Flood, Blood clash in 1st CD debate

Congressman Mike Flood and state Senator Carol Blood met on Sunday for a debate at Nebraska Public Media. The two clashed on subjects including the Middle East, student loans, and Social Security.

Flood, the incumbent Republican, and Blood, his Democratic challenger, are running against each other to represent eastern Nebraska’s First Congressional District for the next two years. Addressing a question about the Israel-Hamas war, Flood offered a full-throated defense of Israel.

“Either you stand with our greatest ally Israel, or you don't -- that's the question. I stand with Israel. America stands with Israel. Hamas is a terrorist organization. War is horrible. War is not fair. War is an abomination. But there is no choice when a terrorist organization full of rancid animals like Hamas did what they did on October 7. They must be rooted out,” Flood said.

Blood offered a different emphasis.

“There's no disagreement that what's happened is horrible, but we need to make sure, which we are not doing right now, that we protect the innocent people that have nothing to do with this conflict. And so we can stand here and talk about the horrors, and it is a horror of what's going on in that conflict, but what we never hear Congress talk about are the innocents or the people that are being murdered on a daily basis on both sides,” Blood said.

On student loans, Blood defended efforts to reduce or forgive them.

“Much of the loans that were given to students were predatory. We know that there are people that have paid above and beyond what their student loans actually were, instead paying interest over and over and over again. I talked to people who have been paying on student loans for decades. Most of them will die without those loans even paid off. Now, we looked at the pandemic and a lot of the people that have been against helping these people with their student loans were people that got forgivable loans during the pandemics for their businesses. I don't understand how so many people blame the student for taking out the loans,” she said.

Flood objected to forgiving student loans.

“Well, this is the first time I've heard this discussion about predatory lending. It's another attempt to evade accountability. There are a lot of young people, there are a lot of students, they come out of high school, they look at their options, and they decide whether they want to go to a college that cost $30,000, $10,000, $5,000, $2,500 a semester. A lot of people choose community college. A lot of people take two jobs. I paid on my student loans for two decades. They’re finally paid off,” he said.

The candidates were also asked their ideas for shoring up Social Security, which is projected to run out of money to pay promised benefits in the next decade. The program is financed by a 6.2 percent tax on earnings paid by both employers and employees on incomes up to about $170,000. Blood suggested changing that.

“One easy way to make sure that we protect Social Security is by raising the minimum wage. We also know that the wealthy do not pay their fair share. Just by raising the cap by 5% it will only affect 6% of all Americans and make sure that our fund is solvent,” she said.

Flood disagreed, saying the way to make the program solvent is through economic growth.

“What you just heard my opponent say is, more taxes and a higher minimum wage. The higher you go on the minimum wage, the more everything else costs -- the more it costs to go through the drive-through at McDonald's, the more it costs when you go to Walmart, the more it costs when you go to your local hardware store. Businesses can't accept these mandates from the federal government,” he said.

In his closing statement, Flood sought to tie Blood to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and his characterization of Harris’s policies.

“Kamala Harris is the most radical liberal ever nominated for president by any party. She supports communist price controls, amnesty for illegal immigrants, trillions in more spending and taxes. She even wants to outlaw private health insurance. Make no mistake, my opponent, Carol Blood, has endorsed Kamala Harris, and she would be a rubber stamp for the Democrats in Washington,” he said.

In her closing, Blood didn’t mention Republican nominee Donald Trump by name, but characterized Flood as hyperpartisan, while portraying herself as a pragmatist.

“I don't believe in hyperpartisanship. You can keep talking about Kamala Harris. I don't know her personally, and I didn't think she was standing here debating Congressman Flood. What I do know is that I have a long history of getting things done. I am tenacious. I do my research, and I represent all Nebraskans, and my track record shows that,” she said.

First District voters will now have their chance to weigh in on the two candidates, with early voting ballots being sent out beginning September 30, and Election Day falling on November 5.