>> critics as will start at 12:35 p.m. eastern today. president obama and singer james campaigned for hillary clinton clinton this afternoon at the university of north carolina chapel hill. live coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

trump holds a campaign rally for reporters in orlando florida. we will that lie to you at 4:00 p.m. eastern. >> on election day, november 8, our nation decides the next president and who controls the house and senate. campaign stops with hillary clinton, donald trump, and their surrogates. follow key house and senate races with their coverage of debates and speeches. c-span -- where history unfolds daily. >> the democratic challenger in the pennsylvania u.s. senate race is pulling ahead. katie mcginty has a 12 point lead over republican incumbent senator patrick to me. here's a closer look at what is happening in that contest. >> with a look at the pennsylvania senate race, one of

a number of key races that will determine the balance of power in 2017 we are joined by jonathan tamari. he is the washington correspondent for the "philadelphia inquirer." thank you for being with us. jonathan: thank you for having me. host: pat toomey seeking a second term and there's democratic candidate katie mcginty. give us a broad overview of the state of the race in pennsylvania with one week to go. jonathan: according to most people, it is not connect going down to the wire. i have talked to pollsters. you might see a one or a two point lead but it is within the margin of error, close enough that either candidate could still win according to most people close to the race. a poll came out this morning that showed a pretty significant lead for katie mcginty but at this point that is an outlier.

most people i from think it is a tight contest that could go either way. host: there have been two debates, c-span covered both. what was your take away? : if you are a pennsylvanian watching that race, a lot of it you have already seen. the candidates spend a lot of time on attack ads. raising ethics questions about one another. beyond that, what you saw were really distinct differences on policy, on issues like abortion, on government spending and taxes. there were some clear right left distinctions tween the candidates. if you can get beyond the attack ads, there are a lot of policy differences there. that might be a place where senator toomey could make big gains in the race given that he is more experienced in tough contests and mcginty is a relatively inexperienced campaigner. this is her second campaign ever.

for the most part, she held her own. there was not a moment where you thought a candidate scored a big knockout blow. so for a lot of democrats that was a win, that she showed she was a credible alternative and was able to hold her own in the two events. host: why did the democrats recruit katie mcginty and what is her background? jonathan: her background is she has been in high levels of government but behind the scenes for decades now. she was a top environmental aide in the clinton white house. she was secretary of environmental protection in pennsylvania. most recently, she was chief of staff for the current governor, governor wolf. eights been a high level for a long time, but she is only once in a candidate -- has only once been a candidate and that was in a monitorial campaign where she finished fourth out of

four. so not much experience campaigning in public as the face of a campaign. the democrats saw this as a race that was winnable given democrats in pennsylvania, given a presidential election brings out a lot their voters said they thought they could win is when you but they needed a candidate kind of investment and that is where katie mcginty came in. she was recruited. managed to overtake him with the help of a lot of money from washington and is now on the verge of potentially winning the senate seat. host: you cover two major media

markets, philadelphia and pittsburgh. he also cover midsize markets like scranton, harrisburg. give us an idea of the senate race. jonathan: it is such a large state and has such very varied political views across the state to the point where it can seem like two different states at times. you have philadelphia and pittsburgh, deep blue democratic cities where democrats really try to run off major margins. then you had the suburbs around philadelphia which tend to be critical in deciding how a statewide race goes because you have got in the 2012 election close to one out of every four votes in the state were cast from the four suburban counties outside of philadelphia and they tend to be more moderate areas where you find a lot of swing voters. so when it comes to the overall picture, the difference between a democratic win and a

republican win is often how big the democrats win the suburbs. if they run up a huge margin or do the republicans managed to keep close and win some swing voters. then you have got the rest of the state, northeast, southwest, essential part of the state that tends to be very republican and that is where republicans score big wins. philadelphia and pittsburgh are going to be really big for democrats and the central part of the state is going to be really big for republicans and how the suburbs turnout decides which side prevails in a statewide race. host: senator pat toomey has been reluctant to talk about his support for donald trump. he has not campaigned with him. that is even the donald trump has been in the state on a number of occasions. how has that impacted this race if at all? jonathan: it has created some awkward moments because he senator has not endorsed or ruled out endorsing donald trump. we are a week with from election

day and he still will not say who is running for for president other than he will not vote for hillary clinton. so instead of giving democrats fodder to attack him, a lot of folks will tell you it may work that he is stuck between two bad choices where if you embraces donald trump he might lose the moderate voters we spoke about but if he rejects donald trump, a lot of conservative voters that abandoned him, and i hear from e-mail not infrequently that say if he does not vote for trump i am not coming out for him. i am a conservative. as awkward as it has been, it may be politically the best solution he is able to come up with. we will see if it costs him enthusiasm or if conservatives come out for him if he does not embrace trump. host: that was jonathan tamari, correspondent for "the so that the

.nquirer." -- thank you for >> all 10 of us raised on a policeman's salary and a mom working as a restaurant hostess. imagine trying to do that today with washington looking out for the favored few. i will bring a different point of view. working-class roots. and the mother of three, i will put middle-class families ahead of wall street. i am katie mcginty and i approve this message because it is your turn to get ahead. >> this is the house i grew up in. it is not on wall street. my dad was a union guy. he worked two jobs for most of his life. mom still lives there and she depends on social security. i will always protect social security. >> i know you will, pat. pat toomey: thanks, mom. i'm pat toomey and i endorse approve this message because you should know i will always fight for people like my parents.

>> i remember my dad coming home from walking the beat. i would run and hug him. my dad, a good man. i know pat toomey is having fun attacking my integrity. let's talk integrity. wall street banks should not be allowed to prey on working families and corporations should not be able to ship jobs to china. pat toomey would not change that. i will. i grew up a working-class kid and i will work for you. i'm katie mcginty and i approve this message. >> campaigns can be tough but in the end, it is not about who yells and screams the loudest. rindell called pat toomey a man of uncommon decency. >> it is about our children. >> tim kaine praised his seriousness, intellect, and civility. >> it is about keeping guns away from criminals. strengthening our economy so everyone can earn a good living.

i am pat toomey and this is my message. >> senator pat toomey says a lot is at stake. sen.g a campaign stop, toomey: to meet outlined the differences between him and democratic challenger katie mcginty. this is about half an hour. [applause] >> hi. how are you? good to see. great to see you. sen. toomey: good to see you. thank you for coming out. how are you?

>> it is a pleasure to meet you. you're younger than i thought. [laughter] sen. toomey: that is the best thing i've heard all week. how are you? >> hello senator. sen. toomey: how are you? great to see you. thank you for coming out. are you doing all right? >> ok. i guess i am sort of the host here to welcome the beautiful downtown media in delaware county. we are pleased to have two great voices for delaware county. they are voices in washington, d.c.. first we're going to call someone in delaware county who is not only our district attorney, but then served as u.s. district attorney who does a great job. first i'm going to call up our congressman. pat? [applause]

pat: good morning. i want to thank you not only for the enthusiastic response we have for pat toomey but for all the work so many of you have been doing in these last few weeks and frankly months, laboring hard in the neighborhoods to help us push toward the end of this vitally important election. i guess you have heard there is a senate race going on. i am reminded every three minutes and i do not watch as much television as most. let me tell you why this is so incredibly important and how i think frankly you are really where you want to be and we need you to be. first off, i've had the pleasure now for really our six years together to be serving with pat toomey in the congress.

we are on different sides of the togetherbut we fight for pennsylvania's interests. they are broad. we work together fighting for open space. we saved a piece of the brandywine because of the work we have done together. we worked together for a young woman who was fighting the bureaucracy and saw her life saved by virtue of the efforts that had been able to be done. we have been together on issues that relate to families from veterans to opioid abuse. these are the things impacting our community and i cannot tell you how important it is to have a partner that understands the people behind the problems and how we can work together to make a difference. i also need to tell you a little bit about washington. you may see from time to time that the system is a little bit broken and one of the reasons it is broken is there is a great big roadblock right in the

middle. and no matter what we did for four straight years in the house of representatives, passing bills, and you made agree or disagree with some of that, but the fact of the matter is oftentimes by strong majorities we passed legislation on a broad variety of issues out of the house of representatives and it went and just died in the senate. we used to say, it piled up like cordwood at the seat of harry reid. it was not until that majority came back in, and senator pat toomey began to have a voice on the legislation that we were finally able to move bills and did many things on transportation, education policy , and the budget. those kinds of things that make a real difference as well. we passed real bills on important issues like terrorism and others out there today. it is work that needs to continue. it cannot happen if we have that roadblock.

we will have that roadblock unless we continue to maintain the majority in the united states senate. let me say this race may well determine whether or not that majority is in the senate and you know how important it is and that brings me to my closing point about you here in this room. because in life, there are times in which you say, i would really like what i do to matter. i would like the things i am waking up to fight for to really have a chance to make a difference. and when you look around the country today, 4/5ths of the voters going to the polls are frankly observers. they are going to cast their vote, but it's going to be for one party or the other that already is entrenched in their district. it is going to be in a state hillary clinton has not even flown over in the last six months.

but there are battleground states and there are battleground counties and there are battleground neighborhoods and this is one of them. right here in your backyard may well determine not just the future of the united states senate and therefore the ability of us to work together to resolve problems for nation, but would suggest you the real future of the nation as well. we have a great deal at stake and you can make a difference. what you are going to do. you don't have to do remarkable things. you have to do what you know how to do well. you know who that student is. today is the last day. did they get their absentee ballot in? the senior that you can get to the polls. the person who comes home from work and they say, this election, i don't care to vote. you know who they are. they are your neighbors. you have the chance to make the difference. to make sure we bring pat toomey back to the united states

senate. i know you will. i thank you for the chance to be fighting with you for this important issue so it is a great honor of mine to welcome to our backyard here united states senator pat toomey. pat. [applause] thank you very much . thank you very much for that very kind introduction. thanks to all of you for sending this guy to congress. he is a terrific congressman and terrific representative for delaware county, for southeastern pennsylvania, for pennsylvania. i will tell you the pennsylvania congressional delegation is a delegation that punches above its weight and a big part of that is because the 13 republican congressman work together and get along. whenever they can, they are helping each other out across

big diverse commonwealth of ours, and when the leadership in the house wants to know if they can get legislation pat, they go pat and his colleagues in the delegation. they have a disproportionate influence on your behalf because they're smart and work hard and pat is one of the leaders in this congressional delegation. so pat, thank you for all that you do. i really appreciate it. [applause] sen. toomey: good to see you as always. thank you for your help. has anybody seen any tv ads lately? it is unbelievable, isn't it? i never saw anything like it. i never imagined we would have these wall-to-wall tv ads. they have been running with such frequency that when i'm walking down the street i get recognized because people see the ads. when you combine that with the fact that congress has 11% or 12% approval grading, it can lead to some awkward conversations.

