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 in the studios of Arkansas.

PBS this election.

2022 Arkansas PBS, U.S. Senate debate.

54321 upon Jim and.

Hello again everyone.

We're back and welcome once again to debate week here on Arkansas PBS.

At this hour, the candidates for the United States Senate.

And they are, in alphabetical order, the Republican nominee, the incumbent Senator John Bozeman, the Libertarian candidate, Mr Kenneth Kates, and the Democratic nominee, Natalie James.

The questions for the debate will be coming from Unilever.

Of 4029 News, Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Christina Munoz of Natural State Update and Arkansas PBS.

And I'm Steve Barnes.

The rules for the debate has always agreed to by the candidates.

Prior to the debate, each nominee will have one minute to respond 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, questioning all determined prior to the debate in a drawing that was overseen by the candidates themselves or their representatives.

Our first question will come from Una Lee and it goes to Mr Gates.

Alright, Mr Kate, thanks so much for joining us today.

Many Arkansas based companies like Walmart and Tyson are expanding coverage for abortions out of state.

Now the Pentagon has announced that they will provide funds for troops seeking abortions.

What is your stance on abortion?

Do you support this policy?

I do not Miss Lee.

I am pro-life 100%.

Over to Miss James.

That is a wonderful question.

Right now, we're in a time where we have to trust women, trust our doctors, and trust those professionals to make the best interest for everyone.

Abortion isn't just abortion.

We have to use the term correctly.

It is an evacuation of the uterus.

So if I have a DNC and I have a failed miscarriage and by failed means it does not fully come out, I could die and my two children that are home won't have a mother who's thinking about those lives, who's thinking about the domestic violence.

Survivors are those put in domestic situations where the men tells them, I know that you're pregnant, you can't leave.

Who's helping those women right now?

Abortion is an international human right.

It's not just.

The state's right to tell us what to do with our bodies.

It is up for us to make sure that we have the adequate healthcare that we need because abortion is healthcare.

Miss James.

Thank you, Mr Bozeman.

One minute.

Thank you, Steve.

I am pro-life and as a result of that, I don't believe in a abortion except for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

I also don't believe in federal funding of abortions, so if the military is starting to do that, then 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 in regard to Walmart and private country companies.

They don't agree with with them doing that, but they aren't private companies.

They get to do what they want to.

Mr Kate, you have 30 seconds if you choose.

I know we're both alright.

Miss James, do you 37?

Federal funding and federal protections are needed in this time.

We are not poised to take ourselves back 50 years.

We're not poised to allow our military women.

We're not poised to let our employees, our Walmart employees, have back alley abortions or inadequate healthcare and access to the actual healthcare that they need.

So we need to make sure we're thinking about what's best for the citizens and not what's best for us and our internal compass, but think about what's best for the actual.

Citizens here.

Another 30 seconds for Mr Boseman.

Thank you Steve.

Arkansas is one of the most pro-life states in the country.

Again, as I go around the state visit with constituents, most of them do not want their taxpayers dollars used for abortion and for that reason I would be very much opposed.

We'll be opposed and we'll fight the effort in Congress to allow taxpayer dollars to be used for military abortions.

Next question from Miss Munoz.

That goes first to Mr. James or Miss James.

Miss James.

Yes.

And thank you all for being here today very much appreciate it.

So there's no doubt that agriculture is a huge industry here in the state of Arkansas.

Weed prices have gone up due to the conflict in Ukraine.

Corn prices have gone up because of drought issues.

What do you believe is the federal government's role with regards to subsidizing farmers and those that make a living farming here in the state of Arkansas?

And Miss Kate, we go to you first, Miss James, as an excellent question.

I do feel that our government.

Subsidize Arkansas is one of those great states where we not only provide to just us, we provide to everyone across the nation and across the globe.

Now right now, we are in a global market and we need to make sure that our farmers can remain competitive and can remain top of mind.

We're number one and rice exports, we're #3 or five in cotton and also in broiler cattle.

So we want to make sure that our actual agriculture and our life and our way of life is sustainable and that our children can bring in agrotech and can bring in.

New things to continue to grow us forward and mix a 21st century education with our actual agriculture now to continue to grow us and make sure that we remain #1 in everything.

We go now to Mr Bozeman.

Well, thank you for the question.

This is such an important question.

Agriculture is 25% of our state's economy, but when you get outside of any town of any size, it's not 25%, it's probably 85 or 90% this in 2023 in the next Congress.

Every five years we do a big farm bill.

I'm the head Republican on agriculture.

I hoped to be the Chair of the Agriculture Committee in the next Congress.

But what we'll be doing then is working very hard to make sure that the safety Nets are put in place so that the farmers will be able to go to the bank, get the money that they need to make those loans so that 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, so very important.

Mr Kate, you have one minute.

Thank you, Sir.

Thank you for the question as well.

Well, I don't agree with the federal subsidies necessarily.

