Sanders, Graham to clash in discussion on US economy
A pair of U. S. senators not known for their agreement on much of anything will meet in Boston today for an old fashioned throw down on the state of the U.S. economy.
“Democracy in America is under assault from rightwing Republican extremists. There’s no question about that,” U. S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told Roll Call about his upcoming debate with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C. “But I look forward to sharp discussion.”
“Nothing else to do,” Graham told the same publication. “No, no, really. I think it’ll be fun.”
The idea, according to Edward M. Kennedy Institute Chairman Bruce Percelay, is to demonstrate the Senate still deserves its nickname — “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”
“We initiated this idea in response to what is the most serious division in this country in decades,” Percelay said in a release. “It is our hope that this effort will help demonstrate that compromise in the U.S. Senate is actually possible.”
The debate, to be moderated by Brett Baier and carried on Fox News at noon, will be held in the Institute’s full- size Senate Chamber replica. Called “The Senate Project,” Graham and Sander’s meeting today is the first in a series of debates between leading U.S. senators.
“Our hope is to show that bipartisanship and vigorous debate can coexist — and that civility is still possible, even in today’s hyperpolarized world,” Orrin G. Hatch Foundation Executive Director Matt Sandgren said.
“All too often, network programming — whether on television or online — sows division and contempt among viewers by exaggerating the differences between us. But The Senate Project seeks to do the exact opposite. It seeks to forge compromise and consensus while still respecting substantive disagreements that exist between the two parties,” he said.
The Oxford Style debates will last for one hour each.
The first is today, at the institute named for longtime U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy. The next is scheduled for July at Georgetown University and the third in Utah at the Hatch Foundation, named for U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Kennedy and Hatch, according to the debate organizers, represented a level of bipartisan discourse that should not disappear now that they are gone.
“While this debate series will showcase sharp political disagreements, it will also foster areas of common purpose moving forward,” organizers said.