WASHINGTON — Suspected Nazi war criminals would be blocked from receiving Social Security benefits under a bill unanimously approved Tuesday by the House.
The measure would shut a loophole that allowed suspected Nazis to be paid millions of dollars in benefits. Under the bill, benefits would be terminated for Nazi suspects who have lost their American citizenship, a step called denaturalization. US law currently mandates a higher threshold — a final order of deportation — before Social Security benefits can be stopped.
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.
The investigation found that the Justice Department used a legal loophole to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the United States in exchange for the benefits.
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.
Representative Leonard Lance, a New Jersey Republican, said the House action would ‘‘correct an injustice of two generations and right a terrible wrong in the name of the lives that were lost as a result of the Holocaust.’’
The House vote came as two Republican senators 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.