On Tuesday, a Senate hearing exposed how Trump’s pick to lead Social Security — and Elon Musk’s influence — have gutted the vital program millions depend on.
Democrats tore into Frank Bisignano, Trump’s nominee to run the Social Security Administration (SSA), as new evidence showed the program is collapsing under Trump-era cuts and Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
WHY IT MATTERS: Social Security supports 73 million Americans — and Trump and Musk are deliberately making it harder to access, pushing the program toward failure without technically cutting it.
THE DETAILS: A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities outlines the four ways Trump and Musk are destroying Social Security from the inside out:
- Smearing Social Security to justify privatization: Trump and Musk have pushed lies about fraud to stoke public distrust, laying the groundwork to dismantle or privatize the program.
- Slashing staff and phone access: DOGE-led staffing cuts and new restrictions on call services have created a customer service disaster, forcing seniors and disabled people into multi-hour hold times and long-distance drives to the few offices still open.
- Gutting technical expertise: DOGE has driven out critical SSA personnel, with one former top official warning that Social Security may “collapse from the inside.”
- Giving political hacks access to sensitive data: Musk’s DOGE appointees now have unprecedented access to private SSA data — raising serious privacy and security concerns.
THE HEARING: Bisignano tried to distance himself from DOGE, even though he described himself in an interview on CNBC as “fundamentally a DOGE person.”
- Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said there’s “no reason to trust” Bisignano won’t help Trump and Musk sabotage the program.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) showed how delays caused by DOGE’s sabotage result in retirees missing thousands in benefits — money they’ll never recover.
WHAT’S NEXT: Senators must vote on Bisignano’s nomination but that vote has not yet been scheduled. Progressives warn that confirming him would cement Musk and Trump’s campaign to defund and destroy Social Security without saying the words.