BP Claims Fund Chair Ken Feinberg Tells Fox Business "I Am Certainly Not Sorry I Took This On"

One day after the deadline for claims to be submitted to the BP Claims Fund, Ken Feinberg sat down with FOX Business Networks' (FBN) Liz Claman to talk about the program. In an interview to appear on Bulls and Bears at 4pm, Feinberg said that while “yesterday was the deadline to file an emergency payment. I'm around for three more years.” When asked whether $20 billion will cover the claims that need to be paid out Feinberg said, “I'm cautiously optimistic that it will.” Highlights of the interview can be found below courtesy of Fox Business Network. On his response to the criticism he is receiving: “It's well intentioned, constructive criticism. It goes with the territory. There has never been a fund like this, where I've received so many claims in so few days. I can improve the process. It's not perfect. But I believe that we are doing exactly what was intended when this program was set up.” On whether he felt as much criticism when he was running the 9/11 Victims Fund: “I remember during the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which was a horrible unprecedented tragedy, for the first year of that program, I got criticized and whacked around pretty well. And the same thing now. I understand this is a very emotional time. This spill was not the fault of anybody living in the Gulf. And it goes with the territory. I understand this criticism. Much of it is constructive. I appreciate it. I'm doing the best I can. We've paid out billions of dollars. We'll pay out billions more. And, you know, no good deed goes unpunished. I certainly am not sorry I took this on. The administration asked me to do it. BP asked me to do it. I'm glad to do it.” On whether $20 billion will cover the claims that need to be paid out: “I'm cautiously optimistic that it will. It's too early to tell. I'm hoping that that money will be adequate. But remember, BP has made it very clear that if it's inadequate, it will honor all -- any additional financial obligations.” On whether there were a rush of applications yesterday: “A rush is the wrong word -- a flood. In the last two days, we received about 35,000 claims. In the last 90 days, I've received about 450,000 claims; about four times what I predicted would be the number. We're doing something right that we've got these types of claims and I've paid out, in the last 90 days, about $2.2 billion.” On criticism that making the deadline before Thanksgiving preys on victim's desperation: “Yesterday was the deadline to file an emergency payment. I'm around for three more years. And during the next three years, starting today, there are two choices open to any claim: take a lump sum payment from the fund and release your right to sue, or don't take a lump sum payment, take a quarterly payment, document your damage and you don't have to release anybody.” On the claims they reject: “Mr. Feinberg, I'm a fisherman and I want $30,000 and I have no documentation whatsoever, none. Just pay me. Mr. Feinberg, I'm a dentist. I'm losing business because of the spill. I'm a veterinarian. I'm a chiropractor. I mean there are claims I can pay and there are claims I can't pay. I have over 1,000 claims that are very suspicious that look like fraud. If there's fraud, we send them to the Department of Justice.” On broadening the geographic reach of the claims they will consider: “A hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, nowhere near the spill, but the tourism perception, as a result, they lost bookings. You still have to prove your damages. But I'll look at a claim as valid even though I believe no court would. But I've said from the very beginning that I think this Gulf Coast claims facility should be more generous than the federal law. And there are claims that I will recognize, proximity claims.”