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This includes mike brown and Larry Pressler and others. Campaign 2014. More than 100 bits for the control congress. Cspan2 provide live coverage for key Public Policy events. And booktv, devoted to nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2 is brought to you as a Public Service by your local provider. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Congressman Michael Michaud running were three candidates are running on the ballot, this includes Bruce Poliquin, emily cain, and Blaine Richardson in lewiston, maine. This hourlong debate is part of the state of maine public broadcasting network. Welcome to the 2014 Congressional District debate. This is the second congressional debate and the last an hour, we feature losses brought topical discussions and a lightning round of quick answers. The questions will come from the new staff and from members of the public are it the candidates will also have a chance to question each other. The republican candidate in this race is Bruce Poliquin. A former state treasurer. He had sought the nomination for governor before winning his partys nomination in the Second District is here. The democratic candidate is emily cain, a state senator and also served in the house of representatives. She is married and lives in the state. And then we have the independent candidate, Blaine Richardson. He is a retired navy officer and is married and lives in belfast. Welcome to you all. We are coming to you from lewiston. The first segment of this debate, we will talk with broad topical questions and we want to devote about five or six minutes total to each of those. And we wanted to be able to articulate your opinion and your positions and also your differences from one another. We determined the order earlier and emily, please go first. The first question is the overall Unemployment Rate has gone but it is higher than that in several counties in the Second District area for example, in washington county, the Unemployment Rate is 1. 9 and a neighboring county to 7. 3 . Voters say the economy as their numberone issue. How can you as a representative in Congress Helped grow the economy and add jobs in this district . Thank you, and im so glad to be here tonight to talk with you and voters across the Second District. We need an economy that works for everyone, and that means that we have to work with business and education and government to find solutions. When you talk about the Unemployment Rate being low, thats not how it feels in the Second District, particularly with the announcements of layoffs across our state. What families are going through right now is heartbreaking and scary. And its causing an economic anxiety across the whole district. As i have traveled through all of the counties in the Second District 70 times over the past year and a half, there are bright spots as we provide solutions and talk to Business Owners across the state. For me it was a few weeks ago when i earned the endorsement of the United States senator angus king. We met with kathy leonard, an owner of a business. Shes growing a traditional Main Business and turning it into a business for the 21st century. I combining research and development would work from the federal government, something that i have worked in support of her years, she is coupling that with support for her workers and an international market. Shes the right kind of Business Leader the one item in congress i will be listening to and thinking about as i work to build the economy. But more than that for the past few years, in my role as the democratic leader, im the only one who has worked across the aisle to lower taxes for smaller businesses. Im the only one in this race that has worked across the aisle to cut more than 4 billion in state spending, which is an important way that we keep our state on track. In order to do that, we have to work with republicans and democrats and independents to balance budgets. Thats the kind of leadership that we need, leadership that focuses on businesses and knows how to work across the aisle. Moderator take you, emily. Blaine richardson come how can you as a representative in Congress Helped grow the economy and add jobs in the Second District . Richardson is a truly sad problem through the Second District, you go through the downtown and there is a park bench and a site used to be there. In 1979 when i got back to main, there were one males and three tannerys and shoe stores and factories, its all gone now. We have recently had no closures, this one in bucksport is absolutely devastating. Our problem in maine is energy. And the frustrating part of it is we are in between where the energy is going down to massachusetts and canada, where the gas is and we have not been able to get the states to move off the renewable megawatt limitations that would allow the kilowatts to get into maine. We have spent millions of dollars on type lines that we can get the gas and forth. And we also have this that we have been wrestling with for over 20 years. And he recently gave half of that away due to environmental groups, no deep water port will happen there and we are fighting to keep your point open, but in order to do that we need judging and environmental laws which are getting in the way with a material that would be removed. We also have the potential of bringing an eastwest highway into a port, which is very huge. All i can say is im glad when im trying to get route one into the state of maine, to have an eastwest corridor with the middle part of america were 90 of heavy industry happen in north america, it would be a godsend to the northern economy of the state of maine. The number of jobs would be you wouldnt even be able to estimate it. From ship handling, container repair, fuel and shocking, it just goes on and on. But we never seem to be able to get over the environmental hurdle at a federal level and we cant seem to get anything moving through the legislature and the federal government right now is a huge problem for jobs in the state of maine. It has a heavy thumbprint on everything that we do in the state of maine from agriculture to fishing to manufacturing and we need to get that lifted off and i will commit myself to doing that down in washington. These agencies are out of control. Moderator Bruce Poliquin, same question to you. How do you grow the economy and add jobs . Poliquin thank you for asking. Im Third Generation i grew up in central maine from a workingclass family, my mom was a nurse. And i remember when i was in if they showed up one time, they worked hard to get a job. My grandmother made some of the finest in the world and that is now closed. My best buddy was a machinist at the Scott Paper Company and i worked the night shift and that is now closed. And so what is going on . I have one son and he just graduated from college and got his first job. But unfortunately it took him two years to to get that job. We work during christmas vacation on spring break and something is going on very wrong. We are so connected and what happens in washington, i think it has a huge impact on us. Washington, career politicians who have never created a job before, the last five years in a row have spent on average 1. 