Bisignano promised lawmakers he’d “keep every field office open”; in reality, effective office closures across the country making it harder for Americans to access help, benefits

“Since slashing approximately 7,500 agency employees last year, the Trump administration has wreaked havoc at SSA – and Americans have been paying the price.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

July 29, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leader of the Social Security War Room; Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.); Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, pressed Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano for answers on reports that SSA field offices in over a dozen states and territories are or have temporarily been “closed to the public” due to staffing and operational issues — in direct contrast with his clear commitment to “keep every field office open.” 

“You vowed to ‘keep every field office open’ and ‘providing better and higher-quality service,’” wrote the senators. “These reported closures, particularly any that are caused by staff shortages, will make it harder for Americans to access their benefits — and call your commitment into question.”

In April, reports revealed that “more than a dozen” field offices and resident stations were listed as “closed to in-person service[s]” — directing Americans to instead “reach out by phone or contact the national 800 number” for assistance. As of late July, SSA’s website confirmed that offices in Alabama, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia were offering “no in-person service” and are “only able to provide assistance by telephone until further notice,” while another local office is listed as only offering telephone services, with “limited in-person service [for those] with an appointment.” Cutting off access to in-person visits threatens to delay benefit claims and force Americans to travel far distances to get help.

The closures follow the Trump administration’s reckless cuts to the agency’s workforce. After the administration fired approximately 7,500 agency employees last year, more than 1,500 employees were shifted away from staffing field offices and processing benefits to answering the agency’s 1-800 hotline. The senators pointed out that shortsighted decisions have put a strain on already understaffed field offices and have threatened SSA’s ability to process Americans’ benefits in a timely manner.

“Since slashing approximately 7,500 agency employees last year, the Trump administration has wreaked havoc at SSA – and Americans have been paying the price,” wrote the senators. 

In March, Senate Democrats raised concern with how staff cuts and reassignments were putting an immense strain on field offices, pointing to the fact that 33 states saw at least a 10 percent reduction in field office staff, with some individual field offices losing “one-quarter or more” of their workforce. As a result, the median state was left with one field office representative per nearly 4,000 beneficiaries as of August 2025, a ratio 12 percent higher than it was before the cuts. Despite this, SSA continues to face over 100,000 people visiting local field offices every day. 

“[T]hese temporary closures to the public come after you made explicit commitments not to close offices, and have made a series of ongoing staff cuts and assignment changes that appear to have added to the threat of closures,” wrote the senators.

“We are concerned by how closing local offices to the public impacts Americans’ ability to access their benefits – and whether these closures cast doubt on your promise to protect field offices,” concluded the senators. 

The senators asked Bisignano to provide information about the field office closures and customer service problems at SSA by August 17, 2026.

Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room coordinates Democrats’ fight to defend Social Security, encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them, and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits:

• In July 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) led Democratic Senators in pressing Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano for answers on why the SSA earlier this month sent a misleading, partisan email to Social Security recipients. 
• In June 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote to President Trump expressing their renewed concerns that this administration is considering raising the retirement age and demanding answers.  
• In June 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), pressed Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano and three former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers on an alarming new whistleblower account detailing Trump administration plans to mark 2.7 million people as dead in a Social Security database as part of its immigration enforcement agenda.
• In April 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) led a coalition of over 100 Congressional Democrats in writing to the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Leland Dudek, to demand that he keep Social Security field offices open.
• In April 2026, Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), published a new report highlighting how, in its first year, it has fought to protect Americans’ Social Security benefits.
• In March 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dan Adcock of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare about Republicans’ plans to raise the retirement age.
• In March 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) launched a new investigation into the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ongoing customer service crisis reaching new extremes, the latest from Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room.
• In March 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representatives Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and James Moylan (R-GU) led over 30 lawmakers in introducing the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen critical SSI benefits that support nearly 8 million seniors and Americans with disabilities.
• In December 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Representative Gabe Amo (D-RI-01) introduced the Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act, bicameral legislation to increase the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) lump-sum death benefit, which covers costs associated with cremation or burials for surviving family members, to account for inflation.
• In December 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano, pressing him on reports that the agency has a new goal of slashing field office visits by nearly 15 million annually.
• In November 2025, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), both leading members of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, launched a probe into Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s tenure as chief executive officer at Fiserv.
• In October 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senators Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in introducing the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act.
• In September 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, and Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room leaders today introduced the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act.
• In July 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leader of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, secured key commitments and admissions from Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano during a private meeting.
• In June 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, pressed top Trump administration officials on how President Trump’s chaotic tariffs — paired with his efforts to dismantle the Social Security Administration — are harming America’s seniors.
• In May 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member on the Senate Aging Committee, pressed new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano on reported plans to recategorize thousands of workers as Schedule F “policy-making” employees.
• In May 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) welcomed newly-confirmed Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Frank Bisignano to the agency with copies of 17 letters — containing nearly 200 unanswered questions — the lawmakers had previously sent to the SSA under Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek.
  
  Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren