Thursday offered a perfect illustration of what Koskinen is up against if he is confirmed. Koskinen tapped for worst job in D.C.

President Barack Obama needed a glutton for punishment to run the scandal-plagued Internal Revenue Service. He found his man in John Koskinen.

Obama said Thursday he plans to nominate Koskinen for a job that’s never glamorous but has become all the more daunting after the IRS revealed in May that it subjected tea party groups to inappropriate scrutiny when they applied for a tax exemption. The pressure is only growing as Congress pummels the IRS over its role in enforcing Obamacare.


Koskinen worked as a budget official in the Clinton White House during two government shutdowns, helped Washington’s city government recover from a fiscal mess and took a seat as nonexecutive chairman at housing giant Freddie Mac after the financial crisis.

( PHOTOS: 10 slams on the IRS)

But the IRS could emerge as Koskinen’s biggest challenge yet.

Fallout from the tea party targeting practice consumed the White House in the early months of the summer and though the administration has more recently dismissed the debacle — Obama lamented “phony” scandals — Republicans won’t let go.

The GOP is working feverishly to slash the agency’s budget and is expanding its attacks to include the health care overhaul.

Thursday offered a perfect illustration of what Koskinen is up against if he is confirmed by the Senate.

( PHOTOS: 8 key players in IRS scandal story)

Daniel Werfel, the acting IRS chief, began his day under fire from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee for voicing a preference to keep his own health care rather than go on an exchange. He faced angry questions about the administration’s recent decision to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate.

“Mr. Werfel, you claim that you’re ‘making efforts’ to verify the employer-sponsored coverage,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.). “I don’t think you all are ready. I really don’t believe you’re ready.”

Later in the day, the House passed legislation in response to the IRS mess by allowing Americans to record conversations with federal employees, making it easier to fire government workers and limit federal employee bonuses.

House Republicans intend to vote Friday on a bill severing the IRS from the health care law.

( Also on POLITICO: Tough time for IRS bills)

But Obama is betting Koskinen — with his reputation as an accomplished turnaround manager — is well-suited to confront the agency’s challenges and critics.

“John is an expert at turning around institutions in need of reform,” Obama said in a statement. “With decades of experience in both the private and public sectors John knows how to lead in difficult times, whether that means ensuring new management or implementing new checks and balances.”

Werfel’s term ends Sept. 30.

The nomination met with mixed reviews on Capitol Hill.

The Senate Finance Committee must approve the nomination before it heads to the floor, and the panel’s chairman, Max Baucus, praised Obama’s pick.

( WATCH: Steven Miller apologizes for IRS, says American public 'deserves better')

“He’s got a strong management background, very strong management background — and the IRS needs that,” the Montana Democrat said.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan and a member of the Finance Committee, told POLITICO that “if the president is to be held accountable for the IRS, he needs his own director.”

But Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Finance Committee ranking member, expressed frustration that the White House didn’t solicit his input on such an important nomination.

“Given the magnitude of the scandal facing the IRS, I am more than a little mystified that neither the president nor the secretary of Treasury either consulted with or told me in advance about this decision to select this nominee,” Hatch said in a statement.

Hatch promised Koskinen a fair nomination hearing but said he would need to account for a number of concerns, including Obamacare and refundable tax credits.

Other key lawmakers were left scratching their heads, saying they didn’t know about the nomination or Koskinen’s background.

“Who’s that?” asked Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).

Said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.): “I was asking my staff, ‘Who is he?’ and he goes, ‘I’m not sure – it was John something.’”

“I didn’t know about it until you told me,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) told POLITICO.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, who has led one of the congressional probes into IRS targeting of conservative groups, said Koskinen should say whether he believes the targeting controversy is a “phony scandal.”

“Anyone who does not share the American people’s outrage about IRS wrongdoing is not qualified to lead this agency that has abused its power,” Issa said in a statement.

The White House touted that Koskinen’s “ability to work with leaders from both parties dates far back to his roles working for both Republicans and Democrats at the federal and local levels.”

But there could be questions about whether Koskinen is partisan.

Indeed, when serving on Clinton’s Y2K commission, Koskinen worked with former Sen. Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican, and was appointed by former President George W. Bush to work at Freddie Mac.

But many of Koskinen’s political contributions are to Democrats. He donated $8,800 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential and Senate bids, according to the Federal Election Commission. He also contributed $500 to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and another $500 to Al Gore.

Former colleagues of Koskinen told POLITICO that his calm demeanor will help in building relationships with Congress.

Ed Haldeman, a former CEO at Freddie Mac, described him as “incredibly fair and balanced.”

“If anybody had a shot to work with a divided Congress it is John Koskinen,” Haldeman said. “John probably has more experience than anyone I can think of in terms of turning around difficult situations. He’s done it many, many times in his career. There was a time when he was at Freddie when he was chairman, CEO, COO and CFO because of the series of events there.”

Another senior former Freddie official described Koskinen as the “smartest guy in the room, but [he] never showed it.”

Perhaps Koskinen’s first goal would be to rebuild the public’s trust in the agency.

The agency has suffered public relations blunders that left members of both parties shaking their heads. Among other things, there’s the infamous “Star Trek” video that the agency spent $60,000 to produce and reports of lavish spending on conferences and travel.

The IRS manager in charge of the video apologized to Congress for its production, and Werfel has worked to cut unnecessary spending at the agency.

Koskinen also faces major policy challenges — with the IRS budget as perhaps his biggest hurdle.

A bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee in July cut the IRS budget by more than $2.8 billion, or 24 percent, compared with 2013. Those cuts, the IRS has argued, will harm taxpayers and lead to longer wait times and less-efficient enforcement measures.

Koskinen will also be charged with the politically explosive implementation of Obamacare. The agency is responsible for handing out insurance tax credits, clawing back overpayments and collecting more than a dozen new taxes and fees. It’s also supposed to transmit information to help the new insurance exchanges determine who is eligible for subsidies.

If that isn’t enough, the IRS will play a key role if Congress undergoes comprehensive tax reform this year. The agency will be charged with providing practical guidance on how congressional tax policy changes will work during tax collection.

Koskinen’s selection comes one day after the White House announced Obama’s intention to nominate Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to take over as deputy Treasury secretary. The IRS commissioner reports to the deputy secretary.

Brian Faler, Paige Winfield Cunningham, Kelsey Snell, Rachael Bade and Jon Prior contributed to this report.