WASHINGTON – A surprise piece of legislation to pay additional money to some 9/11 victims is expected to pass the House on Friday, leaving many other survivors and responders wondering why a similar bill is not advancing to shore up their underfunded health program.
House leaders unexpectedly advanced a nearly $3 billion measure late Thursday afternoon called the “Fairness for 9/11 Families Act,” which aims to level up compensation payments to more than 5,000 9/11 victims, spouses, and their dependents.
Advocates for the 9/11 health program have been pressing Congress since early last year to plug a $3 billion deficit projected to hit the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides care and monitoring to some 118,000 people exposed to the toxins of Ground Zero.
But Congress has failed to advance the healthcare bill, leaving some advocates grateful that some victims may get additional compensation but furious that the larger group needing health care remains in limbo.
“I was immediately angry — as soon as I found out about this surprise bill,” said Miriama James, a community advocate whose family lived just east of the Word Trade Center and has all suffered illness from the attacks. “How do you come out of nowhere and be prioritized above all the survivors and responders who need health care, who are also dying, and who have also lost family members?”
The anger is generally directed at Congress leaders, but specifically at House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y), whose committee has jurisdiction over terrorism compensation, and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which does health legislation.
Pallone put money for the health program in President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, but that bill never made it to the Senate, and Pallone has not heeded calls to advance a separate stand-alone bill for 9/11 health care, as is now happening with the compensation measure.
“Frank Pallone has no excuse for not moving the bill to get to $3 billion added [to the health program,” 9/11 advocate John Feal told the Daily News. “Shame on Frank Pallone.”
However, Pallone said in a statement that the focus should be on the upper chamber. “The Senate, as usual, has failed to act,” said the New Jersey congressman. “I would encourage everyone to push the Senate if the program is to be reauthorized in this session of Congress. If the Senate supports it, we can include the funding in the end of the year spending bill.”
Similarly, Feal laid into Nadler for finding a way to get the compensation bill on the House floor for a vote while the health care money languishes, even though Nadler also supports the health program spending.
“Good for those people getting money, but Jerry Nadler just screwed over a whole lot more people that need the World Trade Center Health Program for survival,” Feal said, referring to the much larger population of ill 9/11 responders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “We’re fully committed to providing those [funds], maybe even before the end of this year. We’ll see. But we certainly will meet the health needs of our first responders on 9/11.”
Still, one source familiar with the move said it came down to timing. “The health fund does not have a funding cliff in the near future — not until 2026,” the source said. “This other pot of money does have people that could benefit from it immediately.”
The 2026 date, however, does not account for the steps that will have to come sooner in the health program. The program director recently briefed Congress about…
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