{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/shaheen-joins-colleagues-in-investigating-whether-irs-misled-congress-and-public-about-agency-staffing-shortage-while-customer-service-dropped-off-during-filing-season", "Shaheen Joins Colleagues in Investigating Whether IRS Misled Congress and Public About Agency Staffing Shortage While Customer Service Dropped Off During Filing Season", "2026-07-27", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "Senate", "NH", "Jeanne Shaheen", "S001181", "www.shaheen.senate.gov", "shaheen", "https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "(Washington, DC) \u2013 U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joined 13 of her Senate colleagues in investigating whether Frank Bisignano, Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), misled Congress and the public about his agency\u2019s staffing problems after the Trump Administration gutted the IRS workforce\u2014leaving Americans struggling to reach customer service at the agency during the past tax filing season. New reporting reveals that the IRS is scrambling to hire thousands of new workers after the agency fired or pushed out nearly 30,000 workers last year\u2014more than a fourth of its staff.\n\nThe Senators wrote, in part: \u201cWe write regarding recent reports that after cutting 27 percent of its staff in 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is now scrambling to hire thousands of new staff. These reports raise questions about whether you misled Congress and the public about the Trump administration\u2019s reckless cuts at the agency. Earlier this year, you stated that the IRS had no additional staffing needs, despite the fact that the Trump Administration spent its first year in office firing or pushing out nearly 30,000 workers. You defended the staff cuts on numerous occasions [\u2026] You indicated in April 2026 that there was \u201cno staffing shortage\u201d at the IRS [\u2026].\u201d\n\nThey continued: \u201cBut independent reports were telling a different story. In January, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration warned that staffing shortages were serious and could impact customer service at the IRS. Press reports described internal IRS communications explaining that the agency was struggling [\u2026] And contrary to your claims about improved customer service, an independent watchdog found that, during this filing season, time on hold for taxpayers more than doubled while IRS customer service representatives answered 20% fewer phone calls [\u2026] New reporting suggests that the IRS understood the need for more agency staff [\u2026] Yet when addressing Members of Congress, you did not mention the \u2018ongoing staffing shortages [that] put the 2026 Filing Season at risk\u2019 that IRS officials identified in the memo\u2014instead, you repeatedly denied the existence of a staffing shortage.\u201d\n\nThey concluded: \u201cThis discrepancy requires an explanation [\u2026] Therefore, to better understand whether you misrepresented the IRS\u2019s staffing shortage to Congress and the public, we request that you answer the following questions by August 5, 2026: 1. Are the reports that the IRS requested and received special authority to hire new employees on an expedited basis accurate? If so: a. What authority was used for this hiring? b. When did the IRS request this authority? c. When was this authority granted? d. How many employees have been hired under this authority to date? e. Where have these employees been assigned? 2. Were you aware of the internal memo sent in February by Chief Human Capital Officer Alex Kweskin? If so, when did you become aware? If not, why not? 3. Had you read the memo prior to your appearances in front of the Congressional tax writing committees? If not, why not? 4. What was your basis for telling Congress and the public that there was \u2018no staffing shortage\u2019 at the IRS while at the same time seeking hiring authority due to a \u2018critical hiring need\u2019?\u201d\n\nThe full letter can be read HERE.\n\nSimplifying the tax system and ensuring Americans have the resources they need to file their taxes has been a long-time priority for Senator Shaheen. Ahead of this past tax season, Shaheen joined her colleagues in a letter warning that the IRS was woefully unprepared to assist the American people due to mass layoffs and chaos at the agency. Shaheen is a staunch supporter of the highly successful Direct File program, helping to introduce legislation earlier this year to reverse the Administration\u2019s decision to cancel the popular program. Shaheen has also worked to protect Granite Staters who experienced challenges when using online tax services like TurboTax and introduced the Tax Filing Simplification Act to ease the tax filing process for millions of Americans and lower costs.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-28T07:37:32Z", "2026-07-28T07:38:50Z"]], "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://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/shaheen-joins-colleagues-in-investigating-whether-irs-misled-congress-and-public-about-agency-staffing-shortage-while-customer-service-dropped-off-during-filing-season"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1687248479574919, "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"}