7 Questions for Trump’s Social Security Commissioner Nominee

President Trump’s pick to head the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, will have his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning.  The financial services CEO and Republican donor has been waiting in the wings since the Trump administration took over in January. In the meantime, Elon Musk and his DOGE squad have invaded the Social Security Administration (SSA) and wreaked considerable havoc on the agency --- alarming seniors’ advocates and a sizeable swath of the general public. In the absence of a confirmed commissioner, Acting SSA chief Leland Dudek has abetted Musk and DOGE every step of the way, allowing them access to the sensitive personal data of 73 million Americans for no justifiable reason, radically reducing the workforce that serves Social Security customers, closing field offices, and slashing services on the agency’s 1-800 phone number that seniors rely on.  He claims to be “following orders” from President Trump and Elon Musk. Dudek threatened to "shut down" SSA after a federal judge ruled against the agency's decision to grant Musk and DOGE access to beneficiaries' private data. Bisignano has no appreciable experience in public service in general --- or Social Security in particular --- but Trump wants him to run one of the federal agencies that most closely touches Americans' lives every day.  We don't know much about what Bisignano thinks of Social Security or what he will do to the program if confirmed.
2025-03-24T17:55:00-04:00March 24th, 2025|Categories: Bernie Sanders, President Trump, Social Security, Social Security Administration (SSA)|

Trump “Buyout” Offer May Devastate Social Security Administration

Voters may have sent various messages to Washington last November, but they certainly did not include a call to gut the federal workforce that serves American seniors and people with disabilities. Yet, that’s exactly what the Trump administration --- abetted by billionaire advisor ex-officio Elon Musk --- is attempting to do. On Tuesday, federal workers --- including employees of the Social Security Administration --- received an email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), offering “deferred resignation.” The email said employees could resign now and continue to receive pay and benefits through September --- an offer of dubious legality that was immediately criticized by Democratic lawmakers and labor unions representing federal workers.

Special Counsel in Biden Classified Documents Case Plays Amateur Gerontologist

By declining to charge President Biden but gratuitously impugning the president’s cognitive abilities, special counsel Robert Hur overstepped his bounds and fed into a blatantly ageist narrative. Hur pulled a “James Comey” yesterday in announcing that the president would not be charged with a crime but criticizing Biden’s handling of classified documents, just as Comey did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. (And we know how that turned out.)  But, unlike Comey, Hur also felt the need to disparage the President’s age and his memory, referring to Biden as "a well-meaning, elderly man."
2024-02-09T17:11:22-04:00February 9th, 2024|Categories: ageism, Election 2024, President Biden, President Trump|

Seniors’ Programs in Jeopardy if Republicans Retake Majority

Any older voters inclined to put the GOP back in control of the House and Senate in November’s elections might well remember what the Republicans have long wanted to do to their earned benefits.  As if to provide that very reminder, Senator Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a plan last week that would terminate Social Security and Medicare.
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