Some 19,000 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) payouts have yet to be paid  and those who filed for compensation after Feb. 1, 2019, are seeing reductions of 70 percent, NPR reports.

This is because the Victim Compensation Fund has been substantially drawn down since it was was re-authorized in 2015. The fund’s current amount stands at $2.3 billion. There are serious concerns about whether Congress will take action to ensure that first responders and others suffering 9/11-related illnesses will receive the money to which they are entitled.

About the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF)

The 9/11 VCF was created less than 2 weeks after the collapse of the World Trade Center by an act of Congress as part of the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act.

In return for compensation from the fund, victims and their families agreed not to bring legal action against the airlines.

The original funds from which 9/11 VCF payouts were made was authorized to disburse nearly $7.4 billion, including the costs of operation and administration. The regulatory framework and administration of the program was developed by prominent attorney Kenneth Feinberg. A legal specialist in the field of arbitration and dispute mediation, Feinberg donated 33 months of his labor and expertise to the federal government in establishing the fund.

Benefits were expanded by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 — which provides for medical monitoring and financial assistance for survivors. That program, also known as the World Trade Center Health Program, is in place until 2090. In 2015, President Obama was able to get reauthorization of the 9/11 VCF payouts for an additional 5 years.

‘Never Forget the Heroes’

 VCF payouts are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2020, unless reauthorized.  According to the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO),  $2.375 billion of the $7.35 billion Congress appropriated in 2015 remains, and that is not enough to fully compensate all pending and anticipated claims through December 18, 2020.

Keeping the fund running and funded enough to serve its purpose has been an uphill battle. According to the VCF Annual Status Report released in February, there is only $2.4 billion remaining of the original $7.4 billion originally appropriated in 2015.

The current Special Master overseeing the VCF recently announced that claims filed before Feb.1, 2019, would be cut by half, and those filed after that date would be reduced by 70 percent.

Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, a bill to permanently reauthorize the 9/11 VCF, was introduced in October 2018. To date, 228 of the 435 members of the House have signed on to the bill, but that’s 60 votes short to force the bill to the House floor for a vote, according to the Staten Island Advance.