Major funding for election 2022 Arkansas PBS debates is provided by AARP Arkansas, with additional funding provided by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

From the campus of University of Central Arkansas and the studios of Arkansas.

PBS this election, 2022 Arkansas PBS, U.S. House of Representatives District 4 debate.

4321 upon Jim and acoustic.

Hello everyone, and welcome to debate week here on Arkansas PBS.

At this hour, the candidates for Arkansas's fourth Congressional District.

They are, in alphabetical order, the libertarian candidates Gregory Maxwell, the incumbent and Republican nominee Bruce Westerman, and the Democratic candidate John White.

The questions for the debate will be coming from Byron Tate of the Pine Bluff Commercial.

Christina Munoz of Arkansas, PBS and Natural State update.

And I'm Steve Barnes.

The rules for the debate have been agreed upon by all the candidates, and they are these.

Each nominee will have one minute to respond to questions.

The candidates will have 30 seconds for rebuttal if they choose to use it at the conclusion of questioning, each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement.

Now, the Order of Canada appearances was determined prior to the debate in a drawing overseen.

By the candidates or their representatives?

Well, with that bit of housekeeping out of the way, it's time to begin.

Our first question will be coming from Byron Tate of the Pine Bluff Commercial and it goes to Mr Maxwell.

Polls show that between 60 and 70% of Republicans, many independents, and a handful of Democrats don't believe that Joe Biden was legitimately elected.

Do you count yourself among that group?

Yes or no?

And what would you tell those individuals today?

No, I don't count myself among those individuals.

But I also don't believe in polls.

They're skewed from the mainstream media.

We're still searching for the truth, but no.

That's Mr westerman.

Thank you.

Good to be with you.

And Greg and John and I want to thank Arkansas PBS for hosting these debates.

You do such a great job every year.

But yes, Joe Biden is the president of the United States.

It was certified by the States and the electors were accepted by Congress.

Now that's not to say there weren't some anomalies in the last election, but there's a curing time after the election.

Up until states certify the election, every state certified their election results.

They were sent to Washington DC and unfortunately Joe Biden has been the president for the last two years and we see the results of his.

His Presidency, his bad policies, that we've got America in a recession.

We're seeing increasing food prices and increasing fuel cost.

And that's why this midterm election is so important to put the brakes on Joe Biden and his enablers in Congress.

Mr. White.

Yes, it was definitely stolen.

We all watched the numbers go from Trump to Biden.

I don't believe Biden got.

More votes than.

President Obama.

But that's just my opinion.

I can't prove it.

But I would have stood up and I would have said something about it.

And this come from Democrat, because not a Republican, not a libertarian, not an independent, not a Democrat.

Needs to be laden people.

Be the representatives.

Illegally.

We're a nation of laws.

A2 tiered system now.

They say that's the way most people feel about it.

This is Mr Maxwell.

Thank you.

Rebuttal time or Mr Wise.

Thank you, Mr Maxwell.

Rebuttal 36, absolutely.

2nd rebuttal.

Cool.

Mr Westerman has the upper hand of being there and experiencing that.

Outsiders and lay political people don't have that option.

Don't have that option.

We have to take it for for what we are reported to and.

You have left and you have the right.

We are the middle.

The libertarians rebuttal, Mr Westerman.

Well, I'll just say that again.

There's a process.

There was a time between the election results and when state certified the elections.

There were several.

Questions raised, even signed on to a an amicus brief out of the state of Texas and several other states asking the Supreme Court to look at the election results.

The Supreme Court's answer was we're not going to look at this.

So the process ran its due course.

The state certified their electors, they sent them to Washington, DC and Joe Biden is the president.

Mr White's rebuttal?

30 seconds, Sir.

Good question.

You know.

At least somebody should have stood up and said wait a minute, hold up, maybe we need to send some of these back to the states.

Granted, it's up to the legislators to send their representatives.

But if they're not the representatives of their?

State.

The only thing I do is look at the county map.

Thank you, Sir.

Our next question comes from Miss Munoz, and it goes first to Mr Westerman.

Mr Westerman, thank you.

Let's talk about the national debt.

the US recently surpassed $31 trillion in debt.

What are your thoughts on how much we should be spending and how much debt we should have and how to be sure that our next generation is not negatively impacted by all that debt?

Christina, thank you for that question.

That's something that seems to be ignored in Washington these days and the spending and the first two years of the Biden administration.

Has been astronomical and record-breaking.

If you look at the long term commitments to spending that this administration empowered by a Democratic Congress, it's $10 trillion.

We're reaching the point as interest rates go up, we're interest on the debt is going to be the number one expenditure of the United States government.

There are five things that drive cost or Dr expenditures and debt in this country and it's all mandatory spending.

