Goodlatte and Chabot Applaud Passage of 9/11 VCF Extension

Washington, D.C.— House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) issued the following statement upon passage of the omnibus legislation, which includes a provision to renew the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund: “Today’s passage of a fully-funded 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund (VCF) will ensure that those who suffered terrible loss as a result of the 9/11 attacks receive compensation for their losses. What’s more, the money used to reauthorize the VCF appropriately comes primarily from assets seized from state sponsors of terrorism and not from U.S. taxpayers.“Furthermore, this legislation also contains an additional, new fund to compensate victims of state sponsors of terrorism, such as the Iranian hostages and victims of other terrorist attacks who have received final judgments against state sponsors of terrorism, including the 1983 bombings in Beirut, Lebanon. The money used to fund this new program also comes from assets seized from state sponsors of terrorism.”Background: The provision provides for a five-year reauthorization of the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund and $4.6 billion to compensate eligible claimants who file claims during this five-year extension. Another major provision of the bill allows U.S. victims and the families of U.S. victims whose lives were lost in state sponsored terrorist attacks, such as the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Marine Barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, to receive compensation from a new terrorism compensation fund. Taken together, the two funds in this legislation use assets seized from the state sponsors of terror, and will allow the victims of the 9/11 attacks and other U.S. terrorism victims the ability to be compensated for their losses while not incurring additional costs to the American taxpayer. The program’s renewal was originally introduced as the September 11th VCF Reauthorization and U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Compensation Act (H.R. 3858) to compensate the first responders and other victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and other terrorist attacks against Americans facilitated by state sponsors of terrorism.