Social Security Improvements

Report Outline
Proposals to Improve Social Security
Social Security in the United States
Policy Questions in Social Security
Special Focus

Proposals to Improve Social Security

Increased benefits under the Social Security program will be among the first proposals considered by the 90th Congress after it convenes on Jan. 10, 1967. President Johnson has indicated on several occasions that he plans to seek improvements in the benefits for retired persons and other beneficiaries under the program. Republican leaders recently served notice that the G.O.P. minority in Congress, strengthened by the results of last November's elections, will launch its own drive for improvements which in some respects will go beyond the Johnson proposals. Among goals Republicans will press for, Rep. Melvin R. Laird (R Wis.) said Nov. 28, is a cost-of-living escalator clause to increase benefit payments automatically whenever the cost of living goes up by a significant amount.

Tying the benefit levels to the cost of living appears almost certain to be opposed by the administration, which has fought inclusion of such clauses in recent union contracts. Instead, President Johnson has proposed a minimum increase of 10 per cent in the benefits for retired persons and has suggested other improvements.

President Johnson's Four-Point Proposal

The administration's proposals have not been made public in detail, but the President gave a general outline of his plans Oct. 12, 1966, in a speech outside the headquarters of the Social Security Administration in Baltimore. In a reminiscent mood, he told the crowd of 30,000 of the “battle royal” he had witnessed on Capitol Hill when the original Social Security legislation was adopted in 1935. Despite the victory won then and the gains made in the three decades since then, President Johnson said the job of insuring a decent and dignified life for all citizens was still “unfinished business.”