Subcommittee will come to order. Good morning and welcome to today's hearing. I want to thank our witness, Commissioner Frank Bisignano, for appearing before us today to discuss the state of the Social Security Administration. I have to start off with criticism and a little bit of a complaint. Your office was extremely late getting your testimony to us to review and prepare. I mean, we have a responsibility here in the subcommittee to provide oversight and direction for the Social Security Administration and I just expect better results in the future and I look forward to working with you to make sure that happens. Now, let's get to the hearing. Tens of millions of Americans rely on the Social Security Administration to deliver monthly retirement, survivor, and disability benefits, and millions more interact with the agency for critical life events. For far too long, the American people were forced to deal with an agency plagued by outdated systems and antiquated processes, resulting in unacceptable delays and a complete breakdown in basic customer service. Under the previous administration, our constituents faced a full-blown crisis in delivery of their services. Average telephone wait times reached an atrocious 42 minutes and the backlog for initial disability claims eclipsed 1 million for the first time in history. But today we're here to talk about a dramatic turnaround. Since Commissioner Bisignano took the helm just over a year ago, the Social Security Administration has made historic progress by shifting resources away from the bureaucracy at its headquarters back to direct frontline service delivery. The numbers speak for themselves. Wait times for the National 800 number have shrunk by roughly 89%, dropping from 42 minutes down to under 5 minutes. Average wait times at field offices nationwide have been slashed by 30%. The backlog of initial disability claims has been reduced by 32% from its peak of 1.27 million and the Social Security Fairness Act was implemented months ahead of schedule, providing rapid, much-needed relief to millions of beneficiaries. We are seeing that by investing in modern technology and focusing on efficiency, the SSA can serve more Americans better with fewer employees. I'm particularly proud of how these efforts have translated to real-world results, particularly back in my home in Kansas. Since I took the gavel as chairman of the Social Security subcommittee, my team and I have worked hand-in-hand with our local personnel and Commissioner Bisignano to address regional bottlenecks. I'm thrilled to report that because of this close coordination, wait times at our Wichita field office are down an incredible 60% compared to two years ago. That's what responsive government looks like when we prioritize the needs of our constituents over the conveniences of Washington. However, as we celebrate these operational victories, we cannot lose sight of the financial headwinds facing the program. Yesterday, the 2026 annual trustees report was released. The findings in this report are a stark reminder of the urgency before us. The OASI trust fund is projected to reach insolvency in 2032. Protecting and strengthening Social Security requires absolute fiscal sanity and strict oversight. Every single dollar lost to administrative error, inefficiency, or improper payments is a dollar stolen from the benefits of hardworking Americans. In fiscal year 2024 alone, SSA improperly made billions in overpayments and underpayments. We must continue to deploy advanced automation tools and human common sense to prevent these errors from happening, to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and protect this vital lifeline for generations to come. Commissioner Bisignano, you have proven that strong leadership and private sector efficiency can break through federal stagnation to dramatically improve customer service. We look forward to hearing how you intend to build on this momentum, root out improper spending, and work with our committee to strengthen Social Security. Thank you. And I look forward to your testimony. I now yield to ranking member John Larson for an opening statement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome again, Commissioner, to the committee. I'm pleased that you're before us, but I don't think the urgency for the American people, as much as we might like to applaud efficiency wherever it can happen, is still the fact that there's 5 million fellow Americans that get below poverty level checks from Social Security. It's been over 55 years since Social Security has been enhanced to help the people who deserve it most, especially in these economic times that we're currently going through. I know it's become, I guess we should say that everything didn't happen because of Joe Biden. But one thing that Joe Biden did do is say that we ought to lift the cap on people who pay nothing into Social Security as we struggle to see a committee. And most recently, the Social Security Administration released the 2026 trustees report that again shows solvency creeping up by a full year yet again. And yet nothing is being done except the fact that I think it's pretty obvious to a number of people including myself that the attempt is being made by the current administration to privatize Social Security. And I think that any fair examination of what's going on in Social Security, including eliminating 7,000 employees, closing regional offices, etc., I'm grateful for some of the telephone aspects of memory store, but to do so you're taking people away from existing jobs that should be providing greater customer service. We can argue back and forth about efficiency and effectiveness, but that doesn't take away from the family that's relying on Social Security. And for close to 50% of all Americans and the more than 70 million people that are currently receiving benefits, that means they're doing without. Here's the facts. 5 million Americans get below poverty level checks from the wealthiest nation in the world in the number one insurance program that the nation has, the most successful insurance program that the nation has. And yet because of lack of action by Congress, there has not been an improvement to these since 1971. Add to that the fact that people are still being taxed on their Social Security benefits in spite of the claim of the other side that they've taken care of that. Maybe 6 million out of the 28 got some relief. But by my math that means that 22 million Americans who shouldn't be taxed on their Social Security still get taxed on their Social Security. Also, as we all know that while the repeal of WEP and GPO was important and imperative, funding it is important as well. I'd like to submit for the record as well the report that was issued yesterday and today the Social Security financial outlook deteriorated due to Trump policies including both the big beautiful bills so to speak as well as the tariff issues and most recently as reported yet by another whistleblower what's happening in terms of trying to deport people who were paying into Social Security. Without objection, so ordered. All in all, Mr. Chairman, my concern remains the same as it has for the last decade, and that's that we directly as a committee enhance the benefits of people of this country that they richly deserve for the nation's number one anti-poverty program for the elderly, the number one anti-poverty program for children, and the number one program that more veterans rely on for disability than any other agency. I think everybody on this committee understands the urgency. I will submit for the record later every single district and how it's reflected in the impact on the individuals that we were sworn to serve. The hard truth is it's great that there might be some efficiencies, but that doesn't translate into people who are barely surviving getting below poverty level checks. 40% subsist on just Social Security alone. And for more than half of Americans, this is the only thing they have. That's not progress. That's criminal. And Congress needs to act. We have a bill. We're prepared to do that. We're prepared to restore solvency and extend benefits.
