Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano is set to face lawmakers on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing that will put his service claims under a microscope. The session comes as the agency tries to defend its customer service record after a stretch of staff cuts, reassigned workers and complaints about long waits.
The hearing is expected to center on the Social Security Administration's customer service performance, its ability to pay benefits, protect privacy and handle internal agency problems. Bisignano has told lawmakers in a letter that phone wait times have been cut by 75% under his leadership, website problems have been fixed and the agency has served 50% more people. He also said clients can reach the agency by phone or visit a field office with or without an appointment.
Those claims land in the middle of a broader debate over what has happened inside the agency since Bisignano took over after chaotic customer service changes, leadership exits and false allegations that millions of dead people were receiving benefits. The Social Security Administration cut 7,000 workers at the start of the Trump administration, then reassigned roughly 2,000 employees last year into direct-service jobs as it tried to reduce pressure on overworked offices.
The agency's latest semiannual report to Congress says it has made measurable progress in improving telephone service and using technology to speed disability claims processing. But the inspector general has also identified ongoing errors in benefit administration and claims processing, and the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220 says some Social Security offices remain severely understaffed. Union representatives have pointed to offices in Michigan, Iowa, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, South Dakota and Utah as examples of the strain.
Bisignano has insisted no field offices have been closed, even as critics argue the staffing shifts and reductions are creating longer-term service risks. He has framed the agency's mission in blunt terms, saying people can call, visit in person, come with an appointment or walk in without one. Lawmakers are likely to press him on whether those assurances match the reality at the front counter, on the phone and in disability claims processing.
The hearing will give Congress its clearest chance yet to test whether the agency's reported gains are enough to offset the complaints from workers and beneficiaries. If members of the committee are unconvinced, the next move could be pressure for staffing changes, tighter oversight or a tougher public accounting of how far the service improvements really go.
