Senate Finance Committee Favorably Reports Frank Bisignano's Nomination For Social Security Commissioner

yesterday

The Senate Finance Committee favorably reports Frank Bisignano's nomination for Commissioner of Social Security.

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Transcript

00:00order, we meet today to vote on the nomination of Frank Bisignano to be Commissioner of the

00:06Social Security Administration. As we have done with other nominees, the meeting this

00:11morning will provide members with the opportunity to make remarks on Mr. Bisignano's nomination,

00:17and we will notify members of a time and location later today to conduct the committee vote.

00:23Mr. Bisignano has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in banks

00:28and financial institutions. He currently serves as the chairman of the board and

00:33chief executive officer of Fiserv, a leader in payments and financial technology.

00:40At his nomination hearing, Mr. Bisignano discussed his vision for improving the Social

00:45Security Administration service to the public, including bringing down wait times for SSA's

00:52National 800 number and for claims decisions. While Mr. Bisignano has extensive experience

00:59using information technology to improve the organizational performance, he also understands

01:04the importance of meeting customers where they are. He committed to ensuring that individuals

01:10can interact with the SSA in the way they prefer, whether in person, by phone, or online.

01:18Mr. Bisignano would also draw his decades of experience to improve SSA's payment accuracy.

01:27When SSA issues an improper payment, it places a burden on the affected beneficiaries, the agency,

01:33employees, and taxpayers. I look forward to working with him to achieve these important goals.

01:40Before moving on, let me address the allegations made during Mr. Bisignano's nomination hearing

01:45that he lied about his connections to DOJ and its efforts to break Social Security.

01:50I remind my colleagues that Mr. Bisignano does not currently hold a position

01:55at the Social Security Administration, let alone a decision-making position.

02:00Mr. Bisignano's nomination was first announced in December 2024, and he has been going through the

02:06Finance Committee's rigorous due diligence process for months. Yet the allegations against Mr.

02:13Bisignano made in an anonymous letter were not shared with me or my staff until after his hearing

02:19commenced. The anonymous letter claims that Mr. Bisignano insisted on personally approving

02:26several key DOJ hires at the agency and getting frequent briefings. Mr. Bisignano responded to

02:34these allegations in writing this weekend as a part of the questions for the record.

02:39Mr. Bisignano stated that he does not have a role at SSA and was not part of the decision-making

02:46process led by the current Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek about SSA operations, personnel,

02:53or management. Mr. Bisignano stated that he communicated with former Acting Commissioner

02:59Michelle King multiple times and had brief introductory phone calls with individuals

03:04chosen for various acting roles. Mr. Bisignano said he has not spoken with Acting Commissioner

03:11Dudek beyond a short introductory phone call. The anonymous letter specifically mentions four

03:18individuals that Mr. Bisignano has been in contact with or pushed SSA to on board. Mr.

03:25Bisignano reiterated in writing that he has a 20-year professional relationship with one contact,

03:32periodic contact with another on general matters related to the agency, was referred to another to

03:38help him with preparation for his confirmation hearing, and the last individual he does not know

03:45at all. Even though the timing of the anonymous letter suggests a political effort to delay the

03:50committee vote on this nominee, my staff have told Senator Weidenstaff, and we have discussed this

03:57just now, that we are open to meeting with the author of the letter and keeping the individual

04:02anonymous. However, any information provided by the individual must be thoroughly vetted,

04:08including allowing the nominee the opportunity to respond. A process for vetting the allegations has

04:15not been agreed to. The issue here, as I understand it, is the frequency and details of communications

04:22between the nominee and SSA officials. The nominee has responded in writing to these allegations.

04:30The SSA needs steady Senate-confirmed leadership. Mr. Bisignano would bring his decades-long focus

04:37on strong customer service and operational excellence to the SSA. I urge my colleagues

04:43to support his nomination, and I recognize now Ranking Member Weiden. Thank you very much,

04:49Mr. Chairman. Today, the Finance Committee is going to vote on the nomination of Frank Bisignano

04:54to be the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. My most important point this

05:00morning is the Finance Committee should not be holding this vote today. This nominee lied

05:07multiple times to every member of this committee, including the bipartisan finance staff and the

05:14nominee's actions and communications with DOJ remain very much at the heart of my objection

05:25here. My office received an account from a whistleblower about the ways the nominee was

