Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said “eliminating fraud, waste and abuse” is the “first solution” to protecting the retirement program, as concerns persist over its long-term finances.
Bisignano made the remarks Tuesday during an appearance on Fox Business’ “Big Money in the Morning,” where he discussed efforts to improve agency records and modernize operations.
Bisignano on Operations and Records
Referring to President Donald Trump, Bisignano said, “The president has been very, very clear. Protect and preserve. The first steps of protecting was to get the operations to work right. Any good business fixes its technology, fixes its operations, fixes its books and records, and that’s what’s been going on.”
He described artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for improving service, processing and recordkeeping, and stressed coordination among government agencies.
Clarifying a roughly 15% figure discussed in the interview, Bisignano said the cleanup involves the agency’s entire database. “15% is the amount of records that were corrected. We’ve gone through 100%,” he said.
Records Cleanup and Funding Outlook
A week earlier, the agency said it had corrected nearly 15% of all active Social Security Numbers, including 17 million missing dates of death added and about 25 million records with missing citizenship information updated. It said it was correcting 8.5 million more records with inaccurate citizenship status. Bisignano said at the time, “The Social Security Number database is our country’s books and records.”
On the funding outlook, the program’s main trust fund is projected to deplete its reserves in 2032, when continuing income would cover 78% of scheduled benefits, a potential 22% reduction if lawmakers do not act.
Earlier this month on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bisignano was asked about raising the retirement age and other possible reforms. He did not endorse a specific change, saying instead that decisions would ultimately involve the White House, Congress and the program’s trustees.
Also earlier this month, and separately from Bisignano’s remarks, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in an X post that Social Security “faces a 28.5% benefit cut in just six years if Congress doesn’t act.” In an interview with host Janet Alvarez on The Business Briefing, Cassidy proposed a “pension investment fund,” separate from the Social Security Trust Fund, with $1.5 trillion put in over five years.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image via Shutterstock
Recent Comments