WASHINGTON — Nearly all of the Republican candidates for president are unable to decide if they support new legislation to aid Sept. 11 responders, even after the law that authorized treatments for Sept. 11-related illnesses expired last month.
More than 72,000 people across the nation are monitored by the 9/11 health program, and 33,000 ailing responders rely on it for treatment. But the program is officially on borrowed time, after Congress failed to enact a new law by Sept. 30.
The treatment effort is currently running on cash reserves, which the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention estimates will run out in 2016.
In a bid to focus attention on the program’s uncertain future, advocates tried asking presidential contenders if they would come out in support of new legislation that’s stuck in Congress.
At first, before the treatment portion of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act expired, only former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and Democratic hopefuls signed on. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) eventually added his name as a sponsor to the bill offered in the Senate by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). For the full article click here
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