The 9/11 Victims Fund Is Running Out of Money. The Man Who First Ran It Says Congress Should Finish The Job

Since the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, a federal fund has helped pay medical bills for emergency workers, victims and their families, and those suffering health problems from the cleanup at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Now, a group of lawmakers from New York are introducing a bill that would permanently finance the fund after officials currently managing it warned that it is running out of money.

In February, the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund announced that they will have to start slashing payments for new claims by as much as 70 percent, in part due to the growing medical costs stemming from the program. But the fund's original special master, attorney Kenneth Feinberg, says legislators should have planned for this when they expanded it in 2015.

"Not only did the medical costs expand dramatically, but the program has expanded way beyond first responders," Feinberg told WNYC host Jami Floyd. "It is absolutely not surprising at all that the program is short of funds."

Now that the federal government has found itself in this situation, though, Feinberg believes Congress owes it to the victims it pledged to help to see their promises through to the end.

For the full conversation, click "Listen."