hosted by arkansas pbs. >> the questions for the debate will be coming from 4029 news, fort smith and fayetteville, natural state update, and arkansas pbs. i'm steve barnes. the rules for the debate are agreed to by the candidates prior to the debate. h no money will have one minute to a question and the candidates will have 30 seconds for a rebuttal, if they choose. at the conclusion of questioning, each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement.

the order of candidate appearance and questioning, all determined prior to the debate in a drawing overseen by the candidates themselves or their representatives. our first question will come from unilee. it goes to mr. cates. >> any arkansas-based companies like walmart and tyson are expanding coverage for abortions out-of-state. now the pentagon has announced they will provide funds for seeking abortions. what is your stance on abortion? do you support this policy? mr. cates i do not -- mr. cates: i do not. i am pro-life 100%. maga republicans -- ms. james right now, we are in a time where we have to trust our doctors and professionals to make the best interest for everyone. abortion is not just abortion. we have to use the term correctly. it is an evacuation of the uterus. i had a failed miscarriage -- if

i had a failed miscarriage, i could die and my two children that our home will not have a mother. who was thinking about those lives? who is thinking about the domestic violence providers, those put in domestic situations where the man tells him, i know that you are pregnant, you can't leave, who was helping those women -- is helping those women? right now abortion is an international human right. it is not just the state's right to tell us what to do with our bodies. it is up to us to make sure that we have adequate health care that we need because abortion is health care. >> mr. boozman, one minute. >> thank you, steve. i am pro-life. as a result of that, i don't believe in federal funding of abortions. the military is starting to do that. i would be very much opposed to that.

we have many taxpayers throughout the country that feel the same way that i do. they don't want their taxpayer dollars used for abortions. companies, i don't agree with them doing that, but they are private companies, they got to do what they want to. >> mr. cates, you have 30 seconds if you choose. ms. james, 30 seconds. >> federal funding and federal protection are needed in this time. we are not poised to take ourselves back 50 years. we are not poised to allow our military women, we are not opposed to let our employees have back alley abortions or have an adequate health care and access to the actual health care they need. so would it to make sure we are thinking about what is best for the citizens and not what is best for us and our internal compass. but think about what is best for the actual citizens here. >> another 30 seconds for mr. boozman. >> arkansas is one of the most

pro-life states in the country. again, as i go around the state and visit with constituents, most of them do not want their taxpayers' dollars used for abortion. for that reason, i would be very much opposed and will fight the effort in congress to allow taxpayer dollars to be used for military abortions. >> next question to ms. james. >> ask the question agriculture is a huge industry here in the state of arkansas. wheat prices have gone up because of the war in ukraine, corn prices have gone up because of drought issue, what you believe is the federal government's role in subsidizing farmers and those who make a living farming here in the state of arkansas? >> i do feel the government should subsidize. arkansas as one of those great

states where we not only provide to just us, we provide to anyone across the nation and the globe. right now we are in a global market and we need to make sure we remain competitive and top of mind. we are number one in rice export or three and five in cotton, also in cattle, we want to make sure that our agriculture and our life and our way of life is sustainable and our children can bring in agrotech and new things to grow us forward. and make sure we remain number one in everything. >> mr. boozman. >> thank you for the question. this is such an important question. agriculture is 25% of our state's economy. when you get outside of any town of any size, it is not 25%. it is probably 85 percent or 90%. which in 2023 in the next congress, every five years we do a big farm bill.

what we will be doing that is working very hard to make sure the safety nets are put in place so that the farmers will be able to go to the bank and get the money they need to make those loans. so they can come back and produce the safest, cheapest food supply of any place in our nation. so this is something that we will be working on very hard together. agriculture is not a partisan issue. it's not about democrats and republicans. it's about taking care of the farm community throughout rural america, which is so very important. >> thank you for the question. i don't agree with federal subsidies. necessarily. if the state chooses to do that, that is on them. but one thing we could do is the federal government could

