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. Tuesday, January 15, 2002 9:33 PM Interin Final Rule Just some comments ... Life Insurance: Yes, it should be deducted as a "other source compensation". However, it probably wouldn't hurt to reduce the life insurance compensation by any premiums directly paid by the deceased. Overriding wishes of the deceased: As far as the Special Master not agreeing with how the personal representative intends to distribute the compensation, I don't think you should get involved. As long as the PR is acting according to the will, if any, and the laws of the state in question, the Special Master should not be make this type of value judgment against the express wishes of the deceased. The 'true' victim is the deceased. The 'survivors-of-a-victim' are only secondary. Any overriding of the wishes of the deceased should only be done in a case of unquestionable NEED (poverty-level type 'need', not Wall Street hot shot type 'want'), not just GREED. State laws (at least my state) have built in provisions for elective-share for a spouse who is really getting screwed, so let that be invoked. You should follow the determination of the state if at all possible. There may be very good underlying reasons for provisions of the will which the PR nor you have any notion of. Economic Compensation: I really don't understand why these 'survivors-of-victims' will receive, in effect, a life time of handouts when our federal law has explicitly stated that welfare has a 5-year lifetime eligibility limit. Why isn't there a 5-year limit on this 'welfare' program too? 401ks/IRAs/etc: The 'other source compensation' value of these sources needs to be evaluated intelligently, taking into account economic conditions and the eventual recipient of such benefits. For example, a spouse may be entitled to wait up to 5 years before having to take over a 401k, but if it goes to a non-spouse there may be a 60-90 day time frame. This can GREATLY impact the ultimate value of what is received. Make sure a Sept. 21, 2001 document is presented as the supposed 'current' value! Also, given the variations in when investments may have to be 'cashed in', you should probably consider the types of investments, their current value, their expected future value (relative to 'cash in' time frames). It is a tricky situation, but even I am able to figure out how best to play this one - get the government to reimburse any losses realized over the last couple years while protecting my ability to make up that loss again by holding off for a while. This fund shouldn't be providing 'free capital' for 'speculators'. Question for the Future: Insurance companies 'rose to the occasion' this time around and agreed not to invoke war/terrorism clauses as far as making good on individual coverage for property and medical. However, as they have stated, there is no guarantee that they will do it next time. Given that the initial victim estimates were grossly overstated (at least double of reality), as opposed to 'upping' the amount available to the smaller number of claimants (as potential recipients have suggested you do), I suggest you set aside the 'unneeded' funds for future use in 'making good' on individual insurance claims related to future terrorist actions that may be denied next time around. Individual Comment Denver, CO 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 dojN001839.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