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Social Security Hearing Shows Trump Pick Bisignano Would Worsen 'DOGE-Manufactured Chaos'
"Social Security needs a commissioner whose loyalty is to beneficiaries, not Elon Musk," said one advocate.
Mar 25, 2025
As Democrats on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee grilled financial services executive Frank Bisignano at his confirmation hearing to oversee Social Security on Tuesday, a progressive think tank reported that the Trump administration's cuts to the popular program have already created "unnecessary barriers for millions of beneficiaries to access the benefits they earned."
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he is "not touching" Social Security benefits, but the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) said his insistence "may be a distinction without a difference if his administration's actions delay benefits or make it harder to get them in the first place."
The group outlined four ways in which Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire tech CEO who he named as head of the advisory board he created to slash public spending, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have created "the potential for significant damage to the program" without taking action to explicitly make cuts to the benefits relied on by 73 million retirees, people with disabilities, and survivors of deceased parents.
Trump and Musk have worked to weaken Social Security by:
- Launching rhetorical attacks on the program, including false claims of massive fraud—providing a pretext for actions that could undermine eligible beneficiaries' access to benefits, such as privatization;
- Engaging in deep cuts to staffing and new restrictions on phone-based services for the public, likely leading to the overwhelming of Social Security offices across the country, dozens of which are set to close this year under DOGE orders;
- Jeopardizing the reliability of the Social Security Administration (SSA) systems, including through the sharp reduction of staff with technical expertise; and
- Threatening the security of people's personal information by giving untrained DOGE political appointees unprecedented access to sensitive SSA data.
In recent weeks, longtime employees of the SSA have shed light on the impact of DOGE cutting 12% of the staff, with the former acting chief of staff to acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, Tiffany Flick, saying in a court filing before her retirement in February that DOGE's "disregard for critical processes... and lack of interest in understanding [SSA's] systems and programs... combined with the significant loss of expertise as more and more agency personnel leave, have me seriously concerned that SSA programs will continue to function and operate without disruption."
But at Bisgnano's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers were alarmed by his refusal to acknowledge the damage done by DOGE at SSA.
Noting that Bisignano has referred to himself as a "DOGE guy," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the nominee what grade he would give Musk's advisory body's activities at the SSA over the past two months.
"I look around and I see phones out of whack, offices out of whack, databases being invaded," said Wyden. "I'm not sure I'd give them a very good grade, but you're a 'DOGE guy.'"
Bisignano did not answer the direct question, instead saying he has spent his career pursuing "employee satisfaction" and "increasing control."
"What kind of grade would you give the DOGE people at Social Security?" - @wyden.senate.gov Bisignano refuses to answer the question.
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told reporters after the hearing that with Bisignano signaling he is "all in on DOGE... I see no reason to trust that he is going to do anything but be an enthusiastic participant in what Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to do to Social Security, which is to cause it, as far as I can see, to collapse from the inside."
Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, noted that Bisignano's career in financial services has been "right in line with DOGE."
"He cut staffing to the bone and reportedly created toxic work environments," said Altman. "If he is confirmed, the now toxic work environment at SSA will likely get worse."
Wyden's questioning of Bisignano also revealed that the nominee was involved in discussions about DOGE at the agency, with Bisignano claiming that he was not before the senator produced a statement from a senior official saying the nominee insisted "on personally approving DOGE hires at the agency."
"Today's hearing showed that Frank Bisignano is not the cure to the DOGE-manufactured chaos at the Social Security Administration. In fact, he is part of it, and, if confirmed, would make it even worse," said Altman. "Social Security needs a commissioner whose loyalty is to beneficiaries, not Elon Musk. Bisignano would not even contradict Musk's slander that Social Security is a criminal Ponzi scheme. Every senator who cares about Social Security's future should vote no on the confirmation of Frank Bisignano. He is not only unqualified, with no expertise regarding this vital program—he is dangerous to it."
While Democrats expressed outrage over the administration's efforts to gut the program that 40% of American retirees rely on as their primary source of income, one of the Republicans on the committee, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) explicitly gave Bisignano his blessing to "go after [Social Security] the way you would in the private sector."
"With his comments today in support of Social Security office closures, Sen. Tillis revealed the fact that protecting seniors and the disabled is an afterthought for congressional Republicans and that they have one true agenda—gutting vital programs like Social Security to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires," said Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Kobie Christian. "The 73 million Americans currently receiving Social Security are not numbers on a balance sheet that Republicans should 'go after.' They are everyday people who worked hard to earn their benefits. It's time that members of Congress stop this crusade on families across the country and put an end to this pro-billionaire agenda."
