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 4, 2002 Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs Civil Division, U.S. Dept. of Justice Main Bldg. Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20520 Re: World Trade Center Disaster/Victim Compensation Fund Dear Mr. Zwick: My husband, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp, was killed at the World Trade Center on September 11th. For 16 years, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp worked for on the 104th floor as an &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp, and throughout his career at , achieved titles such as &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp, and &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp. He was 38 years old and leaves behind myself, our two children, ages 6 and 7 months, his parents and two sisters. We miss him terribly and cannot articulate the pain this has caused us. I am writing with regard to the recently published regulations by Special Master Ken Feinberg on the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. On behalf of 257 other families who lost loved ones on September 11th, I am writing to say that, not only are we outraged with the regulations, but we feel that these regulations are in direct contradiction to the mandate of the statute which provides for full economic losses to be awarded to all families. We want to make you aware that on December 17th, Ken Feinberg held a special meeting for families at the Mariott Marquis in New York City to explain the statute and its mandate to compensate all victims' families. This meeting was tape recorded by various families. Mr. Feinberg specifically stated several times that there would be "NO CAP" placed on the settlement for each family. He explained to us that awards for economic loss would be based on a combination of our loved ones average income over the last 3 years, plus a projected income to the retirement age of 62. He did also explain that "collateral resources" would be deducted from the settlement. On December 20th, the regulations were published as "Interim Final Rules", meaning that the government is accepting public comment on the regulations until January 20, 2002. Although we have several concerns, our outrage and extreme disappointment is based on our main concern with the regulations as they relate to economic loss. Our concern is the artificial cap Mr. Feinberg imposes on our loved ones earnings. It is now our understanding that Mr. Feinberg has placed a cap on victims who earned over $231,000 per year, Mr. Feinberg will NOT take higher earnings into account. To our astonishment, the Special Master has indeed capped economic loss by limiting the amount of compensation he will consider. Not only did Ken Feinberg lie to hundreds of Center families on December 17th, due as to our understanding that the statute specifically provides that the award must set forth the economic loss based upon the individual harm and circumstances. Mr. Feinberg has also stated since December 17th that with respect to those earning in the top 2 percentile, "multi-million dollar awards out of the public coffer are not necessary to provide them with a strong economic foundation from which to rebuild their lives". This is extremely unfair! There are 258 families at alone who fall into this top 2 percentile. We are disgusted! Our spouses worked hard to achieve their success and earn the money they did. Why should their families be treated differently than any other victims? These 258 victims paid their fair share in taxes-many of them paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in taxes! Why should their families' and especially their childrens' lives be diminished and their futures be disrupted any more than they already have been by these tragic events? Obviously, we expect the regulations to be repeated to apply to all families equally. We believe these regulations to be unlawful, and furthermore, the way they are currently written are a betrayal of "trust" that were and our deceased spouses-have placed in our government. Our government is sending billions of dollars in relief and aid to these terrorists' countries, but when it comes to your own taxpaying, hardworking, innocent victims, they are disregarded...all because they achieved the American dream. This makes us sick! We expect you to speak out on our behalf against the caps and limits contained in the regulations and to demand for the modification of the regulations. We appreciate your support and look forward to being healed fully. I would appreciate any comments you have. Sincerely, Individual Comment Saddle River, NJ September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-04 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 dojN001376.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. 2002-01-04