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[Pages S3332-S3333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act
Now, on another matter, Mr. President, just now Members of the House
[[Page S3333]]
Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill to address the shortfall
in the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which provides aid to
the heroes and the families of the heroes who rushed to the towers
selflessly on September 11, 2001.
Even in a divided Congress, even in a divided country, this issue is
an absolute issue of moral clarity. On that fateful day, the men and
women of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department,
the EMS, and the construction labor unions who rushed to Ground Zero
were like our soldiers. Like our soldiers, they rushed to danger for
our safety without thinking of their own, and just as we don't leave
soldiers on the battlefield behind, we must not leave the brave first
responders behind when it comes to their healthcare. Yet, shamefully,
it has always been a struggle here in this Congress to abide by that
principle.
I have lived through the years when everyone said the first
responders are getting respiratory illnesses and cancers they hadn't
seen in such young people. They said they were crazy for thinking that
it came from the pile. I lived through the years when, even though the
science eventually confirmed that 9/11 was the cause, some in Congress
complained that it was too expensive to provide these heroes with the
healthcare they so very needed. Then, some said: This is a New York
issue, and we are not going to help--as if we care about where our
soldiers come from when they die on the battlefield.
After years of struggle, we eventually passed a healthcare program,
but, initially, it wasn't even permanent. We have to fight every time
when there is a problem, every time we need an extension, and every
time it needs more funding. It is a painful and slow process, a
difficult process, one that should never have been the way it has been.
Every single one of the times, those brave first responders have had to
come here to testify, wheeling through the halls of Congress, their
bodies riddled with cancer, to beg Senators and Congressmen to help
them get their healthcare.
My good friend, my dear friend Ray Pfeiffer--God bless his memory--
who knew he was dying, would come down here again and again and again,
not for himself--he knew it was too late for him--but to make sure his
friends and their families got the help they needed.
It is shameful--there is no other word for it; shameful--that our
great first responders have had to suffer the indignity of delay after
delay after delay, of searching for some must-pass bill to tuck their
issue into because this Congress, this Senate, did not think it was
important enough to pass it on its own.
Let me tell you something. We are done with that. We are not doing
this again--not this time. The House Judiciary Committee just passed
the fix to the Victim's Compensation Fund. The full House will follow
suit soon.
As soon as the House passes this bill, it should be on the floor of
the Senate immediately as a stand-alone bill.
Once this bill passes the House, there will be only one person who
stands between the brave first responders now suffering from cancer and
illness and the money they need to save or extend their lives, and that
one person is Leader McConnell.
So I say to Leader McConnell: This is not politics. This is not a
game. These are our heroes--American heroes who are suffering and need
our help. Your help, Leader McConnell, is needed now. I am imploring,
pleading, even begging to Leader McConnell to put this bill on the
floor immediately after it passes the House. I am imploring, I am
pleading, I am begging Leader McConnell to give us a commitment today
that, as soon as the House passes this bill, he will put it on the
floor of the Senate as a stand-alone bill.
Once he puts it on the floor of the Senate, it will pass the Senate
with strong bipartisan support. This is not a Democratic or Republican
issue. The President will sign it. The brave heroes who have come down
here time and again will breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they and
their families, even if they are gone, will get the help they deserve.
We will reach the point soon--most likely this year--when more will
have died from 9/11 related illnesses than on 9/11 itself. It has been
over 17 years since 9/11, but, unfortunately, brave Americans are still
dying. Brave Americans are still finding the cancers that were caused
by their rushing to the pile, but only discovering them now. Let's do
our job. Let's take care of them now.
