> today, hillary clinton and her> running mate, tim kaine campaign in pits work. eastern.rage at 4:30 then, top -- donald trump and mike pence in cleveland. live coverage here on c-span. >> after i came up with my idea

of reproductive rights, i went and research. with recent events in our news, i knew i could find information on that. decide on thep me outline for my piece. >> i do not think i took a very methodical approach to the process. you could, if you want, but with a piece as dense as this, it is really a process of reworking and reworking. when i was coming up with my theme, i was doing research at the same time. i was thinking, that would he do great shot. that would give me an idea of something else to focus on. until youeep going find what is the finished product. >> this year's theme, your message to washington, d.c..

the competition is open to all high school and did a school students, grades six through 12. work alone or in a group of up to three. include some c-span programming and expose opposing opinions. work alone or in a -- will be shared. mark your calendars and help us to spread the word to student so makers. for more information, go to our website. of booktvture feature is our coverage of book festivals from around the country. today, we are live at the

wisconsin book festival in madison. it is wisconsin's premier .iterary event featured authors include -- > for more information about the wisconsin book festival and other upcoming> events, go to booktv online. >> now a debate between the candidates for virginia's 10th congressional seat.

this is just over one hour. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. i'm honored to be with you here today. it's my pleasure now to introduce the candidates for virginia's tenth congressional district. i'm going to provide a brief introduction of each of them, but please refer to your programs for more information. barbara comstock was elected in november 2014 represent virginia's tenth congressional district. barbara currently serves on the transportation and infrastructure committee, science, space and technology committee where she serves as

chairwoman of the subcommittee on research and technology, the house administration committee in the united states house of representatives. she served in the virginia house of delegates from 2010-2015 where she served as chairwoman of the science and technology committee. she also served on the commerce and labor committee and transportation committee. she earned her law degree from georgetown university law center and graduate from middlebury college with a ba in political science. she said 30 to resident of mclean, virginia. she and her husband, retired public schools -- please welcome congresswoman barbara comstock. [applause] >> lwin bennett grew up on her family's farm east of st. louis. she and her husband moved to fairfax county 35 years ago. together they started and grew a small business, small real estate business in quebec was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in 1994. left a single working mother of three boys running a business. today her small business has

worked on projects that help create job opportunities for more than 1000 workers and generated millions of dollars in economic development for the metro region. while promoting energy efficiency and a financially sustainable development. ms. bennett earned her bachelor's degree in education from eastern illinois university. she was married to congressman jim durand from 2004-2011 while they represented the neighboring eighth congressional district, and they remain friends today. she continues her work with the number of foundation fighting for working families across the region and across virginia. please welcome luann bennett. [applause] >> so we also invite the audience to submit your questions to the candidates. there are no cards that were

placed -- notecards placed in your seat. please feel free to write a question down, and a staff member of the change will come by and bring it forward. please remember to keep your questions focused on business issues. all questions will be kept anonymous. another way for the audience to engage is to use hashtag novadebates and at nova chamber on twitter each candidate will receive up to two but for an opening statement. candidates will be provided up to two minutes for a closing statement. following the question and answer period. the order was predetermined by drawing part to the debate. you drink a question and answer

period the candidate answering first this provide with one minute 30 seconds to respond. the candidate patrick second will receive one minute 30 seconds to provide an answer to the same question. additionally, the candidate answering first will be a loud one minute for a rebuttal. candidates will alternate between answering first and second a moderator may ask follow-up questions. per the predebate drawing, congresswoman comstock will provide the first opening statement, and for the first question of the debate and have the right to close out that question with her rebuttal time. ms. bennett will provide the second opening statement, answer the last question of the debate first, have the right to close out that question with her rebuttal time. kevin mcnulty of the chamber sitting up front is our timekeeper, and is located at the front of the stage. for each statement of response the timekeeper will show a green card with 30 seconds remaining, yellow card for 10 seconds, and a red card when time is up.

a moderator will interrupt the candidate if they do not complete their sentence probably. time-limited will be strictly enforced. in order to be respectful of each candidate we asked the audience to refrain from applause after the answers are given. in addition let me mention only credentialed media, we have a lot of them here today, are permitted to film the event. the individual filling debate is not a credentialed member of the media will be asked to leave. with that, let's begin the opening statement. congresswoman comstock, you have two minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning, northern virginia chamber. you know me. i've been of this chamber are either record of real accomplishments, results that are already working for the 10th district another for discussing my record and my vision for the future. my opponent has a little involved in the virginia business community or the issues driving our diverse innovation economy. my record of real bipartisan result, 600 billion in tax relief, stop defensive posture cuts, as education reform including stem, data center growth in research and develop a tax credits, transportation