If the state chooses to do that, you know, that's on them.

But one thing we could do is the federal government.

To deregulate the farming industry, the EPA puts a lot of restrictions on them and that could help them out, you know, grow more and do better and provide food for all of us.

Thank you, miss James.

We have regulations to better protect us.

We have EPA regulations to protect our ground, our water, our air, and to make sure what's being put into our actual agriculture is helping everybody.

I think the subsidies would be amazing as long as the subsidies were inclusive for everyone and all farmers, and they're not competitive.

Subsidies are competitive grants.

What we're seeing across the nation, all farmers need to have ready access and available to these subsidies.

So again, we can remain competitive.

And global market and back to Mr Bozeman well, providing our farmers with the ability to have some stability to make a business plan, to go to the bank to borrow the money that they need is so, so very important because of inflation, because of the terrible energy policy that we have much of much of agriculture, the fertilizer that they depend on, many of the input cost, what it costs to to run the the sprinklers, the tractors.

Et cetera.

The input costs are tremendous right now, and because of that, agriculture is in in pretty dire straits, Mr Kates.

Half minute if you choose.

To Senator Bozeman, first, rural Arkansas is becoming increasingly rural at a really significant arresting pace and the implications are really profound for the delivery of basic services, education, crime prevention, environmental, etcetera.

What should be the federal government's role in addressing these problems that are going, they seem likely to mount for the Arkansas countryside, Steve, they are going to mount and the reason being is that if you look at.

Arkansas, I believe 52 of our 75 counties lost population.

You start losing population, you lose those turnback dollars.

You already don't have much to begin with and you just dig yourself in deeper and that's why we mentioned agriculture.

That's the thing that that is so, so very important.

Again, 8590% of of the economy.

But it's not just agriculture, it's rural schools, it's rural hospitals protecting them.

You lose your school, you lose your community.

The same is true again of the rural hospitals.

One of the things that we've worked on very, very hard, there's a lot of money in the system.

Again, in a very bipartisan way, it's providing broadband, making sure if you making sure that they're able to access that.

We used to think in terms of the three R's, roads, railroads and runways.

If you're not wired, you're not going to grow.

Mr Cates.

Yes, Sir.

They're leaving the state because there's no opportunity.

We need to lower taxes, get businesses to come back in the state, create jobs.

That's what will get people here.

Thank you, miss James.

All right, we're going to elaborate on that.

Lowering taxes.

We need to make sure lowering taxes for the actual citizens so that way they can stay in state and our rural areas.

We are seeing a sharp decline in everybody leaving, but that's because the job opportunities aren't there and those jobs have been removed.

Now we want to make sure that.

And rural areas, they're not having to share hospitals, last time I checked and some multiple counties, they have to share one hospital.

That's not a conducive living environment or having to be portal Meg or having to drive 100 miles to have a baby or having to drive 100 miles just in case you feel that something's wrong with your heart.

They shouldn't have those those types of crisis to deal with on top of being in the rural area.

So federally, I feel that if we can address some of those issues and help with the environment, help with what's going on in the rural area, we would do a lot better in keeping our.

Actual citizens there and well taken care of because right now majority of the state is not taken care of, especially in the delta.

And it's unfortunate and hopefully we'll have the opportunity to do more betterly to better protect all citizens.

And Arkansas.

Ohh, Mr Bozeman another 30.

Well, we've got a real we've got some real challenges throughout the state throughout rural Arkansas, the average age of our farmers, 6040% of the healthcare providers in Arkansas are over 60.

Young people are getting married at a much later age because of that.

They're having fewer children.

So again, the population is not there to backfill.

And so as a result, we need to work as a group.

The state's working with the federal government, working with our local governments.

We need to make sure that schools aren't disallowed because they've gone five students too low and you lose your rural school.

30 seconds for Mr Kate.

I know we're both, Miss James.

Alright, so our schools are running low, and that's correct.

And we should not be closing them.

We should not be allowing our states to raise the actual how many children to go from 300 to 750 minimum requirement for schools.

Also, people aren't getting married because, well, let's get back to our platform, living wages.

If you don't have living wages to sustain your household, what incentivizes you to get married?

If you know that you're not going to have a job in your hometown, what incentivizes you to stay there?

We have to do multiple incentives to keep people.

In the rural area and make sure they have a living adequate way so that they can stay in that area and be better protected and feel safe.

Another question now, excuse me from Miss Lee, and it goes first to Miss James.

Miss James, we had talked about spending before in a separate interview and when asked about programs or departments that we could cut from, you had mentioned the Department of Defense's budget in a previous interview.

So what is your current view on the military spending?

Do we need to increase or cut back again back to that?

Our military spending, our military spending is extremely high and we have a lot of things that we need to be taken care of.

I do feel if we did cut some of the administrative roles and actually paid our E1 through E 6 and make sure that the base of our actual soldiers are taken care of because they are taken care of with the healthcare, we would have a better outcome reallocating those actual funds to our state.