1 trillion more and they need to borrow or make up the difference or print money. And so now we have a Huge National debt. This includes our ability to crowd out this and so forth and so on. When that happens it means that the taxes have to be raised. Raising taxes is the way that we pay for that outofcontrol spending in those high debt levels. We also drive up the price of energy instead of driving it down. Until 1000 jobs and benefits, we are coming up on the holidays are and in each case one of the key things is the cost of energy. So we need to get the spending under control. We need to start paying down our debt, a we need to lower taxes and Energy Prices and the Regulatory Environment is predictable. If we do that, we will have a flood of investment in our country and we will have more jobs for kids to be able to make it and more jobs throughout america. Im the only candidate who has 35 years of real experience growing the economy and creating jobs. My opponents do not. Moderator the question is we are headed into another winter. Experts predict that we will see a spike in costs due to the natural supply line. And many homes rely on Home Heating Oil and will face this in the hundreds of dollars. What is your Energy Strategy to help businesses compete and help people keep more money in the pockets . The Energy Strategy is clearly to get the federal government out of the energy policy. Right now about 50 of the oil reserve is under control of federally controlled land. And there is really no provision for the federal government owning any property, let alone most of the western United States and having said that, the wheel has come down, i believe about 80 a girl today which is good news and gas has come down approximately 20 cents and i dont know whether that trend will continue. Last week and a half, the stock market has lost over a trillion dollars in value and are certainly things that we can do that peta can get out of the way the pipeline from canada to the gulf of mexico and we have a pipeline in the air force base and we need to start using these wiser and new england, unfortunately is dependent upon oil and a lot of people have been converting to to procreate and the technology is incredible. And the problem that we have with this is we have the oldest housing spot in the country. So we waste a lot of heat just living in these older homes. And so clearly getting the government out of the Energy Business is important. And right now this and whatnot has increased because of private Land Ownership in pennsylvania and all of the early oil fields that are privately owned, getting regional, north dakota, the federal government is just in the way. Moderator okay, Bruce Poliquin, what is your Energy Strategy to help businesses and residents . We need to make sure that whatever we do is protect our environment. When i was a kid growing up, if you fell in the river you needed a tetanus shot. We have come a long way to make sure that we clean up our environment, we are making sure that we come down that path, and to do whatever we can that we offer that protection. I am also of the belief that quality of life includes a paycheck and we need allens between these two competing interests. I believe that we need to make sure that we increase the production of energy here in america. Natural gas here in america, there is a reason for that. To increase the supply of that and drive down the price. When you drive down the price to help to create more jobs. And also it will be less expensive for families to heat homes and to favor their electric elf and less expensive to buy gasoline. My opponent and i differ on this. We just have very different views. She believes that we should have a carbon tax. When that happens you drive up the price of gasoline to pray heating bills and the price of electricity and we have a party scene is in the past year. Many have closed due to high cost of energy. So we just have a very different opinion on that. I dont disagree with emily cain that we should complete the keystone pipeline. We have all the safeguards that we need, we should approve the pipeline to make sure that we are getting some of our energy from canada down to the gulf coast, tribe of this and drive down the price to help jobs being created. My opponent has voted almost 7 of the time in Small Businesses. Small businesses is the backbone of our economy. So how can you vote against Small Businesses and want to represent them in congress. And part of this it is lowering the price of energy, not making it a lot but we just disagree. Its nothing personal, and i think its very important for the voters to understand the different opinions on this, my Life Experience professionally has been creating jobs for 35 years. My opponent has no experience creating jobs and its not a personal attack but a fact. So we need to make sure that we focus on jobs for the Second District and not increase government spending. Increases energy costs and welfare and what she has done repeatedly in the legislator. And that will only hurt us here in the state of maine more. Moderator emily cain, what is your strategy . Cain first, let me say that its okay to call me emily. Were going to be spending a lot of time together. Its great to be here with all of you. The energy issue for me comes down to just a few examples. The other day i was walking my dog across the street, talking with my neighbor and her mother and her mother said that i have decided that i have to keep my house at 57 degrees this winter. All winter. Because otherwise i wont be able to afford to fill the oil tank. Think about that, 57 degrees for the whole winter when its negative 10 degrees outside and the snow is blowing, or a Senior Citizen to be home keeping the thermostat at 57 degrees and thats not okay. That is a tragedy and im proud that over the last 10 years that stories like that and the people like that are going through this kind of economic challenges that are the top of my mind as we work on energy. Im proud to support the Greenhouse Gas initiative that has helped many businesses and families and save them more than 250 million in energy costs. When we think about where we are going as a state when it comes to energy, i think about those i met in Northern Maine Community college, they want to be the guys who climb the towers and fix the windows. I asked them why they were in this business and why they would want to do that and one of them said i like to climb things are really high and i like the idea of having a job right here in the state of maine that is a good job and is also about clean renewable energy. As a that is the kind of future that we need for our state. And we need to make sure that we are taking steps and expand natural gas right now and we also need to make sure that for the long run we invest in renewable sources that will create jobs like onshore winds and solar, things will make a difference in the long run and is a member of congress my focus will be the same as it has for the last 10 years treated that is to lower the cost of energy for families and businesses. I have a record that shows i can do that in the skills to work were crossing out make sure that it actually gets done. Moderator the third question goes to you, Bruce Poliquin. Most of the provisions of the Health Care Act have been in place for a year, so we are getting a chance to see how they work in the marketplace. Would you make changes to the Affordable Care act, and if so, what would they be . Poliquin yes, i would, jennifer, thank you for asking the question. First of all, im sure some of you have thought about it. About 3300 of us will now be losing their Health Insurance policies because of obamacare. This is incredibly hurtful. We have a national Affordable Care act, obamacare, as they call it, which is putting undue pressure and strain on the business communities and families. And one of the issues that we are seeing under obamacare is that moms and dads are responsible for taking care of their kids and making sure that they make good decisions for their kids and aging parents, they are losing their Health Care Plans lead the 3300 announced today. These folks