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, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and
child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation
laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other
purposes.
Section
1. For the purpose of enabling each State to furnish financial assistance,
as far as practicable under the conditions in such State, to aged needy individuals,
there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1936, the sum of $49,750,000, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated
for each fiscal year thereafter a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of
this title.
Sec. 2.
(a) A State plan for old-age assistance must (1) provide that it shall be in
effect in all political subdivisions of the State, and, if administered by them,
be mandatory upon them; (2) provide for financial participation by the State;
(4) provide for granting to any individual, whose claim for old-age assistance
is denied, an opportunity for a fair hearing before such State agency;
Section 201. (a) There is hereby created an account in the Treasury of
the United States to be known as the "Old-Age Reserve Account" hereinafter
in this title called the "Account". There is hereby authorized
to be appropriated to the Account for each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1937, an amount sufficient as an annual premium to provide
for the payments required under this title, such amount to be determined on
a reserve basis in accordance with accepted actuarial principles, and based
upon such tables of mortality as the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time
to time adopt, and upon an interest rate of 3 per centum per annum compounded
annually. The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit annually to the Bureau
of the Budget an estimate of the appropriations to be made to the Account.
Old-Age Benefit Payments
Sec. 202. (a) Every qualified individual (as defined in section 210) shall
be entitled to receive, with respect to the period beginning on the date he
attains the age of sixty-five, or on January 1, 1942, whichever is the later,
and ending on the date of his death, an old-age benefit (payable as nearly as
practicable in equal monthly installments) as follows:
(1) If the total wages (as defined in section 210) determined by the Board
to have been paid to him, with respect to employment (as defined in section
210) after December 31, 1936, and before he attained the age of sixty-five,
were not more than $3,000, the old-age benefit shall be at a monthly rate of
one-half of 1 per centum of such total wages;
(2) If such total wages have more than $3,000, the old-age benefit shall
be at a monthly rate equal to the sum of the following:
(A) One-half of 1 per centum of $3,000; plus
(B) One-twelfth of 1 per centum of the amount of which such total wages
exceeded $3,000 and did not exceed $45,000; plus
(C) One-twenty-fourth of 1 per centum of the amount by which such total
wages exceeded $45,000
(b) In no case shall the monthly rate computed under subsection (a) exceed
$85.
(c) If the Board finds at any time that more or less than the correct
amount has theretofore been paid to any individual under this section, then,
under regulations made by the Board, proper adjustments shall be made in connection
with subsequent payments under this section of the same individual.
(d) Whenever the Board finds that any qualified individual has received
wages with respect to regular employment after he attained the age of sixty-five,
the old-age benefit payable to such individual shall be reduced, for each calendar
month in any part of which such regular employment occurred, by an amount equal
to one month's benefit. Such reduction shall be made, under regulations
prescribed by the Board, by deductions from one or more payments of old-age
benefit to such individual.
Payments to Aged Individuals not Qualified for Benefits
Sec. 204. (a) There shall be paid in a lump sum to any individual who,
upon attaining the age of sixty-five, is not a qualified individual, an amount
equal to 3 1/2 per centum of the total wages determined by the Board to have
been paid to him, with respect to employment after December 31, 1936, and before
he attained the age of sixty-five.