john katko.he two candidates debated last week from syracuse, new york. this is an hour. ♪ >> hello, welcome to our time cable news debate between the candidates in the 24th congressional district. i am tonight supposed, liz benjamin. i will be modern with bill kerry and rochester reporter, seth voorhees. the district is that the center of the state and in the last elections it has changed hands from one party to the other. democrat dan maffei is holding the seat and participating with federal prosecutor, john katko come as a republican. these are the rules both have agreed to. each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement in one minute for a closing statement and in between we will ask as many questions as we have time for. responsively limited to one minute each with rebuttals allowed at the discretion of the moderator. or also be a lightning round about halfway through our answers are limited to a single word, usually after now. so with all that said, let's get to it. you are fo

again, it is john katko having more than one position. just the other day when he was cut, he said would he would cut the department of education. that is the department that funds pell grants to make sure these loans can be issued, yet it would be cut, so again it depends which audience he is talking to. that is what i find highly disturbing. we need somebody who is going to have the same position. >> what would you cut in government? i said bloc grants to get to the states for education and cut down the bureaucracy. i said nothing about cutting the funds and that is a misrepresentation you made. >> we are unfortunately out of time. we have a minute for closing statements and congressman, you get to go first. >> thank you, liz. i want to thank the panel for the debate. it is important that we have a good debate. unfortunately, my opponents continues to dodge important issues even on summing as important as syria, he started by criticizing the president in the criticizing me for not holding the president accountable, and now he agrees wit

he is participating in this evening's debate along with former federal prosecutor john katko, who isican. these are the rules that both of have agreed to. each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement and one minute for a closing statement. in between, we will ask as many questions as we have time for. responses will be limited to one minute each with rebuttals allowed at the discretion of the moderator. there were also be a lightning round about halfway through where answers are limited to a single word, usually yes or no. with all of that set, let's get to it. the order for opening statements was selected by a draw, and up first is representative maffei. >> well, thank you very much, liz, and thank you to your fellow panelists. thank you to time warner for hosting this debate. i grew up in central new york. i was born and raised here, went to public schools, graduated from nottingham high school, and in college i worked at my family's plju

maffei: it is john katko having more than one position. when asked in what he would cut he said department of education. the department of defense telegram to make sure loves can be issued. and yet it would be cut. again, depends which audience you're talking to. we need somebody who has the same position regardless of who's asking the question. >> moderator: mr. katko, briefly. katko: i was talking about block grants discount on the br casino department of education. that's just a misrepresentation, mr. maffei. >> moderator: we are fortunate out of time. we have one and it forecloses david. congressman ,-com,-com ma you go first. maffei: thank you on the list. thank you to the panelists for this debate. it's important we have a good debate about the issues. unfortunately my opponent, john katko, continues to dodge issues. he started by criticizing the president and then me for not holding the president accountable and now he agrees with the plan. that is not leadership. what we need is to make sure we have focused in the best thing to foc

he is participating in this evening's debate along with former federal prosecutor john katko, who isepublican. these are the rules that both have agreed to. each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement and one minute for a closing statement. in between, we will ask as many questions as we have time for. responses will be limited to one minute each with rebuttals allowed at the discretion of the moderator. there were also be a lightning round about halfway through where answers are limited to a single word, usually yes or no. with all of that set, let's get to it. the order for opening statements was selected by a draw, and up first is representative maffei. >> well, thank you very much, liz, and thank you to your fellow panelists. thank you to time warner for hosting this debate. i grew up in central new york. i was born and raised here, went to public schools, graduated from nottingham high school, and in college i worked at my family's plant just down the road here on burnet avenue, and i saw the struggle firsthand to run a small business, to raise a family, to get