Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano during a House Ways and Means Subcommittee hearing on Social Security on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Tierney L. Cross | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Social Security Administration Secretary Frank Bisignano told Congress Wednesday that the agency has improved on one of the traditional problems for individuals who contact the agency: long wait times to call its toll-free helpline.
Bisignano said in written testimony before the House Ways and Means, Social Security and Labor Welfare Subcommittee hearing that SSA has resulted in the average “speed of response” for agents answering incoming calls to “the lowest level in a decade.”
The average response time in May was less than five minutes, an 89% reduction from the previous high of 42 in 2024, according to Bisignano’s testimony.
“We are now answering 90% of calls to our 800 number and the average wait time has dropped to five minutes, a 75% improvement,” Bisignano said Wednesday.
Bisignano said the Social Security Administration’s record performance is expected to result in more than 800 million customer interactions this year.
Bisignano said the agency currently serves more than 300 million Americans. It currently issues Social Security benefits to approximately 71 million individuals and provides other services such as issuing Social Security cards.
Lawmakers’ concerns about waiting times persist
Bisignano’s testimony comes more than a year after he took over as head of the Social Security Administration in May 2025. In October, Mr. Bisignano was selected to also serve as CEO of the IRS.
President Donald Trump selected Bisignano, who previously served as president and CEO of a global payments provider. fiservimplements an SSA-leading business approach. His appointment followed changes made by the Trump administration through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to curb “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal government.
Prior to Mr. Bisignano’s leadership, SSA announced plans to reduce its workforce by 7,000 employees in February 2025, bringing the total to 50,000. The agency ended up losing more than 8,000 employees from January 2025 to April 2026, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy organization, citing data from the Office of Personnel Management.
The loss of personnel raised concerns among some lawmakers and advocates that service at both the agency’s field offices and 800 number could be compromised.
In December, the Social Security Administration, the inspector general, released a report on the agency’s 800 number in response to an audit request from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who expressed concerns about its performance.
The SSA OIG report said the 800 number metrics reported by the agency were “accurate” and that overall telephone service performance improved in fiscal year 2025. The agency serves 68 million callers, either directly by employees or through automation, representing a 65% increase over the previous year, according to the report. SSA improved these metrics through new communication platforms and staff reorganization, the report said.
Some lawmakers pressed Bisignano about wait times during the hearing.
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., said voters are experiencing long wait times and the quality of service they receive varies depending on when they call due to agency staff turnover.
In response to Moore, Bisignano said the Social Security Administration is focusing on having more staff available to answer calls at certain times and “having the right amount of staff in the right places.”
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., asked whether the improved data includes callers who choose the option to receive a callback, so their wait time could be counted as zero minutes. According to OIG data, the average wait time for those who choose the callback option is nearly two hours, she said.
“The answer is yes, and that’s the industry standard,” Bisignano said of counting callback requests as zero minutes of latency. He disputed the OIG’s findings, saying the average callback wait time was less than 30 minutes.
The agency has not stopped sharing data on service performance, and said there are “more metrics on the web than ever before.”
