the british parliament was in recess this week. now primaries >> good evening and welcome to tonight's u.s. senate town hall between a democrat, senator tim kaine, and his challenger, corey stewart. mark: i'm mark spain. we will bring the candidates out -- tonight's townhall will focus primarily on domestic issues. the next townhall, at hampton university, will focus more on foreign policy and national security. we are live here at liberty

university. i'm len stevens, executive director of communications at liberty university. mark: i'm mark spain. we will bring the candidates out one at a time. each candidate will begin by answering questions from me right here. i and my co-moderator, len stevens, are the only two who have seen these questions. after that q and a, we will send it to you. len: i will be with dozens of liberty university students who hail from all over the country. they will be able to ask questions directly of the candidates. when that segment has ended, each candidate will have one minute to make a closing statement. i know these voters have thought a lot about the issues. they are ready to go. mark: we want our studio audience to refrain from cheers and applause during the question and answer segment.

it is ok to applied when we welcome the candidates on to the stage. please welcome corey stewart. [applause] >> it is good to see you again. we interviewed with each other several weeks ago, so it is our last time in the past several months or so. mark: we've got some important issues to get to. the nomination of judge brett kavanaugh to the supreme court is under fire. dr. christine blasey ford alleges that kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 40 years ago. you've called the investigation "a bunch of crap." you say democrats are just trying to derail his nomination for political gain. what is your message to women

voters especially in this "me too" era. mr. stewart: thank you. i would like to thank the university and thank you, mark. how many times have we been through this? the 11th hour. whether you are a republican, democrat, liberal, conservative, that all this time goes by and, on the week the committee is set to vote, then this comes up. i find the timing highly suspect, and i'm not the only one. then you've got senator feinstein. she knew about this weeks ago. why didn't she come out with it back then? why did senator feinstein not inform the fbi or other law enforcement officials? why did she do nothing. why did she sit on this allegation until the week the committee was set to vote on it? frankly, it has become very

typical of the left to do this. at the 11th hour in a very dirty trick to try to take down a very good man who even the dean of yale law school, not exactly a conservative, said is an eminent scholar, lawyer, judge, and is qualified for the supreme court. mark: should the fbi do an investigation? mr. stewart: i think it's time to vote. i think americans are frustrated with all of these. it's become a circus. they are tired of republicans and democrats bickering, these dirty tricks. they just want an up or down vote. mark: along the lines of the court, with judge kavanaugh, if he makes it through this process, there is some thinking that roe v. wade could be gone by the wayside. is that something you would like to see happen? mr. stewart: yes.

i will tell you why. it was wrongly decided. at this point -- let me say this. earlier this year, senator kaine, who, when he was running for governor -- i don't know what happened to him in the meantime -- when he was running for governor, he said it was a moral imperative to limit abortions in the late term. suddenly, he runs for vice president and something happened. now, he wouldn't even vote for a bill to limit abortions up to the ninth month of pregnancy. senator kaine knows it's wrong but, for political expedients, he's willing to allow abortions up to the moment of birth. i find that morally reprehensible. one of our jobs, the most important job we have whether we are representing people on a local, state, or federal level, is to protect the lives and the rights of the citizens we serve.

mark: the mueller probe is looking into russian interference in the 2016 election. president trump calls it a witch hunt, so do you. it has already led to five people connected to donald trump pleading guilty to federal charges, and a number of charges including two dozen russians. why and it? mr. stewart: if you are really looking for voter fraud, why don't we have the department of justice looking to some of these precincts where there were more votes than voters. if you are looking at corruption in our voting system, we have some of it going on here in virginia. yes, we require voter id when you go to vote we don't require proof of citizenship when you go to register to vote. every vote by someone who is not authorized to vote, who is not a

citizen or not 18 years old, every single time somebody votes twice or is not authorized to vote, that is a votes stolen from an american citizen. that is a much bigger problem than all of these unsubstantiated claims. the russians have been spying on us since 1917. mark: you know that a number of intelligence agencies say they were involved. mr. stewart: yes, but not a single agency has said the russians actually had an impact on the national election. mark: the census bureau's annual report on income and poverty shows that, among those who hold bachelors degrees, about 3.6 million or 4.8% were living in poverty in 2017, up from 3.3 million in 2016. bachelor degree recipients with the only education group to see the number or share of those in poverty rise among their ranks. how do you reverse that trend here in virginia?

