Social Security nominee grilled on Department of Government Efficiency
During fintech CEO Frank Bisignano’s confirmation hearing, senators zeroed in on support of the Department of Government Efficiency.
WASHINGTON − The Senate confirmed Frank Bisignano on May 6 to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration, placing him in charge of an agency central to the lives of retirees that has been struggling with long wait times and website crashes.
Bisignano, a 65-year-old Wall Street veteran, secured his post with a vote of 53-47. He enters the Trump administration at a time when its facing public backlash for its plans to downsize government and where he’ll be leading an agency that Americans interact with from cradle to grave.
The Social Security Administration provides benefits to roughly 73 million people, including retirees and children. The agency’s acting commissioner has been Leland Dudek, who had already begun making changes, including mass buyouts of staff.
Bisignano has worked as chairman of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm, since 2020. President Donald Trump nominated Bisignano in December, praising him for having “a tremendous track record of transforming large corporations.”
But Democrats have criticized Trump’s decision to place Bisignano, who has a track record as a “cutter” in the private sector, in charge of the agency.
Asked during his March confirmation hearing whether Social Security should be privatized, Bisignano responded: “I’ve never heard a word of it, and I’ve never thought about it.”
Bisignano also brushed aside questions during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee about the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s access to the agency and said he’s spent his career protecting people’s personal information.
He told the committee he would work on cutting wait times for Social Security beneficiaries and suggested he had no plans to cut benefits.
Trump has said repeatedly he has no plans to cut Social Security benefits. “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare, and I will not raise the retirement age by one day,” the president said on social media in July 2024.
But Musk, one of the president’s top advisors, has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” saying the money coming in is not enough to meet its future obligations. Both Trump and Musk have claimed widespread fraud among recipients.
Democrats have seized on concerns that Trump will follow though with targeting Social Security. They’ve been holding press conferences in recent weeks at local Social Security offices around the country and launched a “war room” to drive a message on a topic once known as the “third rail of American politics.”
“Trump and his billionaire cronies have decided they are immune to the concerns of American citizens. They’re about to find out just how wrong they are,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a Senate floor speech opposing Bisignano’s confirmation. “Over the past several months, the Trump administration has attacked nearly every aspect of Social Security.”
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on May 2 to let DOGE access the data of millions of Americans kept by the Social Security administration after a federal judge in Maryland blocked Musk’s team from accessing the data. That court ruling found that Trump officials likely violated privacy laws by giving Musk’s aides “unbridled access” to personal information.
Social Security officials have announced plans to cut 7,000 of its 57,000 staff despite personnel being at a record low and the number of eligible recipients at an all-time high. An estimated 3,000 have already taken buyouts as of March.
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