‘I’m Fundamentally About Efficiency Myself’: SSA Chief Nom Explains Remarks In Support Of DOGE

2 days ago

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, Frank Bisignano, President Trump's nominee to be Commissioner of Social Security Administration, answered a question from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) about his thoughts on the Department of Government Efficiency.

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00:00My first question is one you've pretty much already answered. I'd just like to

00:06maybe give you an opportunity to add any more completeness to what you described

00:13about how important it is to be sure that every American is served promptly

00:18and efficiently by the Social Security Administration. As you know, and as we've

00:23talked about, for years individuals seeking assistance from SSA have faced

00:27long wait times or even inability to gain access, and the agency is now

00:32going under significant organizational changes. Could you just put a little more

00:37flavor into what you described as what your objectives are and how you will

00:41achieve them to make this agency responsible to the American people?

00:45Yeah, I think, first of all, it's an honor to be here and thank you for the time.

00:50This is a mission-critical function. It's a mission-critical function and

00:56it's been 89 years where over 200 million American have been beneficiaries

01:04of payments. Today over a hundred million Americans pay into the system and the

01:10ability to receive payments on time and accurately is job one. The ability to

01:19process any type of claim we receive is job one and the ability to be available.

01:26I think we're gonna focus on what we need to do to drive the 1% error rate

01:32down. That's a very high payment processing error rate and I think the

01:38standard is more five decimal points to the right. I think that leads to better

01:43accuracy. I believe in running an organization with a multidisciplinary

01:51look, we have to deliver great service. We have to run a pristine control

01:57environment so we do it right the first time. Efficiency will be the output of

02:05those two actions. We must put the beneficiaries first. I think management,

02:13this is according to all the public data I've looked at, this has been one of the

02:19less satisfied workforces for many years within all the government agencies and I

02:28think you know when you're winning you feel good and when you're losing you

02:33feel bad and my objective is to come in and motivate the workforce we have

02:4050,000 plus to be able to get our job right the first time for the American

02:47public. I think you know we have talent all over like any organization and we

02:55have very dedicated people in there but I think there's been a lot of leadership

02:59change. If you look at the history of commissioners, they've turned over quite

03:04a bit. I'm committed to a six-year term and to do a great job for the American

03:09public and to be here for you. Thank you. Thank you very much and I'm sure you've

03:15noticed the daily news on President Trump's effort with the Department of

03:19Government Efficiency or DOGE. You've heard about it today already and I bet

03:23you'll hear about it some more. The Social Security Administration is one of

03:27the agencies that has received a lot of media attention regarding these efforts.

03:32For the record, are you currently at the Social Security Administration? I'm not

03:38at the Social Security Administration, sir. Have you been consulted by the

03:42Acting Commissioner about DOGE's work at the Social Security Administration? I

03:46have not had a conversation about anything with this Social Security

03:51Commissioner who's acting right now. Thank you. And during a February 5

03:56interview on CNBC, you voiced your support for DOGE's work generally. Is

04:01there anything further you would like to add with respect to those comments? I've

04:06run a quality control and efficiency program in companies my whole life.

04:12You know, I've always been overseen by the OCC and the Fed and control really

04:18matters a lot. So I've always considered myself an efficiency expert but also a

04:24quality expert. If you look at my rankings when I took over the mortgage

04:28company in J.D. Power, we went from the lowest performing to the highest

04:32performing. So my comments really mean that I'm happy to work with anybody who

04:37can help us and I believe that I'm fundamentally about efficiency myself.

‘I’m Fundamentally About Efficiency Myself’: SSA Chief Nom Explains Remarks In Support Of DOGE

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