maybe when i call today, i will tell you the reason why i believe he will choose rick santorum. host: reid wilson, let's begin with the virginia race. guest: i think the kaine party is a bit more pessimistic than you are. will be to and nail. you have the former governor tim kane, a former senator and governor george allen, who lost this seat to jim webb. it will be fascinating to watch because these are two titans who are able to raise a lot of money, both with big-time name recognition. this is all about turnout and mobilizing the voters. every possible voter that you can find. tim kaine hass strength in the suburbs, in richmond. he was governor there. and then he has strength in the

growing african-american communities, southeast virginia. george allen's stronghold are pretty much everywhere else. he will need voted to turn down in southwest virginia, which did not really turn out heavily last time. culturally conservative democrats who are starting to vote republican. he needs to turn those voters out. joe might be confident, but there are a lot of races in which the democratic candidate may fall short. you tell me who wins virginia, i will tell you who controls the senate next year. host: controls the senate? say more. guest: he brings up the point that democrats will win everything. there are 23 democratic seats up this year, 10 republican seats. most of the seats will stay on their sides, but there are some

democratic held seats that will go republican. i mentioned missouri earlier. fisher looks like she is leading at the moment. mccaskill faces some tough times in missouri. john tester in montana faces a difficult race against republican, who is well known throughout the state, eddie statewide elected official. nebraska, kent conrad is retiring. that is the most surprised race of the year so far. former state attorney candidate is doing pretty well. that is all about her ability to distance herself from president obama, who will lose the state's electoral votes. she just needs to win that crossover appeal. what we see throughout the country is, in most states, democrats are running a few points ahead of president obama. clare mccaskill will do better than him in missouri.

kaine will be a few points ahead of obama in virginia. all because they have this reputation of reaching out more than they are not the polarizing figure who is not at the top of the ticket. it is all about crossover voting. just watch how much the democratic candidates are able to outpace the republican opponents. then again, crossover voting used to be a completely normal thing, and some democrats would outpace their presidential nominees by 10, 20 points. those days are dwindling because people are viewing the national parties as more influential than the actual names on the ballots themselves. my colleague likes to say, in this case, the colors of the jersey matter more than the names on the back. host: reid wilson is the editor in chief at hot line. a staff writer also at "the hill."

he also cover the 2008 election cycle. he did polling in the 276 election. he has also reported for "the new republic," and " the national journal." one of our callers brought the vice-presidential race, to see who mitt romney would choose. according to "the washington post" the list gets shorter perio-- we see some of these people, including mike huckabee, condoleezza rice, nikki caylee, susanna martinez. take us through how significant that is. are we still see members of congress on the short list? guest: i he to it was announced that rick

santorum would be a speaker. there would give away a little bit of the buzz there would be able to build. jeb bush, rand paul, rick santorum gives us a little more hint of where the short list is going. there a few incumbent members of congress on the short list. marco rubio is a name that has been talked about a lot. i don't think they will pick him. rubio does not have a lot of experience on the national level.

he threatens to overshadow mitt romney. that is the positive that ends up dooming him. host: t.j. tweets in. mary from tennessee, hi. caller: i like marco rubio but i hope they leave him in the senate. they have not presented a budget because they are too cowardly to say what they are for. gossip on the house and the senate. you're talking about the governors. 20,000 a month that obama is putting on disability that would go to medicaid. they will be having to foot the

bill for this. we need to get romney in there and to repeal obamacare. all these people are getting on disability just to get a handout. they do not want to work. host: mary is a republican and thinks it is important that republicans take it back. we have a tweet from gary. guest: this is gone to be the challenge. i think there are eight open seats. you have virginia, connecticut, new mexico is an open seat. there are a lot incumbents that

are vulnerable. you cannot get scott brown in massachusetts. he is in some measure of trouble as he faces elizabeth warren because of the crossover voting. president obama will get about 60% of the vote in massachusetts. that means scott brown will have to win one and of every six obama voters. he is appealing to the conservative democrats that the needs in places like western massachusetts who might vote for a republican candidate. he will need everyone to pull that off. i love watching nevada. you have a great contrasts. on ise a rancher who takes his horses out.

democrat is from las vegas and cannot be any more from las vegas. her father worked at the sands. great contrast between two candidates. there is an ethics investigation that is not helping her case. republicans are smart in highlighting that as much as they can. neither side believes this race will be more than a two-point race either way. the other republican seat that is likely to go to a new candidate is the open seat in the maine where olympia snowe is retiring. a candidate will try to stay away from either caucus.

democrats think they will caucus with them. he showed up at a obama fund- raiser last year. that is another wrinkle into this contest. democrats are not terribly safe but they have some opportunities around the country. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i think the fact that most elderly americans are not yet aware that the ryan budget will put an end to medicare. once they learn that, there will be a a large number of elderly americans nationwide that will vote for democrats both in the

house and in the senate. i live in texas and in the congressional district that i live in, we have a republican congressman and no democrat can that. statewide, we n have a democrat candidate or senate -- for senate. republican is a texan that has proclaimed to be the winner. we will see about that. guest: he is talking about the democratic nominee in texas, paul sadler. taxes should be a purple state because of the demographics of the state.

so many hispanic americans have not registered to vote. it the most for thinking republican consultants looking tanned and 20 years down the road believe that taxes will eventually be in the top column, but will be awhile before that takes place. cruz is the overwhelming favorite to win. that tells you pretty much what you need to know about that race. fred krupp and adjusting point about the ryan budget -- fred brought up an interesting point about the ryan budget. the democrats believe they can use this as a way to hammer republicans and i think we will

see that as a cornerstone for a lot of campaigns this year. paul ryan is a member of congress from one district in wisconsin. it is not clear a lot of people know what the ryan budget is and it takes in a lot of work to explain that to voters. democrats believe they can win that argument. host: recent headline in "the washington times." guest: let's go back to what mary said about that. she wants to keep rubio in the senate. ted cruz is part of that dynamic. people like senator jim demint,

michael lee, rand paul from kentucky, all of whom want it their way and the most conservative way possible and may pose some problems for mitch mcconnell. if republicans take over the senate in a couple of years, i think you'll see mitch mcconnell facing some problems in have to deal with this conference that's not necessarily willing to go along with everything on the republican agenda. they will want something more conservative. host: john from georgia, welcome. caller: i believe that the president will do very well in the general election. if mitt romney chooses to pick either rob portman or marco

rubio, i think he will try to defend florida and ohio. if he chooses ryan out of wisconsin, he believes he does not have to defend those states in for will be a shoe an- the presidency. guest: we have a number of states where presidential battlegrounds overlap with senate battlegrounds. all these key states that both sides need to win. one of the interesting subterranean factors is that there are only a limited number of television advertisements that you can buy. television advertisements of the lifeblood of any campaign. you have the organizations, the

senate candidates and their trying to advertise, you'll run out of space. if you live like anyplace like cleveland or las vegas or tampa , you cannot get away from them . i suggest some might invest in eight d v aa dvr. john talked about whether or not picking marco rubio or rob portman would help a presidential campaign carried a state. chris christie said it best when it's said people don't vote for a vice president. it is unlikely to anybody has won a state because of their

vice presidential pick. john kennedy picked lyndon johnson and end up winning texas. host: this is a headline from " the arizona daily star." guest: here we go again. you have jeff blake who is the insiders outsider in washington, d.c. -- jeff flake. he was tea party before tea party was cool. all these earmarked legislation he has proposed has angered his own party here in d.c. some people will be happy that

he will be gone next time around but they might have to deal of them in the u.s. senate . not one said the other party is the opposition. you have jeff flake running against a businessman named wil cardon. cardon has risen may political unknown to be competitive with flake. flake has the establishment behind him. we just saw a clip this morning about cardon going dark a little bit just when arizona's voters are getting their absentee ballots. that is not a good thing.

that tells me he is either supremely confident about his chances in the primary or he is on confidence and worried about his prospects -- or he is unconfident. this is the outsiders coming to the aid of the insiders or however you want to characterize jeff flake. has everybody -- he has everybody. host: we should mention the connecticut race. give us one thing to watch for. guest: just how much linda mcmahon is able to beat chris shays. mcmahon needs to branch out, it

was something she did not do too successfully in her 2010. she will face a real challenge. host: we will

>> all this week on c-span2 a look back at some of the sears speeches from the national press club. today iris commissioner douglas schulman at 6:00 eastern all week. the group americans for prosperity held a rally on capitol hill to talk about their efforts to repeal the affordable care act and defeat president obama november. this is just over half an hour. >> i tell you if you are making the ultimate sacrifice today.

it's 193 degrees out here, right? now look, all the folks in the back row, come on down. we are going to shame you just for a few minutes. come on around, guys. as hot as it is today, if we keep working this issue, it's going to get even hotter for barack obama and harry reid. [applause] because i think the american people are fed up, don't you? they are tired of this stuff coming out of washington d.c.. today united as one, we gather with a clear message for the united states senate. repeal this disastrous health care legislation. [cheers and applause] and if you refuse to repeal this

legislation, the american people are going to repeal you. [cheers and applause] and today, we have another message for the president of the united states. mr. president, with all due respect to you and your office, keep your hands off our health care. keep it off our health care. [cheers and applause] you know over the last two years, three years really, a great debate has taken place across our nation. over whether or not washington d.c. health care is a good idea. well i'm here to tell you, and you know this already, the debate is over. the american people have spoken. they have made their views known loud and clear. in november of 2009, they had a message for then speaker nancy pelosi. isn't it nice to say then

speaker nancy pelosi? [cheers and applause] they had a message for nancy pelosi. they said madam speaker, thanks thanks but no thanks on health care coming out of washington. you are fired and that is what they said to her. [applause] now 34 -- 37 days ago the supreme court had a disastrous ruling. it was frustrating, no way around that. we are not going to sugarcoat it. it was disappointing to say chief justice roberts joined four liberal justices in upholding the constitutionality of a law that we believe is unconstitutional. forcing americans, forcing americans to buy a private product by law. that was wrong, it was frustrating and it was difficult but here's the good news. in the end, the supreme court of this great nation, as powerful as it is, they don't have the

last word. [applause] you have the last word. it is not over until we say it's over and guess what? it's not over. we are starting again today. we are here in washington d.c. with a clear message for the senate, for the house and i will tell you this. we sometimes criticize the house of representatives and sometimes we criticize the republicans in the house but i will give them full credit. they stepped up on the day of that supreme court ruling and unanimously i believe they voted to repeal obamacare and good for them. they deserve a round of applause for that. [applause] we are gathered here not for political reasons. we are gathered here for some basic common sense principles. because you know to look my children are here.

i have twin boys. where are they? catherine has them, right there. i don't know about you and i don't know if it's true with your children and grandchildren but when it comes to the government taking care of their health care -- [inaudible] we don't want the government running health care health care for our children. my mom and dad are in their late seventies now. they have battled hard issues for decades and frankly we are thankful to god that they are doing better and with good medical care they are doing better but do we trust their care and the elderly scare to bureaucrats, bean counters in washington d.c.? no, we don't. i don't need some bureaucrat from the government telling me that my parents at a certain point don't have enough quality of life to deserve treatment and were not going to let that happen. we are going to stop that from happening up when and when it comes to holding down the cost of health care, this is almost laughable but do we really trust

the federal government to hold down the cost of anything? it's laughable. falling on billion-dollar payouts. amtrak not exactly on time with her dollar raising. every federal program, guess what? it goes over budget. it goes over spending. over the next 10 years it won't be a trillion dollars, it will be trillions of dollars if this government is spending and wasting. remember the gsa conferences in las vegas? the party there with their money? it will be gsa on steroids. these people will be spending money -- it's beyond belief and were not going to let that happen. when you look at obamacare already you see the government cronyism that's involved because we know what happens when a government program that is big and powerful kicks in. is at the same treatment for everyone? no, of course not.

