IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Thursday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is helping the agency try to get exemptions from the government-wide hiring freeze.
Procuring additional staff for the tax agency would align with Mnuchin’s pledge in confirmation hearings to try to increase the IRS’ headcount, but would run counter to congressional Republicans’ efforts in recent years to shrink the agency.
“The secretary and the Treasury Department couldn’t be more supportive,” Koskinen said in a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
The Treasury, Koskinen explained, is working with the Office of Management and Budget to get exemptions to the hiring freeze for key IRS personnel.
Koskinen said his agency was “kind of a poster child for a hiring freeze” because it had already seen its workforce shrink in the years before the freeze was implemented. The IRS budget has been cut and the number of employees has shrunk by double digits since 2010.
Although Mnuchin said that he aimed to boost the IRS staff in confirmation hearings, President Trump’s budget called for a $239 million cut to IRS funding.
Conservatives in Congress have sought cuts to IRS funding because, they say, it has not focused on its core mission. They also are still incensed at the agency for targeting conservative groups and mismanaging the scandal. On Wednesday members of the House committee with oversight of the IRS called on Koskinen to step down for his role in responding to the scandal.
At Thursday’s hearing, Koskinen said he wouldn’t step down before his term runs out in November. “Where I come from, if you sign up for a commitment, you complete that commitment,” he said.
To ensure continuity at the agency, Koskinen said, the Trump administration should propose a nominee soon.