deregulate the farming industry, the epa puts a lot of restrictions on them. and that could help them out, grow more. and you better, and provide food -- do better and provide food. >> ms. james. >> we have regulations to better protect us. we have epa regulations to protect our ground, our water, our air, and making sure agriculture is helping everybody. i think the subsidies would be amazing as long as they are inclusive for everyone and all farmers and not competitive subsidies but we are seeing across the nation. of farmers need to have ready access and available to these subsidies so we can remain competitive in a global market. >> mr. boozman. >> providing our farmers with the ability to have some stability to make a business plan, to go to the bank, to borrow the money they need is so very important. because of inflation, because of

the terrible energy policy that we have. much of agriculture, the federalized are they depend on, many of the input costs, what it costs to run the sprinklers, the tractors, etc., the input costs are tremendous right now. because of that, agriculture is in pretty dire straits. >> mr. cates. >> rural arkansas is becoming increasingly rural, at a really significant pace. the implications are really profound for the delivery of basic services, education, crime prevention, environmental, etc. what should be the federal government's role in addressing these problems that seem likely to mount for the arkansas countryside? >> they are going to mount. the reason being is, if you look

arkansas, i believe 52 over 75 counties lost population. you start losing population, you lose those turned back dollars. you already don't have much to begin with, and you just dig yourself in deeper. that is where we mentioned agriculture. that is the thing that is so very important. 85% to 90% of the economy. but it's not just agriculture, it is real skills, it is real hospitals, protecting them, you lose your school, you lose your community. the same is true again of rural hospitals. one of the things we worked on very hard, there's a lot of money in the system, and again in a very bipartisan way providing broadband, making sure that they are able to access that. we used to think in terms of the three r's, runways. >> they are leaving the state

because there is no opportunity. we need to lower taxes and get businesses to come back in the state, create jobs. that is what will get people here. thank you. >> ms. james. >> when it to make sure we are lowering taxes for the actual citizens. in rural areas, we are seeing a sharp decline in everybody leaving. but that is because job opportunities are not there. we have to make sure that in rural areas, they are not having to share hospitals. in one county, they have to share one hospital, that is not a conducive environment. having to drive 100 miles to have a baby or having to drive 100 miles in case you feel something is wrong with your heart. they should not have those types of crises to deal with on top of being in a rural area. i feel that if we can address some of these issues and help with the environment, help with what is going on in the rural areas, we would do a lot better in keeping our actual citizens

there and taken care of. because right now the majority of the state is not taken care of especially in the delta. it's unfortunate and hopefully we have the opportunity to do better to protect all citizens in arkansas. >> mr. boozman. >> we've got some real challenges throughout the state, throughout real arkansas -- rural arkansas. 50% of the health care providers in arkansas over 60, much people are -- many people are getting married in a much later age, having fewer children. the population is not there to backfill. as a result, we need to work as a group, the state working with the federal government, working with our local governors, we need to make sure schools are not disallowed because they have gone five students to low and you lose your school. >> 30 seconds for mr. cates. ms. james. >> we should not be closing them

and allowing our state to raise the actual how many children, from 300 to 700 as a minimal requirement for a school. also people are not getting married because of wages. if you don't have living wages to sustain your household, how are you going to get married? what incentivizes you to stay in your hometown? we have to do multiple incentives to keep people in rural areas and make sure they have a living adequate which so they can stay in that area and be better protected. >> we talked about standing before -- spending before in a separate interview and programs we could cut from, you mentioned the department of defense and budget in a previous interview. what is your current view on the military spending? do we need to increase, or cut back? >> again back to our military spending, our military spending is extremely high and we have a lot of things we need to be

taking care of. i do feel that if we did cut some of the administrative role and actually paid and mature the base of our people are taken care of, we would have a better outcome. having a federal office work with our state office so that we can use part of the 1.6 billion dollars that was sent in. that is from the actual citizens of arkansas and federal allocation. to make sure citizens are better protected and have the resources they need and deserve. >> mr. boozman. >> we live in a very dangerous world. we have a war, a shooting war in

europe which is really hard to imagine. it is hard for me to imagine my children and my grandchildren, again, how can this be? but it has occurred. the u.s. is intervening, providing materials. it is just an example of the different hotspots throughout the world. we have iran, we have china, flexing their muscles, looking at taiwan, helping israel, protecting them in the middle east. there are so many things going on. the lesson we need to do is cut defense. we need to make sure that we have the defense that we need for sure. >> mr. cates. >> the first thing i would cut in defense spending is money that goes to woke agendas. our soldiers need to do one thing and one thing only and that is defend america and win battles.