if you are well connected union or frankly if you you are well-connected corporation, you get a waiver from obamacare. do you guys get waivers from obamacare? no, you don't. if you happen to be a small business in nancy pelosi's district, you get a waiver. congratulations. they are giving away dozens and dozens of waivers to folks in her district. we are not going to let government cronyism take over the greatest health care system in the world. and when they pass and on all of us, who do they exist -- every member of congress that voted for this monstrosity, they have the federal health-insurance program. now look, this is a secret and i don't talk about very often but i'm going to share this. i worked on capitol hill for three years. idea, i'm sorry. i was a chief of staff to this

conservative member but i have the federal health insurance benefits. i had dozens of choices. the very thing they want to did not you win me when it comes to health care, choice, the ability to do what is best for our families, our children and our grandkids. they want to deny that to everyone else while exempting themselves and keeping their own health care. that is wrong and we are not going to let that happen. we are not going to let that happen, folks. we are going to repeal this bill. we are going to repeal this pill. i said, we are going to repeal this bill. repeal the bill is what we are going to do. [cheers and applause] that is exactly what we are going to do and i heard the voices. some of them are our friends. we can't do it. we are never going to get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and we are never going to have a president that will overturn

this legislation but luck, there is one silver lining and only one in that health care decision that chief justices roberts and robertson for liberals on the court withdrew. they said the individual mandate is what we know it is, a tax increase, right? ..

you. we lost in congress. we want with the american people and we are women today cash. we have to make sure we keep on doing it and we are going to keep doing it. steven chu for coming out here. today is another day closer to victory and when we stand in the shadows of the senators we're sending a message they need to hear something to for what you're doing. we have allies in this effort. we have a group called concerned women of america. don't you love them? [applause] we travel the country together. if your great allies. i think i saw him at the chik-fil-a. isn't it great to stand up for freedom and eat in the world. [applause] so, please, of our good friend.

[applause] >> thank you. good morning. thank you for coming out. president reagan said to us freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. we didn't pass in the bloodstream it must be fought for, protected and handed on to them to do the same. one day we will spend our years dillinger our children and our children's children what it was once like to be free. do you believe that? we are at a crucial moment in this nation's history. in fact we are at a tipping point. i don't know if we don't change the direction of the nation if we will be the strong constitutionally sound freedom loving government that we have always been. i don't know if we don't change the direction that we are going if we won't be able to stand on

all the work that our founding fathers fought for and died for on the bloody battlefield of lexington and concord and yorktown and boston. we've got to change things. and a clear indication and there are so many i can go on and on but i'm not going to. [laughter] a clear indication of the difference where we are going versus where we should be is the health care law. we were promised we would have lower premiums, yet $2,400 per person on average increase. we would have our consciousness and pay for abortion drugs, but we did. we do as of august 1st because of what the hhs mandate has done we were promised we could choose our doctors and there wouldn't be a problem.

it's not what we were promised, and it's not too late. we can repeal and ask for a change. the ladies in the audience let me have your attention for just a moment this is what the concerned women for america we call and esther moment. it's the moment when you have to think about leadership. you have to think about even though all the things you have been given are you going to take a stand because perhaps you were born for such a time as this. do you believe that? so do i.. i believe that we -- all the things we've enjoyed in our lives and blessings we have been given, our freedom and family have been leading up to this moment and we've got to stand. so i am asking you to be of your generation to take a stand with concerned women of america right now right here.

[applause] concerned women of america on monday morning we are going to be over north carolina, virginia, all over the country. and we are going to go around and we are going to register conservative women all across the country. have you heard about the war on women? let me tell you something it is the war for women. [applause] for your hearts and minds and families and futures, and all i need you to stand with that. register women to vote, a registered conservative women. do you know when our churches today half of the folks that you were sitting down aren't registered to vote, and another half of them will not show up on the election day and that is a shame because we can't complain if we don't do something about it. so join with me. together we can register thousands of people to vote. right? together we can stand for our

families and future and freedom. say it with me coming together, see the votes. she vote. thank you and god bless america. [applause] aren't you think for talk radio? these guys are the tip of the sphere. they do the hard work every single day of freedom, and they are incredible allies for the tea party movement for americans and prosperity. they are indispensable friends and allies, and i wanted you to hear from one of the leading up and coming talk-show hosts in the country. we were doing an anticap-and-trade rally event in tennessee called the cost of hot air.

where is al gore on the day you need him like this. come on. [applause] but i wanted you to hear from him because talk radio is a crucial part of our lives. please welcome radio talk-show host phil valentine. [applause] >> i think i missed the chick-fil-a for this. how's everybody doing? remember when nancy pelosi and folks told us about these uninsured folks they need to take care of? 40 million, 50 million, whenever the number happened to be on any given day and then all of a sudden the supreme court affirms obamacare and they are all of a sudden deadbeats. isn't that amazing? overnight all of these people that were not insured went from being before downtrodden to being deadbeats. the number is and 40 million or 50 million. the last study i saw there were three to 4 million people who

are chronically uninsured and something needs to be done about them that we don't change the entire system for a vast minority of people in this country. [applause] but our side has been missing the boat a little bit. it's not about the individual mandate. it's about the employer mandate. most of us get our insurance through our employer. the mandate itself is not that much of a problem although i think that is unconstitutional. it's the golden parachute now that obamacare does come into full implementation. instead of paying 15 or $17,000 for your insurance policy, they pay 2,000-dollar fine and put you on the government insurance. how many businesses using are not going to do that? so it's not going to be 40% of fasano obamacare or 50%. it's going to be 90% in obamacare in short period of time, and the government is

going to run all of the insurance. do we really want the same folks that run the post office to run your health insurance? it's also going to be a huge burden on small business. i read it to do today, $87 billion in the first ten years it costs small business over $200 billion in the second ten years when we are trying to create jobs, not kill jobs this is a job killing bill. they call it to the affordable care act. it's the unaffordable care act. we don't need it today, tomorrow, next week. we don't need it ever. thank you so much for having me and enjoy your day. [applause] how many of you are tired of aarp? [applause]

these guys with dhaka pompoms in this healthcare disaster of any other group. and in fact selling of their own members for political gain is what they did, but i've got good news for you. we have a group that stands for economic freedom. it's called 60 plus. the our great allies and we have been all over the country together. he is 103-years-old or something like that. i still cannot be cannot basketball. it's very frustrating, very frustrating. but i want you to give a warm welcome to jim. [applause] thank you for that introduction. it's great to be here with all of you good friends. i am recruiting for the 60 plus association.

i don't see anybody all their old enough to join yet. [laughter] but i will wait for you. okay? just so you know, 60 plus aarp is not for me we use to carrier on a bumper sticker but it's too big to carry around. aarp is not for me. let me point out a couple differences. aarp makes millions of dollars on the backs of seniors. we don't. we depend on voluntary donations from you folks. they sell a lot of insurance. they are a nonprofit. let me tell you this they made $600 million last year in the profits out as a nonprofit make 600 million in profits this a of a lot of insurance me get on the backs of seniors let me give you a huge difference between the

aarp and the 60 plus association man of the year harry belafonte. he is a great entertainer. it's a pretty tough thing to do. our spokesman at 60 plus is another great entertainer legendary singer pat boone. [applause] and he likes his friendship with his own body ronald reagan. the aarp members just recently it was found out that an e-mail from the aarp senior citizens or voting is hard to believe they were voting 13 for 1 against

obamacare. [applause] well, aarp is out on listening tour and said we are listening to you. they must not have been listening before because the seniors were telling them know. what they did is they ignored what they were hearing from their own members. that is almost criminal. the fact is if you say you are representing seniors and seniors are voting 14-1 against you, the aarp is the reason we have this bill because all they had to do is hold a press conference publicly or privately and gone to the white house to harry reid, to nancy pelosi and said seniors are against this bill. you know what they did what they send an e-mail saying we must change our messaging. that is almost criminal. i'm going to thank you in this crowd for what you did in 2009, 2010 and i remember when seniors or the only ones that read that

bill before the one that the former speaker said we have to pass it so we can file what's in that. back then she was saying she called you men and women senior citizens out there rally back then she called you un-american. i'm wearing a marine corps had and i guarantee there is a bunch of marines, army the canadian coastguard in this crowd. [applause] there are men and women that fought for the rights to allow her to say that. i want him and her are not supposed to name politicians, but her initials are nancy pelosi. [applause] [laughter] so, we've been out there recruiting ever since then bringing the message out to seniors. the supreme court has pointed out the supreme court of the land passed a bill. guess what? we are now going to take it to a higher court. it's called the people's court.

[applause] and we will repeal in november. thank you so much for your time. god bless. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. well, e house wraps up early and paul ryan did the right thing he went home to see his family. but we have a special guest. anybody watch fox news at all? [applause] you may see him on fox news. you may read one of the books. if you haven't read the book would you please read one? they are the best out there. [applause] he's quiet comegys shy comegys honest but we have coached him to talk a little bit today. please give a welcome to a good friend of ours.

[applause] this is my backup group. this is a non-political rally. it's designed for public education. there's some folks back there and at the other end of pennsylvania avenue that need a little education. [applause] and we are going to make sure they get that education when the semester ends later this year and that education will serve them all very well in their retirement. [applause] because they are headed for retirement. believe me. i'm not just predicting that. i'm telling you that.

after 30 years i know how to read the polls. now, the issue we are talking about today is health care and it is not like liberty and the pursuit of happiness. this isn't pursuit of happiness. this isn't about liberty even. this is about life. some of you may be pro-life. others may not be but can we all agree that we are pro-life to keep somebody alive when they are alive whenever a federal bureaucrat says they leave to the medical profession can't keep us alive and god says it is time to die without asking barack obama. [applause] when obamacare was first

introduced, i worked on a speech and an added that we ran out of the country that said how can you treat 30 million more people without any more doctors? the real question is how can you trade 50 million more people with fewer doctors? because of retirements and cuts in the reimbursement rate and the increasing enslavement of american doctors. how can you do it? the answer is the only way you can do it is by dumbing down the quality of medical care until it is so low that it's not recognizable anymore for anybody for any amount of money in any situation, and that's not acceptable in the united states. [applause] i mean, there is a word here. it's the most heinous, obscene four-letter word in our language

and of the enough they don't fire me at fox for using. it's called qlys, quality life years. the government has your personal medical records and a nose for each one of us which medications we've ever taken, what hospitalizations come any prescriptions we have ever had in our entire lifetime, any hospitalizations, any diagnosis of anything. our current rate, our current blood pressure, our current height. that is in the computers in washington. not in violation of the law required by this law and what they are going to do is when one person in the audience will naturally as i look over this audience none of the people here

are over 65 particularly not any of the women. so this probably has no applicability to any of you. but, when somebody comes in here and says i need a heart bypass with doctor said she needs a heart bypass they look at the medical history and figure without ever even meeting you without ever talking to you, without ever talking to your doctor, how many qualities does this woman have? well, she's 83, she doesn't work, she's retired, she has high blood pressure, she used to smoke and whenever. she might live for six years but in our judgment only four of them are quality years and our guidelines say you can only spend $30,000 per quality year and this trend is operation is going to cause 300,000. she only has four quality years

left that is 70 or 80,000 a year denied. and it doesn't matter if you are talking about someone that has paid taxes and social security and medicare their entire life. it doesn't matter if they are american citizens. it doesn't matter if they work for the country none of that matters. all that matters is what the statistical tables say. if you get cancer you probably want to be treated for breast and colon cancer the drug of choice. in canada they don't allow people to take it is too expensive and it costs $75,000 a year and if you are 80-years-old you are not worth $75,000 a year. the federal bureaucracy has decided that your human life is not worth that. obama is an genuinely says there

is a red pill and a green pulp and each can do the same thing. let's give them the right pedal that costs half as much as the green phill. that is an absolute total lie. this is about making judgments as who is entitled to what life-saving surgery, who is entitled to a hip replacement, who is entitled to a knee replacement. i'm sorry you will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life and i'm sorry that is going to cost you three or four years of life. but it's too bad. you gave us that power and we are exercising it under the terms of the affordable care act if you are a young person has so many of you are, then the issue is a little bit more immediate. if you want to give away one month of income in taxes to pay

for obamacare? one month in come either that you have to pay for health insurance before any subsidy kicks in, or as a tax that you have to pay for not having health insurance. my god i am so sorry. jim is going to come down on me like a ton of bricks. i used the word tax. we all know it's not a tax. we all know that it's a penalty. it is a fine, it's an incentive, an inducement but it sure as hell isn't an attack. you know how i know? because president obama promised not to raise taxes on anybody making less than 250,000 a year. so, obviously it's not a tax because he wouldn't break his

word. and when "the wall street journal" says that 75% of the cost of obamacare would be borne by those making less than a hundred 20,000 a year the joint family income they misunderstand it. they think that is the tax. but if it walks like a tax and talks like a tax and a justice roberts says that quacks like a tax than he is a pretty good quack himself and it is a tax they are going to impose on younger people when they just started making out trying to pay off their student loans. those young people need health insurance not because they are six, not because they have children they are already covered under the schip the children's health insurance program that bill clinton and i helped develop. she didn't.

