{"id":41133,"date":"2025-05-07T12:54:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=41133"},"modified":"2025-05-07T12:54:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:54:22","slug":"by-confirming-bisignano-senate-gop-greenlights-doge-destruction-of-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/07\/by-confirming-bisignano-senate-gop-greenlights-doge-destruction-of-social-security\/","title":{"rendered":"By Confirming Bisignano, Senate GOP Greenlights ‘DOGE Destruction of Social Security’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Frank<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Frank Bisignano, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration, testifies at his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their playbook is clearly to break Social Security so they can justify further cuts and privatization,” one labor leader warned.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JESSICA CORBETT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 06, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defenders of the Social Security Administration sounded the alarm on Tuesday after U.S. Senate Republicans banded together to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the federal agency, former financial services executive Frank Bisignano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new SSA commissioner\u2014confirmed with a 53-47 vote along party lines\u2014has described<\/a> himself as a “DOGE<\/a> person,” referring to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>, which is led by billionaire Elon Musk.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Elon Musk and Donald Trump<\/a>, with the quiet help of Frank Bisignano, have spent the last few months taking a chainsaw to Social Security,” said<\/a> Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works<\/a>. “This vote was an opportunity for the Senate to reject the decimation of Social Security, and demand that Trump nominate a commissioner who will stop the bleeding. Instead, every Senate Republican just signed off on the DOGE destruction of Social Security.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bisignano “is a Wall Street CEO with a long history<\/a> of slashing the companies he runs to the bone, including massive layoffs,” she noted. “He is also a liar. He claims he was not involved in all the chaotic and destructive changes at the Social Security Administration: the hollowing out of the agency, the stealing of our most sensitive data, the harmful and poorly rolled out policy changes, their sudden reversals, and more. However, there are well over a dozen long-serving civil servants, identified by a brave whistleblower, who can validate<\/a> that he is lying.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Altman warned that “with Bisignano’s increased power as a confirmed commissioner, he will accelerate the destruction of our Social Security system. One ray of hope is that the DOGE henchmen running Social Security have reversed course<\/a> on some of the biggest cuts in the face of massive public outrage. They know how popular Social Security is with voters of all parties.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Together, we can save Social Security from Trump, Musk, and Bisignano,” she added. “It’s going to take millions of people in the street raising our voices together, saying hands off our Social Security.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) president Lee Saunders similarly said<\/a> that “the Senate just escalated threats to Social Security” by confirming a billionaire CEO who “has spent his career catering to Wall Street elites.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bisignano could have stood up for working families and retirees by opposing efforts to roll back Social Security services, shut down offices, and lay off thousands of workers. Instead, he promises to provide more of the same failed, destructive leadership we have seen so far at Social Security,” Saunders pointed out, also flagging his “DOGE person” remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their playbook is clearly to break Social Security so they can justify further cuts and privatization,” the labor leader stressed, vowing that AFSCME members “are keeping up the fight to protect our freedom to retire with dignity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, called the confirmation vote “deeply troubling to millions of current and future retirees who rely on the guaranteed benefits they paid for and earned through a lifetime of work.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mr. Bisignano’s testimony before the Senate, along with his long career in the finance and tech sectors, provides no reassurance that he understands\u2014let alone prioritizes\u2014the needs of older and disabled Americans,” said Fiesta. “We remain alarmed by the risk that he will support privatization schemes or replace essential SSA workers with AI systems, which could undermine the quality and accessibility of services.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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"We are mobilizing everywhere to stop the Trump administration from dismantling #SocialSecurity<\/a>. We are here to oppose Frank #Bisignano<\/a> from being the next Social Security commissioner!" \u2014 @RonWyden<\/a> #SSA<\/a> #Trump<\/a> #HandsOffSocialSecurity<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/WNo1j9Stn6<\/a><\/p>— Nat. Cmte. to Preserve Social Security & Medicare (@NCPSSM) May 6, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>