9/11 Victim Compensation Fund May Run Out Of Money

NEW YORK — The fund meant to help victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their families may not have enough money left to pay all its expected beneficiaries, the program's overseer revealed Tuesday.

The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was given about $7.38 billion to pay anyone harmed in the Sept. 11, 2001 plane crashes, including those that destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, or the cleanup efforts that followed. Representatives of slain victims are also eligible.

The fund has more than $3 billion left, but recent projections suggest it "may exceed its available funding" before the program's scheduled end in December 2020, according to a letter from Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to publish a notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday seeking comments on how the remaining money could be doled out "in a fair and equitable manner," with priority given to victims with the "most debilitating" conditions, as required by law.

Bhattacharyya stressed that there is no "immediate funding crisis" and that she has not formally determined that the money could run out.

"It is both prudent and consistent with my statutory responsibilities to begin the process of collecting your comments and suggestions for our careful and systematic consideration," she wrote.

The first Victim Compensation Fund operated in the aftermath of 9/11 from 2001 to 2004. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act — named for the NYPD officer whose death was linked to toxic chemicals at Ground Zero — reactivated it in 2010; the law was reauthorized in 2015.

The fund's financial stress comes as the number of deaths attributable to 9/11-related illnesses reportedly approaches the death toll of the attacks themselves.

Thousands of people with cancer and other health problems already have claims with the fund — and more are still coming forward, said Michael Barasch, a partner at the law firm Barasch & McGarry, which specializes in helping 9/11 survivors get compensation.

"Members of the 9/11 community who suffer from debilitating and life-threatening diseases should not be further punished because they had the misfortune to get sick after some arbitrary date," Barasch said in a statement. "Cancer and other diseases know no deadline."

Bhattacharyya's revelation drew concern from five New York federal lawmakers, who said the program's expiration would be "devastating" for victims, including 9/11 first-responders who haven't yet been diagnosed with Ground Zero-related illnesses.

The representatives — Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Peter King — sent a letter to their colleagues calling for legislation to permanently reauthorize and fund the Victim Compensation Fund.

"Congress needs to fix this now before waiting until the last minute and putting our heroes through more suffering and anxiety over whether their federal government will stand with them in their time of need," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

(Lead image: Flowers lie on the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan in February 2018. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)