we're going to be going through this first debate that begins in just seconds, through 11:00 eastern as we continue with the second debate here on the fox business network. now, the first. [ applause ] . >> good evening, and welcome to the historic milwaukee theatre, you'll hear from 12 republican candidates vying to become the next president of the united states. i'm trish regan along with co-moderators sandra smith and pretty "wall street journal" gerry seib. >> fox business is partnering with the "wall street journal" to bring you the fourth republican presidential deefbt the 2016 campaign. for the next hour, four of the

candidates will be here answering the questions voters want answered. >> let's introduce them. new jersey governor chris christie. [ applause ] >> former arkansas governor mike huckabee [ applause ] >> former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. [ applause ] >> and louisiana governor bobby jindal. [ applause ] this debate will last one hour, each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer, one minute for each follow-up. when time is up, you'll hear this bell. all right. let's begin with governor christie. moderator: governor economically our country is

struggling with some of the most anemic growth on record. they are not in the workforce altogether. the number of people willing, able and wanting to go to work is at a lef that has fallen to a level we have not seen since the 1970s. for those that are working wages aren't budging. costs, housing remain high. as president, what concrete steps will you take to get america back to work? >> well, first i want to share a story with you that relates to your question. i was in new hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, governor, i'm really concerned. i said what are your concerns? she said i don't know how to describe it. she said but every month when my bills come in, i feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that i'm not going to have enough money to pay them that month. there are tens of millions of americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since world

war ii. and let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the president's lead, and that's exactly what secretary clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance. with government picking the winners and losers. let me be clear what we'll do. first make the tax code fair, flatter and simpler. get rid of the special interest deductions, you know why they feel that way? it is. we'll get rid of the special interest deductions instead of the charitable contribution deduction, everyone will keep more of their own money, file tax returns in 15 minutes and by the way the good thing, i'll be able to fire a whole bunch of irs agents once we do that. [ applause ] . >> and in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs, dodd-frank, all the regulation, 81,000 pages of new regulation by the administration last year. it is suffocating small business, suffocating the folks

trying to make a living. i will do what i did in new jersey. lift it off their backs. moderator: thank you. governor huckabee, we're here in wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle class households of any american state with more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs lost in the last 15 years. as we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of americans that are stuck in the transition? >> first of all, trish, i don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. the only reason we have is because -- [ applause ] >> we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. i hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. i've got one better than the simpications, called a fair tax, and it eliminates all of the taxes on productivity. here's what would happen. we'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so we wouldn't

punish people for working anymore. yet we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. 160 manufacturing plants have closed. he's exactly right. they don't have jobs anymore. and reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in mexico, they're in china, indonesia. bring the jobs back and with the fair tax, you do that because you don't tax capital and labor, and bring a sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, look at manufacturing jobs back, and here's the best part. we don't reduce the irs, we get rid of the irs. we completely eliminate them. because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it, it's none of their business, and that's why i believe that manufacturing is critical. if we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for

ourselves, we can't be free, and by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. [ applause ] >> thank you, governor huckabee. moderator: senator santorum you are all highly critical of president obama's economic record. federal payrolls show rolls have expanded new jobs in office. all the jobs were recovered last year. in october the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. so what's wrong with the obama jobs record? >> the middle of america all you have to do is listen to the last democratic debate. you would think there's a republican president in office, the way they complained how bad things are in america and how the middle of america is hollowing out. i agree with mike huckabee, i spent the morning in fab tech, a sheet metal fabricators conference. thousands displaying the newest

and latest technologies. you know what i was told? booth after booth, there are 250,000 welder jobs open in america. 250,000 welder jobs, paying anywhere from 50,000 to $70,000 a year. if you want to weld pipe for oil and gas pipelines can you make $100,000 a year. every manufacturer, i go to one every single week. i have one in the crowd. a gentleman who is a supporter from rockwell, texas, he runs special products and he has jobs open in every skill he could possibly hire for in rockwell, texas, but can't find people. so the issue is yes, we need a tax code, i propose a 20% flat tax, 20% on corporations, 20% on individuals, full expensing powerful for manufacturing, 0% rate for manufacturers, we're going to have a powerful tax code. we're going to do something about regulation, we're going to suspend every single obama regulation that costs over $100,000 to the economy.

