WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats claim President Donald Trump’s administration wants to dismantle Social Security. Republicans including Wyoming’s congressional delegation say otherwise, and the war of words ramped up Tuesday in a Senate committee.
The latest salvos were fired as the Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing for Frank Bisignano, a longtime banking executive whom Trump has nominated to lead the Social Security Administration as commissioner.
“I think you’re the right person for the job,” U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming told Bisignano, who is currently the chairman and CEO of Fiserv, a Milwaukee-based financial services technology company.
“Social Security is critical to the people of our state,” said Finance Committee member Barrasso. “I think it’s critical the program remains strong.”
Barrasso said some media reports about Social Security “are just plain wrong,” including an Associated Press story saying the Rock Springs field office is on a list to be cut.
Barrasso said only a hearing room that is “hardly ever used” in the office was slated for closure — not the office itself.
“There’s no truth to that whatsoever,” Barrasso said.
Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, gave no indication Tuesday when the panel would vote on whether to send the nomination of Bisignano to the full Senate.
After Tuesday's hearing, Barrasso issued a statement to Cowboy State Daily saying he appreciates the Trump administration’s “focus on finding efficiencies, reducing costs and focusing on the critical mission" of the SSA.
“Social Security is a valuable program for seniors in Wyoming," he said. "It is important to modernize, improve customer service, and address backlogs. People need to receive information and their benefits in a timely manner. I am committed to ensuring the Social Security program remains strong and keeps its promises to current beneficiaries and future generations.”
Meanwhile, In Wyoming …
The Associated Press report about the Rock Springs field office took locals by surprise.
“The idea that people could lose their benefits if they either couldn't navigate the online portal or go in person to be verified was very concerning for folks,” Rock Springs Mayor Max Mickelson told Cowboy State Daily.
“I immediately reached out to the agency and was able to confirm that the news was inaccurate,” he said.
Uncertainty over Social Security was a common theme during a series of Wyoming town hall meetings U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman held over the past couple of weeks. At each, she emphasized that the agency is not in jeopardy, and neither are people’s benefits.
The scare came on the heels of SSA’s March 18 announcement that it was increasing identity proof requirements and would no longer allow beneficiaries to confirm their status over the phone, which is expected to multiply in number of in person field office appointments beginning March 31.
The misinformation has caused a lot of anxiety and undue stress for older folks in Wyoming, said Tom Lacock, associate state director for AARP Wyoming.
“We’re hearing from thousands of older Americans confused and concerned about their Social Security payments, the status of Social Security field offices, and long wait times on the phone to get their questions answered,” Lacock told Cowboy State Daily via email.
The SSA Rock Springs field office has three employees, and their workload varies significantly from one day to the next, Mickelson said.
“I've been in there when you walk in, and you go right back because there's nobody there. And I've been in there and waited two hours to see someone because there's such a line of people,” he said, explaining how the field office is vital to his community. We've got a lot of folks on Social Security who are elderly or disabled and rely on their Social Security for not just income but also as a qualifier for Medicaid.
“So, if they were to lose that, they would lose their health insurance as well, and many of them if they had to travel to Casper for an in-0person verification, they would have no way of getting there.”
Rock Springs avoids the fate of 65 communities elsewhere in the U.S. whose local field offices have shuttered since 2016.
The Delegation
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, refuted Democrats’ claims that retirees’ payment checks are headed for the GOP’s chopping block.
“President Trump has repeatedly stated that Social Security will only be strengthened during his administration,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I agree with him and will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that SSA is fiscally solvent for future generations.”
Lummis, who is not a member of the Finance Committee, added that she looks forward to remedying “the understaffing that continues to afflict the Social Security offices across Wyoming.”
“The SSA needs real reforms to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and to ensure that rural communities receive the service and respect we deserve,” Lummis said.
Hageman told Cowboy State Daily she sponsored legislation in the last Congress aimed at ensuring proper benefit payments.
She said Social Security reductions are not contemplated in the budget resolution that the House passed last month with the help of her vote.
Hageman offered a message to constituents who fear the checks they receive are now in jeopardy: “Your entitlements remain legally protected and secure under President Trump and the Republicans in Congress.”
After Tuesday's hearing, Barrasso issued a statement to Cowboy State Daily saying he appreciates the Trump administration’s “focus on finding efficiencies, reducing costs and focusing on the critical mission" of the SSA.
“Social Security is a valuable program for seniors in Wyoming," he said. "It is important to modernize, improve customer service, and address backlogs. People need to receive information and their benefits in a timely manner. I am committed to ensuring the Social Security program remains strong and keeps its promises to current beneficiaries and future generations.”
Musk, DOGE
Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing served as a platform for Democrats to claim that Social Security — contrary to Republicans' assertions -- is under attack in more ways than one by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.
“Keep Musk the hell out of Social Security. Please. Totally,” U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, told Bisignano during the approximately two-and-half-hour hearing.
Maryland federal judge Ellen Hollander on March 20 issued a temporary restraining order against Musk’s team from accessing personally identifiable Social Security information.
Leland Dudek, the acting SSA commissioner, said the next day that Hollander’s order meant he must shutter the agency that issues monthly checks to nearly 69 million Americans, mostly retirees.
After the judge said her order only applies to Musk and DOGE, Dudek took back his threat.
White House
The White House issued a statement March 11 stating: “The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again).”
Trump has been pushing efficiency measures across the whole federal government. As part of those efforts, he has vowed to get rid of waste and fraud in entitlement programs such as Social Security.
But Democrats say there is more to it. They have pounced on comments by Dudek, Musk and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — along with staffing cuts, office closures and policy changes that were all formally announced by the SSA within the past several weeks.
“This is a wholesale effort to dismantle Social Security from the inside out,” Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, said at Tuesday’s Finance Committee hearing.
“You can call this rank incompetence, but to me, it honestly looks like sabotage,” she said.
Other Democrats echoed those remarks. Some also said Trump’s goal is to privatize the program — though his administration has issued no such proposal.
“I’ve never thought about privatizing,” Bisignano told the committee.
Big Money
Bisignano, if confirmed by the full Senate, would oversee a program that pays out about $1.6 trillion per year to nearly 69 million Americans.
Some 52 million retirees receive about $1.2 trillion annually — more than $100 billion per month, according to the SSA website.
The rest of the payout total goes to retirees’ dependents; disabled workers and their dependents; and eligible survivors of beneficiaries, which may include spouses and children.
The program, funded through payroll taxes, was established by law in 1935.
Fiserv, the Fortune 500 company helmed by Bisignano, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It describes itself as “a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology.”
Bisignano has more than 30 years’ experience in banking, including leadership roles at First Data, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup.
He is a New York City native, born in Brooklyn, and a 1979 graduate of Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, according to the school’s website.
SSA commissioners serve six-year terms. The term that Bisignano would fill expires in January 2031.
Zakary Sonntag contributed to this report.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
