As a national leader in the field of seniors and aging issues, B’nai B’rith International was invited by our partner Leading Age to participate in a tour of several Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 202 senior housing buildings with Congressional staffers and discuss the importance of this government program.

B’nai B’rith’s Director of Aging Policy Rachel Goldberg and Associate Director of the B’nai B’rith International Center for Senior Services Janel Doughten, along with Alayna Waldrum of Leading Age, were part of the tour and discussion, explaining what Section 202 housing is, why it is so important and why it is imperative that Congress restore funding to this essential program in the federal budget.

The purpose of the tour was to put a face on why the Section 202 buildings for moderate-to-low-income seniors are so important, and why funding to build more of these homes across the United States should be restored to the federal budget and made a priority. The Congressional delegations often hear statistics and pleas to restore the funding, but until they see the buildings, what they provide, and meet the residents, it is easier to dismiss. By giving these staffers a direct look, and an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the program, B’nai B’rith hopes the staffers came away with a greater urgency to address this issue.

The first building toured was St. Mary’s Court in downtown Washington, D.C., where Doughton serves as the vice president of the building’s board of directors.  The group met with residents, the manager and the service coordinator of the building. St. Mary’s Manager Margaret Pully gave an overview of the building, including demographics of the residents, meal program and the issues with the long waitlist to live in the building. The service coordinator, Ceila Wolter, talked about her wide range of interactions with the residents, from helping a hoarder de-clutter an apartment to making sure someone with a chronic medical issue or someone recently returned from the hospital has the necessary medical care.

The second property congressional staffers toured was the Samuel J. Simmons NCBA Estates (National Caucus and Center on Black Aged). On the bus ride from St. Mary’s Court to NCBA Estates, staffers had a chance to ask Leading Age staff and Doughten questions on the particulars of these buildings and the program, such as why are waitlists closed? How are service coordinators funded? 

Waldrum explained that waitlists in many buildings are closed because there is such a demand for this housing that the lists just got too long. Once it is determined there is more than a two year wait for an apartment, most buildings close the list. They do not want to give false hope to people hoping to move into a building, when the list length means it most likely will not happen. 

Answering the question of how to fund a service coordinator, Waldrum and Doughten informed Congressional staffers that the position was often funded through a HUD grant, but when the federal budget cut the funding to build 202 projects, the money for service coordinators was also mostly eliminated. Some buildings are able to get the costs of a service coordinator built into their operating budget, but not all buildings are able to do that. The members of a building’s board of directors are the volunteer fundraisers for that complex, and they also work with staff to prepare grant applications and other means of funding. 

Although a wonderful building with creative staff, NCBA Estates is an example of what happens when money is cut from Section 202 housing. The wait list has been closed for two years and there is no service coordinator.

B’nai B’rith International is the largest national Jewish sponsor of low-income senior housing in the United States, with 42 buildings in 26 communities, encompassing more than 4,000 apartment units and serving more than 8,000 people. Operating the Senior Housing Network since 1968, B'nai B'rith complexes are open to all qualified individuals as defined by HUD, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, handicap or national origin. The B’nai B’rith Senior Housing Network is just a small slice of the almost 400,000 seniors in more than 8,000 buildings throughout the country served by Section 202. 

B’nai B’rith International welcomes the Senate’s introduction of the Voting Rights Reconstruction Act bill, which would update key protections against voting rights discrimination to respond to current challenges.

Unfettered access to vote is one of the most basic and cherished freedoms in America. Ensuring free and fair access to the voting booth for all Americans is a vital component of our democracy. We need voting rights reform to guarantee full access to the ballot box.

The bill would restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act, which was passed 50 years ago and has been weakened by federal court decisions over the years. 

In 2013, B’nai B’rith spoke out against the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling Shelby County v. Holder, which eliminated the requirement that nine states and numerous counties must seek federal approval before changing their election laws. At the time, we expressed deep concern that the ruling could pave the way for state and local efforts to suppress voting by minorities. We noted then that it was time for Congress to act again to extend the requirement that these states and localities get pre-approval to change their voting laws. 

