Partnership we are working together with the Portland Press harold and the Bangor Daily News to get you the answers you need to cast your ballot. This date falls on the 19th anniversary of the 9 11 terror attacks and we remember that heroes and honor the lives lost. It is also a day when americans feel more patriotic than they usually do. Part of our civic duty is to make informed choices on election day. For the next hour we are going to ask questions of the four candidates for mains u. S. Senate seat. The incumbent is republican Susan Collins seeking election to a fifth term. That challenger democrat from linnouse sara gideon max an independent and lisa savage also independent. Our goal is to shed light on important issues. The first round of questions will be addressed to each candidate and they will have one minute. Subsequent rounds will address policy issues with one minute for the first answer and we will be open to followups and discussion. We are going to pose some questions submitted by our News Center Maine viewers and by readers and subscribers of the Portland Press herald and the Bangor Daily News and at the end candidates will have one minute each for a closing statement. Welcome to all of you. Sen. Collins we will begin with you. We learned this week President Trump learned in february the coronavirus is deadlier than the flu and that it is airborne but he deliberately downplayed the seriousness of that threaten public and days later was holding an openair rally in new hampshire. Did the president fail in his response ability to protect the health and safety of americans . Sen. Collins i believe the president should have been straightforward with the American People. The American People can take hard facts, and he had an obligation as president to be straightforward with them, and to tell all that he has known. I have said, since the beginning, that the president S Performance has been uneven. And that he should follow the advice of his excellent medical advisors. Speaker gideon, you have talked about running the house of representatives in a bipartisan manner symbolized by putting together seats so republicans and democrats are sitting together. Back to [] have you built a working relationship with republicans in augustine, something you could do in washington as well . You. Gideon thank i think my record in augustine speaks for itself. Bringing together democrats, republicans and independents is something i have worked hard to do and been successful at even in the most challenging times. Whether looking at health care, protecting health care that exists under aca or expanding it. Dealing with Climate Change or bring people together to combat the Opioid Crisis or to bring people out of poverty i think my record speaks for itself and i stand by it. Max linn, meiners know very little about you. You have been republican and democrat and now you are running as an independent you try to get on the ballot two years ago and felt, there were signatures deemed fraudulent. To actvoters trust you with integrity if youre part of their congressional delegation . I want to say to be yours we have a lot of fun tonight and we are from the old school and i want to say to my mother and father before i address anybody i introduce myself. I have been a certified Financial Planner and International Businessman for 35 years. I think we all know in our hearts our politics needs something different. Opponents,o of my sarah and susan, have raised 100 million from washington, d. C. That is what im competing against, 100 million, so i know in order for me to win your vote and win here tonight i have to be way outside the box, i have to be that something different. So i want to share with our moderators and viewers, a lot of times when our moderators ask me a question, i might put that question aside. Because i know i have to slay these giants. It is not going to be easy. So im going to have to be outside the box. Host mr. Linn, that is your time is up. That is my strategy, so be patient with me. Host we appreciate that. Finally, asa savage you have been a frequent protester about ironworks and have encouraged pivoting from building warships to focusing on clean energy manufacturing. Can you assure people whose businesses depend on that yard you are going to have their backs if you are part of our delegation . The thank you for question, pat, thank you rachel and mike for being here, thank you candidates an audience listening in. It is a good question and i do believe a Green New Deal could send federal funding in the direction of our existing great bath Ironworks Shipyard to build something, solutions that would mitigate Climate Change. We are in a Climate Emergency now. We see the west coast on fire. It just happened during a pandemic. Bath ironworks got money under the defense production act and made those machines they use at, to make the covid19 testing swabs. They did it very quickly with reinvestment. I also know economists Research Shows filling Something Else like a Clean Energy System or light rail system would actually create 50 additional jobs, with the same billiondollar investment. So i think it is a win for climate and a win for jobs in maine. I think it could certainly be done as a Green New Deal. Host thank you, our next question from rachel, and education and political reporter with the Portland Press herald. Coronavirus pandemic exposed inadequacies in our health care system. How would you ensure everyone who needs health care has access to it and