Deputy PM seeks to reassure critics of shake-up as Commons health committee urges rethink of proposals in health and social care bill The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, promised to address “legitimate” concerns over the government’s controversial NHS reforms as MPs called for significant changes to the plans. The cross-party Commons health committee urged a rethink, with its chair, Stephen Dorrell, saying it was not a case of merely recommending “minor tweaking” of the health and social care bill. The publication of the committee report comes as Clegg and the prime minister, David Cameron, prepare to launch a “listening exercise” this week in an attempt to reassure critics of the shake-up. The Liberal Democrat leader – who faced pressure from within his party last month over key elements of the bill – said the government would listen to “legitimate” concerns about the bill, currently going through parliament, and that there could be “substantial” changes. Clegg said: “The NHS is not the government’s property. We want people to feel comfortable with the changes, which will strengthen, and not weaken, the NHS.” In a sign of nervousness in Downing Street – which fears the public backlash is jeopardising Cameron’s work in persuading the public that the NHS is safe in Tory hands – the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, will accept some of the broad principles in the health select committee report, although he will resist many of the detailed recommendations. Lansley, who met David Cameron in Downing Street on Monday, took the rare step of making a statement to MPs about the progress of a bill which has still not completed all its stages in the Commons. He said he would amend his plans during a “natural break” in the passage of the bill, which sets out reforms that would hand 60% of the NHS’s £103bn budget to new GP-led consortiums. Government sources said he was carefully studying proposals by the committee, which calls for GPs to share commissioning powers and responsibility with nurses, consultants, public health experts and patients. Clegg said he believed it was an “uncontroversial idea” to hand GPs more responsibility. He told BBC Breakfast: “It is a rather good idea to have them in the driving seat, rather than unaccountable officials who are moving money around from one side of the desk to the other. “But, yes, with responsibility must come more accountability, which is precisely why we will be looking at these concerns, and will be looking to amend the legislation to reflect that.” He added that “a number of very significant amendments and improvements” had already been made to the bill. Addressing concerns about competition, he said: “There isn’t going to be a bargain basement rush to the bottom, because there isn’t going to be competition based on price.” In comments reflecting the concern of grassroots party members, who last month voted overwhelmingly for on a ban on “cherry picking” by private companies, Clegg added: “We want to be very, very clear – we’re not going to allow cherry-picking. “We’re certainly not going to allow vital parts of the NHS, like A&E, to be suddenly open to competition.” The committee, chaired by John Major’s last health secretary, Stephen Dorrell, recommended a much bigger role for nurses, specialists and social care chiefs in deciding how services should be designed, together with tighter systems of governance and accountability. All NHS commissioners, who would be GPs under the bill’s proposals, should have a board chaired by an independent person as well as a chief executive and finance director, they recommended. The boards should be forced to meet in public, and measures put in place to ensure no conflict of interest as a result of GPs commissioning services from private firms in which they have a stake. The name “GP consortia” to represent groups buying services should be scrapped, and renamed “NHS commissioning authorities”, the report said. This would reflect an expanded role for other health professionals in commissioning, including nurses and hospital doctors. As a result of the changes put forward by the committee, health and wellbeing boards in the bill could be scrapped, the report said. The committee also called for commissioners to have a legal obligation to consult patients through HealthWatch, an organisation designed to ensure local views are taken into account. “Some of the ideas suggested by the committee are in sync with the government’s thinking on how, for example, others might be involved in the GP consortia,” one Whitehall source said. But Lansley will not accept all Dorrell’s ideas, because he believes they would put too many groups in the new GP-led consortiums. “It is wrong to assume that the health select committee is telling the secretary of state what to do,” the source said. “This is an evolutionary process.” Dorrell admitted his reworking of the bill “is not minor tweaking”. He said: “We believe it is crucial to get the reform of NHS commissioning right if the service is to confront the massive financial challenge it now faces. “Our report contains a set of practical proposals to strengthen the health and social care bill and make it better able to meet the government’s objectives. “Our proposals are designed to ensure that NHS commissioning involves all stakeholders – GPs, certainly, but also nurses, hospital doctors, and representatives of social care and local communities. “We believe this broadening of the base for commissioning is vital if we are to achieve the changes that are necessary to allow the NHS to deliver properly co-ordinated