Scranton, pennsylvania, live at 11 45 am eastern. You a0, we will bring Campaign Rally with donald trump in sioux city, iowa. Later in the day, president obama orlando, florida for an event against underway at 3 25 p. M. Eastern. That is all live tomorrow on cspan. Most of us, when we think of Winston Churchill, we think of an older yet an older man sending younger men into war. But no one knew better and few new as well the realities of war , the terror and devastation. He said to his mother after his it. Nd war, you cant guilt you absolutely he absolutely new the disaster that war was. Announcer sunday night on q a, millard talks about the early career of Winston Churchill in her book hero of the empire. He says, give me a regimen. I want to fight. He ends up going to pretoria on the day that it fell to the british, and he takes over the prison, and he frees the men who had been his fellow prisoners. He had put in the prison his former jailers, and he watches as the board flag is torn down and the union jack is listed in its place. Announcer sunday night at 8 00 eastern, on cspans open q a q a. Now the debate for the race for the u. S. Senate seat in alaska. Discussidates abortions, foreign policy, and health care law. Its about an hour. Alaska public media presents debate for the state election 2016. The race for the United States senate. Good evening. Welcome to alaska public medias debate for the state. Tonight is the final faceoff among candidates for u. S. Senate. Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski is the chair of the Senate Energy and National ResourcesCommunity Best committee. Is a realay metcalfe estate broker and former state lawmaker. Independent Margaret Stock is an immigration attorney. And joe miller is a libertarian, an attorney, and an army veteran who won the republican primary for the seat in 2010. Im lori townsend, news director for alaska public media, and i will moderate. We will begin with a series of questions from our journalists, our panelists. We are in anchorage, simulcasting on public radio and television. Questionsso air video from alaskans in fairbanks and telling him. Candidates, your answers will be timed. The limit for your first round is 60 seconds. Liz has the first question. Mr. Miller, you have run for the senate twice before as a republican. Why didnt you file as a republican this year and compete in the republican primary . Honoreder i was very to receive the unanimous endorsement of a libertarian of the board of directors of the libertarian party. I was not planning on running for the United States senate. I had a moose hunt planned for the week i declared. It turned out to be something that i think has provided alaskans with tremendous opportunity. Tremendous opportunity this season to have a conservative choice and have somebody who is going to fight for their liberties. This race. D to be in and i am excited about the. Latform of the party it talks about bringing decisionmaking closer to home, where you can be in charge of the decisions that are made, you can bring accountability to your government, and you can actually have a hand in making changes that bring great impact of the state. Ms. Stock, bringing it being an independent Party Candidate has been central to your campaign, but you have also donated your campaign with the Democratic Party. Are you independent i name only . Stock i am an independent like most alaskans, but i needed the resources necessary to defeat a republican senator. Was notblican party willing to cooperate with me. The Democratic Candidates did not feel they have a viable candidate, and they felt i was a pragmatic Problem Solver that had a lot of experience in washington, and they offered me the opportunity the court with their campaign in hopes that i would defeat Lisa Murkowski and return a sense of a compliment to the United States senate and the partisan gridlock. Helpful have you been to the Democratic Party . Ms. Stock not at all. I am not a democrat. I am simply using the Campaign Resources they made available to me because i purchased them. Mr. Metcalfe, you used to be a republican. Now you say you are a Bernie Sandersstyle democrat. You dont have Party Support. You dont have money in your campaign account. Why should voters take you seriously as a candidate . , i dont haveliz a Party Support is not quite accurate. I dont have the support of some segments. There is a split in the Democratic Party, and it boils down to efforts to remove fromin corrupt practices within the party, certain corrupt practices that are commonplace within our system. Those who support me are the ones who support what im trying out the weeding corruption, and those who dont support me are the ones who frankly adjourned the state theention to avoid allowing platform that had been proposed by the Platform Committee to be adopted, because it had my proposed anticorruption leg which in it, and it had been , and they a 276 vote old guard adjourned the convention to avoid ever having to deal with it. Mr. Caskey, 6 ms. Ranowski, six years ago you as an independent and you won. Your voting record shows you to be one of the most moderate republicans. You do not support donald trump. How sure are you you are a republican . I think itsi important to correct the record. I ran as a right and in 2010. I was not my partys nominee. But i was a republican. I think this series of questions , because itng demonstrates that you have a republican who has actually changed from being a republican five different times to run in the general as a libertarian, you have a republican who