Bruin Democrats and Bruin Republicans will hold a debate on the national health care bill today on campus, focusing on its importance and how it affects students.
The debate will take place in Moore 100 from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
It has been more than a year and a half since the two groups came together and held a debate.
“I’m really excited to see how it goes,” said Carrie McFadden, president of Bruin Democrats and a fourth-year political science student.
Andrew Kreitz, chairman of Bruin Republicans and a fourth-year business economics student, said members of Bruin Republicans have also been looking forward to this debate.
“We’ve been wanting to debate the Bruin Democrats for some time now,” Kreitz said.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council is in charge of compiling a predetermined list of questions, as well as selecting audience questions to be asked during the debate. Each panel is made up of members from each organization, with a moderator asking the questions.
Matthew Miller, internal vice chair of Bruin Republicans and a fourth-year classical civilization student, said that a meeting with USAC on Friday helped determine the format of the debate: six to 10 questions, some given specifically to one of the groups and a few given to both.
Although the questions will not be disclosed before the debate, both McFadden and Kreitz have some idea as to what aspects will be debated. McFadden said she suspects there will be questions about abortion and about provisions for undocumented residents.
“Those seem to be really contentious aspects of the debate, and I have a feeling that that’s one thing that we’re going to differ on greatly with the Bruin Republicans,” McFadden said.
Kreitz said he expects the debate to get into the issues of what the health care bill means to citizens and what it means for the federal government, as well as who will and will not be covered.
The urgency to relate the bill and its importance to students was a common focus for both.
“As soon as we graduate and we are not students anymore, chances are we are going to have to fend for ourselves … in terms of deciding what coverage to have,” McFadden said.