ha over 100,000 actors in our union, where 95% are conically unemployed. >> who sir? me, sir? >> yes, sir, you sir! >> [yelling] >> they themselves feel that their lives are more meaningful, their lives have more purpose every day when they work with these students. we found that there are ways of creating a curriculum that trains actors to comen and collaborate with a language arts teacher or a language learning teacher and uses theater as a very effective best-practices methodology to learning, speaking, reading, writing, and listening. all kids are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to performing arts. now, remember, this is not about creating the next jimmy smits or antonio banrases or jennifer lopezes. performing arts can be a transformative

educational ol, can engage kids in a way that other approaches cannot. we have had independent studies done on the work that we've done th the students, and we have found that they have improved their attendance. they also ha better homework completion, more class participaon. this is reported by the teachers. >> the success of beyond borders has gone beyond anyone's wildest dreams, with greatly improved student scoring on state and national standardized testing. >> you were wonderful today, all of you, really good. i feel we've struck educational gold as soon as it's over, it's got to be that cool thing of, like, all right, that was cool! when we get together as actors before every performance, we say, "remember that your performance today can change a life." you know? >> be re to join us next week for part two of our look at tony plana when we go with him on the closed set of "ugly betty." and coming up next on "hispanics today," toyota is celebrating a

half-century on america's roadways, but we take you off the beaten path to see how toyota's brilliant minds are helpinyoung latinos get ahead in the business rld. "hispanics today" will return in a moment. ack to "hispanics

today." in 1957, the little, boxy, fuel-efficient toyota made its debut on america's highways. back then, it looked out of place next to the big steel land yachts turned t by detroit. but now, a half-century later, toyota is the world's leading car maker, and some of its best and brightest minds are sharing what they've learned along the way with the young latinos who stand to be future customers...and quite possibly employees. >> "todos" stands for the toyota organization for the development of latinos. joe gonzalez, a 14-year associate, is one of the

founding fathers of the program at the company's corporate headquarters in torrance, california. >> the reward i personally get is the fulfillment that i'm part of the education and personal development of fellow latinos. >> joe was the first college graduate in his family, as was his colleague, andrea white. now this pair is among those who takeime to guide young hispanics with similar dreams. >> maybe help young people see that they have more that they can do with their lives, just by seeing a role model and being able to visualize what they can do. >> i wish i had a program like this when i was going through high school. >> in nearby carson, california, 60 high school juniors and seniors do enjoy the good fortune of having todos mentors year-round. >> it means a lot knowing that every senior kid right now in this class has someone who can he them.

>> i think the benefits are ey get a real live look at how the world works, because they have their own kind of distorted view of how reality is, and they're young, but i think when they work with these employees, they really get a sense of, you know, the nuts and bolts of business, how business works. >> it just really opens up ideas and progresses their thoughts about college. >> i got accepted to norridge. i'm going to northridge. >> yeah! high 5! >> i want to be a pediatrician because i just love babies. >> i'm really proud of our studentsand i think that the toyota mentors are finding that our students are good to work with and good kids, the're good kids. >> i either major in robotics because my past childhood, i loved transformers. i was like, "oh, my god, i got to get that toy, man." >> the carson kids start to build strong futures beyond their school as they make monthly visits to toyota

headquarters. >> ok. you guys ready? i'm gonna unveil the toyota plant. ok? >> ooh! >> wow! >> oh, wow. >> ahh. >> that is very cool. >> actually, we need that reaction all together. ready? 1, 2 ,3. >> ooh! >> yes. thank you. ok. >> i see teamwork. toyota always brings up teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. they build cars as though they were at the assembly lines at a toyota factory, they work together with time, and they talk about money, all these situatio that they will eventually wind up working with in the future. >> they can use that tomorrow in school, and if they choose not to go on to college because they have other bigger and bett things ahead of them, then they can still use those tools that we give them. >> "hispanics today" was there as todos kicked off its terrific new workshop, where students see life in the real world through the eyes oadults. >> this is who you are going to be for the next hour and 20

