U.S. House of Representatives : CSPAN : October 28, 2010 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive

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years from now. things like scientific research, soft and high payoff in the next election. >> the state legislature does not have a favorable opinion. >> has the administration come up with a responsible budget? how can you work with this? . .

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other states. ours is the worst anywhere. i would also like to see limitations on leadership. when mike madison has been speaker for almost four years, that is too long. need some change there, but there's so much power in a couple of people's hands, that is hurting the rest of legislators running for district. >> your web site has a running tally of the national debt. as of today, it is approaching $13.7 trillion. you also have a banner on your web site that says "no wasteful

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spending." tell me what you think is wasteful. >> one of the things that is so frustrating to me -- for the first time in 26 years, congress adjourned without a budget this year. they continue to appropriate and continue to spend, and congressman foster has voted for every spending bill that came along, but we have to have a budget framework that we can hold our legislators accountable. with the look of the thousands of for projects that have been placed, and or 19,000 different " projects have been passed. over $36 billion is part of that. we have to stop that, and we'll look at areas that were left to cut. there has been a program out that allows the public to take a look at programs and see what we could cut. you look at the list of citizens against government waste. they have about 50 different programs on there. i think the first thing we have to cut is these earmarks.

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i have already signed a place that i will vote to do away with it easier marks. $36 billion just in last two years have been spent on that. that is a significant savings. >> have you voted for every spending bill? >> i voted for every democratic budget. the fundamental instrument in budget planning is the budget, and i voted against the deeming thing. we should have a very serious discussion on the budget. it sets allocations for the committees. i'm not one of those people who will just throw a wrench and blow up the government, shut it down by turning off the spending. but if we decide we are not going to fund military operations, it would be a disaster for our troops. i think you have a very serious discussion over the budget. the budget should be a plan for how we spend money this year and a 10-year plan for ideally how

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we are going to spend down the debt. >> give me one example on your thoughts on cutting. >> i think you have to look at the size of the cuts as well. there are roughly one jillion dollars of cuts that have been identified by a bipartisan group. they came up with roughly a jillion dollars of cuts over 10 years that could be applied to the military with little or no compromise to the mission of the military. >> and you back that? >> certainly i cannot vouch for every piece of it, but that is exactly -- and $1 jillion is not exactly -- i think a lot of these groups did not come up seriously with anything like $1 jillion in cuts. >> you voted for the troubled assets relief program, which came under the bush administration at the end of that administration, and the stimulus package, which came at the beginning of the obama

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administration. do you still stand by your vote? >> absolutely. i joined the chamber of commerce in a village in the this was an emergency. for 18 months, families in the united states were losing $1 trillion a month. i voted for these. it was very painful, one of the most frustrating times in my career because he did not have to happen. it was the risky practices on wall street, the dangers mortgage products. had they been properly regulated, this disaster would not have happened. >> would you have voted for tarp and the stimulus package? >> i would have been opposed to them all along. clearly, the stimulus package was the one where they promised if that was fast, there was almost a guarantee that on of one and would not go above 8%. the reality is that over 19 months now, we have been over 9%

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as a nation. 14 of those months, we have been above 9.5%. it has not worked. people are still hurting. they want attention, and this was the wrong thing to do. >> let's take a look at a couple of ads. this is one that is being aired by mr. foster, and it refers to you. >> fine bill foster, and i approve this message. >> the company said of the cayman island hedge fund and used taxpayer bailout money and made a promise behind toxic mortgages. firms like this one field of the mortgage crisis. homeowners lost millions while his company profited from the crisis. >> he may have profited. i did not. >> tell us what you are referring to in that ad. >> the basic story was broken by

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crane chicago business. this was looked as -- when we make an advertisement, we document in detail the facts. there are articles in the "wall street journal." there was a congressional testimony. are filings with regulators. it was looked at by the "chicago tribune" and they endorsed me. it was looked at by the "chicago sun times" and they endorsed me. it was looked at by the "daily herald." wrote stories on it and in those me. it is important for them to understand what is factually correct. >> did your firm, performance trust investment advisors, use some of the tarp-phone -- tarp- backed funds for securities? >> this is not my firm. i'm an employee there. the company started in 2008. i was hired in 2008. for any allegation that this

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firm to hire local people to work at a local firm -- we are encouraged about what people really care about. >> to clarify, you insist that the firm you work for did not use any turkey-backed funds to buy securities. we are not a bank. harvey went to bank firms. we receive no benefit from it. i received absolutely no benefit from it. >> senator, let's look at your ad which references your opponent. >> time mandy hultgren -- i'm randy hultgren and i approve this message. >> look what they have done -- trillion-dollar government takeover of health care, and what do you have to show for it? fewer jobs. foster has been voting for $525 billion in job-killing tax hikes. higher taxes, lost jobs.

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-- wrong for illinois families. >> job-killing tax hikes. what are you referring to? >> the health care plan that was taxed, i think 13 different taxes role in over the next seven or 80 years as the health care plan kicks in. >> how will it be killing jobs? >> by costing job creators, small businesses having to pay more. we are seeing it happen now because there is so much uncertainty in the health care bill. hundreds of times in the bill, it says the secretary of health shall determine. your credit folks on elected, paralyzing small businesses because they do not know how much it will cost them -- bureaucratic folks not elected. >> the first shock shows randy with farmers but does not mention that the farm bureau endorsed me. am i in your -- in terms of your support of the health care bill

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and the $525 billion in tax hikes that he says will kill jobs. >> i think it is incorrect that it will kill jobs. it is interesting that people worried about total spending over 10 years as it so -- 10 years or so, being promoted as something that is going to destroy the economy by a party that was responsible for destroying $17.5 trillion in household net worth over 18 months. >> we need to move forward quickly. you also referenced the chilean- dollar government takeover of the health-care system -- the trillion-dollar government takeover of the health-care system. >> i think it is in process and it does not address the real problem, which is cost of health care. even supporters of a are saying that it is going to raise the cost of health care. that was the problem. we have to go after cost and accessibility. there is good things we can do, making sure people with pre- existing conditions can get

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coverage, making sure small groups can pull together. there is things we can do in a bipartisan way. >> do you favor repeal of the health care act? >> i say repealed and replaced. there are big things that can be kept. >> congressman foster, does it need to be repealed 40? >> i voted against the 1099. the thing you have to understand is that things like people becoming uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions is a fundamental problem, and nothing that randy ever proposed was a workable solution. that is the difference. if he is going to take potshots at a workable plan, but unless you are willing to propose a detailed plan that will deal with things like lifetime limits and people becoming uninsurable, it is not a serious proposal. >> let's talk about immigration reform. most every candidate says the thing we need to do is secure our borders. that seems to be popular response.

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what else needs to happen for immigration reform? >> i think workplace enforcement is the next key. we have to provide employers with a reliable method of identifying who is legal to work here and who is not an crackdown on employers that violate the rules. >> you favor the dream act which provides for legal residency for - that arrived as minors, complete high school and at least two years of military school and italy will years of college. >> those people are on nearly everyone's list for people who will be in line for citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform. when you try to bit by bit, just border security, just the dream half, you will not be able to get it through congress. >> besides securing our borders, what needs to happen with immigration reform? >> we cannot minimize securing our border. that is huge. we have to know is coming in and is going out. we have to make sure we are

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enforcing the laws that are on the books. right now, there is an unfair advantage happening in an abusive situation, and we have to clean up the bureaucracy. that takes multiple years for someone that could come to america and have much to offer. we need to go in that time of doing background checks, finding out if someone is appropriate to come into our country -- >> do you favor the dream? >> i do not. i think it is the wrong thing to do right now. we have to do other things first. we have got to go in and really secure our borders. the biggest problem we have right now is that government is not enforcing its all laws. >> quickly, amnesty for those who are here illegally, or a half to citizenship, yes or no? >> no, i'm opposed to amnesty. >> against amnestied. >> the biggest mistake you have made in your legislative career. >> that is a good question. -- there are certain

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legislative bills i picked up that i thought made a lot of sense, and i did not work it well enough to make sure other people understood. i think that is important, to be listening. there is some legislation that i should have done more legwork. >> on a new two years in congress, what is your biggest mistake? >> it has to do with not correctly explaining the nature of the financial crisis this we took the biggest hit that our e economy has had since the great depression. families in the u.s. lost 25% of their net worth, but we did not explain that well enough, and that means that two years later, it makes it hard to draw the distinction between the danger we were facing and the much- improved situation with much left to go that we are facing today. >> let's get away from politics altogether. what is your favorite pastime, hobby, activity when you are not focusing on legislation in congress? >> i go on long walks with my

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wife along the fox river. there is a beautiful white half, and we talk and walk, and it is one of my choice in life. >> you and your family have four kids. >> i love by riding with my kids. we have some wonderful areas where we ride around, look for caterpillars, do some science projects. >> we wish both of you good luck on november 2. my thanks to randy hultgren and bill foster. next, the candidates for illinois treasurer, so stay with us. >> more campaign 2010 programming now with another illinois congressional race, the 10 district. democratic candidate dan fields -- dan seals and his challenger appeared on television a week ago. their debate is about 20 minutes. here is a closer look at the district first.