switched to an independent supported by the democrats, you have a former republican who has at least been true to the Democratic Party who has not supported by his party. I look at what i have done oneesenting alaska as being who supports alaska 100 of the time. When i think about my voting record, its not as a moderate, its not as a conservative, i have not changed my party label to be someone i am not for the purposes of an election. I have remained true to alaska. We will move on to an energy question. The Dakota Access pipeline would move oil to major markets in the lower 48. At the same time, the Pipeline Route threatens lands and waters that are valued by the standing tribe, both as sacred lands and as a water source. Using this case as an example, mr. Miller, how does the federal government balance the broader need for economic interest Like Development of a pipeline across the country with those of individual native american tribes . I am a tribal sovereignty advocate. I think we need to have local control. People in control of their land need to be able to make decisions. Thankfully in alaska, we are not confronted with those issues. The real ogre in the room is the federal government. Landed inhat we have private hands where we can get transit for pipelines. Its where you have a situation where overbearing federal agencies content federal agencies are cutting off the ability of agencies who want to invest in alaska, stopping that. I think the way forward for thata is to ensure when we say we want to open and what are, we use our political leverage. Thats a problem we have. ,e send people to washington dc but that easy money is getting smaller. Weve got to rein in the federal government. How would that hes the conflict between the Standing Rock and the developers of the private land . Access in if we had this state to the billions of gallons of oil under the ground that the government has prevented, there would not be fights like that. Atwould not be looking uneconomic ways to get at, things that create conflict with other people. Thank you. How would youe, Balance National economic interest with tribal rights . Mr. Metcalfe if the federal government would have done a better job of consulting with to traditional elders prior the planning process, this whole mess could have been avoided. Thats just what should have happened. Murkowski,ey ms. Tribal rights versus National Interest . Movemurkowski we need to our resources, and what and most would argue that a pipeline is the most efficient way to move oil. We have to move resources for the benefit of the economy, for jobs, and for the country, but we also have to work with the tribe. Its called consultation. We havewhere i think lost sight of some of the trust, toponsibility, an obligation make sure there was confrontation well in advance. In alaska, we have done that. We did it with the transalaska pipeline. Not move forward without making sure that the obligation we had to native alaskan people was settled. We were able to do that, and we moved forward with an alaska pipeline. Stock, what is a way out of this . Ms. Stock thats a great question. The Standing Rock sioux tribe believes that their interests were not taken into account, so we have protests going on. It is true that the pipeline is on private land. Also, pipelines generally are safe, but we have had problems in alaska with the taps having spills and linkages, and we try to get them cleaned up, but we tried is worried about their Drinking Water the tribe is worried about their Drinking Water. We are familiar with that in alaska. That is something the tried is very much concerned about, because they felt their interests were not taken into account. In permitting processes, it is important to take into account the local community, the folks around the private land on which the pipeline is being held, because the pipeline can have effects beyond. And now, because of the protests, the government is paying attention. I have heard today that they are considering an alternative route that may reduce some of the impacts. , to get things done in the senate, you have to have allies, relationships matter. Hasamong todays senators approached Senate Politics that you would aspire to . Has been approached to senate ach to senatero politics that you would aspire to . Mr. Metcalfe i would have a fabulous ally in Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren. Im sure they would be my mentors as a freshman senator. By the way, im the only person on this stage who has embraced the entirety of Bernie Sanders agenda. Mr. Sanders about approach to Senate Politics that you would emulate . Mr. Metcalfe he would become the chairman of the budget committee. Support his agenda, what he wants to accomplish. Largely myve support, and he will have 20 of allies, and i am sure he will have more allies given the outcome of this election. His National Support is clear. Ms. Stock, the same question. Takesong todays senators an approach to Senate Politics that you might emulate . Are actually ae number of senators that take approaches i would like to emulate. I like senators who are very timeworking, who spent working on bills, holding herittee hearings, and moaning oversight. As you probably know, i dont take money from corporate pac s. Do nator id reminder one senator i do admire is angus king, an independent from maine. Murkowski . Sen. Murkowski in order to be successful in the congress, you have to be able to work with everybody. I have worked with and will continue to work with those who are the most liberal and those who are the most