The news Monday that Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano will now hold a second job — CEO of the Internal Revenue Service, a newly created role — has Social Security advocates outraged.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also serves as the IRS' acting commissioner, announced that Bisignano will report directly to him and manage the organization, overseeing its day-to-day operations while also continuing to serve as SSA commissioner. The new IRS role doesn't require Senate confirmation.
Bessent maintained that the IRS and SSA, "two of the most public-facing and broadly impactful federal agencies — also share many of the same technological and customer service goals," making Bisignano "a natural choice for this role."
Under his leadership at the SSA, Bisignano "has already made important and substantial progress, and we are pleased that he will bring this expertise to the IRS as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy, and customer service in order to deliver better outcomes for hardworking Americans,” Bessent said.
"Never in Social Security’s 90-year history has a commissioner held a second job," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Monday in an email. Bisignano’s new role "will leave a leadership vacuum at the top of the agency."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, called the move "unprecedented — and unwise." Never before, Richtman said, "has a Social Security Commissioner been asked to split his attention between two agencies."
As to the IRS, "the appointment of yet another official without meaningful experience further exacerbates a dramatic under staffing crisis" at the agency, said David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "Make no mistake, this move, along with others, is likely to allow more wealthy tax cheats to slip through the widening gaps intentionally created by this administration."
Before taking the helm at SSA, Bisignano served as chairman and CEO of Fiserv, and held roles at J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup.
'Divided Attention'
Social Security groups were perplexed by the announcement.
“Frank Bisignano acknowledged that he was so under-qualified for the job of Social Security commissioner that his first move was to Google ‘Social Security,'" Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Monday in an email.
"Consolidating oversight of two critical agencies under one leader with limited public-sector experience" is concerning, added Shannon Benton, executive director of The Senior Citizens League, in another message. "Seniors rely on these institutions for financial stability and deserve transparency, accountability, and uninterrupted access to their earned benefits."
"Bisignano’s decision to take on a second job running the IRS highlights that he has learned nothing," Altman maintained. "It also puts the lie to Donald Trump’s claim that he won’t hurt Social Security."
The Trump administration "has already plunged Social Security into crisis by pushing out thousands of the most experienced, knowledgeable workers," Altman continued. "They are causing chaos and real harm, including ending paper checks for Americans who have previously shown they need them. Now, Bisignano’s divided attention will create a bottleneck that makes the inevitable problems that arise even harder to correct."
Richtman added: "We have criticized many of Bisignano’s decisions as SSA commissioner, but this agency is too important to have a part-time leader."
Bypassing Congress
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Monday that Trump "is inventing positions out of thin air to bypass Congress and hand more power to his loyalists. Putting Commissioner Bisignano in charge of the IRS while he simultaneously oversees a chaotic and destructive operation at Social Security makes it clear that in Trump’s Washington, loyalty is rewarded, and competence is irrelevant."
Both agencies "have been under Republican-attack for years, and over the last nine months, the Trump Administration has taken it even further, mishandling the people’s data and dodging accountability," Neal added. "Now, Americans are supposed to trust the gamut of their most sensitive data will be secure under the watch of a single person?"
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