mr. levine, i got a roasted turkey panini with sundried tomatoes and arugua? mr. levine, i've got an egg noodle sal dad tossed in a mandarin orange vinegarette with green beans. damn it. >> amigos, i got a bottle of tequila and a two gun. >> i got it. >> we going to get [ bleep ] up. >> let's talk about the tattoo first. >> jimmy: that's good thinking. he doesn't need any tattoos and you don't need any more tequila. "the voice" is all alone now. last night was the season finale of "american idol" a bittersweet finale for me. it's always hard to see the runner-up fall just short after coming so close and working so hard. but on the other hand, i didn't watch it. but i'm told that candice glover beat out kree harrison to win. she's the first woman to win since jordan sparks back in 2007. the first time ever this season, all top five finalists were women. that makes sense to me, women usually last longer than men. so anyway, congratulations to -- is it bad that i've forgotten her name already? congratulations to her. what i do know is that last night was randy jackson

mr. levine, i got a roasted turkey panini with sundried

mr. chairman, ranking member levin, that concludes my statement. i would be happy to answer your questions. >> thank you very much, mr. werfel. for the purposes of preparing your report, did you speak to former commissioner doug schulman? >> i did not. >> did you speak to former acting commissioner steve miller? >> i did not. >> and did you talk with joseph grant, the former deputy commissioner for tege? >> no, i did not. >> did you talk with chief counsel william will -- wilkins? >> yes. >> what is a basic summary of the conversations. >> as a first matter -- there are three things. first, understand where the wrong-doing was so i can hold people combatable, second, understandy the management mistakes are so we can fix them. and third, broader understanding of irs risks and operations, and i spoke to many people within the irs, in fact my whole senior leadership team engaged in an ongoing series of discussions and bill wilkins is one of the senior leaders in the irs. >> did you talk to sarah hall ingram the former deputy commissioner. >> yes. >> as

mr. levin is recognized. >> thank you very much. let me just say a few things in response to your testimony. i do think it's our obligation to get the facts and not deal in conjecture. indeed, i think the more we deal with conjecture, the less likely we are to get the facts. so let me just say to you, ms. martinek, i think we very much disagree about the work of planned parenthood. that's my guess. but i must say that the question about whether you were picketing or protesting before planned parenthood was totally worse than inappropriate. you should not have been asked that. and as personnel of the irs are inquired of, i would think that may be looked into. mr. eastman, let me just say to you this issue was raised at the hearing with the inspector general, and he indicated, mr. miller indicated in response to a question from you, mr. chairman, about the donor list that he said he believe -- i believe we made a referral to the inspector general. he was later asked about that, and he said, i quote: those two situations we went to, th

this is not rocket science, you know, here, mr. levin. >> i agree. ith levin so we've got -- >> that's internal senate politics. that was a mistake too. >> i'm surprised. i got to tell you. >>> still ahead, former president bill clinton offers up advice to top business leaders on fixing america's corporate problems. it's the cover story of this week's "business week." up next, how a full-time mom to four kids is now running her own multimillion-dollar enterprise. ceo brandy temple joins us along with steve case who saw plenty of reasons to invest in her company. >>> strong storms overnight have rolled to the east coast. they're moving fast and they're dangerous and they're going to hit i-95 and our big cities here in the next half hour, right at the end of the rush hour. let me show you the radar. very impressive. these storms came out of the mountains. if anything, they're as strong now as they were anytime overnight. the most dangerous of the storms is just north of baltimore. just rolled through frederick. lancaster, pennsylvania. if you're in lanc

i yield to mr. levin. >> to try to set the stage for some bipartisanship just quickly where did you start your government service? >> i started my government service in the office of management and budget. i was at the justice department for some time. but at the time this administration came, i was a senior leader serving under president bush >> your report states we have not found involvement in these matters talking about the criteria by anyone outside of the irs. is that correct? >> that is correct to use the net and you stand by that. >> i stand by it pitted i think there would be the statement in the report as appropriately caveat it with the ongoing reviews and the investigations the necessary. but at this time, taxpayers and the public of questions. >> your report says that. let me ask in the end of the inside of the irs have you found any involvement by anybody in the white house? >> no, we have not. >> there's been a reference to the ig's investigation and i want everybody to understand in a let

