The program is supposed to start on Dec. 21, but families complain that the government has still not worked out the mechanics of the process, including who is eligible to apply, how they should go about it, and whether they can appeal if they are not satisfied with their payment.  "I haven't been told the details of the victim's compensation fund yet," said Colleen Micciulli, a young widow who is facing the prospect of raising two small children after her husband Bill was killed at the World Trade Center.  This week, the Justice Department appointed Washington attorney Kenneth Feinberg as a "special master" to oversee the process. Feinberg immediately acknowledged that there was confusion over the fund, saying, "The statute that creates this fund is ambiguous."  Charity Payouts Might Be Taken Into Account  One thing Micciulli and other surviving spouses have heard about the fund is that the government may reduce compensation to families who accept help from charities like the Red Cross or United Way, or who receive life insurance payouts.  "It reduces an award by the amount of life insurance, and that to me isn't fair," said James Kreindler, a New York lawyer who represents dozens of victims' families.  The law creating the program says the payments should take into account any "collateral source compensation" applicants receive, but does not specify what kind of compensation it is referring to.  Families Unhappy With Airline Protection  Under the terms of the law, families who accept compensation from the federal program must agree not to bring a lawsuit against United or American Airlines, the two carriers whose planes were used in the attacks. For those who choose to sue rather than accept the federal money, Congress put strict limits on the amount the airlines have to pay.  That infuriates Steve Push, whose wife was on American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Push feels that the bill ties his hands: "It makes it much more difficult for us to send a message to the airlines that they have to give airline security much higher priority."  Push said he and many other relatives were consumed with grief when Congress passed the compensation bill. Only now, he said, do they realize what happened.  "The airline lobby pushed this through when the victims' families were still in shock. I feel they've kicked us while we're down," he said.  Micciulli does not want to spend years suing an airline. Her husband was 30 when he died, and had not taken out very much life insurance. She needs money now, and will take whatever the government awards her.  "You feel like you have to beg. It's awful, because I don't think anybody would want us to, husbands included," she said.  Micciulli said she does not care whether the government's main goal was to keep the airlines from going bankrupt. She just wants someone in Washington to decide on a fair system for awarding compensation  and the sooner, the better.
Families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks say they have been given no details about the federal governmment's compensation program for them.