healthcare.” NHS Health Health policy Nick Clegg Andrew Lansley GPs Doctors Hélène Mulholland Polly Curtis Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Director of public prosecutions contradicts Met acting deputy commissioner’s account of legal advice given to police The director of public prosecutions has challenged the accuracy of evidence given to parliament in the phone-hacking affair by John Yates, the acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police. In a detailed letter to the chairmen of two select committees, Keir Starmer QC contradicts Yates’s account of legal advice prosecutors gave to police when they first investigated the interception of voicemail messages by the News of the World in 2006. Yates has claimed repeatedly that police found only 10 or 12 victims. Evidence has now emerged that police knew of “a vast number”. He has told parliament on four occasions that he quoted the lower number because prosecutors told police they must prove not only that voicemail had been intercepted but also that it had occurred before the intended recipient had heard the message. In his written evidence Starmer listed a series of claims directly contradicting Yates’s account. He said: • Police had been advised that interception is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act, regardless of whether messages had been heard by their intended recipients. • An in-house lawyer at the Crown Prosecution Service had raised the possibility that under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act it might be necessary to show that the messages had not been heard but paperwork sent to police showed this view had been “very, very untested” and clearly “provisional”. • This early advice was then set aside when David Perry QC was appointed as prosecuting counsel – “He is clear that he did not at any stage give a definitive view that the narrow interpretation was the only possible interpretation”. • The charges that were brought against the NoW reporter, Clive Goodman, and the private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, included counts where there was no evidence whether messages had already been heard. Yates has told the House of Commons home affairs committee as well as the committee on culture, media and sport that a narrow interpretation of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act “permeated the entire investigation”. In contrast, Starmer said: “In my view the legal advice given by the CPS to the Metropolitan police on the interpretation of the relevant offences did not limit the scope and extent of the criminal investigation.” He added that he had shown a draft of his evidence to Yates, who had not identified any factual inaccuracies. Phone hacking News of the World Police Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News International guardian.co.uk
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US president opts for aggressive start to his 2012 campaign to defeat the Republicans and return to the White House Barack Obama has formally launched his campaign for re-election to the White House next year, hoping to raise a record-breaking $1bn (£620m) in funds as the Republicans struggle to find a clear challenger for the presidency. Obama made the announcement in an email that reached out to disenchanted Democrats whom he needs to campaign for him even though they feel he has been insufficiently progressive. Although the election is set for Tuesday 6 November 2012, Obama is anxious to create a campaign organisation at least as efficient as the one in 2008 and to begin gathering enough funds now to outspend the Republicans in advertising, just as he did last time. If Obama were to lose the election, the Republicans would dismantle his healthcare reforms, due to start in 2014. He said: “We’ve always known that lasting change wouldn’t come quickly or easily. It never does. “But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we’ve made – and make more – we also need to begin mobilising for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.” Many analysts predict Obama will win a second term, given the tendency of Americans to re-elect the incumbent. But others are more cautious, suggesting the result will be close and largely dependent on the state of the economy. Brad Coker, director of Mason-Dixon polling, said it was far from a foregone conclusion. “I would put his chances of re-election at 50-50,” he said. “Obviously, his popularity has suffered in a number of areas. The economy has been a little slow to recover. That is the linchpin. If the economy continues to improve, his chances improve greatly; if there are more bumps on the road, he has a problem. The little adventure in Libya is not helping him.” A CNN poll last week put Obama on 47%, down from 52% in January. Obama formally filed election papers on Monday with the Federal Election Commission, allowing him to start fund-raising in earnest. He spent $748m to win the White House in 2008 and has already been sounding out big donors across the country for his re-election race. The Republican contenders have been slow to come forward this year, with only Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, having formally declared so far and Newt Gingrich, the former house speaker, having half-announced his intention to stand. Others, such as Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, have yet to declare. A televised debate of Republican candidates, scheduled for May, has had to be postponed until September because the declared field is so small. Obama’s campaign chief is Jim Messina, a former