cant afford it . All of us know before this pandemic started we saw meiners making terrible choices everyday about whether they would see a doctor or put food on the table and nobody should have to make a choice like that and everybody deserves access to health care they can afford. I know once upon a time sen. Collins agree to that. In the beginning of her Senate Career she said it was one of her top priorities. Yet she was a key vote for the 2017 tax belt which enabled republicans across the country to bring forward a lawsuit even before a pandemic, that friends to take away Peoples Health care. Here in maine we had to pick up the pieces. In the legislature we protected the core provisions of aca insuring people with preexisting conditions and seniors would be covered. In the senate this is what i will continue to do. We need a public option available for people to buy been a care for people to bite medicare if they wanted, and to increase for people to buy medicare if they wanted. And to increase, to make medicare available and make sure people have the Health Insurance they need. Host mr. Linn . Could you repeat the question . How to make sure everyone who needs health care and can afford it. Max as i mentioned i have to be outside the box because im competing against 100. So im going to put your question aside and i have a bombshell to announce tonight. I would ask that you stick with the question. Max requested denied. I would like to say the eyes and ears and voices of people, we represent nature and the wilderness. That brings me to the cmp corridor. How many people come up to 80,000 people. Host do you have any interest in health care . We can talk about that and we can talk about other things later . Max requested denied, again. And i appreciate that in these moderators are great moderators and i apologize because i know you are doing your. Job as best as possible. Please realize, i have not started my time, i am addressing this and youre flushing me. Host that is the time allotted and that is how it was used. Max let me ask for clarity. Im competing against one had a Million Dollars and they are the front runners. For me to be that u. S. Senate candidate i have be outofthebox tonight. Host and we need to know where you stand on the issues. Max i have got to be different. As the moderator i want the question but i do not want to be judged on my answer because the only people judging my answer are the ones from maine. Now you are taking my time. Max dont interrupt me because im already fighting against 100 million i do not want to fight the operators on night and part of my strategy is to be outside the box. Host lets hear from ms. Savage on the health care question. Lisa as a schoolteacher in central maine for 25 years even before the pandemic hit and we moved into a public emergency, i saw the families around me struggling to get Adequate Health care. Many of the children had health care. But the adults in the family did not. Nobody had out a quick thatll care. That it adequate dental care. That is not fair and that should not be the case in the wealthiest nation in the world. I stand for medicare for all, singleparent universal health care, which should be expanded to cover everyone who is not covered now, and it should be improved to cover mental and dental health and vision and hearing that are not covered now. I think the majority of people in the United States would agree and i know the majority of people and maine agree. I know that underrate Choice Voting it is safe or, if voters and made agree with me that under rank Choice Voting it is safe that if voters in maine agree with me they can rank me first without spoiling the election and they can show at that vote that they want medicare for all. Host sen. Collins . Sen. Collins there are three factors. First of all we need transparency in pricing. You should know what the medical procedure is going to cost before you have it. Second, we need to enter access. That means maintaining two and sure access we need to and sure access to ensure access, that means maintaining our rural hospitals. The proposal sarah endorsed means they would be reimbursed under the medicare rate and that is not enough for them to survive, and making the critical access hospitals does not solve the problem. We need to make it more affordable. There is a huge difference between sarah and me. On the issue of the individual mandate. She supports this tax which falls 80 of those who paid the tax for not having insurance that they cannot afford, who make under 50,000 per year. Is that as proposing, single mom pay a tax penalty of 1000 if she cannot afford insurance. Host speaker gideon, quick rebuttal . Spkr. Gideon thank you very much. Sen. Collins mentioned the individual mandate. She likes to be on both sides of the health care issue, holding up her vote against repealing it on one hand but voting 12 times to either undermine it or repeal it in other cases, and then voting for the tax bill which put it in jeopardy. To be clear sen. Collins knew exactly what would happen when she voted for that tax bill. She signed onto an amicus brief and 2012 sang without the individual mandate, the Health Care Law is unconstitutional. Host next question from mike sheppard, the politics editor for the Bangor Daily News. We have been asking readers what they care about most. Right now, the economy is number one. The senate cannot agree on a new stimulus package. State and local budgets are busting and families are struggling. Gabriel, a 