Social Security Act

Social Security Act of 1935

Other short titles	Social Security Act
Long title	An Act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes.
Nicknames	SSA
Enacted by	the 74th United States Congress
Citations
Statutes at Large	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 74–271, 49 Stat. 620, enacted August 14, 1935
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	42 U.S.C. ch. 7
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 7260 by Robert L. Doughton (D–NC) on April 4, 1935 Committee consideration by House Ways and Means Passed the House on April 19, 1935 (372–33) Passed the Senate on June 19, 1935 (77–6) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935
Major amendments
Social Security Amendments of 1965 Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999
United States Supreme Court cases
Steward Machine Company v. Davis Helvering v. Davis

The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt's New Deal domestic program.

By 1930 the United States was the only modern industrial country without any national system of social security. In the midst of the Great Depression, the physician Francis Townsend galvanized support behind a proposal to issue direct payments to the elderly. Responding to that movement, Roosevelt organized a committee led by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins to develop a major social welfare program proposal. Roosevelt presented the plan in early 1935 and signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. The act was upheld by the Supreme Court in two major cases decided in 1937.

The law established the Social Security program. The old-age program is funded by payroll taxes, and over the ensuing decades, it contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty among the elderly, and spending on Social Security became a major part of the federal budget. The Social Security Act also established an unemployment insurance program administered by the states and the Aid to Dependent Children program, which provided aid to families headed by single mothers. The law was later amended by acts such as the Social Security Amendments of 1965, which established two major healthcare programs: Medicare and Medicaid.