minutes with us,k? >> i have a child. >> how old is your child? >> 6 months. >> ok. so which one were you thinking aut? >> the 2-bedroom small apartment building. >> the small apartment building? ok. and your total housing is 615. >> with help from toyota mentors, each student adult hoped to make wise spending choices at various merchant areas. >> and again, remember, stragically, what are you trying to do? >> save money. >> that's right. >> the toyota mentors... they take steps forward tory to get to know them so they're more than jusmentors, hopefully friends. >> it has changed my life completely. we're one big happy family, and i love every single person in this room. >> how much, frankie, do you make a month? >> i make 4,332. >> ok. it's a very special connecon that we make because

oftentimes, you c't even make that connection with your own kids, right? because they don't want to listen to you because you're the mom or the dad, right? because you don't know anything. but all of a suen you have adults, not your mom and dad, who are reaching out and saying, "you know what, i think i have some stuff that will help you along, some things that i know, some things i've experienced," anthey're open, they're an open book. there's no rrier. >> wow! you know... it's an honor. it's an honor to have this. they're generous yond belief. they are very patient. they're very determined, and that's what i'm looking for in a teacher and a mentor, which is really... it's beyond words. >> for all its success as a car maker, toyota did not start off in the automobile business. back in the 1930s, it waa manufacturer of sewing machines and looms. even today, a division of toyota still produces those machines used in the textile industry. and as we learned, toyota

made its debut on american roads in 1957. but sabes que? we'll have that answer coming up. and alsoust ahead, we'll show you how one persistent latina kept moving forward even in the face of a devastating fire at her business. today she sits atop the world of public relations. "hispanics today" will be right back.

>> welcome back to "hispanics

today." re's the answer to our "sabes que?" question of the week. sabes que? the high-performance mastretta mxt will make its debut in mexico city in 2008. the great musician duke elliton once said, "a problem is your chance to do your best." our next subject, roxana lissa, learned that lesson the hard y. when everything she'd built up burned to the ground, she didn't waste time rebuilding even bigger and better. today roxana is one of the brightt stars in the world of public relations, and she's carved quite a niche in the hispanic market. >> maybe we should. you know... >> in the world of hpanic public relations, roxana lissa stands out. she's young, tenacious, ambitious, and successful. proof of that-- the "a-css" clients she's attracted to her company. >> we work with nike, we got milk, delta airlines, heineken usa, glaxo-smith kline. our portfolio

is pretty powerful, and i think the reason for that is the power of ideas and the power of executing really good projects. so as long as we can continue to that and maintain the edge, we wl be successful. >> ceo of the company that carries her initials, rl, roxana continuously emphasizes her success is all about ideas. >> every time we go to pitch a new business, for example, we win it the majority of the times, and that's because of the ideas. >> those ideas have become her signature, from the moment she arrived in the united states. origally from argentina, roxana moved to los angeles in 1991. while working for a p.r. agency that serviced the latino market, she made a discovery. >> i was surprised that the partners and the senior people at the agency didn't even speak spanish.hey had very little command of the spanishanguage, which i thought was ironic, given that we need to communicate in spanish to reach the latinoarket. >> her fst business idea was

born: to work on her own, but focusing on consumer marketing, not the traditional hispanic p.r. work. >> i csider myself a pioneer in that area and really focus on brands, fortune 500 companies and brands that really want to focus on the hispanimarket, and that's pretty much what we do. we do very little community relations and social marketing, which continue to be very important areas. >> with miller brewing company as her first client, roxana began a meteoric rise in the business, marked by significant milestones. she launched rl puic relations in 1996. 4 years later, she made a big leap, boosting her staff from 3 to 10 people toeet the demands of her growing clientele. >> that's when i decided, "oh, my god, i'm becoming bigger than i thought," and that's when i started forming an accouing department, because before, i used to sign all my checks. i would do payroll by myself on the phone and things like that. i realizedthere's no way i can continue doing this.

