mr. forbes is recognized for his questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman, general, thank you for being here today. i think despite all the rhetoric we know that this committee is not asking you to break the law regarding what you say to congress. as you know, it doesn't matter if you appear in congress seven times or 70 times if when you're asked if you say i don't know to the questions that are most pertinent or it doesn't matter if you supply 7,000 pages or documents or 700,000 pages if they're not proper papers to answer key questions. i want to begin where you begin. that was the standard that you said that you have in the department which is that every action is guided by law and facts and nothing else. i think i stated that correctly. is that fair? >> certainly when we're at our best, that's what happened. >> we know that every cabinet secretary doesn't adhere to that standard. in fact, we have in a paper today the fact that several cabinet members were required to come to a meeting at the democratic national committee headquarters where the

mr. forbes himself x. liz o'donald and rick unger. no compromise better than a compromise. >> preposterous proposition. and david, this is how you drag the company down. look at europe. not much in reducing will spending. it is like expecting drackula to seize fire. they're the worst words in the english upon language. be careful when we talk about who there is a tax increase on. it is on the highest levels of income . by the way. i know this is not going to solve our problem. but you have to give a little to get a little. if you are looking for cuts across the board, you have to be willing to give a little. emac how do they work in the past? >> last time we saw a great compromise was the move in the 1990s to cut spending. and that is 1982. and under reagan. and especially it went spiraling out of control. and entrepreneur capitalist did not create this crisis . it is higher taxes. it doesn't seem fair. >> in the past, very awn they promise all kinds of spending cuts. you get the tax hikes but not the spending cuts. i don't how we can

mr. forbes himself x. liz o'donald and rick unger.no compromise better than a compromise. >> preposterous proposition. and david, this is how you drag the company down. look at europe. not much in reducing will spending. it is

mr. forbes ran for president, he advocated flat tax and it was supposed to be revenue-neutral. as i recall, that would be about 18%, 19%, a flat tax, everyone would pay it. i may be wrong on the precise rate but it was close to that. and the thing is, when people start realizing the actual effect of that, they backed off. under that proposal, that flat tax proposal, those with incomes above 200 get big windfall and those -- back then, and those under would have to pay a lot more in taxes and a lot more people would have to pay more taxes than get the windfall. but you have to be very careful and i must say, too, that some of the flat rate proposals also suggest major tax expenditure eliminations to get there. i think some of that's a little

mr. forbes. >> i'm not sure that there has been a photo i.d. attempts made by the state run by a democratic governor. >> no, i think if you look at the states, they were regarding immigration policies. any action you've taken against a democratic governor of a seller high-profile. >> with regard to immigration laws as i understand it, but i don't think there has been a similar immigration attempt made by states run by democratic governors, which is this reason we do not oppose them, but i will check. >> and also when you checkhim if he makes you let us know the context you had with mr. axelrod or any messaging regarding the sections. thank you. >> thank you, mr. schwartz. ms. jackson is recognized for questions. >> i thank the chairman and the ranking member and i certainly think the attorney general for his service. i just wanted to add but i don't think very quickly within the abduction entre introduction of the attorney general without any disrespect not towards you, the questioning sites get a series of questions then. i didn't know you wer

mr. forbes is recognized for his questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think despite all the rhetoric we know that this committee is not asking you to break the law regarding what you say your information, you provide to congress. it's just as you know it doesn't matter if you appear in congress seven times or 70 times. it when you're asked you say i don't know to the questions that are most pertinent. or it doesn't matter if you supply 7000 pages, or documents, or 700,000 pages if they are not the proper papers to answer key questions. so i want to begin where you begin, and that was the standard that you said you have in the department, which is that every action is guided i law and facts and nothing else. i think i stated that correctly, is that there? >> certainly when we're at our best that's what happens. >> we know that every cabinet secretary doesn't adhere to that standard in fact we have any paper today the fact that several cabinet members were required to come to a meeting at the democratic national committee headquarters with the campaign