White House deputy chief of staff, and the campaign will be based in Obama’s home town, Chicago, as it was in 2008. Others who were prominent in 2008, such as David Axelrod, have already moved back from the White House to Chicago to prepare for next year. Obama’s announcement was accompanied by a video in which he was largely absent, with the focus on potential campaign workers saying why it was important to them that he secured a second term. Pawlenty, responding with a video of his own, rehearsed the potential campaign issues: high unemployment, the collapse of the housing market in many areas and the soaring federal debt. “How can America win the future when we’re losing the present?” Pawlenty asks in the video. “In order for America to take a new direction, it’s going to take a new president.” One advantage of Obama’s early announcement, and his declaration of his aim to raise $1bn, is that it could help scare off any potential Democratic challenger. The only credible challenger from within the party is the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and she has already ruled out taking Obama on a second time. It is also likely that he will keep the vice-president, Joe Biden, as his running mate. Coker predicted Biden would stay on the ticket: “If Obama was to drop Biden, the only person to enhance his chances as a running mate would be Clinton. “If he dropped him, it would look like an act of desperation.” Obama received a boost last Friday with a surprise drop in unemployment to 8.8%, although the actual unemployment figure, as opposed to the official one, is estimated to be double that. In the worst-hit states families are unable to move to other jobs because they are unable to sell their houses, some of which are worth half of what they were five years ago. Obama won North Carolina and Indiana in 2008, two states likely to go back to the Republicans, while six other states he took last time – Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia – could be tighter races. But Larry Sabato, professor of politics at the University of Virginia, said Obama’s chances were pretty good, citing statistics showing America tends to re-elect incumbents. Since 1900 incumbents have won 14 times and lost five times. “I think the odds favour him,” he said. “The economy is picking up. But there are things that could happen. The economy could take a nosedive. Libya is not working out as they intended. “Do not rule out the possibility that the Republicans will nominate a clunker. “They have four decent choices – Romney, Pawlenty, [Mitch] Daniels and [Haley] Barbour – and the rest are a bunch of clunkers. In ideal circumstances, one of the four could win.” The Republican challengers Mike Huckabee (55) Fox commentator, former governor of Arkansas and Baptist minister. Not yet said if he will stand. Good communicator, has sense of humour, plays electric guitar at rallies and appeals to the Christian evangelical wing of the Republican party, whose support helped him win the Iowa caucus in 2008. Mitt Romney (64) Former governor of Massachusetts and businessman. Not yet said if he will stand but is already campaigning. Has millions of his own money that he can throw into an election race, and his business background may be seen an asset by some, but he is a poor speaker, lacks charisma and introduced a form of healthcare in Massachusetts, a negative for many Republicans, as is his Mormon faith. Tim Pawlenty (50) Former governor of Minnesota. The only Republican to have formally declared he is standing. He is, like Romney, charisma-free but he can claim previous election victory as a Republican in traditionally Democratic Minnesota, where he succeeded in tackling a huge budget deficit. Sarah Palin (47) Former governor of Alaska and Fox commentator. Not yet said whether she is standing. Would win enthusiastic backing of much of the Tea Party movement and could win the Republican nomination, but polls suggest she is a polarising figure, making winning the White House difficult. Newt Gingrich (67) The former House Speaker. Has half announced he is in the running, but no formal confirmation. Conservative, who helped organise the Republican mid-term election campaign in 1994, but is an unpredictable figure and seen as loose-lipped. Key dates in the run-up to the US presidential election 2012 Some dates are tentative as states may move up their primaries. No dates are yet confirmed for presidential and vice-presidential debates 2011 5 May First scheduled Republican candidates’ debate hosted by Fox News and the Republican party in South Carolina, a key early state in the nominating process. 13 August The Iowa Republican straw poll, an important early gauge of a candidate’s strength. 14 September Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California. Former first lady Nancy Reagan is scheduled to welcome the contenders. 2012 6 February Iowa caucuses, the traditional firing gun in the race to the White House. 7 February Super Tuesday: Primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. Montana Republican caucuses. In 2008, Super Tuesday was a close-run thing for the Democratic candidates, with Obama winning 13 primaries (847 delegates) to Hillary Clinton’s 10 (834). So there was no knockout blow and the contest dragged on until May, when Obama finally went over the top with a victory in Oregon. 14 February New Hampshire primary, traditionally the first to be held, so the date may move forward. A chance to make the early running. 6 March Minnesota caucuses. Primaries in Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia. 27 August Republican convention begins, Tampa, Florida, running to 30 August. 