A. Wednesday night debate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and made clear that his opponent in Vermont’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Gerald Malloy, has contrasting approaches to top policy issues, from abortion to affordability and from health care to climate change.

Throughout the event, hosted by VTDigger and Vermont Public, Sanders went after Malloy’s support of former President Donald Trump and tried to connect the two Republicans. Malloy, a U.S. Army veteran and government contractor, has repeatedly criticized Sanders for what he called 34 years of inaction and empty rhetoric in Congress.

Those arguments were on full display at Vermont Public’s Winooski television studio when the debate’s moderators gave the candidates time to ask each other questions.

Trump’s statement refers to the attacks on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. denial of climate changeSanders, who opposes abortion rights and frequently makes false claims, asked Malloy why he supported the former president.

Malloy noted inflation, high gas prices, U.S. intervention in Ukraine and Israel, the “wide open southern border” and the opioid crisis, and blamed the “progressive left” and Sanders himself for these woes.

“You have been a member of Congress for 34 years,” Malloy said. “You watched this. People are dying. “Now is the time for action, not inaction.”

Sanders pressed Malloy again, saying he didn’t answer the question.

“The problem is, there’s one person who lies all the time,” Sanders said.

“In your opinion,” Malloy interjected, prompting a surprised Sanders to reply, “Not in my opinion.”

Malloy chided Sanders for using the kind of rhetoric that he said led to two assassination attempts against Trump and said Sanders should not have referred to the former president as a “pathological liar.”

“Do you know why?” Sanders responded, his voice continuing to rise. “Because he’s a pathological liar!”

“What do you say to someone who has been making the same promises for 40 years but never follows through?” Malloy also raised his voice in opposition. “This is a pathological liar.”

As the candidates continued to talk over each other, co-moderator Mikaela Lefrak of Vermont Public intervened and told Sanders and Malloy: “We’re trying to have a debate here, not a shouting contest.”

Malloy’s question to Sanders led to another spirited exchange.

“You’re 83 years old and you want another six-year term,” Malloy said. “You’ve been in Congress for 34 years and you’ve delivered proclamations of some importance outside of post offices.”

“The Senator has been talking about health care, housing, education for over 40 years, and you haven’t enacted legislation that would improve those areas,” the Republican candidate said, asking: “All of a sudden you’re going to start introducing bills.” Do you want results, not just talk, to achieve your long-held goals?

Sanders was grinning at the end of the question.

“Let’s not be ageist, Mr. Malloy,” he said. “That’s right, I’m 83 years old. I don’t know how old you are, but…”

“I’m 62 years old,” Malloy said.

“Okay,” Sanders said, raising his hand. “You are a very young man. But I feel just fine.”

Sanders defended his record and effectiveness, pointing to the role he played as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in passing the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in the wake of Covid-19. He argued that the law supports hospitals, colleges and individuals and helps prevent evictions and reduce childhood poverty.

Sanders also said he is working to lower the cost of prescription drugs such as insulin and asthma inhalers and plans to expand community health centers and work to reduce student debt in the next Congress.

Another tense moment occurred when Lefrak asked the candidates whether Congress should “take action to expand or restrict abortion access at the federal level.”

Malloy said Congress should not take such action, arguing that abortion laws should be determined by the states. The US Supreme Court’s Roe v. He said he agreed with the decision to overturn the Wade case but would not support a nationwide abortion ban.

Lefrak noted that Malloy had previously expressed a different opinion. Malloy when he runs for Senate in 2022 an NBC5 reporter asked Whether the pregnant person would “vote to ban abortion in all cases” even if their health is at risk. At the time, Malloy responded: “I would, I would. I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”

“While I am currently running for the U.S. Senate, I will not support sweeping legislation from the U.S. Senate, positive or negative,” Malloy said Wednesday. “This is a state matter”

When Lefrak posed the question to Sanders, he said he and Malloy had “significant differences of opinion on this issue” and called the Supreme Court’s decision “an absolute disaster.”

“He took away women’s constitutional right to control their own bodies, and it’s unacceptable to say that women have the right to control their own bodies in Vermont but not in Mississippi or Alabama,” Sanders said. .

“Women have strived to achieve first-class citizenship since the founding of this country, and I know of nothing more fundamental and fundamental to being a first-class citizen, an equal citizen, than having the right to control your own body. ”

Sanders said he would do “everything in our power” to restore abortion rights.

Overall, Sanders and Malloy agreed on some key challenges facing the country and state, including affordability and health care, but they sharply disagreed on how to address them.

Responding to a question about the high cost of living, Malloy said Democrats are contributing to inflation through excessive spending.

Sanders noted that inflation rates are falling and attributed the problem to “the breaking of supply chains, but also the incredible levels of corporate greed that we’re seeing right now.”

“Mr. “Malloy talked about the high prices we pay at the grocery store,” Sanders said. “He’s right. Look at the level of corporate profit in the food industry and the incredibly high prices they charge the American people.”

Asked about health care, Sanders, who now chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he was “taking on the very powerful pharmaceutical industry and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.” He said Americans pay more for healthcare than any other major country, and he has long argued that healthcare is a human right for all people.

Malloy said Sanders’ advocacy on health care was “flashy” and noted that Vermont’s failed attempt to adopt a single-payer health care system in 2014. He said the best way to address high health care costs is to increase transparency and pass legislation. It addresses competition, monopolies and collusion.

When Sanders asked Malloy whether he thought the United States should “provide healthcare for all people as a human right,” Malloy said he was not in favor of the tax increases such a system would encourage, but if the healthcare system was broken, Congress “could legislate to make it better.” .”