05:30deeply involved in and aware of DOJ's activities at the agency. Mr. Bisignano lied in meetings with

05:39bipartisan Finance Committee staff. He lied in a meeting with me in my office down the hall,

05:46and he lied before this committee a week ago. I asked the nominee, for example, if he had a part

05:54in speeding up the hiring for Akesh Baba, a DOJ acolyte who was rushed into the agency

06:03after other members of DOJ had trouble persuading career officials to cut corners and ignore

06:10safeguards and privacy laws. Mr. Bisignano told me he was not involved. The whistleblower's statement

06:17says that's not true, that Mr. Bisignano personally intervened to get Boba immediate access to social

06:28security systems. I asked the nominee if he was involved in any discussions about personnel

06:34or operations at social security. Again, the transcript says the nominee said no. The

06:42whistleblower's statement says he spoke frequently with Michael Russo, one of DOJ's chief operators

06:48at social security. Mr. Bisignano also requested that senior social security staff not hire any

06:56new personnel without his explicit approval. The account of the whistleblower, I would say to my

07:04colleagues, was confirmed independently by a veteran reporter at the Washington Post newspaper.

07:11Now, with respect to the committee, I've asked the chairman of the committee to work with me

07:16to verify the disturbing account on a bipartisan basis. And up till a few minutes ago, it wasn't

07:25to me a topic for conversation. Now we're going to explore this. We have to have a process that

07:31protects the whistleblower's identity, gives the whistleblower a chance to lay out for the

07:37bipartisan group at the committee, you know, what happened. And it needs to be done before

07:46this nominee goes to the floor of the United States Senate. And I think that's reasonable.

07:52We've talked about getting something that would allow the majority to later on schedule a vote.

08:00But I insist, I insist that in the name of basic fairness, that there is a chance to have a

08:07bipartisan inquiry in exactly what the whistleblower said and the nominee's response and it take place

08:13before there is a final vote on the floor of the Senate. And I'll yield just, does my colleague

08:20wish me to yield? I don't, oh great. I would just conclude this part of my remarks. I think it would

08:26be a dark day in the history of the Finance Committee if we surrender our ability to hold

08:32truth to power. The chairman and I have worked together on a lot of issues. We have plenty of

08:37disagreements, but we've never gone to basically ignoring whistleblowers who are well regarded in

08:45terms of the substance of an issue to have a chance to speak truth to power. Let me just

08:51close by way of saying this may sound like some inside baseball, but to me, if you lie to all

09:01these people, all the staff and me and others, you lie to the American people once you're on the job.

09:09My final remark is that seniors and families have tremendous concern about what is going on

09:16at Social Security and their earned Social Security benefits. Over the last several weeks,

09:22what's been happening at the agency is nothing short of bedlam. Radical changes in customer

09:27service over the phone, website connectivity problems, dozens of regional and field office

09:32closure announcements. The whiplash is confusing and discouraging Americans from getting their

09:37benefits. And if a senior or somebody with a disability can't access their Social Security,

09:44that, in my view, is doge stealing their money. The nominee today is going to be a person who has

09:52come from business and has made a career of swooping in, firing workers, selling off pieces

09:58of a company, and merging with a competitor. These practices may be good for shareholders,

10:03but they hurt American families. So we, Senate Democrats, are not going to stand by idly while

10:10Trump's cronies take a sledgehammer to Social Security and deprive seniors of their earned

10:15benefits under the false banner of fighting fraud. And as I reminded the committee last week,

10:20the amount of fraud taking place from Social Security's retirement and disability benefits

10:25is 0.009. The whistleblower summed it up to me. This whistleblower, who's got expertise in the

10:34field, who bravely provided the Finance Committee with their testimony, said that the nominee

10:38to run Social Security will not temper the chaos, but bolster it. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

10:46Thank you, Senator Crapo. Thank you, Senator Whiten. And I will just comment briefly in response,

10:52and then we'll go on to any other senator who wishes to make a statement. It was my understanding

10:57that we, and it is my understanding, that we have been very willing to meet with the whistleblower,

11:05protect his or her anonymity, and get the information that the whistleblower wants to

11:12bring to us. At this point, it's simply an anonymous letter, and we have not been able to meet

11:17with the person to confirm anything different. We also insist that if there is information

11:24presented, that the information presented needs to be made available to the nominee so that he

11:31can respond to the allegations. If we can work that out, we will do so. Let me just repeat what

11:38I think our understanding is, and I think we have come to some progress. One, we're going to protect

11:43the whistleblower's identity. Two, we're going to have an independent process. And three, it's going

11:49to be done before this nominee is on the floor of the United States Senate in front of all our

11:53colleagues. I can't make the commitment on when it would go to the floor. That's a decision to

11:58be made by the majority leader, but I can tell you that we will work from today forward to do

12:05an expeditious review if the whistleblower, the anonymous person, will come forward and meet with

12:13us and present that information so that we can then present that same information to the nominee

12:19and get the nominee's response. I just think that it is so important that this get done before this

12:27goes to the floor of the United States Senate. Social security is the connective tissue for the

12:33American people, between young workers and retired people, and when you have somebody who sits at the

12:38witness table where our wonderful staff is today and lies up to their eyeballs to this committee,

12:46we have got to get this right. So I look forward to further discussions and putting that together.

12:51All right, thank you. And now I will turn to any other senator wanting to make a statement, and

12:56next on my list is Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I am speaking

13:03against this nomination. I do share my colleague from Oregon, the ranking member's concerns that

13:12we need to understand Mr. Bisognano's past statements, and I think the context here is that

13:20we have seen cuts in staffing, we have seen threatens of closures of office, we have seen

13:27the requests for re-registration, and so we are seeing an undermining of the services at

13:34social security right now, and Mr. Bisognano represents somebody who has made a name for

13:40himself in the business sector of coming in and, if you will, slashing and burning to find the

13:45efficiencies. Well, I would say social security is no place to slash and burn. It is a contract

13:50with the American people. It should be kept, and what we should do is improve the service.

13:56The taxpayers that pay into the program do so throughout their lives, and they want the

14:01government to live up to that obligation and take care of them. Overwhelmingly, Americans support

14:08social security. A recent AARP poll found that 85% of Americans want social security benefits

14:14maintained or increased, and that shows that that's everybody. That's not just Democrats or,

14:21you know, people who remember, you know, how social security got created. This is everybody.

14:27This is Democrats, Republicans, independents, but we have an administration represented with Doge

14:33who think that they're going to come in here and find billions of dollars that they can take out

14:38of social security and give to tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, so I think it's

14:43fair to understand whether Mr. Bisognano really did participate in that process, and he has a

14:49background that that's why he's being hired. He's not being hired because he's an expert

14:53on social security. He's being hired because somebody thinks he's going to come in here

14:57and basically get billions of dollars out of social security to give to a tax bill, so

15:02I just want to say I need to tell the committee how important it is that the administration actions

15:09are leaving our offices overcrowded. Phone calls, as my colleague from Montana mentioned, are 1.5

15:17hours or longer. We had a constituent share that she was able to even log into her account

15:23due to new notification, new verification changes. She's nearly 80 years old, so it's not like she

15:30has a smartphone or computer or a webcam or is going to drive herself just over to the social

15:36security office, so I have 1.4 million constituents that deserve social security, and we're making it

15:42harder on them, and the instance I mentioned in Mr. Bisognano's hearing is that social security

15:48wrongfully declared one of my constituents, Ned Johnson, dead. His monthly benefit was withheld.

15:54Thousands of dollars in previously paid benefits were clawed back out of his joint account he

15:58shares with his wife. The erroneous determination set off a bureaucratic nightmare, and ultimately

16:04he had to wait in line at the federal building, but guess what? Guess what? They're still withholding

16:10his money, his most recent check. They are still withholding his payment. Why does he have to wage

16:16a war just to get his social security benefits? We cannot afford more of this thinking in this

16:22position. We need to make sure that we know the answers, and I do not believe that we have them

16:28today. Thank you. Let me just say before moving forward, no one on our side, including the nominee,

16:36has said that they are going to cut social security benefits. In fact, the president has

16:41made it clear that he will not support cutting social security benefits, and the bottom line is

16:47the nominee is not even at the Social Security Administration yet. Well, I beg to differ. My

16:54constituent, Ned Johnson, would want to know why the heck out of all these years he has to wage a

16:59war just to get his benefit, and it's because there's been a chilling effect, and I think that

17:04the issue is that is he being hired, and did he participate in the Doge discussion? So I'm against