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>> c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look at some of the most closely contested house races leading up to this november's midterm election. >> all the money that the government is spending, i worry about what will happen to my grandchildren. >> [inaudible] small business owners, and we have to have some fiscal discipline come to washington, d.c. [inaudible] the same opportunities that you and i knew when we were growing up. >> thanks so much. >> [inaudible] basically, it is mathematical. you have to put more money into the system or pay less now.

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in an economy like this, raising taxes is generally going to be a bad idea. >> [inaudible] >> i would say, let's put everything on the table and solve the problem, but you are going to have to start making trade-offs. you look at the high-end of benefits first before you look at raising taxes. that is the general philosophy i have. >> on the democratic side, you have dan seals, his third time running, so he is hoping that three times is the charm. he lost to mark kirk, who held the seat before and is now running for senate. on the right, you have robert dold, political newcomer who owns a pest control company in the chicago area that is pretty

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well known for exterminator company. he lives in highland park. both have three kids. both make over $100,000 a year, so they are both kind of of the same economic class, but on two different sides of the political spectrum. district that has traditionally sent a republican to congress and voted for a democrat for president. that makes it seem to democrats as if they can take this. this is one of maybe three or four seats in the country that they see as a jump ball where they know they can get back at republicans, even though they may lose 10, 20, 30, or 40 seats across the country otherwise. >> it stretches from the north shore suburbs, very elite, very wealthy, very well-educated suburbs of chicago. it goes a little bit west into some more moderate income suburbs, and then, it stretches

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for the far north into the more struggling areas that are heavily hispanic and largely for. the mclean town jobs right here in town that is on the bus line transportation, no way. you will never get a job. a lot of people out here that want to support their families instead of being on low-income or going to get food stamps and things like that -- it is not everybody that just wants to sit down and do nothing. there is a lot of us that want to work and like to work and want to get a job, so where do we start? you have some programs that try to help you, and it is not successful, so we need something successful to help us support our families instead of being out here in poverty do nothing. >> play in terms of the regulation, what would you tell congress to do with this legislation that forces companies to go overseas. >> i think the voters are most

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concerned, just like everywhere else in the country, but maybe a little more so with jobs, jobs, jobs. in addition to that, taxes, because if you have part of the district really hit hard by an informant. and if one is above 15% in some of these areas, so they want new candidates talk about how they are going to put them to work. >> the biggest challenge for me in getting elected is making sure people understand the differences between myself and my opponent. what i have found in talking to voters is that they want someone who can make the decisions that can get our economy back on track, but they are not willing to compromise on their social values. my opponent wants to restrict a woman's reproductive rights, but by the will to protect them. my opponent wants to weaken environmental laws. i want to strengthen them. where is my friend wants to privatize social security, i think that would be a terrible gamble to make, and i'm not willing to add $2.2 trillion to

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the national debt. >> we need to put people back to work by creating an environment that allows the private sector to grow, expand, and create jobs, not the government, so there will be stark contrast between me and my phone and about ways to do that. my opponent has been in line with democrats about growing government as the answer. i do not believe that is the case. i believe there is a better way, and it will be in foreign individuals and small businesses to grow, invest in materials to expand their business. >> both candidates are trying to run into the middle, and they are running right into each other there. dan seals is going after dold on social issues. he is trying to paint him as anti-abortion. he is trying to attack him on the environment and all these other hot button issues that really trend well for democrats. robert dold is going after seals on taxes and budget, trying to

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align them with the health care bill and some other big government spending, trying to portray him as wanting to raise taxes, and that is the other side of the district, the two components that make up the majority of voters, the socially moderate and so-called fiscal conservative. they need to really come apart from their parties because the parties are not popular anywhere across the country it seems. seals needs to stand aside from the democrats, even though obama is still pulling above 50% in the district. i think voters are not interested in making sure there is a democratic-controlled congress or necessarily a republican-controlled funds. they need to betray themselves as independent and have voters by that your boat had lines for both campaigns really up on independence. last time in 2008, $10 million or more was spent on both sides. the candidates themselves are

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expected to raise to $4 million, maybe more, we will have a lot of special interest groups because this is a place where democrats think they can at least take a republican seat, so you are going to see the democratic congressional campaign committee and republican congressional campaign committee dumping $1 million from $2 million from $3 million on tv ads. it is very expensive to buy advertisements in the chicago market, and they are going to put it sits down. >> c-span's vehicles traveling the country as we look at midterm elections. >> for more information on what the local content = are up to this election season, visit our web site, c-span.org/lcv. >> last night, we began our series of candidate forums in advance of the november 2 general election. tonight, we focus on the 10th congressional district.

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the seat is currently held by congressman mark kerr, who is running for the u.s. senate. illinois' 10th congressional district is located in the northeast corner of the state and includes communities up and down the shore. it is one of the wealthiest state. joining us now in the order they appear on the ballot are republican robert dold, who runs a small business headquartered in northfield, and democrat dan seals, who works as an independent business consultant and is a lecturer at northwest university. welcome to both of you. the term moderate conservative seems to have been invented for the 10th congressional district. this is a district where democrat robb obama won for president, and it sent republican mark to congress for 10 years in a row. mr. dold, tell me what makes you a moderate conservative. >> i'm a fiscal conservative.

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i'm pro-choice, pro-stem cell research, pro-environment. that is what i believe makes me a social moderate. >> dan seals, you have also called yourself and moderate, but some would say you are more a liberal in fiscal policy, but -- moderate in fiscal policy, liberal in social policy. believe in fiscal responsibility, and on the social side, i am a progressive. i want to, for example, put more resources behind small business so they can start hiring again. i believe passionately in reducing the national debt. i am also endorsed by planned parenthood, the league of conservation voters, so both of those things together rather well. >> in your campaign ads, neither of you are exactly falling each other a moderate. let's see how you characterize each other. >> dan seals is running as a

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pro-business candidate, but every policy he supports gross government and kills jobs. the largest income tax increase in history, government-run health care, that tax, in a tax, new spending, job killers all of them. illinois does not need a job killer. we need a job creator robert dold. >> look closer at bob dold, and you'll find him failing to pay taxes for his employees. he wants to privatize social security. >> it is scary to think of what he would do with people's money. >> supported by a radical group opposed to a woman's right to choose even in cases of rape and. >> we cannot let that happen in our community. >> we should not have to compromise our values to have fiscal responsibility. >> we need to keep taxes low, bring people back to work. >> bob dold, you say dan seals

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supported the largest tax increase in history. what are you talking about? >> talking about in 2006 and to the senate, the campaign repeatedly on the fact that we needed to repeal the 2001 tax rates. those are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, and it would be the largest tax increase in history, and it would in fact every american. it would have a devastating impact on jobs. i absolutely would keep those tax rates. i would make them permanent if we could. >> largest tax increase in history? is that how you characterize it? >> i would not. a couple of points on this -- i have called for not increasing taxes, particularly until our economy is back on its feet. i would like to see the bush tax cuts extended for a year. two, i called for lower taxes for small businesses, to kill if they're going to be the engine of job creation in our economy. 3, i supported the largest tax cuts of the middle class, which