solutions, 20% to cures, landmark care when legislation request my opponent been on these issues? not working for virginia. and for the past decade not even living in addition. she spent her career in d.c. real estate and her office but make she said she moved to washington, d.c. in 2014. i am the only northern northern virginia member of congress in the majority. and the only chairwoman right now. this chamber endorsement would've serve as a delegate and have used the chamber and every leading business organization and has endorsed me as have our federal employees, the employees benevolent association and the fairfax firefighters previously endorsed democrats. my opponents talking points include telling us that 1 trillion in tax increase of my create a lot of jobs. she supports most if not all of the obama labor regulations you hurting jobs and i know you

oppose. she opposes my competitive bidding legislation that the chamber endorsed to cut defense which would harm our national security and our jobs, and she thinks obamacare makes health care more affordable. i have a lifetime of experience the relations is working with the businesses, schools, charities and leaders of our community that makes the 10th district the best place to work, live, start a business and raise a family. i am my own woman. i it is my strong voice for your priorities. together we can build on this strong foundation. thank you. >> ms. bennett, you have two minutes for your opening statement. >> good morning. i stand here as one of you. i fronted business for 35 years and shared your frustrations with the do-nothing congress that can't pass a budget. i'm also here as a mother to three sons, and a grandmother to my grandson, sam. the decisions congress makes him

or more accurately, doesn't make, what impact all of our children and our grandchildren. congress is broken and that must change. 35 years ago my husband rick and i moved to northern virginia. we raise our voice and started a real estate business. in 1994 we lost rick to cancer, and i was left a single working mom running a business in the middle of a recession. it was tough but i never missed a payroll. you one of the things that i will learned from this experience is that in challenging times that are always opportunities. and i see tremendous opportunities right here in the and 10th district. you and i know that in business he resolve problems every single day by working together, even with people we don't agree with. barbara comstock went to washington and fit right into the obstructionist congress. we should've seen it coming. when as a state delegate -- delegate should vote against a

bipartisan transportation bill, the very bill that brought the silver line to dulles airport and beyond. on top of that my opponent just recently said she could no longer support the candidate, donald trump. unfortunately, she continues to support his agenda, an agenda you that would block equal pay, block comprehensive immigration reform, block commonsense gun safety, denies climate change, punishers women are making their own health care choices, and an agenda that divides the country. thank you to all the sponsors of today's debate. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you. mike, i think will come forward and try and adjust your mic so that -- i think yours was working well. let's just take a positive year -- a pause here.

so mike is telling me he would like you to redo your opening ms. bennett is that what you're saying? yes. >> really? >> jim, i'm sorry. >> we heard it. >> mike? >> of the people in the back of the room here that ok? >> ok. we will move forward. thank you for your statements. we will move on to the first question which goes to will question which goes to congresswoman comstock. you metro, metro has often been in the news cycle are all the wrong reasons in the past few years here fortunately the hiring of a strong general

manager, business start to change but funding remains an issue. that metro system to a large extent at in this transportation system for federal government employees, and for employers whose companies service the federal government. what responsibility does the federal government have in funding operating and capital for metro? and how would you advocate for this funding? >> thank you. indeed, match was been one of our biggest challenges from the first days when i was elected and we had a tragic accident. i'm sorry, you're not hearing? could you maybe fix her microphone so we're both are speak with mike, could you coming you please? we need a microphone check. let's start out for one second. mike? i apologize for this. we have several rounds of testing beforehand. >> yes, we can do, congresswoman comstock. we are going to go to the first question to congresswoman comstock again.

it was about metro, often in the news now strong general manager what responsible is does the federal government have in funding operating and capital for metro and how will you advocate for that funding? ms. comstock: thank you again. and we've been working on this since i was elected and actually before having worked on the competitive bidding legislation to make sure you get the silver line going but after the accident in january of 2015, we really brought people together on a bipartisan basis and nature the safety culture is going to be the top priority. i commend our new general manager for hiring new safety people, for clearing out some of the deadwood that in management and really putting new practices in place. the $150 million a year that it already been in the system to be able to support metro, when my own party tried to cut that out, they cut out 75 million, i worked on a bipartisan basis

with the region to get that restored. i believe having a majority member in their in my conference to push this was a very strong reason why we were able to get that restored in there. i also worked on the issue of crime that metro. we see rising crime. we had incidents of a rape at 10:00 in the morning that wasn't reported for over a month. so when we had a hearing as the general manager, this needs to be reported immediately. i'm happy to say she change the policy that very day. so i'm working every day. i have been out to the rock, the control center. i'm talking about controlling costs, and they do think the need to be a federal role in it but as you've recently, when you