but we have to start doing something about training and employeeing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path, and we have a bureaucracy in washington and president in washington and among republicans who think everybody has to go to college. people need to go to work and provide opportunities to go to work out of high school. [ applause ] . moderator: all right, governor jindal, you have pushed louisiana's energy-rich resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. but as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. will your energy focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? >> a couple of things, in louisiana we're a top ten state for job growth. as we sit here today, we have more people working in louisiana than ever before earning a higher income than

ever before. 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in the state. we have diversified the economy. i have an interview plan that says all of the above creates good manufacturing jobs in america. one of the fastest i.t. sectors by percentage. let me get to the point they think is the most important issue tonight. you are going to have several hours on the economy, and energy plans and tax rates, that's all great. the most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make folks, are we willing to cut the government economy to grow the american economy? that is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. we're on the path to socialism right now. [ applause ] >> these are mutually exclusive. hour is late but not too late for america. under president obama, you asked about his economy, we've got record dependents, record number of americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the workforce.

this is a fundamental choice, sending a big republican government of d.c. is not enough to fix the problem. not enough just to beat hillary clinton. we've got to change the direction of our country. what that means is let's shrink the government not slow growth rate, but shrink the government to grow the american economy. that is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. moderator: all right, governor jindal, thank you. governor christie, have you said that the democrats' message is one of, quote, free stuff. in contrast, republicans want to reduce spending. how do you win a national election when the democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? >> yeah, sure. [ laughter ] >> if anybody believes the stuff they heard from the democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free.

what they forget to tell you is they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80% in order to provide that stuff. let me ask the folks at home one simple question, do you want to give washington more control over your life? do you think they're doing such a great job, let's have them control what corporations pay employees? have them control every aspect of our economy? is washington doing that good a job for you right now? the fact is if you listen to hillary clinton, she's made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. she believes that washington, d.c. should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. and here's what i believe as a republican, i believe the greatness of america is not in its government. the greatness of america is in the american people. we need to get the government the hell out of the way and let the american people win once again. [ applause ]

. moderator: senator santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in new hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care and in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? if you're the one who's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? >> the answer is first we need to do something about a tax code that does penalize. one thing i'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes is it's very pro family. you have $2700 tax credit period for every person in the family, so that family would have $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. so every dollar she works, she's only losing 20 cents. the problem with the tax code

today because of the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. throw on top of that the even a bigger problem, over 50% of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is living at the time the child is born. now what does that mean? that means we have incentivized people not to marry. we've incentivized people to co habitate not marry, why? mom will lose benefits if he marries father. not just mom going to work but mom and father marrying to form a stable family to be formed in a two-parent family. we've got all sorts of corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. but we need to remove the incentives, adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. that's what we'll do. [ applause ] .

moderator: thank you, senator. governor huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. taxpayers currently spend more than 600 billion dollars per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. today a record number of americans aren't even look for work. are our social welfare programs, while well intended, creating a culture of dependency? if so, how will you fix it? >> sandra, let me mention the fact there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. namely, social security and medicare. i just want to remind everybody out there whose ever had a paycheck. the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for social security and medicare. they did that involuntarily. those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. that's an earned benefit, and

by gosh, you paid for it, and if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. that's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the war on poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. now the reason we still have so much poverty is it was never designed to get people out of poverty. it was designed to make sure there was an industry of poverty so the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. but the people who are poor haven't benefitted. having grown up poor, i know a little something about it. nobody who is poor wants to be. that's a nonsense statement. and i hear it all the time. poor people ought to work harder. they're working as hard as they can for gosh sake. the system keeps pushing them down because if they work they get punished. they lose all the benefits. when we did welfare reform of the '90s, we said you're not going to lose everything at once, there's not an arbitrary threshold, so as you move up