but because they might be hit by a bus or run over on their way to a tea party rally. and in that case, the need catastrophic health insurance which is very cheap, not expensive, one or $2,000 a year, and if you want just give it to them, don't ruin our whole health care system over that. don't make them by the suit and nuts policy that a person of my age would need when they don't need it, don't want it and can't afford it and don't force them to buy. [applause] then there is the worst of all. this is a tax on six people in the kazakh people literally. the sigler you are the higher your tax level goes. this is called progressive taxation new style. right now you can deduct on your income tax all medical expenses

beyond seven and a half percent of your income. he has raised it to ten. that means if you have somebody that is so sick basically one out of every $12 of tax income, one out of every five or six or $7 of after-tax income goes for the medical expenses, but not more that can deduct that. they lose that benefit. you've got a pacemaker is taxed under this law. you need a hearing aid? tax. you need a prosthetic limb because you served in iraq and gave your leg or your arm for your country? we are going to tax - christa the polemic. thank you very much. justice roberts upheld the individual mandate, but that in poses the individual mandate on each and every one of us, and that individual mandate is to

work like crazy to educate the american people to the dangers of obamacare and to let them figure out on their own consistent of them on a political rally how we get rid of it. thank you. >> thank you. we have to run him for office one day. what do you think about that? you can't. it's unconstitutional. haven't you read the constitution? [laughter] okay. you have survived a vote warmest, most humid, almost most

humid rally. tonight at the tribute to reagan dinner governor scott walker. [applause] we are going to be honoring him this afternoon we are going to kick off the journal session so get some water coming get refueled and we will see you in a few minutes. thank you all very much. ♪

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[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon, and welcome to the national press club. my name is theresa warner, and i am the 105th president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists committed to our professions future through programming such as these, well fostering of free press worldwide. for more affirmation about the national press club, please visit our website. to donate to our programs offered to the public through our national press club journalism institute please visit our web sites. on behalf of our members worldwide, would like to welcome our speaker and those of you attending to this event. our head table includes gusts of our speakers as well as working journalists or club members. if you hear applause from our audience please note that members of the general public

are attending, so it is not necessarily evidence of a lack of journalism conductivity. i would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. our luncheons are also featured on our member produced weekly pot gas from the national press club, available on itunes. you can follow the action on twitter using has tagged in pc lunch. after our guest speech concludes you will have a question and answer segment. i will ask as many questions as time permits. now it's time for me to introduce our head table guest, and se still send up briefly as our name is announced. from your right, washington editor baron. reporter with vaughn buyer. peter blake, editor kipling and. the senior producer cnn. kim dixon, tax correspondent, thompson reuters.

jeff shulman, father of irs commissioner. [laughter] maryland, a senior business editor in pr. i'm going to skip our speaker for just a moment. lori russo, managing director of stanton communications and today's was an organizer. political correspondent for bloomberg and past nbc president . washington bureau producer, time warner cable. the vice-president eurasian business coalition. [applause] today's speaker says he prides himself on leading in non-political and non-partisan organization, but in recent days he has been very publicly involved in discussions at the highest levels of government about everything from health care reform dead tea party politics. as the person in charge of collecting around two and a half trillion in taxpayer dollars his

words are closely followed by lawmakers and by many of us in this room today. in the final year of his 5-year term as commissioner of the internal revenue service he oversees nearly 100,000 employees and a budget of around $12 billion. he manages a $300 million budget cut and vast reductions in the thousands. sounds that have raised questions about the ira's ability to inform -- enforce tax compliance, conduct audits, and provide quality customer service. just a few weeks ago he requested an 8% budget increase from congress to make up for those losses. i am sure we will hear more about that subject today. commissioner shall men came to the irs from the financial industry regulatory authority. the private sector regulator of security firms doing business in the united states. he served as vice chairman of the national association of

securities dealers replayed an integral role in restructuring the organization. the nasd, he led negotiations of the sale of nasdaq stock market and the american stock exchange, oversaw the launch of interest your -- industrywide bond market transparency and modernize the technology operation. earlier in his career commissioner showmen co-founded teach for america and was involved in several startup organizations. he holds a bachelor's degree from williams college, master of public affairs from harvard university and if that is not enough he has a jade d from georgetown university law center. please give a warm welcome. [applause] >> thank you. it is really great to be back at the national press club. i have done this last couple of

years. we round out filing season as we approach april 15th, 17th this year spring is a great time in washington to walk around the flowers are blooming, trees are blooming, lots of children here on spring break. anyone who visits washington also always is impressed by the permanence and the timelessness of the buildings here, the statues, the colonnade. it really speaks to the legacy of this great nation. my job as someone responsible for an important institution in government, it reminds me of the people who have come before me trying to make this government a little bit better and the country a little bit better, and it reminds me of the enormous progress that men and women have made over the years trying to

move the nation forward. i am always impressed by the creativity and innovation that uc in institutions, both private-sector and public-sector many of the statutes you see as you walk around washington have men and women who are not afraid to embrace new ideas, who were not afraid to challenge the past way of doing things and to come up with new ideas and move them forward. i am also a fan of continuous improvement, and that is what we have tried to do that the irs. a whole number of great quotes about improvement. one is from ibm thomas watson that says whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been detained progress stops. i am a big believer that when

you are responsible for institution like the irs that your job is to stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, to try to build on the successes of the past and then to try to push the agency forward to the next level. that is what i have tried to do with myself and my senior team at the irs. if you look back at the irs, there was a lot of press coverage at the irs in the mid-90s, and it was not all positive. since that time there has been a major reorganization of the jerez, and we have had a sustained arc of progress. a very different in the beginning, the 1990's. if you look in the rearview mirror there was a time that the irs was thought of as an organization that was mired in the past, one that had not kept pace with advances in technology

services institution because

most of those employees are interacting trying to get refunds back to taxpayers, interacting with businesses, nonprofits, moving vast amounts of money from over 235 million customers. people often ask me, how do you get an institution that big to move forward? and i would argue that there are two key prerequisites, many pieces of that answer. first, you have to set the right strategy and make sure that it is one that people inside and outside the institution can believe in and understand. second, you have to state very, very focused. i am a believer and relentless and myopic focus on priority and not kidding distracted by too many crises or incoming demands and making sure that you communicate your priorities in a very clear manner. this is much easier said than

done, especially in a large government agency where there are lots of things coming at you . is staying focused and consistent for multiple years is a key to success. today what i want to do is share with you some of the results of four years of relentless focus on a handful of key strategic perris that we set for the irs. these priorities were, creating new capabilities and efficiencies through technology, rethinking and every imagining our relationships with that paid tax return prepared community, leveraging date, analytics to improve our operation, enhancing our taxpayer service debilities, transforming the agency to confront the challenges of a global economy, and positioning

the irs work force to make sure that we are prepared for tomorrow's challenges. let me take them each in turn and begin with our efforts to modernize our technology. it specifically focusing on one critical program that we call the customer account data engine . many people have seen video footage from the 1960's where very earnest looking people loaded huge tapes into mainframe computers, and it was the first time we started really using technology to perform that magical feat of automated data processing. if you fest for 40 years, although the tapes are a lot smaller and there is no longer be removing them, it is their robotic arm, the irs is actually still operating with some of the

core systems and basic technologies that were built in the 1960's. you might ask yourself why. that is a complicated question, but there are at least three things. first, it works. the irs was one of the first institutions to deploy data processing on a large scale. some of our original technologies, ones that hold hundreds of millions of taxpayer accounts and billions and trillions of pieces of data on taxpayers were truly engineering marvels of their time. the problem is, now there are not a lot of people who remember how to keep running the systems command those people are dwindling. so it is hard to keep them up and running. the second reason why our systems are sold is because we have actually built an elaborate set of new resistance on top of those older systems. some of the things that we do, like routing telephone calls or

making exam selections of being run on your systems, all technology. we also have a very complicated and interrelated set of systems that when you try to unbundle those that makes the job even harder. the third reason we still have been operating on all technology is because there has been a real reluctance to find that our technology in await commensurate with our mission. the fact is that we currently spend less than 3 percent of our budget on long-term enhancements to our affirmation technology infrastructure, which if you compare to another -- to private sector financial institutions none of which come close to matching the number of customers that we need to support the percentage is shockingly low. i would argue we have been underfunded for many years in the technology base.

