Dec. 12 Republican debate transcript

Washburn: Congressman Hunter?

Giuliani: I think of Islamic terrorism as being national security. Economic security is also very important.

Duncan Hunter: There are two debts that are a threat to the national security. One is the budget deficit, which is going to be about $161 billion this year, but the real deficit, the real loss that we have right now that is a threat to national security, is the trade loss.

The trade loss this year is going to be $800 billion. It's going to be $200 billion to communist China, which is rapidly becoming our banker. And there's an old saying, you don't want to have a banker who doesn't have your best interests at heart.

We should level the playing field, we should stop China from cheating on trade, bring back a lot of those high-paying manufacturing jobs to this country that we pushed offshore.

That means bigger paychecks, that means more money going into the federal treasury and to Social Security and to Medicare.

Eliminate those twin deficits and we'll be on the right tracks.

Washburn: Thank you.

We do need to stay at 30 seconds. This is not the time to get behind.

Congressman?

Ron Paul: It's absolutely a threat to our national security because we've spend too much, we taxed too much, we borrowed too much and we print too much.

When a country spends way beyond it means, eventually it will destroy the currency.

And we're in the midst of currency crisis. Our dollar is going down rapidly as we speak. It's because we have lived beyond our means. We can't afford the foreign policy that we have. We have to cut back. We have to live within our means.

If we're going to spend money, we ought to spend it at home. And that is why we have to change this foreign policy. We can't afford it, to do what we're doing today, because it will destroy our dollar.

Tom Tancredo: The reason why it becomes a national security problem is because the bulk of our imbalance of trade is the result of our importation of oil from countries that are not our friends. That's really where it rests.

Most of the stuff -- the rest of the stuff we bring in doesn't constitute that kind of threat to the United States. But when we are supplying funds -- supplying the funds for the people in other countries that have an intent -- a malicious intent in regard to the United States, it's a national security issue.

So, of course, energy independence is one huge step in the direction of trying to alleviate that problem.

Washburn: Senator?

Fred Thompson: Our country has a $9 trillion debt. A good chunk of that is owned by China. We're bankrupting the next generation, without any question. Every economist in Washington who's looked at will tell you that.

It affects our national security, for one reason is because we're squeezing military spending. We're spending below historic norms under these circumstances for our defense, and we're spending twice as much for entitlements.

That's why I put out a specific Social Security plan that'll save Social Security while saving the government $4 trillion.

It's all in entitlements. We've got to spend more for the military, as a matter of fact. But we've got to look at Social Security and Medicare and do some things now that won't hurt anybody badly, but will save it for the next generation.

Washburn: Governor?

Mitt Romney: This is indeed a time of extraordinary challenges in this country, and the overspending in Washington and the over-promises that we've made are certainly among those challenges.

But this is not a time for us to wring our hands and think that the future is bleak.

In fact, the future is bright. We need leaders up in Washington that will rein in excessive spending. And we also need leadership that will help America grow. The best answer for our economic woes is to make sure we have good jobs for our citizens, good schools for our kids, good health care for everyone, and that we have policies that promote the growth of the nation.

We can have a level playing field around the world; get ourselves off of foreign oil; reduce the excessive spending in Washington; and have a bright future for our kids.

This, again, is based upon the strength of the American people. If you want to see a strong America, you don't look to Washington, you look to ways to strengthen the American people.

Mike Huckabee: It's most certainly a national security threat, because a country can only be free if it can do three things. First, it has to be able to feed itself. It has to be able to put food on the table for its own citizens.

Secondly, it's got to be able to fuel itself. If it looks to somebody else for its energy needs, it's only as free as those are willing for it to be.

And it also has to be able to fight for itself. It's got to be able to manufacture its own weapons of defense -- tanks, airplanes, bullets and bombs.

When we start outsourcing everything and we're in that kind of a trade deficit, then just remember who feeds us, who fuels us, and who helps us to fight; that's to whom we are enslaved.

So if we can't do those three things, our national security is very much at risk.