The updated voting rights measure would: Modernize the preclearance formula to cover states with a pattern of discrimination and allow federal courts to order preclearance remedies in the event of voting rights violations; Ensure that last-minute voting changes won’t adversely affect voters; Protect voters from the types of voting changes most likely to discriminate against people of color and those who don’t use English as their first  language; Expand the federal observer program; Improve voting rights protections for Native peoples.

The introduction of this measure demonstrates an important will to reform voting protections. Federal oversight of voting rules is imperative. We urge Congress to remedy the loss of protections by enacting this new legislation that addresses discriminatory voting conditions.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original Voting Rights Act. There is no better or more important way to honor the advances won by the civil rights movement half a century ago than to pass legislation in our own time that ensures the hard-fought gains they achieved will not continue to erode. It is time once again to eradicate voting discrimination.

B’nai B’rith urges both parties and both chambers to work together to pass a measure restoring voting protections for all Americans. 

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith lauds the overwhelmingly bipartisan Senate vote in favor of mandating Congressional oversight of the nuclear agreement the United States and its partners are negotiating with Iran.

The United States Congress has an important and legitimate role in reviewing any measure involving lifting sanctions against Tehran.

The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act provides a necessary structure for Congressional involvement. Given the high stakes of the nuclear talks, the global impact of their outcome and the many uncertainties that lie ahead as a final deal is negotiated, it is critical that Congress plays an active role.

Though a final negotiating deadline is set for next month, the framework agreement reached between Tehran and the P5+1 negotiating partners (the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Germany and Russia) in April has many troubling aspects.

B’nai B’rith has long been skeptical of the framework agreement’s ability to increase Iran’s nuclear breakout time from three months to a year, given the regime’s unwavering determination to continue enrichment and its history of evading inspections. Tehran has a decades-long record of obfuscation regarding its nuclear activities. There is no reason to believe now that it will stick to the parameters of an agreement.

We are encouraged by the Senate’s decisive action and urge the House of Representatives to promptly follow suit.  

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is encouraged by the bipartisan agreement reached between Congress and the White House on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (S.615), which, if passed, would give the legislature the power to review a final deal on the Iranian nuclear program.

The compromise struck between Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Ben Cardin gives Congress 30 days to review a deal with Iran following the June 30 negotiating deadline with the United States, its negotiating partners and Tehran. President Obama has pledged to sign the bill if passed by both chambers of Congress.

B’nai B’rith calls on the Senate to pass the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and the House of Representatives to do the same when the bill is brought to the floor.

Given the high stakes for U.S. national security and stability in the Middle East, it is essential that Congress be involved.

The bipartisan consensus on S.615 is encouraging. It conveys the broad concern in the Senate over the proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

While this congressional action is vitally important, B’nai B’rith remains deeply concerned about the Iranian regime’s interest in adhering to a nuclear agreement based on a 36-year track record of obfuscation and cheating. Iran also continues to act as the world's largest state-sponsor of terrorism, which only furthers our skepticism as to whether Iran will honor the final deal in good faith.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is pleased to see movement from Congress on a permanent solution for paying doctors who treat Medicare patients and ending more than a decade’s worth of “doc fixes.” Since 2003, 17 of these short term fixes have been enacted by Congress, most recently blocking 21.2 percent payment cuts to doctors of Medicare patients. A permanent fix is long overdue, and B’nai B’rith is encouraged by the bipartisan, political will to agree on this legislation.

The sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) is the system that is currently in place for determining payment rate cuts and has been a flawed payment approach from the beginning. Congress votes every year to “fix” the SGR to stop it from taking effect.

B’nai B’rith favors a permanent fix and a replacement of this formula that moves toward incentives for doctors to provide a higher quality of care.

While listening to the outpouring of ideas in resolving this issue, B’nai B’rith does have concerns we hope both chambers  of Congress will consider when reviewing the plan and before voting on a permanent fix.

