ms. bennett, 60 seconds. ms. bennett: our congress hasn't given us many results either, to be quite honest. you know, you are not a bipartisan when you sign ideological pledges. like the grover norquist no tax pledge. it causes you to take bad votes. when you make commitments to the gun lobby, which cause you to vote 25 times to block legislation from coming to the floor that would keep guns out of the hands of people on the terror watch list. this is common sense. we need to use common sense in this country. and be genuinely bipartisan. not just in name. the congresswoman won't even sign on to don byers freedom of religion bill. i mean, freedom of religion -- who could be against that? but she won't sign it. so i don't buy it. moderator: congresswoman comstock, the next question is for you. would you be willing to put everything on the table, discretionary spending, entitlement spending and taxes achieve a long-term budget deal that provides greater stability to northern virginia instances and reduces deficit in

ms. bennett 90 seconds for you. bennett: on a big believer in research. we in the private sector who run this business know how important research and development is to the growing of our businesses. equally important to the growth of our country. we need to vote to fund research dollars. this congress has not voted to do that and it has cut funding for nih and cut funding for all kinds of research facilities. we need to fund the research necessary. i also agree that we need to get our universities to walk -- were corporately and share information and work cooperatively that way. we need to prioritize this. something that i would certainly do and thank you. >> moderator: congresswoman comstock, 60 seconds. comstock: all of us deal with cancer and diabetes and alzheimer's and chronic disease. that's why i am so passionate and it's a top priority on what i overcome. sick of adding those calls when your friends tells you they have been diagnosed with a chronic and deadly disease like cancer. i have visited and worked on these things as i mentioned. we have i

ms. bennett, 60 seconds. bennett: i like to address the issue of the fact that congressman comstock says she's going to be a member of the majority. first of all, it's a big assumption at this point. i think it is kind of up for grabs who will be in the majority in the house. and second of all, to be a member of the majority that works less than half the business days in a session and gets less done, passes no appropriations bills, doesn't have any significant or very little significant legislation, i don't know what that does for any of us. i believe that we need to work. think congress should have a minimum number of days that they should have to work. congress should go to work. congress needs to go and get the work done for the american people. the republican-led congress is simply not doing that. you need people who are going to change it. moderator: congresswoman comstock, the next is for you. stephen fuller. from george mason identified the following seven sectors as target and her she's for growth. the

ms. bennett, 60 seconds. ms. bennett: there is another health care issue that we feel acutely here at northern virginia and across the country. and that is the opioid and heroin problem. butress has passed a bill, the haven't funded it. the administration asked for $1.1 billion in funding to really address this crisis that we are seeing in the country. they've passed 37 million finally in the continuing resolution. this is the kind of legislating we need to stop doing. bills, if these crises are happening, we need to address them quickly and we need to get them the adequate funding the need to really solve the problem. zika was another one. it finally got funded. but we had a zika crisis the summer. not only wasn't not addressed in this congress, but they'd took off for five weeks and didn't address it. finally, there was a bill passed this fall and funding was put in the continuing resolution. in the meantime, people were suffering. children were being affected. our conscious has to -- are congress has to do bett

ms. bennett, 90 seconds. ms. t: the congresswoman loves to talk about legislature she was part of passing. the problem is, this congress hasn't passed an appropriations process in six years. that some believable. if that happened in your business or my business, we that's unbelievable. if that happened in your business or my business, we would be out of business. it doesn't matter how much legislation you pass if you can't fund it. i would say we need a big change in congress. she likes to talk about the fact that my business is located in washington, d.c., and works regionally. i think in this case that's an advantage. i have a long-standing relationship with the people in maryland, d.c., and virginia. if the transportation solutions for this region are going to have to be negotiated regionally with regional cooperation, those relationships will be hugely beneficial when it comes time to really talk about the hard questions that have to be answered. i am for upgrading our infrastructure locally. it is critically

ms. bennett the next question is for you. workforce education is a core priority for the chamber of commerce. what type of workforce education initiative would you propose that the federal level responsive to the business needs in northern virginia and how can you work with your counterparts in state and local governments to ensure the federal workforce education program achieves the maximum results? >> education is critical to our future and it's a subject i know quite a bit about because i've been working in my private capacity to provide educational opportunities for over two decades. our economic competitiveness, the success of our children depends on high-quality education. we do need to educate our workforce and we have great opportunities to do that in the community college systems. i think we have that infrastructure built out and we need to maximize the use of it. we have 37,000 unfilled technology jobs. in the short run, we need to increase the amount of high skilled visas available to companies to be able to fill t

ms. bennett 60 seconds. bennett: budgets are about priorities.know, joe biden has a great line he likes to use. he said, it's from his dad, he said joey, show me your budget and i'll tell you your priorities. democrats prioritize education, and we need to do that in congress today. education is an investment. you and i coming from the business community we know the difference between investment and spending. education, infrastructure, these are investments in our country. we need to invest in our country just like you and i invest in our businesses to grow. education will make us more competitive. we need to fund these programs. >> moderator: thank you. congresswoman comstock, according to our friends at the north of virginia transportation alliance, currently more than half of the region's population lives outside the capital beltway. that pattern will continue as projections indicate that most of the 2040 growth will also occur in the outer portions of our region, particularly in northern virginia. for this reason the business kennedy has been

ms. bennett's, workforce education.t is a core priority for the northern virginia chamber of commerce. what type of initiative would you propose at the federal level that are responsible -- responsive to the business needs and howern virginia, can you work in your counterparts in state and local governments to ensure the federal workforce education program achieves a maximum result in northern virginia? ms. bennett: education is critical, and it is something i know about because i have been working to provide educational opportunities for over two decades. our economic competitiveness, the success of our children depends on high-quality education. we do need to educate our workforce for 21st century jobs, and we have great opportunities to do that in our community college systems. i think we have that infrastructure built out. we need to maximize use of it. right here in virginia we have 37,000 unfilled technology jobs. in the short run, we need to increase the amount of high-skilled visas available to companies to be a

ms. bennett, there's an thern estimated 874,000 virginians, 874,000 who are uninsured and healthealthcare premiums contino increase much faster. the question, why woul what wouo to address these issues? >> one of the biggest things that would help immediately escort virginia to pass medicaid expansion. it would immediately address the 400,000 uninsured and it would address this by taking back the money we are sending to washington. right now we have the worst of all worlds. the congress voted against the medicaid expansion. i think that is misguided and it shows the lack of understanding of the budgets and the economi economics. the other thing we now have the affordable care act. it has addressed the access issue. in 2005 we had 47 million uninsured americans. we now have 20 million more. we need to do more on the cost side and fix this bill. it's not perfect and it does need to be fixed and this is the kind of bipartisan work we need, not voting to repeal it without any sensible replacement, 65 times. that is a total waste of time not only are they working less than half-time when they

ms. bennett, your closing statement. thank you to the chamber of commerce and all the sponsors of today's debate. on the campaign trail, my opponent likes to talk about making base hits. that is thinking small. america is a country of big ideas. we've done it in our entire history. we can solve the problems facing the country today. it is a question of leadership. we need the right leadership with the courage to tackle the challenges head on. we need a congresswoman not only willing to do the hard work, but to take the hard votes. we can build an economy that works for everyone and yes, that includes equal pay for women. we can pass comprehensive immigration reform, strengthen the infrastructure, protect all of our citizens and invest in education. don't tell me we can't do this. it's what we in the business community do every day. as a business woman i know how to find the opportunities and challenges, how to solve problems and how to get result. i know the government isn't the answer to all of our problems. that's what

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