The House on Wednesday approved legislation to provide billions of dollars for medical treatment to rescue workers and residents of New York City who suffered illnesses from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at ground zero.
The bill’s fate is unclear in the Senate. Republicans have enough votes to filibuster the measure, and Senate Democrats have not shown great interest in bringing the measure to the floor.
The office of Congressman Jerrold Nadler emails to say that the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide health care to first 9/11 first responders and provide economic help to those hurt in the attacks, is expected to receive an up-or-down vote on the House floor tomorrow today.
In July, the bill failed, but was then operating under a requirement that it achieve 2/3rds vote, a parliamentary move by Democrats to keep the Republican minority from adding amendments. This time, the bill is expected to pass, even if Republicans add so-called “poison pill” amendments. The money—to the tune of $5 billion—has already been appropriated, and would cover 50,000 first responders and survivors of the attacks.
President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill.
Dear Friends, Supporters and Fellow First Responders:
As most of you are aware, the past twenty-four hours have been extremely chaotic in regards to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. I, along with fellow FealGood Foundation board members, have worked with various union leaders to keep the pressure on our elected officials. As of approximately 5:30 today our bill was moved into the “Rules Committee” of the United States House of Representatives and prepared for full House vote. While a modest victory, this should be considered a step forward to our ultimate goal. However, to our great displeasure, a date for such a vote has not yet been announced. This is unacceptable and over the next twenty-four hours we will continue to place additional pressure on leadership to give us the date we have waited nine years for.
Make no mistake, all involved in this struggle consider it an insult of the highest degree that we are forced to continue to lobby House leaders to merely place this bill on calendar. Despite this, we have been advised that the bill will be given a date for vote tomorrow, September 22, 2010. While promises to this fragile community have been made and broken so many times that I do not expect you to believe this one, we must respect the leadership our New York Congressional Delegation has provided and rely on them to ensure that this promise is kept. Tomorrow, the 9/11 community expects to be able to celebrate its victory at the same time Democratic leaders from around the country converge on New York for political appearances and fundraising.
The catch this time is that the bill also repeals the “Dont ask, Don’t Tell” military policy that bans openly gay service members: Something that the Republicans are sure to vote against. This is a good time to watch Dust to Dust; a 9/11 First Responders documentary if you have not seen it.
Senate Dems will try to attach 9/11 legislation to a military funding bill Tuesday in a surprise gambit to break a logjam on help for victims, the Daily News has learned.
The amendment would be identical to the $7.4 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act pending in the House. Senate passage would raise the chances of getting the measure to President Obama, who vows to sign it.
Nine hundred 9/11 heroes have died since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Thousands of others are suffering from various cancers believed to have been caused by toxins at Ground Zero. The US federal government has failed, thus far, to pass 9/11 health legislation that would assist 9/11 responders with medical care.
Ex-paramedic Freddy Noboa traveled 1,100 miles with his 41 medications to Washington Wednesday, hoping to get Congress to finally pass a 9/11 health bill.
He wasn’t alone.
Dozens of other Sept. 11 responders and politicians – including Mayor Bloomberg – made the trip, intent on prodding the consciences of lawmakers who next week are expected to vote on that bill.
He made it to Washington yesterday to help the cause of the $7.4billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act so people like him can get care and afford to live.
The lawyers representing most of the ground zero workers who sued the city over health issues will be appearing in court in a new role: defending themselves.
The federal judge overseeing the cases has summoned the law partnership of two firms, Worby Groner Edelman and Napoli Bern Ripka, to a hearing on Friday to justify $6.1 million in legal expenses that they are charging their clients.
Next week, the lawyers are due back in federal court to respond to accusations of overcharging made by the other leading law firm representing workers. That firm, Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, alleges that its co-counsel is trying to inflate its fees by inappropriately charging clients more than $400,000 for publicists, lobbyists and legal and medical experts as case-related costs.
A group of advocates consisting of 9/11 first responders and the widows of their colleagues gathered in Hauppauge Wednesday to garner support in their fight to get the 9/11 health bill, officially known as the Zadroga Bill, passed through Congress.
Jennifer McNamara, whose husband John logged more than 500 hours at Ground Zero and died of cancer in 2009, expressed her grief and frustration at the rally. “My husband died believing this bill would pass,” she said, joined by her young son, Jack.
If passed, the bill, named after the late NYPD Detective James Zadroga, would secure $7.4 billion to provide health care and compensation for thousands of first responders suffering from illnesses after working in the toxic rubble following the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. McNamara believes that if the bill had been passed already, her husband may still be alive today.
DEADLINE: 9/11 First Responders Urged To Register For Compensations
Weeks after its defeat in the House of Representatives, members of Congress are still vowing to bring the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act up for another vote this fall.
But advocates say without guarantees it will pass a second time around, it makes an upcoming state compensation deadline for workers who have become ill or may become ill as a result of 9/11 exposure even more urgent. NY1 Health & Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report.
RT filmed this emotional footage of 9/11 first responders pouring their hearts out at a speech just blocks away from where the twin towers fell. The rally was in response to Congress defeating a federal bill that would have provided billions of dollars in health care for those sickened by toxins released by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers Sept. 11, 2001.
This is the court case under Judge Alvin Hellerstein, it is not related to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensatiuon Act that recently failed to pass in the House.
Growing discontent among 9/11 heroes who sued the city over exposure to toxic air at Ground Zero could scuttle a landmark settlement offer.
A number of first responders, recovery workers and their relatives told the Daily News they will opt out of the $625 million deal because their payouts are too low – and their health care is left in doubt.
“If you sign this thing, you’re not taken care of at all,” said Richard Hand, 47, a retired NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer who logged more than 700 hours at the Pile and now suffers from upper-digestive problems.
Charles Giles was not in Washington Thursday night to watch the House of Representatives defeat the 9/11 health bill.
Giles, 42, an EMT who rushed into the North Tower shortly before it collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, was stuck at home in New Jersey, where his failing lungs and heart keep him confined to bed.
“If I don’t get my medical care, I’m going to die,” Giles said in a phone interview Friday morning. “What happened last night is a total disgrace. Our government is totally broken.”
“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.
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.
Retired NYPD Emergency Service Unit Sgt. John Boesch, who dug for survivors on 9/11 and worked at least 600 hours in the World Trade Center rubble, received an offer of $3,250, the sum awarded to all plaintiffs with no illness.
But based on his settlement letter, his take after lawyer fees and expenses dwindles to $1,322 — only 40 percent of the total.
Boesch’s legal expenses and fees come to $1,927.81, including $579.94 for “return of interest expense.”
“I don’t know loan sharks who charge that much,” said Boesch, 52, adding that this was the first he heard of such charges.
Posted by Brian 