case in point, the other day i'm in home depot with my son. we're working down the aisle and there is a guy coming our way down the same aisle in my direction and he was looking at me, looking at me, and says -- hey, wait a minute. did anyone ever tell you you look a lot like pat toomey? i said, well, as a matter fact, yes, i have heard that. he said, must be infuriating. so, welcome to my campaign world. there is only eight days left. with your help, we're going to win this race. we are on track to win this race and we are going to get this done. the differences between myself and my opponent, katie mcginty, cannot be any more stark. i want to touch on a few of them. one is the whole different way we look at our economy or lack thereof of opportunity for too

many pennsylvanians. if you ask me, for the last eight years, our economy has left way too many people behind. if you are a wealthy millionaire ex lobbyist like katie mcginty with a lot of financial assets, you have probably done fine. that is a tiny sliver of pennsylvanians. the vast majority of pennsylvanians and working-class families like the one i grew up in, who are struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, they have not been getting ahead in this economy, so it makes sense to ask why and if you ask me it is no great mystery. let's look at what this federal government has been doing the last eight years. massive overspending. unprecedented deficits. we have doubled our nations debt. repeated tax increases. launched an avalanche of new regulations. for the first time in history of the country, we have more businesses closing than new businesses being launched. it is because people cannot figure out how to make it work with all of the headwind coming out of washington.

i want to end that. i want to restore the vibrancy and freedom and success awaiting us. my opponent, katie mcginty, she wants to double down on every sales policy we have. she is in favor of all of it. she is in favor of all of the wasteful spending, big deficits. the tax increases may be the clearest and most stark difference. i spent all my time in washington fighting for lower taxes because i do not feel we can tax our way to prosperity. katie mcginty has spent her entire career working to raise taxes, especially on the middle class. when she was working in the clinton administration, she was a big advocate for higher energy taxes. carbon tax, which would've cost all of us considerably more money with all of our consumption of energy. when she was secretary of the dep, she pushed through the legislation that forces electric

companies to buy more expensive and less efficient forms of energy so we'll pay for that with higher electric bills. when she was the chief of staff for governor tom wolfe, what is the first thing they did ?with ? the first thing they did was they proposed the biggest tax increase pennsylvania has seen since the creation of the income tax. a 20% increase in income tax. 10% increase in sales tax in addition to that and expanding the universe of products and services to which that tales -- sales tax would apply. if you're a multimillionaire like katie mcginty, it is no big deal. it doesn't matter. but if you're a working-class family, this would've cost the average working-class pennsylvania family $1500 a year in extra taxes. that's to harrisburg alone. how can that be good for a working-class family? it can't be. she is wrong about all of these tax increases, including the

federal income tax she is pushing for. security issues are just a s start. i have to tell you, i think this iran nuclear deal is a disaster for our country. it undermines our security. we gave $150 billion to the world's number one sponsored terrorism and that is not my characterization, that is the obama administrations description of these guys and you may or may not be aware as we gather this morning, the iranian parliament has still not ratified that agreement. no iranian official has signed that agreement. they have openly declared they do not consider themselves legally bound by the agreement , which might explain why they are in serial violation of that agreement. we were told that they would like us. how did that work out for the toll say was that were taken at gunpoint? how about the surrogates firing on american naval vessels?

here's the thing that i will never understand. katie mcginty thinks this is a great deal. someone has to explain to me, if the iranians have actually decided to abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons, why are they spending millions of dollars launching precision guided ballistic missiles designed to carry and deliver nuclear weapons? this is a disaster. this is a really bad agreement. one of the things that has come to light that is also really disturbing is the many, many ethical lapses of my opponent. so the hillary clinton latest chapter in her ongoing e-mail scandal saga is just a reminder of how much corruption there is in washington and how disturbing this is. the last thing we need is a senator who is going to be a part of this. katie mcginty has a history of real problems with this. her devotion to hillary clinton is so complete that she has now

decided she has to have her own e-mail scandal. and she does. it is unbelievable, but the truth is for 15 months now, katie mcginty and governor wolf have been stonewalling a completely legitimate legal request that katie mcginty turnover the 15,000 e-mails that she sent and received while she was the chief of staff for tom wolfe. , workingn your payroll for pennsylvania taxpayers, using pennsylvania's tax e-mail system. the law is very clear. she has to to close them. for 15 months, she is stonewalled. she has refused. now there's a common-law court order requiring her to disclose those e-mails and still they refused to comply. they are clearly trying to drag this out until after the election and you have to ask yourself, what is she hiding? what is it she has to hide from the pennsylvania voters that she cannot even comply with the law

even when there is a commonwealth court order requiring it? we know there is a lot in her history that suggests it could be all kinds of things she is hiding. npr did an analysis in pennsylvania and they said the number government official in one abusing the revolving door between government and the businesses they were regulating was none other than katie mcginty. she took pennsylvania tax dollars and funneled it to a company her husband was being paid by. the state ethics commission ruled that conduct is a violation of pennsylvania ethics law. the state supreme court agreed. when she was secretary of the dep, she took millions and millions of pennsylvania dollars, funneled it to a foreign company to set up shop in pennsylvania. they did. they promptly rewarded her with a lucrative board seat, but then they went out of business in pennsylvania. the pennsylvania taxpayers lost

a lot of money. pennsylvania workers lost jobs. won from one who want fo this is katie mcginty. i do not know what she is hiding here, but there is a lot evidence to suggest that she has been engaged in some really dubious ethical behavior in the past. others had determined that. i think it is long past due that she disclose those e-mails. stop this stonewalling. stop this refusal to comply with the law. so folks, there is a lot at stake here. it is about whether we are going to restore the economic growth we have been waiting for, whether we are going to have security here at home. katie mcginty is ok with sanctuary cities. i think sanctuary cities are crazy. the fact that we have in philadelphia, we have a legal policy that prevents our police from even sharing information with federal immigration officials. we have a special legal

privilege on violent criminals if they came here illegally. it is unbelievable, but that is what we have today. this has got to end. so to have to and the policies holding back an economic recovery. katie mcginty would be a complete rubber stamp the liberal wing of the democratic party. that is where elizabeth warren and bernie sanders were the first to senators to come in and campaign for her repeatedly. this is not what pennsylvania wants. so pat is exactly right. delaware county probably determines the outcome of this election. this is the county where the vote can swing a great deal either way and i need to do well here. i need to ask for your support. we have eight days to go. we are definitely in the home stretch now. i will be campaigning as hard as i can every day. by the way, my first stop in the morning was outside so it is definitely warmer here.

we had a great enthusiastic crowd in chester county and from now we will be a montgomery county and the next we will be in bucks county. we will continue this until 8:00 at night on tuesday, november 8 so we can win this race. i cannot do it without your help and i have to ask you to take advantage of the fact you have a circle of family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, people that know you and trust you and know you're paying attention. please reach out to those folks and make sure they're coming out to vote on election day. your personal message will be more powerful than any number of ads i can run between now and election day. that is how we win this race. we do it together. thank you for all your support. thank you for coming out this morning. let's get this done. [applause]

>> how are you? [indistinct conversation]

sen. toomey: what we know about hillary clinton? she possibly has something to hide. that is why they destroyed those e-mails. turns out katie mcginty has something to hide. that is why she will not release the e-mail she is required by law to release. i think it's a reminder to voters. t that infficult is i this part of the state? is it tricky for you because you do not want to offend the hillary voter? do you want the hillary voter to come on board for you? sen. toomey: there are a lot of people voting for neither of the presidential nominees because they can't satisfy the other. that definitely applies to hillary clinton.

[indiscernible] >> some of your colleagues fully broke away from trump. are you going to continue say what you have all of? my messages that this election is a referendum. choice.clinton is no she is not acceptable to me at

all. thanks. [indiscernible] sen. toomey: of a let you know all about it if there is a change could -- i will let you know all about it if there is a change. thanks for coming out. i appreciate it. how are you? i'm doing very well. thank you. i appreciate that. it's very close, but i feel good. [indiscernible]

sen. toomey: thank you very much for coming out. >> thank you. >> can i get a picture? sen. toomey: sure, sure. thanks for coming. i am going to see you later today. to our next over stop in montgomery. >> we were in melbourne. a little chilly but a great turnout.

we had like 100 people out on the patio. thank you for coming out. i don't think i got a chance to say it back there earlier but -- >> hi, how are you? sen. toomey: good to see you again. >> can i make a suggestion? you talked about the industry is moving out. why don't you mention in addition to the industries moving out, there are additional jobs that were in the city that are lost because these mom-and-pop stores closed. the gas stations closed. sen. toomey: the knockdown effect. >> you can see that in flint. you can see that in chester. sen. toomey: that is why we have so far fewer people working. >> that's right. sen. toomey: people are not looking for work. that's a good point. thank you for coming out.

take care. thanks for coming out, i appreciate it. >> a question. as far as all the opioid stuff. we have been cutting back for years, but a lot of it came back with the accreditation for the hospital. the patient satisfaction survey? [indiscernible] sen. toomey: we got the administration to change the linkage of the answers to the questionnaire to medicare reimbursement so that was very recent. so my knowledge is the patient satisfaction. i know what you are talking about. there is like three questions dealing with pain management and it used to be a hospitals results on those service created

a realis the reimbursement leve, so it determine how much they prescribed opioids. what we did is that we got them to agree. they will continue to do the survey but no longer will the medicare reimbursement levels be part of the service at least with respect to the opioid. >> because it was a catch 22. sen. toomey: a little bit of progress there. thank you. [indiscernible conversation]

sen. toomey: thanks for coming out. thank you.

thanks for coming out. thank you very much. >> really? sen. toomey: sure, thanks for coming out. all right. thanks for coming out.