2020 College Graduate from bangor facing an unstable job market wanted me to ask you how you would balance public with the economics and job market. Max my wheelhouse is financial planning. Again for the time being i plan to answer all these questions as i see fit. So im going to put your question aside because i have a lot of bombshells i want to announce tonight so i will get right to it. That is, we all know the fight we had with cmp. Can we go back to economics . Max no i cant because right now, next week im filing a lawsuit against cmp we are going to stop cmp in their tracks and im going to show you what it means to stop cmp because they have hired big law firms and now i have. We have a lawsuit coming, max linn and people of maine versus cmp. I can promise you as your next u. N. s senator cmp u. S. Senator cmp will be stopped and i can promise you with susan or sara, cmp will go through and destroy our cherished wilderness and we cannot let that happen. I think our lack of sigel pair universal health care is one of the biggest economic problems people in maine are facing. Because a Small Business has to grapple with funding the health are of theirs workers, business has to grapple with Funding Health care of workers, and many people who lose their homes, default on their mortgage, cannot pay their grocery bill. It is because there was an illness in the family. Even the they had Health Insurance, the costs became catastrophic. That is not fair. I stand for medicare for all. I believe medicare for all would solve many of our economic problems here in this country. We are the only wealthy country that does not have universal singlepayer health care. Many nonwealthy countries have a versatile singlepayer health care got it after world war ii. It is far past time for us to do that and under rank Choice Voting if pain voters agree with me they can vote for me to show that they agree we need medicare for all yesterday, especially in an economic crisis. Host sen. Collins . Sen. Collins Small Businesses are the key to jobs in the state of maine. Operated has owned and Small Business in northern maine for 176 years, 176 years. Struck, itronavirus instantly became apparent that our Small Businesses were in dire trouble. I coauthored the Paycheck Protection Program, to help Small Businesses stay afloat, and provide jobs for their employees. That is how 28,000 Small Businesses, three out of four, sustained 250,000 jobs in our state. It has also brought 2. 3 billion dollars to our state in ivablee all loans forg loans, as long as the majority of the money is used on paychex. Checks. That was the theory behind this and it has been enormous lay successful. Host speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon thank you for the question, an important one before covid19 and now for us. There are number of things to focus on. We need to build the Digital Infrastructure in the state that allows businesses to grow and scale up and allows people like you to work here. I also think we need stronger job training and education programs. And we need to roughly address how high the cost of higher too fouryear your and technical education. Another problem is covid to 4 year and technical education. We see President Trump lying about where we were. I want to ask sen. Collins who she thinks should be leading this country . She had neglected to answer the question and i would like to give her the opportunity. I think joe biden should be our leader to help us with Public Health and rebuilding an economy. Host what you care to respond . Sen. Collins pat, let me say this. I do not think the people of maine need my advice on whom to support for president. Last week i was on a bus tour all over the state of maine. Not a Single Person asked me, who should be our next president . What they did say was how grateful they were, for the Paycheck Protection Program that i wrote, because it preserved their job or their Small Business. They talked about the cost of health care. They talked about the work that i had done to bring transportation money to the state of maine. Those are the issues people care about. Host thank you, senator. We have a number of questions from voters in maine. This comes from a Bangor Daily News subscriber. Ourwould you address environmental and sustainability issues, in a way that builds bridges between political views and seems appropriate . It to lisa savage first. Lisa i do think we need a Public Transportation system here in maine to get people out of their cars and that would be a huge win for climate. We have Public Transportation locally in cities but we could have a light rail system that would provide Public Transportation between areas in maine and i think that would help a lot. We also need to stop altering things that drive Climate Change, and instead turn our capacity to building things that will mitigate the effects of Climate Change. I stand for agree new deal. That is a copy has a plan that includes converting our industrial capacity and regenerative agriculture, a growth area for maine. Our farmers are younger than most states. It also would include consumer owned and operated utilities, such as broadband internet, water systems, and electricity. Cmp corridord the and i think multinational corporations outside of maine should not be making decisions about maines electric grid. Host thank you. Sen. Collins . Sen. Collins i think an issue that can bring us together is energy storage. I have introduced a bipartisan bill in the