and defend america. right now defense contractors, lobbyists are setting the stage for when we go to war and not -- or not, not the legislative branch. and that needs to change. thank you. >> ms. james. >> when we talk about war, we are talking about making sure our job in the u.s. is to balance those alliances and manage those and de-escalate those crises. what we are seeing in ukraine is what we are doing, distillation. because god forbid we don't want a world war iii. in order to do that we have to make sure we have provisions available. that means reallocating from our actual military to send aid to those who need it so they can have provisions so we don't have to use our military in order for -- an order to provide services to a foreign country. i want to make sure that we understand, it is important that we have federal aid to

de-escalate an appropriately use the funds. >> mr. boozman. another 30 seconds. >> we waste a lot of money on things at the federal government has no business doing. the defense of our nation, i can't do that as an individual. the state, or legislature can't do that, we depend on the federal government. it is not a question of how much. it is a question of what's needed. we need to provide the funding, whatever it takes, to keep our soldiers safe and to keep us safe. >> mr. cates. >> if we look back at the war in afghanistan, the u.s. government admits that $69 billion was wasted of the $2.3 trillion. i want to ask everybody, these buildings that we are sending to ukraine, how much of that is getting wasted -- billions that

we are sending to ukraine, how much of that is getting wasted? i pray for the people of ukraine and their piece, but we have to look at how much of that is not going towards -- what the people are saying it's going to. 69 billion dollars in afghanistan last of the $2.3 trillion. >> this is a question that came from one of our viewers. president biden has pardoned americans who served federal time for simple marijuana possession. do you agree, and of course, why or why not? mr. boozman. first you. >> thank you for the question. president biden has pardoned those that are in federal penitentiary for simple possession. i think one we look at that, that really would just be a handful of people. we did a massive reform several years ago of reforming the system so that people like that would stay out of jail. what happens is you commit serious offenses and in your

plea bargain for simple possession. for those in the penitentiary for smoking a marijuana cigarette, they need to be let out. their records, expunged. on the other hand, if you are in jail for possession of marijuana, and you committed a serious crime, then you need to stay in there. >> mr. cates. >> i agree that any person incarcerated -- over half of the people incarcerated in the u.s. is for a simple drug possession. they need to be released, depending on whether they committed a violent crime or a crime with a victim. the war on drugs is a failure. it is over 100 years old. we have to look at policy and figure out if it is effective or not. the result is how we do that. if we look at the war on drugs, it's only gotten worse. and marijuana, it is not even considered an unhealthy drug. we need to look at the opiates.

90% of drug use is what the drug office calls nonproblematic, you don't get addicted, you don't have any health issues -- 90%. and marijuana is not even on that. it is 10%, and those are opiate overdoses. even opiates need to be not criminalized, but treated as a medical condition. we can do this without compromising the safety of the american people. >> ms. james. >> i agree with the administration -- what the administration is doing. decriminalizing on the federal and state level to continue to add to our economy and add citizens back to our working class and our workforce so we can have a more productive, robust america, arkansas, so we can compete in a global market. it is important that we have all americans available to do that. if they want to go in and serve into the military, they have the opportunity to do that and not

let an indiscretion such as a simple charge hinder them from serving their country or getting a job or providing back. helping alleviate crime and poverty, and helping bring into household incomes so there are more people to be able to get married. i am glad to see this step in the right direction and i hope the state continues to follow. >> mr. boozman, another 30 seconds. >> i agree, if you are in a federal penitentiary, only 2% of the criminals that are incarcerated are in federal penitentiaries, so if you are there and you smoked marijuana joint and you got picked up, they need to let you go. i don't think there's very many of those. i think this is part of the trying to deflect from the economy and inflation and from the board. if you want to do something about drugs, when he took control the border. 70,000 americans died of overdoses, fentanyl overdoses

last year. >> mr. cates. 30 seconds. >> not only control the border, but most of the stuff that is u sed to make fentanyl is coming from china. we need to address that as well. ms. james. >> i agree we need to address the borders. that is where the majority of the drugs are being brought in. we do need to talk about inflation and all the other wonderful things, but this is an important step to actually help people right now in real time. it is so needed in these times. we are still in a global pandemic. we've lost a lot of lies and a lot of family. we have the opportunity to actually heal some families and bring people back together. which is what we should be focusing on and bipartisan efforts should be doing. >> education outcomes in the u.s. have for decades, as measured against other countries, have achievement levels that are disappointing. post-pandemic they have been especially disappointing.