mr. stewart: i want to make some changes. we have a problem with debt. liberty has an excellent track record of making sure their graduates have jobs in the field in which they study. not all colleges and universities can say that. it is not just the amount of money, not just the student debt, it is something no one can ever give back to them, and that

is your time. you spent the prime of your life studying and, you can't find a job, or you can't find a job in the field you received your education. there's a way to fix this. since the early 1970's, the united states department of education has been in charge of accreditation. if you want to go to a university or college and get a student loan or a federal grant, that university or that school needs to be accredited. it's time to take that power away from the federal government and give it back to the states. the states are better positioned to work together with industry, with business associations, with chambers of commerce. what is it that the workforce needs? what is the training, what is the education that you need as a business? only by doing that and accrediting specific courses can we be in short as students, as canadians, that they will have a

job waiting for them. mark: you say that every illegal immigrants should be deported, no questions asked and that if you are elected, you will oppose any form of amnesty. there are roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and studies suggest many of them here for 10 years or more. if you get a chance to sponsor a bill, what would it look like? mr. stewart: we need to base our immigration system, as we once did, on merit. if you want to come to the united states, we welcome you. you can't have a criminal background. you have to be able to support

yourself and your family. you need to be able to become a full-fledged proud american. right now, we have chaos at the border. people coming across the border. here's the big problem with that. we have no way of screening them. let alone for a terrorist past, we have no way of being sure they don't have a criminal past. they come into our communities and they murder and assault right here in virginia. the latest example, of course, the most famous example is in iowa, mollie tibbetts murdered by an illegal immigrant. it was 100% preventable. what i've done on the local level is this. we check everybody's immigration status once they are arrested. we don't care what language you speak, what ethnicity, if you are here illegally and you commit a crime, we have you deported instead of released. it has led to the deportation of 8000 criminal illegal aliens in prince william county alone.

mark: you have been critical of gun free zones in schools. whether they are school resource officers to help them defray the costs. you also support having teachers carry weapons if they have the training. what do you say to those who say is a bad idea to arm teachers? mr. stewart: you know it is a bad idea? the system in place now. have you ever seen a gun free zone in front of a bank? why is it any better that we are protecting our kids with signs. we are protecting our money with guns and our kids with signs. you know what a gun free zone sign is? it is an invitation for someone to shoot the place up and not be confronted by another gunman. what we need is what we did in prince william county. after the sandy hook massacre, we put -- out of 95 schools in

prince william county, we put armed school resource officers who worked together on school issues and helped to build trust between the police and students. what we want to do is make that all over to all of our schools. not all communities can afford it. that's when the federal government should come in to make sure all our kids are safe. mark: time for us to take a -- >> not all communities can afford it. that is when the federal government should come in and make sure all the kids are sick. -- mark: time for us to take a quick break. when we return, liberty university students will have a chance to ask questions directly. you are watching the town hall brought to you by liberty university and hampton university. ♪

[applause] >> welcome back, it is time for our students to direct their questions to mr. stewart. out the name and the topic. the topic is your candidacy. >> thank you for being here. i appreciate you being here. mining is 10. i'm the president of the college republicans. have found that many republicans are hesitant about your candidacy and your rhetoric. polling is down significantly to senator mccain. -- kaine. mr. stewart: something that not everybody knows is that i am currently elected, and not just

in a solidly conservative part of the state. i'm the at large chairman of the board of supervisors for prince william county. it's almost a half million people. it is the first majority-minority county in virginia and i been elected and reelected there four times. i've done that because i've been able to work together across party lines. i've been able to work together with people of all different backgrounds. at the end of the day, that's what people want. i'm not afraid to stand up for my values. i saw what was happening on illegal immigration with crimes committed against citizens in my community and i did something about it. i got something done. what i want to do in the senate. it's ok that we have differences but, at the end of the day, i think we can agree that we have something in common as well. a lot of these problems -- in washington right now, it's broken.

