Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2020 New Mexico U.S. Senate D

Lujan, republican Mark Ronchetti , and libertarian bob walsh. Moderating tonight, kobs anchors and editor in chief of the Santa Fe New Mexican. Good evening. For those of you watching on kob kob. Com, or if youre listening from our network of Radio Partners across new mexico, welcome. Chief of the Santa Fe New Mexican to the moderating team. We are delighted to have candidates who will appear on your ballot running for the open u. S. Senate seat. There will be joining us tonight. Tonight, the candidates are appearing from three locations. Mark ronchetti is with us inside our studio. Ben ray lujan is in his Campaign Office in albuquerque. Bob walsh is at his home in santa fe. Because of covid19 risks, we give candidates the option to appear from wherever they feel safest. There is a crew from kob with each remote candidate to provide timekeeping and enforce rules and provide Live Technology to broadcast. The timekeeper has been provided onchetti in our studios. Candidates will have one minute for opening remarks. Rebuttals are at the moderators discretion and are no more than 45 seconds. Candidates will have 90 seconds for closing remarks. Moderators may interrupt candidates to exceed the agreed time limits. We will take one break about halfway through the debate. Candidates agree to come into this debate without any prepared notes or scripts. Last week, representatives from will appear in order of appearance for closing remarks. Mr. Walsh, you may now begin your introduction. Mr. Walsh on behalf of myself and the other candidates and on behalf of the viewers, we very much appreciate kob giving us this opportunity to have a frank views, so that the voters have better options, better understanding of what they are voting for. Us have appeared in another form last week forum last week. I am sure you can look forward to a civilized and informative discussion. Have six yearswe in office. We have ample time to discuss each matter carefully. Be can expect that we will thinking about everything carefully tonight and giving you our views. You. Walsh, thank tti, you may now begin your introduction. Mr. Ronchetti thanks to kob, the only studio i have not been inside of. My wife and i thought about of our daughters when getting involved in this race. We want them to grow up in the country that we grew up in, a country where they can chase their dreams. That really only depends on how hard they are willing to work for them. Thats their limitation. In new mexico now, thats getting harder and harder. We dont educate well enough, have safe enough streets and we dont have the Job Opportunities that so many families deserve. Whats happening in washington is not working for new mexico. If we keep sending the same people back, they are going to get the same results. I will give my opponent credit, in congress, he has risen the ladder. Did my opponent end up as Nancy Pelosis assistant speaker because he was looking out for your best interests . That question answers itself and you deserve better and i hope to get your vote. Thank you. Ben ray lujan, you may now begin your introduction. Rep. Lujan good evening, everyone. Thanks for turning in tonight. I am Ben Ray Lujan. I am proud to be born and raised in new mexico. My dad was a union nine worker. My mom retired from the local Public School district. I am fourthgeneration on the small farm, where i learned from my grandparents and parents to value hard work and understand that no job is too big or too small. Covid19 has a hit everyone of your lives very hard. Thats why i have worked to deliver resources to help rebuild and recover. I have worked to expand and increase coverage to get Quality Health care. I have also been proud to make sure that i was leading to protect people with preexisting conditions, because a cancer diagnosis should not lead to bankruptcy or losing your home. I am also very proud that i have helped lead initiatives to invest in new mexicos economy and in our National Labs and bases and deliver infrastructure like the Navajo Nation gallup water pipeline. My name is Ben Ray Lujan and i look forward to the conversation tonight and i hope to earn your vote. Thank you. Lets jump into questions. There is a fight in the u. S. Senate about whether or not to confirm Supreme Court Justice Nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Her confirmation possibility abortionnti activists, who believe she may be the pivotal vote to reverse roe v. Wade. Heres the question. Do you believe roe v. Wade needs to be upheld or overturned . We are going to start with mr. Mark ronchetti. Mr. Ronchetti when you go with a blind question and say, roe v. Wade right now, its a very difficult question to answer because you dont know what the case will be. Right now, as judge gorsuchs has said, it is currently settled lot. Not knowing gorsuch has said, it is currently settled law. The Supreme Court has turned into such a better political battle. All this is is the two sides getting together and fighting it out with each other, litmus test after litmus test, and its gotten very ugly. Ruth Bader Ginsburg got 96 votes to get onto the Supreme Court. Not because 96 senators agreed with her judicial philosophy. What they agreed with is that she was qualified. Thats no longer where we are. We start off with litmus tests, and then we get to the personal tax. Thats what we are seeing on Amy Coney Barrett right now. Her fate is being