Democrats. It includes west and northwest suburbs such as schomberg, bloomingdale, elgin, streamwood and a small portion of chicago. A couple of quick notes before we begin tonight. We are being streamed live on our web site wttw. Com and you can join a live chat. Give a question for the candidates you can ask if there and note the format tonight. Tonight. This is not a formal debate part of the candidates will not give opening or closing statements. Their answers will not beat timed and they will not necessarily be asked the same questions. I will use fairness as my guide to move the discussion along and we asked the candidates to stay on topic and not give campaign speeches. Now joining us us tonight seated in the order that they appear on the ballot are Tammy Duckworth, democrat who is the former director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and former United States assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs. Ms. Duckworth previously ran for conversate 2006 and she also served in the iraq war receiving a purple heart and remains a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois National guard. Congressman joe walsh republican who was first elected to the u. S. House of representatives in 2010. Prior to his election in congress mr. Walsh worked with High School Dropouts in chicago and later taught American History and government at Community Colleges in the area. We thank you both for being here and welcome to chicago tonight. As i mentioned this race has had its share of tense encounters women to have you been brought together. There have been some fireworks and it also has the dubious distinction of having made to let it gos 10 nastiest congressional races in the country but to start on a congenial note, i would like to ask each of you to Say Something that you respect and admire about your opponent that makes them worthy to be in political office. Tammy duckworth. Duckworth i think he loves his country as much as any of us do and that will go a long way towards serving the people of this country and the people of the district and the job is about serving the folks in the district and your constituents. We can all go a long way with that. Walsh. Walsh campaigns can get and we decide against who we are running with because of everything that happens. We do lose a connection. I have always respected tammys Service First and foremost and her sense of duty moving forward, which is why she wants to run for congress. I think that is incredibly noble. Moderator lets begin, and lets hope we can keep that congeniality going throughout this for them. At me start with you congressman walsh. You have repeated during your freshman term that you did not go to washington to compromise, that your objective first and foremost was to quote stop this president. Do you feel that you have met your goal . Walsh i think we have done a pretty decent job. Maybe its because i have taught American Government and American History and they take a bit of a longer view. The country is going through something pretty tumultuous right now. We are having a grand debate and its a fight and again i always want to be respectful about where we are is a country. I think when president president obama got elected, big chunk of the country sort of did a timeout, where are we going . Our government is getting too big and its doing things government didnt use to do and then the election in 2010 i think they sent folks like us to congress to join in that debate and one other point, to help educate the American People. Maybe this is something ms. Duckworth and i can agree on. As a country we need to wake up because we really are not working in the economy is not growing. Its always easy to tear into the politicians but i think as a country we need to wake up and get educated. The last point, we have raised the debt ceiling a number of times. Moderator we will get to the specifics but before we get to that you said you werent going to compromise and id like to follow. If you were reelected to a second term you would be willing to compromise. On what . Walsh depending on how the election shakes out again that next step in this country is coming together to figure out its problems and to help solve these problems. I have made clear i will never capitalize and lay one more dollar of debt on top of our kids and grandkids heads and i wont raise any taxes on america right now because we are all taxed out. Even having said that, there is plenty underneath that i think both parties can come together on and agree on. Moderator Tammy Duckworth do you have a bipartisan spirit going into washington if you are elected and if so what are you willing to oppose your own party on . Duckworth one of the things ive been clear on is the fact that the health care, the Affordable Care act has a very big flaw in it. Kids with preexisting conditions are covered and we like it that people cant use their Health Insurance because they are seniors and most kids like they can cover their children up to age 26 but there are real issues. Businesses that have a low profit margin, and like restaurants are really going to face higher costs. That is simply not acceptable. Moderator just a general question because i want to get to that later on, you feel that is one of the priorities that will challenge the president . Or challenge the party . Duckworth we need to fix the problems and we have to be honest about the fact that there are problems with the Affordable Care act and that is part of what needs to happen in washington. We need to visit the people of the district and the people in the district tell me it nisa be fixed on one to do that. Moderator congressman walsh lets talk about simple responsibility and questions about your voting record. Among your first vote in congress was to reduce federal funding to the u. S. Institute of peace which he described as a nonpartisan conflict center created by congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict. The very next day you quoted to continue federal funding for nascar sponsorship. Can you explain that . How is that fiscal responsibility . Walsh its almost as if as as a country we not serious. We voted on 1000 things over the last couple of years in congress, real specific spending items and larger spending items. Trying as best as we can to limit what government does but the country has got to get serious. We have 10,000 americans retiring every day in this country. We are living longer. There is so much more that needs to be cut and it almost goes beyond cuts. We need to reform what government does. Moderator to specific points that just happened to jump out with your record in the first weeks that you were there. Was that something you knew you were voting on because you said you were voting on thousands of things. And so, how do you explain yes to nascar and no to an institute that promotes peace . Walsh i tried to make a rule when i went to washington that i would try to cut Government Spending wherever i could. There are is a few notable exceptions. I voted to cut defense generally but the nascar amendment amendment or bill was to help recruit men and women who served in our Armed Services and is something our Armed Services asked for and i think its important that we continue to try to make a great effort to recruit good men and women. That was probably part of that specific vote. Moderator Tammy Duckworth you dont have a voting record that we can site just yet but the opposition says that you have been a protege of former governor Rod Blagojevich as you were and then governor clans and president obama and eighth district most everyone generally agrees was drawn to get you elected perhaps and speaker mike madigan said that you were going to buck the trend in the Affordable Care act but what is to say you were not towing the line on the Democratic Party and all these people that you might be beholden to . Duckworth take a look at my record. Im proud of the work i did for the state of illinois. When i started illinois was in terms of access to Veterans Benefits by 1. 2 million in this nation. By the time i left we were in the top five in the nation in the way i did that that was a tough time to be working in springfield. You had governor blagojevich and nothing was getting done and you know what i do to get things moving . I founded the first bipartisan caucus of legislators in springfield on veterans issues. I reached out to republicans, state senators and said we have to get this through because this infighting, nothing is happening here. With the help of a bipartisan Legislature Standing up to Rod Blagojevich and standing up to madigan we were able to pass the first programming in the nation that provided grants to groups that help veterans across the nation and 10 million out of work so far in their many more programs besides that. We instituted the first posttraumatic stress hotline, 24hour hotline in the nation even before the federal va did it. I did that with the help of the republican legislature. Moderator three quick points. Ms. Duckworth has been on record for a couple of years at the Affordable Care act, obamacare didnt go far enough. Secondly, this district was drawn for her. It was not simply drawn by a democrat for a democrat and it was drawn by very powerful people named axelrod and durbin. And a final point tammy did do some good things when she ran the d. A. Here in illinois. In illinois like a lot of states still has huge problems in the care they give to their veterans. Moderator lets move onto some big issues facing the country. Duckworth i dont get to respond to that . Moderator we will hopefully get back to that. We have a lot of things to cover tonight. Lets talk about Social Security and medicare. The medicare system has only 12 years left in its funding of Social Security could be bankrupted by 2033. Specifics on how to reform and add longevity to these programs . Duckworth there are few things we need to do but i start from the point of where the district has told me they want to be on and that is they want to maintain the guarantee of Social Security and the ones once maintained a guarantee of medicare. And not once in the 18 months have i been campaigning has a single senior, to me and said tammy please do what joe walsh wants to do and please put me out on the street with a voucher and let me fight the Insurance Companies on my own. We need to be honest about the fraud and abuse in the program and here is where i agree with peter roskam. Who knew i was going to agree with peter roskam . It would go after the fraud, waste and abuse in medicare. We have to be honest that there is fraud and waste and i would also look at medicare being allowed to negotiate for lower drug prices. We were able to do that in the department of Veterans Affairs and you know the va by so much and Prescription Drugs and get a ball Purchase Price that is cheaper. Moderator is that be enough . Duckworth you dont cut medicare to save it. Where you cut or places like the joint forces striker aircraft, 385 billion that we dont need right now. Lets look at the oil and gas subsidies, 155 billion. Moderator mr. Wasser proposals for reforming Social Security and medicare . Walsh the first is to get serious. Medicare wont be here. It will disappear