senate, so that we can invest in projects. So we can figure out how to store wind energy when the wind is not blowing, and solar energy when the sun is not shining. It has widespread support, and i am hopeful we will get it through. I have also been an extremely strong supporter of the university of maines consortium that is developing offshore wind. This has the potential to make ofne the chief supplier electricity for the east coast. And i have secured tens of millions of dollars, to advance that research at the university of maine, and to give 2000 diversity of name students paid internships 2000 university of maine students paid internships. I would note that according to the portland herald, sara does not pay her interns despite resting all this money. I do and always have. Host speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon thank you for the question and it is an important one am of the question of our time. Already here in maine we feel the effects of Climate Change. During this campaign, i have spent time with blueberry boat, andn a lobster i have been with loggers and i hear over and over we are already feeling these effects and they are actually impacting our industries. That is why in the statehouse, we have taken on Climate Change, setting aggressive goals to reduce dirty Carbon Emissions and increase Renewable Energy generation. That is exactly the kind of thing we need to do, not statebystate, but on the federal level. We need to rejoin the paris climb accord and i will push for that when im in the senate. Ourlso need to restructure Transportation Industry modernizing infrastructure and the industry itself and the same with our Energy Industry and our building industry, to get to net zero. Thank you. Host the question from the voter is how do you find Common Ground on Environmental Issues and sustainability issues . Max as i mentioned before im filing a class suit against cmp this week. So the cmp corridor will not happen, number one. And also i have been a leader in the state, working for months to put the first highspeed frame train from Southern Maine to northern maine and i met with Heather Johnson in the governors office. I was in wuhan, china in december meeting with top engineering firms and law firms to get this done. One,atform is the number Sustainable Energy and maine and america and i have the new website, the converter website, at max linn for senate. Com and it is converting more of sarahs supporters and susan supporters than ever and it has never been seen in American History before, it is that innovative. It is the new converter website. Max linn for senate. Com, never seen in American History before. Susans ppp program has been bankrupting Small Businesses, it is not been good, big corporations have been taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of it. Sen. Collins i should be allowed to respond to that. This program has been enormously successful. Max corporations have been taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of it. Sen. Collins if you talk to Small Businesses around our state, the average number of employees that a business with a ppp loan has, is seven. This clearly has rescued an enormous number, 28,000 Small Businesses in our state. Host another question from rachel from the press herald. The black lives Matter Movement has drawn attention to issues of Racial Injustice and accountability of Law Enforcement. Do you think america has a problem with systemic racism and Police Brutality . If so, what you propose doing about it . Host sen. Collins, you will go first. Sen. Collins first, let me say the brutal killings we have observed laid bare a legacy of Racial Injustice we must address. I do want to say that the vast majority of lost Law Enforcement officers are honorable people who risk their lives every day for us. What can we do about it . Enact policed to reform legislation. I was disappointed that tim scott bill to do so was blocked ,n the senate by Chuck Schumer second, we need to have more educational opportunity, in lift families of color out of poverty. Third, we need to illuminate the Health Disparities in the treatment of communities of color. I held the first Senate Hearing to look at the impact of colors9 on community of communities of color and sadly enough, maine has the worst disparity in the nation. Host speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon thank you for that question. When george floyd was murdered, it was the time americans seem to have a conversation about that legacy of bigotry and the way it has seeped into virtually every aspect of our lives and created Racial Injustice, no matter where we look. Nowhere is that more apparent i think that in the criminal justice system, where we see these incidences of violence, brutality and even killing. Unfortunately, at a time when americans were ready to have this conversation, our president instead chose to south division sow division and hatred, even putting teargas out to crowds of protesters. The reality is we need a media action immediate action, fanning chokeholds, eliminating banning chokeholds, eliminating racial profiling, biased training, we need real leadership. That is why people keep asking sen. Collins who she thinks should be leading this country . It is not that people in maine are asking for advice on who to vote for, it is they want to know who their senator thinks should be leading us. Host max linn . Max i have been involved in black lives matter helping africanamericans get out of