the ladder from work and training, you will actually always be better off than you were before. that's the american way. [ applause ] >> thank you, governor. >> governor jindal, republicans have won 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. you keep falling short nationally. you lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential electionses. are democrats putting forward a better national economic message than the one republicans are offering? what should republicans do about it? >> the reason we keep losing nationally is we keep trying to be cheaper versions of the democratic party. [ applause ] >> what if republicans embraced our own principles so i earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, more jobs, less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. here's the dirty little secret. you're going to hear a lot of republicans tonight talk about

cutting government spending. it's going to sound great. only one of us that's cut government spending. not two. there's one. you're looking at him. we've got four senators running, they have never cut anything in d.c. they give the long speeches called filibusters, pat themselves on the back, when they go to relief themselves the cause in the toilets get flushed at the same time and the american people lose. we have seven current and former governors running, i'm the only one who cut government spending, if they haven't done it in the state capitals, what makes us think they'll do it if they are sent to d.c. when politicians talk, it's a bunch of hot air. we cut our budget 26%. record number of louisianans working. if republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, cut government spending and grow the american economy. [ applause ]

. moderator: you have something to add, governor? >> with all due respect to the governor to the state just south of me, a lot of us have cut things, and during the recession of 2001-2003, when 91% of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11% out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes and people who thought we should. it's just not accurate to say nobody else up here has ever cut. i believe every governor has had to make tough decisions, i'm guessing my colleague governor christie has, as i'm tossing him the ball. >> i want to respond. he criticized something i said. mike, with all due respect, i admire your social views, share the views, your recordas governor tells a different story. spending in arkansas went up

65%. number of state workers went up 20%. taxes for the average citizen went up 47%. that's not a record of cutting, i'm saying we've actually cut, we reduced the size of our budget, so wanting to cut one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. facts don't lie. moderator: let's bring governor christie in on this. >> sandra, before we get too far away, he brought out things about the record they need to correct. moderator: let's keep the conversation going, bring governor christie in here, we're talking about national debt, climbing towards $19 trillion, governor. federal government employees, nearly 3 million workers, our tax code is 70,000 pages long. if you are elected president, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? >> first off, let me say this in response to the back and forth. for the people out there right now, i want to guarantee you one thing, really clearly, if you think mike huckabee won't be the kind of president who

will cut back spending or chris christie or john kasich, wait until you see what hillary clinton will do to the country and how she will drown us in debt. she is the real adversary and better stay focused on republicans on her. i put forward an entitlement reform plan. we spent 71 cents of every dollar in america on entitlements and debt service. willie sutton used to say when asked why rob banks? because that's where the money is. where the money is the entitlement programs and debt service. we need to get ahold of that, we cannot continue to go down the 19trillion in debt. so our plan will save over $1 trillion over ten years and make sure social security and medicare are there for those who truly need it, and also make sure we have money to reduce taxes, and spend on the things we need to spend. i will also, on my first day as president, sign an executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department.

we are drowning in regulation, stop. and we'll go out there and cut and reduce regulation, you'll grow the economy then, more money will come into the system, and get more closer to balance. but the bottom line is believe me, hillary clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. don't worry about huckabee or jindal. worry about her. moderator: governor christie, thank you. all right, we are just getting started. medicare, social security and the future of obamacare. that is all straight ahead. live from milwaukee and the republican presidential debate. the pursuit of healthier.