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applies to 95% of americans, $287 billion, which my opponent opposed, which i find hard to accept. >> i have no idea what he is talking about. we are for tax cuts. in the small business owner. in wheat just under 100 people. that is 100 families. we're talking about trying to be able to infuse capital back into the system. 75% of small businesses file and it goes on their returns. we want to keep taxes low for everybody. middle-class absolutely included. >> let me clarify -- the stimulus bill had $287 billion of tax cuts in it, and that is something my opponent opposed, so it really does depend on who is offering the tax cuts. the other thing i think we should get back to would be permanent extension of the tax cuts. this would add gillian's of dollars to a national debt that is already too big. i do not think it makes any

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sense to give ourselves a tax cut now so we can raise taxes on future generations. it is important that we have this full responsibility if we are going to move forward. >> do you oppose president obama's position on stopping the tax cut right now, you would like to extend for at least a year, or longer? >> i would extend for a year. when you have a shaky recovery, the last thing you want to do is raise taxes. but it to get our economy back on its feet. >> what about the capital gains tax? >> i would lower dividend taxes also. we need to have strong incentives for investment in new businesses and innovation. in the long run, i would like to see an r&d tax cut made permanent because we want more resources going to american technology and american business. >> bob dold called you a job killer in his commercial here first of all, how is he a job killer? >> if every single one of the policies he is supporting, and

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we have representations' for each of those, they are going to kill jobs. it's there is no question about that. them in the stimulus bill, does it kill jobs? families than $169 million in the 10th district to create 158 jobs. that is dismal. capital in the hands of the breed is, talk about a payroll tax cut. if you really want to stimulate the economy, gives employers the ability to forecast, the ability to have access to the capital that they would send back to the government in a payroll tax cuts. allow them to invest in technology, the equipment, materials, and manpower. that is how we are going to get people back to work. >> use it a stimulus did promote the thumb of recovery in the country, however we see you said stimulus did promote economic

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recovery in the country. >> the stimulus was designed to keep unemployment under 8%. it did not work. the government is not the best actor out there to pick winners and losers. we need to look at the private sector. 29 million small businesses in our country. the government is able, but that is to create an environment that allows small businesses to bid out there and create jobs. >> dan seals, with the economy be where it is now without the stimulus package? >> let's look at a private economist. moody's said the stimulus package protected millions of jobs, that the unemployment rate would have been much higher. where i think there is room for agreement is we should have done more. i would have liked to see more done for small business earlier. i would like to have seen more targeting for small businesses theory the small business lending act, for example, being the kind of thing we need to see more of, but to say that we should have done nothing after

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the economic collapse i think makes no sense. that would have been a job killer. aesop trillions of dollars of well lost, millions of jobs. we are seeing things turn around, but it is not happening fast enough. >> you do support obama's proposals to give $30 million to small banks to lend to small businesses. is that not a stimulus? >> it is, but it is not alone. a lot of republicans said they were against it, but if it will help of small businesses, that ought to be what we are focusing on. it is about trying to get people off the unemployment lines. as a small business owner, this is something i know we need to do here in helping businesses, cut into employees sitting in just struggling to make ends meet. we have to make sure we can shore up small businesses so they have good, high-paying jobs. >> use of four target stimulus? >> absolutely. these are going to be loans. we have fda loans, loans come in

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to banks, basically shutting down lines of credit. regulators are asking them to reappraise and reevaluate loans, so they are going to businesses from going to people, asking them to reevaluate and a more dollars in, and they will have to walk away. that is the wrong approach. >> we said the 10th district is probably one of the wealthiest in the state. mark for it is known to have said on of one it was not a problem in his district. dan seals, what about your own district? >> i think we did a disservice when we described the 10th district as being a community of wealthy towns and townships. there are very wealthy areas, but there is also a tremendous poverty. you go up to north chicago and some unemployment rates of 20%

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or 22%. this is one of the poorest towns in illinois. when we see that unemployment has gone up year-over-year, it really does not cover the whole feature. wealthier neighborhoods went from 4% to 6%. places like north chicago are having a very difficult time. they were having a hard time before the economic collapse. they are still suffering now, so there's a lot of work we have to do to get things turned around, both in the short run where our focus on small business and also in the long run. >> do you agree with we spent a lot of time, and you can literally go down the streets and see more and the store fronts. they are looking for jobs. there is no doubt about it. >> let's talk about social security. you accuse bob dold of wanting to privatize social security. is that what you want to do? >> absolutely not.

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the "chicago to be in" even came out and told dan seals to stop scaring seniors -- the "chicago tribune." i think people expect us to go to washington to try to solve the big problems of our time. i think one of the things we have got to do -- there's two things that have to happen with regard to social security. it has got to be broad bipartisan support. without broad bipartisan support, never going to happen. second thing we have to do is make sure we are keeping our promises to our seniors, so those that are going to be in the system currently and those that will be in the system shortly, with social security was enacted, 62 was your life expectancy. you collected benefits as 65. that is a good business model. 11 payments was the average collected. today, it is 23 years. i think we do need to raise the retirement age. we need to raise it gradually,

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so those that 54, we raise two months a year. so those of 53 are less impacted. when i talk to people -- >> 50 or 60? >> 54. we raised it two months so they can collect if it's two months later. 53 are getting two months on top of that. the idea is that we have to make a change if we want social sphere ready to be solvent for the long haul. >> dan seals, that does not sound like privatizing. what are you saying that? >> first of all, is not just me. the society to protect social security and medicare made the same statement. my phone is supported putting social security funding into private accounts, 25% of it, which was the bush plan for social security. i think that is the wrong direction -- >> you say you are not for that. >> right. >> he did not talk about it

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here, but he has talked about it in other forums, to create a separate set of accounts that would be invested the same way as social security. i did not know how that would be paid for. >> you know how you get your social security sheet every year? i would say to allow individuals to but 5% to 7%, invest it in the government. not privatizing it. >> that is exactly what social security is today, but i do not understand what your plan is. social security is invested in t-bills. why put it in a separate account and also invests in t-bills? i can tell you the additional cost is each shift money from one place to another, and create a hole in the social security program. i do not think it makes a lot of sense. >> let's move on to health care. you blasts seals for supporting government-run health care. he said supported by medicare cuts. >> $560 billion of medicare

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cuts. >> would you vote to reveal -- repeal the health care plan? >> the law addresses access to insurance. it does not address cost or quality. the missed it huge opportunity. >> what do now with the current legislation? >> we have to have tort reform. medical malpractice reform is a must. if we do not have a, we are not serious about trying to reform the system. >> would need the care and health care plan in place? >> if i had the ability to reveal it and replace it with a better plan, i would. you have to go after things you can accomplish right now, and that will be less an act for reform so we are not practicing defensive medicine. if given the opportunity, would i repealed and replaced with a better one? you bet i would. >> i think we should vote to improve it. let's be clear. medicare trustees themselves,

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their solvency has been extended for 12 years, so they are in better financial shape, according to them, not me. the health care bill has some good things in it, using pre- existing conditions, removing that as a way to deny service, expanding coverage to the aged 26. i think these are positive steps. having said that, it left some major things out. medicare reimbursement for doctors was not addressed. transparency with patients and doctors know the cost of services was not addressed. the tax if they put in the bill on small businesses simply for forming their business relationship does not make sense. >> there should be some changes, but you do not want to repeal? >> absolutely. this is a first step, not the last step. >> abortion, are you or are you not pro-choice?

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>> i am for the choice. >> planned parenthood says dan seals is the only pro-choice candidate in the contest. >> planned parenthood has endorsed my opponent, no doubt about it, but i am pro-choice. >> you can go to the illinois family institute's website. he supports the child pain awareness act, which would require doctors to give graphic anti-abortion counseling to any woman seeking it. i do not think that makes him protest was feared planned parenthood has said in their own press release that he declined to meet with them. them and you say you are, you say you are not. >> we have gone over and over the stain. republicans, majority for choices in dosing. that is not a big group of people. i am pro-choice. >> we will leave it at that. i have a couple of questions. >> we never got to the ad that

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he was attacking me on. we did not talk about taxes, how i do not pay taxes on my employees. that is absolutely false. i thought we were going to have basically a debate on this is, and what we have is the tax on me. we were talking about is keeping people of the night, -- >> what do you mean a tax on me? >> he is attacking me. >> i think there has been a fair share of attacks on each other. >> ok. >> let me ask you a couple of real quick questions. what do you do for fun? >> play with my three kids. every chance i get. >> what do you do for fun? >> absolutely play with my kids. they are the light of my life. >> if money were no object, what would you buy for yourself? >> if money were no object, i would probably buy a motorcycle.

