Republican Congressman Steve Daines didn't respond to Democrat Amanda Curtis's jabs duringlast night’s U.S. Senate debate in Billings.
Curtis said several times that Daines is too extreme for Montana and represents corporate interests over average Montanans. She says it's time to send a working-class Montanan to represent the state in Washington D.C.
Curtis also said Daines' vote last year to shut down the federal government during a budget stalemate hurt Montanans.
Daines blamed the shutdown on President Obama for refusing to meet with congressional leaders to negotiate an increase to the debt ceiling.
"This was a president unique in American history that refused to sit down with congress and negotiate a deal," said Daines. "That is the way you work, moving forward in politics. You need to have two parties willing to sit down, come together, find a solution and move forward."
"What I didn't hear in that response was, 'No, I would not vote for a government shutdown. No, I would not vote for a government shutdown because it costs our state millions of dollars and hurts Montana businesses, hurts our Native American reservations,'" Curtis responded.
Lee Banville served as a fact-checker for last night's MontanaPBS debate analysis program. The University of Montana journalism professor points out over 10,000 Montana federal employees were furloughed during the shutdown.
"We saw a report out of the National Park Service later that showed more than $18 million of revenue normally generated the month of October was lost during that year when we had the shutdown," says Banville. "There does seems to be some points there around the economic impact, but we can also point out that Daines, as he mentioned, broke with his party and voted with about 84 other Republicans to end the shutdown on October 16th. So, it may have been a bit of a wash, but we definitely saw both candidates trying to draw that comparison to where the other is the extreme non-negotiating hardliner."
Healthcare was a prominent topic during last night's debate. Curtis acknowledged the Affordable Care Act isn't perfect but says she wants to help improve it. Daines says he believes most Montanans don't like Obamacare and want it repealed.
"Remember what President Obama said? 'If you like your healthcare insurance, you can keep it.' Well, tell that to the tens of thousands of Montanans - the 9,000 Medicare Advantage seniors that are losing their coverage and they just got their letters here in the last two weeks."
"I am so thankful that President Obama is not on the ballot in the state of Montana," responded Curtis. "The people that are on the ballot are myself, who truly is one of us and understands these issues of rising health care costs, and the most extreme congressman we have ever had."
On abortion, Curtis supports a woman's right to choose, while Daines describes himself as a pro-life candidate. He adds, however, that women must have easy access to contraception.
"I think it's very, very important that we stand to ensure the women of this country have full access to contraception," said Daines. "We also need to make sure we stand up and respect the First Amendment, which is the issue of Freedom of Religion, is there as well. That's why it's so important that we stand for women and ensure they have access to contraception."
"I would just step in here and say that what Congressman Daines has just said in mentioning the First Amendment is that he's reminding all of us that he supports the Hobby Lobby decision that says a corporation can make my health care decisions for me," responded Curtis, "and as a woman, Senator, I absolutely disagree with that."
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that closely-held, for-profit businesses, such as the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores, can avoid paying for contraception if owners object on religious grounds.
There’s one more Senate debate tonight. It’ll be held at the Sidney Events Center and starts at 7:00. Internet subscribers statewide can view the live debate online at midrivers.com.
