CES Report - Language on Independent Agency

The Committee on Economic Security (CES) proposed a short and simple division of duties between the Department of Labor and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration--it never seriously considered independent agency status for the new program.

ADMINISTRATION

The creation of a social insurance board within the Department of Labor, to be appointed by the President and with terms to insure continuity of administration, is recommended to administer the Federal unemployment compensation act and the system of Federal contributory old-age annuities.

Full responsibility for the safeguarding and investment of all social insurance funds, we recommend, should be vested in the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration is recommended as the most appropriate existing agency for the administration of noncontributory old-age pensions and grants in aid to dependent children. If this agency should be abolished, the President should designate the distribution of its work. It is recommended that all social welfare activities of the Federal Government be coordinated and systematized.