republicans aren't talking to democrats, democrats aren't talking to republicans. we have a divided media. we don't all think alike but we can focus and concentrate on the things we can get done together. len: next up is nathan, a first-year law student from ohio. the topic, the national debt. nathan: would you vote for a spending bill that increased the national debt in the senate? mr. stewart: we have to address the national debt. but, to get there, there's a couple things we have to do not. one is this -- we have to acknowledge. one is this. what reagan did in the 1980's was lower taxes.

it is possible to grow your way out of debt by becoming a more wealthy country. a lot on the left have criticized the tax cut that was proposed by president trump. that was put into place by the republicans in the senate, the republicans in the house. in the short term, there was an increase to the deficit. but what this has led to now is the highest rate of economic growth in decades. we have the lowest unemployment rate in this country. we are only eight months in to this tax cut and already we have the lowest unemployment rate in 52 years. wages for working class, blue-collar americans are rising at the fastest rate in 22 years. this is because of the trump tax cut. you can go into the short term, not the long term. the short term, you reduce taxes and that actually makes the

economy start rolling as it is now. we have seen growth rates that we haven't seen in this country since the 1950's. as that continues, we will continue to grow and debt will become more affordable to our nation. >> there's certainly a lot of economic progress but are you concerned that the white house office of management and budget has revised this number upwards in terms of our debt? mr. stewart: the problem isn't that our taxes are high enough. -- are not high enough. the problem is that we are spending too much. we have republicans and democrats spending too much. they are not willing to tackle the things that are driving the deficit. an unreformed medicaid system developed in 1965 that is breaking the budgets not just of the federal government but of

the state governments as well. as that happens, we are crowding up funding for everything else, including education, transportation. these things need to be addressed. if we can do it together, work together as republicans and democrats, and put the politics aside and say, look, let's reform the medicaid system and lower the cost for the federal and state governments, we will be able to address the national debt but at the same time improve the quality of health care in this country. len: let's get to emily from north carolina, a senior. her question is on lgbtq rights. we have about five minutes. emily: according to a pew research study, 61% of young republicans support lgbtq rights. how do we protect religious liberty well avoiding discriminating against people based on their identity? mr. stewart: so, you've got to

remember what our constitution does. our constitution prevents the federal government and now, by extension, the state government, from discriminating against its citizens. the thing -- think about our rights in this country. they are listed in the bill of rights. first and foremost -- and the founders placed these in order. in the first amendment is not just the freedom of speech and expression, but we also knew it was fundamental to a democratic government, freedom of religion. you might not like it if someone treat you differently because of your beliefs and sexual orientation. as long as it is not the government doing it, we cannot

ensure that the government will infringe on someone's religious beliefs and force them to provide a service based on your sexual orientation. we have to stay true to our constitution. len: a senior from woodbridge, virginia. your question is on minority support. >> my question is, how do you plan to gain the support to protect american rights of minorities, especially after events that happened like in charlottesville virginia and continuing with woodbridge as well? mr. stewart: from woodbridge, lake ridge? nice to meet you. i believe in talking to the other side. yesterday, there was another forum, the radio one richmond, a minority event. i know many democrats were there and they wouldn't expect that i would say yes. they probably thought i would face a crowd that had some tough questions for me.

they did. i went there. i think we have to talk with one another. next week, i've accepted an invitation to appear in front of the naacp of fairfax county. i know they will have some tough questions but that's ok because we are yelling at each other in this country. we don't have to have the same beliefs but we have to be able to talk to one another. that's what i'm going to do. i've been able to work with the other side and i know, when i go to the naacp in fairfax, it is going to be an important moment because we can work together. len: i believe that is going to be our last question. you do get one full minute to make your closing remarks. mr. stewart: thanks. i want to thank again the university, each and every one of you, all of virginia. and i want to thank all of those who voted for me in the primary

for giving me this opportunity to represent all of virginia. i've got very strong beliefs and i'm not afraid to express them. i think you all know that. but i can also get things done. what i see in washington, i see two sides that are not willing to work together. i see two sides that are bickering. the democrats say they want to get things accomplished but the republicans won't let us. i see the republicans saying the same thing. as a local person, somebody who has had to represent a big jurisdiction, if i had that same attitude, i would have been fired. i'm going up to washington not because i want to keep it the same as senator kaine does, but because i want to change it. i want to rile things up but also get things accomplished. i'm willing to work to do that and i ask for your vote. thank you.

