Bisignano to lead IRS in addition to SSA duties, raising questions about the Senate confirmation process

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday that he had named Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano to serve in a newly created CEO role at the Internal Revenue Service, raising concerns both about Bisignano's newly split priorities and the Trump administration's effort to consolidate government databases of Americans' personal information to aid in its mass deportation efforts. In addition to his duties running the Social Security Administration, Bisignano will be responsible for "overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations," the Treasury Department said in a press release Monday."

""Frank is a businessman with an exceptional track record of driving growth and efficiency in the private and now public sector," Bessent said in a statement. "Under his leadership at the SSA, he has already made important and substantial progress, and we are pleased that he will bring this expertise to the IRS as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy and customer service in order to deliver better outcomes for hardworking Americans.""

"Bisignano has touted massive gains in customer service metrics like hold times on SSA's 1-800 number. But those boasts are not backed up by the facts, as the commissioner frequently misstated the state of the agency's customer service metrics at the start of the Trump administration and changed the methodology of some metrics to incorporate when a member of the public reaches an AI agent rather than a human representative, or elects to receive a call back rather than wait on hold."

Scott Bessent named Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano to a new IRS CEO role responsible for overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations while Bisignano retains SSA duties. The move raises concerns about split priorities and the Trump administration's effort to consolidate government databases of Americans' personal information to support mass deportation. Treasury characterized Bisignano as a businessman who improved SSA customer service and would sharpen IRS focus on collections, privacy, and customer service. Critics note Bisignano misstated agency customer service metrics and altered methodologies to count AI interactions or callbacks as improved outcomes. Creation of a CEO title rather than a Senate-confirmed commissioner raises bypass worries.

Read at Nextgov.com