New york 1. Good evening, welcome to new yorks 111th Congressional District. Were less than three weeks from election day, the start of early voting starts on october 24th and many voters received their absentee ballots. With Big Decisions on the minds of many voters, we bring you a seat held by both democrats and republicans over the past decade. Its consistently been the most competitive Congressional District in the city. The 11th district encompasses all Staten Island and bay ridge and the heights. The seat is currently held by max rose, a Democrat First elected to office in 2018. Hes being challenged by Nicole Malliotakis who currently serves in the state senate. Both are appearing via skype, were holding this remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rules agreed to, generally the candidates will have one minute to answer questions and well of course allow for exchanges. Well have a cross examination round and a lightning round. The candidates will be by themselves for the duration of the 60 minute debate. They have no prepared notes or access to any devices. For those of you at home see the full debate at ny1. Com. And share your thoughts using ny11debate. Well begin with Opening Statements now, the order for tonights Opening Statements was determined by a random drawing. The candidates have 45 seconds eachment Nicole Malliotakis goes first, good evening. Thank you. Im running for congress to replace max rose, somebody who has misrepresented our community and 97 of the time voted with nancy pelosi against our values. While she supported radical policies like bail reform, cloezing reichers highland, i have fought against it. I am the law and order candidate in this race and proudly endorsed by every nypd unit. Im going to work to restore our economy, to return american jobs here in new york and across the country and doing that by ensuring that we provide the resources that our Small Businesses need, unlike my opponent, max rose, who actually voted to stop critical funds from going to our struggle Small Businesses. Ill also support trade deals as we saw with the usmca agreement that i was supportive of. And my parents who came from greece and cuba, and millions came to pursue. Right now its under attack, we need to stand up against socialism and i will fight to stop it and preserve the American Dream for future generations. Okay. Thank you. And now, max rose. Well, errol, thank you for having me and nicole, thank you for being here and your service, well have time to deal with your lies throughout the course of this conversation. Let me first of all say this to our viewers, 2020 has been hell. Just when you think everything is going well again, the world gets turned upsidedown, but as our politicians failed us time and again, we band together. We got things done. From standing up to first drivethru testing site in new york right in this Congressional District to building our covid facility in six days, to passing the Victims Compensation fund and initiating the seawall project on the east shore of staten to island to putting sanctions on Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies for producing illicit fentanyl killing our kids in our community. So our work is nowhere near done. But what we have seen is that what he we put Country First, we stand up to both Party Leaders and when we focus on results, the skys the limit so i look forward to a great conversation and again, thank you for giving me this opportunity. Okay. Thank you. Now, on to our first topic. Were going to spend time focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and impact on new york. Staten island report shows a rising number of infections in Staten Island along with research the boroughs rate of proper mask wearing is only 45 . The district that falls in brooklyn is actually within a zone where rates are rising as well. So im going to ask you to go first, mr. Rose. Explain to voters what youve been doing during this crisis and specifically about the rising rates in the district. Thank you again, as of course i just mentioned, finally Staten Island and South Brooklyn did not take a back seat during covid and we were able to get the first drive through testing site. And i worked consistently on a bipartisan basis to make sure he we were dealing with the dual economic crisis as well as the Public Health crisis, holding the mayor accountable when he failed with the testing strategy, as well as pushing this president to assert the defense protection act, as well as other executive authorities. Now work is not done yet. We have got to practice social distancing. Weve got to wear mask, continue to race towards a vaccine and fund that effort. As well increase our treatment units so were prepares for the next pandemic. Whats critical right now is that we put the Country First and we stand up to either party leader thats willing to step in the way of additional relief. I strongly oppose Mitch Mcconnell skinny bill and Nancy Pelosis bill that she put on the house. What we need is bold bipartisan frame work and i put that forth as a member of the problem solvers caucus. Thank you, miss malliotakis. Whether it was after Hurricane Sandy where i fought to have families recover or help rebuild fighting bureaucrats at city hall or insurance companies, you know, people know that ive been there for the community during the most difficult times, during this covid pandemic at the height of pandemic, my staff and i and volunteers, we