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House Fails To Pass 9/11 Health Bill
ANDREW MIGA and DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON - A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.
The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.
It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159.
For weeks now, a judge and teams of lawyers have been urging 10,000 former ground zero workers to sign on to a court-supervised settlement that would split $713 million among people who developed respiratory problems and other illnesses after inhaling trade center ash.
The court deal shares some similarities with the aid program that the federal legislation would have created, but it involves far less money. Only the most seriously ill of the thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers suing New York City over their exposure to the dust would be eligible for a hefty payout.
But supporters of the deal have been saying the court settlement is the only realistic option for the sick, because Congress will never act.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you can wait and wait and wait for that legislation ... it's not passing," Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of the federal 9/11 victim compensation fund, told an audience of ground zero responders Monday in a meeting on Staten Island.
Democratic leaders opted to consider the House bill under a procedure that requires a two-thirds vote for approval rather than a simple majority. Such a move blocked potential GOP amendments to the measure.
A key backer of the bill, U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, accused Democrats of staging a "charade."
King said Democrats were "petrified" about casting votes as the fall elections near on controversial amendments, possibly including one that could ban the bill from covering illegal immigrants who were sickened by trade center dust.
If Democrats brought it to the floor as a regular bill, King said, it would have passed with majority support.
GOP critics branded the bill as yet another big-government "massive new entitlement program" that would have increased taxes and possibly kill jobs.
To pay the bill's estimated $7.4 billion cost over 10 years, the legislation would have prevented foreign multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S.
Bill supporters said that would close a tax loophole. Republicans branded it a corporate tax increase.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the vote an "outrage." He said it was clearly a tactic designed to stall the bill.
"This is a way to avoid having to make a tough decision," Bloomberg said, adding that the nation owes more to "the people who worked down at 9/11 whose health has fallen apart because they did what America wanted them to do."
John Feal, a ground zero demolition worker who has lobbied extensively for the legislation, expressed disgust.
"They pulled the rug out from beneath our feet," Feal said. "Whatever member of Congress vote against this bill, whether Republican or Democrat, should go to jail for manslaughter."
The bill would have provided up to $3.2 billion to cover the medical treatment of people sickened by trade center dust and an additional $4.2 billion for a new fund that would have compensated them for their suffering and lost wages.
The potential promise of a substantial payout from the federal government had caused some ground zero workers to balk at participating in the proposed legal settlement, which would resolve as many as 10,000 lawsuits against the city.
Initially, the bill would have prohibited people from participating in the new federal compensation program if they had already been compensated for their injuries through a lawsuit, but a change was made in recent days eliminating that restriction.
Nevertheless, with the House rejecting the bill and no vote scheduled on a similar Senate version, it appears almost guaranteed that there will be no new federal law by Sept. 8, the date by which ground zero workers involved in the lawsuits must decide whether to accept the settlement offer.
Under the terms of the deal, 95 percent of those workers must say yes for the court settlement to take effect.
The compensation system set up by the court would make payments ranging from $3,250 for people who aren't sick but worry they could fall ill in the future to as much as $1.5 million to the families of people who have died. Nonsmokers disabled by severe asthma might get between $800,000 and $1 million.
About 25 percent of the money would go to pay legal fees. Contested claims would be heard by Feinberg, who would act as an appeals officer.
Researchers have found that thousands of New Yorkers exposed to trade center dust are now suffering from breathing difficulties similar to asthma. Many have also complained of heartburn or acid reflux, and studies have shown that firefighters who worked on the debris pile suffer from elevated levels of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease.
Many of the workers also fear that the dust is giving people cancer, although scientific studies have failed to find evidence of such a link.
The exact number of sick is unclear. Nearly 15,900 people received treatment last year through medical programs set up to treat Sept. 11-related illnesses, but doctors say many of those people suffered from conditions that are common in the general public.
The House bill is named for James Zadroga, a police detective who died at age 34. His supporters say he died from respiratory disease contracted at ground zero, but New York City's medical examiner said Zadroga's lung condition was caused by prescription drug abuse.
___
Caruso reported from New York.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON - A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.
The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.
It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159.