[indiscernible]

>> katie mcginty started her campaign with a lie about being the first in her family tube go to go to college and it has been one lie after another about pat toomey. >> if you want a rubberstamp, katie mcginty is for you, but if you want someone who stands up for taxpayers and public safety, then join our campaign. i am pat toomey and this is my message. donald trump: she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem. i would look her right in that

set, ugly face of hers. when you are a star, they let you do it. you can do anything. >> i will be supporting the republican nominee. i have every intention of supporting the republican nominee. i am certainly not in the never trump category. i am certainly not in the never trump category. >> right here, this man, and a legal immigrant is arrested for average -- an illegal immigrant is arrested for aggravated assault. the unthinkable happens. >> in a sickening development, he is arrested again but last month, accused of raping a 13-year-old child. >> katie mcginty still refuses to support ending philadelphia being a designated sanctuary city. how could she? >> imagine, the bank forces you out. no warning, no hearing. a lending practice so

outrageous that most states banded. at a bank owned by pat toomey, it was business as usual. forcing 21 small business owners out of their homes. toomey is using his power and the senate to help himself. voting to gut rules that help us in crackdown on big banks. pat toomey, up for himself, not us. candidatetic senate katie mcginty made a campaign stop in pittsburgh to urge voters to head to the polls on election day as she challenges republican incumbent pat toomey could se. .he was joined by mike doyle this is just under an hour. [applause] >> i want her in washington with me, ok? let's make sure she gets there.

try to show a little enthusiasm be here.an honor to i want to reckon as a couple of people i see in the audience that we work with every day that are champions of working people. i see senator wayne fontana. good to see you. representative paul costa. [applause] rep, anita, state good to see you. it's really good to be here with my buddy sherrod brown. we served in the house together and we also played on the congressional baseball team. he is a better legislator than a baseball player. [laughter] and he is a cleveland got, so be nice to him. [laughter] let's cut through all this. thethis white noise on

television, this is pretty basic stuff. i'm a blue-collar kid from swiss villa. my dad worked in braddock at agra thompson steel mill my grandfather worked in furnace. and when i came to congress, i devised went to represent i was going to represent the people i grew up with the working class families here in pittsburgh. i don't have to think about that. so let's break down this election in pittsburgh style. toomeye got trump and and you got clinton and the katie mcginty. just look at the roots. donald trump born with a silver spoon in his mouth. his whole life, he's been a millionaire developer thanks to loans from his father and he deals internationally and finance, which is history. everything he's built and this is a guy that went through four bankruptcies by the way. everything he's built and if he

didn't have to build it union, he didn't build it union. he says whatever he needs to say . read "the art of the deal." "the art of the deal" is to do whatever you got to do. say whatever you got to say to get the deal. that's how this guy operates. that's how he's operated his whole life. that's what makes him come into pittsburgh and say i'm going to bring steel mills back and i'm going to bring joe paterno back. does anybody really believe he can do that? he goes into west virginia and says i'm going to bring the coal mines back. i mean to me that's like the worst kind of people. you go into an area where people are down on their luck. and then you try to give them some false hope just to get their votes knowing damn well there's no way in the world he's going to do what he says he's going to do. he talks about wanting to reinvigorate american steel, but his last two big projects he built with chinese steel. he talks about creating jobs in

our country, but all the jobs he created are in other countries. this guy is a con artist from day one. bloomberg said it best, "we know a con when we see one." will guess what ? here in western pennsylvania, we didn't grow up in a turnip patch. when we see one and donald trump has no business getting anywhere near the white house and we do make sure that he doesn't. now let's look at pat toomey. this is another guy who's whole career has been in the banking and finance industries. he has been a partner in a bank. he's worked in wall street. he has worked internationally in finance. what makes you think this guy has any connection with the middle class or the working class in this country? his focus in washington, d.c. has been on that -- on banking and finance international finance. let's look at katie mcginty. katie grew up in a family of

ten. and any of you that come from big families know what that's like. her dad was a cop. her mother was a waitress. she grew up in a working class family outside of philadelphia. she understands what it is to sacrifice and to share when you are in a family that large. she gets us. she is one of us. what is her focus going to be in washington? it's going to be on jobs. it's going to be on education. it's going to make sure that our parents and our grandparents are protected, that the social safety net is there for everyone. it's going to be our kids and our grandkids that they have a future here in western pennsylvania. she gets all that. that's going to be her focus and it's the same with hillary. hillary wants to focus on children, on education, on infrastructure. that's good for us in the trades too. , we want to see people working. this is such an easy election and such an easy choice when you cut away all the clutter and all this negativity you're seeing on your television set.

when you look at the democratic team, you see people that are dedicated and focused on working on the middle, class families, and on revitalizing areas like pittsburgh and west virginia and all through this rust belt. that's going to be the focus of our candidates. when you look at the other side, the focus is overseas and over on wall street. otese people are n us. they don't understand us. they have never been for us and they can't come into our homes and our communities and try to tell us they're going to do something when we all know damn well they don't mean it at all. we need to get our friends and neighbors out to vote. we need to educate people that the people running for president , for the united states senate, and across this congressional ballot that really care about western pennsylvania are sitting on the democratic ticket and on november 8, let's all get out there and make sure we put them all in office.

[applause] >>[applause] ok, now the preliminaries are over. it's time to bring the big guys up. i'll tell you what. knowing the pleasure of katie mcginty for quite some time now. she is just a tremendous person . all her life really has been devoted in public service. she gets it. i know she's from outside philly , but she's like a pittsburgh person. she really is. she gets what we are and she is one of us and she's focused on what we do. and that's why from very very early in this campaign which where all of us in western pennsylvania, the elected officials, we all got together and endorsed her early because we knew that she got us and that she would fight for us and she'd be one of our champions down in washington, d.c.. rich is right.

i have not seen pat toomey in pittsburgh in six years. you know his predecessor, arlen specter, at least he would call you on the phone to let you know he was in town and it invites you to what he was doing. i have never, ever heard from pat toomey in the six years he's been in the united states senate and we need a u.s. senator that knows where we live, is going to come visit our community, and is going to work on issues with our spirit we have one great senator bob casey. he is desperate for a partner he can work with. we know we're going to have a democratic administration after let's give that administration november 8. to us senators that can work with her. it is my great pleasure and privilege to introduce the next u.s. senator, katie mcginty. [applause] katie mcginty: all right, how are we doing? [applause]

katie mcginty: you know, you might have a couple sports championships, but this year is that city of champions. how about it? [applause] we welcome you, but it's going to be a tough competition here. torybody out there ready fight and work and when november 8? we have got a great team and have been recognize this morning, but i want to recognize to others. natalia is here. good to see you. wagner is here. [applause] katie mcginty: these guys are telling you it's 11 days till the election. not that i'm focused on it, but it's 10 and i have. here's the truth. everyd every minute of one of those days because we

have got to get every single person out and their voices heard. not those doors and ring the phones coul. why? this isn't just any election. this is the election where literally the soul and spirit of this great country is what's on the ballot. what's on the ballot is whether or not we maintain and stand up for that basic beautiful bargain that has been what this country is about. and that is it is not about your pedigree. it's not about whether you're blue blood although we democrats know that blue blood is the way to go. [applause] it's about whether or not you work hard. it's about your own perseverance, your own grid. that's where we all come from. nobody gave us anything. we worked for it every day, every day. but that here's what i know about working people. they're the first to step up and give back. it's pride to give back to your

community, and by the way, donald, it is not pride, it is not smart. it is a shame and it is disgraceful to try to get out of paying your do, your taxes for 20 years. we know who has been living off the taxpayers -- donald trump. [applause] katie mcginty: the choices in this election are start and they are clear. everything is at stake. everything is on the ballot. and in this u.s. senate race, it is clear. i do come from a hard-working family with those 10 kids, and yes, mike, that meant we didn't learn to get together and cooperate and you also learn to fight for your right with those six brothers around the table. i knew that bowl of mashed potatoes was not coming around twice. [laughter] but what a great joy and pride it is to stand for hard-working people. and a five dollar of serving as

your united states senator, that's what i'm going to do. but the difference with pat toomey couldn't be more clear. he comes from wall street. except for while he's been in washington, he's really never left wall street. he has not been working for us. he goes to bat for the banks and the special interests. he has been working for himself, not for us. here's what i know. donald, at this is, great country, and it is a great country because we have been faithful to that basic bargain that when somebody gives it their all in this country you get to get ahead. you get to look at your kids with pride and dignity and say, if you have got a dream, i've got you. i've got you. we will get there. you put in your 40 hours come you don't live in poverty. that's what the basic deal of this country is. [applause] katie mcginty: i know like all of you we are skin in the game

kind of people. we're not looking for any handout. we're going to earn it. that's how i was raised and i do want to honor my mom and dad. every day seeing my dad going off to walk the beat. wearing that batch for 35 years. a lot of these guys talk a great game about our heroes. it was every day we would kiss our dad goodbye not knowing if dad was coming home for dinner tonight. what gets me is these guys are all about the hallmark card. kelly knows this too. you know whether it's our firefighters, whether it's our law enforcement, they are all about the bouquets, but when it comes to really stand out and making sure that tension is there that you aren't, making sure that we are investing to make sure we have the resources and the equipment and we have the resources on the ground, but then all of a sudden they want to balance the budget on the backs of those who give the ultimate sacrifice. and i will tell you what in our

10 kids, number five of 10 is my brother, jimmy. my brother, jimmy, serve this country with honor and distinction. my brother, jimmy, is one of those guys when the one time i made the mistake and i answered is tim as a . ex-ntroduced him as an marine. once a marine always a marine. semper fi. he was one of those guys who fell on a little bit of a hard time. when he went to the v.a. and said i need a hand here, the v.a. said you are a great guy and you have been volunteering here and you serve your country very well. you come back in a year and a half and we might have a bed for you. pat toomey is one of those guys who is all about the hallmark card, but not once seven times he voted against our vets. we stand for something different than that. we stand for our vets.

