Casey, Barletta spar in final debate
U.S. Senate candidates differ on most issues
Capping a week that ignited a conversation between both parties about civil discourse, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta aired their political differences in a spirited debate Friday afternoon at KDKA-TV’s studios — and, boy, were there disagreements.
Sharing almost no middle ground, the two Senate candidates from Pennsylvania split on everything from health care and the minimum wage to the economy and climate change — offering the sharpest contrast yet in what will stand as their second and final debate in the lead-up to the Nov. 6 election.
Their sharpest exchange came on the Republican-led tax cuts passed last year that Democrats have labeled a handout to the wealthy. But the disagreement centered instead around who is responsible for the recent boom in the economy, with Mr. Casey, the Democratic incumbent, saying Republicans simply inherited it from the Obama administration.
Mr. Barletta, a Hazleton Republican, countered by asking the senator to name a single Obama-era policy that could have been responsible for the uptick in the economy.
“Was it more regulations? Was it Obamacare? What was it, higher taxes? I can’t find what policy,” Mr. Barletta quipped, adding that the economy took off when Republicans “rolled back taxes, allowed businesses to grow and gave them more of their own money.”
Naming the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by Barack Obama in 2009, Mr. Casey alleged Republicans try to cut programs like Medicare and Medicaid, then give tax cuts to corporations.
On the issue of raising the minimum wage, Mr. Casey said he supports it and wants to make sure wages keep up with inflation while giving local communities the opportunity to raise it themselves.
Mr. Barletta said that while he supports a “modest increase” in the minimum wage, the market should determine wages, and a growing economy will drive wages up naturally.
The candidates’ hourlong debate moderated by anchor Ken Rice also brought what will likely be their last public back-and-forth on health care, which has become a main theme of the race in the last month.
Mr. Barletta, asked if he would
pledge to support protections for people with pre-existing conditions, said he would, and that anyone who claims otherwise — like Mr. Casey — is simply making a political argument to scare people.
Mr. Casey countered by pointing to Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and said there should be “no effort by any public official” to remove those protections it provides.
“We can’t go back to the dark days when an insurance company has the power to deny your treatment coverage or charge you a higher rate,” Mr. Casey said.
After disagreeing even on how many bills they each have passed, they voiced their differences on voter fraud. Mr. Barletta said it’s “natural” to want to make sure there’s no voter fraud at home when so much attention has been paid to Russian interference in the last election, while Mr. Casey said there’s “irrefutable” evidence that “there’s no voter fraud in the United States of America.”
On climate change, Mr. Barletta repeated his platform that even though he believes climate change is real, America shouldn’t “overregulate” and push American companies overseas where they can do more harm to the planet. Mr. Casey said he supports a program that would help those who lose their jobs because of steps taken to control climate change.
The debate, which aired Friday evening on KDKA, was taped shortly after federal authorities arrested a suspect in connection with the nationwide bombing campaign against critics of President Donald Trump. The candidates were asked who they consider to be the main source of “hate speech” in America, to which Mr. Casey called on the president to lead by example and lessen the “negative tone of his rhetoric, and that’s true of any public official.”
Mr. Barletta said he doesn’t think any one person in Washington is responsible and that Americans shouldn’t point fingers now.