host: friday march the two-year anniversary of the by demonstration. we spent part of yesterday

asking to rate resident biden so far. this first hour, we will focus on the vice president. her role as second-in-command, her job performance and what you would like to see from the vice president in the two years ahead. good morning. it is washington journal for monday. our opening question it, your view on the vice president job performance. the lines for democrats is (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. tell us your name and where you are texting from. on social media, we are on twitter and instagram. we are doing this because the vice president with a keynote

speech yesterday in florida. this we can mark the 50th anniversary of the roe v. wade abortion decision which was undone by the court in the term last year. we will show you some of the comments from the vice president at that event as well. the weekend was marked by a potential change to the administration with the news that there will be a new chief of staff at the white house. the vice president, we are asking to rate her job performance. this is the reporting this morning from tallahassee where the vice president spoke. the headline is can we truly be free? i will read some of that in just a bit. i want to play video released

over the we can. they texted this last night. president biden and the vice president have gotten a lot done over the past two years. they are just getting started. here is look at the video. >> how are you? we are off to a pretty good start. i can't believe it's tears. >> just remember where we started. all of what was happening in our country. the thing that has motivated us is the determination of the american people. if people could see what i see sometimes, when the cameras are there and mostly when they are not, what you have done, to bring together nations, allies, and the world.

you bring people together in a bipartisan way. you have been an incredible leader. >> it's never a good bet to bet against america. we have created seven or 50,000 manufacturing jobs. >> we cap insulin at $35. we have created more small businesses in the last two year span than any other two-year span in history. >> we are in a situation where we have united in a way -- the world in a way that hasn't in a while. there is not a dam thing we can't do if we do it together. more afferent americans have health care, more women are employed. >> the name is justice ketanji brown jackson.

>> i feel good about where we are. we've got more to do. we've got momentum. host: that video was from the white house. your view of the job performance of the vice president. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. the speech in tallahassee, the tallahassee democrat reporting on that.

we will go first to our republican line. caller: good morning. i think harris will never be

competent. for the 25th amendment is used against biden, she might become the president. can she vote in the senate as the tiebreaker still or not? the 25th amendment will get rid of biden. she may be impeached and then you get a republican who is now the head of the house. that's all i've got to say. host: what do you think she would be impeached on? caller: incompetence. always laughing, never doing anything. spending money on things that don't go. they need to -- to put real barriers if necessary with guns to stop aliens from coming over,

especially the drug cartels or the people who want a better life. she will be done. host: carl in tennessee. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. host: go ahead. caller: the video you just showed is a perfect example. it was biden giving his talking points. there was no mention of anything harris has done. they kept a lid on her for reason. i had the benefit of listening to t boone pickens speak about a meeting between him and mccain and obama. it was about energy policy. his observation was that john mccain was too old to be president. that job is 20 47 306 to five days a year. it traits tremendous amount of

energy. i think they are too old. if president biden has an interest in this country, i think he has brought back the idea of civility and shown how government is supposed to work. he should announce that he is not going to run for reelection. host: where does that leave the role of the vice president? caller: i don't recall hearing about much she has accomplished. there was a story in the first six months about how her staff were so dysfunctional. you haven't heard anything else from her. she presented a wreath at the unknown soldier this past veterans day. other than that, they have kept

a hair -- tight lid on her for reason. host: we will go to maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. he was talking about the 25th amendment and impeaching vice president harris. on what grounds? what did that before do? nothing. what did mike pence do? nothing. the only fools are the ones that are still following the twice in preached president, leader of the coup. that's all i have to say. democrats are the only ones doing anything for the american people. host: what you think the assets that vice president biden brings to the administration? caller: vice president harris? host: vice president harris.

yes. caller: she brings a lot. just because we don't hear every time she makes a move or she utters a word that she's not doing anything. that's the hypocrisy of the republicans. they are doing nothing. look at what these fools are doing on capitol hill. nothing. host: we will go to ronald in oklahoma. -- independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the lady who just spoke, she knew exactly what she was talking about. she's a democrat. i have nothing a bents democrats or republicans. that's why i changed to being independent. i am going to state and depend.

vice president harris has one problem. two problems. she is a female and she is black. those two problems, if she can get over these two problems with your viewing audience, that will be coming on here, i guarantee you she will become the next president of the united states. thank you. host: courtney in georgia. courtney is on the republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i just heard kamala harris give a speech about abortion. she quoted the constitution. she misquoted the constitution. one of the most important things in the constitution's life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. can you guess which lord word she leaves out? life.

she leaves out life. i just don't understand the lady just called this is so disrespectful. the coal cabinet. host: do you think she is leaving out the word life that you heard? it's intentional? caller: yes. she misquoted it not twice, she did three times. i think she left it out on purpose. everyone can quote the constitution. i think she left it out intentionally. host: that speech that we heard

yesterday is available from tallahassee on the speech on her mobile app. this is the reporting of the new york times on the speech. the headline: here is what some of the vice president had to say. >> i am pleased to announce that

president biden has issued a presidential memorandum on this issue. members of our cabinet and administration are directed to identify barriers to access prescription medication and make sure that doctors can legally prescribe pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication. president biden has done that. at the same time we work to protect this aspect of reproductive care, many states have gone even further. they have total bands. alabama, missouri, south dakota

just to name a few. as clinics close in those states, patients have lost access to basic care. such as routine checkups. cancer screenings. contraception. to everyone listening, no one is immune from these impacts. even in states that protect reproductive rights like new jersey. even then, people live in fear of what might be next. republicans in congress are now calling for a nationwide abortion band.

some even from the moment of conception. the right of every woman in every state in this country to make decision about her own body is on the line. how dare they. how dare they. host: a couple of comments on social media:

let's go to brenda in houston. good morning. caller: good morning. don't take this personally, i don't like to complain. i've been watching you guys since 1979. i want you to go back in your archives. i want you to find for me -- you don't have to answer. it can be the end of the programs or tomorrow. i want you to find for me a question you posed about hence in those horrific four years. find that for me when you questioned about what we thought about mike pence. in regard to the question, i

think she's doing an outstanding job. if she said one more sense than she has said, then you could say she is overshadowing the president. what do you want? remember how that idiot hence mimicked trump, every time he would introduce some, his job was to praise him and talk about how glorious. don't compare this woman to those idiots. host: to texas, brad is on the republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning, evan. i would like to say that we are being overrun in texas. the cartel is controlling 13

cities in texas. the media is line about how many people have had their heads cut off. the cartel will take over to -- take over america. i love america. they are lied to every day about what's going on at the border. she is the first affirmative action vice president. i wish she would go away. host: simpsonville, kentucky, your view on the vice president. go ahead. caller: i think they are doing ok. can i tell you what's going on in louisville? we have this retired prosecutor and this fbi guy chasing people around with a spy drone. it's terrible. i think they are doing ok.

that's all i've got. host: annapolis, maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. if i had to give her a letter grade, i would give her a flat out f. she should have stayed in the senate. i view her more as an opportunist. she has no shot in 2024. progressives are not going to vote for her in the primary. i think she is there to fill the position. host: do you think she was better in the senate? caller: she wasn't a progressive. she was a senator in california. i think she was more of a

moderate. she became more of a corporate democrat. when she was nominated to be vp. as far as any chance of her running for president, she won't make it out of the primary. they are not going to vote for her. host: you used the word opportunist, if she is an opportunist, do you think in 2020 she thought the road could have been cleared for her to run for the presidency? caller: typically when you go for vice president, they become a presidential candidate. i have seen nothing from her that shows to me. she has no chance to make it out

of the primary she has been a failure for not only black people, not only younger voters, she's talking about abortion rights. this administration has been a failure allowing two people to obstruct an agenda in which younger voters, african-american voters went out in droves. they have done nothing for them. host: we will go to bill. go ahead in massachusetts. caller: am i on? i will spend five seconds talking about kamala harris. she gets a zero on the report card. she never went to the border. she smokes dope all day long and

laughs like a four-year-old child. if something happens because we've got to impeach biden. he took a billion dollars from the commonest chinese, the ukrainians. we are going to have her. bozo the clown would've been better in office. my final remark is we've got to have two separate countries. bring on the civil war, demon rats. host: she tweeted this. the caller earlier had mentioned this. this is the headline from fox news.

the independent line in new york. go ahead. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling. what i would like to say, they

have short memory. this is the same image we are seeing. just remember dan quayle. host: jonathan is in the democrats line. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. my overall view of kamala harris is she's probably a solid b player. her role in a lot of ways is to work on back channels within the democratic party. i heard some interesting comments about her lack of progressive cadet chills. i won't deny that she will have a hard time clearing a democratic primary if there is one against joe biden. i want to go to the specific

thing about her advocacy for health care choice. reproductive choice. i stand with her 100%. i think people tend to not remember or they don't want to -- people after they are born have rights. we don't give rights to the pre-born in this country. our abortion laws as evidenced by roe v. wade had it limit of 24 weeks. for states to take advantage of this and deny the rights of women.

childbirth still kills women. we've never had a time where women weren't at risk for their own lives carrying a fetus to term. i give her an a plus for rallying the majority. there is a majority of people in the united states who favor the right of choice for women to have an abortion if she feels she needs one for any reason up to a certain amount of time. on that racist, i think she is doing a great job. host: this is from the wall street journal.

