Attorney General John Ashcroft should include gay partners in the category of survivors of Sept. 11, Congress members said. (by Alan Diaz/AP)

by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

A group of Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives on Nov. 16 called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to prepare rules for an airline industry relief law that provide compensation to a broad category of survivors of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including the victims’ domestic partners.

In a Nov. 16 letter drafted by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and signed by 44 of his House colleagues, the lawmakers asked Ashcroft to develop regulations that broadly define the survivors who would be eligible for government compensation for the Sept. 11 disasters.

"[W]e believe that the federal government should provide such compensation as is appropriate to all of those who had a close relationship with the murdered victim and whose own financial position will be seriously adversely affected by the death," the letter states.

"Relevant indicia of such a relationship include a shared residence, shared bank accounts for other financial instruments, joint membership in a health plan, a significant sharing of living expenses, etc.," the letter states. "Obviously a wide range of different personal relationships will be covered by this, and we believe that this coverage is wholly appropriate in this instance."

Among those who signed the letter were Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), whose district includes the site of the World Trade Center as well as several neighborhoods with large concentrations of gay residents, openly gay Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Connie Morella (R-Md.).

Frank said the bipartisan group of House members chose not to specifically mention the term domestic partner in the letter because their intent was to convince Ashcroft to be as inclusive as possible in determining who should be compensated.

"This is not aimed at recognizing domestic partners," Frank said. "We don’t want an ideological dispute over domestic partners to get in the way of this."

Frank said the language proposed by the lawmakers is modeled after an executive order issued by New York Gov. George Pataki last month that allows surviving domestic partners and others who were close to the World Trade Center victims to receive state compensation.

Frank and his colleagues sent their letter to Ashcroft in response to a notice Ashcroft placed in the Federal Register two weeks ago. The notice invites public comment on how the Justice Department should implement an airline relief law that Congress passed and President Bush signed shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The law provides financial assistance to the U.S. airline industry, which experts said was on the verge of collapse after the terrorist attacks prompted millions of Americans to drastically curtail their air travel.

The law includes a provision that offers monetary compensation to the survivors of those killed or injured due to the terrorist-induced crashes of four jetliners. Two of the planes struck the World Trade Center towers, one hit the Pentagon, and another crashed into the countryside in Pennsylvania.

Under U.S. tort laws, United and American Airlines, whose jets were involved in the crashes, are potentially liable for the deaths of their respective passengers as well as everyone else killed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In an effort to avert a potentially devastating financial blow to the two airlines, Congress added language to the airline industry relief act that offers survivors of the victims the option to accept a still-undetermined payment from the federal government. The federal payment would be an alternative to a decision to sue the airlines. Under the act, the survivors would be ineligible to sue if they accept the federal payment.

Gay advocacy groups initially suggested that Congress amend the law to include domestic partners in the federal payment. Frank and Nadler said they do not believe the Republican-controlled House would approve such a change.

Rep. Barney Frank
2252 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515-2104
202-225-5931
www.house.gov/frank

Jerrold Nadler
2334 Rayburn HOB
Washington D.C.
20515
202-225-5635
www.house.gov/nadler

John Ashcroft
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
www.usdoj.gov
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov .