Senate Dems say IRS chief may have ‘misled’ Congress on staffing answers

Amid a reported hiring binge at the IRS following a monthslong spree of staff cuts, more than a dozen Senate Democrats launched an investigation Thursday into whether the tax agency’s chief executive misled Congress about workforce issues.

In a letter to Frank Bisignano led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the lawmakers painted the puzzling picture of an agency that shed more than a quarter of its staff only to later request special authorities to hire 8,000 staffers on an accelerated timeline, according to NOTUS.

Before the revelation of the IRS’s hiring push, Bisignano defended agency workforce decisions in the media, telling Fox Business in April that there was “no staffing shortage.” 

Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Tax Day, the IRS CEO took a victory lap on what he called the “most successful filing season” ever, claiming the agency had “less people and better results.”

But that bravado, the lawmakers wrote, was undercut by a January memo from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which warned of IT project delays, inventory backlogs and customer service issues due to workforce reductions.

The memo obtained by NOTUS, sent in February, also sounded the alarm on the impact of a severely downsized workforce, with the IRS’s chief human capital officer pointing specifically to compromised operations and a possibly ballooning backlog of tax forms and taxpayer communications. 

“This memo was sent well before your appearances before the House Ways and Means Committee in March and the Senate Finance Committee in April,” the Senate Democrats wrote in the letter, which was first reported by CNBC. “Yet when addressing Members of Congress, you did not mention the ‘ongoing staffing shortages [that] put the 2026 Filing Season at risk’ that IRS officials identified in the memo — instead, you repeatedly denied the existence of a staffing shortage.

“This discrepancy requires an explanation,” the lawmakers continued, warning Bisignano that “knowingly and willfully” lying to Congress “may be subject to penalties.” 

By Aug. 5, the Senate Democrats requested answers from Bisignano about the reporting on special IRS hiring authorities, including details on the timeline, whether the request was granted, how many employees have been hired and where those staffers have been assigned.

The lawmakers also asked Bisignano if he was aware of the memo cited in NOTUS’s reporting, and how he came to believe that there were no staffing shortages at the IRS when he testified before Congress.

Warren was joined in her letter by Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jeanne Sheheen of New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Cory Booker of New Jersey, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Peter Welch of Vermont, and Raphael Warnock of Georgia,

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.