Today, Social Security is an independent agency, which is exactly how it began back in 1935 when it was established, but over the years Social Security has gone from an independent agency to a sub-cabinet level agency and back to an independent agency. Below is some history from Social Security about how the agency had evolved over the years.
Independence For SSA
The Social Security Board (SSB) began its life in 1935 as one of the federal government’s “independent agencies.” This means that it was not part of a larger cabinet-level organization. In 1939 this status changed when the SSB became part of the new cabinet-level Federal Security Agency. Ultimately, the Social Security Board became the Social Security Administration and it would finally become an operating component of the Department of Health & Human Services. (See SSA Organizational History.)
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there was growing bipartisan support for removing SSA from under its departmental umbrella and establishing it as an independent agency. Finally, in 1994 the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-296) was passed unanimously by Congress and, in a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, on August 14, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the act into law.
Many people may have always thought Social Security to be an independent agency because it has been for nearly the last 25 years, but between 1939 and 1995 (56 years) Social Security was not independent. The argument from legislators in returning Social Security to independent status back in 1995 was that it would make Social Security more accessible, more responsive and more efficient. Whether or not a sub-level cabinet agency, or an independent agency, Social Security has endured and remains the most important social program in the country’s existence.
