[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2769-S2770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
    UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE OFFICE OF THE 
COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY RELATING 
   TO THE REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS UNDER THE BANK MERGER ACT--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.


                     Nomination of Frank Bisignano

  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on Frank 
Bisignano to serve as Commissioner of the Social Security 
Administration. I came to the floor last week to lay out my concerns 
surrounding the confirmation process for Mr. Bisignano.
  This nominee lied multiple times to myself, my staff, and members of 
the Finance Committee. He directly contradicted a confidential 
whistleblower report that I received detailing his close ties to DOGE 
and its ongoing operations at Social Security. When pressed on it 
during his confirmation hearing, he lied to me and the committee saying 
he had no direct involvement with DOGE.
  He has made a very lucrative career out of being the guy who swoops 
into failing businesses, guts them from the inside out, and moves on to 
the next target. This is not someone nominated because of his plans to 
bolster customer service and make it easier for seniors to access their 
hard-earned benefits or strengthen the Social Security guarantee.
  He was nominated because Donald Trump hopes he will apply the same 
approach to Social Security and upend life for millions of seniors and 
people with disabilities as we know it. The administration is already 
weaponizing Social Security to go after immigrants and other groups it 
wants to target, all under the guise of rooting out fraud and abuse.
  Social Security is a lifeline to millions of seniors and Americans 
with disabilities. A missed Social Security check can be the difference 
between seniors being able to afford rent, groceries, or medications. 
But Donald Trump and the inner circle are so out of touch, they think 
that most Americans won't even notice if they start missing their 
checks.
  In March, Commerce Secretary and billionaire Howard Lutnick mused 
that his mother-in-law wouldn't complain if she missed a Social 
Security check. I wouldn't expect the mother-in-law of a billionaire to 
complain either, but for the rest of America's seniors who aren't lucky 
enough to have a billionaire son-in-law, a missed Social Security check 
will be the difference between being able to put food on the table, 
keep a roof over their head, and get their prescriptions at the 
pharmacy.
  Mr. Lutnick went on to say that anybody who did complain about a 
missed Social Security payment is a fraudster. That is some top-tier 
gaslighting if I have ever heard it. Lay the groundwork for Americans 
to miss their checks, and when they do, immediately write off anybody 
that complains as a fraud. The Trump administration is doing its best 
to get people used to the idea of seniors missing checks.
  Their strategy here is death by a thousand cuts. First, they cut off 
customer service. Then they close field offices and lay off staff. Then 
they farm out customer service operations to private equity firms that 
employ AI chatbots in foreign call centers in an effort to plunge 
America's elderly into a maze of redtape designed to keep them from 
getting what are earned benefits. It is also a pathway to 
privatization.
  None of us have to look hard to see the damage private equity has 
brought to nearly every corner of industry and business. Take 
healthcare, for example. The firms are gobbling up medical practices 
and hospitals in hopes of turning a profit. They have turned the 
simplest task of scheduling a doctor's appointment into an Olympic 
sport, forcing patients to navigate phone trees or automated online 
systems that don't offer any real help.
  And if patients need to get lifesaving treatment, health insurers 
like UnitedHealth deploy AI programs to deny claims left and right. But 
this is exactly what Trump is hoping Mr. Bisignano is going to do: gut 
Social Security from the inside out. Then you can sell the parts off to 
the highest private equity bidder and make it harder for everybody to 
get their money. The

[[Page S2770]]

goal is to break the system so thoroughly that Americans buy in, and 
they can privatize the system entirely.
  Everything the Trump administration is doing is part of an agenda 
that is going to make families poorer, sicker, and less safe than ever 
before. It is not an exaggeration to say that the country is at a 
turning point. At no time during the history of Social Security have we 
come this close to the possibility of seniors and people with 
disabilities actually missing their Social Security checks.
  Social Security is money that Americans pay from each paycheck. So 
when seniors and people with disabilities start missing Social Security 
checks, that is DOGE and Elon Musk stealing your hard-earned money.
  By confirming Mr. Bisignano, the Senate will be signing a death 
sentence to Social Security as we know it today. Republicans will be 
responsible when your grandma misses her Social Security check and 
can't pay her month's rent.
  Republicans will be responsible when your aunt living in rural Oregon 
can't get the help she needs because the phone lines have been shut 
off, and her closest field office was shut down.
  Republicans will be responsible when an entire generation of seniors 
and disabled Americans are left unable to afford basic necessities.
  At a time when costs are rising, the Federal Government ought to be 
focused on cutting costs and helping families and seniors afford the 
cost of living.
  Instead, it sure looks to me like Republicans are poised to pass 
another bailout for billionaires and corporations while simultaneously 
working to dismantle the Federal programs and resources that Americans 
rely on. That is the Republican agenda in a nutshell, and every single 
Member of this body that votes to confirm this nominee is going to own 
the consequences.
  Mr. Bisignano is unfit to be the steward of Americans' hard-earned 
Social Security benefits. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote no on 
his nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. YOUNG. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the previous 
scheduled rollcall vote begin immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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