Its interest on the debts the first one and you got Medicare and Medicaid.

Social Security.

And you've got about 80 social welfare programs.

If we really want to tackle the debt, we have to tackle those issues.

That's why it's important to pass a budget, to pass appropriation bills and to stand firm on those appropriation bills.

That's a position I've had since I've been in Congress, and I will continue to have it.

Mr. White.

One minute, Sir.

I'm with Mr Westman.

We need to pass a budget for the first time, line by line, and explain where our money is going.

Washington, DC both parties.

I don't care.

Both parties have been throwing it out the window.

Printing it.

And throwing it out the window.

Like there's no tomorrow.

There's a reckoning coming one way or another.

And.

We're all gonna get the lift to it.

I've been apologizing to every.

College student and younger.

Person I can find for what we're going to leave for them to clean up.

There's no explaining that because we can't pay it back, let's be honest.

Alright Mr Westerman or excuse me Mr Maxwell to you.

Ohhh one minute Sir.

Thank you Sir.

Looking at our.

A lot of our.

Line items are what we all believe and and look at.

OK, we're in line on that I mean.

Him having the experience and being there, he can say the right things, but then there are other things that can come into play and.

Those things are are hidden from us and we don't have that opportunity to know that inside track and in the we're third party now but we're coming on strong and and.

And he's to have us.

We need to have a little bit more.

Transparency.

A little bit more transparency.

And I'm done.

Thank you so much, Mr Maxwell.

Thank you.

Rebuttal time, Mr Westerman.

30 seconds, Sir, if you choose.

Well, I think Americans have to ask themselves, what did they get for this huge spending of the past two years?

You know, we were coming through COVID and the first thing the Democrats the did was pass the the ARPA bill, which didn't help our economy at all.

It actually drove up inflation.

And we're paying the price for that now, Mr Maxwell.

Makes a great point.

We need to have more transparency.

We don't have transparency right now with Republicans in the majority.

We will have oversight and transparency and get questions that answered that haven't been answered the past two years.

Mr. White rebuttal.

No.

Yes, there again, how much money have we thrown at Ukraine?

In the past six months.

More than Afghanistan and Iraq?

Why?

Nobody wants it.

The American people don't want it.

Thank you, Sir, Mr Maxwell.

30 seconds for rebuttal if you choose.

I'm good.

Our next question then goes first to Mr. White.

Sir, the congressman spoke a second ago about the cost of entitlement programs.

Are we spending too much on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

Should they in some way be means tested, Sir?

Well.

Now, the manic the Social Security Trust Fund has been there's no other way of putting it besides raped and left.

Full of dust.

There's no, you know, hey, it's gonna go bankrupt.

Let's just let it.

And then I have a handicapped son at home myself.

I know what it's like to take care of.

I know exactly how expensive it is for healthcare and everything else.

I'm not complaining.

But there again, how are you gonna fix it?

First of all, when are we gonna find the $30 trillion and some change?

It's not just around the corner.

We gotta start asking ourselves real hard questions and looking ourselves in the mirror and not worried about getting reelected.

Mr Maxwell, one minute, Sir, the question again.

Are we spending too much on entitlement program?

Should they be capped in some way, Sir, or means tested for example?

They should be capped.

Entitlement only entitles the entitled.

I mean people have to work.

People have gotten out of the habit of working, sweating, making a product, a good thing with making an American products.

American products as opposed to those shifting from China, yeah.

There's so many things to talk about, and we're a divided nation between the Democrats and the Republicans.

We're divided nation.

You've got an opportunity sitting right here on the very end for the middle, and people ought to take that opportunity and see changes made.

In in that.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Westerman, you have 31 minute.

Sir, we often give the word entitlement, kind of a bad connotation, but entitlement means that you're obviously entitled to have something.

Medicare and Social Security are programs that people have paid into while they're working.

The problem with Medicare and Social Security is both of them are on a path for insolvency.

And when we get to that point, the only money that will be available for either Medicare or Social Security are the monies that are being paid in and that given year.

So that would mean.

Huge cuts to those programs.

So to keep those programs solvent, we have to work on solutions to make them solvent overtime.

The whole time I've been in Congress, I keep pushing these issues, but Congress as a whole keeps running the other way from the issues.

It's going to come upon us probably in the next 5 to 10 years and we should be working for solutions.

I have a bill called the Fair Care Act where I address Medicare and I've also signed on to legislation that I think would help fix.

Social Security, Mr. White.

You have 30 seconds for a rebuttal if you choose, Sir.

Ohh no, the dad's the dad man.

It's like we gotta come up with the Rick somewhere to fix it.

We all gotta come together.

We all gotta sit down table, talk like adults.

Have a conversation.

And figure out how we.

Do not.

