already we have seen characterizations that they are reopening the investigation as part of a statement from john podesta. >> later in the day, hillary clinton made a brief statement in des moines concerning the fbi's announcement about the discovery of new e-mails. we took a few questions from the news media. mrs. clinton: good afternoon, i would like to say a few words and then take your questions. comey'sow seen director

letter to congress. we are a few days out from perhaps the most important election of our lifetime. voting is already underway in our country. deserve ton people get the full and complete facts immediately. the director himself as a said, he does not know whether the e-mails referenced in his letter are significant or not. i am confident that whatever they are, they will not change the conclusion reached in july. therefore, it is imperative that the bureau explains this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay. i look forward to moving forward to focus on the important challenges facing the american people, winning on november 8, and working with all americans to build a better future for our country. thank you. blacks have your any of your advisers heard from comey or anyone else at the fbi today?

will in any way reveal classified information that you sent or received? no, we have not been contacted by anyone. the first we heard was in this letter sent to republican members of the house was released. we do not know the facts. which is why we are calling on the fbi to release all the information that it has. noted thator comey this new information may not be significant, so let's get it out. >> you have 11 days to go, what would you say to a voter right now who would hear what you are saying, they said i did not trust her before or any more right now, and they are headed to the ballot box tomorrow? mrs. clinton: i think people a long time ago made up their

minds about the e-mails. that has factored into what people think and now they are choosing a president. so i would urge everybody to get out and vote early. and all the states that have early voting, because i think americans want a president who can lead our country and get the economy working for everyone, not just those at the top. and, can bring our country together. can do that, and i am confident the american people know that. we will continue to discuss what is at stake in the selection because i believe that it is one of the most consequential elections ever. >> secretary clinton, there are some reports that these e-mails were found on devices that and have your aides, you spoken to huma, has she given you any information? mrs. clinton: we have heard these rumors, we do not know what to believe. that is why it is incumbent upon

the fbi to tell us what they are talking about, because right now, your guess is as good as mine. and i do not think that is good enough. that ifthat very clear they are going to be sending that is onlyletter going originally to republican members of the house, that they need to share whatever facts they claim to have with of the american people. and that is what i expect to happen. thank you, all. >> if you missed any of the presidential debate, go to www.c-span.org using your desktop, phone, or tablet. on our special debate page you can watch the entire debate, choosing between the split screen or split camera options. you can even go to specific

questions and answers, finding the content you want, quickly and easily. and use our video clipping tool to create clips of your favorite favorite debate moments to post a social media. >> a look at some of the debates in congressional races across the country. we begin with one between the candidates running for u.s. senate in georgia. next, the debate in the minnesota eighth district debate. after that, candidates running for the sixth u.s. district house seat in colorado. now, i debate in the race for the u.s. senate seat in georgia. the candidates include incumbent republican senator johnny isakson, democratic challenger jim barksdale, and allen buckley of the libertarian party.

they discuss tax policy, the national debt, health care law, and term limits for members of congress. this is about one hour. >> the 2016 club loudermilk young debates brought to you , from the studios of georgia public broadcasting. the race for united states senate. mr. hullinger: good evening everyone, i am jeff hullinger, weeknight reporter for wxia. welcome to the atlanta press club loudermilk young debate series. this is the debate among the candidates for united states senate. let's meet the candidates. they are in alphabetical order. jim barksdale, a small business owner. and, investment manager. allen buckley is a georgia attorney and cpa working primarily in business and administrative law.

and johnny isakson has been a united states senator for georgia since 2005. before that he represented georgia's sixth congressional district in the united states house of representatives from 1999 to 2005. let's now meet our panelists. we began with jim galloway, he writes "political insider," for "the atlanta journal-constitution. lori geary is a political reporter in atlanta. kimberely scott is reporter and anchor for wjbf in augusta. tonight's debate will consist of three rounds. for more information on the roles for each round, please visit the atlanta press club website. atlantapressclub.org. let's get started in the first round. we are going to begin -- i'm going to ask a question of all three of the candidates. donald trump has made on lot of noise over the last week talking about this election. according to him if he does not

win, is rigged. is this election rigged? mr. barksdale. mr. barksdale: well, i certainly do not believe it's rigged. i believe that we're going to have a very strong turnout. i am willing to abide by that turnout. i do think we want to make sure no one is intimidated going to the polls. there has been some of the rhetoric that frankly is concerning. i want to make sure there are proper poll watchers out there and everyone turns up to vote. i don't think it's rigged. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley? mr. buckley: no. frankly i find that comment kind of bizarre. but, let me say this, 2004 when i first ran against senator isakson in georgia, a guy sent me an e-mail after the race and said, it's a small county in georgia, only 80 people voted and this guy said me and my , whole family voted for you. showed official numbers

up with you getting zero. i think any voting system will have flaws. do i think the election is rigged? i don't think that will be the appropriate term for it. no, i don't agree with that. mr. hullinger: senator isakson. sen. isakson: no jeff, i don't , think the election is rigged. they do a great job. have been involved for a long time in georgia. i was in the legislature when we modernized our election system. i think it's fair. every candidate has an accountable place to go to if they think it is unfair. mr. hullinger: each panelist will ask a question to two of the candidates. we begin now with lori geary for your question of allen buckley. mr. buckley, you're kind of considered the spoiler in this race. no third party candidate won statewide here in georgia. a brand-new poll out today shows you polling at 5%. do you have any realistic expectations that you can possibly win this election?

mr. buckley: my campaign manager read an article saying i was 11%. i'm confused. jim galloway asked a question in 2004. he said libertarians typically poll 1% to 2% what's the point? , the point is our country has tremendous financial problems. in 2007, the gao said our debt will spiral out of control. the debts more than doubled. in nine years, we went from $109 trillion to 100 $20 trillion. the sky is the limit. these two parties, are not going to do anything to solve the problems. in contrast, i'm an attorney cpa and i have fought these problems for years and come up with solutions that work, they involve sacrifice. these two parties are driving the country into the ground financially. libertarian party is the only choice. we're the only ones fiscally

conservative. mr. hullinger: you may now ask a question of senator isakson. senator isakson, a couple of weeks ago we heard a lewd tape of donald trump that really made global news. you say that you're supporting the republican ticket. my question is, after you heard these tapes and after you heard accusations from women, did you ever have second thought about supporting donald trump? sen. isakson: i released public statement when those disclosures came out. i totally disagreed what was said. i thought it was totally inappropriate. my 12-year-old granddaughter elizabeth in the audience today. we have a responsibility as public officials to be role models to our kids. anything that is sexist or discriminatory should be abolished. ms. geary: do you support donald trump still? sen. isakson: i will vote for him as i support the ticket. mr. hullinger: now a question for jim barksdale. you are the:

founder of an investment fund firm that has done very well. during this campaign, you made some remarks about the shortcomings of capitalism. mr. isakson has accused of you hypocrisy for profiting from investments and companies that have shipped jobs overseas. how do you respond? mr. barksdale: my job as an investor was to represent my client's best interest, not my own personal viewpoints. i've invested almost exclusively in companies in the united states of america. they all benefit from the various trade deals that senator isakson has put forward. those are the rules of the road in the united states. you cannot invest in american companies without being exposed to the fact that many of these companies have made profits and benefited from the rules of the road that have been set in washington. my point in running for the race , and the reason i am in a is that from a personal, social standpoint, i think those roles have benefited companies and

made a lot of money. but it is hard on society because too much money goes to the top and not enough has been spread among people who are actually doing the work area when you get to that level of separation between where the money is, what happens is the capitalism can't work because there's enough buying power for the demand to keep the economy growing. mr. hullinger: jim, your question for senator isakson. mr. galloway: problems within the veterans administration continue. this morning dhhs reporting atlanta v.a. employee who had been targeted for highlighting wrongdoing. you've been pushing a major overhaul of accountability practices at the v.a. for the better part of this year but your proposal has yet to , make it to the senate floor despite your chamber being controlled by the republican party. why is that? sen. isakson: we've had some difficulty with some members who don't like some of the provisions of that bill. it's an omnibus bill. it's not the accountability portion that's been the problem. for the record, the last night of the session before we

adjourned we passed 17 provisions of that bill. under what is known as unanimous consent. we're making progress everyday work towards by the end of this year. having a full accountability measure approved by the united states house and united states senate and signed by the president of the united states. i forgot to say thank you to the atlanta press club and all of you making this possible. for each and every one of us running for office this is , outstanding opportunity it -- to talk about the issues that confront georgians in my position on them. mr. hullinger: kimberly scott now your turn. your first question goes to mr. buckley. ms. scott: mr. buckley, as a cpa, i understand why the tax code would be of interest to you. i wanted to ask you, you are proposing ending income tax for corporations and individuals. explain how those numbers will actually work? mr. buckley: well, the problem is, we run deficits every year and good years we run 3%.

when we have a recession we run 8% or 10%. when the economy grows at 1% to 2%, that is the debt spiraling out of control. more years of social security -- i took two years and analyzed the tax system and wrote a 30 page article. i sent it off to "tax notes" magazine. i went through every possible tax system to replace the complex income tax system. the corporate income tax is the most complicated. that is followed by the individual income tax. i came up with a system, it is on my website. it includes consumption tax that's got an x rate. it eliminates the income tax. you have credits against the fica unemployment tax. everybody pays some tax. there's not a double layer of tax. it's simple. it prevents jobs from going overseas. i am out of time, thank you. you get the final

question. mr. barksdale the , justice department just sent out a notice and said they would send fewer monitors to the polls. and the voting rights act, the section 5 of that act was struck down. you want to bring that back. what do you say about the justice department not being there to monitor since this section 5 is no longer viable? mr. barksdale: i did say that in the opening question that i was concerned that some of the rhetoric caused intimidation at the polls. i do think that continues. i think that particularly continues among smaller, more rural areas. particularly where african-americans maybe concerned about turning out the vote. that's why i think bringing back section 5 of the voting rights act is so important. we in this country have a believe that all are created equal and every voice matters. i believe everything we can do to reinforce our own belief.

