| Year | Pres. | House | Senate | Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | R | R | R | |||
| 1904 | R | R | R | |||
| 1908 | R | R | R | |||
| 1912 | R | D | R | |||
| 1916 | D | D | D | |||
| 1920 | D | R | R | |||
| 1924 | R | R | R | |||
| 1928 | R | R | R | |||
| 1932 | R | R | R | We advocate unemployment and old-age insurance under state laws. | ||
| 1935 | D | D | D | Roosevelt signs Social Security Act |
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| 1936 | D | D | D | We have built foundations for the security of those who are faced with the hazards of unemployment and old age; for the orphaned, the crippled, and the blind. | We approve a pay-as-you-go policy, which requires of each generation the support of the aged and the determination of what is just and adequate. . . Every American citizen over sixty- five should receive the supplementary payment necessary to provide a minimum income sufficient to protect him or her from want. | |
| 1939 | D | D | D | Program expanded to incude workers’ dependents and survivors |
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| 1940 | D | D | D | We pledge to make the Social Security Act increasingly effective, by covering millions of persons not now protected under its terms | We favor the extension of necessary old age benefits on an ear-marked pay-as-you-go basis to the extent that the revenues raised for this purpose will permit. We favor the extension of the unemployment compensation provisions of the Social Security Act, wherever practicable, to those groups and classes not now included. | |
| 1944 | D | D | D | Extension of the existing old-age insurance and unemployment insurance systems to all employees not already covered. | ||
| 1948 | D | R | R | We favor the extension of the Social Security program established under Democratic leadership, to provide additional protection against the hazards of old age, disability, disease or death. | ||
| 1952 | D | D | D | Our national system of social security, conceived and developed by the Democratic Party, needs to be extended and improved. | We favor amendment of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance system to provide coverage for those justly entitled to it but who are now excluded. | |
| 1956 | R | D | D | We shall continue our efforts to broaden and strengthen this program by increasing benefits to keep pace with improving standards of living; by raising the wage base upon which benefits depend; and by increasing benefits for each year of covered employment. | To meet the needs of the aging, we pledge: Expansion of coverage, and liberalization of selected social security benefits on a basis which would maintain the fiscal integrity of the system. | SSA amended to provide benefits to disabled workers 50- 64 and adult disabled children |
| 1960 | R | D | D | |||
| 1961 | D | D | D | Workers allowed to take early retirement at 62 for less benefits | ||
| 1964 | D | D | D | We will continue to fight until we have succeeded in including hospital care for older Americans in the Social Security program, and have insured adequate assistance to those elderly people suffering from mental illness and mental retardation. | a strong, sound system of Social Security, with improved benefits to our people | Lyndon Johnson calls for War on Poverty |
| 1968 | D | D | D | The minimum age for public assistance should be lowered to correspond to the requirements for social security. | We will strengthen the Social Security system and provide automatic cost of living adjustments under Social Security and the Railroad Retirement Act. | |
| 1972 | R | D | D | Assurance that, whatever else is done in the income security area, the social security system provides a decent income for the elderly, the blind and the disabled and their dependents, with escalators so that benefits keep pace with rising prices and living standards | Social security benefits have become inflation proof by making them rise automatically to match cost of-living increases, a protection long advocated by the Republican Party. | |
| 1975 | R | D | D | First auto COLA increase |
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| 1976 | R | D | D | Democrats strongly support employment programs and the liberalization of the allowable earnings limitation under Social Security for older Americans who wish to continue working and living as productive citizens. | The cost to employers for Social Security contributions must not be raised to the point where they will be unable to afford contributions to employees’ private pension programs. We will work for an increase in the earned income ceiling or its elimination so that, as people live longer, there will not be the present penalty on work. We will also seek to correct these provisions of the system that now discriminate against women and married couples. | |
| 1980 | D | D | D | The Democratic Party will oppose any effort to tamper with the Social Security system by cutting or taxing benefits as a violation of the contract the American government has made with its people. We hereby make a covenant with the elderly of America that as we have kept the Social Security trust fund sound and solvent in the past, we shall keep it sound and solvent in the years ahead. | Social Security is one of this nation’s most vital commitments to our senior citizens. We commit the Republican Party to first save, and then strengthen, this fundamental contract between our government and its productive citizens. | |
| 1983 | R | D | R | Changes to SSA, including raising payroll taxes and raising Normal Retirement Age |
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| 1984 | R | D | R | Social Security is one of the most important and successful initiatives in the history of our country, and it is an essential element of the social compact that binds us together as a community. There is no excuse—as the Reagan Administration has repeatedly suggested—for slashing Social Security to pay for excesses in other areas of the budget. We will steadfastly oppose such efforts, now and in the future. | We will work to repeal the Democrats’ Social Security earnings-limitation, which penalizes the elderly by taking one dollar of their income for every two dollars earned. | |
