spirit democrats need to win for senate seats to take control. democrats are targeting mcconnell that is facing his opponent and they had their only debate in early voting began on tuesday. >> from wky it the merged

watched the senate race in america happening here in kentucky mitch mcconnell versus amy mcgrath we the race and the issues and what is at stake. >> over the next hour we will talk to the candidates from everything from the covid-19 pandemic to the us supreme court. >> uk student government welcomes you to the kentucky debate. >> good evening live from the studios frombi lexington and i am joined tonight by u.s. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and retired lieutenant colonel mcgrath. we are following cdc guidelines although in the same studio we are each 20 feet apart each candidate has 60 seconds to answer questions with a brief rebuttal is often one - - also

permitted determining the will answer first and lieutenant colonel we will begin with you. going into the selectiong nothing impacts the voters more than the pandemic dream as part of you should be tested before the debate kentucky's governor and his family are in quarantined after exposure russia the federal government be doing right now to mitigate the threat of covid-19? >> you are right it has upended all of our lives but if you take a step back to recognize that senator mcconnell is the majority leader has a highest level national security briefings of any member of congress and way about the dangersy back in january but did he tell us to come back to kentucky to say we need to get the nation and the president prepared? know he didn't. the first time he said the word coronavirus president of the stock market crashed in all along he says he's very

bipartisan even now in kentucky and america needs more a that's not what you will get for me i will plan to get us through so the schools can open safely in the economy back and stop playing theseac games senator mcconnell still doesn't have a plan he will do what's right for country. >> i want to start by congratulating colonel mcgrath for her service in the military, it's been my privilege to nominate 131 kentucky women to have the same opportunity she did also i was involved to make it possible for women in the militaryn to go into different jobs like being able to fly in combat. with regards to the question you asked, what i did with a

3 trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill providing $13 billion for kentucky and hospitals and healthcare providers and i try to be a good example when we were back into session i was the one who said we need to wear a mask i could social distance they made it clear coronavirus is not going away and we need to practice distancing until we finally get a vaccine to put this in the rearvieww mirror. mcgrath: senator mcconnell that legislation was passed in march and here weh. are the coronavirus is still happening but the legislation in may was presented and is sitting on his desk.

he didn't see the urgency all summer and took a vacation here in kentucky 1 million ine filed for unemploymentt the last six months for 300,000 is still don't have healthcare in the middle of the coronavirus and walking away from negotiations even president trump was negotiations to happen. >> where she supported was the heroes bill in the house and that included tax cuts for the rich people in new york and california, healthcare for illegal immigrants and by the way the ball that she supported after the care zach provided more money for puerto rico than kentucky. in spite of her best efforts she is in line with schumer and policy and all of these issues. >> so the two most important

voices they hear regarding covid-19 and the messages are different. how would you rate the handling of the historic health crisis that we now face? >> they are done the best they can with the unknown disease we are trying to figure out how to handle. imagine the situation we had in early march when doctor fauci recommended we shut down the economy to deal with the healthcare pandemic. we were confronted with a combination of problems with the shutdown economy at the same time t. the c.a.r.e.s. act began in my office we drafted it and built it-- out and literally flooded the zone ultimately with $3 trillion to do with the healthcare pandemic and the

economic crisis to shut down the government. now we learned some lessons doctor fauci said we will not shut that down so in the meantime until we get a vaccine is to practice social distancing in trying to prevent thehe spread. mcgrath: i give the president, the white house and this congress and asked for handling of the coronavirus. we have 213,000 americans in nine months that's more than world war ii, korea, vietnam, persian gulf in iraq and afghanistan war combined and the citizens who did a good job? by percent of the population 20 percent of the cases. and we still have a president with mixed messages from the white house and how to handle the virus and senator

mcconnell his one job is to help america through this crisis and pass legislation to keep the economy afloat so people can make ends meet and instead of doing that he tries to wear through supreme court nominee rightht now instead ofhr negotiating all summer long to make that happen. >> what she wanted us to pass is the bill for healthcare for illegals and tax cuts for those in californiaia and puerto rico and kentucky. and to put something reasonable together i laid out a pool in the senate a month ago to provide protection so people didn't get sued as a resul result, jobs, healthcare, we

couldn't get a single democrat to vote for it. it's pretty clear to me her party doesn't want a solution.ti mcgrath: senator mcconnell three years ago had no problem ramming through working overtime to pass a 2 trillion-dollar tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent but now when it comes to kentucky families and putting food on the table, and returners that 30 percent are facing eviction, he will not pass $2 trillion even president trump wants done right now. $2trillion for corporations or kentucky in the middle of a pandemic or a national crisis in 100 years? >> numeral one - - you both make references to economic activity in the trouble with getting a deal it has a devastating impact on the economy and we are well aware of that but the post to the

employment benefits airlines started mass layoffs those poop one - - programs it ended as well and with the university ofit kentucky we are privileged to have students perspective so where do you stand on the negotiation of the second stimulus bill? mcgrath: as i said before it is a dereliction of duty to not be negotiating and working on this. this is the first time in a century, and 100 years we have a major international crisis. nobody is looking to the united states for leadership because we have such poor leaders right now. we cannot get the coronavirus under control. the one thing that we're

supposed to do is help people right now and here's the problem senator mcconnell built assented one - - the senate that is so dysfunctional even in the middle of a national crisis you cannot get it done we have got to get our democracy back in working because we have to get through this crisis right now. >> my opponent opponent is entitled to her opinion but our own set of facts. here's the situation. we have been in negotiation speaker. she has been demanding we through $3 trillion at this problem in a way that is largely unrelated to solving the problem. we have been trying to do is reachre an agreement with

divided government and the speaker has been unreasonable and not interested in getting the outcome as we have tried and tried i put the bill on the floor with half a trillion dollars about a month ago to look at a highly targeted way and we can get a single democrat to vote foror it. >>. mcgrath: all summer long senator mcconnell didn't see thee urgency and says it's too hard is too hard to get it done basically saying that's not hard to do what's right okay. it's hard and playing us 70-dollar jet at night in bad

weather. that's hard in the middle of a national crisis that's's not hard. >> when you have divided governmentnm it takes both sides to get an agreement and the speaker of the house that's why the talks have gone on for so long she was to blame the public and senate if i was watching this debate i would say why can't you gett together? because of the proximity to the election has led the process but she wants to pass the blame on the senate. >> but the house passed a bill in may.

the senate went on vacation and you just don't do that it is a national crisis unit that the coronavirus wasn't going to end. you knew this. the thing if you want to call yourself a leader you have to get thingsgs done. we just get the job done. spent about the house has been gone reviews the phones to communicate but then to cooperate to have a reasonable personal and then to go on and on for months and we belabor this pretty thoroughly it

seems to me shootings with apollo i think they are the problem we need a solution. >> we know we have a problem and it is continuing and so is the pandemic. it appears we have an escalation and as the flu season approaches what is the appropriate balance between keeping the economymy open and students in school and protecting the health of americans? >> this will not be put in the review mirror until we get a vaccine. corners.

the honest answer is until we get a vaccine, we cannot entirely put this behind us. we have a resurgence here in kentucky, a resurgence around the country. the vaccine -- the coronavirus is not going to go away until we can kill it. it is going to take the vaccine to do that. bill: lt. col. mcgrath. lt. col. mcgrath: certainly the coronavirus is not going to go away until we get a vaccine, but we still have the worst trajectory of first world countries when it comes to the coronavirus. there are other countries that have been able to get this under control and they have done it with a national testing and tracing plan that we do not have

in this country. this virus was so bungled at the federal level that we literally had states and communities fighting each other for personal protective equipment. there is like no leadership at all. so what do we need? we need immediate aid right now that unfortunately senator mcconnell does not want to work on. but we need unemployment insurance from those people, for those people who have been thrown off their work for no fault of their own. we need another round of ppe money for small businesses. we need a testing and tracing plan. i cannot believe nine months into this thing i am still saying that. we need leadership at the very top to talk to us, to tell us the truth about this virus and how deadly it is. bill: anything to add to this? sen. mcconnell: i know how to make deals. i made three major deals with joe biden during the obama era. what the problem is has been an unwillingness by the speaker to make a deal. we can spend the whole debate on

