Senate votes to extend 9/11 victims funding
BY BILL PARRY
For 15 years, 9/11 first
responders traveled the
I-95 corridor to lobby in
Washington, D.C., for the
permanent funding of the
September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund.
On July 23, they gathered
with New York City’s
Congressional delegation,
other 9/11 survivors and
comedian Jon Stewart, one of
their staunchest advocates,
to celebrate their mission
accomplished following
the Senate’s passing of the
bipartisan legislation 97-2.
“This bill sends a powerful
signal from our nation, from
Congress, and from all the
people we represent in all
50 states that we will never
forget what our 9/11 heroes
did for us,” said Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand. “This bill
is for every single person who
decided in that terrible moment
— when we were attacked,
when we were vulnerable and
we were scared — to do the
unthinkable: to risk their lives
for total strangers and sacrifice
their bodies for our country. It
is for every person who spent
days, weeks and months on
the pile, and has had to suffer
physical and mental scars for
years because of that heroic
work. It is for every survivor
who lived in a home or went
to school downtown when the
government told them the air
was safe to breathe. The Senate
promised that we would ‘never
forget,’ and today we finally
lived up to that promise.”
In 2010, and again in 2015,
legislation was passed to
provide medical monitoring
and treatment for the
thousands of 9/11 responders
and survivors who have
become ill, many terminally,
from exposure to the toxic
air at Ground Zero filled with
burning chemicals, pulverized
drywall, concrete and glass.
However, the September 11th
Victim Compensation Act
was due to expire next year
just as thousands more 9/11
responders and survivors are
expected to be diagnosed with
9/11-related cancers.
“Today, the Senate joined
with 402 Members of the
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
join with first responders after the Senate voted to approve their
permanent authorization of the 9/11 VCF legislation.
House in telling the 9/11
community that we meant
it when we vowed to ‘never
forget,’” said Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney. “The true
Twin Towers of New York are
the FDNY and the NYPD, and
fully funding and permanently
authorizing the 9/11 Victim
Compensation Fund is the
least we can do to honor their
Courtesy of Maloney’s office
sacrifices.”
Maloney was close to
NYPD Detective Luis Alvarez,
who was raised and laid to
rest in Astoria, after he died
of colorectal cancer days
after testifying to Congress.
In the last two weeks, NYPD
Detective Christopher
Cranston, who rushed to
Ground Zero from his Breezy
Point home and worked on the
pile for three months, died of
9/11-related cancer.
During the same week,
Kevin Nolan and Richard
Driscoll became the 199th and
200th members of the FDNY to
die from 9/11-related illnesses.
“In New York and across
the nation we will never forget
the pain and suffering caused
by the terrorist attacks on
Sept. 11. Our duty is to support
the heroes who ran toward
danger that day and the weeks
that followed who are still
suffering from the negative
health effects of those horrific
events,” said Governor Andrew
Cuomo. “I applaud the Senate
for passing this bill, and call on
President Trump to sign it into
law immediately. The health
and safety of these brave men
and women has been hanging
in the balance for far too long,
and it’s time they are finally
given the peace of mind we
owe them.”
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
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TIMESLEDGER,8 JULY 26-AUG. 1, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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