[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 76 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6294-S6295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11'S FINAL REPORT
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, less than 2 weeks after the horrific events
of September 11, Congress passed a law to establish the September 11
Victim Compensation Fund, providing assistance to victims and their
families during an unimaginably difficult time. I was pleased to work
with my colleagues to create this needed resource for the families of
this national tragedy. The families of victims that died in the
September 11 attacks also came together and created their own nonprofit
organization, Families of September 11.
Although no amount of compensation can replace a lost loved one,
Families of September 11 and Ken Feinberg, the Special Master in charge
of overseeing the Fund, worked diligently to improve the rules
governing the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, to give the
victims and their families more flexibility and to provide information
to victims and their families about how and where they could find
support. Working together, Mr. Feinberg and Families of September 11
reached out to the victims and their families to make sure they
understood their rights and to assist them in filing their claims. This
task was made all the more difficult because many victims and survivors
of those terrorist attacks had to confront the logistical burden and
emotional pain of filing a death or injury claim.
Last October, Mr. Feinberg submitted to the Department of Justice a
final report summarizing the accomplishments and work of the September
11 Victim Compensation Fund. While the September 11 Victim Compensation
Fund has reached its final deadline, Families of September 11 continues
its mission, including supporting legislation on security and
intelligence reform. This week, Families of September 11 also submitted
a final report to the Department of Justice, sharing the experiences of
the victims and their families, including those who chose not to
participate in the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The report in
its entirety may be read at http://www.familiesofseptember11.org.
Mr. President, I ask that a copy of the Executive Summary of this
report be in the Record for lawmakers and the public to review.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Executive Summary: Final Report of Families of September 11 on the
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001
Families of September 11 is a nonprofit organization
founded in October 2001 by families of those who died in the
September 11 terrorist attacks. We gather and disseminate
helpful information, refer victims' families, survivors, and
others affected by the events of 9/11 to assistance
providers, offer online chat sessions, and address such
issues as victims' assistance, methods of response to trauma
from terrorist attacks, and the effects of terrorism on
children. We support public policies that effectively respond
to the threat of terrorism, including support for the 9/11
Commission Recommendations, development of appropriate agency
procedures, legislation related to aviation, border, port and
transportation security, and intelligence reform.
Our Final Report on the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund follows the format of ``Final Report of the Special
Master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of
2001.'' Just as the Special Master's Final Report provides
the perspective of the administrator of the Fund, our Report
gives voice to those victims and family members who
participated in the Fund as well as those who elected not to.
Although much of our report serves as counterpoint to the
Special Master's observations and conclusions, we agree with
much of what is said in his report and our Report should be
read with an acknowledgement that the Special Master was
asked to and did construct a program in extremely difficult
circumstances. The enabling legislation that created the Fund
was hastily crafted, imprecise in significant ways, and
sometimes internally inconsistent. The Special Master was
faced not only with the uncertain nature of the legislation,
but with a host of other competing influences: e.g., the
enormity of the losses, emotionally overwhelmed victims and
families, a stunned public, and conflicting compensation
policy ideologies. The Special Master and those who worked
with him deserve great credit for their tireless and devoted
work under these daunting circumstances, particularly in the
administration of the Fund after promulgation by the
Department of Justice of the Final Rules.
In many respects, the Fund was a success. Much of this
success was due to the efforts of the Special Master and his
staff in meeting with individual family members,
demonstrating flexibility where possible in making
determinations of awards, and expressing
[[Page S6295]]
compassion for family members in the process. But, the
Special Master's view, expressed in the introduction to his
Final Report, that ``the Fund was an unqualified success'' is
not shared by many who participated in the Fund and most of
those who did not. The options available to the victims and
families of September 11 were substantially impaired by the
Victim Compensation Act and subsequent legislation.
Lawsuits were confined to a narrow population of
potentially responsible parties whose liability exposure
was limited to available and inadequate insurance (e.g.,
the airlines). Evidence for use in litigation was sure to
be (has been) compromised by government intervention
(e.g., assertions of national security and criminal
prosecution grounds for non-disclosure). Families were,
thus, faced with a Hobson's choice and for most the Fund
was the better one.
In December 2004, Families of September 11 conducted a Web-
based survey of its members consisting of fourteen questions
and an opportunity to make narrative comments designed to
elicit information that might be helpful in assessing whether
there should be a compensation mechanism in place before
another terrorist attack occurs. One hundred forty-four (144)
members responded. Though not designed to conform with
scientifically reliable protocols, the results are of
interest and are included in our Report.
Much of the Special Master's report is devoted to efforts
made by him and his staff to assure that families could
obtain detailed information about their likely recovery from
the Fund and assist families in the process. Although our
Report applauds him for these efforts, it points out that had
there been pre-existing comprehensive legislation in place,
the Special Master's extraordinary efforts to educate
potential participants about and assist them with the Fund
would not have been necessary and the enormous anxiety
created by the uncertainties surrounding the Fund would have
been avoided.
The regulations promulgated by the Department of Justice
established ``grid'' awards with ``extraordinary
circumstances'' thresholds of proof to overcome them and no
review process. Claimants were accustomed to the very
different and more substantial notions of ``hearings'' and
``due process'' embedded in our legal culture and were left
disappointed and uncomfortable by the Fund design. Mr.
Feinberg and his staff should, however, receive high marks
for the way they played the cards dealt them.
The victims and their families were faced with enormous
uncertainty in the weeks and months following September 11,
2001, during which the Department of Justice promulgated
regulations and the Special Master developed claims handling
procedures. It is this uncertainty that Families of September
11 believes must be eliminated by enactment of forward-
looking legislation. The victims of future terrorist attacks
will need to go on living, as have the victims of the
September 11 attacks and should have the comfort of knowing
immediately after a terrorist event occurs that they have
rights to compensation sufficient to allow them to do so and
a clear and certain path to obtaining those rights.
Issues of accountability and responsibility by those in the
chain of causation linked to the injuries and deaths on
September 11, 2001, and the suffering that followed are of
great importance to the survivors of the attacks. The Fund,
its enabling legislation, and related congressional and
administrative actions had the effect of limiting that
accountability and responsibility. Our Report expresses
concern that this model tends to increase the risk of future
terrorist attacks and needs to be reassessed and remedied.
The Special Master made determinations on 7,403 claims
completing its work by the statutory deadline in June 2004.
Congress now has the benefit of more than 11,000 comments
made to the Justice Department during the rule-making
process; the comments of the Special Master; the opinions of
lawyers, economists, academics, mental heath professionals,
victims and survivors of the attacks; and the developing
history of terrorism and its effects on our society. In its
report, Families of September 11 encourages Congress and the
Administration to:
a. Use the perspectives of time and experience in
implementation of the Victim Compensation Fund to consider
carefully issues it was forced to address hastily in the
immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001;
b. assess how well the rules adopted in 2002 to implement
the legislation met Congressional intent;
c. consider the incentives and disincentives to reducing
the risks of terrorist attacks implicit in the legislation;
and
d. fashion legislation that will reduce those risks and
ensure that victims of future terrorist attacks and their
families are made whole.
Copies of the ``Final Report of Families of September 11 on
the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001'' may be
obtained by contacting Families of September 11 at the
address below or by going to its website at
www.familiesofseptember11.org.
Families of September 11, Inc., 1560 Broadway, Suite 305,
New York, NY 10036, 212-575-1878.
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