Thank you. Thank you, Ranking Member Larson. I now recognize the gentleman from Illinois's Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman, Darren LaHood, for his opening statement.
All right, let's try this one. Well, thank you, Chairman Estes, and happy to be part of this joint subcommittee hearing today between Work and Welfare and the Social Security subcommittee. And I want to thank you, Chairman Bisignano, for being here again today and your work as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. We appreciate you being back here with us and I want to thank you for your continued work leading the Social Security Administration. As we know, SSA serves a huge number of Americans and the work your agency does touches seniors, individuals with disabilities, families, and workers across the country. Commissioner, you joined us about one year ago after having been newly confirmed in your role, and I reviewed some of the data your team shared with us before this hearing about customer service at the agency. I was impressed at the progress you have been able to make in web, phone, and field office operations and to see that you've made a priority of meeting Americans where they are. Obviously your background and experience in the private sector has been immensely beneficial to that endeavor that you've taken on, and I appreciate your commitment to making the agency work better for the people who depend on it. SSA is one of the federal agencies that Americans interact with most directly. So when service is delayed, people feel it immediately. And I look forward to hearing more about the progress you've made and how Congress can be helpful in the future with your continued work. As chairman of the Work and Welfare subcommittee, I'm also interested in the administration of the Supplemental Security Income, also known as SSI program. For some recipients of SSI, their disability or age may mean they are unable to work. But for others, work may be possible with the right support, the right information, and a system that does not make the rules harder than they need to be. Last time you were here, we spoke about the importance of removing barriers for people who can work and want to work. SSA has work supports and programs designed to facilitate the transition to work, for instance, like the Ticket to Work program, and I look forward to hearing how SSA is looking at that program in particular, and what progress has been made. The committee also has been focused on improving the foster care system with the leadership of First Lady Melania Trump. The House recently passed the Fostering the Future Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation to modernize the Chafee foster care program and improve outcomes for foster youth. When you were here last year, you spoke about the issue of children in foster care who receive Social Security survivor or SSI benefits and the importance of SSA working to increase the number of states that have data exchanges in place to ensure children in foster care get the help they need. And I appreciate SSA's attention to this issue and look forward to hearing any updates on where things stand with that. Commissioner, again, thank you for your service. Thank you for being here today. We look forward to a fruitful conversation and dialogue on today's hearing and your willingness to be before the committee. We look forward to your testimony. Thank you, and I yield back.
Thank you, Chairman LaHood. I now recognize the gentleman from Illinois, Work and Welfare Subcommittee Ranking Member Davis, for his opening statement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Over 75 million Americans depend on monthly Social Security Administration payments. SSA's work is vital to all Americans. Those receiving benefits, those earning security for the future, and those whose loved ones live with dignity because of Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. Those benefits are even more critical and more crucial now with inflation at its highest level since we recovered from the pandemic. So, I appreciate the commissioner joining us today. Commissioner, I hope today can be the start of telling Congress and the public the whole truth. Starting with being fully transparent about the challenges SSA faced in the wake of massive staff cuts, an exodus of experienced staff, and repeated credible reports that the Trump administration misused the public trust. Most recently, a whistleblower revealed an SSA plan to declare US citizens, and I quote, 'dead,' unquote, for political gain. SSA statements about customer service do not always appear to reflect the reality Americans experience. Press releases claiming dramatic improvements in SSA customer service, particularly on the 800 number, conflict with reports from AARP and our constituents. People across the country report waiting in long lines at Social Security offices or being turned away and told to make appointments only to discover no appointments are available. Similarly, it seems misleading to claim a zero call wait time for seniors that waited hours or days for a call back or to praise short call wait times for people whose problems are not resolved. I hear repeatedly that people must call back over and over to finally speak to someone who can answer their questions because the 800 number forwards them to staff outside of their understaffed local offices. Staff who cannot answer individual case questions. So I ask you, Mr. Commissioner, to provide accurate and clear information so we can work together to make sure that you have the qualified staff you need to deliver benefits. As ranking member on the subcommittee on Work and Family Support, I have a special responsibility to speak up for SSI recipients, many of whom live with severe mental and physical disabilities. Beneficiaries are justifiably frightened that the administration's proposal to cut benefits for over 400,000 of the poorest recipients. That proposal should be formally rescinded, not left lingering to frighten vulnerable people. I also hope you will provide clear timelines for revising the adult and child medical listings of impairments for sickle cell disease based on the National Academy of Sciences final report. When we talked last year, you said you were waiting for the report. It was published months ago and it confirms that the current SSA process is excluding some families from the help they need. For example, SSA data indicate that 3/4 of all children with severe sickle cell disease get initially denied SSI disability upon application under these criteria. These families need help now. So, Commissioner, I thank you for joining us today. You have a lot of important work to do and we want to help you get it right. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to submit to the record a letter from several sickle cell and disability advocates to meet with the commissioner to discuss revising the disability decisions for those suffering from sickle cell anemia. I thank you Mr. Chairman. Without objection, so ordered. Thank you. I yield back.
Thank you, Mr. Davis. Today's sole witness is Commissioner of Social Security, Commissioner Frank Bisignano. Thank you for joining us today. Your written statement will be made part of the hearing record and you have five minutes to deliver your oral remarks. Commissioner Bisignano, you may begin whenever you're ready.
Thank you. Members of the subcommittees, under President Trump, the Social Security Administration is delivering faster service, better customer experiences, and higher quality outcomes for the American people. Every customer-facing service channel, field office, phones, and web has improved by double digits. This is the best all-around performance ever at the Social Security Administration. We have pledged and are protecting and preserving Social Security. SSA serves over 300 million people. And this year, we will have over 800 million interactions. As a result of our record-breaking performance, we're saving the American people over 40 million hours. The American people are winning. Before I arrived in May 2025, SSA had four different leaders in five months and was an agency in turmoil. The American people endured a failed service model. The Biden administration's so-called appointment-focused service turned people away who traveled to our field offices. On the national 800 number, only half of our customers got their calls answered. On the web, self-service features were down 29 hours a week. Turning people away who travel to field offices, only answering half the calls, and having office hours on the web is not meeting our customers where they want to be met. The Trump administration is transforming SSA into a model of excellence, a digital-first agency that meets and exceeds customer expectations for timely, accurate service in the channel of their choice. More than 99% of our field offices are open and serving the public with average wait times reduced to 20 minutes, a 30% improvement. No field office is closed due to staffing. We now answer 90% of calls to our 800 number and have reduced average wait time to 5 minutes, a 75% improvement. Simultaneously, physical year-to-date, we are serving 56% more people, which represents 13 million additional customers served. Online services are now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, enabling customers to complete transactions instantaneously. We are up 37% on our web transactions and up 21% on account creations. We are the largest digital financial services platform with over 103 million my Social Security accounts. In serving our most vulnerable, we have reduced wait times for initial disability claims decisions by 34 days, reduced hearing wait times by 91 days, reaching historic lows, and are quickly delivering disability benefits to those who qualify. Technology, process engineering, and disciplined execution have driven this transformation. Some of our recent improvements include online claims, straight-through processing, and advanced technology. These improvements have generated the equivalent of 2500 work years in productivity savings across the agency. With better process engineering and management, we have reduced workload in field offices by the equivalent of 600 work years, allowing staff to spend more time serving customers directly. We have also prioritized workforce engagement. For the first time in agency history, I have established advisory councils that report directly to me. These efforts are producing results. Annualized fiscal year 2026 attrition will be 30% lower than fiscal year 2024, providing consistency for both staff and the public we serve. Finally, we have made risk management a core operating principle at SSA. We have closed IG audit recommendations at a record pace, helping protect $16 billion in taxpayer funds. We are meeting congressional program integrity requirements, strengthening controls, and relentlessly pursuing the elimination of fraud, waste, and abuse. We have also restored stability. During the past year, there has been no turnover among my direct reports, whether career or political. That leadership continuity combined with the dedication of SSA's workforce enabled the agency to serve the American people through the 43-day government shutdown during the peak of retirement season. I am honored to lead this agency and serve the American people. We are building a modern, sustainable, and durable organization. The president's fiscal year 2027 budget request supports this transformation. Mr. Chairman, over the past year, we have improved service, strengthened controls, deployed technology, and delivered measurable results at historic scale. I look forward to discussing these accomplishments and answering your questions.
Thank you for your testimony. We'll now proceed to the question and answer session. Commissioner Bisignano, the operational turnaround we have witnessed over the past year is a testament to what happens when private sector efficiency is brought into a federal bureaucracy. By focusing on core data and cutting through administrative red tape, the SSA is finally starting to deliver the level of service that Kansans and all Americans expect and deserve. To better understand how you achieved these milestones and how we can assure these gains are sustained securely, I have a few specific questions regarding some of your strategy, staffing, program integrity, and some recent data reports. Commissioner, you've managed to achieve significant improvements to customer service in the first year, including an 84% reduction in the national 800 number average wait times and a 33% drop in the initial disability backlog while operating with fewer total employees. Can you describe how ideas like shifting personnel out of the bureaucratic headquarters positions and onto the front lines made this possible and what further structural changes are planned?
Thank you very much. I think first of all, I'm honored to be here. When we look at what we inherited, we inherited something that existed for a long time. One of the first observations I had is way too many layers of management. We didn't shut down anything actually that was facing clients, right? Regional offices was another level of bureaucracy. We didn't close down a field office. We actually reallocated our staff to where the work was. And I think that's a basic tactic. I think also we looked at what we needed when we need it. First day I looked at the numbers on the 800 number at 8 a.m. with 4,000 people on our staff, we had 400 and the phone was ringing. Obviously, people wanted to call us in the morning and we weren't there. So, I like to make this more complicated, but it's not. It's putting people where the work is. It's building technology in a modern-day fashion. It's understanding what best-in-class performance looks like and motivating a workforce who's fully motivated to be here. We have great people in SSA who love to serve the American public.
Well, thank you. Has that reallocation of personnel affected service elsewhere in the agency?
I think when we look at the numbers, first of all, as you know, you have fundamentally three-quarters of a million Social Security numbers in your jurisdiction and we pay out more than $300 million a month. So there's a very important engine to every one of the districts and we're very proud of the full balanced scorecard. Visitors are down in field offices and up everywhere else, although that's fundamentally half our staffing and we committed to never close a field office and always be there. I think every number in the place is double-digit improvement and that says, the head of disability we never actually had a head of disability before, and it's a career person who was a judge, runs disability and says it's bread-and-butter management to him what they're learning and they're growing. So we look at a balanced scorecard. We have a governance structure that looks at the numbers every week as a management team and we're committed to having a better year in front of us than a year behind us.