do you agree with mr. levin? >> i believe that if -- >> if they targeted? >> if there's management neglect or inappropriate conduct, then it depends on the nation extent of the management -- >> if they targeted groups -- >> and 10 shall yes. i would agree. >> you testified showtimes today there was no intentional wrongdoing. was the wrongdoing? >> i said is not evidence yet of intentional wrongdoing but yes, i would articulate there is wrongdoing minute like i said at a lot of questions. you testified that there was neglect of duty. you said that earlier. deeply there was neglect of duty? >> i do. >> so there was wrongdoing and it was neglect of duty but there was no intentional wrongdoing, would you agree? >> is no evidence yet of intentional wrongdoing but i'm not going to reach a definitive conclusion until all the evidence is obtained. >> you believe targeting of individuals and organizations for political purposes is illegal? >> target with political bias? yeah, i think there is locale to be. serving consistent with the irs mission statement. >> you th

chairman, thank you, mr. levin, it's critical the committee continue with the investigation into what we all agree. let's make that clear. there are those on the panel here, aapartmently, not the panel, excuse me, thank you, panelists, but on our side of the room that have tried -- some tried to divide us into those folks don't really want to clean up the irs like we folks do. that's a typical propaganda game, and i understand it. i want to stress your attempt at bipartisanship, mr. chairman. i think democrats and republicans recognize the irs flags applications is wrong. we have to find out what happened and to fix it. if we're the problem. if we had not applied what the tests should be for these organizations, not us the organizations, it's we at fault. we have to change if that organization qualifies. we don't need political motivated irresponsible accusations against one another. look at where the facts are. no one has a god given right to a tax exempt status. nobody, none of the panelists said that they did, m

mr. levin has recognized his >> thank you very much. but me say a few things in response to your testimony. i do think it is our obligation should get the facts and not feel in conjecture. indeed, the lovely steel with conjecture, the less likely we are to get the facts. so let me just say to you, ms. martinek, i think we very much this degree, but i must say that the question about whether you are picketing are protesting before planned parenthood was totally worse than inappropriate. should not have been asked that. and as person of the irs are inquired of, i would think that may be looked into. mr. eastman, let me just say to you, this issue is raised at the hearing but inspect your general and mr. miller indicated in response to a question about the donor list, that he believes -- i believe we made a referral to the inspector general. he was later asked about that and he said, i quote, those two situations we went to titgia and those disclosures were an art than there had been disciplined in one of those cases where somebody not fol

. >> mr. levin is recognized. >> thank you very much. let me just say a few things in response to your testimony. i do think it's our obligation to get the facts and not deal in conjecture. indeed i think the more we deal with conjecture the less likely we are to get the facts. so, let me just say to you, miss martinque, i think we very much disagree about the work of planned parenthood, that's my guess. but i must say that the question about whether you were picketing or protesting before a planned parenthood was totally worse than inappropriate. you should not have been asked that. and as personnel of the i.r.s. are inquired of i would think that may be looked into. mr. eastman let me just say to you, this issue was raised at the hearing with the inspector general and he indicated, mr. miller indicated in response to a question -- jon: we are going to keep an eye on the hearings as they proceed today. for a little proceed specht any of now let's bring in nina easton, senior editor for fortune magazine and a fox news contributor. someti

speaker, i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. dingell. there are many aspects of life for could comment on, example, friendship. our families have known each ther well over 75 years, going back to the relationship between your father and some of my relatives. it's been a long time. and i could talk about the riendship between yourself and your wife debbie and our family for part of that time. i could also talk about your accomplishments and there have been so many, i remember when i first came how we worked to clean up the rouge river. and without your efforts, i think today it would be more ike it was than it now is. we could talk about health care and your historical role. we could talk about broader issues of clean water and clean air. we could talk about your devotion to the auto industry of this country. would have happened all these years except for your dedication. and there are more accomplishments that i could talk about. but instead, let me just say a w words about what struck me as you spoke a few weeks ago, was it, as we were

. >> thank you, mr. levin. again, thank you all for being here today and thank you for the courage in stepping into the spotlight in giving voice to the hundreds of individuals affected by this activity. the committee has received each of your written statements and they will be made part of the formal hearing record. each of you will be recognized for five minutes for your oral remarks. we have been lighting system. the green light will go until you have 30 seconds remaining and then there will be a yellow light and then a red light. after each of you give your oral statements, we will move to a question. the members will have five minutes to question you and they will be subject to the same lighting system. at the time also is cutting that off, it is to make sure every minute -- every member has there five minutes. our first member is the founder of linchpins for liberty, dedicated to educating high- school and college students about the nation's on the documents. he comes to us from franklin tennessee. you a

