[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  DISREGARDING PAYMENTS TO VICTIMS OF NAZI PERSECUTION IN DETERMINING 
                                BENEFITS

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 1873) to require certain payments made to victims of Nazi 
persecution to be disregarded in determining eligibility for and the 
amount of benefits or services based on need, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1873

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. CERTAIN PAYMENTS MADE TO VICTIMS OF NAZI 
                   PERSECUTION DISREGARDED IN DETERMINING 
                   ELIGIBILITY FOR AND THE AMOUNT OF NEED-BASED 
                   BENEFITS AND SERVICES.

       (a) In General.--Payments made to individuals because of 
     their status as victims of Nazi persecution shall be 
     disregarded in determining eligibility for and the amount of 
     benefits or services to be provided under any Federal or 
     federally assisted program which provides benefits or 
     services based, in whole or in part, on need.
       (b) Applicability.--Subsection (a) shall apply to 
     determinations made on or after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act with respect to payments referred to in subsection 
     (a) made before, on, or after such date.
       (c) Prohibition Against Recovery of Value of Excessive 
     Benefits or Services Provided Due to Failure to Take Account 
     of Certain Payments Made to Victims of Nazi Persecution.--No 
     officer, agency, or instrumentality of any government may 
     attempt to recover the value of excessive benefits or 
     services provided before the date of the enactment of this 
     Act under any program referred to in subsection (a) by reason 
     of any failure to take account of payments referred to in 
     subsection (a).
       (d) Notice to Individuals Who May Have Been Denied 
     Eligibility for Benefits or Services Due to the Failure to 
     Disregard Certain Payments Made to Victims of Nazi 
     Persecution.--Any agency of government that has not 
     disregarded payments referred to in subsection (a) in 
     determining eligibility for a program referred to in 
     subsection (a) shall make a good faith effort to notify any 
     individual who may have been denied eligibility for benefits 
     or services under the program of the potential eligibility of 
     the individual for such benefits or services.
       (e) Repayment of Additional Rent Paid Under HUD Housing 
     Programs Because of Failure to Disregard Reparation 
     Payments.--
       (1) Authority.--To the extent that amounts are provided in 
     appropriation Acts for payments under this subsection, the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall make 
     payments to qualified individuals in the amount determined 
     under paragraph (3).
       (2) Qualified individuals.--For purposes of this 
     subsection, the term ``qualified individual'' means an 
     individual who--
       (A) has received any payment because of the individual's 
     status as a victim of Nazi persecution;
       (B) at any time during the period beginning on February 1, 
     1993, and ending on April 30, 1993, resided in a dwelling 
     unit in housing assisted under any program for housing 
     assistance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
     under which rent payments for the unit were determined based 
     on or taking into consideration the income of the occupant of 
     the unit;
       (C) paid rent for such dwelling unit for any portion of the 
     period referred to in subparagraph (B) in an amount 
     determined in a manner that did not disregard the payment 
     referred to in subparagraph (A); and
       (D) has submitted a claim for payment under this subsection 
     as required under paragraph (4).

     The term does not include the successors, heirs, or estate of 
     an individual meeting the requirements of the preceding 
     sentence.
       (3) Amount of payment.--The amount of a payment under this 
     subsection for a qualified individual shall be equal to the 
     difference between--
       (A) the sum of the amount of rent paid by the individual 
     for rental of the dwelling unit of the individual assisted 
     under a program for housing assistance of the Department of 
     Housing and Urban Development, for the period referred to in 
     paragraph (2)(B), and
       (B) the sum of the amount of rent that would have been 
     payable by the individual for rental of such dwelling unit 
     for such period if the payments referred to in paragraph 
     (2)(A) were disregarded in determining the amount of rent 
     payable by the individual for such period.
       (4) Submission of claims.--A payment under this subsection 
     for an individual may be made only pursuant to a written 
     claim for such payment by such individual submitted to the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the form and 
     manner required by the Secretary before--
       (A) in the case of any individual notified by the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development orally or in 
     writing that such specific individual is eligible for a 
     payment under this subsection, the expiration of the 6-month 
     period beginning on the date of receipt of such notice; and
       (B) in the case of any other individual, the expiration of 
     the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
     this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Towns] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the gentleman 
from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff] will be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York [Mr. Towns].
