Cuts to World Trade Center Health Program reversed after bipartisan push

Employees and research contracts cut last week from the federal program that monitors and treats 9/11 first responders have been restored, officials confirmed Friday. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Benjamin Haynes told Newsday in an email that 11 employees of the World Trade Center Health Program will return to work "to ensure that those people affected by the September 11th attacks in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, continue to receive critical, high-quality and compassionate medical monitoring and treatment of WTC-related health conditions."

He also confirmed that two research contracts "to investigate cancer rates within cohorts of 9/11-exposed responders and survivors have been reinstated." One of the contracts was for ongoing data collection that would compare cancer rates of New York City firefighters to firefighters in other cities.

The move comes after a week of bipartisan pressure on the Trump administration to reverse the actions recommended by the billionaire Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency. 

New York's Republican members of Congress joined their Democratic counterparts in decrying the reduction of the program and the critical care it provides through the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services. More than 140,000 survivors diagnosed with illnesses after the 2001 terrorist attacks, particularly exposure to airborne toxins in lower Manhattan, have been enrolled in the program, according to the CDC's latest report.

The program has 90 employees, according to a CDC spokesperson.

Long Island's congressional leaders played a key role in advocating for the restoration of the cuts.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) said in a Feb. 19 letter to President Donald Trump that the delegation had "a moral obligation" to 9/11 families. Garbarino is sponsor of federal funding bills for the WTC Health Program.

"We urge you, as a native New Yorker who lived in New York City as it recovered from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to reverse these actions by rehiring the terminated probationary staff, restoring the canceled FDNY research grant contract, and fencing off the WTC Health Program, which was authorized in statute as mandatory spending, from any further staff and funding reductions," Garbarino wrote in the letter. 

Deena Tauster, chief of staff for Garbarino, said earlier Friday the office had been in constant contact with the White House "really just urging them every step of the way." 

"They are in the process of collecting people's information to make sure they can bring back as many people as possible," Tauster said. "So they are committed to doing it, and they are actively working on it."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a statement said the cuts "should have never been on the chopping block."

The CDC said 11 of the laid off WTC Health Program employees are being rehired, an additional four accepted buyouts and it is unclear if they will return to work, and one other staffer is likely to retire, according to Schumer's office.

“Today we saw what happens when New Yorkers fight back against disastrous job-killing decisions: Trump and Musk back off. When we say ‘Never Forget’ that means never wavering in our commitment to take care of those who answered the call on 9/11,” said Schumer, who vowed to protect the program from future funding disruptions.

Ben Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, applauded the Trump administration's reversal of the cuts. 

"We appreciate the swift action by President Trump, when he became aware of the impact that these cuts by DOGE would have had on health care of injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors," Chevat said in a statement. "We hope that we can also count on the President’s support in the effort to fix the long-term budget problems facing the program that will start in 2027." 

Musk in December complained about the size of a short term spending bill negotiated by both parties in Congress. Trump asked lawmakers to shrink it, resulting in a bill that cut the measure that would have addressed a projected shortfall of $3.5 billion over time for the health program.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.com,tom.brune@newsday.comcandiceferrette,

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.