this if we want to. she wants to blame the republican senate. i think it has been clearly the case that it is the democratic speaker of the house. there are some other issues going on like a new supreme court justice. we might want to cover it at some point. bill: lt. col. mcgrath, if you want to -- lt. col. mcgrath: i was a united states marine for 20 years. when you go into combat, you do not make excuses. you get the job done. you are the senate majority leader. he is the senate majority leader and all he can do right now is make excuses in the middle of a national crisis. he has built a senate -- what was once the greatest liberty of body in the world, cannot even function in the middle of a national crisis. it is because of what he has built. morning, the senate judiciary committee began confirmation hearings for supreme court justice nominee

amy coney barrett. this is on the minds of many people and as it turns out, many u.k. students when he asked them to set their questions -- when we asked him to submit their questions. one of the students asked, should the hearings be happening this close to an election when early voting is already underway? lt. col. mcgrath? lt. col. mcgrath: no, that is the short answer. nobody should be voting on the supreme court nominee right now. four years ago, senator mcconnell said by the mcconnell rule during an election year, we do not vote on the nominee. let the people decide. right now with 22 days until an election, we should let the people decide. what is really important is we should be focusing on aid for kentucky and not a supreme court nominee. let's be clear about what this is about. senator mcconnell, for a decade, tried to undermine and get rid

of the affordable care act legislatively. he could not do it. so now he is trying to do it in the courts. the first case the supreme court is going to hear after the election is going to be about the affordable care act. that is something that we really becauseave in kentucky the affordable care act did a lot of good for many kentuckians. i do not want to throw it away. i want to fix it. bill: senator mcconnell? sen. mcconnell: no one believes the supreme court is going to strike down the affordable care act. what this is really about is trying to change the subject away from this extraordinary nominee that is before the senate. an outstanding woman, and accomplished scholar, a judge on the seventh circuit, a marvelous family, seven children, two of them adopted, one of them with special needs. an absolute legal all-star. in this judiciary committee,

they wanted to talk about anything other than the nominee. this is the progressive position. my book -- my opponent says she is the most progressive person in kentucky. what does that mean? it means they want to stack the supreme court, add numbers so they can get an outcome they like. she once to make the district of columbia a state, puerto rico a state, get rid of the filibuster in the senate. there is not a dime's worth of difference between my opponent and all the national democrats that you have washed -- that you have watched. if you give them control of the government, that is what they will do. bill: any additional response yucca -- response? lt. col. mcgrath:lt. col. mcgrath: i want to do what is right for kentucky. in washington, this is what you get, a man whose word means nothing. integrity means nothing. does one thing four years ago and then changes his mind and makes up an excuse next four years. it is what everybody hates about

washington. we cannot change washington until we change the people we send there. sen. mcconnell: at least in those ads she runs about the swamp? washington is the swamp. she wants to give the swamp a place where they are full of influence peddlers and lobbyists two senators just like kentucky. that is one of the things she is in favor of. that is why she is one of if not the most progressive person in kentucky. they want to completely change the rules in the senate to give the an advantage, admit district and puerto rico as a state and then pack the supreme court so they will get the outcomes they want that they cannot pass through the congress. bill: do you want to respond? lt. col. mcgrath: i would just say that senator mcconnell is lying to you about my stances. you know, but that is par for the course. bill: would you favor enlarging

the court? lt. col. mcgrath: i think we should be working on unpacking the senate right now because he has polarized and made this partisan mess of the supreme court so bad that people were even saying they were going to vote for or against the nominee before they even had the name. in my mind, that is not what we should be looking at. i'm focused on kentucky. sen. mcconnell: you notice she will not answer the question in joe biden will. not answer the question. . what biden said is i will tell you after the election. we are entitled to know now whether you are going to pack the supreme court. ruth bader ginsburg who we all revere said in an interview last year nine is the right number. nine is the right number according to ruth bader ginsburg. . it has been nine since 1869. lt. col. mcgrath: except for the one year that you left eight all year long. here is the thing, ruth bader