with his findings agree that whether it is one of these organizations, any of the 298 applications mr. levin identified from his report that were set aside, 96 of them appearing to be of a perhaps political orientation, like the groups that are here today, and perhaps one like progress texas in my hometown, which received a similar letter and has very dissimilar political beliefs from those expressed here today. whatever the political beliefs, the inspector general is right. folks should never have to worry about whether the tax collector is looking at their political beliefs or activities in making a decision. the inspector general had more to say, however, after the very strong opening statement of our chairman about what the report signified. i asked him specifically if he had found any evidence of the corruption of the irs as charged. he said no, he had not. i asked, since there was a charge opening our hearing, whether our tax system is rotten at the core. he indicated no, definitely not. i asked him whether there was any evidence to support from his thorough investigation the charge of

mr. levin is recognized. >> thank you very much. let me just say a few things in response to your testimony. our obligations to get the frat -- get the facts and not deal in conjecture. been deed, i think the more that we deal with conjecture the less likely we are to get the facts. let me just say to you that i think we've been very much disagree about the work of planned parenthood, is my guess. , the question about whether you were picketing or protesting before planned was totally worse than an inappropriate. you should not have been asked to that. and as personnel of the irs are inquired of, i would think that may be looked into. mr. eastman, let me just say to you that this issue was raised at the hearing with the inspector general. and he indicated, mr. miller indicated in response to a question from you about the donor list, he said that he believes they made a referral to the inspector general. thats later asked about and he said that those .i.t.t.a.s were t i believe what they found were that those disclosures were inadver

with that i yield to mr. levin for the purpose of his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. werfel.'ll go over my opening statement in just a moment. i want to urge you, you've heard the opening statement of the chairman. i know, you mostly have been kind of a technician all of your years in both the bush administration and in this administration. i hope, though, that you will -- if i might suggest, respond very vigorously when the statements are made. i hope you will actively report on what you have done during your first thirty days. where mistakes have been made by the internal revenue service, we on the democratic side have been very, very clear when inappropriate criteria were used, we were among the first to say that those who were in charge in the irs should be relieved of their duties. so i hope you'll respond very actively and vigorously that all of the questions. i think we need to get the facts and not innuendos. we're hear today to learn about the corrective action the irs has taken to address mismanagement and processing of tax exempt applications. so, mr. werfel, welco

thank you, mr. levin. i think it is critical that this committee continues its investigation into what we all agree, let's make that clear. there are those on the panel here apparently, not the panel, excuse me, thank you panelists. but on our side of the room that have tried to divide some of us, have tried to divide us into those folks don't really want to clean up the irs like we folks do. and that's typical propaganda game. i understand it. i want to stress your attempt at bipartisanship, mr. chairman. i think democrats and republicans both recognize that the irs flagging applications is wrong. we have a shared interest in working with you, in a bipartisan way, to find out what really happened and to fix it? i mean if we're the problem, if we had not clarified what the test should be for these organizations it is not the organizations. it is we that are at fault and we need to change the test, to see if that organization qualifies. but you asked everybody, you don't ask a few. so we agree on that. we d

mr. president, i was pleased to work with senator levin and senator inhofe today. i want to be cooperative and be positive in our efforts. i like much of what we did with the budget, but we just -- the authorization bill in the armed services committee. but we just didn't talk about the elephant in the room, and that's the sequester. the real danger that we have there. we're going to have to discuss it now. it will be part of the floor discussion and debate. if i.t. not fixed -- it can -- if it's not fixed -- it can be fixed. i am i think we're all prepared to work for t i don't think this country will sink into the ocean. i don't believe this country is going to have to close our parks. i don't believe this country is going to have to end tours at the white house to reduce the growth of spending by $2 trillion from $47 billio trillio $45 trillion over the next ten years. i don't believe that's going to bankrupt us. but we ought to do it in a smart way. we should have every agency and department of government tighten their belt, not just some, and we slipped into t

levine: well, we'll let... we'll let the proper authorities be the judge of that. okay, we feel that we are doing the right thing for our patients. it's not mrmeyer's place to decide guilt or innocence. we investigate anything that's reported. and if we find a problem, we... we fix it. >> kroft: h.m.a. says it hired an outside law firm to investigate meyer's allegations and that there was no finding that would support an allegation of fraud, adding that any overpayments from medicare and medicaid were rectified. but paul meyer is the least of h.m.a.'s problems right now. the hospital chain is currently under investigation by the justice department and the securities and exchange commission. h.m.a. says it's cooperating with those investigations. since our story first aired, h.m.a.'s hospital admissions have declined, along with its corporate profits; and c.e.o. gary newsome has announced that he is leaving the company. my name is dan and this is my aha moment. i was severely wounded in combat in iraq in 2004. and then i said, to myself, i think it's time to help the next guy. so i stopped what i was doing and went to work for wounded warrior