The Social Security Administration (SSA) sent a formal letter to Congress Thursday afternoon claiming that Americans’ benefits, processing times and service levels have improved under President Donald Trump this year.
In the letter, Commissioner Frank Bisignano wrote that the agency has ‘made historic progress’ for retirees and low-income Americans through reforms aimed at transparency, call center response times and streamlined benefits delivery.’
‘With the passage of President Trump’s historic ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ earlier this year, America’s seniors will be keeping more of their hard-earned benefits with a tax deduction that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security for almost all beneficiaries,’ Bisignano wrote. ‘This is significant, meaningful tax relief for older Americans.’
Beyond tax cuts for Social Security beneficiaries, the agency also touted lower wait times and tackling a backlog of disability cases head-on.
‘In-office wait times are down almost 27% to 22 minutes from 30 minutes at the end of last year,’ Bisignano wrote. ‘The disability claims backlog was at an all-time high in June of 2024 with over 1.26 million pending claims. I am proud to share that we have reduced the backlog this year by over 25% to 865,000, a level that hasn’t been seen since 2022.’
Trump signed the 90th Anniversary of the Social Security Act executive order in August, where he recommitted to ‘always defending Social Security, rewarding the men and women who make our country prosperous, and taking care of our own workers, families, seniors, and citizens first.’
The agency has made a push under President Trump to streamline processes online through its ‘my Social Security’ online platform.
According to the commissioner, the government site had a scheduled downtime of nearly 30 hours per week before his Senate confirmation in May, before taking office. ‘Americans now have 24/7 access to their Social Security information online,’ Bisignano added.
Claims made in the agency’s letter have not been independently verified by Fox News Digital.
The correspondence comes as Democrats continue to claim Trump-era adjustments endanger social programs, a charge the agency directly rebuts. Earlier this year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., argued that the SSA was removing key data and covering up dysfunction.
Bisignano’s entire letter to Congress can be read here.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
