Mr. Chair, the first payments were issued to claimants June 20, 2000. In a report issued by the joint committee after the administrator's second year of operation, as of March 31, 2002, over 7,300 claims had been received. As of March 31, 2002, 5,400 claims had been paid, and 1,900 are in process awaiting the submission of further information or the completion of trace back searches.
These numbers refer to claims, not claimants. One claimant may have more than one claim.