GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration faced tough questions today on Capitol Hill about the future of that agency and about the staffing cuts and other changes carried out by Elon Musk and his DOGE team.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has more.

SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R-ID): The committee will come to order.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The harsh words came before Frank Bisignano even had a chance to speak.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OR): The Web sites are crashing and seniors are getting lost in the system.

It is clear that this is happening around America today.

It is time to bring a halt to DOGE's destruction of Social Security before it goes any further.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: As Democratic senators challenged President Trump's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration on the drastic changes at the agency, all as Elon Musk goes on a cost-cutting campaign across the government that is expected to impact the program, which serves about 73 million retired and disabled beneficiaries.

FRANK BISIGNANO, Social Security Commissioner-Designate: What I will commit to is that I will run the agency and I will be in charge of the agency.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Bisignano, who recently called himself -- quote -- "a DOGE person," pledged to protect private information and improve customer experience, but was quickly forced to defend recent actions directed by Musk's team known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Last week, the acting commissioner of Social Security, who is openly working with Elon Musk, actually threatened to shut down the entire agency.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Including plans to lay off nearly half of its work force, close physical offices across the country, and slash phone services.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): When you have a system that is not working out, do you think it's a great idea to lay off half of the employees?

FRANK BISIGNANO: I don't know if.

Do I think it's a great idea to lay off half of the employees when our system doesn't work?

I think the answer is probably no.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: President Trump has repeatedly pledged to not cut back benefits from the popular program, which keeps millions of older Americans out of poverty.

But Musk has been publicly hostile to the agency, calling it the biggest Ponzi scheme.

More recently, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, if Social Security checks were paused, only fraudsters would scream and yell.

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. Commerce Secretary: The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen.

QUESTION: Yes.

Yes.

HOWARD LUTNICK: Because whoever screams is the one stealing.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Comments that Democratic senators pounced on in today's hearing.

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-NV): Do you agree with Secretary Lutnick that only fraudsters complain when the government fails to send Social Security checks?

FRANK BISIGNANO: I don't think anyone would appreciate not getting their Social Security check on time.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Bisignano, a long time financial executive and current CEO of Fiserv, was also asked repeatedly whether or not he intended to privatize the system, something he declined to flatly rule out.

FRANK BISIGNANO: I have never thought about privatizing.

It's not a word that anybody's ever talked to me about, and I don't see this institution as anything other than a government agency that gets run for the benefit of the American public.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Republicans praised his track record.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): You have exactly the right sort of skills that we need.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And they accused their Democratic colleagues of fearmongering.

SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R-ID): The attack all day has been on DOGE and undercutting Social Security and shutting it down or privatizing it or whatever it is.

The bottom line is, the president of the United States has said very clearly that we are not going to cut Social Security benefits.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But Senator Maria Cantwell, who said DOGE had wrongly pegged one of her constituents as deceased, stopping his payments for months, said the impacts were already being felt.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): He had to go down to the building in Seattle, the federal building that you're trying to close, and stand in line for hours and hours and hours to try to say he wasn't dead and to stop taking his money.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Bisignano is expected to soon be confirmed, as millions of Americans wait to see what comes next for benefits and services.

SEN. MIKE CRAPO: With that, this hearing is adjourned.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.