants. i have legislation to do that. marcia fudge and i have introduced this what -- that legislation together. she introduced it in the house, i introduced it in senate. it's called early college, early high school legislation. i've also supported legislation to ensure that when someone gets out of college and they have a big student debt, which unfortunately in ohio a lot of students do, $2,000 is the average, that they should be able -- $28,000 is the average, that they should be able to consolidate and refinance that student debt. it's called the repay act. it has an interesting provision that, for stublets, they could opt never to have to pay more

than 15% of their income in interest on their debt. which i think would be a terrific thing for students and our economy. karen: governor strictland. mr. strickland: i don't know if it's the lighting in here or my perspective. but your nose seement seems to be growing -- seems to be growing. the fact is you have consistently opposed allowing ohio students to refinance their student debt at a lower interest rate. that's his record. that's his record. read the repay act. let me say this about the question. we need to respect teachers. we need to allow teachers to help us formulate the approach that we take when we try to educate our kids. we're far -- for far too long we've tried to adopt a corporate business model for our schools. we treat our children as if they're some -- these wedges. every child is individual, every child is different, every child has a different method of

learning and needs to be valued as an individual student. this testing is maddening, it's counterproductive, and it's harmful and it takes away from a good educational experience. education should be enjoyable and it should be adequately funded and we, as i said, we need to put professional educators in charge of education. and what we've done is allow politicians at the federal level to dictate too much of our education policy. karen: senator portman, you have 30 seconds. mr. portman: the bitter partisan attacks over here and the falsehoods, you know, he needs to look at the repay act. because it's good legislation. it's bipartisan legislation. it allows students in ohio to be able to pay less in student loans. that to me is very good for them. the also good for our economy, so they can buy a car, get a house, get out of the parents' basement. i think the great legislation. it's the kind of thing that i

focus on in washington as an independent voice for ohio. i know it frustrates him because i got a lot done. when he was in the united states congress for 12 years, i menged i got 45 bills done --ential -- mentioned i got 45 bills done. he got zero done. danita: we have come to the point in this debate for our closing remarks. by prior agreement, the candidates will follow the same order as the opening remarks and we want to let you know, candidates, you have 90 seconds. 90 seconds for your closing remarks. and we're going to begin with senator portman. mr. portman: great, thank you. appreciate you guys tonight and the city club. you've seen a real contrast here tonight. you've seen ted strickland talk about, again, bitter partisan attacks. he doesn't want to talk about his record. i don't blame, if i had his record i wouldn't want to talk about it either. the cleveland dealer said when they endorsed me, he has no road map for the future. that's true. on the other hand i talked tonight about my independent voice for ohio. my approach and working across the aisle to get stuff done that helps ohio families and helps ohio workers. i'm proud of that. what do i is i go to

washington, d.c., to represent theu in the united states senate, taking with me the ohio values that i learned growing up. when i was a kid i was living here in cleveland, ohio, my dad had a job as a salesman. he decided to give it all up and take a big risk. he took us back to cincinnati, ohio, which was his hometown, to follow his dream. and that was to start a small bills. he gave up his health care and his commission. mortgaged the house. couldn't get enough money to start the business because the bank wouldn't give him any money. his family didn't have any money. had to go to my mom's uncle to get a loan to start the business. it was five people, five other guys, my mom was the book keeper. they lost money the first few years. but they persevered through hard work, sacrifice and an ethical approach to business. eventually finding their niche. i worked there, my brother worked, there -- worked there, my sister worked there. i ground the rust off lift trucks, prepared them for painting. i swept the shop floor, built a

paint booth. recently i ran into a guy i've known almost my whole life. he was a lift truck mechanic at the company. danita: senator portman, need to wrap it up. sorry. governor strictland, 90 seconds for closing remarks. running out of time. mr. strickland: thank you. i want to talk to the people of ohio. there's a choice in this senate race between rob portman, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and has spent his political life looking out for people like him. the wealthy, the well connected, the washington insiders and the wall street bankers. i've got a different story. i've spent my life fighting for working people. so that's why i oppose nafta, voted for it. that's why i supported the auto rescue. he opposed it. that's why i oppose raising the retirement age and privatizing social security and voucherizing medicare. he wants to raise the retirement age. he voted to voucherize your medicare and he wants to privatize your social security. in terms of working people, he's opposed to raising the minimum wage.

he voted to strip overtime pay from $6 million of you, $6 million americans, lost overtime pay because of this man. so i'm fighting for you. i believe in working people. i think you need a break. and senator rob portman represents everything that you don't like. he's the ultimate insider and he's taking care of those who are already well to do and want to take care of regular, working ohioans. people who tulely work for a living -- actually work for a living. thank you so much. danita: we're going to ask the audyents to refrain from any noises, any sounds. we've been good so far. let's close out on a positive note. you have been tuned in to ohio counts, race for the senate. a dedebate between rob portman nd ted strickland. partners include news 5234 cleveland and wpo cincinnati 9 on your side, along with pbs.

i'd like to thank both candidates for participating in this debate tonight and a big thank you to our studio and twitter audience for their thoughtful questions. karen: for my colleague, danita harris, from news 5 here in cleveland, i'm karen from ohio public radio and television. thank you fortuning in and good night from cleveland. [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] >> c-span's "washington

journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. and coming up friday morning -- jim barnes, senior writer for, talks about the presidential race during these final weeks of the campaign. and the key house and senate races to watch. thening any, editor for "politifact" on the truthfulness of the campaign promises made by hillary clinton and donald trump. and how the truth and accuracy of the candidates' statements are measured. watch c-span's "washington journal" live beginning at 7:00 astern friday morning. >> when you grow up in an environment like i did, you need a lot of people to play a sort of heroic role in your life. for you to have a chance. and luckily i had that. i had my aunt and my sister. this is really the story of how they impacted my life in a lot of positive ways. >> sunday night on q&a, author j.d. vance talks about growing up in a poor white family in appalachia and his memtory oir. >> there wasn't this clear

connection that now exists in my mind between education and opportunities, because even the people who did pretty well in school didn't necessarily make a whole lot out of themselves. you saw so many people not really making or having good opportunities. it was hard to believe that school really mattered that much. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> after i came up with my idea of reproductive rights, i went and researched and with recent events i've heard about newer our news, i knew i could find information on that and that would also help me figure out what points i wanted to say about it. and how to form my outline for my piece. >> i think i took a very methodical approach to this process. could you if you wanted. but i think that really was a piece as dense. it's really a process of reworking and reworking. as i was trying to come up with

what my actual theme was, i was getting -- doing research at the same time and i was coming up with more ideas for what i could film and i'd come up with an idea, ok, that would be a great shot. i'd think about that. that would give me a new idea of something else to focus on. then i'd do research about that and really the whole process is just about scratching what doesn't work and you just keep going until you finally get what is the finished product. >> this year's theme, your message to washington, d.c. tell us, what is the most urgent issue for the new president and congress to address in 2017? our competition is open to all middle school or high school students, grades six through 126789 with 1 $100,000 -- 12. with $100,000 rewarded through cash prizes. you can produce a five to seven-minute documentary on the issues selected. include some c-span programming and also explore opposing opinions. the $100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded and shared between 150 students and 53 teachers. and the grand prize, $5,000,

will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. this year's deadline is january 20, 2017. so mark your dal calendars and help us spread the word to student film makers. go to our website, studentcam.org. >> tonight on c-span, the difficulty in tempering with u.s. election results. then, live coverage of hillary clinton and donald trump at the al smith dinner in new york city. and campaign events with donald trump and president obama. first, james clapper on the security of u.s. election results. this is about 45 minutes.