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 09, 2002 2:43 PM Comments on Interim Final Rule My name is &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp and I lost my husband &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp in the World Trade Center on September 11. I have reviewed the interim final rule and I have several comments. I should say initially that we were an average family of modest means without expensive spending habits, both of us worked in order to meet monthy expenses and to try to put aside for our daughters' college tuitions and for our retirement. I echo the many comments from families and commentators who have stated that the compensation amounts (economic and non-economic) are too low. This would be true even without the deductions for collateral source income, but they are insulting for most moderate income families with the deductions considered. I read with interest that the award levels were picked based upon various comparisons in our society (including awards from lower cost areas of the country), but in none of those comparisions was there a deduction feature (collateral source income) which is a component of our situation as the result of the legislation. So the award comparisons are really meaningless except for those without any pension or insurance and those who do not collect social security or workers compensation for example. I read that you are hamstrung by the legislation congress gave you, but the compensation levels set are what puts the nail in the coffin. I'm attaching for your interest a spreadsheet showing how my family is treated under the regulations. WE WILL GET NOTHING, despite my sincere belief that Congress intended that the government should compensate victims of this international terrorism against the United States which resulted in my husband's death. I saw you on the NewsHour and read your press conference statements and you make a convincing case that bringing a private lawsuit in this situation will be unlikely to result in any award. What you didn't mention specifically is that part of the reason for this is that in rewriting the liability laws of the country for this event, Congress apparently, intentionally or unintenionally, made suits by persons such as me virtually impossible by limiting the airlines liability to $1.5B. I again believe that when Congress did that, it was working under the assumption that most victims' families would avail themselves of the fund -- it's unfortunate that in its haste to pass this law no one apparently had time to run the numbers for a typical family. I appreciate your attention to these comments and hope that you are able to revise the rules and will work with Congress to amend the legislation so that the Fund becomes viable for me and others like me and not just a source of frustration and heartbreak. Comp Fund Analysis Possible Fund Award Totals Pain & suffering economic loss EB (43 yr., 2kids, earning 100K) 1,648,971 economic loss Alright Potential Award Total 1,648,971 1,648,971 Deductions Original cost currentvalue potvalue A B workers comp 625,000 625,000 social security mom 0 0 social security mom 0 0 social security child 1 132,000 132,000 social security chidl 2 172,000 172,000 401K 130,000 Foreign Pension 300,000 Prudential group life 320,000 320,000 Term policies (2) 400,000 400,000 Personal Accident 140,000 140,000 Total Deductions 2219000 1789000 2219000 Conclusion: Deducts exceed Compensation Fund Award so rd Assumptions: A row assumes all 401K is deducted and no SSI for Lr mom B assumes that 401K and FP is not deductible because employee contributed Issues: is 401K deductible (employee contribution and income generated) Will anything be included for SS for mom because she may or may not work Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-09 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 dojN001471.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. 2002-01-09