WASHINGTON – Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and some other Senate Democrats on Wednesday said President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, could jeopardize benefits for seniors and Americans with disabilities.
“We’re here to blow the whistle on and say that the nominee they’ve put forward in the Social Security Administration is unfit to protect the promise of Social Security for the American people,” Van Hollen said at a press conference.
Bisignano said Tuesday at his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing he had no contact with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has made efforts to reduce the size of the Social Security’s workforce by 7,000 people.
But Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday said Bisignano’s statement was false.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said he received an account from a former senior Social Security official about Bisignano’s involvement in the downsizing of the agency.
“This nominee, Frank Bisignano, lied to the Senate Finance Committee about his involvement with DOGE since his nomination in December,” Wyden said. “The whistleblower reached out to my staff and their testimony shows that the nominee (Bisignano) appears to be the puppet master behind the chaos of Social Security.”
“He (Bisignano) handpicked DOGE agents and pressured Social Security employers to cut corners to get them on the job faster,” Wyden said. “He told Social Security staff not to hire anybody without his explicit approval. He was aware of plans to shutter regional offices, close the offices of Civil Rights, anti-fraud and modernization. He was aware of DOGE’s plans to reduce the workforce by thousands of people. He was also aware of sweeping personal data that DOGE agents were requesting, and that those requests flew in the face of privacy law and agency safeguards to ensure America’s most valuable personal information is protected.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said the Trump Administration “is rigging the system for billionaires while stealing from the elderly, from the disabled to cut taxes for their billionaire club.”
Schumer added that Trump vowed to preserve Social Security during his campaign but he is dismantling the agency and is likely to destroy the agency with Bisignano’s nomination.
“I’ve known this guy for 20 years,” Schumer said. “He’s a cutter. Companies bring him in to slash benefits, workers…This man should not be running for Social Security.”
Bisignano, 65, has been chairman of Fiserv, a financial services company, since 2020.
About 72.5 million people receive Social Security benefits.
In addition to cuts to its staff, Social Security is slated to close 60% of its regional offices. Such changes, critics charge, are efforts to cripple the agency.