Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked Congress on Wednesday to reopen the compensation fund for Sept. 11 terrorism victims, saying the city could otherwise lose billions of dollars to lawsuits.

"It's imperative that Congress reopens the fund to take care of those who were not eligible to benefit from it before it closed in December 2003," Bloomberg told a Senate panel in prepared remarks.

"The mere fact that their injuries and illnesses have been slower to emerge should not disqualify them from getting the help they need."

Bloomberg appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Democrats have pledged to do more for sick ground zero workers than the Republican-controlled Congress did in past years.

The call to reopen the unprecedented government compensation program for Sept. 11 victims has been met with little enthusiasm in Congress.

The $7 billion September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was created by Congress soon after the attacks, and immediately became the subject of intense debate among victims' family members and politicians for the rules by which it distributed money.

The fund paid out an average award of $2.1 million to the families of those killed, though the 2,880 individual payouts ranged from $250,000 to $7.1 million.

The fund also paid an average of $400,000 for the 2,680 accepted claims of injuries stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks. The smallest injury award was $500, the largest $8.6 million.

In the past two years, health experts and advocates have warned there are thousands of fire, police, recovery and construction personnel who may suffer lifelong illnesses from their exposure to toxic dust.

Bloomberg also endorsed proposed legislation offered by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton which would spend $1.9 billion to provide health care treatment for a five-year period.

The mayor contended that the cost of treating those who are sick or could become sick from exposure to World Trade Center debris is $393 million a year.

Families who opted for compensation from the federal fund had to give up the possibility of suing the airlines or other entities for negligence in preventing the attacks. A small percentage of victims' families refused to join the fund and chose instead to sue. Those cases are still unresolved.

As part of a $20 billion federal aid package to New York after Sept. 11, 2001, Congress allocated $1 billion to an insurance program to help the city and private contractors pay injury claims.

With more than 8,000 workers now suing the city and those employers, Bloomberg said the insurance program may not have enough money to cover the costs. He said the city would be willing to put that $1 billion into any new compensation fund.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/03/21/2007-03-21_mayor_to_congress_reopen_911_fund.html