of the governors and the mayor here, there's still a lot of work to be done and resistance on that, but i am already working as part of a bipartisan coalition of that. bennett: you know, i'll region at our local economy depend on a safe and reliable metro system. 40% of our federal workforce takes the metro. we need safety and we need reliability, but we do need to find the improvements that need to be made. we need to make sure the system is safe. i would point out that we would not have the metro system going to dulles airport and into loudoun county were it up to the congresswoman. when she was in the house of delegates she voted against the funding for metro, against the largest bipartisan transportation bill to come out of richmond. she did it the because she five -- she signed the grover

norquist no tax pledge. this was a pledge taken to -- that's a perfect example of it. we need to find metro. metro needs $18 million in capital repairs. this is precisely why i support a federal infrastructure spending authority, much along the lines of senator mark warner's act. is a bipartisan bill in the senate to senator warner has the signatures on both sides of the aisle. there's also a bill in the house. john delaney has a built that would provide infrastructure spending. that is the kind of thinking and thinking that we need to fix garden ecosystem and fix our

infrastructure across the country. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. comstock: as a nation to competitive bidding bill we worked on together with jim and many of my colleagues and was support on a bipartisan basis by this chamber and the business community, many of our former governors supported my bidding bill. we would not have gotten the vote to get to metro, to dulles and to loudoun if we have not had the competitive bidding bill. so that was my legislation. my colleague knows i do know support metro. the budget that was mentioned, you were not here, you were elsewhere, not working in virginia, but that was the medicaid issue that is concerned but in the budget but i have already worked to restore the money. i've worked with my colleague john delaney on legislation regarding metro as well as congressman dan lipinski who's on the science and technology committee where a chair a subcommittee on research. we have a bill that's going to be working on how we can do with safety and terrorist threats, on metro. i am immersed in this every day. when we emergency grants i was working with them. i meeting with paul and his leadership team this summer. i went to -- emergency meetings in august turning thank you so

much. ms. bennett, the next question is for you. workforce education is a core priority for the northern virginia chamber of commerce. what type of workforce education initiative would you propose at the federal level that are responsive to the business needs, or the needs of the business community in northern virginia? how can you work with your counterparts in state and local government to ensure that the federal workforce education program achieved a maximum results in northern virginia? bennett: education is critical to our future and it's a subject i know quite a bit about because i've been working in my private capacity to provide educational opportunities for over two decades. our economic competitiveness, the success of our children, depends on high quality education. we do need to educate our workforce for 21st century jobs, and with great opportunities to do that in our community college systems. i think we have the infrastructure buildout. we need to maximize the use of it. right here in virginia we have 37,000 unfilled technology jobs. in the short run we need to increase the amount of high skilled visas available to companies to be able to fill those jobs here but in the long run we need to we educate our american workforce to fill those jobs. i will work hard to provide funding for education. my opponent, however, has cut public school education funding both in the house not end in the congress. and how she got sick so 20 million from the public school budget, and in the congress she voted for an $800 million cut.

she actually voted against an amendment that would provide stem grants for women, minorities and low income students. that's the kind of think we simply cannot do if we're going to move forward into the 21st century. >> moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds kind of action on the only one on this stage that has been very involved in virginia public schools the virginia public universities. i come from a family of educators. my husband is in the fairfax system. my mom is a teacher and librarian. i've already worked with state and local officials, many of my colleagues, pat, stu, tom who chaired subcommittees on education so i have those were to relationships on education. on tech jobs we've already passed the s.t.e.m. education bill that was part of our education reform. we had a major education reform bill when we were in richmond and i was a delegate. also, we, tom and i and others enrichment stopped the $120

million in cuts in 2010, one of the first things i dealt with when i became a delegate. we had a bipartisan coalition to stop the. my apple it was not here working with us on the issues, but what she's talking about is what is spent more money downstate while we're going to have increased taxes, right, tom? we fought together and restore the 120 million. i'm the one with relationships with the george mason. my built ongoing the regulations and researchers said they can really research. i have a stem bill for young

women, i get myself on a bipartisan basis, already has passed the house and is now out of the senate committee. >> moderator: thank you. ms. bennett 60 seconds. bennett: budgets are about priorities. you know, joe biden has a great line he likes to use. he said, it's from his dad, he said joey, show me a your budget and i'll tell you your priorities. democrats prioritize education, and we need to do that in congress today. education is an investment. you and i coming from the business community we know the difference between investment and spending. education, infrastructure, these are investments in our country. we need to invest in our country just like you and i invest in our businesses to grow. education will make us more