jail through the innocence project. Also announcing now ive created a website for dialogue called black lives Matter National service. Com. This country is lacking dialogue so i have credit a website for that, black lives Matter National service. Com. This is a serious problem but we do not want to defund our police. We need a Strong Police force. I want my police tough when they have to be an gentle and nice when they have to be. My opponents want to defund, and susan talk about defunding and having washington tell Police Department how they have to manage their placement. Policemen. Our police are the solid rock between solid society and mayhem. Host i want to go back to speaker gideon and then sen. Collins, Quick Response . Spkr. Gideon i want to be clear. I do not support defunding the police. We do need to make sure we make changes that ensure people of color do not continue to be brutalized or killed. Host sen. Collins . Sen. Collins i was endorsed this week by the National Fraternal order of police. I obviously do not support defunding police. Gideon has received 6 million from groups that do favor defunding the police. So i am if she is now going to refund that money. Host im going to let lisa savage weigh in on this question. Lisa as a Public School teacher i have been defunded many times and i still went ahead and did my job. We have a serious Racial Justice problem here in the country. That has been in place for generations. One big game changer is now everyone has a video camera and they know how to share the video. We have seen Police Acting as judge, jury and executioner, on black bodies, that were accused and never convicted, of using a counterfeit 20 bill . Should that be a capital crime . I do think we need to demilitarized the police. All this military equipment the pentagon has been sending to Police Forces in our cities has made things more to dangerous, not safer. Many police would tell you they are being sent into situations where a social worker or a Mental Health crisis worker, a Community Dispute Resolution person, would be a much more appropriate resource to be sending into that situation. So, yes, i do think we have a problem. And we can partly address it through funding. We can also address that through Holding Police officers accountable, when they execute people on the street. Host thank you and with that we will take a break and we will be back with or decisionand art den maine 2020 u. S. Senator race. I am pat callahan. And the next question as we continue our debate. The senate race became the most expensive election in maine history, 100 million to bes and on this race. What measures would you support to increase transparency or get money out of politics and is this level of spending acceptable . Spkr. Gideon thank you for the question, mike. We all agree i think theres too much money in politics. We need reform and change. That is why i have. Need to make sure peoples voices are bigger than corporations voices. We need to do things like overturning Citizens United. We also need to pass the disclose act which would require transparency around who is getting money. And he was running those dark money at. En. Collins ads sen. Collins was the vote the deciding vote against that disclose act and has taken funds in her time as a senator. Without question if we want to get special interest out of things and make sure we are focusing on people and getting things done, we have to have reform. Host next up, max linn. Max an excellent question i will answer because my two opponents have raised upwards of 100 million in dark money. About 40 millidollars for candidates and it may be 100 million by the end of the year. Max 100 million and that is right up my line because i have created a new website, never seen in american politics before, called the converter website. It is guaranteed to take money out of politics. It makes their hundred Million Dollars in operable. You can see it at max linn for senate. Com. I have completely scrubbed my website and made of brandnew website never seen an american politics before, and right now, we are sampling susans supporters and saras supporters and it is converting 85 90 , a website that has never been seen in American History before. 85 of what . Max other supporters. Of all their supporters, counting all of it. Max it is bringing it to me, the converter website, never seen an American History before. It will set the standard in the standard in amerco politics moving forward because americans are tired of opponents raising hundreds or multiple hundreds of billions. How any people have bent your website . Max well know, we have already tested it with about a hundred people. [laughter] all right. Max all you have to do is go to it. [crosstalk] the maine voters want to see what im talking about. Host you have made your point. . Lisa savage lisa i think getting money out of politics is simple. Candidates can do what i have done. Do not accept corporate donations. Do not accept money from corporate lobbyists, corporate tax, the packs that launder corporate money so candidates can claim they are not taking it while taking it corporate pa cs. My campaign has raised hundred 20,000 from grassroots supporters because we do not believe corporate government is going to solve the problems we are facing in this country. ,000. 