[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 118 (Thursday, August 5, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6861-S6863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  75TH ANNIVERSARY OF SOCIAL SECURITY

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I celebrate and honor the venerable life, 
not of a person, but of the most important and successful domestic 
program in our Nation's history. On August 14, Social Security will 
turn 75.
  In a special Message to Congress in June 1934, President Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt stated the promise of Social Security, saying:

       If, as our Constitution tells us, our Federal Government 
     was established among other things, to promote the general 
     welfare,' it is our plain duty to provide for that security 
     upon which welfare depends.

  President Roosevelt outlined his intention to ``undertake the great 
task of

[[Page S6862]]

furthering the security of the citizen and his family through social 
insurance.'' Executive Order 6757 created the committee on Economic 
Security, putting his plan into action. The committee included 5 
Cabinet-level officials and 21 government experts from several Federal 
agencies.
  At the committee's 25th birthday celebration, Francis Perkins, who 
was Secretary of Labor and member of the Committee on Economic 
Security, recounted the work of that committee. And she remembered an 
embarrassing oversight in the rush to create it--the committee had not 
been funded. But that was not going to stop its members. Relying on a 
small personal loan from one committee member, the committee hired 
unemployed stenographers and typists and recruited professionals and 
experts to help out. They sent a telegram that stated:

       We have no money. We can pay your railroad fare and your 
     expenses if you really need expenses while you are in 
     Washington, but there is no salary.

  The response was huge. A team of great minds converged on Washington, 
DC, in the heat of August, long before air conditioning. They worked 
tirelessly. And about 6 months later, in early January 1935, they 
presented their committee report to the President. He, in turn, brought 
it to Congress.
  Congress heard the call. Or perhaps Congress heard the voices of its 
constituents. Or perhaps Members of Congress carried with them the 
pictures of closed factories, desolate farms, and breadlines that 
weaved around city blocks. Unemployment topped 20 percent, and the 
homeless population was growing.
  In a 1962 speech, Francis Perkins described the backdrop of the 
creation of Social Security:

       People were so alarmed the specter of unemployment--of 
     starvation, of hunger, of the wandering boys, of the broken 
     homes, of the families separated while somebody went out to 
     look for work--stalked everywhere. The unpaid rent, the 
     eviction notices, the furniture and bedding on the sidewalk, 
     the old lady weeping over it, the children crying, the father 
     out looking for a truck to move their belongings himself to 
     his sister's flat or some relative's already overcrowded 
     tenement, or just sitting there bewilderedly waiting for some 
     charity officer to come and move him somewhere. I saw goods 
     stay on the sidewalk in front of the same house with the same 
     children weeping on top of the blankets for 3 days before 
     anybody came to relieve the situation!

