Wyden, Warren Press Social Security Commissioner on Broken Staffing Promises
After gutting the Social Security workforce, Bisignano drained understaffed field offices to hastily address DOGE-created phone line problems.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., today demanded the Social Security Administration answer reports that the agency is reassigning thousands of field office employees to staff a “pilot” phone program aimed at reducing hours-long phone wait times.
Wyden and Warren wrote Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano that after gutting the agency’s workforce, these latest moves will further drain field offices, creating even longer wait times for Americans relying on Social Security benefits.
“This appears to be yet another indicator that you have broken the promise you made under oath to adequately staff the SSA — and just the latest of the Trump Administration’s DOGE-influenced actions that make it harder for Americans to access the Social Security benefits they have earned,” Wyden and Warren wrote.
Social Security has faced a customer service crisis since DOGE slashed its workforce, closed offices, tampered with the phone service and website, and implemented burdensome new requirements that have degraded the Social Security program. The senators have previously written to the agency seeking answers on the various ways DOGE has taken a wrecking ball to Social Security — and how its efforts are blocking people from accessing their earned Social Security benefits.
The Social Security Administration is trying to cover up its devastating workforce cuts by reassigning frontline customer service representatives who directly assist recipients in person. Reassigning frontline customer service representatives will increase staff answering calls to the 1-800 number. This will leave field offices short-staffed, and force backroom employees typically responsible for processing claims to take on in-person customer service tasks.
“In a best-case scenario, your efforts to address the 1-800 wait times — even if they are successful — will almost certainly result in a terrible tradeoff, with longer wait times for in-person services, ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul,’” wrote the senators.
The senators are requesting additional information about the degradation of Social Security services under Trump, its decision to reassign employees in the wake of these problems, and what steps the agency will take to reduce the staffing shortages and improve service.
The full text of the letter is here.
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