katie mcginty: here's the deal. as i see it out there traveling every part of this wonderful commonwealth, the first part of that basic bargain, you work hard, you get ahead. the first part is alive and well. the second part's the part's that looking a little peaked. the first part, people working with pride, working strong, giving it all they got. it's good people like this wonderful grandmother i met not long ago. she came to a rally with the major message, we were rallying, hey, pat toomey, keep your hands off our social security, you will not privatize our social security. [applause] katie mcginty: but when it was done, she shared a little bit of her story. she said it's a special week for me. she said i am 20 years at the

plant that i work at. i love this company and they love me. it's been a week of celebration. they had a luncheon for me. they've been honoring my service and they gave me a raise. she's making $8.25 an hour. 20 years in. 20 years in. she's living on the brink of poverty. it's not right. it's not right. or the young woman i met not long ago, as well, she said i am the pride and joy of my family. i said tell the story. she's the first in her family to graduate from college. and the whole family's been celebrating. except for the dream is kind of becoming a nightmare because she's living under $130,000 of college debt. it's not right. it's not right. we stand with her. we stand with her. that family needs a break. and you know, not long ago, too,

i had the chance to visit with a woman who told me that she works as a certified nurse assistant. and i'll tell you, one, i know that that is absolutely back breaking, hard, hard work. and i know it for sure firsthand because my own dear parents in the last two years of their life were in assisted living and then nursing home care and i saw the nurse assistants there absolutely fall in love with the patients, absolutely physically tough, tough work. now, in my parents' case, alma mcginty was the light of the world so i could see where those nurses fell in love with her. john patrick mcginty sr., on the other hand, a little salty. and they loved him, as well. so this woman, she's working at night, as well. and during her breaks at night, she's calling her kids, drilling

the spelling words. she's all in, all in. but when she's done telling me that, she says, but i'm ashamed. and i said, how could you be ashamed? you're everything this country's about. she said, i'm ashamed because even with the two jobs, on saturdays, i still have to take my kids to the food bank, and she looked at me real at rain and she said, you get elected, i want something. what's that? she said, i want a paycheck, i do not want a welfare check. we stand with her. we stand with her! [applause] katie mcginty: that's the spirit. and i'll tell you this, with the voice that labor gives to working people, we've got it upside down in this country. that that we love and cherish

the most are kids and our elderly parents, we put in the hands of those in this country we pay the least. that's wrong. it's upside down. fighting for the fight for 15, it has to change and we will make it change. honor people with decent work, decent pay. if i have the honor and privilege of serving, every day it will be a joy to go to work for good people, like those people, their stories that i just shared but, man, senator toomey, he has a different agenda. it's guys like toomey and trump that have made it so much worse for good, honest people. you know, some of this stuff you can't hardly even make it up. 80,000 of the senator's own constituents were ripped off by wells fargo bank, did the

senator stand up for his constituents and the victims? he didn't. he went to bat for the banks and said he was going to go to washington and make sure he defunded the consumer financial protection bureau. the consumer cop that blew the whistle. anybody have a bank account at wells fargo? you better check. you might have 10. college affordability, interest rates have never been lower. it's a free market thing. let people refinance college debt. pat toomey votes no. that works for the banks. doesn't work for us. what about social security? yeah, he's out there trying to privatize it, trying to hand it over to wall street. that works for the banks. it doesn't work for us. and i'll tell you what, any guy who joins up with donald trump and thinking, as he said, the problem in this country is that people make too much, is not living in our world. i guess that's what happens when you fly around in your own private plane, as pat toomey does, and you own your own bank.

you kind of lose touch. i'll tell you, it's time for us to get back in touch with the soul and spirit of this country and the hard work of good people in every part of this commonwealth and i know with your help and working together, we stand for something very, very different. and i can't wait to get to work with all of you so that, number one, every child, every child in this commonwealth and this country deserves a decent education. we'll fight for it. and your zip code is not your future and is not your destiny. and we'll get to work. we need all of our skills, all in. working with the steam fitters and the trades. my own brothers, heavy equipment operators, coal miners, master printer. that marine, x-ray certified welder. not just any welder, you know.

but you know, a great country doesn't just buy and consume stuff. a great country builds and makes stuff. we're going to put people back to work. and when you put in your hard day's work, we're going to make sure you get a decent day's pay and let's say it once and for all, we're going to fight for equal pay for equal work and it's a family issue, not just a woman's issue. [applause] katie mcginty: i think we know in our heart and soul, when we stick together, when we stand together, when we have strength in numbers, nobody out-beats or out-competes the workers of the united states of america. and we're ready to do it. we're ready to show our stuff again. you know, countdown is on. 10 1/2 days. 10.25 days. not yet. but i need your help. i need to be out there on fire,

making it so that everybody knows and believes that our best days are ahead, why? because we believe in this country, we believe in the good people of this country and when we stand together, we fight together, we will win. [applause] katie mcginty: here's one person who's been out there fighting and winning for hard-working families his whole career. it's just a shame he's a pennsylvania wanna-be but we welcome him here as our own, please welcome senator sherrod brown! [applause] senator brown: katie, thank you.

erin, katie, and doyle. it's a thrill to be here, a thrill always to be in a labor hall with firefighters and iron workers and uscw and steel workers and sciu. thank you for all of that. this is my real voice. i'm not sick. i don't smoke. i just talk this way. my wife, who many of you know through facebook -- several of you have said that -- my wife and i were at an event one time and we were crowded together. as i took the microphone and started to speak, this guy, turned to my wife, he said i hate that guy's voice. she said, really? he said, yeah, that guy speaks, it's like fingernails on a blackboard, i can't stand listening to him. she said i like his voice. you know when i really like him?

i really like him when he wakes me up in the middle of the night and says "i love you, baby." true story. [applause] senator brown: before we talk about katie, i want to talk about why it's so important, all of you do in the labor movement. i was in cincinnati at a labor dinner a few years ago and 300 or 400 people, seated at a table down front, a round table, were six or seven middle-aged women, some african american, some latino, some white. all middle-aged. they were sciu, and they had just signed their first union contract with the downtown cincinnati business owners. they were representing custodial workers, janitors. i wanted to talk to them so i went down. they signed the agreement earlier that morning. this was the bargaining team. 1200 in the bargaining unit. i sat down at the table and said what's it mean now that you have a union?

and a woman said to me, she said i'm 51 years old, this is the first time in my life i'm going to have a one-week paid vacation. you think about that. because firefighters and iron workers and ufcw -- because you carry union cards, you won that fight a long time ago on that one week of paid vacation but i know natalia's working to make sure we do family leave and vacation time and sick leave and all the things that every worker should have. everybody should join a union but you shouldn't have to join a union to be able to have family leave and sick days and to be able to take care of your family, period. that's what-all fight for so well. now, the last time i was in pennsylvania, i was in -- i said to doyle, we were talking after doyle. doyle doesn't strike me as an alleghany county guy. he strikes me as a bucks county guy, doesn't he? [laughter]

senator brown: anyway, last time i was in pennsylvania was in july at the democratic convention and i got to speak about an hour before chelsea came on stage and one of the things i said, i was thinking a couple of days in advance, what do you talk about at something like this when everything's been said? and i thought back to grade school. i went to brinkerhov elementary school in mansfield, ohio. my junior high was johnny appleseed. i remember as a second or third grader looking on the wall and a lot of elementary schools had a picture of all of our presidents and you look at them and except for mustaches and wigs, they all look like me, a middle-aged white guy. but now i have five grandchildren and when they start school, they're going to now see an african american face, and pretty soon, my two granddaughters, they're 1 and 2 now, when they go to school, they'll see themselves in hillary clinton and how great that is. [applause]

senator brown: and these same girls in pennsylvania that haven't seen this before, they'll see themselves in the face of their united states senator and how great is that? [applause] senator brown: and if they're smart enough not to live in doyle's district, they'll see the first female congressman. [applause] senator brown: so this is our chance, all over this country, but especially in pennsylvania this is our chance to make history. if i could be excused for a moment to say something about making history in ohio for a moment. and pittsburgh and cleveland have a lot in common. one has a good football team, one doesn't. but we have a lot in common. but we're about to make history in ohio. we have not had -- cleveland's not won the world series since 1948 until -- until this year,

cleveland had not had, for 52 years, since jim brown, when the browns were better than the steelers back then, cleveland had not had a championship in anything. believe it or not, cleveland in early 2016 -- i appreciate your cavaliers' t-shirt, by the way. thank you, thank you for that. early in 2016, cleveland made a deal with the devil and cleveland said, i want a championship and the devil said, all right, you can have your championship. this was in early 2016 before the championship and lebron. you can have your championship but you got to have the republican championship. and they said they're going to nominate trump and cleveland said all right, you got to give us two championships. stupid joke. that's not bad. this race right here in the senate is going to make a difference in who's the majority next year.

it's going to make a difference on how we -- whether -- considering how cruz and mccain are talking, we may never get a supreme court justice confirmed, as outrageous as that is. there's never been a supreme court vacancy as long as this one since the civil war because we're in the middle of a civil war but that doesn't bother them, apparently. so whether it's toomey or portman or republican senators all over the country, this will make such a difference to win this race here, not just to win, to have a democrat in the senate, but to have somebody as good as bob casey, somebody that understands labor, that fights for labor, that fights for working class, fights for workers, that fights for civil rights and fights for all the things that we care about in this country. everybody in this union -- everybody that's almost ever walked in the steam fitter's hall understands and cares about that. that's the importance of this race. this suit i'm wearing was made

by union workers 11 miles from my home in cleveland. [applause] senator brown: donald trump, as you know, buys his suits and ties from mexico and china. donald trump buys his glassware -- he could have got it in toledo, ohio, america's city. he bought it in europe. he could have bought his furniture in norwalk or archibald, ohio, but bought his furniture in turkey. and on two of his last three construction projects, he's used steel from china -- steel that could have come from cleveland or youngstown. he's used aluminum from china. aluminum that could have come from alcoa or from an ohio or pennsylvania smelting site. he could have done that. of course he didn't do that. the only thing -- when i think about -- mike and i were talking about when toomey came to congress in 1999. and we faced a big vote then and mike and i were very involved,

fighting against permanent normal trade relations with china. when i think of pat toomey now saying he's against trade trans-pacific partnership, and i think about trump saying he wants to make america great, he'll tear up trade agreements. i came to congress in 1993, i led my freshman class in opposition to nafta and we got really close. we didn't win but not good enough, obviously. but you think about this, during the fights that doyle and i have made against pntr, against cafta, against tpp, against these terrible trade agreements, i never saw pat toomey on the right side and i never saw donald trump join a rally, speak out, write a letter to the editor, write an op-ed, give money. i never saw him do anything. the only thing that donald trump did was run his mouth and pad his pockets when it comes to

trade and don't believe him for a second when he says he's against these trade agreements. he didn't have to buy steel from china. he didn't have to buy his aluminum for his job site from china. he didn't have to buy his clothes from mexico. he obviously could have bought it here. he made those choices and that's who he really is. so this race, i want to tell you one other reason why i think that this race matters and why what you do as labor activists matters so much. i wear this pin, it's a depiction of a canary in a bird cage, given to me in the mid 1990's by a steel worker. it's a depiction of a canary in a bird cage and you know particularly because you're close to coal country and you know labor movement history. mine workers used to take the canary down in the mine. if the canary died from lack of oxygen or toxic gas, the mine worker got out of the mines because he was on his own.