Let the children and the next generation and their generation gets stuck with everybody's greed and worrying about their seat.

Instead of the people.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Maxwell, 30 seconds if you choose.

That's OK. Mr Westerman, 30 seconds.

You know, that's a detailed question.

So all the elaborate on it a little bit more as well.

Until we focus on these huge problems, mandatory spending makes up 70 to 75% of the total spending.

We cannot fix the debt if we don't address mandatory spending programs.

That means tough decisions will have to be made, but it also means if we want to keep these programs viable for the future, we have to start addressing them.

We should have been addressing them many years ago.

Thank you.

Our next, our next question comes first.

Our comes from Mr Tate and it goes first to Mr Maxwell.

A majority of Republican nominees on the ballots in state and federal races have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election.

That group includes Congressman Rick Crawford, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who is running for Lieutenant governor, and Mr Westerman, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.

With so many election deniers controlling the levers of power, do you fear future elections will be tainted?

Or overturned by those unwilling to accept defeat, as Mr Trump has done.

Please explain your answer.

Sometimes you got to know to throw a no win, to throw in the towel.

You're by just by evidence of you asking that question two years later.

I mean.

It should be accepted and within two weeks cause of the mail in ballots and.

We need a safe elections, we need security in our elections and we need ID's for our elections.

People need to have an ID.

A voter ID system.

Every state needs to have a voter ID to validate your your, your.

Right to vote here in this great America.

I mean, there's no better place to live than America right now.

Aside from the inflation, of course we'll talk about that, I'm sure, in a little bit.

But back to the votes.

We need voter ID and and it's a yeah times up.

Mr Westerman, one minute, Sir, could you, could you clarify?

Did you say the Washington Post, that I'm an election denier?

That's right.

Well, the Washington Post needs to check their facts.

I voted to certify electors.

I did sign that amicus brief, but it was before the States certified their results.

After the state certified the results, I accepted those and voted for them for Congress.

Now we'll say.

There have been Democrats in the past that have voted to not certify elections and nobody thought anything at all about it.

There were people with convictions that thought they they should vote against certifying the electors.

But also the process was a representative and a senator had to contest the results.

There wasn't a single state where a representative and a senator from that state contested results.

It would be the equivalent of saying Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi contested results.

In Arkansas, and people voted not to accept the Arkansas electors, so I did not.

So I voted to confirm the electors.

So I don't know where the Washington Post gets their idea that I'm a denier of the election.

I have to go over to Mr. White now, Sir, you have one minute.

Pardon me, Sir, my turn.

Always talking about the election again.

Still, two years later, I'm with this all could have been avoided.

If there wasn't.

Powers.

Involved.

That we all know.

That are run on it.

But I don't think Trump was one of the selected few that always gets selected.

I don't think we've voted for a president in a long time.

I think the last one that got voted in besides Trump was John F Kennedy.

Ohh, happened to be a Democrat, happened to get killed doing his job for the people.

The people.

That stand up for the people end up.

Heart kicked out or whatever.

And that's why it comes out.

That's what an average day person thinks about it.

Have to call time there, Sir.

Mr Maxwell, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal if you choose.

Sometimes my rebuttal or responds, it's kind of hard to say no response and you know, but anyway, sometimes it's best not to respond, it's best to respond to a no response.

So yeah, you know, I have no response on that one.

I'll let it pass.

Mr Westerman, I know the the mainstream media and Democrats in Congress want to focus on January 6th, but the American people want to focus on the economy.

They want to focus on the higher food prices in the grocery store, the higher prices at the pump, and we've got a winter coming coming on that could possibly see some really high heating costs across the country.

The Washington Post they they called me an echo fascist in one of their articles, so I put very little stock in what the Washington Post writes.

Anyhow, thank you and to Mr. White for rebuttal.

OK, could you refresh my memory please?

Mr Tate.

Want to hear the quick we're talking about?

Yeah, it's a. I'm sorry, it's a rebuttal question, yeah.

I'm we're on the rebuttal stage of my last question, correct?

No, I'm good.

That's correct.

Part, our next question goes then to goes to Mr Westerman.

Sir, you've noticed, noted a couple of times in the broadcast that you voted for the amicus brief of the Texas Amicus brief.

A lot of people would argue that that was in effect a reversal.

You were voting to overturn the the election and you said you wanted to examine the complaints about irregularities and anomalies in the election given that none have been found in those four states.

Or for that matter, anywhere else.

Do you regret that vote?

Would you have done?

Would you do it again?

Well, First off, I didn't vote for an amicus brief.

I signed on to it or signed on.

Yes.

And this was a question to the Supreme Court to look into election anomalies across a lot of different states.

The Supreme Court didn't even take it up.

