September 14, 1935 First meeting of the
members of the Social Security Board.
September 25, 1936 The Post Office agreed
to help with enumeration for old-age benefits. (One source puts the
date as September 15.)
September 30, 1936 John G. Winant resigned
as Chairman of the Social Security Board. (On the 28th he tendered his
resignation; on the 30th President Roosevelt accepted it.)
September 1938 All 51 jurisdictions were
making old age assistance payments under the Social Security Act.
September 10, 1942 The Inter-American Conference
on Social Security opened in Santiago, Chile, under auspices of the
Chilean government, with the Chairman of the Social Security Board,
Arthur J. Altmeyer, as Chairman of the United States delegation. A permanent
Inter-American Committee on Social Security was created.
September 28, 1947 A seventeen-member Advisory
Council on Social Security was appointed by the Senate Committee on
Finance to study proposals for expanding the Social Security program
and to review the status of the Social Security Trust Funds.
September 1, 1954 The Social Security
Act was amended to extend old-age and survivors insurance coverage to
self-employed farmers, self-employed members of specified professions,
additional farm and domestic employees; on a voluntary group basis to
members of State and local Government retirement systems; and through
election by individual ministers and members of religious orders, and
protected the benefit rights of disabled persons through a disability
freeze provision.
September 1958 Benefits became payable
to Disability Insurance Benefit dependents.
September 13, 1960 The Social Security
Amendments of 1960 were enacted. The new law provided increased Federal
grants to States for medical care programs for aged people getting old-age
assistance if the increase was spent on vendor medical payments. In
addition, a new program (commonly referred to as "Kerr-Mills")
of Federal grants to States for vendor medical care programs for aged
people not on public assistance but unable to pay for needed medical
services was provided. Old-age and survivors' insurance was amended
to provide disability insurance benefits to disabled workers of all
ages and to their dependents; the retirement test was liberalized, as
well as were eligibility requirements.
September 1, 1965 Benefits were made payable
to a divorced wife (married 20 years) and to dependents.
September 1965 Reduced benefits were made
payable to a widow at age 60.
September 1997 SSA issued a report, Options
for Enhancing the Social Security Card. The report was requested by
Congress in the welfare and immigration reform laws (P.L. 104-193 and
P.L. 104-208, respectively) passed in 1996.
September 30, 1999 Commissioner Apfel announced
that the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign was selected to
participate in the Social Security Administration's Disability Research
Institute. The Five-year program will provide $1.25 million in funding
to the university in the first year.
September 14, 2000 SSA launched its year
2000 "Computers for Kids" campaign by donating 6,000 computers
to Baltimore, MD city schools. The Commissioner announced that SSA would
donate over 30,000 computers and equipment to public schools and educationally-related
non-profit institutions nationwide during the next five months in conjunction
with President Clinton's Digital Divide Initiative.
September 11, 2001 Terrorists attack the
Pentagon and the World Trade Centers in New York City. SSA facilities
around the country are closed as a precaution.
September 30, 2002 SSA announced its new
"eVital" project will provide immediate online verification
of birth and death information--eliminating the need for the public
to obtain and provide this documentation when filing a benefit claim
or conducting other Social Security business. The project, starting
in Colorado and scheduled to expand to seven additional states in the
coming weeks, allows SSA employees to verify state birth and death information
online, through a data exchange with the state agencies.
September 25, 2003 At a hearing before
the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, Commissioner
Barnhart presented an approach to improving the disability determination
process that would shorten decision times, pay benefits to people who
are obviously disabled much earlier in the process and test new incentives
for those with disabilities who wish to remain in, or return to, the
workforce.
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