in those days he had no umw or union to protect him and no government that cared enough to protect him. you think where we are as a country, 1900, when they took the canaries down in the mines, the average life expectancy in this country was 46 years. you know in alleghany county and you know in le monde valley, you know in this region how many workers died from illness, died from work place injury. you know all that. and the reason we live 30 years i longer today, 46, 45 years old, 100 years ago, the reason we live 30 years longer today. it's a little bit high-tech medicine, chemotherapy, different things. but by and large it's because of what the labor movement has done, what civil rights has done, what advocates for women and children have done. you think about that. you think about congress and state legislatures passed

legislation on minimum wage, on clean drinking water, on medicaid, on social security, protections for children to ban child labor, on osha, on all the things that the labor movement fought for, always against the most powerful interest groups in the country. nobody -- steel companies and the oil companies don't give this stuff away. it was because we fought in harrisburg and columbus and we fought in washington and we fought in our county courthouses. mr. fitzgerald. we fought all across the country to make this progress. and that's what's always at stake in this election. ralph waldo emerson said that the fight is always between the innovators and conservators. the innovators are us, progressives that want to move the country forward.

the conservators are donald trump and pat toomey and people that want to preserve their privilege and preserve their power and preserve their money and want to hold it close and don't ever want to give it up. again, that's why katie mcginty's election is so important because it's not just pennsylvania, it's not just she has a d. after her name. she knows how workers live. she knows what to fight for. she will always be on the side with bob casey and me to fight for a more progressive government in a more progressive country that will move this country forward. that's why i came over here because that is so important. [applause] senator brown: i ask you one other thing. it's too bad you don't have early voting. i hope the legislature can do that one of these days here because it really does matter. for hillary. but in addition to what you do with planned parenthood or your union or the central body fed or however you're doing it, the

calls make, the doors you knock on, give as much time as you can in the next couple of weeks. i want each of you to think about five friends you have. they could be a family member, somebody at your church, somebody in the union, a next door neighbor. think of five people who are maybe leaning for trump or toomey or just are undecided and you can convince them or maybe there's a 22-year-old that was a bernie pro and doesn't think they're going to vote. make it your mission, find five people, and make it your mission to educate them and take them to the polls. i read in 2012, 106 million americans didn't vote. imagine that. 106 million americans in this country didn't vote. and 125 million did but 106 million didn't. we all know people that probably

won't vote unless you personally make an appeal to them. tell them how great katie is and tell them about erin and talk to them about hillary and coach them and teach them and mentor them and make sure you personally can take off work and take them to the polls. it will make the difference. in a race that looks as close as her race is, i know you will win for hillary here. and that is tough to. particularly in that part of the state. but put your personal -- make that list in your mind and think about who those five people are to make a big difference to get voteto vote demographic -- democratic. so thank you. [applause]

>> in closing, i would have to put a great thanks. jo little, thank you for being our host today. [applause] thank you senator sherrod brown for making the trip as always , thank you for being such a catalyst. thanks to our elected officials that graced us today and your friendship is something that is never forgotten. thank you. thank you. my final statement is to my brothers and sisters in organized labor today. a billionaire has questioned your democracy. has felt that he thinks that he has the right to say whether he will accept or not accept. what we have died for.

think about that. you have a chance to make a statement that our democracy is great and pure. [applause] people of question to the power of organized labor for far too long. and as you can see, it just keeps coming. as one later moves, and other one steps up and we fight harder and harder. as i look at the camera and i speak to all of you right now, people question our labor movement and our power. my question to you is careful what you wish for. thank you, brothers and sisters. it out and vote. [applause]

[crowd noise]

>> thank you.

>> really? >> yes. >> when we get to the other side, i hope i have some more time. not a lot more time. thank you. sure.

>> thank you, guys. you have a real camera. >> thank you, so much. >> i appreciate your good counsel. >> whatever you need. >> thank you for the hospitality. absolutely. great to see you. thank you so much. you are making a huge difference for us.

>> it means the world to me, i am honored to have your support. >> my daughters wanted to come today, they are nine and five, did you sign this -- could you sign this? >> what are their names? >> gabby and sophia. o-p-h-ia-.-- s-

>> yes. >> thank you for being here and thank you for the work you do. this election season but what you do everyday. thanks, guys. thank you. >> you are amazing. >> thank you for all you are doing.

>> thank you, very, very much, not just a job, and adventure. >> i want to enter did you hear -- introduce you. >> ashley. >> i am a volunteer. >> thank you very much government do you live here? >> i live in london. >> can i get a picture? >> i would love it. three. two, >> i am so pulling for you, we

are doing everything we can. >> nice to see you, thank you for being here. >> the democratic challenge in the pennsylvania u.s. senate race pulling ahead according to

a franklin marshall college poll showing katie mcginty with a 12 point lead over republican incumbent patrick to me. she has 40% -- 47% and senator to me with 35% -- senator yoom -- toomey with 35%. paul ryan spoke on the huge hewitt radio show and said republicans need to come home and vote. c-span carried the show live and here is a bit of what speaker ryan had to say. speaker ryan: i keep telling young people who did not experience the 1990's like you and i did, this is what life is like with the clintons, always a scandal and always an investigation, you never know what will happen next, they lived above the rules, outside the rules and work the system to help clinton incorporated and not the rest of us, this is what they do. this is a consistent pattern of

behavior over a lifetime of the clintons in office. why on earth would we want to go through that again? she is under investigation right now and do we want to, knowing this, have a person come into the white house automatically under suspicion and investigation. >> this week on c-span2, political radio programs with national talk show hosts, live thursday from noon until 3:00, author and progressive radio host tom hartman and our product from 9:00 a.m. until noon, a conservative perspective on the mike gallagher show live from new york city. all this week with on c-span2. >> our focus on the presidential race six days outtakes as to the economic club of washington with live coverage at 12:35 as the club president leads a discussion with political reporters like mike allen and chris wallace.

on the state of the race, including senate and house races coming up with at 12:35. president obama and james taylor campaign this afternoon for hillary clinton at the university of north carolina chapel hill. we will have live coverage at 2:00 p.m. eastern and donald trump with a campaign rally in orlando, florida, one of several stop of his in the sunshine state we have live coverage at 4:00 eastern. from thomas kaplan of the new york times about hillary the des moineson shooting, they have canceled a rally in des moines with tim kaine and bill clinton. on election day november 8, the nation decides our next president and which party controls the house and senate. c-span for coverage of the presidential race including

campaign stops with hillary clinton, donald trump, and their surrogates and follow key house and senate races with our coverage of their candidate debates and speeches. c-span, work history unfolds daily. -- where history unfolds daily. new york senator chuck schumer running for reelection, challenged by wendy long, they debated last week on the campus of union college in schenectady, talking about james comey's handling of the clinton e-mail investigation and the economy, banking regulations, the supreme court, health care, and more. the debate is about one hour. ♪ ms. benjamin: welcome to the

exclusive debate between senator candidate. mr. lewis: i am host of inside city hall. we are coming to you live from inside the historic memorial at union college in schenectady. candidates please come to the stage and crowd leaves join me in welcoming the two candidates debating tonight, senator charles schumer, a democrat from brooklyn. [applause] long, a republican. wendy long is a republican from manhattan who also ran in 2012. [applause] ms. long: now we have to lay out the rules that the candidates agreed to. each gets one minute for an

opening statement and one minute for a closing statement at the end of the debate. in between, we will ask a series of questions of state, national and international issues and rebuttals will be limited to 45 seconds. further responses will be allowed at the discretion of the moderateors. we will limit these to 30 seconds. halfway through we will have the candidates asking one another a question. those responses are limited to one minute. mr. lewis: let's get started. the order of opening statements was selected randomly earlier today. first up is mr. schumer. mr. schumer, friday's letter -- i am sorry, opening statements come first. sen. schumer: let me thank you and union college for having this debate. i fought my entire career for the middle class and those trying to get there because that's who i am. my father was an exterminator, my mother a housewife, my father-in-law a cab driver.

and i remember vividly my father pacing the floor at 2:00 a.m., worried about how he was going to pay the bills. so i have worked really hard to bring jobs, good jobs, to the middle class and those aspiring to be there, whether it's alcoa, the four kraft plants, the laser in rochester. i brought many good jobs here. i am there when there is a crisis, whether 9/11 or sandy downstate or the horrible snowstorm in buffalo. i'm always there for new yorkers. if you give me the honor of re-electing me, i will work really hard for the middle class and those trying to get there, raising the minimum wage, making college affordable, a major infrastructure bill that will employ tens of thousands of people in good paying jobs.