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>> i will probably buy a home theater. i love movies. i'd love to be able to have a nice theater at home because i do not get out much anymore. >> last one, what was your biggest mistake at your current job? , of, short version of that what a lot of equity into a startup that did not come to anything to show for it feared them the biggest issues honestly not giving more authority to manages and i think that is one of the things that they are looking for more and more to do, and it is letting out the least a little bit more. >> i think we learn a little bit more about both of you. thank you to both of you. our next forum will be tomorrow

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night with two candidates running for illinois comptroller. for a full schedule, log onto wttw.com and click on the button in the top right corner label "2010 candidate forums." >> regional elections are five days away. we are showing dates from around the country. we will start at 7:00 eastern with the debate among the candidates running for louisiana center. that is going to be live at 7:00. at 8:00, a debate between candidates to be oklahoma's next governor. an hour later, the focus is on illinois's senate race, followed by two more governor races. here is the latest on the pennsylvania senate race. republican tooney is leading his

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opponents by 10 points. he has 48%. 12% of likely voters were still undecided. with just days until election day, follow the key races and candidates on c-span with debates every night and go on line to view are five debates that the c-span video library. visit our politics page 4 twitter feeds, campaign coverage, and other resources. this weekend, see the jon stewart stephen colbert rally. we will show interviews and open our phone lines for your comments about the campaign. follow c-span election coverage right through election day. >> c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the country visiting congressional districts to look at the most

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closely contested house races in this year's midterm elections. >> this evening, here in the historic smith theater, voters in west virginia's first congressional district will have their first opportunity to see the candidates on the same stage. >> i want to see washington take a different direction, to begin the journey, my first vote in congress will be to replace colosio as the speaker with a leader who can create jobs in the private sector, can reduce the size of government, and a year to the constitution that its principals without policy of road -- the policy. i'm pro-life, pro-done, and committed to fiscal responsibility. >> i believe washington has gotten it wrong, especially during these past two administrations, when it comes to dealing with this enormous entity called the federal government. >> there are two candidates for the race for congress in the

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first district. mike oliverio, a senator, and republican david mckinley. the seat was held by alan monahan, a democrat. he was defeated in the primary by mike oliverio, which was a bit of an upset. he is a native of morgantown, and his government would go way back. he was elected to the legislature. he has run for secretary of state before and lost in that race, but he has always been hovering around, and he always had aspirations for higher office. david mckinley has been involved in politics often on all his life. he was in the legislature a couple of different times. he is the former republican party chairman. he has run for governor before and was unsuccessful. so he has been here as well. when the mood of the country evolves as it did, mckinley saw this as an opportunity as well to get into the race and has run a very aggressive campaign.

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the first congressional district covers the northern portion of west virginia, northern panhandle, north central part of the state, and it runs along the ohio river. west virginia is predominantly democratic state. i need each of the congressional districts, each of the three, it is roughly two to one democratic, but in west virginia, it is also a very conservative state, so remaining democrats, though they are conservative democrats. >> the big issue for me are obama health care, which is very unpopular in this state, cap and trade, which is very unpopular in this state, big government, which is very unpopular in this state. >> the economy fixing out of control debt in bringing jobs back to an area like west virginia. >> doing away with the tax cuts is going to really hurt a lot of people. >> jobs, especially the health care bill.

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politicians really need to focus on jobs, and i think that has gotten lost from 2008 to now. >> i do not want a salesman. i do not want somebody on bumper stickers. i want somebody who can work with the others. >> when you actually compare oliverio and mckinley -- they might not like this, but they are probably closer on a lot of things then you might have in some races across the country. clearly, david mckinley is a conservative republican. oliverio would be a conservative democrat. they are probably a little bit closer on some of these big issues than the campaigns would have you believe. there is some new ones difference on the health care bill. one wants to get rid of it. one says he does not like the government. let's try to fix it. they both, for example, are

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against cap and trade, which is a huge issue in west virginia. even though they are from different parties and they have differences in this campaign, philosophically, they actually have some similarities. you might think that nancy pelosi in a lot of places is running for office in west virginia. >> i'm not going to support nancy pelosi. he is. that is the most important vote, as you know, in congress, is who is going to be speaker of the house. >> david mckinley has run many ads that align mike oliverio with nancy pelosi. not very popular at all in west virginia. the first issue has been the obama administration, nancy pelosi, harry reid, but not in the house race. that has dominated the discussion for much of this campaign. >> we are making it clear that i'm not running for congress to

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get in step with leaders. i'm running for congress to get them in step with the people of west virginia. >> you get to the last couple of weeks of the campaign, and every commercial has an ad for the ken lay or oliverio, said the airwaves are inundated, and the campaign has done fairly nasty in the last couple of weeks because the polls all indicate that this is a close race, and i'm sure that each candidate figures that 1% or 0.5% is vital. mike oliverio told an interesting story. he said earlier in his campaign, he ran positive ads about himself and his lead evaporated, so he said he would build more aggressive. both candidates have been extremely aggressive, and the charges have been flying back and forth in the final days of the campaign. this has been historic in west virginia. we cannot rule out incumbents, and this year, the longtime incumbent in the first district was defeated in the primary.

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senator byrd died in june, and releasing all this pent-up opportunity for republicans and democrats. the national trend has a republican inspired in the third district of west virginia, so a very intense, close senate race, which we have not had in years and two of three very intense and close races. we -- this is one of our more interesting political. we have had in some time. >> we are travelling the country and visiting congressional districts where some of the most closely contested house races are taking place. for more information on what the local content vehicles are up to this election season, visit our web site, c-span.org/lcv. >> that was from west virginia's first house district. now, the final debate between west virginia's third house

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district candidates. cq politics makes it likely democratic. this is about an hour. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to carter hall and the beautiful campus of mountain state university. for those watching at home, we would like to thank you for turning in as well. >> greg, this is the second of two debates between these two candidates. the debates are sponsored by the latest papers. at this time, we will introduce the candidates seeking your votes for the third congressional district in west virginia. we do this by alphabetical order

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of the surnames, and we start with start withmaynard. he was -- we start with mr. elliott maynard. he practiced law at williamson and was twice elected prosecuting attorney of the in the county. he was appointed as trial judge of the 13th judicial circuit. in 1981, and twice elected judge of that circuit in 1996, mr. maynard was elected to a 12-year term on the state supreme court. he served as chief justice of the west virginia supreme court in 2010 in 2004. he is the republican party candidate to represent west virginia's third congressional district. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome mr. elliott "spike" maynard. [applause]

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>> mr. nick rahall is the current representative of west virginia's third district. he graduated from duke university in 1971 and attended graduate school at george washington university. he once served as a staff member for the late robert c. byrd. he was first elected to u.s. congress in 1976 and is currently serving his 17th term in that office. he serves as the chairman of the committee on natural resources and vice chairman of the committee on transportation and infrastructure. he is the democratic incumbent for west virginia's third congressional district. please welcome mr. nick rahall. [applause] >> thank you. >> the order of tonight's debate

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will be as follows -- each candidate will be given two minutes for opening statements. after the opening statements, we will begin our questions. the moderators will ask a candidate a a question. the candidate has two minutes to respond. candidate b will be given one minute to rebut, and candidate a will have 30 seconds to respond to that. next questions will be asked of candidate b in the same format. once candidates are given the stop sign, they will be allowed a few seconds to complete a thought. the timekeeper will inch rough if that thought stretches beyond just a few seconds. neither candidate shall be allowed to interrupt one another. >> prior to the start of tonight's event, we had the candidates purchase of it in a coin flip to see who would start with their two-minute opening

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statement. leading off tonight will be mr. elliott maynard. you have two minutes. >> thank you, by the way, to the sponsors for hosting this even. this is an important event that will help educate the voters about the differences in the candidates, and there are clear differences between the candidates in this election, and the voters deserve to know this. first, i want to talk about the government take over of our health-care system. we call it obamacare. it cuts $500 million out of medical care for our elderly, which will result in rationing for our seniors medical care, and it will result in a wide differences in the white treatment for our seniors. our population in the third district is an elderly population, and this is devastating to those seniors. one of the worst things that obamacare does is it allows for federal tax dollars to be used to pay for abortions.

