Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. January 15, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick Department of Justice BY FAX Dear Mr. Zwick: In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, Congress enacted the Victims' Compensation Fund of 2001, P.L. 107-42, to compensate the families of the victims of that brutal attack. As you know, this Fund was enacted as part of a comprehensive package that bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the rights of the victims' families to recover damages in court. I implore you, as a public official, to demand changes to the interim rules issued by Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master. As it stands, Mr. Feinberg's self-imposed rules fail to satisfy the letter and the spirit of the legislation which was enacted. Specifically, I request that you act on behalf of the victims' families and demand the following changes to the interim rules: 1. Remove arbitrary income limits. The arbitrary income limits imposed by the Special Master are not only unfair but also inconsistent with the letter and the spirit of the law. Those victims from the financial industry and their families are specifically harmed by this limit. They were targeted and murdered precisely because of the jobs they held and where they worked -- the World Trade Center, the financial capital of the world, the embodiment of financial success. Those who achieved such success should not be penalized because of that success. They personified American business and commerce, democracy and freedom. I ask that you demand that Mr. Feinberg lift the arbitrary income limits so that each family can be treated fairly, commensurate with the support it received before the death of the family member. 2. Increase non-economic rewards. Mr. Feinberg has arbitrarily restricted the non-economic awards for pain and suffering, without regard to the extent of the actual pain and suffering. This is unacceptable. In the words of Congressman Peter King, "[E]very death is tragic. A murder is particularly tragic. But to have your love one murdered in a burning building in full view of the world -- in a scene which will be repeated in the media for decades to come -- is a horror these families will never escape from. The Special Master cannot take it upon himself to restrict the rights of the families." Therefore, I request that the interim rules be amended to more appropriately compensate the victims' families for the immeasurable pain and suffering endured by their loved ones. I hope that you seriously consider these requests, as well as the hundreds or thousands like them that you will receive in the next few days. I realize that as a public official, you must seek a balance between the ability of the government to shoulder this heavy economic burden and a just and merciful compensation to the thousands of families and children irreparably affected by this tragedy. However, it is clear that the limits set by the Special Master are much too restrictive and do an injustice to the victims and their families. Do not let the airline industry and related parties who ordinarily would be civilly culpable escape with immunity at the expense of thousands of innocent Americans who deserve our respect and compassion. Very truly yours, Individual Comment Somers, New York September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002268.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-15