For weeks now, a judge and teams of lawyers have been urging 10,000 former ground zero workers to sign on to a court-supervised settlement that would split $713 million among people who developed respiratory problems and other illnesses after inhaling trade center ash.
The court deal shares some similarities with the aid program that the federal legislation would have created, but it involves far less money. Only the most seriously ill of the thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers suing New York City over their exposure to the dust would be eligible for a hefty payout.
But supporters of the deal have been saying the court settlement is the only realistic option for the sick, because Congress will never act.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you can wait and wait and wait for that legislation ... it's not passing," Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of the federal 9/11 victim compensation fund, told an audience of ground zero responders Monday in a meeting on Staten Island.
Democratic leaders opted to consider the House bill under a procedure that requires a two-thirds vote for approval rather than a simple majority. Such a move blocked potential GOP amendments to the measure.
A key backer of the bill, U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, accused Democrats of staging a "charade."
King said Democrats were "petrified" about casting votes as the fall elections near on controversial amendments, possibly including one that could ban the bill from covering illegal immigrants who were sickened by trade center dust.
If Democrats brought it to the floor as a regular bill, King said, it would have passed with majority support.
GOP critics branded the bill as yet another big-government "massive new entitlement program" that would have increased taxes and possibly kill jobs.
To pay the bill's estimated $7.4 billion cost over 10 years, the legislation would have prevented foreign multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S.
Bill supporters said that would close a tax loophole. Republicans branded it a corporate tax increase.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the vote an "outrage." He said it was clearly a tactic designed to stall the bill.
"This is a way to avoid having to make a tough decision," Bloomberg said, adding that the nation owes more to "the people who worked down at 9/11 whose health has fallen apart because they did what America wanted them to do."
John Feal, a ground zero demolition worker who has lobbied extensively for the legislation, expressed disgust.
"They pulled the rug out from beneath our feet," Feal said. "Whatever member of Congress vote against this bill, whether Republican or Democrat, should go to jail for manslaughter."
The bill would have provided up to $3.2 billion to cover the medical treatment of people sickened by trade center dust and an additional $4.2 billion for a new fund that would have compensated them for their suffering and lost wages.
The potential promise of a substantial payout from the federal government had caused some ground zero workers to balk at participating in the proposed legal settlement, which would resolve as many as 10,000 lawsuits against the city.
Initially, the bill would have prohibited people from participating in the new federal compensation program if they had already been compensated for their injuries through a lawsuit, but a change was made in recent days eliminating that restriction.
Nevertheless, with the House rejecting the bill and no vote scheduled on a similar Senate version, it appears almost guaranteed that there will be no new federal law by Sept. 8, the date by which ground zero workers involved in the lawsuits must decide whether to accept the settlement offer.
Under the terms of the deal, 95 percent of those workers must say yes for the court settlement to take effect.
The compensation system set up by the court would make payments ranging from $3,250 for people who aren't sick but worry they could fall ill in the future to as much as $1.5 million to the families of people who have died. Nonsmokers disabled by severe asthma might get between $800,000 and $1 million.
About 25 percent of the money would go to pay legal fees. Contested claims would be heard by Feinberg, who would act as an appeals officer.
Researchers have found that thousands of New Yorkers exposed to trade center dust are now suffering from breathing difficulties similar to asthma. Many have also complained of heartburn or acid reflux, and studies have shown that firefighters who worked on the debris pile suffer from elevated levels of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease.
Many of the workers also fear that the dust is giving people cancer, although scientific studies have failed to find evidence of such a link.
The exact number of sick is unclear. Nearly 15,900 people received treatment last year through medical programs set up to treat Sept. 11-related illnesses, but doctors say many of those people suffered from conditions that are common in the general public.
The House bill is named for James Zadroga, a police detective who died at age 34. His supporters say he died from respiratory disease contracted at ground zero, but New York City's medical examiner said Zadroga's lung condition was caused by prescription drug abuse.
