has the irs taken actions to address g.a.o.'s recommendations to visit the business system modernization, including developing long term plans for completing the program? >> yeah, i'm aware of the g.a.o. report came out yesterday. a couple of things, the first thing i did when i came in. i talked about the stake holders and gao and our auditor. tell me about cade. $1.5 billion technology portfolio. it's important, because it is our core data base, not everything we do in technology. what i was told by overseers, we've made great progress and proven we can do system development, but they don't see a path to finishing c.a.d.e. internal projections were 2015, 2020. i believe technology projects, the way you get them done, you have leaders, people who run agencies focus on them and drive towards result. what we've done is refocus the effort. and we've split apart trying to do all of the application work at the same time we do the data base work. the core is getting the data base done. we'll get refunds out quicker and address materi

. >> we know the irs commissioner is here and prepared to testify. i will wait the remainder of my opening statements in the interest of time and allow my colleagues to say a few words so we can catch up with the schedule. >> thank you, i am very pleased to welcome you to this hearing. i thank you for your service to our nation. mr. secretary, you have so many challenging responsibilities that it is difficult to know where to begin. you are responsible for reinvigorating bank lending to consumers and small businesses, stabilizing the housing market, overseeing the automobile industry and encouraging sustainable economic growth. you must try to promote -- protect american taxpayers and their investment and promote the long-term financial security of the united states at a time of unprecedented death. the current financial crisis is rooted in a tangled web of high- risk financial instruments backed by high-risk loans, issued by high-risk individuals. to emerge from this crisis and to overcome its the facts, we must restore trust in our nation's financi

we know the irs chairman is also here and prepared to testify. i'm going to waive the remainder of my opening statement in the interest of time. >> secretary geithner, i am very pleased to welcome you to this hearing. i think you for your service to our nation. -- i thank you for your service to our nation great u.s. only responsibilities that is difficult to know where to begin. you are responsible for reinvigorating bank lending to consumers and small businesses, stabilizing the housing markets, overseeing the automobile industry and encouraging sustainable economic growth. most importantly, you must try to protect american taxpayers and their investments and promote the long-term financial security of the united states during a time of unprecedented debt. the current financial crisis is rooted in a tangled web of high- risk financial instruments backed by high-risk loans issued by harris individuals. to emerge from this crisis and to overcome its facts, we must restore and trust in our nation's financial institutions and financial markets. in

new irs employees to combat off-shore tax evasion and improve compliance with the u.s. international tax laws by businesses and high-income individuals. another $130 million would go to bolster the security of irs information technology and improve the efficiency of its business systems and upgrade its fraud detection capability. although not directly under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee i wanted to note also that our budget includes funds to meet our international obligations and have a global response to the crisis in this global economic system that we live in today. as we seek these additional funds we've cut back on programs that are either ineffective or we believe can be safely delayed. just one example, even as we're trying to increase capital investment for the irs our budget would open the capital by 65% for a savings of $17 million. i want to say a few words about the treasury staff. i'd be honored of leading a team of exceptionally smart and dedicated individuals who are working very hard to make our government more effective. they're performing a grea

the irs may dial up >> rules that can cost you more in taxes if the employer gives you a cell phone. proposal taken or taxing 25%. someone in a 28 percent tax bracket and costs they're company a thousand dollars a year would pay more in income tax. between 17 and 20% in cell-phone taxes charges and fees the irs has laws regarding taxation on business phones for two decades. companies rarely complain for the difficulty of keeping such records. oklahoma city - >> good morning. let's talk about the holocaust shooting. way to go right wing and sara palin. this is what she believes in. having gun as and the government were to treat us like anybody, go shoot them. rush limbaugh. sean hannity, this is what you guys wanted. you know you keep starting hate and now it's coming back and this is happening. >> we'll leave it there. patrick kennedy according to the "washington journal" that struggled with addiction much of his life said yesterday he's checking himself into a medical facility. other stories look at that that, taking a look at other stories in the "washington post" looking at cyber