| 1988 | R | D | D | Now that Social Security is in healthy shape, congressional Democrats are plotting ways to use its short-term revenue surplus for their own purposes. We make this promise: They shall not do so. We pledge to preserve the integrity of the Social Security trust funds. | ||
| 1992 | R | D | D | We reaffirm our commitment to a strong Social Security system. To stop penalizing grandparents and other seniors who care for children, we pledge to continue the Republican crusade to end the earnings limitation for Social Security recipients. | ||
| 1996 | D | R | R | Democrats created Social Security, we oppose efforts to dismantle it, and we will fight to save it. We must ensure that it is on firm financial footing well into the next century. We call on Republicans to put politics aside and join us in a serious bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security will continue to provide true security for future generations, as it has done for millions of older Americans for decades. | The Republican Party has always opposed the earnings limitation for Social Security benefits, a confiscatory tax that discourages older Americans from active engagement in all walks of life. | |
| 2000 | R | R | R | That’s why Al Gore is committed to making Social Security safe and secure for more than half a century by using the savings from our current unprecedented prosperity to strengthen the Social Security Trust Fund in preparation for the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. | The Social Security program is the touchstone by which the American people now gauge the reliability, competence, and integrity of government. . . Personal savings accounts must be the cornerstone of restructuring. Each of today’s workers should be free to direct a portion of their payroll taxes to personal investments for their retirement future. It is crucial that individuals be offered a variety of investment alternatives and that detailed information be provided to each participant to help them judge the risks and benefits of each plan. | Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act, eliminates Retirement Earnings Test |
| 2004 | R | R | R | We are absolutely committed to preserving Social Security. It is a compact across the generations that has helped tens of millions of Americans live their retirement years in dignity instead of poverty. Democrats believe in the progressive, guaranteed benefit that has ensured that seniors and people with disabilities receive a benefit not subject to the whims of the market or the economy. We oppose privatizing Social Security or raising the retirement age. We oppose reducing the benefits earned by workers just because they have also earned a benefit from certain public retirement plans. | Personal retirement accounts must be the cornerstone of strengthening and enhancing Social Security. Each of today’s workers should be free to direct a portion of their payroll taxes to personal investments for their retirement. It is crucial that individuals be offered a variety of investment alternatives and that detailed information be provided to each participant to help them judge the risks and benefits of each plan. Today’s financial markets offer a variety of investment options, including some that guarantee a rate of return higher than the current Social Security system with no risk to the investor. | |
| 2008 | R | D | D | We reject the notion of the presumptive Republican nominee that Social Security is a disgrace; we believe that it is indispensable. We will fulfill our obligation to strengthen Social Security and to make sure that it provides guaranteed benefits Americans can count on, now and in future generations. We will not privatize it. | Comprehensive reform should include the opportunity to freely choose to create your own personal investment accounts which are distinct from and supplemental to the overall Social Security system. | |
| 2012 | D | R | D | During their working years, Americans contribute to Social Security in exchange for a promise that they will receive an income in retirement. Unlike those in the other party, we will find a solution to protect Social Security for future generations. We will block Republican efforts to subject Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market through privatization. | While no changes should adversely affect any current or near-retiree, comprehensive reform should address our society’s remarkable medical advances in longevity and allow younger workers the option of creating their own personal investment accounts as supplements to the system. | |
| 2016 | D | R | R | We will fight every effort to cut, privatize, or weaken Social Security, including attempts to raise the retirement age, diminish benefits by cutting cost-of-living adjustments, or reducing earned benefits. . . We will make sure Social Security’s guaranteed benefits continue for generations to come by asking those at the top to pay more, and will achieve this goal by taxing some of the income of people above $250,000. | Of the many reforms being proposed, all options should be considered to preserve Social Security. As Republicans, we oppose tax increases and believe in the power of markets to create wealth and to help secure the future of our Social Security system. Saving Social Security is more than a challenge. It is our moral obligation to those who trusted in the government’s word. | |
| 2020 | R | D | R | We will enact policies to make Social Security more progressive, including increasing benefits for all beneficiaries, meaningfully increasing minimum benefit payments, increasing benefits for long- duration beneficiaries, and protecting surviving spouses from benefit cuts. | ||
| 2024 | D | R | D | Before Social Security, almost half of American seniors lived in poverty. Even those who’d spent a lifetime working didn’t always have enough to put food on the table or health care they could count on. Democrats changed that: in 1935, we passed Social Security; in 1965, we signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. These are more than government programs – they’re a promise that we’ve made as a country, that after a lifetime of hard work, people deserve to retire with dignity and security. They’ve made tens of millions of lives better. | Social Security is a lifeline for millions of Retirees, yet corrupt politicians have robbed Social Security to fund their pet projects. Republicans will restore Economic Stability to ensure the long- term sustainability of Social Security. |