Christiansen, Cramer debate

(Michael Achterling – North Dakota Monitor) – Democratic challenger Katrina Christiansen criticized Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer Wednesday for “recycling dangerous lies” about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The exchange came during an hourlong debate on BEK TV moderated by Steve Bakken and Joel Heitkamp in which the candidates also differed on border policy, abortion and other topics.

When asked if former President Donald Trump played a role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Cramer said Trump gave a speech that was “a little bit too ramped up.” He placed more blame on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, claiming she turned down an offer of National Guard troops.

“It was Nancy Pelosi who turned down Donald Trump’s generosity of National Guard or active military,” Cramer said. “He called her. He warned her … he said, ‘Listen, these people are upset and I think you better get more security there.’ She turned him down.”

Fact-checkers with Politifact have said there is no evidence that Pelosi denied an authorization for National Guard troops, and experts have said she didn’t have that authority. In June, Politico reported it had reviewed 45 minutes of documentary footage shot by Pelosi’s daughter and concluded the footage “does not bolster GOP claims of Pelosi being at fault.”

Christiansen said “recycling dangerous lies” about the attack was un-American.

“I hold President Trump accountable and those who went along with him in not certifying the election results of a free and fair election of our president,” Christiansen said.

She accused Cramer of not reflecting the accurate history of the Jan. 6 attack.

Cramer was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and voted to certify the election results.

Cramer added that those responsible for attacking Capitol police should be held accountable.

“It’s that handful of people that were violent, not the ones that were strolling through the Capitol after it became easy, but the people that were violent, they should not be taken off the hook,” he said.

Farm bill and SNAP benefits

Christiansen attacked Cramer for not getting a new farm bill passed. When asked whether the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program should be separated from the farm bill, Christiansen said Cramer has “vilified” poor people over SNAP in the past.

She said the reason the program is included in the farm bill is so it can receive support from both rural and urban communities.

“This is a serious program and the reason that we have it is because we value everyone,” Christiansen said. “We want people to be fed and survive, that’s the best we can do, and when we vilify the SNAP program, I get upset.”

Cramer said SNAP benefits shouldn’t be separated from the farm bill because it wouldn’t pass without it. He blamed Christiansen’s party for holding up the farm bill’s passage, calling out U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. He said Stabenow’s proposals would dilute the amount of funding that he believes should go to farmers.

“We have got to rebalance those things,” Cramer said.

Abortion

Cramer said he believes life begins at conception and it deserves to be protected.

“I believe that Roe v. Wade was bad law and bad legislation and overturning it was a gift,” Cramer said. “It’s up to states from now on and we’ll take that up state by state.”

Christiansen expressed support for abortion access and highlighted instances across the country in which women were denied health care because of state abortion bans.

“Women need to be in control of their health care,” Christiansen said. “We can’t whitewash the reality in the states where there are bans.”

Cramer expressed support for exceptions in state abortion bans to protect the life of the mother.

Border policy

Christiansen blasted Cramer for voting against a bipartisan border security bill that would have provided resources to Customs and Border Patrol Agents.

“He’s a career politician,” she said. “He identifies a problem, assigns blame and he walked away from the hard work of resolving the issues he saw in the bill.”

If elected, Christiansen said she would ask the Senate majority leader to bring the bill back up for a vote and she would support it.

Cramer blamed President Joe Biden supporters for issues at the southern border.

“Anybody that voted for Joe Biden is responsible for what’s happening at the border,” Cramer said. “The very idea that a Democrat could stand up here and blame any Republican for what’s happened at the southern border is ludicrous and it defies all logic and historical facts.”

Cramer said he opposed the bill because it would have supported sanctuary cities. He also had concerns with speeding up asylum claims.

“That’s expediting illegalities,” Cramer said. “It’s taking criminals and making them legal through a faster process. I don’t know about you, but I am not for that. I wouldn’t vote for that for the people of North Dakota for anything because I’m tired of kids dying from fentanyl.”

Christiansen said sanctuary cities do not exist in North Dakota.

“I can show him a map after the debate, those cities are not here in North Dakota,” she said. “But what is here in North Dakota is fentanyl and those overdose deaths are really serious and we have a pragmatic, bipartisan solution that career politicians torpedoed for the sake of running on a problem. That’s not why we send people to D.C.”