mr. forbes, is recognized. >> general, thank you for being here today. i think despite all the rhetoric we know that this committee is not asking you to break the law regarding what you say your information you provide to congress. it's just as you know, it doesn't matter if you appear in congress seven times or 70 times if when you are as you say i don't know to the questions that are most pertinent, or it doesn't matter if you supply 7000 pages or documents, or 700,000 pages if they are not the proper papers to answer key questions. so i want to begin where you begin, and that was the standard that you said you had any department, which is that every action is guided by law and facts and nothing else. i think i stated that correctly, is that there? >> certainly when we're at our best that's what happens. >> we know that every cabinet secretary doesn't adhere to that standard to confront, we have any paper today the fact that several cabinet members were required to come to a meeting at the democratic national committee headquarters, the campaign manage

mr. forbes runs for president, thus the flat tax was neutral.f i recall, that would be about 18 or 19%. i could be wrong on that. i could be wrong on the precise rate. the thing is, when people start realizing the actual effect on thought, they back off. under that proposal, flat tax proposal, those are incomes above and are big windfall. it was back then. we would have to pay a lot more taxes. a lot more people would have to pay taxes and we have to be very careful. i must they, too, that the flat proposals also suggest major tax expenditure illumination to get there. i think some of that is unrealistic, politically, how much that can happen. there is another factor here, and that is revenue. if we are going to solve the deficit, we have to look at the revenue. we have to look at revenue. there is no escape. we happier. my major point is -- it is the goal. let's see what we have to do to get growth. let's see what we can do to make our country more competitive. let's see how make our country more innovative. one major advantage that we have in

mr. forbes was running for president, he advocated the flat tax. it was supposed to be revenue neutral. as i recall, it would be about 18%, 19%. i may be wrong on the precise rates. it was close to that. the thing is, once people start realizing the effect of that, they back of. under the proposal, that flat tax proposal, those with incomes above 200 big ones would have to pay a lot more in taxes. and a lot more people would have to pay more in taxes and get the windfall. you have to be very careful. and i must say, too, some of the flat tax proposals also suggest major tax expenditure elimination's to get their. i think some of that is unrealistic. politically. how much that can happen. there is another factor. that is revenue. if we are going to deal with the deficit, we have to look at revenue. have to look at revenue. we have to. my major point is in my remarks. namely, it is interesting as a goal. let's see what we can do to make our country more competitive. let's see how we can make our country more innovative. one major advantage we have in america is innovation. the major amoun

forbes argue in favor of stimulus. that may be a separate discussion. but in terms of your question -- >> tax cuts. >> i think everyone in a position of knowledge and responsibility has argued for that. mrs. merkel has, the imf has. geithner, everyone has been clear europe has to engage in structural reforms. >> look. i don't understand why we keep raising taxes. to steve's point. take greece, italy. they want to raise the value added tax. they don't make money but it does cause prices to go up. it has a depressing effect on the economy. way why wouldn't you go for pro growth supply side tax growth? >> the european, southern tier european countries are in an unsustainable position. spain's interest rates are over 7%. they don't have an option not to close the budget deficit gap. you can argue about doing it on the spending side but they will not allow them to continue to operate with deficits of that side. >> i agree. but it troubles me that the obama administration has gotten behind the imf and is making austerity worse. this troubles me. to me when they say they want growth they want the ecb to cut interest rates and put more liquidity in. it's not the problem. the problem is fiscal an

mr. payne. re tissue shah west is any name, so thank you, colonel west, for having this second conservative black forbeum. my question is for colonel west. what is our plan to recute and to educate -- recruit and to educate the black community to come over to the other side? because 95% pretty much of us vote democrat, although there's plenty of versatility in the white race. some of them are independents, some are republicans, some are democrats. why is it that we stick to one party that i think is no good for us? thank you. >> well, i think do -- [applause] i think that the most important thing i can do at an event such as this is to provide a forum so when you think about the millions of people that are watching this on c-span, and it'll get rebroadcast. we've got to get people to think. my wife is a financial planner and investor. no one here, i guarantee you, puts all of your capital, all of your funds into one single mutual fund or stock or account. you don't. you diversify. as mr. johnson said early on, i think it's so important that the black community does the exact same thing with their polit