20 corporations profit from the problems we are facing. When people are struggling to get by, they do not have a voice in the senate. I am the only nonmillionaire up here. People in maine need a real working person to go and be their voice in the senate, and reflect the values and the needs of actual people that are not multimillionaires. So i think that getting people into congress, that are not owned by corporate interests is absolutely job one. Mr. Linn, senator collins turn. Sen. Collins sara gideon has set a record in the amount of dark money that has flooded the airwaves since the state, im sure all of you out there are sick of them as i am, 70 of the ads either attacking me or promoting sara have come from outofstate group, primarily dark money. I believe that there should be no dark money. There should be complete disclosure. Sara said she supports the disclose act. The disclose act exempted powerful special interests, including the nra, and labor unions. That is not cleaning up the system. That is allowing dark money to continue, for certain powerful favored groups. She also has received corporate money, directly into her leadership pac, up until a few months before she decided to run. Host you want to respond to that, speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon yes, thank you very much. I want to make clear a couple of things. The first is when i made a decision to run for u. S. Senate i made a decision to reject all corporate pac money. When we look at what does not get done in washington, whether around health care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, fighting Climate Change, it is because the big pharmaceutical companies, oil and Gas Industries and help Insurance Companies have a seat at the table. It is important to reject corporate pack money and senator collins continues to take that money in this campaign. Make no mistake, those outside groups are running as left and right for sen. Collins. And everyonese ads agrees their wallpaper at this point, if you could give a quick yes or no answer, would you support a constitutional amendment to change the rules to regulate that kind of money, which Citizens United allows to happen . Sen. Collins . Sen. Collins overturning Citizens United would not to anything too bad dark money. Host so, no constitutional amendment on this . Sen. Collins and it would take years. The better thing is to pass legislation that requires all donors to be disclosed, all of them. That is the way you and dark money. Host . Constitutional amendment spkr. In yes, actually absolutely support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. Max it seems a comic show between these two, sara and susan, raising over hundred Million Dollars of dark money. Host what you support a constitutional amendment . Max yes and that is what my website is about. Host ms. Savage, would you support such amendment . Lisa i would. Corporations are not people. And money is not a form of free speech under the first amendment. Says Social Security and medicare would be underfunded in 10 years. What proposals would you sponsor to ensure integrity of those programs and would that include taxation or a reduction in benefits . Max linn . Max for clarity, i thought you were going to sara repeat that for me again . You what proposals would support to increase the integrity of Social Security and medical care . Medicare . Max im the only financial expert up here. After 35 years as a Financial Planner i probably have more Financial Experience of what is going on with our elderly and the abuses in washington than all three opponents combined. I can assure you, number one, we as americans have to put a priority on our retirees. That is the world i worked in, helping retirees and their financial planning. Nothing is more important than that. So we do not need to raise taxes at all. What we need to do is to get people who are not represented by these big corporate interests, like sara and susan, who can going to make legislation really in the interests of the people. But they cannot serve two masters, they cannot. This is almost listening to two people talk about reform and politics, they are the essential of the establishment. When they get into office the power either all goes to nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer or the Republican Leadership Mitch Mcconnell. These two are the faceplates of the republican and democratic party. The power does not stay in maine. As an independent, the power will stay here with me. Host lisa savage . Lisa both medicare and Social Security are currently funded by payroll taxes. Payroll taxes that used to be higher, earlier in my lifetime. I think the best way to make those programs last for the people that need them, they are very popular, deeply popular programs in the u. S. , would be to have full employment. Because it is people who are employed and good for wage jobs with benefits that pay,. So i think it is an out of plumb it problem that i see that pay into those programs and their employers match those funds. So it is an Employment Program problem as i see it. We heard from the occupant of the white house he wanted to suspend payroll taxes, not doing away with them but not having to pay them for a quarter but they would come due at the end i think those are all ideas striking at some i used to work with and ed tech he said if you were not for Social Security, my dad died when i was young and my mother would not have been able to bring us up. Those kind of stories about. Social security is not just for retirees, it is an Important Program people depend on. Host . Sen. Collins . Sen. Collins Social Security is the most successful social program