Are having a federal office, work with our state office, our governor, so that we can use part of that $1.6 billion that was sent in and that's from the actual.

Citizens of Arkansas.

And it's also from federal allocations.

Now we have where those federal allocations are sent in and we have a center who doesn't ask where and why are they not being used for the actual citizens.

And that needs to change.

And I know I would make sure that I ask why are we not using those federal allocations to whatever or whoever the governor is to make sure that all Arkansans are better protected and have the resources and the accessibility that they need and they deserve to.

Mr Bozeman for one minute, Sir.

Well, we live in a very, very dangerous.

World.

We have a war, shooting war in Europe, which is really hard to imagine.

My dad was a waste counter on B seventeens.

Hard for me to imagine my children, my grandchildren, you know, again, how can this be?

But it has a card.

the United States is intervening and helping, providing materials.

It's just an example of the different hotspots throughout the world.

We have Iran.

We have China flexing their muscles.

Looking at Taiwan, we're helping Israel, protecting them in the Middle East.

So there's so many things going on.

The last thing that we need to do is cut defense.

If anything, I would be an advocate as certainly with inflation, we need to make sure that we have the defense that we need.

For sure to Mr Cates.

Yes, Sir.

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's defend America and win battles.

That's how they defend America.

Another thing would be.

Right now, defense contractors, lobbyists, they're setting the stage for when we go to war and not or when we go to war or not, not the legislative branch.

And that needs to change.

Thank you.

Miss James?

When we talk about war, we're talking about making sure our job in the United States is and our job in the Senate is to balance those alliances and manage those and deescalate those crises.

So what we're seeing in Ukraine, it's where we're doing deescalation because God forbid, we don't want a World War three.

And in order to do that, we have to make sure we have provisions available.

So that does mean reallocating from our actual military to send over to aid to those who need it so that they can have the provision.

So we don't have to use our military in order to prevent well.

Provide services to a foreign a foreign country.

I want to make sure that we understand it's important that we have federal.

Federal candidates that are going to manage and escalate and appropriately use the funds appropriately for all our Kansans have to call time.

Mr Bozeman, another 30 seconds.

Well, we spend a lot of money.

We waste a lot of money on things that the federal government has no business doing.

The defense of our nation, though, I can't do that as an individual, the state of Arkansas, Senator Hutchison, our legislature can't do that.

We depend on the federal government.

So this is one of those things where it's it's not a question of how much it's it's a question of what's needed.

And then we need to provide the funding, whatever it takes to keep our soldiers safe and to keep us safe.

Yes, Sir.

If we look back at the war in Afghanistan, the US government admits that $69 billion was wasted of the 2.3 trillion.

So I want to ask everybody this, these billions that we're sending to Ukraine, how much of that is getting wasted?

I want freedom for the the people of Ukraine.

I pray for their peace.

But we have to look at how much of that is not going to what it's it says that the people are saying it's going to again 69 billion in Afghanistan, lost of the two.

.3 trillion.

To Miss Munoz had a question first for Mr Bozeman.

Yes, and this is actually 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?

And Senator Bozeman, we go first to you.

Thank you for the question.

And President Biden has pardoned those that are in federal penitentiary for simple possession.

I think when we look at that, that really would just be a handful of people.

We did a massive reform several years ago of of of reforming the system so that people like that would stay out of jail.

What happens is that you commit serious offenses and then your plea bargain down to simple possession.

For those that are in the federal penitentiary for smoking a marijuana cigarette, you know they need to be let out there.

They're their records.

Expunged, expunged.

On the other hand, if you're in jail for possession of marijuana and you committed.

With serious crime, then you need to stay in there.

Mr cakes.

Yes, Sir, I agree that any person incarcerated, over half of the people incarcerated in the US, it's for a simple drug possession.

They need to be released if they haven't committed a violent crime or a crime with a victim.

The war on drugs is, if it's a failure, it's over 100 years old.

If we have to look at policy and figure out if it's effective or not, and the results is how we do that, OK?

And if we look at the war on drugs, the results.

It's only gotten worse and marijuana it's it's not even considered an unhealthy drug.

We need to look at the open.

You know, 90% of drug use is what the UN Drug Office calls non problematic.

You don't get addicted.

You don't have any health issues, 90% and marijuana is not even on that.

All right, it's the and it's 10% and those are opiate overdoses and and even opiates need to be not criminalized but treated as a medical condition.

And we can do this without compromising the safety of the American people.

To Miss James, I agree what the administration is doing, it's important and a step in the right direction to decriminalize on a state level and also on a federal level to continue to help out and add to our economy and add citizens back to our working class and our workforce so that we can have a more productive robust America, a robust Arkansas.

And just so that we can again compete on a global market.

Right now we're trying to keep up with everybody else and it's important that we have all.

