After long waits at the Social Security Administration, its chief says things are getting better
Source: AP
Updated 5:57 PM EDT, June 9, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — After complaints about staffing cuts and long waits to get help at the Social Security Administration, its commissioner says he’s ready to make the case to Congress this week that things are getting a lot better at the embattled agency. Frank Bisignano is expected to face pointed questions from lawmakers at a hearing on his agency’s customer service performance, its ability to pay Americans their benefits, protect their privacy, and other questions about the inner workings of the SSA.
He plans to tout shorter wait times and other customer service metrics to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing slated for Wednesday, and slam his predecessor, Martin O’Malley, for requiring appointments for field office visits, in a letter to lawmakers viewed by The Associated Press. In the letter, Bisignano states that the SSA has cut phone wait times by 75% under his leadership, fixed frustrating website issues, and served 50% more people.
“I’ve been very clear. We will meet clients where they want to be met. You want to call us on a phone, we’ll have technology on the phone, or you can talk to somebody on the phone. You want to come to a field office, you can come with an appointment, or without,” Bisignano told The Associated Press in an interview. Critics argue that recent gains are being achieved through temporary staffing shifts, increased reliance on online services, and workforce reductions that have created longer-term service risks, shifting bottlenecks around rather than solving staffing problems.
Bisignano dismisses the criticism. “People boo at Yankee Stadium, even when they’re winning,” he said. Bisignano in his letter also said the Biden-era Social Security Administration, run by O’Malley, “turned people away who travelled to field offices” in a “failure to have consumer-centric service.” O’Malley told the AP that the SSA under his tenure never turned away walk-in customers. “We encouraged appointments, but we were not turning away walk-ins.” “He lies a lot,” O’Malley said about Bisignano. “He’s in the habit of lying.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/social-security-administration-frank-bisignano-978eebb1649f05bb18184cf8c1fffa5b
O’Malley is correct and Bisignano is full of shit. I did a "walk in" under Biden in 2024 to submit a W-4V form (withholding of federal income tax from SS) and as has been the case for years at the office near me, there's a kiosk to check in and describe what was needed, and then you were assigned a number, first come, first served, like millions of other service entities. There was a waiting area with chairs, and a digital display showing what number was next (plus a CSR would announce over an intercom).
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Not to mention just not having people there as much.
What a savings!
