- Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato, an incredibly important half hour on who will be New Jersey's next United States Senator.

First up is Congressman Andy Kim.

On the second half of this program, businessman Curtis Bashaw will be joining us talking policy.

We start off with Andy Kim.

Good to see you, Congressman.

- Hi.

Thanks for having me on.

- You got it.

Congressman, let's start off with the economy, number one, not just in New Jersey, in the nation, the most pressing economic issue you see and what you would do if elected to the Senate would be?

- Well, the most pressing issue right now is about affordability.

I mean, I can't tell you how many New Jersey families right now are telling me how much they're struggling.

Housing costs, food costs, healthcare costs, you know, this is something that I've been pressing on for my entire time in Congress.

Taking action, the legislation that would lower prescription drug costs cap insulin costs at $35 a month.

The legislation I passed and wrote that would cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors when it comes to prescription drugs, I'll continue to fight efforts where we can invest more into housing support and other aspects of people's lives.

You know, this is why I helped pass the infrastructure laws so we can have more resources back to try to help defray, you know, public transit costs, you know, which we know are continuing to rise.

So I'm gonna continue to push on this, make sure that we're addressing the needs that so many families are facing right now.

I, you know, the way they often describe it to me is it feels like death from a thousand cuts, you know, childcare here and healthcare and housing.

So we need to make sure we take a comprehensive approach to address it.

- And Congressman, I appreciate you saying what you would do and what you have done, but the question also is, for you as a Democrat, how would you rate the Biden-Harris administration on the economy, slash inflation, slash affordability?

You think they've done well?

- Well, look, there's certainly a lot more that we need to do.

I mean, our economy certainly has covered faster from, and better from the pandemic than most other nations.

Not all the other developed nations.

But what we know is that it hasn't been working for everybody.

You know, we've seen this recovery where, you know, those that had a lot of resources going into the pandemic have a lot more, and those that were struggling before are often struggling more.

So yes, we wanna make sure we're taking action.

But you know, what I find frustrating is that the Republicans in Congress have been impeding our ability to take measures like the Childcare Affordability Act or other things that are gonna be able to defray a lot of the costs that people are facing right now.

So, yes, you know, we are continuing to push on this, try to address the needs, but we need a person in the White House as well as in the Senate and in the House of Representatives that are gonna be able to tackle this.

Right now with Speaker Johnson, you know, he's tried to cut, you know, head start, support for so many low income families and other things, it's a real problem.

- Okay, you know, it's interesting you talked about Republicans, what they've stopped from your point of view.

Talk about immigration.

First, do you acknowledge that the immigration problem is a serious crisis in our nation?

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

- Okay.

- It's a it's a real mess.

- Okay.

A real mess.

Has it not gotten, I'll ask it that way.

Has it not gotten worse congressman, during the Biden-Harris administration?

- Well, it's been getting worse over a number of years, including through the Trump presidency as well.

You know, what we see right now is a growing problem that has stemmed from years of neglect where neither, you know, where neither party been able to take the action for the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that is needed.

So it's been compounding and it's a mess.

I mean, I say that as someone who worked in national security over the course of my career prior to being in Congress, you know, I'm somebody that dedicated my life to try to keep this country safe, try to make sure we can have control over our borders.

I did a lot of work on counter-terrorism.

So of course, I want to keep this country safe.

I want us to have control over our borders.

And this is a big problem that you really stems from a failure at the federal level for years.

- But that does include the Biden-Harris administration and what they've done or haven't done as it relates to the immigration crisis and the subsequent increase in crime, or at least the perception of increase in crime in urban communities where there's been an influx of migrants.

- Well, look, you know, what we've tried to do over the course, and you know, I say this in terms of the two years that I worked when Trump was president.

You know, we tried to engage in a conversation and a legislative process that would, you know, increase border security, but also would make investments into, for instance, the fact that we have only 682 federal immigration judges right now in the country with a 3 million case backlog.

You know, you're talking about, you know, the strain upon different cities and municipalities around New Jersey, around the country.

This is stemming from the fact that, you know, it's taking six years plus for, to adjudicate any of these cases.

It should be something that we can do in sixty days or less.

It should be the very kind of resources that we need.

We need that comprehensive approach.

And unfortunately, you know, when some of these ideas have come forward, like a bipartisan effort to negotiate on immigration, what we saw was former President Trump telling Speaker Johnson not to bring this up for a vote, telling him not to allow this to happen prior to election day.

So yes, you know, we see efforts that are trying to reach a bipartisan deal, and we're seeing Republican leaders in Congress as well as former President Trump stopping it.

- Abortion, you are pro-choice.

First, before we talk about what if any differences there are between you and your Republican opponent, Curtis Bashaw.

Question, do you favor the right in the state of New Jersey?

