[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15784-15785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ROBERT M. BALL FEDERAL BUILDING

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend 
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5773) to designate the Federal 
building located at 6401 Security Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, as 
the ``Robert M. Ball Federal Building,'' as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5773

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The Federal building located at 6401 Security Boulevard in 
     Baltimore, Maryland, commonly known as the Social Security 
     Administration Operations Building, shall be known and 
     designated as the ``Robert M. Ball Federal Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference to 
     the ``Robert M. Ball Federal Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Mario Diaz-Balart) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise 
and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 
5773.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 
such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5773, as amended, 
which designates the Social Security Operations Building located at 
6401 Security Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, as the Robert M. Ball 
Federal Building.
  Commissioner Ball was often described in press accounts as not only 
the longest serving Social Security Commissioner, but also as chief 
advocate and defender through the years. Commissioner Ball started with 
the Social Security Administration as a field assistant in 1939 in New 
Jersey for the Social Security Administration, eventually becoming the 
Social Security Administrator from 1962 to 1973.
  After Commissioner Ball left the Social Security Administration, he 
continued to have an outsized role in shaping the program. In 1981, he 
served as a member of the National Commission on Social Security 
Reform, arguing for a mix of tax increases and benefit cuts to maintain 
the viability of Social Security. Commissioner Ball was an outspoken 
opponent of any attempts to dismantle Social Security or to privatize 
Social Security. Commissioner Robert M. Ball died January 29, 2008.
  Given Commissioner Ball's exceptional public service and dedication 
to the Social Security Administration, it is fitting to honor him by 
naming the Operations Facility of the Social Security Administration 
located at 6401 Security Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, as the 
Robert M. Ball Federal Building. I urge support of my colleagues.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Ball served as Commissioner of Social Security 
during the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations, and even in 
1981, he served on the Greenspan Commission that was created by 
President Reagan to examine the Social Security system. So I think it 
speaks obviously very well for him; his expertise was tapped by both 
Republicans and Democratic administrations. It seems fitting, Madam 
Speaker, that we name a Social Security building after him in 
recognition for his dedication to that agency.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy).
  Mr. POMEROY. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, normally I don't come to the floor to add to a 
building naming that's flying through, but I want to put into the 
Record my thoughts about Bob Ball, one of the most remarkable people I 
have ever met. And there is no one I have met whose public sector 
contribution I admire more. Naming this building on the campus of 
Social Security, a building that has so much of the daily delivery of 
the Social Security benefit to the American people, having this 
building carry his name is just so utterly appropriate.
  Bob Ball, through his entire service, had a clear vision of Social 
Security. It comes down to simply this: If all of us protected each of 
us, the lives of tens of millions would be improved and our country 
would be stronger as a result.
  He was the most influential proponent of social insurance our country 
has ever had. He was a leading thinker, a gifted administrator, a 
skilled political operative, an irresistible advocate, an exceptional 
teacher, and I can tell you personally he was a very wise mentor.
  Of all of his remarkable abilities and traits, perhaps the one we 
will remember most was his dogged persistence. He stayed on task and 
made valuable contributions to Social Security through six decades of 
service. Bob knew what his mission was and he never wavered in pursuit 
of it. By the time he resigned as Administrator of Social Security, he 
had literally worked at the agency for 37 years. He was the longest 
tenured administrator serving under three different Presidents of two 
political parties.
  Now, when he retired after 37 years, you might think, well, there he 
goes riding off into the sunset, job well done. Well, Bob indicated 
another inclination. In fact, he wrote in his letter of resignation to 
President Nixon, ``I will continue to be available for whatever help I 
can give promoting the sound development and sound administration of 
this important program.''
  As the preceding speaker said already, he served on the committee 
that ultimately worked the long-term solvency package for Social 
Security out in 1983, and he continued to work right until his final 
days--at the ripe age of 93--on advancing this notion of Social 
Security for the American people.
  There is nobody I can think of more deserving of the perpetuating 
honor memorializing his life and his work than Bob Ball, and I am just 
delighted with this resolution and urge Members' support.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5773, as 
amended, which names the operations building on the Social Security 
Woodlawn campus in Baltimore, Maryland, as the ``Robert M. Ball Federal 
Building'', after former Social Security Administrator, Robert M. Ball.
  Robert M. Ball dedicated his professional life to Social Security and 
its beneficiaries, serving as Commissioner of Social Security

