The Nation - News from July 23, 1986

The House voted unanimously to make the Social Security Administration an independent agency and prohibit the Treasury Department from using the agency’s investments to finance the federal debt. The new agency would have a three-member, bipartisan governing board and would be responsible for the old-age, survivors and disability programs and for Supplemental Security Income. Proponents of the change said that the performance of the agency had declined over the last 15 years and that the agency had been subject to political pressures.