Feinberg: Unknown yet if $20 billion escrow fund will cover damages

Kenneth Feinberg, the Gulf Victims Compensation Fund administrator, said Sunday on CNN that until the oil stops it won’t be known if the $20 billion escrow fund will be enough to repay those affected by the BP Gulf spill.

“The main reason I can’t answer that yet is, I haven’t seen all the applications,” Feinberg said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“…Once the oil stops, I believe we’ll be able very quickly to get sort of a handle on the comprehensiveness of the claims population.”

Feinberg said that, the opposite of residents rushing to line up to get money, it was challenging to convince people to file claims.

Still, he said steps were being taken to minimize the likelihood of fraud.

“Out of 7,300 applications in 9/11, we only had 35 examples of fraud,” Feinberg said. “We’ve got to create as part of the program that I’m establishing an anti-fraud provision or an anti-fraud protection.

We’re getting tremendous cooperation from the Department of Justice, which will help us.”

Feinberg spoke of meeting with “worried,” “angry,” “frustrated” residents at meetings.

“You’ve got to walk into the lion’s den,” he said. “You’ve got to be prepared to take the heat, which I am. It’s part of the territory.”