A new report reveals that payouts to people with illnesses related to the Sept. 11 attacks are slow.

The administrator in charge of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund says in two years the fund has decided on compensation for only 112 first responders. That means less than 1 percent of the $2.78 billion appropriated by Congress has been awarded.

Administrators say they're struggling to process a mountain of nearly 55,000 aid applications. They say many people waited to apply until just before the October deadline.

The special master in charge of the fund says she recently boosted staff to relieve the bottleneck. The fund now employs 75 people, which is up from 31 a year ago.

Thousands sickened by the toxic pile at Ground Zero say that's unacceptable.

The first responders advocate group FealGood Foundation says it will be meeting with the special master of the compensation fund after Thanksgiving. They will work on ways to streamline the processing of paperwork to help victims get their claims at a faster pace.