Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, January 16, 2002 10:50 AM Public Law 107-42 COMMENTS Dear Mr. Feinberg: As the widow of World Trade Center Victim , I would like to make my objections to the Airline Bailout Bill's Victim Compensation fund very clear. Because of the misrepresentations and media spin, both the purpose of the fund and its potential payout has been incorrectly stated in just about every source. The Airline Bailout Bill was not passed by Congress to provide for the families of the victims. It was created primarily to protect the airlines from litigation. The provision of the bill that includes the fund was included as an incentive for families to accept a settlement and not sue the airlines. Any award that is given to a family is money that the Airline would have had to pay. This is another gift to the Airlines. Nobody would benefit from bankrupt airlines, but to give all this support to the airlines at the expense of the victims' families would be inappropriate and unjust. In short, this money is from the government on behalf of the Airlines. Many have represented the fund as an act of charity to the families. The program should provide the incentive for which it was created. Congress had the right intention; the current formula ignores this intention. Further, these "awards" will not actually be the amount that is paid to the families. If the deceased victim made any sort of plans for his or her family, they will not receive much at all from this fund. If someone paid life insurance premiums for his entire life, He is essentially being penalized for planning. If, instead, someone decided to invest this money rather than buy life insurance, the investment will not be subtracted from any settlement award. The fund discriminates on the basis of their investment choices. If life insurance and pension benefits were not counted against the settlement, then the fund may actually provide an incentive to avoid the courtroom. The rules should be changed and changed quickly. Right now, those less fortunate may be forced into signing because of financial need. Protecting the transportation system is necessary, but not at the expense of the families of the victims. If this tragedy had involved three people instead of 300, then each family would be looking at large settlements from the airlines' insurance companies. Just because this event was of such a large scope, the loss of a loved one is not any easier. If the rules are not changed, then many people will be encouraged to take this matter to court. If you are trying to avoid lengthy court battles, then make the settlement more equitable. Sincerely, Individual Comment (widow of victim ) Lynbrook, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN001879.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-16