attacked, everything is being pulled out to go after someone personally. Thats part of the problem and one of the reasons im running. We have to take partisanship out of this process. We cannot turn the courts into something that is a political battle constantly. One other thing that really concerns me is the fact that when you end up with these fights on either side, the only people that get left behind other people in new mexico. We are going to go to Ben Ray Lujan to answer the same question. Rep. Lujan thank you for this important question. I support roe v. Wade. Its the law of the land and should not be overturned. That will be an important part of the conversation during upcoming confirmation hearings. Make no mistake, President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell are trying to ram through the Supreme Court nomination so they can repeal the Affordable Care act. President trump, House Republicans and House Republicans filed a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care act. Heresthe truth, facts, a reality. The day after the u. S. Supreme court would repeal the affordable, all of your protections for those of you with preexisting conditions would go away. All those protections built in would be repealed. Thats just a travesty. I think all of you saw the , acrossacross america the United States and mexico, they want Mitch Mcconnell to have the same urgency in coming together to provide a covid deal before they move forward with their confirmation of the Supreme Court justice. I am certainly hopeful that Mitch Mcconnell will be listening to the American People and that we can do whats right to find a deal and be able to get it across the finish line. Lets go ahead and go to mr. Bob walsh for the same question. The basis for the decision on roe v. Wade was the right of privacy. There is an absolute right to privacy with a patient and their health care workers. No Health Care Treatment can be made illegal unless that right to privacy is violated. I have every confidence that any qualified Supreme Court nominee will uphold the roe v. Wade. Act,r the Affordable Care that has been law. The federal government was never given authority over health care. When i was young, i was taught in civics class that health care was an example of the 10th amendment, that a power not given to congress was reserved for the rotarians believe that we should have a free market in health care libertarians believe that we should have a free market in health care, that everybody should be able to choose the insurance they want, doctors they want, and treatment they want. The very existence of a health and human, because it does not provide Health Human Services department is ridiculous because it does not provide health. It takes our money, keeps some, and returns the rest to hospitals. There was no opportunity for rebuttal. Millions of americans continue to need help during this covid19 pandemic. If you are crafting a relief package, what are your top two priorities to be added to the legislation . What would you refuse to include . We will start with representative lujan. Rep. Lujan well, its not just two priorities that are important for relief for the American People. Covid19 has hit every family across new mexico and across america. 0,000 people have died, many here at home. Thats why its been important every step of the way to put people first, make sure there was support for direct payments to the American People, which i supported, and there should be another round of 1200. It will be important that there is more support for people who have lost their jobs by no fault of their own with on employment insurance. There needs to be the inclusion of investments for Small Businesses, loans through ppp, but also grants. Businesses that did not qualify before, they need to be included. Thats why i advocated for Community Banks and the Farm Credit Bureau to be included. Need to open safely and there needs to be an infusion of support to every School District across the country to help them as well. Our hospitals need help. Theres more support needed for testing, more support needed for the delivery of ppe, because President Trump failed to provide a National Plan in that response. Lastly, there needs to be support for people across the country. Thats why there should be inclusion of investments like infrastructure, other ideas to see what we can do to provide support to every community, and investments to states like new mexico and local governments like albuquerque and every corner of our beautiful state. Mr. Walsh, your turn. The response of the federal government has been atrocious. It needs to get out of the way. The food and Drug Administration is not approving treatments that are needed. This is just a continuation of the food and Drug Administration obstructing health care for diseases whoare are not able to get treatment until there has been extensive and expensive testing and approval by the fda. Similarly, the cdc obstructed people, obstructed labs from developing tests for covid19, and then came out with a test of its own that did not work. As for the money, where is this money coming from . Its our money look at your withholding on your paystub, that is your money being taken to washington, where they are keeping some of the and buy returning some two your votes. Mr. Wash, thank you. Sen. Millermeeks we have to be able mr. Ronchetti we have to be able to provide help to targeted businesses that did not receive help during