ms. benjamin: thank you. ms. long? ms. long: i want to thank union college and those involved in the debate here for a beautiful job and beautiful setting and welcome all of our friend. i want to thank our veterans and active military, our law enforcement, firefighters and first responders, who are here in the audience and those at home. you really do the public service and we are in debt to you all for the work you do for america and for civilization. i think that this election is really a big turning point in our country. we face a big choice. do we want to go along with more of the same, the establishment, the status quo in washington that's produced record low economic growth for a decade, that has put so many new yorkers out of work and have had incomes stagnating. and many people have a corrupt rigid, play for pay system in washington. and many people feel that my

opponent sits at the apex of that system. i think we need to change that and i have a lot of ethical reforms i would like to propose and hope to in the course of this debate. mr. lewis: thank you. mr. schumer, we saw a letter issued to members of congress to best buy the fbi director james comey -- by the fbi director james comey which he announced new information to hillary clinton's use of a private server that has triggered reaction including more reaction and calls for comey's resignation. do you think the timing and content of his letter was appropriate and should he step down or be fired? sen. schumer: i was appalled by -- by what he did, i worked with him in the past. we worked together about cleaning up the u.s. attorney's office when alberto gonzalez was politicizing them. you know, there is a tradition

in the u.s. attorneys' offices in washington and justice department and goes down to the brooklyn d.a.'s office that a prosecutor always avoids interfering with an election, and the fact we heard today that comey had to issue a search warrant for these emails means he doesn't know what is in them. yet he goes ahead and writes a letter and he knows what was going to happen. i think what he did was wrong and both donald trump and hillary clinton have called for the emails to be made public. i believe that's the right thing to do. mr. comey ought to make them public and second, he owes not only secretary clinton but the american people an explanation for what appears to be an appalling action. mr. lewis: a factual question -- were you in that first round of letters that were sent by the f.b.i. director? sen. schumer: i was not.

mr. lewis: response. ms. long: well, it's hard in 60 seconds to unpack everything that has gone wrong from a prosecutorial standpoint in this sorry mess about the clinton emails. it is a tangled mess. i was pretty unhappy with what happened when f.b.i. director comey sort of took a path, if you will, on the evidence that he had uncovered. and i think the reason for that was the great impropriety of bill clinton going and meeting with loretta lynch. what happened was she said i'm going to defer to whatever director comey said. director comey is supposed to be gathering the evidence. and she's the one who is supposed to be the prosecutor to making the decisions. by that visits from bill clinton it removed the ability to make a proper decision. it would be one thing if hillary clinton came in and gave the evidence she was required.

we are in this mess because she failed do do that. mr. lewis: does mr. comey deserve a reprimand? or more severe punishment? ms. long: i do not know, his actions have been so puzzling i would not want to comment. harry reid suggested in a letter that perhaps the fbi director had violated the hatch act. do you agree? sen. schumer: i have not seen the letter so i would not comment. ms. long: can the director continue ms. benjamin: -- can you director continue? sen. schumer: he needs to explain himself. and he has a big big burden of proof to speak that goes against the tradition of prosecutors at every level of government. when i heard about it, i found it hard to believe that comey i thought had some degree of integrity to do this. ms. long: it doesn't go against

prosecutorial conduct if you find new evidence, if it comes to light, in this case, your friend, anthony weiner, who would have thought it turned up there? when something like that comes to light, it's the duty of the prosecutor to evaluate it. so i disagree that it should have been just ignored just because we are farther down the road. sen. schumer: i have talked to a lot of prosecutors. for instance, if a grand jury is convened a month before an election, it supposed to be kept secret because we are innocent until proven guilty. letting that out can john does an election. what comey did, i disagree, what he did was appalling and prosecutors from one end of america to another end of america know it. a leading republican prosecutor who worked for george bush said he was shocked by what mr. comey did. ms. benjamin: i would like to

move. ms. long, you are an attorney and not everyone is familiar with your resume, but he did run -- but you did run statewide. you were defeated in that race when you ran against senator schumer's colleague and despite the statewide run, you remain unknown to a majority of new yorkers. trump, close to donald although he is not popular according to the popular opinion democrat-dominated state. how have you changed since 2012 and why should candidates give you serious consideration? ms. long: some of the principles that i espoused in 2012, i'm still the same conservative that i was before. the principles i'm standing on are very similar. they have been affected by some of the thoughts advanced by my nominee that have caused me and

other nominees like questions on free trade and whether it makes sense to be against some of these big trade deals that they have lauded so much or whether it makes sense to move off to a more exacting and bilateral trade posture where we can get better deals. the principle is a good one and a good conservative one, the more you think about it, is what is best about america, put the american worker first. i think rethinking what we have done in the middle east is a good idea. i think those of us who are loyal republicans certainly backed george bush and thought it was right to go into iraq and many of us over the years had second thoughts about that. ms. benjamin: we are going to get to those. just very quickly, if i could change it slightly, do you consider yourself more conservative than you were the last time around? ms. long: yes, these principles

of america first, protecting our borders and protecting the rule of law, those are very conservative principles. i think they are very american principles. some have called them populist. i think putting a label on them is rather difficult. i'm more comfortable with them, put it that way. sen. schumer: well, the issue of donald trump goes way beyond his positions on the issues. some of the things he has done have been appalling, what he has called women, and made fun of the handicapped, how he has so many, so many times demeaned different people and different groups and goes beyond that. that's why so many republicans, the bush family and others have refused to endorse donald trump and it's not a question of whether he is more conservative or more liberal than previous republican nominees, it's that he is just not fit to be president. george will, far more conservative than me, maybe more

conservative than you, mrs. long, said he does president want to be in the republican party if they can support donald trump because of how he has conducted himself. it goes beyond the specific ideology. ms. long: -- ms. benjamin: would you like to defend or reiterate your support of the nominee? ms. long: when we talk about use of vulgar language or saying things to women, donald trump apologized, just like senator schumer apologized for the bad language that he used to that nice flight attendant. who was trying to do her job and telling him to turn her cell phone off. these mistakes happen. people apologize. i have to say, i find it somewhat hypocritical from those on the left that we have to cover our children's ears. if we listen to "the howard stern show" and listen to amy schumer with the racism and all

these things going on or hillary clinton's jayzee, to encourage young people to come out, and look at the words. go read the lyrics. -- level of full garrity, this is the pot calling the kettle block. sen. schumer: neither schumer, jayzee or howard stern are running for president. i think most americans would think they wouldn't make good presidents either. mr. lewis: ok. i would like to switch to the economy. mr. schumer, 16 years ago, a candidate for senate made extensive promises for job creation around the state, including a famous pledge to create 200,000 jobs for upstate , that was hillary clinton, and many new yorkers were skeptical to cure the state's economic ills. what have been the most successful economic growth programs you have supported and

if elected to a fourth term, what new or different approaches would you advocate? sen. schumer: first, a number of programs have been very, very supportive. when we got a transportation bill, it took a long time because there was a blockade among the hard right. it is employing thousands and thousands of new yorkers, and building infrastructure, making college more affordable, really important. in fact, i proposed the american opportunity tax credit which a family who makes below $180,000 get a tax credit. i propose making it permanent right here. we have gotten it done. when kids go to college, they are much more likely to get jobs. there are a lot of things we have done and since 1999, new york has a million more jobs than it had back then. we are making progress. here is something i would change -- trade.

i oppose nafta, i oppose tpp. i think our trade regime is wrong, particularly when it comes to china. i was in crucible steel in syracuse. they told me about manipulation of currency that china is doing that throws american workers out of work. i have been the leader against china on that issue. i hope both dem and republicans could change our trade regime. thing, i havene to say -- the college plan, i have a much better college plan than you do. a one time $2500 tax credit will not help people all that much. this is one of the problems that is really causing most trouble for the middle class. when i started this campaign, i put my thinking cap on and thought what would really help, and whose fault all this was. partially, it is the fault of the federal government driving up the subsidies of federal -- higher education because

anytime something is subsidized -- think get they subsidized yankees tickets. ms. long: -- sen. schumer: they are pretty high already. ms. long: we've got to get that part out of control at some point. for immediate relief, what can we do? the colleges are sitting on these big endowments. i think the college you went to has about a $40 billion endowment. sen. schumer: pretty big. ms. long: mine is about $4 billion. most aren't that large. eunuch or college -- united college took the brave step of lowering its tuition 42% down to $20,000. i hope more colleges will follow suit. in case they are not in the mood to do that, my idea is this -- i think we need to ask colleges to bring tuition rates down immediately to 1996 levels, adjusted for inflation. the stick to make them do that is that if they don't, they will no longer receive all the

different kinds of federal funding and benefits they get, including tax-exempt charitable status. i think that is the kind of immediate relief, and i think it will be much more significant relief than just this $2500 tax credit. sen. schumer: it is not one time. it is every year for every person. read -- and let me tell you -- and the number of new yorkers who have come to me and said they were able to go to college because this credit was available. you can hear about it everywhere. it is a good thing. certainly the cost of college is too high. we must do something to reduce it. if we and acted -- and acted ms. long's plan, we would throw tens of thousands of people out of work, probably some here at union college. finding a good way to reduce the cost of tuition, i am all for it. ms. benjamin: one quick question -- the question was about job creation, we morphed into trade and then got to college.

they are related ms. benjamin:. ms. benjamin: tpp and fasttrack are two different things. you oppose tpp. would you give whoever is sitting in the white house next fasttrack power? sen. schumer: no. bottom line, our whole trade regime has to change. i am pained by how trade workers -- trade occurs, particularly in china. i want to see america stay number one. i love this country. general keith alexander -- not a politician, not somebody prone to hyperbolic language -- here is what he said -- "the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world occurred in the last 20 years when chinese companies, aided by their government through cyber theft, stole the intellectual property of american companies." know, he is the head of cyber security in our

government. we should be coming down on china. ms. benjamin: we will get there. sen. schumer: i could go on and on about trade. ms. long: what would he say about hillary clinton is saying she wanted to see basically open borders on a global open free trade hemisphere? ms. benjamin: on fasttrack, would you vote giving negotiation power to either candidate? ms. long: no. mr. lewis: we have to take a short break but more questions to get to. the debate continues in 60 seconds, stay with us. ♪

mr. louis: welcome back to our time warner cable new york senate debate between senator charles schumer and wendy long. let's get right back to the questions. mr. schumer, throughout your career in congress, you have been a champion of wall street and the new york economy. this election season in particular has seen voters in both parties expressing pronounced anger towards large financial institutions because of growing income inequality and a perceived attitude of protection from government for companies deemed too big to fail. are you too close to wall street to help main street, and how is your advocacy for large financial institutions helping new yorkers were not connected to the industry? sen. schumer: first, i think i am very mindful of the fact that wall street creates hundreds of thousands of jobs. most of them are middle-class

people and poorer people. the woman who gets on a bus and the queen and works as a secretary. a guy from the south bronx who gets on the train and sells food but i oppose wall street whenever they oppose the interest of the middle class. i have done it over and over again. i was one of the main architects of the dodd frank bill. wall street was not about that. -- mad about that. i thought it was really important to rein them in after their excesses. even back in 2000, against what bill clinton and larry summers wanted, i proposed that derivatives be traded publicly. if we had done that, we may have avoided the problem of what happened. i was one of the main proponents of the consumer protection financial board. sometimes our banks do horrible things with payday loans, they're taking our servicemen and veterans pay hundreds of percent interest. i have gone after them with that. i always oppose wall street when they are wrong. i do not needlessly attacked them in terms of name-calling.