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. moderator: welcome back to the milwaukee theatre and the republican presidential debate. onto the next round of questions, gerry has the next question. moderator: senator santorum, we're in the upper midwest. the art of alliance is home to 176 auto supplier companies. back in 2008 you opposed the

use of federal bailout funds as proposed by the then-bush administration. automakers survived. you still think that was the right position? >> absolutely. i'm a capitalist not a corporatist, i'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations, whether auto industries or banks. simply a matter, the auto industry would have survived through a bankruptcy process instead of washington picking a winner and loser. in this case, the winners are the bond holders and the losers were the unions. that's fine. they did it. the unions survived. we have not survived and continued to grow manufacturing jobs. we have a president and economy right now that is killing, choke our ability to be able to compete. i'm one of the few people up here who believes we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. that means a good tax code, regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and also, i'm a supporter of the ex-im bank. everybody else in the entire

field is opposed to it. why -- how can you come out and say i'm for manufacturing when a majority of republican congressmen and senators supported the ex-im bank because it means jobs for american workers here in america? the fact is we've seen already ge lose jobs here in america, and just move the jobs to france and hungary. we have a right as a country to compete with other countries that have export financing. every major manufacturer, 60 countries competes against america, wants to take our jobs, and we have every republican candidate. want to talk about communicates to workers here in wisconsin? ask them why we're tying one hand behind our back and saying go out and compete? [ applause ] moderator: thank you, senator santorum. moderator: governor huckabee, you differ from many gop opponents on the stage over accepting syrian refugees into this country. have you said we don't have an

obligation to just open our doors. as the islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying christians including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. should america open its doors to accept any refugees in this country. if so, how many? >> sandra, i've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of christians. we didn't help the kurds, we said we would. the idea we're just going to open our doors and have no idea who the people are? what we do know is one out of five of the so-called syrian refugees who went into europe were actually syrian. many we had no idea who they were. they weren't syrian. are we going to open the door so isis people come on in, give them a place to say and good sandwich and medical benefits? my gosh, we're $19 trillion in debt week can't afford to take care of americans. if we're going to do something

for the syrians, find out who they really are and the ones really in danger, build an encampment for them but closer to where they live rather than bring them here, when they don't know the language, the culture. and frankly if we've got as many homeless people we have, i'm not sure this makes any sense. let's do it where we can best help them. send them food. let's ask the saudis to step up. i'm tired of the americans being the only ones asked to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to charity, and quite frankly, my number one concern right now is take care of the fact that americans are taking it in the gut without jobs, many of them work in two and three part-time jobs, and if america wants to do something, great. let's get our economy growing again. stabilize the dollar, and we'll be in a much better position to help people around the world. moderator: governor huckabee, thank you. moderator: governor christie,

china is stealing technology, pirating our intellectual property. spying on american corporations and spying on citizens. china slaps terrorists on u.s. goods making it harder for us to sell our products. how are you going to stop it? >> well, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with china. because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by hillary clinton and barack obama. that's why we're in the position we're in. [ applause ] >> because, trish, the chinese don't take us seriously. why should they? why should they? they hacked into the american government's personnel files and took millions of records and cyber warfare against this country. i'm one of the victims of that hack. they took my social security number. my fingerprints as a former united states attorney, that was on file in there, and what has this president done?

not one thing. let me be really clear what i would do. if the chinese commit cyber warfare against us, they are going to see cyber warfare like they have never seen before. that is a closed society in china. [ applause ] >> they're hiding information from their own people. the information we take, we'll make sure all the chinese people see it. that will have fun in beijing when we show them how they're spending their money in china. [ applause ] >> one last thing, i will tell you this, they're building the artificial islands in the south china sea, and the president won't -- up until recently wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. the first thing i'll do is i'll fly air force one over the islands. they'll know we mean business. [ applause ] >> governor jindal, there's a new trade deal the obama administration completed with

11 other pacific nations. the u.s. trade representatives office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on american goods sent to the pacific. cut goods in your state by 48%. you've been a skeptic about the deal. now that the details are public, are you for it? >> i was skeptic of giving this president more power. negotiated a bad deal with iran, breaks the law routinely. look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. unlike obamacare, we should read it before we decide whether to vote for it or not vote for it. i am for trade deals, but want to make sure they are fair trade deals. tonight come back to something chris said earlier. i absolutely agree we've got to beat hillary clinton, sending any republican is not good enough. we've had a republican senate and house. what has changed? if we send another democrat to the white house, we will not do anything to fix this country. under your leadership in new

