Brought to you by nine news in association with colorado politics and broadcast statewide by every corner of colorado presented from the campus of Colorado State university. Race for the senate. Here are the moderators, kyle clark and marsha. Commercial three hour statewide for the u. S. Senate debate. We are following Public Health guidelines as well as the guidance from our hosts here at Colorado State university. So we are holding the debate without an audience with social distancing and health checks. That includes the candidates fr senate. Questions have been selected and politics. Com and the colorado havent been shared in advance with anyone. You as the voters deserve a debate filled with answers to clear questions and for the candidates to have an opportunity to speak without interrupting one another. We will have at least one to pose direct questions to one another. So, lets get started. Colorados covid19 hospitalizations are at the highest point since the initial wave of the pandemic in the spring. Test positivity rates today hit 5 as a warning to Public Health experts and the same question to both of you to begin tonight. What is the single most important thing we can do to improve the pandemic response, and what or who is standing in the way. Thank you, kyle and Colorado State university. Its great to be on campus as a graduate and great to be here and to all of the other sponsors. A couple of things he have to package out of the United States congress that follows up on the relief packages that weve already passed. The dollars for education and help for Small Businesses allowing paycheck protection dollars to be back into the hands of businesses to keep their doors open to make sure we have a second draw and make sure we follow social distance guidelines and that people are practicing good hygiene including wearing a mask but i will start the evening off with what John Hickenlooper would have done. He would have voted against because he said he would. A bill that would provide unemploymentnt relief for educationdu for child care and w dollars for vaccines. We cant afford to have somebody that supports the people of colorado in the senate. As he mentioned i will restate the question for the viewers. On i will go to the question the most important thing we can do is pass relief and make sure that it gets passed out of the congress. Again, we agree on this actually four days ago, corey was emphatic that he thought covid relief should take precedence and be a higher priority than making sure we rushed through the Supreme Court nomination which is where the senate focus seems to be. And i think that the question be asked its the most important thing to get it passed forthe protective equipment everyone. He could just say i will not vote to support this if indeed it doesnt get past first and there are two senators that said yesterday they were not going to vote for it. It would be a strong point to getting relief. We are here in Northern Colorado where the meat packing plant saw one of the largest outbreaks in th state. You brag about the workers and Union Leaders say the tests never arrived. Also didnt test the workers before reopening out of the promise. A significant donor to the campaign did the Company Properly protect its workers and did you deliver the 5,000 tests promised . If you look at the records that isnt me saying it but the governor saying there were tests for employees if they wanted them. We have to make sure we are protecting employees and have eyrsonal protectivee equipment for our employees whether they are working at a restaurant or a meatpacking plant we also have to recognize the challenges the food supply system went through. Our workers were heroes and thats why we worked closely with the governor to make sure we had those tests. We need to continue that effort to provide a secure food chain and supplies for the country. But when the governor was in office he had a chance to get the personal protective equipment that we needed for the state and refused to provide the personal protective stockpile that could have protect us. Before i allow a rebuttal, did they arrive and the union is lying or you would have to begin checagaincheck with what the gor said that they got all the tests for the employees. Did you fail colorado by not having proper ppear in the years guest. Thats ridiculous. Ive talked to a number of them and they are emphatic. They were asked to go back to work without having that knowledge of who is infected and who isnt. We ask them to go back and protect the source of food. What you heard from a former governor as he takes no responsibility for failing to provide colorado for a pandemic. We have a state audit that shows while he was governor they failed to prepare the state for thee Communications Problems and the Communications Problems that he had when he was governor. We dont need somebody in washington, d. C. Who thinks its about himself and wont do the job for colorado. Democrats in congress have loaded up some of these relief bills and economic stimulus bills with a bunch of goodies for political allies of theirs. Whether or not you agree with the approach is tough to say that they havent slowed things down. I think what we need to get into washington is this ability to actually negotiate. Its been frustrating we havent seen any willingness on the part of thegn republicans were the democrats to roll up their sleeves and find where do we agree or disagree and begin looking at it. We have had six months now since weve had any relief. People stopped getting their unemployment insurance. In july the rent protection has gone by the, they dont have healthcare in many cases. This has gone on long enough and yet one side or the other continues to say they are pointing fingers. Its the status quo and what i want to go to washington to change because we need negotiations and we need to work out what the differences are. If said it plays a priority on this and if he says im not going to vote for the justice until we get relief, then we get negotiations. I didnt hear the answer to the question so i will ask again. I asked about your side that you might have some influence with. Did you think the democrats should stop loading up the economic bills to get them through faster . I would make sure to get the bills put forth. We are going to talk aboutci the association of health care now and we can do that in the q and a. Its a project that we have studying the impact of Racial Disparities in the state and one is healthcare if you succeed in getting rid of the Affordable Care act, the loss of Health Insurance would disproportionately fall and at the same time the pandemic is affecting those communities. Has that situation givenam you y pause . I dont think this has to be a zerosum game for the Affordable Care act or nothing. He said he wants to replace the Affordable Care act with the plan he led several years ago. We need to make sure we are helping people, minority, black populations, hispanic populations in the state and across the country. Under my plan we will focus on a patient centered care system and allow people to increase the quality of care by decreasing the cost of care. Families in the state and country have seen their wealth grow by 33 and hispanic families have seen their wealth grow by 65 as a result of the economic policies. It isnt a zerosum game. What i am concerned with is it would lead to a government run program that would take 176 million americans insurance policies away fromil the workplace. That is his plan. Its irresponsible 30 seconds now for youu to tell us what is that land and are you still pursuing it and what would it mean to colorado . This is your rebuttal and im giving you 30 seconds to describe what that is the republican governor of ohio we are looking at ways we cannot prove it especially focusing on ways we can make the exchanges more costeffective for people because thats one of the problems the Affordable Care act the republicans tried to take it away and never allowed us to repair or improve it and again and again these attacks are dismantled without any kind of effacement. Mr. Gardiner, the Affordable Care act still exists. Some might call that preexisting. Youveng introduced a bill you said would require Insurance Companies to cover preexisting conditions what part requires them to offer coverage in the first place . That is what the bill does. We are here under a freedom of speech and press and religion, freedom to assemble. That was 45 words long and the First Amendment got it right. This is a guiding principle for democrats and republicans that theyve agreed to that we will provide coverage for people with preexisting conditions and they will provide that coverage. There may be some that disagree. Lets work on it together. Guiding principle just as the First Amendment is a guiding principle for the freedom of speech. Lets makeke sure that continue. What you heard the governor say is y he didnt want to replace e Affordable Care act but hes on record saying that he wants to do a government run healthcare system. The danger of that and the destruction that it would have and the harm on the hospitals. We are already in the bottom half of access because of the failed leadership. Hear the answer to the question which part of the bill offers and the act includes guaranteed availability ofli coverage. If the Affordable Care act were to be revealed, that guarantee goes away with it. Where does that exist in your line . It requires people to be covered if they have a preexisting condition. Its a bill that provides the guidance and the principle that we will cover people with preexisting conditions. You may have a different interpretation. All of the bills i passed and signed into law they changed from the time they were in committee if people want to make this better lets do it but the guidintheguiding principle remai support and will be that and continue to demand coverage for people with preexisting conditions. I will not take away the insurance from 176 million americans. If it were to go away, does everyonel get coverage who wants it lacks. It requires people to get coverage if thats the question thats the answer. You were the first person held in contempt by the Ethics Commission that found you broke the law accepting illegal gifts. You blame republicans and claim you were exonerated under dozens of allegations and told them journalists should be protecting you on this. Do you regret breaking the law land will you change your behavior if the voters were to turn you into the elected office . I recognize there were errors and they found us in violation of those occasions. Theyve been referred to as minor and honest mistakes and we had a team of people that worked on this but they honestly were not perfect. We should recognize thed allegations came from dark money republican organizations before theyef were filed and the purpoe was to try to create material for attack ads. Those were relentless and againg i paid the 2,800 fine and i take responsibility for that. I certainly would make sure that never happens again. I testified for three hours in front of the commission that holds a truth to every question they ask. Thank you. Another question about honesty and ethics comes from ernest a recorded question with the partners. Youve been in endorsed for the plaintiff legislation you signed in 2013 but