Democrats and Republicans in the House voted 420-0 Tuesday to stop writing Social Security checks to Nazi war criminals.
“It’s pretty self-explanatory. American taxpayers should not be awarding Social Security benefits to Nazis,” said Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady, who serves on the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, in a statement following the vote. “End of story.”
Following World War II, the Justice department’s Nazi-hunting unit — the Office of Special Investigations — used Social Security benefits as a bargaining chip to convince some suspected Nazi war criminals to willingly leave the country. Otherwise, the OSI would have had to go through a costly and sometimes lengthy legal battle, and find another country willing to take the Nazis in. (RELATED: US Taxpayers Are Funding Nazi War Criminals Retirements)
As a result, dozens of suspected Nazi criminals have received and continue to receive Social Security benefits. As of 1999, 28 suspected Nazi war criminals kicked out of the United States received $1.5 million in Social Security benefits, reported The Associated Press.
Previous attempts to close the loophole that allowed the payments to happen were thwarted, in part because influential Jewish groups and the Justice Department argued the OSI needed the tool in order to fulfill its mission of finding and ridding the country of Nazis.
The No Social Security for Nazis Act is one step closer to becoming law.
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