[applause] len: thank you for being here. >> mr. stewart, again, thank you so much for being here. our town hall is going to continue right after this break with senator tim kaine. ♪ >> our town hall continues with a man who wants to keep his seat in the senate. everyone welcome tim kaine. [applause] >> enthusiastic supporters. >> succubi judge brett kavanaugh. you met him. you say you diligently studied

his active -- academic writing and opinions. you are not voting for him. >> now we have an allegation of sexual assault. what needs to happen? i was last with you on veterans day. this is a really important one. f.d.r. i think what is important is that a serious charge has been leveled. it is a charge that is essentially sexual consult. it could be construed as an attempted rape. this was a vacancy that just opened up on july 31. we are seven weeks into this. the gop majority held a vacancy for months for political reasons. if we care about sexual assault and think it is serious, we

should do everything we can to get to the bottom of this. that would obviously involve hearing from dr. ford and judge kavanaugh. there are a couple of witnesses that have been identified. would we not want to hear from these witnesses? the fbi has already done a background investigation. why would they not look at this the together charge? i differ from my opponent. my opponent called the allegations a bunch of cracked. someone will say judge kavanaugh pulled the details of the first grader? can i make this plane? equate pulling the pigtail of a first grader with 217 rose they're getting a 15-year-old in a room and sexually assaulting her. you can't itemize this.

she took a lie detector test and mark judge is somebody was written about a history of blackout drinking. he had to get to the bottom of it. >> are you concerned that roe v. wade is in jeopardy? >> i am. i am concerned about that. when i interviewed judge said roe v. wade was settled law. what would overturning roe v. wade mean? that is what my opponent wants to do. he says he wants to overturn roe v. wade. that would mean that we go back to what the law was before.

the state could use the criminal law to criminalize, prosecute and jail women for making their own health care decisions. that is what it would mean to overturn that. that is not what we should do. it is an important moral issue. i think women can make their own decisions about this. probe, --er mueller probe -- he said it was for transparency. you want to protect robert mueller. why is that level of protection needed after this investigation has already cost the american taxpayers $26 million? >> it is important to protect the integrity of our election. there have already been 30 indictments and guilty pleas. my opponent says it is a witch hunt.

my opponent says it should be terminated but this is an investigation into extremely serious allegations. the guilty pleas and indictments has demonstrated it. i think we need to protect the investigation and let it complete, and when all the facts are out on the table we will know a, if individuals are culpable and should be indicted or charged, but b, probably the most important thing that we need to know is how to stop a foreign adversary from ever doing this again. when i was on the ticket in 2016, my son was deployed as u.s. marine infantry commander on the border with russia trying to protect our allies from russian interference. why would we deploy our young people halfway around the world but then suggest we're uninterested in getting to the bottom of what russia did to our election system? mark: you voted against the

republican tax plan, saying the americans will be stuck with the painful consequences for years to come. but the economy is booming. the white house says americans have the 2016 election to thank for that. the president tweeted recently that the g.d.p. is at 4.2% and we will do much better than this. we've just begun. were you wrong? sen. kaine: no, i'm glad that the american economy is strong that is for sure, but of course the economy performed better in the last 18 months of president obama's term than it did in the first 18 months of president obama's. president trump has taken advantage of inherited wealth. and i think he will do it again. here's why i voted against the tax bill. mark: ladies and gentlemen -- sen. kaine: was he right that we had to do tax reform? absolutely. haven't done it since 1986. when president reagan said we're going to do it, make it

bipartisan. 10 months of hearings produced a 97-3 vote and it was a good bill and we needed to do it. but here is the problem with the bill and the reason i voted against it. the priorities were all wrong. deep permanent tax cuts for corporations. tiny, temporary expiring tax cuts for people add $2 trillion to the debt over 10 years. i offered an amendment on the floor the evening they let us have one-minute amendments to make the individual tax cuts permanent but not have the permanent corporations and no republicans would vote for it. mark: health care and the affordable care act. senator, you voted against repeal and replace, partial repeal and the so-called skinny repeal. the president calls democrats like yourself obstructionists. are you one?

