Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Friday retracted his earlier statement that raising the retirement age was among the entitlement reforms under consideration by the Trump administration.
During an interview with Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo asked Bisignano whether he would contemplate increasing the age for full federal retirement benefits, which is currently set at 67.
“I think everything’s being considered and will be considered,” he said.
Bisignano pointed out that any changes suggested by Social Security trustees—which also include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—would require congressional approval.
“The White House, which is completely committed to protect and preserve, and then Congress, that’s where the real work will happen. And that’ll take a while, we have plenty of time,” he informed Bartiromo.
The Social Security Administration walked back his comments in an afternoon post on X.
“Let me be clear: President Trump and I will always protect, and never cut, Social Security. That’s why we have implemented many essential reforms, such as cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from the program, to ensure Social Security’s solvency for future generations of Americans,” Bisignano’s statement declared.
“Raising the retirement age is not under consideration,” it added.
Projections indicating that Social Security funds may start depleting by 2034 have intensified the urgency for lawmakers to take action and prevent insolvency.
“We have no intent to break a system that can be improved,” Bisignano said during a May interview with Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“That team will get together, along with Senate and Congress, will ensure that this is here for the next 90 years, at least,” he said, referring to the trustees.
A bipartisan group of senators have proposed setting aside $1.5 trillion for an investment fund to ensure the flow of future benefits, while others have suggested raising the age for retirement as a way to cut benefits.
Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley, appointed by then-President Biden, warned against such proposals prior to his exit.
“[Americans] want their government to strengthen [Social Security] and expand it — not to cut it, contract it or gut its customer service,” O’Malley said at a House Ways and Means Committee in March 2024.
“For those who would advocate raising the age, I think we have to be mindful of people who do hard work their whole lives, and die sooner,” he said.
While on the campaign trail, President Trump caught flack for suggesting potential cuts to Social Security during a March 2024 interview.
Trump told CNBC there was “a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”