jersey, your budget has gone up 15%. down 26% in louisiana. it has gone up $5 million in new jersey. down $9 billion in louisiana. in new jersey, 9 credit downgrades, in louisiana, 8 credit upgrades in louisiana. if politicians say they're conservative, cut spending, but don't do it, why send them to d.c.? it gets harder not easier when we send them to d.c. let's cut government spending, let's grow the american economy. let's not just beat hillary, let's elect a conservative to the white house. not just any republican. moderator: governor christie? >> i tell you, gerry, interesting, if you go to new jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. a liberal is not one of them. i will say this. i have great respect for bobby's record in louisiana. he's been a wonderful governor and provided outstanding leadership for that state and i respect him for what he's done. all of us deserve that same level of respect.

my point is this, the differences between me and bobby jindal, we could talk about those, obviously bobby wants to spend a lot of time talking about that. i tell you what i want to talk about. i want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of barack obama's policies. by the way, it will be even worse because hillary clinton is running so far to the left to try to catch up to her socialist opponent bernie sanders, it's hard to see her anymore. the fact is, the fact is we better be focused on it. i tell you what i'll bring to the table. the fact i've won in a blue state. that i won in a state for re-election after governing as a pro-life conservative and got 61% of the vote. that's the person you want in the stage prosecuting the case against hillary clinton. >> but wait a minute, records matter. [ applause ] >> records matter. yes, we've got to beat hillary clinton, but chris, it's also true you expanded food stamps at a time we have record

numbers of americans on food stamps. you caved into obamacare, expanded medicare. we have a choice. this is an important debate. not about comparing louisiana to new jersey or bobby to chris. this san important debate for the american people. let's have a debate. we want to grow government or grow the american economy? do we want to grow dependence on government, or grow good paying jobs in the private sector? you don't put more people on food stamps and medicaid. you cut government, cutting spending, that's what we've done in louisiana, you haven't done that in new jersey. we need a conservative, not a big government republican in d.c. >> let me just say, this interesting, i complimented bobby. imagine how much time he'd want if i criticized him? [ laughter ]. >> the fact is he's done a nice job in louisiana, i don't have a problem with the job he's done. i cut spending two billion dollars except for pension and health care in new jersey driven predominantly by obamacare. reduced the number of state

employees on the payroll by 15%. the people don't care about any of. that they care about who's going to be able to beat hillary clinton and keep their eye on the ball. i'm going to keep my eye on the ball. moderator: thank you, both governors. next question. >> this is not about between me and chris -- moderator: governor jindal, governor jindal, the next question is to you on obamacare. it is still unpopular with the american people. you've seen the polls, they show nearly half the country still opposes this law. you have been critical of your gop opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight. others later. notably ted cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. you say you do. what specifically makes your plan to replace obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you? >> look, only one other candidate has a plan. that's jeb bush, he creates a new entitlement program. my plan gets rid of all of obamacare. it's great that senator cruz

will shut down the government over obamacare but hasn't given us a plan to get rid of it. great other republicans talk about getting rid of it. when you go to a town hall in iowa or new hampshire, ask them how they get rid of it? my plan has been online for over a year, reduces costs, puts americans, their patients and doctors back to control, and helps those who need this help. but this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. i'm the only candidate running that refused to expand medicaid. i am the only one that did what we could to fight obamacare. this is an important point. i appreciate chris' points to me. i love mary pat. this is about the most important election in our lifetimes. folks, a couple years ago, give us the republican majorities in the house and the senate, they'd stop obamacare and amnesty and the bad iran deal. nothing changed. if they fooled us once, shame

on us, if they fooled us twice, shame on us. i give you participation and a juice box, it's about actually cutting government spending, not talking about cutting government spending. moderator: governor jindal, thank you. >> we stopped obamacare in new jersey, but here's the bigger issue, what do you think is going to happen when hillary clinton is elected president of the united states? the woman who tried to impose health care on this country over 20 years ago? and she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans and american public that said no, thank you. what she will do, what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. she will completely nationalize the federal health care system, that's what she wanted to do 20 years ago and i guarantee that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the white house one more time. the fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. i've done it twice as governor of new jersey, and hillary clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next

