DU may have to TS me - I agree 100% with this Republican talking point

[hay rick]

45. Eisenhower and Social Security.

The Social Security Online History has a page devoted to Eisenhower's statements on Social Security. Link: http://www.ssa.gov/history///ikestmts.html

Excerpts:

1. SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS TRANSMITTING PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM--AUGUST 1, 1953

In my message to the Congress on the State of the Union, I pointed out that there is urgent need for making our social security programs more effective.

I stated that the provisions of the Old Age and Survivor's Insurance law should cover millions of our citizens who thus far have been excluded from participation in the social security program.
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Under the attached plan, approximately 10 1/2 million individuals would be offered social security protection for the first time. About 6 1/2 million of these would be brought into the system; the remaining 4 million would be eligible for coverage under voluntary group arrangements. New groups to be covered would include self-employed farmers; many more farm workers and domestic workers than are now covered; doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, accounts and other professional people; members of many state and local retirement systems on a voluntary group basis; clergymen on a voluntary group basis and several other smaller groups.
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There are two points about these proposals which I cannot stress too strongly. One is my belief that they would add immeasurably to the peace of mind and security of the individual citizens who would be covered for the first time under this plan; the second is my belief that they would add greatly to the national sense of domestic security.

4. STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT UPON SIGNING THE SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1954. SEPTEMBER 1, 1954

I am very happy to sign the Social Security Amendments of 1954.

By enabling some 10,000,000 more Americans to participate in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Program, it gives them an opportunity to establish a solid foundation of economic security for themselves and their families.

Beyond broadening the coverage of this program, this new law contains four other important provisions:

First, it raises payments to all retired workers by at least five dollars a month. It also raises--by $13.50 a month for retired workers and by $31.25 a month for families--the ceiling on payments to people now receiving monthly checks. People becoming eligible in the future will also receive higher payments, including increases that result from raising from $3,600 to $4,200 the maximum wage base from which the amount of their benefit checks is determined.

Second, the law eliminates the four or five lowest years of earnings from the computation of the OASI checks of workers who retire in the future. This provision is of great importance to many people whose years of unusually low earnings--for reasons of unemployment, illness, or otherwise--would sharply reduce their benefits.

Third, all retired workers under the program are permitted to earn more without forfeiting OASI checks. The amount of exempt earnings is increased to $1,200 a year, and this annual exemption is applied equally to wage earners and self-employed workers.

Fourth, the Act preserves the benefits rights, under Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, of those workers regularly covered under the program who become totally disabled for long and indefinite periods.

This new law is an important part of the broad program of the Administration and the 83d Congress to improve the well-being of our people. In the past month I have signed into law a number of other Acts directly affecting the human problems of each family in the land. These include:

1. More hospitals and nursing homes for persons who are chronically ill, special medical facilities for people not requiring hospitalization, and rehabilitation facilities for disabled people.

2. A start toward increasing from 60,000 to 200,000 by 1959, the number of disabled people rehabilitated each year.

3. Three Acts helping the States and local communities meet the nation's educational problems.

4. Help to provide and improved housing, to prevent and eliminate slums, and to conserve and develop urban communities.

5. Extension of the unemployment insurance program to almost 4,000,000 more workers.

These Acts and the Social Security amendments I have approved today will bolster the health and economic Security of the American people. They represent one of the cornerstones of our program to build a better and stronger America.

5. SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS ON OLD AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE AND ON FEDERAL GRANTS-IN-AID FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. JANUARY 14, 1954

3. OASI Benefits Should Be Increased.

Today, thousands of OASI beneficiaries receive the minimum benefit of twenty-five dollars a month. The average individual benefit for retired workers approximates fifty dollars a month. The maximum benefit for an individual is $85 a month. For OASI to fulfill its purpose of helping to combat destitution, these benefits are too low.

I recommend, therefore, that benefits now being received by retired workers be increased on the basis of a new formula to be submitted to the appropriate Committees by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. This formula should also provide increases for workers retiring in the future, raising both the minimum and the maximum benefits. These increases will further the objectives of the program and will strengthen the foundation on which its participants may build their own security.
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6. The Benefit Rights of the Disabled Should Be Protected. One of the injustices in the present law is its failure to make secure the benefit rights of the worker who his a substantial work record in covered employment and who becomes totally disabled. If his disability lasts four years or less, my preceding recommendation will alleviate this hardship. But if a worker's earnings and contributions cease for a longer period, his retirement rights, and the survivor rights of his widow and children may be reduced or even lost altogether. Equity dictates that this defect be remedied. I recommend, therefore, that the benefits of a worker who has a substantial work record in covered employment and who becomes totally disabled for an extended period be maintained at the amount he would have received had he become 65 and retired on the date his disability began.

6. STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT UPON SIGNING THE SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1956. AUGUST 1, 1956

The new law also contains certain major provisions which were recommended by the Administration. It extends social security coverage to about 600,000 additional farm owners or operators and about 225,000 self-employed lawyers, dentists, and others.

Eisenhower's Presidency included the establishment of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan and the establishment and extension of disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.