WASHINGTON (JTA) – Dozens of Congress members have signed on to a bipartisan letter calling for the creation of a fund to aid needy Holocaust survivors.
The letter, authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), calls for $5 million to be included in the 2015 fiscal-year budget to create the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Fund for survivors in the United States who are living in poverty. As of Tuesday, three days before its formal submission to a House Appropriations subcommittee, the letter had 36 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.
The fund would address the urgent needs of both the survivors and the non-profit organizations that support them, according to the letter.
“Without immediate action on behalf of these survivors, we risk losing them to the very things they should never have to face again – eviction, hunger, inadequate medical care, loneliness, social isolation, and despair,” the letter said.
