Congress Passes 9/11 Health Bill For First Responders

Congress on Wednesday passed a $4.2 billion measure to provide health care and compensation for 9/11 responders and survivors.

The legislation, slashed from the original $7.4 billion proposal, would aid emergency workers suffering health problems as a result of working at ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The House gave its final approval of the bill, 206-60, Wednesday after it cleared the Senate.

A 57-42 Senate vote Dec. 9 was short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP filibuster; Republicans had objected to the cost, among other concerns.

Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York successfully pushed a new version of the legislation, which would provide $4.2 billion over five years.

The bill passed the Senate Wednesday in a unanimous vote. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was named after Zadroga, a New York City police detective who died at 34 of respiratory problems in 2006; he’d been living at his parents’ Little Egg Harbor home.

“This is a victory,” said Richard Skinner, 44, who worked for the Red Cross for three months collecting emergency medical supplies from the five boroughs and delivering them to ground zero. “I think we’ll take what we can get at this point.”

Skinner, who was living in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., when the 2001 attacks occurred and now lives in Lacey, said he saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center and was overwhelmed by dust and debris when the second tower collapsed. After his work at ground zero, he said, he experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and underwent sinus surgery.

“All my brothers and sisters will be taken care of,” Skinner said of ground zero responders.

The bill would guarantee benefits for responders and recovery workers whose illnesses are linked to breathing toxic fumes during rescues and cleanup. Many workers wore only paper masks.

“Thousands of New Jersey’s first responders and workers who answered the call to service in the wake of September 11th will now be guaranteed the benefits they deserve,” said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., a bill co-sponsor. “It is shameful that we had to fight back Republican opposition to achieve this victory, but we are finally on track to fulfill the moral mandate we have to our war wounded.”The legislation calls for monitoring illnesses and examining their causes through a World Trade Center Health Program within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Costs would be controlled by limiting an existing program for first-responder medical monitoring to 15,000 new participants and allowing another 15,000 people to enroll in a program for residents and nonresponders.

Laura Picurro of Toms River, widow of Joseph Picurro, said the monitoring would be important, as many in the medical community still don’t recognize the connection between some illnesses and ground zero. A ground zero volunteer, her husband was an ironworker and father who died in October at age 43 with dozens of ailments, including the so-called World Trade Center cough and lung disease.

“That’s a horrible way to go, not knowing,” Laura Picurro said. “I hope this brings (responders and their families) some peace, especially during Christmas.

“It’s bittersweet for me,” Picurro said. “I’m so happy, but I wish my husband was here to see this.”

It was unclear Wednesday whether the bill’s passage would help Timothy Duffy, 50, of Manalapan, a retired New York City firefighter who also suffers ailments after working at the site. But Duffy, who has had skin cancer and respiratory problems, said the bill was a “common sense” move, not just for responders but for the nation.

“Guys like myself aren’t going to think twice (about helping others) the next time (a disaster) happens, but everyone else will stop and think about whether they’ll have major problems that aren’t going to be taken care of,” Duffy said. “If this helps people who are getting care get better care, or if somebody who isn’t getting any care will get some now, that’s a good thing.”

The legislation also would reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, closed since 2003, for economic losses. In addition, the fund would be reopened to applications from people who did not apply because they were not sick at the time of the December 2003 filing deadline, according to Lautenberg’s office.

Schumer credited emergency responders with the legislative victory.

“We were sort of the players who moved the pieces on the chessboard,” Schumer said. “Without them, there wouldn’t have even been a game.”

In a compromise with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who objected to the bill’s cost, the measure was trimmed from $7.5 billion in the House and $6.2 billion in the Senate.

The legislation is among the final bills the 111th Congress considered.

“Our Christmas miracle has arrived,” Gillibrand said.

Zadroga’s father, Joseph Zadroga of Little Egg Harbor, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The bill will head to President Barack Obama, who was expected to sign it.

    – ALESHA WILLIAMS BOYD, CourierPostOnline.com