Americans available to do that, and 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 chart that's being released hinder them from serving their country or getting a job are providing back.

And that helps alleviate crime, helps alleviate poverty and it helps bring in two household income so there are more people to be able to get married.

So it's important and I'm glad to see that we're having the step in the right direction and I hope the state continues to follow.

We go back to Mr. Guzman for another 30 seconds.

Well, I agree.

If you're in a federal penitentiary and only 2% of the criminals that are incarcerated are in federal penitentiaries, so if you're there and you've smoked a marijuana joint and you got picked up, they need to let you out.

I don't think there's very many of those.

I think that this is part of the President sitting around in the Oval Office and trying to deflect from the economy, from inflation and from the border.

If you want to do something about drugs, we need to control.

The border 70,000 Americans died of overdose of fentanyl overdose this last year.

To Mr case, 30 seconds, Sir.

Not only control the border, but most of the stuff that's used to make fentanyl is coming from China.

We need to address that as well.

Miss James, 30 seconds to agree we do need to address protecting our actual ports and those borders because that's where majority of actual drugs that are being brought in.

We do need to talk about inflation and we do need to talk about all the other wonderful things.

But this is an important step to actually help people right now in real time.

That's so needed in these times.

We're still in a global pandemic.

We've lost a lot of lives, a lot of family and we have the opportunity to actually heal some families and bring people back together, which is rightly so.

And what we should be focusing on and what our bipartisan.

Effort should be doing.

Education outcomes in the United States have for decades, I suppose, as measured against other countries, have achievement levels against other students in other countries have been disappointing.

Post pandemic, they have been especially disappointing.

Mr Cates first, what role first, what roles 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 K12?

I think we need to decentralize education and get the federal government out of it, Sir.

Currently the US students in reading, math and English ranked 20th, 30th and 40th in the world.

Alright, we should be in the top three.

That's, you know, this is the greatest country in the world and the government keeps getting in the way of that.

They, they tell teacher, they tell the states, the teachers, the parents how to teach, what to teach, and they they just need to get out of the way.

Miss James?

I feel that the federal government is needed to better make better maintain our school systems, especially locally where we might not have all the full provisions that are needed and resources.

We saw in Little Rock School district where the state took over and we had nine failing schools.

Now once the state gave it back, he had 22 failing schools.

So saying that we don't need the federal to come in and better help with the state, I don't agree with that.

My mother was an educator.

I'm 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're hearing some very polished answers from a career politician, my opponent, John Bozeman.

And right now, I'm not up here to give you pretty words, are still you pretty words.

I'm here to make sure you know you have an option and you have a choice on who's going to better represent you, your education, your future and your family.

And when we talk about not having the federal provisions needed for our education and our future.

How are we going to advance ourselves with agriculture?

How are we going to advance ourselves with military?

How we're going to advance ourselves with anything if we don't have a proper education system for our most vulnerable?

I go now to, we go now to Mr Boseman.

Thank you, Steve.

Education is, is right at the very top.

I was on the school board for seven years and very proud, proud to serve in that capacity.

There is all kinds of room for the federal government helping out and they are helping out.

Education is primarily a state function.

But again, lots of help from the federal government.

One of the things I'm very excited about is their help with the vocational programs.

Shop class is not like it was when I was in school.

Now, teeming with our with our vocational colleges, you can go to school, you can at the end of the 11th grade, you can be a phlebotomist and have the certificate.

By the time that you're graduate from high school, you can be an LPN.

By the time the first year after that, you can be a registered nurse.

And again, make a very, very good wage.

This is the key.

In order for Arkansas to move forward, we've got to have the workforce that we need.

We've got to have a skilled workforce.

Those are the jobs that we want.

And this is the way to do it.

To Mr Kates for 30 seconds.

Yes, Sir.

And I do agree that vocation is a great thing.

That's something the states can do.

The States have enough money.

And again, if we want to look at the effectiveness of a policy, we have to look at the results.

The federal government's been involved in education.

For a long time.

And the results speak for themselves right again.

20th, 30th, 40th place in math, reading and science compared to the rest of the world.

So there's the federal government's been involved and and we see the results.

Thank you, miss James.

Policy from the federal government is supposed to be preventative and impactful for all citizens and all constituents.

It shouldn't be reactive.

And what we're seeing on a state level is a very reactive policy against our actual education system.

We need to make sure that we have the federal protections in place so that we do have the correct policies that are going to grow us further.

Again, I can't keep saying it, but I am going to keep saying it a 21st century education to compete in the global market.

Is so important and critical for Arkansas, ranked 43 in education.

And to Mr Bozeman.

Thank you, Steve.

I I'm a real proponent of regional, the regional concept.

And again, the federal government has helped with that.

You can't do these things by yourself.

What you're seeing is schools going together, counties going together, and it really doesn't make a difference.

I agree.

We need to have metrics, we need to have outcome.

We need to hold people responsible.

