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Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano pushed back when prominent Senate Democrats questioned him about privatizing Social Security during a hearing Tuesday on his nomination to lead the Social Security Administration.
While Bisignano did not explicitly say that he would fight efforts to move the social safety net program into private hands, he offered a guarantee of sorts that the government agency would survive his tenure.
"I've never thought about privatizing [Social Security],” he said when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, pressed him on the possibility of privatization. "It's not a word that anybody's ever talked to me about, and I don’t see this institution as anything other than a government agency run for the benefit of the American public.”
"Let's hope that's the way this ends," Whitehouse replied. "My guarantee, I'll make it end that way," Bisignano said.
However, when Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, asked Bisignano if he favors privatization later in the hearing, he did not give a direct "yes" or "no" answer, and implied that Congress will decide that issue.
“The commissioner's job is to ensure that the agency operates correctly," Bisignano said in response to her questions. "I want to provide all the information required by the Senate, and by anyone else, in order to make these decisions, but I don't believe I'm a decision maker.”
Bisignano, who became CEO of the Milwaukee-based payment processing giant in 2020, was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the SSA in December. The Senate Finance Committee convened the chamber’s first confirmation hearing on his nomination Tuesday.
Prominent progressives have been raising concerns about the Trump administration shrinking the Social Security Administration amid multiple actions against various federal agencies.
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of car-maker Tesla who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, has been focused on slashing government spending. In February, Musk called Social Security "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time" in an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink further fanned the flames last week when he suggested moving some Social Security payments into private accounts in an interview with the news outlet Semafor.