With only a few weeks left until the primary election, five Republicans are working hard to earn their party's nomination for the United States Senate.

Coming up next on a special edition of South Dakota Focus.

All five of those candidates are here to talk about the issues in a 90 minute debate.

And the questions have been submitted by you, our viewers.

It's our United States Senate GOP primary debate coming up next on South Dakota Focus.

And we are live right now.

You're watching a production.

Of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Hello and welcome to a special edition of South Dakota Focus.

I'm Stephanie Ressler.

Tonight, our state's five Republican candidates running for the office of United States Senator are here to participate in a live 90 minute debate.

Let's meet the candidates.

First up, doctor and Bosworth, a practicing physician from Sioux Falls.

State Representative Staci Nelson from Bolton.

Former governor Mike rounds from here.

State Senator Larry Rowden from Union Center.

And attorney Jason Rounds, Brownsburg, from Yankton.

Thank you all for being with us tonight.

And here are the rules for tonight's debate.

Each candidate is allowed a one minute opening statement for the question and answer portion of our debate.

SDP solicited questions from our viewers and listeners.

Some of those questions will be asked tonight.

Each candidate will be given 90s to answer a question.

Each candidate will be allowed the opportunity for a 32nd rebuttal should they feel they need it.

At the end of the debate, our candidates will be given two minutes for a closing statement.

Earlier this week, names were drawn to determine the order of all three portions of tonight's debate.

The order of the opening statements will be governor Mike rounds, doctor, and then Senator Larry Rhoden.

Representative Stacey Nelson and Jason Rounds for governor rounds, you have one minute to provide your opening thoughts.

Starting right now.

Thank you.

I'm running for the United States Senate because literally, Washington, D.C.

is dysfunctional.

They're broken.

They impact our life every single day.

They've impacted our economy.

They're slowing down our job creation.

They're impacting our kids or grandkids.

People like my dad, grandpa Don.

If we want to fix it, we've got to use South Dakota.

Common sense.

When I talk to John Thune about it and asked him how they fix it in Washington, this is the only way we can do it is if we go to Washington, D.C., and we share what we're doing here in our state.

We balance our budget every single year along with it.

We recognize that bureaucrats, we're not working for them.

They're working for us.

Folks, we have to do that right now in Washington, D.C.

we've got to send a message.

Let's pass the ring, Zach.

Let's eliminate Obamacare.

Let's save Medicare.

Let's begin the process by eliminating the federal Department of Education.

We can do it if we use South Dakota.

Common sense.

I need your help to get there.

We're asking for that.

And we're also asking for your vote right now.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Governor rounds.

Doctor Annette Bosworth, you now have one minute to share your thoughts.

Go ahead.

Thanks, Stephanie.

And thank you, South Dakota.

The country is watching, and they want to know what you want to send to Washington.

And if you think that Washington needs another political, well-groomed politician, then I'm not your girl.

But if you need somebody to go for you and fight for you, stand up for you, be your advocate.

Because I understand what it's like to run a small business, to be a mother of three children in school today, and to balance their education and their future with what the pressures are of today, and raising a family and running a business.

If you want somebody like that in your back pocket in your South Dakota, then I'm your girl.

Thank you, South Dakota.

I look forward to tonight, Stephanie.

All right.

Thank you, Doctor Bosworth.

Senator Larry Rhoden, you now have one minute.

Go ahead.

Sir.

Well thank you.

Pleasure to be here.

And I'd like to start by thanking South Dakota Public Broadcasting for putting this on and having us here.

You know, I'm in this race.

I want to just say I'm a lifelong South Dakotan, born and raised on the family ranch, and I'm in this race because I believe there's a great deal at stake.

And our next senator from South Dakota should possess a distinct skill set.

Because it would be an absolute shame if the next senator from South Dakota doesn't have the ability to represent the common sense conservative values that are, woven into the fabric of South Dakotans.

I think the current administration has declared war an assault on our way of life.

And so our next senator should have the backbone and the integrity and the skillset to do something about it.

I believe that that I'm that man.

I believe my years in the legislature have helped me hold the skills that will give me the ability to actually get some things done and work toward fundamental reform in Washington.

Pleasure to be here.

All right.

Thank you.

Representative Stacey Nelson, you now have one minute.

Go ahead.

Sir.

Thank you ma'am.

Well, good evening, South Dakota.

And I want to thank you for inviting us into your living room.

My name is Stacey Nelson, and I'm running to be your next public servant who serves you in Washington, D.C., in the United States Senate.

I'm a fourth generation South Dakota country boy.

More importantly, I'm the proud daddy of six wonderful children and the proud grandpa of two children and a lucky husband.

My beautiful wife, Hazel.

I spent 13.5 years early on my career serving the United States Marine Corps as a military policeman, marksmanship instructor, and criminal investigator, especially in a friend's house.

I served another nine and a half years with NCIS, and I spent eight and a half years overseas.

I'm in this race because South Dakota's drafted me.

They want a national can serve in this race that would actually go to D.C.

and cut government and oppose Obamacare.

I look forward this evening to discussing this with you and answering your questions.

And I'd ask you I'd ask you to please support my campaign, our actual grassroots campaign to send a good, honest, conservative South Dakota to D.C.

to represent you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, representative.

And, Jason, you now have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Jason Brownsburg, and I'm running for the United States Senate because I'm disappointed in the direction our country is going.

And I know I'm not alone.

I've talked to many South Dakotans on my path around the country and around our state.

I don't believe that we want to nominate a milquetoast moderate Republican or a bomb throwing obstructionist.

Neither one of these would be good for South Dakota.

Ultimately, I'm running because our government in Washington, D.C.

is out of control.

Fact is, we have a spending problem and we need to address it.

Our government in Washington, D.C.

is out of touch with America's families.

The dreams of our children are at stake in this race.

I believe in South Dakota needs to send a statesman, not a politician, to Washington, D.C., to solve our problems.

I've led men in the military, both at home and abroad, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I did not leave anybody behind there, and I would not leave anybody behind.

And going to the Senate.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you very much, Jason.

Now, over the past two weeks, S&P has asked our viewers and listeners to submit the questions for tonight's debate.

The first round of questions will be answered in this order.

Doctor Annette Bosworth, then Representative Stace Nelson, governor Mike rounds, then Senator Larry Rhoden, and then Jason Rounds first.

We will then rotate the order in which candidates answer the remainder of our questions.

The first question comes from Rapid City, and here's the question.

A new report on climate change points to an increase in natural disasters globally, and there is an increasing cost to taxpayers to deal with disasters in the United States and in South Dakota.

What steps need to be taken to better protect our environment and cut down on the financial impact?

Natural disasters can create?

Doctor Bosworth, you get to go first and your time starts right now.

Thanks.

So how to address a national disaster while being a steward of the tax dollars?

What a great question to overly what has happened in our country that when we asked for our government to step in and manage something like a national disaster, we expect there to be transparency with where the money is spent, and we expect there to be local ownership of how that money is spent.

But as you look at any time, a national disaster in our state has unfolded, our people in South Dakota should lead the country by example, that we come together as a community, that we take ownership.

When this does crash around us, and that we watch very carefully on how that money is spent.

When you look at things like global warming, there's not one community that it affects.

It is all of us being an example to the next generation about how to use energy, where it comes from, and how well it does impact our globe.

So how do you transmit that to the next generation?

I think that is a great example of using your family unit as the teacher.

This is something that the Barack Obama administration is not talking about, when it is the responsibility of a family, of a church or other community to do what we expect the next generation to do.

Yet we give the responsibility to someone in a far distant land called the National, our National Congress.

Our responsibilities feed on a local level.

Very good.

Thank you.

Representative Stace Nelson, you will go next and the question has to do with climate change, what steps need to be taken to better protect our environment and cut down on the financial impact?

Natural disasters can create?

You have you can go now, sir.

Well, thank you, ma'am.

And thank you for the question, folks.

We have to understand that there some politics at play with some of the the questions and concerns about global warming.

We have our country and our our world has faced changes in climate going back generations, thousands of years.

And we are facing some of the same climate abnormalities that we faced as a South Dakotans that we faced for for generations.

Now we have to be good stewards of the land.

