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. December 17, 2001 Honorable John D. Ashcroft Attorney General of the United States United States Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr. Attoney General, On September 21, the Congress passed H.R. 2926, the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, ("Act"), which was signed into law by President Bush as Public Law 107-42. An important aspect of this law created a Victim Compensation Fund ("Fund"), which was designed to compensate victims of the September 11 terrorism attacks. I hope that the injured and the families of the deceased will utilize the Fund to help recover from these horrific acts, although certainly no financial award can compensate adequately for the damage done to thousands of Americans and their families. Many of us in Congress expressed serious concerns about the Fund which was enacted without being fully considered through the normal legislative process. The Act makes the Federal Government and thus American taxpayer; ultimately responsible for any awards made by the Fund. However, while Congress provided some specifics as to who is entitled to receive an award and the extent of the award, the details are to be decided by the Department of Justice and specifically by the Special Master, a position created by the Act. Thus the Special Master, Kenneth Feinberg, has enormous responsibility to balance the needs of the victims and their families with the knowledge that American taxpayers may end up footing the bill for his decisions. As you and Mr. Feinberg continue drafting regulations and procedures to administer the Fund, I also ask you to consider my thoughts on a specific issue: how charitable gifts to victims and their families should be considered as you determine appropriate awards from the Fund. Section 405(a)(6) of the Act clearly states that the Special Master "shall reduce the amount of compensation determined...by the amount of the collateral source compensation the claimant has received or is entitled to receive as a result" of the terrorist incidents. The term "collateral source" is defined in Section 402(4) as "all collateral sources including life insurance, pension funds, death benefit programs, and payments by Federal, State, or local governments related" to the terrorist incidents. It is was the clear intent of those who negotiated this Act and specifically this "collateral source" provision that the Special Master should give consideration to all significant collateral financial sources when determining awards. As you know, some Members of Congress and other advocacy groups have urged you to issue regulations which would exclude charitable contributions made to victims or their families from the "collateral source" provision. Such an argument flies directly in the face of the statutory language enacted by Congress and Congress's intent. The Fund was established to provide reasonable compensation to victims and their families in lieu of litigation and was certainly not meant to require taxpayers to provide awards in excess of full financial compensation. The American public has responded to the terrorist attacks with an unprecedented sense of charity. According to new accounts, various charities have received approximately $1.4 billion in contributions designated for victims compensation, including the Liberty Fund established by the Red Cross which has raised almost $550 million. In addition, local governments have established funds such as the Twin Towers Fund which has raised $113 million to be distributed solely to the families of public safety officers. Obviously the Department could rationally determine that charitable assistance below a certain de minimis level need not be disclosed as part of the claim process. However, under the Act, large financial grants given directly to victims must be considered a "collateral source" and I encourage you to issue regulations to reflect Congress's clear policy determination on this issue. In summary, you and Special Master Feinberg will be under immense pressure to expand the universe of Fund claimants and to be as generous as possible. I urge you to keep in mind that the Fund was created by Congress as a unique federal response to a situation where normal litigation may have left victims without recovery. The Fund should be administered with both the needs of the victims and taxpayers in mind and with recognition of the impressive charitable reaction of the American people. Handling this Fund properly would be yet another example of your inspirational leadership in these trying times. Sincerely, Don Nickles, United States Senate September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-17 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 dojA003635.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. 2001-12-17