This bill authorizes lump sum catch-up payments from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund to certain victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing who did not apply for catch-up payments during the application period. The USVSST Fund is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provides compensation to certain U.S. persons injured in acts of international state sponsored terrorism and their immediate family members.
The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act, enacted in 2022, authorized and provided funding for lump sum catch-up payments from the USVSST Fund to victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions from the USVSST Fund were also eligible for lump sum payments, but the act required them to apply from December 29, 2022, to June 27, 2023. In a 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office found that up to 274 eligible victims did not apply for lump sum catch-up payments because of DOJ guidance that stated, in part, that claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions are not eligible for the lump sum catch-up payments.