7 Questions for Trump’s Social Security Commissioner Nominee

7 Questions for Trump's Social Security Commissioner Nominee

President Trump's pick to head the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, will have his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning. The financial services CEO and Republican donor has been waiting in the wings since the Trump administration took over in January. In the meantime, Elon Musk and his DOGE squad have invaded the Social Security Administration (SSA) and wreaked considerable havoc on the agency - alarming seniors' advocates and a sizeable swath of the general public.

In the absence of a confirmed commissioner, Acting SSA chief Leland Dudek has abetted Musk and DOGE every step of the way, allowing them access to the sensitive personal data of 73 million Americans for no justifiable reason, radically reducing the workforce that serves Social Security customers, closing field offices, and slashing services on the agency's 1-800 phone number that seniors rely on. He claims to be "following orders" from President Trump and Elon Musk.

Bisignano has no appreciable experience in public service in general - or Social Security in particular - but Trump wants him to run one of the federal agencies that most closely touches Americans' lives every day. We don't know much about what Bisignano thinks of Social Security or what he will do to the program if confirmed.

Here are 7 questions we would like to see Frank Bisignano answer at Tuesdays' hearing:

#1 Do you agree with the changes that Musk and Dudek have made at SSA pending your confirmation?

#2 A federal judge has ruled that Musk AND DOGE should not have access to the personal data of 73 million Americans. Do you agree or disagree?

#3 SSA has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. With 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching 65 every day, is this really the time to be slashing the workforce and closing field offices?

#4 Do you believe that Social Security itself or the functions of the SSA should be privatized? And if Social Security were to be privatized, would you and your peers in the financial services industry benefit?

#5 Do you think beneficiaries who have been overpaid (usually through no fault of their own) should have 100% of their Social Security checks clawed back pending repayment?

#6 How does it make sense to push beneficiaries away from the 1-800 phone line and toward the field offices if SSA is closing field offices?

#7 What do you feel is the fair and just solution to the projected depletion of the Social Security trust fund? Do you support raising the Social Security retirement age?

Frankly, we don't expect Bisignano to answer these kinds of questions, but they should be put to him on the record, anyway. We hope that committee members (especially Democrats including ranking member Ron Wyden, Bernie Sanders and Ellizabeth Warren) will press Bisignano on these extremely important issues to American seniors, people with disabilities, and their families. They deserve nothing less.

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