There will be vote in the Senate on Tuesday to confirm Frank Bisignano to run Social Security - he lied to Congress.

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Republicans are prepared to vote for someone who lied to them under oath during a confirmation hearing. Frank Bisgnano, the nominee to be Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, has likely (allegedly) broken the law.

"Under federal law (18 U.S.C. Section 1001), it is a crime to “knowingly and willfully” conceal something from or make a false statement to Congress — punishable with up to five years in prison."

A Whistleblower came to Ron Wyden (ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee) with information of Frank Bisgnano's influence at the SSA before having been confirmed. This came up during the confirmation hearing. The confirmation process was put on hold as a result. Wyden requested a bipartisan meeting with the whistleblower to evaluate the accusations. The Senate Republicans on the Finance Committee refused to do so unless the information received from the whistleblower was also handed over to Bisignano and the Trump administration.

Ron Wyden made a statement on Thursday. Here are excerpts. I will put the full text below.

If Frank Bisignano is confirmed, he will bring more of the same chaos, lies and callous disregard for Americans who count on Social Security that the Trump Administration has brought to the agency through DOGE.

That was front and center when he came before the Finance Committee in March. Just before the hearing, I received a remarkable statement from a whistleblower, a former senior official at Social Security, stating that Mr. Bisignano had been deeply involved in the DOGE chaos at the agency. The whistleblower stated, quote, “I am concerned that the President’s nominee to be Commissioner of Social Security, Frank Bisignano, will not temper the chaos but rather bolster it.”

The allegations presented by the whistleblower center around Elon Musk’s DOGE and their attempts to access Social Security databases that hold reams of sensitive personal information of every single American.

According to the whistleblower, Mr. Bisignano personally appointed his Wall Street buddy, Michael Russo, to be the leader of DOGE’s team at Social Security. According to the Washington Post, which independently verified the whistleblower’s account: “After Russo had trouble persuading the career staff to expedite the hiring of a DOGE software engineer named Akash Bobba, ‘Mr. Bisignano personally intervened … to instruct SSA staff to onboard Mr. Bobba and give him immediate access’ to the agency’s private data systems. Bisignano did not address what role he may have had in helping Bobba gain access. Bobba and Russo did not respond to requests for comment.” That’s a remarkable statement that should alarm any American. I asked Mr. Bisignano about his affiliations with DOGE before, during and after the hearing. Each time, he disavowed the whistleblower’s allegations.

https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-opposes-bisignano-nomination-to-lead-social-security-ahead-of-floor-vote

Here is the link to the video, if you would rather watch the remarks.

I don't know what good it will do, but I will call a few of the Senate Republicans tomorrow who might be a last hope.

And now off to today's protest - Standing Up for Democracy.