More funding sought for health of World Trade Center first responders
The remains of the World Trade Center stand amid other debris following the terrorist attack on the buildings in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo / Alexandre Fuchs, File)
A bill to increase funding for the World Trade Center Health Program has been introduced with the bipartisan support.
Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as several New York members of Congress are backing the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024.
The lawmakers are saying without more funding, the World Trade Center Health Program will have to start making cuts and denying care to survivors by 2028. “People who got sick later deserve the treatment and health care that the people who got sick earlier got. That’s what we’re here to say. You’re not any different. You rushed to the towers too. Even if your cancer showed up 20 years later, we’re not going to leave you high and dry,” Schumer said.
The bill also updates the outdated funding formula to ensure there will not be any more funding shortfalls in the future.