Compensation Fund for 9/11 Victims Does not Extend to First Responders who Died of Cancer

October 4, 2011

source: Lehigh Valley Times   Oct 4, 2011

Ryan McCormick believed the debris he ingested at ground zero caused the cancer that would eventually claim his life, according to his father.

Officials who reopened the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of $2.8 billion, which will start taking applications today, did not agree.

The fund is intended to help people who became ill after working at ground zero. It does not help, however, those who claim cancer resulted from exposure to the debris.

McCormick, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease in 2003, died in 2008. He was 34.

David McCormick, Ryan’s father, said Sunday that because the government “has decided to exclude cancer at this point in time because they say they don’t have enough evidence … is disappointing.”

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Posted by Brian

H.R. 847, James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill Rejected by House Vote

July 29, 2010

“To pay the bill’s estimated $7.4 billion cost over 10 years, the legislation would have prevented foreign multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S.”

To those who voted no: You are disgusting. You are criminal.

source: AP      July 29, 2010

A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.

The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.

It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159. The vote was largely along party lines, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats supporting the measure.

For weeks, a judge and teams of lawyers have been urging 10,000 former ground zero workers to sign on to a court-supervised settlement that would split $713 million among people who developed respiratory problems and other illnesses after inhaling trade center ash.

The court deal shares some similarities with the aid program that the federal legislation would have created, but it involves far less money. Only the most seriously ill of the thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers suing New York City over their exposure to the dust would be eligible for a hefty payout.

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Posted by Brian

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