  Congress went to work. Committees held hearings, and a long list of 
individuals and groups, charities, hospitals, industries, actuaries, 
historians, and interested citizens testified. There were debates and 
arguments, compromises and drafts, more drafts and then more meetings 
and compromises. And then, 7 months later, on Wednesday, August 14, 
1935, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, President Roosevelt signed the 
Social Security Act into law.
  Upon the law's enactment, the President appointed a three-person 
Social Security Board to run the new program. One of the Board's first 
daunting tasks was to register employers and workers by January 1, 
1937, when workers would begin earning credits toward old-age insurance 
benefits. The Board contracted with the Post Office to distribute 
applications, and numbers were assigned in local post offices. Long 
before computers, typists created each card in typing centers and 
delivered it to Social Security's headquarters in Baltimore. Between 
November 1936 and June 1937, Social Security issued more than 30 
million Social Security numbers through this manual process. By June 
30, 1937, Social Security had established 151 field offices, and these 
field offices took over the task of assigning Social Security numbers.
  Over the course of the next several decades, Social Security expanded 
to help more people secure themselves, as President Roosevelt said, 
``against the hazards and vicissitudes of life.'' In 1939, Congress 
broadened the program to include payments to dependents and survivors 
of retirees. In 1956, Congress created the disability program and later 
expanded the program to include benefits for dependents of disabled 
workers.
  The Social Security Act of 1965 created a new social insurance 
program called Medicare that extended health coverage to almost all 
Americans aged 65 or older or receiving disability benefits.
  In 1969, under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, Social 
Security began processing claims for disabled coal miners suffering 
from black lung disease and to their dependents or survivors.
  Legislation passed in 1972 provided for automatic annual cost-of-
living allowances and created the Supplemental Security Income program. 
SSI, funded from general revenues, provides a small benefit to people 
with limited income who have reached age 65 or are blind or disabled.
  The Social Security Amendments of 1980 made many changes in the 
disability program. Most focused on various work incentive provisions 
for disability beneficiaries.
  In the early 1980s, the Social Security program faced a financial 
crisis. President Ronald Reagan appointed the Greenspan Commission to 
study the issues and make recommendations on how to sustain Social 
Security. In 1983, Congress enacted comprehensive changes in Social 
Security coverage, financing, and benefit structure.
  On December 17, 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the ``Ticket to 
Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act,'' which placed greater 
emphasis on assisting beneficiaries in efforts to return to work.
  In 2003, Congress enacted the Medicare Prescription Drug, 
Improvement, and Modernization Act to give seniors extra help in paying 
for prescription medications.
  Throughout the years, Congress passed amendments, added programs, and 
addressed issues with Social Security. Presidents from both parties 
repeatedly acknowledged Social Security's importance.
  President Richard Nixon said, ``This Nation must not break faith with 
those Americans who have a right to expect that Social Security 
payments will protect them and their families.''
  A few years later, President Jimmy Carter said, ``The Social Security 
program represents our commitment as a society to the belief that 
workers should not live in dread that a disability, death or old age 
could leave them or their families destitute.''
  Today, Social Security benefits are essential to the economic 
security of millions of Americans. An estimated 159 million workers, or 
about 94 percent of all workers, are covered under Social Security. 
Social Security is critical, as 52 percent of the workforce has no 
private pension coverage, and 31 percent has no savings set aside for 
retirement.
  In 2009, nearly 51 million Americans received a total of $672 billion 
in Social Security benefits. In Montana, 181,000 of our 975,000 
residents or about 19 percent of all Montanans receive Social Security 
benefits. The payments were modest, with the average retiree receiving 
about $14,000 annually. The average monthly benefit for a disabled 
beneficiary was about $1,060.
  Virginia Reno, vice president for Income Security from the National 
Academy of Social Insurance testified before the Subcommittee on Social 
Security: ``If seniors had to count on only their income other than 
Social Security, almost one out of two would be living in poverty.''
  Social Security is anchored by a promise between generations. But its 
success has been due in large part to the vision and sincerity of its 
creators and the ongoing commitment of its stewards, the public 
trustees, Advisory Board members, Members of Congress and the 
approximately 70,000 employees who work for Social Security. As well, 
we owe a debt to the thousands of dedicated employees who have worked 
for Social Security since its inception. For those that have embodied 
the agency's mission, ``to promote the economic security of the 
nation's people through compassionate and vigilant leadership in 
shaping and managing America's Social Security programs,'' we owe a big 
thank you.
  Social Security's success was not built with the stroke of a pen. 
Social Security did not simply survive for 75 years. Rather, Social 
Security was built by embracing the promise of assisting people through 
life's hazards.
  In a campaign speech in 1944, President Roosevelt said, ``The future 
of America, like its past, must be made by deeds--not words.'' Social 
Security is the embodiment of many good deeds. In times of crisis, over 
and over again, Social Security has risen to the challenge.

[[Page S6863]]