ginsburg also said she did not think her seat should be filled until the next president. it does come down to this. when ruth bader ginsburg was initially nominated and confirmed, she was confirmed 96-3 at the time. mitch mcconnell was not the senate majority leader then so we actually had regular order. since he has become the leader, he has made this a partisan, complete weapon of a mess we have with the supreme court. we have got to get rid of him. everyone of the supreme court controversies were started by her party. thomas, cavanaugh, look what they did to cavanaugh year ago. tried to destroy his reputation. under the constitution, the for aent can nominate vacancy on the supreme court any time he so chooses. and as president has -- and this president has for a vacancy during election year just like a

lot of other presidents have over the years. 17 of the times they have been confirmed when you have the party of the president also in control of the senate. bill: not going to leave this general topic but if you judge barrett is confirmed -- if judge barrett is confirmed, there are some who are concerned that roe v. wade could be overturned and a western kentuckian university student wants to know your thoughts on the and where do you stand on women's reproductive health issues? lt. col. mcgrath: i am pro-life -- sen. mcconnell: i am pro-life myself and enjoy the support of right to life and the susan b. anthony list and others who worked on this issue over the years. that is a different issue than what is before the supreme court. every president has been surprised by how supreme court nominees that they have put up have voted. no one knows what may happen

with any nominee. every republican nominee has been projected to be a disaster for women and none of them have turned out that way. we do not know how the court may rule. nominee, just like ruth bader ginsburg, will not answer any question about a case that might come before her. we will not know. that is one of the reasons judges have a lifetime appointment. they are independent once they get on the court. if they are strict constructionists, they follow the constitution and the law. bill: lt. col. mcgrath. lt. col. mcgrath: i am catholic and i'm the mother of three small children. this issue has been an important issue to me my whole life. i am somebody who believes that government should not be legislating my religion or my religious belief on others. i do believe we already have reasonable restrictions on abortion in this country as outlined in roe v. wade. womanaid, i am the only

up here on this stage today and the only mother. i would like to point out if you're talking about life issues, you have to talk about the fact that before the affordable care act in kentucky, there was not a single insurer on the individual market that would cover maternity care. senator mcconnell has had a terrible record of trying to get rid of the affordable care act all along. kentuckyildren born in are born on medicaid. senator mcconnell wants to cut that. those are life programs. as a mother, i always want to protect children and protect health care for people. bill: additional response? sen. mcconnell: speaking of health, what you really wants and came out for was a single-payer system. that means the government is in charge of your health care. and then she is said a public option -- she said a public option. . there is not a dime's worth of

difference. if you put all of health care in the arms of the government, think about it this way, if you went to the department of motor vehicles and asked them to build you a corvette, do you think it would work out well? that is what we are talking about here. you do not want the federal government to be entirely in charge of looking for testing, vaccines, treatment and the long lines that will come as a result of the government taking over. they are disappointed in obamacare. they want to go the whole way and put all of our health care in the hands of the government. bill: lt. col. mcgrath. lt. col. mcgrath: i'm not sure what the sender is talking about when he talks about they. i can tell you where i stand. i defeated my opponents who were for the medicare for all system. clearly, we need to fix health care in the system -- this country. we have threaded thousand kentuckians who do not have

health care in the pandemic. senator mcconnell 30 years ago said he ran -- sender mcconnell 30 years ago ran an ad that said he was going to fix health care. that is like my eight-year-old son saying hey mom, i am going to take out the trash but i need another six years. he is not interested in fixing health care. bill: early voting starts in kentucky tomorrow. 650,000 kentuckians have requested absentee ballots across the country. there are questions over mail-in voting and the potential for fraud. are you concerned about the integrity of this election? thatol. mcgrath: i think we have -- here in kentucky, we have a democratic governor who came together with a republican secretary of state and they came up with a very good plan for everybody to vote. it is wonderful. they actually came together and negotiated. isn't that amazing? i wish we could do that at the federal level.

