Next phase of payments to begin soon.
AB Wire
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that since it reopened in 2011, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) has paid over $1.52 billion to first responders, recovery workers, and residents who suffered physical harm or were killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of Sept. 11, 2001 or the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath of those crashes.
The VCF is now ready to enter its next phase and today posted for public comment and updated regulations that will govern the program for the next several years.
The $1.52 billion includes all payments made to date – either partial or in full – on Group A claims, defined as claims for which a loss determination was issued on or before Dec. 17, 2015, according to the Justice Department.
Since reauthorization of the VCF in December 2015, the Special Master has authorized the final payment on 8,930 Group A claims. This means that the VCF has less than 200 Group A claims left to be authorized for full payment. All of the remaining claims have issues preventing payment; however, the VCF is working with claimants and their representatives to resolve the open issues as quickly as possible. The Special Master will authorize payment on remaining Group A claims by the end of the month.
In addition to the priority placed on paying Group A claims as quickly as possible, the Special Master has also issued updated regulations as an Interim Final Rule, with a 30-day post-publication comment period, as well as created an updated claim form.
“It has taken a tremendous amount of work to update the regulations to reflect the reauthorization law and to redesign the claim form to make it easier to use, while at the same time continuing to implement the other changes required by the reauthorization,” said VCF Special Master Sheila Birnbaum. “I encourage claimants to review the new sample claim form and begin gathering the relevant information and documents so they are prepared to submit their claim when the form becomes available online and in hard copy at the end of July. I realize no amount of money can alleviate the losses suffered on Sept. 11, 2001, but the 9-11 community is one of great resilience, and the men and women who are working so hard to process VCF claims are proud and privileged to work with all of you.”
The VCF continues to review Group B claims and contact claimants to request missing information when needed. The VCF has rendered more than 2,500 eligibility decisions since the beginning of January and completed loss calculations for more than 1,000 claims.