the irs did not have some-- trouble with tax rebates. they have the names, addresses and electronic files on 120 million people. at.to be relatively easy to get doc to them. typically in the woodstock is handled in america today the company holds the stock certificates on behalf of the individual owners, so a battle-- let the 120 million americans now you have a few shares of stock in gm and chrysler and when it is time to sell its hugo through the process. it should be relatively simple. >> any response from the administration to suggest this to them? >> i have not suggested it to the administration. i been thinking about it for several weeks. it seems to me to be perfectly obvious, and then when-- the president of gma bikler, it is the treasury's decision when they still the stock according to the with the law is today but he said it is a large amount of stock and senator kyl said selling it would have to probably be done in stages over a period of years ago this could be done in a few months and it would mean we would have 120 million

noting here that eisenhower a few years earlier received a $600,000 truman received a $600,000 the irs determined that should be taxed as a capital gain at 25% and not as income reasoning that eisenhower was not a general and not a writer by profession so it was a capital gain not income when harry went to the irs, now eisenhower is president and said well, hey, can mine be taxed as capital gain and not income, they said no. and this did not foster positive relations between eisenhower and truman. so $600,000 is down to 200 and he had to hire ghostwriters, ghostwriters, and maintain his office experiences and years later he would say out of that advance he netted $37,000. still, it did let harry splurge a little. and so he bought a car. a big black 1953 chrysler new yorker. how much he paid for the car, chrysler definitely gave harry a deal and i found a letter that suggested he may have paid as little as $1. still he bought a car. harry loved cars. when he was president he actually would drive his own limousine occasionally. talk about something you probably won't see again. one time

host: we'll continue to talk about the ire rainian issue but we've in some other stories including thisone discussing three saudis transferred from guantanamo. host: let's go back to the phone. on the republican line from virginia . go ahead. caller: i heard a lady call in. she said, if we spoke to them level headedly, it would be smoother. i disagree with that. i think it is a religious issue. it has to do with our support of israel. i'm a christian but as a practical matter, i don't think we'll ever be able to get along with any muslim country as long as we support israel. host: this is out of the houston chronicle. here next up on the democrat line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm enjoying this discussion. why do we discuss this election when -- if we know or it doesn't really matter. this just says to everyone, watch out. when you have religious leaders or religion as your primary factor in your country, how can you ever think you are going to have an election that means anything. i think it's a shame for the people of iran that the world looks at this nation and says, well, it

we saw it when the irs reports went way beyond. i hope that you will look into it and redouble your efforts to work with me on the media shield the bill. the to want to respond to any of that? >> some members are frustrated. it is an indication of what we need to look at. how have these measures in use? are there issues or problems with how they have been used before? i know that the time grows short, but we have based this on the information that we can. >> with regards to these, i do not think there would be much difference between intercepting legitimate parts of your operation. we have wide authority to do that. >> i read in the new york times story this morning. the assumption that it is right is erroneous. >> i would like to hear this from the attorney general. >> mr. holder, i have been disappointed to have you late in responding to my letter. three letters have gone unanswered by the department. we have serious concern about that. with regards to hate crime legislation, i would suggest that we have a hearing about that. a m

people that funneled money out of the united states, they only had to give two hundred 50 names to the irs. i was wondering what the media never covered that story? or covered it in a limited way. guest: the caller has a good point. one of the things that undermined it hoover was say finance corp., which was an idea to pump money into failing banks, and railroads. it was used very well by the roosevelt administration during the new deal. a badly undermined -- by the people running it. they gave a huge amount of money to banks. there is a huge risk of both perception and reality with having the entire financial deregulation going on now, being done by these people with very close ties with people to wall street like geithner and sommers. there is a feeling that the deregulation does not have any teeth in it. these are not being properly addressed by regulations going on now. host: our guest is kevin baker, a contributing editor -- a contributing writer for harper's magazine. one person writes, i understand quite well and a comment that says you are 100% correct. obama has blown it. he had a