Great. Can we talk a little bit more about disability? Appreciate what you just said, but as the pending disability claims and the initial claims and reconsiderations continue to shrink, how are you ensuring that the bottlenecks do not materialize at other parts in the adjudication process?
Well, that's why when we look every week for an hour and a half as a management team, that would be my direct reports and their direct reports, 200 indicators and go through them. We want to make sure we're making hearings more efficient. We're making, by the way, efficient equals quality too. Better output, less errors, quicker responses to clients. And so I think the only way to do it is look at a balanced scorecard, make sure we have the right resource allocation and a technology roadmap to change it. We're not modernizing, we're transforming.
Well, while the operational turnarounds are incredible, our constituents are still occasionally surprised by overpayment notices, often due to no fault of their own. After 10 years of intense oversight by the committee, the SSA has finally begun using the authority to implement a payroll information exchange designed to improve payment accuracy and relieve the burdens and reliance on self-reported wage information, a leading cause of the improper payments. Can you provide us with an update on the status of the information exchange?
Yeah, it's called PIE, payment information exchange. The first days here, I didn't know what they meant by PIE, but we learned it real quick. We've expanded it. We have more information coming into it and we changed the interval that the information comes. So it's a daily exchange. It's a way that we get information from outside bureaus and can compare so we reduce our improper payments.
Thank you. Data integrity and security are sometimes the most critical role of the SSA, which maintains some of the most personal information of nearly every American. Recent media reports have alleged plans to add millions of living individuals to the death master file, which is an important database. I say it's one of the main national databases, if not the only national database that provides that information. But the death master file is managed by SSA and utilized by other federal agencies to ensure taxpayer dollars are not going to otherwise deceased and ineligible individuals. Mr. Commissioner, what's your response to these reports from the media about adding living individuals? And is the SSA knowingly adding living individuals to the death master file?
We are not. And from the day I've been here, we haven't added people to the death master file who are living. I will tell you, I approached this as a first-time ever approach. There was something called the numident file, maybe you've heard of numident. It's not a common word in anyone's neighborhood, probably no one walks into a Social Security office and says 'Am I on the numident file?' I like to call it the Social Security number database. And that Social Security number database had never been reconciled. Now recognize we created two new positions: a head of risk management to report to me, which was well subordinated in the organization, and a head of cyber and resiliency, both two great career executives in the federal government. And in the creation of those roles, they absorbed all different types of ways to do the business and the work. We reconcile today the Social Security number database. We use lots of data exchanges. We are the number one identifier for Americans of who they are. So having that as pristine as possible, and if it was never reconciled before, it's really been a heroic effort by the team which I think ensures our data integrity and our data accuracy. And then building a cyber function of world class where we actually have outsiders and ourselves continually pounding at it is about the risk management function of Social Security which did not exist before.
Well, thank you for that update on how the process works. And you said you haven't added any living individuals. Are there any plans to do that in the future?
Great. Well, thank you. I now recognize Mr. Larson for questions.
Well, thank you again, Mr. Chairman. Let me start by saying, do you believe the billionaires should pay their fair share of Social Security?
I believe whatever the law is should be upheld.
Whatever the law is should be upheld.
So if you're Elon Musk and don't pay anything into Social Security, that's okay with you.
I'm not the dictator of...
So, here we are before the committee and you're telling us how more efficient you are. So, you're more efficient. How are the five million Americans, fellow Americans, most of them women, who are getting below poverty level checks from Social Security, are they able to starve more efficiently? Is that the goal here? That we're able to send them their below poverty level check more efficiently, I guess. So that's a great thing. We should all be doing cartwheels and celebrating. How about the 40% of the people who this is the only benefit that they have? So the only benefit that they have in retirement, you're saying to them, 'Look what we've done for you. We're getting you that check more efficiently.' Isn't that wonderful? Sounds to me more like when you look at everything that's being done and nothing that's being done on behalf of the people that Social Security was meant to serve and props up our whole system of free enterprise and capitalism. We're saying don't worry, we're getting it to you more efficiently. How about we get them something they can live on and sustain themselves on? This is what this committee should be doing. And I would expect from our agencies, and I know everything's Joe Biden's fault, etc., but I have to say this. Was Joe Biden wrong to say that we should lift the cap on people making over $400,000? Was that wrong, Mr. Secretary?
I would say that the fact of the matter is Congress, and that would be laid by yourself as a ranking member here, has a responsibility to decide what they want to work on. The commissioner's job...
That's not what the question was. The question was...
You're answering the way you want to answer it. I asked the question, do you think we should lift the cap on people making over $400,000? Raise your hand in the audience if you're making over $400,000. Raise your hand on the dais if you're making over $400,000. And yet nobody here in this room is making over $400,000. And yet people are. And yet that Joe Biden, boy, that guy, what an awful thing to say that those people, as difficult as this may be, that they're going to have to pay what all of you pay for Social Security. Wow, what an incredible burden he's just placed on people. That Joe Biden, you know, that guy who wanted to see people pay their fair share into the most significant insurance program the nation has ever had, so people can live out their lives in dignity instead of living in poverty more efficiently. This hearing should be about focusing on what we need to do for the American people. Everyone on this dais knows that it's been over 55 years since we've enhanced Social Security across the board. And who's going to benefit from that? Where do the people in your district spend the money they receive from Social Security? On average over $280 million in every congressional district. And oh, wouldn't it be something if that were increased? That would actually allow not only them to live in dignity, but how about helping out every single local business in all of your districts who that money will go directly back to by way of purchasing groceries, pharmaceuticals, paying their rent, their mortgage, putting gas in their car. And instead we're sitting watching and everybody on this dais knows and I'll keep on saying it. This is about the privatization of Social Security. It's not about helping these people out.