competitive. we need to fund these programs. >> moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, according to our friends at the north of virginia transportation alliance, currently more than half of the region's population lives outside the capital beltway. that pattern will continue as projections indicate that most of the 2040 growth will also occur in the outer portions of our region, particularly in northern virginia. for this reason the business kennedy has been calling for an upgrade or american -- and a new northwestern potomac river crossing. question, do you support the additional northwestern potomac river crossing? and if so what would you do in congress to bring this project to fruition? and if not, why? comstock: for the first

time in 10 years we've passed the transportation reform bill in congress without raising taxes and i was proud as an of of the transportation committee to the on that conference committee to get that work done. as you know from having i believe the chamber recently had a discussion here with virginia and maryland governor and the d.c. mayor, those are challenge issues and we also know from having worked with state and local officials we know we need to have more corridors but we have to work from the ground up. we cannot impose it, it's not like the '70s where you come in and draw lines and have people not include the public. i know when i was a state delegate i worked on different quarters, group 70 we will talk to make sure we got that right. my state and local colleagues do all the time. i've told the business community and i told my state and local colleagues i will sit down and work with you. i will go to these meetings and map these things out and work with them and make sure we get those corridors that we know we

still need, and we do have money in the current transportation budget to start that process. that was something we did what we have to get agreement on the ground level, and that's going to require the kind of collaboration and leadership you have when you work with the people who are the key players in all of these things from the business community, from the state and local officials, for people are going to come up with new technology which we have like a george washington university on how we can relieve congestion and find a better way to have our congestion relief get good transportation solutions. ms. bennett: the congresswoman loves to talk about the legislation she was a part of passing the problem is this congress has to pass an appropriations process in six years. that's unbelievable. if that happened in your business or my business, we would be out of business. we need a congress that will pass an appropriations bill. it doesn't matter how much authorization legislation you pass if you don't find it, it can happen. so i would say we need a big change in congress.

she likes to talk about the fact that my business is located in washington, d.c., and works regionally. i think in this case that's really an advantage. i have a long-standing relationship with people in maryland and in d.c. and in virginia. if the transportation solutions for this region are going to have to be negotiated regionally regionally, with regional cooperation. those relations -- relationships will be hugely beneficial when it comes time to really talk about the hard questions that have to be answered. i am for upgrading our infrastructure here locally. it's critically important. all of us know, you cannot separate transportation from

economic development. they are joined at the hip, and we have to address our chess notation issues in order for the northern virginia region to continue to grow. thank you. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. ms. comstock: as i mentioned i've worked with you on these issues over the seven years i've been in the legislative but also an award for august will as a senior a. i know to cut through the gridlock because i've been part of the bipartisan governing majority. there's only one person on the stage will be in the majority. we don't need another minority member of congress and you can't add to the region. my opponent hasn't worked, don't think she's been a member of this chamber or other virginia chambers at some of the i've worked with our melancholic. we know we're going to need to have that type of collaboration. that's why you had recent forum to have that discussion and to get that done. that's what i provided work done five year long-term deal.

the first time in 10 years we got a long-term transportation bill that i have a seat at the table and. we provide congestion relief provisions in there and i was proud when it went up to the george washington science and tech research center to see this young man who's working on drivers cars with my bill sitting on his desk saying how that will help our local area. moderator: ms. bennett, the next question is for you. the loudoun county parkway, excusing of loudon park he -- to the fastest-growing counties in the united states. but they lack robust interconnectivity. do you support the by county parkway? if so, what role can you play and bring it to fruition? and if not, how would you propose to bring about a much-needed north-south connection? left.. transportation options seeming to do all of the above. we had bus service, bike trails, we need road improvements, we need a safe and reliable metro. i'm concerned with our silver livestock when they open in 2020. we have to connect to a healthy and reliable system. if we don't, a huge opportunity for growth is going to pass us

by so i will work and to ensure that metro gets the funding necessary to make this a safe and reliable system and that's going to take federal involvement. i have metro hearings and i've seen the congresswoman talk with metro officials and all i've seen is criticism, i've seen no solutions. in business you can't afford to be a critic. you have to find solutions. sometimes they're not perfect solutions but we have to move

this forward. i look forward to being a part of the solution, thank you >> as i mentioned earlier from my work, our local officials hereto from prince william, the reason your effort to put them there did not work is the officials from the state level as in my own party did not go and work with the local delegates, work with the local delegation . to find consensus to work that way. on route seven, i've already worked on that. both as a delegate and vince callahan was still there with us and we celebrated how we came

together to work out those issues, there are a lot of issues notwithstanding. my opponent , talking about metro, she's been endorsed by a company that is being sued by the obama administration. how bad do you have to be as a union, this administration is suing you. this is a union that will work with our new general manager y worked with and i should mention we got the crime reporting phase. i can assure you we have a new general manager comes out and works with us weekly, monthly basis, appreciate i am engaged and involved. we both are critics. we tell the critics what's going on on metro. if you're not a critic right now

