Lawmakers promise more funding for 9/11 first responders
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- 9/11 survivor advocate and FealGood Foundation Founder John Feal made the trek back to Capitol Hill, to urge Congress to fix the World Trade Center Health Program on Thursday.
"People will suffer. Americans will suffer," John Feal said. "There'll be a tidal wave and, it will be a phenomenon. And a lot of people will get sick. Yeah, and a lot of people would die."
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) says many people who rushed to help back then are living with this burden today.
"They're suffering from more than 60 different types of cancers and a series of other chronic conditions," Garbarino said.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other New York lawmakers introduced a bill to provide permanent and mandatory funding for the program.
"We're solving this problem once and for all, permanently. So, no one has to worry. Even if they get sick ten or 15 years from now," Schumer said.
The bill also corrects how funding for the program goes out. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) says this ensures the program lasts until 2090.
"Without this fix, the World Trade Center Health Program will have to start making cuts to services and turn away new responders and survivors by 2028," Gillibrand said.
The program aids more than 130,000 people and Rep. Andrew D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) call this a commonsense issue.
"Because it's not a Democrat issue. It's not a Republican issue. It's not a New York or New Jersey issue. It's a United States of America issue," D'Esposito said.
"This is an obligation that America has." Goldman said.
The goal is to pass the bill during this session of Congress and Schumer promises to make it happen.