commissioner koskinen: yes, but no penalty. interest rate goes at the government interest rate which is very, very low. that's all i have. senator carper. senator carper: not that i don't want to encourage people to pay on time because the interest rate is low and your response toe senator johnson's questions explaining how people can file online and ask for an installment payment and pay no penalty and cost of borrowing is low. that seems to be using common sense and seems to be freeting people the way i want to be treated. good for you. when i had to walk out -- i serve on the committee, and subcommittee and has the jurisdiction of the united states and i wanted to be there for that. i walked in and you were responding to senator lankford's questions, what do we need to be doing. i'm going to ask you and this is important and i want to make sure. in terms of what we can be doing, to enable you and your folks to do a better job. i just want to have you hit it again. >> this was in the context of what we can do and this has bee

koskinen: yes. senator lankford the law prohibits employers from reimbursing or providing financial employers -- sorry, to employees -- to help them pay for and individually purchased plan. so someone says they are going to go on the general market. the employer will provide them some sort of amount. in the past, small businesses would say, i cannot afford a policy. but i will find a way to help you do that. my understanding is that not -- is not legal anymore. are you aware what the tax policy is? mr. koskinen: it is my understanding that is a tax policy. that is a policy set by the treasury department in response to statutory language. senator lankford: does the irs carry out the penalty part of the? mr. koskinen: once someone has decided what the policy is, the tax administration is our responsibility. to the extent rules are set, we are responsible for administering them. so the penalties would be our responsibility. senator lankford: so at this point, there is a consequence that could come down

koskinen. [applause] commissioner koskinen: that was such a thorough introduction, that that's my speech, i'm ready to take questions. i appreciate the warm welcome, i'm delighted to back your the national press club. i was intrigued as i was last year by the desserts. my desert is a cookie that seems to be not quite the image i would like. it is a dollar with wings flying away. [laughter] commissioner koskinen: this one is a 1040. we are flexible, but you cannot file your returns on a cookie. there was some indication in a periodical that i had -- i was a super fan of duke and that i would no doubt regale you with stories of this year's final four. the way i did last year. to clear the record up, last year, i did note my affiliation with duke and apologized for the fact that we had ruined everybody's brackets by not quite making it at the final four and not making it beyond the first game. i thought that if i read your brackets, it was my fault. this year, if we ruined your brackets, you are g

commissioner koskinen: you do not add both to 95. senator johnson: i am try to extrapolate what it will be in the future. commissioner koskinen: the shared responsibility payment is geared to go up and that is designed to encourage people to get health insurance. senator johnson: i am trying to figure out -- extrapolate with that payment will be. it is the greater of $325 or 2% of income. is that correct? commissioner koskinen: we think it goes to 2%. we will have to make that clear. either way, the statutory framework provides that the payment goes up if you do not have coverage in the second year to a reasonable higher amount than for the first year. it will be increasingly encouraging people to buy health insurance. senator johnson: here's my point. what gets laid out there is $95, the $325, the $695. that is the number and the percentage of income, the greater of. the income is what drove it so the average penalty was 1.8 times that minimum $95, so if you extrapolate that, it is $88 and if you double that it will be 1100 -- $1186

there in your screen is john koskinen. he will be talking about how his agency is dealing with budget cuts. they are just getting started. commissioner koskinen: half of the book is dedicated to tax codes. there is a quotation from the book that we pulled. it says, "the power to tax is the one great power upon which the whole national fabric is based. it is no airy to the existence -- as necessary to the existence and prosperity of a nation as is the air he breathes to natural man, and it has the power to destroy, but also to keep alive." i thought it was a good quotation to kick off today's event. clearly, the rs continues to be an essential part of our government, responsible for collecting taxes on about 18% of our economy. the commissioner is the 48 commissioner and manages a budget of approximately $11 billion. and it's a budget, i'm sure you will allude today that is shrinking in the past four or five years, or more. prior to coming to the irs, he served as the nominate of -- nominal chairman of fannie mae and freddi

