Edolphus Towns: “Mr. Chairman, this is wrong. New York deserves a whole lot better. We know there are certain religious groups, certain…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is wrong. New York deserves a whole lot better. We know there are certain religious groups, certain agencies locally that are trying to do all that they can do during this crisis, but this cannot be resolved without the help of the Federal Government. A $20 billion promise was made and only half of that money is now being appropriated. The question is: What do we do about the other $10 billion? Well, somebody said, trust us, we will give it to you. Just trust. And then somebody said, pray and maybe it will happen. I think New York deserves a lot better than that. Anytime there has been a crisis anywhere, New Yorkers have been there on behalf of whoever. That is one thing about us, that we have demonstrated our generosity down through the years. And to come here today and have our colleagues say to us, we will give you this and you just have to trust and wait for later, I think that is the wrong attitude to take. We have hospitals that have already spent $140 million in direct costs, directly related to the World Trade Center disaster, and they have only gotten back $35 million.”