So in my mind the issue was settled when the Supreme Court didn't take it up again.

That was before the state certified their electors.

That was in the time built in the process to question the results to file.

Lawsuits.

And to do whatever it is you want to do to question the election.

Everybody knows there was a lot of questions about the previous election, but when the Supreme Court wouldn't even hear the suit filed by Texas and the state certified the results, in my mind, that's when regardless of who you think won, the state certified that Joe Biden won and Congress went through the formality of accepting those those electors.

Mr. White, you have one minute, Sir, I'm still back on the election.

Oh my God, I've never been so embarrassed to be an American in my life.

I'll be embarrassed one minute.

Joe Biden has been the worst president.

I'm a Democrat.

He's been the worst president.

Falling Upstairs Downstairs.

We won't even say what he did when he took shook the Pope's hand.

He hasn't fixed anything.

He's got us in a whole bunch of trouble.

If we don't look at it honestly, look at ourselves honestly and not get triggered by those Trump words or fighting words.

Look at the problems at hand.

Like Mr Westman was saying, we got a cold winter coming up.

It's gonna get expensive.

Food processing plants 140 something burnt down to the ground this year.

Refineries catching on fire.

It's kind of odd.

Kind of crazy.

Mr. White, you have one minute, Sir.

Or Mr Maxwell.

I'm sorry, Mr Max.

Well, could you repeat that question again?

Well, it's rebuttal, Sir.

I mean, but it was for.

Yeah, for his.

It was more the designated to Westerman.

Yeah, it was the question.

The questions are involved.

Mr Westerman signing on to an amicus urging the Supreme Court to review.

I am.

That's politics.

I mean, you like, he's there, we're here.

We've got to take his word for it.

And.

You know, he wasn't.

There's there's so much that.

We don't know, but we had to take his word for it.

He's a politician, right?

And so the thing about that is, is there should be more of us, should have three parties instead of his and hers.

Yours and mine.

It should be ours.

And the way you do that is introduce a third party, so.

There we go, Mr Westerman.

Now you have 30 seconds for rebuttal.

Well, again, the focus of the country is not on January 6th.

I know it's the focus of the mainstream media.

I know it's the focus of Democrats in Congress.

And if I were Joe Biden, I would be running from my record as well and trying to make Trump the focus of this election.

Trump is not on the ballot.

The economy, how few full, how fuel prices, how food cost.

The debacle in Afghanistan, the attack on domestic energy.

The attack on American jobs.

That's what my constituents in the 4th District of Arkansas Care about.

Mr. White, you have 30 seconds, Sir.

Yeah, this is a yeah.

So outrageous.

Become like Mr Westerman, he he hit the now.

It's the news.

They're spreading it.

No.

And the government, they want us divide it.

Nobody wants to bring us together.

Nobody's even trying to bring anybody together.

We need to bring back JFK and Martin Luther King.

We gotta come together.

We gotta start loving one another like.

Jesus would like.

Mr Maxwell, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal, Sir, if you choose.

Mr Barnes, what is mainstream media?

In the form of a question, that's your answer.

Or our next question comes from.

Miss Munoz said it goes to Mr. White.

To Mr. White, yes.

So in preparation for this debate, we also allowed viewers to submit questions via social media.

So this particular question comes from a viewer in Conway County.

President Biden has pardoned Americans who served federal time for simple marijuana possession.

Do you approve and should states follow suit, Mr. White?

Definitely.

There's.

Marijuana is one of those touchy subjects nobody wants to touch, but I'll touch it.

Might as well make it legal.

That's already legal anyway.

In half the states tax it.

And I got an idea, he attack said a little bit more than he attacked my cigarettes cause I'm a smoker.

And then cut me a little slack on the taxes on the cigarettes because yeah, I'm 100% behind legalizing marijuana.

Long as you're not sitting on your couch eating Doritos and Oreos all day, you get out and be a productive members of society.

Done.

Mr Maxwell, you have one minute.

OK, yes.

That's bad and shining light.

It's not, you know.

Everyone.

Everyone is like they say, everyone.

Every every once in a while a squirrel gets a nut and honest and honestly, I think what he did is commendable and should be followed by some more states.

And relieve some of the pressures in the prison system for simple possession and incarceration for a certain amount.

I mean, we're talking oz, not pounds.

I mean, pounds is different.

That means you're dealing, you're missing it, you're gonna have to pay taxes.

But The thing is, is issue 4 is on the ballot.

It's like a mirror of what's going to what's Biden is doing issue 4 here in Arkansas.

Everybody needs to take a look at.

In my opinion.

But yeah, Biden has done good.

Yeah, check Mark good for Biden.

Mr Westerman, I think this announcement by President Biden is another example of his weakness on crime and law and order.

It follows the Democrat platform.

