By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Frank Bisignano, a self-professed “DOGE person,” faces questions about whether the Trump administration plans to privatize Social Security as he appears before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday for his hearing to serve as commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
Bisignano, a Wall Street veteran and one-time defender of corporate policies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, will be called to account for the upheaval at the agency in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s election.
The agency has taken center stage in the debate over the usefulness of Department of Government Efficiency cuts to taxpayer services and their effect on Social Security, the social welfare program long regarded as the third rail of national politics — touch it and you get shocked.
The hearing follows a series of announcements of mass federal layoffs, cuts to programs, and a planned cut to nationwide Social Security phone services.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent a letter to Bisignano this week asking him to commit to protecting all Social Security components from privatization.
Bisignano has served as chairman of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm since 2020. He told CNBC in February that he is “fundamentally a DOGE person” but “the objective isn’t to touch benefits.”
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Roughly 72.5 million people receive Social Security benefits, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability payments.
The chaos at the Social Security Administration began shortly after acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down in February DOGE, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, sought access to Social Security recipient information.
Then later that month, the agency announced plans to cut 7,000 people from the agency payroll through layoffs, employee reassignments and an offer of voluntary separation agreements, as part of an intensified effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce through DOGE.
Most recently, the agency’s acting commissioner, DOGE supporter Leland Dudek, announced a plan to require in-person identity checks for millions of new and existing recipients while simultaneously closing government offices. That sparked a furor among lawmakers, advocacy groups and program recipients who are worried that the government is placing unnecessary barriers in front of an already vulnerable population.
The Social Security program faces a looming bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The May 2024 trustees’ report states that Social Security’s trust funds will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 83% of benefits, absent changes.
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