Almost 25 years after the destruction of the World Trade Center by Al Qaeda terrorists and the devastating medical problems the resulting toxic plume inflicted on tens of thousands of people, Congress has finally decided to fully fund the health care for the heroes and victims of 9/11, from the fearless firefighters digging in the Ground Zero rubble to ordinary folks caught in the poisonous cloud.
It took far too long, sapping the dying energy of many of the responders and survivors who dragged their damaged bodies and failing lungs to Washington to beg for the medical assistance they needed.
There was a bipartisan deal in hand following the 2024 presidential election to fully fund the World Trade Center Health Program, but Elon Musk wrecked the agreement and it took another year of tedious effort to put it back together.
The champions throughout were Long Island Congressman Andrew Garbarino, a Republican, and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, both Democrats. They lined up the entirety of the bipartisan House and Senate delegations from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut (with some reminders from these columns). A crucial ally was House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose father was a firefighter who suffered terrible burns and injuries in battling a 1984 chemical fire in Louisiana.
But unlike the earlier deal that Musk torpedoed, there was no Republican senator on board this time around. Sen. Mike Braun left Washington a year ago to become governor of Indiana. In his place should have the Republican senators from Florida and Pennsylvania, which following New York and New Jersey, have the largest number of residents enrolled in the WTCHP. In both states, there are multiple House Republicans and Democrats who backed the bill, but Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody from Florida and Sen. Dave McCormick from Pennsylvania never had the common sense and moral clarity to do what Braun had done.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman was also a no-show. So much for calls of “never forget” about 9/11.
Someone who did come through was Brett Guthrie, the Kentucky congressman who is chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. He was in New York last summer and Garbarino arranged for Guthrie to visit a Manhattan firehouse to meet and talk with FDNY members. It was Guthrie who helped put the funding in the bill for the GOP House bill and the GOP Senate went along. They got it done despite the cowardice of Scott, Moody and McCormick.
The additional cash means that the looming rationing of care or even cuts in the WTCHP starting next year will be avoided. There is now sufficient money to cover all costs up until at least 2040.
Gillibrand has been fighting for this since she entered the Senate in 2009, replacing Hillary Clinton, who had tried before her for a compensation fund and health coverage for the WTC injured. At the time we asked Gillibrand if she would continue Clinton’s quest. Gillibrand pledged that she would. It has taken 17 years and Gillibrand never gave up.
Pass the bill and send it to the president for a signature and let’s provide the best possible health coverage to all the people who have been harmed by the WTC toxins.