As Common Dreamsreported Tuesday, the changes at SSA that Tillis endorsed and called for more of include the agency's website crashing four times in 10 days recently, panicked beneficiaries being forced to wait on hold for up to 4-5 hours, and employees left wondering whether they will receive proper training to verify people's identities at field offices as the agency prepares to end phone services at the direction of the White House.
At the hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) explained how those changes are in fact cuts to Social Security benefits—no matter how many times Trump claims otherwise.
If a 65-year-old retiree can't use the SSA's phone service to verify his identity and apply for benefits and has to wait for a family member to get a day off work to drive him two hours to the only understaffed SSA office in the area that hasn't been closed, she said, "let's assume it takes our fellow three months to straighten this out and he misses a total of $5,000 in benefits checks, which, by law, he will never get back."
"Is that a benefit cut?" Warren asked.
Bisignano did not answer the question, saying he wasn't sure "what to call" the scenario described by the senator.
"DOGE is considering slashing up to 50% of the Social Security Administration's workforce. That means longer lines, and more errors. For everyone who gives up or who dies before they get their benefits sorted out, it is a benefit cut." - @warren.senate.gov
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 25, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Bisignano claimed at the hearing that he will "run the SSA in a way that properly serves beneficiaries," said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "But that will be impossible if he does not undo the reckless policies that acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has put in place under the influence of Elon Musk and DOGE, with the implied consent of President Trump, which have seriously disrupted customer service for seniors and people with disabilities."
"Significantly and alarmingly, Bisignano would not commit to ending Musk and DOGE's interference at SSA, nor to reversing any of their dangerous policies," said Richtman. "He cannot live up to his promises to put the interests of beneficiaries first if the man who recently called Social Security a Ponzi scheme continues to call the shots."
'Prelude to Privatizing Social Security': Cuts Came Straight From White House
As the Social Security Administration prepared to cut phone services for beneficiaries, the acting administrator admitted: "The reason that we're on this timeline is because we received a request from the White House."
Mar 25, 2025
The Trump administration's massive cuts to the agency that oversees Social Security benefits that are the primary source of income for 40% of American senior citizens came directly from the White House, the agency's acting administrator confirmed Monday as staffers across the country struggled to serve beneficiaries.
The cuts were the subject of a letter sent Monday by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA), Republican donor and financial technology executive Frank Bisignano—with the two lawmakers voicing concerns shared by many economic justice advocates that the Trump administration is "setting up the SSA for failure."
Warren and Wyden both serve on the Senate Finance Committee, which held a confirmation hearing for Bisignano on Tuesday. In a statement at the hearing, Wyden warned against confirming Bisignano, considering his history of "taking over troubled businesses and... firing hundreds or thousands of workers."
"This approach is a prelude to privatizing Social Security and handing it over to private equity," said Wyden. "Improving Social Security doesn't start with shuttering the offices that handle modernization, anti-fraud activities, and civil rights violations. It doesn't start with indiscriminately firing or buying out thousands of workers, and it doesn't start with restricting customer service over the phone and drawing up plans to close field and regional offices."
But as acting SSA Administrator Leland Dudek told advocacy groups Monday, the "rapid rollout" of changes to the phone services relied on by many beneficiaries was ordered by the White House.
"He said, 'The reason that we're on this timeline is because we received a request from the White House,'" one person who was in the meeting toldHuffPost Monday, with two other sources confirming the account.
Advocates were alarmed last week when Dudek announced Social Security beneficiaries will no longer be able to verify their identities over the phone starting March 31, and will instead have to use an online system or go to one of the field and regional offices across the country.
But the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump named billionaire donor and tech CEO Elon Musk to lead, compiled a list in recent weeks of 47 Social Security offices that it plans to close this year—closures that are expected to strain the agency employees who are left after DOGE pushed to cut 12% of the workforce.
The Washington Postreported Tuesday that the cuts have contributed to the SSA website crashing four times over 10 days in the past month, barring beneficiaries—who include people with disabilities and children of deceased parents as well as retirees—from accessing their accounts.
Phone calls to the agency have surged in recent weeks as many of Social Security's 73 million beneficiaries wonder whether their monthly payments will be slashed, with callers facing hold times of four to five hours in some cases, and a callback function that was available only 3 out of 12 times that the Post called the SSA.
"With Americans already waiting hours to get connected with Social Security on the phone, it is outrageous that under this new policy, older Americans, especially those in rural areas, will have to call, wait on hold for possibly hours, make an appointment, or even take a day off work to claim the benefits they have worked for and earned," Nancy LeaMond of the American Association of Retired Persons told Dudek in a letter regarding the cuts to phone services scheduled to begin next week.
Dudek told stakeholders in the Monday meeting that "in normal times, something like this would take two years to roll out."