i think kentucky has never made it easier to vote than this year and that is incredible. early voting starts tomorrow. i am very concerned about the u.s. postal service. the postal service is such an important service. it provides prescription medication to our seniors, to our veterans particularly in rural areas and it needs to be helped through this coronavirus. i'm afraid senator mcconnell has not done enough. i would be helping our postal service. let's face it. if you can hand out $500 billion in flush funds for corporations, you should be able to help everyday people. one of the ways this to help our postal service. bill: their response? sen. mcconnell: my opponents likes to mention how long i have been in the senate. she does not seem to be troubled by the fact that joe biden has been in washington 47 years. would have been leaving the set up of the time i got there. for amused by her advocacy

a position on term limits. it would have eliminated joe biden's career before i even got to the senate. the question is who can be effective for kentucky? they have for congressional leaders. i am the other one not from new york or california. i loud kentucky to punch above its weight. what does it mean to kentucky? 17.5 billionterm, dollars for the commonwealth that would not have been there had i not been the majority leader of the senate. give kentucky the opportunity to punch above its weight on national issues and to bring home things for the state that it would not otherwise get. senator mcgrath: mcconnell like to talk about kentucky punching above its weight. we feel like we have been sucker punched. we have the highest cancer rates

in the country, the highest rates of diabetes, the highest -- our economy has not been this bad since the great depression. it is just unbelievable. senator mcconnell would like to talk about term limits. i would love to talk about them. trump talked about term limits. it is top on his agenda. i agree with him on that. we should get them right now. less just take opioids. 275 million dollars i brought into kentucky for the opioid fight. $87 million of that was the largest grant university of kentucky has ever gotten. all of that was the outgrowth of two bipartisan bills, the past one of them during the last two years of president obama that i negotiated with him called the 21st century cures act. then the cares act came later and all of that, i was deeply

involved in negotiating what produced extraordinary results for the commonwealth. lt. col. mcgrath: meanwhile, you want to take away health care and medicaid expansion which --ers 50% of kentucky kentuckians that are addicted right now and getting them the treatment they need. it is just ridiculous. bill: i will give you a few seconds to respond to that. that was a little bit out of order. we will move on. you're watching the kentucky debate. we are here with the republican and democratic candidates for the u.s. and kentucky. and retiredell lieutenant colonel amy mcgrath. we are going through a series of questions. the death of breonna taylor and the grand jury decision has garnered national attention.

nightsrt more than 100 of protests in louisville, questioned about racial injustice and what happened are on the minds of many of college student -- many kentuckian college students. one student asked if you think justice was served. senator mcconnell? sen. mcconnell: i have great tolerance for peaceful demonstrations. they are a protected constitutional right. i don't have much tolerance for violence and looting. for example, in portland, they went on a rampage and tore down the statue of teddy roosevelt and abraham lincoln. with regards to the taylor case, sometimes does not point out -- the results that we all -- it does not result in what we all hope for. incredible tragedy. a botched job, a terrible outcome.

but law enforcement has to apply the law. they are doing the best they can. i don't have any advice to give them but i think in terms of justice in america, we have to follow the laws that were written. i am a strong supporter of law enforcement. i enjoy the support of police in kentucky. i don't think it is appropriate to condemn all of the police officers, some are bad but it is not appropriate to defund the demonize police officers in general. bill: time. lt. col. mcgrath. lt. col. mcgrath: as somebody who wear the uniform, did three combat torso protecting her country and the mother of three small children, i have to say that i am never for looting or writing or destruction of property or violence in any way. i do not want to defund the police. tragedy with, the

breonna taylor was an absolute tragedy. i think that leaders have to take a step back and recognize that we need change in this country. racism,re is systemic that we have to tackle issues of equity and equality. i actually have a plan to do that. it is called equality for all. we put it together not just with me but leaders all around kentucky. that is what you're supposed to do. senator mcconnell is not interested in that. george floyd justice in policing act is sitting on his desk. as is the john lewis voting rights act, sitting on his desk. violence against women act, sitting on his desk. i could go on and on. >> taylor's death and other cases like george floyd in -- some americans have demanded reform. some have asked for the defending -- defunding of police

department. you have both going on record against that. what reforms do you think should happen within police departments on a national level? lt. col. mcgrath: i think we nationalovide on a level, body cameras to all police. be ank there should national database for police officers that in other words, if you get dismissed from one police department, you don't get to go into another one without people knowing your record. i always talk about the fact that you don't get kicked out of the u.s. army and get to roll into the u.s. navy. these are commonsense reforms that we need to do. banning no knock search warrant for federal -- warrants for federal drug cases. i think this comes down to less getting our send it back again so that we can actually debate these things.

