Tom Udall

Are your CIOs empowered to drive down costs, which seems to be something the GAO has talked about over and over again?

Thank you very much, Mr. Powner, for your testimony.

We need to get the most out of every dollar. And too often, we don't.

Our Government should be using cutting-edge, 21st century technology. Too often, it isn't.

Now, computer security has been problematic for the IRS since 1997.

Do you share the concern expressed by the National Taxpayer Advocate that victims still face the same, and they use this language, a labyrinth of procedures and drawn-out timeframes for resolution that they faced 5 years ago?

I think it is critical we ensure that this credit is reaching those in the most need and protected for the hardworking families struggling to make ends meet.

What is the status of the IRS' efforts to address the problems?

Thank you for the opportunity to share my views.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal year 2015 budget request.

Based on the recent TIGTA filing, certain past bonus decisions were troubling and questionable, and I am glad you are making it a priority to revise the policies and practices.

This year, in 2014, we got zero dollars to implement the Affordable Care Act.

We need funding to implement FATCA.

We take tax evasion seriously; that if you, in fact, willfully are not paying your taxes, we will track you down.

It is important for the average taxpayer to know when they are writing their check that everybody is paying their fair share.

The way the IRS got themselves in a mess is they interpreted the word 'exclusively' to means 'primarily.'

Identity theft can be devastating for victims whose legitimate refunds are blocked, forcing them to spend months untangling their account problems with the IRS.

The big issues that you face are refund fraud and identity theft. And these are serious, pervasive problems in the United States.

I look forward to working with Congress and this subcommittee to do just that.

It is vital that we find a solution to our budget problem, so that the IRS can be on a path to a more stable and predictable level of funding.

I think that there are other things in the budget, like skills training, that are critically important.

We know that immigration reform is a driver of economic growth in this country.

Until every American who wants a job can find a job, and a job that pays a decent wage, we still have more work to do.

And, by the way, we had a very good hearing with the Financial Sanctions Section with David Cohen, which Senator Johanns and I were involved in, and many other members, and we were very impressed with their work.

Now, turning to the Treasury request, Secretary Lew, most of the $13.8 billion of gross funding requests for the Treasury Department is for the IRS.