Wyden, Warren, Baldwin, Colleagues Press Bisignano on Misleading, Partisan Email Sent to Social Security Beneficiaries

Wyden, Warren, Baldwin, Colleagues Press Bisignano on Misleading, Partisan Email Sent to Social Security Beneficiaries

Unsolicited email from Social Security Administration misused government resources to praise President Trump, spread misleading information to Social Security recipients

"(F)ew presidents have done more than President Trump to damage Social Security - yet in an Orwellian twist, you are misusing official resources to heap praise on him."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) led Democratic Senators in pressing Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano for answers on why the SSA earlier this month sent a misleading, partisan email to Social Security recipients.

On July 2, 2026, the SSA sent an unsolicited, highly politicized email to many Social Security recipients. The email referenced President Trump six times, wrongly credited him with "protecting and strengthening Social Security," and presented misleading information about President Trump "providing meaningful and immediate relief to older Americans."

Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room previously warned that "pushing blatantly partisan statements breeds distrust in the agency." In July 2025, following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), SSA similarly used official resources and channels to send a politically charged email. In a meeting with Senator Warren weeks later, Commissioner Bisignano revealed that his team at SSA was responsible for the communication and that it was discussed with the White House. Now, Senators Wyden, Warren, and Baldwin are again leading in sounding the alarm, noting that this most recent email was likewise sent after Commissioner Bisignano promised to "run the Social Security Administration in an independent and nonpartisan manner."

"This was an unusual communication that served no legitimate purpose: rather than receiving necessary information about benefits or a critical communication from the SSA, recipients received a partisan, politicized message - containing multiple misleading statements - that heaped praise on President Trump," wrote the senators.

The July 2 email, which celebrated the one-year anniversary of the OBBBA, included highly misleading information about the effects of the bill on seniors and claimed that it included a tax cut that "allows Americans 65 and older to keep more of their hard-earned Social Security benefits." But the email's claims were an overestimate of the impacts of the law. In reality, over half of households with seniors were projected to receive no benefit at all from the OBBBA's Enhanced Deduction for Seniors.

"(N)ow you are abusing the millions of email addresses that may have been obtained through [enrollment in 'my Social Security' accounts] or other methods, bombarding Americans with blatantly partisan emails from SSA - misusing Americans' personal information and jeopardizing the mission and integrity of SSA," wrote the senators.

The senators ended the letter with a series of questions, including asking about how many Americans the email was sent to, the source of recipients' email addresses and how they were compiled, the total cost to send the partisan message, and an explanation of how sending the July 2 email was consistent with Commissioner Bisignano's promise to lead the SSA "in an independent and nonpartisan manner." The senators demanded answers by August 11, 2026.

"(F)ew presidents have done more than President Trump to damage Social Security - yet in an Orwellian twist, you are misusing official resources to heap praise on him," concluded the senators. "The decision to send this email raises fresh questions about your judgement and your ability to prioritize SSA beneficiaries."

U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) also joined the letter.

Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room coordinates Democrats' fight to defend Social Security, encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them, and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans' agenda and their continued cuts to Americans' Social Security services and benefits:

• In April 2026, Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) led a coalition of over 100 Congressional Democrats in writing to the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Leland Dudek, to demand that he keep Social Security field offices open.

• In March 2026, Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) launched a new investigation into the Social Security Administration's (SSA) ongoing customer service crisis reaching new extremes, the latest from Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room.

• In December 2025, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano, pressing him on reports that the agency has a new goal of slashing field office visits by nearly 15 million annually.

• In November 2025, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), both leading members of the Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room, launched a probe into Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano's tenure as chief executive officer at Fiserv.

• In October 2025, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senators Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in introducing the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act.

• In June 2025, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed top Trump administration officials on how President Trump's chaotic tariffs - paired with his efforts to dismantle the Social Security Administration - are harming America's seniors.

• In May 2025, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member on the Senate Aging Committee, pressed new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano on reported plans to recategorize thousands of workers as Schedule F "policy-making" employees.

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