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there is $160 million in federal money being used in pennsylvania today to pay for abortions as we speak. it also allows for free medical care for illegal immigrants. these are some of the reasons i have been endorsed by west virginians for life and by national right to life. mr. rahall voted for obamacare. i would be pleased it with but a good care -- i would replace it with better medical care for everyone. let's talk about the war on whole? the generals in the war on hold today are barack obama, nancy policy, and the folks at the epa -- the generals in the war on coal. my opponent votes with nancy pelosi 98% of the time. even husbands and wives do not agree 90% of the time. they want to abolish surface mining in virginia. that is a for your out of 10 jobs we are going to lose.

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the last thing i want to talk about is the so-called stimulus package which wasted $1 trillion and brought almost nothing to west virginia. thank you. >> thank you, mr. maynard. mr. rahall, you have two minutes. >> thank you for sponsoring these debates. west virginia likes to exercise our american right to question our elected leaders. that is a great thing. it is great for our democracy. unfortunately, some miss use this healthy skepticism to stop the fear factor during tough economic times. the tv ads, for example, that have been running against me deserve 7 d's. disappointing, disingenuous, disgusting, disturbing, despicable, and you know what? downright desperate. features of noon and doom about

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our country, our state, in even my dead grandfathers, who came to this country, came to the southern coal fields of west virginia with zero in their pocket and work their way the hard way, the american dream come true. hard work. cliches and sound bites we have heard during this campaign -- they come straight from the peckerwood's in washington, d.c. do you know who termed them that? the late robert c. byrd. my opponent even a " straight from the mouth of his personal and political financier and mentor, don blankenship. you know who my mentor is -- robert c. byrd. our people deserve better than what they have seen on the tv screens of late. i do hope that my opponent has gotten over the name calling and that he will call no more constituents of mine degenerates, as he did at marshall the other day. throughout the years that i have

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been humbled to represent you, i have always placed our coal miner jobs as number one. our veterans, families, hard- working men and women -- those are my top priorities. i will continue to work across party lines, as i have done, even when my party did not control congress. working across party lines is more vital to date than ever. i will still maintain my seniority [applause] >> we have a coin toss to see who would take the first question. mr. maynard has won the honor. let's go right to it. infrastructure is the foundation for economic growth in southern west virginia. we continue to suffer from lack of highways, both paved and technological, along with the need for basic water and sewage

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services in many places in the third district. how do you plan to obtain federal financing for these types of projects? >> the first thing we need to do is congress to stop spending money. to stop spending money on things like the so-called stimulus package, which has wasted and squandered a trillion dollars of taxpayer money. it has created jobs in china and south korea. it is a statute my opponent voted for. it gave bailout to the banks, insurance companies and is a huge waste of taxpayer money. instead of spending money to create jobs in china, we need to build sewage plants throughout the southern west virginia. we have lots of people in west virginia who dump their sewage brought into the streams.

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we need federal crisis projects to fund those kinds of improvements. we need to build four-lane highways. i mentioned earlier that when we had this been the last package, we got no money for the king cole expressway or highway. no money for the bypass in beckley. the money we are using to build schools and sewage projects in places like iraq, and we are doing things like that today. that money needs to be spent in southern west virginia. that would be my prime project in congress, to stop spending money there and spend it in southern west virginia on infrastructure projects. >> infrastructure is vital to the future economy of west virginia. you have heard me not just there -- not just during this campaign, speak of transportation, technology and tourism.

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improving our and the structure, yes, water and sewage, i agree with my opponent in that regard, is vital for southern west virginia. many big cities take for granted but we do not have the basic service in its mandate -- in some areas. technology is important. we have used the stimulus program he's so viciously attacks -- one-third of stimulus spending went to a payroll tax cut for 95% of working americans making less than 100 tickets thousand dollars. one-third went to infrastructure, including the z- way, funded by the stimulus package. please correct yourself there. the final went to safety nets, like cobra programs and unemployment programs to help people when they are out of luck for no fault of their own. >> providing more government handout is not the and out -- is

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not the answer to creating jobs in southern west virginia or correcting the problems with our economy. congress needs to stop spending money we don't have and stop talking about tax increases. we need to focus on the basics of government. we need to give incentives to private enterprise to create jobs and not more government giveaways, bank bailouts, more government takeover of car companies. [applause] >> staying with this topic, how we address the $13 trillion debt and has continued to increase since september of 2007? >> let's remember our federal budget has always been in deficit except for five years going back to 1961. we have always had federal

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budget deficits except for five years in which we have surpluses. we know when that surplus was, during the clinton administration. the previous administration to the current one came in and spent all of the surplus on to wars, one of which i totally opposed and felt was unnecessary and provided tax cuts for the super wealthy in this country. those were not free expenditures. no president has been able to fight two wars and provide tax cuts for the super wealthy at the same time. the numbers just do not add up. deficit spending, i want to get it under control of much as the next person, but i think there are certain services the federal government needs to provide to help our people. not a handout, words from my opponent just now, but a hand up. unemployment i have already referenced. many government programs a partner with the private sector, seed money if you will, like the beckley intermodal gail highway. the intermodal center in

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bluefield. what we did with pullman square in huntington. this was seed money from the federal government that has been used very well with the private sector to partner and provide private sector jobs. private-sector jobs is where it's at, but the also have to realize that by putting people to work and providing payroll tax cuts like we did in the stimulus package, we are providing tax cuts to people who need it, who put the money back into the economy. they do not accord the money in a hedge fund on wall street. they put the money into home repairs, maybe they will go out and buy a new home with mortgage rates as low as they are today. but it must be remembered that when people work, they pay taxes. that helps reduce the deficit. for every $1 billion we invest in infrastructure spending, we create 40,000 jobs, good paying jobs, long-term jobs. that is what we need more of. [applause]

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>> you have one minute to rebut. >> deficit spending and that we face is a dagger aimed at the heart of the american economy. my opponent and his friends in d.c. continue to talk about tax increases and spending more. you cannot spend yourself into prosperity, ladies and gentlemen. my opponent missed a vote in congress, the deciding vote that would have extended the tax cuts that would have jump-start this economy. it will result in a tax increase for all of us of one trillion dollars, the largest tax increase in the history of america. we are having that tax increase because my opponent missed the deciding vote to keep congress in session to extend those cuts.

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you do not raise people's taxes in the middle of a recession. no economist will tell you it is unwise to raise taxes in a recession. if you want to raise -- if you want to make jobs and give people an incentive to create jobs. [applause] >> 30 seconds response. >> action has not yet been taken on extending the bush tax cuts. i happen to favor strongly making permanent tax cuts to middle-class america, couples and individuals making below $250,000. that is not to say i'm stuck in concrete, because i see the need to reach across the aisle. it is necessary to extend temporarily the tax cut for the super wealthy, that if extended permanently would cost $700 billion over 10 years -- talk about deficit spending, where

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are we going to get that from? let's put it to work where it needs to be which is the lower- income groups. [applause] >> of the cost of the wars in iraq, afghanistan and pakistan have been staggering. in an alien economy, this contributes significantly to our fiscal woes. do we keep pushing our role as the world's police force. if so, how'd we justify the trillions our government continues to spend on overseas military action? >> let me say that i'm a veteran of the u.s. air force. i believe we must, whatever it costs, we must spend whatever it takes to get the best medical care and benefits to all of our veterans, no matter where they serve and what branch. i strongly support that and that is an item aside from cost.

