Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders forced Social Security Administration chief nominee Frank Bisignano into giving him an honest answer as he methodically grilled him about DOGE’s cuts to the administration’s workforce in a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday.
After DOGE drastically downsized the administration by “closing down offices and laying off 7,000 employees,” with plans to cut more, Bisignano was hit with pointed questions about the department now being severely “understaffed.”
“Do you think it makes sense to lay off half the staff?” asked Sanders.
Attempting to skate the question, Bisignano answered, “First and foremost, I’m not there, sir—”
Not having it, Sanders interjected, “Just answer the question, please.” Adding pressure, Sanders asked, “Do you think it makes sense—I know you’re not there—do you think it makes sense to lay off half the staff, when right now, it’s is a 50-year low in terms of staffing?”
After some additional pressing, Bisignano finally gave a clearer response.
“I don’t know if—do I think it’s a great idea to lay off half of the employees when a system doesn’t work?” he said. “I think the answer is probably no.”
Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines also gave Bisignano an earful about the department’s staffing, focusing on how the cuts have affected “customer service.” He alleged that one of his staffers called its help line and was “disconnected twice.”
Daines added that waiting callers are forced to listen to “this really D-grade elevator music” repeating “over and over again,” playing the recorded music from his cellphone into a microphone.
“I mean, it could’ve at least had Olivia Newton-John or some mediocre ’70s music,” Daines quipped, encouraging Bisignano to call the toll-free number himself to “see what it’s like for your own experience.”
Bisignano said he is committed to working “my tail off on all of it” if he is confirmed to lead the Social Security Administration.
Bisignano’s hearing comes amid increased concerns over how Musk and his DOGE goons have caused the agency to be “engulfed in crisis.”
The Washington Post reported that the Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month as the server was overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from accessing their accounts due to server overload.
A federal judge issued a temporary ruling last week, blocking Elon Musk’s DOGE goons from accessing the private information of Social Security recipients.