when they are wrong i go after them. there are plenty of people on wall street and not to happy with chuck schumer. ms. long: he has learned from he has learned from the master about the public and private positions. if you take a look at his donor list, including the period leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, you will see quite a list of the famous too big to fails -- merrill lynch, lehman brothers, bear stearns, citigroup. you look at his disclosures, they are all the ones who filled up his coffers. i don't think they were that unhappy with what he was doing. in fact, he was loosening regulations, pressing regulators of all kinds to give them the leeway that they wanted. these are the two big to fails, including going to the credit rating agencies and pressing them to give aaa ratings to these collateralized debt securities that were full of these junk subprime mortgages

that brought down the system. i think, actually, a good nickname would be the senator from the big short. sen. schumer: bottom line is very simple. i proposed over and over again. i have supported and will support in the senate getting rid of carried interest, because many people get away with it. the irony is my upon it is against dodd frank. in other words, it is what you do, not what you say. dodd frank is one of the tougher regulations we have. it has required large capital requirements for the banks. they hate it. they say it cuts down on their profitability. then when they make a big mistake, with the capital cushion, guess who pays? the management and the shareholders, not the public. actions speak louder than words. i have opposed wall street's time and time again. i do not support come as i think -- i do not support, as ihi my opponent does, no regulation on the big institutions.

i support. frank. -- i support dodd frank. she does not. ms. long: first of all, that is not true at all. you said something there very quickly about the carried interest rule that really surprised me. i have known for so long that you have defended the carried interest rule for all your big friends in the hedge funds and private equity firms so that they basically end up effectively paying the same tax rate as their secretaries. this is a huge, abusive loophole in the tax code, and it is for your friends. they are the biggest ones who have given you your $27 million. you have been for protecting that carried interest rule, is that not correct? sen. schumer: that is certainly not correct, and you should learn your facts. i have voted to get rid of it four times. i have put it on the floor in my recent proposal to help the college interest rates. i have been against it over and over again. when it was first proposed, i

said don't just do it for financial institutions in new york, do it for real estate, for venture capital. ms. long: the poison pill, that is it. sen. schumer: do it for real estate, for venture capital. that would have been fairer. when congress just did it for financial institutions, i still voted for that and supported it. mr. louis: we believe that to the fact checkers. -- we will leave that for the fact checkers. quickly ms. long, on dodd frank. ms. long: the dodd frank he likes is the one that guarantees too big to fail. it allows enormous risks in the biggest banks, and promises to transfer that risk to the taxpayers. that is what he likes, and that is what his big donors like. what i think is a much better bill, and what i propose, is the brown bitter bill which is pending in the senate. it says for those really really big institutions, $500 billion in assets or more, they need to increase their capital equity requirements so they can cover

themselves. that prevents them -- they don't like that, because they would rather have more leverage -- and what the practical effect of that might be is to force them to downsize, which i think would be a good thing. it would be their decision. they can be responsible for themselves and not be on the hook for the taxpayers, or they can comply with increasing their capital requirements. sen. schumer: i have for capital requirements for all bank, not those that choose to have it. ms. long: in fact, you have punished the smaller and community banks, like first niagara. that is why they are going out of business. a wonderful, 150-year-old institution in buffalo. it has been through the depression, two world wars, a great new york bank. sen. schumer: mismanaged. ms. long: no. could not keep up with the regime of dodd frank with all the regulators and all the requirements that you love to put on for your friends at the

big banks. it had a choice -- either it was going to have to grow, or it would have to sell us to banks. it chose to die. that was bad for new york. ms. long: -- sen. schumer: she does not know the facts. there are much larger and stronger capital requirements on the big banks. the 50 largest banks have much tougher requirements than the community banks. should the community banks have some? absolutely. when community banks of these -- of use people, -- when people,y banks abuse absolutely we should go after them. the thrust of dodd frank is that the largest institutions that cause things to fail, about everyone who is studied this issue except for the hard right that does not believe in regulations, thinks that dodd frank is a good thing to rein in the banks. ms. benjamin: we will move onto the next subject. this goes to you ms. long. the supreme court did start its new session this month with one vacancy. the senate still has not voted on president obama's latest nominee, merrick garland.

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he does not want to take up any nominees in the presidential election year. are you concerned about the precedent this sets? what is your standard honor what -- on whether or not a nominee is confirmed? ms. long: it does not concern me because what the constitution says is that the president shall nominate, and then with the advice and consent of the senate shall appoint. those are the two steps. the president has done his duty. he has nominated. it takes the advice and consent of the senate for a person to ascend to the supreme court. there are no further restrictions or directions on how the senate does that. in the case of merrick garland, i personally think the senate has done it efficiently. they knew they were not going to approve him, so they said why go through this charade of holding hearings. it is a waste of time and a waste of money. it just doesn't make any sense, since they're not going to approve him. that is a perfectly constitutional and proper way

for them to discharge their duty. ms. benjamin: do you have a standard or litmus test for a candidate if he or she does in fact get before the senate for a confirmation hearing? ms. long: i think if there is a nominee who has a long judicial record, as merrick garland does, and one is able to judge on that record, and see something that is quite alarming -- and there are several things in the case of merrick garland. what alarms people as he had voted on a very important case that wants to the supreme court and clarify the second amendment right in this country. everyone could be that quite -- good read from that quite easily that merrick garland would vote to overturn those two pro-second amendment cases that had only recently made their way to the supreme court, underscoring the guarantee that each one of us as americans has the right to keep and bear arms. that was just way too

high-stakes to allow to go forward for those who saw that in his record. sen. schumer: let me say i find it really very bad -- sally say -- shall we say -- that there has been no vote on merrick garland for all these months. this is unprecedented. look at the last four justices of the supreme court -- two were fairly liberal, nominated by obama. the other two were conservatives, nominated by george bush. many democrats voted for them and put them on the court. the republican leadership in the senate has done something unprecedented, which is saying they will not even hold a hearing. we will not even give the american people the chance to see merrick garland's views. you may disagree with it, but so be it. that has been because they do

not once to fill the bench. that is violating the whole principle of the way america works. we have never had this before, and i hope we won't have again. i would hope that in the new congress, democrats and republicans will work together to at least ensure there is a hearing, and then let the chips fall where they may. ms. long: my ears are ringing. the difference in standard that you articulate when you are standing over here versus when you're standing over there. you have held up all kinds of nominees. you have articulated a standard for george bush's nominees, saying if it is within the last year of the bush administration, they can't come forward. you filibuster them. you have done everything you can in every possible procedural posture to stop the nominees. sen. schumer: name one previous supreme court justice who did not get a vote in this amount of time. name one. you can't, because there isn't one. ms. long: this justice isn't

even getting a hearing. this is wasting the time of getting a hearing. once you move forward with a hearing -- what about miguel estrada? sen. schumer: he had a hearing and a vote. ms. long: how long did that take? ms. benjamin: i think we will move on to the next topic. mr. louis: mr. schumer, if you are elevated to become senate majority leader, and hillary clinton is elected president, it will be the first time that we have seen a senate majority leader and a president from the same state. sen. schumer: not shabby for new york, right? [laughter] mr. louis: not bad. you would be working with someone you worked side-by-side with in the senate for eight years. some republican critics say that you would function as a rubberstamp for a clinton white house. how would you show your independence from clinton as the senate's democratic leader? and when, if ever did you disagree with clinton when you served together in washington? sen. schumer: i will work

closely with, hopefully, president clinton. we tend to agree on many many issues. the worst that can happen in my judgment in this next congress -- no matter who was the president and who controls the house and senate -- is another four more years of gridlock. the american people are frustrated. middle-class incomes have to get higher, it has to be easier to get to the middle class. gridlock does nobody any good. if i become the majority leader, i've already talked to many of my republican colleagues. i want to work with them to get things done. i don't just want bills on the floor of the senate, we vote yes , they vote no. then they put bills on the and they votee no yes. when i disagree with secretary clinton, i will. she and i disagree greatly for instance on the iran agreement. i thought that was a very bad idea. she thought it was a good idea. that didn't stop me. i studied it and got lots of

briefings, and i came to the right conclusion. when hopefully president clinton is wrong, i will disagree with her. mr. louis: in your senate years, where their issues of magnitude where you differed with her? sen. schumer: i'm sure there are issues we disagreed, but i cannot think of one of major magnitude where we disagreed. ms. long: i think the iran agreement is one of major magnitude, and i'm glad you brought it up. i thought your behavior concerning that was very peculiar. you agonized over it, you read it, and then you said you finally came to this conclusion that it was a bad deal. you were right about that. but then, suddenly, you just went out of character big -- character. because what you usually do when you come to an intelligent conclusion -- sen. schumer: thank you. [laughter] it happened sometime, you know? ms. long: you stand at a podium like this and let all your brilliance shine forth and tell people what is wrong with the

deal. because you're so influential and so powerful, you want to persuade your colleagues to do the right thing. it is puzzling to a lot of us when you didn't want to do that, given that so much is at stake, and that the iran deal was such a bad deal. but then it continued as we went down to the next few months. we had the $150 billion going to iran. we had exchange of money for hostages. we had pallets loaded with swiss francs and euros. now we have our government trying to bring ironic back into -- iran back into the community of banking nations. all these things are happening, and i don't hear a people from -- peep from you about any of that. i am just wondering why. sen. schumer: on the first issue, what i did -- and you're exactly right, i studied it so carefully -- i found on the most important issues, you are going to make somebody angry. that is just how american

politics is. i spent a lot of time studying classified briefings, learning all kinds of things about it, and came to the conclusion that it was not a good deal. what i did one wednesday night, i sat at my desk, took out my nice little blue marking pen -- which i like very much -- and wrote on a yellow pad why i thought it was wrong. the next day, most conservative institutions praised it. some call it the most articulate reasoning against it as possible. and then, many of my colleagues would come up and ask me about my view, and i would tell them. i didn't persuade a lot of them. the president persuaded more of them. that was not for lack of trying. i heard people asking why didn't twist arms and force people to vote for it, using my clout. that is not how the senate works .