>> her upward climb faced its biggest setback in december of 2001, when a fire destroyed her office. her work of 5 years--gone. >> luckily, i didn't lose any clients, so i didn't lose any business, but it set me a little bit backwards. i was at a point of really growing. 2001 was a launch pad for me to become bigger. >> determined to move forward, she leased new oice space. soon aer, she landed the nike account and her next big idea: the creation of sportivo. >> we were doingome sports-related projects, and typical roxana, she's like, "let's start a p.r. agency that focuses on sports, that lps brands connect latino consumers and sports." again, typical roxana. she has an idea, and she goes for it. that's roxana in a nutshell. >> sportivo launched in 2003, the same year she opened offices in new york. >> that was immediate growth from day one. having the ability to be bicoastal to offer your

clients full services across both coasts, but also beginning to acqui more clients out of the east coast. and we have to sign the contract-- >> yeah... >> her vision, drive, and creative instinctsave helped her land big accounts and hold on to them. she was hired 8 years ago to promote the "got milk" campaign in california, an account she continues to manag in 2007, glaxo-smith kline hired rlpr for the launch of alli, its new weight-loss drug. >> and we were able to win the business again because of our creativity and our knowledge of the hispanic market. >> roxana works hard behind the scenes, making sure her clients get maximum positive eosure in the media. she's focused and demanding, but that's given her proven results. >> i think roxana is somebody who has very high expectations of the peop that she works with. she's hands on. she always has to know what's going on with a project. at the same time, if she tsts your judgments and if she trusts you as a leader,

she's very, very easy to work with that way because she knows that you're accountable, that you're dependable. >> and she needs dependable staff to help her cope with he biggest personal milestone: motherhood. her son andreas is now 2 years old. >> i have a fabulous senior team who can take care of the day-to-day and the clients. and i have to be present, it's very important for me to be present, but i also-- i delegate on this great staff that i have. that's why they're with me. >> after years of non-stop work, she now takes off two days a week tstay at home with her son. >> it's all about organization and scheduling. but i'm still glued to my blackberry. i mean, i have to be. it would be utopic to think that you can't be connected. >> and she remains very connected. her business acquisitions helped her company close 2007 with more than $3.5 million in revenue, and she was recognized for her work in "40 under 40" people to watch in "p.r. week."

>> there's other areas now to be accomplished. i want to be a good mom. i want to be there for my son and my family. that's another aspect of your life. but professionally, i feel very accomplished. >> if you'd like to check out some of roxana's recent p.r. campaigns, there are plenty of linkon her website... when we return, we'll have a preview of se of the stories our producers are working to bring you in future weeks. "hispanics today" will be right back. hi, we're looking to save some money on our car insurance. great! aprogressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow!that ihuge! [ discplaying ] and this is toemind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

>> welcome bac even though our show is headquartered in washington d.c., we have a team of "hispanics today" producers coast to coast working to bring you the very st stories our culture has to offer. here are some of the things you can expect to see in upcoming shows: join us for part two of our visit with actor tony plana. we'll go with him on the set of his hit show "ugly betty." we'll also take a new look at the old staple of mexican culture the mariachi. mariachi is now big business, and we meet one of its brightest entrepreneurs. "hispanics today" will be right back.

>>efore we leave, we want to remind you of our website... if you have ideas or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. either go to the website and click on the contact button, or ail us at...

we hope to hear from y, and we'll see you next week for another edition of "spanics today." hasta la proxima vez. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the president is on the trail

trying to protect home turf, stumping for his old senate seat. >> you can trust him, you can count on him. >> as the gop threatens to chan the balance in washington, the fight for the illinois senate seat is still too close to call. we kick off our election year senate debate series, with a showdown between the democrat d the republican. the big issues -- jobs, spending and taxes. and the credibility issue dogging both candidates, making this an intensely negative campaign. then our political roundtable, on the bigger picture. then our political roundtable on the bigger picture, how newobless numbers affecthe caaign, whether democrats can make the election a closer contest than most expected. and another high-level departure from the white use. with us "time" magazin columnist joe klein and "the

wall street journal's" peggy columnist joe klein and "the wall street journal's" peggy noonin. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. president obama and vice president biden heads to ph philadelphia to try to rally democrats to turn out for pennsylvania senate candidate joe sestak. here in washington, this morning, it's all eyes on the ght battle in illinois. >> hello, chicago! it's good to be home. >> the fight is personal for the president. >> very tough circumstances, in a tough, political battle. he has not waivered. that's the kind of person you want. tht's the kind of person that you know when the going gets tough in washington, we'll be fighting for you.

