A group of leading Senate Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are demanding answers from the Trump administration following reports that the Social Security Administration is pursuing a plan to dramatically reduce in-person visits to its field offices, a move lawmakers warn could quietly undermine access to benefits for seniors and people with disabilities.
In a letter sent to Social Security Administration Administrator Frank Bisignano, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Sanders of Vermont said recent reports indicate that the agency is reorganizing its field office operations with the goal of cutting visits in half. According to the senators, that would amount to roughly 15 million fewer in-person visits each year.
“We write with concerns regarding recent reports that the Social Security Administration is reorganizing its field office operations, and has established a goal of cutting the number of field office visits in half—amounting to 15 million fewer visits annually,” the lawmakers wrote.
The senators said beneficiaries already face months-long waits for appointments at Social Security offices and that the agency has not explained to Congress or the public how it intends to achieve such a sweeping reduction without harming service. They warned that the effort appears less like modernization and more like an indirect benefit cut.
“Given that beneficiaries are already waiting months for field office appointments, and the agency has not shared with Congress or the public on how it plans to achieve this goal, we are concerned that these efforts are in fact part of a plan to ‘quietly kill field offices,’ implementing a backdoor cut in benefits by making it harder for Americans to access the Social Security customer services they need,” the letter states.
The concerns outlined by lawmakers were fueled by reporting from Nextgov/FCW, which reviewed internal Social Security Administration planning documents describing a fiscal year 2026 target of “no more than 15 million total” in-person visits to field offices. That figure represents about half the number of visits handled in the prior fiscal year.
An anonymous Social Security Administration staffer told the outlet that senior agency officials want “fewer people in the front door” and intend for “all work that doesn’t require direct customer interactions to be centralized.” According to that staffer, the direction from leadership has been unmistakable. “They appear to be quietly killing field offices,” the staffer said.
The internal planning contrasts with public assurances from Bisignano. Nextgov/FCW reported that while the commissioner has emphasized a push toward technology and online services, he told lawmakers in June that the agency is not “getting rid of field offices,” despite reports of planned closures and reduced in-person access.
Lawmakers argue that the administration’s stated goals cannot be separated from the broader context of staffing cuts and operational strain at the agency. Under the Trump administration, the Social Security Administration has carried out what has been described as the largest workforce reduction in its history, cutting approximately 7,000 positions. As a result, there is now roughly one Social Security worker for every 1,480 beneficiaries nationwide.
According to the senators and reporting cited in their letter, those cuts have left field offices understaffed and phone systems overwhelmed. Beneficiaries are often forced to wait hours for assistance, only to be told they must call to schedule an appointment, adding further delays to an already strained system.
As Warren’s office noted in a statement, the Trump administration “has relentlessly attacked Social Security.” The statement said that under Bisignano’s leadership, the agency has implemented policy changes that make it harder for people to access benefits, including “burdensome in-person and bug-prone identification processes that force millions more beneficiaries to visit field offices each year—at the same time they are slashing SSA’s workforce by around 7,000 and closing regional offices.”
Rather than increasing staffing to meet demand, Warren’s office said, field office capacity has declined significantly, compounding wait times and frustration for beneficiaries seeking help.
The senators’ letter also raised concerns about the administration’s push to funnel beneficiaries toward online and phone-based services despite ongoing technical problems. “We are concerned that your plan is to force beneficiaries onto SSA’s bug-prone website or push them into customer service phone tree ‘doom-loops’—which will almost certainly result in delayed or missed benefits for some individuals,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Once again, you seem to have adopted a slash-first, think-later approach to ‘modernizing’ SSA, and beneficiaries will pay the price,” the letter added.
Beneficiaries have repeatedly reported difficulties accessing the Social Security website in recent months, an issue critics say could be exacerbated if in-person visits are sharply curtailed. Lawmakers argue that for many seniors and disabled Americans, particularly those without reliable internet access or with complex cases, field offices remain a critical point of contact that cannot simply be replaced by digital tools.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded to the Nextgov/FCW reporting by warning that the proposed changes threaten to make an already difficult process even worse. She said the plan “this sure sounds like another way to make it even harder for Americans to get the benefits they’ve earned.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, echoed those concerns, pointing to the cumulative impact of staffing cuts, stricter documentation requirements for phone assistance, and rapid reorganization across the agency. He told Nextgov/FCW that “between staffing reductions, more restrictive documentation requirements for Americans to get assistance on the phones, and rapid reorganization of offices around the country, it’s difficult to see how” the goal of slashing field office visits “will lead to anything other than worse service and more challenges at Social Security.”
In their letter, the senators pressed Bisignano to clarify whether the reported reduction in field office visits is accurate and, if so, how and when it would be implemented. They also asked how the agency plans to provide services that would otherwise be handled by field offices and what impact the changes would have on wait times, online users, and callers to the agency’s 1-800 number.
The dispute over Social Security access comes amid broader debates over the future of the federal safety net. The same week the senators sent their letter, Republican lawmakers voted down a proposed three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, a move critics say is expected to result in an average doubling of health insurance premiums for roughly 22 million people. Supporters of single-payer healthcare have pointed to that vote as further evidence of the fragility of benefit access under current policies.
For now, lawmakers say their immediate concern is transparency and accountability at the Social Security Administration. Without clear explanations and safeguards, they warn, millions of Americans could face new obstacles to receiving benefits they rely on to survive.
“They appear to be quietly killing field offices,” the anonymous Social Security Administration staffer said.
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