DIRECT FILE ACT

On 2026-04-15, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) delivered a floor speech titled "DIRECT FILE ACT" in the Senate. The speech addressed healthcare and also covered taxes, the environment. It referenced legislation including S1770, S1772, S3948, among other bills.

DIRECT FILE ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S1770-S1772] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] DIRECT FILE ACT Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here on tax day to highlight how the Trump administration has made filing taxes more costly, more complicated, and more time-consuming for working Americans. Nobody likes paying taxes. It is painful, but this administration somehow has managed to make it even more painful. From eliminating a free, easy-to- use tax service program to cutting funding and staff at the Internal Revenue Service, the Trump administration has made it needlessly harder for millions of Americans to meet their tax obligations this season. On tax day, we recognize there is an obligation. Most Americans fulfill it. But, at the very least, the government can make it less painful, not more so. But, in late 2025, at the behest of giant tax preparation companies like TurboTax and H&R Block, President Trump canceled the popular Direct File Program. That was a free online service that allowed taxpayers to file their Federal income taxes directly with the IRS. By every measure, believe it or not, this government program was a runaway success. It received overwhelmingly favorable reviews. Remember, this is a service enabling people to pay taxes, and people loved it. Ninety percent of survey respondents ranked their experience as ``excellent'' or ``above average.'' It was estimated to save the average taxpayer $160 and hours of their time. In short, this program worked. No more third-party companies nickel- and-diming taxpayers with expensive rates and junk fees. It was just straightforward, no cost, an option that hundreds and thousands of families relied on to pay their taxes. And studies projected that a full-scale, permanent Direct File Program would have saved Americans $11 billion annually in combined filing fees and time costs. The Direct File Program also helped lower income families because they were able to access millions of dollars in unclaimed tax credits, with projections suggesting it would have delivered up to $12 billion in additional tax credits annually. That is a lot of money. As costs increase for everything--food, housing, healthcare--this program was an easy way to give working Americans a well-deserved break. But the Trump administration canceled the program. It caved to the tax software companies, and, yet again, it put profits over people. Frankly, this is just stupid. It is dumb. It is crazy, if you consider the public interest. Americans are required to pay taxes. So the Federal Government should have an easy way for them to do it, and I am proud to have introduced the Direct File Act with my colleagues. Our bill would reinstate the Direct File Program and prohibit the IRS from entering into agreements that restrict its ability to provide these free services. Sadly and unforgivably, Republicans are opposing the Direct File Act. I guess, instead, they are cozying up to the Big Tech companies and putting corporate interests above those of everyday Americans. You would think, in this kind of issue, we would have common ground. It is an easy issue. And taxpayers deserve better from the IRS. They need an Agency that is fully staffed, adequately resourced, and capable of delivering timely, reliable service, including refunds. A lot of people say: Oh, well, the IRS. We hate the IRS. Well, you hate the IRS until you are owed a refund or until the IRS makes a mistake because they are understaffed or because they don't have modern technology that could save all of us money. And that is why I recently sent a letter to the IRS, urging them to take immediate steps to ensure it is fully prepared to meet American taxpayer needs during this 2026 filing season. President Trump seems to be on a mission to make life more difficult and more expensive for Americans, and he seems to be succeeding. Eliminating the Direct File Program, as well as cutting funding and reducing staffing at the IRS, is simply increasing costs and making the system more difficult, more painful, more onerous for all taxpayers-- maybe except for the millionaires and billionaires who can well afford their accountants and wouldn't use the Direct File Program. But for most of the people of America who want to pay their taxes and do it, it simply imposes an additional unnecessary burden. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3948 Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to say thank you to my partner in these efforts, Senator Blumenthal, and to all the others who have come here to speak on tax day about how outrageous it is that a program to actually let people pay their taxes online for free has been destroyed by Donald Trump and the Republicans. So I am about to call up a bill to the floor that would let Americans file their taxes for free directly with the IRS. It is amazing to me that anyone could oppose this, especially when filing your taxes is something that Americans are required by law to do every year. But as sure as the Sun will rise, Republicans are going to block my bill. For years, giant tax prep companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have rigged our system so they can cash in on your hard-earned dollars, and the result is that people spend now an average of 8 hours and $160 each year just to file their taxes using tax prep services. These big companies don't just take a fee for filing your taxes; they have actually become experts at figuring out ways to upsell, to charge junk fees, and to make money off your personal information. It is really outrageous. So I drafted a bill that would allow Americans to file their taxes online for free and directly with the IRS through a program called Direct File. Now, tens of millions of people wouldn't have to go to a paid preparer if they didn't want to. They could just file directly with the IRS. Over 160 Members of Congress have joined me on this bill. Over 100 unions [[Page S1771]] and advocacy groups and national organizations have endorsed this bill. And I am forcing the Senate to decide today: Will we pass this bill? During the Biden administration, the IRS ran a pilot program for Direct File. People who had a chance to use it loved it. Ninety-four percent of taxpayers who used the program described their experience as ``excellent'' or ``above average,'' which, by the way, is not exactly how most Americans describe paying their taxes most of the time. But Direct File worked. We have seen it. We actually made it work. And once it was fully operational, Direct File was projected to save taxpayers $23 billion a year and more hours than anyone could count. So why do we not have Direct File today? We already had it. We set it up during the Biden years, ready to go, and had it underway. It was working. Well, the answer is tax prep companies hated it, and they hated it because it cut into their bottom line. Why would people pay for TurboTax if they could easily file their taxes online for free? And that is why, for years, big tax prep companies have lobbied the government to keep people from using a program like Direct File. Now, the Direct File pilot project was a huge success, and yet it was dropped. Why? Well, first, the company that runs TurboTax, Intuit, donated a million dollars to Donald Trump's inauguration. And then, a few months later, reports came out that Donald Trump and Elon Musk wanted to kill the free tax filing program. And last fall, they delivered. That is exactly what they did. This story tells you everything you need to know about why Republicans will block my bill today. This is all about money and power. It is about letting big corporations donate to politicians and then politicians just opening the doors so those big companies can rip off the American people. To Republicans who say that making filing your tax for free with the IRS is too expensive, I just want to point out that for one day of bombing in Iran, we could pay for 20 years of Direct File. And to Republicans who say that it is already free to file your taxes, I say: Go talk to the millions of people who paid over 100 bucks to file their taxes this year and ask them just how free it was, even when they click on the ``free'' buttons, and how it is that these guys have managed to put them in places where they end up paying. And to the Republicans defending the status quo, just ask yourselves: Why are you on the side of TurboTax and H&R Block, instead of your constituents? Filing your taxes should be easy and free, and I urge every Senator to vote yes on the Direct File Act. Let's save people some time and some money and show the American people that we can actually make government work not just for giant corporations, but we can make government work for them. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3948; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection? The Senator from Idaho. Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I rise in opposition to S. 3948, the Direct File Act of 2026. After listening to those who have described why we need it, you might say: Well, how could there be a different story or another side of the coin? I will tell you. There is a huge disagreement about the facts, and there is a huge disagreement about what has happened, and there is another side of the coin. This bill seeks to reverse the Treasury Department's recent suspension of the Direct File Program. Direct File was an unauthorized, unnecessary program that wasted taxpayer funds and presented a clear conflict of interest by empowering the IRS to b

Referenced legislation: S3948, S3948