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obviously, this is the irs if phase of this and it will take melding bills together, and working with the house and working with the president and others to come up with a final package to do the exact things that senator gregg has talked about, providing insurance for all, a quality program, as well as of course to see to it that we have really the ability for people to remain where they are if they like that. so, those are the challenges before us, but i hope that before we decide that something is an abject failure even before we have had a chance to propose ideas and to work with each other, the american people i think are looking for some optimism and looking for us not to sit at a table like this as we unfortunately always do where we are divided by republicans and democrats. they want us to act as americans here and come together where we can and knowing there are differences on how we approach these matters, but they fully expect us to work together to come up with a solution. that is the challenge. and virtually everyone at this table has been a chairman at one point or anoth

today, in the wake of a week of violence and tumbleult in ir, the american people through this congress will condemn the violence, and the suppression of a free and independent press in iran, and as the american people have done throughout our history, we will proclaim liberty. by supporting all iranian citizens, will increase the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties -- who embrace the values. i urge my colleagues to support this measure and join us, and if reports are correct, our colleagues in the senate, who may all come together to give a voice on the world stage to the commitment that is at the heart of every american. now, some observers say that america should remain silent in the wake of this violence and and the suppression of free speech and the intimidation and suppression of a free and independent press in iran -- this violence and in the suppression of free speech. the american cause is freedom, and in that cause, we must never be silent. the iranian regime would do well to note the words of president ronald reagan from his first inaugural address, january 20, 1

we have had similar things where we saw the irs looking into people's report of interest. this goes way beyond that. i hope you will look into it. i would also hope you would redouble your efforts to work with me on a bill. do you want to respond to any of that? >> i think what i would say is that there are some members who are frustrated at the lack of a position with regard to those measures. what we have seen to the paper today is an indication that some of the things we look at and consider. we want to take into account how these measures have been used, see if there are issues or problems. i note some do not expire until december or some other time. we want to get as much experiential information as we can. >> the chairman would say that with regard to this, i do nothing there would be any difference between intercepting and e-mail as part of a legitimate intelligence mission than intercepting a telephone call. there is no exceptional reference you want for one or the other. we have wide authority to do that dealing with foreign intercept. >> i read the new york times

guest: i believe most of the irs is run as a government organization. there are some elements that are outsourced for collection. caller: my last question, one of the founding members of the fed made a comment in the early 1900's -- i care not who writes the laws of the country as long as you give me their rights to print the money. do you know who that is? guest: dead trivia, i do not know who that is. but that is the sense of the power of the federal reserve. it has a lot of authority over the economy and the currency. it is getting a lot of attention because of this worry about inflation even though it is right now very low. many are concerned it could shoot up in the aftermath of this crisis. host: let's talk about the fed and how they're trying to decide to change the monetary stance. guest: the traditional leader, interest rates, what is now between 0% up to .25% will probably stay there for quite some time. the issue now is what the fed will do with the rest of this program. it has been buying up long-term securities to bring overall rates down f

though brawn though he homers ir the ninth. rocky gets the win. 5-4. w so they get another w. and it's still a long ways to go. they started out so poorly. >> longest winning streak for the rockies since september 2007. that was the month that propelled them into the postseason that year. >> aaron cook, you believe is a guy who could really help makeea or break a season? why? >> he's helping them now. i talked to him. he's hopeful about what he could accomplish this year. got off to a terrible start. his era was 8 and a half. but after his start for the i don't think rockies on april 24, he went back and looked at videotape, and he realized his arm angle had changed. he raised his arm angle up. improved his sinker again. since then he's got an era of 2.5. he's a different pitcher. we saw last year, he's basically not aall-star caliber pitcher. -- an all-star caliber pitcher. way, the rockies will have that anchor for the rotation they need going forward. >> the american league, twins and a's in the afternoon. oakland hoping for a split of the four-game set. we'll talk joe maue

american people believe is wrong, morally wrong to require somebody to visit the undertaker and the irs in the same week. let me make a key point. "do not tell me it can be done." i just outlined for you the first four tax cuts that should be the heart of the republican party. [applause] this is precisely what ronald reagan meant in 1975 when he said we cannot have -- we need bold colors. if you go to the country with a genuine free market opportunity and you are prepared to win the argument in the margaret thatcher phrase that first you in the argument and then the vote, and you go to the average small business, you want to reach out to african americans, koreans, vietnamese, chinese, indians, latinos, you go to every small business and say if we cut your social security tax by 50 percent and c your match to the employer, would you have more money? would you like it more than having rahm emanuel spend it? you suddenly have a conversation when they could to their accountant and know how much money you are talking about, they will want to go to the second town hall meeting. we need the c

helping a veteran with some work or challenges with the irs. my hope would be that he understands, as i have understood in my public career, the customer service part is really fundamental. we're in the business of taking care of people's problems in meeting their needs. >> and do you think that all franken received the highest number of legally counted votes? >> i believe that the supreme court of minnesota has spoken and we have a united states and interpreted it is time to move forward. >> did you feel the need to hold back the tide of the 60 vote margin for democrats? >> i have not talked to anybody at the national level. i never felt that responsibility. in the end, he will have to make judgments that he will make. other senators will make judgments that they make. 60 is a magic number. not everybody votes in lockstep. i never felt any pressure about that. i felt a commitment to getting it right. i felt a strong sense that it was fundamentally important that every vote be counted. i thought it was important to pursue that as far as we coul

if i want to see my irs information or something, i have a strong means of authentication. i could option only do that. how we get there is to find the places where we could have the action and spiral downward. >> i think we address the first part. how do we get more technologies that are available already? if truly there is a place where a market has not met a need, then perhaps we could look for a way for another public, private partnership to bring the resources development and the resources of the private-sector and whoever else is involved in for a specific project to address things were there is not a current system to address their into a structure. >> thank you for your question. >> i am with the terrorism research center. this may be a question for richard. we have received some supports after cyber security experts that china has developed its own secure operating system in the past six years and they started deploying it in 2007. is this something that the dod is doing. it seems like we are on the reactive rather than the product. dod has spent $100 million on th

he will be on "baseball tonight" late ir. there's a lot going on for a saturday in june, specifically with one of the biggest names in baseball out up to three months, jake peavy. what does that mean for the padres and their cy younger? >> unless he has a miracle recovery, it will kill the trademark the for them. the padres wanted to move his contract, but let's face it, we're 50 days away until the trade deadline. he will not get healthy before that trade deadline enough so that any team would be willing to take a risk on his contract at this point, would be willing to give up prospects. so the padres will have to hope that he pitches well enough at the end of the year so he can re-establish his trade value so they can deal him in the wintertime. this is in keeping with what you are hearing from g.m.s. they don't think it will be a robust trade period because teams are not willing to take on money. even if jake peavy had been healthy, they hey have had a tough time trying to find a team to take him. roy halladay had to leave

ir elected government secures their trust through effective governance and economic development at all levels. an's effort with our committed support. in counterinsurgency, how you operate the impact of civilian casualties, collateral damage, cultural insensitivity, and the inherent complexities involved in supporting the insurgents from population often determined -- complexities involved in separating the insurgents from population often determine success or failure. afghanistan faced with a determined and unconstrained fellow -- foe, precision is essential. if confirmed, i would emphasize that how we conduct operations is vital to success. this is a critical point. it may be the critical point. this is a struggle for the support of the afghan people. our willingness to operate in ways that minimize casualties or damage, even when doing so makes the task board difficult, is essential to our credibility. my experience leading counterterrorism forces in afghanistan, iraq, and other locations, did much to develop my belief in the importance of a holistic counterinsurgency campaign. whil

