Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Wednesday touted shorter wait times on the agency’s customer service phone line, which has come under fire in recent months for long delays.
In written testimony to the House and Ways Means Committee, Bisignano reported “the best overall performance” in the Social Security Administration’s history, including an 89% reduction in average wait times on the agency’s hotline number, a 30% decrease in field office wait times, a 32% reduction in disability claims backlog, and decreases in disability hearing wait times by nearly 80 days compared to 2024.
Bisignano credited the improvements to recent digital service changes, such as by offering 24/7 access to online mySocialSecurity accounts and by launching a modern telephone platform to more than 1,200 field offices. The agency also expanded its self-service options in field offices, while helped reduce wait times, and addressed pending workloads in its processing centers, Bisignano said.
In the future, the agency will center of three areas that focus on “Being the Premier Service Provider; Preserving and Protecting Public Resources; and Enhancing the Employee Experience and Productivity.” Bisignano said he expects the agency to use advanced technology, business processes, and resource management in the future to deliver services and complete targets, like increasing the number of Social Security accounts, reducing wait times on the agency’s toll number, and reducing the average processing time for initial disability claim decisions.
“While we have made notable progress to improve customer service in the past year, we have more work to do,” Bisignano wrote.
Lawmakers remain skeptical
Despite the claimed improvements, lawmakers pressed Bisignano during the hearing on long wait times and its legitimacy.
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) noted that U.S. adults continue to experience delays when reaching the Social Security Administration’s hotline. Many complain about the quality of service they receive as the agency continues to grapple with staff shortages.
In responding to Rep. Moore’s claims, Bisignano said he is determined in “having the right amount of staff in the right places.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) pressed Bisignano on the nuances of call wait times. She asked him if the reported data enhancements include callers who opt to receive a callback instead of waiting. Electing for this choice could mean callers are counted as experiencing zero-minute wait times, instead of the nearly two hours these callers usually wait when selecting the callback option, she said citing data from the Social Security Officer of the Inspector General.
Bisignano confirmed that callers who choose the callback option are counted as zero-minute waits and challenged OIG’s findings to claim that callbacks are generally under 30 minutes.
SSA faces turmoil as beneficiaries experience service delays
The Social Security Administration has been met with much contention over the past year, as data shows the agency is experiencing its largest staff shortage since 1967.
Findings from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show that over the course of 15 months, the current administration has driven out over 8,000 agency workers—triggering the SSA’s largest one-year staffing reduction on record.
The data claims that reductions had a severe impact on field offices and operations in every U.S. state, and dismantled customer service experiences. According to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), over 40 states and the District of Columbia saw cuts greater than 10% between January 2025 and April 2026.
These losses included a drop of over 3,800 customer service staff who assisted visitors to SSA field offices and callers to SSA’s national telephone number.