House Democrats demand answers on IRS’s AI use to manage taxpayer data

Nearly a dozen House Ways & Means Committee Democrats are seeking details from the IRS about how the agency is deploying artificial intelligence to deal with legacy code used to manage taxpayer data.

In a letter led by Reps. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin and Suzan DelBene of Washington, the 11 House Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to respond to a series of questions regarding the IRS’s plan to use AI tools in its work with Common Business-Oriented Language.

COBOL, a 1960s-era programming language, has propped up the IRS’s Individual Master File for more than five decades. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report noted that despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars to update IMF infrastructure, agency officials said the system wouldn’t be completely replaced until 2030 at the earliest.

In a May briefing to House Ways & Means members, Department of Government Efficiency staffers said they were “excited” to use AI to interact with COBOL as part of their modernization work at the Treasury Department, according to the letter. 

Though there’s no dispute over COBOL’s increasing obsolescence, the lawmakers said they have questions about whether DOGE’s AI-focused approach is the best way to handle it, “especially given the many known limitations with AI conversion capabilities.” The letter pointed to a July study that found frequent inaccuracies in AI’s ability to create source code, leading to increased time spent by developers checking and rewriting code.

“We hope this Administration shares our goal of ensuring any use of AI by the IRS is appropriately scrutinized, especially given the importance and significance of maintaining the integrity of the IMF and protecting taxpayer data from inappropriate access or exposure,” the Democrats wrote.

Some of the questions the lawmakers want Bessent to answer include details on any analysis the IRS conducted prior to starting the AI/COBOL initiative, to what extent the technology has already been deployed, and what plans it has for AI use on code going forward.

There are also several questions about protocols the IRS may or not have in place for AI deployment and the handling of AI-created code implementation. The lawmakers are asking for specifics on third-party companies that may be doing the work and costs associated with it. And they want assurances that taxpayer data is protected and federal privacy law is being followed.

DOGE’s access to Treasury IT has been the subject of litigation since the early days of the second Trump administration. The Elon Musk associates were initially limited by a federal judge from accessing Bureau of Fiscal Service systems, but an April ruling OK’d that access as long as DOGE representatives went through “proper training.” Separately, an appeals court in August lifted a block on DOGE from working in IRS, Education Department and Office of Personnel Management networks.

In addition to Moore and DelBene, the House Ways & Means letter was signed by Democratic Reps. John Larson of Connecticut, Danny Davis of Illinois, Linda Sanchez of California, Terri Sewell of Alabama, Judy Chu of California, Don Beyer of Virginia, Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, Steven Horsford of Nevada, and Tom Suozzi of New York.

The lawmakers asked Bessent to submit written answers to their questions by Jan. 10.