that's from the wall street journal. barbara in virginia is up next. caller: good morning. i am calling about the republicans. i am calling because i keep hearing the democrats, they are doing nothing but lying to the people. i don't think that's right. just like the border and giving

this money away. it's ridiculous. take care of our country. host: the 538 has an ongoing poll. and updating an average as of friday, the disapprove number is 48.8%. the approve is 37.7%. walter is in washington dc. tell us your view. caller: good morning. i would say she does dress the part for being president. her job performance is atrocious. looking at everything she does, it's not intentional for her to laugh about everything. whenever she gets nervous, she breaks out laughing.

even those people in those triangle countries pointed out the reason we have a border crisis is because of eliminating immigration policies. i hope she gets it together. her performance needs work. as for your caller from maryland, everything she said, she is the reason why we as democrats cut back on watching too much msnbc. trumps attitude stinks. the country was in better shape under trump. i voted for joe biden and i am

disappointed. i have friends and relatives who voted for him. his policies are better. we had a better economy. biden is nothing but a plagiarist. when you use to cover the true joe biden. you expose what type of fraud he is. i thought things would be back to normal. we just have to go get out of our feelings when it comes to politics. host: in terms of the biden administration, has the vice president been an asset? caller: i would say both.

even with the caller that mentioned her leaving off life, president biden did the same thing when he quoted thomas jefferson's speech about patriots. he left off the last part about tyrants. they both do the same thing. neither president biden nor the vice president are in charge. both of them are incompetent. every time ty stuff, looks like somebody is telling them what to do. as said, i voted for these people. i thought they would be better looking at how the media miss lettuce, i did not know.

i was happy with eit years of president obama. i'm disappointed. we've got to get off this animosity about trump. he was a fool, but his policies were better. host: we are asking your view of the job performance of, harris at their two-year mark. the line for democrats is (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. to a question earlier, this is the question we've asked about a lot of vice presidents. we asked the question about mike pence after he is considering running for the presidency as well. it's a question we've asked about presidents and vice

presidents going back and number of years. the vice president is called on from time to time to cast the tie-breaking vote in the u.s. senate. she has cast the third most during her tenure so far in the u.s. senate, 26 so far. the most recent was august 7. she broke the tie to passhe inflation reduction act. davis up in nebraska. caller: kamala harris ia ke. just look at some of her speeches. she is the equivalent of an eighth grader chosen to do a speech. she has no preparedness. she is inept.

she couldn't get 1% of the vote in the primaries before she quit. she does not belong where she is. host: two carl in south carolina , go ahead. caller: good morning. i woke up to c-span this morning and i was hoping for a good debate or something. we went into kamala harris and every thing. no damage has been done to her. most of the people the call will never be president of the united states. when joe biden made a big

mistake, all that was was a whipping post for the people at fox news. they knew they would destroy her. i am a military guy. who cares? when we looked at the history books, there is going to be a picture of her as vice president. you won't see me listed is president or vice president. it is what it is. these hillbillies can call and complain all they want about black people. it isn't going to do any good. get something better on next time. host: democrats fret over

documents. >> the fbi found six additional classified documents at his residence in delaware. this time from his time as vice president and his time in the senate. he defended his handling of the situation. he said there is no there there. >> i can tell you one thing. it's unbelievable how this could happen. it is irresponsible. what should be done is what merrick garland did it, appoint a special counsel. some people are taking sides. it was more egregious what

president trump did, maybe that's true. maybe it's not. i am willing to find out from the people who were looking at it and looking at the classifications. if it's harmful, make the determinations. >> should this affect his decision to re--- run for election? >> that's a personal decision. host: your view on the vice president's job approval.

michigan is up next. democrats line. go ahead. caller: i would like to say that i do support vice president harris. i believe she has done a fine job as vice president. without question. i think we also have to remember when she was running for president, she was a sincere, intelligent candidate. she is done a fine job. she has my support. at iniquity to say anything much more. the former president, thank god he is former president, has -- is the worst president we've ever had. surely she can do better than

what was done. she has my support. she has done a fine job. host: to north carolina. caller: i have mixed opinions about the vice president. let me say this. i don't care if we look at former vice presidents. their roles were not questioned. it's the role of the president that gives agency to the vice president. if you look at jimmy carter, he elevated walter mondale, bill clinton did the same with al gore. i would like to make a prediction. whether or not president biden runs, i think he will run again.

if for some reason he can't fulfill his term, she would become the 47th president of the united states. i don't know should be -- should be elected. i would like to make a prediction. the governor of washington, he appeals to progressives and moderate democrats. if he wanted to select harris as the vice president, i think she needs more seasoning just as former vice presidents. their roles were what they were. the vice president needs to be seasoned before becoming president. i support governor jay inslee. to become our next president in 2024.

host: do you think that the role of the vice president, we have plenty who become president, is it a tough place to get that seasoning? is it more difficult for somebody like, harris? caller: i think it is a little more difficult. look at president eisenhower. he had nothing to do with your next and. president kenny put lbj off to the side. the vice president has to have -- i do give credence to the significant role as a tiebreaker in the senate. that was highly significant. i feel that she needs to have much more experience helping her become the next president.

host: thank you for your input. we had several mass shootings over the weekend in california and the monterey park area of los angeles, also louisiana. the vice president touched on that her speech. this is the commentary on cnn.

and let's go to idaho falls. good morning. caller: good morning. i truly believe that the vice president is doing the best job as vice president. she is doing a good job for americans. i just want to tell the people who are calling in that sometimes we who call in, we misunderstand to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask

ourselves, what type of person we are. what are we doing to improve ourselves, to make america great. i wouldn't say blaming this or blaming that. usually would people blame people, there is something wrong with them or something they are displeased about themselves that they look at others. the president is doing a great job. they do the best with the environment they've got to deal with. there are so many people in the world, you've got so me different attitudes and problems. we can't solve everything. we've got to ask the lord to help us. that's all. host: brent is in new york. go ahead.

caller: it's great hearing all the say people like her because she is half black. she doesn't really identify as black when she was sleeping herself into politics. it's funny how the democrats are talking about people shouldn't speak harshly. president trump is going to be president again. the next time around when people conspire against the presidency, they are going to get hit with treason like they should have the first time around. host: next up is jared in wilmington delaware. caller: i was just calling. i hear a bunch of people not telling the truth or not understanding.

give me 60 seconds. she was a prosecutor in california. she was the attorney general in california. she lowered the recidivism rate. she was voted the most progressive person in the senate before she became vice president. she is the first woman of color and she has cast numerous tiebreaker votes. as vp, she is doing what she's told. that's the only task of the vice president. donald trump told mike pence to handle the covid plan. in a time when a woman's bodily autonomy is challenged and women are 3/5, it's great to have the first woman of color. women are just as equal as i am, probably better leaders around the world than men are. we need to give her a break.

she is the arm of the president. she is not her own person right now in office. she has a progressive background. donald trump was blasting for how progressive she is. host: were you surprised the criticism of our collars, the one from annapolis who did not think she was progressive? caller: it's insane. i don't know what these people are watching. i wake up in the morning and say thank you to god and turn on c-span. she was voted the most progressive by republicans. they were comparing her to aoc. joe biden put her on the ticket because she was progressive and she could bring in younger voters. host: do you think she is a greater lightning rod for

conservatives? caller: i think that's why she gets the bashing that she does. they want to beat her down. he is keeping her out of the spotlight so they don't beat her down. her race does play a factor the same way it did barack obama. host: i appreciate the input area this is from a columnist in usa today.

let's hear from columbia, south carolina. go ahead. caller: i voted democrat the last 30 years. i will say this. they have been doing a spectacular job considering with the country has been up against.

it's true that we came out of afghanistan in not the best way. we are out. we got our resources to spend elsewhere. i am an air force veteran. i am a retired law enforcement person. i will match my citizenship with any republican. right now, they are advocating division. we need to come together as a country. we need to bring god back into the institutions. we need to do a better job of respecting each other. that's why these kids in these young people are resulting to violence.

they are turning to violence because leadership is telling them that it's ok. violence will destroy our country. host: jamie is on the republican line. caller: to the previous collar, thank him for his service. i think he was a marine officer. we appreciate your service. we are not dealing with character. we are dealing with color. she is not a good leader. she took an oath to uphold the constitution. she wouldn't even go to the border when children are being raped, trafficked, organ harvesting, drugs pouring into the united states, 20,000 flooding our united states,

which compromises our security. let stand united with god. stop the race card. you can't put somebody of color in there and say they are fine just because they are of color. if it's based on pigment for leadership, we don't have a dog in the race. that stupid. you may have hated trump, he had a good message. make america great. we were not energy reliant. thank you. god bless you. i love c-span. i appreciate everybody's point of view. host: james comer is the republican from kentucky, the

head of the homeland -- oversight committee in the u.s. house. here is some more from the chair. >> i took the president at his word when the first set of documents were found. he had inadvertently misplaced those documents. this has gone from simply being irresponsible to scary. this has all the patterns of an influence peddling scheme. it has the makings of a potential cover-up. five different locations. who knows what those personal attorneys have been doing. when you look at the things our investigation is covering, there are a lot of connections with the ccp directly to both hunter

biden and his uncle. host: we've got five more minutes of your calls. let's hear from brooklyn. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks again for your work. it's amazing the diversity of views you have on this channel. i appreciate hearing from the extremes of the other side. we have to have somebody like joe biden or someone like him run in 24 to be a unifier. vice president harris has done a great job. if she were a white male, no one would be complaining about her competence. for much of the country on the far right, they never accepted the idea that we had a black resident from 2009 to 2017.

even before january 6, there were extreme reactions to people on the far racist french. they didn't want to have a second president. they are racist, they are bigots. they weren't ready to accept that. if we want to get things done and climate, we have to get somebody who is acceptable to a broad range of the country, just because of the extremity of the tree. i think our site has to talk about that among ourselves, not because we went to reject harris, we want to deal with our

climate and economic priorities and we have to have someone in office. if it's not going to be an 80-year-old president biden, it has to be someone in that mold with a broad appeal. host: boca raton, florida is next. caller: good morning. good morning. thank you for taking my call. my take is similar to what we've heard from previous callers. she is a quota filler. her advancement is through sexual activity with willie brown in the california senate. she is truly incompetent. she sits down with one of our allies and tries to embarrass

him with a flip comment about not having gone to europe. we see how that his worked out. that his worked out well. we have a record number of illegal aliens. matthew sitman a couple of comments on social media.

carl is in michigan. go ahead. caller: thanks to all the colors this morning and for those who have to get up and trash map -- mouth someone, do have someone who can beat them? it candidates lost to these two. remember that? get over yourselves. thank you, south carolina, iowa -- idaho and the previous new york caller for the sensible calls. host: new york city. republican line -- democratic line, go ahead. caller: i'm calling in to say that support -- i support kamala

harris and what she is doing. she is second lead. we are always talking about the border and whatnot and i thought mexico was supposed to cover up that bold -- border from the last president. the last president some of you were so enthused about, he was lying every day and when you like, you still and when you steal, you like and everything you do --lie -- he was in chris -- he was in cahoots with russia. how he is kissing him and --them and doing all this kind of stuff and we still think he is a great president? give me a break. host: coming up next, house lawmakers are back from washington this week and we will

be going next by usa today reporter candy woodall. she will talk about what is ahead in the house and senate and irs national taxpayer advocate erin collins will be talking about her group's report to congress and talk about the upcoming tax season. ♪ >> the state of the union is strong because you, the american people, are strong. >> president biden delivers his annual state of the union address on tuesday, february 7 stop his first state of the union speech when republicans took -- after republicans took control of the house. watch the coverage on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> -- she writes, "i do not

count myself among movers admirers -- hoover's admirers." hoover randy fbi for 48 years until he died in 1972. gage writes that hoover emerged as one of history's great villains. perhaps the most universally reviled political figure in the 21st century. >> book notes plus is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> ♪ ♪ there ♪ are a lot of

places to get political information but only as c-span do you ♪ ♪ -- get it straight from the source. ever happens here, or here, or here or anywhere that happens -- that matters, america is watching c-span powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: the house and senate coming back into session for a full week a legislative action to talk about it, we are joined by candy will law -- candy woodall. it looks like a full schedule ahead. . with the house -- let's start with the house. what will they focus on as they come into session on tuesday? caller: house republicans are -- guest: house republicans are considering their first two

limit the biden administration's ability to govern. they wanted to limit his ability to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve and that is a move that democrats say it will -- say will raise gas prices and that is not expected to advance in the senate but that is something that house republicans will try to move this week. they also want to set up an faa task force. this will look at the numerous problems we have seen in be airline -- the airline history -- industry and most recently, last week and christmas, a lot of americans remember waiting in airports and the numbers problems -- numerous problems in the last two years and in the last six months so house republicans want to have this

task force established. that would include people of all sides. the labor issue in the industry as well as experts and trying to figure out what needs to happen, why problems have occurred and why people have had to wait long periods of time in a airport. that is what they want to look at. we are watching for more news as house republicans leaders want to examine the biden administration's policies. that includes the week of february 6, they are moving forward with hearings that will examine the southern border. they also want to examine the biden family's business dealings and they are looking to have border patrol agents as witnesses. they want to have twitter executives as witnesses related

to those hearings. we are keeping a close eye on those as well. host: it took a couple of days for the house to get underway legislatively with the multiple rounds and votes for speaker of the house. have republicans assigned their committee positions, project lead the chairs for those house committees -- particularly the chairs for the house committees? caller: we are waiting -- guest: we are waiting for news on committee assignments. we are watching on who from the house freedom caucus to be named. we are waiting to see if speaker mccarthy will follow through on what he says will be a move to prevent three democrats for sitting on cities, something seen as retaliatory on other --

from other representatives who were taken off committees after the january 6 insurrection. house democratic leader akeem jeffries is forcing mccarthy's hand and sending out a letter saying he intends to see other representatives on committees so he is forcing mccarthy to either follow through on what he would set would do -- he would do in removing those three from the committees or let it go. host: in terms of committees and his feature in the republican conference -- future in the republican conference, what is the set -- sent on george santos? guest: democrats are raising that already this morning and saying, why would you remove some of our members in good

standing when there is a and battled freshman representative chasing legal and critical scrutiny, why is he being seated on committees? one of the republican leaders, james comer, who is leading a oversight committee, he said that santos will continue to be a member and serve on committees unless there is criminal proof of campaign-finance violation. that is a lot of -- what people are watching closely. host: sandy woodall -- candy woodall covers --(202) 748-8000 is the line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we have talked a bit about the house and what is and for the

u.s. senate -- the house. what is ahead for the u.s. senate? caller: -- guest: they are swearing in a new member in a brassica -- in nebraska and they will vote for nominations for six of the mentors -- other members to go through. there is a hearing on a committee that people find industry especially if they tried to order taylor swift tickets and couldn't get them. there is a hearing on consumer prices and competitive ticketing so that is something that is happening and they will be having hearings on upcoming nominations and there are several closed senate intelligence committee meetings. i am hearing that some of that is due to possibly discuss what

they can find out about these probes into classified documents that were found at president biden's residents. host: the u.s. raised its statutory debt limit at that treasury department and taking what is being called extraordinary measures to keep the government afloat. tell us about the landscape of the debt ceiling debate to come. guest: this is going to be a fight against -- between republicans and democrats and there are republicans who said they will be willing to default on our debt, which would create many democrats and economists say it would throw the global economy into a tailspin. these sorts of standoffs have happened in the past. these two parties are going to have to come together in order

to get this done. they will have to negotiate and it does not benefit either party and kevin mccarthy has said that he acknowledges that it is something they need to work on, that it is not their goal to default on the government debt. last week, you saw treasury secretary ellen had sent a letter and said, this is -- we are taking measures now to keep afloat until june but you will see these negotiations are already underway and happening. speaker mccarthy said during his first press conference, while he was trying to win that bid for speaker, he said that he and biden have spoken and his first

conversation when he was speaker, they started talking about the debt ceiling debate. the parties are talking and we will be reporting on the developments coming out of that but this is going to be a fight between the parties. host: you can call in with questions. (202) 748-8000 or democrats. (202) 748-8001 public in line. -- republican line. for all others, (202) 748-8002. caller: what a great day to be an american. of quick question about the debt ceiling -- a quick question about the debt ceiling. how dangerous it -- is it going to be for the false promises and

student loans and all be aims that are facing these -- the country. what do you think the republican's position is with all these issues? host: candy woodall? guest: that is a good question and republicans in the 2022 midterms ran on fiscal issues. many of the independents and democrats i talked to said they were voting republican are leaning republicans because of fiscal issues and because they were going to the store and seeing higher prices on food which continued to climb, the price of aches have been in -- eggs have been in the news. so far, one republicans got into office, their first week priorities were antiabortion

bills and setting up committees to investigate president biden. there are many concerns about fiscal issues. it is a big question as to, if there is -- who does that help? leaders in both parties don't see that as beneficial to either of them but they are talking about continuing resolution on government spending, which is a -- separate from debt ceiling but keeping the government functioning, that will be a physical fight in congress and -- fiscal fight in congress and how this plays with voters, we will see. there are people electing republicans in the midterms because of fiscal issues. you can say they are expecting republicans to deliver solutions

and i am not sure that a drawn out fight would benefit republicans but it would not fit democrats -- benefit democrats but this year, it is a long way off from november 2024 so they have some time to figure this out but not a lot of time and they are negotiating now behind the scenes. host: the budgeting season will begin anew as the right -- white house issues its budget for the fiscal 2024 year in early february and the debate gets underway in the house with the house working on appropriations. the debt ceiling debate will slow the process down? guest: what you will see is these concerns -- concurrent things happening and you mentioned president biden's

budget and the beginning of february will be a big time in congress because we have representative comber --comer who has announced two hearings that will begin. one will look at the border and one will look at the biden family business deals. this goes into the hunter biden laptop issue and what they believe our efforts to keep -- from big tech to keep information off sweater and sensor news stories --twitter and censor new stores. this will converge and we are awaiting an announcement from president biden on whether he will run again for reelection. that has not been announced yet