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notwithstanding that fact, we have troops in over 125 different nations run the world today. we are engaged in two wars at the same time, afghanistan and iraq. we cannot be the world's policeman any longer. we simply do not have the resources to be the world's policeman a longer period we to carefully analyze every place we have troops on the ground and countries around the world and bring most of those troops home. i would suggest we put some of those troops on our border with mexico to control the border and stop the drugs and violence and crime coming into this country. [applause] that this administration refuses to do. that is where we need troops. we have two wars going on. we need to wind those wars down as quickly as we can and bring

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those troops home from war zones as quickly as we can. then we need to take a hard look at military spending. i am a strong supporter of the military and think we need a strong military. we need that military mainly at home to make sure we give them the finest equipment, the finest materials, the latest technology and oliver aircraft and ships at sea. but we do not need -- and all of the aircraft and ships at sea, but we do not need troops house around the world and need to bring them home and reduce the cost associated with it. that will be a savings in the hundreds of billions of dollars if we do that. [applause] >> god bless our veterans. thank you for your service, spike and our american troops. those are mary -- those are

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american heroes putting themselves in harm's way so we can live in the greatest country in the world and enjoy the many freedoms we enjoy. you are right. we cannot be the policeman of the world. we cannot be the 911 of the world and be expected to respond to every trouble spot. nor can we be expected to be a nation builder in every nation in which we have our forces. more cost sharing is needed. if we are going to undertake a war like we did in iraq, which i opposed, but i have supported our troops, god bless them again, i voted to give them every ounce of equipment they need to do their job, but that does not mean -- i disagreed with the policy, but i did not disagree with our troops. it is necessary we have cost sharing with our allies before we undertake such a fiasco as we did in iraq. [applause]

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>> this may be an area where we have some common views. the american military is still the strongest military in the world, the best equipped, and our soldiers and sailors and airmen are the finest in the world. we need to emphasize we are not doing right by some of our veterans. congress has not done right by some of our veterans. we still do not have the best medical care and the world. a veteran not to be able to go to any doctor's office in the world and get complete and total medical care and that's not what we have. [applause] >> the next question is a category consisting of two questions. one specific question for each candidate. each will be given to minutes to

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respond and the opponent will be given one minute to rebut and then a 32nd response. this deals with television ads. they have attempted to use a candidate association as a means of swaying voters only one direction or another. the maynard campaign has brought into question your association with islamic groups. connected to terrorism. would you explain your association to these groups? >> the legend contribution -- i did receive a contribution in 1996 from what ever gentleman this is, so did many other politicians, including the national public -- national republican campaign committee. when the first allegations of misconduct against this individual, i immediately gave the money to charity right here in beckley. other politicians, i including george bush himself, gave it back or give it to charity. the only group that kept the money was the national

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republican campaign committee. that's a fact. [applause] another group receiving money was the american for tax reform group. mr. grover norquist helped found the institute with this same guy, whatever his name is. they are running ads against the as well. that is why i gave my opening statement as i did about the disingenuousness, dishonest this, the disappointment, outright despicable list of these ads. it is caused because outside groups come in our state and spend money without having to account for who is giving them the money. i asked my opponent tonight, will you ask the american conservative foundation to repeal -- to reveal publicly who their donors are. the people of west virginia deserves to know who is funding is outside groups were making get unlimited money and not have to tell the first individual,

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the first public filing where the money comes from. we as candidates have to list every money we receive and every money we spend. but not so with these new groups, all made possible by the supreme court ruling earlier this year. we have passed a bill in the house called the disclose that that would ask these groups to identify who your main sponsor is. put a name on your ads. we passed it out of the house and it died in the other body because the party of no says no to everything. therefore, the bill has not passed congress. [applause] >> you did not give the money back. in a contribution to someone else. you already spent the money on your campaign in that instance. let me also say you are the

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largest single recipient of contributions from a group called the council on american islamic relations. in congress, you receive more money from that group than any other member of congress. since you have chosen to make this personal, i will also point out your sister is a registered foreign agent for a middle eastern government. she has lobbied for them for years and has a post office box in your congressional office. >> elected. yet not answered my question. i am calling on you to have these people contributing to identify themselves and reveal where the money's coming from. the people of southern west virginia allow to know this. i introduce a resolution

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praising the country of qatar for providing security for our forces during the war in iraq. that's where our forces were stationed. dealing denied it was introduced a resolution backed unanimously by republicans and democrats thinking that country for their support of american troops. [applause] >> sticking with television ads, your association with massey energy has been brought into question trade will you explain that association? >> i will respond briefly -- mr. rahall well in knowledge his sister is a registered foreign agents or required to register

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with just apartment, i will be at -- i'll be happy to answer his questions. but mr. blankenship, if we're going to decide this election based on who are supporters are, i would like to talk of his supporters as well. mr. blankenship runs a coal company that employs about 8000 people in southern west virginia and eastern kentucky. they're good jobs, they pay medical benefits for about 30,000 people in southern west virginia. i have broad support for many people in the coal industry. we have the endorsement of the west virginia coal association, the association represents all the coal industry in west virginia. we have the support of many coal executives, there is no need for a long list of names for people in the coal business, but this election is about coal and coal miners and coal miners' jobs. that's what this election is about. his associates are running a war

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against colts -- against col. he never mentions obama or nancy pelosi. they intend to abolish service money in southern west virginia. they want to take for every time: jobs and destroy those jobs. they want to end at surface mining in our part of the state. they want to do a lot more than that. they really don't like coal and they tend to abolish colliding completely. -- abolish coal mining completely. his friends are obama and nancy pelosi and he is no friend of coal. [applause] >> spike, you of all people would raise guilt by association. let me say, as i have said many times and as my record will prove.

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you want to associate me with the current administration. i will quote my mentor, robert c. byrd -- i work for no president, i work with presidents. i've worked with a number of presidents. i have agreed with some and agreed with some -- disagreed with some. i have disagreed with this administration on game marriage, prayer in public schools, i happen to support the border fence. so i agree we need a stronger border enforcement. i voted against my party on the death tax six times. i have voted to repeal the death tax. i have voted against my party on cap and trade. i have voted against my party on a number of other issues. so guilt by association does not work in my particular case. [applause]

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>> if you disagreed with them so much, i don't understand how you have a 98.7% record of voting with nancy pelosi. he said you were the early supporter of barack obama and campaigned with him in the hills of west virginia and supported him for president when west virginia president -- west virginia voters were for hillary clinton and you cast your vote for barack obama in spite of the fact it was a three-one margin against him. it is strange, if you say you are opposed to these people it to manage to vote with them nine times out of 10. [applause] >> thank you. our education system continues to lag behind when it comes to students competing academically

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with those in china, india and other asian countries. what can we do to provide a better education for our children? >> first on that last response, i supported barack obama because hillary clinton was the alternative. she supported cap and trade for five straight years. she was a co-sponsor with john mccain of climate change legislation. you were in the democratic party then, who did you support? [laughter] [applause] >> i would have supported hillary clinton. >> god bless our teachers. our teachers affect the lives of our children for an eternity. unfortunately, they have not received the pay they deserve. that places us at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to all the other developing countries. education, we have tried to

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restore health grants, the stafford loan program, we tried to improve the loans to students by eliminating the middleman and freeing up more money to pursue a higher education. we have to give teachers the tools to do their jobs. they cannot do it alone. the federal government, although spending is necessary, they cannot do it alone. that very important word -- partnership -- with their teachers, our parents, let's not forget the role parents play. with our communities. we need programs that start our children off on the right foot and fully fund programs like head start, child nutrition programs, after-school programs where we can put our children places where they have other alternatives than to roam the streets and get in trouble. it takes partnering with parents, with communities, with

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the private-sector, by putting into our schools the necessary child attrition programs and the partnership with local enforcement officers to instill in people's minds the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse. [applause] >> that sounds like the typical answer -- let's raise taxes and throw a lot more money at the problem. you will not solve the problems of education by throwing more money at. that has been proven to not work. it has proven to be counterproductive. if you want to fix what is broken with american education and fix the problems of a classroom, you have to go back to basics. by going back to the basics, i mean common-sense things -- we have to teach or math, more science, basic language arts, we

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have kids in the eighth grade that really cannot read or write effectively and are still at the eighth grade. we need to look at what the great western countries with wonderful education systems like england are doing. they don't have a 100 a day school year, they have a 200-day school year. -- they do not have a 180 day school year. we have to look at extending school hours. those are some of the practical things we can do and they don't cost money. [applause] >> once again, by content seems to think that i believe the federal government is the solution to all our ills when i don't know how many times i have said this evening that such is not the case. the federal government has a role to play, yes. i believe this is an important difference between us. the federal government needs to partner time after time with

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parents and teachers, community leaders and the private-sector. the number-one employer is in the private sector. takes this team mark to pull together so west virginia and their children can win. [applause] >> we have some viewer and the reader-generated questions. if health-care reform legislation is repealed, what do you say to families who may be looking forward to the benefits of having health care for their children up to age 26 or unemployed workers concerned insurance on a new job would not cover pre-existing condition? >> i favor repealing obama care and i favor some other form of health-care that congress needs