we all benefit from that. mr. hullinger: that concludes our first round. in the second round candidates will question both of their opponents. each candidate will have 30 seconds to ask a question and then 60 seconds to respond and then 30 seconds for a rebuttal. are we clear? i think we're all set. by random selection, jim barksdale you ask the first question. you do so of allen buckley. mr. barksdale: mr. buckley, first of all, i know that you are conservative often you're concerned about the debt. i know senator isakson is also conservative. in many respects i'm a fiscal , conservative as well. can you tell me the areas that you feel like you most disagree with senator isakson? mr. buckley: first of all, johnny tells everyone he's a conservative. if i had a penny every time i saw the word conservative next to his ads i would be a in this election i would be a multimillionaire. , the conservative review gives johnny a 30 score. which is an f. which ties him to maxing water

-- maxine waters, a liberal democrat out of l.a.. johnny is not really conservative. when you hear all of these ads about him being conservative. i offer solutions to the problems. they involve some sacrifice. i proposed complete analysis and reasonable reform to all the entitlement systems. the entitlement spending is 60% to 70% of all spending now. johnny hasn't proposed anything. he never proposed a tax solution. no offense johnny. i suggest we need to eliminate half of our 800 foreign military thes, when the rest of world has less than 60. i produce numbers that were, you can find them on my website. i happen toe: believe that major problem in our country is not on the tax side. i believe the problem is the

distribution of where income is being earned by those who are able to make our economy productive. what i would like to see, where i disagree, is with the trade deals that have not been taking care of our workers here in this country. they have sent too many jobs overseas. when incomes are going down, our incomes in this country are down since 2000, since senator isakson went to washington. you can't have a growing economy when income are declining. and that is going up. mr. hullinger: mr. barksdale now , you can ask senator i isakson a question. mr. barksdale: i know you that you continue to support donald trump. despite his statement about women, i know that earlier said that you disagreed with him. what i like to ask, given the number of women that have come forward and have now accused him, not just talking about sexual assault and committing them. do you agree that all of these women are lying?

i'd appreciate -- do you agree with donald trump that they're lying? i would appreciate a yes or no answer. sen. isakson: first of all, i will rebut what was said about mr. buckley. i think i get 30 seconds on that. if you believe what he was talking about the american conservative federation or whoever said, i have underwater land in florida i would love to sell to you. the fact is if you go to nifb, , american chamber of commerce, american conservative union, you will find me rated as a conservative. as far as mr. barksdale question. i made my comments on donald trump a minute ago what he said about women. i think it was wrong. i think he should be held accountable. mr. hullinger: mr. barksdale, you get a rebuttal. mr. barksdale: from a yes or no standpoint, are you saying that the women were telling the truth and they should be heard? are you saying donald trump should be listened to? sen. isakson: i'm not about to defend anybody in the case because it's a criminal

accusation, which sexual harassment is. mr. barksdale: my response, senator isakson continues to support donald trump because you have much more in common with him than you want us to believe. let's start with the fact that you both inherited your companies from your fathers. they were both involved in the real estate business. both were actually accused under the fair housing discrimination act for discrimination against african-american companies. in your case, your company, northside realty lost the case in the years before you were running for office. in the years before you ran for -- office, there are over 3000 mr. hullinger: you have to wrap it up, mr. are still. mr. barksdale: -- houses sold and not a single one sold to an african-american. sen. isakson: i need 30 seconds for each the five things he accused me of. my father was a great american

businessman, a great man i miss , him to this day. he was accused in the case of the 19 sale -- 1970's. it was failed to prove. we end up going through a exercise of teaching all agents fair housing act. don't ever bring up my father in a negative standpoint and make an accusation that my father was discriminatory. mr. barksdale: your firm was found guilty. you had 25 employees come and approach the firm in terms of violation of eeoc. sen. isakson: i have no idea what he's talking about. mr. hullinger: senator isakson, you get a quick response. sen. isakson: i have no idea what he is talking about. in the 22 years that i ran the company, we never had such a case. i passed the first fair housing house in the state of georgia. i think every state ought to be subject to the voting rights act. mr. barksdale: the reason it matters, i think that you showed -- when you started to run for office and the value of your own company, it didn't embrace the importance of economic opportunity knocking on the door. mr. hullinger: you have to wrap

it up, mr. barksdale. sen. isakson: it's hard to shake hypocrisy. that's all i can say. that's all that you hear coming out of mr. barksdale. mr. hullinger: senator isakson, your turn. mr. barksdale, i would like to know your rule proposed by the epa and the waters of the usa. mr. barksdale: we as americans have valued clean air and clean water. this goes back to scene in los angeles the smog and the pollution of the river hudson. i fully support all aspects of making sure that we live up to those obligations and that is better for all of us. i do not feel like that hurts our economy. i feel like it helps us grow. i feel like the trade bills have actually been a part of a allowing companies to bypass our standards of decency with the environment. you can look at the air in china.

