Cantwell to Vote NO on Advancing Social Security Commissioner Nominee

Cantwell: “Social Security is no place to slash and burn. It's a contract with the American people. It should be kept.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, spoke against advancing Frank Bisignano – President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration – at a Senate Finance Committee Executive Session. The committee will hold their vote to advance Bisignano’s nomination soon.  

“We have an administration represented with DOGE, who think that they're going to come in here and find billions of dollars that they can take out of Social Security and give to tax breaks to billionaires and corporations,” said Sen. Cantwell. “He’s not being hired because he's an expert on Social Security. He's being hired because somebody thinks he's going to come in here and basically get billions of dollars out of Social Security to give to a tax bill.”

At today’s Senate Finance Committee Executive Session, Sen. Cantwell explained that her constituent, who was incorrectly presumed dead shortly after Elon Musk installed his DOGE team at the Social Security Administration, has been forced to “wage war” against the SSA to correct this mistake:

“Social Security wrongfully declared one of my constituents, Ned Johnson, dead. His monthly benefit was withheld. Thousands of dollars in previously paid benefits were clawed back out of his joint account he shares with his wife. The erroneous determination set off a bureaucratic nightmare, and ultimately, he had to wait in line at the Federal Building.”

Sen. Cantwell continued, “Why does he have to wage a war just to get his Social Security benefits? We cannot afford more of this thinking in this position. We need to make sure that we know the answers, and I do not believe that we have them today.”

Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks today with Bisignano are available HERE, audio HERE, and a full transcript is HERE.

“The taxpayers that pay into the program do so throughout their lives, and they want the government to live up to that obligation and take care of them,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Overwhelmingly, Americans support Social Security. A recent AARP poll found that 85% of Americans want Social Security benefits maintained or increased. And that shows that that's everybody, that's not just Democrats or people who remember how Social Security got created. This is everybody. This is Democrats, Republicans, independents.”

In the State of Washington, 1.4 million people receive Social Security. Below is a breakdown of Social Security recipients by county:

*County data sourced from SSA.gov*

Sen. Cantwell has been a long-standing champion for Social Security and protecting Washingtonian’s benefits. In December 2024, Sen. Cantwell co-sponsored and voted to pass the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed two Social Security policies that unfairly limited payments for people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security, as well as their surviving spouses and widow(ers). In 2018, Sen. Cantwell introduced and voted to pass the Tribal Social Security Fairness Act to correct a long-standing inequity in the Social Security Act that prevents elected tribal leaders from contributing to and accessing Social Security benefits.

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