Thank you, Ranking Member, for your comments and questions. I now recognize Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman LaHood for questions.
Thank you, Chairman Estes. Commissioner, I mentioned in my opening comments that obviously this is a joint hearing and I wanted to focus my questions on the work we do on the Work and Welfare subcommittee and specifically the Ticket to Work program. You mentioned in your testimony that the administration of the SSI program is extremely complex to administer and now that you have designated an SSI official dedicated to improving technology and processes, what specifically is that going to mean for the Ticket to Work program, particularly since we know many recipients aren't aware of the program and there are many questions about its effectiveness?
Yeah, I thought when we looked at SSI in general and we looked at this vulnerable population, what we recognized very quickly was there was no accountability within the agency for delivering against it. Yes, everybody worked on it. So as I had said, we have a dedicated executive in charge and he's been on a multi-pronged effort, one as you said on SSI and obviously the payroll exchange we talk about is mission critical to SSI to ensure that we're not making payments and then coming back to people. On Ticket to Work, as we think about our beneficiaries, we don't want them burdened by reporting issues and we're committed to them. In fact, people with disabilities, promoting that they have dignity to come back to work, we're promoting incentives and automated self-reporting through the systems we have. We're encouraging employment networks to educate and we're fully engaged in that. And I think we have the first large-scale evaluation program in over a decade to gather all information and come back on what's not effective still. Ticket to Work is a very strong program to help people to work. SSI deals with our most vulnerable and we need to have people understand that if they decide to go to Ticket to Work, if they have some hardship, we will still be there for them. And I think that's the most important element that we have to work on, Congressman.
Well, Commissioner, I appreciate those reforms and changes that you've made appropriately and continue to implement. Obviously those are important to making this program successful. The Ticket to Work, as you know, we have roughly 7 million unfilled jobs in the country. Last year in our Working Families Tax Cut bill, we worked on transitioning people off of government funding into working. And the best social safety net is a job. And so we believe the Ticket to Work program with your reforms and making it more efficient, more effective, more accountable can help transition people into jobs. So we look forward to working with you on that. Customer service, you mentioned also that matters for work. If a beneficiary is trying to report wages or resolve an overpayment issue, delays can create real uncertainty. Chairman Estes and I held a joint Social Security and Work and Welfare subcommittee hearing last September. The hearing was focused on removing barriers to work. Our witnesses testified that overpayments are one of the biggest deterrents to their efforts to transition back to the workforce. What is SSA doing to reduce overpayments to SSI and DI beneficiaries who are working or attempting to return to work?
Yeah, I think we've done multiple things. Obviously PIE being the largest, the payroll exchange, seeing information, understanding it. The second is in fact cutting payment cycles down so we have the most current information. The payment cycles were multiple days and on any day something can change relative to it. So getting those down to a couple days as opposed to multiple has made more, and we'll continue. This will be a never-ending pursuit, to be honest with you, of continuing to refine the process and improve the processes.
Thank you for that. In 2024, my colleagues and I on this committee sent a bipartisan letter to the GAO, Government Accountability Office, requesting a study examining state participation in the monthly data exchanges. This is important because the data exchanges add transparency and accountability for...
I think we've done multiple things. Obviously PIE being the largest, the payroll exchange, seeing information, understanding it. The second is in fact cutting payment cycles down so we have the most current information. The payment cycles were multiple days and on any day something can change relative to it. So getting those down to a couple days as opposed to multiple has made more, and we'll continue. This will be a never-ending pursuit, to be honest with you, of continuing to refine the process and improve the processes.
State child welfare agencies who are acting as representative payees on behalf of children in the foster care system receiving SSI or SSA benefits. The GAO is expected to release its study this year and will have several recommendations for the Social Security Administration. And Commissioner, I just want to alert you to that. Can you commit to working with the committee to implement the recommendations that are going to be made by the GAO or recommending legislative changes so we can make progress on this?
Thank you, Commissioner. I yield back.
Thank you. I now recognize Work and Welfare Ranking Member Davis for questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Commissioner, for your answers. My constituents and national organizations representing seniors still tell me that when they call SSA, they usually get an offer to have someone call them back, not a live person addressing their question or problem. When callers choose a call back, could you tell me the average amount of time it takes for them to hear back from SSA? Can you name a single metric that SSA publishes that captures or tells whether a beneficiary received the right outcome? Not the fastest, not the cheaper, but one that is correct and complete. And will you commit to publishing this data so that the public knows what to expect?
I say first of all, we do post-call surveys both on callbacks and first time. Call back is an industry norm. It's not our specific item. We measure it the same way every industry does. We can say that we outperform more than 50% of the commercial entities and that we have performance at the high end in the federal government. Having said that, we do post-call surveys on everything and we have about an 89% satisfaction rate. I think if you think about your jurisdiction, we have three quarters of a million Social Security number holders in your jurisdiction, sir. And we're paying out more than 181 million a month to those beneficiaries.
Will you publish this so that they will know exactly what to expect or tell them?
Tell me what you mean by that.
Well, you tell them so that they know what they can expect to receive, how long it's going to take.
So when they call up, we give them an option. The option is you have an X minute wait time, an 8 minute wait time, a 10 minute wait time, and then we say that, and if they would like a call back, we will call you within that time period. So we tell every caller what to expect relative to their call backs.
