CONWAY -- The candidates for Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District seat debated Monday for the first and only time, with Democratic state Rep. Clarke Tucker and Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. French Hill trying to tie each other to their respective party leaders in Washington, D.C.
The debate, which will be broadcast across Arkansas at 8 p.m. today on the Arkansas Educational Television Network, was mostly amicable, but the candidates worked in jabs -- Tucker in his opening statement and Hill in closing.
Hill, a former banker in his second term in Congress, criticized Tucker's positions on health care and immigration. He argued that the economy, veterans, schoolchildren, small businesses and voters in central Arkansas are better off than they were two years ago when Hill was re-elected and Republicans reclaimed the White House.
"He's for bigger government and higher taxes, and his campaign, at the heart of it, is financed by Washington Democrats," Hill said. "Vote for me for re-election, please."
Tucker decried dysfunction in Congress, saying both parties shoulder some of the blame. Tucker trumpeted his bipartisan work in the Arkansas General Assembly; while Hill, he said, hasn't shown the ability to work across the aisle.
"You see that in the fact he's a reliable, party-line voter," Tucker, an attorney, said of Hill. "And in the type of campaign he's chosen to run this year, from the divisive and false attacks relentlessly against my family me, they're straight out of the Washington playbook, written by special interests and party bosses."
No questions were asked about health care, which has been the primary policy issue in the race, surprising Tucker, Hill and Libertarian Joe Swafford.
Instead, the three Little Rock men debated immigration, election security, the national debt, tariffs, minimum wage and the #MeToo movement.
The election, which includes state and federal races, is Nov. 6. The 2nd Congressional District includes Conway, Faulkner, Perry, Pulaski, Saline, Van Buren and White counties.
About 100 people watched the debate at the University of Central Arkansas. Three Arkansas journalists asked questions.
All three candidates agreed that there are certain groups of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who should be provided a path to citizenship.
Tucker said the border should be secured, so that "we know who and what is coming in," but he said mass deportations would be expensive. In contrast, giving immigrants a path to legal status could provide an economic boost, Tucker said.
Hill stressed the importance of providing protections to children of parents recruited to the U.S. to work, noting that he helped get a provision included in recently proposed legislation. However, Hill said he was disappointed the bill was rejected by Democrats in the Senate.
Swafford said he supported providing a path to citizenship to those brought to the U.S. as children and who have kept a clean record.
Hill and Tucker disagreed over the effectiveness of sanctions the U.S. slapped on Russia after it meddled in the 2016 election.
Tucker said the sanctions have been too light.
"I don't think Russia is feeling those sanctions," Tucker said. "I think that's a positive first step, but we absolutely have to do more to sanction Russia for interfering."
Hill countered that the sanctions have indeed been felt by Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, who Hill called a "bad actor."
"Sanctions are biting Russia; I can assure you," Hill said. "They have been losing provincial elections in Putin's party. People are protesting in the streets over the failing of their pension system there."
All three candidates espoused support for generating a balanced federal budget, but they disagreed on how to achieve it.
Hill said he has been disappointed in the way the Trump administration has negotiated with Congress on the budget. He also said he was disappointed that only seven House Democrats voted in favor of an amendment that would require a balanced budget.
"I don't know any other way now to have the cudgel to get Congress to take the hard choices," Hill said, adding that he supported the 2018-19 budget that included a deficit because it provided a needed boost to defense spending.
Tucker said it was morally wrong to leave debt to "our kids." He attacked Hill for supporting the Republican tax plan that the Congressional Budget Office said would increase the national deficit.
He said Republicans will address budget shortfalls by cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"I do believe we need to balance the budget, but it doesn't need to be on the backs of our seniors who have paid in to Social Security and Medicare for their entire lives," Tucker said. "And it doesn't need to be for huge handouts to billionaires and the largest corporations in the United States."
Hill said that much of the deficit projected by the Congressional Budget Office projected will be offset by faster economic growth.
In his closing statement, Hill rebutted that Tucker's preferred health care plan -- a proposal that would give patients the option to buy in to Medicare or remain on private plans -- would threaten to bankrupt Medicare.
Tucker disagreed, saying that plan would simply allow Medicare to be an option in the marketplace. It wouldn't, Tucker said, have an effect on the sustainability of Medicare.
"It's not just free health care for the people who opt in," Tucker said. "They would pay premiums and co-pays and everything else just like with a private insurance policy."
Metro on 10/09/2018