Catch-up payments for Khobar Victims
The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act of 2022 (The Fairness Act) allocated $3 billion to a reserve fund and mandated that the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST Fund) use those funds to pay one-time lump-sum payments to certain victims of the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing terror attacks.
The Fairness Act intended to provide victims of those terror attacks, who had missed prior rounds of compensation, with a one-time, lump-sum payment that would catch them up to those victims who previously received compensation. Hence, the term “catch-up” payments.
In regard to Khobar Towers victims, the Fairness Act understandably limited catch-up payments to those who had received judgments prior to December 29, 2022, the date it became law. The problem is that the Fairness Act further limited catch-up payments exclusively to those who had not filed claims prior to December 29, 2022.
By granting funding to victims who had not yet filed claims and excluding victims with pre-existing claims, the Fairness Act unfairly discriminated against approximately 75% of Khobar Towers claimants, who were in the latter category. These Purple Heart Recipients waited for compensation for years and only received a fraction of the Fund’s prior payments. Nevertheless, they were excluded from the Fairness Act’s catch-up payments. That is what makes the Fairness Act so unfair and why a legislative remedy is needed.
How did that happen?
Apparently, Congress mistakenly believed that Khobar Towers victims who were prior claimants to the USVSST Fund had received all prior payments made by the USVSST Fund. In fact, Khobar victims with pre-existing claims to the USVSST Fund missed prior payments. Thus, they too needed catch-up payments. Despite their needing catch-up payments, the Fairness Act expressly excluded them.
This “Catch-Up For Khobar” initiative is bringing awareness to the hundreds of Khobar Towers victims wrongly left out of the Fairness Act’s catch-up payments.
A legislative fix is needed to provide catch-up payments to those Khobar Towers claimants who were previously excluded in error.
The Fairness Act is not fair!
FACT SHEET:
• The terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia took place on June 25, 1996. 19 US airmen were killed and 500+ injured.
• The Fairness Act enacted on Dec. 29, 2022 provided funding to certain Khobar Towers and Beirut bombing victims in addition to certain 9/11 victims.
• The Fairness Act expressly granted certain Khobar Towers bombing victims “catch-up” payments but mistakenly denied such payments to other Khobar Towers victims who should have been included.
• Congress erroneously thought all Khobar Towers claimants with judgments before December 29, 2022 had received all payments from the Fund. In fact, hundreds of Khobar Towers claimants were discriminated against by the Fairness Act and deserve catch-up payments.
• Congress has the power, ability and duty to cure the error. An amendment to the Fairness Act is all that is necessary.
• Our proposal requires no additional funding, does not harm anyone previously granted catch-up payments and has no political downside.
Call For Action
We are calling on Congress to amend the Fairness Act, so that it provides catch-up payments to all Khobar Towers victims with pre-existing claims. Here’s how you can help:
• Contact your Senators and Congressmen and urge them to sponsor a legislative fix to provide catch-up payments to these worthy Khobar Towers victims.
• Join our march on Washington as we meet with Senators and Congressmen to voice our request for catch-up payments for overlooked Khobar victims.
In The Media
The USVSST Fund: Honoring Khobar Towers Victims and Supporting Terrorism Victims
In a world fraught with acts of terrorism and violence, the United States government has made efforts to provide support…
