Jon Stewart comes to Washington for 9/11 victims fund

The former "Daily Show" host, union officials and survivor groups are scheduled to visit Washington on Monday to call on Congress to provide additional funding for and make permanent the Victim Compensation Fund, according to the office of Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat.

House and Senate lawmakers are set to introduce legislation Monday, her office said.

The VCF is set to expire in 2020, and the Special Master who runs it recently announced plans to cut payouts by between 50% and 70% to ensure all are paid.

"The only ones who can fix this are in Congress," Stewart wrote in an op-ed for the New York Daily News on Monday.

"I fully recognize that the words 'fix this' and 'Congress' may appear mutually exclusive," he wrote. "But Congress must fund the VCF so it can deal with the increase in claims and stop the fund from closing its doors next year when its authorization expires."

The Special Master said the program has used about $5 billion of its $7.375 billion budget to pay 21,000 claims. It said the number of claims filed has skyrocketed in the last year, and that around 20,000 more claims are currently pending.

The program has been extended before. It originally operated from 2001 to 2003, paying out $7 billion in damages. It was reopened in 2011 and extended for another five years in 2015.

It provides compensation for people who were injured or killed during the attacks or as first responders, including those who suffer from dozens of types of cancers.

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