[[Page 15785]]

from 1962 to 1973, spanning the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon 
administrations. During his tenure in a variety of senior executive 
positions at the Social Security Administration, both the disability 
program and Medicare were enacted into law, and Commissioner Ball 
played a significant role in creating, securing enactment of, and 
implementing both of these landmark pieces of legislation.
  Commissioner Ball, after retiring from public service in 1972, 
remained active and engaged in social security issues and policy. In 
1981-83, he served on the Commission on Social Security Reform. Mr. 
Ball was instrumental in working out a compromise among Commission 
members, that led to the Social Security Act Amendments of 1983, which 
restored solvency to the Social Security Trust Fund. These amendments 
remain the most substantive changes to the social security system in 
the last 30 years.
  Recognizing the contributions of Robert M. Ball to the Social 
Security system by naming the Operations Building at the Social 
Security Woodlawn campus is a fitting and apt tribute to this public 
servant who one historian describes as ``the major non-Congressional 
player in the history of Social Security in the period between 1950 and 
the present.''
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5773.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I introduced H.R. 5773 to name the 
Social Security Operations Building in Baltimore in honor of Robert 
``Bob'' Ball, a man who dedicated his career to defending and 
strengthening Social Security and who helped to expand the safety net 
for our Nation's seniors by supporting the creation of Medicare.
  Mr. Ball's legacy of service makes it truly fitting that we designate 
the Social Security Operations Building located at 6401 Security 
Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, as the ``Robert M. Ball Federal 
Building.''
  Mr. Ball helped build Social Security from the ground up.
  In 1939, he started working for the newly formed Social Security 
Board as a field assistant in Newark, New Jersey.
  His experiences in the field demonstrated to him that Social Security 
was meant to be a contract between the generations enacted to ensure 
that retired seniors could avoid poverty in their later years. Mr. 
Ball's dedication to this basic principle guided all of his future 
work.
  In 1949, Mr. Ball was appointed assistant director of the Bureau of 
Old Age and Survivors Insurance. He was subsequently promoted to deputy 
director and then acting director.
  Through these positions, he developed a deep technical expertise in 
Social Security, learned how Congress works, and developed the 
relationships with Members of Congress that would enable him to serve 
as a valued technical resource for decades.
  During his tenure, Mr. Ball assisted Congress members in developing 
the policies that have been essential to ensuring Social Security 
programs are run responsibly and effectively.
  For example, Bob Ball was the architect of the 1950 amendments 
raising Social Security benefits and expanding coverage to more 
Americans, including such groups as the self-employed, and making it 
easier for these groups to begin to qualify for benefits.
  Ball helped draft the legislation establishing Social Security 
disability benefits in 1956 and helped Members secure its passage even 
though the Eisenhower administration opposed this change.
  In 1957, Ball helped Representative Aime Forand draft a bill that was 
essentially the forerunner of the legislation that created Medicare. 
Ball continued to advocate for health insurance for seniors from that 
time until Medicare's eventual passage in 1965.
  For this and his subsequent work supporting the implementation of the 
Medicare program, he is also known as the father of Medicare.
  President John F. Kennedy appointed Robert M. Ball as commissioner of 
Social Security in 1962. Mr. Ball served in this post until 1973--
longer than anyone else prior or since.
  During his service as commissioner, Mr. Ball helped develop the 1972 
amendments that linked benefits to inflation, ensuring that Social 
Security would never fail to meet basic needs.
  Robert M. Ball continued to serve Social Security beneficiaries even 
after leaving government employment through his service on several 
federal commissions, including the Greenspan Commission in 1983, where 
he helped broker a compromise that averted a financial crisis and 
brought decades of financial stability to the Social Security trust 
fund.
  Robert Ball was described by American Scholar magazine in 2005 as 
Social Security's ``biggest thinker, longest-serving commissioner and 
undisputed spiritual leader'' and as ``Social Security's chief advocate 
and defender.''
  I cannot imagine a better tribute to a man who dedicated his life to 
the health and welfare of others than that his name be permanently 
attached to the building where Social Security operates.
  As I close, I thank my colleagues from Maryland who have co-sponsored 
this legislation as well as Chairman Oberstar, Ranking Member Mica, and 
my colleagues in the Transportation and Infrastructure committee for 
working with me to move this legislation.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I have no further 
requests for time, I simply ask for support of the bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5773, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``A bill to designate the 
Federal building located at 6401 Security Boulevard in Baltimore, 
Maryland, commonly known Social Security Administration Operations 
Building, as the `Robert M. Ball Federal Building'.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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