john koskinen: that is our concern.hen i got there, the deputy and i had been talking about what the vision of the future ought to be. the answer to that question, what should the irs look like. i started looking at the demographics. when i got the charts it showed, it became clear to me that we have a significant problem. again my point about guerrilla work fighting its way through if we don't do something about this and we keep being constrained, and we look at the aging workforce, we will go out of business one day. we are going to have this significant challenge. let's assume flat funding which hasn't been the case. the good news is things will not get a lot worse, the bad news is they will not get significantly better. we have to find ways to make even modest investments in information technology to try to move more and more people on the web to get better services quickly and to try to move them out of the channels of calling us. and coming into the taxpayer assistance centers so that the people who need to get a

koskinen said we are going to do less with less. and that's a disposition and an attitude that i think is under performing. >> all right. congressman, right after today's hearing "on the "on the record's" griff jenkins spoke directly with irs commissioner koskinen. here is what he said. >> our goal was to provide as much taxpayer service as we could with the funds we had. we tut our enforcement activities raised question should i be publicizing that you have to understand that we are not just taking it out of taxpayer service. we actually have serious problems in enforcement and we have no choice. we had it to in fact run this filing season. we had to implement the foreign account tax compliance. we had to implement the back end of the affordable care act. that money wasn't willy-nilly just easily moved. we knew it was not going to help taxpayer service. if the filing season it gone badly this hearing would have been why did you do that? why didn't you take money elsewhere and make sure the filing season worked? we had no choice. th

. >> koskinen reminded members his decision to spend it on it was statatorily mandated.epublicans admonictsed koskinen for a recent speech that the irs has to do less with less. >> you cannot go to the troops and tell the troops the things have never been darker days have never been longer, winters have never been colder you know what? we have a solution to that. we'll just do less with less. >> one sympathetic democrat told koskinen the answer is to increase funding. you can't get blood from a turnip. >> the irs may be a contentious issue on capitol hill else where up there, there appears to be a growing sense of bipartisan accomplishment. hard to believe but it's happening. senior political analyst brit hume is here with the era of good feeling. >> it's too soon to say a new day has dawned on capitol hill. but there is definitely light on the horizon. yesterday, john boehner leaned over and kissed nancy pelosi. that was unusual enough so was the event they were attending. a signing ceremony for a bill passed on a bipartisan basis. the senate reached a compromise allowi

koskinen. you talked about the budget cuts.rform audits and resources for audits, how do you determine who gets audited? it would seem the people who owe the most money would be higher on the priority list but that is not always the case? >> for those of you not at the top of the food chain making a lot of money, do not rest comfortably that we're not coming after you, as well. our audits serve an important function, which is to have wçk?5úi%'(boky!áz taxpayers, as they pay their taxes, feel comfortable that everybody is paying their fair share. if you're trying to cut corners, we are going to notice that, find it, and we will be unhappy about it. so we need to actually demonstrate our focus on taxpayers across the entire income spectrum. because tax repairs are very quzarj)1)qv will notice if they have taxpayers in certain income brackets who don't get audited very often or at all. and that will simply encourage people to take risks that they otherwise shouldn't take. so we have an -- every year we review our exam plan to see

. >> koskinen reminded members his decision to spend it on it was statatorily mandated. republicans admonictsed koskinen for a recent speech that the irs has to do less with less. >> you cannot go to the troops and tell the troops the things have never been darker days have never been longer, winters have never been colder you know what? we have a solution to that. we'll just do less with less. >> one sympathetic democrat told koskinen the answer is to increase funding. you can't get blood from a turnip. >> the irs may be a contentious issue on capitol hill else where up there, there appears to be a growing sense of bipartisan accomplishment. hard to believe but it's happening. senior political analyst brit hume is here with the era of good feeling. >> it's too soon to say a new day has dawned on capitol hill. but there is definitely light on the horizon. yesterday, john boehner leaned over and kissed nancy pelosi. that was unusual enough so was the event they were attending. a signing ceremony for a bill passed on a bipartisan basis. the senate reached a compromise allo

that is simply unacceptable. >> reporter: koskinen says budget cuts are to blame for the short staffing. and many tax filers finding out the hard way. >> i called the irs friday morning with what i thought was a pretty simple refund question. >> reporter: 44 minutes, then 63. jennifer norman instagramming her time waiting. >> and it ended up being on hold about an hour and 12 minutes before i talked to somebody. >> reporter: long waits in person, too. this line outside a dallas irs office in march. even the irs' own tax paiser advocate group admitting that americans could be facing the worst levels of service since 2001. so how can you make this year a little less taxing? first, use the irs website for answers to the most common questions. next, don't leave money on the table. >> people are either not claiming deductions for which they qualify, or they're not using credits that are available to them. >> reporter: and finally, watch those typos. using direct deposit gets you your refund faster, but only if your bank routing and account numbers are correct. rebecca jarvis, abc news, new y

in fact commissioner koskinen's own words could come back to haunt him in this hearing today.commissioner koskinen told a senate hearing a couple weeks ago on tax day. >> customer service is far worse than anyone would want. simple matter not having enough people to answer the phones and provide services at our walk-in sites. as a result of the cuts in our budget. >> reporter: well today this ways and means subcommittee will present a new majority report to commissioner koskinen that shows, this is direct quote, the irs deliberately cut 134 million in funding for customer service to pay for other activities. spending decisions entirely under irs's control led to 16 million fewer taxpayers receiving irs assistance this filing season. other spending choices prioritizing employee bonuses an union activity on the taxpayer's dime. used up resources that otherwise could have been used to assist another 10 million taxpayers. now it is true that congress imposed budget cuts on irs in part to cut back on what republican led congress believed was unsustainably high spending but because

commissioner john koskinen blaming the poor service on slashed budget and poor staffing. >> people needtand the ir is going to have to do less with less. it means both enforcement and tax payer service will suffer. >> the problem is our levels of staffing are insufficient to deliver on our mission. >> despite commissioner coulds kin koskinen aeshg claims they are still spending your money. they are blasting them for multi-million dollar purchases by the agency including $4.3 million on market research and public opinion polling. over 8,000 dollars on a stair climber exercise machine thousands of dollars on decorative and give away items like stuffed animals toy footballs and thomas the tank engine rubber band wrist bands for manager's meetings. on top of all of that they spent nearly $4 million on office furniture. while the irs is busy spending tax dollars you have to file today or file your extension by midnight tonight. heather ainsley, back to you ladies. >> the clock is ticking. >> i cannot believe all of that waste. it's ridiculous. >> thank you so much jackie. to extreme weather

koskinen, thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. i wasn't sure of the choreography, so i was just sitting here. thank you howard. so thank you very much howard and thanks to the tack policy center the urban -- tax policy center the urban institute and brookings for inviting us here and featuring the irs budgetary column p ma on -- dilemma on tax day this year. perhaps you're doing that in the spirit that those of us who are associated with taxes are definitely in a challenging endeavor, and april is as good a time as any to commemorate that. so thank you. i'm also delighted to be participating with this panel. they're all well established tax experts, and eric and david as well part of their distinguished careers were at the service where they are still fondly remembered. and it's always a pleasure to be on a panel with nina who is simply our most important, trusted adviser and comment tater. commentator. and nina is a black belt at keeping the experie

john koskinen is the irs commissioner and in a speech yesterday he said more than $1 billion has been slashed from his budget in the past five years. koskinen estimates the government has lost $2 billion in revenue because there are fewer audits and he says 60% of the taxpayers who call the irs cannot reach anyone to help them. he calls that an abysmal level of service. >>> coming up at 6:00, a battle between history and a push to ease traffic jams. a local road project not dead yet but adam tuss reports why it is now a long shot. >>> punishment for the substitute teacher charged with fondling middle school students. why his plea deal almost fell through in court today. loudoun county where fuzz 4 has lerped the death of a baby rushed from this townhouse to the hospital last october has been ruled a homicide. why that baby's father is not be >>> i'm chris lawrence at the live desk. more breaking news in the murder of a capitol hill lawyer at the donovan hotel. we have learned not only who police have arrested for that murder but what led them to her as well. her name is area mira goum

