'That, Of Course, Is Not What I'm Asking You, Sir': Maggie Hassan Has Tough Exchange With Trump IRS Nominee

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At today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) questioned William Long, President Trump's nominee for Commissioner of the IRS.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Senator Hassan. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair and Ranking Member Wyden for this hearing.

00:05Welcome, Mr. Long. Just on that issue of IT modernization, you know, the IRS has a long-term

00:10IT modernization plan. There is some congressional funding available to help push it forward,

00:16and I hope you will look at that plan because I think we need to implement it much more rapidly

00:22than they are, but there is a plan in place, and I just wanted to make you aware of that.

00:26Mr. Long, if you're directed by the President to take an action that would violate the law,

00:32would you follow the President's directive or follow the law?

00:36I didn't catch the first of it, but follow the law, definitely.

00:39Thank you for being clear on that. I also want to understand how you would improve

00:45taxpayer service for granite staters if you are confirmed to lead the IRS. My constituents

00:50continue to face many unacceptable issues in dealing with the IRS, including significant

00:57delays in receiving their refunds and having their tax returns processed. If confirmed, how

01:03will you speed up delivery of tax refunds? I mentioned in my opening that I may not think

01:09in your office, too. I saw a lot of it, and thank you because a lot of you took time to

01:14visit with me in your office, but I think that we have to listen to the people in these regional

01:23offices. Charles Rossetti, who I kind of want to pattern myself after, was big on getting

01:29out to these offices. Every time I'm in D.C., every day I'm in D.C., I'm going to be there

01:3490 minutes early to listen to the people and decide how we can, the only two people,

01:38I don't care about, Billy Long's not important today. Billy Long's not in this equation. What

01:43I care about is the taxpayer partners that I will have if I'm confirmed with the IRS and

01:48the taxpayers, and I mentioned that I don't want either one of those to be afraid of the

01:54other one to come in and to work with.

01:58I understand that, but look, I asked you a very specific question.

02:02I'm sorry. About how you will speed up delivery of tax funds, and there weren't any specifics

02:06in your answer. While Granite Staters have struggled with delays receiving their refunds,

02:12the administration has cut the number of employees in the New Hampshire Office of the Taxpayer Advocate

02:17Service, which helps taxpayers who are struggling with the IRS. This has significantly increased

02:23wait times for tax assistance. So since the administration has come in, since the administration has cut

02:29that number of critical employees who help taxpayers navigate the IRS, in New Hampshire,

02:35the wait times are worse. So if you're confirmed, will you commit to reversing the cuts to the New

02:41Hampshire Office of the Taxpayer Advocate Service, cuts which have increased wait times for Granite

02:46Staters who need assistance?

02:48I'm loyal to a fault, and I'm going to be loyal to the taxpayer partners and to the, I mean to the

02:55employee partners and to the taxpayers. So if it's within my power, I'm going to advocate for those

03:01people, just like if it's my family.

03:03Right, but some of these people have already been cut, they've been let go, and it has meant that

03:08the customer service at the IRS in New Hampshire is worse today than it was several months ago.

03:14I don't think having worse customer service is acceptable. No, it's not, and it takes people to

03:19provide customer service. And so, especially nuanced customer service. We spend a lot of

03:25time in my office, we have a constituent service unit, and we spend a lot of time on a variety of

03:31issues, and I can tell you that we are getting more and more calls from taxpayers who can't get an

03:37answer from the IRS, can't get somebody on the phone in the IRS, and are seeing significant delays

03:44in getting their refunds. Now, I want to turn to another question. I'd like to follow up on my

03:49colleagues' questions related to how, this year, you used new funds donated to your defunct Senate

03:55campaign to repay yourself for a personal loan. Around the time of your nomination to this position,

04:02you took in $165,000 in donations to your 2022 campaign fund, and then used these funds to pay

04:10yourself $130,000 to retire the remaining balance of a loan that you had made to your campaign.

04:18Meanwhile, you only had received about $36,000 in donations in the prior two years. These donations,

04:25which benefited your personal finances, seem to have been motivated by your nomination to lead the

04:31Internal Revenue Service. Did you at any time make your donors aware of your plans to use their

04:36donations to pay back a personal loan that you made to your campaign? Or do you have any knowledge that

04:41your donors were aware that you intended to use their donations to repay a personal loan?

04:46Everything in, I think you know exactly how campaign debt is handled, and everything that I did

04:52was compliant with the Federal Election Commission. But that, of course, is not what I'm asking you,

04:55sir. This is a real question about whether people made donations to your personal financial benefit

05:01after you became the nominee, because they were hoping that they'd have more influence with you

05:06as that leader of IRS. And that's what's at issue here. That goes to the questions that Senator

05:11Cortez Masto was asking about your conflicts of interest, and the ranking member were as well.

05:15Everything that I signed with OGE, with the career employees over there, dictates whether I can have

05:25anything to do with anyone like that. I appreciate that, but I wish I were getting a more direct answer,

05:32and I hope very much you'll restore those positions in New Hampshire. Thank you.

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