And I think if everybody remembers back to the 70s when we saw commercials of of garbage dumped all over America, the times have changed.

Americans have become responsible for their environment, and they've been much better stewards of the land.

And I think anybody who travels across South Dakota and deals with our farmers, the folks who raise our crops and raise our cattle to raise our our hogs, will see that these folks are good stewards of the land.

But, folks, I cannot go to DC and allow the EPA to continue to increase regulations that harm American people.

And we have seen through the Obama administration that they have increased and increasing regulations on the use of coal.

Coal has been a productive energy source for America going back to the founding of our country.

And to totally abandon that.

At the same time, shipping that overseas to China is not what we need.

We have to continue along the path of being good stewards of the land.

But also we have to take care of our people and provide clean energy for America and South Dakota.

Thank you.

Thank you, Governor Rounds.

You get to go next.

What steps need to be taken to better protect our environment and cut down on the financial impact natural disasters can create?

Your time starts now.

Thank you.

As governor, we had floods.

We had fires.

We had pine beetle infestations in the Black Hills.

Some people would attribute them to climate change.

I think climate change has occurred.

It's continued over a period of centuries.

The question is, is what's the most responsible way to handle it?

I don't think it's by destroying our national economy.

I don't think it's by allowing the federal government to determine which types of energy we can use and which ones can.

Following bureaucrats make decisions about the types of energy that long term will make our economy successful.

If you want to talk about the folks that are truly the stewards of the land, it is the farmers, is the ranchers.

It's the folks that live closest.

If you want to take a look at the folks who take care of the grasslands, it's the ranchers.

They care.

If you want to take a look at the folks in the Black Hills, if we could treat that like a garden, if we could take what most people do with their private land and require that the federal government treat the Black Hills the way private landowners do, we can make a difference.

That means cleaning out the pine needles.

It means treating the Black Hills like a garden.

And along with that, we have to develop a national energy policy.

And this president has absolutely failed to do that.

The Keystone pipeline should be passed because we as a nation do a much better job of taking care of energy and using it cleanly than anybody else.

That energy that's going to be used someplace.

The question is, do we want to do it, or do you want a government someplace else doing it?

I think we do a better job.

We should control it, and we should not destroy our national economy with unfounded or unplanned events.

Thank you.

Senator Larry Rhoden, you get to go next.

Again, the question what steps need to be taken to better protect our environment and cut down on the financial impact natural disasters can create?

Your time starts now.

Sure.

Well, the question focuses on, global climate change.

And, you know, I think there's, we could talk an hour on the subject, but I think, from a starting point, the American people were kind of sold a bill of goods.

And we've heard statements from the president said the debate on climate change is over.

Well, the fact of the matter is, it's not over.

It's a long way from over.

There are a lot of scientists, you know, Mr.

Gore claimed that there was consensus.

I would say that there never was a consensus among scientists on on the, they call the, global the reality of, global warming.

When that didn't pan out, they had to change the phraseology to climate change.

But beyond that, I think we've seen, I think the state has been made that, you know, our farmers and ranchers in South Dakota are the true environmentalist.

They earn their living from the environment, from being good stewards of the land.

And so we shouldn't lose lose focus on that.

Beyond that, the policies that the current administration has has, implemented through one way agencies like the EPA and I have stated many times that one of the first actions I would take is bring the EPA and or congressional oversight because they're out of control.

And even if you assume that climate change was a reality and a fact, the big government solutions that they've they've come up with carbon sequestration or, cap and trade, they're big government nonsense.

They would accomplish nothing.

And for those reasons, I think that we really need to take a hard look at, questions that are posed like this.

All right.

Thank you.

Mr.

round's for you.

Have the final answer.

What steps need to be taken to better protect our environment and cut down on the financial impact natural disasters can create?

Go ahead.

Sir.

Well, I think the best way is to get the federal government out of the business of picking winners and losers.

America should develop its own resources and wean itself off of buying oil from countries that work against us.

We need to have a vote on the XL pipeline, and if it was up for a vote, I would vote for it.

The president bragged in the state of the Union about our increased oil production, but it was done on land that was private and that was public.

And our president is shutting down coal plants and an alarming rate.

We get 78% of our electricity in South Dakota from coal.

Our rates are going to go up because of this president's actions and his policies on energy.

It's crucial that we update our aging power resources.

It is critical that we fight pollution as often as possible.

However, forcing American companies to comply with these burdensome regulations only shifts the burden to the American people.

I believe our state environmental agencies are the more appropriate authority, not the federal EPA.

I would be for the elimination, or at least the congressional oversight of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Our state agencies are the best authority when the power is closest to the people.

We all win.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Brownsburg.

You each now have the opportunity to give a 32nd rebuttal.

We'll go down the line.

Doctor Bosworth, would you like to give 32nd rebuttal?

Sure.

I think almost all of us answered in a very similar way, saying the government has too much control.

South Dakota, you have a choice.

Looking at how we think through problems, look at our lives.

Look at who we are.

As a mother of three.

I find it my personal responsibility to teach my children and to teach my community how to think for themselves and solve problems right there in your community.

And we can't do that when our federal government has this much control.

Thank you.

Representative Stacey Nelson, you have 30s.

Should you choose to use it.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Folks, I would ask you to take a look at our records.

My records in serving South Dakota as I have fought when our own state government tried to impose their eb5 crony capitalism programs on in my own home county.

They were trying to shove a 7000 head Korean dairy onto my constituents in Hanson County.

It would have devastated our local economy and also devastated some of the folks in that area with the pollution around the creeks.

So I look for action, not just rhetoric.

We need to send someone to D.C.

to actually serve you, the people.

Thank you, Governor Brown.

You now have 30s.

Ladies, gentlemen, there's already a bill in Congress is called Race act has passed.

The House is in the Senate.

One is Harry Reid is the majority leader.

Will never see the light of day.

It would require the EPA and all of the other agencies to come under federal law or under congressional authority.

We need to pass it.

It's going to require a majority of Republicans in control of the Senate to get it done.

It would require that any new rules out there would have to be approved by the House and the Senate.

If you want to take care of the issues with the EPA, we've got to pass the Rains Act first thing up.

All right.

Thank you.

Senator Larry Roden, you have 30s if you choose to use it.

Well, I think the rains act, the former going around spoke of is a good step in the right direction, because agencies like the EPA absolutely have to be brought under under check.

I've carried legislation at the state level, resolutions urging, Congress to rethink positions on, issues like the federal Clean Water Act that would have, absolutely, if they get implemented would be, devastating for our state.

So, you know, a lot of this is 10th Amendment issues on states rights, and we need to take a good, hard look at issues like that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Reynolds, for you have 30 seconds if you want to use it.

Thank you.

We need to pass the Rains Act.

It's a good first step.

We also need to pass the Excel pipeline.

The problem is, Harry Reid won't let these things come up for a vote.

We have an opportunity here in this United States Senate race to pick up a seat.

We also need to pick up six seats nationwide.

If we do that, we can get some votes on some of these critical bills.

We do not.

And we make the mistake of splitting ourselves in the fall and losing this seat.

The entire country loses.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you very much.

The next question will be answered first by Representative Stacey Nelson.

And here is the question.

The recently implemented farm bill has many elements that will help nurture South Dakota farmers and ranchers.

Is there anything in the farm bill that you don't like?

If so, what is your plan for fixing those elements?

Should you make it to Washington?

Again, we'll start with Representative Stacey Nelson.

You have 90s starting now.

Well, folks, that farm bill was highly discussed across the nation and we've seen many renditions of it.

We've seen that, as years gone by, we've seen a lot of pork that was shoved into that thing.

And we have to be very candid with ourselves, where our country is $17 trillion in debt, and that debt is crushing our nation.

Our government is out of control spending.

We have to do a better job of looking at every line of spending that this country spends and deciding, is this critical for America?

Now we have to have farm programs that provide crop insurance.

We need programs that would help protect South Dakota farmers from such devastations as the Atlas Storm, blizzard that ripped through South Dakota and caused so much devastation for our country.

And some folks say that is hypocritical for someone like myself to say that I can support those programs when I'm for cutting a lot of other entitlement programs.

And the difference is, folks, these programs help ensure that America is fed, and we have to continue being the producer of food for our country.

