Oversight of the Social Security Program

This research examines the oversight of the social security program by the Congress during the Reagan Administration. The principal questions addressed through the conduct of this research are as follows: (1) What motivated the Congressional oversight of the social security program? (2) What were the principal information sources upon which the Congressional oversight committees relied? (2) What was the impact of the oversight effort? and (3) How was the Congressional oversight effort received by the relevant constituency groups?

Within the context of government, oversight refers to watchful and responsible care (Jones and Barrett, 1992, p. 24). With respect to Congressional oversight, it is the responsibility of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to review, investigate, and evaluate on a continuing basis how well the laws, program, policies, and activities of government are conducted, and to determine on the basis of this oversight what changes are require (Jones and Barrett, 1992, p. 24). Congress is expected to perform a continual oversight on an informal basis. In specific instances, however, formal oversight processes are established. The legislatively-mandated review of the activities of the Federal Reserve System and the Central Intelligence Agency are examples of formal Congressional oversight. Much of the more or less ro

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ributions. The broader view of social security is something quite different from this narrow view. Social security was created in 1935 as a retirement plan for American workers to be administered by the federal government. Hence, the monies paid into the social security system are to be placed into trust for the future benefit of the worker contributors to the system. The federal government, in the form of the Social Security Commission, is the trustee charged with managing the trust funds in such a way that the principal is protected while earning interest on safe investments. Under this original concept, the Social Security Commission, as trustee could exercise discretion in investing the trust funds to the greatest benefit of the contributors. Even under the revised investment requirements, however, contributions to the social security system retain the legal status of trust funds. What is now absent from the perspective of the worker contributors to the system is an assurance of maximum investment integrity. Adding A Means Test The full retirement process does not occur at one fell swoop for most individuals in the United States. The estimate is that the income reduction process connected with reti
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Approximate Word count = 4359
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page)

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