That's why I like it so much that these programs, you're not just going to class and studying.

We're actually working towards a certificate so that once you get through a school you can make a living wage.

Miss Lee.

Now first two Mr Bozeman.

Senator Bozeman, we are seeing rapid growth especially in Northwest Arkansas and where our station is.

Companies like Walmart Building a new headquarters, Tyson requiring all headquarter employees now to move to Arkansas to work out of their Springdale 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?

Well infrastructure is so, so very important and that's one of those issues.

It's not a generally a partisan issue.

I'm on the environment and Public Works committee.

I had the opportunity to serve on the on the Transportation Committee in the House that's the the Rd building.

I've been involved I think with everyone except for this last one, the when you conference and committee.

So I'm I'm committed to that.

That's how you move forward.

We used to think in terms of roads, railroads, runways, water that's how you an area developed but now you you certainly have to have broadband.

So the other thing that we have to do and I mentioned, I mentioned the importance of working together that's one thing that that that the regional aspect of Northwest Arkansas does a very good job through the Northwest Council.

So it's not only Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas, the Jonesboro.

Region, we have some hotspots that are very important to take care of.

Mr Kate, you have one minute.

Yes, Sir.

In regards to the federal government and providing money for infrastructure, they just passed an infrastructure bill and hardly any of it's going to infrastructure.

Also, if we want the government to take care of our infrastructure, let's look at how they take care of the theirs.

They have 77,000 buildings that are not used or underused that cost $1.7 billion of taxpayer money each year.

So do we really want them taking care of our infrastructure?

Miss James, one minute.

I'm so glad to see reallocation.

I'm glad to see people relocate and Tyson mandating people to relocate.

And I'm glad that we do have the infrastructure bill that was put in place.

No thanks to our current senator, and I'm grateful to see it.

What we're also seeing is we have a senator who voted against the infrastructure bill but is quick to show up when it's time for a ribbon cutting form arena, but not for the actual roads and railways.

And when I heard him speak, I didn't hear him say anything about the delta or South Arkansas, and that's an important part of the state.

That's over 450,000 citizens that are quite frankly, fly over country, I guess, to our senator.

So we need to make sure that we have somebody that's going to utilize all of the infrastructure and use it in a bipartisan way to continue to grow Arkansas the way that Arkansas deserves to grow.

And quite frankly, in the last 20 years, we have not had that opportunity.

We've been lasting everything that I've seen for the last 20 years since I was in high school.

And it's time for us to change and it's time for us to grow together and be inclusive of the whole state in all regions.

Including the South.

Mr Boseman, another 30 seconds.

Well, thank you, Steve.

Again.

I've been very, very involved in infrastructure and feel like it's so, so very important.

It's interesting.

I didn't vote for the last infrastructure bill.

The reason I didn't vote for it is I'm on the environment and public works, the committee that put together the roads and railroads and runways and that aspect of it, we allocated more money than ever being spent before.

Came out of committee 19 to nothing.

The Democrats then stuck $300 billion of wasteful spending on it that had nothing to do with infrastructure.

That's why I voted no.

We go back to Mr Cates.

Yes Sir.

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, you know, non bias or implicit bias, you know, training.

So again if we want to look at how they handled it, how they handle infrastructure, look at how they handle their own.

To Miss 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, 2 decades, 3 bills passed a post office for Harrison, AR.

But you vote against infrastructure and do not provide any solutions to better help all of Arkansas.

You mentioned Northwest Arkansas, Jonesboro and Central Arkansas, but again, forget and negate the South.

When they need that critical infrastructure, you voted against it.

So we need to make sure we have somebody that's going to vote again for all.

Of Arkansas Christina Munoz question.

Yes.

Let's talk about the health care industry.

So many hospitals in Arkansas, especially rural Arkansas, only survived the pandemic because of federal assistance.

They are now again struggling.

Do we need more federal assistance or is it a game of if they fail, they fail.

But especially in rural Arkansas, that's a huge concern.

Mr Cates to you first.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you for the question.

Both parties always argue how to fund healthcare, the healthcare system instead of how to fix it.

The problem with the healthcare system.

Is the billing.

All the prices are hidden, which there's no free market competition.

You if you have a heart attack, you know say in South Arkansas S Arkansas it could cost 25,000.

If you have a heart attack in North Arkansas it could cost 400,000.

The they keep the prices hidden.

They charge outrageous markups.

One study it showed that 23% or 23 times, excuse me marked up the original or Medicare allowable price we need to make billing or healthcare billing.

Open and inspire that free market competition.

Thank you, miss James.

You are correct.

We do and we have something and we had a provision of bipartisan act that actually put in place to better help alleviate all of those questions and it was the federal Affordable Cares Act.

Well, it was broken apart in a way that.

Shouldn't have been broken apart and didn't help all of Arkansas and all Americans.

Now you are correct.

