Why you should know if your Member of Congress cosponsored the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act (S. 2683/H.R.4965)
In the coming years there will be a growing funding shortfall facing the World Trade Center Health Program starting in 2025. This means that injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors will face cutbacks in their medical treatment for their 9/11 conditions
This at a time when the number of people coming forward with illnesses and cancers related to their exposure to toxins at Ground Zero grows every day. When nearly every other day, another 9/11 responder or survivor dies from a 9/11 related cancer.
We cannot let that happen.
It will again require urging Members of Congress to truly remember 9/11.
As we had to in prior years, we will need to call on Congress to act!
In 2010, after years of delays and facing increasing pressure from 9/11 responders and survivors walking the halls of Congress, Washington finally acted and authorized medical treatment and monitoring as well as economic compensation to those injured at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville crash site for five years.
In 2015, again under pressure from injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors with overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress passed a new law that made the World Trade Center Health Program permanent so that injured responders and survivors can get the health care that they need. This law also extended the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for another 5 years.
In 2019, again under pressure from injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors with overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress passed the “The Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act” that dealt with the need to fully fund the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund and authorize it until 2090.
That successful effort needs to be replicated to make sure the World Trade Center Health Program is also fully funded for the life of those still suffering the impact of 911.