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NY Reps: Give 9/11 Victims bin Laden Reward Money

Anthony Weiner and Jerry Nadler introduce bill

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted May 9, 2011 7:11 AM CDT

(Newser) – If no one is going to collect the federal government's Osama bin Laden reward money, two New York congressmen want bin Laden's victims to get it. “If the bounty isn’t paid," then “families and groups who helped deal with survivors of 9/11” should benefit, said Rep. Anthony Weiner at a Ground Zero press conference yesterday. Weiner and fellow Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler introduced a bill that would direct the reward to groups supporting 9/11 first responders, survivors, and family members of victims.

Nadler said that the reward money “was allocated for 9/11 victims in effect, and this is simply saying use it more effectively for the purpose that it was set up in the first place.” Though the State Department's reward is $25 million, the total bounty could be as much as $50 million thanks to a bill passed by then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2004, Politico reports. Click to read why the reward money may not go to anyone.

A combo shows posters released by the US of al-Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most-wanted man, offering rewards for their arrest. (Getty Images)

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Showing 3 of 14 comments

Rational.-Anarchist

May 9, 2011 6:08 PM CDT

First, 25 to 50 mil. won't even put a dent in the deficit. I agree it should be paid out to the families of victims of the 9 11 tragedy. The gov't. might have been responsible for it anyway, or at least involved.

cascadoux

May 9, 2011 1:29 PM CDT

Families and survivors of the Sept 11 attack cannot be compensated enough for their' loss. However, they are receiving monies already, far surpassing anything other victims of hate can ever dream to collect. Please don't think I am diminishing the loss of Sept 11. The surviving military and their' families are more than deserving of this money, if anybody can be considered 'worthy'. How about a little compensation for them?

xs10tl

May 9, 2011 1:01 PM CDT

It's TaxPayer Debt, and is for the people who led us to UBL. Period. Liberals: Do you see how this fundamental lack of understanding of Who's Money This Is is systemic with Weiner, et al...?? Now they're going to wrap themselves in the flag to buy more votes.

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September 11 • Osama bin Laden • Anthony Weiner • Jerrold Nadler • reward • Rewards for Justice • 9/11 attacks • Osama bin Laden dead

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Who Snagged the $27M Reward for bin Laden?

Probably no one, but we may never know

(NEWSER) - Until Sunday, Osama bin Laden topped the FBI's most-wanted list—and there was a sizable reward offered for information leading to his capture. The State Department offered $25 million, with two air travel associations adding an additional $1 million each. So did anyone collect? Annie Lowrey explains on Slate that there's no way of knowing, but it appears unlikely. The State Department normally likes to boast when it doles out rewards so that more people will be encouraged to turn criminals in. But this time, NPR notes, Hillary Clinton refused to comment on the matter. And we already know many of the key tips came from detainees, none of whom would receive a payout. More»

One in Four Would Trade Rights for Security: Poll

And that's down big time since 9/11

(NEWSER) - Only about 25% of Americans now say they would give up their “basic civil liberties” in exchange for security—a huge decrease from the days after the September 11 attacks, according to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll . In January of 2002, close to half of respondents (47%) were willing to trade rights for security. Now, sentiment has decisively shifted. “The government’s into everything—pat-downs at the airport. We don’t need any more interference in our lives,” one respondent said. More»

Feds Won't Pay bin Laden Bounty

Nobody to receive $25M reward

(NEWSER) - Nobody is going to receive the $25 million bounty attached to Osama bin Laden, government officials say. The raid that killed bin Laden was the result of electronic intelligence, not information provided by human informants, so the money offered under the Rewards for Justice program will go unclaimed, officials tell ABC , which reports that the road to bin Laden was "paved by satellites, drones, phone surveillance, and luck." The rewards program played a key role in the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, among others. More»

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(NEWSER) - Al-Qaeda leaders discussed attacking America's rail network on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, according to American officials who have seen the first batch of documents from Osama bin Laden's hideout. The documents reveal that bin Laden, who many experts believed had become merely an inspirational figure, maintained an active role in plotting terror attacks over the last decade. More»

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(NEWSER) - “The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, succeeded far beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have possibly envisioned,” writes Ted Koppel in Sunday’s Washington Post . Not because they killed nearly 3,000 Americans, but because they provoked an excessive, crippling reaction from the US. Had George Bush stopped after his eminently appropriate initial attack on Afghanistan, we could have avoided this. But instead he convinced himself of a non-existent threat from Iraq, and launched a painful war. More»

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NY Reps: Give 9/11 Victims bin Laden Reward Money

Anthony Weiner and Jerry Nadler introduce bill

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

September 11 • Osama bin Laden • Anthony Weiner • Jerrold Nadler • reward • Rewards for Justice • 9/11 attacks • Osama bin Laden dead

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More Newser Stories

Who Snagged the $27M Reward for bin Laden?

Probably no one, but we may never know

One in Four Would Trade Rights for Security: Poll

And that's down big time since 9/11

Feds Won't Pay bin Laden Bounty

Nobody to receive $25M reward

Al-Qaeda Planned 9/11/11 Rail Attacks

Osama bin Laden plotted terror attacks from hideout, seized files reveal

Bin Laden Won, Because We Overreacted

US has handed al-Qaeda everything it could have hoped for

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