you can look at the waters in china. we don't want to go back there. we don't want to turn the page back to pollution like we had in the past. mr. hullinger: senator, you get a 30 second rebuttal. sen. isakson: the constitution gives the congress of the united states that navigable -- the responsible before navigable waterways of the americans. what the epa is trying to do to take control of every waterway that exist. even if it's a pond or farm in south georgia. the overly regulatory environment of this administration, making it impossible for anybody to do business whether they're a farmer or developer. i am for clean water and clean air, that can be accomplished. but you don't have to regulate people out of business to do so. mr. hullinger: your question for allen buckley. sen. isakson: allen, in april, i read an interview which is great interview by the way, talking about drug issue, which you i share a common interest in. but you were referred to an economist study that recommend

the legalization of drugs. how do you reconcile that with the opioid problem? mr. buckley: that's not what i said. the drug problem is tremendous, it is huge, and it has to be dealt with. "the economist" magazine, which i read regularly said that the best way to deal with drugs to follow europe's lead. they said that europe has a clearer head on drugs. you emphasize, you go after the dealers and distributors, criminally. before the general population you treated as more of a health problem and attack it with education and rehabilitation. that is what i said. in thatay, you said same magazine earlier, that we have $19 trillion in debt and they will get their pocket picked if they do not get off their tales and get involved. you are the one picking their pocket. you voted for over $7 trillion worth of debt. you have the nerve to say you never voted for tax increase.

you voted for things that necessary say the spending. huge spending. when the bill comes in, you vote for debt. you have the nerve to say that you never voted for tax increase. to me that's hypocrisy. ,mr. hullinger: senator, you have a 32nd response. sen. isakson: i have never voted for a tax increase. i'm the one who proposed the budget. i voted for the constitutional amendment to balance the budget. the $2.1 trillion cuts are because the budget conciliation act of the mitch mcconnell and myself and others brought to keep america from defaulting on its debt. we reduce our spending on the discretionary level. if we ever get a control of our and entitlements we'll be able to balance the budget. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley about 15 seconds sen. isakson: in control of entitlements, you've gone nothing there. my proposal with drugs let the states regulate them. they'll gravitate towards the best practices. they all have to balance their budgets. unlike the federal government.

you know all about that. mr. hullinger: senator, you want a quick response? sen. isakson: i'll mention conclude on the drug situation. the biggest problem is opioid, deaths are taking place all over the country. opioids can be legally prescribed today. that is not solve the problem. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley your question to mr. barksdale. mr. buckley: jim, in 2011, head of the joints chief of staff, mike mullen, our greatest national security threat is our national debt. ua knowledge are dead is a big problem. johnny voted over $7 trillion worth of debt. over the next 13 or 15 years, we got 13 more batches of social security and medicare baby boom or entitlements coming through and the debt will grow tremendously unless we make changes. shouldn't we make changes and what changes should we make? mr. barksdale: i agree that the national debt is a significant problem. and while senator isakson does

talk about not raising taxes. basically what you've done what i call a birth tax. all americans born today are born into almost $20 million of debt, whereas when you went to washington, it was $5.5 trillion. you can't wash your hands and say you weren't responsible. when you voted to deregulate wall street and then you supported president bush's approach to regulated wall street, that put our economy off the cliff. that created more than $4 trillion of debt. when you voted to take us into iraq unnecessarily and recklessly, that escalated more chaos and another $4 trillion of debt. these increases of debt that we have taken on do put our country at risk. we can't be militarily strong. not when we are economically at risk and in debt. i think you have to take responsibility for this debt that happened while you've been in washington. mr. hullinger: the question to mr. buckley directed to senator isakson. mr. hullinger: senator i think

you get a rebuttal. sen. isakson: the truth is what you ought to pay attention to. i voted for the t.a.r.p. it has returned a profit to the u.s.. i voted against the auto clunkers deal. i voted against the auto bailout. i voted against the stimulus under the first obama approval, because they were wrong for america. let's get our facts right mr. barksdale. mr. buckley: jim, no offense, but you are all hat, no cattle. you had no substance to the response for my question. i've heard you on wab radio spewing off these numbers that are wrong. you don't know the numbers. you said the war in iraq cost $4 trillion. the congressional research service said it cost $815 billion. the department of defense said it cost $758 billion. the brown university said it cost $1.1 billion, that is nowhere close to you said the $4 billion.