We do see a lot of hospital deserts all across the state and it's important that we have the actual hospitals being taken care of.

And federally it is a lot more that we could be doing to keep a lot of them open so that people aren't again having to drive hundreds of miles.

People aren't having to be flown in and people aren't having to side.

Do I want to take my medicine now and divvy it up?

So until I get to my doctor's appointment and deciding.

Do I want to have this drive?

Spend another gas tank full of gas to drive to Little Rock on?

I live again in South Arkansas and I don't.

Our MENA AR 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, and that should be first and foremost.

And to Mr Bozeman for one minute, thank you again.

Rural hospitals are so important.

If you don't have a rural hospital, you lose it.

You lose it in your county, you lose it in your community, you lose your doctors.

Pretty soon you lose your community.

That's the first thing that people look at is they decide where to settle is, what are, what are the amenities in play, what are the schools like?

That's why schools are so important.

Again, what's the healthcare situation look like?

There's a number of federal programs that are helping.

Rural hospitals, hospitals, even though we had the pandemic, many of them were wait.

They weren't able to do elective surgeries and things like that.

That's kind of their bread and butter.

It's amazing.

They were really slammed during the pandemic, although lots of people were sick.

So I'm committed to continuing those programs as we go forward.

Recognizing the importance of the rural hospital system, we returned to Mr Cates for 30 seconds.

The Affordable Care Act was mentioned.

The Affordable Care Act was written by the same companies that want to keep the prices hidden.

Thank you.

Miss James?

We're hearing where we're talking about hospitals and making sure that everybody has a doctor, but we're also hearing where we have a federal abortion ban that's being put in place, a national abortion ban that are part of another party doesn't want for the rest of everybody.

We need to make sure that we are protecting our hospitals the same way we are protecting our doctors, and make sure our doctors can make adequate decisions, decisions to protect all citizens within those said hospitals because we can open up plenty of them.

But if we're not allowing our doctors to actually take care of our patients in the full capacity for full health care, then we're doing them a disservice.

Gotta go to Mr Bozeman now for 30 seconds.

They again helping hospitals with new designs, partnering with bigger hospitals and bigger communities.

Those are things telemedicine has been a big boom for rural medicine.

So these are things that we can work on, again realizing the importance as we go forward.

Protecting our rural communities.

We are going to pause for just a moment to let you know they're gonna remind you, actually, that the candidates are free to participate in a press conference individually directly following the debate.

To watch that live from your home or wherever, you scan your QR code on your screen.

There it is from with your mobile device and you will see that QR code periodically through the balance of our debate.

Fresh question now and it goes first to Miss James, hardly any other issue.

Certainly in Arkansas is driving the political debate this season than crime.

What do you see as the federal government's role, Visa V cities and states in addressing the problem?

Addressing the problem first means actually thinking about a solution forward.

We haven't heard solutions from the other side as to how we can help alleviate crime.

Well, the solution is simple.

Make sure we pay people a federal excuse me, a fair and adequate.

Age.

Make sure that they have the healthcare they're available for them.

Make sure they have the provided and needed resources for education, because when you aren't making enough money you make stress decisions and sometimes you make poor decisions.

We have 9 private prisons in Arkansas, and that's too many.

We don't have a recidivism program that incorporates getting people back on and back into the actual socialization and population of Arkansas.

And that's another aspect that we should be focusing on because a lot of this crime is from repeat offenders, because we're not.

Training and coaching and motivating them to be citizens.

We are motivating them to continue to be career.

Career criminals and we shouldn't be doing that.

Senator Bozeman, one minute.

Well thank you.

This, this again is is a question that we've got to deal with.

Arkansas.

The nations experience significant crime.

You pick up a newspaper and you read that in Little Rock where one of the top 20, top 30, usually top 20 most violent crimes.

Most violent crimes per capita, well, that's not just Little Rock.

That's Arkansas.

When people see that, when they're trying to decide where they want to settle.

So there's a big place for the federal government to be helpful.

I'm on the subcommittee that controls funding for various programs like this, the burn Jag program, which is a program that gives policemen, gives law enforcement the tools that they need to keep themselves safe to keep us safe.

These are the counter programs that we need to support as we go forward, Mr Gates.

Yes, Sir.

We fight crime by not demonizing the guys who fight it.

Currently, most police officer or police departments, excuse me, they're experiencing significant turnover.

A friend of mine is in law enforcement and he's down three guys just on his shift alone because we've demonized the guys who fight it.

Thank you, Mr. James.

Right now, holding somebody accountable is not demonizing them.

Holding people accountable for their actions, just as I hope that all of Arkansas will hold me accountable when I am.

Your future, senator is something that's needed on all fronts, regardless of who it is that you are now.

We do need to address the mental health crisis and make sure that we have the mental health workers and make sure that we're addressing the major issues that are contributing factors to crime and to poverty, and if we can address those issues in a more sound way.