All right, then let me go to this question. In a 2015 change in SSA policy resulted in sharply increased denials of SS benefits to children with sickle cell disease. Many parents of these children must reduce their work hours to help them get the comprehensive care they need. And of course, they've got severe pain. These parents depend on SSI to help pay the bills. In 2025, the National Academies of Science report confirmed that the criteria should be changed so that these individuals got the help. Could you tell us what you've done since then to change that policy?
Well, we've actually spent time and gone through the elements that need to be changed. We have recommendations to change them, and I'm happy to come see you and go through it with you.
They've also indicated that they're having difficulty sitting down. Would you commit to meeting with the sickle cell advocates to dig into this?
Happy to do it, and happy to do it with you and your staff together.
And also before we end, I'm kind of surprised that I've waited more than three months for a substantive answer to questions that I've asked relative to delayed tax refunds. Could you commit to getting us that information as quickly as maybe a week or two?
Happy to. It's not an IRS meeting, but I'm happy to, sir.
Thank you very much. And I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Well, thank you. I now recognize Chairman Smith for questions.
Thank you, Chairman. Commissioner, thank you and welcome back to the Ways and Means Committee. I know you have multiple hats in serving the American people and we say thank you. I appreciate the work that you're doing in the Social Security Administration. You could be doing a lot of things and you've chosen to serve the people who are relying on Social Security and the people of this country. So I just want to say thank you. You don't hear that a lot, especially when you come before Congress. They like to criticize you and tell you how X, Y, and Z is not perfect and why you haven't fixed whatever. But as I was sitting here listening to some of that, Commissioner, I'm reminded I've been here 12 years on this committee. 12 years. But that's a very short time compared to a lot of people that have been here 30 and 40 years. And the last time Social Security was changed with benefits was 1983. But boy, we hear a lot of people up here talk about changing those benefits. But you're right, it's done by the legislative body, not by you. And so Congress needs to get their act together to address Social Security and the insolvency that's coming instead of poking blame at other people whenever it is our duty and our responsibility. And so there's only been a couple changes to Social Security in the last 40 years. One of them was under my chairmanship with WEP/GPO just in 2025. But we've seen nothing in years past. And so I hope, Commissioner, our colleagues will come together, both Republican and Democrat, to do it for those people who rely on Social Security. My mother, do it for people like my mother, that's all she has. That is all she lives on. And that's difficult for her to do. But there's a lot of people like that. And that's why we have to come together. I have a few questions, Commissioner. As someone who represents a number of rural communities and many families that rely on Social Security in order to retire with dignity and security, I appreciate how important it is that people maintain reliable access to social security services, whether it is in contact with your agency by way of phone, online, or in person at your field offices. Commissioner, for folks unable to travel to field offices, how has the SSA expanded services and improved delivery through the other service channels since you last testified on this matter before the committee? And how have wait times and access improved under President Trump compared to the prior administration?
Thank you, sir. I think first of all, we've always believed we should meet clients where they want to be met. If they want to come to a field office, we're there to serve them. If they want to call us on the phone. If they don't want to wait on the phone for the wait time, they can take a call back. And then as more and more people transact with us, more and more want to do it on the web. If you look at what's happened, I'd say the first thing is we had a system that said appointment needed when you came to a field office. Appointment needed. We sent people home. We sent them home. Right. Those signs no longer exist. And that was not only did we send those people home, we sent the employees home. So that was very convenient for everybody, but somebody who wanted service. And then we had a web down 29 hours a week. By changing all that, what's actually happened is field office visits are down because people can access us on the phone. Like we said, fiscal year to date, we've answered and served 13 million more Americans. We've saved Americans 40 million hours of wait time. And our web traffic is up 37%. And we'll do 800 million interactions. 3% of them happen in field offices physically, but we have 23,000 people there and we're going to serve the American public wherever they want to be met.
Thank you, Commissioner, for doing that. This committee has been working to improve access to gainful employment opportunities for Americans receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. We recently advanced legislation sponsored by Congressman Austin Scott, a strong advocate for disabled veterans, authorizing your agency to once again test potential policy changes that might improve access and remove barriers to work for Social Security disability insurance beneficiaries. At a hearing last fall, we heard from such a beneficiary who told us that if he hadn't had someone help him with the complex disability rules, he would have 'graduated to the couch.' Sadly, his experience is the exception to the rule. Less than 1% of beneficiaries leave the program for work despite 60% of beneficiaries indicating they would like to work. While legislative efforts are underway, what is the agency doing today to improve access or remove barriers to employment opportunities for Americans living with disabilities that receive SSA funded benefits?
Yeah. I think the number one thing is our own advocacy with employment networks because we have a deep belief that we can be advocates in a larger standpoint to have them understand these are fabulous Americans who are capable, obviously continuing the journey to work on things like Ticket to Work also, which isn't on the initial disability, but after. And I think it needs to be a concerted effort locally and nationally, and I look forward to working with everybody here on making progress on this. This is real good work and the work that has to do as a person in the private sector who believed in veteran employment and created the 100,000 jobs mission and that meant for disabled vets too. I understand how this can be done and we're going to get it done.
You know, Social Security is not immune to the disease of fraud that seems to have infected so many parts of government. As with other instances of the abuse and misuse of federal funds, fraud within Social Security robs not just taxpayers of hard-earned dollars, but beneficiaries of well-earned benefits. This committee advanced legislation through the House with unanimous support that would make it easier for victims of identity theft, including parents of children whose social security numbers have been compromised, to coordinate with the agency to resolve the matter. While that legislation sits over in the Senate like so many other good pieces of legislation, what is the agency doing to combat fraud within the program and to better service beneficiaries needing your assistance when they are victims of identity theft?
