IRS chief Frank Bisignano may have misled Congress, Democrats say

The head of the Internal Revenue Service, Frank Bisignano, may have lied to Congress about personnel issues as the tax agency is running to hire after making deep reductions in personnel at the beginning of the Trump administration, a group of Senate Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren alleged in a letter sent late Wednesday and shared exclusively with CNBC.

Bisignano, who is also the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, testified before Congress in March that he “feels.”[s] good for the number of employees [he] he still has it now” at the IRS. He also denied that his agency was understaffed before the Senate Finance Committee in April.

Warren, D-Mass., and other Democrats, however, said in a letter that Bisignano’s testimony is inconsistent with recent news reports that the IRS is recruiting aggressively. They also pointed out that the agency’s inspector general cited staffing shortages as the agency’s biggest concern, while pointing to an internal memo reported by NOTUS that called for immediate hiring authority due to “ongoing staffing shortages.” [that] put the 2026 Filling Season at risk.”

“The new report suggests that the IRS understood the need for more staff, despite the public’s opposition to it,” the Democrats wrote in a letter. “This discrepancy requires explanation. Under federal law, individuals who ‘knowingly and willfully … make any false, fraudulent, or fraudulent statement’ to Congress may face sanctions.’

More than a dozen Democrats signed on to the letter, including Senate Finance Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., were also among the letter’s signatories.

Knowingly lying or misleading Congress can be a crime.

The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter is the latest headache for Bisignano, who was forced to play defense earlier this week after the Wall Street Journal reported that he was an informant for his colleagues at the JPMorgan Chase. An IRS official has denied a report that he used his security authority to intercept communications with colleagues and obtain sensitive information.

In his current role, Bisignano sits at the top of the most secretive structures of nearly every American.

It also comes on the heels of last year’s massive federal government cuts led by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Public Works. The IRS alone is shedding more than 31,000 workers as of January 2026, according to the agency’s inspector general’s report, a gap that Bisignano said is being closed through the adoption of new technology.

The IRS IG said in a June report that employees contributed to the agency’s work delays.

“We also know that many of the workers leaving were experienced workers with institutional knowledge and skills that could not be easily replaced,” the IG said in the report. “In our 2026 Filing Season memorandum to the IRS Commissioner, we warned that the IRS faces heightened operational risks this season due to staffing shortages, hiring delays, and significant backlogs. For example, the list of critical assets awaiting processing (such as amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence) has grown significantly.”

Warren and his colleagues want Bisignano to clarify whether reports that the IRS is seeking special hiring authority are accurate and whether he was aware of the internal memo requesting the authority and read it before his testimony to Congress.

They also asked him to clarify his basis for telling Congress that there is ‘no shortage of staff’ at the IRS while at the same time seeking hiring authority because of a ‘critical need to hire.’