mr. cates first, what role do you see the federal government playing, if any, and what should be the extent now of federal assistance to states in terms of education? >> i think we need to decentralize education and get the federal government out of it. currently, u.s. students in reading, math, and english ranked 20th, 30th, and 40th in the world. we should be in the top three. this is the greatest country in the world. and the government keeps getting in the way of that. they child teachers, the state, the parents how to teach, what to teach, and they just need to get out of the way. >> ms. james. >> the federal government is needed to better maintain our school systems, especially locally where we might not have all the full provisions that are needed, and resources. won the state took over, we had nine failing schools.

saying that we don't need the federal to come in and out or help with the state, i don't agree with that. my mother was an educator. i am a daughter of a minister and a small business owner. my mother told me something very important. when somebody shows you who they are the first time, you need to believe them. and right now we are hearing some very polished answers from a career politician, mr. boozman , i'm not up here to give your pretty words, i am here to make sure that you have an option and a choice on who is better going to represent you, your education, your future, and your family. when we talk about not having to federal prison of his -- the federal provisions needed for education and future, how are we going to advance ourselves with agriculture and military? how are we going to advance ourselves with anything, if we don't have a proper education system for our most vulnerable? >> we go now to mr. boozman. >> education is very tough.

i was on the school board for seven years. very proud to serve in that capacity. there's all kinds of room for the federal government helping out. and they are helping out. one of the things i am very excited about is there help with the vocational programs. shop class is not like it was when i was in school. now teaming with our vocational colleges, you can go to school, you can at the end of 11th grade, you can be a phlebotomist and have the certificate. by the time you graduate from high school, you can be an lpn. the first year after that, you can be a registered nurse. and again, make a very good wage. this is the key. in order for arkansas to move forward, we have to have the workforce that we need. we have to have a skilled workforce. those are the jobs we want. and this is a way to do it.

>> mr. cates, 30 seconds. >> i do agree vocation is a great thing. that is something the states can do. the states have enough money. if we want to look at the effectiveness of a policy, we have to look at the results. the federal government has been involved in education for a long time and the results speak for themselves. 20th, 30th, 40th place in math, reading, and science compared to the rest of the world. the federal government has been involved in we see the results. >> ms. james. >> policy from the federal government is supposed to be preventative and impactful for all citizens and constituents. it shouldn't be reactive. what we are seeing on a state level is a very reactive policy against our actual educational system. when it to make sure we have the federal protections in place so we do have the correct policies that are going to grow us further.

a 21st century education to complete with a global market is so important and critical for arkansas, ranked 43 in education. >> mr. boozman. >> i am a real proponent of regional -- the regional concept. the federal government has helped with that. you can't do these things by yourself. what you are seeing is schools and counties going together, and it really makes a difference. i agree we need to have metrics, we need to have outcome. when need to hold people responsible. that's why i like it so much that these programs you are not just going to class and study and, you are actually working toward a certificate so that once you get through school, you can make a living wage. >> senator boseman, we are seeing rapid growth in northwest arkansas and in companies like walmart, building new headquarters, tyson moving to arkansas to work out of their swindle office, jb hunt, one of

the latest to reconsider growth in our area. what is the federal government's role in our infrastructure plan? how do we deal with the growth? >> infrastructure is so very important. that's one of those issues that's not generally a partisan issue. i'm on the environment public works committee. i had the opportunity to serve on the transportation committee and the house. the roadbuilding, i've been involved with everyone except for this last one. when you conference and a committee. i am committed to that. that is how you move forward. we used to think in terms of roads, railroads, runways, water. that is an area developed. but now you certainly have to have broadband. the other thing that we have to do, i mentioned the importance of working together. that is one thing the regional aspect of northwest arkansas does a very good job, northwest council, not only northwest