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to craft that does not cost $two trillion and is not a big job killer. one of the big problems with obama care is that it is a job killer. when we revisit health care, we need to make sure people who have pre-existing conditions are covered, and a story. nobody should be excluded from health care because they have a pre-existing condition. we are wealthy country and we can afford to make sure everyone has health coverage. when we set out to do health care reform, all we needed to do is add coverage for 30 million people. that would have been an easy thing to do with tax credits, a supplement payments, we could have added 30 million people without destroying the finalist medical care delivery system on the planet, which is we are -- which is where we are headed with obama care. why are we giving free medical care to illegal immigrants, which obama care does? why are we paying for the

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niagara in prison? these things are true. -- why are we paying for viagra for prisoners? this will make sure everybody is covered and make sure people with pre-existing conditions are covered. we can do all of that without spending trillions of dollars and without forcing small companies out of business. present program we have, extending health care to people were 26 years of age, that is a costly provision. there should be a provision that says if your child is in college, he or she should be included in the program until they are out of college. but just because somebody is 26 years old, they should not be required to be recovered -- to be covered in the policy. companies have to pay for that they will be able to afford to pay for that. you are going to force of companies out of business. that's what's going to happen. [applause]

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>> in regard to health care, is the bill perfect? know. i have not see a perfect bill since i have been in congress. does it need tweaking? perhaps yes. my opponent says he favors repeal, but he told the " huntingdon dispatch" that we cannot repeal bill. the bill is not going to be repealed in hits -- in its totality, a matter which party is in control of congress next year. let's not talk about the spy in the sky schemes that are not going to happen. i happen to believe those in favor of repeal don't want to see children eliminated from coverage on their parents' policy, i don't think they want to see children eliminated being covered for pre-existing conditions. i think kids should be covered for health insurance whether

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they have pre-existing conditions are not. we should eliminate lifetime and annual caps on insurance coverage. we have rationing today, it is rushing by the private insurers. the cost of doing nothing is much higher than the cost of what we did. [applause] >> if you really want to cut costs to medical care, need to do something with the next bill that obama care did not do, which is to look at all of the frivolous lawsuits and defensive costs of medicine that doctors face when they have to order thousands of unnecessary expense of tests just to ward off lawsuits that are coming. without meaningful reform, you will never reduce the cost of medical care in this country and you will have a bloated, outrageously expensive system like obama care. [applause]

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>> this is a question from the public. many tax reductions put in place during the bush administration are scheduled to be phased out beginning in january 2011. what is your position on this issue? >> i have stated earlier by will respond in more detail -- what is scheduled to expire at the end of this calendar year the bush tax cuts set into place using a process known as reconciliation 10 years ago. that's because there were not the 60 votes to pass the bush tax cuts for the super wealthy in the senate, so they used the process where they needed only 50 votes and there is a 10-year sunset. that is what expires on january 1st. we put off action in the house until a lame-duck session because the other body had gone home. many of our body -- many of our members to not want to be put on the line with the senate having

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taken action also. i favor extending the bush tax cuts for the middle income, those making less than 200 tickets thousand dollars, making that prominent. -- making less than $250,000. if we have to extend that until we get out of the recession, that's fine, this is money that goes into the economy, money goes into the home improvement, this is money that puts back into our economy and helps grow the economy. it is not accorded into wall street or savings accounts or hedge funds. it goes to work for our economy. the worst-case scenario, if we take no action and i hope we do, but should we not take action and the bush tax cuts expire, they guess where we are? we're back to the clinton years. even less tax on dividends during those years.

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i think we did pretty well during the clinton years, not mistaken. we had budget surpluses. that scenario would not be as bad as what it is being painted as. it is not the largest tax freeze in history. democrats already passed the largest tax cuts in history when we passed the stimulus program. we provided a payroll tax cut -- one-third of the bill lead to a tax cut for 95% of working americans. [applause] >> his failure to show up at the to extend the session and take up the extension of these tax cuts is a stunning failure. it is an unforgivable failure. we send representatives to congress to go and vote on issues that matter and extending these tax cuts matters to people. to a single working mother in

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southern west virginia with two kids, it means instead of being able to deduct $1,000 for each child, it will be cut in half. she could only deduct $500. as the kind of tax cuts we're talking about you failed to show up to vote and protect. you call these people super wealthy? you're talking about people with incomes of 200 thousands -- $200,000 a year. if it is a small business owner, that we're talking about. these are not super wealthy people. these are people who run the local gas station and convenience store, the local hydraulics shop. those are the kinds of people congress thinks are super wealthy. they are not. [applause] >> again, extending the tax cut for the middle income american,

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making them permanent is number one. we should not be holding a tax cut for the wealthy as hostage for a middle-income tax cut in this country. it is unfair, it's a basic difference of philosophy between the two of us and it is one that i think is unfair to our working men and women of this country. they deserve to receive a permit tax cut for families making $250,000 and below. [applause] >> would republican control of congress mean by partisanship or gridlock for america? >> we certainly have not had any gridlock up until now because this administration has had total control of all three branches of government. they completely ignored the opposite party. when they passed obama care,

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they jammed down the throat of americans. americans did not want obama care and americans don't want obama care now. 70% of our people don't want obama care and republicans had no say. the administration, because they at absolute power grab it through both houses and it became law. it is a 2700 page bill that nobody in congress read. i defy you to go to the internet and get the bill and really yourself. it is unreadable. it's impossible to read. it creates incredible bureaucracy with 15 or 20 separate boards with awesome power over your health care. it is a bill people do not what. republicans are going to take control the house of representatives. everybody thinks that is the case. they're likely to take control of the senate. i hope when that occurs that there will be a spirit of cooperation and the parties will be able to work together.

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our country is in really big trouble. we have people who are really hurting. this is not about democrats or republicans or independents or any political schemes. this is about doing the right thing for america and i hope whoever goes to congress in the next congress, now matter what their political stripe, will remember our country is in big trouble in their country needs help. we are on the verge of bankruptcy. we are facing economic collapse if we don't do something about the spending, the out of control, obscene spending and the push to raise everybody's taxes. we are in the middle of the worst recession we have ever had. you don't raise taxes in the middle of a recession. it creates a depression. we must not do that. [applause]

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>> the fact of the matter is i will still maintain my experience and seniority if reelected to congress, regardless of who controls congress. i have not always been in a congress controlled by my party. when my party was not in control of congress, i worked quite well across party lines to continue to receive major funding for the expressway, the king cole highway, the beckley bypass, water and sewage infrastructure products -- projects, this is the type of bipartisanship that works for our people. we need to continue that. gridlock is something people like to point to when something doesn't get done or when things do get done that incur more debt. but that often just leads to more gloom and doom talk like you just heard from my opponent. we need to sit down outside of

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the cameras and take the tough decisions needed to get this deficit under control while at the same time providing for the needs of the american people. number one. [applause] >> ipod and needs to go or on the third district and talk to some people facing hard -- by upon it needs to go to the third district and talk to some people facing hard times. and they're facing foreclosure, losing jobs, or have small businesses that don't think they can survive. when our coal mines cannot get permits to mine coal, your friends at the epa just shut down, vetoed another permit for a mine in logan county. that's going to cost 300 jobs. go talk to those 300 coal miners. ask them if that is gloom and doom. [applause]

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>> there is a growing sense across the country that our best days as a nation are behind us and our kids will not live as well as we have. how do we reverse that mentality? >> i don't buy the assumption in that question. i believe we do have a lot going for us in southern west virginia. my opponent asked me to spend time with the families in the southern part of the state. i have spent that time and i know when a family as a mortgage, car loan, a student loan, they are not always balancing their budgets either as he seems to preach is such a bad thing when the government is a little out of kilter. sometimes, you have to look in the long term and do what's in

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the best interests. i happen to believe we are doing that. yes, colas number one for our economy, without a doubt. but i have said we cannot continue to put all our eggs in one basket. coal is our foundation, but cannot be the ceiling. we need to diversify and i have been doing that since my first day in congress. truly this is a game changer for our economy. a game chanter for the boy scouts. just last week, we opened a new mine in raleigh county. united coal, metallurgical coal, some of the best in the world. nobody is trying to stop that permit from going forward. that will provide jobs for our people. those are big announcements. private money coming to our area. private money, $300 million by the time lawless said and done.

