CONGRESS APPROVES BILL TO STOP SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR FORMER NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

Former Nazi war criminals living in the U.S. have been given millions of dollars in Social Security benefits

A loophole in the law allowed former Nazi war criminals who lost their U.S. citizenship but have not been deported to receive millions of dollars in Social Security benefits. 70 years after the Holocaust, Congress has finally passed a bill to close this loophole.

IT’S 2014. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR TAX DOLLARS ARE GOING?
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

politicalmavens.com
December 8, 2014

There is a bill in Congress aimed at stopping U.S. Government payments to former Nazi war criminals.

I swear to God.

As unbelievable as it seems, it is evidently necessary, in 2014, to pass and have the president sign a bill that would “block suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving Social Security benefits.””

One must presume that since the Holocaust ended about 70 years ago, Nazi war criminals have been getting U.S. taxpayer money for decades, and only now is anyone concerned about it.

This story would be funny if it wasn’t so nauseating.

“By voice vote late Thursday, the Senate gave final congressional approval to a measure that would shut a loophole that allowed suspected Nazis to be paid millions of dollars in benefits, clearing it for the White House,” the Associated Press story says. “Under the No Social Security for Nazis Act, benefits would be terminated for Nazi suspects who have lost their American citizenship, a step called denaturalization. U.S. law currently requires a higher threshold — a final order of deportation — before Social Security benefits can be stopped.”

So, to clarify, it’s not just suspected Nazi murderers that we U.S. taxpayers have been supporting, but Nazi murderers living (and spending our money) abroad. And a “No Social Security for Nazis Act” was required to make it stop.

The legislation was introduced after an Associated Press investigation published in October revealed that Social Security benefits have been paid to dozens of former Nazis after they were forced out of the United States, according to the report.

Hopefully, this is just another example of rampant, systemic incompetence in government. But, at least part of it sounds like our government intentionally made it possible for American citizens to foot the bill for the comfortable lifestyles of the exact monsters our “greatest generation” fought and died to defeat.

The House unanimously approved the bill on Tuesday on a 420-0 vote, the story says, so, clearly, Congress members are against our paying to support the surviving Nazis. That’s nice. So, how did such an obscene and obnoxious travesty happen?

Republicans and Democrats alike, evidently “expressed outrage that U.S. taxpayers were unwittingly financing the retirement of individuals who participated in the Third Reich’s atrocities during World War II,” AP reports.

“Coming ahead of the 70th anniversaries of the liberation of the Nazi death camps, the adoption of this bill by Congress sends an important signal: Nazi criminals who illegally obtained U.S. citizenship after World War II by lying about their past and who escaped prosecution should not benefit from American taxpayers’ support,” said Robert Singer, chief executive officer of the World Jewish Congress.

The White House said Friday that it “is currently reviewing the bill” – as though there is any way this atrocity should continue occurring – and a Justice Department spokesman said the department supports the goal of terminating federal public benefits for individuals found to have participated in the Nazi persecution during World War II.

Isn’t that nice?

I wonder what kind of shape Social Security would be in today, if we hadn’t thrown millions of dollars of it to fund the cushy golden years of Nazi murderers.

The Social Security Administration spokesman said the agency “doesn’t believe these individuals should be getting Social Security benefits.”

Really? Is there a debate? Is there some alternate reality in which the minions of arguable the worst evil to walk to earth (with the possible exception of today’s radical Islamofascists) should be entitled to U.S. taxpayer money?

And it gets worse.

The AP’s investigation found “the Justice Department used a legal loophole to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. in exchange for Social Security benefits,” according to the story. “If they agreed to go voluntarily, or simply fled the country before being deported, they could keep their benefits.””

The Justice Department denied using Social Security payments as a way to expel former Nazis, the story says.

I’ll tell you what.

Once the government payments to the Nazi murderers stops, someone should hunt down the person(s) responsible for this travesty, find a way for them to repay us taxpayers before they lock them up until the Nazi’s victims come back and resume their stolen lives.

The investigation revealed — and this is crucial — “that the Social Security Administration and State Department voiced strong opposition over the methods used by the Justice Department’s Nazi-hunting unit, the Office of Special Investigations,” according to the story.

“Once signed into law, this bill will enshrine what should have been the policy of the Justice Department in the first place,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Suspected Nazi war criminals should in no event be permitted to retain Social Security benefits.”

The story doesn’t say when the Justice Department started offering our tax dollars to Nazi baby killers as an incentive for them to leave the country, but two Senators have “demanded that the Obama administration provide Congress with records explaining how suspected Nazis received the payments and the role the Justice Department played in the program.”

So, if it’s the Eric Holder Justice Department that’s behind this, either he completely misunderstands the concept of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice and thinks it’s just a matter of ridding the country of their presence, or it’s something worse than that.

The A.P. and some Senators are trying, and so far, failing, to find out from the Social Security Administration, the total number of Nazis getting benefits and exactly how much they’ve gotten.

It seems to me that if this atrocity were simply the result of bureaucratic incompetence, the agency would just say something to the effect of, “oops, our bad,” and open the books. The fact that they refuse to let anyone, including what is essentially the agency’s boss, see the truth, tells me it must be something more sinister than that.

This is what we’ve come to.