The head of the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday told the Senate Finance Committee that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is actively trying to procure more hires for the agency despite the federal hiring freeze.
John Koskinen, commissioner of the embattled agency, said the IRS has been a "poster child for a hiring freeze," having seen its budget and workforce depleted by double digits since 2010.
Koskinen said the IRS' budget is down $900 million since 2010 resulting in 17,000 fewer personnel during that time.
And now, President Donald Trump has proposed a $239 million cut to the IRS.
However, Mnuchin ran on a platform of bolstering IRS staffing during his confirmation hearings.
Mnuchin "has been very supportive in working with us to identify areas where we should be able to make hires in areas that are critical to the operation of the agency," Koskinen told the panel. "They're working with OMB on a set of exemptions ... we're talking about a relatively small number of positions.
"The secretary and the Treasury Department couldn't be more supportive," Koskinen told the panel.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.