delivered 100,000 piece of ppp to the front lines and 100 bags of groceries to seniors who were afraid to leave their homes, theyre our most vulnerable. I helped food drives with various organizations in fact. Helped six pantries fill their shelves when they were running low on supplies. And also, even after when we were trying to get back to some sense of normally, ensuring that our cemeteries were open for visitors on mothers day, these are things so important to people and in order for people to really feel like were getting back to normalcy in our city, in our nation, we have to make sure that we have rapid covid testing that were encouraging people to get testing, that we ensure that we have a vaccine, hopefully were a few months away from. We need to invest in therapeutics and cures and make sure that we bring our supply chain home. We cannot rely on the communist chinese party. We need to bring our supply chain home and supplies for future pandemics. And i have a followup for both, start with you, miss malliotakis. Its easy to provide food for people who need it, or give ppe for those who dont want to get sick. A tough situation where we saw recently the Republican Party of Staten Island had a rally where there wasnt a lot of masking going on and people were crowded together. The tough part comes when in the southern brooklyn side of the district there are businesses and other facilities that have be to be closed even though they themselves were following all of the guidelines, but just happens to be an infectious spread in the area. Are you prepared to tell your friends that there needs to be restrictions on Mass Gatherings and mandates and other kind of enforcement . Well, i think theres a balance here, errol. Look, i encourage people when theyre in groups and crowds, they Must Wear Masks and yes, we have to take certain precautions. Look at the Small Businesses in our community that really gave so much to make sure that we were able to turn the corner on the curve and flatten that curve. That is important, thats had a we do in a Community Support one another. I do believe some regulations coming forward from our mayor and governor are burdensome. We need a balance of trying to restore normalcy and also taking the proper precautions to keep safe. We know a lot more about the virus today than six months ago, i think its important to keep distributing ppe to the community. Ive continued to do that because i think its critical that people protect themselves. But we also cant just mandate people to do certain things. And there has to be a sense of personal responsibility as well and people know the proper precautions that they need to take to slow the spread. Okay, mr. Rose. Errol, look, this could have been what could have been a massive super spreader event. If we are going to follow the science we shouldnt gather many people together and many are not Wearing Masks. In youre in that situation do Everything Possible to make sure that people wear mask. I agree this has become a little too political. Youve got some democrats bragging that theyre Wearing Masks in the bathroom and some republicans saying theyre not wearing them at all. Now is the time for leadership. We are wearing mask not to protect ourselves, but to protect you. Its a patriotic duty and were obligated to exercise at all moments when were within distance of others. If i could respond to that because its not one particular event. I mean, max was marching in front of our local Police Precinct with the defund the police crowd even earlier than it was really at the height of this pandemic that they were marching in a group of over a thousand individuals. So its not one event or the other. We need to encourage people to take proper precautions no matter where theyre going. I think is critical for our city and our nation that we actually put forward a tailored, covid relief packages, we have Small Businesses that are waiting. We have people unemployed waiting for relief. We need the stimulus checks to go out and instead we have people like nancy pelosi who are politicizing the covid relief package by trying to insert policies that have nothing to do with it, trying to put cashless bail in it, trying to release convicted felons from the prisons and distribute checks to those in the country illegally. And what does that have to do with covid relief. Thank thats really been the Sticking Point of why a package thats sensible and tailored that addresses the needs of those suffering. Okay. Has become and in fact, let me followup on that with you, ms. Malliotakis. The house and senate are at an impasse to provide relief to families, cities and states, hit hard by the loss of covid activity and tax revenue. Would you have voted for heroes 2. 0 bill if not, do you think that no relief at all would be better than that bill. What would you tell constituents waiting for what you describe. Just like max rose voted against it, i would have voted against it as well. For Different Reasons. I would vote against it simply because we see nancy pelosi trying to jam ideological policies that have no place by the way he voted for this stuff whether it be releasing prisoners from our federal prisons in the first heroes act, which didnt become law, but what nancy pelosi just did was continue to jam in more ideological wish lists. I think both sides need to come to the table for a tailored bill. I think it can be done. I have hope it can be done. I urge both parties to do it and the white house as well to finish negotiations, but i really think the Sticking Point is the ideological wish list that has nothing to do with covid relief and no way should be entertained and thats really the Sticking Point here. Its shameful. Republicans tried to put forward at least a bill that would release critical ppp funds for Small Businesses that were struggling and max rose voted against that. And this is approved funding already allocated. We will hae let him respond. Yeah, at least get that out to the community its waiting. Mr. Rose you were one of i think only 18 democrats that voted against the heroes 2. 