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by france, those are positive things for our area. -- my friends, those are positive things for our area. those are things we need to nurture. as the boy scout motto says, we must be prepared with the necessary water and sewage lines and infrastructure. and with the necessary positive attitude among our people of welcoming these new people to our area and continuing to help them progress on the road they want to progress here in our state of west virginia. [applause] >> i firmly believe our best days are still ahead of us in america. as ronald reagan said, it is morning in america. we are truly the greatest nation on earth. our kids will have at least as good of life as we have and our grandkids will have even better still.

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but we cannot get there by wishing and hoping. that will not make it happen. we have got to face hard realities. we have to do with our government what we do it home. we have to stop spending money we do not have. we have to stop going into debt and stop deficit spending. we are in debt 13 trillion dollars. almost bored teen trillion dollars. that has to be paid. we have absolutely got to stop increasing people's taxes and we have got to stop tinkering that we cannot reasonably repaid. we have got to have a fair process for business regulation that will let our businesses operate and create jobs in world markets. [applause]

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>> our economy in west virginia has held up pretty well when you consider the entire nation. that is thank you to our coal industry. no question about it. we are one of three or five states able to pay our bills thanks to the coal industry. other parts of the country cannot say that. we know we have a strong work ethic if -- strong work ethic here. we know when we attract people here that visitors when they come to our state, it's not their last time here. they want to return because of the hospitality and eagerness of our people to receive them. [applause] >> in the interest time, we're going to move on what should be our final question for both candidates.

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if elected to serve the third district, what will be on the top line of your agenda once you are officially sworn into office? >> jobs, jobs, and more jobs for our people. i believe that is number one in west virginia. our unemployment is still too high as long as one person is out there looking for a job and cannot find one. if they are unable to find a job and have been kicked out there no fault of the road, they should receive unemployment compensation benefits. that is not a handout. that is a hand up during tough economic times for our families. i do not believe our senior should be scared that their social security's going to be cut or the retirement age is going to be raised or social security is going to be privatized. thank goodness we were able to beat back the best proposal to

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privatize -- the bush proposal to privatize social security. our stock are in bad shape because of the way stocks of gone. is it perfect, no. there is still a lot of working out of problems with the va to provide veterans' health care they deserve. but we can never do enough for our veterans. we ought to look at our education system and not just say russia has the best education or a sound education as my partner has said. let's partner with are people here at home and provide that solid economic foundation of jobs, jobs and jobs. that is what our people need to reduce the deficit. that will get us through what are tough times may weigh as in the future. [applause]

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>> where going to change the rules will bit. we'll give you two minutes to respond to that question. >> my opponent said something about the russian education system. what i said was the great western democracies. they do have a wonderful education systems. in england and other places. i'm surprised he would mention russia because the coal company just referred to that created jobs here is a ukrainian coal company here, owned by the folks in the ukraine. you can check that if you like. i'm going to go back again to the basics. we have a government today being run by people who do not know the basics of economics. you do not spend money you do

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not have. you did not create incredible debt. a newborn child in lester j. those $40,000 the day it is born. that is that child's share of the national debt. that has to be paid at some point. we must address this, with us stop spending money and stop talking about raising everyone's taxes. we simply must turn this around. if you like the way the obama administration is running things, then you want to vote for my opponent. if you do not, then you have -- there is only one way to fix this. there is only one way to turn around. you have to change congress. if you want to stop, if you want to pull on the brakes, there is only one way voters can do that. mr. obama is not on the ballot. the only thing you can do is vote to change congress.

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you have to vote for people in congress who are voting for all of these giveaways and high taxes and who refuse to show up and vote to make sure tax increases are not visited on working moms and people with families in southern west virginia. you have to vote those people out. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of our broadcast, so we have to move on to closing statements. because this is a live broadcast, we have to limit those statements to one minute as opposed to two. candidates are not allowed to use this time to charge or tax the other candidates on issues and not brought up in tonight's debate. >> thank you to the sponsors of

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this debate. it is rather disconcerting to hear my opponent continually attacked president obama and nancy pelosi as if my one but -- as if my one-vote determines the entire course of congress. that is disconcerting. if that were the case, why not just vote for the speaker and congress can go home? what else is there left to do with cast a vote for speaker and that's it. i don't think that's the proper role of a legislator. i believe the proper role of the legislator is to partner with all sectors of the economy, with all the stakeholders in a project, to use projects we have been working on white of the new river and our tax cuts for small businesses to provide the groundwork our economy needs, using coal as the foundation and using that as a springboard to

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provide jobs for our people so desperately needed. all the time serving with trust, integrity and following the law of god, no. one. [applause] >> my opponent wants to talk about jobs, and we have an administration that wants to abolish four out of 10 jobs right here in southern west virginia. it is not just one vote. when you vote to make nancy pelosi speaker of the house, you give her the power to wage war on call and take four of 10 jobs out of our economy in southern west virginia. when you go with someone 98% of the time, you empower them to do whatever they want, to put to everyone at the epa, and wage

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war on coal. barack obama, whom i upon it strongly supports and will support again in 2012, he is the most anti-kohl, anti-gun, pro- abortion, high tax big dip president we have had in my lifetime. my opponent will vote for a money runs in 2012 and i will not. i will oppose him and i will oppose the policies that are destroying the way of life in the west virginia and destroying jobs in southern west virginia and that is simply anti- american. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, this concludes of the debate tonight. we would like to think the candidates for participating and thank you to your home watching. thank you to -- thank you to our

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timekeeper and we would like to think the production staff for setting up this live broadcast. goodnight, everyone. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> coming up in a couple of minutes, we will be live with the final debate between a louisiana's senate candidates, republican candidate hot -- republican representative david vitter. he is running for a second term. the congressman has represented louisiana's district since 2004. more live coverage at 8:00 eastern with the candidates to

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be the next governor of oklahoma. a republican congresswoman and a democratic state the tonight governor. this race marks the fourth time in u.s. history that two women have faced each other for the governor's seat. one hour later, the illinois senate race. that is followed by two more governor's races in new hampshire and minnesota. >> with just days until election day, follow the key races and candidates on c-span. go online to view archived debates at the c-span the library. this weekend, see jon stewart / steven colbert rallied live on c-span. follow election coverage right

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through election day. >> we have alive the louisiana senate debate coming up. the huffington post, writing about an ad running it in the state, a louisiana representative mickey remains stuck behind david vitter , but is closing his campaign on the same message he has maintained throughout. the messages that his opponent was a prostitute. here is at at, plus one from a vvitter campaign. >> our tax dollars pay his salary and he is of four prostitutes. you're welcome, senator. our money paid for his serious sins -- phone calls to prostitutes during votes and tax dollars to defend a day to violently abused his girlfriend. in return, we got a disgraced senator ranked among the least effective in congress. he real sin is that he is still

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a senator. >> i approve this message. >> he has voted for the analysts bailout, reckless budgets and a trillion dollars stimulus. when asked if he regrets voting for these failed programs, he says -- >> do i regret those? no, i don't. >> he endorsed obama in 2008 and said the sheer obama deserves an a. still choosing obama over us. >> here is some polling in a couple of races -- in pennsylvania, the republican is leading the democratic opponents in the u.s. senate race by eight points. according to the latest college poll, 12 percent of likely voters were still undecided. from the political wire, one democrat seems to be leading the

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republican in the race to the florida's next governor. according to a pair of new polls released today -- in a mason- dixon poll, it has in leading by six. . the major reason he is running behind other strong gop candidates in this cycle is that a majority of florida voters have a negative opinion of him. also from congressional quarterly, the democrat comment is in a tight race for his third term in new york's 19th congressional district. the latest -- latest poll has him and his republican challenger, retired of gemologist only 1% apart. to see debates from candidates in your state, go to c-span -- go to c-span.org/politics. we're going to go live now to the louisiana senate debate

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between senator david vitter and the congressman. this race is leaning -- is rated aline's republican. -- is rated leans republican. >> the evening and welcome to the final televised debate between the two front runners in the race for u.s. senate. over the next hour, the two candidates will tackle some of the most pressing issues facing a louisiana. with us is the challenger and the incumbent. the candidates were invited to appear tonight based on their standings in two independent polls

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tv U.S. House of Representatives CSPAN October 28, 2010 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT

U.S. House of Representatives
CSPAN October 28, 2010 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT

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