the george floyd justice into -- justice in policing act, senator mcconnell would not even debate. we can make changes in this country and we have to. sen. mcconnell: there is a role for the federal government. i put on the floor of the senate, the justice act. that was drafted largely by tim scott and i. an african-american himself who has experienced the kind of extra suspicion that african-americans are frequently given. he crafted a bill that we thought made a lot of sense. i put it on the floor of the senate. we could not get a single democrats even let us take it up and debated. and amended. how was another example of democrats in the congress the last few months have not wanted anything to succeed. they have been slow walking everything that comes up, either by the house putting up totally

outrageous proposals or senate democrats slow walking efforts to get an outcome. i think what has happened here, it is not uncommon in proximity to the election, our democratic friends simply don't want anything to occur that gets an actual outcome and a presidential signature. bill: time. lt. col. mcgrath: you are hearing it all night long. more excuses. thes not just a member of senate. he is the senate majority leader. he still can't get it done. we know we need reforms. i also want to work on not just criminal justice reform but there are real inequities in this country. we have a $20 billion gap between majority white schools and non-majority white schools in this country. in kentucky, but kentuckians are

dying at 2.5 times the rate of white kentuckians. we have to fix the things. -- these things. sen. mcconnell: i am glad that you brought up the fact that i have the majority. if she goes to washington, she will make chuck schumer the majority leader. transferring the influence and power that kentucky has not because i am one of the four leaders out new york or california to new york, further degrading kentucky's influence in washington, making it less likely that kentucky gets preferential treatment with me being in the position that i am in. this takes the majority leader title away from ducky and giving it to new york. sen. mcconnell: we in -- from kentucky and giving it to new york. sen. mcconnell: we know better. senator mcconnell likes to talk about his clout and power. the price of insurance has gone up. the price of housing has gone

up. our people with pre-existing conditions are about ready to be thrown off their health care right now. we have the worst economy since the great depression. worst job losses since the great recession. we have the highest cancer rate in the country. the highest rates of diabetes. senator mcconnell's clout is literally killing us in kentucky. bill: additional response? sen. mcconnell: i use my clout to help our state. let's take coal. barack obama destroyed the coal industry. i am dealing with the collateral damage. ask sen. roberts:, the head of roberts: --- sen. of cecil roberts, the head united nine. jobs to betting new employed once again. that is how i used the clout that i have help kentucky. bill: we will try to get an

additional question in here. funding for higher education has consistently been reduced here in kentucky, especially the higher burden on students and families. the federal government owns 92% of all student loans. with tuition increasing, student loan debt mounting, how can --leges make college more 6 accessible and more affordable? begin with senator mcconnell. sen. mcconnell: i started by creating a program at the university of louisville at no cost to the government. the 40 best and brightest kids -- the goal isme for them to get an ivy league type education right here in kentucky in hopes that the stay here. most of them have. let's take a cares act. kentucky75 million for

education, k-12 colleges and universities. that, the u.k. produced over $300 million -- 75 million dollars for western kentucky university. i paid a lot of attention to in ourto help kentucky education. on the other end of the scale, the southeast technical college, i will be there tomorrow. they were about to go out of business. i intervened with the secretary of education and saved them from going out of business. bill: time. lt. col. mcgrath: in the last 15 years, college debt has gone up about 540%. here in kentucky, we have some of the highest levels of cows debt in the country. the first thing -- all of that happened on his watch. the first thing i would do is

