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The Internal Revenue Service, under attack by congressional Republicans, has been operating without a permanent commissioner. President Obama nominated John Koskinen on Thursday for what might be seen as a thankless job.

The president called his nominee "an expert at turning around institutions in need of reform." But Koskinen will have his work cut out for him, starting with his Senate confirmation hearing.

History With Struggling Agencies

Koskinen, 74, is a familiar figure in Washington policy circles. In his last government job, he was chairman of Freddie Mac, which buys home mortgages from lenders, and which was bankrupt when he took over in 2008. He helped lead Freddie Mac back into solvency.

Koskinen served as deputy mayor of Washington, D.C., and was chairman of the federal government's efforts to prepare for Y2K, the feared worldwide computer meltdown.

He earlier served as deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. In 2011, as threats of a government shutdown loomed, he spoke with NPR about the 1995 shutdown.

"They discovered that people cared about parks and museums; they cared about getting [Federal Housing Administration] loans," he said. "And there was a lot of that in '95 that people really didn't understand or think about ... shutting down the passport services and other things they depended upon."

Now, Koskinen is being called on to rescue another agency many Americans are struggling to understand: the IRS. It's been under attack by Republicans in Congress, who say that it unfairly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status for special scrutiny. Recent reports indicate the agency also targeted some progressive groups for scrutiny.

Questioning Ahead

The senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Utah's Orrin Hatch, complained on the Senate floor Thursday night that Obama didn't consult him about Koskinen's nomination.

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