Larson Opening Statement at Social Security and Worker and Family Support Joint Subcommittee Hearing with Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Good to see you again, Commissioner.  

Let’s cut to the chase.  

Your attendance today stands in stark contrast to our attempts to get Elon Musk and ‘DOGE’ in front of us.  

This hearing today is paramount because we have 24-year-olds at ‘DOGE’ going through people's records at Social Security. 

When people hear about that, they are outraged about it.  

We have a bill to stop that. 

We hope we will get a hearing and a vote on it.  

When we get to questions, I will ask you if you support that.  

It seems blatantly obvious to me that the intent here is to privatize Social Security. 

I’ve read through your testimony, and I think that as someone who comes from a family of 15 — I believe you have a heart and compassion and understand what people need.  

But your testimony is all about changes you want to make that may not actually meet seniors’ needs. 

This is the first hearing on this, and we need a multitude of them because issues like data privacy and artificial intelligence are vitally important to the American people, especially when it comes to the safety and security of their hard-earned benefits and need to be addressed. 

This is the nation’s number one insurance and anti-poverty program nothing in your testimony talks about enhancing benefits.

While technology is important, people don’t need to talk to an algorithm. They need to be able to talk to a human being. 

Before our very eyes, the Trump Administration, ‘DOGE,’ and Republicans are trying to rip hard-earned benefits out of the hands of Americans. 

Regional offices are being closed, customer service is being slashed, and 7,000 employees are being cut. 

How does this meet people “where they are” like you promised me? 

How are we going to address Social Security and ensure the more than 70 million Americans who rely on it continue to receive their hard-earned benefits? 

We have 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security. 

Five million of our seniors live in poverty. 

People have died waiting for their Social Security disability benefits. 

It has never been more urgent to act to protect America’s number 1 anti-poverty program for seniors and for children and enhance benefits after more than 50 years of inaction.

Democrats have a plan to enhance benefits, end the disability waiting period, and eliminate the taxation of Social Security by finally making the wealthy pay their fair share. 

Republicans are dismantling Social Security from within, so they can give the private sector access to the $2.7 trillion in the trust funds that President Trump and Elon Musk have had their eyes on. 

And as of this week, customer service metrics, including data on wait times over the phone, were taken off the Social Security website. 

Seniors need to talk to a human being on the phone. 

They don’t want to try to navigate an online portal. 

I guess this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. 

When he took office, President Trump directed Elon Musk’s ‘DOGE’ to find $2 trillion in cuts. 

Hmmm, now what program has $2.7 trillion in its trust funds? 

That’s right. Social Security. 

Mr. Musk even said that Social Security was one of ‘DOGE’s key targets to cut – calling it the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time on Joe Rogan’s podcast. 

Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. It is an earned benefit that Americans pay into with each and every paycheck. 

Elon Musk may be gone from this Administration, but ‘DOGE’ is still alive and well.  

Mr. Bisignano, you declared that you too were a ‘DOGE’ person. 

Even after they spread false claims that 150-year-olds were receiving benefits, which has been disproven time and time again – you said that the work they’ve done was “100% accurate.” 

These cuts are undermining your promise to support beneficiaries and setting the stage for the Republicans’ true plan – privatization. 

We have seen Republicans go down this road before, and now they are after it again. 

To make matters worse, 24-year-olds at ‘DOGE’ now have access to Americans’ most sensitive information at the Social Security Administration - after the Supreme Court overturned two lower court decisions. 

No one wants their privacy exposed. 

And there is no reason for ‘DOGE’ to have access to the medical records, income histories, and Social Security numbers of millions of Americans. 

As the Social Security Commissioner, I would hope that you’d fight to protect Americans’ data privacy, but your agency called the Supreme Court’s decision a “win for the American taxpayer.” 

That is why it is now up to Congress to protect Americans’ privacy and pass the legislation I have introduced with over 120 of my Democratic colleagues, including Ranking Member Neal and every Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. 

Today, you will face many difficult questions because all of us have heard from concerned constituents. 

Americans want their benefits not just protected but enhanced, and they don’t want their private information shared with unapproved, unvetted, and unqualified 24-year-olds.  

It is my sincere hope that we will continue to have more hearings like this and that you will at least be honest with us and provide Americans with the answers they deserve. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.