Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano, President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as Social Security commissioner, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday and answered several hours of questions about the reported turmoil at the Social Security Administration.
Senators used the hearing to air support for and grievance with the broader work of the Trump administration to downsize the federal workforce, including at the SSA.
Democrats on the committee generally pressed Bisignano about potential efforts to “gut and privatize” Social Security under Trump, while Republicans spotlighted his experience running large financial services institutions and voiced confidence in his anticipated leadership. Members of both parties voiced their expectation that Bisignano would be confirmed by the full Senate, and they called on the nominee to be transparent and responsive to their feedback.
Bisignano focused his opening testimony on the work he has done in the private sector, especially as an executive at Citibank in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and at JPMorgan’s mortgage lending business during and after the global financial crisis of 2007-08. He also highlighted his roots as a child of an immigrant family raised in Brooklyn, noting that his father worked for 46 years in customs enforcement at the Treasury Department.
The nominee sought to strike a balanced tone in responding to questions regarding Social Security’s customer service challenges. He said that he believes fundamentally in the existence of the SSA “as an independent government agency,” and that he would be committed to improving call response times and reducing the backlog in its disability claim system.
Responding to questions posed mainly by Democrats, Bisignano said that he and Trump are committed to “protecting Social Security benefits,” and that he does not believe that benefits should be cut or that the program amounts to a Ponzi scheme. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned the veracity of this response, saying that she expects the administration to use "whatever backdoor means they can" to reduce benefit payments and downsize the agency.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., did likewise, questioning Bisignano about any ties to leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency or Elon Musk. Bisignano answered that he has worked with some of them peripherally in the private sector but emphasized that he has not been directly involved in DOGE’s efforts to cut staff or access SSA data. Wyden contested this response by submitting what he described as a “whistleblower” report for the public record.
Other questions pertained to reported efforts by DOGE officials to access personally identifiable information of Social Security beneficiaries, to which Bisignano responded that he sees the protection of taxpayer and beneficiary data as “job No. 1,” alongside ensuring that payments are made timely and accurately. He said he expects that the SSA will deploy both artificial intelligence and human expertise to support these efforts.
Another frequent topic of discussion was the error rate in Social Security payments, which stands at about 0.84%. By embracing lessons learned from the private sector, Bisignano said, the agency can improve this rate by “5 decimal points.” He said he believes that AI can empower call center agents and make their work "more efficient and more enjoyable."
Asked whether he would try to reverse the recent SSA policy change that eliminated certain phone-based customer service options, Bisignano said he will be dedicated to the overall goal of “making sure we meet Americans where they are and understand what beneficiaries have to go through to access their benefits.” He declined, though, to make a pledge requested by several Democratic members of the committee not to close SSA offices in rural communities.
Frank Bisignano. Credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
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