3 September Democratic convention begins, Charlotte, North Carolina, running to 6 September. 6 November Election day. Barack Obama US elections 2012 United States Democrats Republicans US politics Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Health secretary makes the rare step of making a Commons statement on his bill as it passes through parliament The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is to launch a last-ditch attempt to rescue his controversial NHS reforms by accepting that the membership of new GP-led consortiums needs to be widened. Lansley will on Tuesday agree with the broad principles of proposals made by the health select committee, chaired by John Major’s last health secretary, Stephen Dorrell, although he will resist many of the detailed recommendations. Lansley was forced to announce to MPson Monday that he would amend his plans, during a “natural break” in the passage of the heath and social care bill. His reforms would hand 60% of the NHS’s £103bn budget to new GP-led consortiums. Government sources said he was studying carefully proposals by the committee, which warns that GPs should not be the sole commissioners of care in the NHS. In a report it calls for GPs to share commissioning powers and responsibility with nurses, consultants, public health experts and patients. Lansley, who met David Cameron in Downing Street on Monday, took the rare step of making a statement to MPs about the progress of a bill which has still not completed all its stages in the Commons. In a sign of nervousness in Downing Street, which fears that the public backlash is jeopardising Cameron’s work in persuading the public that the NHS is safe in Tory hands, Lansley will accept some of the broad principles in the health select committee report. “Some of the ideas suggested by the committee are in sync with the government’s thinking on how, for example, others might be involved in the GP consortia,” one Whitehall source said. But Lansley will not accept all of Dorrell’s ideas because he believes they would put too many groups in the new GP-led consortiums. “It is wrong to assume that the health select committee is telling the secretary of state what to do,” the source said. “This is an evolutionary process.” Dorrell admitted that his reworking of the bill “is not minor tweaking”. He said: “We believe it is crucial to get the reform of NHS commissioning right if the service is to confront the massive financial challenge it now faces. Our report contains a set of practical proposals to strengthen the health and social care bill and make it better able to meet the government’s objectives. “Our proposals are designed to ensure that NHS commissioning involves all stakeholders – GPs, certainly, but also nurses, hospital doctors, and representatives of social care and local communities. We believe this broadening of the base for commissioning is vital if we are to achieve the changes that are necessary to allow the NHS to deliver properly co-ordinated healthcare.” The signals that the government was prepared to accept some of the principles behind the Dorrell report came as Lansley acknowledged that people have “genuine” concerns as he announced that the government would table amendments to the bill. Amid fears in Downing Street that Lansley has failed to explain the thinking behind his reforms, the health secretary said he would use a “natural break in the passage of the bill” to offer reassurances that the government’s sole intention is to improve the NHS. The bill completed its committee stage last week. No date has been fixed for its report stage, the penultimate hurdle before it goes to the House of Lords. In a sign of Lansley’s isolation no full voting member of the cabinet, apart from ministers on other business, sat with him on the frontbench. Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative chairman, criticised the plans in the Daily Mirror. Lansley will outline the amendments at a joint appearance later this week with the prime minister and Nick Clegg. The health secretary told MPs the amendments will make clear there will be no backdoor privatisation of the NHS; Lansley told MPs: “Choice, competition and the involvement of the private sector should only be a means to improve services for patient, not ends in themselves. Some services like accident and emergency or major trauma clearly will never be based on competition.” the private sector will not be allowed to cherry-pick the most profitable parts of the NHS; and there will be greater transparency and accountability of the new consortiums. Lansley said: “People want to know that the GP commissioning groups cannot have a conflict of interest, are transparent in their decisions and accountable not only nationally but locally, through the democratic input to health and wellbeing boards.” Under the committee’s proposals, the GP consortiums would become NHS commissioning authorities and would no longer be merely the province of GPs. GPs should take a majority of the seats on the authority, says the report, but there should also be places reserved for a professional social care representative, an elected member of the local authority, a nurse, a hospital doctor and a public health expert. This wider membership is necessary to ensure commissioning bodies, which have responsibility for spending large amounts of taxpayers’ money, “comply with the highest standards of governance and accountability”, says the committee. It would also help break down the barriers between primary, hospital and community care, with the commissioning authorities responsible for commissioning all of it, as well as forging closer links with social care. NHS Health Health policy Andrew Lansley Liberal-Conservative coalition Nicholas Watt Sarah Boseley Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …In an attempt to reframe the budget debate, Republicans are proposing a 2012 budget that features $4 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade—and would end Medicare as we know it, reports the Wall Street Journal . Democrats won’t likely support the 2012 plan, helmed by House Budget Chair…
