Congressional Republicans have proposed a bill that would prevent the IRS from enacting its planned facial recognition requirements for taxpayers to access tax records and other agency services, Accounting Today reported. 

The IRS announced last month that taxpayers will have until June to transition into a new login system that requires a picture of the person's face as extra identity protection. In the event that a selfie is seen as not enough, the private company running the program can even go so far as to request a video chat with a human representative (which it compared to going to an IRS office to review personal documentation). 

The new system, ID.me, is already in use at other federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for even longer, it has been used by various state governments (27 at current counts). It can retain data for up to seven and a half years, but people can request that their personal information be deleted at any time. 

Republican lawmakers cited concerns about data leaks and political weaponization as reasons to prevent the IRS from implementing the requirement. Rep. Jackie Walorski, (R-Ind.), a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, introduced the Save Taxpayers’ Privacy Act, which would prohibit the Treasury from requiring the technology for access to any IRS online account or service. 

Conservatives further signaled their dismay through an open letter authored by Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), further elaborating upon their concerns. Beyond the aforementioned data privacy issues, the letter also noted that the private company running the program is not subject to the same oversight as a government agency. They asked that the IRS get back to them on their concerns by Feb. 27. 

Update: The IRS has announced that it will move away from its plans to use a third-party service for facial recognition.