  Fifteen years ago, a bomb in Oklahoma City took the life of fifteen 
Social Security employees, one office volunteer, and 21 office 
visitors. Social Security employees across the country responded to 
help survivors and the families of victims. Employees from around the 
country converged on Oklahoma to assist taking claims, answering 
questions, and providing comfort to the hundreds of victims and their 
families.
  Following the devastation of September 11, 2001, employees in the New 
York region immediately came to the assistance of families of those 
killed in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and at the plane 
crash site in Pennsylvania, so that claims could be taken and paid as 
quickly as possible. Social Security allowed payment of survivors' 
claims with airline manifests or employer records rather than death 
certificates. Within days, Social Security launched a full-scale 
outreach effort to find families of victims and help them apply for 
benefits. A special Web page was set up. Public information spots aired 
on television. And Social Security contacted about 60 consulates to 
ensure that foreign survivors who might be eligible for benefits were 
reached.
  By December 2001, Social Security had taken more than 5,000 disaster-
related claims. Social Security set up Family Assistance Centers at 
Pier 94 in Manhattan and Liberty State Park in New Jersey. The New York 
Regional Commissioner continued to work with the Bureau of Vital 
Statistics to post death certificates for the survivors of victims 
whose bodies had not been recovered.
  Social Security was also one of the first agencies at the Pentagon 
Family Assistance Center in Virginia offering assistance to victims and 
their families. In Pennsylvania, Social Security staff assisted family 
members of victims on applying for benefits.
  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Social Security moved quickly 
to ensure that monthly payments to beneficiaries continued 
uninterrupted. Immediate payment procedures allowed for on-the-spot 
payments if beneficiaries could not get their benefit check. Social 
Security opened a temporary office in the Houston Astrodome, and 
provided service 7 days a week. Social Security employees were on site 
at FEMA's Family Assistance Centers, and many offices offered extended 
hours of service through Labor Day weekend to help evacuees.
  Just recently, in my home State of Montana, in the old city hall 
building next to the Libby Police Department in Lincoln County, eight 
employees from Social Security arrived. They quickly set up a 
processing center to assist the victims of the Environmental Protection 
Agency's first-ever public health emergency. The Social Security 
employees tirelessly answered questions and handled a steady stream of 
claims from applicants diagnosed with asbestos-related disease. Social 
Security's work helping the good people in and around Libby Montana was 
deeply important to me.
  Social Security has been described as the bedrock of our industrial 
society. It has been called the beacon of light for those on life's 
stormy seas. It has been called a pillar of our democracy. Social 
Security offers Americans peace of mind.
  Social Security has lived up to its message. It has stood as a silent 
partner to those in need. It has done all this by sending about 99 
percent of its annual budget back to the people as benefit payments. 
Only about 1 percent of Social Security's budget goes toward 
administrative expenses. The rest fulfills the promise of its mission.
  Social Security can and should work for the next 75 years, and for 
generations beyond that. Now that Social Security is here, now that 
Social Security has proven itself, it is up to all of us to protect and 
maintain it. It is up to us to assure the millions of Americans that 
currently rely on Social Security and the millions more who pay into it 
that Social Security is a promise that we can and will keep.
  In the words of Carl Sandburg, ``In these times you have to be an 
optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning.'' Our 
optimism can be found in the accomplishments of Social Security. I 
celebrate its 75th birthday.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, next week our Nation celebrates the 75th 
anniversary of Social Security, a vital program that has provided 
comfort and security for millions of Americans through the years.
  During my career in the Senate, I have fought to protect Social 
Security benefits for our Arkansas seniors. I believe in the promise 
our government made to working Americans--that if we work hard, Social 
Security will be there to help us in our golden years. Social Security 
has made a healthy and secure retirement possible for tens of millions 
of Americans, including my own mother.
  Since its inception, Social Security has helped provide stability for 
Arkansans who otherwise may not have had an income at all.
  When President Roosevelt signed Social Security into law on August 
14, 1935, he said:

       The civilization of the past hundred years, with its 
     startling industrial changes, has tended more and more to 
     make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what 
     would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a 
     job has wondered how long the job would last. This law, too, 
     represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built 
     but is by no means complete. It is, in short, a law that will 
     take care of human needs and at the same time provide the 
     United States an economic structure of vastly greater 
     soundness.

  More than 600,000 Arkansans are enrolled in Social Security, and I am 
proud of my work on their behalf. Last year, I pushed for relief for 
Arkansas's beneficiaries who would not receive cost-of-living 
adjustments because of the economy. I have consistently opposed 
attempts to privatize Social Security, and I do not support a reduction 
in Social Security's current guaranteed benefits.
  I have met with Arkansans from all four corners of the State to hear 
their concerns about Social Security. I believe that providing adequate 
resources for the Social Security Administration is a crucial first 
step toward strengthening this vital program. As the baby boom 
generation enters retirement, we will be asking more of the Social 
Security Administration's services, and we must work to make certain 
the trust funds are well maintained.
  As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of Social Security, I remain 
committed to protecting Social Security benefits for Arkansans and all 
Americans. I will continue to use my position as the chairman of the 
Senate Subcommittee on Social Security to fight to ensure seniors 
receive the benefits they have earned and deserve.

                          ____________________