And as we helped out those people in in Louisiana from the hurricanes, as we've helped out in all these different disasters across America, we owe it to our farmers to be able to help ensure that they continue down the road of being successful and providing the food that feeds and fuels this great nation.

So but we do have to take a very critical look at every spending, every bill that goes through Congress and look at ways to cut that.

And there was areas in this bill they could have been cut.

Thank you folks.

All right.

Thank you, Governor Rounds.

You get to go next.

Again.

The recently implemented farm bill has many elements that will help nurture South Dakota farmers and ranchers.

Is there anything in the bill that you don't like?

And if so, how would you fix it?

If you make it to Washington?

First of all, about 85% of the farm bill really isn't for the farm bill.

It's the Snap program.

It's what it takes in order to get the rest of the farm bill done.

It's a deal that's made in Washington because the Snap program is what brings in our urban counterparts.

The farm bill itself, I think, number one, we should be having a set up and done on time and a regular order of business so that our farmers and ranchers who truly are businessmen, they can make their plans.

They shouldn't be waiting an extra year or two years to know what in the world the federal government's going to expect of them.

You know, we have cheap food policies in the United States.

We do things to provide inexpensive food to the rest of the country and the world.

But if you don't tell these folks upfront what type of a program is going to be available for them, it makes it very difficult for them to do the right kinds of decision making.

Along with that, the disaster programs that they have.

I think the livestock indemnity plan is a good plan.

Just too bad it wasn't in and done on time.

Larry here, it lives out in western South Dakota.

He shared with us on numerous occasions.

Each time we've been together about the damages caused by the the Atlas storm, by farmers and ranchers not asking for anything, but literally being entitled as an American citizen to receive those benefits that are due them.

Just like anybody else in any other state.

We have to do it on time.

We have to focus on the fact that we want it in a position where literally our folks know in advance how to plant their crops.

Finally, if we want to continue with cheap food policies and that farm bill is there as a safety link for our farmers and ranchers so that they can survive and prosper as well.

All right.

Thank you, governor.

We'll come to you next.

Senator Larry Rhoden.

Is there anything in the farm bill that you did not like?

If you make it to Washington?

How will you fix that?

Well, you know that it was a lot of heavy lifting.

And I don't discredit the work that it took to get farm bill passed.

But, yeah, you know, as was stated, over 80% of the farm bill is contained in the nutrition title.

Many people don't understand that.

And containing that nutrition title is a great deal of, excess entitlement spending.

And I think that it calls for just some, a fundamental reform in, in and oversight and how that entitlement, and the, the food program is.

Because I believe that, you can't you can't argue reasonably that there's not a lot of access.

And what that does is do resources, and prevent the people that really need that assistance from getting it.

We talked about, I think they did make, some big steps in the right direction with the farm bill as far as, going away from direct payments.

I've always stated the one of the keys in, in, applying, good government is allowing people to have skin in the game.

The way that they, they've went away from direct payments and towards subsidized, premiums, I think was a big step in the right direction.

Beyond that, I think, you know, we've stated we've talked about the Atlas, storm, but it was a great testament to the the makeup of the people of South Dakota, because I've yet as a state senator for that area to receive a phone call from, rancher one wondering when, federal assistance was going to arrive.

That's just the way we're made in South Dakota.

All right.

Thank you, Senator.

Mr.

rounds work if you make it to Washington.

Is there anything in the farm bill that you do not like?

And how would you fix it?

Yes.

There's a lot wrong in the farm, Bill.

It's approximately, as many said, 80%, 85% part of the Snap program.

I would support Senator Mike Lee's Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act in that act.

We have means testing and getting people off of welfare.

We need to help people get off of the Snap program and start the country working again with some jobs.

Part of the farm bill that I do like is like Congresswoman Noem worked very hard to help us get that done.

It helped our farmers.

It helped our ranchers.

But I agree, we need to be on a plan that has a timeline.

They don't do the budget on time in Washington.

They don't do much of anything on time in Washington anymore.

And they don't care about the people that are suffering.

We need to send some people there.

I don't care about the people, not just care about passing bills when they feel like it.

All right.

Thank you, sir.

Doctor Bosworth, you have the same question.

Is there anything in the farm bill that you do not like?

And how would you fix that if you make it to Washington?

So, South Dakota, I've heard four answers, and they sound almost the same to me.

Here's what I would think about something different and not a political answer, but something different about how this program works.

Recently, I've been in the national news and criticizing what happens with food stamps, because behind that exam room door, I get to not only create a trusting environment to hear just how much they're needed, but also just how much they're abused.

And I don't think there should be rules for the people who are underserved in a poor population, and then different rules for people who are subsidized in a wealthy part of our country.

I think the question about the, food stamp bill or the farm bill, whatever name you would like to call it is how big of a safety net should we give for our country, and what's the cost of that?

Let's look carefully at what happens when we subsidize too long.

And we can take some of the farmers in South Dakota.

I grew up on a farm.

I grew up in the 70s when corn was not.

These prices.

We were poor.

But what happened was we were very careful watching when when corn was making a good profit and when it wasn't.

We've taken corn and made an amazing run at how to make ethanol a great part of the state.

I am absolutely proud that we were part of that innovation.

But when you subsidize it too long, they depend on those subsidies.

Instead of thinking of the next generation.

The innovators on the front line know how to take the subsidy.

Take substances such as corn and make them into fuel.

That is the responsibility of the farmers.

And when they get subsidies again and again, they're going to stay stuck on corn.

And some.

Thank you sir.

All right, Doctor Farnsworth, thank you.

It's now time for our rebuttal portion of this.

Representative Nelson, you get to go first.

You have 30s if you choose to.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

South Dakota.

Our country is seeing an explosion and people are receiving welfare.

Now, I want to make it clear.

My first concerns.

If you send me to D.C., is to look at areas that we have to cut.

Now, I can tell you that looking at such programs as this, we do need to take a look at this.

But there's other such areas, such as foreign aid, for military aid that are huge expenditures that we can cut.

And one of the things I did in the legislature was I supported bills for drug testing, welfare recipients because I was drug tested for 22.5 years as a marine, as a federal agent, are there are things we can do.

Thank you folks.

Thank you sir.

Governor rounds, you have 30s.

Thank you.

Not so much a rebuttal, but a reminder.

It was because of Representative Noem and Senator Toombs hard work that the farm bill finally did come out.

And we should acknowledge the hard work that they did.

We should also recognize that the biggest challenge that our farmers and ranchers have is, is the indecision when, as usual, Congress is behind.

Let's start putting this on a regular basis, getting our job done on time.

Using that same South Dakota common sense that the South Dakota Legislature does every single year.

We need it in Washington, D.C.. Thank you sir.

Senator wrote in 30s.

We need to do a much better job at the federal level of getting the resources to the people that truly need them.

And it just takes a little good old fashioned common sense to do that.

All right.

Very good.

And, Mr.

Rounds, for you have 30s.

When I was in the military, I had to look at line by line through budgets, and I actually found a quarter of $1 million that we needed to cut.

There was an overage in the cost that was passed on to the American people.

Saved us some money there.

I can save us some money in Washington, but we got to look deep into the budget and see how they're actually spending it and not be a place where we don't look at the bills and pass them before they become legislation like Obamacare.

Thank you.

And Doctor Bosworth, you also have 30s right?

So what I heard was let's make a government that we can depend on.

And I would say, no, that is the problem.

Our big government with dependable payments is where the people don't look at their own lives and their own solutions right in front of them.

If you want innovators to come out of America, we need to make sure that they have the resources presence, they have the educational tools to develop them, and they get rewarded when their product wins.

And that's the America that I believe in.

Thank you.

We are going to go to our next question.

Answering it first will be Governor Rounds.

And here is the question that comes from West River economists like Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman believe the problem with the federal deficit is largely overblown.

Some economist points out that the American economy doesn't operate like a state economy, and that the debt can be absorbed as the overall economy continues to grow.

How do you respond?

I think there are some economists that should go back to school, and I think he's one of them.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a lot of common sense in South Dakota that will tell you that you cannot continue to spend when you don't have the money.

Families understand that the state of South Dakota understands that the federal government doesn't.