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. TOWNS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, today, we consider passage of H.R. 1873 as 
introduced by the gentlemen from California, and amended by the 
Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations, which 
I chair.
  The reparations payments that are the subject of this bill were paid 
by the Governments of Germany and Austria, to Nazi Holocaust survivors, 
no matter where they resided.
  However, different departments and agencies of the U.S. Government 
treated these payments differently. Some agencies, such as the Social 
Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, included the reparations compensation in the calculation 
of benefits. Other agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, 
expressly excluded the payments. This disparity in treatment led many 
survivors to the courts to obtain some consistency in the treatment of 
reparations payments.
  This bill will eliminate the need for survivors to resort to the 
courts. It will require that reparations payments made by foreign 
governments be excluded from eligibility calculations for need-based 
programs. Additionally, this bill will require administrative agencies 
to make a good-faith effort to provide notice to any program applicant 
who was denied benefits based solely on the receipt of reparations 
payments. It seems to me that it is only fair that we seek to inform 
those people who may be affected by the change.
  Finally, during the hearing on this bill, we were informed by the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development that in February 1993, it 
had assessed and collected rental payments based on the inclusion of 
reparations payments. In April 1993, a HUD directive halted the 
collection of additional rents. Therefore, this bill requires the 
agency to refund those moneys it collected during that 3-month time 
period.
  This bill will bring the treatment of the recipients of these 
payments into line with the treatment given other recipients of 
reparations payments in this country. Several groups, including 
Japanese-Americans and some Native Americans, receive reparations 
payments. Those payments are excluded from the calculation of need-
based benefits. This body made sure of that exclusion when it passed 
the legislation which established reparations for those groups.
  Although this Government did not harm this group of Holocaust 
survivors, it seems to be that respect for international law and the 
mandates of other nations would allow us to exclude the benefits paid 
to this group also.
  Additionally, important U.S. objectives are served including: First, 
providing one standard for all Federal agencies and second, assisting 
the courts by eliminating the need for further litigation. Finally, on 
a humanitarian level, this bill will provide a sense of security and 
relief to the small and dwindling number of survivors.
  I ask you to support this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of this bill and urge its 
passage.
  The chairman of our subcommittee, the gentleman from New York, has 
correctly outlined the dilemma as it was presented to the Congress, and 
that is some administrative agencies of Government had determined that 
payments received as reparations for the Nazi seizure of property in 
Germany were to be counted as income for certain Federal programs. 
Other agencies determined that they were not to be counted.
  After studying this matter, our Subcommittee on Human Resources and 
Intergovernmental Relations, and followed by the full Committee on 
Government Operations, determined that such reparation payments were 
not intended to be counted as income by the Congress in previous laws 
that were passed to determine income eligibility.
  This was determined for two reasons. First of all, just the source of 
these payments, reparations for essentially a government criminal 
seizure of property, is not what the Government intended or thinks of 
in terms of income when we evaluate programs.
  And second of all, the recognition, sad as it might be, that from the 
end of World War II almost 50 years ago, the number of individuals that 
this bill would affect is dwindling rapidly and, therefore, the effect 
on Government programs would be minuscule if at all.
  I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for bringing this bill to 
the floor. I thank the chairman of our full committee, the gentleman 
from Michigan, and our ranking member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
for supporting it also.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Waxman], who worked very hard to bring us to this 
point.
  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to support H.R. 
1873, legislation to exclude restitutionary payments made by foreign 
governments to victims of Nazi persecution from eligibility 
determinations for Federal need-based benefits.
  I also want to express my appreciation to my good friends Ed Towns, 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental 
Relations, and John Conyers, chairman of the Committee on Government 
Operations, who allowed for expeditious consideration of this 
legislation.
