Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic contender Amy McGrath issued answers about COVID-19, the Supreme Court, police reform, and other issues Monday night during a quick, one-hour debate, the first and most likely the last they will have. before the November 3 election.
Both applicants continued to insist on the key issues they sought to express with the Kentucky electorate as they answered a series of questions from WKYT news host Bill Bryant.
McConnell’s main message: he used his influence to bring a significant budget – $17. 5 billion, he said in his last term – to Kentucky and provides the state with an influential voice in Congress.
“Look, the question is, who can be effective for Kentucky?” he said. “I’m giving Kentucky a chance to go beyond its weight on national problems and bring things to this state that I wouldn’t get in a different way. “. “
Meanwhile, McGrath has continually emphasized what is perhaps the ultimate vital theme of his campaign: McConnell, who was first elected senator in 1984, has been in the workplace for too long and has not used his influence on the way he helps Kentucky.
“Senator McConnell likes to report that Kentucky is overweight than its weight. Here in Kentucky, we know we feel like we’ve been beaten by fools,” he said in the debate, which highlighted the highest rates of state fitness disorders like cancer and relatively Salar to Kentuckyns as examples.
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“Are you bigger than you were six years ago?”asked other people who were watching the wide spread between her and McConnell. “Are you bigger than you were 36 years ago?”
McConnell and McGrath discussed these issues in Monday’s debate, but they also talked in particular about the unique demanding situations facing the country today.
Bryant opened the debate by asking what all the candidates the federal government is doing to mitigate the risk of COVID-19.
McGrath criticized McConnell for not reaching an agreement with Congressional Democrats for a new coronavirus relief program, which he said is necessary in Kentucky, and accused him of “playing those very partisan political games” in the midst of this crisis. (The Commonwealth saw more than a million people apply for unemployment due to the pandemic. )
“That’s not what I’ll get from me, ” said McGrath. “I have a plan to catch us through this coronavirus so that our schools are open safely, so that we can regain our economy and avoid betting those games. “
But McConnell blamed the Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the lack of commitment.
“We negotiated with the president. She demanded that we allocate $3 trillion to this challenge in a way that is largely, in many ways, unrelated to solving the challenge,” she said. “I don’t think they need a solution sooner. “
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He also highlighted his involvement in the progression of the $ 2 trillion coronavirus aid, relief and economic security act, commonly known as the CARES Act, which was passed in Congress in March.
Kentucky earned $13 billion from the CARES Act, yet Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said Kentucky has more help from a new coronavirus relief program. (McConnell said last week that Congress is unlikely to pass any COVID-19 relief laws before the election. )
When asked how he would compare the respective (and different) tactics of Beshear and President Donald Trump to take over the pandemic, McConnell replied, “Well, I think either they did as productive as possible with an unknown disease that we were all trying to locate. know how to manage. “
McGrath, for his part, gave the federal government a failure rating.
“Well, I’m giving the president, the White House and Congress an F for their control of the coronavirus. Look, we have 213,000 Americans dead in nine months,” he said. More Americans died than in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And Senator McConnell thinks he did a smart job?”
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Moving the conversation about COVID-19, Bryant read a consultation sent through a University of Kentucky student asking if confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominee to succeed former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg take a position less than a month before the election.
“No” is the answer, McGrath says.
“No one votes on a Supreme Court candidate right now,” McGrath said, warning Congress to focus on passing some other coronavirus relief program.
McConnell struck the often quoted point of his crusade that McGrath would move with other Democrats to Washington, D. C. , to “pack” the Supreme Court by expanding the number of judges. (McGrath in the past stated that he was willing to add seats for the court. )
He praised Trump’s nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as “an absolute legal star. “
With regard to the Roe v. Wade, the resolution that legalized abortion in the United States, can be overturned through a Supreme Court that includes Barrett, McConnell said he was opposed to abortion, but under pressure that there was no way of knowing how the judges would rule on the express issues.
“No one knows what can happen to a candidate,” he said. “Every Republican candidate projected as a crisis for women and none of them turned out to be. “
McGrath presented this perspective: “Well, I’m a Catholic and I’m a mother of 3 young children, and this factor has been a vital factor for me all my life. I am someone who deserves not to legislate faith or my devoted trust in others, and I who already have moderate restrictions on abortion in this country, as set out in Roe against Mr. Wade. “
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Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old black police officer shot to death in her Louisville apartment in March and whose death attracted national attention, was also discussed Monday.
Following a recent grand jury ruling to rate a single officer involved in the shooting for fees not similar to Taylor’s death, Bryant asked what a British student sent: “Do you think justice has been done?”
None of the candidates answered this directly.
McConnell began his reaction by saying that while he has “maximum tolerance” for nonviolent protests, he does not have “much tolerance for violence and looting. “
He said Taylor’s death was “a tragedy, a sloppy job, a terrible result. Array. . . but I think in terms of justice in America, we will have to stick to the legislation that has been written. “
McConnell said he supported law enforcement. ” Some of them are bad, however, it is convenient to dismantle the police or demonize the police in general,” he said.
McGrath responded by saying that she did not “loot, riot or destroy assets or violence in any way” and that she did not need to dismantle the police.
He said Taylor’s death is “an absolute tragedy” and said leaders “must step back and recognize that we want to be replaced in this country. “
McConnell noted that Senate Democrats blocked a GOP bill to institute police reforms and warned it to show how Congressional Democrats have “slowed down everything that comes (they said they felt this specific proposal was inappropriate).
McGrath had a rebuttal to this: “You hear it all night: no more Array excuses. . . He’s the majority leader in the Senate, and he still can’t. “
One of the last questions applicants addressed in the debate was the opioid epidemic that has surprised many Kentucky families.
Bryant asked how the Commonwealth can simply “reverse the trend” on this front, and McConnell highlighted the money he had given the state to combat addiction and overdoses, adding an $87 million grant to the University of Kentucky to resolve and examine the crisis.
“We fought the battle. It’s not over yet, however, my influence has made a big difference in offering investments for Kentucky on this big issue,” the veteran senator said.
McGrath accused McConnell of holding the big pharma accountable.
“Senator McConnell’s influence has allowed billions of recipes to flood Kentucky,” he said.
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McGrath also said he sought to fix the Affordable Care Act and make health care less difficult to discharge so that others with addictions can gain benefits from remedy and prevention.
At the end of the debate, any of the applicants presented a definitive to kentuckyns.
“Lately we have a Senate leader who is so dysfunctional and partisan that even in the midst of a national crisis, they can’t make a difference for Kentucky,” he said. “Do you need more? No need. I need change. “
In his last comment of the night, McConnell said it wasn’t complicated.
“Do you need someone from New York to set the schedule for the United States and don’t worry about Kentucky or do you need one of our state’s four congressional leaders to persecut Kentucky?Array gives Kentucky a chance to point out his weight, one more help for Kentucky?”, he said. ” That’s the question. He’ll move everything to New York. I’ll stay in Kentucky. “
Contact reporter Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal. com; Twitter: Morganwatkins 26 Contact Emma Austin at eaustin@gannett. com or on Twitter at @emmacaustin.