i thank our witnesses today, inspector general miller, for while, mr. olson, mr. george, i think all of you for being here and i look forward to the testimony with great anticipation. we need to make certain that people are protected and that is our obligation to and responsibility to do it and i think they're working to the we can do a lot better than what we're doing. this is not a committee here to blame you and you blame us. this is a committee to come up with some solutions. thank you so much, mr. chairman. >> thank the gentleman and would echo your final comment there as well that we're about working with you and all to solve problems, not to play gotcha and all the more we appreciate our witnesses being here with us today. we will keep the record open for seven days for any additional statements or extraneous materials to are submitted for the record but we're now glad to move to our witnesses and we are honored to have four very dedicated public servants who day in and day out seek to serve the american people will great distinction and honor and who bring

i'm calling because i'm an avid watcher and i've seen mrs. olson on a number of times. but i experienced a terrible reaction and had to go to my representative, and i was a constituent and she assisted me. i was assigned person in jacksonville, mr. jones, who really helped me and deserves k accolades for working with me and a taxpayer. i had called the tax office, i had gone down in person, and to get no assistance, so i finally thought i would call the national taxpayers' advocacy program. i didn't get any help, but thank goodness for my representative who was able to. >> i'm sorry about that. the phone line that we have on the screen is actually the number for my employees. the number that is listed of other materials are actually not my employees, they're employees of the irs that just answer the phones and are supposed to help solve problems before they come to us, if they can. so i'm glad that you ultimately got help. a lot of our cases do come from congressional offices. i can only say that we deal with about 300,000 cases a year, and we do have about a 75% relief

mr. olson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. olson: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize dei cook, a distinguished leader in my home community of fort bend county, texas. for over 40 years, dei has given her time and -- dee has given her time and energy to help the children of our community. it fights on behalf of abused and neglected children. dee has served as the grand officer of the george foundation since 1988. the george foundation contributes to many worthy causes throughout fort benton county. indeed, has played a pivotal role in making sure the generosity of the foundation is directed to causes that help our community the most. however, the childs advocate of the community, that brings me to the floor today. by contributing her time, energy and resources, dee has helped child advocates to serve over 8,000 children throughout the county. . under her leadership she's taught them

. >> mr. olson the profitable and highly competitive drug trade has made central america the murder capital of the world. >>> as we near the one year anniversary of the death of osama bin laden u.s. intelligence officials say his core al-qaeda network is essentially gone and the threat of an attack by the group has substantially decreased, even though its affiliates still present a threat to the u.s. officials say it's still too soon to declare victory and al qaeda has brach in yemen growing in side gaining territory. >>> controversial over new images over osama bin laden's killing. a federal judge sided with the obama administration that releasing images leads to a threat of public security. the conservative government watchdog disagrees arguing there is no provision under the law to keep the documents secret. >> we think the court's wrong and we obviously think the obama administration is wrong. frankly, if the obama administration was so concerned about osama bin laden's killing, defending the te

mr. steven miller of service and enforcement at the internal revenue service, miss nina olson, national taxpayer advocate, j. russell george, treasury inspector general and mr. james white, director of strategic issues at the u.s. government accountability office. we thank you for being here. we've had a chance to review your written testimony and appreciate you submitting that ahead of time. it allows me to go through, i'm famous for my blue marker and making notes of things to get to. we appreciate that in advance and welcome your testimony today. if we can try to stay to about the 5-minute window and that will hopefully allow us to get through your opening statements before running to the floor for votes and coming back for questions. commissioner miller if you would like to begin. i apologize. if i could ask all four of you to stand pursuant to committee rules i need to swear you in. if you could stand and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. thank you. you may b

caller: i've seen mrs. olson a number of times, but my representative -- i was assigned to a person in jacksonville who deserves accolades, because i had called the tax office, and i didn't get any help, but thank goodness for my representative. guest: the phone line we have is the phone number for my employees. they are supposed to help solve the problems before they come to us, if they can. i am glad you got help. congressional offices. i can only say that we deal with about 100,000 cases a year, and we have about a 75% released right, meaning that three out of every four taxpayers get the relief. host: for those listening on radio, 1-877-275-8271 is the number for the irs that its case line. bill, good morning. caller: i really don't have any beef. what's the point? i'm just one of these fellows, and there are a lot of us around the country, resigned to our fate. as far as the tax code itself, how are we going to untangle it? 17 out of 17 tax preparers made significant errors. it is so tangled that the only so