president obama propose a much-needed substantial increase in technology really reflecting, in large part, are critical mission. with all these factors in mind when i arrived at the irs we initiated a broad review of our technology portfolio, and we proved that portfolio, we shut down a budget projects and we started focusing projects on the single most visible and complex issue that has been holding his back for decades. since the 1960's we have been conducting our core account processing on a weekly basis, weekly batch cycles. this process includes the basic tax information in your account, how much your balances of standing to know whether you have made any recent payments. so to put in perspective, in the past when you sit in your tax

return we would receive it. it would be one week before we process it and maybe another week before another piece of technology process it. if you call them in the meantime it would not show up on our customer service screen. you might have called and reset callback in a couple of weeks when it has posted. i am pleased to report that this year the irs successfully migrated from a weekly processing cycle to a daily processing cycle. this was a multi-year incredibly complex undertaking that went to the heart of our system, processing trillions of dollars in tax revenue. it is an incredibly important milestone for the irs, and it is one that we first embarked on in the late 1980's. the payoffs from this improvement are quicker tax return processing for all taxpayers, up-to-date information at the fingertips of our account representatives, and

a platform for much more real time data analytics and compliance. it has already benefited taxpayers this year, and this upgrade in our technology is going to produce major benefits for the nation's tax system for years to come. our next long-term priority was looking at how we interact with paid tax return preparers. let me tell you why we took on this challenge. right now many people in this room and across the country in the viewing audience are wrestling with and tackling one of their biggest financial transactions every year, and that is piling and paying your taxes or hopefully getting a refund from the federal government. however, in the past 20 or 30 years the way that taxpayers go about filing their taxes has dramatically changed. today nine out of ten taxpayers

use either a page tax return preparer or software that they have purchased to file their taxes. so despite the fact that this is a huge financial transaction and now there are a set of intermediaries to facilitate the transaction, when i arrived at the irs there were no basic competency requirements for tax return preparers. in most states you need a license to cut somebody's hair. just a few years ago you did not need any sort of certification, testing, except drop to more basic level of competency to file someone's taxes. i am the irs commissioner, so i am biased. i am always looking for points of leverage, where to spend our limited resources. our return prepare initiative is

one way to look at it, we shifted from our retail approach where we dealt with one taxpayer had a time call to a wholesale approach three are starting to focus more on preparers so that we can deal with 100 or 1,000 taxpayers at a time through their preparers, and that is what i mean by leveraged. to give you a sense of scale, 95 million individual and business income tax returns were prepared by paid preparers in 2011, and that does not include people who use do-it-yourself software. over five and a half trillion dollars of income was reported through paid preparers. given the importance to the tax community, we are now going to ensure they're is a basic level of competency in the tax preparer community. we have registered 840,000 tax

preparers in the last year-and-a-half tell and we have began administering a competency test and requiring continuing education for all paper purse to are not cpas, lawyers, were enrolled agents. our next major priority is leveraging data analytics in order to continually improve operations. we are very intimation and sense of. and a key to our success is taking in the information, organizing it, and then analyzing it in a way that is intelligent and figuring out where we will deploy resources and have tacked on that information's zero. during the last couple of years we built the team of people with analytical expertise and connected them very closely with our business units in an effort to continually improve operations. they're working on multiple fronts and have had a lot of impressive results for the

nation's tax system, but let me just give you one example of how we are leveraging analytics and have a connection until last see things that talked-about. using better data that we now have on return preparers that we have a gun from registering return preparers who as well as faster processing cycle saugh so that we can get in more real time because we now have a system in place to provide enhanced analytics to link tax returns that show potentially serious compliance issues with the individual prepare who prepares them. once we identify these returns we went out to paris, the compliance treatments. if it is not fraudulent and there are mistakes being made,

alert people to those mistakes and get things fixed early in the filing system. we are testing different techniques and much more real time. based on the results we will continue to feed that into our operations. the result seemed, it's early in the process. the piece that we have been doing. after we have continuous feedback loop of date, analytics moving into places where we see noncompliance, we will drive that a kind of learning into our operations. in addition to finding and stopping more fraud, by combining our data analytics team and technology teams we are building an institutional knowledge that is going to allow us to spot trends earlier and act on noncompliance. this is just one example of many

were reusing advanced data analytics to really up. it's not just about -- popular culture least the three letters with compliance and enforcement. the truth is that the aris interaction with the overwhelming majority of the population strictly on a customer service basis and providing customer service is every bit as important to our mission as enforcing the tax loss. we provide numerous options for assisting taxpayers from our publications to our website starts toll-free line to emperor some options and the list goes on. every year the american customer satisfaction index measures customer satisfaction across a variety of industries and sectors of the economy and also does some work with government

agency. we have a lot of metrics at the irs, but the main one, our senior management team, oversight board tracks to say how we're doing generally with customer service. is the american customer satisfaction index. in 1998 we hit rock bottom. the index, which goes to 100, we hit 32, which showed deep dissatisfaction with general interactions. over time we moved forward, and i am very pleased that last year , 2011, we hit an historic high of 73, which gives us a piece of the back that across all of our programs we continue to make significant progress in the customer service arena. however, as the leader of a big organization to remind our folks, we are never going to be

satisfied. we cannot rest on our laura -- our laurels. we have an ever-increasing job. we have been handed new responsibilities. the tax code is getting more complex, and our budget is being cut. you'll need to stay on top of our game and innovating if we need to keep the stores going. a couple of innovations, the kinds of things you're going to have to keep doing it the irs. when is he-filing. one of the most successful modernization programs and government. fifteen years ago 16 percent of tax payers electronically filed their returns. last year's 77% of individual taxpayers file their returns. this has great benefits for taxpayers. you get your refund faster. all of your data comes in electronically rather than sending a piece of paper which we code which someone might make a coding error which would lead

to a problem further down the line, but it also has great benefits for efficiency in government. it costs us about $0.15 to process an electronic files returned. it cost us $3.50 to process a paper return. this has been a huge success, and we will keep pushing that. another good example of where we have innovative is our use of new media. i always talk about as an agency that serves every american, we need to meet people on their own terms where they need to be met which is why we still have walk-in centers. people want some face-to-face interaction. last year we actually unveiled an iphone or android at call the irs to go which was our first smart phone application. you can now track your refund on your smart phone and get a

variety of other and permission from the irs. you can expect to see us. let me shift in talks for a few minutes about how the irs is managing its responsibilities and increasingly global. we live in a world where products are produced routinely wear intellectual property is developed in one country. logistics' in engineering in happen in another country, one or more countries. risks are managed in a variety of other countries, and components are sourced from yet other countries. so i need to get products to market can be quite a challenge to figure out the proper u.s. corporate income tax.

not only are corporations operating in a global world, but individuals are, too. even people with modest incomes with retirement savings usually have some global exposure through their retirement. this fundamental shift produces challenges for the irs. on the individual from we have been putting a big dent in offshore tax evasion as a major priority. we view this as a matter of fundamental fairness. we cannot have a tax system where wealthy people are hiding assets offshore and not paying their taxes and schoolteachers and firemen and ordinary americans are eating paid through paycheck, having their taxes with health and footing the bill for people who are evading taxes of short. over the last four years we have significantly increased our resources and focus on offshore

tax evasion, and the results have been substantial. be upped the ante in a meaningful way with work on swiss financial institutions. for the first time in history that turned over thousands of names and account numbers to the irs. as we increase our enforcement efforts we also created a new voluntary disclosure program. we have had a voluntary disclosure program for many years. usually about 100 people come in and say i want to disclose something i have done wrong. i will pay a penalty, but avoid going to jail. when we opened this program a couple of years ago we thought we would maybe it 1,000. we have get and 303,000 so far coming in to disclose offshore bank accounts. today we have brought in just a voluntary disclosure more than

$4 billion tell and that number continues to grow. we have also brought in a lot of information about intermediary, bankers, banks, and taxpayers through that. and so that will allow us to continue pressing. collecting this money for past misdeeds and punishing people who broke the law is only part of the story. perhaps the more important part of the story is the deterrent story. i think we are well on our way to stopping the next generation of people from even thinking about hiding assets overseas. we have fundamentally changed the risk to oculus for advisers to would potentially facilitate offshore division, banks that would potentially take assets from americans, and from americans who would potentially try to send their money overseas also upping our game in the large business arena,

particularly the international arena shifting our strategy so we are much more mirroring the tax planning strategy of corporations we think about compliance issues. we have also increased coordination with our counterparts globally. as the chairman of my counterparts of, we have moved to some coordinated action both on offshore tax evasion, but also we have done things like joint audits with major corporations. let me conclude with a couple of the last pieces that we are quite proud of as far as progress. one is people. i am a big believer debt if you want to do service well, compliance welcome all whenever it is our mission is you need to make sure people show up every

day ready to do their job, which means as leaders you need to make sure people feel respected coming days, accountable. we put a big focus on people. had done everything from working and culture to working on manager burden to making sure people in the field have the right technology to get the job done. we are quite pleased of the results of trying to move a 100,000 person organization forward on the people fronts. from 2008-2011 we jump from eighth place to third place. among the 15 large agencies with over 20,000 employees. the best place to work in government survey. where we have a lot of work to do going forward, we continue to focus on our people and make sure that we have the best group of employees in the pro-government for the next generation of the tax system hadn't. that is our pro-active agenda.

in recent years we have been called on to execute some of the key policy priorities of this country. i call this final category of work that we have done in coming perris because it is must do work combination. we are now recognized as an efficient and effective catherine agency to caria high-profile initiatives. a couple of examples. in the recovery act and the nation was having questions about, was this recession going to be, depression and the government had to step in in a serious way, $300 billion or about one-third of the recovery act was pushed out through the tax system. 95 percent of americans were part of the making work pay credit. that extra money.

we did things like through the expanded net operating loss where people could ask for a longer time to get in this year's tax return operating losses. clawback some of the money from previous years. we would tens of billions of dollars into businesses right at the time that the credit markets rose. we have also recently been asked to play a significant role in the affordable care act because much of that legislation is effectuated through the tax system. a lesson here is that we need to be nimble and agile woman or call lot to do something to support the country. so four years ago we set out with a clear strategy in a very intense focus upon on at six strategic priorities, technology modernization, a tax return preparers, data analytics, a

taxpayer service for offshore tax evasion, and our people. the economic downturn and a new policy directions added to other major initiatives to our agenda, but by staying focused and expanding our strategy consistently to our employees and to the stake holders of the irs we have made significant headway in all of these areas and have made lasting positive change in our nation's tax system which will position it well to serve the american people in the years to come. with that, i want to thank you for listening and i'm happy to answer some questions. [applause] >> how big of a problem is fraud on the part of paid tax preparers? my.

>> the vast majority of tax preparers are honest, ethical, hard-working, and provide a great service to both the tax system and the country. the problem is, there are unscrupulous prepares out there who bring down the reputation of all of a great prepare cetera out there, but also the real problem with unscrupulous paris is, it is the taxpayer who is left : the baggage in the day. if you go to a prepare they jack up your refund, so you would get this big refund and you deserve it, when you don't. you get $3,000, you spend it. we figure that out. the past of jobs. you are left holding the bag. and so it is a small number of people, but those are people we

need to make sure we're focused on for the taxpayers. >> why do you feel it is in the text appears destined to stem do something other than simplify the tax cut? >> will we prepare our tax initiative which is what we call that we did it in a very deliberate and a very public way , which is the way that i think anything -- any big institution like ours that affects a lot of people should operate. and so first without having any preconceived notion about should we do something, shouldn't we do something and if we do something , what should we do, we held public hearings across the country, most of which i attended and get feedback. alarmingly taxpayers, trusted interest groups say it's ridiculous that there is no

basic level of competency in the preparer community, and you should do something. through that dialogue and the input you put out a blueprint, report and said, here is what we think should be done. we got a lot of feedback from that. from that we move to put out regulation, and each time we put out are set of regulations we have public comment on regulations. and so we have adjusted does is we have gone. and so the result, we think, very balanced set of both service and compliance initiatives. the basic competency test for paid tax prepares to make sure people have a basic understanding of the law. by the way, we are going to be three years to pass that and you can take it as many times as you want, so people should be allowed to pass that test. we also through the process got a lot of feedback on things that

we should change, places we should tweet, and most of the feedback we took. the other part of the question, which is, you know, should the tax cut be simplified, the answer is absolutely yes, but in the meantime we have a tax cut that is very complex and want to make sure that as people russell to do it if they will pay a professional to do so that professional is competent and ethical. >> what is your response a lawsuit challenging your power to regulate tax preparers? >> i am a huge fan democracy, a big believer in the three branches of government anyone who wants to use the courts can. as i just said, we went through an extensive process to landreau we did, and i am very confident, not only is everything we are doing going to be seen as legal, but more importantly everything we are doing, i think, is going to benefit the american people.

