[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 9, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S16109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SEPTEMBER 11TH VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND EXTENSION ACT OF 2003

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am saddened that the Senate has been 
unable to reach agreement to extend the pending deadline of the 
September 11 Victim Compensation Fund to allow for more time for the 
many still grieving victims who have been unable to bring themselves to 
endure the painful process of filing claims.
  On September 9, Senators Durbin, Schumer, Dodd, Lieberman, Clinton, 
Corzine, and Lautenberg joined with me to introduce S. 1602, the 
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Extension Act of 2003. 
Unfortunately, this bill continues to be bottlenecked in the Judiciary 
Committee and blocked from Senate passage by anonymous Republican holds 
on the Senate floor. Every Democratic Senator has agreed to pass our 
legislation by unanimous consent, but one or more members of the 
majority are still objecting to its passage in the Senate.
  Senator Daschle, Senator Lautenberg and I have reached out to our 
Republican colleagues to try to achieve a compromise to extend this 
arbitrary deadline. We have expressed our willingness to do so for a 
period of time less than one year, but unfortunately the opponents of 
this bill have refused to meet us partway. Moreover, they have been 
unable to explain why it is necessary to force these families to 
confront this pain during an already stressful time--the holiday 
season.
  Along with Senator Daschle, Congressman Gephardt and others, I worked 
hard to create the Victims Fund in the wake of the September 11 
attacks. We insisted that it be included in the legislation to bail out 
the airlines passed in the wake of the most devastating terrorist 
attacks on American soil. The authorized deadline of December 22, 2003, 
for applications to the Victims Fund is rapidly approaching, but it has 
become apparent that many families need more time before they can take 
that step. Thus, far only a minority of families have applied to the 
Fund for compensation, according to the Department of Justice.
  Ken Feinberg, the Special Master of the Fund, has been doing his best 
to get victims families to understand their rights and I commend him 
and others for their efforts to reach out to the victims and their 
families.
  Victims support groups have told me that to this day, they are still 
receiving calls from individuals who understand that the deadline is 
approaching but cannot face the emotional pain of preparing a claim. In 
a survey conducted recently by victims' organizations, 87 percent of 
the 356 victims who responded expressed support for extending the 
December 22 deadline by 1 year. Mr. Feinberg has also commented that 
many victims remain too paralyzed by their grief to confront the 
logistical burden and emotional pain of filing a death claim.
  In light of this painful reality, I believe it would have been 
appropriate to extend the deadline for filing applications to the 
Victims Fund. This extension would have given grieving families 
additional time to mourn those who were lost and to overcome the 
emotional challenges of filing paperwork with the Victims Fund. Every 
single September 11 victims support group that I have spoken with 
agreed that a modest extension would provide some relief during these 
dark days for victims' families as they endure the grieving process. 
There is simply no reason not to grant these families a little bit of 
relief by extending the deadline. I am disappointed and saddened that 
anonymous Republican holds will result in unnecessarily closing off the 
September 11 Victim Fund before each victim had a sufficient chance to 
consider their options.
  With the holiday season upon us, victims did not need this arbitrary 
deadline confronting them. This was something that the Senate could and 
should have accomplished for the still grieving victims of September 
11. It is an unnecessary shame that we have not done so.

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