koskinen .er] [applause] commissioner koskinen: that was such a thorough introduction that that's my speech, i'm ready to stay 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. if the dollar with wings flying away. -- it is a dollar with wings flying away. [laughter] commissioner koskinen: this one is a 1040. we are flexible, but you cannot finally returns on a cookie. -- 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 be on the first game of. i thought that if i read your

koskinen a break here a minute and talk with mr. lightfoot, if that's okay. >> i don't want you to think that's not appreciated. >> that doesn't mean it won't come back to you. mr. lightfoot, nasa has done a good job in making progress on getting off the high-risk list but there is still some issues from alabama masses of major presence in our state, but there have been some issues with rebase planning costs and schedule on management and technical issues. can you address that on some of your projects? >> yes, sir. we have -- the process we go through where we review these projects on a routine basis, we have some that have done really well. we continue to make good progress on the eight of the last nine that have launched it and came in under the baseline. once we go through confirmation of a project which moves it from formulation to development, that's when we make a commitment for a certain cost and schedule that we're going to try to live to. the process we have where we review those monthly occasionally we have one that pops u

next treasury secretary jack lew and john koskinen testify on the 2016 budget request for the treasury department. they also discuss cybersecurity, tax fraud, taxpayer services, and small businesses. this runs just under two hours. >> the subcommittee on financial services and general government will come to order. good afternoon. the subcommittee as i said, will come to order. today marks the first hearing of the financial services and general government subcommittee for the 114th congress. this is also my first hearing as subcommittee chairman. and i'm pleased to serve alongside the new ranking member my good friend, senator coons. i would also like to acknowledge senator langford and senator durbin. although our subcommittee is small, the number of agencies we fund is large. and their impact on our economy is significant. i'm confident that our members are up to the task before us. as we begin this important hearing to review the budget requests of the department of treasury and the internal revenue service, we welcome our witnesses. senator jack lew, commissioner john koskinen -- i

the fiscal 2016 funding -- and i look for during secretary lew and commissioner koskinen's perspectiveon what's required to deliver top notch service to taxpayers and the for sure laws with integrity and fairness. i look forward to working with you chairman and having an open change by just as our hearings progress. thank you. >> thanks senator. thank you senator coons. now we turn to secretary lew and look forward to his testimony. >> thank you chairman boozman, ranking member coons, members of the committee. it's a pleasure to be here to discuss the treasury's budget. as we meet here today our economy and our country have made considerable progress that we can all take pride in. aisles every metric from job creation, economic growth and deficit reduction to manufacturing export energy independence america has come a long way. the fact is in 2014 so the best year of job growth since 1990s and over the past five years america's businesses create nearly 12 million new jobs, the longest stretch of sustained private sector job growth in our nation session to our economy continues to stand

koskinen. >> i think it was noted -- agreed by congress and mr. gaudy and the chairman and we'll come back and have a full hearing about this that we would not -- >> i fully expect that, yeah. >> but i'm happy to answer more questions, that's fine. >> that's the way it works. we call you here we're allowed to ask questions because the american people want to know why the internal revenue service violated fundamental rights. so we appreciate your willingness to answer our questions on behalf of the american people. that's awfully big of you mr. koskinen. >> i'm just stating that we're going to have another hearing on this and i've had five hearings already. but i'm happy to answer the question. >> and we still haven't gotten the truth as evidenced by the head line yesterday mr. mr. koskinen. the press, the main street press can't even get the documents they're requesting. >> those aren't documents they're requesting from us. >> but they derive from your unlawful activity. that's the point. that'

senator jack lew, commissioner john koskinen -- i bet i'm not the first one that struggled with that little bit -- boozman, bozeman, and russell george. thank you for being here. as members of this committee, we have a tremendous responsibility to ensure the hard-earned tax dollars from millions of americans are spent appropriately. unfortunately, the president has put forth a budget that is out of touch with the needs and concerns of hardworking taxpayers in his budget for fiscal year 2016, the president proposes to create $2.1 trillion in new taxes, increase spending by 65%, and $8.5 trillion to the debt over the next ten years. while hardworking arkansans have been forced to cut spending in the last few years. the president has been unwilling to do the same in washington. our country is in serious need of budgeting. all too often washington loses sight of the fact that every dollar the government spends comes out of the pocket of the taxpayer and is one less dollar that a taxpayer can spend to provide for their family, grow their businesses, or help their neighbor. as members of t