caller: i've seen mrs. olsonumber of times, but my representative -- i was assigned to a person in jacksonville who deserves accolades, because i had called the tax office, and i but thatt any help, could as for my representative -- thank goodness for my representative. guest: the phone line we have as the member for my employees -- is the phone number for my employees. they are supposed to help solve the problems before they come to us, if they can. i am glad you got help. a lot of our cases come from congressional offices. i can only say that we deal with about 100,000 cases a year, and we have about a 75% released right, meaning that three out of every four taxpayers get the relief. host: for those listening on radio, 1-877-275-8271 is the number for the irs that its case line. bill, good morning. caller: i really don't have any beef. what's the point? i'm just one of these fellows, and there are a lot of west around the country, resigned to our fate. as far as the tax code itself, how are we going to untangle

mr. chairman. .. ms. nina olson national taxpayer advocate and the honorable russell george inspector general for tax administration and james white director of strategic issues at the united states government accountability office and the thank each of you for being here. we have had a chance to review your testimony and appreciate your submitted that ahead of time. it allows me to go through it. i'm famous for my blue marker and making notes for things i want to get to in the time we will have but we appreciate having had in vance -- advance. try to stay in in the five-minute window and hear opening statements before running to the floor for votes in coming back for question so commissioner miller if you would like to begin. i apologize. if i could ask all for it would be to stand pursuant to our committee to swear you in. you can stand and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear dash solemnly swear or from the testimony you're about to give the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the

mr. white, ms. olson, for your appearance here today. mr. george, i think all of you for being here.nd i look forward to the testimony with great anticipation. we need to make certain that people are protected and obligation lies on us to do it. by working together, we can do a lot better than what we're doing. this is not a committee to blame you and you blame us, this is a committee to find solutions. thank you so much, mr. chairman. >> i would echo your final comment there as well. we are about working with you and all to solve problems, not played the blame game. we appreciate the witnesses being here today. we will keep the record open for it to monday's board extra material and statements to be cemented. we are honored to have very good dedicated services and service function servants who benefit the subcommittee today. we thank you for being here. we are honored to have mr. steven miller, deputy commissioner at the irs, ms. nina olson, national taxpayer advocate, the honorable george russell, inspector for tax administration, and james white, director of strategic issues. we t

olson, numbers available to me are quite clear. they're not ambiguous. the decline significantly in terms of the total% and of income tax collected by the irs. mr. chairman, i thank you and i thank you, mr. towns, for your indulgence. >> i thank the gentleman. before coming back, mr. towns just would the associate myself with the gentleman's comments about the need for us to do a better job of making that investment with him revenue officers to get the return on that investment for american taxpayers and similar to how we the three of us work together on the funding levels for government accountability office and advocating to the appropriations committee members and staff on the return. if i remember, there was like $86 for every dollar spent at gao. glad to work with you and mr. towns and others on something similar that makes the case and the advocates' numbers really present it the pretty well what that return on investment is. so, with that, back to mr. towns. if it's okay, mr. white, if you wanted to include your reference to some examples of additional data collection that would be helpful. >> yeah, this would be additional information re

mr. steven miller, deputy commissioner of service and enforcement at the internal revenue service. ms. nina olsonational taxpayer advocate, audible the j. russell george, inspector general for the taxes ministration, and mr. james white, director of strategic issues at the unisys government accountability office. we thank each of you for being here. we have had a chance to review your written testimony, appreciate your submitted that at a time. it allows me to go through it, famous for my blue marker and taking notes of things i want to try to get you in the time we have dick we do appreciate having had in advance, and welcome your test went today. if we can try to stay to about five minute window, and that will hopefully allow us to get to all of your opening statements before running to the floor for votes and then coming back for question. commissioner miller, if you like to begin. i apologize. if i could ask all 40 to stand, pursued her committee rules, i will swear you win. if you could stand and raise your right hand. [witnesses were sworn in] >> thank you. you may be seated and let the rec

olson. the theme where the made for a red face says, you know, you're in a tough spot, mr. president.he president comes back and says they think were in it together. he walks out of the room and says you cut the rug right out from under him, general. they were really determined to go and take those missiles out when they discovered them. they also recognized you have aaa to say you've got to knock out the aircraft installations and the ground rockets that cannot shoot do the fans. so you have to do a full invasion. suppose the plan. kennedy is going wait a minute, we think the russians would have to kill in the wake is there going to say. turns out some other things we didn't know. this really makes a case looking at some of this on the book with a different conclusion. if we had gone in, khrushchev said in his memoirs, had they attacked by missiles and by the way, maxwell taylor told the press that we can't get them all. if we go when working to get x%, but there's 10% lavatories said last and we can't get in they will fire them. so what do we do? committee said if we do not allow a