arkansas, central arkansas, the johannesburg region, we have some hotspots that are very important to take care of. >> mr. cates. >> in regards to the federal government, providing money for infrastructure, they just passed an infrastructure bill, and hardly any of it is going to infrastructure. also if we want the government to take care of her infrastructure, let's look at how they take care of there's. they have 77,000 buildings not used or underused. do we want them taking care of our infrastructure? >> ms. james. >> i'm so glad to see reallocation. i am glad that we do have the infrastructure bill that was put in place, thanks to our current senator -- no thanks to our current senator. and i am grateful to see it. what we are also seeing as we have a senator who voted against infrastructure bill, but is quick to show up when it is time

for a ribbon cutting for an arena but not for the actual roads and railways. when i heard him speak, i didn't hear him say anything about the delta or south arkansas. that is an important part of the state, over 450,000 citizens. we have to make sure that we have somebody that is going to utilize all the infrastructure and use it in a bipartisan way to continue to grow arkansas the way it deserves to grow. quite frankly the last 20 years, we have not had that opportunity. we have been less than everything. but i've seen for the last 20 years since i was in high school, it is time for us to grow together and be inclusive of the whole state and all regions. including the south. >> mr. boozman. >> thank you, steve. i've been very involved in infrastructure and feel like it is so very important. it is interesting, i didn't vote for the last infrastructure bill, the reason i didn't is i am on the environment public

works, the committee that put together the roads and railroads and runways and that aspect of it -- we allocated more money than ever spent before, it came out of committee 19-0. the democrats took $300 billion of wasteful spending on it that had nothing to do with infrastructure. that is why i voted no. >> we go back to mr. cates. >> again, if we want to look at how the government handles infrastructure, look at how they handle their own. they just passed an infrastructure bill, and the majority of it doesn't go to infrastructure at all. $370 billion to climate change, $25 million to implicit bias training, so again, if we want to look at how they handle infrastructure, look at how they handle their own. >> ms. james. >> voting against something and not providing any type of solution is not -- is not -- is not what arkansas needs and deserves. i'm going to repeat again,

two decades, three bills passed, our post office in arkansas, but you vote against infrastructure and don't provide solutions to better help all of arkansas, you forget and negate the south, what -- with infrastructure, you voted against it. >> let's talk about the health care industry. many hospitals in arkansas, especially rural arkansas only survived the pandemic because of federal assistance. they are now again struggling doing a more federal assistance or is it a game of if they fail, they fail, but rural arkansas is a huge concern. >> both parties always argue how to fund health care the health care system,, instead of how to fix it. the problem with the health care system is the building.

-- the billing. all the prices are hidden. there is no free market competition. if you have a heart attack, say, in south arkansas, it can cost $25,000, if you have a heart attack in north arkansas, it can cost $100,000. they keep the prices hidden. they charge outrageous markups. one study showed that 23 times the medicare allowable price. we need to make health care building open and inspire that free-market competition -- billing open and inspire the free-market competition. >> ms. james. >> you are right. we do. we need to help and alleviate those questions, the affordable care act was broken apart in a way that should not have been broken apart and did not help arkansas and all americans. you are correct. we did see a lot of hospital

damage all across the state. it is important we have the actual hospitals being taken care of. federally there's a lot more we could be doing to keep them open so people are not having to drive hundreds of miles, people are not having to be flown in, people are not having to decide, do i want to take my medicine now, divvy it up until i got to my doctors appointment? i live in south arkansas. and i don't have the resources available to us especially with our veterans. we need to make sure that everything is totally taken care of with all hospitals across the state. that should be first and foremost. >> mr. boozman for one minute. >> rural hospitals are so important. if you don't have a rural hospital, you lose it, you lose it in your county and your community, you lose your doctors, pretty soon you lose your community. that is the first thing people look at, when they decide where

