A federal fund for those who became sick or died after being exposed to toxic dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been stymied in recent months by the Social Security Administration, which has not turned over key data required to resolve claims, according to lawyers, advocates and officials involved in the work.
The reason for the inaction is unclear. But since the start of President Trump’s second term, the administration has made sweeping cuts to the agency, leading to complaints from citizens that basic services are long-delayed or nonexistent.
Such delays are likely to compound the stress and financial pressure on Sept. 11 victims and their families, particularly those whose illnesses now prevent them from working.
The people most affected “are the sickest of the sick, they are the most injured people who have these types of claims,” said Matthew McCauley, a lawyer who represents claimants to the fund, adding that many of his clients had been waiting a year to 18 months for the Social Security Administration to provide the information. “They also need that data to handle a death case.”
Congress created the fund in 2010, known as the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, and revised it in subsequent years to compensate those who have faced severe health problems after exposure to toxic debris or dust from the attack sites, primarily the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Those eligible include not just people who worked on the debris pile, but those who lived or worked in the vicinity of the World Trade Center in the months that followed.
To assess claims for economic compensation, the fund has relied for years on the Social Security Administration to provide data about the person’s past earnings. In recent months, however, claimants and their lawyers said the agency has stopped providing the information to the Justice Department, which manages the fund.
“We are aware of a problem, and we are trying to work through it,” said Allison Lee Turkel, the special master running the fund.
Ben Chevat, an advocate for Sept. 11 survivors, said that the Justice Department under Attorney General Todd Blanche had done a good job overseeing the fund, but added that the Social Security Administration “has been falling down on their job.”
A spokesman for the Social Security Administration, Barton Mackey, said on Tuesday that the agency was taking “immediate action” to make sure it provided the necessary information.
The fund has long relied on data from the Social Security Administration as a means of preventing fraud. Using government data, rather than an individual’s tax returns or other documents, is a way of ensuring that claimants cannot overstate their past earnings when seeking payment.
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