Well, we are in the process right now of having dedicated resource just for a person for identity theft. I think that was job one. I think above that job is a conversation I had earlier which is a full reconciliation constantly of what is really the Social Security number database. Because many times that fraud doesn't happen within Social Security. It happens in the other areas of government and elsewhere where that number gets used. So the ability for us to stay vigilant on the reconciliation, the ability for us to supply dedicated resource so people have a dedicated person to deal with, and then continue data cleansing.
Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Chairman Estes and Chairman LaHood for holding this hearing.
Thank you, Chairman Smith. I now recognize Ms. Moore from Wisconsin for five minutes for questions.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome back, Mr. Commissioner. Last time you were here, you were the CEO of the IRS, but welcome back again. You have waxed on about the, what do we call it, the speed of answer calls that people make and you say that calls are like 10 minutes. Is that correct? Something like that. What was the word you used?
I didn't hear what you were writing.
Okay. Well, I'll share that with you.
Because the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220, I have a statement for the record where they say the speed of answer metric was 10 minutes. The Washington Post on March 19th of 2026, the Inspector General put out a report that said the actual wait time was more of what our constituents are telling us that it is. It's 46 minutes to two hours. But the IG's report was scrubbed by somebody and they substituted a speed of answer metric which was 10 minutes. And so, Mr. Chairman, without objection, I'm going to submit for the record a statement from the American Federation of Government Employees about this hearing and about the wait times.
Thank you so much. Mr. Commissioner, you have said, you know, our experience, and I have a caseworker in my district, as do all of my colleagues, that says that there have been so many reassignments of like 2500 employees that had very specific skill sets that were all removed and put on this 800 number. So that when people do call the 800 number, the questions that they have, it depends on who answers the 800 call, those persons don't have the answers or the skill set to help them. And so they don't get the proper answers that they need. In addition to that, that comports very much so with what my staff has shared with me, that we have a 90-year low in the numbers of employees that the Social Security Administration has employed at a time when people like me, the baby boomers, as Mr. Larson points out all the time, 10,000 of us are turning 65 every single day, and it seems sort of counterintuitive. Is the 800 number and the shuffling of staff supposed to realize some efficiencies that we haven't seen?
First of all, I think a good way to think about this whole situation is we used to have 400 people on the phone at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. And that was not a sufficient number. That was predating me. That would go back to the era that you well remember where we told people appointments are needed. This was a sign from '24. They've been ripped down. Right? What we've seen is people sent home to do work from home in field offices. Well, that's inappropriate.
Okay. So, so what I'm saying is these...
I just want to know why people are waiting on the phone for 46 minutes and then when they finally do get somebody, somebody can't answer their questions because they're not calling the correct benefit officer. And do you think the 800 number thing is supposed to be the magic bullet in place of having enough employees?
What I think in fact is we have the right amount of staff in the right places.
Okay, that's okay. Well, I don't agree with you on that, so no point in burning up my time.
You want to know how to manage 50,000 people anyway?
Okay. I can't resist asking you.
Say she doesn't know how to manage.
Yeah. Was I talking to you?
Yeah, it is my time and he can ask a question.
Fine. What question do you want to ask during her time?
Did you just say that she doesn't know how to manage 50,000 people?
Do you know her capabilities of management?
Yeah, I do. She would understand us if she...
Okay. Thank you. I can't resist asking you as a CEO of the IRS about the $1.8 billion reprivatization fund and in addition no audits. Well, how can I get in on that deal where the IRS won't audit me? Is this something available to me?
I think this is the letter for this meeting. It's an SSA meeting.
I just want to get in on that.
Treasury Secretary commented on this in the Ways and Means Committee.
Well, you haven't answered. The gentlelady's time has expired. I just want to remind everybody that we're focusing on Social Security in this hearing to be able to talk about, I know the commissioner does a lot of work. We want to make sure that we get Social Security information covered. So, pursuant to committee practice, we'll now proceed two to one question. And now I'll recognize the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Carey, for five minutes for questioning.
I want to thank the chairman for having this hearing today. Mr. Bisignano, Commissioner, I want to thank you for taking the time to be here today. First, I'd really like to talk about, and I know that you and I have had the opportunity to discuss some of the successes that you've had during your time in this position. Chiefly among them is something that this committee had the first hearing on in Louisiana, which was the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act. And I know you and I have briefly discussed that. I'd like to commend you for getting these payments delivered. And I think this is something that's pretty telling. You were able to deliver these payments to these hardworking men and women, firefighters, teachers, police officers, five months ahead of schedule. This was quite an achievement really. The Social Security Fairness Act, many of my colleagues on both sides, was a bipartisan piece of legislation that many people elected to this office took 20 years to get enacted. So, in November of '23, as I mentioned before, I chaired the first ever hearing on the bill in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Then the bill was passed a year later, signed into law under President Biden, but it was the current Trump administration that implemented this. And I just want to make sure I'm correct. It was the Trump administration that implemented the Social Security Fairness Act. Am I correct?
Yes. And I want to thank you for clarifying that so that everybody understands the role that you played in getting these benefits into the hands of the retired public servants that so desperately needed them. The work was not just identifying and providing, these numbers are staggering, more than $17 billion in retroactive benefits to 3.1 million hardworking Americans. It was also adjusting the monthly benefits for all those people over the future years. So, Commissioner, can you explain for all of us how your agency was able to execute this monumental undertaking so efficiently and so successfully?