>> you said nine out of ten people use either up a tax preparer or tax software. what percentage uses the tax software, and is that increasing? >> the percentage is increasing. the latest numbers are 60, 65 percent. using paid preparers. that moves back and forth, and there are quite a bit of people who use both. software but then answers from their preparers. it is a moving target. >> gasoline prices of a seemingly endless support spiral. will they increase the standard mileage rate? >> a very specific question. you know, we have a formula that looks at what the standard mileage rate should be, and this is the reimbursable rate that most businesses use. we looked at changes and

fluctuations. generally we do it once a year. occasionally when there has been to have been a big change will do it mid year and who always look at it to see if it is appropriate. >> what is the agency during to prevent identity theft? >> a great question. the fastest-growing financial crime in this country is identity theft which is basically someone stealing a purse or wallet, getting all the social security number and credit card and using that for mischief. unfortunately some people who do that, and identity that is not an issue that emanates from the irs or is excessive to the irs, but when someone steals and identity sometimes the charge @booktv the to get a false refund and we have a very aggressive program around that. first, we stopped $14 billion of

refunds from going out the door that had some fraud, and a lot of that is identity theft. we had continually learned enchains are filters to stop fraudulent refunds. last year we put in place and new program where if you have been a victim of identity that, again, this is the context the, outside of the tax system, but someone then might come into the tax system and try to get a refund using your social security number, you can call us, and we would give you a pain with a six digit number so that when you file, if you use the six digit pin your refund will fly through. if anyone else uses your social security number the refund will be blocked. we also, this year, because we saw this as an escalating problem, inoordination with the justice department in

january we did a nationwide criminal sweep of people who had used at into the theft in the tax system. and we have 100 people who were subject either to arrest, search warrants for indictment in a one week time frame in january which sent a very strong, a chilling statement out to folks which is, if they commit identity that they better not come and try to use the tax system or we are going to be on the beach. and we have also triple the number of people just dedicated to general identity theft issues. this includes a victim assistance. when someone comes in, someone has stolen their identity and they're having a problem getting their actual refund we have more people dedicated to helping unravel that problem. >> there are many tax laws that expire at the end of this year. wall street journal called it the tax armageddon. next year could be major if

there is no action send. how big of a problem will this be? >> i'm glad you asked that question. one of our real jobs that we take very seriously is to make sure that as americans wrestle with a complex tax cut that it is as seamless as possible. in many ways we speak for the american people, just trying to get in and get their taxes filed well. unfortunately congress has gone in the habit the last several years of passing tax legislation very late. a lot of that is legislation that has already expired. this year, to give you an example, three different things happening. tax cuts from 2001 and three data set to expire at the end of this year. payroll tax cut is set to expire at the end of this year. the most important and complicated issue is, there are

a whole bunch of tax cuts that expired several months ago and are already expired which include the anc and things called extenders' which include deductions that schoolteachers state for buying supplies for the classroom. those have already expired. until late in the year and next year me, say after the election, we are going to have a real risk and the system. and we may have to do what we had to do two years ago which is delayed the opening of filing season for a whole number of people. if congress cannot act by the end of the year and even stucks to think about retroactive legislation, things like the anc, which have already expired, you could have a disaster in the filing season where there is total confusion, some people of filing under one law or another.

it is an issue that we are tracking closely, and we are quite concerned and hopeful that these pieces of legislation will pass sooner than later. >> do you think that we can ever expect to see a simpler tax cut? >> yes. yes. you know, statistics are going in the wrong direction, but i am an optimist. there have been 3,000 changes to the tax code just since 2000, and so we obviously have a very complex tax cut. i think that there is broad political consensus, both parties, the administration, and congress all would like to see a simpler tax code. the problem is, when i took this job i had a friend, he said, you know, the problem with taxes is it is real money. every chance to the tax code, even simplification, can mean

that some people might payless and some people might be more, so it is hard to do, but i think we are hitting a critical mass of just sentiment around the country that something needs to be done about the tax code. >> some state leaders are calling for indians the mortgage tax cut. what do you think that affect would be? >> well, look, the mortgage deduction is an important reduction. we have an economy that is on the rebound. the housing market that is looking much better, and so i will not speculate as something that is not in the works. i think, you know, -- i will leave it to somebody else to speculate on something that may or may not ever happen. >> he stated in your remarks that the irs technology portfolio is significantly deficient and far behind when compared to the private sector.

if this is true how secure is taxpayer permission from high-tech hackers who have gained access to certain financial institutions? >> first, let me clarify my comments. my comments were, we have been underfunded for many years and are operating on all technology and that this year we actually had a major breakthrough in significantly upgrading the core piece of technology that we needed to upgrade, so i think we're actually making progress now in a significant way and it is phenomenal the we have been able to run the tax system for over 200 million customers on some of the older technology that we have. regarding data security, it is something that we take very, very seriously. we have had no perimeter breaches from hackers. we have a set of people doing cyber security in a very serious way. we have extensive internal

security that we put in place. my first hour as irs commissioner i got sworn in, a safety briefing, and information security briefing. our people take this bury seriously. the american people can feel very confident that their data is secure. >> given that it is so much cheaper for the irs to process electronically filed returns what are they doing to encourage e-filing? >> i gave you the statistics. remove from 15 to 77% in the last 15 years. that number is continuing to go up. there are people who want to file on paper. we still provide that option. last year we actually mandated

paid preparers, if they file more than one under returns have to file electronically. until you story. when i first get to the irs in toward facilities, i saw returns that had clearly been prepared on a computer that somebody had printed out, sent to us, and we had people typing in their return. that does not seem efficient which led us to kind of mandate some of these things. i think that trend is moving in this direction. more and more using technology. there will be a time where everything will be electronic but we also have an obligation to every american, not just the americans to use computers. some people who don't use a computer for a variety of reasons.

>> several nonprofits indicated that they would not be spending money to influence the election of candidates. why have you not read up to their status? >> i'm not aware of any of these specific cases, and so not addressing any specific nonprofits or detailed information someone has a does not have, 501c4 organizations are social welfare organizations that are generally under the tax code promoting the common good. they are allowed to engage in political activity as long as it is not their primary activity. our job is to administer the tax laws. what we do, then become an

organization. some apply. you don't need to apply to become a 504. any taxpayer files the form we have as set of screens that we put them through. will we see an issue we will go out and do an audit and gathered more facts. >> you said 73% satisfaction, and that is considered below average. what are you going to continue to raise satisfaction? >> the question about the overall filing experience. it continues to move up. a ubiquitous brand. i said before, often people think about enforcement.

when you get a question, a knee-jerk reaction, no. what we are doing is just doing our job, making sure when you call as we give you good, accurate and permission and people are polite. we make sure when we do an audit that we have competent people who find problems when there are problems and walk away when there are not. we make sure we have more and better web applications. if you want to do your job of the internet, you do. we make sure prepares are qualified in the list goes on. our job at the end of the day is to do all the things we're supposed to do for the american people, and numbers go up. while i won't compare us, what i will tell you is it is the highest number we have never had which shows continued improvements.

>> hundreds of thousands of undocumented -- done backing -- documented and undocumented aliens taking advantage of all available social amenities. are they doing anything to collect taxes? >> a great question. one of the pathways to citizenship that people believe is a good one is even if you're not in this country legally to pay taxes. so our job is to make sure if you work in this country and you have a tax obligation that you file a tax return, and that is what we try to do. our job is around exactly what whoever wrote the question asked which is to make sure taxes are paid. we are now responsible for the other pieces of immigration law and policy. we actually have a lot of people in this country who pay taxes who are not here legally, file returns so they can show a track record of being good citizens.

people who are being good members of society and he do that obviously are contributing to the national defense, our roads, our schools, and that is what we want. so we tried to run the system and a fair way that allows everybody to pay taxes and needs to pay taxes. >> you indicated you had to check with your wife and mother is second term of commissioner of the irs. did you get permission? >> you know, i have a term that ends this fall. my plans to serve out that term, but my plans to leave at the end of my term, you know, what i would say is this is a great, great institution with a of phenomenal contrary of leaders who are well-positioned to continue moving the institution ford, and that is what we have tried to focus on, myself and

the rest of the simulator team while we are here to make sure that the institution is much stronger than any of us who are here and continues to serve taxpayers next year and next year and ten years from now and a generation from now. >> almost out of time, but will fall i get to the last question at a couple of housekeeping matters. i would like to remind you all of our upcoming lunch and speakers. april 11th we have executive director of major league baseball players association who will discuss the new baseball season. april 16th, alec baldwin, actor and spokesperson for the american for the arts will be here. that event is sold out, but you can watch it on c-span. with kinsellas are. of would like to a give you our traditional coffee mug that one of the sale played well filing taxes. one last question. do you prepare your own tax

return and have you ever been audited? >> i'll take the second one first. so when you become an irs commissioner every tax lawyer in the government looks to your return. my returns have been thoroughly that it by the ministration and congress because i had to get confirmed. and i actually have a prepare prepare my tax returns. >> a round of applause for our speaker. thank you for coming. [applause] i would also like to thank our national press club's staff including that journalism is to it and brought the center for organizing today's events. finally, a reminder that you can find more informational but the national press club on our website. also, if he would like to get a copy of today's program check our website at press got bored. thank you for joining us and we are adjourned.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> tomorrow we will continue our look at speeches from the national press club. two former members of congress, patrick kennedy and jim branstad on its bank insurance coverage for mental health care. 6:00 p.m. eastern end of week. >> tonight at eight eastern, inside the presidential campaign process. first an adviser for the mccain 2008 campaign as he talks about his experiences and compares them with this year's.

>> not necessarily -- not going to win because of excitement. sarah palin brought excitement. christie would bring excitement to mitt romney. i doubt that happens. that is where i would lean. >> after that, time behind the scenes with the dene and obama campaigns and there use of social media and demographic data. >> barack obama campaign generated over 200 million pieces of them permission from people going door-to-door. all that is in the democratic party database and becomes the foundation with which the campaign members can go back for 2012. >> two different perspectives on campaigns past and present starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. ..

c-span: how would you describe what to do for a living?

>> guest: i am a video journalist. i would say that what we are doing is almost like a citizen journalism, which is basically when an individual who doesn't have that much training in journalism has the tools and modern technology to capture a eighth life event that doesn't have a background in journalism, so what we are doing is with capturing the real moments which is what people are doing on their iphone a and blackberry to get as a video journalist you are competing with people that have iphone and blackberrys and that is what is going viral. so we are recreating that and asking questions that congress meant don't have talking points for four when we are going to a protest we are on the ground not doing what a typical journalist does which is they go, they have their microphone come to their stand up, maybe they interview two or three people and put it

together and we are on the ground with the protesters. if they marched 5 miles for each week march sweet and capture those moments people are capturing with their iphone end up putting them on youtube. c-span: you're trey daily collar the website. i'm going to show a video of you on capitol hill coming and we will come back and ask you what you were doing here. >> guest: okay. can you tell me a little bit about what you are doing today? >> i'm here arguing in favor of higher taxes on the wealthy. i am one of the wealthiest 1%. in fact i am considerably higher in the hierarchy than that. >> that's great. >> and i think we should be paying more than our fair share. there is a lot of talk about shared sacrifice but i haven't seen anybody asking the people who benefited most from the policies that led to the deficit, the wealthy quacks >> okay now is your chance. i have the department of treasury right here. would you like to donate a few thousand dollars? >> no i wouldn't. >> would you be willing to

donate to the department of treasury? >> individually? >> no. we believe quacks >> note on individually i'm very philanthropic. >> so you don't want to donate to the department of treasury? >> i don't always clean all the deduction that i can so i probably pay higher taxes and theoretically could but i don't think we could solve the problem just with a deductions, just with contributions. c-span: what did you expect to get and did you get it? >> guest: i didn't know what to expect. it was a question that a lot of people wanted answered when warren buffett first came out that he wants higher taxes. this was a question that a lot of people were asking. well why doesn't he just donate? and i didn't see any reporters asking that question to him. so, i don't think quacks i thought that maybe one of them within the donating because it's what they believe in, right.

