No Movement On 9/11 Health Bill

Congress is doing a fine job quickly getting a bill through the process to bailout the ailing financial system in the United States. It’s too bad it can’t put a little bit of that effort toward helping those who were sickened as a result of the 9/11 attacks.

After all, it’s “only” been seven years since the terrorists hit New York, Shanksville and Washington.

Today, four members of Congress from New York, two Republicans and two Democrats, are expressing “regret” that HR 7174, the revised bipartisan 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, will not be able to move to passage in these, the waning days of the current House session.

Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and Republicans Vito Fossella and Peter King, have issued a joint statement pledging to renew their efforts to get legislation passed during the next session.

The $11 billion bill would assure treatment of firefighters, medics, police officers, construction workers, clean-up crews, residents, people who work near Ground Zero and school children who are now sick as a result of exposure to toxins from the World Trade Center site. Although most live in the New York/New Jersey area, some 10,000 people from all 50 states responded to Ground Zero to assist in the search and rescue, recovery and clean up of the site. Many are sick. Others are concerned they will still fall ill.

In addition, more than 400,000 people are believed to have been exposed to toxins from the World Trade Center site. The Congress members say nearly 16,000 responders and at least 2,700 residents or people working in lower Manhattan are sick and receiving treatment. More than 40,000 responders are currently in medical monitoring; 71,000 more are enrolled in the WTC Health Registry.

The bill would have assured compensation for those who suffered economic losses as a result of their WTC-related illnesses.

Contractors and New York City are being sued by more than 10,000 people who claim they are sick as a result of Ground Zero toxins. The bill would shift the financial burden from them to the government. The four believe it’s unfair that contractors who responded to a national emergency now face litigation because those who worked for them later fell ill.

The bill proposed providing medical monitoring and treatment to WTC responders and area workers, residents, students and others who were exposed to toxins released at Ground Zero. It would also reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to provide compensation for economic losses and harm as an alternative to the current litigation system and providing liability protections for the WTC contractors and New York City.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when the pressure is on, as it is now due to the economic crisis, Congress can act quickly and efficiently. Especially when members are looking to get out of town for the election recess. Yet attempts to provide compensation for those who are ill after responding to the nation’s last crisis, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, fail.