>> democratic state treasurer alexi giannoulias, ck and neck with congressman mark kirk, battling for perhaps the most famous senate seat up for grabs inhis mid-term race, president obama's former seat. for the gop, it's the ultimate prize. >> ifemocrats hold the majority, it will be because they held the president's senate seat. if they lose the majority, it means one of the seats they lost is the president's senate seat. that's the ultimate repudiation if you're a former illinois nator now sitting in the oval office. >> also a race that is marred by scandal from the start. when president obama left one end of pennsylvania avenue for the other, then governor rod blagevich ignored objections from democratic leaders and appointed a former state attorney general, roland burris to the seat, blagojevich was later arrested, charged with trying to sell the president's

old senate seat. the campaign began and the scandals ensued. kirk, a naval reserve has erroneous or exaggerated claims on his record. and giannoulias, a 44-year-old former basketball star who played professionally in greece has been plagued with his family's troubled bank and hether giannoulias, at the time a senior loan officer at the bank, was aware of $20 million in loans to a pair of chicago criminals. >> if all you're looking at is the negative side, you have a choice between a serial embellisher and a mob banker. >> how will illinois voters decide and whatill the outcome say about this mid-term campaign? >> joining me now, republican congressman mark kirk and illinois state treasurer democrat alexi giannoulias. welcome, both of you, to our studio and to this debate, "meet

the press" style. we'll sit around the table, have a discussion and go through the issues. there's a lot to get to. so let's get to it. the shadow of presidt obama hangs over this race because it was, indeed, his senate seat that you are now vying for. in 2008 in chicago when the president a his family appeared and he was then the president-elect, this is what he said. >> it's been a long time coming, but tonight because of what we did on this stage, in this election, at this defining moment, ange has come to america. >> mr. giannoulias, let's start with you. how would you define the change that has come to america under president barack obama? >> i think it's important to put things in context. if you look at the mess that he inherited and the enormous challenges that he inherited, a trillion dollar deficit, increasing job lses, i think he has done everything he can to help turn this economy around.

the question is going forward, what more can we do? we focused our campaign on creating private sector jobs, we talked about infrastructure and moving forward with the next eneration of clean energy jobs, tax breaks t small businesses, job creation, tax credit for small business, payroll tax holiday for lowto moderate income workers, doing everything we can to get that $1.5 trillion, encouraging and promoting -- >> the country is betteroff in this economic recession because of the change tha president obama brought? >> i think if you look at what would have happened if some of the measures weren't taken -- again, they weren't perfect. for example, when you look at t.a.r.p., the bailout to the biggest banks, that congssman kirk voted for, i would like to have seen, as a former community banker, more oversight, more accountability that these banks lend money to help increase to capital. something we've done in the state treasurer's office. >> you and the senator rallied

back in march, gop rally, about the president, we are on the way to making this guy a one-termer. how do you answer that question? how do you define the change he has brought to amera? >> tremendous amount of debt. i have a chart here that shows our debt to gdp ratio. while we did run deficits in the past, we now numr our debt in trillions rather than in billions. and i think that represents a long-term danger, especially to the american dream. every american born today owes $43,000 to the federal government the day he or she is born. and we are transferring a tremendous amount of debt to the new generation. much of it owedo overseas creditors, who expect to be repaid by our children with interest. >> as a republican, member congress, do you really want to and by your party's record on the de, going back since you came to congress? >> no. i've become very much a fiscal hawk here, earmarks for my own congressional district, we could save $66 billion right there.

the kirk amendment passed in the house that attacked the bridge to nowhere, even though it was in a republican district, the chairman of the house transportation committee and now it's actually the bridges to nowhere, will not be built. >> i want to come back to the debt in a minute. i want to talk about jobs, on the minds of everamerican, 9.9% unemployment. look at this chart, a tale of woe in this country. go back to august 2009. since that point, unemployment has been at 9.5% or higher. that's 14 straight months. congressman kirk, i'll start with you. what do you do at this point? >> as the federal governmt, to spurt job creion? what happens when the borrowed money runs out? secondly, this congress has been very, very viciously anti-business, new taxes, new regulations. we need senators and congressmen that will back up pro-growth agenda. my small business bill of

rights, ten new policies to help out the number one employers in illinois and the united states, small business. half of all the jobs, 80% of the job losses in the great recession. they can't afford a washington lobbyist to go find stimulus money or a washington lawyer to wade through the latest 1,000-page bill that congressional leader haven't even read. >> tax relief, tax cuts is the job creation? >> we don't pass legislatn to take away your right to a secret ballot in a union election. opponent wants to take that right away called the car check bill. >> how do you answerthe question to job creation? >> one of the problems is we have typical washington, d.c. politicians who have forgotten what it's like on main street. i'm the only candidate in this race who has worked in the private sector. congressman kirk has been in washington, d.c. for 20 years. if you're thrilled with out-of-control spending, out-of-control borrowing that has become the washington way, congressman kirk is your man.

>> my question is, what do you do to create private sector jobs to put people back to work. what you've just said doesn't put people back to work. that's what people are wondering. >> the biggest problems i hear from my friends in the business community is that there's no lending, tough to get a loan. if you have a line of credit, one of the first things we need to do is increase liquidity and access to capital and that the trillions sitting the sideli sidelines in the banking system, we need to do everything we c to focus on that. we need to focus on green jobs, solar, wind, geothermal. other countries like china are getting ahead of the curve. >> the government did do a lot with the stilus, right? you actually said the stimulus was not big enough and you'll lead a progressive caucus if you're the senator from illinois, you've said. will you push congrs, if enacted, to pass more stimulus? >> if it mns more tax cuts to

small businesses, if it means middle-class tax cuts, i'm for it. we also have to keep in mind what the recovery act really did. a third of it was tax cuts to middle-class families, a third of it was emergency funding to states and municipal iities, something i've seen as state treasurer. >> do you acknowledge it hasn't done the trick? 14 months of unemployment. 9.5% for 14 straight months unemploymt. >> the bigger question is what would have happened -- it wasn't flawlessly done. if you take a look at what would have happened -- do we need to see a stop sign down the street to avoid it? >> let me have you engage on the big tax debate. do you think the bush-era tax cuts should be extended for all americans? >> cnn justid a surv of economists saying that they shod not have a new big tax increase on december 31st. look what congressional leers

want to do. they want to hit the u.s. economy with a $900 billion tax increase on december 31st. on top of the ten new taxes that were in the health care bill, on to of the taxes in financial regulation bill, on top of the tax that is were in the august congressional legislation. i don't think -- the key danger here is will our policies increase the chance of a double-dip recession? if you look at the job numbers just last week, we have a significant danger of that. and taking more money out of the private economy and having the government perform as it has poorly done with the stimulus, i don't think, is the right way to go. >> you said just a moment ago, if i heard y right, you are a deficit hawk, fiscal hawk. back in 2004, you were part of this republican main street partnership. nd as part of that group, you had a press release on 2004 -- i'm going to put some of it up on the screen. todayheepublican main street partnership elected modere republicans in the nation offered six principles for the '05 budget resolution designed

to put congress on a th toward a balanced budget. these principles stand for a key value that once we adopt the budget wmust have the tools to stick to it, said congressman mark kirk. here is a key part to that. tax cuts should only be extended temporarily and limited to those that are due to expire in 2004. key int. we simply can't afford permanent and acro the board extensions at this time. that's what you said then. >> right. >> when the debt was about one-third of what it was today. congressma how can we afford to make permanent tax extensions now, bush tax cuts in this economy? >> especially in this climate, we have congressional leaders who are not interested in spending restraint at all. i back spending restraint across the board. at the d.o.d. like no second engine for the f-35 fighter, closing down joint forces command, across the board reduction. when you look athe state of the economy right now, you have to it set a priority.

my top priority is the deficit of jobs andconomic growth. and especially this perception that the united states could be falling behind, especially asian economies. if we go through all the tax increases that congressional leaders pposed -- by the way, congress is going to come back right after the election in this layman duck session of congress with a new round of spending in an appropriation bill and new tax increases. >> should -- the question is, mr. annoulias, should tax cuts be paid for? >> this i a fundamental policy difference between myself and congressman kirk. he said he's a fiscal hawk. the congressman has told some whoppers, but that may be the biggest one of all. he has voted to increase his own pay six times, voted for t bridge to nowhere twice. the list goes on and on. saying you're a fiscal hawk doesn'tnecessarily make it true and your voting record proves it's not true. the question for the congressman is the $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, we

don't have $700 billion. my question to the congressman is which country do you plan on borrowing $700 billion from, the saudis, china? we can't affd it. that's one of the problems, quite fraly, with washington, d.c., this overborrowing, over spending. >> tax cuts don't have to be paid for, republicans have said and the president says there's $700 billion they want to extend. where are they going to get the mon sni. >> spending reductions across the board, cutting o programs and making sure we have a new set of mechanisms. for example, the president has been rumored to bring forward a line item veto proposal. republicans should suort that. we should have a new grace commission put forward with a base cosing powers to put a joint bill that the house or senate one or up or down vote. to criticize my record on fiscal conservatism, in front of "the chicago tribune," they asked him name one spending bill you would

vote to cut. he couldn't name one. as "the chicago tribune" said when they endorsed me, it was painful to watch. >> i will ask each of you, what is the painful choice you would make to bring the budget into balan balance? ? a spending cut that you would make. >> this country has not been living within its means for a very long time and we're going to have to take our medicine and what they say in december is important to answer your question and this is an area where the congressman and i would agree. i would have voted against the omnibus spending billwhich included earmarks and a lot of pork. this is wre the president made a mistake. >> everyone who comes into congress saywe'll cut out wasteful spending. an explosion of entitlement spending, social security, medicare and the like. what would you do on some of these big runaway programs? social security,would you look at upping the retirement age in order to cut benefits and save some of that money? >> we'll have to take a look at

what the deficit commission says and look at ideas. i'm personally not in favor of increasing the age limit. we need to look on the revenue side different options, increasing the taxable wage base, finding ways to get more revenue, but i'm all for strengthening social security, not diminishing it. >> congressman kirk, if you were serious about cutting the ficit and cutting spending, why don't you stand up beside paul ryan, the congressman who has put draconian cuts like medicare, do you stand with him in those cuts? >> we need a whole range of cuts. >> dyou stand with him and some of his suggested cuts to medicare? >> i have my own cuts which i want to put forward. we should, for example, sell off big parts of the tennessee valley, southeastern tower administration, consolidate maintenance at the department of defense, a lawsuit reform which would save at least the federal government $54 billion. i could go on and on beyond the

f-35 engine and the earmark spending. >> do you go beyond the republican pledge, which is to go back to 2008 discretionary spending levels? >> we need a radical duction in spending. >> beyond the 2008 level? >> that's a great start. >> you do recognize 2008 that's in the pledge isn't nearly enough to deal with the size of this debt, right? >> one thingthat's missing from this whole deba is no effort to put forward pro-growth strate strategies. if the united states launches on a plan, as my opponent's strategies would do, to be a very high-tech, high-spending, high-regulation economy like very many european economies, we have the ow growth and hi unemployment of those economies. that's not the american way. the american way is a limited government, and lower taxes. that's very robust, small busiss sector, which especially is employing low income and minority kids coming into the american dream. i very much worry right now tat if we're embracing a european style, very high debt, very high tax cut environment, we should

suffer all the slow growth policies. >> congressman, you have said that you would lead the charge to repeal health care reform passed by this congress. is that still your position? >> that's right. i came back to the united states and i met with the republican leaders and said we have to be the party of better. we c't be the party of no. we put together the alternative which i introduced into congress. 4 h00 pages. it was not allowed for a debate, discussion or a vote. it did three big things, medical rights act, the congress should make no law that interferes with the decisions you made with your doctor. and third, congress should defend your right to buy health insurance from any state in the union if you find the plan less expensive for your families. >> you will try to repeal it? >> let's lookt the health care bill we passed, $500 billion in cuts for seniors, who depend on medicare. another ten new taxes that hit the economy. and a perverse incentive.