but no one ended up donating to me, to the government. c-span: not many people get a chance to interview people in always up there. how did you get that? c-span: >> guest: they had a press conference, so i just went up to them. i asked them if i could ask a few questions about what they were doing and they were willing to have an interview with me. c-span: what was your reaction to what they said to you? >> guest: i thought it was hypocritical. i think if you really believe in something it doesn't matter of other people aren't doing it. you do it. so, i just thought that it was very hypocritical of them. c-span: let's watch just a little bit more of that particular series of interviews. >> i have right here the treasury department website where you can donate money to help reduce the public debt. would you be willing. >> i'm not part of the 1%. >> that's okay you can donate money just as well as i can. do you think that will help. >> i'm not asking for higher taxes.

you are, right? >> quacks some people who can afford them. >> like yourself? >> that's right. >> i have the donation page. all you need to do is put in your credit card number and do need the government. >> that isn't going to help anybody. >> you don't want to donate to the government. >> i want our class to be quacks you heard me. you're being silly. >> you don't want to do it right now to the government? >> i don't want to donate right now. >> and at the treasury department's donation page where you can reduce the debt. would you be willing to donate a few thousand dollars? >> if rates are raised across the board for rich people, absolutely, i'd be happy to do it. >> but he what did quacks >> individual, but this isn't charity. we aren't doing charity. taxes are not charity. they are not voluntary. there's something the society, it's to do together, and that's what i think we have to do for rich people as well as middle class. >> so you're not willing to give to that part of an treasury voluntarily? >> would be of no impact

whatsoever. >> it's a matter quacks it's a step in the right direction. >> absolutely not. it would be infinitely puny and ineffective. >> we all have to hold hands and do it together. any one individual was just for show. >> so you're not willing to donate any money to the department of treasury? >> i want to pay my fair share quacks >> i'm giving you an opportunity >> i think that's a joke and i'm not interested. c-span: did anybody take you on your offer? >> guest: no one. they all said no. c-span: why do you think that's the case? >> guest: well, they think that everyone else needs to do it in order for there to be any difference made, but i feel like, like i said if you believe something, it doesn't matter. you don't need everyone else to be forced into doing it. you do it. if that's really what you believe in, i don't see why you need everyone else to be coerced into giving it as well.

c-span: so you interviewed all these people, did any of them give you any back talk off-camera? >> guest: no, there were some people who were part of the patriotic millionaires who saw me interviewing them. when i asked for an interview they just turned their back on me and didn't even want to do an interview. c-span: what did you do with the video we just saw? >> guest: we put it up on the web site. c-span: on the daily collar. >> guest: we put it up on the daily collar and it took off from there. wind firewall and went on a lot of political blogs and everything and i think we got about 400,000 views on that. c-span: why do you think it worked? >> guest: because it's a combination of both the news and entertainment. and i feel like a lot of the reporters that were there, they covered the event as well. they asked questions such as what are you doing here and a lot of general questions. but it doesn't have that element of entertainment and that's what we are bringing. people want videos now. and we are coming from quacks

combining fun and upnews and went firewall. c-span: born in southern california, graduated from pepperdine university about 18 months ago? >> guest: yes, and may actually. c-span: about 2010? >> guest: no, 2011. c-span: how does somebody walked out of that environment right into this town right into something like this? >> guest: i'm pretty hard working. i was very active when i was in los angeles. i did a lot of political lacked a schism. so i think may be caught the eye of some people in d.c., who were interested. i organized a love of liberty groups on campus is in los angeles area and i held a conference at my university. i held a fence so i think maybe that's why just transitioned into here. people held pretty seen my work that i was doing in l.a.. c-span: was your major? >> guest: political science. c-span: all right. we have another clip that

somebody my age remembers these two people. for the entire time i've been in washington, and you weren't even close to being born at the time that they were active and i want to run it and it's a book party for chris matthews. and the two individuals are bob woodworth and ben bradlee. let's watch this and i want you to tell me what you know about these two people. >> guest: tell me what you're doing it today. >> i celebrating this excellent book. >> guest: have you read it? >> guest: i have read it. you can quote me on that. >> last ? your thoughts on the accusations against herman cain? >> i don't have any thoughts. except the subject is a serious one. >> a serious one. do you have any advice for him? >> nope. journalists shouldn't give advice, but i think that the issue of sexual harassment i know is a big deal, and you

can't just kind of blow it off. you've got to be answered the questions and so as my old boss ben bradlee is standing over their used to say, the truth emerges. >> do you think it was racially motivated? >> no. who are you working for? >> i ron the daily caller. >> okay. >> what are you doing here today? >> just hanging out. >> are you here for the book? >> i'm here for the buck and chris is an old, old friend of mine. and i've written a couple books about kennedy myself. so it's a subject i know a little about. >> what makes this book different than all the kennedy books? >> it's like chris matthews. >> what makes it better than all quacks why should i read this? >> i didn't say it was better. i didn't say it was better than

mine. no, i mean everybody that quacks the thing that interested me, i mean, chris is enough younger than me that it brings to the perspective that i didn't have, and i was very interested in that. and no, i mean i think quacks i read all of kennedy's books. all kennedy books and some of them i don't remember. this 1i will remember. >> yes? why will you remember this one? what's so great about this one? >> because i like the guy that wrote it and that he wrote it about pumas back yeah, yeah. that's enough. and what are your thoughts on the accusations against herman cain? >> i think he's got it coming to him, doesn't he? >> do you have any advice for him? >> what? >> do you have any advice for him? >> run for the round house. >> do you think that any quacks some people are saying that they are racially motivated. do you believe that? no? >> that's bullshit. i don't believe that at all.

i mean, you can't do that in this town anymore. you probably could do it 50 years ago, but you can't do it now. and he has achieved a lot and his race doesn't believe could didn't bother him at all those achievements. so don't bring of his race now just when he stumbles. c-span: why did you think of all that? >> guest: i thought it's interesting because if i had done that back when they were at the height of their career, i mean, that would never quacks they would not be a story. i but i put that up and it gets almost a million viewers. they would never come i mean they were quacks they worked an era when they didn't have videos like this one and there was no such thing as the late quacks i would never go viral. so it's interesting how much journalism has changed that that would be considered news and very interesting. c-span: why did you pick the chris matthews the party, his book on john f. kennedy to go take your camera? >> guest: i figured that there would be a lot of interesting people there and it's a cocktail

party. there will be lots of insiders there that we want to do an interview with me and people like that. people want to see off the cuff stuff. they want to see people when they don't have they're talking points, when they are quacks when they don't have their press person around, and that's the perfect opportunity. the media had a drink. they are in a comfortable environment. they are more willing to say the truth, what they really believe. i'm sure if i interviewed in bradley as a sit-down interview in this environment, he probably wouldn't have said what he said. he was much more comfortable, much more relaxed and that's what people want. i don't know if it's because we live in this world where reality television dominates entertainment, but people want to see real role moments. and that's what i gave them. c-span: did you know who bob woodward was and ben bradlee before you got to the party?

>> yes. well, yes i did. and probably why era knows them because they've seen the films about watergate scandal. suggests, but i did know i mean, they are the fathers of journalism basically over at "the washington post," but what i'm doing is much different than what they are doing but i still consider it journalism. c-span: i can remember when people would be a nervous wreck talking to either one of them. were you nervous at all? >> guest: no. no, i wasn't. c-span: what do you think they thought you were up to? today has any idea that what the daily caller was? >> guest: ben bradlee said he did. i don't think would work new who the daily caller was.

he didn't say that he did. i don't think they were focused on that. they were in a comfortable environment and i don't think they were suspicious of anything more fault much of it. the answer only a few questions. c-span: who owns the daily caller? >> guest: well, neil patel is the ceo and tucker carlson is our editor. c-span: what kind of charge have they given you? >> guest: what do you mean charge? c-span: and other words they said go out and do this, what is your mission? >> guest: i do the video stuff so they don't really tell me what to do. they provided me with a lot of creative freedom. they trust me. the trust my instincts and they understand i get the internet and that's something they are not used to come and they offered me advice on-line editing. but they don't tell me what to do. the trust my instincts. we have a young video department and i think they quacks they know that we understand what

works on the internet. c-span: so what did you think that quacks about what bob what were said about journalists shouldn't be giving advice? >> guest: i think that's a different world. now people want biased journalism i feel. they want to hear the journalism either tell them what they want to hear or tell them what their opinion is that what they think about it. we have such pablumized news now. it's a much different world. c-span: what do you think of it? >> guest: i think quacks i think it's different. i think it's impossible to not be biased. so i don't think that quacks i don't think that there is a need to try to not be biased because it's impossible to be pious even if he were interviewing someone, you decide what to think is important, what you think people would like. you're still quacks you still have by disease and so i don't see the problem with biased reporting. reporting from a certain angle, people feel quacks people who read my stuff watch my videos.

they feel as though their voice is not in the media and so i am providing a voice for them and i think that's great. they feel as though they're not represented in the media and day e-mail me and tell me you're the only person in the media that i trust. and i think that's important. they feel that there is late choice for them in the media and by providing it for them. c-span: recently you are invited to appear on the alyona show. alyona has been here and we have the same kind of conversation. why did you go on the show? >> guest: she does an online show and it does well on the internet and i figured it was a good opportunity. c-span: she is not that much older than you. she has a daily one-hour show. >> guest: like me she understands what works on the internet and what doesn't and to

young people it's a perfect opportunity and go on youtube instead. c-span: she is on russia today or or t as they call it. let's look at your but a visit there. >> next november should they find new candidates? are there enough candidates or should they sit at home? >> guest: we have a poem that showed 80% of americans would be open to voting for a candidate from a third-party. as, i don't know really if there is a candidate out there that's a viable as a third-party candidate, but i would love to see there be more options rather than just the republicans and democrats because people have said they are unhappy with both of them. c-span: who's watching that kind of showing and your kind of video? you have any sense of what the age group is? >> guest: young people. i mean probably 18 to 40. is that people who are watching it. a lot of our video quacks when

the deals go viral, the star on web sites like reddit and that's filled with thoughts of young people. c-span: you said read it? >> guest: reddit, r-e-d-d-i-t.com. it's a bunch of forms and it starts there and goes viral. c-span: de watch mainstream, so called mainstream media? >> guest: a little bit. what i do in the morning as i don't really go to that many web sites. i go to twitter and facebook and i look at what they posted and so, i look at what my friends like in a quick on it and sometimes it goes to the mainstream media is likely on that and i look at it, but i don't go out of my way to visit "the new york times" or the washington post. usually i'm going through knight-ridder fever facebook feed. c-span: this media world has changed so dramatically in the last 40 years. have you quacks when you were

going to school at pepperdine, did you ever talk about that? did you ever studied the way the way media used to be versus what it is now? >> guest: note. i did not take jury many media clauses. most of light was political science, not too much. i feel like it is a given. i mean, everyone quacks that is what we have grown up with. it's hard to imagine anything different. c-span: you lost your father i think in 2002. who was he and what impact did he have on your life? >> guest: my father was greg fields. he was a writer, a comedian. he wrote a lot of shows. full house, in living color, back to school. he was probably the most real person i have ever known. he grew up in kentucky. he was a man of faith, of great values and when he went to los

angeles she began this big time writer he never changed. i mean, he never drove a luxury car. he was still the same guy from kentucky. he donated money. when he donated, he did so anonymously. he taught us that money meant nothing. and he told us that we should be who we are and stay true to ourselves. and he led by example. he showed us that it is possible even in the world like hollywood that you can still remain yourself. and i think that has had a tremendous impact on me. c-span: i am smiling because it is in my ear of but did he really open acts for brook benton, jerry lee lewis, chuck berry as a comedian? >> guest: i think so. i do not even know who those people are. c-span: that is what i thought you might say. [laughter] >> guest: i have no clue. maybe. if that's what you found. c-span: you have never heard of any of them? >> guest: no, i do not know who they are.

