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: 

B’nai B’rith International welcomes President Obama’s attention to specific issues, domestic and international, that we view as priorities.

The president noted his commitment to pursuing diplomatic means to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons development program. We must make it starkly clear to Tehran that the expanded deadline for talks must not merely serve as an opportunity for Iran to continue to build its nuclear program and deceive the world about its weapons-making progress. 

B’nai B’rith has consistently called for maintaining pressure on Iran and keeping all options open. We are pleased the president acknowledged that Iran's nuclear program has implications for the security of both the United States and Israel. But we remain concerned that removing sanctions as an option leaves an open door for Iran’s delaying tactics. 

All options must remain on the table. Keeping up pressure on Iran reinforces a strong U.S. negotiating position.

B’nai B’rith commends the president’s vow to fight terrorism. In light of the recent terror attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, we support an intensive and unflagging battle to defeat terrorism worldwide.

B’nai B’rith commends the president for noting the American culture of respect for “human dignity” and we were pleased when he went on to say of this respect: “It’s why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world.”

The president acknowledged the long-standing stumbling block that is immigration reform. He noted: “it’s possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.” B’nai B’rith has long supported comprehensive immigration reform. America is a country of immigrants. As such, we must embrace a reform plan.  The White House and Congress must work together. Real cooperation between the two branches is what will lead to a lasting reform.

Social Security is a top priority for B’nai B’rith and we regret more detail on social security challenges were not included in this speech.

In this, the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we were pleased that the president talked about the most basic of American freedoms. Some of the guarantees contained in that legislation have eroded over time; we need voting rights reform this year to restore full access to the ballot box.

We were pleased to see Alan Gross as an honored guest sitting with the first lady. Gross was freed in December after unjustly spending five years in a Cuban prison.

Of course the State of the Union address merely provides a peek at the president’s top priorities. But it does offer useful insight into where the president, and in turn, Congress, may focus. B’nai B’rith will study details of the president’s plans and will continue to advocate for our top priorities.

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.

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

B’nai B’rith International is pleased to learn Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) have introduced the Nazi Social Security Benefits Termination Act (H.R.5706) designed to close a legal loophole that has allowed many suspected Nazi war criminals to collect Social Security payments, despite leaving the country and renouncing their citizenship. B’nai B’rith supports changing the law to close this loophole and deny Social Security to such individuals.

Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-N.Y.) also introduced a companion bill in the Senate (S.2920). Furthermore, we understand another bill is expected to be introduced by the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security.

The Associated Press reported last month that suspected Nazis collected—and continue to collect—Social Security checks because of 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 Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, a unit within the Justice Department formerly referred to as the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), were, at times, permitted to renounce their citizenship and leave the country.

We look forward to seeing and discussing all approaches to ending these payments while respecting the integrity of the Social Security system. 

B’nai B’rith encourages all involved in addressing this problem to continue to work with the speed, thoughtfulness and care required when making any adjustment to the rules surrounding an earned benefit system.

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.