september when i'm debating and prosecutes her for her vision of america. moderator: senator santorum, i have a question for you. just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape, urban highway congestion cost the economy, nearly one in four bridges in the national highway system is obsolete. congress is working on a six year highway bill, fund it for three years. should americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes to pay for this? >> i'm going to answer that in a second. this is a legitimate debate between chris and bobby between someone who says he can win in a blue state and someone who says he is a principled conservative. 92% conservative voting record unlike the other conservative republicans, i was the author of welfare reform, the only time we've seen a federal entitlement cut. we cut it, did exactly what every conservative says they

want to do. we took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement. we block granted the state. cut it by 10% and put two requirements, work and time limits. we needed to do that with the rest of the means tested federal entitlements. i've done it, and did it with a bipartisan support in the house and senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by bill clinton, so i had a democratic president we had to get this through. no record of accomplishment. i agree with the folks from the congress in this race. i have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. national security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. the first time i beat the author of hillary care. i had bill and hillary in my state, james carville managed the state against me, i ran on health savings accounts, private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and i won, and in 2000, i was the only senator to

win a state as a conservative that george bush lost. you want someone that can win wisconsin, minnesota, michigan, pennsylvania, ohio, with a conservative message, i'm your guy. [ applause ] >> senator, i don't think we got the infrastructure, but i understand. [ laughter ] >> i'll be happy to answer that if you give me the time. moderator: to do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in washington, you have to work with the other side. a question, who in congress do you most admire on the democratic side? i need one name from each of you. let's start with governor jindal. >> we can waste our time. this is why people are so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. we've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. let me use my time to say this. i want to fire everybody in d.c. term limits, make them live under the same rules by passing the rest of it. moderator: governor huckabee?

>> since we're not going to answer the question. let me remind everybody, tomorrow is veterans day. here's what i would like to remind everybody. the va has been a disaster in large part because the people in congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president -- let me finish, please. i'm going to ask you this, what would happen if the congress and the president had to get their health care from the va? we would fix the problem and we would fix congress. [ applause ] >> governor christie? >> i'll continue in the pattern and just say -- [ laughter ] >> and just say this to everybody since it seems to be an open question. [ laughter ] >> i'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most what's going on with the democratic party in washington. they're not standing behind our police officers in this country. they're allowing lawlessness to

reign in this country. i spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, 700,000 should note tonight. when president christie is in the oval office, i'll have your back. [ applause ] >> senator santorum? >> i'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. infrastructure question -- the answer is, we need to get the federal government out of the infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. it's been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states and take care of the federal infrastructure vital for our economy, let the -- we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. number one. you know who i respect in the democratic party? you know why i respect them? because they fight! they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. i respect them because they are willing to take it to us.

moderator: thank you, senator santorum. >> ronald reagan did work with tip o'neill. coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. we're live from milwaukee with the republican presidential debate. see you right back here. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424.

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. moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate. we are live from milwaukee. a top issue on the campaign trail, taxes, and how much you pay. i've got a question for all of you here. when looking at federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, some cases combined, some americans are paying over 50% of their paycheck to the government. what is the highest percentage, all-in, in the way of taxes that any american should have to pay, and what is the lowest? i'd like to again hear from each of you, and i want those two all-in numbers. i'm going to start with you, senator santorum? >> i tell you, i have a 20% flat tax that's on all incomes. capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20%. i think that's a fair number. one out of five, to be able to help support the federal government. by the way, approximate, if you take out deductions, approximate how much the federal government has spent of

gdp, which is about 18-19% of gdp. it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post world war ii levels. i don't allow for deductibility for state and local taxes which will require them to go down in order to be treated fairly. so the answer is, 20% and probably 33% overall. moderator: all-in, okay, governor christie? >> yes, our tax plan puts the highest rate of 28% for those doing the most and making the most in this country and 8% on the low end. i agree with senator santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction, that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes saying well, you can deduct them. 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. americans for tax reform came out with a report and said i've vetoed more tax increases than