the original cares act. There are a tremendous amount of democrats new mexico. We can definitely do that right out of the chute here. We need Liability Protection for businesses that are doing it safely and right. They should not have to fear frivolous lawsuits and all this. We also have to start bringing manufacturing back to this state and country. Covid laid bare that the chinese had a great deal of our supply chains in their control. That has to stop and those jobs can come to new mexico. The group that can help most with that would be congress. They can step in right now, but that is not happening. We watched two months of fighting going on between the house and senate on both sides. Its leading everyone here at home out to dry. What are two things you would not include . The house has included letting violent criminals out of prison as part of a covid relief bill. That does not belong there. Not only that, they also include tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires in california and new york. I have no idea what that is doing in a covid relief bill. Congressman lujan is right in the middle of this. He can go to nancy pelosi and say, take this stuff out, lets get something done, work across the aisle. When politics comes first, everybody stands and watches, even in pandemic. I do want to give air about opportunity to representative lujan on the. You have 45 seconds. Rep. Lujan Mark Ronchetti just cant seem to tell the truth. Nowhere in the heroes act, which he points to in his attack ad on television, was there ever language to release violent criminals. He said the language included release of other folks. It is important that everyone of you be Fact Checking him all night. Lastly, Mitch Mcconnell has been absent when it comes to negotiations. He has not been at the table. The first five bills that we were able to pass the president signed, mark meadows was not a part of those negotiations. He needs to leave the room. I believe progress is being made. I look forward to getting back before the election so that we we can get something across the finish line. Thank you. We will move on to our next question from the editorinchief of the Santa Fe New Mexican. The department of energy has pits to increase plutonium production. Do you believe in that . Angressman lujan, youre up first. Rep. Lujan National Labs in new mexico helped change the world. They create opportunities for people across our state. My dad was a union ironworker. We had a roof over our head because of his work at los alamos. Ive been proud to move adulation that makes investments when it comes to workforce resources in our community as well, partnering with the doe, Community Colleges Like Northern new mexico college. The Important Mission work at taking place at los alamos helps find those initiatives. A lot of those work that work comes from that mission that you are asking the question about as well. I have been proud to support the budgets with investments with los alamos and Sandia National laboratories. I am willing to make sure i am putting in the work to make sure we are driving investments at home, not just with our lives, but also with our bases. New mexico is home to three incredible lavatories. Laboratories. I was even proud to be on a call with senator udall, senator torich, senator sochi, make sure we are putting up a fight to get the s located in mexico. We know how to make investments in our state and our people deliver. When there is something bad happening somewhere in the world , someone from our labs is figuring out whats happening. When its something good, rest assured, someone from our lab is there making sure it gets done. Over to Mark Ronchetti. Sen. Millermeeks i think you make attached mr. Ronchetti i think you make a fair point. Labs are a critical part of our investment in the community and a part of our nuclear mission. That will continue. I think we do that as well as anybody in the world here. That needs to be supported. We need to make sure that the channels that bring innovation out of the labs and into our communities need to be bolstered. We have two of the very best to labs in the world here in the state of new mexico. We have some avenues to help people out in that process to get jobs and to take that technology and move it to the private sector. Unfortunately, we dont have enough and we need to continue to do that. While i appreciate the congressmans support that he mentions here, it has been spotty at best. If you go back to 2018 an House Resolution 1625, he voted to cut troop pay while voting to raise his own pay. I dont understand when we listen to these answers, we hear one new mexico bent, then we hear the d. C. Bend. There was a National Defense authorization that he voted against. That took money away. You cant have it both ways. You cant say you support everybody around every corner and then when you actually look at the real hard votes, they dont show the same thing. We do need to give mr. Bob wash an opportunity to answer this question, then we will give bob walsh an opportunity to answer this question, then we will give representative Ben Ray Lujan a chance. Mr. Walsh i have spent a career working on nuclear safety. I have been involved in subcontracts for both los alamos and sandia labs. The great fear of nuclear industry, pollution, is greatly exaggerated. On the other hand, we have no need for atomic weapons. Use of atomic weapons is unthinkable. We should never contemplate using them. We should un