We can alleviate a lot of that actual stress that law enforcement is receiving.

Mr Bozeman, you have another 30 seconds.

I I've had the opportunity to visit with all of the federal law enforcement agencies in the state, asking them what they need to do a better job helping local law enforcement.

There's a lot of task force that go on and again, making sure that they've got what they need.

The other thing that we did myself and and Senator cotton under the Trump administration, we put 2.

Prosecutors in place that did a very, very good job fighting crime and again helping the local police.

Mr cakes.

Yes, Sir, I agree.

Holding individual officers accountable or into a high standard, we give them a lot of authority and responsibility.

But we shouldn't deem it.

We shouldn't demonize a whole, the whole industry and all of them.

All right.

We should just hold the one accountable and support the rest.

Thank you.

Miss Lee has a question first for Mr Gates.

All right, Mr Cates, let's talk about immigration.

Many people across the political spectrum say that 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, Miss Lee.

Well, they're not handling it, obviously.

Thousands of illegal aliens come across the border every day.

And I want those people, you know, to have a better life, you know, just like I'm sure.

They all are.

But we're a nation of borders.

We're a sovereign nation, you know, that's what makes it is our borders.

And we we need to secure it and we need to focus on immigration reform, such as work visas so these people can come in and make a better life for their family.

Thank you, miss James.

We're a nation of.

Immigrants.

And we can't forget that we did not originate here in America.

We came over seeking shelter from religious persecution and from Texas.

So we can't sit here and call them illegal immigrants.

We need to call them what they are.

They are refugees seeking asylum, seeking help, because that's the same thing that we did when we first came over here.

And the same rights should be allotted to anybody else that wants to come over here and be a citizen and be a productive citizen.

Now, I do agree we do need to cut a lot of the red tape.

There's too much red tape that's hindering the actual asylum process, the refugee process, or any of the immigration process right now.

We need to make sure we're doing what's best and what's humane for everyone involved in all parties, even if it means hiring more people to make sure that they're able to adequately process and get everybody in and bring people to a safe way of life.

Over to Mr Bozeman.

We need to secure the border.

And you, if you don't secure the border, it doesn't matter what immigration system you put in, then it won't work because people will continue to flood across.

And it is a flood.

It's a humanitarian crisis, it's a national security crisis.

80 people in this last year were apprehended on the border that were on the terrorist watchlist.

3 1/2 million people were caught since Biden has taken control, 500,000 they know crossed the border but they weren't able to be apprehended.

You think about it, we're a state that has three little over 3 million people.

You've got the state of Arkansas coming in the last two years and everybody feels like it'll be even greater unless we do something.

Plus a million people.

What do you do with these folks?

What do you do them.

Some will be sent to to New York.

A few thousand.

The sanctuary city.

They've gone crazy.

Tried to crawl out the National Guard.

Wanna be in dollars?

This is a national crisis and a national security time, Sir.

Mr Cates, 30 seconds.

Yes, Sir.

We are a nation of immigrants.

But those immigrants came in legally.

They had to register on Ellis Island.

And my immediate family is immigrants or or immigrated to the US and we did it the right way, the legal way.

Thank you.

Miss James?

Right now what we're seeing we do have.

When we talk about immigration again and we talk about securing our border.

3 million people were stopped.

That sounds really secure to me.

Drugs were stopped.

That sounds like what we have in place is working now, stopping actual individuals.

Whether it's 3 million people coming over here to seek asylum, guess what?

America is large.

Most of America could fit in in Alaska the size of Alaska and still have a acre of their own.

So we have plenty of space to put them here.

They have want to be productive citizens.

Allow them the opportunity to do that.

And if they don't, then that sort the immigration.

Processes for to continue to have those that are here that are gonna be productive.

Mr Boseman, 30 seconds.

Well, we are a nation of immigrants.

We've got 5 million people in line doing it the right way.

Most of them, it will take up to 10 years to get their their, their naturalization.

We naturalize 1,000,000 people a year, more almost than the rest of the world put together.

We can be very proud of that.

We're a nation of laws.

We can't have hundreds of thousands, literally, you know, millions of people crossing the border.

In an unlawful way.

Miss Munoz question first for Miss James, yes, talking about higher education, the cost of college, the rising cost of college is making it almost unattainable for many Arkansans.

So whether or not you agree with the student loan debt relief plan that is still being argued over, what would you do to help struggling our Kansans pay for higher education?

Miss James first.

Well, I'm a mom of a 17 year old getting ready to face that.

So making sure she has an education she needs any supplemental education.

So that she can have scholarships and explaining that you don't have to leave home, you can still go here and there are different types of vocational trades and other options available.

We push college, but college might not be for everybody.

We need to make sure that we're pushing all options that are for our children because not every kid is the same and we want to make sure that we're recognizing that.

Now with the student loan forgiveness, I think it's a step in the right direction because it helps those in South Arkansas, it helps those all in Arkansas, especially those communities, the color, it helps those communities that are often left behind.

