Finance Democrats Call on Crapo to Hold Hearing on Personal Data Risk, Customer Service Chaos at Social Security

Wyden and Committee Democrats to Crapo: "We have a responsibility to ensure SSA protects Americans' data and provides quality customer service to the over 72 million Americans who rely on these benefits."

Text of the Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., led Finance Committee Democrats in calling for an immediate hearing to investigate the customer service issues at Social Security - including exposing millions of Americans' personal information that could have resulted in the largest data breach in modern history.

"As one of the nation's most popular and effective programs, Social Security provides a foundation of income on which workers can build for their retirement, as well as valuable insurance protection against unexpected hardship. Failing to investigate SSA and hold Commissioner Bisignano accountable for keeping his promise to protect America's data and improve SSA is an abdication of our oversight responsibility and a disservice to our constituents who sent us to Congress to protect this bedrock program," the senators wrote to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

In March, the senators demanded a committee hearing in light of reports that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had unfettered access to sensitive information, slashed its workforce, among other drastic changes that impede Americans' ability to access their hard earned benefits. Since Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano took office, the senators have raised the alarm as the agency has made the following changes:

1. Giving DOGE the greenlight to transfer Americans' Social Security information into an unsecure cloud server that could be compromised anytime by foreign agents or hackers. According to a SSA whistleblower, the agency repeatedly ignored or even violated federal privacy laws at the whims of pleasing DOGE.
2. Weaponizing SSA data to serve Donald Trump's dangerous political agenda, including falsely declaring more than 6,3000 immigrants as dead to make them self deport. The agency has unconstitutionally manipulated and undermined its data to attack a small population's earned Social Security benefits.
3. Injecting chaos into SSA phone systems by slashing its workforce and diverting 2,000 field office staff from their responsibility of answering calls to provide quality customer service. Many applicants are already waiting over a month just to get an appointment in their local field office, and now they have to wait even longer for their benefit claims to be processed.
4. Misleading the American people on SSA's performance to falsely promote Trump and Bisignano's narrative that customer service has never been better. SSA is cherry-picking misleading performance metrics every month to prop up the Trump administration's dangerous agenda.

The text of the letter can be found here.

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