Frank Bisignano, President Trump’s pick to lead the Social Security Administration, fended off questions regarding the recent upheaval at the embattled agency—and his own involvement in it—at a confirmation hearing that appeared divided along party lines.
The Social Security Administration has spent the last several years fighting a customer service crisis, borne by decreasing budgets relative to inflation combined with an ever-increasing number of beneficiaries and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Biden brought in Martin O’Malley last year to help right the ship, but his departure following the 2024 presidential election, coupled with Congress’ refusal to allocate additional funds for the agency as part of deals to keep the government open, has led to backsliding on key service metrics.
And the arrival of operatives aligned with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have raised further concerns about the future of the agency, and of the retirement and disability benefits millions of Americans rely on.
Several high-ranking employees have retired or been pushed out in recent weeks, while DOGE operatives and acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek have mulled increasing the administrative burden required for Americans to access their earned benefits, including ending the ability to apply for benefits or change direct deposit information by phone and banning the agency from paying people without Social Security numbers on behalf of child or elderly beneficiaries.
Despite being at a 50-year staffing low, Dudek has pursued cutting around 7,000 employees from the agency’s workforce, though to this point only through early retirement, voluntary separation incentive payments and reassignments. And unions representing workers at the agency have warned the recent move to indefinitely suspend telework for frontline workers outside of the Office of Hearings Operations could lead to half of those workers pursuing jobs elsewhere.
At a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, Bisignano touted his career as an executive at banks and other financial institutions, most recently CEO of Fiserv, and vowed to move the agency’s improper payment rate—0.84% according to a 2024 inspector general’s report—“five decimal places to the right.”
“This is a mission critical function [of government] and it’s been 89 years, with more than 200 million Americans having been beneficiaries of payments,” he said. “Today, over 100 million people pay into the system, and the ability to receive payments on time and accurately is Job One, and the ability to be available to our customers. I think we’re going to focus on what we need to do to drive down the 1% error rate.”
Bisignano repeatedly deflected questions about the current conditions at SSA by stating that he has not been involved in the ongoing decision-making there, in light of his pending nomination. But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the panel’s top Democrat, accused him of lying, citing a whistleblower’s account.
“Between the time you were nominated and today, were you involved in discussions about DOGE or any operations [within Social Security]?” Wyden asked.
“No sir,” Bisignano said.
“That sounds like a reassuring response, but unfortunately it’s not true,” Wyden said. “I have a statement from a senior official who worked at Social Security and recently left the agency . . . The whistleblower statement says that the nominee insisted on personally approving several key DOGE hires at the agency and, among other things, getting frequent briefings.”
The whistleblower’s statement, obtained by Government Executive, alleges that Bisignano “frequently” spoke with SSA executives and had been briefed on “key SSA operations and management decisions.”
“Mr. Bisignano requested senior SSA executives to not hire anyone without his explicit approval,” the whistleblower wrote. “On Jan. 30, he personally appointed Michael Russo, who he knew from his industry, to be SSA’s chief information officer. Since Mr. Russo formally joined the agency on Feb. 3, he and Mr. Bisignano spoke frequently about SSA operations.”
The whistleblower also said that Bisignano personally intervened to expedite the onboarding of DOGE engineer Akash Bobba on Feb. 10. And the nominee was alleged to have recognized the potential mass exodus of employees and warned against allowing the SSA workforce to participate in the deferred resignation program. The statement also includes a list of nearly 20 current and former agency officials that the whistleblower alleged can substantiate their claims.
Bisignano acknowledged speaking with Russo but argued that it was not in his capacity as an affiliate of DOGE.
“I have never talked to Mr. Dudek,” he said. “I have talked with Mike Russo, and I said that to your staff when they asked me. I know Russo from when he was CIO of Shift 4 and when he was CIO at Oracle, and I know him for 20 years. I don’t know him as a DOGE person; I know him as a CIO.”
Bisignano told senators that the administration would not cut benefits and are not planning to privatize the agency, as many have feared given the brain drain of executives, overall workforce—and planned office—cuts and Musk’s repeated public insistence that the retirement program is a “Ponzi scheme.” And he pushed back on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s assertion that the only people who would object to missing their monthly benefits check are “fraudsters.”
“I’ve never thought about privatizing Social Security, and that’s not a word that anyone ever talked to me about,” Bisignano said.
But he repeatedly declined to agree to categorically block DOGE operatives from accessing Americans’ private data or protect local field offices from future closure. On its website, DOGE has posted a frequently changing list of planned lease cancellations connected to the Social Security Administration, though often sheared of any context and frequently overstating savings that would be generated from those closures.
Despite Bisignano’s statements to the contrary, Sen. Liz Warren, D-Mass., argued that efforts to introduce new administrative burdens under the guise of fighting fraud still amount to a benefits cut.
“Say someone calls the help line to apply for benefits, and are told about the new DOGE rule and have to go online or in person,” Warren said. “They can’t drive, so they wait for someone to take them, but DOGE closed the nearest office and they have to drive two hours to the next closest office. And when they get there, there are only two people staffing a 50-person line, so he doesn’t even make it to the front before the office closes and he has to come back. Let’s assume it takes three months for our fellow to finally straighten this out, and he misses $5,000 in checks which, by law, he will never get back. Is that a benefit cut?”
“I’m not sure what to call it, a horrible situation, maybe,” he said.
“Is the person getting the $5,000 they are legally entitled to?” Warren asked.
“That’s your scenario, I don’t know,” Bisignano said.
“My point is there are backdoor ways to accomplish the same thing as a benefits cut—longer lines, more errors, and everyone who gives up or dies before they get their benefits sorted out due to those delays is also a benefit cut,” Warren said.
Republicans, for their part, fully supported Bisignano’s nomination, touting his business acumen and objecting to Democrats’ concern about Social Security’s future.
“I was in the White House two weeks ago, and [Trump] made it very clear that benefit cuts are off the table, period, full stop,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “He said the same thing about Medicare and Medicaid. So you’re there to make sure that people who are eligible for it and are not gaming the system can [access their benefits].”
