THIS MONTH IN SOCIAL SECURITY HISTORY

October 1, 1935 The existence of the Committee on Economic Security terminated when the Social Security Board came into operation as the permanent agency to administer the legislation of the Social Security Act. The Board was located in Room 6111, Department of Labor Building, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, Washington, D.C., Telephone Number District 6-450.

October 14, 1936 The first field office was opened at Austin, Texas.

October 21, 1940 The Appeals Council of the Social Security Board, after reviewing an appealed referee decision relating to a claim for old-age and survivors benefits, handed down its first decision.

October 24, 1957 Marion B. Folsom, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, announced the appointment of a twelve-man Advisory Council to review the long range financial position of the Social Security system.

October 5, 1961 President Kennedy signed into law Public Law 87-397, a law designed to cut down on tax cheating by assigning a tax identity number to every taxpayer. The Social Security identification number would be used as the tax identity number, and those persons without Social Security numbers would be assigned a tax number by the Internal Revenue Service.

October 12, 1966 President Johnson visited the Social Security Administration's headquarters to participate in the 15th Annual Honor Awards Ceremony.

October 16, 1972 Arthur J. Altmeyer, Social Security's first Commissioner, died.

October 30, 1972 President Nixon signed the Social Security Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-603). The law liberalized several of the cash benefit provisions, made substantial changes in Medicare, revised the contribution schedule, amended some coverage provisions, and established a new Federal security income program for the needy aged, blind and disabled (the SSI program).

October 9, 1984 Disability Benefits Reform Act of 1984 signed into law.

October 22, 1986 President Reagan signed into law the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Among its provisions, the law required that every dependent age 5 or older listed on a tax return had to have their own Social Security number. This new requirement doubled SSA's enumeration workload in the following year.

October 1, 1988 Nationwide 800 number service implemented.

October 31, 1997 At the stroke of midnight, 325 Connecticut residents became the first in the nation to lose their welfare benefits under the time limits of the "welfare reform" legislation enacted in 1996. The 1996 law placed a time-limit of 60 months on lifetime welfare benefits, with the provision that States could set shorter limits, and the States were given some flexibility in defining when their limits would take effect. For various reasons, Connecticut's 21-month time limit became the first in the nation to actually take effect, resulting in the termination of benefits to this group of former welfare recipients.

October 28, 1998 The President signed the Noncitizen Benefit Clarification and Other Technical Amendments Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-306). This bill, among other provisions, restores SSI eligibility to certain groups of non-citizen beneficiaries who would otherwise have lost their SSI eligibility under the provisions of the 1996 welfare reform legislation.

October 27, 1998 As part of the national discussion on Social Security, the President hosted a roundtable discussion on women and retirement security at the White House on October 27. The White House released a paper, Women and Retirement Security at this event which details some basic facts on women and retirement, including the importance of Social Security

October 1, 1999 SSA began mailing 125 million Social Security Statements to all workers 25 years of age or older. Statements will now be sent on an annual basis.

October 19, 1999 Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 2.4 percent in 2000, Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security announced.

October 3, 2000 Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security, announced today that at the end of his term in January, 2001, he will leave his cabinet level position to join the faculty of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

October 12, 2000 The Social Security Administration unveiled two more features designed to help workers with their financial planning. First, the expansion of its online Benefits Planner, the electronic service on SSA's Internet site - www.ssa.gov - which allows workers to compute customized estimates of future Social Security benefits online, to include important information on disability and survivors benefits. Also beginning this month, workers age 55 years and older will receive a special insert in their annual Social Security Statement. The insert provides important information on retirement options that workers need to consider as they approach retirement age.

October 19, 2001 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to more than 50 million Americans will increase 2.6 percent in 2002, Larry G. Massanari, Acting Commissioner of Social Security announced today.

October 22, 2001 The Social Security Administration announced today, that Spanish language customers may apply for Social Security retirement or survivors benefits immediately when they call the Social Security Administration's national toll-free 800 number (800-772-1213).

October 16, 2002 Jo Anne Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security, announced several new initiatives to assist people with disabilities who want to go to work. The initiatives include the Disability Program Navigator, a new position formed jointly with the Department of Labor, and "Ticket to Hire," a specialized referral network linking employers to job-seekers with disabilities. Also announced was a new website--www.disabilityinfo.gov--an online resource for Americans with disabilities.

October 18, 2002 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to more than 50 million Americans will increase 1.4 percent in 2003, Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security announced today.

October 1, 2003 SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart unveiled an historical marker on Baltimore's Candler Building to commemorate the building as the site of SSA's first operational headquarters. SSA occupied the building on Baltimore's Inner Harbor from October 1936 until January 1960.

October 2, 2003 Sylvester J. Schieber was appointed as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board for a six-year term.

Ocotober 16, 2003 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 51 million Americans will increase 2.1 percent in 2004, the Social Security Administration announced today.

October 19, 2004 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 52 million Americans will increase 2.7 percent in 2005, the Social Security Administration announced.

October 14, 2005 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 52 million Americans will increase 4.1 percent in 2006, the Social Security Administration announced.

October 18, 2006 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 53 million Americans will increase 3.3 percent in 2007, the Social Security Administration announced today.

October 15, 2007 At an event hosted by Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, the nation's first Baby Boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, today filed for her Social Security retirement benefits online at www.socialsecurity.gov.  Ms. Casey-Kirschling, who was born one second after midnight on January 1, 1946, will be eligible for benefits beginning January 2008.

October 17, 2007 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 54 million Americans will increase 2.3 percent in 2008, the Social Security Administration announced today.

October 22, 2007 Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the Social Security Administration published new rules that update its medical listings for people filing for disability benefits based on digestive disorders, including diseases of the liver, stomach and colon. 

October 16, 2008 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 55 million Americans will increase 5.8 percent in 2009, the Social Security Administration announced today.  The 5.8 percent increase is the largest since 1982.

October 27, 2008 Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced the national rollout of the agency’s Compassionate Allowances initiative, a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s standards.

October 15, 2009 SSA announced that there would be no COLA in 2010, for the first time since the automatic COLA provisions became effective in 1975.

October 15, 2010 Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 58 million Americans will not automatically increase in 2011, the Social Security Administration announced.

October 26, 2010 Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, joined Congressman John Tanner and local officials at a groundbreaking ceremony for the agency’s new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee.