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. Tuesday, November 27, 2001 11:14 AM FW: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 TO: Kenneth L. Zwick, Director, Office of Management Programs, U.S. Department of Justice FROM: widow of Fire Department of New York RE: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick: My comments relate to the implications of the two paragraphs copied below. It is in the best interest of the victims families that compensation be disbursed on the basis of objective, equitable formulas that take into the number and ages of dependents, future educational expenses for children, and regional costs of living. The data the go into these determinations, and the presumptive awards, should definitely be communicated to the families to aid in their decisions to file. Knowledge is empowering, secrecy is demoralizing. (An unfortunate side effect is that speculation about these figures by the media tends to generates much unwanted "advice" and in some cases "envy" directed toward the families) My husband worked for the for 17 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant of . We have two young children, and I also work full-time. My husband's salary as a civil servant was modest, and he needed to work a second job to supplement our incomes in order to live in the New York City area (we reside in the Bronx). Despite his low salary, he took great comfort in knowing that his benefits were outstanding. He paid the maximum into optional life insurance, deferred compensation retirement, and disability programs. He planned very well "for the future," with the knowledge that something adverse could happen to him. I am very concerned that compensation from "collateral sources" that my husband procured on our behalf, through the very hazardous nature of his work and good financial planning, will be subtracted from funds awarded to our family. My children are 6 and 8, and there is a long road ahead of us with unforeseeable expenses. I expect all families to be treated fairly, and not penalized for benefits they earned prior to the tragic events of September 11. Sincerely yours, Individual Comment New York, NY Extracted from Victim Compensation Fund summary: Topic #6: Nature and Amount of Compensation. Section 405(b) of the statute indicates that the Special Master shall determine the amount of compensation based on "the harm to the claimant, the facts of the claim, and the individual circumstances of the claimant." Yet each of the perhaps thousands of determinations must be made in a very short period of time. Moreover, such determinations should be founded on consistent and clear principles that treat each claimant fairly. The Department invites comments that identify the practical means to achieve these results all within the very short time period that Congress has permitted. Among other topics, the Department would welcome comment on whether and how schedules or statistical methodologies should be developed and used in reaching a determination for each claimant within the mandated time period. In addition, comments are welcomed on whether publication of such schedules or hypothetical or presumptive awards for classes of individuals would assist potential claimants in determining whether to file. Collateral Sources: Section 405(b)(6) provides that the Special Master shall reduce the amount of compensation by the amount of the collateral source compensation the claimant has received or is entitled to receive as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001. The Department invites comments on how to determine what constitutes a "collateral source" for purposes of this provision, and other related issues. For example, the Department appreciates the strong policy reasons for excluding charitable contributions from the definition of "collateral sources" and invites comment regarding whether the Act indeed permits the Department to exclude such contributions from the definition. Similarly, the Department invites comments on whether "in kind" and/or material contributions could or should be considered collateral sources. Finally, the Department invites comments on how to determine whether potential future collateral source payments are ones that individuals are "entitled to receive" for purposes of Section 405(b)(6). e-mailed on 11/21/01 to: Kenneth L. Zwick, Director, Office of Management Programs, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Main Building, Room 3140, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530 September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-27 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 dojA000013.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. 2001-11-27