we have ever enacted. I agree with lisa on that. And has made the difference between poverty and a reasonable standard of living for so many people, particularly in our state. And growing the economy would help to strengthen Social Security. I chaired the senate edging committee. My mother is 93. Aging committee. I am so offended by these ads that i would cut this program and i would never do that. We can achieve savings in the medicare program, and one way we can do that is by passing a bill i cosponsored that would reduce the cost of prescription drugs. That would save 90 billion dollars per year and medicare costs. We should also put emphasis on prevention preventing illnesses that are so costly, including diabetes, where i chaired that diabetes caucus. So theres a lot we could do to decrease health care costs, and that would help strengthen medicare. Host speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon thank you for the question. Keeping promises to our seniors is important, and making sure our seniors can retire and live in dignity and not in poverty is absolutely essential. We have to protect Social Security and medicare. In the statehouse, we have worked hard to protect our seniors, making sure we restored drugs for the elderly programming and making sure we raised the reimbursement rate for people taking care of seniors. Unfortunately, when that 2017 tax bill passed, senator collins was the key vote for that. It was a 2 trillion tax cut for corporations and the wealthiest families in america. 91 corporations in america now paid zero dollars in taxes. We have heard President Trump say over and over again that now cuts need to be made to Social Security. Whether intentional or not, that is where we are now. In the senate here is what i will do. Number one, raise the earnings cap so we can make Social Security solvent again. Number two, get rid of the windfall elimination provision which hurts especially teachers in the state of maine. Host another question from rachel homme from the Portland Press herald. President trump appointed a Record Number of federal judges. Reproductive Rights Groups voice concerns some appointees such as brett kavanaugh, will make decisions that undermine access to health care at legal abortion. To share this Concern Health care and legal abortion. To share this can serve do you share this concern and you think changes are needed to the judicial confirmation process . Lisa it does seem judicial appointments have become more politicized in recent years. I do not actually favor a litmus test for judicial appointments. I would look not only at the record of judge, in terms of the rulings they made, but also at issues of character. Part of the design of our system of government was that the judiciary would be a check on the executive and the legislative branches, and would be able to exercise independent hew to thed not literal meaning of the constitution as written, but take into account the fact that society has changed, technology has evolved, things may be different. I also feel sticking too closely to precedent is not necessarily a great thing. Things change. Sometimes past decision may judicially were not good decisions, they were racist. They reflected White Supremacy and the to be overturned. Those are my views on how i would look at judicial appointments. Host thank you, ms. Savage. . Sen. Collins . Sen. Collins i agree with lisa that the judicial appointment process has become too political. Aserfect example of that members of the senate announcing their opposition to President Trumps nominees before the nominees names were known. That is not what senators are supposed to do. I have applied exactly the same standards to all the judicial appointments that i have been called to vote upon. In the supreme court, i supported two of president obamas appointees because they were qualified. They were experienced. They had integrity. They would adhere to the rule of law and to the constitution. I applied that exact same standard to president bushs appointees, and to President Trumps appointees. As evenult, i have been the newspapers have said, remarkably consistent in the approach i take that i have taken. Host speaker gideon . Spkr. Gideon this is an incredibly important subject because who was in the judiciary will have an impact on us for generations to come, especially when we think about lifetime appointments. The reality as has been said by others up here is that the judiciary as a separate but equal branch of government, and it independent functioning judiciary is so important. Unfortunately what we have seen in the past four years as a concerted effort to change the face of the judiciary. We have seen nominees come from this president that are unqualified, and not fit to be judicial nominees, yet sen. Collins has voted as of this week for 170 of them, some of whom the American Bar Association said were literally unqualified to become a judge. If i were in the senate i would want to make sure someone first met that lobar being qualified. Additionally first met that low bar of being qualified. I would also want to make sure they have the temperament. Host mr. Linn . Max as a christian with all of us here tonight, one that i can promise all of you, and the controversy is the abortion issue. I want to talk to sara gideon supporters. Even though her abortion may not be right in my family, i assure you under no condition even though abortion may not be right in my family, under no condition why impose laws or