Chairman Conyers: Settle 9/11 Health Claims Now
April 1st, 2008 by Jesse LeeFrom the Judiciary Committee:
Conyers: Settle 9/11 Health Claims Now (Washington, DC)- Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) gave the following statement at today’s joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties entitled Paying With Their Lives: The Status of Compensation for 9/11 Health Effects. During his questioning of the panelists, Conyers also expressed support for providing relief to those who suffer ongoing mental health trauma in addition to those suffering from physical ailments.
In the wake of the World Trade Center attacks, then-Governer Pataki and then-Mayor Giuliani took a “do it yourself” attitude towards the victims of an unprecedented disaster. Instead of respirators and professional clean-up, first responders, construction workers, and volunteers were sent into the pile without protection. And the public got instructions to just wipe their apartments and offices down with a wet rag. Now cancer and lung disease is ravaging the survivors.
While Mayor Bloomberg has worked hard to fix the mess left by his predecessors, the City has taken an adversarial stance against the victims of this environmental tragedy. That needs to stop. Attorney Cardozo, Mayor Bloomberg – let’s sit down and start the settlement negotiations that will get these victims the help that they deserve.
I’m talking about real negotiations. Not sweeping immunity from lawsuits. This is not “FISA part II” in which the mantra of 9/11 is invoked to support demands for retroactive immunity. If there are claims that need to be paid, and negligence that needs to be addressed, that process needs to play out. But we can come together to make it work, and to ensure that these honorable victims are taken care of.
The victims’ compensation fund in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks was a success, and we are very pleased to be joined today by the former Special Master in charge of that effort, Kenneth Feinberg.
The Fund and the legislation that created it constituted a response that focused on the immediate – the persons who were killed or injured on that eventful morning as well as those who went into the wreckage while the fires still raged. These individuals and their families received assistance through the Fund.
1. There is a need to help other victims of 9/11
Unfortunately, there were others. Some didn’t know that there was a place for them in the Fund because the outreach efforts focused on the families of the dead, rather than on the living. Others were not eligible for the Fund because they were on-site within the first 96 hours after the planes hit. Still others were not included because their symptoms did not manifest themselves immediately.
What do we now know? First, of the workers being monitored under a Mt. Sinai study, 70 percent are showing respiratory problems. Hundreds of people have been stricken with cancer based on their exposure to airborne particles released by the World Trade Center. Some of these cancers are so virulent that some individuals have already died.
Many of these victims bravely rushed in to help others. Others trusted their employers who sent them to do clean-up in the months that followed, even though they were not provided protective gear.
2. The response by Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani was insufficient
Second, as the environmental disaster spread a dust of poison over the site and the surrounding area, the EPA, OSHA, the City, and certain state officials took a “do it yourself” approach to protecting the public. FEMA refused to relocate people from contaminated homes and apartments, and refused to pay for the cleanup. The suggestion to just wipe things down with a wet rag was as ineffective a response to asbestos, lead, and PCBs as duct tape would have been to a chemical weapons attack.
3. The City of New York is fighting the victims, not serving them as it should
Third, I call on Mayor Bloomberg to reverse the City’s position in litigating against the very people that need our thanks.
In 2003, we appropriated a billion dollars for the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Company (WTCC) to process and compensate claims resulting from debris removal.
Instead of serving these victims, the WTCC spends most of its time challenging their claims, and even litigating against the very individuals it was chartered to assist! As a result, the WTCC has only compensated five victims to date, while more than 8,600 claims remain outstanding.
Will there be any money left to compensate these victims once the WTCC has spent it all on attorneys’ fees fighting them?
Compare this outcome with what Mr. Feinberg was able to do with the Fund, where 97% of claimants were compensated.
The WTCC needs to stop wasting taxpayers’ money and start assisting the thousands of people it was established to serve.
I thank Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren and Chairman Jerry Nadler for holding this joint hearing, and to congratulate Jerry Nadler for all of his hard work on H.R. 3543, legislation that will address these difficult issues.