to settle, is one of the amenities and play? what are the schools like? that's why schools are so important. what is the health care situation -- what does the health care situation look like? a number of federal programs are helping rural hospitals. even though we had the pandemic, many rural hospitals were not able to do elective surgeries and things like that. that is their bread and butter. it is amazing they were really slammed during the pandemic. although lots of people were sick. i am committed to continuing those programs as we go forward, recognizing the importance of the rural hospital system. >> mr. cates for 30 seconds. >> the affordable care act was mentioned. it was written by the same companies that want to keep the prices hidden. thank you. >> ms. james. >> [laughter] we are hearing when we are talking about hospitals and

making sure everybody has a doctor, but we are also hearing where we have a federal abortion ban being put in place, a national abortion band that another party does not want for the rest of everybody. we want to make sure we are protecting our hospitals the same way that we are protecting our doctors and making sure our doctors can make adequate decisions to protect citizens within those set hospitals. -- said hospitals. if we are not allowing doctors to take care of their patients and full capacity, we are doing them a disservice. >> mr. boozman. >> again, partnering with bigger hospitals and bigger communities, those are things, total medicine has been a big boom for rural medicine. these are things that we can work on again, realizing the importance as we go forward, protecting our rural communities. >> we want to remind you that

the candidates are free to participate in a press conference, individually, directly following the debate. o watch that -- to watch that live from your home or wherever you scan your qr code on your screen, there is, with your mobile device -- there it is, with your mobile device, you will see that qr code periodically through the balance of our debate. a first question now, first ms. james. any other issue driving the political debate this season than crime. what do you see as the federal government's role vis-a-vis cities and states in addressing the problem? >> addressing the problem first means actually thinking about a solution forward. we have not heard solutions from the other side as to how to alleviate crime. the solution is simple. make sure we give people a fair

and adequate wage. make sure they have the health care available for them. make sure they have the provided and needed resources for education. because when you are not making enough money, you make sometimes poor decisions. we have nine private prisons and arkansas. we don't have a program that incorporates getting people back on and back into socialization and population of arkansas. that is another aspect we should be focusing on. a lot of these crimes have repeat offenders because we are not training and coaching and motivating them to be citizens. we are motivated them to continue to be career criminals and we should not be doing that. >> mr. boozman. >> this again is a question we have to deal with.

arkansas, the nation is experiencing significant crime. you pick up a newspaper and read that in little rock, one of the top 20, top 30, usually top 20 most violent crimes per capita, well, that is not just little rock, that is arkansas, when people see that, when they are trying to decide where they want to settle. so there is a big place for the federal government to be helpful. i'm on the subcommittee that controls funding for various programs like this. one program gives policemen and law enforcement the tools they need to keep themselves and us safe. these are the kind of programs we need to support, as we go forward. >> mr. cates. >> we fight crime by not demonizing the guys who fight it. currently, most police departments are experiencing significant turnover.

a friend of mine is in law enforcement. he is down three guys just on his chest alone. because we have demonized the guys who fight. thank you. >> ms. james. >> right now, holding somebody accountable is not demonizing them. holding people accountable for their actions is a hope, is something needed on all fronts, regardless of who it is that you are. we do need to address the mental health crisis and make sure that we have the mental health markers and make sure we are addressing the major issues that are contributing factors to crime and property. we can address those issues and alleviate a lot of actual stress law enforcement is receiving. >> mr. boozman. another 30 seconds. >> i've had a chance to visit with all the federal law and for agencies in the state asking them what they need to do a better job of helping local law enforcement.

there's a lot of task force that goes on, making sure that they've got what they need. the other thing that we need, myself and senator cotton, under the trump administration, we put two prosecutors in place that did a very good job fighting crime then helping the local police. >> mr. cates. >> i agree holding individual officers accountable and to a high standard, we give them a lot of authority and responsibility. but we should not demonize the whole industry and all of them. we should hold the one accountable and support the rest. thank you. >> mr. cates. >> let's talk about immigration. many people across the spectrum say our immigration system is broken and in crisis. how do you think the current administration is handling immigration, if you had a moment with the president, how would you counsel the president to

