Senators will question Frank Bisignano, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Social Security Administration (SSA), at a confirmation hearing Tuesday amid turmoil at the agency—as cuts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have decimated phone service and threaten to affect Americans’ benefits.
Frank Bisignano is interviewed on the Fox Business Network in New York on May 1, 2013.
The Senate Finance Committee will question Bisignano Tuesday, the first step in his confirmation process before the committee, and then potentially the full Senate, votes on whether to approve his nomination.
Bisignano is a Wall Street veteran who’s served as the CEO of Fiserv, a payment processing company, since 2020, with Trump hailing his “tremendous track record of transforming large corporations” when announcing Bisignano’s nomination at Social Security.
He previously served as JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s co-chief operating officer and CEO of mortgage banking, and held multiple leadership roles at Citigroup.
Bisignano told CNBC in February his mission at SSA will be to “carry out the president’s mission,” noting his desire to root out “fraud, waste and abuse,” but stating, “The objective is not to touch benefits.”
He’s also expected to be friendly with Musk’s DOGE as it carries out work at SSA, telling CNBC he will “100% work with DOGE” and that his past work trying to build efficiency in the private sector makes him “fundamentally a DOGE person.”
The response to Bisignano’s nomination has so far been mixed, with Senate Finance Committee chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, saying the nominee’s “decades of leadership in the private sector … make him exceptionally qualified for the task ahead,” while the head of the Alliance for Retired Americans said after Bisignano was nominated that “nothing in Mr. Bisignano’s career suggests that he understands the unique needs of older and disabled Americans.”
It’s still unclear when the Senate Finance Committee will vote on Bisignano’s nomination following his confirmation hearing Tuesday, and when the full Senate could consider whether to confirm him. Bisignano is so far widely expected to be confirmed.
Bisignano’s confirmation hearing comes as SSA has been in Musk and his DOGE crew’s crosshairs, as Musk has sought to get rid of purported waste at the agency and repeatedly claimed there’s widespread benefits fraud. There is no evidence to support those claims: Experts say that while there is some limited evidence of fraud in the system, it’s nowhere near the level Musk claims, and the billionaire’s allegations that the agency is paying benefits to dead Americans appears based on a misunderstanding of the agency’s antiquated databases. Acting SSA administrator Leland Dudek announced in February the agency would cut 7,500 jobs—out of approximately 57,000 in total—and the agency has also whittled down its number of field offices. SSA also planned to cut services for Americans to manage their benefits over the phone—a service used by approximately 40% of Social Security recipients, per The Washington Post—though The Post reports the agency scaled back those plans after public reports resulted in outcry. The agency still plans to bar Americans from being able to change their bank information over the phone, however, which is set to take effect next week. Musk and DOGE have also sought access to sensitive information in Social Security’s database, though a federal judge has blocked DOGE’s access to that data while litigation moves forward.
While Trump and Musk have both vowed not to cut any Social Security benefits, the widespread changes at the agency are reportedly significantly hampering services. Phone calls to Social Security are recently resulting in wait times of up to five hours amid cuts to staffing and office closures, The Post reported Tuesday, also noting the agency’s website crashed four times within the span of 10 days this month, preventing people from logging on to the system. Processing times for online claims have also gotten backed up, employees told The Post, while staff cuts and orders for workers to return to offices that don’t have enough space to hold them all have cratered employee morale. Biden-era SSA administrator Martin O’Malley has made dire predictions about how DOGE’s cuts could impact service at the agency, telling CNBC on March 1, “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits.” “People should start saving now,” O’Malley said, predicting the system could be disrupted “within the next 30 to 90 days.”