social security trust fund is at $4 trillion. nowhere near that. you don't know your numbers. mr. barksdale: i think there have been plenty of studies that look at the all in cost of the wars and the war in iraq, even afghanistan itself, the numbers i have seen are closer to $800 billion. these wars have significant cost. some of which we haven't owned up to. you look at the veterans administration, i feel like it's been severely underfunded. obligationsendous looking for that are creating obligations that are the direct result of unnecessary wars. with respect to the economy, it wasn't the t.a.r.p. that i'm talking about. what i'm talking about is when people don't have jobs, they go on welfare. more people have to retire early. our unemployment insurance goes up. we have more people in jails. there are tremendous social costs. mr. buckley: i was against the

war in iraq. that's what got me involved in politics. that and the finance of the federal government. when johnny went to washington in 1999, debt to gdp is 68%. $7 trillion of that is on his record. look at my website,. mr. hullinger: a very long 15 seconds. senator you were mentioned again. sen. isakson: quickly i voted to , go into iraq. i believe in peace through strength. only through the use of strength you can have peace. as far but things i have been blamed for, i will take responsibility for my one part as 100th of the united states senate. i will take credit for the things that i've done that brought about great solutions. mr. barksdale made a terribly incorrect statement. the v.a. has the largest increase in appropriations. -- appropriations for the last nine consecutive years averaging , about 9% a year. mr. hullinger: we move on, the final question of around is mr. buckley, it is your question for senator isakson. mr. buckley: johnny your campaign has been running ads saying you're the hardest working senator in d.c. you're one the most

conservative. as i mentioned the conservative review gave you a 30f which ties you with maxine waters which is the l.a. times called an outspoken liberal, she gets the same score 30d. , the heritage foundation gives you a 53f score. what authorities do you base these ads upon, that is what i would like to know. sen. isakson: the references you're making are two uncredible organizations. the american conservative union is very credible. nfib is credible. what they've actually voted for and what they've done. we've cut $2.1 trillion because the budget control act of which i was a part of in because of 2011. that sequestration, where the congress exercises that right. don't blame us for doing things that were not done because we got them done. mr. buckley: the budget control act immediately borrowed $2.1 trillion. we'll cut spending over the next

decade. that's all been pushed back once. johnny, let me finish -- sen. isakson: i didn't say a word. i'm getting ready to. mr. buckley: people look at my website. he thinks the heritage foundation is not credible. the american conservative union that he sites gave mitch mcconnell a perfect 100% score for 2012. the conservative review gives mitch mcconnell a 40 score. you have been deceiving the republic -- the public for years. meanwhile our country is going down the tubes. you did it in 2004 when we were in a debate here. sen. isakson: the voters on the eighth day of november will have a chance to vote who they want to represent them in the united states senate. they will vote for a record of proven achievement. that is johnny isakson. mr. hullinger: that concludes round two for those just joining us. this is the debate between the candidates for georgia's united states senate. we will now go to our third and final round. in this round, each panelist will ask a question to the candidate of his or her choice.

until we have run out of time. as a point, as being the moderator here, i can ask a couple of questions too. if i so choose. let's begin now, lori geary, start for us. ms. geary: this question is directed to mr. barksdale. hillary clinton's plan, she says is to raise taxes on the wealthy and the corporations because they're not paying their fair share. you are a wealthy businessman. do you feel as though you have paid your fair share, and do you agree with hillary clinton's tax plan? mr. barksdale: well, again, what i -- i can promise you, i have paid my fair share. over some years, my amount of taxes and gifts in the 65% range overall. i've done everything i could to turn my good fortune to help society.

i think corporations should do that. what i see in corporate america as an investor, i look at how much taxes get paid. not the actual tax rate that's stated. when i started investing in the 1980's and 1990's, corporations regularly would pay taxes in the 35% range. but there's a long decline in the amount of taxes gets paid by corporate america. they have been bypassing our tax system by using offshore loopholes that senator isakson has not shut down. that has allowed over $2 trillion to sit offshore and not be taxed. that's a loophole we need to close. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley. mr. buckley: the public needs to know, when you watch these debates at the presidential level hillary said my numbers , don't wake things worse. we still going to add additional debt over the next decade. what she's saying, i will add spending of x amount and raise taxes by x amount. she's not going to solve the problems. i want people to understand that. the tax proposal that i put out

uses algebra. a rate for the -- a rate for different taxes, x balances the budgets, it discourages jobs being sent overseas and corporate inversions -- does not matter headquarters. mr. hullinger: senator? sen. isakson: i think taxes ought to be fair and equitable. everybody ought to pay their fair share. in terms of the federal tax code, i believe we ought to go to a territorial tax code for businesses. incoca-cola pays attacks india because they are making it in india, they also have to pay a tax in america when they bring it here. that's why you have so many inversion proposals going on. we ought to have a territorial system. that's number one. number two, we ought to end the gimmicks in the code and take away deductions and other use of the tax code to get people to do things. instead use the money that you buy down, use that money that you saved to buy down the rate to have a fairer tax.