reform our immigration system? >> thank you for the question. we are not handling it, obviously. thousands of illegal aliens come across the border every day. i want those people to have a better life, just like i'm sure we all are. but we are a nation of borders. we are a sovereign nation. that's what makes that our borders. we need to secure it and we need to focus on immigration reform such as work visas, so these people can come and make a better life for their family. >> ms. james. >> we are a nation of immigrants. we cannot forget that. we did not originate here in america. we came over, seeking shelter from religious persecution et c. we can't set here -- sit here and call them illegal immigrants, we need to call them what they are, or refugees seeking asylum, seeking help. -- they are refugees seeking

asylum, seeking help. we need to cut a lot of the red tape. there's too much red tape entering the actual asylum process, the refugee process. right now we need to make sure that we do what is human for everyone involved in all parties. even if it means hiring more people to make sure that they are able to adequately process and get everybody in and bring people to a safe way of life. >> mr. boozman. >> we need to secure the border. if you don't secure the border, it doesn't matter what immigration system you put i n, it will not work, because people will continue to flood across. and that is a flood. it is a humanitarian crisis. it is a national security crisis. many people this last year were apprehended on the border that were on the terrorist last -- the terrorist list.

many across the border and are not able to be apprehended. a little over 3 million people, you've got the state of arkansas coming in the last two years, and everybody feels like it will be even greater unless we do something. plus a million people, what do you do with these folks? some were sent to new york, a few thousand, a sanctuary city, they have gone crazy. this is a national crisis and a national security issue. >> mr. cates. >> we are a nation of immigrants, but those immigrants came in legally, they to register under asylum. my immediate family immigrated to the u.s., and we did it the right way, the legal way. thank you. >> ms. james. >> right now what we are seeing, when we talk about immigration again, we talk about securing our border, 3 million people or

stopped -- that sounds really secure to me. drugs were stopped. that sounds like what we have in place is working. stopping actual individuals whether it is 3 million people coming over here to seek asylum, guess what? america's large. most of america could fit in alaska, the size of alaska and still have an acre of their own, so we have plenty of space to put them here, they want to be productive citizens, allow them the opportunity to do that, and if they don't, then that is what the immigration process is for -- to continue to have those that are here that are going to be productive. >> mr. boozman. 30 seconds. >> we are a nation of immigrants. we've got 5 million people online doing it the right way -- in line to -- 5 million people in line doing it the right way. we are a nation of laws.

we cannot have hundreds of thousands, literally millions of people crossing the border in an unlawful way. >> a question first for ms. james. >> talking about higher education, the cost of college, the rising cost of college is making it almost unattainable for many arkansans. do you agree with the debt relief plan? what would you do help struggling people pairing for education? >> as a mother, i'm getting ready to face that. making sure she has education she needs so that she needs so that she can have a scholarship. you don't have to leave home, there are many vocational trades and other options available. we push college but college may not be for everybody. we need to make sure that we are pushing our options for our children. we want to make sure we are recognizing that.

the student loan forgiveness, i think it is a step in the right direction because it helps those in south arkansas and all those in arkansas, communities of color, communities often left behind by career politicians. i am glad to see that we have an actual solution put in place and not another fear mongering trope. it is time to stop with the fear and advocate for the future. >> mr. boozman. >> >> i am opposed to the bite plan of forgiveness. the reason being it is not fair. why is it fair if you just paid off your student loans before march of 2020, and then if you took a student loan now prior to that, you get your loan forgiven on one end, and the other not? why is it fair that a family of $250,000 -- making $250,000 gets loan forgiveness of $20,000,

when you've got a hard-working family making $70,000, $30,000, nobody is paying off their debts. for that reason, i'm very much opposed. when it took at the university system under control in the sense that their inflation right has been tremendously greater than the normal inflation rate. >> i agree that vocational should be another option. and the price of college is out of control. health care as well. student loan forgiveness, the federal government paying for someone's student loan is not free. somebody has to pay for it, the taxpayer does. so you are just transparent debt from one person to another -- transferring debt from one person to another. >> we are going to talk about forgiving loans, we need to talk about ppp loans that were forgiven to numerous colleagues and workers, we have seen 10

