BETHLEHEM On questions ranging from U.S. treatment of the Ebola outbreak to immigration reform, the two candidates vying to represent the 17th Congressional District squared off during a debate Tuesday before an audience of Lehigh Valley voters.

The debate, held at the PBS39 studios in Bethlehem, pitted freshman U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, against Republican challenger David Moylan, both hoping to represent residents of the 17th.Moylan, a 62-year-old radiation oncologist who has touted his medical background throughout the campaign, said he has been disappointed with President Barack Obama's reaction to the international Ebola outbreak.Rather than naming a czar to handle the issue as Obama did, Moylan said he would favor bringing together a group of professionals who specialize in infectious disease for advice.Cartwright, 53, said he would favor an oversight panel as well, but bemoaned the lack of funding for medical research in the U.S.Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have been working to develop an Ebola vaccine for 10 years, he said."If funding had not been flat-lined by right-wingers in the house, we may have a vaccine," Cartwright said.The two candidates, who have run relatively quiet campaigns this fall, also addressed the issue of immigration. Asked whether he would support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Moylan said the U.S. first needs to focus on securing the border before officials can discuss citizenship options."I do not think amnesty is the way to deal with the problem," Moylan said.Cartwright said he doesn't favor amnesty either, but it would be beneficial economically to help immigrants obtain citizenship, he said."I want these people paying their full load into the federal treasury and also paying into the social security system," Cartwright said.During a portion of the debate where candidates were permitted to question each other, Cartwright, who has served only one term since beating longtime incumbent Tim Holden two years ago, defended his voting record on abortion.Both candidates are pro-life, but Cartwright supports exemptions for victims of rape and incest or when a mother's life is at stake.Moylan also confronted Cartwright with an allegation that he walked out of a hearing in September while families of Benghazi victims testified.Cartwright said the photos of the event were a "dirty trick" taken by a staffer when representatives left to vote on the House floor. Voting is part of a duty of a representative, and it's outrageous to suggest that he would walk away from victims' families, he said."I'm sorry that you asked that question," Cartwright said angrily. "I'm sorry that you think I'm capable of such barbarism."While the redrawn 17th Congressional District includes Democratic-strongholds in Easton, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, it spans a much larger area in parts of five counties including Carbon, Northampton, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and all of Schuykill County.Candidates answered several questions about environmental regulations, energy policy and global warming, appealing to mining towns which also populate the district.Moylan questioned Cartwright about whether he would support an energy tax. Cartwright said anyone who believes Democrats are engaged in a war on coal are misguided. The proliferation of cheap natural gas is what is hurting coal, he said."There's no war on coal," Cartwright said. "It's normal market forces."Asked about global warming, Moylan said there's no doubt that the climate has changed. The question is whether the change has been caused by man-made activity. "One of the problems has been accurately measuring the temperature throughout the world," he said. "As the technology is improving, I think we'll see the truth come out."