Social Security Administration Offers Receipts To Dispute WaPo Hit Job

The Social Security Administration is disputing a Washington Post report that the agency and system have deteriorated under President Donald Trump.

The Washington Post published an article on Tuesday based on “internal documents and interviews with 41 current and former employees, advocates, and customers” about how the system has suffered in both “responsiveness and trust” under the Trump administration. According to email correspondences and statements shared with the caller, the Social Security Administration disputed much of the outlet’s “results.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: SSA Rejects Whistleblower Allegations, Calls Alleged Disclosure of Sensitive Data ‘Highly Irresponsible’)

“After our transparent and thorough responses, it is disappointing that the Washington Post was unwilling to include facts that contradicted the political narrative against the Trump administration,” a Social Security spokesperson told the caller.

“The Social Security Administration, under President Trump’s leadership, is serving more Americans than ever, at faster speeds, and meeting customers where they want to be served. Thanks to technological improvements and modernization, more Americans are choosing to easily and quickly manage their benefits online or over the phone.”

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed presidential proclamation honoring the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, joined by Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano (left) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, August 14, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The spokesperson added that the article did not take into account the administration’s “historic improvements” to help customers via the Internet and telephone.

“The average response speed for the national 800 number has been in the single digits over the past five months,” a spokesperson continued, adding that sixty-five percent more calls were answered in FY 2025 compared to FY 2024.

The Washington Post report states that telephone service provided by the SSA “improved during the second half of the year.” but it is still mediocre. Before publication, the SSA provided an audit to the Post showing that “the average response speed for the national 800 number has been in the single digits over the past five months.”

The audit also shows that nearly 90 percent of customers were satisfied with the SSA, a fact that a spokesperson said disputes the Post’s reporting.

The article also highlights worsening “bottlenecks,” noting that the agency has maintained that these bottlenecks have improved. The SSA told the caller that it had in fact made “massive improvements” that had been “buried.”

“Reducing the backlog at processing centers, enabling 24/7 access to websites after inheriting 29 hours of weekly downtime, and serving more Americans at faster speeds is not something to do after undermining the SSA,” a spokesperson told The Caller in a statement.

For the record, the Washington Post also interviewed Senator Elizabeth Warren who requested an audit request.

“We kept the pressure on and held Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Frank Bisignano accountable for the chaos they caused,” Warren said in the interview.

Below @POTUSSocial Security serves MORE Americans, FASTER than ever before!
☎️ Single-digit response speeds
📈 65% MORE calls answered
🕛 30% SHORTER wait times in field offices
📉 Disability claims backlog down 33% from record high https://t.co/BoG0Mgz7vc

– Social Security (@SocialSecurity) December 30, 2025

The SSA responded to Warren’s quote in a statement to the caller, telling the outlet that Commissioner Bisignano had responded to Warren’s audit request in previous letters.

The Washington Post also reported that the audit released by the Social Security Inspector General’s office on Dec. 22 “confirmed that millions of callers requesting a callback were counted as zero-minute waits by the agency.”

The SSA pointed out to the caller that the methodology used to measure average speed of response (ASA) is critical to understanding the data.

“It is calculated as follows: For customers who choose to wait in queue for an agent, it is the total time spent in queue divided by the number of calls answered by agents. For customers who choose the convenience of a callback, we count only the time the customer waited in queue before choosing a callback divided by the number of callbacks answered by agents. The combined result is the average speed of response,” SSA told the caller.

“To overlook that this methodology has been around for more than a decade is disingenuous and undermines the work of the dedicated career public servants who provide the data. Additionally, the average wait time before calling back was nearly cut in half under President Trump, as the IG report confirms,” ​​the agency noted.

The Washington Post also reported that a benefits authorizer at a processing center was told by management at an all-staff meeting that there was a backlog of six million cases. The media outlet added that management added that staff would have to work overtime to reduce that number to two million.

We recently released the following audit report: Social Security Administration’s Telephone Metrics. You can learn more here https://t.co/Uy9e7iOv45 pic.twitter.com/zMDwjJogmw

– Social Security OIG (@TheSSAOIG) December 22, 2025

The SSA pointed out to the Post before publication, according to emails reviewed by the caller, that the agency explained in a letter to Congress that there were 6.2 million pending cases as of early June. By the end of the fiscal year, the SSA had reduced that number by more than 1 million, the letter wrote.

“Today, there are 850,000 fewer pending actions in processing centers compared to the same time last year, which, contrary to the article, shows an improvement,” the SSA shared with the caller.

The SSA also took issue with the Postal Service’s formulation of Bisignano’s plan to close half of the agency’s field offices. The media outlet reported that more than 31 million people visited field offices during the last financial year.

“It is disappointing but not surprising that the fake news media is so quick to ignore the truth to scare seniors. The truth is simple: Field offices are, and always will be, our front line, serving the approximately 75 million Americans who receive monthly payments and the more than 330 million Americans with Social Security numbers,” the agency told the caller. The SSA added that Commissioner Bisignano is “committed to having the right level of staffing to operate at maximum efficiency and provide the best customer service to the American people.”

The Washington Post also reported that in previous weeks, hundreds of employees had been moved to customer service operations and have now been recalled to the positions for which they were initially hired. The outlet added that others were placed in a new “digital engagement” office.

The SSA told the caller that after introducing new technology this year, it “recognized the streamlining of field office workloads, which allowed us to deploy approximately 850 field office personnel daily to assist with calls to the national 800 number.” The agency told the caller that none of those field office employees had been reassigned to the national 800 number. The selected personnel are now customer service representatives (CSRs), “and the assistance they provide is consistent with their job descriptions,” the agency explained.

The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment.