National Commission on Social Security Reform (aka The Greenspan Commission)

The National Commission on Social Security Reform (informally known as the Greenspan Commission after its Chairman) was appointed by the Congress and the President in 1981 to study and make recommendations regarding the short-term financing crisis that Social Security faced at that time. Estimates were that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund would run out of money possibly as early as August 1983. This bipartisan Commission was to make recommendations to Congress on how to solve the problems facing Social Security. Their report, issued in January 1983, became the basis for the 1983 Social Security Amendments which resolved the short-term financing problem and made many other significant changes in Social Security law.

group photo of Commission members

1983

Pictured, seated, left to right: Bob Myers, Executive Staff Director; Rep. Claude Pepper (D-FL); Martha Keys;Chairman Alan Greenspan; Mary Falvey Fuller; Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX); Lane Kirkland. Standing, left to right: Robert Beck; Bob Ball; Alexander Trowbridge; Rep. Barber Conable (R-NY); Sen. John Heinz (R-PA); Sen. Pat Moynihan (D-NY); Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS); Joe Waggonner, Jr. SSA History Archives.