what is the essence of health care bill in 30 seconds? if you employ 50 americans or more, you must offer health insurance to the employees or pay a $2,000 fine. but health insurance in america, many times, costs more than $2,000, giving a perverse inctive for employers in 2014 to drop kronch coverage. >> are you running on health care reform? is that something you will stand by? >> i am run ong jobs and helping small binesses. the health care bill was far from a perfect vehicle. that being said, it did some important things that the congressman wants to repeal, denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, making sure that kids in between college and their first job have health care and morally we shouldn't have 51 americans without affordable, basic health care. the health care syem as we have it right now, we spend over 17% of our gdp on health care. it's bankrupti our families. it's bankrupting small businesses and bankrupting this country. the congressman has the talking points of $500 million in

medicare cuts. the uth is a lot of medicare expenditures are fraud, waste and abuse. this creates efficiencies within medicare, aarp and m achlt ma endorsed it. there's a lot more to be done. i would have loved to have seen a provision to let the secretary of health and human services negotiate drug rates for medicare the way the v.a. does. there's missed oortunities in the implementation -- >> pre-existing conditions within our bill. i've traveled to the top health care systems and they'll talk about these cuts as representing between a 30 and $100 million cut per hospital, leaving them to cancel expansions. the effects of the cuts of your legislation are already being felt by the illinois health care facilities. >> let me move on to some of the personal aspects of this race. it's been pretty in nasty.

negative tone by both of you. here was a poll in the chicago tribune, wgn. who do you consider more trustworthy or honest? 35 giannoulias, 30% kirk, 16% neither. can't be a figure either one of you are proud of. i want to go throughome of the issu and talk through them. mr. giannoulias, back in 2006, you were running for state treasurer. this was part of an ad you put on the air, touting your record. >> people out there in illinois need our help. >> alexi giannoulias, businessman, banker. >> treasurer's office is a fiscal office. we need to protect people's money. >> your family bank, broadway bank, was seized by regulators and it went under. you released a statement earlier this year, creating some distance from the bank and when it was closed. let me put the statement on the screen. it was because my father instilled in his son the importance of helping others that i decided t leave the bank

in 2005. that's the key date here, 2005, to pursue public service. atthe time i left, according to every independent analysis, th bank was one of the best performing in illinois. the chicago tribune summarized some of the issues at stake here. under this headline, giannoulias still worked at family's bank in 2006. candidate tells voters he left by late 2005. he says he was gone by late 2005 but that's not what he has told the irs. giannoulias was able to take a $2.7 million tax dededuction because he reported working hundreds of hours at broadway bank in 2006. he says there's no contra addiction, that it highlights the fine line that he walked telling exactly wat he did and when he did it. a bullseye for critics bank's loans for mob figures that contributed to the collapse earlier this year. saying he left in 2005 gives

giannoulias maximum distance frothe bank's questionable lending practices, the april takeover by federal regulators and other controversies such as a loan by the bank to convicted influence peddler tony rezko. but by reportg that he worked at least 500 hours at broadway in 2006 giannoulias was able to get a brak that helped him avoid paying federal inme tax for 2009. >> paid millions of dollars over the last five years. this is not what people are talking about, david. when you bring up the bank, my father came to this country as an immigrant, started a community bank 30 years ago. this wasot a fly by night company. it was his whole ife, his legacy and he has helped thousands of people achieve the american dream. because of the devastating recession, we'vseen more community banks go under than ever before. another almost thousand community banks are on the watch list and, you know what? while i'm very fortunate and my

