WASHINGTON — Advocates of a bill meant to correct failures with a fund to help American victims of terrorism are worried the measure won’t pass in Congress before the end of the year despite bipartisan support in both chambers.
We told you how lawmakers introduced the American Victims of Terrorism Compensation Act earlier this year to fix problems with the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST Fund). While it’s been almost a decade since it was created, only four payments have been made to victims.
The money is meant to financially support victims and their families with mental health treatment and other needs. It would help people like Jane Synnestvedt, who was on board TWA Flight 847 in 1985 when the plane was hijacked by terrorists.
“When your freedoms are taken away, it changes your life,” Synnestvedt told our Washington News Bureau in May when the bill was introduced.
The bill aims to fix the failures by requiring payments to be made every year. The fund is paid for with criminal penalties and seized assets.
Last month, the bill passed in the House Judiciary Committee.
“The American Victims of Terrorism Compensation Act would seek to remedy this shortfall by establishing new funding mechanisms for the VSST fund,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the Committee. “The money is there. We’re going to use it to help these victims of terrorism.”
“There is no way to truly make whole the victims of terrorism with the families of those who lost their lives,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Committee. “But our courts do allow them to obtain some small measure of justice in the form of civil damages. These judgements, however, mean very little if there is no way to collect on them.”
But with only a few working weeks left in the session, advocates are worried the bill won’t make it to the finish line.
“I’m terrified that this will never get fixed,” said Angela Mistrulli, whose father Joseph was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. “We’ve had to come back so many times over and over again for this fund and it shouldn’t be that difficult. Congress made a promise in 2015 to all American victims of state-sponsored terrorism.”
Mistrulli has been a strong advocate for fixing the fund. She’s urging lawmakers to bring the bill for a vote before the year or else they will have to start the process all over again.
“When we see a lot of news media that goes on surrounding the introductions of these bills but then the follow through isn’t behind it, it almost makes you feel exploited in that moment and I know that a lot of victims feel that way and they feel forgotten and left behind, said Mistrulli. “My message to the hill would be follow through on your promise. Let the victims heal. Don’t make this that we have to come back every single year begging for what is right and what is fair and what is just.”