but it is believed he will. you saw the exit of this former chief of staff. a lot of things are going on and a lot will happen in early february. we are watching to see how all of these things converge. it is an interesting backdrop that the president will be delivering his state of the union as these probes into his administration began. host: question for you via text. guest: that is a good point. this is an issue, bet in the last congress, they look at

efforts on asian american hate and that has not really been seen as a priority in business congress -- this new congress. there are members concerned about that in both parties. given what we saw in the weekend, this will be of -- a greater topic of discussion this week and we will look for any resolutions or bills that may come out of -- to try to address it or a task force. there is an and test, to some bipartisan task force -- and types -- anti-semitism bipartisan task force looking to mitigate our micro -- what might grow out of it because there were stories before the pandemic but you saw it ramp up during the pandemic and given what happened this weekend, it makes it to the fourth month again and

there are -- the forefront again and there are people we try and tries -- people we traumatized --re-traumatized. host: read her reporting at usa today.com. we will hear from sandy in new bedford, massachusetts. caller: i was wondering, when they go back and maybe turning on the spigot, baby they can get biden -- maybe they can get biden. that could bring relief to everybody in the country so maybe congress could get the pipeline going again. do you think that is a possibility? guest: i am not saying much

about the keystone pipeline restarting -- seeing much about the keystone pipeline restarting and most of the conversation on energy from the house has been trying to limit president biden's ability to tap into the big treat -- strategic petroleum reserve. according to democrats, this will further limit our ability to access needed energy and will drive gas prices higher. i am not seeing any bipartisan talks about the keys -- keystone pipeline. host: not really unexpected but of sweet this morning from congressman ruben gallego. he tweets --

congressman ruben gallego announcing his candidacy to run against krista sinema. tell us what you know about congressman gallego and his background. caller: his -- guest: his candidacy has been brewing for a while and it was believed at the time senator simoneau -- sinema swisher party, it will heads off congressman the lego -- congressman gallego. she has angered many upper party. -- of her party.

she was seen as a blockade of president bynum's agenda -- president biden's agenda. it helpful -- it helped fuel campaigns of other people to get elected. i know your question was more about congressman gallego but it does so much matter, congressman ms. sinema it is a part of this because he would send out -- you can feel in the tone of those messages that he was wanting a challenge and he planned to run against her because she was seen as a block to things, especially

getting rid of the filibuster, which many democrats -- things that are popular so i think that is the crowd that the congressman is speaking to in his announcement. if you are upset about the child tax credit not continuing and upset we could not get rid of the filibuster and save -- in trying roe v. wade into law, -- enshrine roe v. wade into law, he is taking blue-collar arguments to arizona so it will be interesting to watch but i will say his announcement is not a surprise. it has been anticipated for weeks. and followed a lot of movement we have seen with announcements from the senate side about who

is running and who is not. host: the first legislative week of the house, we saw the passage of a recent -- creation of a new select committee looking at the weaponization of the federal government. how have democrats reacted to that? do they plan to appoint members that committee? guest: yes, democrat leader hakeem jeffries says he plans on seating members on all of those committees and members can raise their hands and they can be chosen. he said that they see a benefit to having democratic forces on those committees and -- voices on those committees and by contrast, the january 6 committee we saw in the last congress has, only liz cheney,

she became a vocal voice but there were only two republicans on that committee. democrats saw that as a mistake and they want to make sure they have a voice on this committee because they said, otherwise, these are better words, you will have french ideas and conspiracy theories given more credence. host: some of these hearings coming up, oppression from -- a question from lyn. guest: that is a good question. so far, the scope of the hearings they are focusing on our mailing, -- are mainly, federal agencies, the president, and they have said, even though

a lot of it feels like it is about hunter biden, one person has said we are not investigating hunter biden, we are investigating president and congressman jim jordan has made similar congress -- comments. they seem to be focused mostly on the biden administration and president biden and trying to look at any ties he may have had. when they are looking at the weaponization of the doj, as they call it, that grew out of what they see as a politically motivated arm going after former president trump, who is a public figure. it seems like the main focus of these inquiries are about

politicians. host: it seems like a lot of bills pass in the republican house, will likely not pass in the u.s. senate. what is the role and the relationship between the -- kevin mccarthy and mitch, -- mitch mcconnell? guest: you saw leader mcconnell saying that he supported speaker mccarthy and supported his bid for speaker. they are leading two very different caucuses. the senate -- senate republicans narrowly lost and house republicans narrowly won. they suffered those losses and gains for different reasons. former president trump played a huge role in those midterms and

his presence was seen as hurting senate republicans because of some of the candidates he was backing that were -- maybe could win a primary but not the moderate voters you need to win as senate bid in a general election and on the health side, it is different. they will not agree on everything but i believe everything -- they see that relationship as consolatory and leader mcconnell has expressed support. some of the questions were posed to speaker mccarthy. he was a little bit more sharp tongued, and said, "what have they done? " after that, they were in

session. she was pointing out that the senate have come in -- he was pointing out that the senate had come in and they went back to work but he was saying, "what are you doing? " a lot of this is about messaging and so these representatives can take something back to their district that can help them run again for reelection. host: marjorie taylor greene was at kevin mccarthy side through all the votes. what his -- what is her role now? guest: he has had an incredible turnaround.

-- she went from up pariah -- a pariah and now they will be reintroducing some of her legislation that looks at where ukraine has gone and where covid has gone. she wants probes into this and is being taken seriously by republicans and that legislation, which was shot down and ate the last congress, could see the light of day. she is seen as an ally of kevin mccarthy. she will be sitting on oversight committees and will have powerful roles in this congress. shares in a position where she will be taken seriously and we will have to see how this pans out but it is a remarkable turnaround. host: we have been talking with candy woodall, and follow her

reporting at usatoday.com. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: up next, we will spend an hour with the irs national taxpayer advocate erin collins to talk about her office's annual report to congress and to preview the upcoming tax season so get your tax questions ready. ♪ >> if you are enjoying booktv.tv -- book festivals and more. but tv every sunday on c-span

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speech when republicans took back the house. we will hear the republican response and take your phone calls. watch live coverage on c-span, c-span now, or on c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we will talk about taxes. we are joined by erin collins, the national taxpayer advocate. we will talk about that and your organization's report to congress. talk about the role you play with the irs. guest: our office is a creation of congress and over 20 years ago, congress wanted to give taxpayers help. they created the position within the irs, although we are an independent division. we have a couple missions.

once a year, we file our annual report to congress and the statute requires us to identify 10 problems of taxpayer rights. we get the opportunity to make legislative legislation so congress can fix the tax laws. the other hat we where is we work with taxpayers one on one, where they have problems with the irs and they could come to our local offices and we work with them as an advocate to fix problems for the taxpayers. host: i want to dive into that. your primary clientele is the american public in terms of advocating for the things they need solved or resolved. guest: that is correct and we do it on a systemic basis. these last three years, it has

been difficult for taxpayers so there are problems impacting millions of taxpayers and we do it one on one with taxpayers. we have 77 offices through the u.s. if a taxpayer has an issue where they cannot fix it with the irs, we are the safety net. host: are those offices, separate, from the irs office or in the same building? guest: in the same building that we have separate office space and we have our own separate system so it is an unusual thing to have a division independent inside the agency but that is what we do. host: you mentioned how tough the years have been and this is a job you came into a couple years ago for yourself. guest: i came in march of 2020 as covid was spiking.

i was kind of saying, is it something i did? the irs was shut down across the country for a number of months and that is what impacted the season. host: what was the biggest challenge? guest: the hardest thing, any time you step into a leadership role is getting to know your people and at that point, 100% of my employees were working more -- probably and i had to establish a relation with my employees and the irs executives. they were out of the building so it was difficult the first couple of months trying to bring in a loop -- a new leadership style. host: you report to congress, the annual report, released and the top line from that report says t " last year, i reportedn the period since the start of the

covi19 pandemic, has been the most challenging that taxpayers and tax professionals have faced. the bad news is tha have experience misy in2 ose of the 2022 fire rin-- the filing season, we have made progress in filling correspondence." what has been the biggest factor in getting that backlog resolved? guest: it started when the irs shut down march of 2020 and in june and july, they brought employees back but when you think about the amount of paperwork the irs processes come out when you shut down and they have the mailboxes sitting in

tractor-trailers, it takes some tile -- time to get started up. as they were trying to work down the backlog, the new returns were coming in the door and the end of that first year, they had over 17 million returns carrying over to the next year and that is a high number. last year was a little reduced and this year, we are looking between 12 and 15 million carrying into 2023 that has to be worked on. looking -- host: looking at the backlog of 2020 january, a year ago, 4.7 million returns and 3.2 million business returns and 3.6 amended returns and december, we went to 400 thousand individual returns and one million business returns. what are you doing in advance to monitor the backlog situation? guest: the birth with the irs on

a daily basis and working -- we work with the irs on a daily basis. we have access to irs data and irs employees. we are active trying to identify and make recommendations to work with the irs. host: i guess is erin collins, the national taxpayer advocate -- our guest is erin collins of the national taxpayer advocate. (202) 748-8000 if you are in big east or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 or mountain and specific -- ford mountain and pacific --for mountain and pacific. guest: the last three years, it