articles talk about having usability and feasibility for these corporations but we have not seeen it for student loans, relief for citizens of arkansas, students wanting to go to school. i think that is something important, indicative of a future senator to have, make sure they are thinking that everybody, not just a corporate colleagues and coworkers, and making sure ppp loans that amount to millions of dollars are looked at instead of thousands. >> would need to look at scholarships. you need to get your act straight, when you accuse me of things. i have not received any ppp loans. i don't know where that is coming from. my brother and i started a clinic many years ago. i worked there 24 years. have not been associated -- i have not been associated for two decades. like you say, i don't know who

is feeding your facts, but they are totally false. right is right and wrong is wrong. i have not worked there in 20 years. >> that is right. he divested from it. -- you divested from it. i mentioned your article. >> mr. cates is up. >> thank you. >> closing statements. time for closing statements. as determined prior to the broadcast, mr. cates, your first, you have one minute -- you are first, you have one minute. >> if you feel like there's something wrong and you see, it's because there is. congress' approval rating is in the several digits. both parties answered a big corporations and the walk mob. we need leaders who put people first, not profit or politics, thank you. >> mr. boozman.

have one minute. >> thank you. we've got the senior broadcaster and arkansas, the guy that is kind of the dean of broadcasting, we've got the future of broadcasting here, so we appreciate your hard work and appreciate the public broadcast. as tag around the state, the from everything i hear about, in fact, i have always said, if you can't make a living, if you can't take care of your family, and else is pretty unimportant. to think that is killing americans right now is inflation. a .2%. -- the thing that is killing americans right now is inflation. 8.2%. remember this was going to be transitory. we are in a situation now where we simply have to do something about that. so i believe that if we lift our

eyes above and get to work here, working together, we will be able to solve that problem. we've got a lot of other problems. but we can solve them working together and america will continue to be the greatest, freest country. >> ms. james. you have one minute. >> call inflation what it is. inflation is corporate greed. as i said before, we have seen numerous corporations and colleagues of our current income but received millions of dollars worth of ppp loans to be forgiven, yet they continue to have 50 year profits, higher than we have ever seen, and yes, we do have 8% inflation right now, forecast to go down because of what the current arbitration is doing, it is forecasted to go down to 5.3%. enough with the trope, with the fear, and the wolf in sheep's clothing and enough of the very polished, rehearsed responses. they tell you exactly what they

want you to hear. and then they go back to washington and vote against your best interests. arkansas, you have a choice right now to make sure you have someone who is going to make sure they vote for veterans, the working class, and make sure that everybody is taken care of. i am natalie james, and i am asking you for your vote today and for you to check out my issues at jamesforarkansas.com. thank you for the opportunity. >> to our viewers, you can watch this and all the arkansas pbs debates on demand at the arkansas pbs youtube channel. on the pbs video app, and on our website. a reminder, the candidates have the option to participate in a in a directly following this debate, which will air on youtube. you can watch it live on youtube as part of our live stream. once again scanned the queue our code -- the qr code on the screen right now.

once again, our thanks to our own three nominees and our panelists, and to the audience here on the campus of uca and of course to you at home. ?" c-span's "washington journal," everyday we take your calls live in the air on the news of today -- the day and discussed policy decisions that impact you. as the federal government begins to accept applications from borrowers, we talk about president biden's student loan forgiveness plan with washington post national higher education reporter daniel douglas gabriel and in our spotlight on podcast segment, a culture editor as well as her podcast, federalist radio hour. watch "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span or on c-span now, our free mobile video app. join the discussion with your

phone calls, facebook comments, sages, and tweets. ♪ >> in brad schneider's new book, the cover notes report "the conventional wisdom about frankfurter, former harvard law professor supreme court justice, is that he struggled to fill the seat once held by oliver holmes. his biography notes scholars have pretrade frankfurter as a judicial farrier -- failure, and the worn courts principal villain in that nef these ring true. brad snyder i 700 pages to examine judge frankfurter's life. >> the book democratic justice on book notes plus. a book because plus ilable on the c-span out free mobile

app or wherever you gave your podcasts. -- get your podcasts. >> there are a lot of places to get political information but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here, or here, or here, or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> next, president biden discussing his administrations student loan forgiveness plan, saying 22 million people have been registered for loan relief since they began accepting applications monday. the president is speaking at delaware state university in dover. this is about 30 minutes. c-span.org/campaign 2022. >> next, president biden discussing his student loan

forgiveness