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 16, 2002 Mr. Kenneth Feinberg Special Master U.S. Dept. of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Dear Mr. Feinberg, In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack of the United States, on September 11, Congress enacted the Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 P.L. 107-42, to compensate the relatives of the victims of that brutal attack. This Fund was enacted as a part of a comprehensive package which bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the rights of the victims relatives to recover damages from the court. We implore you to change the interim rules you previously issued. As it stands the rules fail to satisfy the letter or spirit of the legislation, which was enacted. Specifically, we request that you make the following changes to the interim rules: 1. Remove arbitrary income limits The arbitrary income limits you had imposed are not only unfair but also inconsistent with the letter and the spirit of the law. Those victims from the financial industry 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 see that reflected in their awards. They personified American business and commerce, democracy and freedom. We ask that you lift the arbitrary income limits so that each family can be treated fairly; commensurate with the support they provided their families before their death. 2. Increase non-economic awards You have arbitrarily restricted the non-economic awards for pain and suffering, no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering. This is unacceptable. In the words of Congressman Peter King: "Every death is tragic. But to have your loved one murdered in a burning building in full view of the world-in scene that will be repeated in the media for decades to come-is horror these families will never escape from. You cannot take it upon yourself to restrict the rights of families. Therefore, we request that the interim rules be amended to more appropriately compensate the victims' families for the immeasurable pain and suffering endured by our loved ones. As Mayor Giuliani 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 every other way that we can assist their families. There should be no compromise about that ever". We request that the interim rules be amended and that compensation for pain and suffering more accurately reflect that horror which was suffered. Justice demands no less. Sincerely, Individual Comment West Hempstead, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-16 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 dojN002600.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. 2002-01-16