Well, first of all, thank you for the question. And as I sit here, I recognize that in your district that was $14 million that went to more than 2100 recipients. And in fact, if you think about it, within your district, we're paying benefits of more than 400 million a month. So a powerful, and your support is tremendous. I think when I came in in May and checked on the status of it, they said it would be done by 11:30. And I asked the barriers, and fundamentally the barriers were applying people to the work. But what became very clear to me was through a few meetings that we could technically solve the problem. And much of the gains we've made in the agency has been through technology, not through any other means. You know, you can't just throw people at problems in this day and age. You got to use technology. So the CIO and myself and the head of the processing center that was doing these spent some time and we were done by June 30th. But it was our great technologists who I think are delivering a lot of what you hear here in the enhancements, whether it's on the web, whether it's in the field offices or on the phone.
And I appreciate you pointing out the numbers that were in our district. And I just think for all Ohioans, because there are 15 congressional districts, but the numbers that I had for all of Ohio, approximately 223,000 Ohioans received a total of 1.85 billion as a result of this, and again a credit to you. I'd also like to take my last moment to turn attention to the impact the technology has done, but obviously I only have 8 seconds, and hopefully we can get the wait time even further, but from 47 to 5 minutes, that's pretty good. So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Thank you. I now recognize Mr. Yakym from Indiana for five minutes for questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Commissioner Bisignano, thanks for being here today. I want to start by thanking you for taking the time to come and see me in my office here in advance of this hearing. Really appreciate the direct communication that you and I have. You've been very responsive to me. Your team is responsive to my team and I just want to thank you for that. Also want to say thank you for what you committed to over a year ago, which is to take a metric-driven and a results-oriented approach to operations. You've certainly, as you look over the course of the last year, you've been someone that has led the change inside of Social Security operations. You can either lead the change or change the leader, and we appreciate the work that you've done and certainly hope that that continues into the future. I'd like to start with a question regarding something that you and I spoke about a year ago, and that was on March 1st, Martin O'Malley, President Biden's Social Security commissioner, predicted, and I quote, 'Ultimately you're going to see a collapse in the system and an interruption of benefits.' He said, 'I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.' It's now been 466 days since he has made that statement. Commissioner Bisignano, has Social Security collapsed and have benefits been interrupted? I don't think they have. Is that correct?
No, they've outperformed in double digit fashion. But I kind of understand why he said that because he was telling people who drove to your field office, go home, and appointments needed. He took field office employees and sent them home and disregarded the fact that the web was down 29 hours a week. So, I think maybe he had a formula for that, but thank the good Lord we had the support of all of you and the president to change that outcome.
Commissioner Bisignano, when people like Martin O'Malley are out there making these apocalyptic statements, when they're spreading these conspiracy theories, hyperbolic predictions, how much more difficult is it for you to do your job, thanks to Democrats like Martin O'Malley?
Well, I don't think it makes it any harder. You know, it's something we don't really pay attention to. If you listen to boo birds in the right field, you're not going to win games. Our career employees love what they do. Our leadership team has stayed intact. Not one change on that team, and that's political and career. And I think they've risen to the occasion. They're proud of what they're doing, more proud than they ever have been. You know, we used to describe Social Security as 70 plus million recipients of payments and keeping 15 or 20% of the people out of poverty. I think that actually affected the self-esteem of the department because most people they talk to every day are not a beneficiary. We have a disability process that is judges, and we're just helping them through their process. And if you come to our field office, the number one thing asked for is a replacement card, which we've built the technology for them not to have to come. So I think we've elevated the esteem of the department. It is the largest digital financial service provider in the world, with 102 million digital accounts, and yes, with only 3% of our volume coming into field offices and half our staff in field offices, we will never close a field office.
Well, let's talk through some of those changes you made because the number of beneficiaries continues to increase, which makes Social Security even that much more important as we go into the future, which of course provides for increased demand on your employees, increased demand on services, it could provide for a strain on systems. But of course, the Hoosiers that I serve have the same expectations for quick service, quick decisions, and accurate solutions. In fact, your agency received roughly 22 million service requests in fiscal year 2025. That's 113 million more than the previous year, or a 19% increase. What operational reforms are most important to ensure that your agency can continue to meet the rising customer demands?
Well, we had something called iClaims. And iClaims sounded great if you did it, but it took a really long time to get ultimately finished because what it was was a claimant put their claim in online, but it never went through the system. Somebody else inputted it, fraught with errors. We've determined it straight through processing. We've built the edits and right now, we're processing Medicare claims to the hundreds of thousands. It's moving to retirement claims and it happens in days, not weeks. So, those are types of things that allow us to serve more Americans. That's what we're talking about, serving more Americans quicker than ever before.
Thank you, Commissioner. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Thank you. I now recognize Ms. Chu from California for five minutes for questioning.
Commissioner Bisignano, you used to have all kinds of data points on your website on customer service, but last year you took them down and instead you have one highly misleading metric, which is your celebration of reducing the average speed of answer on SSA's phone line from 42 minutes back in 2024 to now just 5 minutes. Is it accurate that in calculating this number, your agency records a caller who selects the option to receive a call back as having a zero minute wait regardless of how long that call back takes to arrive? I just want a yes or no answer.
I'll tell you a couple things. Even though you want a yes or no answer.
First of all, we have more metrics up than ever before on the web. So, let's just start there.
Okay. So, you're not answering this question.
Second, I'll answer your question. The answer is yes. And that's an industry standard across every industry. That's how it's counted because...
So then thank you for that answer because that says yes. You record that as a zero.
I just told you industry standard.
Well, I Okay. And what percent of callers select the call back option? What is their current average wait to get that call back? Not the average speed of answer, but the wait time specifically to get a call back. And I heard your answer to Mr. Davis earlier. I don't want the post satisfaction survey. I want an actual number in terms of how long it takes for them to get a call back.
