A stock claim of Social Security's partisans is that Social Security is not welfare. Rather, it's special because its benefits are paid as a matter of earned right, regardless of the beneficiary's income or assets, without any means test. This claim has been voiced ever since the Social Security bill was introduced in Congress in January 1935. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Executive Director of the Roosevelt Administration's Committee on Economic Security, economist Edwin Witte, declared, "These annuities will be contractual in nature and free from any means test." Similarly, shortly after Social Security became law, … Continue reading No Social Security Means Test, Eh? Guess What?