after signing the bills, you told the colorado sheriffs you only signed it because a staff member said one thing publicly and privately the opposite. Thats something you accused him of doing. How are you any different . I stand by my record on gun safety. We are the first states to actually roll up our sleeves and pass universal background checks. Dont think universal background checks worked. No one can get it onto the floor unless mr. Mcconnell is the majority leader in the senate because they dont think its effective enough. Thes bottom line is step back ad look at this. Cory gardiner received 4 million and Mitch Mcconnell received even more. Then any elected official in colorado history and suddenly the corporations get these massive tax breaks. If we could target the question, they know what the landscape looks like what guncontrol laws do g we have that you dont thik apply or should be passed nationwide he talks about universal background checks but we have a lot of other things. Can you compare what we have here . We havent always had a chance to respond. I support the Second Amendment and we have laws and place that needed to be enforced but when it comes to prohibiting between a father and a son interfering at that level that that is a good thing for the country. Colorado may be handling this in a different way but i dont think we should infringe on those rights. If i want to give my son the 12 gauge i learned with, i ought to be able to do that. They lied to the county sheriffs about the effort. He wants a national gun license. He wants everybody in the state to have a federal license thats infringing on the Second Amendmentt rights. One seems to Say Something here and it isnt right for the states. You spent your time telling me about Cory Gardiner and the question was about you. For a variety of reasons the bottom line is we were having one mass shooting a day and its long overdue we begin looking at how we keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and universal background checks is obvious if we dont have highcapacity magazines. That talking point hasnt changed what exists. When the laws are passed it takes a while before they become the norm and part of culture. He. There were 138 people convicted of homicide and we stopped them four years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia died 269 days before the election and you said the next is too soon and the stakes are too high why should anyone trust you will stand by anything youre telling us tonight . When this occurred i was expressing o the senates abiliy to follow its requirement and advice and consent out of the constitution and to follow at the timet laid out by the then Vice President joe biden during his time in the senate will. Today we continue to adhere to the advice and consent of the United Statesic constitution. It allows a president to nominate. To be clear, people certainly deserve to get an answer on what they want to do i asked john last week if he supported the Court Packing and i dont know if you want to answer that tonight but i would say this, joe biden doesnt think the people in colorado deserve an answer on the Court Packing. I hope you agree they deserve an answer on whether or not you support packing the court with additional judges. Thank you very much. I do want to talk about this issue because it is something thats been inn the news and you have avoided answering. They can be seen as retaliation or reform. So lets try this in a different format. Yes, no, or i dont want to say. Do you supportin expanding or packing if they confirm Amy Coney Barrett . It is a a hypothetical. Lets put it this way. I dont like the idea. An are seeing it right now, and it doesnt make sense to me. You wont have to do that kind of institutional change. We are going to go on to the next questions do you support term limits for the Supreme Court justices . There are so many variables i dont support term limits but whos could say in the future. Do you support expanding the court to reshape the judiciary . I havent seen the pros and cons. Another thing thats been talked about, for what the republicans are doing in the Supreme Court is creating statehood. Those are different issues that have been discussed. I think washington, d. C. , its nothing to do with Court Packing. I dont think im on the record but i could be persuaded when we brought hawaii in as a part of the United States. On the court, President Trumps Supreme Court nominee is personally opposed to abortion and saidn today roe v wade isnt a super precedent. Last week there were a couple that suggested marriage should be overturned. Are you comfortable with overturning and in both cases are settled law it is a spin in news speak 150 plusis years has been identified as adding judges to the lower courts or the u. S. Supreme court until you get enough judges on court to rule. John knows what it means and hes trying to hide tonight behind the filling of nominations and approval by the United States senate so the question is to governor hickenlooper. Do you support adding justices to the Supreme Court, that is the question you should answer because that is the definition. Ruth Bader Ginsburg opposed so as a followup on the principle that you outlined, one consequence is democrats do it and republicans do it again. Its larger and larger. I assume based on what youre saying if you continue to serve in the Senate Democrats expand or pack the court that you would adamantly oppose republicans doing it in return. Its worked for over 150 years. We dont need more. Its too bad they cant admit that. This is the part youve been waiting for. This is the opportunity to ask each other a question. Weve seen a Great