17:11his nomination, but I think we deserve to know the answers to the question the ranking member is

17:16asking. Mr. Chairman? Briefly. Yeah, very briefly, and I appreciate it. You know that my background

17:24is working with the Great Panthers. I was director for a full seven years, and have really studied

17:31the issue of privatization, and that's the issue I have raised in this committee. When you hollow

17:39out a program like social security, which is what's going on with the phones, the personnel,

17:45and the offices, you make the situation there ripe for privatization. I call it a prelude

17:53to privatization because you're stuck with having to get some private contractors in. So I want my

17:58colleague to understand that I have been very specific about my concern with respect to the

18:05administration, and that these efforts with the phones, the offices, and the personnel to me are a

18:11prelude to privatization. I've used those words carefully. My colleague is asking that you

18:16describe this carefully. I've tried to do that. Well, thank you. I'll just say again, no one has

18:21talked about privatization either. The president has said he's not going to tamper with social security.

18:27In fact, the law prohibits us in the tax bill that Senator Cantwell referenced, prohibits us from

18:34looking at social security, which we aren't doing anyway. The point is that this is not

18:40something that this nominee is even involved in, even if it were happening. The issue before us

18:48today is the nominee, and I see only one other senator present. Senator Warnock, did you wish to

18:55speak? Yes. Please do. Thank you, Brother Chair. Since I was sworn in office over four years ago,

19:05I have received more than 32,000 messages from Georgians about social security, and I can tell

19:15you that folks all over my state are deeply concerned about social security. One thing is

19:25undisputed, and that is that Mr. Elon Musk, who in effect is functioning as co-president,

19:35said that social security is the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, so we know what he thinks

19:41about social security, and if he's heading this effort of supposedly going after waste, fraud,

19:48and abuse, the guy in charge of that thinks that social security is a Ponzi scheme,

19:55then I think folks in Georgia have real reason to be concerned, and so that's why I asked Georgians

20:03to send me their questions. I represent them here. I wanted to know what were the questions that they

20:08thought the nominee to lead the Social Security Administration should be presented with, and in

20:15just two days, I received over 500 responses, over 500, and 260 unique questions from Georgians about

20:24social security. My office summarized these questions for the nominee, Mr. Bizignano,

20:31and sent them directly to him to answer, but it's important to me that each of these questions is

20:37ultimately addressed by the Trump Administration, and so, Brother Chair, without objection, I'd like

20:42to enter these questions from Georgians into the record. Without objection. Georgians asked about

20:47this nominee's plans to ensure their benefits are not disrupted by Doge. They asked about Elon Musk

20:54accessing their personal data. They asked about disability wait times and approval backlogs,

21:00but by far, most Georgians had questions about the Trump Administration's overall disdain

21:08and callousness toward people who depend on their social security benefits to live. That is

21:14not in dispute. The President stood there at his joint statement before the Congress and named all

21:22of these dozens of dead people, he said, who are getting social security. The head of the Commerce

21:28Department said, well, if his mother-in-law misses a check, no big deal. It's frosters who worry about

21:33that. It is that attitude that they're worried about. Part-time, a retired teacher from Jessup,

21:41Georgia says her social security check is her only income, and so let me be clear. Reducing phone

21:48services, scaling back field offices, and firing staff will make it harder for people to have their

21:53questions answered. These are all cuts to services and therefore cuts to benefits. I hope if he's

21:59confirmed that Mr. Bizignano can do what he says he wants to do and make social security work

22:05better for Americans, I'm rooting for that, but I'm concerned, based on what we are hearing and

22:11what we are seeing from the Trump Administration and from co-president Elon Musk, that they will

22:17break up social security. And I don't have confidence that this nominee can realistically

22:23be the backstop we need against Elon Musk, against Doge, at the Social Security Administration

22:29to prevent my constituents from losing access to their hard-earned benefits. And for that reason,

22:36I'll be voting no on Mr. Bizignano's nomination, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

22:44Thank you, Senator Warnock. We will now procedurally recess and reconvene for the committee vote

22:52on the nomination off the Senate floor. Members will be notified when that timing is confirmed.

22:58Without objection, it is so ordered. The committee stands in recess.

Senate Finance Committee Favorably Reports Frank Bisignano's Nomination For Social Security Commissioner

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