family is very fortunate, i know what it's like to lose a family business because of this recession. >> let's get closer to the point. why did you say you left in 2005 but you told the irs you were there working in 2006 in order to get the tax break. >> nothing i said have been inconsisten i left day-to-day abrasion operations in 2005. >> but you did work there in 2006? >> as i always said. nothing is inconsistent and i make my tax retuns public, unlike the congressman. i make my tax returns public. i paid my state treasurer's salary in taxes and getting a refund because of a widely known business failure and i'm giving that money to charity. >> were you aware of some of the loan activities to criminal igures? >> the way a communityank does business -- i know when you run for office, these stories get sensationalized. when a bank decid who to give a loan to they look at t credit worthiness of the borrower, credit score of the borrower, appraisal value of a property. any bank -- of course,here are

individuals that we may not want to do business with, but that doesn't represent the thousands of people -- >> my question, mr. giannoulias, were you aware that there re crime figures getting loans from your bank? you were a loan officer there. >> if i knew now what i know -- if i kw then what i know now, these are not the kind of people we do our business with. >> you're say iing you didn't know? that's the easy question. did you know they were crime figure that is your bank was loaning money to? >> we didn't know the extent of that activity. >> but you knew that they were -- >> if you look at any bank, bigger bank, you'llind hundreds of individuals. >> that's not what i'm asking. did you know they were engaged in crime activities that you were loaning to? >> i didn't know the extent -- >> it appears that the broadway bank, the giannoulias family bank, has ties to the mob, convicted felons. you're runng this with the senate republican committee.

>> alexi giannoulias has made tony soprano proud. >> are you saying he has ties to organized crime? >> this is a li of all the bank loans to convicted mobsteres and felons. the ones in yellow is the one he was the senior officer, these are all infamous mob figures and bankers who have very long and storied record. you don't have to pull their rap sheet. it's within the chicago tribune. >> the congressman, who has never worked in the private sector, doesn't know what it takes -- what a bank does when they look at whetheror not to approve or deny a loan. he pulls some names and tries to make it a political attack. people ar't buying it. that's why we're up in the polls. this is what's wrong with politics. someone like congressman kirk, who has no idea what it's like in the private sector, to go out there and say these are

convicted mobsteres. >> do you stand by all those ads? he's sitting right here. does he have connections to organized crime, in your jgment, or was there bad judgment by the bank? >> the broadway bank provided an extraordinary amount of capital to mob figures and convicted felons after they had been convicted and that's absolutely the -- i was in the private sector. i did work. i'll tell you the private sector experience i don't have. don't have experience in loaning money to mob figures. i don't have experience in reckless loans to commcial real estate and brokered hot n money deposits leading to a collapse of the bank. treasurer giannoulias' work of the bank, analysis showed that it was his decision that led to the collapse transferring a $390 million bill. >> i'll give you the final word and we'll take a break. >> we shouldn't be surprised that the congressman is lying again. look at the loans that were past due and the bank was taken over, like thousands of community

banks that are dealing with challenges, less th 9% of the loans -- it's a political war, i understand that. for him to characterizey family that way is misleading, it's offensive. people aren't buying it. the congressman wouldn't know the difference because he has been in d.c. for 20 years. >> we'll leave this issue be here. we'll take a break. there have been credibility ises that you've raised, congressman, during the campaign. we'll come back with more of our illinois senate debate after this brief commercial break. logistics makes thworld work better. ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪hen the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisy on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪

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were back to continue our debate with the two candidates vying for the senate seat once held by president obama. we're back to continue our debate with the candidates battling to be the next u.s. senator of illinois for the seat once held by president obama. congressman kirk, there have been issues raised on the campaign trailhat has to do

with your military record, you were a naval reserve as an intelligence officer, you served in afghanistan, iraq, congressional medal for kosovo. all that makes it rious for some of the exaggerations. back in june, i'll put it on the screen, kirk's problembegan with the revelation that his frequent references to being named the navy's intelligence officer of the year were were false. followed by a long string of other errors and exaggerations, a letterrom his office said he served in the gulf war, when he didn't. the first gulf war. he also referred to serving in the insion of iraq, although his duties kept him stateside. he said it sometimes running the pentag war room even though he only oversees the