  With the opening of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the worldwide 
success of Stephen Spielberg's Academy Award-winning film, 
``Schindler's List,'' and the recent commemoration of the 50th 
anniversary of D-day in Normandy, the Nation's attention has been 
focused on the unspeakable atrocities that took place during the Hitler 
regime in Nazi Germany.
  Between 1933 and 1945, the government of the Third Reich proceeded 
stage by stage from the persecution of Jews to the systematic 
annihilation of a huge portion of Europe's Jewish population. In Nazi-
occupied Poland alone, nearly 3 million Jews were slaughtered, leaving 
a mere 2 percent of Poland's once huge and flourishing Jewish 
population.
  The bare statistics of the Holocaust tell only a small portion of the 
saga of suffering Jews and other victims of the Nazis endured during 
this incredibly dark period. An entire world was destroyed. Thousand-
year-old communities with deeply rooted institutions were obliterated 
to such an extent that even the town cemeteries cannot be found.
  In the aftermath of World War II, the postwar German and Austrian 
Governments instituted programs of payments to Holocaust survivors. 
These payments are not intended to be full and adequate compensation 
for the Holocaust, as such compensation is impossible. They are instead 
a penitent gesture to individuals whose whole families were 
exterminated, who suffered loss of limb or permanent impairment of 
mental or physical functions, or who endured other terrible hardships. 
It is unconscionable that these payments should count as regular income 
or assets, thus diminishing eligibility for aid under entitlement 
programs of the Government of the United States.
  Reparations payments made by the U.S. Government to injured groups--
including Japanese-Americans, Aleuts, and Native Americans--are already 
excluded as income in determining eligibility for all Federal need-
based programs. Reparations payments by foreign governments, however, 
are treated dissimilarly by our Federal agencies.
  The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that reparations payments to 
Holocaust survivors do not constitute taxable income for Federal income 
tax purposes. In 1984, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in 
Grunfeder versus Heckler that German reparations payments to Holocaust 
survivors are not to be counted in determining eligibility for 
Supplemental Security Income [SSI]. The 1990 Budget Reconciliation 
Act--Public Law 101-508,includes a provision disregarding these 
payments in assessing eligibility for nursing home care and home and 
community-based services under Medicaid. In 1993, the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development [HUD] ruled that reparations payments to 
Holocaust survivors would not be included in the eligibility 
determinations for federally subsidized housing.
  Most importantly, this legislation will protect individual Holocaust 
survivors from the experiences of my constituent, Felicia Grunfeder, 
who lost her SSI benefits for 4 years until they were reinstated by a 
Federal court, and Fanny Schlomowitz of Phoenix, AZ, whose rent on her 
federally subsidized apartment was doubled until Secretary Cisneros 
ruled that reparations payments would no longer be regarded as income 
for eligibility for Federal housing programs.
  H.R. 1873 is a moral step, with negligible fiscal impact. It is 50 
years since the end of World War II, and many Holocaust survivors have 
died. The number of individuals who will be affected by this bill will 
be small. I ask my colleagues to vote for this important legislation.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Arizona [Mr. Coppersmith].
  Mr. COPPERSMITH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1873, which 
will remove certain payments made by foreign governments to victims of 
Nazi persecution in determining eligibility for and the amount of 
Federal benefits based on need.
  After the horrors of World War II, the post-war German and Austrian 
Governments began making reparation payments to Holocaust survivors. 
The payments cannot compensate for the losses the survivors suffered. 
Instead, the payments provide some basic, practical assistance to 
people who lost their families or who suffered physical or mental 
hardships from the Nazis.
  The payments help these survivors of horror to live a slightly more 
comfortable life. People like my constituent Fanny Schlomowitz, a 
native of Poland who now lives in Phoenix. She was beaten by the Nazis 
during the war. Mrs. Schlomowitz should not have the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development double her rent because they suddenly 
learned of her reparation payments. Mrs. Schlomowitz nearly lost her 
apartment in a senior citizens apartment complex, and only a direct 
appeal by Senator Dennis DeConcini to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros 
allowed her to remain in her home.