mr. hullinger: kimberley scott. senator isakson, i want to talk to you about the affordable care act. there are people who have healthcare coverage with preexisting issues. on your website you said you want to repeal and replace the affordable care act. how will you make sure preexisting cases are covered with your proposal? sen. isakson: i'm glad i got a record what i proposed in the congress when we debated the affordable care act in 2009. there are some things in the act that ought to be preserved. one of them is preexisting conditions. second is allowing a child up to age 26 to stay on their parents health insurance plan. that is actuarially sound. but you really got to replace the whole system. it's driving us to a single payer system with government control where we need to bring about more competition. for example, we ought to allow the interstate sale of health insurance across the state line. groupsow people to form together to negotiate in a large group for their health rates.

those are just two things we can change immediately to make a huge difference. mr. buckley: i agree with johnny on universal availability of coverage. that needs to exist. that's all we had in the ifthat's all we had in the healthcare law, that would have been a great result. but the problem is, the affordable care act goes way beyond that. it's got so much bureaucracy and so complicated. johnny had an opportunity to amend the affordable care act fund theame time to bill. he chose not to. he pushed forward with the funding. i understand why he didn't. because the republicans don't have a plan. they've never had a plan for healthcare. i don't like most of the affordable care act but at least democrats did something. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley? mr. buckley: my feeling is this is another case where senator isakson has not fulfilled responsibility of doing something about the rising healthcare cost.

i would like to see someone in our government standing up to negotiate the cost down. i agree we need more competition. i don't disagree with your statements. what i disagree with, sitting there and not doing anything about it. mr. hullinger: senator isakson. sen. isakson: 10:00 a.m. on christmas eve 2009 i voted against the affordable care act final passage for the united states senate. so his statement is patently incorrect. secondly, i was on the health education labor and pensions committee which did the mark up over 67 hours of the affordable care act. it introduced legislation like what congressman tom price has pending today in the house of representative. the affordable care act is a bad act for america. mr. hullinger: jim galloway, your question is next. mr. galloway: gentlemen, this is for all of you. we'll start with mr. isakson. we see the daily horror in aleppo. one of the great conflicts in multiple wars in iraq is underway in mosul.

in his two terms, george w. bush was criticized for injecting the u.s. military into places ought not to have gone. in his two terms, barack obama has been criticized for his failure to engage. what's the correct balance here? sen. isakson: i have voted for the wars i've been accused of voting for. i'm proud to be for peace through strength, proud for a strong military. i love the united states military to keep us safe. number two, i regret that fact that the obama administration pulled us out of iraq after the surge was successful, which allowed isis to to home base, which is the root of the problem in aleppo today. i voted for the war to go into iraq. i'm sorry the current president pulled us out to create a vacuum that was filled by isil. i think until we put the boots on the ground necessary to have coalition willing in the middle east to go in and root them out, we'll continue to have the threat of terrorism. not only in the middle east but at home in america. mr. buckley: i was against iraq.

that got me off the couch. i knew it would make our terrorism problems worse. a lot of innocent people would be killed and it would make our financial problems worse, and all three have happened. we've had two wars that we shouldn't have been in since world war ii vietnam and iraq. , if i am elected, i will everything i can to investigate when something is proposed. dick cheney went up there in d.c., rammed it down into the republican throats and johnny bought into it. you should've stood up to do your own investigation and realized it was a fraud. it would do all the things i said it did. it destabilized the middle east. we have to realize that. we've been in more wars in any country since world war ii. we only go to war when we really need to. this situation now, it is more difficult because barack obama, i'm sorry, he's been pretty weak on foreign policy. drew the line in syria and then backed off. at that point, it was open season for the foreign countries. that's one of his weaknesses. we got to be prudent when we get in involved.

they result in a lot of deaths of innocent people. mr. hullinger: mr. barksdale. mr. barksdale: over and over again my sense senator isakson purports to be a careful conservative. but what i see frankly is recklessness. iraq is just another example of that. least, ary conservative should have learned the lesson of iraq, and i do not think you have. you continue to call for boots on the ground in iraq and in syria. you talk about going into the ukraine and crimea. we are tired of this. they want to see us doing what we are doing now, which is making sure we are supporting our allies supporting our , partners and letting them take the lead. ultimately this is a fight that only they can win. we can't go in and have no exit strategy again. we've got to learn from the lessons and we got to be prudent with the lives of our sons and daughters. so i disagree vehemently with senator isakson's trigger-happy

approach of more troops on the ground and bomb, bomb, bomb. mr. hullinger: senator your sen. isakson: combat is always the last resort. but ability to conduct that is to win negotiations. i heard a lot of criticism of johnny isakson in the way he has voted. i have not heard your idea to solve the problem. as far as i'm concerned, a strong fist is more important than a weak mind. mr. barksdale: if you didn't hear that, he was not listening. i said that right now, we are working with iraq and curd -- kurdish partners. we are pushing isis back. i think that is the way to go. i don't believe that we should be out there in the lead taking first responsibility. instead it's their fight to win. it is a terrible situation where religious fanaticism has taken hold. without ano iraq exit strategy and that is what you need to be held responsible

for. to switch i want years and talk immigration reform big issue here in , a georgia. senator isakson, your republican presidential candidate said to build a wall, have mexico pay for it. i want to know your thoughts on this. also, realistically, what can be done with the estimated 11 million people living in the united states illegally? sen. isakson: first of all barriers are a part of the , solution. there are pictures i can verify this next statement. mike pence and i, along with senator chertoff went about seven years ago, worked on the first project to build a new wall in arizona. it now exists today to help protect the border. what you have to do is be able to stop people from crossing at will so you can control the people coming in your country. like smugglers in san diego, where we have very little problems with illegal immigration. the problem with -- i'm a second generation american. i support legal immigration. we've got to make sure that legal immigration works.

