Frank Bisignano pledges to improve SSA service and protect beneficiary data in Senate hearing

Frank Bisignano, President Trump's nominee to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), told the Senate Finance Committee that he would prioritize improving customer service, reducing payment errors and safeguarding Americans' personally identifiable information if confirmed.

Bisignano characterized SSA as a "payments-based customer-facing program" and said he would focus on reducing wait times and lowering the agency's error rate: "On the phone, I'm committed to reducing wait times and providing beneficiaries with a better experience," he said. He added he would "get the error rate down" and described the 1% error rate cited in the Office of Inspector General report as "five decimal places too high."

Why it matters: SSA pays benefits to tens of millions of Americans and handles a large volume of sensitive personal information. Senators from both parties pressed the nominee on how he would restore service after recent staffing and operational…