Continue reading …NBC Uses Obama Re-election Bid to Pressure GOP Candidates to Announce; No Mention of President’s Weak Poll Numbers
April 4, 2011 No Comment
At the top of Monday's Today on NBC, co-host Matt Lauer touted “breaking news” of President Obama announcing his re-election bid: “…the expected announcement comes with a prediction, he could become the first candidate ever to raise a billion dollars.” Lauer then added: “Will Republican hopefuls sitting on the sidelines be compelled to dive in as well?” While fill-in co-host Ann Curry noted the announcement was “not a surprise” the broadcast still lead with a full report on the topic. Like Lauer, White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie highlighted Obama's fundraising efforts while noting the lack of formal announcements from Republican candidates: “The President is already planning fundraising trips this month to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, while the Republican race is still off to a slower start.” A sound bite was featured from Washington Post political analyst Chris Cillizza, who predicted: “I think the President announcing or forming his committee to raise money will, in fact, be an alarm, a wake-up call for some of these Republicans to say, 'I better get in now because I'm starting to lag behind and that's always dangerous.'” Meanwhile, the report failed to discuss the President's actual chances for re-election, making no mention of his weak poll numbers. The latest Gallup poll shows Obama's approval and disapproval ratings tied at 46%, hardly a strong position for an incumbent president. Here is a full transcript of the April 4 segment: 7:00AM ET TEASE: MATT LAUER: He's in. President Obama has kicked off his re-election bid in a new web video this morning. And the expected announcement comes with a prediction, he could become the first candidate ever to raise a billion dollars. Will Republican hopefuls sitting on the sidelines be compelled to dive in as well? [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News] 7:03AM ET TEASE: ANN CURRY: And today's announcement that the President will seek re-election is not a surprise, but the timing is a bit unexpected, Matt. MATT LAUER: That's right, the new web video was posted on the campaign website overnight and now NBC News has learned the President plans to file the appropriate paperwork this morning, making it all official. Again, not unexpected. We'll get the very latest from the White House in a live report coming up straight ahead.
Continue reading …NBC Uses Obama Re-election Bid to Pressure GOP Candidates to Announce; No Mention of President’s Weak Poll Numbers
April 4, 2011 No CommentAt the top of Monday's Today on NBC, co-host Matt Lauer touted “breaking news” of President Obama announcing his re-election bid: “…the expected announcement comes with a prediction, he could become the first candidate ever to raise a billion dollars.” Lauer then added: “Will Republican hopefuls sitting on the sidelines be compelled to dive in as well?” While fill-in co-host Ann Curry noted the announcement was “not a surprise” the broadcast still lead with a full report on the topic. Like Lauer, White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie highlighted Obama's fundraising efforts while noting the lack of formal announcements from Republican candidates: “The President is already planning fundraising trips this month to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, while the Republican race is still off to a slower start.” A sound bite was featured from Washington Post political analyst Chris Cillizza, who predicted: “I think the President announcing or forming his committee to raise money will, in fact, be an alarm, a wake-up call for some of these Republicans to say, 'I better get in now because I'm starting to lag behind and that's always dangerous.'” Meanwhile, the report failed to discuss the President's actual chances for re-election, making no mention of his weak poll numbers. The latest Gallup poll shows Obama's approval and disapproval ratings tied at 46%, hardly a strong position for an incumbent president. Here is a full transcript of the April 4 segment: 7:00AM ET TEASE: MATT LAUER: He's in. President Obama has kicked off his re-election bid in a new web video this morning. And the expected announcement comes with a prediction, he could become the first candidate ever to raise a billion dollars. Will Republican hopefuls sitting on the sidelines be compelled to dive in as well? [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News] 7:03AM ET TEASE: ANN CURRY: And today's announcement that the President will seek re-election is not a surprise, but the timing is a bit unexpected, Matt. MATT LAUER: That's right, the new web video was posted on the campaign website overnight and now NBC News has learned the President plans to file the appropriate paperwork this morning, making it all official. Again, not unexpected. We'll get the very latest from the White House in a live report coming up straight ahead.
