Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday that Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano will also serve in a newly created role as chief executive officer of the Internal Revenue Service. Bisignano will oversee all day-to-day operations at the tax agency and will report to Bessent, who will remain acting commissioner of the IRS.
“The move lets the administration install a Trump appointee at the IRS quickly without going through the Senate confirmation process,” The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Schwartz and Richard Rubin note. “Bisignano will help implement the administration’s vision for the IRS, which emphasizes upgraded technology and retreats from the heavier enforcement initiatives started under President Joe Biden.”
Bisignano may also help bring an added measure of stability to the beleaguered tax agency, which has seen seven people serve as commissioner since January. Before Bessent stepped into that role, Trump appointed former congressman Billy Long to the job, but abruptly removed him in early August, after less than two months.
A veteran financial executive, Bisignano was tapped to lead Social Security after serving as chairman and CEO of Fiserv, a financial services and payment technology company.
“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 that also noted that the IRS and Social Security Administration share many technological and customer service goals. “Under his leadership at the SSA, he has already made important and substantial progress,” Bessent said, “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.”
Some policy experts questioned the new appointment, expressing concern about the challenges involved in overseeing both the IRS and the Social Security Administration — and about the Trump administration’s end run around Senate confirmation.
“If the Trump Admin asked for the Senate’s advice & consent, would they really want the same person running the government’s biggest program AND overseeing the implementation of the extraordinarily complex new tax law?” Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote in a social media post. “This unprecedented arrangement cries out for meaningful oversight to ensure that each agency adequately serves the public, conflicts of interest are resolved, and our most sensitive data are protected.”