Oct. 27, 2014
WESTFIELD, N.J. --- Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) has joined Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) and Holocaust survivors in calling on Congress to act immediately to terminate Social Security benefits for former Nazis. Lance joined Rep. Maloney and Jewish leaders at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City to outline their legislation that will cut off any federal benefits, including Social Security benefits, for those involved in the Nazi persecution. The measure will be introduced when Congress is back in session in mid-November.
“The world can never forget the hate and intolerance that claimed the lives of millions and forever scarred the face of mankind,” said Congressman Lance, the co-chair of the Republican Israel Caucus who continues the work of his predecessor, the late Congressman Bob Franks, who championed the effort in 1999. “Congress must close this loophole and right this wrong in the name of the lives that were lost. To think Nazis are living off the tax funds of the children of liberators is sickening and morally wrong. Congress must put an end to it.”
“Our bill will provide the Justice Department with the authority it needs to terminate benefits of Nazi war criminals,” said Congresswoman Maloney. “It is modeled on the approach taken by the late Representative Bob Franks in a bill I co-sponsored in 1999, and I am grateful for his work on this issue. I am hopeful that the House will take this bill up when it returns for the lame duck session this November. We should work in a bi-partisan and expeditious manner to terminate these benefits once and for all. The American taxpayer should not be subsidizing the retirements of those guilty of the worst atrocities in human history.”
Many Holocaust survivors and Jewish community leaders joined the representatives for the event, including Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Vice President of the Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants; Michael Miller, of the Jewish Community Relations Council; Rabbi Elie Weinstock of the New York Board of Rabbis; and Chana Wiesenfeld, a Holocaust survivor of Transnistria Concentration Camp.
“Our tri-state region enjoys significant solidarity with the Jewish people, the State of Israel and the decades long struggle for peace in the world following the Nazi atrocities. The world will never make it right, but when given the chance to take a stand and put an end to an egregious practice we must act,” Lance concluded.
The Nazi Benefits Termination Act of 2014 would:
- Affirmatively declare Nazi war criminals to be ineligible for federal benefits.
- Establish a new immigration hearing process in order to terminate all federal benefits, including Social Security payments, to Nazi war criminals. The lack of this process has been the major reason why benefits have not already been terminated.
- Charge the Department of Justice with bringing individual cases forward to terminate benefits, under this new process. - An immigration judge would then determine if the individual was a participant in Nazi persecution and if so, the judge would be required to promptly issue an order declaring the individual to be ineligible for any federal benefit, including Social Security.
- Any appeal to the judge’s final order must be filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit no later than 30 days after the order becomes final.
Additional Background:
In a recently released report, the Associated Press reopened the discussion on Social Security benefits paid to Nazi war criminals. The investigation revealed that dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States and that four are still collecting benefits.
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All official press releases from Former Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ)
