Bennet Asks SSA Commissioner Nom Point Blank If He’d Meet With Constituents ‘Before Making Cuts’

2 days ago

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, Michael Bennet (D-CO) questioned Frank Bisignano, President Trump's nominee to be Commissioner of Social Security Administration, about his plans to serve the American people.

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Transcript

00:01Senator Bennet.

00:02Chairman, I'm glad, thank you for letting me defer for a moment.

00:05I'm glad I was to hear Senator Young's questions about his mom, because I think those are exactly

00:10the questions that everybody in Colorado has.

00:13So thank you, Mr. Busigano.

00:15Thank you for being here and your willingness to serve.

00:20I know how you understand, I hope, and this is your testimony, how important it is that

00:26Americans receive their Social Security benefits on time, and that if a problem arises, that

00:32they're able to resolve it quickly and easily, which they have not been able to do for a

00:37long time.

00:39And you've emphasized the need to, quote, the need to meet beneficiaries in the three

00:44places they want to be, including on the phone, online, and in person.

00:49But last week, the Social Security Administration said that Americans wouldn't be able to access

00:54a number of service options over the phone.

00:57Instead, they'll need to either use an online verification process or call to make an in-person

01:02appointment.

01:04The agency itself estimates that this will add 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors a

01:12week to field offices.

01:14As my colleagues have already said, wait times for appointments can already take a month,

01:20and that in-person appointment is only going to get harder to make if the agency cuts 7,000

01:25employees and ends up with the lowest headcount in decades.

01:30I'm worried that that's not going to meet the American people where they are.

01:34I realize you haven't been over there making these decisions.

01:38I know you spent a lot of time in the private sector, and I know that there is no well-functioning

01:45corporation that would have the kind of weights that we're talking about here.

01:54I think when it comes to Social Security, really the American people are the ultimate

01:59shareholders, not the members of the Senate and not you.

02:05It's the American people and Senator Young's mom that matter.

02:10I want to ask you whether you'll commit to hearing from my constituents in Colorado and

02:15people across the country before making cuts to staff or before restricting access to customer service.

02:23I guess the point I'm making is don't just make assumptions about it, but let's engage

02:27your customers, our customers, our constituents, the true shareholders, in a discussion about

02:34how best to serve them.

02:36What are your thoughts about that?

02:39First of all, thank you, Senator Bennet, and thanks for taking the time in your office

02:44with me previously, and I thought you were highly insightful, and I'm appreciative.

02:50I hope my mom's watching.

02:57I thought as I've watched what I consider a fair amount of press releases and announcements

03:06that have gone out, because that's just kind of how I learn what's going on.

03:11I look on the daily, I get up in the morning and look at Social Security news, and I thought

03:17to myself that, and I was fortunate enough during the last week to meet with Senator

03:26Wyden's staff and Senator Crapo's staff and then have a session with all the Senate Finance

03:31Committee staffs, that we should have some form of group that before we make a statement

03:41of what we're doing, that we go have a conversation about it, much like I do all the time on anything

03:49you do.

03:50You're going to affect your constituents.

03:54You should get some buy-in in the process.

03:57Now, we're never going to get 100% of agreement on many things, but people also understanding

04:05the reason why.

04:07This is why we're doing that.

04:10We get tens of thousands of bank branches, they're in communities all over, they're in

04:19rural communities, and what we have to do with our technology and innovation there is

04:24different than what we may have to do in large cities, and you have to take in the full population

04:31and think it through.

04:32It doesn't mean you're not going to do it, but I commit to us thinking through a better

04:39way for change and understanding what the constituents have to go through.

04:46I appreciate that.

04:47I'll submit my other question for the record, Mr. Chairman, but you're new to government,

04:53which is not necessarily a bad thing.

04:55What I'll say is that one way or another, we're going to hear from our constituents.

05:01If offices are closed and they can't be served, I think you'd be a lot better listening on

05:06the front end than taking the incoming on the back end from Republicans and Democrats

05:11up here who have concerned constituents when it comes to Social Security.

05:16Thank you for your testimony.

05:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Bennet Asks SSA Commissioner Nom Point Blank If He’d Meet With Constituents ‘Before Making Cuts’

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