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An AP photographer’s time-lapse of Conseco Field House in Indianapolis being transformed from an Indiana Pacers game setup to the NCAA Women’s Final Four setup. (April 4)
Continue reading …Juan Williams Offers Simple Solution to Deficit: ‘We Just Have to Tax People’
April 4, 2011 No Comment
In an argument which would make his ex-NPR colleagues proud, Juan Williams took to Fox News Sunday to push for tax hikes to reduce the deficit. Scolding Brit Hume, an exasperated Williams contended: “You’re going on as if, ‘you know what, we don't know in America how to help our own deficit problems.’ We do. We just have to tax people.” Moments before, in assessing Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s expected plan on how to slow budget growth, Williams insisted “tax increases should not be off the table,” chastising Ryan for, during an interview with Chris Wallace earlier on the show, rejecting a tax increase: “I don't know why it is that he somehow suggests the rich in the country have no obligation to support the country.” Of course, “the rich” already pay far more than their fair share. In the latest year for which IRS data is available, 2008, “the top 1 percent of tax returns” – those earning over $380,000 — “paid 38.0 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 20.0 percent of adjusted gross income,” the Tax Foundation’s Mark Robyn and Gerald Prante reported late last year . Robyn and Prante also noted: “The top 5 percent,” who made more than $159,000, “earned 34.7 percent of the nation's adjusted gross income, but paid approximately 58.7 percent of federal individual income taxes.” From the April 3 Fox News Sunday: JUAN WILLIAMS: Let me just say, tax increases should not be off the table. I don't know why it is that he somehow suggests the rich in the country have no obligation to support the country. CHRIS WALLACE: I want to talk about politics of this because the Democrats, and you can certainly already see it if not from the President, from Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in the Senate, they think that budget politics is going to work for them, that they’re going to be able to go out in 2012 – and that's exactly what Paul Ryan said – and say look at these Republicans they're going to take away your Medicare. BRIT HUME: Throw momma from the train. WALLACE: And they’re going to take away all the goodies that you have depended on. The counter-argument from Ryan is that we're in such trouble and the country has woken up to it, that being serious about the debt is actually good politics. HUME: What the Democrats are likely to do has always worked. Always worked. The question is, in the aftermath of the 2010 election, is whether things are now different and whether the party that leads on trying to do something serious about this mammoth yawning deficit and debt that we face will win politically. I'm not sure. Look at Wisconsin where they passed this bill which will have a major effect on the budget in years to come. Labor fought it tooth and nail. Labor may end up winning a judgeship election out there to throw the judge in favor of the bill passed off the supreme court in favor of their own guy. Public opinion is mixed out there at best. Governors who have fought this issue on the budget have seen their popularity decline markedly. In some cases their popularity has recovered. But the indispensable ingredient was winning, in other words having the reforms, the proposals that cuts go into effect and benefits that flow there from become recognizable to the public. These House Republicans, they can't singlehandedly do that. All they can do is vote something and go as far as they can- WILLIAMS: -succeeded in taking taxes completely off the table. Remember, Governor Walker out there cut taxes for the rich. Remember, that there’s been extension of the Bush tax cuts. And you’re going on as if, “you know what, we don't know in America how to help our own deficit problems.” We do. We just have to tax people. HUME: Juan, what we need is not higher tax rate. What we need is higher revenue. How do you get higher revenues? You get higher revenues from an expanding economy. That's where the big money comes from. WILLIAMS: GE paying no taxes. That’s good for America? C’mon, you know that's not right. — Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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