koskinen and mr. dadaro. my understanding is that you both think there should be minimum standards based on what you have seen over the years with all the problems. it stems from the fact that while most preparers are honest and refutable, we unfortunately have had actors. is that your judgment, gentlemen, that there needs to be minimum standards for the preparers? comm. koskinen: yes. we have recommended that congress get the irs the authority. i say that for several reasons. one, we did an undercover investigation. only two of the 19 gave us correct answers. some of them were very wrong. we also found that tax preparers made errors 60% of the time versus 50% of the time, taxpayers who filed their own returns made that. i definitely think that there needs to be authority giving the irs set minimum standards for taxpayers. i also want a comment that we think the irs should have more monitoring and oversight of taxpayers. we have had on the recommendation in this area since 2009. sen. hatch: i will just say, w

koskinen: they low-cost. i doubt that they would value the reports and recommendations from gao and the ig, particularly in cyber security areas. in the last several years, we have had over 2000 , and we havens already implemented over 80%. security -- these are important issues -- one of the things we are moving toward in terms of access is that passwords themselves turn out to be somewhat questionable, and we are moving forward to where you can only access servers. right now you can only access e-mail with a personal identity card you can put into the computer. we are moving forward with that being the standard for access on all servers and mainframes, so it does not matter if you are giving away your password or somebody six it, they will not be able to have access without the card. --t i agree we have a ride but i agree we have a wide range of recommendations from the gao. we do not disagree with those, we are working to implement them. we worry a lot about external threats. we also need to worry about in

koskinen and others come to us and say please do this. to enable us to do our jobs more effectively. and a lot of times we point the finger at them and say you screwed up here and you screwed up there. your people have as well. well we have some responsibility for this, too. one of the things that we can do that would help out is to provide for the reestablishment of the streamlined critical pay program. i think we, you're going to hear mr. chairman, you're going to hear a lot from me in the months to come, that say we do this let's do it. let's get it done. we need to do our job, we need to do our job. we hear a lot about that lately. we need to do our job this is another area where we need to do our job. mr. dodaro, i want to ask you, i want to come back to this other point that senator wyden raised, and that is the minimum standard for paid tax preparers. you folks have looked at this before. just give us a minute on what we should be doing in this regard. >> we made recommendations several years ago, that irs institute regulations ove

john koskinen joins me now. mr.kinen, thank you for being with us. >> delighted to be here. >> woodruff: what is it goingt to take to retore store the confidence of the american people in the i.r.s.?? >> first we have to demonstratet it's a fair system. if you hear from us, it's because of something in your return, not because of who you voted for, what party you belong to or what church you go to. also, our systems are secure. the problem has been that criminals organized around the world have a vast amount of personal information available to them and they are increasingly successful at masquerading as taxpayers and when they've gotten into our information it's because they've stolen the information somewhere else and could pretend effectively they were the taxpayer. >> woodruff: and when members of timent r.s. and the country come to you and say, why aren't you preventing this kind of thing, is it not doable? >> no, we are continuing to increase the levels of security, the authentication we have from taxpayers be

something koskinen says the irs would never do. and a presidential nominee has claimed the irs has audited his returns for 12 years because he is quote a christian. last year a resolution for koskinen's impeachment was introduced to the house. the judiciary committee has taken no action on the resolution and the treasury secretary has vigorously defended koskinen. our guest is the 48th irs commission commissioner. he's been the president of the u.s. soccer administration, acting ce oshs of freddie mack and chairman of the president's y 2 k council. he was in the private sector for two decades. no amount of irs trouble is going to put john koskinen in a bad mood this week. he's a super fan of the duke basketball team and the ncaa final four this weekend. please extend a warm national press club welcome to john koskinen. [ applause ] >> thanks very much for that warm welcome. after the description of what's going on at the irs and my job, i'd be thinking this is a good time to leave. but i am committed to being here until the end of

koskinen: i think you need to get up -- mr. dodaro: i think you need to get the irs authority to assessment. ,hey need to have due process and set the standards and enforce them. the is a problem because irs's resource levels -- if we are going to rely on paid tax preparers to largely carry out unimportant function -- carry out an important function for the government, we need to make sure they are carrying out their responsibilities, and they can greatly leverage their needities, as opposed to a to beef up the irs. i have worked with some of your colleagues. federalually passed the cyber security enhancement act of 2015. established a program known as the einstein program. it enables national security agencies to identity cyber threats before they reach our federal agencies. i understand that it is now available to all federal agencies. thatl passed last year also made participation in the program mandatory for all federal civilian agencies. adopt einsteinrs and start receiving its protections. >> we are very familiar with the