within about eight to 12 years and every elected official in washington knows that. Republicans and democrats. Democrats dont say that publicly. There were only two things you can do. You can do what obamacare does and what ms. Duckworth supports which is cut medicare. Right now 716 billion will be cut out of medicare to fund obamacare. Duckworth that is an outright lie congressman. That is simply not true. Aarp pointed out that is not an accurate statement and you can keep repeating it but it does not make it true. Walsh is part of obamacare to cut 716 billion another thing it will do is lead to rationing because the legislation puts in 15 bureaucratic panel of nondoctors in charge of medicaid decisions. Moderator under the Affordable Care act, how is it different from the same amount in the ryan budget . Subform that romney proposes to keep those funds in medicare and reform medicare. An important point and let me answer what needs to be done with medicare. Even though republicans were so aware of how delicate it can be to touch medicare, if you are over 55 nothing changes but to keep this program around for folks younger than 55, the other way we have got to go is which is is what the ryan plan is, give seniors options. Moderator you support governor romneys proposal for vouchers and what you call options for walsh ive never heard any other word than voucher for the romney ryan plan. Is called premium support and what we currently do with Medicare Part d which we give seniors options and its important to note even for people younger than 55 in the republican plan if you want to keep traditional medicare you can. You are either going to ration or you are going to give seniors options. Ms. Duckworth and president obama want to ration care. Duckworth its simply not true. He voted three times for the ryan budget. That is from the wall street journal. He wants to put seniors out on the street with a voucher and even further than the ryan budget, he wants to eliminate the Prescription Drug benefit. Do you really think eliminating the Prescription Drug benefit will save medicare. He wants seniors to pay more for medicare and want seniors to pay more for Prescription Drugs. Moderator congressman walsh respond. Walsh the Chicago Tribune and every other responsible in this country has said if we dont end as it is, its going to and as we know it all by itself. You wont preserve it for future generations. We have to do that. Moderator we need to move along. We have a trillion dollar deficit in this country. Congressman walsh, governor romney famously said in the first debate that among the things he would target is the corporation for public drug testing and big bird which got a lot of attention but that is such a small fraction of the federal budget. Give me some bigticket items that you would cut. Walsh the bigticket items are what we call this pile of mandatory spending. You basically break the federal budget into defense, nondefense Discretionary Spending and mandatory spending. When it comes to nondefense Discretionary Spending what we have tried to do in the last couple of years is reverse the direction that ms. Pelosi and president obama were going in which the increased that by 28 . The specifics are to reform these entitlement programs. Moderator such as . Walsh the biggest and fastestgrowing piece of the federal budget, by far, is these Health Care Costs and our aging population. I voted to cut defense. Part of the ryan budget is to cut defense. Everything needs to be cut. Ive said publicly moderator when you say defense would you referring to . Walsh we have bases around the world that we dont need and we have weapon systems that are fighting previous wars and ms. Duckworth knows as well as i do in defense like any department of government, there is huge waste and abuse and there are huge inefficiencies. Moderator ms. Duckworth . Duckworth its not a guarantee of medicaid or Social Security. Let me give you a trillion dollars in cuts right now. I mentioned the f. 33 for striker airplane. We dont need it. We have the f18 and the f22 that dominate the sky. We dont need it right now. Moderator how much would that bring it down . Duckworth there are 24 billion being allowed to be negotiated for lower drug prices in 41 billion in oil and gas subsidies we should be going after. We also need to look at 155 million that is just for the loopholes that allow not to pay their fair taxes yet districts in my moderator let me awesome quick questions just yes or no. We need to move forward. In terms of income tax deductions, mortgage interest. Walsh i would be very open to getting rid of it. Duckworth he has said that many times before. Walsh i would lower and look to eventually eliminate duckworth i think we need to lower taxes on the middle class and raise taxes on those making more than cordova Million Dollars. Moderator which ones would you look at . Walsh we could get rid of a whole basket full of them. What we need to do in this country is moved towards a simple flat tax of americans can keep more of their money and so only the wealthy dont have they have all the money to pay accountants and lawyers to find every deduction in the books. If you want the wealthy to pay more, simplify the tax rate them make a more transparent. Moderator corporate loopholes. Duckworth General Electric and corporations that ship their overseas so they dont have to pay any taxes. Moderator we have a question from of our one of her viewers and this goes back to the Affordable Care act. Ms. Duckworth have said repeatedly obamacare did not go far enough. What did you mean . Duckworth what i mean is i think that our business