of safety at metro, and what's going on, you're not seeing reality but we're coming up with solutions and we had a hearing, i talked about having better, i'm not going to talk about that again. >> thank you. ms. bennett i'd like to address : this issue of the fact that congresswoman comstock says she's going to be a member of the majority. first of all, that's a big assumption. i think it's kind of up for grabs whose going to be in the majority in the house but second of all, to be a member of a majority that works less than half the business phase in a session and gets less done , passes no appropriations bills doesn't have any significant or very little significant legislation, i don't know what that does for any of us. i believe that we need to work. i think congress should have a minimum number of days is required to work. you're required to teach a minimum number of days, congress should go to work and congress needs to get the work done for the american people. this republican-led congress is simply not doing that. it's got to have people there

that are going to change it. moderator: congresswoman comstock the next question is for you. in a report, dr. stephen fuller from george mason identified the following seven sectors as target and her she's for growth. the question will be, which of these sectors do you view as the biggest opportunity for growth in northern virginia, and how can you support that growth in congress? best sectors are advocacy, information and communication technology services. science and technology services. biological, health and technology services. business and financial services. media and information services. and business and leisure travel services.

so, advocacy information communication technology services, science and technology services, biological, health and healthy services, business and financial services, media and information services and is is and leisure travel services. how can you support that growth in congress? 90 seconds. congesswoman comstock: i've worked in all the sector throughout my career. so i wouldn't select just one. our region is so talented. and that's why we are growing in all these areas. the regional growth in our area, thanks to the permanent research and development tax credit that we passed in the $600 billion tax relief package last year is providing more innovation. so we have great innovation in all these areas. information technology, cyber security. i have worked five hearings on my research and technology hearings. i have had cyber experts come

and a leader in loudoun, we had , john would come in and testify for us. and i'm proud to have his support on how we can use the expertise in our private sector bring that into the government. he was a great advocate for us. on the science and technology area, we have to partner with our universities. that is why having the kind of leadership that we have and those relationships, i don't start fresh. i have a lifetime of relationships in the public education system, on biology, i'm so excited with what is going on with the new cancer center in innovaro. another good leader in our area. todd stottlemyre, leading that has been a leader in the business community. and all the above, i would not select anything. we have the town to grow in all these areas.

moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, 90 seconds. congesswoman comstock: -- ms. bennett: if we are going to focus on any sectors, i would focus on the sectors we have a really good core infrastructure in. and certainly, information technology and cyber are two areas that will be growth areas. information and technology is a big sector. cyber is a real opportunity. we need to, in our military fund the wars of today and tomorrow. and they will be fought in the technology space. by and large. acting by state players. hacking by state players. we need to fund our cyber sector. we have great companies. we have great companies that are located right here in the 10th district.

this is a great opportunity for the 10th district. biotech is a great area as well. we have the research center and anova. we have great institutions. we need to make sure we get the proper funding. health care will be a growing sector. these are great opportunities. there is one you didn't mention that i would like to mention and that is the opportunity in an alternative energy sector. we are in an energy transition. and supporting energy technology and manufacturing -- wind turbines and solar panels. it is a real opportunity. moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. congesswoman comstock: in order to get the pipeline to have great stem jobs and information technology, we have been working hard to support with the education reform bill to get more local control. we have a great place, we know that we have tj in fairfax and

in loudoun they have the munro technology center and they are expanding into special academies of science that will be in the actual school. my opponent wants to cut defense. she is fundraising on the basis of cutting defense. if you cut defense you won't have the money for cyber that you need. i would also like to mention, and i hope we discussed this, 21st century will which is about innovation. that is why we get that here with nih locally. we could have an explosion of biotechnology through the region and i think we should look at it regionally as well as just virginia. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, the next question is for you. despite promises that things will be different, the house only approved five of 12 appropriation bills and only one was enacted into law on time. as a result, the federal government is once again being funded almost entirely through

continuing resolutions. this time until december 9. as resolutions do not provide long-term certainty that many of the companies in the region need to do business with the federal government to invest in the workforce and grow their companies. without blaming the other party or the senate for the house's failure to approve the bills, question what needs to change for the two parties to work together and start developing and passing budget and appropriations bills on time? and how could you reach across the aisle to get this done? and who would you work with? so what needs to change, how would you reach across the aisle and who could you work with on a bipartisan basis? ms. bennett: what needs to change is our leadership. we need leaders who actually want to get something done. we don't have that right now. we have leaders who want to

obstruct and not take any hard vote. this is because we are so driven by politics and not what is good for the american people. we need leaders who are willing to tell the truth to their constituents about the choices that have to be made. i will work with anybody. when you are in the business sector, you and i all know that you have to work with anybody to get solutions to problems. and nine times out of 10, maybe 10 times that of 10, you're working with somebody you don't agree with. you don't solve problems by talking to your own caucus and your own friends. you solve problems by talking to the other side. and you have to listen and you have to hear them. the democratic party doesn't have all the solutions. the republican party has good ideas as well. we need to work together. we need to form public-private partnerships. i think the business community has lots of good ideas.