commissioner john koskinen being on capitol hill this week to talk about his agency and tax day. what are his views about the i.r.s. and what are you hearing about the latest on calls by house republicans for him to resign? >> so the i.r.s. commissioner john koskinen spoke at the house ways and means committee -- at a subcommittee hearing yesterday and he said that the end of the tax filing season has gone pretty smoothly. the i.r.s. did receive a slight funding boost this year for customer service and that has helped improve the level of service on telephone lines this year. they have received around $130 million. when it comes to calls to impeach the i.r.s. commissioner, a group of house republicans took to the floor to give speeches calling for koskinen's impeachment. on thursday they were criticizing him for what they consider kind of improprieties relating to how he handled the investigation into the -- into the political targeting scandal involving lois lerner. you know, congressman peter roskam, who is on the ways and means committee, said earlier the day on thursday that

we heard from john koskinen about the complexity of the cyber program at irs.g to hack into thestax collection data to get sensitive data or hard-earned tax refund. here is the chairman koskinen moments ago. >> protecting citizen and taxpayer date is top priority for the u.s. we work continuously to protect our main computer systems for sigher attacks and to safeguard taxpayer information stored in our databases. the systems with stand more than one million malicious attempts to access them each day. reporter: koskinen said the challenge is keeping criminals both home and abroad out of the irs computer systems while allowing honest taxpayers in and reassuring them systems are safe. the government accountability office made 45 recommendations for how the irs can tighten things up, bill? >> that is mandatory. thank you, mike emanuel. watching hearing on the hill. thanks, mike. martha: brand new numbers coming out of new york, one week before voters head to the polls in one of the most important primaries seen in decades. could the empire state be the tipping poin

koskinen knows 200 backup tates were destroyed, including her emails. yet he waits four months to tell congress while coming multiple times to come to congress during that period. you try misleading the i.r.s. about your lost documents for four months and see what happens. mr. koskinen violated his duty to preserve and provide the information, he violated his duty to disclose. he violated his duty to be truthful and he violated his duty to tell what he knew. he violated the public trust on multiple accounts. he issue at hand is the agency he represents -- this simply cannot stand. we cannot have two separate standards of justice, one for the ruling class, one for government and one for the governed. congress has a duty to get to the truth. as a representative of the citizens, we don't have a police force. we're representatives. we can't fire the commissioner. we're members of congress. the only remedy that congress has is the constitutional check of impeachment. impeachment proceedings are the only way we can hope to get some relief from this agency whi

koskinen and others come to us and say please do this, to enable us to do our jobs more effectively. and a lot of times we point the finger at them and say you screwed up here and you screwed up there. your people have as well. well, we have some responsibility for this, too. one of the things that we can do that would help out is to provide for the reestablishment of the streamlined critical pay program. i think we -- you're going to hear, mr. chairman, a lot from me in the months to come to say we need to do this. let's do it. let's get it done. we need to do our job, we need to do our job. we hear a lot about that lately. we need to do our job this is another area where we need to do our job. mr. dodaro, i want to ask you, i want to come back to this other point that senator wyden raised, and that is the minimum standard for paid tax preparers. you folks have looked at this before. just give us a minute on what we should be doing in this regard. >> we made recommendations several years ago that irs institute regulations over paid tax preparers, which they did do. and then those re

jordan and i do with commissioner koskinen to help him perhaps see the error of their ways? what would you recommend? >> i think raising this in this hearing is certainly done a lot but i honestly think that the irs needs to do a better job when it makes these decisions, of analyzing the consequences of these decisions. and not just look at, we're saving money because we're not handling these in-person contacts that are $60 per contact. you may have spent $60 but you might have brought in $5,000 serving that taxpayer in that walk-in site. that not the analysis that is happening. that needs to be asked for. >> would you be willing to give this committee in the next 45 days or so, your recommendations on what legislative fixes that we, you would recommend? or actually, i'm asking you to do that. >> yes. >> so if you would be willing to do that, what i would like to do is, is to make sure in a bipartisan way we address that. there are a number of others, i think they're about to call votes. i am going to recognize the gentleman from ohio for series of questions. >> thank you. >

koskinen is still the commissioner of the i.r.s. there are two types of enforcement of laws in this nation, one for the citizen and one for the government official. you see, the sarbanes-oxley catch-all that's been used to successfully prosecute for destruction of cars and bodies as well as documents and evidence excludes government agencies. the american people deserve justice, but we do have one tool and that is the tool of this congress to impeach those who violate the trust of the american citizen. mr. speaker, i have co-sponsored with the chairman of the house oversight and government reform committee house resolution 494 which would bring the commissioner of the i.r.s. before this body on charges of impeachment for violating the trust of the american people. mr. speaker, i ask that resolution be brought forward and be brought forward to this house for a vote so that justice can be served and we can once again restore the confidence of the american people that there is one definition of justice in this nation and that is equal

koskinen, you are the commissioner of the i.r.s., we would respectfully like you to correct what you're doing, we are not on a witch-hunt, we have the facts of the case and we believe the right thing to do is to offer some remedy? that's why republicans are on the floor today. that's why our young congresswoman is leading this charge. i stand behind her. i voted for the rule. i'm going to vote for this. it does the right thing. i thank the gentlewoman for the time. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves? mrs. noem: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. crowley: i allow myself 30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. crowley: i would add maybe to that list for the gentleman from texas, if it were congress, would we allow this to happen? i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from south dakota is recognized. mrs. noem: mr. speaker, we have another

and at the same time, irs commissioner john koskinen joins representatives from the treasury department and government accountability office to testify on what's being done to protect taxpayer information from cyber net. that hearing -- cyber theft. that hearing is being held by the senate finance committee. live coverage on c-span3. >>> next, federal reserve chair janet yellen joins three of her predecessors for a discussion on monetary policy and decision making by the fed. the other speakers are ben bernanke, alan greenspan and paul volcker. this was at the international house of new york. it's an hour and 15 minutes. [applause] >> well, welcome, everybody. i'm the dude from the video. [laughter] i'm also the president and ceo of international house. i want to thank you so much for this historic occasion. we are very, very excited this evening to have what we call the fabulous four fed chairs. and this evening is going to be spectacular for a variety of

koskinen's failed leadership and thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. smith: reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: mr. speaker, it is my privilege to yield three minutes to a senior member of the ways and means committee, and someone who understands the value of protecting the federal government's accounts receiveable department. mr. doggett. mr. doggett: i thank the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. doggett: monday, as all americans know, was, of course, tax day. and today should be officially designated as republican tax distraction day. because that's exactly what's going on here. rather than address the many inequities and complexities in our tax system, republicans distract by attacking the tax collector. one of the oldest tactics around, that goes back, i guess, many civilizations. i believe it was mark twain who suggested the

. >>> irs commissioner john koskinen is one of six people expected to testify. we'll keep you post.ch. >>> brian adams is now the latest music star to get political over laws opponents are calling anti-gay. canceling a concert in mississippi over its religious liberty bill, issuing a statement saying, "i cannot in good conscience perform in mississippi where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation." that coming on the heels of bruce springsteen doing the same. are these celebrities, are they getting it wrong? here for a fair and balanced debate is tammie bruce, radio talk show host, and tamera holder, attorney. both fox news contributors. great to see you ladies. i'll start with you, what was your reaction when you learn good the celebrities canceling concerts? >> it argument that civil rights are being violated is untrue. as a gay woman, gay civil rights movement is important. it was a movement about being left alone. it was about not being punished for who we are. that's what seems to be happening here. that you've got both bills certainl

koskinen, you are the commissioner of the i.r.s., we would respectfully like you to correct what you're doing, we are not on a witch-hunt, we have the facts of the case and we believe the right thing to do is to offer some remedy? that's why republicans are on the floor today. that's why our young congresswoman is leading this charge. i stand behind her. i voted for the rule. i'm going to vote for this. it does the right thing. i thank the gentlewoman for the time. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves? mrs. noem: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. crowley: i allow myself 30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. crowley: i would add maybe to that list for the gentleman from texas, if it were congress, would we allow this to happen? i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from south dakota is recognized. mrs. noem: mr. speaker, we have another

commissioner, head of the i.r.s., koskinen, is an accomplice. the use complicit in of stolen illegal social security numbers because he says, you know, it's ok if they use stolen social security numbers for a good basis, we just don't want them to use it for a bad basis. and apparently for him somebody falling -- filing a purgered and fraudulent income tax return and getting a refund of money that they very well may not be entitled to at all and should not be entitled to is one of the good purposes. he clearly needs to be impeached and removed from office, as head of the internal revenue service. but hopefully that will be happening in the near future. there has to be consequences for violating the law, for helping others violate the law, by looking the other way and announcing you're looking the other way while people violate the law. america is in trouble. we can very well be greece right now if it weren't for the united states having the dollars, the international currency -- dollar as the international currency and having our ability to prin