But the Senate voted unanimously late Tuesday to urge the State Department to open a dialogue between veterans and the companies because prisoners were forced into work for years while beaten, starved and denied medical care. I think it's wonderful. I don't think we want to ever forget it. The Senate recommendation came in a nonbinding resolution that doesn't require President Clinton's signature. The vote sent it to the House for consideration.
Lawmakers insist they have no dispute with the Japanese government or citizens.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, compared the legal claims to those from Holocaust survivors against German companies. The Japanese embassy did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday. The White House also didn't return a call seeking comment, but administration officials have opposed similar legislation in the past. American POWs have filed lawsuits focusing on treatment during the Bataan Death March in 1942 and the labor they said they performed at private Japanese steel mills and mines. California became a magnet for such cases last year when the legislature enacted a law letting victims of slave labor sue multinational corporations.