Studios of wluktv. Behind me is legendary lambeau field, another example of the teams long Time Commitment to excellence. Tonights debate continues the with him bas longstanding commitment to excellence and public service. The debate is underwritten by the wba foundtation and supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Association of independent colleges and universities. It is being broadcast on radio and wisconsin and on cspan. Now lets go to our moderator, a veteran wisconsin broadcaster, member of the wba hall of fame, and professor of leadership and media integrity at low oil adjustorchicago, jill gizler. We want questions that are and the candidates answer with specifics, no ducking, dodging, or changing the topic. In addition, we are incorporating a social media desk and journalist so viewers can pitch in on a topic or two that we might otherwise have missed. Viewers can do this via the hashtag wba debate. Again, social media questioners use the hashtag wba debate. Now were counting on the candidates to do their part, so lets welcome ron johnson and challenger Russ Feingold. Well, gentlemen, let me remind you and the viewers of the formal and the rules of the road to which well all agreed in advance. You with will each have one minute and 30 seconds to respond to a panelist or social media desk question. We will alternate the order of the questions so each of you has the opportunity for the first and last word. If your responses dont really asked or you need context or clarification, i will invoke the moderators option and i will give you 30 seconds to give me a specific reply. Your opponent will also then get 30 seconds as well. Now, we keep to time limits. Theres a countdown clock in the studio. It is big, and we can all see it. If you go over your time or intrude on each others time, i will give you one warning. If you ignore it, your mic will cease to function. So finally, we will conclude with two minute statements from each candidate. We flipped a coin. The answer, the first answer will go to Russ Feingold. The first question from tom wilborn of wl u. K. Green bay. First topic for the evening as to do with a recent Marquette UniversityLaw School Poll showing 53 of likely wisconsin voters said they were uncomfortable with a hillary uncomfortable with a donald trump presidency. Senator johnson, you have called trumps recently surfaced comments about women completely indefensible, but you have not said you do not endorse him. Mr. Feingold, you cannot endorse clinton until it was clear that she would be the nominee and still have not said whether you voted for her in the wisconsin primary. Starting with senator johnson, do you stand 100 behind your partys nominee . 100 . Yes or no and why . Sorry. I have the first answer in. That was my error. Ron johnson has the first answer. Ive been very consistent in how ive been dealing with our republican nominee. I say im supporting the areas of agreement. On the big things, growing our economy, healing our economy, making sure it realizes full potential, strengthen the military, right now were hammering out our military, defeating isis. Securing our border. We have to commit ourselves to doing that. The Supreme Court as opposed to super legislators. And certainly supporting someone who is going to change washington. Thats certainly what i went there to do. So ive been supporting those areas of agreement, but its been ive not been shy about disagreeing with our candidate, our nominee, and im not going to defend the indefensible, which truthfully is kind of a marked difference between myself and senator feingold, who must be about the last american who thinks that Hillary Clinton is trustworthy. And he is complete her, even though she has decades, a decade, decades worth of record of corruption, lying bald faced to the american public, dereliction of duty in benghazi, and grossly negligent and unbelievably reckless behavior in regards to americas top texas secrets really does show that shes completely disqualified from being president. So again, i will, as ive always done in business, i will search agreement. But i will hold whoever is president accountable. I also will work with whoever is president in terms of trying to solve these enormous challenges facing america. Well, this is well beyond just trying to find areas of agreement. This is about deciding who is going to be the leader of the United States and probably the most significant person in the world. Its my view that supporting donald trump is completely irresponsible and that no one should really do it after theyve seen the fact at that he simply isnt qualified to be president. He doesnt have the temperament to be president. He has used divisiveness, saying horrible things about various ethnic groups and others in the country to get himself the nomination and it appears a lot of other inappropriate thing. This is no person to be a roll model for the people of our country, and i think it will be very frightening for the rest of the world if we elected donald trump. Senator johnson has had a chance his colleagues who are also in tough reelection fights who have said no, enough is enough. Im not going to support donald trump. I challenge him to do the same, because its just wrong. This is one of these times when you have to be an american first, not a politician running for office. Not a republican or a democrat, but an american who is worried about the future of our great country, and ive supported Hillary Clinton and bernie i said all along that i would happily support either one, and of course i am confident, having worked with secretary clinton in a number of contexts, that she will be an excellent president. All right. Lets go to the next question. This question is about guns. 49 people gunned down in orlandos pulse nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in u. S. History. Also in june, five Dallas Police officers killed in an ambush people keep saying we need to do something to reverse the problem. A recent marquette Law School Poll found 85 of registered voters in wisconsin say they