the government and the business community need to work together. democrats and republicans, we need to work together and i intend to do just that when i go to congress after november 8. moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock 90 , seconds. comstock: i was one of the 75 republicans who voted to keep the government open from the very beginning and i have been part of the governing majority both within my caucus and within the congress. which is why i've been named one of the 20 most bipartisan members of congress in the republican caucus because, and i think, a top 100 in general, because i have already establish that i have the working relationship. when i was in the statehouse, my bills were almost exclusively bipartisan bills. and i had all the right to work legislation that we work together on. the datacenter bills that we worked to make sure data centers

were going to local economy. i have already demonstrated that. you have good ideas and build coalitions for areas of the economy and more so people who i've worked with -- i mention lipinski. my minority member chairman. we work together with the medical community and research. he was a professor. we worked together on how we can get metro solutions using technology. using congestion relief solutions in terms of technology. so i am the only one on the record who is actually done what my opponent only talks about. i practice what she preaches. you haven't heard any examples about how she has gotten results for northern virginia. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, 60 seconds. ms. bennett: our congress hasn't given us many results either, to be quite honest. you know, you are not a bipartisan when you sign

ideological pledges. like the grover norquist no tax pledge. it causes you to take bad votes. when you make commitments to the gun lobby, which cause you to vote 25 times to block legislation from coming to the floor that would keep guns out of the hands of people on the terror watch list. this is common sense. we need to use common sense in this country. and be genuinely bipartisan. not just in name. the congresswoman won't even sign on to don byers freedom of religion bill. i mean, freedom of religion -- who could be against that? but she won't sign it. so i don't buy it. moderator: congresswoman comstock, the next question is for you. would you be willing to put everything on the table, discretionary spending,

entitlement spending and taxes achieve a long-term budget deal that provides greater stability to northern virginia instances and reduces deficit in a broader and more equitable manner then the discretionary spending cap that we currently have under the budget control act or sequestration? 90 seconds. comstock: yes, and i've demonstrated a record of that. one of my top priorities was the sequester cuts which were crushing our local economy and were devastating to the national security. so yes, i'm willing to work on all of these things. we are already doing that. you talk about ideological things, my opponent is already said that she supports $1 trillion in taxes and she has said that congress needs to do whatever hillary clinton wants. i don't think you need a congress that is whatever hillary clinton wants. i'm going to be, and i have

already demonstrated seven years work that will work for you. and i am willing to stand up against my own party as i did when they went after federal employees. i said, i would not vote for a budget if they are going after federal employees in the way that they wear. so they knew that they had to come and negotiate and work with me. i worked with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis. when we were in the statehouse, we went and asked our state agency people to work with us to find savings. and we said, we will give you a bonus if you can find places to save money and over several years who were able to save all kinds of money and give our employees a bonus and let them be part of the solution. so i have already had a demonstrated record of working to get everyone together and get them to the table. that is why i have been part of the governing majority with 75 publicans or 100. to get a budget passed. moderator: ms. bennett, 90

seconds. congesswoman comstock: -- ms. bennett: i am for a simpson bowles type plan to reduce debt. we cannot pass on the level of national debt to our children and grandchildren. one of the reasons i'm running. this isone of the reasons i'm running. my candidacy is about the future. this is about the world that we leave our children. and one of the main things that we are doing is leaving them a lot of debt. we have to fix this. what i'm not for is gimmicks like sequestration that only come about when you can't pass a budget. and when you play be zero-sum games. i am also not for government shutdowns. it's bad for our economy and it is bad for business and it is especially bad for northern virginia. business needs certainty. and what that means is that they need the government to set the rules so that they know how they can invest in their companies. you and i understand that. unfortunately, the congresswoman doesn't.

the games that we play in congress are the worst thing for our businesses. we need certainty. we need to pass legislation like comprehensive immigration reform. that will fix our broken immigration system. we need bills like major infrastructure funding sources. that will invest in our infrastructure and create jobs in the short run and then fund infrastructure improvements and improve our economy. moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock. congesswoman comstock: we have already started on tax or formally passed the $600 billion tax relief package that had the permanent tax credit. and i should mention that when i was in the statehouse, there was a tax credit in virginia. that helps the economy. we also need to have the certainty. that is what we did with the tax bill as well. permanent expensing for small businesses.

