‘Do You Think Social Security Is A Ponzi Scheme?’: Maria Cantwell Rapid-Fire Questions SSA Chief Nom

2 days ago

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned Frank Bisignano, President Trump's nominee to be Commissioner of Social Security Administration, about his aims with the agency.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to follow on my

00:05two colleagues in their questions about the operation and you know it's it's

00:12clear you know I think a lot of the American people they're very bothered by

00:15billionaires taking a shot at their social security and so I just think it

00:21sounds out of touch. Secretary Lutnick saying stop payment to find fraud and

00:27then Mr. Musk who everybody is questioning what his role is anyway the

00:34big one to eliminate. That's what he was saying on Social Security. So those are

00:40enough, right? Those are enough. But now we have these patterns. Let's go after the

00:45staffing. Let's go after the office closures. A new requirement to re-register.

00:53The American people are scared to death that you're really going after Social

00:59Security. So instead of hiring people like my colleagues are suggesting to

01:05improve the service, basically you're allowing Elon Musk's little doge team to

01:11go in there and to find fraud. So did they find a dead person in Seattle that

01:17was getting Social Security? Yes. Here's the here's the article from the

01:22Seattle newspaper by Danny Wesny. Oh wait a minute, he wasn't dead. So not

01:29only did my constituent not get his payment in February, they went to his

01:35bank account and tried to claw back previous payments from January and

01:39December. And then what did he do? He had to go down to the building in Seattle,

01:45the federal building, that you're trying to close and stand in line for hours and

01:49hours and hours to try to say he wasn't dead and to stop taking his money. He

01:56made an in-person appointment but it was pushed back 11 days. 11 days. Ultimately

02:03had to wait in line, as I said, which he said, quote, they are so understaffed down

02:09there they think their office is about to be closed down and they don't know

02:13where they're going to go. It feels like the agency is being gutted, end quote. So

02:19I have to ask you, why are we allowing these people to go in and cause havoc to

02:26our constituents instead of hiring people to do the job? So I have several

02:32questions so you can just answer yes or no. Do you think Social Security is a

02:35Ponzi scheme? I've said I believe it's a promise to pay and it's been here for 89

02:42years. It's been one of the truest things we have for our age and our

02:50disabled and my objective is to continue it and do a great job for the American

02:56public. Do you think Social Security should be privatized? I've never heard a

03:02word of it and I've never thought about it. So do you think it should be

03:05privatized, yes or no? I don't believe anybody's thinking about that. Do you

03:11think Social Security aid should be raised? I'm sorry? The president, other

03:15people have suggested in the administration, I think including the

03:17president in a prior thing, that Social Security should be raised. You know the

03:22Commissioner's job is to ensure that the agency operates correctly. I want to

03:29provide all the information required by Senate and by anyone else in order to

03:37make the decisions, but I don't believe I'm a decision-maker on any of these

03:41items, but I'm happy to provide every piece of information required. With this kind of

03:47habit going on, my constituents want and deserve answers. Will you commit to

03:52posing any cuts to Social Security benefits? We have no objective. I have no

03:57objective and I've been told by the president to ensure that we preserve and

04:03protect Social Security. Okay, do you believe that you should be hiring enough

04:09staff to service people and stop the Doge people from cutting my constituents

04:13off of their well-deserved check? Now Mr. Lutnick said he doesn't care, it's okay

04:19if they miss a payment. I don't know who his mother-in-law is or what kind of

04:22support she's got, but I know my constituent needed that check and he

04:26wasn't dead. And so the notion that he has to go through these extraordinary

04:31efforts and you guys are encouraging it. So I want to know when it's going to

04:35stop, when they're going to stop doing that and instead fund, as my Republican

04:40colleague said, the services of Social Security so that these poor seniors can

04:44get their checks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

‘Do You Think Social Security Is A Ponzi Scheme?’: Maria Cantwell Rapid-Fire Questions SSA Chief Nom

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