President Donald Trump’s candidate to direct the Social Security Administration on Tuesday, on Tuesday, some of the actions taken at the Agency for officials linked to Elon Musk and the Government’s efficiency department were far from Tuesday.
Frank Bisignano, a Wall Street executive and donor of the Republican Party used to lead the agency delivering $ 1.5 billion annually to more than 70 million people, told the Senate Finance Committee when asked about Doge’s work in agencies and database systems that will carry out a “total review” of activities in the SSA if confirmed.
He also denied having talked to the interim commissioner of the SSA, Leland Dudek, who, according to the reports, is aligned with the efforts of the Musk team, and initially said that he has not been part of any management and politics discussion with the Doge teams.
Last week, Doubek briefly threatened to close the agency after a federal judge prevented Doge officials from accessing the databases, he only yielded when the judge issued a clarification by saying that his understanding of the decision was “incorrect.”
Frank Bisignano, nominated for President Donald Trump, will be commissioned for the Social Security Administration, appears at the Senate Finance Committee in the Senate Finance Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office building, on March 25, 2025 in Washington.
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But under the interrogation of Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Bisignano admitted that he had been in communication with Mike Russo, an agency officer who now serves as information director, and said they met the private sector. Russo has been aligned with Doge’s work and has facilitated its activities in the SSA, according to multiple reports.
“I don’t know him as a dux person,” Bisignano said.
In Doge’s broad activities, he said: “I am happy to work with anyone who can help us, and I am fundamentally on efficiency.”
Bisignano, currently the CEO of FISVer, a data and financial payments, argued that his experience in the private sector will improve the quality and speed of the agency’s service to the public.
He called the Social Security “the most bipartisan thing we have” and denied that there “thought about” privatizing the agency.
“It is not a word that someone has spoken to me, and I do not see this institution as anything other than a government agency that runs for the benefit of the American public,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Dr.i.
Frank Bisignano, nominated for President Donald Trump, will be commissioned for the Social Security Administration, appears at the Senate Finance Committee in the Senate Finance Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office building, on March 25, 2025 in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The Democrats have repeatedly suggested the actions of the Trump administration towards the agency, such as designating the field offices for closing, fireing employees and demanding that people present themselves in a field office to verify their identities, instead of doing so by phone, they are destined to “empty” the SSA.
“This approach is a prelude to privatize Social Security and deliver it to private capital,” Wyden said.
The Democrats also challenged Bisignano in the comments of the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in a podcast last week in which the billionaire said that his mother -in -law would not mind losing a payment of the agency and that only the people who commit fraud complain about the services.
“I don’t think anyone appreciates not obtaining their social security control in time,” Bisignano said.
“So they are not scammers?” Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
“It would be difficult to reach that conclusion,” he replied.
When asked if I agreed with Musk’s comments about the program as a “Ponzi scheme,” Bisginano said it is “a promise to pay.”
Frank Bisignano testifies to the Senate Finance Committee on his nomination to be commissioned for the Social Security Administration, in Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 25, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Images
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT., Seemed to extract a bisignano commitment to review the shots in the agency.
“When you have a system that does not work now, do you think it is a great idea to fire half of the employees?” Sanders asked.
“I think it is a great idea to fire half of the employees when the system does not work? I think the answer is probably not,” he replied.
Some Republican senators defended Doge’s actions in the agency, and most said that they expect the administration to improve services and protect accessibility for those who wish to be treated in the SSA field offices.
Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montification, played the music that the SSA expected from his phone and said that his employees were suspended for hours and disconnected when they tried to try number 1-800 of the agency on Monday.
“We will meet with beneficiaries where they want to be fulfilled, either in person, in an office, online or by phone,” Bisignano said.
In the past, Bisignano has said that he would like to use artificial intelligence to find fraud in the agency, which Musk has affirmed that it is unbridled.
According to 2024 report The Inspector General of the SSA, less than 1% of the payments were inappropriate between 2015 and 2022 and “the majority” of them were excess payments.
