{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://neal.house.gov/2026/08/21/neal-demands-answers-for-trump-administrations-trampling-of-irs-employee-rights/", "Neal Demands Answers for Trump Administration\u2019s Trampling of IRS Employee Rights", "2026-08-21", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Richard E. Neal", "N000015", "neal.house.gov", "neal", "https://neal.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "SPRINGFIELD, MA\u2014 Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal today sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) CEO Frank J. Bisignano, following up on his March 4, 2026, testimony to the Ways and Means Committee regarding the Administration\u2019s attempt to unilaterally end the collective bargaining agreement between the IRS and the National Employees Treasury Union (NTEU). Bisignano testified that IRS employees \u201care losing nothing\u201d without the collective bargaining agreement.\n\n\u201cFor nearly 90 years (since 1938), the NTEU, or its predecessor, has protected the rights of hundreds of thousands of federal employees to negotiate, take legal action, and advocate for themselves. I continue to stand by my statement that the Trump Administration cannot unilaterally take away the hard-fought rights of IRS employees to unionize.\u201d Ranking Member Neal wrote. \u201cYou testified that \u2018their benefits is under statute\u2019 and that \u2018their time off is under statute.\u2019 However, I understand that the actions taken since termination of the agreement contradict this testimony.\u201d\n\nRanking Member Neal reminded CEO Bisignano that recent administrative actions contradict his testimony, including canceled telework, forced relocations, delayed Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requests, changes to performance evaluations, and unfair overtime allocations.\n\nNeal demanded the Administration provide written answers outlining the legal basis of their actions, and what, if any, reasonable accommodations they are making to impacted employees whose rights they\u2019ve trampled on.\n\nRanking Member Neal closed, \u201cThese actions raise serious concerns about your testimony and this Administration\u2019s attempt to unlawfully terminate the collective bargaining agreement with NTEU by trampling on the rights of unionized employees.\u201d\n\nREAD THE FULL LETTER HERE.", 1, "2026-09-26T09:43:57Z", "2026-09-26T09:44:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://neal.house.gov/2026/08/21/neal-demands-answers-for-trump-administrations-trampling-of-irs-employee-rights/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.8092251159250736, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}