Now, there's some cases where people probably have some marijuana convictions that need to be looked at on an individual basis, but I want to look at it drugs a lot worse than marijuana.

Look at what's happening in our southern border with fentanyl.

Enough fentanyl comes across our southern border to kill the population of the United States many times over.

And the bottom administration has done virtually nothing to stop drug trafficking and human trafficking on our southern border.

As far as marijuana and Arkansas goes, I think this proposition for Amendment 4 is a bad deal to legalize recreational marijuana.

It's not going to do anything to benefit the state.

You have to ask yourself, you know, what are the benefits going to be?

And I would challenge anybody to tell me what the benefits to the state of Arkansas will be to legalize.

Recreational marijuana, Congressman, thank you.

Rebuttal time.

Now, Mr. White, you have 30 seconds if you choose.

OK. Yeah.

You know, it's like you want a good reason.

Like I said, if you're going.

Monkey join or drink 1/2 gallon of whiskey.

You know which ones better for you.

You know that that it it it's just a no brainer.

Get back tax it just like you do alcohol.

The fentanyl.

I'm with him.

The math?

Ohh.

I'm with him.

The crack.

I'm with Western and I'm all down with law enforcement cracking down on it.

But simple possession for marijuana like back in when I was growing up was $20.

Fine.

Have to call it there, Sir.

Mr Maxwell, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal, Sir.

Hmm.

Now the Republicans are sending migrants to different sanctuary cities.

And you know, we have a border problem.

We have a drug problem.

Right now, we have a Republican.

And a Democrat problem?

A Republican and a Democrat problem?

They're not.

He said.

She said again.

I'm sorry.

There we go.

Mr Westerman, these studies have shown that marijuana is a gateway drug.

It leads into other drug abuses.

We know that the rates of auto accidents are increasing with people being high since marijuana has been legalized in different parts of the country.

So again, show me something good that comes from legalizing marijuana.

Show me something.

Good.

That comes from being soft on crime like this administration's been.

And then we can have a discussion.

But I think the data and the evidence is going to show that that's moving the wrong direction.

Our next question comes from Mr Tate, and it goes first to the congressman.

Women have had a right to an abortion since 1973 under Roe V Wade.

The Supreme Court has now overturned Roe.

Do you believe a woman has a right to an abortion, yes or no?

And would you be willing to codify that right in federal law?

Believe a woman has a right to an abortion when the life of the woman is at stake.

I'm very proudly pro-life.

I've always been pro-life.

I think the Supreme Court decision was a great decision for life.

I think we've needlessly killed millions of babies in the United States since Roe was put in place.

But just from a legal standpoint, the Supreme Court said the states can make up that decision.

The Supreme Court didn't say abortion was illegal.

They said states have the right to determine whether abortions can be.

Performed in those states are not.

Arkansas thankfully has a law that says that abortions can only be performed when the law for the mothers at hand.

But that's where the debate needs to take place is in the state legislature, not in Washington DC I think the Supreme Court uphold upheld the Constitution.

There was never a constitutional right for an abortion as you hear it said it was a judicial right by a previous decision in the Supreme Court, and I think this court got it right by sending it back to the states.

Mr. White, Sir, you have one minute.

Ohh yeah, Supreme Court did the right thing.

They sent the power back to the states according to the 10th amendment.

Everything not delegated in that Constitution which I'm running on, is delegated to the states.

Under common law, which was a big he can get into deep rabbit hole on when they took that away, but it goes back to the constitution one the Supreme Court is not allowed to make law.

They're there to interpret law that.

The Congress.

Decides passes, the president signs, and they're there to determine if that is constitutional or not.

And that's all it comes down to is they don't have the Supreme Court, and nowhere in the Constitution gives them any right to make any law.

You can ask Mr Westman.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Maxwell, you have one minute.

Yes, I. I. I agree, and I'm here a lot of Mr Westermann's ideas and.

Thoughts about it having stage rights?

However, we yanked 50 years of.

Process out from under the Neath the people and left them in the lurch.

People, OK men and women are responsible for abortion.

Not women, just women.

Men and women are responsible.

It takes two to make an abortion.

It's not just the one thing deal women have to go in and get it, but it takes two to make it so.

It takes responsibility.

More education.

As far as supporting it, yeah, have support it have, but in half not.

We need to take care of the people that were left in the lurch.

And that's important because they're hurting.

Congressman, do you have 30 seconds, Sir, for rebuttal if you choose to use it?

I would say there were nearly 200 years of precedent behind not allowing abortion in this country before the Supreme Court made the Roe decision.

I mean, look at the foundation of our country.

Look at what our founders said in the Declaration of Independence, said we're endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.

Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if you don't have the right to life.

