Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEE. Madam President, for many years, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has compensated the brave men and women who responded to the horrific events of 9/11. It has been a worthy use of money.

Of the $7.4 billion authorized for the fund since 2011, however, $25.4 billion has already been paid out. Since February of this year, money has gotten tight and claimants' benefits have had to be reduced. I believe it is only right for Congress to authorize and replenish the fund so that we can make those beneficiaries whole.

But the bill before us today has a peculiar feature, one that I believe requires our attention. The bill authorizes the program for 72 years and does not specify a dollar amount. If you look to page 2 of the bill, lines 8 through 10, it makes clear that this program is funded through 2092 and funded to the tune of ``such sums as may be necessary.'' In other words, without any finite authorization, it offers no way to ensure that the money actually gets to its intended beneficiaries and is not lost in government bureaucracy or misuse.

That is, in fact, how we make sure that government programs get to where they need to go, by specifying not only the purpose of the fund but also identifying how much it is that we are spending.

In 2011, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund has always had finite authorizations, and it has always had an absolutely excellent, outstanding record of avoiding waste, fraud, and abuse. The 9/11 survivors and responders deserve no less going forward.

That is why I am offering a simple amendment to this bill, one that would authorize $10.2 billion in additional funding for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund over the next 10 years. To be clear, that is the full amount that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated is necessary for covering all claims through 2029.

My amendment wouldn't end there. It would go further to authorize an additional $10 billion to be paid out in subsequent decades. It will not block or delay this bill's consideration, let alone its passage, nor does it have as its intended effect any kind of downgrading of the benefits we would be paying. But it would make sure that the money gets to the victims and the first responders who need it most--to the intended beneficiaries--rather than remaining vulnerable to the kinds of waste, fraud, and abuse that come about whenever we authorize something until 2092 with ``such sums'' language. This isn't the way we normally do things.

My distinguished colleague and friend from New York has made the comment that if this amendment were to pass, it would somehow make the victims of 9/11 come back again and again and go through this process over and over again. I don't see that. Those facts are not borne out by the record, which, again, indicates that the Congressional Budget Office itself has acknowledged that the amount of money I would be setting aside would be sufficient to fund this program.

This is how we make government programs work: We fund things for a period of time and for an amount of money that we believe is sufficient. This would do that. For that reason, I am proposing this amendment. Amendment No. 928

I, therefore, call up my amendment No. 928 and ask that it be reported by number.
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