0 legislation that would have been 2. 2 trillion dollars worth of relief. Why did you cast that vote and what do you make of this . Absolutely, lets take a step back, okay . We had heroes 1. 0 over 3 trillion in relief. Complete with federal, state and local aid which clearly nicole does not care about, the testing, aid for educational institution, Small Businesses, which was absolutely vital, so on and so forth. Republicans out of long island saw that money on the table and said, you know what . This bill isnt perfect, but ive got to vote for this. Pete king endorsed nicole, surely i dont think she would criticize him for having voted for that bill, but then it went to languish Mitch Mcconnells legislative graveyard for months and it appeared the leaders were retreating to their corners until i stood up and led a bipartisan effort to butt forth a bold, and nonetheless bipartisan frame work, 1. 5 trillion with yes, state and local aid. I voted against the second heroes package because it was not representative of that compromise. We have got to put forth that compromise and then put it back on Mitch Mcconnell, who appears unwilling to do anything here. Nicoles policy here has been consistent, she says i stand with the Republican Party. The Republican Party has not demonstrated a willingness. Mitch mcconnell first and foremost, Kevin Mccarthy second, to do anything in regards to state and local aid. That means defunding our police, defunding mpa, laying off thousands of Public Servants, many of whom live in this Congressional District. Its a reprehensible position. With unthat is illustrative of her falling in line with her party yet again. No matter what the consequences. Lets give her chance to respond. That is absolutely not the case. As a matter of fact, i signed a letter, a bipartisan letter to Mitch Mcconnell urging for billions in transit funding for new york city. And in addition to that, ive got to tell you, the cashless bail that he supports here locally, now they want to take it and make it a National Policy . Thats what thats at stake because people are playing games with peoples life. We need the stimulus money out a good deal, 250 billion in aid for local cities and states. Making sure that we get the stimulus checks out. The ppp money that the businesses would have been approved by the way for the money are waiting. Theyre just waiting for it to be released. That money is allocated and ensure that we get the funding necessary for our local hospitals and our nursing homes, et cetera. The reality is, and max is here right now. Why is he not in washington trying to force nancy pelosi for a vote . I mean, that he is what he should be doing. If i were a member of congress i wouldnt have left washington until we had a deal. So first of all, nicoles unwilling to state whether or not she would vote for the original heroes act, she wont say yes or no whether she would have done that. Nicole youre also an elected official, you a left albany months ago, representative of your 10year career as after we passed a budget though. Of not doing anything. Not accomplishing anything. Im let him finish, let him finish. Go ahead, mr. Rose. Im happy that you are complementing the bipartisan package that we put forth. That at least is a moment of honesty for you. Im not going to lose faith that we can get this across the finish line. Nancy pelosi is wrong right now and so is Mitch Mcconnell with Kevin Mccarthy next to him why do i keep faith . Because weve beaten Mitch Mcconnell before. When it came to the Victims Compensation fund he said thats a blue state issue. I dont know if we have the money. Sounds familiar, right . Well, it wasnt until 9 11 First Responders marched down to washington d. C. And put Mitch Mcconnell facetoface with his own hypocrisy that he buckled. I got every member of the freshman class signed onto this bill and signed by the United States. Mitch mcconnell is not a demigod, hes a rich dude from the midwest. And like pete king, and stand up and put the people first. And first of all, Carol Maloney and pete king, with people together and supportive of that as well. With the heroes. Let me be very clear i would not support a bill that would eliminate bail. Would i not support a bill that would release federally convicted felons from our federal prisons and wouldnt support a bill that would undermine the integrity of our election system, same day Voter Registration where someone can walk into a poll and vote without having any vetting by the board of elections to ensure that theyre registered. Eliminating, banning states from having voter i. D. Laws . No, thats not something that i would support and not something quite frankly that should be in a covid relief package, has nothing to do with the issue at hand. Okay. I get it. I think both of you, i think we are a he clear both of you would have voted again