Then you don't have any of the other two, so I will always come down on the side of life protecting life both.

Early and late in life.

Alright Sir and Mr Maxwell.

Mr. White, excuse me.

Wow, we all three in agreement.

I like that.

Yeah, this abortion got way out of control.

It's like when the Governor of Virginia says I can just whoops and it's left through it and lay it over there on the table and let it die.

I don't want to have to die and explain that one.

That's not on my shoulders.

Ah.

That's where I stand.

Mr Maxwell.

I'm OK. Alright, very good.

And before we go to our next question, we want to let you know that the candidates will have the opportunity to participate in a press conference individually immediately following the debate.

You at home can watch, or rather you can watch.

You can scan the QR code on your screen with your mobile device to watch.

So get your phones ready.

You'll have that QR code.

You'll see it periodically throughout the remainder.

Of our debate, our next question.

Goes first to Mr.

Yes to Mr. White, Sir, if you had to pinpoint 3 main sources of inflation, what would they be?

Oh, let's see.

That goes back to the central banks Fiat money.

That's not backed by anything but so-called petroleum since Nixon in 1971.

When they took us off the gold standard.

And.

Way too much printing as a printing press.

You know, we might as well all be.

Printing the stuff off our.

Printers at home, for God's sake.

They're just print, print, print, print.

Nobody cares.

Everybody just cares about getting reelected.

Nobody wants to.

I'm only gonna do one term, two years.

Let's straighten it out and I'll come back home and be a goat farmer.

Mr Maxwell, one minute, Sir.

What's that question if you had to choose?

It's been said that Mr Westerman said that government spending or indicated the government spending in his estimation, was the primary driver of inflation.

If you could choose two others or what three would you say?

Or primary drivers of inflation?

Yeah, obviously.

Not enough money, I mean.

Inflation has hit every aspect of American life.

The gas, the food, the cost of living.

There.

I mean, maybe there's some inside words and and and things that I don't understand yet.

The inside track.

But the bottom line is is.

I think it started whenever the Democrats took office.

That was the driving factor because we didn't have bad inflation then.

Mr Western.

Mr Max was exactly right.

Inflation started when Joe Biden was sworn in and when Democratic policies went into place.

If you look at the definition of inflation, that's the devaluation of money.

And when you put too much money supply into the market, you do value the money.

You can't buy as much with the money that you have.

And Democrats have continually put more money into the market.

The ARPA bill wasn't enough.

The inflation and JOBS Act and then the so-called inflation reduction.

Electronic infrastructure and JOBS Act.

They just kept pouring money into an overheated economy, which caused prices to go up at the same time they were attacking the supply chain.

Joe Biden did it on day one when he cancelled the XL Keystone Pipeline.

He did it in the next week when he said no federal leases for energy exploration and development on federal lands.

They've continued to attack domestic supply lines, shutting down mining, shutting down jobs, making our country more dependent on China and other countries.

And it's just jacking inflation.

Up until we change course, we're going to continue to see inflation go up, even with the Fed raising interest rates.

Mr. White, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal, Sir, if you choose.

I'm just gonna give this one for everybody to go research Jeko Island.

1913.

Mr Maxwell, 30 seconds if you choose, Sir.

Right.

I mean that.

I mean he's got the all, he's got all the westermann's got the $10 words, you know, people have ideas, you know, and that's the reaching across all.

But The thing is, is.

Yeah, I have to support.

I mean, you know, yeah, we're all kind of on the same team, but.

Now I can say.

I've gotten term limits.

We gotta start some of those too.

How about that?

Mr Westerman, do you have 30 seconds?

I'd like to elaborate it on and it a little bit more.

Energy is fundamental to our economy.

We think of high prices at the pump.

We think of high heating costs, high electrical cost.

But also natural gas is a key component into nitrogen fertilizer, which is the main ingredient in agriculture.

Those prices are through the roof.

We're seeing increased input costs to farming.

That's why we're seeing double digit inflation rates on food, which hurts people with low incomes.

On fixed incomes, more as I I've got a lot of policy.

I'll be working on energy issues in the next Congress.

And our next question comes from Miss Munoz and it goes first to Mr Maxwell.

Thank you.

We've talked a lot about the divisiveness in our country right now.

And there is another viewer in Pulaski County that wants to know how will you bring people who you do not agree with to the conversation.

In a headlock.

So now if you people are not going to agree on everything that's evident at the stop, light a four way stop.

To get them to people to see the other side, you've got to go at it with love and a hand out, not a stick in a stone.

And.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I get so excited and then I forget the question.

Say you how you plan to bring people who you don't agree with to the conversation.

I can say love.

Conquers all.

I mean, that's all you got to do.

I mean, it's a simple equation.

Posted.

I forget what he's saying.