  Mrs. Schlomowitz and her fellow Holocaust survivors instead deserve 
to have the Federal Government recognize the special and unique nature 
of these reparation payments. This bill has a negligible fiscal impact. 
In the nearly 50 years since the end of the World War II, many 
survivors have died. Many do not qualify for the programs involved.
  The Internal Revenue Service has already ruled that these payments do 
not constitute taxable income. The 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 
Act contained a similar provision regarding Medicaid benefits. We now 
should end this piecemeal approach and provide consistent treatment for 
these people who have suffered enough for an entire world.
  I urge support of this legislation to recognize the special 
circumstances endured by victims of Nazi persecution. This bill is both 
timely and just, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

                              {time}  1850

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to a leader on our side on 
behalf of this bill, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman].
  Mr. GILMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1873 regarding payments 
to victims of the holocaust. As an original cosponsor of this measure, 
I wish to commend our distinguished colleague from California [Mr. 
Waxman], for his diligence in insuring congressional consideration of 
H.R. 1873, and the distinguished subcommittee chairman, the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Towns] and the ranking subcommittee member, the 
gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff].
  I also commend the committee's distinguished chairman, the gentleman 
from Michigan [Mr. Conyers], for his support.
  H.R. 1873 requires that certain payments made by the German and 
Austrian Governments to victims of Nazi persecution be excluded from 
income calculations in determining eligibility for any Federal benefits 
program or any federally assisted program. The legislation prohibits 
the Government from attempting to recover any excessive benefits 
resulting from failure to account for these payments in calculations 
prior to the bill's passage.
  Currently, payments made by the German and Austrian Governments to 
victims of the Holocaust are excluded from income calculations in 
determining income tax liability. A few years ago a situation came to 
the public's attention when it was disclosed that a Holocaust survivor, 
living on meager funds was found liable by the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development for substantially more rent for her subsidized 
apartment, since HUD considered her reparations payment as income.
  Congressional action was swift in legislating the necessary change 
within HUD's jurisdiction, yet because there are myriad income based 
programs throughout the Federal Government, this legislation is the 
logical next step in ensuring that Holocaust reparations payments shall 
not be considered income in determining eligibility for any Federal 
benefits program.
  It is only fair that a uniform standard regarding reparations 
payments to Holocaust victims apply within the Federal Government. 
Accordingly, I urge my colleagues strong support for adoption of H.R. 
1873.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio 
[Mr. Portman], a member of our subcommittee.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 1873. As my 
colleagues have already outlined, both the German and Austrian 
Governments currently fund programs which provide reparation payments 
to survivors of Nazi persecution. These payments are very small 
gestures of assistance to those who have suffered. Yet, certain U.S. 
Federal agencies count these payments as regular income and thus 
diminish possible eligibility for aid under certain benefit programs of 
the Federal Government.
  It is both shocking and saddening that there were individuals who 
endured the atrocities of the Holocaust and then later found themselves 
being forced to fight their way through American courts and Federal 
redtape in order to ensure that the small amount of reparations they 
received did not result in a decrease of needed benefits.
  Those Americans who survived the Holocaust deserve better and it is 
the responsibility of the U.S. Government to see that such bureaucratic 
faults are corrected. Those who survived the horrors of Nazi 
persecution have experienced enough anguish already. The Federal 
bureaucracy need not add to that anguish. I am proud to have been 
involved with this bill since its consideration last year by the Human 
Resources Subcommittee on which I serve. For those, like myself, who 
are concerned by our mounting Federal deficits, it should be clear that 
this bill will have a negligible impact on Federal spending, affecting 
no more than 900 people nationwide according to the Congressional 
Budget Office. It is not only proper legislation, but is also clearly a 
step in the right moral direction.
  I want to commend Mr. Waxman for having authored this legislation and 
my subcommittee chairman, Mr. Towns, for having held a thoughtful 
hearing on it last year.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the legislation.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
would like to thank the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman 
from Michigan [Mr. Conyers], the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Clinger], and of course the subcommittee ranking 
member, the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff], for all the work 
they have done, along with our staff.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 1873.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Abercrombie). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Towns] that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1873, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
   A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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