The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is halving its payouts to people made sick or dying as a result of the toxic dust and pollutants unleashed by the 2001 terror attacks because it is running out of money, the Justice Department said Friday.

People who discovered their illnesses later and submitted claims after Feb. 1 will see even deeper cuts of 70 percent to their payouts.

The fund is drying up because claims for 9/11-related illnesses are soaring, the Justice Department said.

"The situation the VCF currently faces is a difficult one," special master Rupa Bhattacharyya, referring to the Victim Compensation Fund, said in a statement. "The VCF received a record number of new claims in 2018, with a particularly significant increase in claim filings over the past four months."

Congress renewed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund in 2015, authorizing nearly $7.4 billion to pay for claims through December 2020. However, the fund has already spent $5 billion on claims for more than 20,000 people suffering 9/11-related illnesses, including cancer and respiratory issues. Unless Congress intervenes and dedicates additional funding, only $2 billion remains for claims covering another 20,000 people, with thousands more claims still expected.

"The increase in VCF claim filings in 2018 was also due to a number of other factors, most notably the increased rates of serious illnesses suffered by members of the 9/11 community, the increasing number of deaths that can be attributed to 9/11 exposure, and the continued and important outreach efforts of the VCF," Bhattacharyya said. "Given the funding already expended, and the increases in claim volumes, I have determined that there is insufficient funding remaining in the fund to pay all current and projected claims at the same levels as under current policies and procedures."

The announcement was the latest challenge for people made sick from 9/11 to find help from the federal government. The Victim Compensation Fund was launched in the wake of the attacks but soon lapsed in 2004. It took another seven years of lobbying and public shaming of lawmakers by sickened first responders and other victims to reactivate the fund, which was renewed most recently in 2015.

"I am painfully aware of the inequity of the situation," Bhattacharyya said. "I also deeply regret that I could not honor my intention to spare any claim submitted prior to this announcement from any reductions made due to a determination of funding insufficiency. But the stark reality of the data leaves me no choice. If there had been a different option available to me, I assure you I would have taken it."

