Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Friday walked back his remark made earlier in the day that raising the retirement age was among the entitlement reforms being considered by the Trump administration.
In an interview with Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo asked Bisignano if he’d consider increasing the age for full federal retirement benefits, which currently stands at 67.
“I think everything’s being considered and will be considered,” he said.
Bisignano noted that any change recommended by Social Security trustees — a group that also includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — would need 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 told 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 made many vital reforms, such as cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from the program, to ensure the solvency of Social Security for future generations of Americans,” the statement from Bisignano said.
“Raising the retirement age is not under consideration,” it added.
Projections that Social Security coffers will start running out of money by 2034 have increased pressure for lawmakers to take actions to 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.”