a permanent child tax credit because we know the cost of kids is pretty permanent. i also introduce something to double be credit. i also cosponsored a bill that would increase the tax credit because it hasn't been an index since my children were young. and we need to do that. $1 trillion in tax increases is not the way you will provide certainty to businesses. when i go to these businesses, i have already been there, and i hear, thank you for providing certainty but you have to give us more. and we do have some who work on a bipartisan basis but they are trying to add more tax increases. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, there are an estimated 874,000 virginians who are uninsured and health-care premiums continue to increase much faster than wages.

what would you do in congress to address these issues? 90 seconds. ms. bennett: one of the biggest things that would help immediately would be to pass medicaid expansion. it would immediately address the 400,000 uninsured virginians. and it would address this by taking back money that we are sending back to washington. right now we have the worst of all worlds. the congresswoman has voted against medicaid expansion. i think that is misguided and it shows a breathtaking lack of understanding in budgets and economics. the other thing is that we now have the affordable care act. the affordable care act has addressed the access issue. in 2005, we had 47 million uninsured americans. we now have 20 million more

insured americans. we need to do more work on the cost side. we need to fix this bill. it is not perfect. it does need to be fixed. this is the kind of bipartisan work that we need. not voting to repeal it without any sensible replacement. 65 times. that is a total waste of time. not only are they working less than half the time and then when they are there, they are taking silly votes. like repealing a major piece of legislation rather than finding ways to make it better. moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, 90 seconds. congesswoman comstock: i guess that is at least an improvement. we are not hearing that obamacare has made health care more affordable. but we see the exchange is collapsing around the country. we see that premiums are skyrocketing. if you have a $3000 deductible and you are somebody who has a modest income, you don't have access to health care, in

essence. i think we need to buy across state lines. we need to be able to have health savings account so people can put their money aside when they are young. we also need more community health centers. and i have voted for having more community health centers that provide one-stop shopping for low income people. doctors come in and provide charitable care and it is a place for people can go to get health care and family planning and packages and all kinds of primary services. and that is what we have done. obamacare was totally partisan. not one republican voted for it. so what we need is to have bipartisan solutions where we sit down and work with people across the aisle and get it done. people pleaded with the

president at the time to do that. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, 60 seconds. ms. bennett: there is another health care issue that we feel acutely here in northern virginia and across the country and it is the opioid and heroine problem. congress has passed a bill but they haven't funded it. the administration asked for $1.1 billion in funding to address this crisis that we are seeing in the country. and i believe they passed $37 million, finally, in the continuing resolution. this is the kind of legislating that we need to stop doing. we need to, when we passed bills, if these crisis is are are happening, we need to address them quickly and we need to get them adequate funding in order to solve the problem. the zika virus was another one. it finally got funded but we had a zika crisis this summer and not only was it not addressed in

this congress but he took off for five weeks and the and address it. finally, a bill was passed this fall and funding with but in the continuing resolution. in the meantime, people were suffering and children were being affected. our congress has to do better than that. moderator: congresswoman comstock, the next question is for you -- oh, i'm sorry. your response? congesswoman comstock: i would be delighted to work and talk about the heroine issue. i had my first hearing in winchester where we first saw problems and now they have spread around the district. i have worked with numerous task forces. they're in loudoun county and fairfax county. we had done right around -- ride arounds with the drug force. there are great in fairfax, they are working hard. we know baltimore, that is the

main avenue for bringing heroine down here and that is why i was part of the caucus in congress to get this important legislation passed. i had a proponent for more funding in drug trafficking areas. we already are here in the fairfax area. so i have worked on a bipartisan basis with everyone we can. i have regular meetings with the commonwealth attorney. this is going to be an integrated thing. i'm going to fight for more money. i expect that in the lame-duck we will get more money there. moderator: thank you. we will move on, did you want a response? ok. congresswoman comstock, maryland has traditionally received a substantial amount of research dollars while virginia have like -- lagged behind in funding for conducting research. with the emergence of george mason, an investment that

nola is making in personalized health and the work being done at the george washington college loudoun county, how can you help bring more research dollars to virginia? 90 seconds. congesswoman comstock: as i mentioned earlier, i have been working on this particularly as the chairman of the research and science subcommittee. these are the kinds of things we have hearings on all the time. we just had a woman in bio event. where we went and talked to women about what they need in research. my bill reduces the amount of paperwork that researchers have to do and that means that genius researchers that we have, we have more money when we were in the state house right, tom? and they are a leader now in that area. we have a woman researching there who has been named one of the top 40 most brilliant people in the country or the world.

