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Social Security Act

American  

noun

U.S. Government.
  1. a law passed in 1935 providing old-age retirement insurance, a federal-state program of unemployment compensation, and federal grants for state welfare programs.


Example Sentences

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When he signed the Social Security Act in 1935, then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said the program was to provide “at least some measure of protection to the average citizen and his family…against poverty-ridden old age.”

From Barron's May 8, 2026

This requirement to invest surpluses in U.S. government obligations dates back to the 1935 Social Security Act.

From MarketWatch May 2, 2026

Another example is federal unemployment insurance, which was adopted in the 1935 Social Security Act and significantly expanded over the ensuing decades.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 5, 2026

He claimed to have reviewed the 1935 congressional hearings on the pending Social Security Act and “never found the word ‘retirement’ in any of the early beginnings of the construction of Social Security.”

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 19, 2025

Except perhaps for the Social Security Act, it is the most far- reaching, the most far-sighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country.

From The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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