lower prices and give them the opportunity if they don't want to use many messages to pay as they go, ir seems this is consistent with a competitive market. there is no estimate to offering a series of choices that suggests there is any market power in the texting market. this is a very broad market. there are billions of text messages. this is a market where output has skyrocketed and average prices have declined. those are not the markers of a non-competitive market. those are the markers of a competitive market. >> what is wrong with the verizon steering people to bundled plans? i understand these plans are very popular and they seem to have a and offer better value. >> from a consumer perspective, it is important not to confuse growth with competition. what is wrong is that americans pay more than consumers in many other nations. i would suggest one of the reasons it is doubtful pricing individual text messaging lower is anyway to get competitors from one of the other national providers to switch is because once they are lured into the bundle, they face high switching costs through e

ir lower quorum call: quorum call: no mr. dorgan: madam president, i ask con i consent the quorum cae vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: madam president, at 5:30, we'll be having a cloture vote and the cloture vote deals with the underlying legislation called the travel promotion act. and as i said earlier this afternoon, if the congress can't agree on something like tourism, what it's become of the issues of health care or energy or climate change or so many other significant controversial issues? this underlying bill is very simple. it is bipartisan. over 50 members of the senate have cosponsored this in the last congress. it actual reduces the federal budget deficit by close to half a billion dollars. and as i indicated, it -- it should bear no controversy at all. it is simply the development of a public-private partnership that will begin to market our country as most other countries are doing in order to attract destination international tourism to our country. all the other countries are doin

we need to reward whistleblowers as the irs and other agencies do when they bring us well formed cases and documentation, a fraud that we can then pursue. it's about filling the regulatory gap through rules like the custody requirements i just spoke of, so we're sure the regulatory regime, coupled with aggressive enforcement, coupled with the tools and the skill sets combine to create an agency that's absolutely committed and focused on investor protection. i'm sorry, that's a very long answer. >> no, it's very good answer. i thank you for it. i going to turn to senator collins and return in later rounds. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. shapiro, you talked about the increased number of positions that you have requested. as part of the fiscal year '11 budget, 2011. but, in fact, the president's budget for this coming fiscal year does not allow you to hire any new positions, is that correct? >> that's correct, senator. the increase in the 2010 budget covers the annualized increases in 20909:00 budget that we were able to have as a result of the aprooul of our reprogramming requests and t

>> the irs knows where to find this so i cannot find this when giving us something, it didn't have much problem with tax rebates that took a few months, they have the names and addresses and electronicç files on the people who file on april 15th and ought to be relatively easy to get stock to this. typically in the way stock is held in america today the company holds a stock certificates on behalf of the individual owners so about all you have to do is love the 120 million americans now have a few shares of stock in gm and chrysler and when this time to sell will go to the process. it should be relatively simple. >> was there any response to the administration? >> i haven't suggested to the administration, i've been thing about for several weeks in seemç perfectly obvious. the president of gm made it clear,ñr it is the treasury decision according to the way the law is today eq he saysç it's a large amount of stock and as senator kyl said the selling would probably be done in stages over years. this could be done in a few months and we're out of it, it would mean 120 million or so ame

but the people who don't conduct the with irs people are willing to fly under their radar.what then will these people be rate on whether or not they had a pre-existing condition or are they absorbed by the tax paying public who does play by the rules and pays their bills on time? >> we believe that the requirement to purchase insurance should be enforced. we believe those that don't have the means should be subsidized and we would look forward to working with congress to find a solution that is workable for all americans but i believe every american must have access to high-quality health care and we have to work together to find out how to make that happen. >> you and i will fundamentally disagree and the approach taken by congress with the development of the party program and medicare for the false initially rolling it out, creating programs people actually want and that are actually useful will be a better way of going about that. the coverage rates for prescription drugs among the seniors now in excess of 90% of high satisfaction and clearly in my mind that is a better

and treasury secretary timothy geithner and the irs commissioner today before a senate appropriations subcommittee talking about their 2010 budget. at 2:30, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. you can also find them online at c-span.org. >> how is c-span funded? >> private donations? >> taxpayers? >> i do not really know. >> from public television? >> donations. >> i do not know where the money comes from? >> contributions from donors? >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiatives. no government mandate, no government money.

