Resisting a Right to Relief: States, Responsible Relative Laws, and Old Age Assistance

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Stein-Roggenbuck
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Adult Children ◽  
Public Assistance ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Eligibility Requirement

Abstract:Efforts to modernize public assistance via the Social Security Act of 1935 met significant opposition from states. One manifestation of that resistance was state responsible relative laws in the Old Age Assistance program. Responsible relative laws enforced support by adult children as an eligibility requirement; applicants with children deemed able to provide support were either denied aid, or the grant awarded was reduced. These laws are an example of parent dependency policies that sought to enforce or encourage family members, particularly adult children, to support parents in need. States sought to ensure that all financial resources were exhausted before public funds were spent on OAA. Responsible relative laws were an arena of public assistance that remained under state discretion, and many states used them to control costs and contest federal efforts to modernize relief programs and limit state and local authority.

Male Retirement Behavior in the United States, 1930–1950

1991 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald O. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Pension ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Retirement Behavior ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
Social Security Act

Explanations for the recent decline in the labor force attachment of males 65 years of age and older include the introduction of Old Age and Survivors Insurance and the growth in private pension programs. Neither hypothesis can explain the sizable decline that occurred between 1930 and 1950, when aggregate social security and private pension payments were small. Estimates from pooled state aggregate data indicate that the means-tested Old Age Assistance program established by the Social Security Act of 1935 significantly increased retirement activity in this period, particularly among low-income individuals.

A New Deal for the Alien

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cybelle Fox
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Assistance Programs ◽  
Aid To Dependent Children ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disparate Treatment ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
European Immigrants

This chapter focuses on the Social Security Act and the disparate treatment of blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants in the administration of Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Aid to Dependent Children, and Old Age Assistance. Though framed as legislation that would help the “average citizen,” scholars have shown that the Social Security Act in fact excluded the vast majority of blacks from the most generous social insurance programs, relegating them to meager, decentralized, and demeaning means-tested programs. European immigrants, by contrast, benefited from many of the provisions of the Social Security Act, and in at least some respects, they benefited more than even native-born whites. The net result of these policies was that blacks were disproportionately shunted into categorical assistance programs with low benefit levels, European immigrants were disproportionately covered under social insurance regardless of citizenship, and Mexicans were often shut out altogether.

Analysis of the Social Security System: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, July 24 and 25, November 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, and 27, 1953.A Report to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, on Extension of Old Age and Survivors Insurance to Additional Groups of Current Workers. Consultants on Social SecurityOld Age and Survivors Insurance System and the Federal Grants-in-Aid Programs for Public Assistance: Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Recommendations Relating to the Old Age and Survivors Insurance System and the Federal Grant-in-Aid Programs for Public Assistance, January 14, 1954.Social Security Act Amendments of 1954: Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means Pursuant to H.R. 7199, a Bill To Amend the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code so as To Extend Coverage under the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Program . . . , April 1-15, 1954.Social Security Amendments of 1954: Report of the Committee on Ways and Means To Accompany H.R. 9366, a Bill To Amend the Social Security Act . . . , May 28, 1954.Social Security Amendments of 1954: Hearings before the Committee on Finance on H.R. 9366, an Act To Amend the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code so as To Extend Coverage under the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Program . . . , June 24, 28, 29, 30, July 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1954.

1954 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-367
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Public Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance System ◽  
Internal Revenue ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
Aid Programs

Save Our Senior Noncitizens: Extending Old Age Assistance to Immigrants in the United States, 1935–71

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Cybelle Fox
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Old Age ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Secure Access ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
Social Security Act

Abstract When do states grant social rights to noncitizens? I explore this question by examining the extension of Old Age Assistance (OAA) to noncitizens after the passage of the 1935 Social Security Act. While the act contained no alienage-based restrictions, states were permitted to bar noncitizens from means-tested programs. In 1939, 31 states had alienage restrictions for OAA. By 1971, when the Supreme Court declared state-level alienage restrictions unconstitutional, only eight states still did. States with more Mexicans and Asians were slower to repeal restriction, however. Using in-depth case studies of New York, California, and Texas, I demonstrate the importance of federal and state institutional arrangements and immigrant political power for the extension of social rights to noncitizens. I also show that to secure access to OAA, immigrant advocates adapted their strategies to match the institutional and political context.

The Social Security Program of the United States

1936 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Social Security Program ◽  
Unemployment Compensation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
State Unemployment

The Federal Social Security Act, which may be regarded as the central core of the social security program, is an omnibus act, containing the following features: (1) a national, compulsory oldage insurance plan, covering all employees except certain exempted groups; (2) two measures designed to stimulate the states to enact state unemployment compensation laws, namely, (a) a uniform nation-wide tax upon employers, against which a credit is allowable for contributions made to approved state unemployment compensation plans, and (b) subsidies to the states to cover the administrative costs of unemployment compensation; and (3) grants-in-aid to the states for old-age assistance, pensions for the blind, aid to dependent children, child welfare, maternal and child health, vocational rehabilitation, and public health activities. It is estimated that each of the two forms of social insurance will apply to about 25,000,000 wage-earners, and, when the maximum rates become effective in 1949, will involve annual contributions of nearly $3,000,000,000. This amount is approximately equal to the normal annual expenditure of the federal government prior to 1930. In addition, the grants-in-aid to the states were estimated by the actuaries of the President's Committee on Economic Security to reach a total of a half-billion dollars annually within a few years.History of the Federal ActWhen, in a message to Congress on June 8, 1934, the President indicated that he would submit a program of social insurance for consideration at the following session, the Wagner-Lewis unemployment insurance bill and the Dill-Connery old-age assistance bill were pending. Shortly afterwards, the President, by executive order, created the Committee on Economic Security, consisting of the Secretaries of Labor (chairman), Treasury, and Agriculture, the Attorney-General, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator. This committee appointed Professor Edwin E. Witte, of the University of Wisconsin, as executive director, and proceeded to build up a staff of actuaries and experts to study the whole problem of economic insecurity, and to prepare recommendations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document