Because once the decision was made by the Supreme Court a couple years ago, it changed everything back to the states in terms of what the policy would be, the law would be on abortion.

Are you in favor of the right of a woman to have an abortion any month, including the ninth month, before she were to deliver?

- Well, look, first and foremost, yes, you know, I think, you know, what we've seen right now is that, you know, we need to protect the women's right to choose.

What we see is that, you know, very, the vast, vast, vast majority of that happening much earlier on, and then when it comes to the very end of the term, it really is about medical issues about life of the mother, you know?

And so, you know, this is something that I do feel like has been taken very much outta context.

- How so?

- It's been done in a way that makes it sound like this is happening frequently, that this is happening, you know, because someone just, you know, changes their mind at the end.

It really isn't.

You know, and I, and this is something that, you know, it does not even take place in New Jersey.

We do not have facilities that facilitate abortions that late in a pregnancy.

You know, it is not something that is happening and is often being utilized in a way as fear mongering.

I'll be honest.

And you know, what we see right now is so often the challenge that it's being faced is when you have, you know, so much divisiveness in our country on this, it's preventing women from being able to get the care that they need if they have a medical emergency at the end.

And we've seen cases where women have died in pregnancy and in labor 'cause of the inability to be able to get the kind of medical care that they need, whether it's a miscarriage or something else.

So I find this to be a very frustrating situation right now where, you know, the political disagreements are really leading to a lot of health problems.

- And Congressman, you've been very critical of your opponent.

Curtis Bashaw says that he is pro-choice.

You question whether he actually is.

Why is that?

- Well, because he supports the Dobbs decision.

He supports the Supreme Court's decision that takes away women's reproductive rights across our nation.

So I don't understand how Mr. Bashaw can call himself pro-choice when he's actually in favor of a process by which state legislators can take away those rights from women.

So, you know, whether he feels about that just personally does not matter.

What matters is what he would do as a senator of the United States, come New Jersey, and what we know is that he refuses to codify national reproductive rights.

He refuses to codify Roe or the Women's Health Protection Act, you know, in that kind of way, what he's doing is he's allowing women's freedoms in certain states around the country to be taken away.

I don't see how any definition of pro-choice encapsulates that kind of extreme perspective.

- Congressman, you, if elected to the Senate, will be your own person in the Senate, but at the same time, who becomes the President matters.

Question, that iconic picture of you on January 6th, the day after attempting to clean up the area.

- [Andy Kim] The rotunda.

- To what degree do you believe, Congressman Kim, that January 6th, that everything that led up to it, and its aftermath, the day itself, what do you think that says about the prospect of former President Donald Trump being elected again?

- Well, look, I worry a lot about, you know, the state of our democracy.

I mean, the fact on January 6th is our nation failed to have a peaceful transfer of power, and that really is devastating when you think about just how precarious and fragile things are when it comes to our governance, and the question is, has it gotten better?

You know, as we are approaching January 6th, 2025 and the certification of that election, do we feel confident that that day will go smoothly?

And the answer unfortunately is no.

I do not hope and expect that we'll have the same type of riot and assault upon the capital, but this question of whether or not we feel stronger as a country in terms of our unity, in terms of our commitment to democracy, commitment to our elections, and the answer unfortunately is no.

In fact, it feels like it's getting worse in many ways as we see the big divide continuing to grow, and former President Trump being instrumental in that type of distrust.

And I just don't understand how we can have this much distrust within our government and still feel like we have a strong democracy.

So this is very much a major concern and a threat.

I think that's why you see, you know, a number of Republicans and others standing up and speaking out against the challenges that former President Trump plays towards our democracy, and I hope certainly that on November 5th, that the people of America can choose us to go a different path and a path towards hopefully trying to heal this country.

It's gonna take some time, but it's necessary.

- Congressman, if you lose this race on January, excuse me, on November 5th, will you accept the results of the election- - Oh, of course.

- If you lose?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Okay.

- Absolutely.

- And if the Vice President loses, you believe that she will accept the results of the election and engage in the peaceful transfer of power?

- No question.

- United States Congressman Andy Kim, running for the United States Senate.

Right after this we'll be joined by his Republican Congressman Kim's Republican opponent, Curtis Bashaw.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

Wish you all the best.

- Thank you.

- You got it.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

Kean University.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Operating Engineers, Local 825.

Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

IBEW Local 102.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by these public spirited organizations, individuals and associations committed to informing New Jersey citizens about the important issues facing the Garden State.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by New Jersey Globe.

- (Narration) Healing is never just about medicine and technology.

It has to go further than that.

It has to combine science with humanity.

It has to be our best medicine, combined with large doses of empathy, kindness, dignity and respect.

It has to be delivered by people who love what they do and who they do it for.

Holy Name.

Great medicine, soul purpose.