NY pols: Bin Laden bounty should go to 9/11 victims

If nobody’s going to collect the reward for capturing Osama bin Laden, two New York congressmen say the money should go to 9/11 victims’ families, survivors and first responders.

“If the bounty isn’t paid, Osama bin Laden’s victims should get it,” Rep. Anthony Weiner said in a statement.

The official reward from the State Department for bin Laden was $25 million. But there was also another $2 million from air travel associations and an OK from Congress to double the State Department’s reward to $50 million.

Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) said Sunday that the entire $50 million bounty from the federal government should go to organizations that help families affected by the attacks.

Weiner’s office said the State Department has not yet responded to the proposal. An email to the State Department for comment was not returned Sunday.

A reward for bin Laden’s capture was first offered in connection with bombings at U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.

Since the Reward for Justice program began in 1984, more than $100 million has been rewarded to 60 people, according to the organization’s website.