also tomorrow, treasury secretary tim geithner and irs commissioner douglas shulman testified before a senate appropriations subcommittee about the budgets for next year. live coverage it 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> now a house hearing on the use of the state secrets privilege. it allows the government to withhold national security related information during a trial. jerrold nadler of new york chairs the subcommittee on the constitution. he is the coates author of legislation that would make it harder to use the state secrets privilege. this is an hour, 30 minutes. >> this hearing of the subcommittee of the constitution civil-rights and civil liberties will come to order. today's hearing will examine the state secrets privilege for the chair recognizes himself for five minutes for an opening statement. today is the committee examines legislation that i have introduced along with the distinguished chairman of the full committee with representative tom petri and several other members of the committee. it would codify uniform standards for dealing with claims of a state secret pri

some it doesn't pay your taxes in the go to jail or don't get a government job we don't say is the irs fraud. we say you did not pay your taxes appear less put our finger on the people, i agree with you i think that is what this bill is trying to do but the people who are committing that fraud is not medicare and medicaid, it is prime rib corporate insurance. >> i tried to quantify this does not easy but briefly share with my colleagues how much fraud is out there. in 1990 the fbi estimated 10 percent of all health spending is lost to fraud and abuse. in the national health care anti-fraud association estimates 3% this lost to fraud and abuse. 10 present presumably in their but significant amount and some suggest senator sanders has answered that clearly looking at how well the programs are managed is very important but i think your analogy is is a suggestion that is where it is occurring i think is to misplace. they employ key enforcement agent and as of may of 2009 it issued 7608 criminal investigations of any monetary penalties. they currently have 73 investigations ongoing in crimi

one issue in particular seems to draw out people's ire. in september 2003 in response to a desperate mother's plea for advice on how to sleep train her wakeful baby, anonymous poster referred to all nonnon-sanked styles as abandonment parenting. her attempt to seek support was greeted with an accusation of child neglect. in a letter to subscribers, ginger responded we seem to have an on going problem with some of our attachment parenting subscribers making the assumption that the rest of us need to be instructed on the proper techniques of parenting. it was not a problem we have with the newsletters, just the attachment participanting people. things were quieter for a bit, but soon enough the scolding resumed. i have seen women on the sites, and it is always women, accusing one another of practicing detachment parnght, by allowing their babies to cry. i've read posts that inform mothers who don't sleep with a copy of the baby book tucked under their pillows that they will never have children as independent as those lucky enough to be born

in isolating the ir. a and that is what we did. i think it was foolishness and stupidity and mindless. and it goes further than that. our previous president in his last state of the union message, his last stated of the union message, confidently predicted that the struggle against terrorism will be the defining ideological challenge of the 21st century. now remember when he delivered that speech, it was february, 2008. would anyone in 1908 predict that the 20th century will be dominated by the rise of hitlerism and communism? would anyone in 1808 predict that the rise of nationalism will define the politics of europe? it took enormous intellectual courage on the part of our previous president to act as a historian of the future, to make that statement. but, that was the official vision of the future. by the president of the united states. i think it is a very good thing obama is offering an alternative vision of the future. one which i think is more compatible with the spirit of the times. one in which in fact we really need a rec

i don't really want to have to get sick and run into a medical system where the compassion of the irs and efficiency of the post office. we have at least partly privately run health care system now which in spite of all of the trouble with cost shifting and how we pay for it still provides a better quality of medicine than anything you can find in the world, and it's also much guns and butter, it is a question of what is the federal government designed to do. and the one thing that it must do is defend the nation. the percentage of money we spend of gross domestic product has remained fairly stable. it's gone down. we are at about 4% or so and that's probably not out of line if you want the federal government to take care of everybody knew adopted the same philosophy that soviet union did. the government will provide you a job and health care to read the government is going to provide you an education and tell you when to get up in the morning and we saw how well that system worked and why would it be that we would then do the exact same thing to ourselves and have the government gett

is it in treasury or irs or the sec? how do we get things introduced into the governance of these things? >> well, as you'll hear from us over the next few days, the sec has some important responsibilities and obligations in this area and some tools and authorities they may seek in this area. the bank supervisors, under the leadership of chairman bernanke and others, have already initiated a process to define standards and principles that supervisors would use to help bring about reforms and compensation practices in the financial industry. those are two ways we can have influence over the shape of practice in these areas. there are other ways too, but my own sense is that the core will be those two authorities. >> if senator nelson mentioned something about government owning shares in these companies and it -- i think it has to happen. who, for instance, would own the shares? would the government be on would the american government be appointed the board of directors and have them make the decision? >> senator, this is

more authentication or greater degree of security but if i want to see my thrift savings plan or my irs information or something but i've got a strong means of authentication skycam have security to do that i have the option and so i think how we get there is finding those places where we can catalyze action by government industry and spiral out word >> liesyl? >> i think we addressed the first part which was how do we get more use of technology that is available already. if truly there is a place where the market hasn't met the need and perhaps we can look at a wafer and other private public partnership to bring resources of government and the resources of the private sector and whomever else needs to be involved together for a specific problem that might address fundamental things where there isn't current technology or it isn't a current system to address the infrastructure. >> thank for the question. over here. >> my name is steve with terrorism research center. this may be a question for richard. we've received some reports recently through cybersecurity experts testifying on the h

ir iran islamic republic of iran. the shah used to be on one money. now khomeini is on the money. 10,000 rials on the dollar. lots of zeros when you're paying your hotel bill, that's for sure. in my work in europe i'm when he will known to find untouristy places. if you're traveling in iran i wanted to find touristy places. this is a good touristy restaurant. [laughter] >> thank goodness there's a touristy restaurant. what a glorious society. my heart was stolen there. excuse me a sec. the greatest square is the amoms square for khomeini. a great mosque architecture. wonderful bazaar. if you've been to the grand bazaar this is much better. this is for local people. and an issue for me was religious freedom as i mentioned i'm really curious about freedom. i'm passionate about freedom and i don't like it when people don't have political freedom or religious freedom and in iran i wanted to hear what was going on. i said is it really free? can a jew or a christian like run a business? run for office or whatever? and he said yeah, it's free. what's the dea

>> the irs knows where to find is when april 15 come, so they can find this when it's giving us something. they did not have problem with tax rebates, have the names and addresses and electronic files on about 120 million people who filed returns on april 15. it ought to be relatively easy to get stock to them. typically, and the way stock is handled, they hold the stock certificates on behalf of the individual owner. so you just have to let the 120 million americans know that they have stock in general motors and chrysler and when it is time to sell, go through the process. it should be simple. >> [inaudible] >> i have not suggested that to the administration. it seems to be perfectly obvious. the president of general motors made it clear. it is the treasury's decision when they sell the stock according to the law today. he said it is a large amount of stock and senator kyl said selling it would have to be done in stages over years. it could be done in a few months and we are out of it. that means we have 120 million americans who own general motors and chrysler. that's 60% of general mo

free country and don't like mandates and look at the people who don't comply with the mandate of the irs now, knowing the penalties out there waiting for them if they get caught and people are perfectly willing to fly beneath the radar. what then will these people be rated on whether or not they had a preexisting condition or are be a served by the tax paying public who does play by the rules, and pays their bills on time. >> we believe that the requirement to purchase insurance should be enforced. we believe those who don't have the middle easterns should be subsidized and we would look forward to working with congress to find a solution that is workable for all americans. but, i believe every american must have access to high quality health care. and we have to work together to find out, how we can make that happen. >> you and i will fund men attempt disagree on that point and i think the approach that was taken by congress, in the development of the part d program and medicare for all of this faults initially rolling it out, creating programs that people actually want, they are actual

senator enzi and ire are working out in the number six, and i believe we are very close to coming to an accommodation with the senator and senator isakson and i have a chunk of homework to do together coming to see how we can promote the advanced directives among seniors. >> i thank my colleagues for that and again i would urge is to try and reach some agreement on these. i spoke to tom brief the moment ago and got answers for senator coburn on that. >> could i inquire of the chair that this is a complex topic. if we close here, are we going to be precluded come if we see something new and the steady this that we can come back? >> absolutely. >> i thank the chair. >> we know each other pretty well around here and i'm aat

i do not want to get sick and have to run into a medical system with the compassion of the irs and the efficiency of the post office. we have at least partly privately run health care system now which, in spite of all the trouble with cost shifting and how we pay for it, still provides a better quality of medicine than anything you can find anywhere in the world. it is not so much guns and butter, it is what is the federal government designed to do? and the one thing that it must do is defend our nation. the percent of money that we spend of gross domestic product has remained fairly stable. it has been gone down. we are at about 4% or so, and that is probably not of line. if you really want the federal government to take care of everybody, then you really adopt the same philosophy that the former soviet union did -- the government is going to provide you with a job and health care. the government is going to provide you with an education. the government is going to tell you when to get up in the morning. we saw how well that system worked. why would it be that we would do the exact sa

scanlon has shown us it is impossible when you have more pages of regulations than the irs of acting the way you conduct business in your practice every day, it's almost impossible for you not to do something for which you could be prosecuted. you could lose your license, you could lose your practice, you could lose your home. the hassle factor of doctors being told where best practices and that they will have to fulfill those, they will have to fall back. if we have comparative attractiveness research and a national health board that decides what is good for the average patient, are you an average patient? i don't think of myself as an average patient, but doctors will have to go through the hoops of treatment procedures and out comes measurements that have been outlined for those average patience. the hassles that doctors are now having loyalty split. they have to answer to a medicare carrier as opposed to the patients when they're making decisions about what to do. and how to treat the patient. let me tell you something -- this is telling. tells you it is not about the money. 65%

tomorrow morning, the treasury secretary in the irs commission will testify about the budget for next year. live coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3. later in the day, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius talks about their budget request for next year. live coverage begins at 2: 30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. now we marks from national intelligence director dennis blair. he talks about his priorities for the intelligence community as well as his recent trip to asia. the intelligence and national security alliance hosted this event. >> hello. i want to welcome all of you for what i am sure will be an interesting discussion. tonight's event is part of an ongoing series of events that will -- that is bringing together leaders that will lay the foundation for the national security and intelligence community and for our future. we have brought together an exciting group of leaders working on some of the nation's most challenging issues which includes cyber security, counterintelligence, and other challenges to national security. we are hosting the director of nat

doesn't pay their taxes and they go to jail or they don't get a government job, we don't say it's the irs fraud. we say you didn't pay your taxes. let's put our finger on the people responsible for the fraud. we can argue and i agree with you, we want to do better job and i think that is what this bill is trying to do, combat fraud. the people committing the fraud is not medicare and medicaid. it is private corporate interests. >> trying to quantify this is not easy, but just to briefly share with my colleagues is how much fraud is out there. 1990s, the fbi estimated 10% of all health spending was lost to fraud and abuse. that is an fbi conclusion. the national health care anti-fraud association estimates that 3% of all health standings is lost to fraud. whether it's 8% or 10%, it's a significant amount. some suggest fraud and abuse is only a problem in the public sector. senators sar bain -- senator sanders, i think, answered that clearly. how well these programs are managed is very important. i authentic your analogy to use the suggestion where fraud and abuse is occurring is misplaced.