The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 on Wednesday evening to move forward the nomination of Frank Bisignano as Social Security commissioner, despite strong opposition from Senate Democrats.
Following news of his advancement, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) lambasted Republican leaders for advancing the vote without investigating an anonymous whistleblower letter that accused Bisignano of pushing the Social Security Administration to onboard DOGE officials and lying to committee members. Sen. Wyden had called for a delay on the vote until after a committee investigation.
“By moving ahead with this vote, the Republican majority is sending a simple message to whistleblowers: put your whistles away,” Wyden, also a Senate Finance Committee ranking member, said in a statement. “This level of disregard for whistleblower protection is unprecedented in the modern era of the Finance Committee … Social Security is too important to Americans to stand by and do nothing while the Senate’s advice and consent role is thrown in the dust bin.”
Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo (R-IA), who voted to advance Bisignano, said in statements prior to the vote that his staff is “open to meeting with the author of the letter and keeping the individual anonymous,” though he declined to delay the voting process.
“However, any information provided by the individual must be thoroughly vetted, including allowing the nominee the opportunity to respond. A process for vetting the allegations has not been agreed to,” Sen. Crapo continued in his statement.
Sen. Wyden also questioned whether Bisignano was an ideal fit to lead one of the largest U.S. agencies, noting that he had “made a career of swooping in, firing workers, selling off pieces of the company and merging with a competitor,” which “may be good for shareholders, but they hurt American families,” he said during the confirmation hearing.
Bisignano, who is the current CEO of fintech and payments company Fiserv, has a long history of working in the financial services industry. He previously led payments processor First Data Corp. and before that, was co-chief operating officer and chief executive officer for mortgage banking at JPMorgan Chase.
He also served roles at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and the now-defunct Shearson Lehman Brothers.
During his confirmation, Bisignano stated his intentions to diminish average customer service wait times from 20 minutes to less than one minute. He also rejected the idea of privatizing Social Security if confirmed.
“I’ve never thought about privatizing. It’s not a word that anybody’s ever talked to me about,” Bisignano said during his testimony. “And I don’t see this institution as anything other than a government agency that gets run to the benefit of the American public.”
SEE ALSO:
Trump Nominates Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to Head Social Security
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks DOGE Access to Social Security Info
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with nearly a decade of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado.
