Senators Demand Answers On Social Security Office Closures

A group of U.S. senators is demanding answers from Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano after reports that Social Security field offices in multiple states temporarily stopped offering in-person service, raising new questions about customer service at an agency millions of Americans depend on.

In a letter sent this week, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said reports that some field offices were “closed to the public” because of staffing and operational issues appeared to conflict with Bisignano’s commitment during his confirmation process to “keep every field office open.” They asked Bisignano to explain the reported closures and describe what the Social Security Administration is doing to ensure beneficiaries can continue accessing services.

The letter is the latest sign that concerns about customer service at the Social Security Administration have not gone away. Although the agency has touted improvements in some performance measures, beneficiaries, advocates and lawmakers continue to raise concerns about staffing levels, delayed claims and access to in-person assistance. Those concerns matter since not every Social Security issue can be resolved online.

While beneficiaries can complete many routine transactions through a my Social Security account, more complicated matters—including survivor benefits, some disability claims, identity verification issues and appeals—often require speaking with an agency employee by phone or in person. When that help isn’t available, delays can become more than an inconvenience.

The reported office closures also come at a notable moment for Bisignano.

Last October, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent named the Social Security commissioner to serve as chief executive officer of the IRS, a newly created position responsible for managing the agency’s day-to-day operations while Bessent continues as Acting IRS Commissioner. Treasury says that allows Bisignano to manage IRS operations while reporting to Bessent. Democratic senators, including Wyden, Schumer, and Warren, described the position as “a fake job that Congress has never authorized” and argued that it is being used to avoid the confirmation process.

That means Bisignano is now responsible for helping lead two of the federal government’s largest public-facing agencies at the same time.

Treasury said at the time that Bisignano’s experience leading large organizations made him well suited to improve operations, customer service and efficiency at the IRS. But the announcement also prompted questions about whether any one executive could effectively oversee two massive federal agencies. Now, the renewed focus on Social Security customer service has brought those questions back into the spotlight.

A Customer Service Challenge

The Social Security Administration has spent years trying to balance growing demand for services with a shrinking workforce. Even as the number of Americans receiving retirement, disability, and survivor benefits has continued to rise, the agency’s workforce has decreased.

Last year, following workforce reductions across the federal government, the agency lost approximately 7,500 employees (in early 2025, the agency had predicted a loss of about 7,000). According to the senators’ letter, another 1,500 employees were reassigned from field offices and claims processing to answer calls on the agency’s national telephone line. The senators argue those decisions have strained local offices that collectively serve more than 100,000 visitors every day.

The letter cites union representatives who say that local offices in Iowa, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania have been “temporarily closed for more than a year, not due to lack of demand but lack of staff.” The agency’s website confirms that offices in Alabama, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are currently not offering in-person services.

Those staffing changes have occurred as the agency has moved to rely more on online services. That has created some efficiencies—creating a my Social Security account makes it possible to replace a Social Security card, review earnings history, download benefit verification letters, and complete other routine tasks without visiting an office. But some of the agency’s most important work still depends on people.

Earlier this year, I wrote about my mother’s five-month effort to receive survivor benefits after my father’s death. Despite multiple phone calls, conflicting instructions and repeated assurances that her application was being processed, it ultimately took intervention from a congressional office before her benefits were finally restored. Along the way, we received contradictory notices, saw payments appear and disappear, and even received a letter directing us to call a disconnected telephone number.

My mom’s experience is a good example of why access to experienced agency employees remains so important. And it’s particularly a concern for beneficiaries who are facing complicated or stressful life events such as the death of a spouse or the onset of a disability.

For its part, the SSA has pointed to improvements in customer service under Bisignano’s leadership, including shorter telephone wait times. Some critics argue that some of those statistics are difficult to compare with prior years because of changes in how the metrics are calculated. Others note that improvements in one area—such as answering phone calls—can come at the expense of another if employees are reassigned away from claims processing or local field offices.

What About the IRS?


Bisignano’s answers could have implications beyond Social Security. As the IRS prepares for another filing season and continues implementing recent tax law changes, Bisignano remains responsible as both agencies face enormous challenges. Those include ongoing technology modernization efforts and pressure to improve customer service with increasingly limited resources.

Notably, new reports show that the IRS is scrambling to hire thousands of new workers after the agency lost nearly 30,000 workers last year. According to public job listings, the IRS is primarily hiring clerks, tax examiners, accounting technicians, and contact representatives. Jobs in that division, Taxpayer Services, shed 9,000 employees last year, or 21% of its workforce.

Bisignano has repeatedly defended the cuts. In May, he told Congress that he had “zero staffing concerns.”

But in January of this year, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) warned that staffing shortages were serious and could impact customer service at the IRS. The National Taxpayer Advocate found that during this filing season, phone wait times more than doubled and that taxpayers struggled to get help with refunds or answers to their questions—particularly important as taxpayers adjust to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which introduced new provisions, including temporary ones like “No Tax on Tips” that come with a slew of rules and caveats.

According to Sen. Warren’s office, the IRS’ chief human capital officer warned in February that staffing shortages were affecting the agency’s ability to process tax returns and had created a massive backlog of tax forms and taxpayer communications. Warren’s office says the IRS later requested—and received—special authority to hire 8,000 employees on an expedited basis.

The reported hiring push appears difficult to reconcile with Bisignano’s earlier testimony that it was his belief that the agency “will always have the right number of staff.”

The letter included a list of questions for Bisignano, asking for more transparency. The millions of Americans who depend on agencies like the SSA and IRS deserve it.