And it's about time we take our government back.

We've got $17.5 trillion in debt, and we're not paying it.

We're expecting our kids to pay it.

I'm tired of that.

That's the reason why I want to go to Washington.

And we got to get a handle on this.

You stop spending money that you don't have because someday somebody has got to start paying this bill.

We've got an interest rate where the Federal Reserve right now is making it artificially low.

They're buying the bonds and charging low interest rates before the market ever touches it.

What happens when we go from the lowest interest rates in our country's history to the average, about 4%.

We pay over $260 billion every single year right now.

And interest, if we really want to be able to do the things that we want to do for our kids, our families, if we want to grow our economy, if we want to invest in infrastructure, we can't be paying interest like we are, right now.

We've got to live within our means.

People in South Dakota get it.

It's common sense.

Let's take it back to Washington and do what our governor, our governors and statehood and every single legislature since statehood has done.

And if we balance our budget, we've got money in our reserves.

We don't own dollars out there.

We're paying huge sums of interest every single year.

Let's take our country back.

Thank you, Senator Rhoden.

You will go next.

I'm going to ask the question again.

Economists like Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman believe the problem with the federal deficit is largely overblown.

Some economists point out that the American economy does not operate like a state economy, and that the debt can be absorbed as the overall economy continues to grow.

How do you respond?

You have 90s starting now.

Well, I, I would respond to that.

I find that very humorous because, you know, it is very simple.

You cannot spend more than you make.

And I don't care whether you're a state, a nation, or a business.

It's as simple as that.

You know, he is right in the regard that in the United States.

And it's it's such a pity because we have this gigantic economic engine that is just beginning to prosper.

But the current powers that be won't allow it to, because we continue to outgrow our spend.

The economy grows, our spending outgrows the economy.

If we could just scale back, if we did nothing more than limit the increases in spending, our nation would survive and prosper.

But not, under the current situation.

And, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that it's important to understand that it's not just enough.

As we stand here, we're picking the next senator to represent South Dakota.

It's not just enough that we that we look at gaining control of the Senate Republicans gaining control of the Senate, because it takes more than that.

It takes people that are willing to look at fundamentally changing the way Washington operates.

Basic reform, because we will not continue operating into the status quo, with with the, the, the, the pay to play political system that's currently entrenched in Washington and make a difference.

We need fresh faces, people with new ideas that will work toward fundamental reform.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Brownsburg.

You have the next answer.

Some economists say the debt can be absorbed as the overall economy continues to grow.

How do you respond, sir?

Well, it's clear that over the last five years, it's become apparent that we cannot spend our way to prosperity under President Obama.

Our debt has nearly doubled.

We're at $17 trillion, which is literally strangling the American economy.

Ronald Reagan once said government is not the solution to the problem.

Government is the problem.

I agree with that completely.

As your next senator, I would introduce legislation to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.

If we do that, we can create 5.3 million jobs over the next ten years.

Shovel ready jobs like the president promised us and never delivered, but actual jobs because we'll be repatriating trillions of dollars sitting in offshore bank accounts and and stimulating our economy, making us more competitive on the global stage.

But as my father always used to say, it's not how much makes one how much you spend.

And that's the same is so true with our government.

I'm an advocate for the penny plan.

It's a plan which cuts spending $1 for every 100 that we spend.

Not like Washington math, where we go up to 105 and come down to 104 and somehow call that a cut.

You actually go from 100 down to 99 and you do it across the board 1%.

We cannot afford a 1% cut.

We'll never balance our budget, and we need to balance our budget for all of our children.

Thank you.

Thank you, Doctor Bosworth.

You are next.

Do you need the question repeated?

It's been a while.

All right, let's go for it.

Economists like Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman believe the problem with the federal deficit is largely overblown.

Some economists point out that the American economy does not operate like a state economy, and that the debt can be absorbed as the overall economy continues to grow.

How do you respond?

Right.

So when you look at the way our country has continued to treat the the governmental officials and the crony capitalism that continues to collect people into the government and then reward the ones within it, there is where our national debt continues to be a problem, that the longer they're elected, the the more they think about the next election and not about the next generation.

We have a governor who says, yep, I kept the budget controlled all eight years.

I was there.

I want to know how many of those years you dipped into the reserves.

And I want to know how many of the jobs that you talk about creating in South Dakota or government jobs.

If we want innovators and we want the next generation to be the thinking leading country that it deserves, and it should be, then government needs to get out of the way and the jobs in front of us are available.

But we need to have the kind of environment that rewards those who take risks, that rewards those that aren't furthering the government, subsidies, that aren't rewarding the government entitlements.

And that means our leaders need to have examples in their own life.

When my life, which could be a metaphor for America at this point, was very well, I. I started out on a small farm and went all the way to be a doctor.

I lived within my means, and when the government said stop the income, we had to cut back all the way to an RV.

These are the kinds of behaviors that if you live within your means, it creates a better person.

You become stronger and so will America be.

Thank you.

Representative Nelson, you are next.

The debt can be absorbed as the overall economy continues to grow, is what some economists say.

How do you respond?

Well, folks.

I'd ask you to look back over history.

Remember that old adage, if you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it.

I ask Mr.

Krugman how that, how that logic has is applying to communist Russia that imploded from its own national debt.

And there's a lot of similarities to what happened to Communist Russia, United States.

I mean, Mike Mullen pointed out that our national debt is one of the top security concerns for America.

Now, I'd like to turn to there's only one candidate in this race that has actually cut government, and that's myself.

And this is where I disagree with my opponent here, because there's empty rhetoric here, folks, and there's some dishonesty.

Seven out of eight of Governor Romney's budgets were deficit leaders.

Like when I took office in 2011, the state legislature, as many can remember, we had to deal with $127 million of deficit, everything that was left in the administration from him exploding state spending and government employees.

Now it's it's the height of dishonesty, because in order to do all that, he accepted Obama's stimulus money.

And that's not balancing our budgets.

That's not common sense from South Dakota.

That's more the D.C.

go along to get along and create debt.

So when these politicians dishonestly say that they'll go to D.C.

and cut spending, ask them when they're going to start, because my opponent's over for 14 years in South Dakota government and ran it into the red ink.

So folks, send someone to D.C.

who will actually do what they say.

Send me.

Thank you.

It is now time for the rebuttal portion of this question.

Governor Brown, you will get to go.

First.

You have 30s.

Thank you.

Number one, our state law requires that we balance our budget every single year.

Not only do I, but every other governor and every other legislative body has as well.

Sometimes it takes a while to learn and see how it gets done.

It does get done.

Next of all, let's take a look at what's really going to happen.

Obamacare is coming.

It's $2.4 trillion.

It's got to be stopped.

It's going to add to the bottom line.

That's going to be a job killer.

Well, in South Dakota we created over 28,000 private jobs while I was governor.

The rest of the country is losing jobs.

All right, Senator Larry Rhoden, you now have 30s.

You.

Well, I think it's important for people to, of the state to look at our records and see what we've been about.

In my history in the legislature.

I worked very diligently on issues like, holding holding the line on taxes, about tax relief, property tax relief.

I worked very diligently, a year ago in, on the campaign to oppose the largest tax increase in our state, at a time when that very much looked like that.

But that, ballot initiative was going to pass.

We need people that will walk the walk.

Thank you.

Mr.

round's for you to have 30s.

Well, I disagree that only politicians can be the ones that cut government.

I'd already given you the example of how I saved the United States government.

A quarter of $1 million.

Secondly, governor, I don't believe it's totally accurate that you balance the budget.

I don't think you're telling the people the entire truth.

There was $127 million structural deficit that was left to governor to guard.

We had to take a 10% cut.

All the teachers did.

I think they remember that.

I think you need to explain the further amount of what happened when how come we were left in such dire consequences after your administration?

Doctor Bosworth, you have 30s as well.

I also would ask the governor to answer the question.

How many years did you have to dip into the reserves?

But when you have the people on the front lines, like I was in a shelter in Sioux Falls, and you see the waste, and you stand up to do the right thing and then watch how much pressure is to say, don't change something.

This income that's going through our government in the name of your taxes, is somebodys paycheck around you.

To stand up and do that is an incredible task, and we need leaders to do that.

Representative Nelson, you have 30s.

Well, as, the good doctor pointed out, Mike, you didn't address it right here.

You ignored the fact that we pointed out you accepted Obama's stimulus to balance South Dakota's budget.

Now he wants to go to D.C.

to cut the spending and cut the debt that he helped create here in South Dakota and in our country by spending that Obama stimulus, exploring South Dakota's government and increasing the problems that we have, not only in South Dakota, but in the federal government.

Folks, we need to send someone to D.C.

that will look you in the eye and tell you the truth and do what they say.

Thank you.

We are going to move on to the next question.

Senator Larry Rhoden, you will answer first.

Here is the question.

What are your thoughts on reducing military spending?

Some argue that we cannot cut the federal government without cutting military spending.

You have 90s starting right now.

Well, as you know, obviously we invest a great deal in military spending in the United States, and rightfully so.

That's one of the few legitimate, functions of our government is protecting the people.

That's not to say that I don't think that we can find efficiencies in our military.

There are a lot of questions as far as, what our role is on a global scale.

I think the simple answer is, our foreign involvement should always be predicated on whether or not we make a conscious decision that our natural, or our national interests are at stake in that region.

I do believe that, in all areas of government, military included, there are areas of waste.

And I think that we can find efficiencies without diminishing our military.

Very good.

We're going to go to Mr.

Rounds for right now.

Again, the question.

What are your thoughts on reducing military spending?

Some argue that we cannot cut the federal government without cutting military spending.

You two have a 90s to answer.

Well, we need to do it smartly.

The recent sequestration method is not the way to cut sequestration.

Cut only hurt American families and not our.

And it also hurt our readiness.

50% of the cuts were to social programs, but there are over 50% of the budget.

Only 17% of the federal budget is to the military.

And we made a 50% cut there.

So military readiness was hit harder.

We're also hurt in three key areas with the military cuts training, maintenance and technological upgrades.

We have Air Force pilots, so don't get trained.

We have ships that we don't maintain and we have contractors are going out of business in an alarming rate.

As I said before on the budget question, we need to do the penny plan where we don't pick winners and losers on social programs or the military.

We need to do an across the board cut so we can keep our military strong while still maintaining our readiness.

We need to keep leaders like Vladimir Putin in check and know that our military is strong.

And Boko Haram in Nigeria, with their recent kidnaping of the girls for our military, is strong and not taking back the pre-World War Two cuts as this president wants to do.

The world will know and we'll lead by strength as President Reagan taught us.

Thank you, Doctor Bosworth.

What are your thoughts on reducing military spending?

Well, the federal government's number one job is to protect our country.

And when we look at places that our debt does need to be reined in, the military is the last place to work.

There are places to use that spending to better improve the economy that we just talked about, and to improve the safety of our country using using one of the ideas of take our borders.

When you have places that we've sent our troops where they don't belong, bring them home, line them up on our border.

Let's close the borders.

Immigration does cost this country.

We have an amazing problem that nobody will talk about because in those states, it's hard to get reelected.

When you do that.

Well, South Dakota does have common sense.

Take our military.

Use it to control and seal that border.

Then we can stop having the discussions about why should we raise minimum wage when the wages aren't equal?

Because the citizenship is an equal.

This country can do it.

There is technology that we can use to better understand who belongs here and who doesn't, and use our military resources to make sure that happens.

Because with a strong economy, we are on track to be, again, the powerful nation we've been in the past.

We just need leaders who underst Okay.

Representative Stace Nelson, same question.

What are your thoughts on reducing military spending?

Well, folks, this is one of the areas that I'm eminently qualified in.

And we need to understand this is probably one of the number one responsibilities that our U.S.

Senate will be looking at is our national defense and our national security for 23.5 years.

365 days a year.

I served you in the Department of Defense.

I spent 30.5 years in the Marine Corps, and then another nine and a half years with NCIS.

Fighting terrorism.

Fighting espionage, force protection overseas.

I've been on dozens of military bases all over the world.

I've been in many different embassies.

I've worked with all branches of our American military and with many different foreign countries.

And in order to be able to handle this properly, we need someone who can go to D.C.

to actually know what our military is exactly about.

And I'm the only candidate with 23 years of doing that.

And folks, there are areas in our national defense budget that we can't cut.

And to point to that, realize some of you remember the headlines of us spending about $4 billion of tanks and airplanes to Egypt.

Realize that gets tacked on into our national defense budget and it's not for our national defense.

That is corruption at our national, ever level of lobbyists lobbying our elected officials and giving them that big bucks so that they can get to D.C.

so that they can go on to get a loan.

But it's not in our best interest to allow that to happen.

So send someone to D.C.

that actually knows about our military for 23.5 years, and they can make those strategic cuts to make sure that we have the best force, the best equipped force that our countries had for 238 years.

I thank you.

Governor rounds, what are your thoughts on cutting military spending?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one area in which Congress literally has to start revamping and doing their job where they were supposed to, the way the Founding Fathers wanted.

Congress is primary mission should be the defense of our country.

It should be literally the defense of our country, the defense of our borders, the providing for a strong defense that's primary.

It's number one.

One thing that I have to point out that I feel very strongly about is this during this last budget deal that was cut, the first place that Congress went was to the vets.

They expected the vets who had already left service and were 65, yet they expected them to take a $6 billion cut over the next well in the next budget.

But basically $60 billion.

They wanted them to literally take that back out of their retirement account.

I talked to vets and they just said, what a slap in the face.

I said, before you go any place else, and while you still have a budget which is not balanced, you come to us and you ask us to take the first cut.

That's wrong.

The military absolutely has to be taken care of before anything else.

I'm going to suggest to you that the military can be changed.

It can be repaired.

It can be fixed.

We can do that.

But we have to make a commitment.

President Obama will not do that.

The Obama Democrats will not do that.

It's going to take good, solid Republican leadership in the United States Senate to bring back the type of strength Ronald Reagan literally ended the Cold War with.

Time and again, we have to recognize our veterans, the men and the women and our soldiers.

I want them to have the best weapons available.

Thank you sir.

We do have 30s rebuttal, Senator.

Would you like to use it?

Sure.

Well, you know, I would just add, because I think it's very pertinent to this conversation, that we could, we could do a lot at resolving some of these issues and, and, and finding more efficiencies in the military.

If we had a national policy, an energy policy that was sound and a foreign policy.

We have a our fast becoming the laughing stock of the planet, in the way that we have, our, our president and commander in chief has drawn lines in the sand.

And then when the when challenged, taking a step back.

Thank you sir.

Mr.

rounds, for you have 30s if you'd like to use it.

I am a veteran.

I think they also need to be protected.

And we have a very prime example here, right here in South Dakota.

It's in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

There's a VA hospital and they're trying to close it.

Congresswoman Noem has been leading the charge to help save it, along with Senator Thune.

But we need to send them an ally.

I want to encourage you to go to a new website called save the va.com.

Go check out their website and help hot Springs, help South Dakota save the V.A.

hospital.

Thank you.

Doctor Bosworth, you two have 30s.

So you look at the number one cause of death of the people that are in our military right now.

And as much as we talk about a foreign policy, it is in this country that they die.

It's from the untreated mental illness and the untreated answers that are here, or the unanswered questions that are here in this country.

We have ways to help our vets and to serve them better.

But they keep cutting the budgets and not taking care of them once they get home.

We need people who understand these problems and can lead through them.

Thank you.

Representative Nelson, you do have 30s.

Thank you folks.

Well, folks, this is an easy decision for you and I should take a look at our backgrounds up here and look at the people up here.

I served you for 23.5 years and protected this country and protected my fellow veterans.

I didn't just answer that call.

When there was a U.S.

Senate seat up for grabs.

I answered that call in 1985 as a young high school kid out of Mitchell, South Dakota.

Folks, we need someone who can go to D.C.

that will actually take care of our veterans.

And you can rest assured that before I allow them to cut our veterans benefits, I'd have to drag my dead body off the Senate floor.

Thank you folks.

Governor rounds, you have the final 30s on this question.

Thank you.

I didn't realize how much involvement I would have with our National Guard.

We were at war during the entire time that I was governor.

This is a special class of men and women.

They deserve our thanks.