for me, it was a decision of conscious. i had a really -- i had an opportunity to tell people my reasoning. it was a decision of conscious for them to. ms. benjamin: we are going to have to take a brief break for timing purposes. ms. long: i have one follow-up. in the meantime, we have shipped billions, and hundreds of billions of dollars back to iran, that has gone rights to what our state department labels the main state-sponsored terrorism, rights to the revolutionary guard. sen. schumer: one of the reasons why i opposed it. we are in fact putting in for -- putting on the floor of the senate a bill for strong sanctions when we get back. mr. louis: -- ms. benjamin: we will take a short break. when we return, the senate will have the opportunity to ask one another questions. you have to stay with us in order to find out. [applause] ♪ ♪

ms. benjamin: we are back. we're live from the historic memorial at union college in schenectady with our exclusive time warner cable u.s. senate debate. about halfway through and each candidate gets to ask the other a question. senator schumer you are up first. sen. schumer: mrs. long, throughout your career, you have stood for -- there are too much regulations of corporations. many of us would consider it not regulation but protection for the environment, for consumers, for workers. i would like to ask you, particularly since you are supporting donald trump who has different than a libertarian view than you have expressed in the past, your view on

regulations. the president put into regulation something to stop the coal burning plants from sending all their noxious stuff over to us. as you know, many of our lakes and other places in the adirondacks are dead because of that. i am for it, i don't know what you think. second, i would ask about the consumer protection board. the financial protection board. it protects consumers when banks take advantage of them very i was one of the offers of this -- authors of this. the banks were unhappy but it was the right thing to do. what do you think of that? third, i believe in unions. i believe they are a way to bring the middle class up. we have government regulations that protect workers when they try to organize a union heard -- what do you think of that? ms. long: i will go in reverse order. i actually believe in unions. i think the history of unions is something that is part of america and unimportant part of -- and important part of

america. i think workers do need an equal bargaining power. i like that they are a private entity, instead of a government entity. that appeals to me very much. what bothers me is when i see the union bosses abuse their membership. when the members aren't really benefiting from what they are doing, the bosses are doing something that benefits them. that bothers me, and i think that is something we need to look at. going back to the cpf be -- cpfb. as you wrote it, it was ruled unconstitutional. i hope that will be fixed. we can't have agencies like this that are just free floating in our government. our founders were careful to set up a government with three branches, and the accountability of these three branches -- particularly the executive. it is concerning to me that we have so many independent or free-floating executive branch agencies that are really unanswerable to anyone.

what that means is they are not accountable to the people. there is no way for the people to have any recourse if they don't like what that agent he is -- agency is doing. i hope that is going to be fixed. sen. schumer: it is functioning now. it was a little piece that had to be changed, but it is functioning right now. ms. long: i do see a role for that. with respect to the coal -- i have not studied the levels of this, but i don't think we should be putting coal miners out of work. i think it is an important part of our energy resources. we have to take a cost-benefit analysis. we have to see where works out -- where it works out that we can get clean air and fill out a coworkers doesn't go miners work. sen. schumer: there enough. that's fair enough. ms. benjamin: you have a question for the senator. ms. long: senator, you are far richer than i am -- all my small donors are great people, and the ones who really a $10, $20

checks, i am the bernie sanders of campaign contributions -- small donors. they write me sweet notes of encouragement, they sunday -- they send me prayers, that probably more -- means more to me than your $28 million means to you. there is a sense among the people that these people gave you the $28 million did not give it just because they love you. they expect something in return. do you think that is true? ideaould you feel about my , quarterly, you could disclose regardingactions people who gave you the money. sen. schumer: i tried to do the right thing. time and time again, i have opposed special interests, whether the financial, drugs -- i'm one of the leading proponents of generic drugs. the pharmaceutical industry does not like it, but it has made

cheaper for billions and billions of dollars in the pockets of average folks. in sandy, when the insurance industry tried to take it -- advantage of the poor homeowners, i went after them and stopped it. i do the right thing. it is regardless of who contributes and who doesn't. if somebody who contributes and that is angry with me, so be it. as for disclosure, i am for it. the best way to get all this money out of politics -- which i would like -- is to support the supreme court that will repeal citizens united, the worst decision in 100 years. just a handful of people can put hundreds of millions of dollars into our system, undisclosed. would you help me oppose citizens united and get this disclosure you talk about? i have no problem with disclosure. i disclosed pretty much everything.

i am hardly known as a resort, reserved,erved, -- guarded person. you know, i am from brooklyn. citizens united, if it went, many of the things you once -- would you help us get it repealed? either legislatively or by the supreme court? ms. long: if you believe anything he just said, i think he told us that bridge between brooklyn and lower manhattan. i am proposing that you disclose quarterly what you have done for the people who give to you, like the $10,000 from mylan, when you keep your mouth closed about the epipen. like all of the big donations you get from the hospitals purchasing associations and year after year, you will not get rid of this anti-kickback rule. they get huge kickbacks, driving price spikes in generic drugs.

huge shortages so that we have to buy saline solutions from european companies. it is crazy what these hospital cartels do. they are among her biggest donors. -- your egg is donors. -- your biggest donors. ms. benjamin: for timing purposes, we will have to take a break. but if you want to respond. sen. schumer: judge my actions. when at me then did there bad -- when at the end did there -- epipen did there bad these, i opposed them. i have said repeatedly to get the regulators to come down on epipen. that means far more to families who need these then when you are talking about in terms of contributions. one more thing, my daughter has allergies. peanuts and shellfish. my wife has to carry around one in the car, and the fog

briefcase,cketbook, $600 -- families cannot afford this. mr. louis: we will take a final break. we have one more round of questions and closing statements from the candidates still to come. keep it here. [applause] ♪ ♪ ms. benjamin: welcome back once again to our debate between charles schumer and wendy long. we will try to get through as many questions as we can. we have had spirited back-and-forth. we may try to move it along. senator, this question to you. in 2014, you said it was a mistake for democrats to pursue health care reform so early. you said it would have been

smart to pursue something that meant more to a broader swap of -- swap of the middle class. we learned the premiums would go up quite a bit, the nominee of your party continues to stand by obamacare. do you believe you're yes vote was a mistake? what is your current position on the changes the law needs to be have -- had to it? senator schumer: i do not believe it was a mistake. in the old days, the insurance companies could say we will not you.e -- insure no more. what about college students who get out of college and get a job, but they don't give you health care. now the insurance company is required to cover you up to age 26. for women, it is to be ok for insurance companies to discriminate against women and charge then much higher premiums than men who have the same relative health. all that is good. to throw out obamacare is a

mistake. are there problems that have to be fixed? absolutely. we put a provision in the bill that allowed insurance regulators to limit high costs. we should toughen that up. we should have much more involvement with generic drugs. one of the leading reasons drugs are so high is they cost a fortune. i want to be very involved in generics. we should have a public option. in other words, we should let there be a public group that competes in the exchanges. the exchanges and obamacare only covers about 8% of new york's people. the -- let%, like there be a public option that can compete. i did not say to the president, the not do obamacare. i said let's start off with more bipartisan support. education reform and immigration reform that try to bring the parties together.

that is the kind of leadership i would try to be in the senate. ms. long: can i just answer one little thing? ms. benjamin: go for it. ms. long: you don't mind if george soros spends billions and billions, but you want to shut down conservatives spending money. senator schumer: i want to shut down everybody spending money. get them out of the system. unions, corporations, everybody. ms. long: what do you think the founders meant when they talked about freedom of speech. senator schumer: this is a fundamental disagreement. i am a strong believer in the first amendment. this is a good discussion, miami believer in the first amendment, -- but no amendment is absolute. there is no right to put an advertisement on tv because you are a billionaire. every amendment has limitations. there is a clear limitation that

when the whole business of --ernment is being there is a clear limitation that when the whole business of government is being poisoned by a handful of people, putting in a whole ton of money, the first amendment is not absolute. it is not absolute when we have libel laws. it is not absolute against child pornography. this was the most ridiculous decision that just about every legal scholar thought was off the deep end. ms. benjamin: we had three minutes left. do you have anything to say about health care? ms. long: obamacare is an unmitigated disaster. everyone is suffering. i go around the state and people come up to me with tears in their eyes saying i absolutely cannot afford these premiums. this is insane. we know how to fix it. it is not how you said to fix it. you lie about how costs are going to go down. they have gone up. we have forecast another huge

premium increase in 2017, it is a disaster and is killing the middle class. >> i want to get in a quick question on immigration. keep your responses short. mr. schumer, do you support the resettlement of syrian refugees to new york? hillary clinton has said she would like to see as many as 65,000 somewhere in the united states. should refugees the screen based on -- be screened based on region of origin? senator schumer: they should be screened on basis of region of origin, they should be screened on the basis of possibility of causing terrorism. the bottom line is simple, they are the most vetted of any people that come into the country. they go through an extremely lengthy process. if i wanted to infiltrate a terrorist here in the u.s. i would do it through the visa waiver program. a citizen could be trained by isis.

the refugee issue is not the problem. terrorism is a scourge i have gone after left and right. -- theyyork post usually do not praise me. the bottom line is, i came up with the lone wolf provision win president obama cut the terrorism funding i got it back. i want to fight terrorism, refugees is not the problem. ms. long: we will probably soon very soon what we have seen in europe. all of our top intelligence and military leaders have said we do not possess the means to adequately screen these refugees coming in because they do not have the documentation. it is not that we do not have the ability, it is garbage in and garbage out. in addition to that, we have an

actual genocide of christians in the middle east and no one has able to explain to me why, when we know we can screen them with 100% certainty and that they do not pose any danger to us, why are we not admitting the christians. i do not know if the senator can answer that question. if we can find places for refugees it would be more hospitable for them and safer for us. ms. benjamin: we are out of time. >> we should admit the christian refugees. if we did what donald trump did, no refugees -- ms. benjamin: senator, it is time for closing statements. the order was chosen randomly earlier today and you are up first. senator schumer: this is been a nice, lively, and fun debate. thank you very much. my linchpin, my wellspring is the middle class.