and she is working on nanotechnology. they are doing urine tests for lyme disease and for breast cancer. imagine how exciting that will be to have the breakthroughs? and they are going on in our own region. that is why i have worked with george washington. that is why the 21st century chores bill will be a great way to get more research through. and i have heard he voted for more funding and i would love to get that into this region. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, 90 seconds for you. ms. bennett: i am a big believer in research. we, in the private sector, who run businesses, know how important that research and development is to the growing of our businesses. it is equally important to the growth of our country. so we need to vote to fund research dollars. this congress has not voted to do that. it has cut funding for nih and all kinds of research facilities.

we need to fund the research necessary. i also agree that we need to get our universities to work cooperatively and share information. we need to prioritize this. it is something that i would certainly do. and thank you. moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. congesswoman comstock: all of us deal with cancer and diabetes and all those diseases. that is why i am so passionate. i am sick of getting those friends tell you they have been diagnosed with a chronic and deadly disease like cancer. i have already worked on these things, as i mentioned. we have increased the funding of nih. we have had the increases and i still think it needs to be more.

that is why we mandated funding into the cure's bill. it is expected to pass through the house, and the senate will hopefully take it up in the lame-duck. and the president has indicated he would sign it. i strongly supported that when some of my colleagues on my own side didn't. i think that is critical and it will reduce the deficit. these diseases are costing us so much in medicare. moderator: thank you. ms. bennett, what do you think our nation's energy policy, what do you think should be our nation's energy policy? how does it make a difference to the 10th district, and what have you done or will you do specifically to advance that? 90 seconds. ms. bennett: we are in a major energy transition in this country and the world. i have the knowledge and experience to navigate this transition. i served on governor tim kaine's climate change commission.

a bipartisan commission looking for common sense energy solutions. our own military considers climate change one of our greatest national security crisis. and yet the congresswoman recently voted not to affirm the climate change even exists. if we are going to move forward that we have to recognize that there is a problem. and we definitely have a problem. climate change represents a tremendous opportunity for our country. we should embrace the alternative energy. we should be a leader in the world in combating climate change. i think that we do need to be manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels right here. we shouldn't be buying them from china and india, as we are now. so i fully support the energy transition.

it is a transition. it will happen over time. and we need to reach train those -- retrain those workers in the 20th century energy economy to provide work in the 21st century. moderator: thank you. haveesswoman -- i think we water for you. we give you 90 seconds on the same question about our nation's energy policy and what it should be? congesswoman comstock: thank you. another area where we have worked closely with the chamber and all of the above energy community. it is why i have been supported by the chamber and business organizations because they understand that you can do the all of the above solutions. when i was in the statehouse i drafted a bill that was incorporated to the offshore drilling bill that we have already passed in virginia. my opponent opposes that. what that would do is provide royalties to go to

transportation, a dedicated stream of money that we know that we need, it also provides 25% of research for alternative energy. so you have a premium going to our own universities. you would have our universities getting this stream of funding coming in to research and develop the next generation of alternative energy. some of my own party attacked me we supported green tax credits. on -- but i am a coalition in congress that is working on alternative research. but we can't have carbon taxes like my opponent supports. the commission she was on wanted carbon taxes. one of the many new additional taxes she had, we need to work that is taxes she had, we need to work with innovation. we have a great technology community here. we can take our community here and do offshore drilling. get new resources into alternative energy and it is a great way to create good, high

paying jobs. moderator: 60 seconds. ms. bennett: we need leadership in this area. we are in a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. we need to recognize the opportunities in innovation and manufacturing and we need to manage the challenges that any transition presents. i can do this. i've done it in my business several times. and we need to do this in government as well. my three sons who i mentioned earlier, all three of them have started their own businesses. so in our family we are a four business family. one of the businesses is an technology company. and it addresses conservation in commercial office buildings. i'm very proud of him, as i am of all my sons, but we do work in this area. this won't happen overnight but make no mistake, it has to tech. happen.

so let's stop fighting climate change and pretending it doesn't exist, congresswoman, and let's embrace this opportunity to grow our economy by being a leader in green technology. >> thank you congresswoman comstock. >> she had the last -- we're going to move on to a question for you. contractors believe the governance process for acquiring goods and services is in need of dramatic overhaul. for companies in northern virginia to cyber security and other high-tech fields, the time it takes from identifying any to awarding a final contract often doesn't keep up with the evolving threats and challenges, much less the private sector innovation needed to meet them. often, what committees do you wish to serve on in the next congress that will position you