They deserve absolutely everything we can provide to them.

We sent 5000 of them overseas while I was governor.

I want to make darn sure that they get everything that they deserve, and that our military is the strongest in the world.

Because unless we are safe and unless we have that freedom, nothing else really matters.

Thank you for our fifth question tonight.

Excuse me.

Jason Rounds, for you will go first.

The question comes from Bill out of Rapid City.

Health care in our rule, communities can be a challenge.

South Dakota's aging population continues to increase, with many of our baby boomers facing long term care needs in the very near future.

How can you help our rural communities provide better health care for our young and old?

Jason, you have a minute and a half starting right now.

Well, we need to look at many solutions, but the solution that the administration sent us is not the right solution.

Obamacare is a travesty.

Recently, congressional Budget Office told us that approximately 2 million full time jobs would be stripped out of this economy because of that action.

That's $1 trillion is going to be coming out of our economy.

That trillion dollars coming out of our economy hurts us in all sorts of areas.

It's going to make people take part time.

Jobs, are going to cut the wages in our hours, down about 29 hours so employers can comply.

We cut that much out of the budget.

We're going to have less income and less revenue to come into Congress for them to spend.

Now, again, as I said before, they need to spend it smartly in areas like our rural development can be helped.

But if we don't have the money and if we don't balance the budget, we won't be able to help those people.

Thank you.

It will now go to Doctor Bosworth again.

Doctor Bosworth.

How can you help our rural communities provide better health care for our young and old?

Right.

This is a place.

I am an expert.

I grew up in a rural town.

I was trained here in South Dakota as a physician, and I continue to teach and support the medical school by raising South Dakota doctors to come back to our rural communities.

And that education process needs to be continually supported.

But more importantly, we don't have as big of a doctor shortage as we have in a government that is regulating how we use technology in medicine right now.

We have some amazing tools about how rural physicians can tap into the experts and bring them literally, figuratively, into their rooms and help them take care of those patients.

Why don't we do more of that?

Because the government regulations on how to use that technology is stuck in Washington, and we need people who are supportive of the ideas of tomorrow, and they shouldn't be regulated by our government.

It should be what ideas I can figure out from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as from planking to South Dakota and innovate them and use them in my job every day.

It's why I run when I have more trouble figuring out how to get the services to people, as opposed to what services they need.

The blocks that we have in our economy come from our government and one of our biggest economies.

One sixth of the economy is health care.

The answers are right here, people.

We have the technology that can reach these rural places.

We have the generation that is hungry to use it.

We have a government that's blocking it.

Thank you.

Will now go to Representative Stace Nelson.

Again, the question, how can you help our rural communities provide better health care for our young and old?

Thank you ma'am.

Well, folks, we have to get back this country to to the solutions that worked in 1985.

I was blessed with the birth of my first daughter, Lindy Jean, and I was working at a minimum paying job waiting to go in the Marine Corps.

And I was able to pay for my daughter's birth without having health insurance, without having the government take care of that.

And we can get back to having affordable health care, but we can't get there with Obamacare.

And I've got to tell you folks, for the last four years I've worked in the South, the legislature opposing Obamacare because I've seen what it's costing America and it's making health care much more expensive.

And as a disabled veteran, I've dealt with government run health care, and I've seen that is not for America.

Now, there's been a lot of deception and dishonesty in this race about candidates.

My opponent claiming that he opposed Obamacare.

Let's be crystal clear here, folks.

If Mike rounds had opposed Obamacare as a governor with a Republican legislature, we would not have Obamacare in South Dakota.

Now, he says he will go to D.C.

and fight it, but he will not have a super majority legislature there.

He applied for grants here in South Dakota, enacted Obamacare.

He opposed bills in 2010 that fought to oppose Obamacare.

He supported bills that helped enacted into our insurance laws.

And by the way, he's doing very well with that right now.

And folks, more importantly, he worked with Tom Daschle on a task force.

It was specifically designed to enact Obamacare into our health industry.

We need honesty.

You need to send someone to DC to work for you.

Thank you folks.

Governor rounds, you are next.

How can you help our rural communities provide better health care for the young and old?

Go ahead.

Sir.

Thank you.

First of all, the information you just heard is just flat out incorrect.

Ladies and gentlemen, Obamacare is a national health care plan which can destroy our country.

It's working very much damaging.

Significantly Medicare.

Matter of fact, in the year 2010, 31% of our health care providers, they were already declining to take Medicare patients by the year 50.

By the year 2019, 15% of our health care providers.

They probably won't even be in business for Medicare patients.

This is unfortunate, but this is what's happening when you have an Obamacare in place.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have opposed Obamacare from day one.

Tom Daschle and I have never served on the Joint Committee to implement Obamacare.

Next of all, let me just share with you.

Obamacare right now is hurting Medicare.

If you really want to take care of people in rural areas, save Medicare.

We've got rural communities here that have lots of people that rely on it right now.

It's taking out over $700 billion and misdirecting it right now.

You find it in section three four, zero three of the act.

Obamacare is bad for Medicare.

Look, if we want to get back to where we had before, 93% of the people in South Dakota before Obamacare, they had health insurance coverage.

We had a way to take care of their needs.

Now, unfortunately, with Obamacare, we've got folks that are self-insured out there right now and plans with huge tax bills coming due.

Folks, repeal Obamacare, replace it.

Put back in some of the guidelines and safety nets that we had in place here.

We can take care of our people in South Dakota.

Thank you.

Senator wrote in your next how can you help our rural communities provide better health care for our young and old?

Well, I think it's a starting point.

And above all else, I believe the most damaging issue that's facing us right now is Obamacare.

And I believe, and there's been a lot of talk about, whether or not it's a, it's not worth the effort to try once again to repeal it.

Given the number of votes.

But, ladies and gentlemen, there are a lot of things that have changed.

And I've said from the beginning that it was it was a failed policy from the beginning and a broad overreach, a dramatic overreach of federal government beyond that, I think it's unworkable.

And we're even, today finding getting more and more information about the young people that, you know, the plan was predicated on the success, by virtue of young people signing up for the program.

Well, they're not doing it.

And so the premiums are going to go, go up dramatically.

And, and so I think that, affects all segments of our economy in all segments for South Dakotans, but especially in the rural areas.

I will say more specific to that, I've been involved in the legislature on a number of, issues through the years, and one of them was, providing tuition assistance, and, in incentives for young doctors, to move back to these rural areas.

Those programs have proven to be pretty effective.

And we in fact, I talked to a young lady, just a week or two ago that's going to med school.

And as we every intention to moving to a rural community, as a result of those programs.

So those are areas where I think we can, dedicate resources in the right place and have a big difference.

Thank you.

It's now time for the rebuttal portion of this particular question.

Mr.

rounds, forgive 30s.

Thank you.

We cannot just be the party of.

No.

We have to be the party of ideas.

If we repeal Obamacare and it is a monstrosity, not 40% of young people have signed up in any state, it's going to fail.

But where do we go from here?

I like one called the Patient Care Act.

We have to start giving ideas to the people.

It keeps the preexisting conditions.

It keeps the up 26 provision, but it doesn't have all the government overreach.

We can do better.

And we cannot just be the party of no thank you.

We will now go to Doctor Bosworth for a 32nd rebuttal.

Again.

This country needs people with original ideas.

I would ask Governor Rounds, show me one of your original ideas in eight years of serving this state.

We need people who have been on the edge, who have been pushed to say, think, innovate, push the ideas, and then lead people through that.

Our next senator can't afford to be a go along to get along.

We need somebody who's been to the edge and will take a risk and has the grit to do it.

Thank you.

Representative Stacey Nelson, you have 30s for rebuttal.

Thank you ma'am.

I'm flat out wrong.

We have Obamacare here in South Dakota.

Governor, we have south.

We have Obamacare.

And so Obamacare here in South Dakota, thanks to you.

And to put that out, folks, when he said he didn't serve on it.

I asked you to go out and Google Rapid City Journal microphones, Tom Daschle task force.

You'll see the headlines there, folks.

Before he started running for office, he said voting against Obamacare.

And he mocked it, said it was a symbolic vote.

Folks, we need an actual person who will go to D.C.

and work for you, not D.C.

special interests.

Send me.

I'll serve you.

Governor rounds, you now have 30s.

You, ladies and gentlemen, we have never, ever supported Obamacare.

In fact, Attorney General Marty, Jack and I actually are one of the 26 states that sued to stop Obamacare from being implemented.

We don't even have a state exchange.

It's a federal exchange because we refuse to put one in, folks.

Obamacare is bad for the country.

It's bad for South Dakota.

It'll cost us $2.4 trillion more on the national debt.

It has to be stopped.

It has to be repealed.

And it has to be replaced.

Thank you.

And, Senator Larry Rhoden, you two have 30s.

You know.

I would just comment that, I think there, we have been criticized as a party for not having an alternative to Obamacare.

And I would say that it's not a we won't come up with a, an Obamacare to or a republic here if you will.

But there are real free, real, meaningful free market solutions to Obamacare, health care savings plans, tort reform, things that we talk about.

But we have never done anything because of the situation we find ourselves in Washington.

We need to put some rubber to to those type of ideas and find solutions.

All right.

You guys have done such a good job.

We actually have time for one more question.

However, you each will get a minute 39 seconds to answer and no rebuttal.

But then we will come around for two minute closing statements from each of you.

We'll go right around like we did in the beginning.

Doctor Bosworth, you get to start first.

It's a question that comes from Aberdeen, and the individual asks, if you make it to Washington, will you compromise on legislation to make Congress more productive?

So I think the answer, the question that's being answered is how will you work with others when you get to Washington?

And I would ask you, South Dakotans, if you've ever been on a committee or a board where most of the people on the board are the same gender.

Most of them are men, like in the United States Senate.

And then you add a woman.

Let me point out that in the fall, when the government did shut down, there were two people, one from each side of the aisle, that broke that silencing.

One was a Republican and one was a Democrat.

But they were both women.

Women think about things differently in the in the history of how men and women do this differently.

There's lots of analogies here.

One of my favorites is that men and women, men think of things much like black and white and women.

Women think in shades of gray.

And I do believe that that is where our country got stuck.

Ronald Reagan did a great job of having people at the table who disagreed with him, but kept on message.

And I do think the number one skill of your senator is to know who you are and have the communication skills to bridge through a difference of opinion.

Representative Nelson, same question.

If you make it to Washington, how will you compromise on legislation to make Congress more productive?

Well, folks, I've had the pleasure of serving you in South Dakota Legislature for the last four years.

And I've also had the privilege and the honor of serving with some very dedicated Democrats.

And yes, I know that's probably not a good thing to say with with so many Republicans.

But we have to be honest, our country is in trouble with $17 trillion in debt.

And we can't blame that on the Democrats that occurred because go along to get along, bought and paid for a career.

Politicians went to D.C.

and sold themselves out to for about $9 million of special interest monies to get there.

And they work for the lobbyists, and they went along with all that pork barrel spending, and they increased our national debt and just made a mess of things in D.C.. I promise you, if you send me to D.C., I will serve each and every last South Dakota.

And I don't care if they're a Democrat, independent, Republican, Constitutionalist, or libertarian.

I will go to D.C.

and I will break my heart trying to find the right solutions for America.

And I won't play these petty Partizan games.

And if you doubt me on that, I'd ask you to talk to my Democratic colleagues in the South, the legislature.

They will tell you that I am the most conservative legislator in South Dakota, South Carolina.

But they will tell you that I'm an honest principal person and that I will support good legislation when I can, as strongly as if it was my own.

Because I work for you, and those Democrats work for you, and I will work with them in D.C.

to try to find the right solutions for America.

Thank you folks.

Governor rounds, if you make it to Washington, how can you compromise on legislation to make Congress more productive?

Thank you for the question.

I think it's the critical question here tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen, I served ten years in the South Dakota Legislature, six of the majority leader.

We work to coordinate with one another.

We found ways to compromise.

We found ways to bring teams together.

The dysfunction in Washington, D.C.. You've seen some of it right here tonight, folks.

You have to be able to play well with other people.

You have to be able to work with them, agree to disagree sometimes, and still come out and find ways to compromise on other issues.

Washington, D.C.

is broken.

The way we fix it is building coalitions, building teams, not compromising on principle, but recognizing what what Ronald Reagan said.

Someone agrees with you 80% of the time.

He's your friend and ally.

They're not your enemy.

Sometimes we forget that.

But using the kind of common sense that we have here in the South Dakota legislative body and among the governors that I've worked with, I find you can work across the aisle.

You can work with independents.

You can work with conservative Democrats.

Our challenge is to stop the damage being done by Obama, by his his followers, the folks that are damaging the economy, stopping job growth.

We have to we have to literally as individuals who believe, like the folks in South Dakota, to take our country back.

We can't do it alone.

And it's not can't just be one time.

Is people working side by side?

I believe in results.

Governors get results.

I want to go to Washington.

I want to work for you.

I want to fix this country.

Senator Roden, if you make it to Washington, how will you work on legislation to make Congress more productive?

You know, that's a great question.

You know, and I you know, we talk a lot about compromise, but I think where the rubber meets the road and what you need to ask yourself is who is best qualified, who has a track record more than just standing on the sidelines and throwing rocks at people that are actually getting done, but who has a track record of accomplishment?

You know, I've had the opportunity and the privilege to serve for 14 years.

A number of those years as the majority leader in the House.

And I had a track record of being very effective and taking on issues that people would advise me many times that were they weren't politically correct or that they were they would, hurt you, your political, future, that never carried much stock for me, because if a job needed to be done, I wasn't afraid to take it on and had a great deal of success in bringing sides together, working across the aisle.

And I had a reputation at times for being a little stiff necked and hard headed.

But, ladies and gentlemen, I think that's exactly what we need.

Or people that will stand by their convictions.

As far as compromise.

Yes, compromise on issues.

That are not near and dear or close to your core values.

The closer you get to your core values, the less compromise I will not compromise on.

On the core values that I hold dear.

Family values, you know, my conservative values.

But, ladies and gentlemen, I've proven that I can work with people and get things done.

And that's why I'm asking for your support.

Thank you.

Mr.

Brownsburg, if you make it to Washington, how can you compromise on legislation to make Congress more productive?

Well, the number one issue that I, when I talk to people going around the state was Washington doesn't get anything done.

We have to start getting some things done in Washington.

When I was in Afghanistan, I was on committees as the United States Representatives, and I had to work not only against Republican Democrat lines.

I had to work across to other countries.

NATO works in a very amazing way.

They're very slow.

They make Congress move like they're moving at light speed.

I will never compromise my values.

But it's not just enough to vote the right way.

You got to build a coalition.

I would go talk to each individual senator, Republican, Democrat and see what we can agree on.

May not be that stuff at the top of the list, but we got to build a consensus somewhere.

I would also not be in committees and compromise my values, such as the Bipartisan Policy Center.

One of our candidates here, the governor, went to this program after he left, after he left office, and it made Common Core.

He compromised his values.

And now we have Common Core here in South Dakota.

I recently heard that Abraham Lincoln is being taught as being a Democrat.

Every time you hear that, think, I think our good governor.

It is now time for the end of this portion of the debate in terms of the question and answers.

Each candidate will now be given two minutes to share their closing thoughts with our viewers.

Names were drawn to determine the order, which will be doctor, and that Bosworth will go first, then governor Mike rounds, Senator Larry Rhoden, Jason Brownsburg and then Representative Stacey Nelson.

Doctor Bosworth, we're going to begin with you.

You have two minutes starting right now.

Well, South Dakota, there's an epic tale here that needs to be played out between now and the next 18 days.

But in each tale, there's a hero.

There's struggles, there's loss.

And I'd like you to look closely at my epic tale.

But just like the heroes in many books, they start out by minimal means.

I started out in planking in South Dakota.

They use their own grit and and drive to become something.

And I became a doctor, a dream I had all of my life.

I used that journey to serve the people around me.

And then I met an enemy.

And the enemy was in the shelter of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

And it was your government, a government that had been built up in the previous eight years by Governor Reynolds.

And the waste that was present gave me a challenge, a tough puzzle.

And when I solved that puzzle, the enemy, the enemy was the government.

And I lost everything.

