The Treasury Department this week began requiring the use of ID.me to access the agency’s platform to buy and redeem U.S. savings bonds. Two Senate Democrats want the department to rethink that decision.
In a letter sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said the “needlessly rushed deadline for transitioning to” ID.me to gain access to TreasuryDirect should be delayed “at a minimum” until after the 2027 tax filing deadline.
The lawmakers argued that U.S. savings bonds are mostly held by older Americans who may not have “the digital proficiency” to make the change to ID.me. TreasuryDirect is the only electronic platform where users can buy and claim those bonds, which are backed by the U.S. government and considered among the safest investments a person can make.
A Treasury official said in an email
A Treasury official said in an email that ID.me is a government-trusted tool that will safeguard the personal and financial information of users and protect against unauthorized access and identity theft.
ID.me has for years been in the crosshairs of Democratic lawmakers and privacy advocates over concerns about the digital identity verification and login service’s security practices and use of biometric data. Wyden and Warren, ranking members of the Senate Finance and Banking committees, respectively, hit on those points in their letter.
“Americans should not have to provide sensitive personal information to ID.me as the price of accessing essential government services when a secure government-operated alternative is available,” the senators wrote. “The Treasury Department’s and IRS’s reliance on ID.me raises significant concerns about privacy, cybersecurity, and data breaches, accountability and oversight, and the collection, retention, and use of sensitive personal information.”
An ID.me spokesperson said in an emailed statement
An ID.me spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the service, which the Treasury Department has used since 2021, “has consistently outperformed alternatives in customer service, ease of use, expanding access, protecting taxpayer data, and fighting fraud that costs American taxpayers billions each year.”
With regard to TreasuryDirect, the spokesperson said ID.me “shares only” what the platform “needs” after the user gives their consent. The spokesperson also said ID.me does not share any biometric data with TreasuryDirect, and any biometric data that is collected “is never sold or shared, and is not matched against outside databases.”
The lawmakers also questioned Bisignano about why the tax agency hasn’t shifted away from ID.me despite saying it would do so in 2022. The agency continuedusing ID.me and re-upped its partnership. The IRS currently uses Login.gov for identity verification but also includes ID.me as an option for users. In January, the agency awarded a more than $1 billion sole-
The IRS now offers multiple ways for taxpayers
“The IRS now offers multiple ways for taxpayers to verify their identity and access IRS online services,” the agency said in an emailed statement. “Taxpayers can use Login.gov or ID.me, giving them more choice, convenience, and security ahead of the 2027 filing season.”
The use of ID.me at Treasury and the IRS comes at a time when the entire federal government has been ordered by the Office of Management and Budget to use Login.gov for user identity verification, part of a push to make the platform the universal sign-on system to access public services.
“The technical basis for continuing to require ID.me is unclear,” Wyden and Warren wrote. The General Services Administration “offers Login.gov identity verification that meets IAL2 requirements, along with multifactor authentication, fraud prevention capabilities, U.S. passport verification, and in-person verification through participating U.S. Postal Service locations.
Login.gov is already used by over 180 million
“Login.gov is already used by over 180 million users across 54 agencies and states,” they added. “Yet the IRS continues to tell taxpayers that they need ID.me to access most IRS accounts and services, and as noted above, the Treasury Department is expanding its reliance on ID.me.”
Login has faced some criticism over the years of its own: Former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig wrote in a 2024 op-ed that it “failed to meet” federal standards for digital identity and security. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration also raised security concerns with Login in a 2024 report.
The senators included a dozen questions in their letter, setting a Nov. 9 deadline for Treasury and IRS responses. Among the issues Wyden and Warren want addressed are the amount spent on ID.me, why the IRS never transitioned away from it, what services Login.gov lacks that ID.me possesses, how the agencies plan to address “documented civil liberty concerns” and more.
Politico first reported Wyden and Warren’s letter.