conditions that would hamper a womans right to choose. That is between her doctor and her god. The federal government has no business in it. Number two, i would never have voted to confirm brett kavanaugh. What in the world was Susan Collins thinking . She talks about being a uniter but that was so divisive. It was a wrong move on her part. I assure you we need to focus on our appointments that are not creating so much controversy. We need to bring america together instead of pulling it apart. Susan collins continues to talk about stuff up. That just is not true in her voting record, nor saras. These women are spenders. The establishment will be bankrupt. Host ms. Collins . Sen. Collins i have been mentored by been criticalhas of my support for justice kavanaugh. What she have voted for Justice Roberts . Spkr. Gideon i believe i would have to fully study to be able to answer that question. Sen. Collins she is ducking the question. Host we have come to the end of our hour and we have time for closing statements with each candidate getting one minute. First lisa savage lisa thank you everyone for being here tonight. Right Choice Voting is a game changer. Of course im in this race, running for medicare for all. Demilitarized Green New Deal. We did not talk about our wars or the federal budget for the pentagon much tonight. If the budget where the discretionary federal budget were a pie chart, the pentagon gets more than half. Plus billy 750 plus billion dollars. And Nuclear Weapons are hidden in the energy department. The v. A. Is its own budget line. I want to fully fund the v. A. But to really reckon that true cost of military is him in this country, no one has asked military is him in this militarism in this country, no one has asked the question, how are you went to pay for this . Some have noted corporations paid zero taxes. As a schoolteacher i have been paid 28 . Host max linn . Max susan and start raising one had a Million Dollars and i mentioned their names susan and sara raising a hundred Million Dollars. The independents do not have a chance in the system. They have been talking about how much they want to save and get money out of politics and they are the essence of politics. Her ppp program has hurt americans. I am the only financial expert up here and im for a student loan forgiveness, people direct bailout is key, total student loan forgiveness, number one. Number two, im asking for a 5,000 post pandemic lay for all maine families. They want to bail out big business and if any bailouts are coming, it is going to be the people and the 500 billy dollars for Small Businesses. 500 billion for Small Businesses. Are not forra america. It is time for americans to wake up. Host your time is up. Spkr. Gideon thank you for tuning in. When i made a decision to run for local town office, it was because i believe a book service as a way to improve the lives of people around you. That is why in the statehouse i worked so hard to bring republicans, democrats and independents together, to fight the Opioid Crisis and saved lives. To lift people out of poverty. To tackle the climate crisis. To lower the cost of prescription drugs, and to make sure we were expanding Health Care Including Reproductive Health care. That is not what we are seeing in washington where sen. Collins does not stand up to donald trump and votes with him 94 of the time and allows Mitch Mcconnell to block progress on almost any issue. In the senate i will be a champion for maine, fight for the issues i have fought for in the statehouse, and never forget where i come from or who i represent. Host an Susan Collins . Sen. Collins 19 years ago, our nation suffered its worst terrorist attack. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives, including hundreds of police and firefighters. I am so proud to have the support of maines first responders, who work so hard to care for our communities. On that terrible day, i joined senators on the Capitol Steps were weight saying where we ang, god bless america, with sense of unity, resolve and patriotism. Today we are confronting enormous challenges. We need to remember we are not republicans, democrats or independents first. We are americans. I was raised in caribou, where my parents taught me to act with integrity and work hard. Those are the values that have guided me, as i have served you in the United States senate. I have always put the people of maine first, and i always will. Host that wraps up our decision made u. S. Senate debate. Thanks to the candidates into our colleagues at Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press herald and have a good night, everyone. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. Your unfiltered view of politics. On thursday, the gop coronavirus aid bill failed to move forward as all democrats voted to block it. After the vote, senators rob portman and mazie hirono reacted to the vote and talked about what they would like to see in another covid relief package. Talk about the coronavirus pandemic and what we can and should do here in the United States senate and in congress as a whole to actually address the ongoing problem. Were not out of the woods yet. Weve still got a Health Care Crisis and, of course, an economic crisis thats a consequence of that. Weve done some good bipartisan work over the past six months. In fact, i think not many people realize that weve actually passed five or six bills with strong bipartisan majorities
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