the best way we do it is by enforcing our laws, number one. amber two, going through secure identification for every visa issued in the u.s.. you do not see illegal immigrants coming through the airports because the u.s. visit program has fingerprints embedded in their identification so you can identify somebody who has a passport that is not really theirs. if we did that, we would have a way to begin to clamp down on illegal immigration and honor legal innovation. ms. geary: is there a path way to citizenship? is there amnesty? sen. isakson: there should be no amnesty and no pathway should begin inside this country. ms. geary: then what happens to the 11 million people here? sen. isakson: you create a system where they can go back to their home state and apply to go back in the country. you can't just grant somebody amnesty in this country and make them a citizen if they came here illegally. mr. barksdale: we have two problems. one is how do we want our workforce constituted with

immigrants? this is a political discussion which i'm happy to enter into. we are nation of immigrants. we welcome and grow and thrive by people who have bought into our ideals. that the human rights issue of the people who are here is a significant. we need the fastest path to honorable citizenship that we can get. these are people that have been here for decades working. some of them came here to help us build the olympics. we cannot be demonizing them and separating them from their families and trying to just throw them out. i am the only one who seems to fall the time limits here. mr. hullinger: that's not true. it's right on target. mr. buckley: unlike isakson, who voted for amnesty, he did. jim barksdale is for amnesty. we're also a nation of laws. i'm all for enforcing the laws. we have a batch of illegal immigrants in the 1980's.

we we made them legal, now we have a second batch. if we make -- if we make them legal, another batch will follow. we do need to let more people in legally going forward. we've had the same quotas for decades. we need to let some of the students who come here and excel, state. mr. buckley in the past you mentioned the need for judges to interpret the law. judges are the last step before many men and women are incarcerated for a length of time, long sentences. how do you propose tweaking the judicial system so that those at on an are looked individual basis and people aren't just pushed in like cattle? mr. buckley: there's been a number of studies recently that show our incarceration rate involves more repeat offenders. we've got to find the right mix which involves less imprisonment. there was an article this week about michigan teaching prisoners to become machinist. they have 43% lower repeat offender rate. we need to do things like that.

i'm for appointing judges who follow the strict letter of the law. the constitution. looking at the intent of the drafters. i don't believe in this living and breathing constitution in -- i have a friend in the audience who is in favor of it. let me give you a direct quote from the conservative view about johnny. isakson is usually a reliable vote to confirm most liberal executive and judicial nominees. that's one reason alone to not vote for johnny. we need to get conservative judges who follow the constitution and statutory law. mr. hullinger: senator, your response. sen. isakson: i don't know what to say to somebody that will take any subject and make it the statement he says is true which is hanley wrong. he is wrong on that statement. mr. buckley: i have the quote here. it's on my website. it is from the conservative review, johnny wants to say it

is not credible. do your on research to see how credible it is. our countrye: should not be a country that puts more into incarceration than to educating and making citizen have opportunity. we have 5% of the world population but 25% of its prisons. part of that is due to mandatory sentencing which we need to end. we need to give judges discretion to make these decisions. i have been in the prisons and seen what a terrible situation that is. we simply cannot allow that to continue. we need to invest in do it we can to get these people brought back into our society as productive to do since. mr. hullinger: thank you, jim galloway. mr. galloway: donald trump has now endorsed term limits for members of congress. six years for health, -- for the senate. senator david purdue has done likewise. mr. isaacson is seeking a third

term. senator david purdue has donefru think of term limits and do we need a constitutional amendment to enforce them? mr. barksdale. mr. barksdale: i have to say that, i'm perfectly happy to support term limits. i personally would not seek to serve that many terms. one or two for senator i think is plenty enough. in the house, i think frankly it should be a similar time frame. more like 12 years for the house and 12 years for the senate. i think we want the government that allows people to come in, new voices to be heard, and basically keep the voice of the government, people, present and government. a part of the problem has been that without term limits all the , money flows to the incumbents. we see that with senator isakson, and that robs the voice of the people. mr. hullinger: senator? sen. isakson: jim, that's a great question. in my career, i've been term limited three times already under the system we now operate

on. on the eighth of voters of november, georgia want to send me home, they can turn me in on the eighth. the best term limit when the voters go to the polls and vote. we had 100% turn out in every election. we had term limits to where they ought to be applied rather than an arbitrary system of eliminating. mr. buckley: i was talking to my campaign manager in advance, i said there should be 12 and 12. 12 in the senate and 12 in the house i do believe it would , require a constitutional amendment. i will say something now, i don't mean to be mean. if that were the law, johnny would not be running now. the best thing for johnny, his family, our stay, our country, would be if you were not running right now. i talked to a lot of his friends who will tell me that confidentially. mr. hullinger: senator? sen. isakson: i think that's veiled reference to the fact that i disclosed a year and a half that i had parkinson's. which is the hardest thing that i ever did, but also the best thing i ever did. every week in this campaign people come up to me and thank , me for making known publicly what they themselves privately known about themselves.

