Seven Questions for Social Security Administration Commissioner Bisignano

Recommended Questions for SSA Commissioner Bisignano
Hearing of the House Ways & Means Committee
Subcommittees on Social Security and Work & Welfare
June 10, 2026

1. In 1994, Congress passed the Social Security Independence and Program Improvement Act. This bill established a bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB), with members who are appointed by Congress and the White House. The board consists of outside experts who make recommendations on improving both Social Security operations and programs. They advise not only the Administration and the Commissioner, but also Congress, and even help educate the public. In particular, they have traditionally played a key role in analyzing and debating key actuarial assumptions used in the Social Security Trustees Reports.
   
   For several years now, no presidential appointees have been confirmed to the SSAB, limiting its ability to serve Congress, the Administration, and the public. Can you describe your relationship with the SSAB? What have you done as Commissioner to support its efforts to help improve your Agency?
    
2. The Social Security Board of Trustees, on which you serve as the Commissioner of Social Security, typically includes two Public Trustees who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They can serve up to two terms of four years each, and the two public trustees must be members of different political parties. These public trustees serve an important check on the ex officio board members, who are all Administration appointees. These members can help improve transparency and foster more thorough debate about the actuarial assumptions behind the Trustees Reports. Since these positions have been vacant since 2015, can the data in the Trustees Report still be seen as reliable? In particular, can core assumptions like birth rate, death rate, and medical innovation predictions be trusted without public trustees in the room to question methodology? When will the Administration nominate public trustees for Senate confirmation?
    
3. For many years, SSA published clear productivity data online in its annual “Performance and Accountability Reports.” These reports provided productivity data points like “cost per retirement claim.” In recent years, however, these reports have provided very little performance data and mainly focused on output data. In other words, SSA has been using the Golden Arches (McDonald’s) model of data dissemination (i.e.: “Millions and Millions Served”). Under your leadership, it seems like SSA has been able to increase productivity via the use of technology and improved processes, without needing to focus as heavily on increased staffing. However, the productivity data currently provided makes it difficult at times to truly assess improvements in core productivity metrics over time.
   
   Would you be willing to work with Congress and the Social Security Advisory Board to compile a reliable set of historical SSA performance metrics so Congress can better understand how SSA uses its allocated funding?
    
4. Historically, the wait for applicants for disability benefits has been excruciatingly long, with many waiting years and years for an eligibility ruling. Many applicants die before receiving benefits. As Commissioner, you have placed much emphasis in improving the speed of disability determination, but more needs to be done. At other agencies with administrative law processes like SSA, the reconsideration step has remained an optional one for applicants. However, if an applicant decides to skip this step, their docket closes for new records. This helps limit last minute gaming by counsel prior to hearings, and helps ensure a speedy and fair review by an administrative law judge. However, at SSA, an applicant’s counsel can drop 1,000 pages of last minute medical records on the morning of a hearing, delaying rulings, wasting resources, and increasing the backlog. Would you consider changing reconsideration review to reduce the backlog?
    
5. In 2012, after years of complaints from the disability community and consistent concerns raised by both Congress and the courts, SSA started a project to update outdated occupational listings used in making disability determinations. The current version in use, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), was published by the Department of Labor in 1977 and partially revised in 1991. Back then, work tended to be more physical in nature (auto and other factory workers, for example). We live in a much different era now. Most workers are higher educated, work in service industries, and are better able to adjust to new work if the need arises. Americans are much more likely to work in an office than on a factory floor. Fourteen years and $300 million dollars later, SSA has successfully built an updated dataset to reflect the modern work world, called the Occupational Information System (OIS), at a cost to taxpayers of over $300 million.
   
   SSA had originally planned to start using the data, which was created using modern statistical standards and rigorous testing, in 2020. However, implementation of the new data has been delayed for six years, and through three separate presidential administrations. Continuing to use the outdated DOT, described as “junk data” by leading policy experts, is unfair for applicants and creates risks to SSA. When do you plan to finally implement this completed dataset in operations at the Agency?
    
6. Research studies, many of which were funded by SSA, have noted that the American public does not fully understand their benefits. A large minority of Americans have never logged into their “my Social Security” accounts, with lower income and less educated Americans much more likely to have never created an account. How does SSA plan to reach out to Americans to help ensure they understand their future benefits, learn about how to maximize their benefits through consistent work patterns, and build knowledge on what it takes to have a secure retirement?
    
7. It is generally understood that the Social Security Administration traditionally does not take the lead in policy debates on Social Security solvency. However, with the depletion date for the Social Security Trust Funds now in 2032, the question must be asked: When will the Administration release a plan to fix Social Security?