Democrats slam Social Security boss over 'politicized' email praising Trump
WASHINGTON – Democratic senators sent a scathing email this week to the head of the U.S. Social Security Administration, accusing him of "bombarding Americans with blatantly partisan emails" that tout President Donald Trump's leadership.
"This was an unusual communication that served no legitimate purpose: rather than receiving necessary information about benefits or a critical communication from the SSA, recipients received a partisan, politicized message – containing multiple misleading statements - that heaped praise on President Trump," Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Tammy Baldwin, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ben Ray Luján wrote Tuesday.
The Social Security Administration has a history of being seen as nonpartisan organization, and in his 2025 confirmation hearing, Commissioner Frank Bisignano pledged to "run the Social Security Administration in an independent and nonpartisan manner."
Now Democrats are accusing the commissioner of going back on his promise for a second time – citing an initial incident resolved in a meeting one year ago this week for similar partisan communications.
The letter comes in response to a July 2 email signed by Bisignano, marking the 250th Anniversary of the United States. Democrats are asking for details on how many emails were sent and the source of the email list.
"Under the leadership of President Trump, we are protecting and strengthening Social Security," Bisignano, who is also the CEO of the Internal Revenue Service, said in the email reviewed by USA TODAY.
Big, beautiful bill included deductions for seniors. But how much?
Democrats took issue with Bisignano's claims that on its one-year anniversary, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill offered "tax cuts" and "relief" for American seniors. The senators characterized the claims as misleading, saying that most seniors did not qualify for benefits and for those who did, a $7,500 claim amounted to only a $900 tax cut.
The policy at is issue is the Enhanced Deduction for Seniors.
The deduction allows for filers 65 years and older to claim an additional $6,000 deduction per person, $12,000 if married filing jointly as long as their gross income is under $75,000 or $150,000 for joint filers.
According to the Treasury Department in June, over 35 million seniors have claimed the enhanced deduction, compared to the over 59 million seniors on Social Security benefits, according to a June enrollment report.
An organization known for staying out of politics
Typically, emails from Social Security to beneficiates might include important administrative or policy changes, according to Jeff Nesbit, a former Deputy Commissioner of Communications for the Social Security Administration. He said that there is a "very large list" of tens of millions of people where administrators "can send a direct email to everybody who's both signed up for Social Security or Medicare through Social Security." It is unclear if that is the same list used for Bisignano's email.
"Both Republican presidents and Democratic presidents, for years, if not decades, honored the principle that those communications to the Social Security recipients are privileged, and you don't inject partisan politics," Nesbit told USA TODAY, adding that Social Security recipients "thoroughly trust the Social Security Administration that's, you know, looking out for their financial interests."
Nesbit, who served under the Biden administration, said he always denied any requests from the White House to include messages in Social Security emails. He added, though, that there was no explicit rule prohibiting it.
"It's incumbent upon the people who are at Social Security, especially the political appointees, and there's only a handful of them, to say, 'no. That's not appropriate,' which is what I did, and which is what I assumed previous commissioners and deputy commissioners did," Nesbit said.
A career retirement expert and now Social Security recipient herself, Alicia Munnell from Massachusetts, called the email "unprecedented."
"It [politics] has never come up before," Munnell, the former Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said of her research. "Everybody has been very careful, all the commissioners, to not link bringing the president into its the agency's messaging at all"
As a Social Security recipient, Munnell found the email in her own inbox.
"I think the most basic thing is that it makes people nervous if they see that their Social Security benefits are in any way going to be treated in a political way, and this is the most important source of income for people as they enter retirement," she told USA Today.
What's next
The group of Democrats asked Bisignano to respond to a list of questions by August 11. They requested information on who received the email and what parties were involved in creating it. They wrote in the request, "You promised to lead the SSA in an independent and nonpartisan manner. Please describe how sending this email is consistent with your promise."
The Social Security Administration did not respond to USA Today's request for comment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats slam Social Security boss over 'politicized' email praising Trump