The conference report on this legislation passed both Houses of Congress without opposition. Presidential appointees are subject to Senate confirmation.
Board members serve staggered terms.
The statute provides that the initial members of the Board serve terms that expire over the course of the first 6-year period. The first member's term expired on September 30, 1996. The chairman of the Board is appointed by the President for a 4-year term, coincident with the term of the President, or until the designation of a successor. The Board began holding substantive meetings in late Spring of 1996. Since that time, it has been meeting monthly, address-ing a wide variety of issues important to the Social Security and SSI programs.