support closing the private gun sale loophole. Mr. Feingold, youve been out spoken about expanding background checks and have mentioned the possible use of executive order. Senator johnson, you recently voted against a bill that would have allowed the attorney general to bar people in the federal terrorism watch list from buying guns and voted against another bill requiring background checks for guns purchased at gun shows and online. What is the one thing that you pledge to wisconsin tonight that you will do if elected to better protect our communities, yet still protect our Constitutional Rights . Mr. Feingold . Well, having grownup in wisconsin, ive always understood the importance of gun rights and the second amendment. Ive always believed in it. I believe that people have a right to have guns for purposes of selfdefense and hunting and my mind. On this one, i follow the common sense of the people of wisconsin and the one thing i would make sure of is that we follow the common sense of the people of wisconsin who are demanding, even republican are his demanding overwhelmingly that we have background checks at gun shows and on the internet. So i would work extremely hard to make sure that actually occurred, that the votes were lined up. I know, there are republican senators who have been bipartisan on this issue. Have cosponsored legislation to do this. Senator johnson has not. Senator johnson does not follow the common sense of the people of wisconsin on this it issue. He follows the rules and the edicts of the nra. He will not buck the nra on any of this. Even on Something Like background checks, which Everybody Knows is just a common sense thing that follows on the idea of background checks when you buy a gun at a shop. So this is one of those moments when the people of the state have to decide, do you wanted somebody who respects gun writes, but also believes in appropriate regulations, or somebody who will only do what thats the voice on november 8th. Senator johnson . Theres absolutely new orleans doubt about the fact that additional gun control laws do not solve the problem. If they did, youd see the murder rates in chicago a whole lot lower. They have extremely onerous gun control laws. Simply doesnt work. I have backed provisions to increase enforcement of straw purchases. I think senator feingold also knows the vast majority of guns purchased in gun shows do through background checks. So the problem in orlando is not one of gun control. The problem is the fact that we have not achieved president obamas goal against isis. He laid out the goal two years ago in september 2014, and president obama said defeat it. Weve not defeated isis. Its been more than two years. What we have to do, we have to lead. We have to heal our economy so we can strengthen our military. So we actually have the resources and then we have to that goal of defeating isis. As long as isis exists, theyll inspire the type of loan wolf activity that we saw in orlando n san bernardino. As i travel around wisconsin, i ask if youve ever heard of samuel hoe ham he had hamza. Very few do. We had the potential of an orlando sized terror attack in miami. He was trying to buy a fully automatic weapon on the black market. So criminals will be able to get guns. Ad the answer. Defeating isis is. Senator, we do have an additional question coming up on isis. I believe the question was what would you do specifically about guns beyond isis . And youll have 30 seconds for that. I supported care what man grassilys chairman grassilys gun control bill that would have increased approximate purchases of straw purchases. It would have increased enforcements of those people who violate the current background checks. It was my leadership to try to people on the nofly list and the select eve list from getting guns, but the problem is the bills that were being offered it no chance to pass through the house. They were opposed by both the nra and the aclu. And i was trying to bridge that gap. If we had more time, i think i would have been successful. Senator johnson is not trying to bridge the gap. The republican senator who sponsored that, senator collins, has specifically noted that it was his action in proposing an nra proposed idea on this gutted the opportunity. This was a gulf of mexico bill that was going to try to solve this problem, but because senator johnson has no independence for the National Rifle association, despite partisan effort, failed. That is the actual story of what happened on that bill. Next question. The recent figures show 91 of people across the country had health insurance. At the same time, premiums continue to rise. In wisconsin, premiums in the an average of 16 next year. Starting with senator johnson, what solutions do you have to reduce insurance costs . First of all, you are way under stating the problem with obama care. This year is the lowest percentage increase. We had really got hit in the first year. Manhattan institute conducted a study after obama cares implementation and the lowest price increase of those six demographic groups is 1. 8 times. The highest three times. If youre month for healthcare, now youre paying 180 or 300. Obama care has been an unmitigated disaster. I was at an interview yesterday and one asked me, would you turn back the clock and go back to where we were . Well, when premiums have doubled and tripled, in order to go back where premiums are now to feel that a third what have they are today because of obama care, absolutely id go back. And we would go back and wed allow states to continue to regulate. Id eliminate the individual mandate. I would allow individuals to i would reestablish high risk pools. Those things actually worked. The senator feingold, who is proud of his vote, said he knew exactly what was in the law. Said theres nothing in oh bam care that would prevent you from keeping your healthcare plan, and yet obama care eliminated the high risk pools that actually worked here in wisconsin. Solo bama care is a massive consumer fraud. If you like your healthcare plan, if you like your doctor, you can keep them. Premiums will decline by as much as 2,500 per family. Those were the three promises. Those were lies. It never our got to go to free market, patient centered reforms that actually put the patients in control, a little freedom of choice is what would actually work. Mr. Feingold . Well, the fraud here actually is pretending that these problems didnt exist before the Affordable Care act, and also pretending that the Affordable Care act didnt make real progress. Yes, senator johnson was very straightforward there. He said hed take back the clock and take back all the things that have been accomplished. That means 20 Million People who fordable care act would lose their coverage. 