and you and senator michael bennett are calling something called medicine care acts. you say it won't increase the deficit or taxes by a penny. some would say if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. how is all this going to work? sen. kaine: let me talk about this question. i proudly worked with my democratic colleagues and three republicans and virginians to stop the republican effort to repeal the affordable care act. it would have taken health care away between 20 million and 30 million people. it would have blocked our general assembly from just doing the medicare expansion. 400,000 virginians are going to get health care, many for the first time in their life. i was very proud to vote against that repeal. i had virginians flooding my offers and talk to me about the the fact that so many of these medicaid funds, their child wouldn't have a wheel chair to be able to go to school with. my opponent wants to repeal the affordable care act.

it is a nonstarter with me. but i do want to improve our health care system. i've written this bill with michael bennet from colorado. we would direct the center for medicaid and medicare services to offer policy on the exchange that anyone could buy if they wanted to. the insurance policy would cover the obamacare essential health benefits. medicare doesn't have to collect a profit, pay taxes, pay salaries. medicare has a distribution network in every zip code in the country. if medicare offered this policy, it would be significantly less expensive than what private insurance would offer, but they'll recover a premium for it so it's not going to raise the deficit or taxes. if you qualify for an obamacare subsidy, you could use that subsidy to bring the cost down, just as you can with private insurance. but we wouldn't force anybody to buy it. it would be available in every zip code in the united states. americans need more choices and they need lower cost and that's

what medicare x would do. mark: you were governor during the virginia tech massacre, so you have a unique perspective on this. after the shootings in parkland, florida, and a number of other school shootings, there's been passionate debate about arming teachers to keep schools safe. they voted to arm teachers because they can't afford to hire more school resource officers. what do you say to voters who say that may be ok for them but here, this is what we want, we want to arm our teachers? sen. kaine: i do not tell lee county school board or principals how to secure their kids. if they are going to have a strategy they think will work for them, i'm not going to tell them otherwise. i know as a mayor of richmond with my kids in the richmond we put school, resource officers in to try to keep schools safe.

so there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. but the area that is so critically important was the most painful day of my life in 2007 at virginia tech. a deranged young man who was mentally ill but whose high school teamers and counselors and parents knew how to help him succeed with medication and treatment, walked onto a campus where nobody knew anything about him. his mental health declined. he was adjudicated mentally ill and dangerous, thus it was illegal for him to have a weapon. but because of weaknesses in the background check system, he was able to buy a weapon he was prohibited from having, and 32 beautiful people lost their lives. many were injured and these families suffer to this day. the painful lesson i learned that day through that loss is, hey. there's a solution. if there's universal background checks where every time a gun is

bought or transferred, the person doing it has to make sure that the recipient isn't prohibited from having a weapon, we can reduce these crimes. we will never eliminate crime, we will never eliminate violence. but the test is can we reduce crime and keep people safer? if we are unwilling to learn after suffering, if we're unwilling to learn after we watch kids get gunned down in newtown, concertgoers in las vegas, if we're not willing to do something, shame on us. there are answers here that work, and universal background checks i think would do the most good. mark: thank you. sen. kaine: thank you. i appreciate it. mark: we must take a break right now. when we come back, the students will have an opportunity to speak with you. you're watching the town hall here at liberty university. mark: welcome back. let's get right back to our group of students and their questions for senator kaine.