is opposite. the irs has had such a backlog, when you look at this to six, somewhere between 60 and 75% where taxpayers get refund so the irs is 6-9 months behind processing those returns, rather -- whether it is the original and -- or amended returns and people are not getting the refunds and there are people who build their roles -- those breeze -- the refunds into their budgets. host: do you think it is a benefit for people when they do that, when they prepare their taxes for the next year, to budget in that refund or in advance, getting more money ahead in their paycheck? guest: if you go to most financial advisors, they will tell you to have your withholding as close to making your payment so you are as that -- are not as dependent on the

refund. some people look as -- added as a savings account. it has been more like june through november and they look at, that is their family vacation or a down payment for a car. they look at it as a savings account so people look at it different we but at -- advisors will tell you to have the smallest refund possible but a lot of refunds are credits and those are not things you plan in advance. we have the stimulus payment so there are a lot of credits -- earned income tax credit that you only receive when you file. host: will there be new credits we should look for this current tax year for 2022? guest: there is a chance that congress will legislate -- host: something retroactive? guest: retroactive is not common

but it is a challenge but we have been vocal that if you are going to initiate legislation, it is not wise to do it in a middle of a tax filing season because that looks -- puts a lot of challenges on the irs and when you are in the midst of processing returns, having new legislation makes it difficult. host: you mentioned processing -- delays. i want to go to your report. telephone and in-person service, we talked about that. online access to taxpayers. and tax professionals. e-file. irs transparency. return oversight, the appeals of overseas taxpayers. lots. and we appreciate your comment and welcome your comments and

questions for erin collins. (202) 748-8000, east and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific. but go to houston, texas. -- let's go to houston, texas. caller: i had a question specifically related to how the irs or state majorities and those multistate walkers, especially in the light of this working environment. my situation, i work for a company based out of chicago over annoying while -- and living in houston, texas. what is the expectation in terms of my residency and working in -- out-of-state? host: your question -- guest:

your question is not alone. for purposes of the federal side, it is not the same issue as the state side. i will plant --punt. we have 50 states. they all have different rules. that -- you have to look at the various states but i suspect all the states are trying to texel -- tackle this. do you pay your taxes with texas or the other state you are talking about -- illinois. a lot of states are trying to figure out where is your residency and where is your place of employment? what are the requirements? host: with more people working remotely and setting up offices, are you seeing more questions about how can i deduct this as office space? guest: a lot of people will look

at, as an employee, you have a different ability to deduct things. that will be a question. are you entitled to a home office? how do you deduct that? the irs is trying to standardize those but if you're working at home, you need to look at what are the advantages, that you might be able to deduct. host: let's hear from -- before i do that, how do people contact your office? guest: if you go on to -- we have a separate area within the irs website. it -- there is a section on who to calm -- contact or where to contact and it will pull up the different states and local members of various offices.

-- numbers of various offices. host: mary in potomac, maryland. caller: in discussing the debt ceiling problems, bear are considering -- social security and medicare. how likely is it that that can happen and social security can go through and how is that they are not speaking about the rich paying their fair share of taxes. and also, major corporations, they are making windfall profits, taking advantage of the covid situation, and getting by with all those profits while the social security the majority of

people -- security, the majority of people, who benefit, after putting down money in defined to begin with, it is possible -- what is the likelihood of that? host: a more political question for you. guest: that is something be irs, -- the irs, cannot deal with. prs administers the law and the irs can do a better job collecting. that has been an issue that has been raised over the last couple years, if you look at the outstanding obligations and there are a lot of larger individuals who have -- they have filed returns reflecting they owe x dollars but they have not paid so that is the irs can do better with. with respect to the rest of the question, i don't control congress and i cannot tell them what to do with respect to

social security but we can make suggestions and we push that our number one concern is protecting taxpayer rights and do it. -- do it fairly. host: the house passed a bill that expanded the additional funding by the administration, or $80,000 -- 80,000 irs employees and potentially those employees have gone to your your effort -- to your effort. guest: that legislation, the good news is they left a portion for service and modernization. those things are key to the success up -- of taxpayers to have a working tax demonstration. brs needs to rebuild itself so that is the part we focus on, the service and modernization and in respect to enforcement, our biggest concern that the --

is that the irs do it fair -- fairly. host: n/a texas, good morning -- in texas, good morning. caller: this is bob. i have been trying to get in touch with the irs. i mailed my information to them in april 10. i have not heard a word on my refund. i am trying to find out who i can contact and every time they call them -- i called them, they hang up on me. any information from you? host: your situation is ideal from getting help from -- for getting help from my office. you can go to my website and look at the section on who to contact or where to contact or where we are located.

once you go in there, find the city and state nearest to you and contact them. there is a fax number and a telephone number and they should be able to assist you. if you filed your return in april and have not heard anything, i suspect there is an issue in processing. there could be something in the problem of the return or it has been tagged as potential identity theft, in which case, you need to let the irs know that it is you and you filed the return so reach out the local -- to be local offices -- the local office. host: here is the text from washington dc, saying -- guest: that might be something

you could reach out to our office so we have a office -- an office in d.c.. you can see if we can help intervene. host: to darren in florida. you're on the air, go ahead. caller: you are an american patriot. i am a ceo of a major corporation with 30,000 employees. worldwide. i think, we have to preserve social security for everyone who paid into it and i also believe that, it is not a savings account, it is a guaranteed account. i cannot begin to tell you how much you touch my soul because i have been fighting for this for a long time. host: pat is up next in all have

-- in ohio. caller: my question is, why it is the tax code so cumbersome -- why is the text so so cumbersome and drawn out -- tax code so cumbersome and drawn out. guest: that is a question i have. when do you look at the tax code and if you pile it up, it is probably a good 6-8 inches when you look at the various code sections. it is extremely complex and the challenge taxpayers and tax professionals have is trying to understand the consequences and how the code applies. you are not the only one in this position and we looked at that as a serious challenge for taxpayers as to how do you apply

with the law? how do you even comprehend all the changes and there is a lot in there. even tax professionals struggle with it. host: you talked about the technological challenges the irs has an you mentioned the amount of paperwork. it seems there is a lot of paperwork involved in filing taxes. even the simplest 1040 form. guest: it is a lot of paper and last year, i went to a campus city. i give the employees huge kudos that they go into the office and worked because when you walk in, there are mounds of paper, so much paper that has been backed up, it fills the hallways and cafeterias and conference rooms. walking into the campus, knowing you are chipping away at the pile and today is the kickoff of the 2023 filing fees until new

returns will come through the door. it is a difficult position and we have technical issues. they need to move towards a paperless environment. whether it be more e-filing, or if it comes through the door, they can scan it electronically. host: we will hear from kathleen. caller: i love e-filing but that is my point. i point is the roth ira. -- my point is the roth ira. the secure act meant the congress could diminish the roth ira payoff. what teachers are able to do to do long-term planning and long-term saving and middle-class families who have roth iras and want to leave to

their children and great-grandchildren, the secure act is so damaging. my specific question is not answered by my legislator and my senators, minnesota, legislator and senators have no interest in answering the question up what must the ira forms being so the roth ira -- for a disadvantage grand time -- grandchild who have a long-term payoff, whether it is the form, or the standard, is any of it set question -- set? messy and mean and it is hard on teachers and long-term planners. very cruel. guest: that is partly due to the legislation -- host: the bill passed last year.

guest: how do you implement the changes? it sounds like you are not happy with the changes and it sounds like -- i think you are not alone but irs.gov is a place to start. i will have one of my folks looking at, when -- can we assist in getting better guidance on a website so thank you for the suggestion. host: when something like that passes in congress, the skirt act or other legislation that affects texas -- secure act or other legislation that affects texas --taxes, how quickly are you briefed? guest: many legislators reach out to us. one of the biggest challenges the irs has, can you implement what changes are proposed?

the more congress can communicate with the irs, and even practitioners, -- i wholeheartedly recommend that congress reach out and get comments from us. host: we are joined by erin collins, a national taxpayer advocate and we welcome your questions and comments at (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001, that is the mountain and pacific line. kathy is up next. caller: thank you for taking my call. one thing i really want to comment on, and i have a question. they keep saying that these corporations are not paying their fair share. the tax code gives them the right to write off the expenses and other applicable deductions.

if you change the code, then you will not have that issue, but that is up to the people that make the tax code. that is a misnomer. my next thing is, is it true that the are your rest destroyed -- irs destroyed thousands of documents, and i keep hearing that all the time. if that is the case, what is involved and if they did that and the taxpayer has already disposed of their are you still liable to produce those returns again? guest: i believe you are making reference to which was very publicize that the irs shredded i think it was more like

millions of 1099 forms after the texture -- tax year hadn't closed. i believe they thought they weren't necessary to enforce tax laws and move forward. there are questions and people have been looking into it. i personally don't believe the irs should be destroying records unless they put it in an electronic format and uploaded it. that is an issue that has been debt and not a typical think the irs does. host: how long should we keep our tax records? guest: it depends. let's say you purchased a home and you have had it for 20 years and it was $200,000. certain home improvements increase the base which would decrease the amount of tax you have to pay. you held the home 20 years and you need 20 years of the to establish that.

