Today's Social Security programhas its roots in the Great Depression of the 1930s. With ____1____ unemployed,many Americans lived in poverty, and many elderly workers lost all theirpension funds when their companies went bankrupt. As part of the government's response,known as the "New Deal," President Franklin Roosevelt created anadvisory panel to ____2____ to Congress for a program to protect workers fromlosing their pensions or ____3______. In January of 1935, Congressbegan its consideration of the Social Security Act. Not everyone thought it wasa good idea. There was ____4____ expressed during the congressional debates andin the opinion pages of the nation's newspapers. Supporters praised it as a formof social responsibility, while others found it "____5____," imposingtoo much government in the private economic sector. Yet proponents carried theday, and the House and Senate passed the Social Security Act. Expanded byCongress over the years, Social Security has had a ____6____. Without it, almost half of allAmericans over 65 would be ____7____. Often considered one of government'sgreatest achievements, it is also the single most costly federal program; andthe system's continued financial viability is currently a ____8____.