let's start with a sophomore from cranston, rhode island. >> thank you for being here. during her speech in 2013 you are advocating for an immigration framework on a merit-based point system, showing the world we are a country of laws and enhancing border security. you recently have voted against this, the stop illegal reentry act and the stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act. it seems you have turned away from the causes you had passion for in 2013. why is that? sen. kaine: very good question. immigration is really, really important. it's in the declaration of independence. it's an important part of the system we have. i continue to support very vigorous immigration reform, including border and public security. for example, most recently i worked with lindsey graham to draft a bill that would have permanently protected the dreamers, as president trump

asked us to do, and also would have provided $25 billion in border security for the united states. we put that bill on the floor of the senate with eight democrats and republicans in february, but the president came out against it. both were things he had campaigned on. he came out against it and then no other republicans would join the bill. i think the answer is comprehensive immigration reform. like tax reform, we haven't done it since 1986. i was proud sponsor and voted for a comprehensive bill in 2013 that passed the senate, but then no action was taken on it in the house, and it was everything. it was border protection, helping employers figure out the status of employees, visa reform, protections for dreamers, pass the citizenship, but the border protection peas was a huge portion of it. we passed it through the senate and the house didn't act, but it is my hope the house will act after november and we'll have an

opportunity to put that bill on the president's desk. the security issues are very important but visas and dreamer protection are very important too. mark: a first-year law student from raleigh, north carolina. her question is about crime and gang violence. >> senator kaine, in june of this year, 11 gang members, 10 of whom were illegal immigrants, were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the deaths of two virginia teens. what action will you take to combat this kind of crime, and from your perspective how does it relate to immigration? sen. kaine: on the crime side, i dealt with crime a lot as a mayor and governor. sadly, when i was elected first to the richmond city council, richmond had the second highest homicide rate in the united states. tough, tough situation. over the course of my time in office we were able to bring down violent crime and homicide by more than 50%. when i was governor we achieved

a recognition that virginia hadn't achieved for a very long time, if ever. we got virginia into one of the 10 safest states in the country. now, we didn't do it by cracking down on immigrants generally. instead what we did is we focused our attention on the bad guys. if there's a general crackdown on immigrants a generally and you get your law enforcement to start to focus on people's immigration status rather than if they are rapists or murderers or arsonists, you can dilute your effort to battle crime. that's why the head of my state police when i was governor said don't make us don't be immigration law enforcers. let us fight against the crimes of the kind that you just mentioned. these ms13 members perpetrated. we should always go after bad guys. bad men and women. we should have tough law enforcement against them, but if we wage our war against illegal immigrants generally, we'll keep our eye off the ball and we will not reduce crime.

we will make our americans less safe. mark: a question about american history. >> senator kaine, it seems that many of our historical monuments are being destroyed. what do you plan to do for the preservation of american history for future generations? sen. kaine: great question, and this is an important one. may as important in virginia has anywhere because we love our history. i have had to grapple with this throughout my time in office here i was mayor of richmond, and let me tell you what i did when i was a city councilman and mayor in richmond. we preserved some statues and put up some new ones to recognize heroes whose voices and stories had never been told. we also took down -- when we had to take down bridges that were obsolete that were named after civil war generals, when we put the bridges back up, we named them after civil rights heroes. one of the reasons we did was that there were so many other buildings and streets and

squares in virginia named after some of the same civil war heroes that people who battle for civil rights or equality, their stories were not told. what i learned when i was mayor and i continued to do as governor when we inaugurated the civil rights statue on the capitol grounds in virginia, what i basically believe is you need to listen to your community and you need to make sure you're telling the full story, not just a part of the story. when monument avenue in richmond was only civil war generals, four years is not the only important thing about richmond, so we put up a statue of richmond hero, athlete, scholar, human rights activist arthur ashe, to say richmond has more monumental people than just those between 1861 and 1865. so that's the way i approach these issues. mark: i know the issue of abortion has come up. abby close, are you here? there you go. she has a question on this topic i think is valuable. >> hi, thank you for being here. it has been demonstrated

throughout the ongoing judicial appointment procedures that your party clearly has a litmus test against pro-life appointments. so my question is, why should someone who is pro-life vote for you? sen. kaine: i'm going to skip the litmus test part of it because i don't think that's quite the case. but let me take your question. i'm a catholic. my church has a very strict teaching about abortion that it is wrong, and i have lived my church's teaching my entire life. and i encourage every one of you here, i encourage everyone here, live your faith, live your convictions. that's what i do. but i don't think the job of an elected official is to legislate my catholic church's doctrine for everybody to follow, even those who aren't catholics or have different points of view. so you live your faith and i certainly live mine, but there are a lot of people who practice in religious that have a different view about abortion

