Wall Street veteran Frank Bisignano, whom President Trump has picked to head the Social Security Administration, told senators Tuesday that there are not any secret plans to privatize government-managed retirement benefits, despite the claims of Democrats who allege the Trump administration is plotting to privatize the agency.
“I think, ‘I’m not going to attack Social Security’ is a lie. So that’s step one, lie about it. Step two is discredit Social Security. Trump and [Elon] Musk have been lying loudly about imaginary Social Security fraud, which seems to me to be an effort to lower public confidence in the program,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
“I think the motive is to discredit the system. Then you send in your Musk characters and you start them messing around in the operations of Social Security to damage it,” he said.
He noted that The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Social Security Administration has experienced several website crashes this month, preventing retirees an disabled Americans from accessing their online accounts.
Whitehouse argued that Trump and Musk want to create chaos at the agency to serve as a pretext for private-sector actors to take it over.
“Will you participate in or defend against that scheme?” Whitehouse asked.
Bisignano responded: “My job as a commissioner is to ensure that every beneficiary receives their payments on time, that disability claims are processed in the manner they should be.”
Asked about the possibility of privatizing Social Security, bringing in private equity and tech people and giving Musk and his team a role at Social Security, Bisignano said: “I’ve never thought about privatizing. It’s not a word that anybody’s ever talked to me about.”
“I don’t see this institution as anything other than a government agency that gets run for the benefit of the American public,” he added.