About anyway love.

Hatred kills love.

Hatred kills love is what he said, but not in that order.

Mr Westerman, you have one minute, Sir.

That's a question that needs to be answered today and a question that needs to be more focused on.

I think it starts with having the right issue.

Then you've got to be persuasive and you've got to be persistent.

I've got a bill that I helped ride in Congress called the Save Our Sequoias Act.

Without getting into too much detail, we've lost 20% of the Giants.

Coils in the last two years, these are most iconic trees on the planet.

I went to several Democrat senators and House members and showed them the science and the evidence why these trees are dying, what we can do to fix it.

I even took a a a long trip overseas to be able to visit with them on this.

As a result, we've got a bill that's got 25 Democrat Co sponsors, 25 Republican Co sponsors, and it's endorsed by The Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Save the Redwoods.

If you have the right issue, if the facts are behind you, if you're persuasive and persistent, you can get bipartisan support, even in Congress.

Mr. White, one minute Sir.

Ohh yeah we have to.

I mean we can't look at the Democrats, we can't look at the look turns, we can't look at the Republicans.

It's one big problem.

And.

Everybody the governments want tearing us apart.

And hate to say it.

The mainstream news every night you hear something.

About somebody.

Doing something that's gonna trigger somebody.

Let's just calm down.

Let's start use well with this take.

The good Lord's words and spread love, not hate.

Go back to Martin Luther King that was trying to bring us together.

Let's go back to JFK.

That was trying to bring us together monetarily.

He signed the executive order putting us back on the silver standard.

Too bad he got killed 30 days later.

Thank you, Sir.

It's rebuttal time, Mr Maxwell.

You have 30 seconds, Sir, if you choose.

OK, just to to to dog tell what he said about the sequoias.

A national treasure, have you?

OK, I'm.

I'm sure he's seen them and would like to protect them.

I know they're in California.

It's a place I don't want to go, but that's where they are and eventually I want to see the redwoods.

They need to be protected and I'm glad to see government is trying to do something about protecting some of our natural landmarks.

Thank you, Sir, Mr Westerman.

You know, in Congress, you are in the national media.

You often see the extremes on either side and people don't realize there are a lot of people in the middle of working to try to address the issues that are important to our country.

Social media, cable news, a lot of these outlets, they want to have something that's sensational and I think a lot of the bipartisan work gets overlooked because it doesn't seem to be as newsworthy.

Mr. White.

Yeah, it can rock.

Well, you know, the tree thing, that's easily fixed.

That's do you need to talk to know about that, Mr Westerman?

What they admitted to.

And while we have a whole bunch of axes across this state.

And a console lot of other states.

And everybody can agree on that.

They need to stop.

Everybody needs to stop.

Everybody needs to calm down.

We need to get less laws and.

Get more common sense and less hate.

Come on people smile.

Jesus loves everyone of us.

Thank you, Sir.

Our next question comes from Mr Tate and it goes first to Mr. White.

The January 6th Committee, based largely on the testimony of Republicans, has presented the case that President Trump planned and orchestrated the events that led to and caused the January 6th insurrection.

Do you believe Mr Trump was responsible for that event?

Why or why not?

Who's first, mate?

Yes Sir.

Ohh, here we go again.

Let's cut off Trump.

Let's get off of it.

January 6th I got problems with.

I got serious problems with them, but you can trigger a lot of people with that.

But let's trigger some people.

Who died at January 6?

I know.

I know of two.

And Air Force vet.

Shot in the neck.

They let the guy off.

63 year old Lady beat to death by.

A capital policeman.

Wait a minute.

The Capitol policeman that died, he had a stroke.

Let's start looking at ourselves.

Let's start telling the truth.

Stop spreading lies.

Mr Maxwell, you have one minute, Sir.

What was the question there again?

Yeah.

The January 6th Committee, largely based on the testimony of Republicans, has presented the case that President Trump planned and orchestrated the events that led to and caused the January 6 insurrection.

Do you believe Mr Trump was responsible for that event?

Why?

Why not?

He wasn't responsible.

He wasn't responsible for that particular event.

The people were responsible.

And being the people responsible, they were irresponsible, irresponsible and acting.

They were grown men, OK?

That was a little insurrection on January 6.

We don't talk about all the.

A protest that went on peaceful protests that erupted with fires the whole year before.

In many cities, people seem to forget about the many fires and the dangers and the fear they felt.

Coming into the election, January 6th was just an outcry of support in the wrong direction.

Mr Westerman, well, here, here we go again on January 6th, when the real issues are the economy and the pain that Americans are feeling across this country because of the bad policies that the Biden administration, aided by democratic control in the House and the Senate.

As far as Nancy Pelosi's pit made for TV committee, you know she disallowed leader McCarthy from putting people on the committee first time anything like that's ever been.

Also, we forget that the Justice Department has their own investigation and they do not need a made for TV committee in the House doing their investigation.

This committee has been at the behest of Speaker Pelosi the whole time the Democrats are trying to make it an issue in this election.

But believe me, the American people are not nearly as concerned about January 6 as they are about January 20th, when Joe Biden became president and started pushing horrible policies, and he was aided by the far left in the house and the Senate.

Their bottles, if our candidates choose to use it.

Mr. White, you have 30 seconds, Sir.

Yeah, OK.

But like I said, January 6th, there was no insurrection.

Anybody wants to call that an insurrection or the worst day in American history.

They need to look back.

It was a big demonstration.

I am a Democrat.

You get 2,000,000 Democrats up there to protest something.

Antifa the brown shirts.

And the Black Lives Matter might just burn the place down.

Tell me that's not true.

All three tell me they didn't do that to Washington, DC.

I have to tell you the times up, Sir.

We go now to Mr Maxwell for rebuttal.

I don't have one.

Mr Westerman, 30 seconds.

So I was in the capital the whole time when this took place.

There are no excuses for it.

It shouldn't have happened.

It was a riot and it was a bad day in American history.

But it's being looked into.

It was a gift to Pelosi to be able to try to make this an issue from here on out.

She's done that.

But I'm telling you, the American people are not concerned about January 6 as much as they are what Democrat policies are doing to this country.

Gentlemen, we thank you for your responses and your rebuttals.

Time now for closing statements by our three candidates.

And to repeat, the order of closing statements was determined prior to the broadcast with all of the candidates participating.

Mr. White, you go first Sir, one minute.

As long as that my name is John Wyatt, I'm just a.

Man of my word.

And.

I'm running for Congress for the next generation.

Trying to Save the Children.

I'm trying to spread the love of Jesus, trying to do goat good work.

Because if we don't fix this stuff, if we do not come together.

And as a nation, we're gonna stay divided.

How do you defeat the United States?

You divide us.

They've been dividing us.

It's not the people being divided.

It's everybody throwing their two cents in.

Why don't?

Government.

Get out of our business and let us live our lives.

And I guarantee you we'll do a lot better job.

Mr. White, thank you.

Mr Maxwell, your closing statement 1 minutes.

Or Mr westerman.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, you're next.

Thank you.

My name is Bruce Westerman.

I'm the congressman for Arkansas 4th Congressional District.

It's been an honor to be able to do that for the past four terms in Congress.

I'm married to Sharon, who I bring that up because today's her birthday.

She's teaching school and not watching.

But I'm going to wish her a happy birthday.

Anyhow, I currently serve as the ranking member on the House.

Natural Resources Committee, should Republicans win the majority, I'll be the chairman of that committee.

This committee works on energy issues and it works on a lot of things.

I'm passionate about forestry, mining and and fishing issues, as well as travel issues.

You know, Hank Williams junior wrote a famous song and some of the lines in it say the interest is up and the stock market is down and you're only going to get mugged if you go downtown.

That's Joe Biden's America Republicans have.

The solution for it, it starts with transparency and it ends with good policy.

I would appreciate your vote.

It's an honor to represent you.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Maxwell, you have one minute to close.

All right.

Thank you.

As glad to be here.

Gregory Maxwell, the Libertarian candidate for the 4th District U.S. Congress.

You have a choice.

You can vote out the incumbents.

They've been there.

They've had their chance and.

You wanna know about me Ahmed?

Gregmaxwell.net, gregmaxwell.net, my past, my present, my future is on there about all they have political wise where the underdogs you need to go for the third party.

Because you have that option, you don't have to complain.

Don't vote incumbent.

That would be a good idea.

My.

My campaign is liberty on purpose.

Liberty on purpose.

Think about that.

Liberty on purpose, and you have a chance to vote for a new governor.

Ricky Harrington, junior libertarian.

Make that choice this November.

Have to end it there.

Thank you, Sir.

We thank all three of our candidates for again for their responses and their rebuttals.

We are captive to the clock, which tells us that the time for our debate has expired.

Now you can watch.

The debate and all Arkansas PBS debates on demand at the Arkansas PBS YouTube channel, on the PBS video app, and on our website.

The candidates, of course, have the option to participate in a press conference directly following this debate, which will air on YouTube as part of our live stream, scan the QR code on your screen and start watching on YouTube.

Now.

Again, thanks to our candidates for participating and to our panelists.

And to all of you, both here at the Reynolds Performance Hall on the UCLA campus and at home.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th.

Make your voices heard.

Thanks again.

Major funding for election 2022 Arkansas PBS debates is provided by AARP Arkansas, with additional funding provided by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.