I went from a life of abundance, minimal debt to living in an RV.

Starting in November of 2012.

Not once in that story did the patients go on served that.

Once in that story did I complain that this should be somebody else's fault.

Not once in that story did I take government handouts.

I did step up and say, how do we recover?

That story ends with this race is that I came back from that that journey, and I used that pain for a purpose that God has asked me to serve his people.

And I imagined that I would serve South Dakota for 40 years as a physician.

And as I run for U.S.

Senate, I look the enemy in the eye and it's huge.

And I didn't change my mind.

I didn't change my values.

And I will stand up for each of you when the government is ruling our lives.

Thank you, governor Mike Brown.

You now have two minutes to share your thoughts with the people of South Dakota.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen.

I grew up here in South Dakota, lived here my whole life, grew up, started flipping hamburgers when I was a kid, working my way through college.

Got involved in the insurance business with some great partners, and it's been a great way of life within our state.

I'm grateful for the people that came before us, allowed us to do here within our state.

It's common sense.

It's the South Dakota common sense that we should be taking back to Washington, D.C.

I'm running because I think our nation is out of control.

We have a bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., which needs to be reined in.

We've got an Obamacare which is literally run amok.

We have to repeal it.

We have to replace it.

I think we can get that done.

We have to pass the Reins act.

We have to pass the Reins act, because that will rein in the bureaucracies that literally.

Well, they've decided that we work for them, whether then rather than us expecting them to work or whether they expect us to work for them, rather than them to work for us and that's disgusting, ladies and gentlemen, along with that.

Well, I think today in South Dakota, we've got a lot of things going good for us.

But if you take a look at the rest of the country, they could learn from us.

We balance our budget every single year.

Congress doesn't even balance the budget.

They don't even put out a farm bill when they're supposed to.

Folks, we've got to have a farm bill on a regular basis.

We have to pass a budget on a regular basis.

We have to be able to expect them to get their job done.

They don't.

We have to quit sending the bill to the next generation.

Ladies and gentlemen, Harry Reid has to be retired.

John Thune needs a partner.

He needs a group of people up there right now that literally will start to fix the problems that have encompassed the rest of America.

I'm convinced that the folks in December, that we're in November, that we're going to face, they don't care about the same things that we do.

They don't care whether or not Medicare is hurt because of Obamacare.

We have to stop Obamacare.

We have to save Medicare.

We have to start defending our military once again from those who would literally make those cuts.

We have to take Washington and get it out of South Dakota.

We got to send a little South Dakota common sense to Washington, D.C.. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Senator Larry Rhoden, you now have two minutes as well.

Go ahead.

Well, again, thank you for, putting this debate on, you know, the South Dakotans have a decision to make, and and it's a significant one because I think it would be an absolute shame if the next senator coming from South Dakota didn't represent the values in the common sense, that we sometimes take for granted to South Dakota.

The next senator needs to be somebody that can effectively lead the fight against the bombing and his failed policies.

I believe very strongly in my heart of hearts that Obama is is destroying this country.

And for the next two years, we need a senator that will lead the fight in opposing his failed policies.

So what should the next senator look like?

I believe that the four fundamental qualities that our next senator should business, and that we should look for first and foremost is integrity.

There are people in this race that have misrepresented the truth from time to time.

That should be a disqualifier above all else, a person should always speak the truth.

Second, conservative values and that word gets thrown out a lot.

But I believe firmly in my heart of hearts that our country is founded on conservative values, and they're still prevalent in South Dakota.

The understanding that our rights are given to us by God and not by government.

Third backbone.

Our next senator should possess, strong convictions and the courage and the backbone to stand strong on his convictions.

And last of all, leadership skills, because none of the former three mean much.

If you don't have the leadership skills to build coalitions.

The word across the aisle to to to lead an agenda forward and work on behalf of South Dakota.

You know, I talk a great deal about the with storm because it was a real testimony to what South Dakotans are made of.

And we saw in a few years back in the flooding and in the midsection of, of this state, how people, look beyond themselves for the greater good and for the good of community, that those are the values I want to represent in Washington, DC on your behalf.

Thank you, sir, and Mr.

Jason Rounds, you now have two seconds.

Go ahead or two minutes.

I can start fast.

I can't talk that fast.

I would like to personally thank the public broadcasting for this debate.

I would also like to thank my volunteers who've taken time out of their busy lives to help me in this campaign.

I believe I am the best candidate to unite the party and defeat Rick Weiland in the fall, and I look forward to earning the Republican nomination here in June.

But most importantly, I want to thank the people of South Dakota who have been so nice and kind to me as I've traveled around the state.

I'm not a career politician.

I got involved because I love my country.

In my state, one of those people that I met was a gentleman named Dennis.

He lives in Sioux Falls.

Dennis is a hardworking, middle class man who's been hit very hard by Obamacare.

His wife has been cut on her hours from 40 down to 26.

He told me, I really don't know how we're going to pay my son's tuition this fall.

Dennis has has a belief that the American dream is failing him.

I'm here to fight for you and all the denizens of South Dakota throughout this campaign, I've traveled all across the state from Spearfish, Gettysburg, Aberdeen, and Yankton, and I kept hearing the same theme.

Our country and the middle class is under assault because I'm out of control, out of touch with government.

We need to start restoring the American dream for South Dakota.

In this debate, you've heard a lot about America's problems.

I've tried to offer solutions.

Also.

We've heard a lot about being conservative.

I'm here to tell you I'm a Ronald Reagan Barry Goldwater conservative.

I don't have any skeletons in my closet, as some of my opponents do.

And I don't have any scandals.

I serve my country as my best of my ability, and I hope to serve you in Washington, D.C.. I believe in America, and I believe in the dream here in South Dakota because with the right leadership, we can restore the American dream by balancing the budget, securing our borders, and protecting our allies with the right leadership and good old fashioned Republican values, we can restore the American dream for South Dakota.

Thank you, and may God continue to bless South Dakota.

Thank you.

So, Representative Stacey Nelson, you now have two minutes to share your thoughts for South Dakota.

And South Dakota.

I want to thank you for the privilege and the honor of having served you for these 27.5 years.

I can tell you it has been a labor of love.

I'm in this race because our country is in trouble, and folks ask me to start running last year, last summer, and right after, it was right after Mike rounds and brag he was getting $9 million of mainly East Coast special interest money basically to buy this race.

And I can tell you when when I heard that folks were asking me to run, I was selfish.

I did not want to run because when you talk about that kind of money, it's almost insurmountable.

And South Dakotans, we need to take a look at that, and we need to all be offended by that.

Mike, my opponent says DC is broken.

Well, folks, DC is broken and DC knows it's kind.

And that's why they're sending Mike rounds.

All that money to come to DC.

Because Mike rounds did everything wrong here in South Dakota that Obama's done in our country.

And folks, the dishonesty of the ads of claiming that he opposed Obamacare.

Bottom line is, folks, if he opposed Obamacare, you wouldn't have Obamacare here in South Dakota.

He has benefited greatly from Obamacare.

He's got a brand new airplane at the airport.

Folks, I'm tired of dishonest career politicians that are bought and paid for by DC special interest monies.

We cannot afford to let the president start in South Dakota or any other place in America where DC tells you who your next, your senator is going to be.

I've ran an honest campaign.

I've ran on my record.

I'm the only Republican in this race that has cut government and consistently opposed taxes.

I've got a great record, and I'm not running to be the next Republican legislator.

I'm running to serve all South Dakotans.

And that's the distinct difference between myself and my opponents, is I want to serve you, not D.C.

special interests.

I want to thank you.

I want to tell you God bless and Semper fidelis.

Thank you folks.

And that will conclude this special edition of South Dakota Focus.

I'd like to thank our five candidates for participating tonight.

Doctor and that Bosworth, State Representative Stacey Nelson, former governor Mike rounds, state Senator Larry Rhoden, and attorney Jason Rounds.

Bird.

Thanks to all of our viewers and listeners for sending in your questions for tonight's debate.

For more information on tonight's five candidates, visit us online where you can listen to in-depth interviews with each candidate provided by SDP radio that can be found@sdp.org.

Now for all of us for South Dakota Public Broadcasting, we thank you for watching.

Good night.