One of those concerns is the absence of “extenders” in the bill. Extenders have been vital parts of all previous doc fixes, blocking other SGR-based cuts and caps on Medicare benefits, and extending the life of programs that help lower-income beneficiaries with their out of pocket costs. Extenders have a huge impact on low-income patients and it’s unclear what the fate of those programs would be in the permanent fix. If they are left out of a permanent fix, they lose their best annual chance to be addressed.  

Another issue B’nai B’rith has encountered is the inclusion of “pay-fors” in the bill that shift $30 billion in costs directly onto beneficiaries and will most likely result in higher premiums for all future beneficiaries. Instead of shifting this cost onto Medicare patients other avenues should be pursued, such as prescription drug savings which would accrue to the Medicare program if Medicare negotiated lower drug prices.

B’nai B’rith has long been adamant about Congress passing a permanent solution to the broken SGR. In December 2014 B’nai B’rith helped draft a letter from the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations advocating to Sens. Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell and Reps. John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi that very position. Click here to read the letter.


Image via Flickr

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a compelling case before the United States Congress today to ensure Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. We welcome his contributions to the discussion about this issue and the current P5+1 (United States, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom) negotiations.

In his address Netanyahu talked about the Israel-U.S. partnership: “We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror.”

As he has for many years, Netanyahu once again used his voice to speak out against the Iranian threat.

The prime minister told Congress: “Iran’s regime is as radical as ever,” and noted “the greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.” We can’t let that happen, he told the joint-congressional meeting.

Most recently, B’nai B’rith noted that even during the long months of negotiations, Iran has continued to sponsor international terror organizations, enrich uranium, defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), pursue plans to build intercontinental ballistic missiles and hide the military dimensions of its nuclear program. Iran’s actions during negotiations seemingly offer a clear blueprint for how it would act once a deal is in place.  

Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of global terrorism. We concur with Netanyahu’s deep concern over Iran’s global aggression, even as the P5+1 negotiations have been underway.

A nuclear-ready Iran has consequences that would resonate far beyond Israel and the United States. It is incumbent on the negotiators to consider this and not enter into a bad deal, one that that puts Iran a giant leap closer to nuclear weapons capability.

Netanyahu clearly noted that the alternative to a bad deal is a better deal. B’nai B’rith agrees that restrictions on Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons must be securely in place and that the points he raised to strengthen a deal be seriously considered by the negotiators while there is still time to effectuate the change.  

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

After reviewing the Obama administration’s Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) budget, B’nai B’rith International has mixed reactions to areas affecting seniors and the low-income Americans, as well as matters of international policy—both spheres in which B’nai B’rith is extremely active.

B’nai B’rith is pleased the administration is calling for a “clean reallocation” of funds within the payroll tax, allowing the disability and retirement benefits to be on equal and secure footing until 2033 and avoiding a disability shortfall in 2016. Reallocations among parts of the Social Security program are not uncommon and have occurred 11 times in the past. 

B’nai B’rith is also satisfied to see that the administration sought to undo many of the sequester cuts in domestic discretionary programs. The administration was able to do so without gutting such mandatory programs as Social Security and Medicare that affect the elderly. Other promising ideas gleaned from the FY16 budget include allowing the U.S. Department or Health and Human Services to negotiate prices on cutting edge drugs like “biologics” for Medicare beneficiaries and reducing out of pocket prescription spending. 

We remain quite concerned, however, about provisions appearing again in this year’s budget that would shift more costs, including health costs, to older adults and the disabled. Among these worrisome cost-shifting measures are ill-conceived penalties for disability beneficiaries who also receive unemployment insurance, changes to the Medicare’s premium structure that increase costs for many beneficiaries and a proposal that would penalize people who buy certain types of supplemental Medicare coverage. 

While we continue to work toward fully restoring the Department of Housing and Urban Development program that has funded the construction of thousands of rental apartments for low-income elders, we are pleased to see the administration’s budget would continue to fund operating and service coordination expenses for existing buildings across the country. B’nai B’rith is the largest national Jewish sponsor of low-income housing for seniors in the United States. 

In the international policy realm, the administration’s $54.8 billion foreign aid budget request for FY16 is a welcome reversal of past cuts to international affairs. However, the total request level represents only a modest increase at a time when many important U.S. programs overseas are already significantly underfunded. Additionally, it is unfortunate that humanitarian assistance is down 13 percent at a time when conflicts are on the rise and victims of natural disasters desperately need help.

B’nai B’rith does welcome the administration’s call for a 29.2 percent increase in the Economic Support Fund that will bolster strategic economic assistance to address global crises and countries in conflict, including Ukraine and its neighbors; and combating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Aid to Israel, at $3.1 billion, will remain the same as in Fiscal Year 2014 and Fiscal Year 2015, continuing U.S. support for the only democracy in the Middle East.

B’nai B’rith calls on Congress to fund at least the full amount of the administration’s international affairs budget request.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

The 114th U.S. Congress is underway and among its first acts was the adoption of a new rule that will undercut Social Security as a whole and risks steep cuts in Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (DI) by late 2016. 

During the summer, the 2014 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report stated the DI trust fund is at risk of being depleted by 2016. The latest forecast is consistent with past reports, including expectations in the early 1980s when funding allocations between retirement and disability benefits were last adjusted. B’nai B’rith International urged Congress to increase the DI’s allocation from the payroll tax, funding which all Social Security programs share.

Reallocating funds from the payroll tax has been a measure routinely carried out 11 times over the life of the program. B’nai B’rith pushed for this reallocation to keep millions of disabled Americans, many of whom are also elderly, from experiencing benefit cuts of 20 percent in late 2016. 

The new rule would essentially prohibit a “clean reallocation” bill and require any reallocation to be accompanied by proposals likely to cut benefits somewhere in the Social Security system. Proponents of the rule insist that is needed to protect the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund from moving funds to the “broken” DI system.

The disability system is not broken, and a reallocation is not only appropriate and routine, but also will not cause appreciable harm to retiree benefits. A reallocation of funds from the payroll tax to DI would actually put the fund on equal footing with OASI and other Social Security programs, making the benefits fully funded through 2033.

B’nai B’rith calls for the retraction of this rule change, and hopes we can have an honest debate about policy and ways to improve and expand Social Security benefits in the coming months.

The Associated Press recently reported that many suspected Nazi war criminals who once lived in the United States and faced investigation by the Justice Department continue to collect Social Security payments through a legal loophole, despite having left the country and renounced their U.S. citizenship. B’nai B’rith International supports changing the law to close this loophole and deny Social Security to such individuals. We are pleased that members in both chambers of Congress have announced their intentions to introduce bipartisan legislation to address this problem.

Since moving abroad, these former Nazis have lived undisturbed lives, collecting additional entitlements from the governments of the countries in which they reside. B’nai B’rith urges these governments to cease providing benefits to such individuals and force them to stand trial.

The Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, a unit within the Justice Department formerly referred to as the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), has done exceptional work since its inception to remove Nazi war criminals from the U.S. We commend this office for the vital work it has done in helping to bring these individuals to justice, including deporting many of them to countries where they should be subject to prosecution.

However, the reason these suspected Nazis collected—and continue to collect—Social Security checks has to do with the specific process through which they were removed from the country. Current U.S. law, unfortunately, strips benefits only from those suspected war criminals who are deported—not from those who abandon their U.S. citizenship and leave the country before the deportation process concludes. In order to expedite the process of ridding this country of those Nazi criminals living in our midst, individuals under investigation by the OSI were, at times, permitted to renounce their citizenship and leave the country. It is disturbing that, upon returning to the countries from which they originated, many of these individuals were never prosecuted for war crimes—a highly negative reflection on the governments they live under.

For too long these Nazi perpetrators have been able to collect Social Security from the U.S. government—as well as a variety of social welfare benefits from their native countries—all the while living comfortably and successfully avoiding punishment for their crimes.

A change in the law would deprive Social Security benefits from those who left the country and renounced their citizenship as the result of an OSI investigation. These former Nazis are no more deserving of Social Security benefits than those whom the U.S. actually deported.