Career politicians with wonderful shiny answers, but not real solutions.

So I'm glad to see that we have actual solution put in place and not another trope.

Our fear mongering trope.

When we talk about inflation, our borders or anything else, it's time to stop with the fear and it's time for us to actually advocate for our future and advocate for all constituents.

Mr Bozeman.

Well, I'm opposed to the Biden plan of forgiveness.

The reason being it's not fair.

Why is it fair if you just paid off your student loans before March of 2020, and then if you just took a student loan out after 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 355070 thousand whatever.

Nobody's paying off their debts.

So for that reason I'm very much opposed.

What we've got to do is get the university system under control in the sense that their inflation rate has been tremendously greater than the normal inflation rate.

Mr Cates, yes, Sir, I agree that vocational should be another option and that the prices of college is is out of control, like healthcare as well.

But remember it 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're just transferring debt from one person to another.

Miss James, we're going to talk about forgiving loans.

We need to talk about PPP loans that were forgiven to numerous colleagues and coworkers of our divested Senator John Bozeman from his company.

We have seen ten articles talked about having ease, ability, and feasibility for these corporations, but we have not and have yet to see about feasibility.

And ten articles for actual student loans are relief for citizens of Arkansas are those citizens and students wanting to go to school and I think that's something important and indicative.

Of a future senator.

To have to make sure they're thinking about everybody, not just the corporate colleagues and coworkers, and making sure their PP loans and the amounts of millions of dollars are forgiven versus 10,000 to Mr Bozeman.

Well, again, we need to Pell Grant scholarships and certainly there's a place for that in the federal government.

You need to get your act straight in the sense of when you accuse people of things.

I have not received any PPP loans.

I don't know where that's coming from.

My brother and I started a clinic.

Many, many years ago I worked there.

24 years.

I've not been associated for two decades.

So like I say, I don't know who is feeding your facts, but they're totally false and right, right and wrong is wrong.

You are divested, correct.

I haven't worked there in 20 years.

That is right.

You're divested from it.

I said your colleagues, the save it corporation, save it for closing statements, if we can.

If we can, because I have to be.

I have to be fair to Mr Senator.

I have to be fair to Mr Years.

I mentioned your articles, not you, and I said you're divested.

Correct.

Mr Mr Cates is a Sir.

Thank you.

Or can I have some closing statements now?

Time for closing statements.

And as determined prior to the broadcast.

Mr Cates, your first.

You have one minute, Sir.

Yes, Sir.

If you feel like there's something wrong in DC, it's because there is.

Congress has a current approval rating that's almost in the single digits.

Both parties answered a big corporations and the woke mob.

We need leaders who put people first, not profit or politics.

Thank you.

Mr Boseman, you have one.

Well thank you.

We've got the senior broadcaster in in Arkansas the guy that is kind of the the Dana Broadcasting.

We've got Miss Lee, Miss Munoz the the future Deans have broadcasting here.

So we appreciate your hard work and appreciate public broadcasting.

As I go around the site the the the the primary thing I hear about in fact I've always said if you if you can't make a living if you can't take care of.

Their family, everything else is pretty important, unimportant.

The thing that's killing Americans right now is inflation, 8.2%.

We've had 8 / 8.2% inflation for the last seven months.

Remember, this was going to be transitory.

So we're in a situation now where we simply have to do something about that.

And so I believe that if we lift our eyes above and get to work here working.

Together, we'll be able to solve that problem.

We've got a lot of other problems that we can solve working together, and America will continue to be the greatest, freest country.

Thank you, Miss James, you have one.

Call inflation what it is.

Inflation is corporate grade.

And as I said before, we've seen numerous corporations and colleagues of our and current incumbent received millions of dollars worth of PPP loans to be forgiven and yet they continue to have 50 year profits higher than we've ever seen.

And yes, we do have 8.8% inflation right now, but it's forecasted to go down because of what the current administration is doing.

It's forecasted to go down to 5.3%.

Enough with the tropes, enough with the fear.

Enough of the wolf in sheeps clothing.

Enough with the political 20 year polished, 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 interest.

Arkansas.

You have a choice.

You have a choice right now to make you have someone that's going to vote for veterans, our families, our working class and make sure that everybody is taken care of.

And I'm Natalie James and I'm asking for your vote today and for you to check out my.

Issues in our platform at James for arkansas.com.

Thank you so much for this opportunity.

And with that, we thank our three candidates for appearing on our broadcast and 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 press conference directly following this debate, which will air on YouTube.

You can watch it live.

It's on YouTube, part of our live stream.

Once again, scan the QR code on your screen now and begin watching on YouTube once again.

Our thanks to our three nominees and to our panelists and to the audience.

Here in the rental center on the campus of UCLA, and of course, to you at home Election Day, Tuesday, November 8th.

Goodnight.

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