N002425
Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
January 16, 2002
Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs
Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20350
Dear Mr. Zwick,
Re: "September 11th Victims
Compensation Fund of 2001" P.L.
107-42
In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack of September 11th upon our nation,
Congress enacted the above referenced legislation to compensate the relatives, of the victims
of that brutal attack. As elected representatives of many of those relatives, it is our firm belie
that the interim rules issued by the Special Master on December 20th fail to satisfy the letter or
the spirit of the legislation which we enacted.
The legislation authorized payment for economic and non-economic loss. Economic loss
was defined as "any pecuniary loss... including the loss of earnings.. to the extent recovery for
such loss is allowed under applicable State law." (Sec.402(5)). Non-economic loss was defined
to include among other things "physical and emotional pain, suffering...mental anguish..and
loss of consortium." (Sec. 402(7)).
The sole offsets to the payment for economic and non-economic loss were the "collateral
sources" specified in Sec 402(4). These included "life insurance, pension funds... and
payments by Federal State or local governments related to the attacks of September 11th."
These were clearly intended to be the only offsets.
In his proposed rules, however, the Special Master has imposed offsets which are in no
way authorized by the statute. Specifically, he imposes arbitrary income limits and restricts pain
and suffering awards to $250,000 - no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering may
have been.
The practical effect of these caps is to drastically reduce the award from what the statute
intended. Relatives of the victims who were in the financial services sector or in the public
service sector-such as police officers and firefighters-will suffer a particularly adverse effect.
This is not only contrary to the legislation but also entirely unfair.
The financial services victims were killed precisely because of the jobs they held.
They personified American business and commerce. That is why they worked in the World
Trade Center and that is why our enemies targeted them. The police and firefighters were killed
carrying out the most successful rescue operation in the history of the United States. It is bad
enough that these good people were victimized by bin Laden. We cannot allow their relatives
to be victimized again. As Mayor Giulliani stated in his farewell address: "we have an obligation
to the people who did die... Their families need to be protected just as if they had been
alive, financially and in every other way that we can help and assist their families... There
should be no compromise about that ever..."
The Victims Compensation Fund was created as a part of a comprehensive
legislative package which bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the right of
the victims' relatives to recover from the airlines in court. The Fund was established to protect
the rights of the victims' relatives. The Special Master cannot take it on himself to restrict those
rights.
Additionally, at the time the legislation was enacted, the amount of fatalities was
expected to be between 6,000 and 10,000. The final number will be less than 3,500. This will
result in a significant reduction in the expected expenditures and makes the Special Master's
arbitrary economies even less defensible.
We request therefore that the interim rules be amended and redefined to the extent
that income caps be removed when computing economic loss and that each victim's case be
addressed separately when computing the non-economic loss attributable to pain and suffering.
Justice demands no less.
Sincerely
Peter King Vito Fossella
John Sweeney Steve Israel
Joseph Crowley Carolyn Maloney
Ben Gilman Marge Roukema
Jose Serrano Eliot Engel
Major Owens Ed Towns
Felix Grucci Carolyn McCarthy
Chris Smith Gary Ackerman
List of Signatures
1.Peter King(R-NY)
2.Vito Fossella(R-NY)
3.John Sweeney(R-NY)
4.Steve Israel(D-NY)
5.Joseph Crowley(D-NY)
6.Carolyn Maloney(D-NY)
7.Ben Gilman(R-NY)
8.Marge Roukema(R-NJ)
9.Jose Serrano(D-NY)
10.Eliot Engel(D-NY)
11.Major Owens(D-NY)
12.Ed Towns(D-NY)
13.Felix Grucci(R-NY)
14.Carolyn McCarthy(D-NY)
15.Chris Smith (R-NJ)
16.Gary Ackerman(D-NY)