and contraception than the catholic church do, and there are a lot of people who don't go to church but they are moral, ethical thinking people with different points of view. i think using the criminal law , which my opponent would like to do in repealing roe versus wade, is using criminal law to criminalize, prosecute and even jail women and doctors from making this decision is exactly the wrong thing to do. i believe that women can make their own moral decisions about their health care including their reproductive health care. mark: your opponent said earlier that you support abortion up up until the moment of birth. sen. kaine: he dramatically misstated a vote i cast recently. there was a vote on something called the payne capable act that came up before the senate i believe in march, and it would have barred all abortions after the 20th week. he said i was allowing abortion into the ninth month. no. many courts have considered that exact law and found that law unconstitutional.

many courts. state courts, federal courts have said that violates roe vs. wade and the casey decision that came after it. i take an oath, the oath that we all take in public office. i swear to uphold the constitution of the united states. i don't swear to a president or the flag. i uphold the constitution of the united states. and that bill that was before us had been resumed unconstitutional by virtually every court that had taken it up. mark: i want to get one more in, quickly. mark: tim johnson, woodbridge, a question about opioids. sen. kaine: woodbridge is well represented. >> deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased 720% between 2013 and 2007. what will you do to address the opioid epidemic? sen. kaine: fantastic question. this affects every state, every zip code, every community. i am really proud that two days ago we passed out of the senate -- i think the vote was 99-1 an opioid response act that i

played a significant part in writing. it came out in two committees. the health and finance committee where senator warner sits. it was a whole stretch of strategies around research, prevention, treatment, interdicting fentanyl. in a bipartisan day we have gotten this bill done and i think it will get to the president's desk and i'm confident he'll sign it. mark: thank you so much. how about a hand for our students. [applause] senator kaine, closing statements, you have one minute. sen. kaine: thank you again for inviting us tonight and pairing with hampton. i know it will be a great discussion in a couple of weeks. i started my time as a public servant when i took a year off off from law school to be in honduras teaching kids to be carpenters and welders. i have been a civil rights attorney, a teacher, and for more than 20 years i've been honored to represent my city, my commonwealth and my country.

my campaign is about what my life has been about, a virginia that works for all. it's about virginia. solving virginia problems and bringing virginia solutions to the forefront. it's about work. the dignity of working people. fair wages, a fair tax code, skills training, immigration reform. but finally it's about those last two words in the pledge of allegiance -- for all. we need people who will stand up for all these days. we don't have to accept the politics just for a few, for some, or for me. we don't have to accept divisiveness or bitterness or anger. we need people who will stand up for those last two words in the pledge of allegiance. that's what i've done and that's what i'll have the honor to do if i'm re-elected. thank you. [applause] mark: senator kaine, everybody.

>> we hope this has been informative for all of you. mark will join me again and close this out but we hope everyone has had a wonderful time and that this has been informative for each and every one. >> did you learn something about each candidate? that's what this is about. good. and that wraps up tonight's town hall forum. we thank you again for watching. announcer: with the control of congress in question this election day, see the competition for yourself on c-span. watch the debates from key house and senate races. make c-span your crop -- primary source for campaign 2018. announcer: this week on the communicators, barry lynn, executive director of the open institute, discusses his concern over companies like

google, facebook, amazon and uber possibly becoming monopolies and threatening democracy. he is interviewed by technology reporter for politico. >> with google we might have to start do things like separating mapping off of search, separating search. this sounds radical in today's environment but this is something we have done many times in the past since at&t in 1982. at&t in 1913. with dozens of large corporations over the years. as the people of the united states to structure the political economy in a way that is safe for us. what's the communicators monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. professor christine glossy ford has agreed to testify before the senate judiciary committee about her sexual assault allegation against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh on thursday.

judge kavanaugh will also testify at that hearing. we have live coverage beginning thursday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. c-span.org and the c-span radio app. >> jennifer shutt is an appropriations and budget reporter for cq roll call, and she joins us to talk about government spending and the deadline looming at the end of the month. jennifer, how are things looking for congress to meet this end of the month, september 30 deadline to avoid a federal government shutdown and fund the government? jennifer: things are actually