conservatives and those in between. I have worked with senator Barbara Boxer on fishery regulation issues and afterschool learning programs. I have worked with senator lee from utah, very conservative, on relating to privacy and civil liberties. I have worked with in fact, i set up the arctic caucus with the independent angus king from maine to work through some of our arctic issues. Withthe ability to work all of your colleagues, and to reach out and bridge the differences that we clearly have , but make things happen. Those who would suggest that you have to just stay in your corner and hope that others come to you is not a realistic approach to legislating. Miller, in the past you have spoken of your admiration for senator cruz. Does that admiration extend to his approach to Senate Politics . Mr. Miller the main reason why, i think americans across the United States, alaskans, we have, want to come 11 Approval Rating in congress . The reason why is because most alaskans regard the senate and congress as corrupt. It is broken. It is not broken because it is not getting along well enough. It is broken because it is getting while long enough just getting along well enough to give themselves pay raises, exemptions from laws. Its a club, and it is a club that is destroying america. In debtt 20 trillion right now. Alaska is the essentially a federal colony. Alaska does not have access to most of its resources because things are not getting done in the right directions. There are a few outliers. Bernie sanders has some great ideas. Im not a socialist, most people understand that, but he wants to rein in the big financial powers. But hee is a quiet guy, has expanded the Resource Bases that states can access. Thank you. Id like to followup, when was the last Time Congress voted themselves a pay raise . Mr. Miller several years ago, but the problem, 11 Approval Rating is the consequence of a congress that constantly exempts themselves. The wealth of Congress Members goes up exponentially when somebody gets there. Why . Because there is insider trading, and those in congress refuse to apply those laws to prevent insider trading. We will have to leave it there. Lets move on to immigration. Ms. Stock, this is your area. What do you say to those who look at the terror attacks in san bernardino, manhattan, and toando and say it is unsafe admit muslim immigrants because they or their americanborn sons could become radical jihadi sts . Ms. Stock we have always had a problem in america with folks who get angry at the government and attack it. Timothy mcveigh blew up the Oklahoma CityFederal Building and an act of terrorism that was initially attributed to muslims, and it turns out he was a roman catholic. We are always going to have a problem with terrorism in the United States, and what is important is to figure out what causes the terrorism. Its not necessarily tied to a particular religion, though at one point in time lots of the folks committing the terrorist attacks for best believe in a particular religious system. Most important thing to fight terrorism is to have good intelligence, and that includes intelligence that talks to the communities from which the terrorists might come to try to find out who is going to radicalize them. The unitedists in states today were a result of people getting radicalized over the internet, and we do not have a good handle on how to stop that. We need to have a conversation about how people get radicalized over the internet. , d believe the u. S. Should admit more Syrian Refugees to help with the massive crisis . In our largest immigration port, there is a big statue of liberty, and i remember why its there. We are a country of immigrants. Just before the Second World War was heating up, we turned a way who gotoad of jews returned to germany, and many of them died in the camps. It is a stain on our history for having done so. Vet as bestt as as we are able, but when there is a humanity crisis like this, we have an obligation to open our arms. Once in a while, and im not a religious man, but what would jesus do . I think jesus would open his arms and say take care of these people, they are my people. Mr. Miller, what is the right response during this refugee crisis . Mr. Miller i think it is absolutely insane that we would be living in thousands of refugees with inadequate background checks. We know it is not being done properly. The government intelligence agencies are telling us it is not being done properly. In this time of hyper security issues, why dont we address those issues . Keep on hearing about how, oh, weve got to attempt down individual liberties, weve got to have an nsa surveillance state that listens to everything you say on the phone, that is able to track everything you do on your computer. There are a lot of common sense things we can do like what like not letting in radicals. You look at this refugee program, it does not make sense. We are letting in many people, some great people, but a lot dont have adequate background checks. We need to maintain security. Ms. Murkowski, last year you allowinga pause for Syrian Refugees into the United States to allow for time for an assessment of the vetting process. What is your take on that now . What do you think of the vetting process . Time sufficient, and is it to let more Syrian Refugees into the country . Sen. Murkowski if you listen to all three of us, we agree that the vetting is an important part of it. Making sure we put the intelligence there, making sure we really understand who is seeking to come in. I think it is important to note, though, t