the only way you attack things like parkinson's is to be open about it. i intend to win that battle. it is an inspiration for me to be here to stand up here today with these adjustment gentlemen. fight for your vote on november 8th. let the people of georgia decide who is best for them. mr. buckley: johnny i wish you , well on your health. honestly, it wasn't meant that way. your voting record, you're not voting conservatively. that's the main problem. we're a conservative state. you're telling everybody, we got to get our finances in order. you are just not proposing anything. you talked about a new tax bill. where's the bill? i never heard of that thing. in contrast, i got all of these proposals i worked on for 13 years to solve the problem. i got the energy to go up there and put in the fight. no offense, i'm younger than you. mr. hullinger: senator, you get to respond. mr. buckley: you got more experience. sen. isakson: i am not going to

hold your immaturity and inexperience against you. i look at jeff, i have to say this, i was saving this for the closing. your job like channel 11, hold the powerful accountable. hold us accountable november 8 and do not fall for any short story you might here today from one of these candidates. mr. hullinger: mr. barksdale. again, my main issue -- i have not been privy to his conversations with his doctors. i frankly applaud them for revealing it. i do not think you would be standing here today if he did not think it was appropriate so i will not question that. i do think it's appropriate that we ask that a commitment to serve out the full a six-year term, but i will not question why he is here. ms. geary: mr. barksdale, i want to ask you, there's several he -- high-ranking democrat supporting senator johnny isakson. what do you think about that? is that insulting to you that these high profile democrats

have decided to support the republican candidate? mr. barksdale: i'm not going to a grudge senator isakson the fact that he is been in politics for 40 years and made relationships. many go back to his college days. that is fine, i do not have a problem with that. i am viewed as an outsider. people don't know me as well. that can be upsetting to people who have been in the establishment for so long. what i'm up here to do is to say that i'm trying to fight for the people to get campaign finance reform to make sure that the big money is not controlling the decisions that people are being cared for. we need to make sure that incomes and jobs are present. that needs to be a priority. we can't have campaign contributions governing the systems of the basically we serve profit and party instead of people. that's my objective is to go to washington and serve people. not profit and not party. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley. mr. buckley: let's face it.

if johnny was really conservative as he claims and he's not, none of these people would be supporting them. they might like him. he's a likeable guy. everyone likes johnny. i like him, from what i know of him. sen. isakson: i was hoping that would be the case. mr. buckley: but the bottom line is if he were really really , conservative, they wouldn't be supporting him. democratic media gone against him for refusing to debate? run it twicei have before and we had six debates, are they protecting him? i came to the realization, other than the second amendment, he's a democrat. if he wins or jim barksdale win, you get a democrat. there are some differences, i will admit. jim is a little bit more liberal than johnny. my time is up. mr. hullinger: senator, you're time is beginning. your time to rebut. sen. isakson: i urge you to go look up this american conservative whoever it is he's

quoting. check them out. mr. buckley: conservative review. sen. isakson: i know who some of the characters are. you will find out, everyone has an opinion. there is just happens to be dead wrong when it comes to me. mr. hullinger: last question. ms. scott: many say that in addition to women, millennials will be very important in november. do you think that is the truth? if so, how do you plan to engage them to bring them to the polls to vote for you? we can begin with mr. barksdale. mr. barksdale: i absolutely agree and hope it is true. the future belongs to that generation. we need to make sure they're actively involved. that was part what was so inspirational of what senator sanders accomplish in terms of bringing a voice to the public. i come a likewise, not because i am channeling senator sanders, i want the most effective people on my campaign, they have hired

sanders former staffers. we are running a very aggressive campaign focused on social media and millennials to make sure they turn out to vote. mr. hullinger: mr. buckley. mr. buckley: the young people, please look at my website. i'm the only one looking out for you. democrats will give you free college. and the reality, on our current path the system will collapse in 20 years. you're getting a free college education and seeing financial collapse of the country likely within 20 years. i got all of these credible authorities on my website. many of them work for the government or did, and they all say the same result. when democracy collapses and republics collapse, they become dictatorships. look at adolf hitler. i'm the only one looking out for the young people. sen. isakson: millennials will play a huge role. the answer to this question is, i don't have a facebook face. i don't do very good on twitter, but i got a designated tweeter. i do facebook all the time. i try to reach millennials.