if it is just a w-2 wage earner with no other assets, typically three years is the time to hold your records at which point you can destroy them. a lot of people hold onto them just in case because you just never know. it depends on what is on your return. host: question for dave in dalton, georgia says which group of taxpayers pays the most and least and which gets audited the least and most? guest: it depends. if you look at the high net worth individual, there are a lot of provisions in the tax code that give them ability to take certain deductions, so they may not pay as much compared to a lower income folks. with respect to the audits, unfortunately the two highest brackets of people being audited are those over 10 million and those under 50,000.

that is a very odd dichotomy. if you are going to have audits, you need to be fair and do it evenly across the board or ramp up as income gets larger, rather than having the highest percentage of the low end. host: do you do seasonable -- seasonal hiring for employees? guest: the irs used to have seasonal but with the challenges they are light that those who hire seasonal become full-time because there is no downtime that the irs. host: because of this backlog? guest: yes, it is not that they are just busy january to april, they are busy 12 months out of the year. host: we will go to karen in california. caller: i contacted the taxpayer advocacy office and was given a case number when my district

would take me up to fresno. i am unable to contact them. every time i call, i received a message that tells me they will call me back. i never received a call back. i called my congressman's office in my congressman told me i am supposed to send an amended tax return but i have no idea what i am supposed to do to amend my tax return. they are refusing to respond to me. the reason i called is because they denied processing that for me. they gave me an excuse that they thought maybe identity theft was involved.

i got an answer before i went to the advocacy and the congressman's office, now that i have, i can no longer access anybody. i am told that, the record is now through these two offices and the only way you can contact us is through these two offices, but then i can't contact because i am continually receiving a message missing -- machine. host: let's let erin collins respond. guest: i apologize if you haven't had an answer from our office. our office is inundated as well. that is no excuse why people haven't gotten back to you at all. this is exactly the type of situation a lot of people across the country are facing and one

we should be able to help you. if you reach out to the local offices and go again to the website, it should list what we call a local taxpayer advocate that the head of the office. if you cannot get your case agent or advocate to call you back, call ahead and elevate it up to my office so we can get you some help. i apologize for that we need to get you help. host: to bill in texas. go ahead. caller: yes, can ms. collins come to file my taxes? i don't have no one to help me with my taxes. it is 2020, 2021. can she help me?

host: he is near san antonio. guest: we have offices, and the irs has a program they were per -- referred to as vita. some of them will do it virtual. i would recommend you try to find your local vita organization, and they may be able to help you virtually so you don't have to leave your home. it would be easier for them to do with that way versus to come out to you. if you didn't file your taxes in 2021, you want to make sure you received your stimulus. reach out to those folks. host: next israel in saint -- next is ray in st. paul, minnesota. caller: my son filed his taxes

for 2021, probably in february, and he never got a check back until november. i went so far as to call my state rep and got them working on it. when i would call the irs, i couldn't get a hold of anybody. you would sit on the phone for three or four hours and nobody would answer and it says go to the website. you go to the website and all the things they prompt you to do, they say we can't help you. all i wanted to do was ask a question, did you get it? is there a problem on it? this has been going on for many years. i remember dealing with the irs 20 years ago, and you would sit on the phone and wait and wait. i don't the irs did a big computer upgrade, and that was probably 20 years ago.

you get $21 billion a year just to take our money and you still can't get proper service. host: it seems like a lot of the questions are just getting the phone answered. guest: that is why we talked about it in the annual report. the irs, a decade ago, was closer to the 60% to 70% range. pre-pandemic was 35% of phone calls answered which is incredibly low. during the pandemic, one out of every 10 calls were answered. there is huge frustration and i can hear it in the gentleman's voice. secretary yellen, at the inflation reduction act funds, has said that should be a number one priority and the goal should be closer to 80% of calls should

be answered. it will not happen tomorrow. one is resources. if you look at the numbers, the irs would get 80 million to 100 million phone calls a year and they had enough customer service representatives. two years ago, it went up to 282 million, three times as many phone calls with fewer customer service professionals answering it. it is twice as much as it ever has been in the past. we have high volume because people have to have returns processed. it is eight revolving door until they process the paper, you will have more people calling. they have to get that resolved so we can get back to a lower level of incoming calls and increase the level of service. host: is there a partial

solution less than the phone and a more robust presence online? this is how people are doing business. is that something the irs is looking towards? guest: yes, and that is something i have been pushing since the day i got there. i spent 20 years in private practice and as a practitioner helping my clients, best thing for me would be to go online and get access to the data. we have been pushing pretty hard for what i call a robust online account. i do envision the irs is having equal or better in a financial institution. how many of us walk into a bank anymore? most of us do it online. i would like to see the irs, not only access records but get correspondence and respond and maybe chat with customer service

through an online account. with this additional funding, i am hoping it comes to the top of the pile for prioritization. host: we will hear from troy calling from mount vernon, new york. caller: i am a tax professional and i am talking about amended returns. a lot of clients move by the time the returns are processed. what are they going to do in the area? guest: i am sure you know this and knowing is easier than having your client to it, but if they move they need to contact the irs with the change of address. that is easier said than done. that is a challenge that by the time the irs gets around to processing since there is such a delay, a lot of times they have moved in the irs is not able to

locate them and that is a real challenge and partially the taxpayer needs to notify the irs so they make sure it happens. they need to be more timely so we don't end up in that situation. host:, calling from somerset, massachusetts -- tom, calling from somerset, massachusetts. caller: i have a question for you. i tried working by the mail with you guys. i went -- i have to pay additional tax and i sent a check and return by mail. i usually get it in early, before april, and down the road after april, i get a letter from you, from the irs and it tells

me, if you don't send us your return, you didn't cash the check but i get from my bank that shows it was processed. the process the check in you guys put the money into your account. and then the letter says if you don't find within a certain amount of time, your return will be disqualified, whatever, and that money will be like it's never existed. the letter says -- and the thing was, they never return that they got the check. host: they got your check? caller: they thought it -- they got it but it says they never got the return. guest: your situation is not

uncommon. they may have the return sitting in one of those piles and haven't gotten around to processing it but the computer doesn't know it. the computer it sends out an automated generated letter saying don't have your return, probably indicating they have the payment but it is a problem of the paper getting caught up with the computer and vice versa. last february the irs postponed or suspended those letters because it was very confusing to taxpayers. the computer has to stop sending letters until they get caught up. as of right now, all of those letters should be suspended. host: is the taxpayer better off making the initial filing online rather than sending in paperwork? guest: at all if you can, e-file is the last way to go. it will process weaker and less chance you will lose the paper

somewhere, or more importantly the timeliness. host: in some areas of the country, there have been reported increases in mailbox theft. is the irs cognizant of that being a potential issue for people who use those postal boxes to drop off their returns? guest: i think identity theft and thefts of payments and other things is a huge issue. you have a lot of personal information on those tax returns. i understand people being uncomfortable using electronic filing, but at the same time electronic filing is probably more secure in that sense. having paper going through various processing going to the post office to be received at the irs, they are both -- we all have concerns about security and it is huge issue. if you want to be secure and

file electronically, you get proof that they have received it immediately. host: your calls are welcome, (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central, and (202) 748-8001 four mountain -- for mountain and pacific. you also released your 2023 recommendations to strengthen taxpayer rights and improve tax administration. what are some of the top we should know about? guest: the purple book as we affectionately call it, a mix of red and blue, because we are trying to be nonpartisan in our recommendations, this goes directly for congressional recommendations to change the law. there are things that are minor. a different rule on timeliness than paper. with think it should have similar rules. one of the -- we think it should

have similar rules. if you are owed money from the government, you are required to go to district court or claims court. that is a harder court for taxpayers to present themselves. about 70% to 80% of people who go to tax court represent themselves, a high percentage. the text court is comfortable working pro se and have special procedures if the issue is less than $50,000, a much more informal procedure. district court and claims court is more formal. i would highly recommend you hire a lawyer if you have to go that route which makes it more expensive. a recommendation for congress we are making is consider giving tax court jurisdiction to hear refund cases so that the normal people, we can all go to tax court.

for individuals, the tax is a lot better venue. host: are there tax court throughout the country? guest: the national is in d.c., but they go out across the country and they have what they call "trial sessions." for something like los angeles or new york, two calendar sessions per month. some smaller areas like honolulu and alaska, one or two a year. host: sergio is up next in pompano beach, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: good morning, ms. collins, how are you? guest: i am good. thank you. host: sergio, are you there? it looks like we lost you. we go to reach in marion, ohio.

caller: what a great weight to solve a problem -- what a great way to solve problems. i know they are trying to get everyone electronic and everyone is not skilled. one thing that happened at the post office, library, they stopped putting them in and you have to get what forms you need ahead of time. you can't walk down at the last minute. it forces over to e-filing which is the game that is going on to have the people do the work for them, which i understand, but it gets abusive. if we multiply the man hours, it is immense that we are put on and it is affecting our happiness. the other thing is, they don't play nice. if you have a check you cash for

a customer, you can't sue them because of the form. that game has been going on for a long time and it drives customers crazy. we have a 50% penalty if you don't do it all. the senior citizens, a 50% penalty for not doing it, when we have checks for covid not coming in and refund. this is people's utility bills and it could be a foreclosure on the house. i know it is money here and there but some people are getting real consequences. host: several things if you want to respond. guest: i certainly understand the complexities of e-filing. not everybody has a computer. now people's smart phones have

become computers and you cannot easily print from your smartphone so i understand that concern. that is why the vita program has those offering time to prepare free returns and they will file them electronically for you. that program is a great group. they also have tax counseling for the elderly that does a similar function, where they offer free services. i believe they have a dollar cut off, around $58,000 and below can use one of these facilities. there is software the irs is looking at that congress asked them to look at for online. it is online and i understand those challenges. the irs offers free filing of your returns at no cost. there are capabilities but i understand a lot of people like the paper and feel more

comfortable having paper. host: for people who make quarterly payments for taxes, are they penalized if they make a late payment? guest: it depends. i am sorry, it is a difficult answer. it depends how much they are late and how much they are short. they could incur additional penalties. most of those are really an interest charge for the tardiness of the payment. host: susan: tomb -- host: to marilyn in florida. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 80 years old and i have been retired for several years. i worked until i was 72 and kept filing tax returns for several years. the last time was in 2015, the tax preparer told me i no longer

had to file taxes because my total income was from my social security and small union pension from my late husband. i wondered if he told me right and i haven't been filing and do not want to get myself into a lot of trouble. i don't have any other income, just that. i just want to know if he told me right and what is the cap? host: to be clear, the last year you tax filed was what year? caller: 2015, i believe. guest: an answer that there is an amount per year that if you are below that amount it is not necessary for you to file a return. the government provided what we called stimulus checks are economic impact payment checks, both in the 2020 and 2021 years, and you have to file a tax return to receive the patient.

you might like to go back to an accountant use the vita program because you might be entitled to money didn't receive. there were three separate payments made and you have to do it within three years of the time you should have filed the turn. in 1920 -- you need to go in before the april date. host: does that make sense? caller: yes, i did receive all three payments. guest: so you may not have to file the returns area i would trust the accountant and if they are telling you you are below the amount, i would feel comfortable with that advice. host: we have peter in las vegas, nevada, go ahead. caller: i appreciate everything you guys do at c-span. how do i know when it comes to the irs if i am a victim of

fraud? i had a letter from the irs in september of last year that stated that i had a back tax and filed something incorrectly that i just received a letter a week ago saying that because i didn't interact with that letter or call, now i/o 9800 -- now i owe $9,800. i called and then some and called me back and there was a dog in the background in they were washing dishes and it felt like a scam. how do i know if it is true or false? guest: the challenge is if you call you are not getting a high percentage of chances it will be answered. that is something you might be able to reach out to my office and they can at least put you in

the right direction as to who you need to talk to to verify that it really is an irs agent and they should be able to check on your transcript if the irs has been contacting you with respect to potential identity theft or outstanding payment or corrections. host: one more call, -- before we get one more call, tax filing season opens today, january 23. we will hear from nick in ann arbor, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i will try to make my most important point first. i hear every word your guest has been telling us. it proves how abysmally inefficient how government is.

what is happening in the irs is what is happening at every other government agency. today she has revealed in her own words how mind bogglingly inefficient the irs is. if all of your viewers think about it, her descriptions of room full of papers, first of all e-filing should be mandatory. the waste is abysmal. some said it was 30% and some senate -- some said it was 10%. either we raise taxes or doublet is what they say in congress. host: erin collins you come from the private sector, and his

claim of inefficiency at the irs and throughout government. guest: it has been a challenge. i originally started in the irs and then on the outside. i see it from both sides of the table. inefficiency is probably a good word. i think the irs could tell you there are reasons why, one of which is budgetary constrictions and have had challenges hiring. our systems are outdated and need to be modernized. additional funding, if applied correctly, i think you will see a different irs in the next three to five years on the moderna nason -- modernization side. they have been limping along with paper and until covid shut the system down, they were getting by. i think everyone is well aware that the irs needs to improve.

host: with tax season starting, we know you will be busy. thank you for making "washington journal" a part of your stop. guest: thank you for having me. host: still ahead, we open phones for your comments. it is open forum. for dem dots, (202) 748-8000. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ >> a yale history professor in an 800 37 page biography of edgar hoover, she writes "i do not account myself as one of

hoover's admirers," but she writes that it is less about judging them than understanding him. he died at age 77 in 1972. gage, who received her phd from columbia, writes that hoover emerged as one of history's great villains, perhaps the most universally reviled american political figure of the 20th century. >> author beverly gage on this episode of book notes plus. book notes plus is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with live proceedings of the u.s. congress, white house

events, campaigns and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal," and find scheduling for the television and radio and compelling podcasts. it is now available at the apple store and google play. c-span, your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. >> the state of the union is strong because you, the american people, are strong. >> president biden delivers his annual state of the union address, outlining his priorities to congress on tuesday, february 7, his first state of the union address since republicans won back the house. watch live state of the union coverage on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> "washington journal"

continues. host: it is open forum, your chance to weigh in with news you are following, capitol hill debates. (202) 748-8000 is line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. this story came out today, the headline, presented to jumps into arizona -- representative jumps into the arizona senate race. "i have been deeply humbled by the encouragement i received from the people of arizona and today i am answering the call to serve," he said in a campaign announcement. let's get to your calls and open forum comments.

shelley in arlington, virginia, go ahead. caller: i wanted to say in regards to the last speaker, and only got the last part of that, that if we don't fund the irs more and don't hire more people, you are not going to get good service and a good update of the computer system the irs uses. i in really shocked that the bill that already passed the house before this term is now being talked about as, we need to defund the irs. that is not going to help the situation. that is my comment, that i find that kind of surprising that it is an obvious problem. i had a problem of my taxes a few years ago and could not reach anyone on the phone. i work for the federal government and couldn't reach anybody.

i eventually had to use the electronic systems like turbotax to do my taxes because if you turn in a paper return, it may never get processed. host: up next is karen, in new hampshire. caller: good morning, sir. i enjoyed this need to ms. collins. i was calling to say, i am in new hampshire and i know in new england that people in other states have things like senior centers that they help people with tax returns for free and if they have angst are called service -- have things that are called a service link that is an entity to help people. cpas don't cost much compared to going to h&r block or something. host: i think ms. collins

mentioned a program that was called vita, and it think it sounds for voluntary income tax assistance. she talked about that and i believe you can find their website along with the irs and may have inks to local -- links to local places where that program is available. caller: i am sorry. i heard her say that. i just hadn't heard about that here in new england. i just knew about the service link and senior centers helping people do that. the last gentleman who called and talked, i totally agree with him. i just wanted to say the last woman who called about the irs agents, i think the funding of money for the new systems is

needed, but not all of the irs agents. that is just my opinion and i thank you very much for your time and the call. host: to spring valley, california, deborah. caller: good morning. i am calling to say that if the republicans go through the debt ceiling fight and start trying to cut services to people, will they take cuts to their own paychecks? i want to know, when will the government consider stopping taxing the social security checks? host: it is open forum on washington journal. rachel, you are on the line. go ahead. caller: i just wanted to make a point about the politics between the democrats and republicans. i think republicans are extremely dumb in politics.

how they can even compare president trump that he did the same thing with the documents when it is actually that biden did much worse. you talk politics, the democrats tend to stick up for the president matter what. the publicans try to even it out, together with the democrats. with the documents, i think biden did much worse having them all over and no one is raiding his home. they say he is cooperating, who says he is cooperating? no one is putting the stand during -- standard of what cooperation means. when president trump said he is ready to cooperate, they went to court and rated his home --

raided his home. host: this is a headline from an opinion piece from william barr. the headline is congressman hope, big tech power grab. he said they have far too much power. lamarck -- lawmakers agree but they have been all talk in no action. tech giants are threatening to use their control for digital platforms to gain the advantage in other markets where competing markets depend on access to those platforms. he writes that over the past 20 years, the scope of personal activities relying on access to digital platforms has mushroomed. a few giant companies have achieved monopoly or near monopoly troll over these platforms -- control over these platforms, including advertising, online marketplace, maps and social media. all of these dominant platforms

pose the same threefold danger, first, they have a chokehold over essential channels of communication and commerce, allowing them to be gatekeepers to the digital world. second, they vacuum up a trove of personal information about users, what they see, hear, think, by. this poses privacy concerns and manipulate users' beliefs and behaviors. third, they distort the market place of ideas. gatekeepers can shape the flow of information to advance their own economic and political agendas. could be that opinion at wsj.com. we will hear from terry on the democrats line in indiana. caller: i want to talk about the lady who was talking about the irs.

she always gives out -- i am 70 years old and don't know anything about the new technology, smartphone or computers, and she gets out a computer address or thing for you to check on. i need a phone number. you just told to call in a little while ago, you need to go to some website. not everybody knows this new technology. i want the phone number it so i can call and found out -- find out what her office is. host: we will go to massachusetts, brian is on the line, republican caller. caller: i want to switch to some more entertainment things. we used to have president nixon trying to call plays from the white house for the washington football team. i would like to have you get on

condoleezza rice, who is making decisions with the denver broncos, and i guess she owns part of it or something like that. she would be a wonderful guest for you to be on -- for you to have her on. host: we are not a sports show, obviously, but in the context of a conversation with ms. rice, if it came up, folks might ask about that. marilyn, -- maryland, it is wesley on the democrats line. caller: i have three things i want to relate to. the first one is, could biden use the nuclear vote to get tax cuts and have the rich people pay their fair taxes? and the second thing is, when

these people voted to out roe v. wade, that is not their duty. the lord said, there will be many that come our way acting as if they army -- they are me but they are not. when they did that with roe v. wade, they committed a sin acting like they were god have no say in other people's rights. host: thank you. this is from the washington post this morning. covid, flu, rsv declining as the triple deming threat -- tri pledemic fades. children had to be treated in hallways and playrooms. hospital leaders floated a plan to enlist the national guard,

set up tents outside. bracing for a looming disaster some of a tripledemic. no such surge materialized. the rsv wave has receded in connecticut and across the country. flu cases have rapidly dwindled. covid hospitalizations roast after christmas only to fall. a physician and chief at connecticut children's in hartfield, i am pleased we are now able to be back to normal staffing, busy but not anything near what we saw in the fall. the post writes, it turns out the early raves of rsv and influenza peaked before the new year. according to the new data from the centers for disease control

and prevention and the uptick of coronavirus is newer close to overwhelming hospitals as it did in 2021 when covid words were filled and last winter when highly transmissible omicron variant ignited a massive wave of illness. david is on the line in highland, texas. hello there. caller: first i would like to comment you for your excellent show. host: thank you. caller: i would like to read one line off of my website. the american people are doomed if we do not place corrupt greedy democrat and republicans with the much more competent u.s. prosperity party so we can end illegal immigration, slow housing costs going up, house the homeless, lower taxes for

u.s. workers, create better schools, cut crime rates in half and and political corruption and make the u.s. better. do you have any questions? host: thanks for the call. eugene is in anderson, south carolina, good morning. caller: what i am calling about is the documents they found with the president. i don't think he would be that dumb and have them move place to place. i think they were planted. i think he is a lot smarter than that, but i wouldn't have that done. host: you think someone planted

the boxes in the locations where they discovered classified documents at those locations? caller: i bet you $100 that it was planted, because he would not do nothing like that. he is the president and he is a smart man and a smart man would not leave boxes starched -- stashed for placed place. host: googles woolworth, louisiana -- we will go to woolworth, louisiana on the independent line. caller: i would like to address the issue with the social security -- i mean irs -- my think is, i am a retired federal employee. we got a notice recently that the irs was changing the way that it calculated our taxes,

from using a form w-4 to a form w-4p. i went into check on the website, and the irs took it upon themselves to designate me, there is an area where you can put down other income which would be not from jobs or annuities and you can estimate how much you are going to beat making that year and they can take taxes out. it estimated me as 8600, which i didn't do it, they did it, and from what i understand, they have done this with all federal retirees, with you are a civilian or military retiree. host: so they designated this

without you being aware of it? caller: without my knowledge, they designated this. from what i am seeing -- i talked to other retirees, and they went in and checked theirs and they did it to them. what they did was, if you were single, they designated a thousand $600, but if you are married, they designated -- 8600 , but if you're are married, they designated $12,000. they are taking taxes out of my federal retirement to offset what they are estimating i am going to be making. i didn't understand it at first. i called and checked and they said they didn't have anything to do with it when they implemented the new system on january 1. they automatically put this down. i am sure -- i would suggest to

any federal retirees whether civilian or military, go to opm and go into your taxes section and check and see if they are doing this to you. everyone i have spoken to that is a federal retiree, they have all checked it and told me, mine was the same way. i am not sure -- first of all i don't think they should be able to do this. host: i hope you find some answers. we have guests and irs officials on the program during tax season . if you don't get an answer, you can call back in there and i appreciate you bringing this to our attention. live coverage on the c-span networks, this afternoon at 1:00 eastern, a conversation on u.s. military readiness with texas republican senator john cornyn at the american enterprise

institute. that is here on c-span, c-span.org or on our free mobile app, c-span now. this evening, about journalists, public trust and media accountability, including the handling of the hunter biden laptop story and language used to describe the january 6 attack on the capitol. about the news literacy project also this evening at 6:30 eastern. in silver spring, maryland, on the democrat line, this is lynn. caller: good morning, bill, thank you very much. happy new year. when i was listening to the tax helper, the thing that keeps coming up is we are being forced and literally forced without options, to do everything online, like the bank closing

your account saying you had to do it online, i fought that. the problem is, we as people, most do not know the hazards of what they are doing. they are not even talking about your security and privacy, i am talking about the effects on our body, like using a phone giving you cancer, looking at computer screens contribute to macular degeneration. it is not that i am ignorant. i used to code and design websites, but i have been off-line since 2017 haven't used a cell phone before that, and we are being penalized if we don't, saying it is only old people who don't know what they are doing. we need freedom here and freedom means we should not be forced, especially by the government, where the stores are closing

because everybody does we think with their phone and online and it will come to the point where it is, now we have digital currency and nothing else. we have known for five years that cell phones were going to become ubiquitous, it means we are not using it. read the converging technology studies from 2000. it was supposed to take 20 years and they finished it in 2010, and you can get it to the government printing office. we don't realize the hazards of this. the reason i got off line was when i learned they were running virtual reality in the background of browser screens. as soon i knew that, it was done. your brain has no firewall for

virtual reality. host: you have been off-line since 2017, how hard is it for you to do day-to-day things in terms of things like banking and other activities like that? you had to be in person or on the phone, correct? >> i haven't been anywhere in three years because of my immune system and date by date it becomes or and more impossible. you can't even get a phone number anymore. i can't call c-span to get my congressional directory anymore, i have to go through a company. i prefer getting it from you, because then i have your information too. people don't give out phone numbers anymore. you can't listen to things by phone. you used to have audio now, but nobody tells people that. host: google to carolyn in vincent, ohio, democrats line.

caller: you had a moment this morning where you talked about how vp harris was doing and i tried and tried to get in, but was unable to get in, but i am very, very impressed with how she is doing. i am retired and i used to be in management and i know what management was like when i got out of college, and it was not an easy road, because females hadn't been in that position that i was in. i just think that we need to think about what we are doing, because i didn't see who asked her the question, it wasn't asking vp harris but at a press briefing where they asked that

they asked why vp harris was doing the talk yesterday, and i thought that was a ridiculous question. i mean, why would she not do that talk? then another time i was watching c-span and -- this went on for so long, it was vp harris taking insurers with the senate, i believe, because you can't take pictures in the place where they were inaugurated or sworn in. host: swearing-in ceremony, sure, yeah. caller: i just thought, wow, that is what we are seeing her

do and she is doing more and her husband, i was impressed with him leading the antisemitic -- it was about antisemitic that he led. host: a couple weeks ago. caller: right, i just had to give my opinion. we all have opinions and i love c-span for allowing us to have all different opinions, because when i was growing up in columbus, ohio, it was that. we all got along, even though we had different opinions, and i loved it. that is all i have to say. host: thanks for that, caroline. this is kathy in cuyahoga falls. caller: thank you so much taking my call. i want to put my opinion out there and my reasoning. i am hoping this might be able to contribute to winning against violence.

my name is kathy and i want to speak about things that happened me in order to bring light to things that happen in our culture that are destroying us and hope fully make a positive impact. instead of getting into the details of what happened in my life on television, i just want to see in the end, my point is that statutory limitations for convictions of sexual assault, i believe are inappropriate for every situation and although it may be appropriate to have the time period for achieving a conviction in jail time, giving victims ability to prosecute sexual assault charges on their own schedule regardless of when or where it happens is not only appropriate but it is the best path for helping those affected by violent crimes to recover and thrive. additionally, feel that sexual

predators will be more vulnerable to eventual reporting, which in turn should lead to decrease in sexual assaults. that is my huge hope and for taking my call. host: gary is on the line in monterey, texas. caller: good morning. thank you. i just wanted to point out the davo's group, the climate group trying to tell us and shame us about conserving energy while they are blowing it everywhere. they aren't speaking about the wars and militaries and bombs they are blowing up everywhere, but they want to tell us about their mansions they all live in. it is really hypocrisy at its best, and people need to wake up and see this every time someone starts to shame you about doing

a better host: that will wrap it up for this morning. thanks for all your calls and comments. "washington journal" back here tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. we hope you are, too. in the meantime, have a great day. ♪ >> here's a look at our live coverage today on c-span. at 1 p.m. eastern, one republican senator discusses china, russia, and military readiness. then, at about 2:35 eastern, the white house press secretary

takes reporter questions on news topics of the day. at six: 30 p.m. eastern, journalists discuss media accountability and public trust. the event is being hosted by the news literacy project here in washington, d.c. you can also watch all of this on our free mobile video app, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> congrs turns this week for legislative work. the u.s. senate retnsater today at three p.m. eastern. laaks will hold a confirmation vote for brendan owens toe the defense seety in charge of energy needs. nebraska republican senator will be expected to be sworn in, replacing the former senator. house returns tomorrow. members willoton legislation later in the week, barring from the president fromeleasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve for non-emergency

purposes without a plan to crease federal drilling and public land. you can also watch on our free video app, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> preorder your copy of the congressional directory for the 118th congress. it is your access to the federal government, with bio and contact information for every house and senate member, important information on congressional committees, the president's cabinet, and state governors. skin the code on the right to preoerour copy today for early spring delivery. it i $29.95 plus shipping and handling. every purchase help support our nonprofit services, at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications.