The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a bill to deny Social Security benefits to suspected Nazi war criminals. I have seen no count of the number of people affected. Probably they can be counted on one hand. It's more than possible that everyone who could be affected is already dead. If not, they certainly will be soon.
Update: Here's what Andrew Rosenthal at the New York Times has to say on this bill:
Update: Here's what Andrew Rosenthal at the New York Times has to say on this bill:
[T]he crowing this week by some members of Congress over the House’s passage of a bill denying Social Security benefits to Nazis was ridiculous. ...
The Nazi bill is a political freebie. Passing it does not constitute a real achievement or a profile in courage. The issue is, at best, trivial. ...
Of those nonagenarian fiends, the AP said in October, “there are at least four living beneficiaries.”
The small number does not mean, once again, that the payments were acceptable. The AP said that “millions” went to these people over the years.
But none of that excuses the gas bagging by the Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, Representative Xavier Becerra of California, on Tuesday. ...
5 comments:
The benefits were provided at the insistence of US DOJ as a key to getting a plea bargain to revoke citizenship and deport the Nazis without having a trial. These plea bargains had very strong, non-public support by very powerful leaders in the Jewish community (these were not elected officials) with the ability to get a President on the telephone.
Well, if the agreement was between the Government and the Nazis, what does this say about the integrity of our Government? Oh, I forgot the Government unilaterally changed the contract I entered into with them at age 16when I paid into Social Security that said I could retire with full benefits at 65.. But, Wait, What? I have to wait until 66 now? WTF? Wonder why no one trusts the Government anymore??
You didn't enter into a contract with the government, though.
You can argue it's unfair and wrong, but don't try and make a legal argument when the law is on the side of the government here.
@ 11:55. Show me the "contract" that you entered into. SS benefits are provided under a set of laws, commonly referred to as the Social Security Act. Laws are subject to amendment at any time by Congress. In fact, the entire program could be cancelled. In a democracy, your only recourse is to petition Congress or work to have different representatives elected. While changes can have negative impact, there is no support for your argument that a "contract" has been violated.
It is kind of funny how far afield the Dems and Republicans have to go to find something they agree on...opposition to a handful of 90+ year old Nazis trying to collect Social Security!
Now if we could only get them agree on something like not taking food away from hungry children.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ryan-budget-unveiled-cuts/2014/04/01/id/562979/
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