any governor in history. i will do exactly the same thing as president of the united states. moderator: back to you, governor jindal. >> the top rate is 25%, 10%, 2%. the 2% is most important. i think everybody should pay something. everybody should have skin in the game. we should create one group of americans dependent on america. chris said we all agree hillary clinton is bad. we agree we need to beat her, let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is a democratic issue. just sending another republican to d.c. is not good enough. we need to cut government spe spending, and not going to do it sending any republican. i'm glad he's vetoes taxes. new jersey is the 50th worst business climate due to the high taxes in new jersey. moderator: governor huckabee. >> if we got rid of the taxes on our work, got rid of taxes on savings, investments,

capital gains and inheritance and made a zero tax, we'd pay at point of consumption. why should we punish people for productivity? and the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. there's $31 trillion parked offshore. what happens if that money comes back to america? you think it goosed the economy? i guarantee you it would. that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. moderator: governor huckabee, americans under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. given the consumer spending, accounts for two-thirds of gdp. some economists worry your tax plan would discourage spending, there by slowing our economy. how do you respond? >> first of all, do you know an american that will stop spending? i don't. [ laughter ] >> snow. that's not going to be the problem. look, americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've had. for the first time they'll have their whole pay check.

when you buy something made in america, 22% of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never knew they paid. why china has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff we can't because they're not taxing it. when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. they bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. take the embedded taxes out. give a person his whole paycheck because every american would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. when they spend the money, they'll have it. and only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. so a lot of americans buy used stuff. americans are not going to quit shopping. americans are not going to quit buying, but it would be nice if americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they had a chance to see it, much less spend it. and that's why the fair tax

makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. moderator: governor jindal, you proposed something different, eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. why would have you wage earners and investors pay a income tax and not a corporation. >> we know big companies don't pay the taxes. they hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers so the small businesses get hit. i want to get rid of the corporate tax, bring jobs and investment back to america. make the ceos pay the same arraignments as everybody else. get rid of the corporate welfare as well. and make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, you will find a lot of agreement among all republicans, get rid of the death tax, marriage tax, take away power from the irs. what we need to be talking about is this, the last seven years, we've had more government spending and

dependence, poverty has gone up, inequality gone up. top 10% seen median incomes go up. we have more inequality thanks to what we've seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. we can't keep spending money we don't have. and the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether republicans or democrats were in control. we keep stealing from our children. that is immoral, it is wrong and we're creating more government dependence if we want to grow the economy, you need a rational energy plan, and you got to repeal obamacare and cut taxes. none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. we cannot afford to elect a big-government republican. we need somebody. this is the most important election. hillary clinton is gift wrapping this election to us. let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. moderator: governor jindal, thank you. we are not finished yet. more from the republican presidential debate in milwaukee next.

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♪ [applause] moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate live from milwaukee's historic theater. let's get back to the questions. governor christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or, has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? >> now when they cut interest rates during the economic recession and crisis that was the right thing to do, but they have kept those interest rates artificially low and for one reason and one reason only, because they're trying to politically support barack obama and his agenda and it's been wrong. what it has done in an administration where the president has talked about income inequality, he has more

income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. the middle class is doing worse than it has ever done before and investor class the wealthy are doing better because of cheap money from the fed. this is the worst part. we had 1 1/2% gdp growth in the first quarter. if we slide back to recession you can't slide interest rates below zero. where do we go if the economy slides back into recession? with this government controlled economy barack obama has we're moving right before it. the fed should be audited and the fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. that is what they have done. it has been the wrong thing to do. it is hurting the american economy. [applause] and let me, add one other thing on this, be very aware now. what hillary clinton is talking about doing, if she is president of the united states is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. you do not want that to happen. you need someone who will stand up on the stage and prosecute the case against her and