Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano stood up for his agency in his congressional testimony on Wednesday, touting lower call wait times and greater efficiency as he said the SSA is having its “best all-around performance ever” under the Trump administration.
The SSA chief’s testimony came just one day after the Social Security board of trustees released its annual trust fund assessment, essentially a fiscal report card for the agency. The assessment detailed that the agency will deplete its two major trust funds — the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds — by 2034 if Congress does not step in to help. At that point, SSA benefits would only be 83% payable, according to the report.
“We now answer 90% of calls to our 800 number, and have reduced average wait time to five minutes, a 75% improvement,” Bisignano said. “Simultaneously, fiscal year to date, we are serving 56% more people, which represents 13 million additional customers served.”
Bisignano, who sits on the board of trustees, urged Congress to act to ensure the trust funds continue to flow and said he is working to make the SSA function as well as possible so Congress can decide how to approach the program’s financial insolvency.
Bisignano told the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security his job is “to make it perform as well as possible” to tee up Congress to “have a set of options and choices to decide on how this great American program” can have sufficient funding in 2034.
“I always think if you make the operations better, people are prepared to invest in those operations,” Bisignano told Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL).
Though he did not specify how he hopes Congress will intervene to help the agency, few lawmakers asked about insolvency and how the legislative chamber could address the agency’s financial woes, as the stated insolvency cliff is less than a decade away. The 2034 cliff on the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds is the same as last year’s estimate.
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“To protect the promise of Social Security, it is important for lawmakers and the Social Security Administration to work together to ensure the trust funds continue to provide financial stability now and for future generations,” Bisignano said in a statement.
Most of the questioning from Democrats focused on staffing levels at the agency, which saw thousands of workers axed as part of the Department of Government Efficiency‘s efforts to downsize the federal government. Bisignano maintained that the staffing reductions have not negatively affected the agency’s ability to assist customers and reiterated that the agency is committed to never closing a field office after the staffing cuts.