New York delegation works to shore up health funding for 9/11 survivors

WASHINGTON — For the past 15 years, New York lawmakers and first responders who rushed to help after the 9/11 terrorist attacks have tried to get Congress to fully fund the World Trade Center Health Program — and this year, they hope they finally will.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) said they see a pathway for Congress this year to pass legislation they sponsor to cover a projected $2.7 billion shortfall that would start at the end of 2027.

"I’m optimistic that Congress will pass the bipartisan 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act this year," Gillibrand said in a statement.

Garbarino added, "I will continue to work with Speaker [Mike] Johnson, House leadership, and my partners in the Senate to find a vehicle for this funding and ensure those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses are being taken care of."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) promised at the July news conference announcing the new legislation, "I will use my clout as majority leader to get this bill done once and for all."

The World Trade Center Health Program provides care for more than 132,000 firefighters, police and other responders, as well as residents and others in Lower Manhattan, with ailments caused by toxins that spread when al Qaida terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

The program faces a shortfall because of increased participation by injured first responders and survivors with diagnosed cancers, respiratory ailments and other illnesses from 9/11 which, along with inflation, has driven up the cost of care.

Yet John Feal, a first responder from Nesconset injured at Ground Zero who has led other responders to Washington several times to lobby lawmakers to vote for the program’s funding, sounded a note of caution.

"I always want to believe my senators, and I want to put faith in them," he told Newsday last week. "But if I see we’re running out of time, and if I see the larger vehicles that we can get the bill attached to pass us by, then we’ll put boots on the ground."

The path forward

To avert the projected shortfall in funds, the bill provides funding to cover increased costs for the next 10 years and then changes a funding formula by sequestering Medicare funds after 2034 to ensure adequate resources for the project until it expires in 2090.

"Everyone involved — both sides, both Houses, both parties — are working in single-minded determination to get this done," said Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, which seeks adequate funding for the health program.

The process likely will start in the Senate.

Gillibrand said she expects the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to debate and amend the legislation, possibly this month. "Then we’ll work with leadership to find the best avenue for passage," she said in statement.

The bill then will move to the House, where Garbarino and Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park) will work with Republican leaders to preserve the Senate version from changes.

"After the [July] news conference, we had a conversation that we would really explore and exhaust all options necessary in order to make sure that we fully fund the 911 health care bill before the end of the session," D’Esposito told Newsday.

"I think that we've made it very clear this is not a partisan issue," he said. "And I think leadership understands how important it is to us."

Ultimately, the bill likely will be attached to a major spending bill or the must-pass annual National Defense Authorization Act — a decision Schumer will help make as one of the four top leaders in Congress.

"Sen. Schumer helped to establish and fund this program and is working hard, alongside families, advocates and union leaders to advance the WTCHP so that responders and survivors can continue to get the critical care they deserve," Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro said in a statement.

The road behind

Past experience informs Feal’s wariness about the path to passage.

Congress did not create the World Trade Center Health Program until nearly a decade after 9/11, and when it did in 2010, it approved it for only five years.

In 2015, Congress authorized the program to continue until 2090. But increases in costs and participation exceeded projections and outstripped funding.

In 2022, Congressional leaders failed to add $3.6 billion to cover shortfalls in the health program funding, and Schumer and Gillibrand had to strike a last-minute deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to add $1 billion for five years.

Last year, Gillibrand and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) succeeded in adding an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the health program to cover Pentagon and Shanksville military and civilian responders and add $444 million to the program.

Now Congress has the opportunity to pass what is designed to be the program’s very last funding bill, and it should do that this year, say its sponsors and advocates.

"There's no guarantee who controls the Senate next year. There's no guarantee who controls the House next year. And it would be difficult for us with a change in leadership in those places," Feal said.

"The World Trade Center Health Program is a lifeline. And as we get closer to that deadline at the end of 2027, there will be a ripple effect," Feal said, referring to the start of projected funding shortfalls. "And that’s why we want to get this done now."