___
Caruso reported from New York.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by C. Richard Mooney Jr. on
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"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class, except Congress."---Mark Twain
"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." ---Mark Twain
Its amazing how fast bailouts and socialist programs can go through this Congress. They are men and women without honor. Remove them.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Diefenbach on
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For most of you who don't know how the political process works here is what you may not understand. Yes, the bill would help with covering workers of 9/11 and others who helped. This bill also had "riders"..other bills attached to this bill. This is a tactic used by both parties, attach a bill to one that has to pass on sympathy lines..I mean who wants to vote against FF/EMT/First Responders? But, reality is if this bill would have come to the floor on it's own merits it may have had a better opportunity to pass. BTW...do you realize how much 7.4 billion is? 7,400,000,000...wouldn't $999,999,999.99 or add a $0.01 to become one billion be enough?
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Lets face it people, this does not fall within Comrade Obama's Socialist "Healthcare" Plan. The needs of the few are overshadowed by the collective benefit of the many.
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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Dangit, E Metzger, this was a clean bill! The House Leadership used this approach to prevent amendments and unrelated riders on the bill. I'm not sure how Republican obstructionism is the Democrats' fault, but you probably have already looked at the votes (http://www.opencongress.org/vote/2010/h/491) and know the Republicans voted overwhelmingly against.
This fits perfectly into the Republican/Fox news narrative: they have essentially broken the government through their unprecedented obstructionism and use of the filibuster, and now are running on the platform of "Government doesn't work."
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Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on
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Here's a thought, the Taliban, Attacked US just as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. This was not a Disaster this was an attack!!!!
Now who should pay for our rescue workers getting ill..US or Them? The Taliban has money and propertie etc....How about when we take there propertie in raid,freez there bank accounts or take out there opium fields etc...How about all this money & goods be brought to the U.S. to be placed in banks or sold to make money for the Rescue workers. Make those SOB pay for what they did in more way than one!
(no I don't mean sell the opium) Where there's drugs there's cash and equepment to move it. That being said we could go a step further and say that every time a Police officer or DEA agent makes a drug bust a portion of the money or valuabes confiscated in the bust goes to the 9/11 Rescue workers health fund. Does anyone have any idea how much drug money & goods are confiscated every yr in this country!?
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Metzger, what the hell are you talking about? Have someone re-read the article to you and explain what the big words mean.
Heck, I'll take a crack at it: This bill was brought up using a special procedure to PREVENT unrelated amendments and riders. The (Democratic) House leadership did EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANTED THEM TO DO. The Republicans voted OVERWHELMINGLY against it. (http://www.opencongress.org/vote/2010/h/491)
Would you please turn off Glen Beck long enough to use your head for more than a helmet stand!
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Yeah, the Bush Bailouts were really something. You are aware that Mark Twain was a Progressive during the robber baron era?
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Permalink Reply by E Metzger on
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Dems could have passed this on their own even w/o a republican vote. Trouble is the attachements thanks to politics. Scream at those attaching riders and hiding behind our first responders. Even the dems knew they could not stand the heat come election time with the silly stuff attached. Its not that the party dislikes us, its those the use us to pass something they could not get otherwise! Thanks
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You clearly have no idea how the rest of the (western) world's health care systems work. Enjoy your high premiums, mounds of paperwork and rescissions.
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They control the house, they don't need republicans to get this passed, rtead where they co-opted us to pass lame immigration reform
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Bean (D) IL, Biggert (D) IL, Bryant (D) ID, Brown (D) FL, Carney (D), PA Abstain, Clay (D) MO Abstain, Conyers, ()D) MI Abstain, Cooper (D) TN, Grijvala (D) AZ, Kilpatrick (D) MI Abstain, Watson (D) CA Abstain, Watt (D) NC Abstain.
The dempcrats have misplaced (public) anger directed to the repbulicans, again the attempt to bait and switch with immigration did not work. They needed republican votes to overcome the votes they did not have in their own party. Thanks for the info on the roll call. Again I standby the statement that they were using this bill to help first responders as a vehicle to attach items that even their own party member could not digest. It is getting too close to an election with a conressional approval of 11%. The members are beginning to actually read beyond the title of the bill and looking at what else is included. And yes both parties are guilty no doubt, but this came to a vote without them counting the ayes first. Listen to Weiner go off, he knows his own party members defected. Even Conyers
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