20 Million People. Thats not just important for those people. Its important for the hospitals and others who no longer have to see these people as charity cases and expensive cases. Ive been told by hospitals in monroe, wisconsin hospital association, by patients and others that this is a major step forward. Ive heard stories over the years of people who were blocked, people with cancer and other issues. They couldnt get insurance because of the prohi preexisting conditions. In other words, the fact that they could be prevented from getting insurance because of a preexisting condition. The Affordable Care act takes care of that. He would remove that. There are all kinds of young people all over this state who can stay on their parents policy now until theyre 26. Hed get rid of that. There are people with Mental Health issues, opiate addiction issues that are very serious and they are now covered because of the Affordable Care act. So its not perfect, and believe we need to act, and if i have the opportunity to be the senator from the state, id actually act on this instead of defending deductibles, as senator johnson recently did on a radio interview. And we have been hearing from citizens on this topic, so it takes us now to mike murad of wl u. K. At the social media desk. Mr. Feingold, i want to ask you first, some of the people are saying that it was put in place too quickly. If you had to keep one part of obama for both of you, which would it be . And it would only be one on each side that you have to do. You want me to start . Mr. Feingold please . Id get rid of the cadillac tax. I dont think it makes sense. It was something i opposed at the time. It affects perfectly legitimate policies and its one of those things that i think would be a beginning step to improve it. We need bipartisan efforts to try to change this bill. There are other problems as well such as the socalled family evaluated ads afternoon individual for the Affordable Care act, but not in a situation where they have a family. That doesnt make any sense. And you feel ink we need to accelerate our efforts to it actually, as i said a minute ago, make sure that the premium and his deductible its are under control. That means actually making signing up on the exchanges more affordable. The more people that sign up on those exchanges, the better it is for the private Insurance Companies. These Insurance Companies have indicated that they have dropped out, in some cases, or are because the mix of people that they have right now are a lot of people who tend to be sicker as opposed to healthier. The more people that are covered, as has been done under at fordable care act, the better possibility that those who remain and buy the private insurance will be a better mix, and it will allow them to make the appropriate profit they need to make in order for this to make sense. So all of these are bipartisan things. I am going to try to work on a bipartisan basis if im elected. Senator johnson wont. Hes obsessed with getting rid it was thrown out here and thrown out in the federal 7th circuit courts, because he is litigating rather than trying to work with other members of the senate to try to say, how can we make this better. Senator . Certainly one thing i would keep is allow young adults to the age of 26 to stay on their parents 57 plan. That really is good in terms of our insurance carriers. The thing id definitely eliminate would be the federal definition of healthcare. That is what has driven premiums through the roof. Again, let me state, the healthcare plan, if you like your doctor, you can keep them. Premiums decline by up to 2,500 per year per family. All of those things have the not come true. Premiums have skyrocketed. Senator feingold said the healthcare law isnt as bad ads people are pretending it was. I tell you what, janice fe niman whose premiums went to 780 a month had to quit a parttime job. Shes a mother. She had to quick a parttime job premiums went from 500 to 1,200 per month. Millions of americans lost their healthcare. Thousands of wisconsinites. You knew that was going to happen. You had to know. You said you know its in there. Yet you promised people that wouldnt happen. These networks have been narrowing, theyre losing access to doctors they know and that they trusted. So the fact of the matter is, prior to obama care in wisconsin, 09 of wisconsinites were cove after obama care, less than 95 are covered by insurance. It hasnt had an impact, other than people lost healthcare they could afford, losing access to doctors, and premiums have doubled and trip and would thats because of people like senator feingold pass this go law. Youre the out of time. He lied well go to the next question now. I know wed like to stay on this topic a long time, because it affects so many people, but we also have some other important remember topic. Chris schuler of wfrv. Senator johnson, were going texas. Tonight u. S. Troops are in iraq advising iraqi forces as they prepare to recapture months all from ice us fighters. News broke just a couple hours about two milwaukee men who have now been charged with trying to help isis. The connection obvious, terrorism and isis. A recent Pew Research Poll shows 80 of people questioned say that terrorism is their for concern, but for this question tonight, lets focus on isis youve both served on intelligence and Foreign Relations committees. You have s