President Donald Trump holds up a signed proclamation in the Oval Office honoring the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act as Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano looks on, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Bisignano took head-on the accusation that forced staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration will significantly impact beneficiaries and program efficiency. He argued not only that the reports of staff cuts were misleading, but also that the idea of program efficiency being correlated to the ratio of beneficiaries to staff members is a false narrative being pushed by the media and Trump's critics.
"Somebody would say, 'In 1960 we had one employee for every 480 beneficiaries, and today it's one for every 1,500. They can't have enough staff.' Well, we weren't doing 1.5 million transactions on the web then. We didn't have phone technology then, and, by the way, we delivered everybody a check, and now less than 1% of people are getting checks. So it's a completely different world."
Thursday marks the 90th anniversary of Social Security, and over the decades the program has shifted from being one that primarily processed and delivered checks to beneficiaries, but now, as Bisignano points out, the nation's social security program does a lot more than just that. As a result, social security efficiency is about more than just manpower, Bisignano points out.
TOP DEM DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY, CLAIMING WAIT TIMES SPIKED DURING DOGE CUTS
"What people don't ever say is we are the largest input to retirement planning for America," Bisignano said. "We are making it better every hour by enabling people to operate on the web, on the phones, through technology."
The Trump administration is touting its improvements to Social Security on the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act of 1935, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Getty Images)
"You got a president that's made a commitment to protect and preserve, and a commissioner fixing the foundation of [social security] that was destroyed over the past four years by sending people home, by taking out workforce management tools, and now you have a commissioner getting it back on track," Bisignano said. "And by the way, the Social Security Administration, for the three years before May … has hit the lowest morale rating of any agency in government. That will change right now."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Bisignano suggested that the reason for all the criticism aimed at the administration's approach to Social Security, was strategically being pushed because it is a program that every American cares about.
"When people don't really have anything to offer, they like to offer that Social Security is going to not work, because they know every American cares about Social Security," the commissioner surmised.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/social-security-stronger-under-trump-critics-pushing-false-narrative-commissioner-says