The Social Security Administration (SSA) has already seen significant improvements in efficiency, customer service, and implementation of key legislation following four years of inaction under the Biden Administration, Ways and Means Committee members learned from SSA Commissioner Bisignano this week. In six months, the SSA has achieved wins that President Biden claimed would take years, including processing 99 percent of retroactive payments to beneficiaries, improving service at field offices from Biden-era lows, and upgrading outdated and inefficient technologies to better serve Americans.
Swift Implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act
After Congress passed the Social Security Fairness Act, the Biden Administration claimed it would take upwards of a year for the SSA to fully process retroactive payments to more than 3 million beneficiaries. Commissioner Bisignano shared with Chairman Smith the incredible progress the SSA has made under his leadership in processing these claims, with more than 99 percent already completed.
Rep. Smith: The last Congress, we enacted the Social Security Fairness Act that repealed Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. Ensuring America’s seniors receive the benefits they are owed is dependent on implementing this law as quickly and orderly as possible. I’m encouraged by the progress your agency has already made in processing retroactive payments to the roughly 3 million affected beneficiaries and updating monthly benefits moving forward, a sharp contrast from the Biden administration’s claims that the transition would take upwards of a year – that is what they shared with me. Commissioner, what is the status of that effort, and what percentage of back payments have already been sent now, and what if any further guidance or collaboration do you need from this committee to ensure the proper and swift implementation of this law?
Commissioner Bisignano: Yeah, as of this morning – it’s a number I track every day –we’ve done 99.9%. We have 3,100 more payments to get out the door. That’s it. 3,100. I thought it was very important to demonstrate that we can act with urgency. We did this without delaying any other work in the agency. We got together, we talked about it. It was multiple meetings. We applied technology to move it forward in a manner, better than we thought. And I think it’s what you should expect from us.
President Trump is Keeping His Commitment to Seniors
Rep. Ron Estes (KS-04) gaveled in the hearing as Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee by underscoring President Trump and Commissioner Bisignano’s commitment to modernizing and improving the SSA. As Rep. Estes noted in his opening statement, under President Trump’s leadership, average wait times in field offices and average answer times for the SSA’s customer service line have decreased as well as the total number of pending disability claims.
Rep. Estes: I’ve been in Congress for eight years and I’ve placed a high priority on constituent services in my home district. The men and women who are constituent services representatives in my office have helped countless Kansans navigate the complexities of the Social Security Administration, and while I’m grateful for their work, it shouldn’t take a call from a congressman’s office to simply get the benefits someone deserves.
Commissioner, it’s evident that you and President Trump share my concern.
There’s still room for improvement, but the average speed of an answer on the 800 number hit a high of 42 minutes in November of 2023. It was 16.7 minutes in April of 2025.
The average wait time in field offices has decreased by 8 minutes since the start of the fiscal year, and pending disability claims have dropped below 1 million after topping 1.2 million in the summer of 2024.
Working with Congress to Improve Data Exchanges and Ticket to Work Program
Rep. Darin LaHood (IL-16), Chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, secured commitments from Commissioner Bisignano to work with Congress to improve monthly data exchanges with states to ensure foster youth receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security benefits are managed appropriately, as well as to improve the SSA’s Ticket to Work program to ensure beneficiaries who are able can get connected to work.
Rep. LaHood: In 2023, the SSA paid nearly $190 million in SSI and SS benefits to children in foster care. Monthly data exchanges are very important to ensure that state child welfare agencies are the appropriate representative payee and ensure accountability on how benefits are managed on behalf of foster youth. Could you provide insight today on any strategies the SSA plans to use to ensure all states are participating in these monthly data exchanges and that they can actively do once a data sharing agreement is in place?
Commissioner Bisignano: We’ve been working on data exchanges, and I think it’s a vital part. Data exchanges go beyond this, but specifically here I’m happy to come back to you. We have more work to do ourselves but I’m happy to work with your office.
Rep. LaHood: All our government programs including DI and SSI need to be better oriented to provide every opportunity for individuals, no matter their disability or their circumstance, to grow their capacity and to be connected to meaningful work… In 1999, the Ticket to Work program was created to allow SSI and DI beneficiaries to voluntarily get connected to vocational rehabilitation services and work towards specified employment goals. Despite years of evaluation, GAO found the program was having little to no impact. Commissioner, do you have an update on the status of the Ticket to Work program, and is there something you will work on with the Committee to see how we can improve this legislatively or administratively?
Commissioner Bisignano: We talked about it this week inside SSA. You have a commitment from us to work on this with you. We would like to help as many people, as much as possible, to get more to work in things they can and Ticket to Work hasn’t performed as we expected. I think there’s things we should do… we should work together on how to get it right.
SSA Clarifies Biden-Administration Policy that Caused Confusion at Field Offices
Rep. Rudy Yakym (IN-02) questioned Commissioner Bisignano about the Biden Administration’s unclear appointments based policy which resulted in some customers getting turned away if they visited a field office without an appointment. Commissioner Bisignano confirmed the Trump Administration is committed to refocusing the agency on customer service by allowing customers, many of whom travel long distances for assistance at a SSA field office, to walk in without an appointment.
Rep. Yakym: “The Biden Administration created an appointment-based policy that some field offices seemed to be using to turn away customers, even though the policy states that customers are not required to have an appointment. Can you please clarify SSA’s policy and tell us what you’re doing to ensure walk-ins are not turned away at field offices?”
Commissioner Bisignano: The policy is to serve every American. We encourage an appointment. In fact, we have a schedule that in technology, we’re making that a broader, wider schedule. We also take phone calls in the field offices, and we brought a technology system in for the phones. That will get finished in August. And we accept walk-ins. A person drives 20 minutes to come see us, and we think we should serve them.