The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) is a United States federal program established by an Act of Congress to provide financial remuneration to individuals who suffered physical harm or to the personal representatives of those who were killed as a direct result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent debris removal and clean-up operations. Functioning as a proper noun, the term identifies a specific governmental entity. The program was designed to offer a no-fault administrative alternative to litigation, thereby precluding claimants from filing lawsuits against airlines or other potentially liable parties in exchange for receiving compensation from the fund.
Initially operating from 2001 to 2004, the fund was later reactivated under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 and has been reauthorized multiple times. Eligibility extends beyond the immediate victims of the plane crashes to include a large population of first responders, recovery and clean-up workers, volunteers, and residents who were present in the designated New York City Exposure Zone or at the Pentagon or Shanksville, PA, sites in the aftermath. To qualify, a claimant must have a physical health condition that the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program has certified as being 9/11-related. Compensation is calculated based on two categories of loss: economic loss, which includes past and future lost earnings and benefits, and non-economic loss, which addresses physical and emotional pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
In practice, the fund represents a long-term national commitment to care for the individuals affected by the attacks, particularly those who developed latent health conditions, such as cancers and respiratory diseases, years after their exposure. The process requires claimants to first register within a specified deadline of their condition's diagnosis and then submit a detailed claim with extensive documentation. The "Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act," signed into law in 2019, permanently authorized the program and appropriated sufficient funding to pay all eligible claims through the year 2090, ensuring its availability for victims and their families for decades to come.