HuffPostreported that no training has begun to help SSA staffers cope with thousands more field office visits than they are accustomed to, and the agency said training is planned for the week, giving employees just days to prepare for the loss of phone verification.
One former SSA official who retired this month amid the spiraling chaos at the agency told the Post that Trump administration leaders are "creating a fire to require them to come and put it out."
The White House has denied beneficiaries will see a loss in their benefits, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, "Any American receiving Social Security benefits will continue to receive them."
Meanwhile, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) cheerfully told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that while senior citizens can expect to continue receiving Social Security, "we can't be afraid of this conversation" about "a change to Social Security" that would cut off access to the program for his own children's generation. Curtis said he plans to soon introduce legislation pushing for a "change" to the program.
The change, said Social Security Works (SSW), will mean "massive cuts to your benefits so that billionaires don't have to pay their fair share."
Even before Trump and Musk began spreading false claims about rampant Social Security fraud—insisting without evidence that millions of deceased Americans receive benefits, which Bosignano admitted in Tuesday's hearing is far from true—Republicans have consistently claimed that the program will soon be insolvent, despite the fact that it is able to pay 100% of benefits for the next 12 years and more than three-quarters of benefits after that, according to SSW.
On Tuesday, the advocacy group said, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee were "misrepresenting the facts about fraud in Social Security."
"OVER 99% of all Social Security payments are made accurately and on time," said the group. "Congress needs to focus on protecting and expanding benefits, not billionaire profits."
Trump Admin Lays Out Plan to 'Sabotage' Social Security by Cutting Phone Services
"One has to ask why the world's richest man—who has received in the tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts—is targeting the agency that helps so many Americans keep their heads above water," said one advocate.
Mar 19, 2025
The Trump administration aims to "ultimately collapse the system" that allows tens of millions of Americans to collect their earned Social Security benefits each month, said one leading advocate for the system Wednesday after officials announced a major change to the Social Security Administration.
Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek claimed the agency needs to "identity-proof" Social Security beneficiaries as he told reporters that millions of people will now be required to verify their identities using an online system—and will have to provide documentation at local field offices if they're unable to use the SSA website's verification system.
The change is set to take effect March 31 and comes as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally whom he named to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) with the aim of slashing government jobs and spending, have baselessly claimed that the Social Security system is riddled with fraud and sends benefits to millions of deceased Americans and to undocumented immigrants.
A source at the SSA told Judd Legum, author of the newsletter Popular Information, that there are "no significant concerns about fraud at intake" and said the change is aimed at creating "additional hurdles to filing claims and [overwhelming] the system."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, noted that for decades, senior citizens and people with disabilities who rely on Social Security payments have been able to verify their identities over the phone when applying for benefits.
"The new process would force seniors and people with disabilities to navigate a needless technical hurdle in applying for their earned benefits. If these claimants (who do not always have computers or smartphones, reliable internet service, or the technical skills to complete the process online) cannot verify their identity online, they would have to call SSA via the already overburdened phone line to set up an appointment, and travel in person to an SSA field office," said Richtman.
"The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system."
With DOGE pushing to cut 7,000 jobs within the SSA and close at least 47 regional and local field offices, the change would particularly harm the ability of people in rural areas, with mobility limitations, and with limited internet access to obtain their monthly benefits.
"The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system," said Legum, who reported on the SSA memo on Monday.
Doris Diaz, the SSA acting deputy commissioner for operations, is among those who have warned Dudek against forcing seniors to verify their identities online, saying the change would cause longer wait and processing times and would send an estimated 75,000-85,000 beneficiaries to increasingly understaffed field offices per week.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, which works to counter right-wing claims about Social Security and lobbies to strengthen the system, told Common Dreams that "despite Leland Dudek's claims, the only thing putting the American people's personal Social Security data at risk is that Dudek turned it over to DOGE operatives."
The new plan "will make it far harder for the American people to claim their earned benefits. It could even cause major delays, and ultimately collapse the system, by overwhelming the field offices," said Altman.
"It is part of what appears to be an ongoing effort to cause Social Security to collapse," she added.
Richtman said that the only "rational conclusion" regarding the coming change in SSA operations is that Trump and Musk want to "undermine public support for Social Security by rendering the SSA dysfunctional, so that the program can be squeezed for cash, cut, and privatized."
"Intentionally erecting obstacles for the people who've earned these benefits (and who pay for SSA operations with every paycheck) betrays at the least an indifference—and more likely, an outright hostility—to the elderly, people with disabilities, their families, and survivors who rely on Social Security," said Richtman. "One has to ask why the world's richest man—who has received in the tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts—is targeting the agency that helps so many Americans keep their heads above water financially."
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