hold betsy devos accountable. we have a program already in people of they cow was dead but 70% of the applicants are denied. i would be jumping up and down in the senate right now finding out why that is. why do we have a program where 90% of the applicant's are denied? we need nevers a pre-k. maybe it is because i'm the only mom appear but if we had more moms in the senate, we would have universal pre-k yesterday. fore is 1.2 billion dollars kentucky schools sitting on his desk right now. they have been sitting there for six months. he is not interested in helping schools and public education. >> we will move on. 502018, a dozen of the top force counties were in eastern kentucky. u.k. student is asking. here is the coal question, how would you address the losses left behind from the dwindling

coal industry that feels more in helping and -- communities? we begin with lt. col. mcgrath. recognize thath: six years ago, senator mcconnell sat here and said you have to vote for me. all of your coal jobs will come back. last six years, we lost 60% of those jobs. toused you and our state bicker with the other side and he has not planned for the future. coal powered this country. i want to go to the senate to make sure that our co-community get whatommunities they deserve for powering our country. getting infrastructure for broadband and cell phone coverage. no business will come to a county in kentucky that can't talk to the modern world.

it means investing in education and health care. those are the types of things we have to do to rebuild for the economy of the future. we have to. senator mcconnell has not done it. he let the coal industry guy with no plan for the last 36 years. -- died with no plan for the last 36 years. bill: time. sen. mcconnell: kentuckians are not confused about who fights the war on call. at the beginning of the obama administration, 50% of the electricity in america was provided by coal. it read havoc all across coal country and particularly in eastern kentucky. we were then left to clean up the mess. the collateral damage from the war on coal. what i did is ensure health care benefits and pension benefits for coal miners so they did not lose what was almost wiped out by the administration. could getning so they

another job. unfortunately, some of them have had to leave the area to do it but they love eastern kentucky so much they will drive all the way up to the toyota plant every day in order to attend to their new job. that is why we are in the situation we are in eastern kentucky. there is no mistake about who caused it. i thick itgrath: starts with being honest with people. the decline of coal is a energyn of renewable being cheaper. it is a function of automation. it is a function of franking -- fracking. we have to have a plan for the future. act isow, the reclaim sitting on senator mcconnell's desk. this is an act that is bipartisan. it was put up by hal rogers.

good,ld give kentuckians clean jobs. that is also introduced in the senate by senator joe mansion. why is it sitting on the senator's desk? sen. mcconnell: what is that plan that you have that will produce jobs in kentucky? laid out for us right now. lt. col. mcgrath: all right, what the re-claim would act -- reclaim act would do is it would provide $100 million to clean up the environmental hazards we have seen from the coal industry for many years and allow people to clean up the environmental hazards with good, quality jobs in the transition to the future. that has to include infrastructure. we badly needed. we have water systems in martin county that don't have clean water. we have sewer systems in anderson county that need to be fixed. we have to get into the 21st century. i know you have been in washington dc for 36 years but i

have served all around the world. i have to tell you, no business is going to want to come to a county in kentucky that cannot talk to the modern mobilize world. sen. mcconnell: everything she is talking about is already being done. lt. col. mcgrath: tell to the people in kentucky. sen. mcconnell: i think her entire campaign is she is a marine, she is a mom and i have been there too long. our we need to see specifics about what she has in mind to fix the issues that she thinks need fixing. i can tell you what she has in mind. she will go to washington, she will make chuck schumer the majority leader. senator, youath: have been there for 36 years. how is it looking, kentucky? that we fixed of the stuff? sen. mcconnell: what that 36 years has produced in the last term alone is $75 billion for kentucky that we would not have had if she had been there on the

back bench, having made chuck schumer from new york the majority leader of the senate. >> there is a very specific question. kentucky has a real problem with drug addition. we know that. -- drug addiction. we know that. it has increased since the pandemic started. how do we turn the tide on this horrible opioid crisis? let's get a more detailed response. senator mcconnell. sen. mcconnell: good question. it has been a devastating issue. not just for us but around the world. around the country. the 21stve done is century cures act in the last two years of barack obama. the cares act after that produced a total of 275 million dollars for kentucky. in that 200 sunday five million dollars is the single largest grant in u.k. history.