c-span: i thought that might be a connection with our heroes. he also refer the pat sajak and the tonight show and the simpsons and all that. how old was he when he died and what did he die of? >> guest: he was 46. he died of a heart attack. c-span: what was his political line in life? >> guest: he was conservative. c-span: how conservative? >> guest: very conservative. very, very conservative. and my mother is more liberal. c-span: how much more liberal? >> guest: she is a moderate. not too much liberal but she leans quacks i would say her moderate has liberal tendencies. c-span: define your own views. if you put any kind of label on them. >> guest: pro liberty. i believe and economic freedom. i believe in social freedom. i really believe that people can make reasonable choices for themselves. and i and suspicious of this idea that government can make people better, i can make the economy better by forcing people

to do things they do not want to do. c-span: but what do you mean by economic freedom? what would be the reverse of the economic freedom or the opposite of it? >> guest: lots of regulation. i believe that individuals should have the ability to choose how they produce, how they solve their resources as they respect the rights of others. c-span: what is your impression of washington after you have been here for how long? >> guest: since may. i was very excited in the beginning. and now i feel as though it's just filled with power-hungry people. that's my impression. c-span: what gave you that idea? >> guest: everywhere you go everyone wants to know what you do. they are trying to resume is and they move on. everyone is just going to cocktail parties, schmoozing with people about what they may not like if they feel they can get something from.

i think it is quite sad. c-span: did you not know that before you came here? >> guest: i heard people say that, but to me washington, d.c. just sounded so amazing. it was so different than los angeles. i figured it would be a wonderful opportunity. so many people are intellectual, and los angeles, all everyone talks about is how they want to be a model or an actress. and so, i figured i am going to go somewhere where people are subjected to the can talk about so many issues and they will understand what i'm saying. but i guess i am a bit disenchanted. c-span: pepperdine. is it now will do? i assume you are on that campus. it's very high, looks down over the ocean. what impact did that school have on you and what is the political philosophy of the school? >> guest: the school is very conservative. i do not think i could have picked a better university. it is unlike any other. if you go to most college

campuses, everyone is just drinking. there are lots of frat parties and everyone is just partying. at pepperdine is a whole other atmosphere. everyone on the weekends are going to volunteer, and they are thinking of ways that they can join groups and maybe go to africa or go to central america for spring break to help out and build homes. so, that certainly had an impact on me and i was able to really make a difference on campus, and so yes. c-span: is it a religious school? >> guest: yes, church of christ. c-span: is there a lot of religion in the school? >> guest: yes, there is. c-span: how important was that to you? >> guest: i do not consider myself a very religious person, so that was not that important to me. i believe in a higher power. i believe in doing good, and so a lot of people there felt the same way. their values on line with mine, so it felt like a perfect fit.

we have some video of you going to occupy wall street. when did you do that? >> guest: i did that november 17th. c-span: why? >> guest: they were going to occupy and shut down wall street and i felt like it was quacks it was a perfect opportunity to go there and capture that moment and i thought that is something that people would enjoy watching. c-span: let's watch some of it and get your reaction to it [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] keep walking. just hop on the sidewalk.

>> he just shoved me down. i was not doing anything. he shoved me up against the taxi c-span: what is the point of all that? what were they doing with you? why were you emotional about that? >> guest: we were down on the ground where we were obviously at risk covering the protestors and we ended up getting in the middle of it when police decided that they wanted them off the streets and shoved them onto the sidewalks. we decided to put this up because i think it shows a different side to occupy a wall street. before i went to occupy a wall street, i thought that these people were violent. i mean that is what i saw on the news. these people are horrible.

you read all these things they are raping women, violent with police officers but i went there these people were so kind they were not violent at all. it was the police officers that were the aggressive ones. they were the ones instigating the violence and although that doesn't follow the narrative that people who read our website would like to hear, it was something that was happening. that these people are not as violent as people are making them out to be. they're actually quite kind and they helped me up. and also, i think it is interesting that the guy the guy says let's put this on facebook because it shows that with this new internet world, one voice, my voice, anyone's voice can be just as loud as "the new york times" or "the washington post" did you can just put the video on the internet and is distributed globally. c-span: what had happene you? you are right in the middle of that. we can see you there and you were down on the ground at some point. how did that happen? i mean, who was pushing you down?

>> guest: police officers. my camera girl and i were in front of the protesters as they were marching down the street and we were getting footage of them marching down. and at that moment the police officers decided okay we do not want them on the street anymore. let's just shove them back into the park. so they come up. they came up with batons and i ended up just getting in the middle of it because i couldn't move. there was a car in front of me and there were cops around me and protesters and they wanted us to get on the sidewalks the sidewalks are completely filled with people so there was nowhere for me to move. so the police officer hit me in the back with a baton and i fell on to the car, fell to the ground and i got back up. i am not sure if it was the same police officer but i got hit back down again. c-span: there is a still picture of you where you are right down on the ground in the middle and i think that actually quacks i think i first saw that. who tweeted the picture?

>> guest: ra tweeted the picture. i was instantly quacks it went up on the daily mail and my boyfriend called me and said are you okay? i saw this picture on the daily mail and i just got off of the website. c-span: you are not talking about the london daily mail? >> guest: yes, and i tweeted it out and then people started retreating it all over. c-span: explaining de tweeting, retweeting and all that so if someone says i don't know any of that stuff. what is it? >> guest: okay. so you can write quacks i think there are certain amount of characters quacks c-span: 140. >> guest: 140 come yes. you just write sentences. quick snarky sentences or comments or you tweet an article and that shows up on the people that are falling. if people follow your account tweet goes on their account and they can read that.

c-span: do you feel that a power when you are able to do this? >> guest: i feel as though bob ritter and facebook have enabled people who maybe are not in the media, they do not have a loud voice to become one of all this vallese is in the media. and we see the ball like matt drudge, who has no connection to the media. he's a political outsider come and look how far he has come. he took an advantage. he's all this potential with the new medium, which is the internet journalism and his voice is just as loud as the media establishment. c-span: how is it that the daily mail of london use of the twit pic that you sent out of you and then your boyfriend quacks where does he live? >> guest: he lives in los angeles. c-span: how did he happened to be looking at the daily mail? >> guest: she writes in

hollywood. he's a comedy writers and he's constantly reading the news and it is just one of the web sites that he goes to and it was on the front page when he got there. c-span: and why did quacks did the daily mail have to ask your permission to use it? >> guest: no. a european photographer was of the protest and she took the photo. i suppose he sold it to the daily mail and then i just got it on my iphone, download it and tweeted it. c-span: what do you think of the occupied effort all over the country? >> guest: i think that i and a stand that they are frustrated. i think that they should be targeting government, not wall street or targeting them equally. because it is both of their fault. i do not understand why they are on wall street, why not everyone come here? it's crony capitalism which is they are fighting so why are they just singling out wall street? c-span: the conservatives take pot shots at the occupied group and the liberals took pot shots all the time that the tea party

group. what is your reaction to that and why is that people automatically take sides for and against when they as you say do not really know the facts? >> guest: well, the protests are driven by unions, and obviously the right does not like that. they believe george soros, someone like that is helping to fund these protests and they say the same thing about the tea party. koch is funding a. there are negatives that people come up with and a density of the times ran down and occupy wall street is helping me and they come up very kind, i got lots of hate mail from conservatives. very upset with me for putting that up. and i think it is silly. i mean, if it is the truth, if that is really what happened, i do not see the problem of putting it out. c-span: here is some video that also and viral about education. the man you interviewed here is a man named matt damon, an

actor. before we go to that, what was the point of this? why were you there? why were you interviewing him? >> guest: it was a teachers union rally. i get just gradually from college and nick gillespie from reason he contacted me and said that he would be interested in me hosting a few of their videos to try out. and this was the first video that i did for reason tv to get him and jim epstein who was the camera man, they told me do not worry, it is just going to be this small protest. people probably will not even be there and we can sort of just get you in there and see if you like it, see how it works, it will not be a big deal. so, i went and it ended up going viral. c-span: we are going to show it in a second but before i leave that, who was the videographer that was with you? >> guest: jam epstein. c-span: no, i'm talking about before the occupied wall street. we did not quacks >> guest: occupy wall street

direna. she's a girl that just graduated from college as well, and she does my videos. c-span: she does all of your videos? >> guest: her and grace. c-span: and they work for the daily scholar? >> guest: yes. c-span: working for reason tv quacks >> guest: this is my first video. mick just wanted to see how i did. c-span: let's look. >> do you think it's good for the students or bad for the students that teachers are guaranteed their jobs for life? >> first of all teachers are not guaranteed their jobs for life. you ask that question again is a fact. teachers have never been guaranteed. teachers for incompetent can always be fired. if that were not a fact that would be horrible. >> and acting there is job security, it? there is an incentive to work hard and be a better actor because you want to have a job, so why is it not like that for teachers? >> you think job insecurity is what makes the work hard? >> welcome you have an incentive to work harder but if there is

job security quacks >> it's not an incentive. that's the thing. the nba style of thinking is the problem right now. it is intrinsically a paternalistic view of problems that are much more complex than that. it's like saying a teacher is going to get lazy when they have a tenure. a teacher wants to teach. i mean, why else would you take a shitty salary of long hours and do that job unless you really love it? >> oh my god. >> [inaudible] >> wilkie but may be more a city camera man. i don't know. teachers were fired from harvard university because allegations about the communist party membership. that's called the real world.

okay. not political science, mark, libertarianism 101. that is what happens. and i think that this carried over to teaching. stomachs, our first grade teachers in the buckles that need to be protected? >> i hope they are. i hope that they have studied child development. c-span: did they know you were? >> guest: no. of course not. c-span: did they care who you were? >> guest: no. c-span: and what was your reaction to what they all said? >> guest: i think they are wrong especially emadine in. what was he really saying? that was his mother standing next to him? >> guest: well, she was saying that teachers love to teach, that they want to do it, so there is no reason if they get tenure that there automatically just going to become lazy, but that's not true. i mean, teachers make great salaries. they get great compensation. they get great benefits. there is a reason why teachers want to teach. there are a lot of benefits and to guarantee some of their job, i mean quacks with any

profession that may make them lazy. they don't have an incentive to work harder when they are guaranteed their jobs. c-span: where did you first get the idea? that position on teaching and tenure? >> guest: when i went to school and i saw teachers who had tenure who didn't care at all about their students, about their class is, about their lectures. and your students say she has tenure that's why she's like that. c-span: did you believe that? >> guest: yes. i did. c-span: so when you think back on your education, you went to high school where? >> guest: calabasas high school. c-span: calabasas high school. >> guest: yes. c-span: where is that? >> guest: it's in calabasas california. c-span: where is that in relation to los angeles? >> guest: it's 15 minutes from malibu. it's right outside the valley. c-span: when you think back on your high school the education and pepperdine education you also have a community college? >> yes. community college. c-span: what do you remember?

>> guest: i didn't enjoy it. i wasn't really challenged. i didn't care and a high school at all. there was no one challenging me. teachers didn't really care about their class is. i and i think many of them had the same lesson that they did ten years prior. so, the quacks and then when i went to pepperdine, it was a completely different situation. we were in classrooms with 12 people. we get teachers who would come a professor who would just invite us to their house for their lesson or we would go down to the beach and have a lesson. and they really cared about me personally and professionally. c-span: why do you think that was the case at pepperdine? >> guest: probably because it's a private school. c-span: did private versus public matter? >> guest: yes. yes. i mean i speak to people who go to public schools and they are in classrooms with 300 students, so there is a difference in quality. c-span: go back to your interview with matt damon. what impact did that quacks that went on reason td? >> guest: yes.

c-span: and fi role was quacks how many people watched that? >> guest: i think almost 2 million. c-span: why would 2 million people care about that? >> guest: i think it's because there is a movie star in it and he gets angry and people like to see celebrities when they are quacks like unfiltered content. and he was off the cuff. he wasn't expecting that question, and then he gets very confrontational and aggressive. people liked seeing that. c-span: what do you think of him? >> guest: i thought quacks c-span: not necessarily about what he said, but just the whole quacks >> guest: his actions? c-span: his involvement, his activism. c-span: i think he is like most hollywood stars. they get sucked into that will come everyone is liberal, and i think he discharges from an emotional, not really logic. c-span: thinking back on your father and yourself, how to stay in that environment and conservative for libertarian? >> guest: well, i have values and it doesn't matter if i live in hollywood or if i live in d.c. or if in different part of

the world come i still stick to my beliefs. i'm not going to change because everyone else around me changes. c-span: you're is some video of quacks from november of 2010. it's on something called bureaucrash.com. >> guest: bureau crash. c-span: what is the bureau crash? >> guest: is a group that works with the competitive enterprise institute and the help students out with activism who are active on campus. c-span: and its profile and activism and it's something about a free speech wall. and you were in school at the time. explain what you're involved in. >> guest: said, i was the president of the pepperdine libertarians when i was at pepperdine. and i wanted to have an event to commemorate the founding fathers for constitution day. so i thought it would be great quacks a free speech will where individuals could say whatever they want honestly. and exercise the right to freedom of speech.

c-span: welfare is a reference somewhere i remember hearing. there were pepperdine didn't have quacks they had some quacks some restrictions on free speech. >> guest: yes. c-span: what kind of restrictions for their? >> guest: they have free speech codes. you can't buy anything on the wall without getting it stand and approved. you can't post anything on any of the walls and pepperdine without getting it approved and you have to write who you are and you can't say anything or wre anything that will offend someone. so there is a lot of restriction. c-span: so when we see this video, where, where is this happening? is on the campus itself? >> guest: yes. it's a little campus. which is the busiest part of campus. but before i did it, i got in touch with the dean of the disciplinary action and i asked him if it would be okay if we did this for constitution day and he said yes. as we put a double wall of the entire week. c-span: let's look at the video.

>> ibm michelle fields. i live the pepperdine college libertarians college libertarian and we had a free-speech wall for constitution week. >> welcome to profiles and activism. september 17th this constitution day, celebrating the anniversary of the signing of the u.s. constitution at the constitutional convention. michelle fields, president of college libertarians' at pepperdine university, saw an opportunity to use the holiday to promote freedom of speech. michelle what a collision of politically inclined student groups in the construction and maintenance of a free speech wall covering a wall of the campus building paper and providing markers for passersby to write whatever they wanted. >> pepperdine has a lot of free-speech restrictions, so i thought that if we could have a free-speech wall where there is absolute free speech, this would be something that would call a lot of attention to and would in effect like make people understand and acknowledge that

its constitution week. so i think there was trouble with the best project and audience that i was working with, the students that i was working with. i think that there were some comedic comments that were of course comes with freedom of speech, but for the most part i was really impressed by how serious some of the comments were. of course be a silly comment but there were also substantial comments. >> the event was to talk about the campus on in three different articles in the paper. despite the success of the event it required only about a week of planning. that's because meshaal did a good job using the resources available to her. pepperdine mixed paper available to student groups for free and she paid for the markers herself. michelle says that her trees of issued and coalition building easier. >> i think it is just a focus on an issue that everyone can agree on or as many can agree on. don't take something that quacks would take something that not everyone is going to agree on like ending the federal reserve.

if you want to build a coalition, you need something that everyone can be to sympathize with and want to advance. >> so, the technique that we saw there, the head shot of you, was that all planned? >> guest: c-span: for purpose and a following of some kind? >> guest: what you mean the head shot? >> guest: c-span: there was only the head shot. >> guest: okay well, we were skyping. the competitive enterprise institute, which has a bureau crash in it, the work in d.c. city wanted to interview me and we got onto skyping. we just did an interview through skype. c-span: how often do you use skype? >> guest: every night. my boyfriend lives in l.a. so we skied every evening. c-span: explains what that means. >> guest: lalinde and you just call the person. it's completely free and you see a video of them and you can talk. sometimes i will cook dinner

while my boyfriend is watching and we are talking. it's like he is in the kitchen. c-span: with impact fees and all of this is having on your life? you have lived at this for how long? how long do you feel this independence and connection for technology? >> guest: well, i think i started using the internet a lot when i was in about sixth grade, seventh grade. i'm spoiled. i have so much information i can say quacks any answer i want i don't have to go to an encyclopedia. all leggitt to wikipedia and i instantly have it. so, it allowed me to get information so much more easily and make friends and create a network of people from all over the world. c-span: and is that all good? >> guest: yes. i think so. and i was interested in promoting the ideas of liberty, so when i was in the college quacks the internet provided me so much opportunity because i could talk to people from different countries and i can

give them ideas that they can use on their campuses. i think there's a lack of privacy but you get so much good in return. c-span: can you go back to your quacks where did you get this idea being interested in all of this? >> guest: my freshman year of college my brother introduced me to robert noziack and his but anarchy state utopia. and he introduced me to aayn rand and bosteod. i instantly realized that was why was to retire as a libertarian. and it just so happens that at the same amount ron paul came on the scene said there was just this explosion of young people like me who had very discovered libertarianism and was almost like we took over the internet. the long pull people were

everywhere, every four and you went on had thousands of people exchanging ideas, but recommendations. and it was just a very exciting moment. c-span: are you a ron paul fall were? >> guest: i like ron paul, yes. c-span: do you see ron paul as president of the united states? >> guest: i could. i'd like to see that. c-span: he is close to 77. that doesn't matter to you? >> guest: no. c-span: he has never run anything but a medical office. that doesn't matter to you? >> guest: he's been a congressman for over ten years. c-span: and you quacks using you've become a little more cynical since he's been in washington. >> guest: yes. c-span: the closer you get to this, what you want quacks what's your reaction to it all? >> guest: my reaction to the election or quacks >> guest: c-span: politicians the chance quacks i mean what condition the find the country right now? >> guest: bad condition. i see that people are very unhappy people are struggling and then in d.c. five think

there was some polls that came out in d.c. is the only place where people felt that things are getting better. so, the beltway is so ridiculous. it's nothing like real america. c-span: what chances could ron paul dhaka into the city given the way the city is set up and have an impact? >> guest: i think that he could have a huge impact. i think that his ideas, his passion, his record, his integrity speaks to a lot of people. they really enjoy it. c-span: what was your brother doing that he introduced you and why was he into libertarianism? >> guest: my brother found out about libertarianism on the internet coming and i knew he was libertarian for quite awhile. i remember thinking he likes this crazy guy, ron paul and i don't know who he is, but i mean everyone says that he's crazy. i don't even know. finally, he quacks i was asking for a reading recommendation and he gave that to me. i said i will give it a shot.

and i was politically apathetic before then and then when i read that, it was really life changing. i have always been fiscally conservative but when lives are not conservatives i always just felt uncomfortable when they would talk about derides or medical marijuana and i finally read something where there were people who were like me who believed in both social and economic freedom. c-span: earlier this year at pepperdine in march, the college of returns of a protest against the tsa searchers. what was the point? >> guest: the point was to draw attention to the new policies that tsa had implemented. pepperdine university is politically apathetic. they're conservative but no one is really political on campus. and we decided for convocation which is this big event that people go to every week. you have to go to it. we would have the convocation

security administration and have people down as a way of showing people and bringing attention to the new policies that tsa had implemented. c-span: let's watch a little bit of the video on this. >> guest: okay. >> so pepperdine college, the rotarians created the convocation security administration. convocation was held every wednesday morning and moly students come in their pajamas and they are slouching in and really tired, pulling kafeel not really caring about what you're coming to listen to. we spoke to students beforehand and we had them submit voluntarily to pat-down. and we did this as a way to demonstrate to the students the policies of the tsa has implemented. some people think that civil libertarians are being unreasonable but we are simply trying to will the government to the same standards of human by hold each other to every day. >> don't take my liberty.

>> why did you say this is a plastic bag? your coffee is over here. it and everything else will not be taken into the building. sir, we can't allow you to where this velte to the convocation. because the tsa has a monopoly over airline security people don't have the freedom to choose the level of scrutiny that their place and when they want to fly. who will be concerned that in five for ten years that people will be scanned outside the grocery store or padded down outside sporting events? so that's why today outside of competition we set up competition security administration. we should allow airlines to protect customers. >> i am a student for liver become a free academy, a free society. c-span: what was the impact of that? >> guest: i think that people after the event knew about the tsa policies. i don't think they knew about it before. and for those people who happen to walk by and maybe it just didn't pay too much attention that some people getting patted down but didn't get a pat on the watch the video. i mean it went all around

campus. so people knew about it. and so i feel like i informed them. c-span: how much of what you did at pepperdine with the college students see and how much feedback did you quacks have you quacks are you used to getting feedback from what you? >> guest: yes. yes. a lot of people on campus would e-mail me or send the facebook messages telling me how much they appreciate what i'm doing on campus, that i really quacks that i was really changing it. when i first came to pepperdine, the college libertarians, the meeting had like three or four people. when i graduated we had about 300 people in our network and about 35 people per meeting. and they were not just libertarians. a lot of them were liberals that said that they loved what we do and wanted to be part of it or republicans and conservatives who came because they just like what we did. maybe didn't believe in what we believe in the enjoyed what we were doing. c-span: what is your tauter address? >> guest: it's

twitter.com/michellefields. c-span: how many followers you have? >> guest: a few thousand. c-span: as more and more of your figures become viral have you found your profile increasing and people see you coming and say here comes meshaal fields? >> guest: no, not yet. not yet, but i sure there are some people who recognize me that there is no one that says michelle fields, stay away from her. c-span: would you like to quacks where do you think this is all going to go for you? >> guest: i'd like one day to have a louder voice and represent a good portion of america who feels this is and within the media. i'd like to sort of be a voice for them. c-span: where? >> guest: in the media as a journalist may be an anchor. c-span: and an anchor will allow you to give your views in the world that we live in today you think. would you be an anchor where? >> guest: on a network. i mean you look at msnbc come and look at fox news. there are lots of people who give their opinions. c-span: are we better off with

opinionated journalism or the other? >> guest: i think people want to see quacks they want opinions. well, look at the occupied wall street video that i did. i felt that i wasn't being biased whatsoever. i showed quacks didn't agree with my opinions by should it and i got some much negative attention from it. people were upset that i had done that. so i think people want biased journalism. they want something. they want someone to tell them what to think. c-span: by the way, what is your mom doing now? >> guest: my mom works at a nonprofit where she helps honduras immigrants and the people in honduras. c-span: and you've been able to change her views at all? in becoming less liberal and more libertarian? >> guest: no, no. shia said in her ways. she is in her ways, but i think more informed because i'm constantly telling her what's going on here. c-span: as she checked up on you on the daily caller?

>> guest: yes. all the time. she has faced. she is always following everything i'm doing on fees' degette plater. c-span: michelle fields, thank you for spending an hour with us. >> guest: yeah, thank you so much for having me. i appreciate it. ♪

>> i had no idea about the experiences of many of the people who were essentially my predecessors as correspondent for diplomats and berlin. despite all the time i spent in germany, i didn't spend a lot of time thinking about what it would have been like to have been a correspondent in the 20s and 30's and how would you have operated? much less how would you have acted. ..