dojW000743.xml

dojW000743.xml

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2001-11-15

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

November 15, 2001



The Honorable John Ashcroft
Attorney General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Mr. Attorney General,

We applaud the approach you are taking in soliciting wide public comment in fulfilling your legislative mandate to promulgate regulations governing the
distribution of funds voted by Congress and approved by the President for victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Because it was important for us to act speedily, the legislation of necessity sets our broad guidelines and leaves to you and your department the job of
providing specificity so that these funds can be distributed fairly and expeditiously.

We write to express our view on one aspect of this important set of questions which is before you-namely, we urge that in creating the category of those who
qualify as "survivors of someone lost in the crashes", (Topic 5, Notice of Inquiry), we can best carry out the intent and spirit of the law by compensating all of
those who suffered both grievous emotional loss from these murders and significant financial loss as well.

That is, we believe that the federal government should provide such compensation as is appropriate to all of those who had a close relationship with the
murdered victim and whose own financial position will be seriously adversely affected by the death. Relevant indicia of such a relationship include a shared
residence, shared bank accounts for other financial instruments, joint membership in a health plan a significant sharing of living expenses, etc. Obviously a
wide range of different personal relationships will be covered by this, and we believe that this coverage is wholly appropriate in this instance. We note that
this is the approach taken by Governor George Patalo of New York, where so many of the victims live.

The act we passed was not an effort by the Congress to regulate any set of personal relationships nor to encourage or discourage people from following any
particular pattern in their living arrangements. It was simply a prompt response by the Congress to the terrible murders inflicted on America on September 11,
in particular by doing what we can to come to the aid of those who were particularly victimized by the deaths of people close to them. Aiding all of this latter
category of victims seems to us the appropriate response.

The Honorable John Ashcroft
Page 2

The Honorable John Ashcroft
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The Honorable John Ashcroft
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Signatories to Letter To Attorney General John Ashcroft
Re: Aiding Survivors of September 11th Attack



Page 2


Rep. Christopher Shays

Rep. Rob Simmons
Rep. Benjamin Gilman

Rep. Joseph Crowley
Rep. Barney Frank

Rep. Sherwood Boehler
Rep. Maurice Hinchey

Rep. David Wu
Rep. Jim McGovern

Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest
Rep. Amo Houghton

Rep. James Leach
Rep. Anthony Weiner

Rep. Jim Kolbe
Rep. Edolphus Towns

Rep. Charles Rangel


Page 5


Rep Nancy Johnson

Rep. Connie Morella
Rep Major R. Owens

Rep. Jerrold Nadler
Rep. Sherrod Brown

Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Rep. Sue Kelly

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. Mark Foley

Rep. Frank Pallene, Jr.
Rep. Jose E. Serrano

Rep. Eliot L. Engel
Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez

Rep. Robert Menendez
Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro

Rep. Stephen Horn


Page 4


Rep. John M McHugh

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen

Rep. Nita Lowey
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter

Rep. Michael R. McNulty
Rep. Steve Israel

Rep. Tammy Baldwin
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

Rep. Jim Maloney
Rep. Mark Kirk

Rep. John B. Larson

2001-11-15