Abstract

Social Security in a Hurry

The new program for social security is now under consideration by a special committee which will report to the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt late in the autumn. Once the program is defined and the federal bills are drafted, there begins the strangest race against time in the history of social legislation. The U.S. Congress meets in January, in the same month begin the sessions of nearly all the State legislatures in America, some of them lasting only sixty days. Most of these legislatures will not meet again until 1937, after the next Presidential election. There can be no new insurance system in this country without the cooperation of the State legislatures if for no other reason than that the Democratic platform commits the President to unemployment and old-age insurance under State laws. The federal bills will only lay the foundation of an insurance system, which must be built upon by the States themselves.