koskinen thank you very much for that very interesting talk. the plan here is the commissioner and i will chat for about ten minutes and then you all will have about ten minutes to ask some questions. i'm going to ask you to please make them questions and not speeches since there's a limited amount of time. in respect of your fellow audience members, just keep them as questions. >> you can send me the speeches afterwards. >> absolutely. and then the panel will come up and they'll have an opportunity to discuss this. commissioner, i want to start by saying i didn't think you could make yourself less popular but then you had to talk about going to duke. i couldn't help but notice that in the last few days two candidates have announced for president. one of them said this -- the irs is too big, too powerful, and we should absolutely scrap the code. another place he said we should axwolbolish the irs and preserve our liberty. and the other said i think we ought to aboshl the irs. to try to put this in corporate terms, and i know it's not an exact a

commissioner john koskinen of the internal revenue service.the "newshour". >> thank you. >> woodruff: let me just start this interview by cite ago couple of numbers we have on taxpayers' experiences with the i.r.s. this year. we know last year 70% of the people who tried to get through with a question were successful. this year that's down to fewer than 40%. the average wait time for taxpayers trying to get through to the i.r.s. with questions shot up from 10 minutes last year to 24 minutes this year. hat has -- what has happened? >> the short answer is congress cut our budget and we have fewer people available to answer the phone. >> woodruff: flush that out for us. how much of a budget cut, what does that mean and how many -- >> well, over the last five years, our budget has been cut by $1,000,000,200 million. in december of this year, the last 350 million cut was provided. only nine months left in the year, so difficult chase is. 70% of our budget is personnel. we would not hire new personnel. we also wouldn't hire for as long a period of t

commissioner koskinen: i do. senator johnson: thank you. he served as the nonexecutive chair of freddie mac from 2008 to 2012 and is acting chief executive officer in 2009. commissioner. commissioner koskinen: thank you. senator johnson: is your mic on? mic check. commissioner koskinen: thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. in the spirit of without objection, i would like to have my entire testimony submitted to the record and give you a brief synopsis. subject of today's hearing, irs and publication of the tax related provision of the informal is an important one and it is discussed in detail in my written testimony. before addressing the affordable care act and because today is april 15 as the chairman noted i would like to provide the committee with an update on the tax return filing season. i would also like to note and today marks the 60th anniversary of the april 15 tax deadline. congress moved the deadline back from march 15 two april 15 starting in 1955 to provide more time for processing tax returns. in some way

koskinen, it's great to see you. you have a tough job. our jobs are not easy. you have a really tough job. i just want to say thank you for your willingness to do this to continue to serve the people of your country and our thanks to those who are on the team that you lead for the difficult work that they do. we don't make your job any easier. we don't make your job any easier because we don't fully fund the work that needs to be done, whether it's providing service to people or whether it's actually doing the audits and so forth to make sure people are paying what they ought to be paying. we wait until late passing tax code changes until it's well beyond any kind of reasonable deadline. we provide uncertainty to the tax code and we expect you to come along and clean it up after us. cartoon character who said we've seen the enemy and it is us. many of the concerns recited by our chairman can be really laid at our feet. my hope is that he will be able to help his quaunt. people call our office every day for help in variety of areas. one of the areas that people

commissioner koskinen is the irs is 48 commissioner. he manages approximate 90,000 employees with a budget of approximately $11 billion, a budget as i'm sure he will lead to today that has been shrinking over the last five years or so maybe more than five years. previous to coming to the irs he served as the nonexecutive chairman of freddie mac from 2008-2012 and a fact chief executive officer in 2009. prior to that he was the president of the u.s. soccer foundation. a lot to talk with you on that one. is also served as deputy mayor and city administrator of washington, d.c., assistant to the president and chair of the president's council on year 2000 version and deputy director for management at the office of management and budget. he has also 21 years of private sector experience in various leadership positions helping to turn around large troubled organizations, detecting a pattern. the idea for the commission to give a keynote speech and then we will follow up with a panel discussion moderated by howard gleckman. on that panel will

koskinen: i do. senator johnson: prior to his appointment, john koskinen served as commissioner of freddie mac and it's acting chief executive officer in 2009. is your microphone on? mr. koskinen: you might actually like to hear this. members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i would like to have my entire testimony submitted for the record and give you a brief synopsis. subject to today's hearing the provisions of the affordable care act are important and described in detail in my testimony. before addressing the affordable care act and because today is april 15, i would like to provide the committee with an update on the tax return filing season. i would also like to note that today marks the 60th anniversary of the april 15 tax deadline. congress moved the deadline back from march 15 to april 15 in 1955 to provide more time for processing tax returns. in some ways, this is like the start of a dickens novel. the best of times, the worst of times. but begin

commissioner koskinen: about 20 to 30 minutes.enator mccaskill: and once they answer the phone, what are the answers you are able to give after these are coney and cut -- these are coney and cuts? commissioner koskinen: about 60% of the calls are not going through. when the system gets overloaded and we know you are going to be there too long, you will simply get disconnected. you aggravate the problem because people will have to call back. on average, people are calling back to her three or four times just to get into the q2 weight 30 minutes. -- just to get into the line to wait 30 minutes. host: the chances of being audited by our -- by the irs because of budget cuts are now less than 1%. don from greenville, ohio, independent line. you're on the air. caller: i just was on, but i must not have gotten disconnected. i was talking about another problem and i think this has to do with supreme court judges. i would like the people of the united states to be able to -- if they run and they like the president, the people of the united

as a result koskinen says 40 percent of tax payer calls are in person and lines and help centers are getting very long. republican senator orrin hatch had little sympathy offering the agency budget saving tips including no paid vacations for irs employees who owe back taxes or employees who have serious conduct issues. he also suggest stop spending millions of dollars on organized labor activities. democrats claim the irs budget cuts were revenge for the agency's targeting of conservative groups and they say it back fired ultimately hurting taxpayers. senator hatch said they spent money on thomas the tank engine rubber wrist bands should prioritize spending. >> you would think. thank you so much, ashley. >>> from one candidate to another the scandal around the va. the department sends regional offices a memo instructing them how to cook the books making old claims from veterans look newer. the philadelphia office used that memo to justify rescinding dates of claims hiding how old they really are. that increased delays by an average of 10 months. >> the new jersey teacher suspended to

commissioner john koskinen spoke yesterday at the national press club saying billions of dollars in budget cuts has meant major cuts in the number of extra hires during this busy tax season. now more than half of taxpayers who call the irs can't reach a live person to get help. >> as the serious ramifications of five years of budget cuts become increasingly visible i don't want anyone to say that we didn't warn you in advance. so consider this your warning. >> the commissioner added that this is a truly abysmal level of service. >>> wounded veterans are shining a spotlight on the challenges they face every day. hundreds supporters of the wounded warrior project gathered on the lincoln memorial. they say the current generation of wounded veterans face enormous challenges and shouldn't do it alone. they're enlisting the public's help to find solutions. one supporter was badly burn nd the ed in the 9/11 attack at the pentagon. >> recovering physically, economic empowerment issues, transition to the new career and working from a status of surviving to thriving. >> today's event is part of a wo

. >> we had john koskinen, who is now the commissioner of irs very arrogant in front of oversight committees lois lerner role targeting conservatives they didn't like he said two weeks ago the irs is ignoring 60% of the phone calls because they don't have resources or money to answer them. but they have money for this. >> don't even bother calling today. >> weren't the ones that did the "star trek" video? >> yes they were the training video. >> we were sitting on that talking about government accountability office overspending, wasteful spending. shrimp on the treadmill. where does it all end? we need accountability. >> shrimp on the treadmill. that is why they are using treadmills to get shrimp going right? >> why we laugh about it, harris americans trying to put food on table pulling their paycheck, getting money taken out of their pocket to pay for stuff like this when they can't buy toys. >> physically on this day of the year on tax day i think andrea hit nail on head in all searness when you talk about obamacare, when you see your taxes paying for that, in certain income categories, and

and tonight it only right here "on the record," irs commissioner john koskinen and peter ross, the congressmanwant to shake your head in disgust. bonuses, unions and he obamacare, that's what the irs is spending millions of dollars on all while ignoring your phone calls for help. in the height of tax season. congress has in fact cut our revenues and resources to a point that we are not as effective as we ought to be. >> you can't run around town and telling everybody you are out of money and that's the reason you can't do your job.

. >>> coming up tomorrow here on c-span3, irs commissioner john koskinen testifies on health care law implementation as tax filing season comes to a close. live coverage gets under way at 10:00 eastern. then live at 2:00, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, samantha power, appears before house appropriations subcommittee to talk about state and foreign operations spending for 2016. next c-span's conversation with new member of congress republican ryan zinke of montana. the former navy s.e.a.l., and pac-10 football player talks about being raised by his grandmother, playing football, and fighting in iraq. this interview from the congressman's capitol hill office is about 25 minutes. >> congressman ryan zinke, republican from montana. your grandmother had a huge influence in your life, how so? >> she left home at 14. she grew up on a small farm in minnesota. she went to school, she was the first in the time, this was in the '30s. not many females went to college. so she worked as a hand maid got a teaching certificate. and the only job she could find in the great depression was a one

chris irs commissioner john koskinen says his agency is taking concrete steps to address problems of the past including spending on conferences, irs videos, and the application backlog that he made the comments tuesday at the national press club in washington, d.c.. this is one hour.

the internal revenue service commissioner john koskinen this afternoon will discuss how these agencies respond to budget cuts. live coverage of that at 2 p.m. eastern from the brookings institution. each evening at seven while congress is a break we've been showing you some of our q&a interviews. today and looking talks about his book the internet is not the answer about his objections to overuse of technology. he says social networking creates false communities. you can see his comments starting at seven eastern. at 8:00 its booktv in prime time time. >> each night this week at 9 p.m. eastern conversations with a few new members of congress. >> and as a result i try to take this one of my message in a football since i tried to stay between the hash marks. i understand i represent everyone in montana and montana's one congressman and i represent not only the republican side but a rep for the democrat side and independent side the tea party side, the union side. i represent everyone in montana. and i think if we take that value set forward, congress represents america, articulate the va

and john cosco and -- koskinen talks about tax filing. >> this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered with comcast to learn about the life of saint augustine, florida. >> hea lot of people have said he was out for additional property for the king of spain and colonization attempts and goals which is very decidedly true. we do know that ponce de leon after the ship took on water and wood. this is one of the few freshwater springs around 30 degrees, eight minutes and is also the location of the 1565 first settlement of saint augustine. 42 years before the settlement of jamestown was founded, and 55 years before the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. >> the hotel ponce daily on is -- de leon was builty by one of the wealthiest men in america. he essentially had been a cofounder of standard oil company, with john d rockefeller . he was a man who always wanted to undertake some great surprise -- enterprise. as it turned out, florida was it. he realized that he needed to own the railroad between jacksonville and saint augustine, to ensure that guests could get to his hotel conveniently. so c

. >> its tax day tomorrow and john kos can then -- koskinen testifies on c-span3. >> this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered with comcast to learn about saint augustine, florida. >> -- may or may not have been searching for the found of youth. a lot of people said that he was looking for additional property for the king of spain and colonization goals, which is a very decidedly true. we do know that he came ashore after searching for a good harbor, took on water and would -- wood. this area is one of the few freshwater springs. it is also the location of the 15 65 first settlement of saint augustine, 42 years before the settlement of jamestown was founded and 55 years for the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. >> the hotel was built by henry morrison. -- henry morrison flagler. he is very little known outside of the state of florida, but he was one of the wealthiest men in america. this actually had been a cofounder of standard oil company, with john d rockefeller. he was a man who always wanted to undertake a great enterprise and as it turned out, florida was it. he realized

. >> irs commissioner john koskinen will give an update about the irs including employment retention afternoon at 2:00 p.m. on c-span. >>> this sunday on q&a senior editor and the gop candidacy. >> they want somebody who looks like he's stood up for them. i'm amazed now to the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment. and the sense of being put-upon. and those people really don't understand us. and here is a guy who does understand us and he's going to stick it to them. and that happens on both sides. hillary clinton will give her own version of that kind of thing. and i don't think that was true 30 years ago. i mean resentment has always been part of politics obviously. but the degree to which it is almost exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and 7:00 p.m. pacific on c-span's c-span's. >> up next a conversation on worker wages and corporations about the economy. from the peterson institute this is 90 minutes. >> well, good morning, everyone. and welcome back to the peterson ins

. >> thank you all very much. [ applause ] >>> internal revenue service john koskinen will give an up including employee retention and budget cuts. live coverage from the brookings institution starts this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. on c-span. >>> each night this week at 9:00 p.m. eastern conversations with a few new members of congress. >> as a result, i try to stay disciplined in my message in a a football sense i try to stay between the hash marks. i understand that i represent everyone in montana. montana is one congressman. i represent not only the republican side, but i represent the democrat side independent side, tea party side union side, i represent everyone in montana. and i think if we take that value set forward congress represents america. it's true to articulate the values and the needs, the desires of your district, but the purpose is to make america better. >> five newest members of congress talk about their careers and personal lives and share insight about how things work on capitol hill. join us for all their conversations each night at 9:00 can eastern on c-span. >>> w

. >> well commissioner koskinen said the agency needed to move the money around or their employees would> what are we doing? >> i'm just asking questions. >> right. bye. >> i'm sorry. >> it's okay. >> iron man sort of kept his cool. he ultimately ended up ending that interview saying it felt too dpiiane sawyery. something like that. >>> a 12-year-old boy gets the surprise of his life after nailing the national anthem at the nba playoff game. ♪ for the land of the free ♪ ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ >> the crowd going wild for nicholas connors. texas star j.j. watt rushes the court. the boy turns around takes him a minute to figure out who it was and his jobs drops. earlier he joined us to tell us where his voice came from. >> nobody it came from the man upstairs. it took me a minute to realize it's j.j. watt. he shook my hand and hugged me. i almost froze on the spot. i was in awe. i was so shocked. >> what a sweetheart. he had laryngitis. he still managed to belt out the huge notes anyway. those are your headlines. what a great young man. love that. >> when he grows up he wants to be a

host: that was irs commissioner john koskinen. we want to hear from our viewers ahead of the tax day deadline. is the u.s. task -- tax system fair? we split the numbers according to how they are labeled on the screen. we start with john, on the line for those who may between $61,000 and $100,000 last year. john is: from wisconsin. -- john is calling from wisconsin. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i am a person who believes that the taxes reflect our values. it is interesting how it has changed over time. my grandfather was a self-made guy, the son of a cheese maker. he eventually became the io of craft -- the ceo of kraft foods. his belief was always that you pay your fair share in taxes and you do not try to avoid taxes. he would never have been one to have advocated for some of the things that you hear about today from the top earners in this country. this year, i won't pay what he paid in taxes, but i will pay my fair share. and i'm proud to do so. host: john, who do you think is specifically not paying t