koskinen. he was here for gao-related testimony and not irs and i don't know whether he's prepared for the questions or not. we'll not find out because i believe that you have agreed at some point he's going to come back before the committee, and i was wondering if the chairman might engage in a colloquy with me to make sure that my cochronology is correct. i thought -- chronology is correct. i thought the last time mr. koskinen was in front of us there was a robust discussion about the time period within which he was going to produce e-mails. and he had asked us to narrow the scope so that he could prioritize and yet us those e-mails -- get ez those e-mails we had asked for. and as the chairman will recall, we need those e-mails because the e-mails we do have from lois lerner contain such jewels as "lamenting gop wins," t "celebrating democrat wins," "forecasting doom and gloom if the gop god forbid, ever control the senate," saying that we needed a plan to overcome citizens united, those were

koskinen. first of all i really appreciate someone of your caliber has decided to continue a life of public service and to do it at irs. the irs has taken a beating both in the budget, by members of congress. we demonize the men and women who work there then we underfunded and give them an impossible job. and when they can't do the impossible, we punish them by giving them even less money so the impossible goes to the catastrophic. so i really would appreciate you do showing up every day and trying to run this ship. i really do think the president's budget, if we don't find it full close to $30 million, we are talking about the need to add more money and taxpayer service, beefing up enforcement, strengthen the operation and looking at new technology. so let me get to my question, which goes to service. i am concerned about giving you less money, we end up with more fraud and abuse. so tell me how many people have had, what is the staff level reduction since 2010? >> since 2010 we have lost 13,0

senator jack lew, senator john koskinen.d i'm not the first one is struggled with that a little bit. boozman -- boozman. in the treasury ig for tax administration, russell george p. thank you for being here. we look forward to your testimony. as members of the committee we have a two ministers on stability to ensure the hard-earned tax dollars for millions of americans and to probe really. the president put forth a budget out of touch with the needs and concerns of hard-working taxpayers in the budget vote fiscal year 2016 the president proposes to create 2.1 trillion in new taxes, increase spending by 65% and at a $.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. while hard-working arkansans in the last few years as the president beyond willing to do the same in washington. our countries in need of serious budgeting and all too often washington was the site of the fact every dollar government spends comes out of the pocket of the taxpayer than one month salary taxpayer can spend to provide the family or the business is or he

eastern on our companion network c-span, we'll be hearing again from the irs commissioner, john koskinen the irs' current operations and its future. and then also on c-span 3:30 today, deputy secretary of state anthony blinken we'll bring you that live and a conversation about current priorities and future prospects for u.s. engagement in central asia. again here at the center for american progress beginning shortly, a discussion about undocumented students and immigration policy in the u.s. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and we're live this morning, centered for american progress here in washington d.c., talking about undocumented students and immigration policy. we'll be hearing from felicia escobar, special assistant to the president for immigration policy. she'll be giving the opening remarks. you're watching live coverage hoar on c-span2. just want to let you know later tonight, 8 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span, you can watch the chicago mayoral candidates' forum between rahm emanuel facing his

. >> john koskinen as you provide the information, how many have been put on hold in waiting the trainingf the appraiser committees, if there is a tribe that believes that the audit is improper how do they appealed the decision that they are being audited? in their conversations with me they had no recourse. they do not know what to do about it. if you could respond to that. >> every taxpayer has a right to our appellate process which is totally independent of our compliance process. include that in your inquiry and we will give them a roadmap to make sure they have an appropriate way to raise their concerns. >> thank you to [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] -- for responding to my concerns . >> i joined the appropriations committee in no small part because of the fervor and passion and commitment that the chair, now vice chair demonstrates as to returning us to regular order and that will be solely missed at the end of these two years. where you think funding shortfalls have caused real challenges for irs and taxpayers , i want to touch on a couple of those. the se

commissioner koskinen, i now invite you to present your testimony on behalf of the internal revenue service. >> chairman boozman ranking members cans, members of the -- coons, members of the subcommittee thank you for discussing irs budget. i remain concerned that significant reductions in the budget last five years are undermining the agency to deliver on its mission on this filing season and in the future. irs funding has been reduced $1.2 billion over last five years, dropping to 10.9 billion in the fiscal 2015. at the same time, increase of taxpayers has increased to seven million. implementation of the foreign account tax compliance act and the affordable care act. disconnect between our funding levels and our responsibilities is illustrated in some way by the fact that just three days after cutting our budget by about $350 million congress passed legislation requiring the irs to design and implement two new programs by july 1st. implementation of the able act and certification requirement for professional employee organizations, is occurring while we're in the middle of our most compl

and on our companion network, c-span irs commissioner john koskinen will be speaking at the national press club luncheon about the irs and the agency's future. and at 3:30 tony blinken will be at the brookings institution talking about central asia and prospects for u.s. engagement there live on c-span. >>> later tonight join us live for the chicago mayor's forum with rahm emanuel and jesus garcia ahead of the runoff election next tuesday. we'll take you to chicago live tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> also in yul politics congressman aaron schock plans on stepping down today. the chicago tribune reporting some of his staff will be called before a grand jury next month to answer questions about the congressman's spending and they're likely to face a prosecutor with a tough reasonnation tim bass, who's convicted 13 people over the past two year on $16 million worth of contract fraud. also the choice to investigate congressman schock back home rather than in washington d.c. could signify that the probe will be look into the potential misuse of his district office and activities

even the irs commissioner john koskinen predicts a miserable tax season this year. that do get through will have an average waiting time of 34 minutes. what is going on here, sharon? >> well you outlined it very well. it's all about budget cuts and not really having the personnel there that they've had in recent years. talking about 13,000 employees that have lost their job there is at the irs over the last four years. and budget cuts that total somewhere around $850 million. so when that happens, you don't have the personnel. you don't have the technology to really get questions answered efficiently. that means taxpayers are going to suffer. >> why haven't they put any measures in place to offset the cutbacks? >> it's difficult to do so when you don't have the money or the people to do it. there are a number of folks there that are willing to answer those questions and able to answer those questions but they can only do so much with the personnel that they have. what they're now telling a lot of taxpayers to do is hey go to irs.gov and look online search on the dat

at 1:00, we will go to the national press club with jon kyl hn koskinen. at 3:30 p.m.ecretary of state and the and will be speak at the perkins institute. coming out tonight, candidates in chicago's mayor's race will have a form. that is that in a cartesian tonight. this weekend, the c-span cities tour has partnered to learn about the history and literary life of tulsa, oklahoma. >> woody guthrie is best known for his writing of "this land is your land," but he is known for much more than that. he was an advocate for people who were disenfranchised. those people who were migrant workers from oklahoma, kansas and texas during the dustbowl era. he saw this vast difference between those who were the halves and the have-nots and became their spokesman through his music. he recorded few songs of his own. we have a listening station that features 46 of his songs. that's what makes the recordings that he did make so significant.

. >> >> really that was irs commissioner john koskinen testifying on the missing e-mails. >> now, weng this one that says no one will ever believe that both your hard drive and mine crashed within a week of each other. live is strange. >> joining us jordan represents groups believe they've been targeted bit irs. good morning. >> good morning. >> you believe this san effort to deceive and delay? >> that's right. what we've seen from congressthe irs is trying to stop congress and the people they've done this with civil cases and with the fbi a allowing some clients to meet with them. after discover they go were working with the irs. again, to us the whole idea of the e-mail is unbelievable. it's not that life is so strange. it's that this is reality. no one followed up to recover the e-mails now we know it took a couple weeks to do so. >> the testimony shows me, jordan, can we trust them to do their own investigation into the matter. do you buy that? >> absolutely not. that's why we stopped cooperating with the fbi. the department of justice. this involved the ftc, doj, it goes pretty