WATCH: The head of the IRS testifies at a House hearing as the April tax deadline approaches

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the IRS largely declined to answer questions about recent illegal disclosures of taxpayer data when lawmakers questioned him at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, saying it happened before the start of his term.

Watch the full session in the video player above.

IRS CEO Frank Bisignano faced the House Ways and Means Committee to talk about the progress the agency has made in serving taxpayers as the 2026 tax season is in full swing. It was his first time facing lawmakers in his role as IRS leader after being appointed to the newly created CEO position last October. Treasury Secretary Scott Besent remains acting IRS commissioner.

Read more: The court filing says thousands of taxpayers’ data was wrongly shared with the Department of Homeland Security

In prepared remarks, Bisignano focused on the IRS’s implementation of the Republicans’ sweeping tax and spending law, which includes eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, forgiving some auto loan interest, creating a deduction for seniors and launching Trump’s children’s savings accounts.

However, several Democratic lawmakers focused on a federal judge’s finding that the IRS broke the law by disclosing confidential taxpayer information “about 42,695 times” to ICE as part of an agreement between ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to share information on immigrants for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the United States, where immigration and border security are a key part of Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“Was anyone fired? Was anyone disciplined? Was anyone held accountable? Was anyone held accountable?” Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., asked Bisignano.

Bisignano pointed to ongoing litigation and declined to answer questions about the disclosures, adding: “I don’t want to discuss numbers.”

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found last month that the IRS illegally shared taxpayer information for thousands of people with immigration enforcement.

There are several ongoing cases challenging the IRS-DHS agreement. Two court orders barred the agencies from massive transfers of taxpayer information and prevented ICE from acting on any IRS data in its possession. Those initial orders remain in effect.

“This is a catastrophic failure of leadership and a major blow to the public’s confidence in your integrity,” said Rep. Susan DelBene, D-Wash.

“Clearly all of these events occurred before my term,” responded Bisignano, who also serves as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. But he added, “My responsibility is to do it right.”

A data-sharing agreement signed last April by Picente and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem allows ICE to submit the names and addresses of immigrants inside the United States illegally to the IRS for verification of tax records. The deal led to the resignation of the then-acting IRS commissioner.

During the hearing, Democrats also questioned Bisignano about the IRS’s recent decision to cut union contracts with its workers. Representative Richard Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, asserted that “by terminating the union contract, it becomes easier to dismantle the IRS.”

“Federal employees under the law enjoy greater benefits than any union in the world can provide to their own people,” said Bisignano, the son of a former Treasury Department employee.

“They don’t lose anything,” he said.