$87 million, the single biggest grant of the ever got. in addition to that, there are law-enforcement areas called high intensity drug trafficking areas. i have gotten a number of those for kentucky. roughly half of our state is covered. this combination of law-enforcement and social workers working together to go very intense drug trafficking areas. we are still fighting the battle. not over yet. my cloud has made a big difference in providing funds for kentucky on this big problem. bill: thank you. lt. col. mcgrath: senator mcconnell's clout has allowed billions of prescription medication pills to flood into kentucky. the first thing we need to do is hold big farm accountable for that.

he is incapable of doing that. he is incapable of doing it because he gets the most money from big pharma than any member of congress. that is why. he is basically bought off. but what we really need in addition is more resources for treatment and prevention to include making sure that we don't take away the affordable care act. what senator mcconnell would do is take that away, take away the medicaid expansion worth 50% of our fellow kentuckians who are addicted, they get their treatment through medicaid. he wants to undermine that. i don't. i want to make health care easier to obtain so that people can get the treatment -- prevention treatment they need. sen. mcconnell: next topic. bill: we will do that. you then have earned a few extra s.conds for closing statement

thent -- instead of traditional speech at the end, we thought we would know to this closing statement. senator mcconnell, you have often said that your leadership position and seniority pay big dividends for kentucky. lt. col. mcgrath, you have turned the senator's 36 years in washington against him with much of what you said tonight, saying he is out of touch with kentucky and out of ideas. who is right? we will begin with lt. col. mcgrath. don't thinkrath: i this race is about mitch mcconnell. i don't think it is about amy mcgrath. i thick it is about kentucky. kentucky deserves a senator who sees you, listens to you and who will serve you. along timee marines

ago to serve my country, to make a difference for my country. every single combat mission that i did, no matter how high i flew, no matter where i was in afghanistan or iraq, i never forgot who sent me there. who i was that i was serving. senator mcconnell stop serving you a long time ago. six times in my life to defend the constitution of this country, to defend our country. to build a better america for american families and for my family. kids, teddy,young george and eleanor. i want to do the same. i want to be your senator because you deserve better. i ask for your vote, i want to remind everybody that early voting starts tomorrow. this is the most important election of our lifetime.

it would be my privilege to serve you. thank you. thank you. sen. mcconnell: our opponent seems to not be bothered by the fact that joe biden has been in washington 47 years. he was there 12 years before i got there. it is important to not be confused about what this election is about. number one, if my opponent replaces me, her first vote in the senate will to -- will make chuck schumer the majority leader of the senate. that includes changing the rules of the senate to make it easier for liberals to win. make the ultimate columbiae district of estate. they will do that for puerto rico as well. -- fourfor new liberal senators.

the reason that joe biden won't say whether he will pack the supreme court is because he is. that is what they intend to do so that the courts don't get in the way of any of their left-wing proposals. she will be a part of all that. she will enable all of that. vote you castgest in the senate is the first vote, who is going to determine the agenda. she will make chuck schumer the agenda setter. this is 2020. surprise, we have 30 seconds left for each of you. senator mcgrath, we will give you -- lt. col. mcgrath, we will give you 30 seconds and cut you off. lt. col. mcgrath: how was kentucky working out for you right now? are you better off than you were six years ago? are you better off than you were 36 years ago? the senate leader of right now that is so

dysfunctional and so partisan that even in the middle of a national crisis, he can't get things done for kentucky. you want more of that? i don't. i want change. i know our country is better than this. bill: thank you. sen. mcconnell: it is not complicated. do you want somebody from new york setting the agenda for america and not terribly interested in kentucky or do you want to continue to have one of the four congressional leaders from our state looking out for kentucky, giving kentucky the opportunity to punch above its weight, providing extra assistance for kentucky? that is the question. she will transfer all of that to new york. i will keep it in kentucky. bill: that is our time. candidates, thank you very much. everybody getting a chance to hear from you this evening. we would like to thank our sponsors. the -- the university of kentucky student demonstration.

the election is tuesday, november 3. the polls on election day will be open 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.. take you for joining us and have a